Loyd
Loyd's JournalCanada's PM Justin Trudeau sabotages Trans-Pacific Partnership, shocking leaders
Source: Sydney Morning Herald
Lindsay Murdoch, 12:30PM
Danang Vietnam: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sabotaged the endorsement of a pact to salvage a multibillion-dollar, 11-nation Pacific Rim trade deal at the last minute, surprising leaders of the other nations, including Australia's Malcolm Turnbull.
But amid confusion and drama on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Vietnam, trade ministers issued a statement saying all 11 countries had agreed to continue negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership and "core elements" of the deal had been reached, while more work to be done.
The statement said a "limited set of provisions" from the original deal would be suspended, adding further technical work was needed on four areas that still needed consensus "to prepare finalised text for signature."
Mr Trudeau failed to show up at a meeting late on Friday that was set to officially revive the agreement. "There were a lot of unhappy leaders left sitting there," said an official who was in the meeting.
"Everyone was screwed," he said.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/canadas-pm-justin-trudeau-sabotages-transpacific-partnership-shocking-leaders-20171110-gzj866.html
Note: This SMH article was posted at 12:30 pm Saturday, Australian Time
Case of Missing Lebanese Prime Minister Stirs Middle East Tensions
Source: New York Times
By ANNE BARNARD and DAVID M. HALBFINGERNOV. 10, 2017
BEIRUT, Lebanon — When the Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri made a sudden trip abroad last week, it was taken at first to be a routine visit with his political patron, Saudi Arabia. But the next day, he unexpectedly announced his resignation by video from Riyadh, the Saudi capital.
He has yet to return to Lebanon.
On Friday, the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement, part of his governing coalition at home, charged that the Saudis were holding him against his will, while the Saudis have said they were protecting him from an unspecified assassination plot.
The Hariri case has become just one in a profusion of bewildering events — from the Saudi Arabia’s arrest of princes and wealthy businessmen last weekend to ordering its citizens out of Lebanon on Thursday — that are escalating tensions in the Middle East and fueling anxiety about whether the region is on the verge of military conflict.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/10/world/middleeast/saudi-arabia-lebanon-france-macron.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news
Isn't "on the verge of military conflict" pretty much the Mideast's default setting?
Philippines' Duterte offers to host 'world summit' on human rights
Source: Reuters
NOVEMBER 9, 2017 / 11:53 PM
MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who is facing international criticism for his bloody war on drugs, said his country was willing to host a “world summit” to tackle how nations can protect human rights.
The firebrand leader, who spoke in a news conference late on Thursday while in Vietnam for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting, said the summit should focus on human rights violations not just in the Philippines but globally.
Some western countries and human rights groups have strongly criticized Duterte’s anti-narcotics campaign that has killed more than 3,900 suspected drug users and peddlers, in what the police called self-defense after armed suspects resisted arrest.
“Let’s have a summit of how we can protect human rights for all human race,” Duterte said shortly after meeting with the Filipino community in Vietnam, where he also renewed his attacks against United Nations human rights expert Agnes Callamard.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-philippines-duterte-rights/philippines-duterte-offers-to-host-world-summit-on-human-rights-idUSKBN1DA0AX?il=0
Capital idea! In fact, we should have other world leaders hosting follow-up summits, such as King Salman of Saudi Arabia with a forum on Women's Issues, Bibi Netanyahu's conclave on Ending Apartheid In All Countries, Kim Jong Un's gathering devoted to Stopping Nuclear Proliferation, and of course, our very own Donnie hosting a summit on Staying True To Your Country And Clamping Down On Treason.
Boris Johnson praises Donald Trump as a 'great global brand' in supportive Fox News interview
Source: The Telegraph
By Ben Riley-Smith, U.S. editor
9 NOVEMBER 2017 • 1:55PM
Boris Johnson has praised Donald Trump’s tweeting and called him one of the “great global brands” in a supportive interview on American television.
The Foreign Secretary told Fox News – Mr Trump’s favourite cable network – that he was penetrating the “global consciousness” more than many previous presidents.
Mr Johnson said that while some were frustrated with Mr Trump’s “rambunctious” tweeting, it was an effective method of communication.
The supportive intervention comes at a time when Mr Trump has the approval of just one in three Americans and is dogged by party splits and an investigation into his campaign’s Russia links.
Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/11/09/boris-johnson-praises-donald-trump-great-global-brand-supportive/
Two political nihilists with effed-up hair. No surprise, really
Bob Costas says football's future is grim: "This game destroys people's brains"
Source: Washington Post
By Kyle Swenson November 9 at 4:26 AM
Football’s explosive image problem found an unlikely spokesman this week.
Bob Costas, the popular NBC sportscaster who has long narrated gridiron exploits for millions from the press box, put the National Football League’s future place in the American landscape in stark terms on Tuesday night as he sat on a University of Maryland panel.
“The issue that is most substantial, the existential issue, is the nature of football itself,” Costas told the crowd. “The reality is that this game destroys people’s brains.”
Costas shared the stage in College Park with other well-known names from the sports world, including USA Today’s Christine Brennan and ESPN personalities Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser, according to USA Today. The panel, part of the university’s annual Shirley Povich Symposium, began with the moderator asking the journalists about the biggest stories in sports.
Costas pulled no punches, diving directly into chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), the long-term degenerative condition afflicting numerous football stars due to chronic, repeated and untreated concussions.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/11/09/bob-costas-says-footballs-future-is-grim-this-game-destroys-peoples-brains/?hpid=hp_hp-morning-mix_mm-costas%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.695945df6afb
I still watch it.
The Trump Voters Who've Had Enough
Oddly, there was another video posted by KO today, but was deleted for some reason. In fact, if you click on the YouTube link in this vid, one of the first comments asks what happened to it. William Shatner or What?
Suburbs Rebel Against Trump, Threatening Republicans in Congress
Source: New York Times
By ALEXANDER BURNS and JONATHAN MARTIN, NOV. 8, 2017
RICHMOND, Va. — The American suburbs appear to be in revolt against President Trump after a muscular coalition of college-educated voters and racial and ethnic minorities on Tuesday dealt the Republican Party a thumping rejection and propelled a diverse class of Democrats into office.
From the tax-obsessed suburbs of New York City to high-tech neighborhoods outside Seattle to the sprawling, polyglot developments of Fairfax and Prince William County, Va., voters shunned Republicans up and down the ballot in off-year elections. Leaders in both parties said the elections amounted to an earsplitting alarm bell for Republicans ahead of the 2018 elections, when the party’s grip on the House of Representatives may hinge on the socially moderate, multiethnic communities surrounding major cities.
“Voters are taking their anger out at the president, and the only way they can do that is by going after Republicans on the ballot,” said Representative Charlie Dent, Republican of Pennsylvania. “If this isn’t a wake-up call, I don’t know what is.”
The Democrats’ gains were deep and broad, signaling profound alienation from the Republican Party among the sort of upscale moderates who were once a pillar of their coalition.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/08/us/politics/suburbs-revolt-trump-republicans-congress.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=a-lede-package-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news
They're coming to get you, Bah-bra!
Democrat Phil Murphy wins New Jersey governor's election: U.S. media
Source: Reuters
NOVEMBER 7, 2017 / 9:41 PM
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrat Phil Murphy was elected governor of New Jersey on Tuesday, CNN and MSNBC projected, sweeping to victory in the race to succeed unpopular Republican Governor Chris Christie on a liberal agenda that included a $15 minimum wage and increased school funding.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-new-jersey/democrat-phil-murphy-wins-new-jersey-governors-election-u-s-media-idUSKBN1D804D?il=0
Bob Menendez trial irrelevant now. No extra vote for Obamacare repeal.
Polygamist sect could lose its grip on tiny Utah community in landmark vote
Source: The Guardian
Tuesday 7 November 2017 15.12 EST
A tiny group of voters could deliver one of the most significant results in local US elections on Tuesday when ballots are counted in a far-flung town run by members of a polygamist sect under the control of a so-called prophet from a prison cell.
For the first time in its troubled history, Hildale, a speck in the wilderness on the Utah-Arizona border, has candidates running for mayor and town council seats who are not associated with the local fundamentalist religious sect, currently run by notorious convicted child rapist Warren Jeffs.
If mayoral candidate Donia Jessop and the three “outsiders” competing for council seats all win their races against incumbents on Tuesday, non-sect members will effectively win control of the town.
“If we win we would take the majority of the council and that’s a big deal, then we could start the process for the whole town changing,” Jessop told the Guardian.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/nov/07/polygamist-sect-hildale-utah-election-outsiders
I'm hopeful, but skeptical. That part of the country is firmly in Wingnut Nation.
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