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criscimagnael

Deal With Ted Cruz Sets Stage for Russia Pipeline Fight in Early 2022 - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...ted-cruz-biden-ukraine.html

shared by criscimagnael on 22 Dec 21 - No Cached
  • A Senate deal has set the stage for a January vote on whether to sanction the company behind a natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany, complicating the Biden administration’s efforts to prevent a Russian invasion of Ukraine.
  • the new year in Congress will begin in part with a contentious debate about the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, which the Biden administration opposes but has not used all its powers to stop, for fear of damaging vital relations with Germany.
  • The $11 billion pipeline was completed in September but is awaiting certification to become operational.
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  • The Senate deal, which was reached late Friday night, was a grudging concession by Democrats to Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, who has delayed the confirmation of dozens of President Biden’s nominees to protest what he called Mr. Biden’s weak opposition to the pipeline.
  • Mr. Cruz and others insist that Nord Stream 2 will provide Russia with a cash infusion and dangerous control over Europe’s energy supplies, while potentially costing Ukraine’s government around $3 billion in annual transit fees from a similar pipeline through its territory that Russia could circumvent.
  • “When the Senate reconvenes, we’ll finally have a vote on sanctioning Putin’s pipeline.”
  • It is a vote the Biden administration hoped to avoid. But in exchange, Mr. Cruz agreed to step aside and allow the confirmation of 36 of Mr. Biden’s State Department and Treasury Department nominees, including 28 ambassadors
  • Biden officials said at the time that while they opposed construction of the pipeline, which will pump gas from the Russian Arctic to Germany through the Baltic Sea, the project was nearly complete by the time Mr. Biden took office and virtually impossible to stop. At this point, White House officials say, the cost of friction with the German government outweighs any potential loss to Mr. Putin.
  • some analysts say the pipeline may be less important to Mr. Putin than his longtime designs on Ukrainian territory.
  • A Dec. 7 call between Mr. Biden and Mr. Putin has done little to soothe the situation, and last week the Kremlin issued a set of demands that Biden officials called largely unacceptable.
  • Senator Chris Coons, Democrat of Delaware and a close Biden ally who helped to negotiate the deal, said he would wait to see the final language in the measure and confer with Biden officials before deciding how he will vote. A State Department spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.AdvertisementContinue reading the main storyMr. Coons said he recently met in Berlin with Olaf Sholz, who succeeded Angela Merkel this month as Germany’s chancellor. He noted the new German government’s pledge not to certify the pipeline until well into 2022.
  • “Imposing sanctions on a close ally like Germany when they are moving in the right direction is something that I would not do lightly,” Mr. Coons said.
  • “We need a fully staffed senior team at the State Department and at the United Nations, and ambassadors around the world,” Mr. Coons said. “And while I respect that senators of both parties have the right to use the occasional hold to force a policy discussion, I think this has gotten way out of hand.”
  • criscimagnael on 22 Dec 21
     
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Javier E

When a stranger takes your face: Facebook's failed crackdown on fake accounts - The Was... - 0 views

www.washingtonpost.com/...8-af46-b1d6dc0d9bfe_story.html

facebook fraud fake AI security identity

shared by Javier E on 05 May 18 - No Cached
  • After The Post presented Facebook with a list of numerous fake accounts, the company revealed that its system is much less effective than previously advertised: The tool looks only for impostors within a user’s circle of friends and friends of friends — not the site’s 2 billion-user network, where the vast majority of doppelganger accounts are probably born.
  • But the fakes highlight how the company is struggling to use the technology to fulfill its most basic mission — connecting real people around the world.
  • The limited scale of Facebook’s central technical solution to the fake-account mess also suggests that the site is failing in its pledge to protect users’ personal information, while still urging them to hand over more photos and consent to their broader use.
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  • The number of what Facebook calls “undesirable” accounts is growing rapidly. The company estimates that there were as many as 87 million fake accounts in the last quarter, according to financial filings — a dramatic jump over 2016, when an estimated 18 million accounts were fake.
  • Facebook’s failure to spot obvious counterfeit accounts has highlighted one of the company’s more embarrassing public ills. During chief executive Mark Zuckerberg’s hearing before a Senate committee last month, Sen. Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.) said that his friends — including old classmates from law school and Delaware’s attorney general — had alerted him that morning to a fake Facebook account
  • “Isn’t it Facebook’s job to better protect its users?” Coons asked Zuckerberg. “And why do you shift the burden to users to flag inappropriate content and make sure it’s taken down?”
  • Zuckerberg responded in the hearing that “it’s clear that this is an area . . . we need to do a lot better on.” He added: “Over time, we’re going to shift increasingly to a method where more of this content is flagged up front by AI tools that we develop.
  • The site is using that technological promise to encourage more users to consent to expanded ­facial-recognition rules. In its new privacy settings revealed last month, users are told, “If you keep face recognition turned off, we won’t be able to use this technology if a stranger uses your photo to impersonate you.” Facebook users who want to avoid impersonation but not have their name suggested for tagging in someone else’s photo are not allowed the choice.
  • But in the months since that feature was announced, scam profiles that took the names, photos and other information from legitimate accounts continued to spread
  • Some critics question why a $500 billion company with so many top engineers still struggles to protect its users’ identities
  • Many of the fake accounts appear to be built by copying, or “scraping,” the photos and biographical details from users’ Facebook profiles.
  • Analysts say the site could face an existential threat if unnerved users shy away from posting photos there for good. “There is some skepticism that they know where all of the fakes are,” said Brian Wieser, a senior analyst at Pivotal Research
blythewallick

Democrats defend Pelosi for ripping up Trump's State of the Union speech - CBS News - 0 views

www.cbsnews.com/...ts-defend-ripping-trump-speech

politics US trump culture Policy

shared by blythewallick on 06 Feb 20 - No Cached
  • Washington — Democrats on Capitol Hill are coming to Speaker Nancy Pelosi's defense after she dramatically ripped up her copy of President Trump's State of the Union address Tuesday night, earning condemnation from the president's supporters.
  • Pelosi called the speech a "manifesto of mistruths" and told reporters that ripping it up was "courteous" compared to the alternatives. Republicans likened the move to a "temper tantrum," and Mr. Trump retweeted two dozen tweets disparaging Pelosi in the hours after the address.
  • But Democrats defended and even praised the speaker. Congressman Hakeem Jeffries quipped that "as far as I'm concerned the shredder wasn't available, and so she did what she needed to do." Congressman Jerry Nadler said he was "delighted" by Pelosi's action, saying the president's speech was full of "lie after lie."
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  • Senator Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware, said it was Democrats' responsibility to "rise above" the president's words and actions.
  • "I think our challenges as public leaders, all of us, is not to simply reflect and amplify that division but to find moments where we can work to heal some of our sharp divisions," Coons said. "It is a challenge for all of us in public life not to respond in kind to some of the things that the president does and says but to instead find ways to rise above it." .recirc_item:nth-child(5) { display: none; } #recirc_item_b65848e2-d4a2-4992-b707-9e7c445fc574 { display: none; } #recirc_item_b65848e2-d4a2-4992-b707-9e7c445fc574 ~ .recirc_item:nth-child(5) { display: list-item; }
leilamulveny

Democrats' Minimum-Wage Setback Could Kick-Start Talks With Republicans - WSJ - 0 views

www.wsj.com/...s-with-republicans-11615057218

democrats republicans wsj Politics policy economics Pandemic

shared by leilamulveny on 10 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • Democrats’ failure to pass a minimum-wage increase could spur bipartisan negotiations to bridge the big gap between the party’s progressive wing, its centrists and Republican senators on raising workers’ pay.
  • President Biden called on Congress to raise the wage to $15 an hour by 2025, a key demand of progressives, and House Democrats included the proposal in the version of the legislation they initially passed. But the proposal fell apart in the Senate, where centrist Democrats opposed it and special procedural rules forbid its inclusion in the relief package.
  • “It seems to me the universal agreement among not just Democrats, but Republicans who have recently introduced bills to raise the minimum wage, suggests that there’s broad bipartisan agreement,” said Sen. Chris Coons (D., Del.) recently. “So I do think there’s room for compromise.”
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  • When Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) offered an amendment to the Covid-aid bill on Friday pushing for the Senate to override the rules and raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, eight Democrats voted against it, including swing votes Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona along with Mr. Coons.
  • A group of other Senate Republicans signed on to the proposal, with some additional GOP lawmakers saying they would be open to an increase.
  • But any Democratic effort to compromise with Republicans on a minimum-wage increase would need to contend with demands from progressive Democrats and activists to not back down from $15 an hour.
  • White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday that Mr. Biden will use his “political capital” to help achieve a $15 minimum wage, and said he wasn’t currently considering a lower rate
  • Sen. Manchin has said $15 is too high for low cost-of-living states and said he could support a minimum wage of $11 an hour. Other Democratic senators had expressed concern about the rate, as well as its extension to tipped workers, who currently must be paid a subminimum wage of as little as $2.13 an hour, as long as they earn the full minimum in gratuity.
  • Many economists say a smaller total increase or a raise spread out over more years would cause less job loss.
  • a $12-an-hour minimum wage by 2025 would reduce employment by 300,000, while increasing wages for up to 11 million workers and lift 400,000 above the poverty threshold. A minimum wage of $10 an hour by 2025 would have little effect on employment or poverty, while providing raises for up to 3.5 million workers.
  • “If the progressive view is that it’s $15 or nothing, they may end up with nothing,” said Glenn Spencer, head of the Chamber’s Employment Policy Division.
hannahcarter11

Lawmakers Offer $908 Billion Coronavirus Compromise, But Path Is Unclear : NPR - 0 views

www.npr.org/...ion-coronavirus-aid-compromise

compromise senate stimulus

shared by hannahcarter11 on 01 Dec 20 - No Cached
  • Just hours after a bipartisan group of House and Senate lawmakers revealed a $908 billion legislative framework to try to break a months-long impasse on a new round of pandemic-related relief measures, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters he's talking to administration officials about a separate coronavirus bill that President Trump will sign.
  • "We're battling COVID-19 more fiercely now than we ever have before, and we recognize that it's inexcusable for us to leave town and not have an agreement," he said.
  • House and Senate lawmakers said they have informed their party leaders of their framework, but it has not been endorsed by leadership or the White House, leaving the path forward unclear.
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  • He said it should deal with the items that both sides can agree on now and expected that "the new administration" would be working on another package next year.
  • "Waiting for next year is not an answer," McConnell said. He also a spending bill being negotiated now by the House and Senate would serve as a vehicle for passing more pandemic aid.
  • The must-pass bill is a potential vehicle to attach coronavirus relief before lawmakers adjourn this Congress and head home for the holidays.
  • It seems like to me it's pretty late to decide you'd rather have something than nothing," Blunt said. "The whole idea of not being willing to negotiate until you're down to the last week of negotiating time usually doesn't produce a very good result.
  • "I think $900 billion would do a lot more good right now than $2 trillion will do in March. This is an important time to step up if we can."
  • Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., a key ally of Joe Biden's, said he didn't sign on to the proposal to avoid sending a signal that the president-elect is already on board. "I think it's important that I not be misperceived as supporting something on behalf of the incoming administration. I don't speak for them," Coons said.
  • And while he "celebrates" Pelosi's efforts to get a larger relief bill, he said it's time to reconsider with Congress running out of time.
  • And in the absence of anything — with two weeks before the holidays, essentially fewer than two — we have to do something," Phillips said. "So I encouraged her thoughtful consideration. It doesn't serve every need, every purpose. Not everybody will be thrilled. But this was based on not what do we want, it's what we can achieve."
katherineharron

Biden-Harris administration: Here's who could serve in top roles - CNNPolitics - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

biden

shared by katherineharron on 17 Nov 20 - No Cached
  • President-elect Joe Biden is set to announce who will serve in top roles in his administration in the coming days and weeks.
  • Ron Klain, one of his most trusted campaign advisers, will serve as his incoming chief of staff. And Jen O'Malley Dillon, Biden's campaign manager, and Rep. Cedric Richmond of Louisiana, a co-chair of Biden's transition team and presidential campaign, will serve in top roles in the White House.
  • Each of Biden's Cabinet nominees will need to be confirmed by the US Senate, which is currently controlled by Republicans. Two runoff elections in Georgia on January 5 could determine which party controls the chamber and impact the Cabinet confirmation process.
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  • The Cabinet includes the vice president and the heads of 15 executive departments
  • Klain served as Biden's chief of staff in the Obama White House and was also a senior aide to the President.
  • Klain has been a top debate preparation adviser to Biden, Obama, Bill Clinton, Gore, John Kerry and Hillary Clinton.
  • O'Malley Dillon will join Biden's incoming administration as a deputy White House chief of staff. O'Malley Dillon was Biden's presidential campaign manager and has served numerous other political campaigns -- including former Rep. Beto O'Rourke's failed 2020 presidential primary campaign and both of Barack Obama's presidential campaigns.
  • Richmond is expected to leave Congress to join Biden's White House staff in a senior role.
  • Rice served in the Obama administration as UN ambassador and national security adviser.
  • During the Clinton administration, Blinken served as a member of the National Security Council staff at the White House, and held roles as the special assistant to the president, senior director for European affairs, and senior director for speechwriting and then strategic planning. He was Clinton's chief foreign policy speechwriter
  • Rice at one point was thought to be the clear choice to succeed Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, but in 2012 withdrew her name from consideration to avoid a bitter Senate confirmation battle.
  • Blinken served in the Obama administration as the deputy secretary of state, assistant to the president and principal deputy national security adviser.
  • A longtime Biden ally, Coons was one of the first members of Congress to endorse the former vice president when he declared his 2020 presidential candidacy.
  • Yates was fired by Trump from her role as acting attorney general.
  • Throughout his Senate career, Coons has been known for working across the aisle and forging strong relationships with high-profile Republicans who shared common interests.
  • Brainard currently serves as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
  • Brainard was the US representative to the G-20 Finance Deputies and G-7 Deputies and was a member of the Financial Stability Board. During the Clinton administration, Brainard served as the deputy national economic adviser and deputy assistant to the President.
  • Raskin was the deputy secretary of the US Department of the Treasury during the Obama administration. She was previously a governor of the Federal Reserve Board.
  • Outside of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Raskin, a former deputy secretary at the department, would be the top choice for most progressives.
  • If chosen and confirmed, Flournoy would be the first female secretary of defense.
  • During the mid-1990's, she served as principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy and threat reduction, as well as deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy
  • Mayorkas was deputy secretary of Homeland Security during the Obama administration, and served as the director of the Department of Homeland Security's United States Citizenship and Immigration Services
  • Monaco played a critical role in Biden's vice presidential selection committee, and served as Homeland Security and counterterrorism advisor to Obama.
  • Jones is the junior United States Senator from Alabama. He lost his reelection bid earlier this month to Republican Tommy Tuberville.
  • Jones was also involved in the prosecution of Eric Rudolph, whose 1998 attack on a Birmingham abortion clinic killed an off-duty police officer.
  • Rice was one of a handful of women on Biden's shortlist for a running mate.
  • Yates had been appointed by Obama and was set to serve until Trump's nominee for attorney general was confirmed.
  • Haaland is a congresswoman from New Mexico, and is one of the first Native American women to serve in Congress. Biden has said he wants an administration that looks like the country. Haaland, the vice chair of the House Natural Resources Committee, would be the first Native American Cabinet secretary if she were to get an offer and accept it.
  • Yang is an entrepreneur and former 2020 Democratic presidential candidate. He rose from obscurity to become a highly-visible candidate, and his supporters are sometimes referred to as the "Yang Gang." His presidential campaign was centered around the idea of universal basic income, and providing every US citizen with $1,000 a month, or $12,000 a year.
  • Nelson is the international president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA. She cemented her image as a rising star of the labor movement during a prolonged government shutdown that stretched from December 2018 to January 2019.
  • Sanders is reaching out to potential supporters in labor to ask for their support as he mounts a campaign for the job. But he is viewed as a long shot and so far has received mix reactions from labor leaders.
  • Walsh is AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka's pick for the job, a big endorsement in what could soon turn into a contentious debate between moderate Democrats and progressives, who will favor Sen. Bernie Sanders or Michigan Rep. Andy Levin
  • Levin is a popular progressive who is also growing his base of support with labor leaders, including at the Communications Workers of America.
  • But he also has credibility with climate activists for having helped create Michigan's Green Jobs Initiative.
  • Murthy, a doctor of internal medicine, is the co-chair of Biden's coronavirus advisory board
  • Bottoms is the mayor of Atlanta and is a rising star of the Democratic Party. Bottoms stepped into the national spotlight when she denounced vandalism in her city as "chaos" after demonstrations over the death of George Floyd, a Black man who was killed by police in Minneapolis. Bottoms is a former judge and city council member.
  • Weingarten is the president of the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO and has long pushed for education reform
  • Inslee is the governor of Washington state, and previously served in the US House of Representatives.
  • Buttigieg is the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and a former 2020 Democratic presidential candidate. Buttigieg's presidential bid was historic -- he was the first out gay man to launch a competitive campaign for president, and he broke barriers by becoming the first gay candidate to earn primary delegates for a major party's presidential nomination.
malonema1

House to vote on school security bill next week as Senate is stuck on guns - CNNPolitics - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

politics US policy

shared by malonema1 on 12 Mar 18 - No Cached
  • (CNN)Momentum on overhauling the country's gun laws has practically stalled at the US Capitol, but the House will vote next week on a narrow proposal that will give schools more money to strengthen security.
  • But the narrow proposal won't tackle any changes to the country's background check system nor will it address changing gun laws President Donald Trump has asked for including Trump's call to raise the age at which individuals can buy rifles from 18 to 21. Democrats have said they will vote for the proposal, but have slammed GOP leaders for not doing more.
  • Sens. Pat Toomey, a Pennsylvania Republican, and Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat, have also introduced a plan that would flag individuals to state authorities when they try and fail to buy a gun because they can't pass the background check. Behind the scenes, Toomey has also said he is trying to win more GOP support for a bill he sponsored several years ago that would expand background checks on guns purchased at gun shows and over the internet.
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  • "I am speaking with a number of my Republican colleagues who did not support our bill in the past, but are reconsidering the bill now," Toomey said. "We need more support, obviously. The last time we had this vote we didn't get the 60 that we need so we're trying to find a way to get there."
g-dragon

Government Shutdown Goes Into Monday as Senate Inches Toward Deal - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...gress-government-shutdown.html

Congress Shutdown Resolution Senate

shared by g-dragon on 22 Jan 18 - No Cached
  • Senators failed on Sunday to reach an agreement to end the government shutdown, ensuring that hundreds of thousands of federal employees would be furloughed Monday morning
  • But the deep divisions between the parties were evident as senators remained unable to reach a compromise even as the crisis was poised to deepen with the beginning of the workweek.
  • Senate Democrats gave no immediate sign that they would get on board with the temporary spending bi
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  • “There are, I think, people from both parties of good will who want to have a framework for us to move forward to address all of these issues,” Senator Chris Coons, Democrat of Delaware, said Sunday evening. “But at this point, it is in the hands of leadership
  • “We have yet to reach an agreement on a path forward that would be acceptable for both sides,” the Democratic leader, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, said after Mr. McConnell’s remarks.
  • The best hope for a breakthrough appeared to reside with the group of about 20 senators from both parties who met throughout the weekend to try to hammer out a compromise to present to Mr. McConnell and Mr. Schumer.
  • Any deal would most likely need the support of around a dozen Senate Democrats, since the chamber’s procedural rules require 60 votes.
  • A major lingering question was how a compromise might pave the way for passage of legislation to protect the young undocumented immigrants known as Dreamers. Their status is in jeopardy after President Trump moved last year to end an Obama-era program, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, that shields them from deportation. Mr. Trump gave Congress until early March to find a resolution to the issue.
  • For as long as the government is closed, the White House has said it will not entertain demands on immigration.
  • Senator Jeff Flake, Republican of Arizona, said it was best for Mr. Trump to let the Senate work out its own solution. Advertisement Continue reading the main story
  • Mr. Trump has vacillated on an immigration deal in recent weeks, leaving both sides confused as to what kind of legislation he might accept.
  • Leaders from both parties quickly dismissed the idea, but Democrats wasted no time in pointing the finger back at Mr. Trump.
izzerios

How US leaks upset two allies in one week - CNNPolitics.com - 1 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

shared by izzerios on 25 May 17 - No Cached
  • With multiple high-profile intelligence leaks in recent weeks, the US has now managed to upset two of its closest allies by allowing the disclosure of sensitive information
  • Trump was reported to have revealed highly sensitive, likely Israeli-shared intelligence to Russian officials in the Oval Office, the United Kingdom is voicing its frustration over leaked information coming from US sources.
  • President reportedly sharing sensitive information with a foreign power in one instance and US law enforcement sources providing information to the media in the other
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  • UK Home Secretary Amber Rudd slammed US leaks on the investigation into the attack at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, as "irritating" on Wednesday after a string of details emerged from US law enforcement sources before they were released by British police or officials
  • The White House did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment on Rudd's remarks
  • was greeted warmly by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who showed no indication that Trump's interaction with the Russians posed a problem between the two nations.
  • the leaking of the suspect's name was more disruptive because it might have tipped off other suspects,"
  • "We've got a very close intelligence and defense partnership with the UK, and that news ... suggests that we have even more close allies who are questioning whether we can be trusted with vital intelligence," Sen. Chris Coons, D-Delaware
  • Aaron David Miller, a former adviser to Democratic and Republican secretaries of state, who added that the leaks may reflect a lack of structure within the Trump administration itself.
  • "I will make clear to President Trump that intelligence that is shared between our law enforcement agencies must remain secure," she said following a cabinet-level security meeting.
  • Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman insisted there would be no effect on the close relations between the United States and Israel due to the apparent leak
  • "The intel community is probably beside themselves and worried about what they can confide now, if the President is going to be as careless as he was," Miller said
  • "If we will assess that our sources of intelligence are in danger due to the way it will be handled by the United States, then we will have to keep the very sensitive information close to our chests," Yatom
  • "You are not going to have the best capabilities to defend the nation if other countries aren't going to share as much with you."
  • Stern words will likely be directed to the US side, he said, but "on balance, it's probably not going to change intelligence-sharing arrangements all that much."
martinelligi

Tigray: Hundreds of detainees released following CNN report - CNN - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

crisis

shared by martinelligi on 28 May 21 - No Cached
  • Hundreds of men in Ethiopia's restive region of Tigray were released on Thursday evening, eyewitnesses and aid workers said, following a CNN report into their detention that prompted international outcry.
  • A CNN report published Thursday found that hundreds of men had been rounded up in Shire, a town in Tigray, on Monday this week. Witnesses described, on condition of anonymity, how Ethiopian and Eritrean soldiers had beaten and harassed the men. They also said the soldiers broke into at least two shelters for people displaced by the conflict, including an abandoned school, before shouting: "We'll see if America will save you now
  • One aid worker told CNN that the soldiers had accused the detainees of being members of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), the rebel group leading the resistance against Ethiopian government forces and their allies. "The soldiers kept telling us they did this because these men were TPLF, but the raid was indiscriminate. How did you know who was TPLF and who wasn't?" the aid worker said.
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  • "They take us out one by one and torture us," the man said. "This is the third time I've been beaten by soldiers like this. People here start running and are scared every time they see someone wearing military uniform. The world has to hear our cries and do something -- we are living in terror"
  • CNN shared its report with Coons on Thursday. The Senator then raised the issue during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Ethiopia, calling for "accountability" for the mass detention.
  • Eritrean Information Minister Yemane Ghebremeskel denied the reports and dismissed previous CNN reporting, saying: "For how long will you continue to believe at face value any and all 'witness statements' ... We have heard so many planted or false stories."
  • President Biden said in a statement late Wednesday that he is "deeply concerned by the escalating violence" in Ethiopia and condemned "large-scale human rights abuses taking place in Tigray."
saberal

Opinion | Yes, Child Care and Elder Care Are Also Infrastructure - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...infrastructure-child-care.html

Politics US Culture

shared by saberal on 26 Apr 21 - No Cached
  • It’s an unfamiliar experience in a country where we’ve treated these kinds of conflicts as private crises to be solved individually. But it has always been true that without an adequate system of child care, elder care and paid leave, personal emergencies and family demands often derail Americans’ ability to get to work
  • We’re in the middle of a loud debate over what, exactly, counts as “infrastructure.” The word has come to be associated with the country’s physical assets: our national highway system, the pipes that bring us water and the cables that bring us electricity, the tarmac in our airports and the tracks on our train routes.
  • Republicans are lining up their opposition to the package behind the idea that these things aren’t “real” infrastructure. “There is a core infrastructure bill that we could pass” focused on “roads and bridges and even reaching out to broadband,” Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, told “Fox News Sunday.” “So let’s do it and leave the rest for another day and another fight.” Business lobbyists are pushing hard to get Mr. Biden to drop the caregiving parts of his package. But it’s not just conservatives; it’s (mostly) men of differing political persuasions. Politico’s Playbook deemed it “silly” to call home care services for the elderly and disabled infrastructure.
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  • Even before Covid, it was clear to anyone who looked at the data that child care allowed parents to get to their jobs, and a lack of it did the opposite. In 2016, nearly two million American parents said they had to quit their job, refuse a new one, or significantly change the one they had thanks to problems with child care. One of the reasons that the United States has fallen so far behind our international peers when it comes to the share of women in the labor force is that we invest so few resources in child care and early education. Since the 1990s, the rising cost of private day care has reduced employment for American mothers of children ages 5 and younger by 13 percent.
  • If child care is infrastructure, then, it should be nearly self-evident that care for the elderly and disabled is, too. Children aren’t the only members of our families who require daily care. But we offer miserly support for those who need to secure and pay for it. Medicare doesn’t cover nursing home or assisted living stays, only Medicaid does, requiring families with resources to spend them down before they can get assistance with the exorbitant cost. Medicare also doesn’t cover in-home care, and not all state Medicaid programs cover it.
  • Paid leave helps mothers in particular stay connected to their jobs before and after the arrival of a new child. On top of that, an analysis of more than 10,000 companies found that after they offered paid leave the majority had an increase in revenue and profit per each employee — in other words, it allowed workers to perform better.
  • All of these things clearly undergird the functioning of our economy, just as a smooth road allows trucks to transport goods to stores and drivers to get to their workplaces. It’s one thing to debate whether or not to invest in them. But there’s no rational argument for why they should be excluded from Mr. Biden’s focus on repairing and upgrading the systems that keep our country running.
delgadool

Senate impeachment trial of Trump begins with rancor over witnesses and new evidence ab... - 0 views

www.washingtonpost.com/...a-9541-9107303481a4_story.html

shared by delgadool on 19 Jan 20 - No Cached
  • Republican lawmakers appeared unswayed by the new information, focusing on attacking the Democratic-led investigation in the House for not uncovering the evidence before sending the impeachment articles to the Senate.
  • Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) said it is the responsibility of the House, not the Senate, to gather evidence and present a case for impeachment.
  • The chorus of Republicans unwilling to consider additional evidence served as an indication that Democrats will face an uphill climb in their attempts to further build a case against Trump as the Senate trial plays out. The impeachment charges center on the allegation that the president withheld military aid and a White House meeting to pressure Ukraine to investigate his political rivals, including former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • Parnas — who has been trying to get House impeachment investigators’ attention for weeks — alleged in an interview with NBC News on Wednesday evening that Trump personally blessed his covert effort to pressure Ukraine to investigate his political adversaries. He also admitted to conveying to the Ukrainians a “quid pro quo” message that aid would flow only when the nation publicly committed to such a probe.
  • “President Trump thus warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust or profit under the United States,” Schiff said as he finished reading from the articles.
  • “In America, trials have evidence, and coverups do not,” said Sen. Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.).
  • “My view on it is, I want to wait and start by hearing from both sides and then ask the questions and then be informed by that,” Cramer said. “You know, I think at this point we’re all in jury mode, and that’s the best way to proceed. It’s really up to the House managers to make the case for these things. I’m certainly open to it. And we’ll see what they say.”
delgadool

Pelosi Vows to Move Forward With Independent Inquiry Into Capitol Riot - The New York T... - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...pelosi-riot-commission.html

politics trump

shared by delgadool on 16 Feb 21 - No Cached
  • Calls have grown for a bipartisan, independent investigation into the law enforcement and administrative failures that led to the first breach of the Capitol complex
  • “There’s still more evidence that the American people need and deserve to hear,” Senator Chris Coons, Democrat of Delaware, said over the weekend on ABC’s “This Week,” adding that a commission would “make sure that we secure the Capitol going forward and that we lay bare the record of just how responsible” Mr. Trump was for the attack.
  • Ms. Pelosi said the panel would be assigned to “investigate and report on the facts and causes relating to the Jan. 6, 2021, domestic terrorist attack upon the United States Capitol complex” as well as “the interference with the peaceful transfer of power.”
hannahcarter11

In Biden's Home State, Republican Centrism Gives Way to the Fringe - The New York Times - 1 views

www.nytimes.com/...iden-republicans-delaware.html

Delaware politics Trump QAnon Witzke Senate Coons

shared by hannahcarter11 on 06 Oct 20 - No Cached
    • hannahcarter11
      hannahcarter11 on 06 Oct 20
       
      So not only is she prejudiced, but her entire team is prejudiced too! And seen here, it is clear that Pres. Trump's statement about the Proud Boys has caused a resurgence nationwide. Delaware is not immune to white supremacy.
    • hannahcarter11
      hannahcarter11 on 06 Oct 20
       
      Earlier in the summer, I went to a BLM protest that she led. It is clear that she has been on the frontlines of this fight since the beginning.
  • Across the street, Keandra McDole, sister of a wheelchair-bound Black man who was killed in 2015 by the Delaware police, chanted “Lauren Witzke’s got to go,”
  • ...13 more annotations...
  • It’s sad that voters feel like they only have a choice between democratic socialism and white supremacy.
  • Ms. Witzke’s ascent in Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s home state may be the nadir of the Delaware Republican Party’s rapid swerve from patrician moderation to the far-right fringe
  • Republicans running statewide are facing a choice: Appeal to the vocal extreme or find some way to assemble a more centrist coalition that could actually elect them.
  • That was an easy case to make not long ago in tiny Delaware, population 974,000, where “the Delaware way” was a model of centrist political accommodation.
  • The F.B.I. has warned that QAnon poses a potential domestic terrorism threat.
    • hannahcarter11
      hannahcarter11 on 06 Oct 20
       
      How in the world could all of those charges be dropped?
  • “People are so tired of George Bush-era politics. Nationalist populism is the future,” Ms. Witzke said. “America First is the future. And that is what I am.”
  • The Republican Party has to be open-minded about the people who live in this country and get back on some sort of track that makes sense to the average voter,
  • You can’t just have ideological beliefs that don’t appeal to a majority of people in a state — or the country.
  • Ms. Witzke’s message to moderates, she said: “It’s me or Antifa.”
  • On Wednesday, a day after Mr. Trump’s Proud Boys remarks during the first presidential debate, Ms. Witzke took to Twitter to create more headaches for her party. “The Proud Boys showed up to one of my rallies to provide free security for me when #BLM and ANTIFA were protesting my candidacy,” she wrote, neglecting to mention that the Proud Boys outnumbered the McDole family protesters at the event.
  • “We are sick and tired of pandering and people electing government officials who will cave to the mob,”
  • Gathered with her in the parking lot of the Republican Party headquarters here was a self-appointed security guard with a gun on his hip, a political adviser whose losing clients include candidates accused of racism and anti-Semitism, and a smattering of Proud Boys, the far-right brawlers whom President Trump told to “stand back and stand by.”
katherineharron

Amy Coney Barrett hearing: Takeaways from Wednesday - CNNPolitics - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

supreme court

shared by katherineharron on 14 Oct 20 - No Cached
  • Barrett again declined to preview how she would rule on potential cases during her confirmation hearing, as she did for the previous two days, seeking to portray herself as an independent judge without an agenda.
  • Lindsey Graham seemed to suggest that Barrett would vote to uphold the Affordable Care Act in an upcoming case because of a judicial principle known as severability, defending himself from political attacks in his tough reelection race against Democrat Jaime Harrison.
  • "From a conservative point of view, generally speaking, we want legislative bodies to make laws, not judges," Graham said later. "Would it be further true that if you can preserve a statue you try to, to the extent possible?"
  • ...13 more annotations...
  • "That is true," Barrett responded.
  • California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the Judiciary Committee's top Democrat, also asked the nominee about the severability doctrine. Barrett explained to Feinstein that the doctrine was like a game of "Jenga," where a court must decide whether a law can stand if it pulls out part of it.
  • Vermont Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy said that Barrett had not written or spoken in defense of the ACA but had publicly criticized the court and Chief Justice John Roberts for voting to uphold sections of it. Barrett said on Wednesday she had previously spoken as an academic rather than as a judge, and had "never had occasion to speak on the policy question."
  • Barrett later told Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, "I have no animus to, or agenda for, the Affordable Care Act."
  • Barrett said, "No one is above the law," but declined to answer the question, saying it "has never been litigated."
  • "So because it would be opining on an open question when I haven't gone through the judicial process to decide it, it's not one in which I can offer a view."
  • Delaware Democratic Sen. Chris Coons asked Barrett if she agreed with her mentor and former boss, the late Justice Antonin Scalia, that Griswold v. Connecticut, which established that married couples have a right to obtain and use contraception in the privacy of their own home, was wrongly decided.
  • She explained that it's "unthinkable that any legislature would pass such a law" prohibiting the use of birth control and that it's "very unlikely" a lower court would buck the Supreme Court precedent.
  • Barrett said that "the only reason that it's even worth asking that question" is because the 1965 case underpins the 1973 landmark case Roe v. Wade, which found a constitutional right to abortion. "So because Griswold involves substantive due process, an area that remains subject to litigation to the country, I don't think it's an issue or case that I can opine on," she said. "But nor do I think Griswold is in danger of going anywhere."
  • California Sen. Kamala Harris, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, asked Barrett about Shelby County v. Holder, which allowed some jurisdictions with a history of voter suppression to escape additional federal scrutiny under the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
  • "I think racial discrimination still exists in the United States, and I think we've seen evidence of that this summer," added Barrett.Harris later asked Harris if Covid-19 is infectious, whether smoking causes cancer and whether climate change is "happening and is threatening the air we breathe and the water we drink."
  • "I will not do that," she said. "I will not express a view on a matter of public policy, especially one that is politically controversial because that's inconsistent with the judicial role as I have explained."
  • Republican senators appeared confident on Wednesday that they will confirm the Notre Dame law professor and judge on the 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals by the end of the month, giving conservatives a strong 6-3 majority on the Supreme Court.
martinelligi

Live Stream and Updates: Amy Coney Barrett Confirmation Hearing - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...amy-coney-barrett-live

barrett SCOTUS politics

shared by martinelligi on 13 Oct 20 - No Cached
  • Justices do not set an agenda, Judge Barrett said, they respond to the cases that come before them. The description of the process was accurate, but also largely irrelevant in today’s legal world, where interest groups seek out and advance cases to come to the Supreme Court for the express purpose of getting justices to rule on policies to match their political beliefs.
  • “Judges cannot just wake up one day and say, ‘I have an agenda — I like guns, I hate guns, I like abortion, I hate abortion,’ and walk in like a royal queen and impose their will on the world,” Judge Barrett said.
    • martinelligi
      martinelligi on 13 Oct 20
       
      True, however our biases impact every decision we make and on such an important scale many things are at stake.
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • Justice Scalia had famously written that the Roe v. Wade decision establishing abortion rights was wrongly decided and should be overturned, Judge Barrett refused to clarify her own views on the issue.
  • But at the same time, she declined to say whether she would recuse herself, if confirmed, from considering an upcoming case in which Republican states are trying again to get the Supreme Court to strike down the Affordable Care Act — or from any case that may arise if there is a legal dispute over the outcome of next month’s presidential election.
  • Judge Amy Coney Barrett declared at her Supreme Court confirmation hearing on Tuesday that she was “not here on a mission to destroy the Affordable Care Act” and would not “allow myself to be used as a pawn to decide this election for the American people.”
  • Supreme Court justices do not like to recuse themselves, in part because, unlike at the district and appeals court levels, there is no one to replace them if they step aside. If a justice decides to stay on a case despite accusations of a conflict of interest, there is no appeal.
  • Judge Barrett eventually defended herself to Senator Chris Coons, Democrat of Delaware, insisting that she had integrity “to apply the law as the law” and was not trying to achieve any political end
  • Asked about other issues — notably abortion rights — Judge Barrett spoke about the doctrine of “stare decisis,” which says the Supreme Court should be reluctant to revisit issues it has previously decided.
  • “In English, that means I interpret the Constitution as a law,” said Judge Barrett. “The text is text, and I understand it to have the meaning that it had at the time people ratified it. It does not change over time, and it is not up to me to update it or infuse my own views into it.”
    • martinelligi
      martinelligi on 13 Oct 20
       
      This is the end of the two separate articles I read on the matter- this page is a compilation.
martinelligi

Democrats' Arguments Against Amy Coney Barrett : Live: Amy Coney Barrett's Supreme Cour... - 0 views

www.npr.org/...t-they-call-dangerous-regressi

democrats supreme court barrett politics

shared by martinelligi on 16 Oct 20 - No Cached
  • "You are moving ahead with this nomination because you can. But might does not make right," said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., on Thursday. "In your hearts, you know that's what's happening here is not right ... history will haunt this raw exercise of power." In 2016, Republicans used their majority in the upper chamber to deny then-President Barack Obama a Supreme Court nominee, waiting until after Donald Trump had been elected and he could submit a name of his own. And although senators including the Judiciary Committee's chairman, Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., had suggested they wouldn't do that again, they are.
  • In Democrats' telling, Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., need Barrett confirmed as soon as possible so she will be in position to hear arguments in a case in November that could affect the Affordable Care Act.
  • She, Coons, Blumenthal and the other Judiciary Committee members warn that the Barrett-era Supreme Court could be consequential across a number of other issues, too, and they cited Barrett's unwillingness to give substantive answers about climate change, voting practices and even Trump's claim about his power to pardon himself.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • There has been little tension about Barrett's nomination since a sufficient number of members of the Senate majority suggested they would go along generally and support her specifically, and she appears on track to be confirmed.
  • These
  • "These are lifetime appointments. They last for decades. What is done here will affect policies long after our lifetimes end," she said. "There's never been a situation quite like this."
katherineharron

Joe Biden's Catholic faith will be on full display as the first churchgoing president i... - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

biden

shared by katherineharron on 13 Dec 20 - No Cached
  • Joe Biden rarely misses Sunday Mass. So it was notable when the President-elect didn't attend church on November 29, the first Sunday of Advent and the beginning of the season when Roman Catholics like Biden prepare for Christmas.
  • But the following weekend, Biden was back at his home parish in Wilmington, Delaware -- St. Joseph on the Brandywine -- for Saturday's vigil Mass. He was there again on Tuesday on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, a holy day of obligation.
  • That's a level of devotion to regular religious services not seen from recent presidents, who were professed Christians but intermittently attended church or worshipped privately while in office.
  • ...18 more annotations...
  • Donald Trump has not had a habit of attending church services weekly, though he made several appearances at the Episcopal church in West Palm Beach near his resort as well as at various evangelical churches across the country.
  • Barack Obama would go to church for the occasional Christmas or Easter service in Washington or on vacation in Hawaii, but rarely during the rest of the year. And George W. Bush, despite being a high-profile born-again Christian, tended to worship privately as president and only attended church when back home in Texas.
  • He fashioned himself as the candidate standing up for morality and decency, fighting for the soul of America and calling on the country to "embark on the work that God and history have called upon us to do."
  • He's open about and proud that he's a Catholic,"
  • "Joe's faith isn't just part of who he is," said Sen. Chris Coons, the Democrat from Delaware and a friend of Biden's. "It's foundational to who he is."
  • He attended Catholic schools and married his first wife, Neilia, in a Catholic church. He peppers his political speech with quotes from Scripture, Catholic hymns and references to the nuns and priests he learned from in school.
  • And while it's unclear whether he will adopt a permanent parish in Washington during his term, Biden's churchgoing will not only provide a window into his spiritual side. It will also be core to his political brand -- apparent not just in the pursuit of his policy agenda but even in his schedule as President.
  • Since childhood, Biden has been a regular at Mass. He frequently worships with family members, often attending with some of his grandchildren in tow.
  • While touring across the country in his presidential campaign, Biden would quietly slip into a local Catholic church for Mass -- often coming in a few minutes late or leaving a few minutes early, to avoid the rush. He was even spotted attending daily Mass on Election Day at his parish in Wilmington, Delaware.
  • On the day Biden was inaugurated as Vice President in 2009, he asked O'Brien to preside over a private Mass at Georgetown beforehand
  • These services, said the priest, reflected how important the Catholic faith and ritual were to Biden, particularly on two of the most joyful days of his life. But his faith in Christ and devotion to the church also bolstered Biden during his lowest moments.
  • The President-elect, who regularly wears his late son's rosary on his wrist, has publicly spoken about the role his faith has played in carrying him through grief.
  • "I'm not trying to proselytize, I'm not trying to convince you to be, to share my religious views. But for me it's important because it gives me some reason to have hope and purpose," Biden shared earlier this year during a CNN town hall with a grieving pastor who'd lost his wife during the Charleston shooting, explaining that he'd promised his own dying son that he would continue to stay engaged and not retreat into himself.
  • Catholics have become integrated into American public life to the point where Biden's religious affiliation is just another point in his biography. The last three Speakers of the House have been Catholics, and so are the majority of justices on the Supreme Court. Biden was the first Catholic to serve as vice president.
  • CNN's exit polls showed Catholics were nearly evenly split, with 52% supporting Biden and 47% supporting Trump. That's an improvement for Biden over Hillary Clinton's performance with Catholics four years ago, when she lost them to Trump 50% to 46%.
  • Ashley McGuire, a senior fellow at the conservative Catholic Association, said it will be difficult to separate Biden's liberalism on abortion and contraception from how he's viewed by Catholics -- especially because of how his campaign emphasized his faith.
  • "The issues where people have been the most divided and where the political left and the political right, and Catholics, have been so split are the issues where that department is going to be involved," McGuire said. "It was his move, and he sort of set a tone that suggests attack. And that's unfortunate."
  • "His faith is reflective of his compassion and empathy, his commitment to the vulnerable, and his service to the country," said O'Brien.
lilyrashkind

Federal officials say efforts in Wilmington are national example of how to address hous... - 0 views

www.wdel.com/...c8-11ec-ac70-eb1e5f42b434.html

housing wilmington US

shared by lilyrashkind on 02 Jun 22 - No Cached
  • On a day where, nationally, federal officials unveiled an initiative to address the affordable housing shortage, efforts to provide such opportunities in Wilmington were highlighted as an example of what was achievable when all levels of government and community worked together for the greater good. While U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Regional Administrator Matthew Heckle noted June is a month where homeownership is celebrated, he called June 1st a "national day of action" to answer President Joe Biden's call to "solve the housing supply deficit that our nation faces, and makes it so difficult for so many families to find, afford and keep a roof over their heads."
  • From the front yards of the Habitat For Humanity-built Amara Way II townhomes along Bennett Street in Wilmington--and across from the Amala Way I homes previously completed--HUD Deputy Secretary Adrianne Todman said everywhere she travels across the country, she's heard from someone who's had trouble accessing home ownership.Luckily, she said, the problem is one that can be addressed, and through the Our Way Home initiative, HUD's "answer to the president's call to solve the housing supply deficit that our nation faces," the steps to do so are ones being accomplished in Wilmington already. 
  • "One of the reasons I love coming to events like this is that I pick up something, I learn something that I then talk about throughout the rest of the country," Todman said. "What you're doing here, I will be talking about in Nevada, in Idaho, in Florida, in Wyoming, because it's going to take this level of intentionality...for us to be moving forward as a country, as we should."Addressing housing issues should be everyone's focus, said U.S. Sen. Chris Coons, because it's the number one priority to be fixed that can impact all the other issues that drag a community down. Ensuring access to safe, affordable, quality housing trickles down to ultimately impacting issues in education, public health, public safety, and challenges with families, children, and seniors. 
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • Additionally joined by U.S. Sen. Tom Carper, New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer, and Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki, Habitat for Humanity of New Castle County CEO Kevin Smith told everyone to get ready for a serious facelift for a Wilmington neighborhood that often gets a bad rap.
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