Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
babylonsister
babylonsister's Journal
babylonsister's Journal
October 23, 2019
Fadel Allassan
41 mins ago
Dick's CEO Ed Stack reportedly testing a 2020 presidential bid
Dick's Sporting Goods CEO Ed Stack assembled a focus group this week to explore the possibility of a third-party presidential bid in 2020, Politico reports.
Why it matters: Under Stack, Dick's instituted tougher gun sales restrictions and destroyed $5 million worth of assault weapons rather than send them back to manufacturers. The post-Parkland moves were divisive in today's polarized climate and ultimately made a dent in the company's bottom line — which could lead to questions about Stack's motives to implement them as he tests the 2020 bid.
What happened: According to Politico, the focus group was shown short videos of Stack, along with videos of Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren and Schultz.
Focus group members were asked if they would consider a third-party candidate, and ended the session by filling out sample ballots that matched Stack with Trump and Warren and with Trump and Biden.
Dick's CEO Ed Stack reportedly testing a 2020 presidential bid
https://www.axios.com/dicks-sporting-goods-ed-stack-president-2020-1b2f0ddd-7322-4ed0-9de1-137121a538c3.htmlFadel Allassan
41 mins ago
Dick's CEO Ed Stack reportedly testing a 2020 presidential bid
Dick's Sporting Goods CEO Ed Stack assembled a focus group this week to explore the possibility of a third-party presidential bid in 2020, Politico reports.
Why it matters: Under Stack, Dick's instituted tougher gun sales restrictions and destroyed $5 million worth of assault weapons rather than send them back to manufacturers. The post-Parkland moves were divisive in today's polarized climate and ultimately made a dent in the company's bottom line — which could lead to questions about Stack's motives to implement them as he tests the 2020 bid.
A serious third-party contender, especially one with cachet as a Republican donor and the personal wealth to bankroll a campaign, could have an impact on the 2020 race.
But Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz had a similar centrist focus and couldn't generate excitement for his own 2020 bid.
But Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz had a similar centrist focus and couldn't generate excitement for his own 2020 bid.
What happened: According to Politico, the focus group was shown short videos of Stack, along with videos of Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren and Schultz.
Focus group members were asked if they would consider a third-party candidate, and ended the session by filling out sample ballots that matched Stack with Trump and Warren and with Trump and Biden.
October 23, 2019
Steve Bannon launches radio show and podcast on impeachment
Ka-ching! He learned the lesson well.
Steve Bannon launches radio show and podcast on impeachment
By DANIEL LIPPMAN
10/22/2019 07:04 PM EDT
Steve Bannon, President Donald Trump’s former chief strategist, is starting a daily radio show and podcast about impeachment that will provide a platform for conservatives to share news and strategize.
The hourlong show, which starts Wednesday and is called “ War Room: Impeachment,” will air daily at 9 a.m. on six conservative talk radio stations in Virginia and Florida. Bannon said he’s in talks with radio stations in other cities, including New York, and he also hopes to have a webcast of the show.
Bannon told POLITICO that the audience would be political operatives in Washington, as well as conservative grassroots activists across the country.
The show will be about the impeachment process, specifically the witnesses and the evidence, and “is going to get very granular,” Bannon said, adding he will aim to break news and make the show an outlet for people to leak information related impeachment.
He said he plans to interview legal experts from the conservative Federalist Society, former U.S. attorneys, journalists and lawmakers, and even Democrats. The Washington Post first reported Tuesday morning that Bannon had been thinking about starting an impeachment-related podcast.
more...
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/22/steve-bannon-radio-show-podcast-impeachment-055167
October 23, 2019
How ‘Strange Fruit’ Killed Billie Holiday
by Brandon Weber
February 20, 2018
snip//
At times, her performance of the song was met with fierce pushback. Though many people knew that lynchings of African-Americans in the South were common, there was resistance to ending the practice among Southern whites. Racism, combined with a popular desire to limit federal power over local concerns,kept people in the North from making any successful moves to end lynchings in the South.
In the end, Billie Holiday’s insistence on performing “Strange Fruit” may have been responsible for her demise.
One of the primary attempts to silence her came from a man named Harry Anslinger, the first commissioner for the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, and an extreme racist, even for the 1930s. As Johann Hari details in Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs, Anslinger claimed that narcotics made black people forget their place in the fabric of American society, and that jazz musicians were dangerous in particular, creating “Satanic” music under the influence of marijuana.
Holiday, who throughout her career called public attention to the devastating impact of white supremacy, was also a drug user. She drew Anslinger’s notice, and he ordered Holiday to cease performing the song. Holiday refused, and Anslinger ramped up his efforts to silence her.
After one of Anslinger’s men was paid to track Holiday and frame her with buying and using heroin, she spent eighteen months in prison. Upon her release in 1948, the federal government refused to renew her cabaret performer’s license, mandatory for any performer playing or singing at any club or bar serving alcohol.
This utterly undermined her career. Although Holiday was able to perform multiple sold-out Carnegie Hall performances over the next several years, she could no longer travel the nightclub circuit.
Unable to perform regularly at the venues she loved, and to stop remembering a childhood that included being raped at age ten, and working in a brothel with her mother, Holiday eventually began using heroin again. When she checked into a New York hospital in 1959, her liver was failing and cancerous. She was emaciated, and her heart and lungs were compromised. Despite her condition, she didn’t want to stay there. “They’re going to kill me. They’re going to kill me in there. Don’t let them,” she presciently told friends and family.
more...
https://progressive.org/dispatches/strange-fruit-caused-the-murder-of-billie-holiday-180220/?fbclid=IwAR0pEWeczP2QMBB6_Pk73f9wQ64RxNm3Sl1hpqssjT0MwAbcm9Lvg2XZR7s
How 'Strange Fruit' Killed Billie Holiday
How ‘Strange Fruit’ Killed Billie Holiday
by Brandon Weber
February 20, 2018
snip//
Southern trees bear strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees
At times, her performance of the song was met with fierce pushback. Though many people knew that lynchings of African-Americans in the South were common, there was resistance to ending the practice among Southern whites. Racism, combined with a popular desire to limit federal power over local concerns,kept people in the North from making any successful moves to end lynchings in the South.
In the end, Billie Holiday’s insistence on performing “Strange Fruit” may have been responsible for her demise.
One of the primary attempts to silence her came from a man named Harry Anslinger, the first commissioner for the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, and an extreme racist, even for the 1930s. As Johann Hari details in Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs, Anslinger claimed that narcotics made black people forget their place in the fabric of American society, and that jazz musicians were dangerous in particular, creating “Satanic” music under the influence of marijuana.
Holiday, who throughout her career called public attention to the devastating impact of white supremacy, was also a drug user. She drew Anslinger’s notice, and he ordered Holiday to cease performing the song. Holiday refused, and Anslinger ramped up his efforts to silence her.
After one of Anslinger’s men was paid to track Holiday and frame her with buying and using heroin, she spent eighteen months in prison. Upon her release in 1948, the federal government refused to renew her cabaret performer’s license, mandatory for any performer playing or singing at any club or bar serving alcohol.
This utterly undermined her career. Although Holiday was able to perform multiple sold-out Carnegie Hall performances over the next several years, she could no longer travel the nightclub circuit.
Unable to perform regularly at the venues she loved, and to stop remembering a childhood that included being raped at age ten, and working in a brothel with her mother, Holiday eventually began using heroin again. When she checked into a New York hospital in 1959, her liver was failing and cancerous. She was emaciated, and her heart and lungs were compromised. Despite her condition, she didn’t want to stay there. “They’re going to kill me. They’re going to kill me in there. Don’t let them,” she presciently told friends and family.
more...
https://progressive.org/dispatches/strange-fruit-caused-the-murder-of-billie-holiday-180220/?fbclid=IwAR0pEWeczP2QMBB6_Pk73f9wQ64RxNm3Sl1hpqssjT0MwAbcm9Lvg2XZR7s
October 23, 2019
Why Does the U.S. Have Nukes in Turkey, Anyway?
The tangled Cold War history has made the crisis in Turkey much more dangerous.
By Fred Kaplan
Oct 22, 20195:21 PM
Senior officials are reportedly discussing whether and how to remove U.S. nuclear weapons from the Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, which raises two questions: Why did we put nukes in Turkey in the first place, and why—almost 30 years after the end of the Cold War—are they still there?
snip//
In 1987, Presidents Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which banned all U.S. and Soviet missiles with a range of 500 to 5,000 kilometers—resulting in the dismantlement of about 2,000 Soviet missiles facing Europe and 572 American missiles with the ability to strike the USSR from bases in Western Europe.
In 1991, with the implosion of the Soviet Union and the formal end of the Cold War, President George H.W. Bush unilaterally dismantled nearly all tactical nuclear weapons in Europe and South Korea—inviting Boris Yeltsin, the president of the new Russian Federation, to respond in kind (which he did, for a while). By this time, U.S. conventional defenses had greatly improved, and many military commanders viewed the tactical nukes as more of a hindrance to security than a help.
However, Bush retained the small arsenal of U.S. nuclear bombs—numbering about 180—at the handful of NATO air bases, including Incirlik. In fact, the bombs were “modernized.” The old B61 bombs had the explosive power of 1 megaton; the new ones have “dial-a-yield” options, ranging from 340 kilotons down to a fraction of a kiloton. (A kiloton has the blast power of 1,000 tons of TNT; a megaton has the blast power of 1 million tons.)
In 2010, President Barack Obama entered the Oval Office, intent on “reducing the role of nuclear weapons in national security policy,” as he put it in a high-profile speech. His NATO ambassador, Ivo Daalder, proposed cutting the number of B61s by half. No one any longer believed that these bombs had any military purpose, so the move would serve as a token of Obama’s sincerity—and perhaps inspire other nuclear powers to follow suit. However, Obama’s top security advisers quashed the idea. U.S. and Russian diplomats were negotiating an update to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which was about to expire, and Hillary Clinton—Obama’s former political opponent who was now his secretary of state—argued that unilateral cuts would diminish her bargaining leverage. She and others also feared that the move would upset NATO allies, who were still reeling from George W. Bush’s eight-year reign. The fact that the bombs had little, if any, military utility bolstered the case that they were needed to cement trans-Atlantic political ties. Daalder’s proposal was rejected at an interagency meeting of the National Security Council, with little discussion.
Now, almost 10 years later, some regret the casual dismissal, as tensions with Turkey are cresting, to the point where some are talking about expelling it from NATO.
A few years ago, a U.S. security team tested the locks on the bombs at Incirlik and deemed them satisfactory. But the Turks own the base, and if they kicked the Americans out, it’s not impossible that they could break the locks and declare the bombs to be theirs.
Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared this week that he wants to build his own nuclear arsenal. He is not the first Turkish leader to mull such ambitions, but as his sense of power and independence has grown—fueled by a blossoming alliance with Russia and a new bout of muscle-flexing in northern Syria, stemming from Trump’s abandonment of the area—the prospect of a Turkish bomb looms as a real possibility. At this point, if the U.S. took away the 50 B61s at Incirlik, one could imagine Erdogan rushing to build or buy his own bomb, almost out of spite. John Pike, director of the research firm GlobalSecurity.org, also notes that if Saudi Arabia or Iran were to go nuclear in the coming years, Turkey would certainly follow suit in short order.
more...
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/10/turkey-nukes-incirlik-cold-war.html
Why Does the U.S. Have Nukes in Turkey, Anyway?
Why Does the U.S. Have Nukes in Turkey, Anyway?
The tangled Cold War history has made the crisis in Turkey much more dangerous.
By Fred Kaplan
Oct 22, 20195:21 PM
Senior officials are reportedly discussing whether and how to remove U.S. nuclear weapons from the Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, which raises two questions: Why did we put nukes in Turkey in the first place, and why—almost 30 years after the end of the Cold War—are they still there?
snip//
In 1987, Presidents Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which banned all U.S. and Soviet missiles with a range of 500 to 5,000 kilometers—resulting in the dismantlement of about 2,000 Soviet missiles facing Europe and 572 American missiles with the ability to strike the USSR from bases in Western Europe.
In 1991, with the implosion of the Soviet Union and the formal end of the Cold War, President George H.W. Bush unilaterally dismantled nearly all tactical nuclear weapons in Europe and South Korea—inviting Boris Yeltsin, the president of the new Russian Federation, to respond in kind (which he did, for a while). By this time, U.S. conventional defenses had greatly improved, and many military commanders viewed the tactical nukes as more of a hindrance to security than a help.
However, Bush retained the small arsenal of U.S. nuclear bombs—numbering about 180—at the handful of NATO air bases, including Incirlik. In fact, the bombs were “modernized.” The old B61 bombs had the explosive power of 1 megaton; the new ones have “dial-a-yield” options, ranging from 340 kilotons down to a fraction of a kiloton. (A kiloton has the blast power of 1,000 tons of TNT; a megaton has the blast power of 1 million tons.)
In 2010, President Barack Obama entered the Oval Office, intent on “reducing the role of nuclear weapons in national security policy,” as he put it in a high-profile speech. His NATO ambassador, Ivo Daalder, proposed cutting the number of B61s by half. No one any longer believed that these bombs had any military purpose, so the move would serve as a token of Obama’s sincerity—and perhaps inspire other nuclear powers to follow suit. However, Obama’s top security advisers quashed the idea. U.S. and Russian diplomats were negotiating an update to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which was about to expire, and Hillary Clinton—Obama’s former political opponent who was now his secretary of state—argued that unilateral cuts would diminish her bargaining leverage. She and others also feared that the move would upset NATO allies, who were still reeling from George W. Bush’s eight-year reign. The fact that the bombs had little, if any, military utility bolstered the case that they were needed to cement trans-Atlantic political ties. Daalder’s proposal was rejected at an interagency meeting of the National Security Council, with little discussion.
Now, almost 10 years later, some regret the casual dismissal, as tensions with Turkey are cresting, to the point where some are talking about expelling it from NATO.
A few years ago, a U.S. security team tested the locks on the bombs at Incirlik and deemed them satisfactory. But the Turks own the base, and if they kicked the Americans out, it’s not impossible that they could break the locks and declare the bombs to be theirs.
Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared this week that he wants to build his own nuclear arsenal. He is not the first Turkish leader to mull such ambitions, but as his sense of power and independence has grown—fueled by a blossoming alliance with Russia and a new bout of muscle-flexing in northern Syria, stemming from Trump’s abandonment of the area—the prospect of a Turkish bomb looms as a real possibility. At this point, if the U.S. took away the 50 B61s at Incirlik, one could imagine Erdogan rushing to build or buy his own bomb, almost out of spite. John Pike, director of the research firm GlobalSecurity.org, also notes that if Saudi Arabia or Iran were to go nuclear in the coming years, Turkey would certainly follow suit in short order.
more...
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/10/turkey-nukes-incirlik-cold-war.html
October 23, 2019
‘Pilfered from His Clients’: Trump Inaugural Committee Donor Agrees to Plead Guilty to Multiple Federal Crimes
by Colin Kalmbacher | 6:39 pm, October 22nd, 2019
A mega-donor to President Donald Trump’s Inaugural Committee agreed to plead guilty on Tuesday to various federal crimes, including tax evasion and making nearly $1 million in illegal campaign contributions from foreign sources.
According to a press release issued by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), 49-year-old California resident Imaad Shah Zuberi also falsified “records to conceal his work as a foreign agent while lobbying high-level U.S. government officials.”
Under the terms of that 66-page plea agreement, Zuberi will plead guilty to violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) as well as the above-mentioned tax and campaign finance charges in exchange for prosecutors agreeing not to charge him with mail or wire fraud, failure to tell federal authorities about his foreign bank accounts, money laundering, or obstruction of justice.
Zuberi has also agreed to pay back taxes and to put himself into compliance with FARA obligations. Prosecutors will also decline to prosecute Zuberi’s wife over potential tax and fraud issues.
more...
https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/trump-inaugural-committee-donor-pleads-guilty-to-multiple-federal-crimes/?fbclid=IwAR3N_V_cf3eoHQ3MulBmRlDdO4gvI17FpGl9Uaf7QPAPqe7CdLnT78bRhuw
...Trump Inaugural Committee Donor Agrees to Plead Guilty to Multiple Federal Crimes
‘Pilfered from His Clients’: Trump Inaugural Committee Donor Agrees to Plead Guilty to Multiple Federal Crimes
by Colin Kalmbacher | 6:39 pm, October 22nd, 2019
A mega-donor to President Donald Trump’s Inaugural Committee agreed to plead guilty on Tuesday to various federal crimes, including tax evasion and making nearly $1 million in illegal campaign contributions from foreign sources.
According to a press release issued by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), 49-year-old California resident Imaad Shah Zuberi also falsified “records to conceal his work as a foreign agent while lobbying high-level U.S. government officials.”
“Zuberi engaged in lobbying efforts that earned him millions of dollars, most of which was pilfered from his clients,” the DOJ’s press release says. “Zuberi has agreed to plead guilty to those charges at a later date, pursuant to a plea agreement.”
Under the terms of that 66-page plea agreement, Zuberi will plead guilty to violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) as well as the above-mentioned tax and campaign finance charges in exchange for prosecutors agreeing not to charge him with mail or wire fraud, failure to tell federal authorities about his foreign bank accounts, money laundering, or obstruction of justice.
Zuberi has also agreed to pay back taxes and to put himself into compliance with FARA obligations. Prosecutors will also decline to prosecute Zuberi’s wife over potential tax and fraud issues.
more...
https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/trump-inaugural-committee-donor-pleads-guilty-to-multiple-federal-crimes/?fbclid=IwAR3N_V_cf3eoHQ3MulBmRlDdO4gvI17FpGl9Uaf7QPAPqe7CdLnT78bRhuw
October 22, 2019
Plants are going extinct up to 500 times faster than the historical average
Annie Kin
Posted on October 22, 2019
Biologically diverse ‘hotspots’ are at the greatest risk for mass extinction, with Hawai’i’ being the “most dangerous place” for plants.
We are living during the time that some ecologists are calling the “sixth mass extinction.”
Throughout the lifespan of the Earth, species have gone extinct at a very minimal rate called the “background extinction rate.”
After analyzing the populations of more than 330,000 seed-bearing plants around the world, a study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution relays the horrific findings that about three plant species have gone extinct on Earth every year since 1900.
This is 500 times greater than the normal background rate.
Aside from the sheer quantity of species going extinct currently, there is one major difference with current extinctions and background extinction. Most of these current extinctions are the end result of reckless human activity, whereas background extinction is the natural ebb and flow of species in a slowly and constantly changing environment.
Mass extermination seems to be a more suited title for the human-driven catastrophe at hand.
more...
http://achnews.org/2019/10/22/plants-are-going-extinct-up-to-500-times-faster-than-the-historical-average/?fbclid=IwAR3ck-IJFN5hCdwyRE8Q0IIoq3Mz3iuXU12oEa-pPMGDz2i8VI10_a6wI1k
Plants are going extinct up to 500 times faster than the historical average
Plants are going extinct up to 500 times faster than the historical average
Annie Kin
Posted on October 22, 2019
Biologically diverse ‘hotspots’ are at the greatest risk for mass extinction, with Hawai’i’ being the “most dangerous place” for plants.
We are living during the time that some ecologists are calling the “sixth mass extinction.”
Throughout the lifespan of the Earth, species have gone extinct at a very minimal rate called the “background extinction rate.”
After analyzing the populations of more than 330,000 seed-bearing plants around the world, a study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution relays the horrific findings that about three plant species have gone extinct on Earth every year since 1900.
This is 500 times greater than the normal background rate.
Aside from the sheer quantity of species going extinct currently, there is one major difference with current extinctions and background extinction. Most of these current extinctions are the end result of reckless human activity, whereas background extinction is the natural ebb and flow of species in a slowly and constantly changing environment.
Mass extermination seems to be a more suited title for the human-driven catastrophe at hand.
more...
http://achnews.org/2019/10/22/plants-are-going-extinct-up-to-500-times-faster-than-the-historical-average/?fbclid=IwAR3ck-IJFN5hCdwyRE8Q0IIoq3Mz3iuXU12oEa-pPMGDz2i8VI10_a6wI1k
October 22, 2019
Obamacare Premiums Drop Again
October 22, 2019 at 10:06 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 69 Comments
Obamacare Premiums Drop Again
https://politicalwire.com/2019/10/22/obamacare-premiums-drop-again/Obamacare Premiums Drop Again
October 22, 2019 at 10:06 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 69 Comments
“Premiums for key plans sold on HealthCare.gov will drop by 4% on average next year, with several states seeing double-digit declines,” Politico reports.
“This marks the second straight year that the so-called benchmark premium has dropped and is a further sign that the Obamacare insurance marketplaces are stabilizing, even as the administration supports a lawsuit that could destroy the health care law.”
“This marks the second straight year that the so-called benchmark premium has dropped and is a further sign that the Obamacare insurance marketplaces are stabilizing, even as the administration supports a lawsuit that could destroy the health care law.”
October 22, 2019
In Rare Joint Statement, U.S. and European Lawmakers Condemn Trump for ‘Abandonment’ of the Kurds
by Jerry Lambe | 4:10 pm, October 21st, 2019
Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) on Monday issued a joint statement with his counterparts from several European allies condemning both President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops from northeast Syria and the Turkish government’s subsequent military offensive in the region.
A joint statement with foreign leaders is a rare occurrence, and follows bipartisan criticism of Trump’s decision to abandon America’s Kurdish allies.
The statement was co-signed by chairman of the U.K. House of Commons Committee on Foreign Affairs Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs David McAllister, chairman of the German Bundestag Committee on Foreign Affairs Norbert Rottgen, and Marielle de Sarnez, the chairwoman of the French National Assembly Committee on Foreign Affairs.
a bit more...
https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/in-rare-joint-statement-u-s-and-european-lawmakers-resoundingly-condemn-trump/?fbclid=IwAR1otoOcvQEBeScK6U2pjQm6Wm91JnKs5CHNpHcmzOszFxWOkvd9F_ceYdc
In Rare Joint Statement, U.S. and European Lawmakers Condemn Trump for 'Abandonment' of the Kurds
In Rare Joint Statement, U.S. and European Lawmakers Condemn Trump for ‘Abandonment’ of the Kurds
by Jerry Lambe | 4:10 pm, October 21st, 2019
Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) on Monday issued a joint statement with his counterparts from several European allies condemning both President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops from northeast Syria and the Turkish government’s subsequent military offensive in the region.
“We, the chairs of the Foreign Affairs Committees of the Parliaments of Germany, France, the United Kingdom, the European Parliament and the House of Representatives of the United States of America, jointly condemn in the strongest terms the Turkish military offensive in northeastern Syria,” the statement said. “We consider the intrusion as a military aggression and a violation of international law. The Turkish offensive is causing suffering for the local people who are forced to flee and a further instability in Syria and the neighboring region. We consider the abandonment of the Syrian Kurds to be wrong.”
“We deeply regret the decision of the President of United States to withdraw American troops from northeastern Syria which marks another landmark in the change of American foreign policy in the Near and Middle East. The turmoil caused by the Turkish offensive may contribute to a resurgence of Islamic terrorism and undermines years of effort and investment to bring stability and peace in this part of the world. Therefore, we hope the United States will take up its responsibility in Syria again,” the statement continued. “We consider the abandonment of the Syrian Kurds to be wrong. The Syrian Democratic Forces, our partner in the Global Coalition, massively contributed to the successful yet unfinished fight against Da’esh in Syria and incurred heavy losses by doing so.”
“We deeply regret the decision of the President of United States to withdraw American troops from northeastern Syria which marks another landmark in the change of American foreign policy in the Near and Middle East. The turmoil caused by the Turkish offensive may contribute to a resurgence of Islamic terrorism and undermines years of effort and investment to bring stability and peace in this part of the world. Therefore, we hope the United States will take up its responsibility in Syria again,” the statement continued. “We consider the abandonment of the Syrian Kurds to be wrong. The Syrian Democratic Forces, our partner in the Global Coalition, massively contributed to the successful yet unfinished fight against Da’esh in Syria and incurred heavy losses by doing so.”
A joint statement with foreign leaders is a rare occurrence, and follows bipartisan criticism of Trump’s decision to abandon America’s Kurdish allies.
The statement was co-signed by chairman of the U.K. House of Commons Committee on Foreign Affairs Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs David McAllister, chairman of the German Bundestag Committee on Foreign Affairs Norbert Rottgen, and Marielle de Sarnez, the chairwoman of the French National Assembly Committee on Foreign Affairs.
“This horrible war touches and affects the peoples of our countries in such an enormous way. For that reason, we, as members of our parliaments, feel compelled to making our common position clear. We unite across parties and nationalities to demonstrate our commitment to our common values, responsibility and interests,” the statement concluded.
a bit more...
https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/in-rare-joint-statement-u-s-and-european-lawmakers-resoundingly-condemn-trump/?fbclid=IwAR1otoOcvQEBeScK6U2pjQm6Wm91JnKs5CHNpHcmzOszFxWOkvd9F_ceYdc
October 22, 2019
Trump Handed ISIS Its Biggest Victory In Years
October 21, 2019 at 6:46 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard
Trump Handed ISIS Its Biggest Victory In Years
https://politicalwire.com/2019/10/21/trump-handed-isis-its-biggest-victory-in-years/Trump Handed ISIS Its Biggest Victory In Years
October 21, 2019 at 6:46 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard
New York Times: “When President Trump announced this month that he would pull American troops out of northern Syria and make way for a Turkish attack on the Kurds, Washington’s onetime allies, many warned that he was removing the spearhead of the campaign to defeat the Islamic State, also known as ISIS.”
“Now, analysts say that Mr. Trump’s pullout has handed the Islamic State its biggest win in more than four years and greatly improved its prospects. With American forces rushing for the exits, in fact, American officials said last week that they were already losing their ability to collect critical intelligence about the group’s operations on the ground.”
“Now, analysts say that Mr. Trump’s pullout has handed the Islamic State its biggest win in more than four years and greatly improved its prospects. With American forces rushing for the exits, in fact, American officials said last week that they were already losing their ability to collect critical intelligence about the group’s operations on the ground.”
October 21, 2019
BREAKING: Madison school district rescinds termination of staff member Marlon Anderson
Marlon Anderson.
By Jackson Danbeck, NBC15 Staff |
Posted: Mon 4:51 PM, Oct 21, 2019 |
Updated: Mon 6:18 PM, Oct 21, 2019
MADISON, Wis. (WMTV)-- The Madison school district has rescinded the termination of a staff member who was fired last week for using a racial slur.
According to a release from union Teachers Union Inc. on Monday, the Madison Metropolitan School District decided to rescind the termination of Anderson; that Anderson will be returned to pay status immediately including full benefits; and that Anderson will be on paid leave while a transition plan is finalized to return him to work.
Anderson was fired by the district last week after a black student said the n-word at him, and he repeated the racial slur when he told the teen not to use it.
At the time the district said Anderson was fired for violating its “zero-tolerance policy” for using the racial slur on school grounds.
The incident garnered national attention after hundreds of West High students protested the firing in a massive walkout last Friday. The Boys and Girls Club of Dane County meanwhile offered Anderson a temporary job, until the district gave him his old job back.
more...
https://www.nbc15.com/content/news/Madison-school-board-president-asks-former-West-HS-staff-member-be-rehired-563577261.html?%3F%3F%3F%3F%3F%3F%3F%3F%3F%3F%3F%3F%3F%3F%3F%3F%3F%3F%3F%3F&fbclid=IwAR0MI54dUz72-_zLXDvPaffVdXNWtszy3BfCHCFsdv61uefqb19wSWVpjz8
BREAKING: Madison school district rescinds termination of staff member Marlon Anderson
BREAKING: Madison school district rescinds termination of staff member Marlon Anderson
Marlon Anderson.
By Jackson Danbeck, NBC15 Staff |
Posted: Mon 4:51 PM, Oct 21, 2019 |
Updated: Mon 6:18 PM, Oct 21, 2019
MADISON, Wis. (WMTV)-- The Madison school district has rescinded the termination of a staff member who was fired last week for using a racial slur.
According to a release from union Teachers Union Inc. on Monday, the Madison Metropolitan School District decided to rescind the termination of Anderson; that Anderson will be returned to pay status immediately including full benefits; and that Anderson will be on paid leave while a transition plan is finalized to return him to work.
Anderson was fired by the district last week after a black student said the n-word at him, and he repeated the racial slur when he told the teen not to use it.
At the time the district said Anderson was fired for violating its “zero-tolerance policy” for using the racial slur on school grounds.
The incident garnered national attention after hundreds of West High students protested the firing in a massive walkout last Friday. The Boys and Girls Club of Dane County meanwhile offered Anderson a temporary job, until the district gave him his old job back.
more...
https://www.nbc15.com/content/news/Madison-school-board-president-asks-former-West-HS-staff-member-be-rehired-563577261.html?%3F%3F%3F%3F%3F%3F%3F%3F%3F%3F%3F%3F%3F%3F%3F%3F%3F%3F%3F%3F&fbclid=IwAR0MI54dUz72-_zLXDvPaffVdXNWtszy3BfCHCFsdv61uefqb19wSWVpjz8
Profile Information
Gender: FemaleHometown: NY
Home country: US
Current location: Florida
Member since: Mon Sep 6, 2004, 09:54 PM
Number of posts: 171,092
