#also Agriculture corps secretary

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Steve Brodner

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LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

June 13, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

JUN 14, 2024

The Port of Baltimore reopened yesterday, fewer than 100 days after a container ship hit the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26, collapsing it into the channel. The port is a major shipping hub, especially for imports and exports of cars and light trucks—about 750,000 vehicles went through it in 2022. It is also the nation’s second-biggest exporter of coal. In 2023 it moved a record-breaking $80 billion worth of foreign cargo. 

After the crash, the administration rushed support to the site, likely in part to emphasize that under Democrats, government really can get things done efficiently, as Democratic Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro demonstrated in June 2023 when he oversaw the reopening of a collapsed section of I-95 in just 12 days. Reopening the Port of Baltimore required salvage workers, divers, crane operators, and mariners to clear more than 50,000 tons of steel.

Yesterday, at the reopening, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg noted the “whole of government” response. State leadership under Maryland governor Wes Moore worked with those brought together by the Unified Command set up under the National Response System to coordinate the responses of the local government, state government, federal government, and those responsible for the crisis to make them as effective and efficient as possible; the Coast Guard; the Army Corps of Engineers; the first responders; and the port workers. 

Buttigieg noted that the response team had engaged all the stakeholders in the process, including truck drivers and trucking companies, trade associations, and agricultural producers. He gave credit for that ability to the administration’s establishment of the White House Supply Chains Disruptions Task Force, which, he said, “put us in a strong place to mitigate the disruptions to our supply chain and economy.”  

Clearing the channel was possible thanks to an immediate down payment of $60 million from the Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration. The department estimates that rebuilding the bridge will cost between $1.7 billion and $1.9 billion. President Joe Biden has said he wants the federal government to fund that rebuilding as it quickly did in 2007, when a bridge across the Mississippi River in Minneapolis suddenly collapsed. Within a week of that collapse, Congress unanimously passed a measure to fund rebuilding the bridge, and President George W. Bush signed it into law. But now some Republicans are balking at Biden’s request, saying that lawmakers should simply take the money that has been appropriated for things like electric vehicles, or wait until insurance money comes in from the shipping companies. 

Meanwhile, former president Trump traveled to Capitol Hill today for the first time since the January 6, 2021, riots. Passing protesters holding signs that said things like “Democracy Forever, Trump Never,” Trump met first with Republican lawmakers from the House and then with Republican senators, who, according to Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), gave him “a lot of standing ovations.” Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) called it “bring your felon to work day.” 

Republicans billed the visit as a brainstorming session about Trump’s 2025 agenda, but no discussions of plans have emerged, only generalities and the sort of cheery grandstanding McConnell provided. The meeting, along with a press appearance at which Trump made a short speech but did not take questions before shaking a lot of Republican hands, appeared to be an attempt to overwrite the news of his conviction by indicating he is popular in Congress.

The news that has gotten traction is Trump’s statement that Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where the Republicans are holding their convention in July, is a “horrible city.” Republicans are trying hard to spin this comment as a misunderstanding, but their many different attempts to explain it away—as meaning crime, or elections, or Pere Marquette Park (!)—seem more likely to reinforce the comment than distract from it. 

Indeed, it’s possible that the agenda had more to do with Trump than with the nation. Anna Massoglia of Open Secrets reported today that Trump’s political operation spent more than $20 million on lawyers in the first four months of 2024, and Rachel Bade of Politico reported hours before the House meeting that Trump has been obsessed with using the powers of Congress to fight for him and to, as she puts it, “go to war against the Democrats he accuses of ‘weaponizing’ the justice system against him.” 

Bade said that after his May 30 conviction by a unanimous jury on 34 criminal counts, Trump immediately called House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), insisting in a profanity-laden rant that “We have to overturn this.” Johnson is sympathetic but has too slim a House majority to deliver as much fire as both would like, especially since vulnerable Republicans aren’t eager to weaponize the nation’s lawmaking body for Trump. 

As David Kurtz of Talking Points Memo explained this morning, House Republicans “are already advancing Trump’s campaign of retribution.” Yesterday they voted to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress and recommended his prosecution for refusing to hand over an audio recording of special counsel Robert Hur’s interview with President Biden. Biden, who was not charged over his retention of classified documents as vice president, has provided a transcript of the interview but has exerted executive privilege over the recording.

The demand for the audio is particularly galling, considering that Biden voluntarily testified while Trump refused to be interviewed by either special counsel Robert Mueller or special counsel Jack Smith. But Biden has a well-known stutter, and having hours of testimony in his own voice might offer something that could be chopped up for political ads. 

Indeed, former Republican representative Ken Buck (R-CO) acknowledged that Republicans are “just looking for something for political purposes,” and House Oversight Committee chair James Comer (R-KY) sent out a fundraising appeal promising that the audio recording “could be the final blow to Biden with swing voters across the country.” 

White House Counsel Edward Siskel wrote to Comer and Judiciary Committee chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) saying that the administration “has sought to work in good faith with Congress.” It released Hur’s long report editorializing on Biden’s mental acuity without redacting it, allowed Hur to testify publicly for more than five hours, and provided transcripts, emails, and documents. “The absence of a legitimate need for the audio recordings lays bare your likely goal,” Siskel wrote, “to chop them up, distort them, and use them for partisan political purposes.”

The attack on Garland, journalist Kurtz notes, continues the steady stream of disinformation the House Republicans have been producing through their “investigations” and impeachment hearings and press conferences. 

In the Senate, six MAGA Republicans demonstrated their support for Trump by threatening to block Biden’s key nominees in protest of the New York jury’s conviction of Trump, although they are trying to frame the convictions as “the current administration’s persecution of” Trump. The senators are J. D. Vance (R-OH), Mike Lee (R-UT), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), and Eric Schmitt (R-MO). 

While MAGA Republicans show their reverence for Trump, Democrats are working to get them on the record on issues the American people care about. 

Today, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) held a vote on whether to advance a bill that would provide federal protection for in vitro fertilization (IVF), an infertility treatment in which a human egg is fertilized outside the body and then placed in a human uterus for gestation. IVF is popular: a March poll by CBS News/YouGov found that 86% of Americans think it should be legal, while only 14% think it should be illegal. But the white evangelical Christians who make up the Republicans’ base are increasingly demanding that the nation’s laws recognize “fetal personhood,” the idea that a fertilized egg has the full rights of a living human. This would end all abortion, of course, as well as birth control that prevents implantation, such as IUDs and Plan B. And, if fertilized eggs are fully human, it would also end IVF because the procedure often results in some fertilized eggs being damaged or discarded. 

This is a vote Republicans did not want to take because voting to protect IVF will infuriate their base and voting to end it will infuriate the 86% of Americans who support it. So they tried to get around it by signing a statement noting that IVF is legal and that they “strongly support continued nationwide access to IVF.” While it is true that IVF is currently legal, the Alabama Supreme Court in February ruled that frozen embryos should be considered unborn children and their destruction could be prosecuted under the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act. In the wake of that decision, two of Alabama’s eight fertility clinics paused their IVF treatments. 

In today’s vote, all but three Republicans voted against taking up the bill protecting IVF. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted in favor of it; Eric Schmitt of Missouri did not vote. All the Democrats voted in favor, although Schumer changed his vote to a “no” so he could bring the vote up again later. 

Regarding the difference between the statement and the votes, Leah Greenberg of Indivisible posted: “Who are you gonna believe, me or my voting record?”

In another window onto the future of reproductive rights, the Supreme Court today unanimously decided that the antiabortion groups trying to get the drug mifepristone banned did not have standing to bring the case. This preserves access to mifepristone, commonly used to induce medical abortions, but as legal observers point out, the court ruled only on standing, meaning that others, who do have standing, could bring a similar case. 

This afternoon, Biden posted: “Kamala and I stand with the majority of Americans who support a woman’s right to make deeply personal health care decisions. And our commitment to you is that we will not back down from ensuring women in every state get the care they need.”

And so, going into the 2024 election, the question of abortion is on the table.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[grandmaster-anne]

Court Circular | 15th March 2023

Buckingham Palace

His Excellency Mr Aly Diallo was received in audience by The King today and presented the Letters of Recall of his predecessor and his own Letters of Credence as Ambassador from the Republic of Guinea to the Court of St James’s. Ms Marie Savane was also received by His Majesty. His Excellency Mr El Hadji Alhousseini Traore was received in audience by The King and presented the Letters of Recall of his predecessor and his own Letters of Credence as Ambassador from the Republic of Mali to the Court of St James’s. Sir Philip Barton (Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs) was present. His Majesty this afternoon visited members of the United Kingdom’s Sudanese community at Abrar House, 45 Crawford Place, London W1, and was received by His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London (Sir Kenneth Olisa). Later Dr Richard Montgomery was received in audience by The King upon his appointment as British High Commissioner to the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP (Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury) subsequently had an audience of His Majesty. The Queen Consort, Honorary Member, the Jockey Club, today attended the Cheltenham Festival at Cheltenham Racecourse and was received by His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Gloucestershire (Mr Edward Gillespie).

Kensington Palace

The Princess of Wales, Joint Patron, the Royal Foundation of The Prince and Princess of Wales, this morning held an Early Years Meeting at Windsor Castle.

St James’s Palace

The Duke of Edinburgh, Patron, The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, this morning visited Portland College, Nottingham Road, Mansfield, and was received by His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire (Sir John Peace).

St James’s Palace

The Princess Royal, Colonel-in-Chief, Intelligence Corps, this morning visited Government Communications Headquarters, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Her Royal Highness this afternoon opened Dransfield Properties Limited’s Number 1 King Street Five Valleys Medical Centre, NHS Facilities and Library Services, King Street, Stroud, and was received by Mr Roger Deeks (Vice Lord-Lieutenant of Gloucestershire). The Princess Royal, accompanied by Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, this evening attended the Gloucestershire and District Agricultural Valuers Association’s Centenary Dinner at the Royal Agricultural University, Tetbury Road, Cirencester, and was received by Mrs Jane Jenner-Fust (Deputy Lieutenant of Gloucestershire).

Kensington Palace

The Duke of Gloucester, Vice President, Lepra, this morning received Mrs Suzanne McCarthy (Chairman of Trustees) and Mr James Innes (Chief Executive).

St James’s Palace

The Duke of Kent, Grand Master, United Grand Lodge of England, this afternoon attended a Rulers’ Luncheon at Freemasons’ Hall, 60 Great Queen Street, London WC2.

[voiceofentrepreneurlife]

Bill Gates praises India as a global leader in breakthrough innovations at the Indian Consulate in Seattle

American businessman and Microsoft founder Bill Gates has called India a global leader in breakthrough innovations. He made this statement while joining Indian Americans to celebrate the inaugural India Independence Day event at the new Indian Consulate in Seattle.

Bill Gates, chairman of the Gates Foundation, kicked off the first India Day celebrations in the Greater Seattle area as the Guest of Honor at the Indian Consulate. The event marked India’s 78th Independence Day, according to a media release.

In his speech, he described India as a worldwide leader with “breakthrough innovations in areas like technology, agriculture, and healthcare,” addressing the assembly of more than 2,000 Indian Americans.

Gates also noted, “From manufacturing affordable, safe vaccines to the impressive leadership of the Indian diaspora and India’s digital public infrastructure, India’s innovation is benefiting not just its own people but the entire world. Countries throughout the Global South are drawing on India’s experience to develop their own digital public infrastructure systems.”

Representative Suzan DelBene, Representative Kim Schrier, Representative Adam Smith, Lieutenant General Xavier Brunson, Commander of the America’s First Corps in Pacific NorthWest, Rear Admiral Mark Sucato, Commander of the Navy Region of North West, Washington Lieutenant Governor Denny Heck, Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, Chief Justice of the Washington Supreme Court, and Lieutenant Governor Denny Heck were among the attendees of the India Day celebrations.Read More-https://voiceofentrepreneur.life/

[beardedmrbean]

The implications of the U.S. military withdrawal from Niger — increasingly backfilled with Russian troops — have become the subject of a heated public discussion in the West African region.

In March, Niger’s junta announced it was breaking off its decades-long military alliance with the U.S. “with immediate effect” and demanded the withdrawal of nearly 1,000 U.S. troops stationed in the country.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin confirmed on May 3 that Russian military personnel have installed themselves at the American airbase in Niger. The Kremlin rebranded the notorious Wagner Group as the Africa Corps after the failed rebellion and death of its funder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, last August.

Some West Africa watchers, like Colin P. Clarke, the director of research at the Soufan Group, a global intelligence and security consultancy, expressed worry that the growing Russian presence in the Sahel, invited in by the military juntas that have ousted several democratically-elected governments, will only worsen the violence that is surging throughout the region.

“My concern is that if the Russians come in … they continue to make the terrorism problem worse, not better, and then when they’re done extracting what they want to extract, they’re going to pack up and go home, and this place is going to look like a nightmare, ” Clark told Foreign Policy magazine.

Others, like Nigerian investigative journalist and filmmaker David Hundeyin, say the U.S. never cared about protecting Africans from violent extremists but placed its troops in the Sahel to “ensure the flow of Africa’s natural resources,” the same as the “old colonial military bases.”

In a viral debate on X, on May 5, Hundeyin argued that:

’’American foreign policy sees the Uranium in Niger… the oil in Escravos and the lithium in Kogi as valuable assets… A U.S. military base anywhere in Africa serves EXACTLY the same purpose that the old colonial military bases did - to protect the flow of African resources, and not the lives of African people which America considers to be less than worthless.”

That is false.

Far from robbing the Sahel region of its natural resources, the United States has invested in strengthening its security more than any other foreign nation. Between 2001 and 2020, the U.S. dedicated $3.3 billion to the Sahel and trained at least 86,000 counterterrorism troops in the region, including nearly 18,000 in Niger. That is more than all other foreign nations combined.

U.S. long- and short-term civilian assistance in the region remains a significant source of food security, energy, agriculture, and transportation. In 2022 alone the U.S. spent about $11 billion in the African region, including $1 billion aid in humanitarian assistance to people affected by conflicts, floods, droughts, famine, and other disasters in the Sahel region, which includes Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali.

Niger is also one of the biggest beneficiaries of USAID’s programs through the Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance.

As for the U.S.’s role in extracting Africa’s natural resources: China, France, Japan, and Spain are the largest extractors of uranium in Niger. China is also the single largest harvester of Nigeria’s lithium. Two private U.S. companies, Chevron and Exxon Mobile, are involved in Nigeria’s oil production through local subsidiaries.

Nigerian oil

The Nigerian government controls all sectors of the nation’s oil and gas industries through the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, the largest oil producer in Nigeria that operates under joint ventures with about 50 gas and oil companies.

The Escaravos GTL (gas to liquids) plant that Hundeyin named in his X post is a local subsidiary of the U.S. private firm Chevron and has a 75% share of that plant’s production in partnership with NNPC, which controls the remaining 25%.

Apart from Chevron, the top five oil and gas companies operating in Nigeria include a Nigerian government-controlled subsidiary of the British Shell Energy Nigeria; a Nigerian government-controlled local subsidiary of the U.S. Exxon Mobil; a Nigerian government-controlled subsidiary of French firm Total Energies and Italian Eni Spa; and Equinor ASA, another Chevron subsidiary, co-owned by a local firm, Prime 127 Nigeria Ltd.

Nigeria lost to corruption and mismanagement an estimated $35 billion in oil revenues between 2019 and 2022.

Eni Spa, Exxon, Shell, and TotalEnergies have all sought to exit Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta in recent years, citing security concerns, including theft and sabotage, to focus instead on deep-water drilling.

Nigerian lithium

According to public records, the U.S. government has zero involvement in the mining of Nigeria’s lithium.

When Tesla, a private U.S. company that manufactures electric vehicles, expressed interest in forming a trade relationship with the Nigerian government to mine lithium, Nigeria declined the offer, conditioning the agreement on Tesla’s establishment of a battery factory in Nigeria.

In February 2023, the Nigerian government awarded a contract to build the country’s first lithium-processing plant to China’s Ming Xin Mineral Separation Nig Ltd. (MXMS), making it the single-largest lithium harvester in the country. China proposed a plan to manufacture batteries for electric vehicles (EVs) in Kaduna, a state in northwestern Nigeria, projected to yield 18,000 metric tons of lithium daily.

Nigeria's Minister of Solid Materials Dele Alake said that "…no company would be allowed to mine and export raw lithium unless they set up processing and refining plants in Nigeria."

As of January 2021, the Nigerian government had licensed 185 local companies to commence extraction of lithium in Nassarawa, Kogi, Kwara, Ekiti, and Cross River States.

Nigerien uranium

Hundeyin’s suggestion that the U.S. government has stakes in Niger’s uranium is also false.

Niger’s Ministry of Mines has on its website a list of five companies licensed by the Nigerien government to mine uranium. The list does not include any U.S. firms. Instead, the Nigerien government is the major shareholder, partnering with Chinese, French, Spanish, Japanese, and South African companies.

[msclaritea]

After Supreme Court curtails federal power, Biden administration weakens water protections

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration weakened regulations protecting millions of acres of wetlands Tuesday, saying it had no choice after the Supreme Court sharply limited the federal government’s jurisdiction over them.

The rule would require that wetlands be more clearly connected to other waters like oceans and rivers, a policy shift that departs from a half-century of federal rules governing the nation’s waterways.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan said the agency had no alternative after the Supreme Court sharply limited the federal government’s power to regulate wetlands that do not have a “continuous surface connection” to larger, regulated bodies of water.

Justices boosted property rights over concerns about clean water in a May ruling in favor of an Idaho couple who sought to build a house near a lake. Chantell and Michael Sackett had objected when federal officials required them to get a permit before filling part of the property with rocks and soil.

The ruling was the second decision in as many years in which a conservative majority on the high court narrowed the reach of environmental regulations.

“While I am disappointed by the Supreme Court’s decision in the Sackett case, EPA and Army (Corps of Engineers) have an obligation to apply this decision alongside our state co-regulators,” Regan said in a statement Tuesday.

The rule announced Tuesday revises a rule finalized earlier this year regulating “waters of the United States.” Developers and agriculture groups have long sought to limit the federal government’s power to use the Clean Water Act to regulate waterways, arguing the law should cover fewer types of rivers, streams and wetlands. Environmental groups have long pushed for a broader definition that would protect more waters.

The new rule is highly unusual and responds specifically to the Supreme Court ruling in the Sackett case. Typically, a rule is proposed, the public weighs in and then the federal government releases a final version. This rule changes existing policy to align with the recent Supreme Court decision and is final.

The Supreme Court ruling was a win for developer and agriculture groups. It said federally protected wetlands must be directly adjacent to a “relatively permanent” waterway “connected to traditional interstate navigable waters,” such was a river or ocean.

They also must have a “continuous surface connection with that water,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote.

The court’s decision broke with a 2006 opinion by former Justice Anthony Kennedy that said wetlands were regulated if they had a “significant nexus” to larger bodies of water. That had been the standard for evaluating whether developers needed a permit before they could discharge into wetlands. Opponents had long said the standards was vague, hard to interpret and generally unworkable.

Justice Elena Kagan wrote in a dissent that the majority’s decision was political, improperly weakening regulatory powers Congress gave the federal government.

The rule issued Tuesday removes the “significant nexus” test from consideration when identifying tributaries and other waters as federally protected.

The Supreme Court ruling “created uncertainty for Clean Water Act implementation,’’ the EPA said in a statement Tuesday. The Biden administration issued the amended rule ”to provide clarity and a path forward consistent with the (Supreme Court) ruling,’’ the agency said.

Because the sole purpose of the new rule is to amend specific provisions of the previous rule that were rendered invalid by the high court, the new rule will take effect immediately, the EPA said.

Michael Connor, assistant Army secretary for civil works, said that with publication of the revised rule, the Army Corps will resume issuing jurisdictional decisions that were paused after the Sackett decision. “Moving forward, the Corps will continue to protect and restore the nation’s waters in support of jobs and healthy communities,’’ he said in a statement.

In December, the Biden administration finalized its regulations basing them on definitions in place prior to 2015 that federal officials hoped were durable enough to survive a court challenge. They protected many small streams, wetlands and other waters and repealed a Trump-era rule that environmentalists said left far too many of those waterways unregulated.

In recent years, depending on the political party in the White House, the power of the Clean Water Act has varied sharply. The Obama administration sought to enlarge federal power to protect waterways. The Trump administration rolled them back as part of a broader curtailment of environmental regulations.

It’s been a political issue, too. Earlier this year, Congress approved a resolution overturning the Biden administration’s water protections. Republicans argued the White House had imposed rules that were a burden to businesses and agriculture and the Senate voted in favor 53-43, persuading four Democrats and Independent Sen. Krysten Sinema of Arizona to side with Republicans and vote in favor. Biden vetoed the resolution.

YO! ANYONE SEE OR HEAR ANY LEFTISTS, SOCIAL DEMS OR WHOEVER CRYING ABOUT THIS ON TWITTER OR THEIR PODCASTS, REMIND THEM THAT ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES. DESTROYING OUR ENVIRONMENT DESTROYS US AND OUR COUNTRY.

[highplanes456]

Rural Agricultural Well Being And Safety Funding & Opportunities

Whether it’s on a smartphone or a desktop, M-PESA organisations have everything they need to handle their funds and stock with M-PESA. Through our portal, organisations can monitor gross sales & expenditure, make funds, ship invoices, order stock, access credit, handle subscriptions, set recurring payments, drive customer loyalty and far more funds held. Typically used for paying salaries, NGO/government disbursements and petty money funds. M-PESA validates the recipients name and cellphone quantity to make sure payments go where they’re meant. M-PESA also makes it straightforward for organisations to manage and pay utility bills and taxes.

He additionally sits on the National Technical Committee (under the Principal Secretary State Department of Livestock Office) which is growing the livestock master plan to actively champion meat business modernization and shopper safety assurance by way of business bodies. Prof. Aggrey Ambali is at present coordinating the process of creating a high-level African Union panel on harnessing emerging technologies for Africa’s growth. He obtained a PhD diploma in Population Genetics from Dalhousie University, Canada, Masters of Science in Aquaculture from Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand and Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from University of Malawi. He serves on several committees including the Technical Advisory Committee of the Biosafety Program of ICGEB, Chair of the Management Committee of the African Biosafety Network of Expertise (ABNE), member of the Advisory Panel of the Biosciences Eastern and Central Africa (BecA), and so forth. Before becoming a member of AATF, Josephine worked with the International Medical Corps – Kenya, a non-profit aid and improvement organisation dedicated to saving lives and relieving suffering by way of health care coaching.

As these sort of property age, repairs can become extra frequent or significantly more expensive. When contemplating whether or not to make repairs, farm managers will weigh whether costs outweigh an asset’s manufacturing value. The main danger concern to lenders is nonpayment by a farm as a end result of restricted cash. A lender will method lowering their considerations in a method similar to that of a farmer, by pursuing threat management options. The greatest type of danger management for a mortgage is for the lender to secure an curiosity in your farm’s collateral.

(9) "Rural area" means an space which is predominately rural in character, being one which the board defines and declares to be a rural area. (7) "Eligible agricultural enterprise" means an agricultural enterprise having its principal place of business on this state. So possibly your clients are already diversifying by geography, as properly they should. Different macroeconomic elements held funds drive Dallas-Fort Worth than drive Minneapolis-St. If they’re already diversifying by asset class, though, perhaps they want to be tuning their portfolios a little more finely. While there’s only one 30 Rockefeller Center, one acre of wheat in Kansas isn’t that much completely different from one acre of wheat in Nebraska.

And whereas our web site doesn’t function every firm or monetary product available in the marketplace, we’re proud that the steering we provide, the data we provide and the tools we create are goal, impartial, simple — and free. Equity financing means exchanging a portion of the possession of the enterprise for a monetary funding in the business. The possession stake resulting from an equity investment permits the investor to share within the company’s income. Equity entails a everlasting investment in an organization and is not repaid by the company at a later date.

When the pandemic hit, Smithfield increased pork exports to China even as the United States skilled widespread meat shortages because of supply chain disruptions and Smithfield closed some of its crops as a result of poor working conditions. This series of events prompted Congress to take a look at how to prevent Chinese possession in U.S. agriculture, although different ag funds held international entities, like Brazilian-owned JBS, management similarly giant portions of U.S. meals provide chains. Traditionally, debtors receive patronage refunds and/or dividends, which further reduces the price of borrowing for our customers. The Farm Credit Council is the nationwide trade association representing the institutions of the Farm Credit System earlier than Congress, the Executive Branch and others.

[thxnews]

PBBM's 2nd State of the Nation Address

A Complete Transcript of the President's Address.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Allow me to greet Vice President Sara Zimmerman Duterte; the former Presidents – our former Presidents, President Joseph Ejercito Estrada and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo; Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri and the Honorable Members of the Senate; House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez and the Honorable Members of the House of Representatives; Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo and the Honorable Justices of the Supreme Court; His Excellency, Most Reverend Charles John Brown and the esteemed members of the Diplomatic Corps; Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin and the members of the Cabinet; First Lady Louise Araneta-Marcos ; former First Lady, First Lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos ; other distinguished guests; mga minamahal kong kababayan; ladies and gentlemen, magandang hapon po sa inyong lahat. One year ago today, I stood here before you, setting forth the plans that we have to improve our economy, bring jobs to our people, improve the ease of doing business, recalibrate our educational system to adapt to the new economy, lower and rationalize energy costs, boost agricultural production, enhance healthcare, and continue social programs for the poor and the vulnerable. Let me now report to the people on the successes that we can now lay claim to, and also the challenges that we continue to face. Last year, we emphasized certain strong headwinds that were confronting us along with the rest of the world in our post-pandemic economic recovery. And the biggest problem that we encountered was inflation. Maraming kaganapan sa mundo ang nakapagpagulo sa maayos na takbo ng pandaigdigang merkado. Bukod sa digmaan sa Ukraine, naroon ang patuloy na epekto ng pandemya. Pinalala pa ito ng pagbabawas ng produksyon ng mga bansang pinagkukuhanan natin ng langis. Nang tumaas ang presyo nito, nagsunuran na rin ang presyo ng iba’t ibang bilihin— ang gasolina, ang kuryente, at ang pagkain. Ramdam sa buong daigdig, pati na sa Pilipinas, ang naging pagtaas ng mga presyo ng bilihin noong mga nakalipas na buwan. Sinuri nating mabuti ang sitwasyon. Sa tulong ng ating mga ekonomista, nakapagbalangkas tayo ng mga polisiya na magsisilbing pundasyon ng ating ekonomiya sa mga susunod na taon. Ito ay nakasaad sa ating Medium-Term Fiscal Framework, na sinuportahan ninyo sa Kongreso. Kasabay nito ang paglulunsad ng mga istratehiya na magpapalakas sa kakayahan ng ating mga kababayan at mga sektor ng ating ekonomiya. Nakakita po tayo ng magagandang resulta. While the global prospects were bleak, our economy posted a 7.6 percent growth in 2022—our highest growth rate in 46 years.  For the first quarter of this year, our growth has registered at 6.4 percent. It remains within our target of 6 to 7 percent for 2023. We are still considered to be among the fastest-growing economies in the Asian region and in the world.   It is a testament to our strong macroeconomic fundamentals. Our financial system, the nerve center of our economy, remains strong and stable. Banks, the transmission arms of our monetary policy, have strong capital and liquidity positions. Stimulated by the relaxation of pandemic restrictions, transactions once again have flourished—alongside the booming e-commerce that was undeterred by the pandemic. In 2022, the digital economy contributed 2 trillion pesos, the equivalent of 9.4 percent of our GDP. The economy is revived and rejuvenated, backstopped by a favorable enabling environment and the strong rule of law. This year, the World Bank projects a 6 percent overall growth rate, well within the range of our target for the year. It is anchored on strong local demand, underpinned by consumer spending, and draws strength from the BPO industry, and of course, the steady flow of remittances, and the continuing jobs recovery. Inflation rate is moving in the right direction. From 8.7 percent in January, our inflation has continued to ease up in all regions, settling now at 5.4 percent for June. What this means is that in spite of all the difficulties, we are transforming the economy. We are stabilizing the prices of all critical commodities. According to the Bangko Sentral, inflation is expected to ease further by the close of the year, and projected at 2.9 percent by 2024.  On matters of the economy, there are many things over which we have no control. But over those where we do have control, we are doing everything we can. Puspusan ang ating ginagawa upang pataasin ang produksyon ng ating ekonomiya. Pinapalago natin ang mga industriya. Dinadagdagan natin ang mga imprastraktura upang mas mapabilis ang daloy ng mga produkto at ng serbisyo. Higit sa lahat, pinapalakas natin ang kakayahan ng mga mamamayan upang mapaganda nila ang kanilang pamumuhay. Ito ang puno’t dulo ng ating Philippine Development Plan. Investments in public infrastructure and in the capacity of our people—through food, education, health, jobs, and social protection—remain our top priority. For this year, economic and social services were allocated almost 70% of the national budget. Higher revenue collections will be critical in our bid to bolster public investments. Under our fiscal framework, we envision our tax and revenue efforts to further increase, to up to 16.9 percent and 17.3 percent by 2028. Revenue generation has improved this year. From January to May, the Bureau of Internal Revenue has posted record collections, amounting to 1.05 trillion pesos, an increase of almost 10 percent over the last year. For its part, the Bureau of Customs has also increased its collection by 7.4 percent for the first seven months of 2023, amounting to 476 billion pesos. Since July 2022, we have seen increased revenues from PAGCOR of 47.9 percent, and from the PCSO of 20 percent. We therefore seek once again the continued support of Congress to enact into law the policies and reforms under our fiscal framework. Sa mga nakalipas na buwan, nakita natin ang pagbaba ng presyo ng bilihin sa iba’t ibang mga sektor. Napatunayan natin na kayang maipababa ang presyo ng bigas, karne, isda, gulay, at asukal. Malaking tulong ang KADIWA stores na ating muling binuhay at inilunsad. Ang layunin ng KADIWA ay pag-ugnayin ang mga magsasaka at ang mga mamimili. Walang iba pang namamagitan. Walang dagdag na gastos at patong. Maganda ang kita ng magsasaka. Nakakatipid din ang mga mamimili. Sa mahigit pitong libong KADIWA na idinaos sa buong Pilipinas, 1.8 milyon na na pamilya ang nakinabang sa mababang presyo ng bilihin. Sa kabuuan, halos pitong-daang milyon piso ang naging benta ng mga ito, na nakapagbigay ng hanapbuhay sa mga miyembro ng mahigit tatlong libo na kooperatiba at samahan. Maganda ang nakita nating resulta, kaya papalawigin pa natin ang KADIWA sa buong bansa.  Kamakailan lamang ay nagsanib-puwersa na ang mga ahensiya ng pamahalaan upang lalo pang patibayin ang KADIWA. Katuwang natin dito ang buong sektor ng agrikultura at ang lokal na pamahalaan. Our aim is to boost our local agricultural production—through consolidation, modernization, mechanization, and improvement of value chains—augmented by timely and calibrated importation, as needed. Nakita nating tumaas nang 2.2 percent ang sektor ng agrikultura sa unang tatlong buwan ng taong ito. In our quest for food security, our methods are now more guided by science and the balance of nature, so that production is both sustainable and responsible, benefiting both this and future generations. Our Fisheries Code must be revised to incorporate and strengthen science-based analysis and determination of fishing areas. This approach will protect both the interests of our fisherfolk and our fisheries and aquatic resources. To this end, we will seek the support of Congress to amend the Code to guarantee sustainable development of our fisheries sector in harmony with environmental balance.  Ipinagbubuklod natin ang mga magsasaka, sa pamamagitan ng farm and fisheries clustering at mga livestock multiplier farms. Tatlong daang clusters na ang ating natukoy na binubuo ng halos siyam na raang kooperatiba, at may lawak na mahigit dalawang-daang libong ektarya ng bukirin. Upang mas mapabilis at mas mapadali ang pagbuo ng kooperatiba, kakailanganin natin ang suporta ng Kongreso na maamyendahan ang Cooperative Code.  Sa pamamagitan nito, unti-unting lalakas ang kanilang produksyon at puwersa sa merkado. Totoo ang kasabihan: mas malakas basta’t sama-sama! Pinapalawak natin ang kanilang kaalaman sa makabagong mga teknolohiya at pamamaraan. Isa na rito ang paggamit ng bio-fertilizers, na gawa sa Pilipinas at subok din at maaasahan. Sa balanced fertilizer strategy, gaganda ang ani ng mga magsasaka. Hindi na nila kailangan pang umasa sa mas mahal at imported na fertilizer.  Bilang tulong sa mga magsasaka, namigay ang pamahalaan ng mahigit dalawampu’t walong libong mga makabagong makinarya at mga kagamitan sa iba’t ibang dako ng Pilipinas. Sa ilalim ng iba’t ibang mga programa ng Kagawaran ng Agrikultura, namigay ang pamahalaan ng mahigit na limampung milyong binhi ng palay, mahigit isang milyong binhi ng mais, at sari-saring mga binhi ng gulay. Nagpamigay tayo ng mahigit isandaang libong binhi ng niyog at nagpatanim sa halos sampunlibong ektarya ng lupa sa buong bansa. Lahat ng mga binhing ito ay makabago, hybrid, at mataas ang kalidad. Sa naging pagtaas ng presyo ng gasolina at pataba, nagdala ng kaunting ginhawa ang mga fuel at fertilizer discount vouchers na ating pinamigay sa mga nahihirapang magsasaka. Ang mga natanggap nating donasyon na pataba mula sa Tsina, ipinamigay na natin kaagad sa kanila. Isa sa mga dahilan ng pagtaas ng presyo ay ang mga smugglers, mga hoarders at nagmamanipula ng presyo ng produktong agrikultural. Hinahabol at ihahabla natin sila.  Sadyang hindi tama ang kanilang gawain at hindi rin ito tugma sa ating magandang layunin. Pandaraya ang kanilang ginagawa. Napapahamak hindi lamang ang mga magsasaka, kundi tayo na ring mga mamimili. Kaya hindi natin papayagan ang ganitong kalakaran.  Bilang na ang mga araw ng mga smugglers at hoarders na ‘yan.  Mahalaga ang imprastraktura para masuportahan ang may labing-apat na milyong ektarya ng sakahan. Inayos natin ang Geo-Agri map ng mga farm-to-market roads ng buong bansa upang maidugtong mabuti ang mga sakahan sa mga pamilihan. Alinsunod dito, karagdagang anim na raang kilometro ng mga FMRs ang ating nilatag sa iba’t ibang panig ng bansa. Binigyan din natin ng patubig ang mahigit na apatnapu’t siyam na libong ektarya ng bukirin sa buong Pilipinas. Nagpagawa tayo ng halos apat na libong mga karagdagang fabrication labs, production at cold storage facilities na magagamit ng lahat. Sa tulong ng Kongreso, nakapagpatayo tayo ng dalawampu’t apat na multi-species hatcheries upang maparami ang produksyon ng mga isda. Nakabantay tayo sa anumang banta ng mga sakit at peste na maaaring dumapo sa mga pananim at alagang hayop. Malapit na tayong magkaroon ng mga epektibong gamot at bakuna laban sa mga ito. Samantala, pinapalakas natin ang bio-security levels ng mga alagang hayop bilang panlaban sa sakit. Tayo rin ay naghahanda sa El Niño na nagbabadyang tumama sa mga darating na buwan. Nagsimula na tayong maghanda, at ang mga buffer stocks at ang mga kagamitang patubig ay inihahanda na. Kung kinakailangan, magsasagawa pa tayo ng cloud-seeding upang makapagdala ng ulan. Kasabay ng lahat ng ito, hinihimok din natin ang ating sambayanan na magtipid ng tubig para sa malawakang paghahanda sa banta ng tagtuyot. Tulad ng ating ipinangako, ipinagpatuloy natin ang repormang pansakahan. Mahalagang haligi ito ng sektor ng agrikultura na ating inaayos. Nitong nakalipas na taon, mahigit pitumpong-libong titulo ng lupa ang ginawad sa mga benepisyaryo ng repormang agraryo.  Tamang-tama ang ating pagpapatigil ng mga bayarin ng mga benepisyaryo sa ilalim ng ating nilagdaang EO No. 4. Isang taon mula noong aking unang SONA, naisabatas na ang bagong Agrarian Emancipation Act.  Dahil dito, ang 57 bilyong pisong utang na pinapasan ng mahigit anim na raang libong benepisyaryo ay tuluyan nang nabura.  Sa ngalan ng mga magsasakang ito at ang kanilang mga pamilya, maraming salamat muli sa ating mga mambabatas.  Ang tubig ay kasing-halaga rin ng pagkain. Kailangan nating tiyakin na may sapat at malinis na tubig para sa lahat at sa mga susunod na salinlahi. Kasama na rito ang tubig na ginagamit natin para sa sakahan. Considering its fundamental importance, water security deserves a special focus. Our efforts must not be scattershot, but rather, cohesive, centralized, and systematic. So given that urgency, we have created the Water Resources Management Office to specifically handle the delicate job involving this most precious resource. Nakikipag-ugnayan tayo sa Kongreso upang maipasa ang batas para sa pagbuo ng isang Department of Water Resource Management.  This year, we have allocated 14.6 billion pesos for water supply projects, which will benefit communities all over the country. Recently, the water supply of NCR and Rizal received a significant boost from the first phase of the Wawa Bulk Water Supply Project. The water supply will increase as the Project enters the second phase. We have installed six thousand rainwater collection systems across the country, in preparation for the looming dry spell brought about by El Niño. One of the keys to continuing economic growth is infrastructure development. So, we will build better, and more. Our 8.3-trillion peso “Build Better More” Program is currently in progress and being vigorously implemented.  Ang buong bansa ay makikinabang sa isandaan at siyamnapu’t apat na proyekto sa ilalim ng Programang ito. Hindi lamang natin ipinagpapatuloy ang mga nasimulan ng mga proyekto. Lalo pa nating pinapalawak. Kaya naman, ang isangdaan at dalawampu’t tatlong proyekto dito sa Build-Better-More program ay bago. The flagship projects cover investments in the areas of physical connectivity, water resources, agriculture, health, digital connectivity, and energy. Physical connectivity infrastructure—such as roads, bridges, seaports, airports, and mass transport—accounts for 83 percent of this program. Our infrastructure spending will stay at 5 to 6 percent of our GDP.  The underlying logic to our infrastructure development is economic efficiency. We are opening up all gateways to mobilize goods and services at less cost and in less time, and ultimately, to drive the economy forward. Our road network plans must link not only our 3 major islands, but all prospective sites of economic development. The 1,200-kilometer Luzon Spine Expressway Network Program will effectively connect Ilocos to Bicol from 20 hours to just 9 hours of travel.  Under the Mega-Bridge Program, 12 bridges totaling 90 kilometers will be constructed, connecting islands and areas separated by waters. The Program notably includes the Bataan-Cavite Interlink Bridge  and the Panay-Guimaras-Negros Island Bridges , each spanning 32 kilometers, and also the Samal Island-Davao City Connector Bridge.  As of June this year, we have constructed, maintained, and upgraded more than 4,000 kilometers of roads and around 500 bridges across the country. Crucial airport and port development projects across the country have also been completed, including Cebu’s Pier 88 smart port, and the new passenger terminal buildings of Clark Airport and the Port of Calapan. We initiated several railway projects, with a total length of more than 1,000 kilometers. Notably, the southern leg of the North-South Commuter Railway System is now in full swing. In a few years, travel from Pampanga to Laguna will be reduced from 4 hours to just 2.  Inter-modal connectivity will also be a primary consideration. Roads, bridges and mass transport systems will be interconnected. This network will provide access and passage to vital and bustling economic markets, such as agriculture hubs, tourism sites, and key business districts. For strategic financing, some of the nation’s high-priority projects can now look to the newly established Maharlika Investment Fund, without the added debt burden. In pooling a small fraction of the considerable but underutilized government funds, the Fund shall be used to make high-impact and profitable investments, such as the Build-Better-More program. The gains from the Fund shall be reinvested into the country’s economic well-being. To ensure sound financial management, a group of internationally recognized economic managers shall oversee the operations of the Fund, guided by principles of transparency and accountability. This guarantees that investment decisions will be based on financial considerations alone, absent any political influence.  The funds for the social security and public health insurance of our people shall remain intact and separate. Owing to favorable market conditions, the price of crude oil has stabilized. Since last year, gasoline and diesel prices have gone down by 18 to 29 percent, respectively. We have built 8 new additional power plants. This brings to 17 the total number of power generation facilities that have been switched on across the country since last year, substantially increasing our energy production by 1,174 megawatts. Alongside power generation, we are also as relentless in pursuing total electrification. Since my assumption into office, almost half a million homes have been given access to electricity. We will spare no effort to achieve full household-electrification by the end of my term. 100% is within our reach.  When it comes to energy, renewable energy is the way forward. We are aggressively promoting renewables, so that it provides a 35 percent share in the power mix by 2030, and then on to 50 percent by 2040. To accelerate the realization of this green energy goal, we have opened renewable energy projects to foreign investments. Since last year, an additional 126 renewable energy contracts with potential capacity of 31,000 megawatts have been awarded. To date, we have over a thousand active projects spread all over the country: 299 of these are solar; 187 are wind; 436 are hydroelectric; 58 biomass; 36 geothermal; and 9 are ocean-powered. The Malampaya project has been a boon to our country, energizing 20 percent of Luzon. The renewal of the contract guarantees continued revenues and energy production for another 15 years. But aside from Malampaya, we will also push for more gas exploration in other parts of the country. The national government has also partnered with the BARMM in regard to energy exploration and development, and also its utilization within its territorial jurisdiction. We therefore expect to see renewed investor interest in its promising sites. We finally have a Unified National Grid, with the interconnection of the Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao grids. The “One Grid, One Market” will enable more efficient transfers and more competitive pricing of electricity throughout the country. However, 68 grid connections are much delayed, according to the ERC’s count. We are conducting a performance review of our private concessionaire, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines.   We look to NGCP to complete all of its deliverables, starting with the vital Mindanao-Visayas and Cebu-Negros-Panay interconnections.  Read the full article

[historyhermann]

Climate Change and the Military: Examining the Pentagon’s Integration of National Security Interests and Environmental Goals under Clinton [Part 14]

Continued from Part 13

This post is reprinted from the National Security Archive website and my History Hermann WordPress blog. Archived here.

© 2022-2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Photos I wanted to add but were not added in the final post for some reason:

Supreme Allied Commander John J. Sheehan (left), U.S. Secretary of Defense William J. Perry (center), and Lt. Gen. Charles E. Wilhelm (right) at Camp Lejeune in August 1996. Perry, as Defense Secretary, was a big proponent of the Pentagon’s focus on environmental security as part of the military’s mission. (Photo credit: National Archives at College Park)

Deputy Secretary of Defense John J. Hamre answers a question at a July 8, 1999, Pentagon press briefing on U.S. participation in NATO Operation Allied Force. In September 1997, Hamre wrote a letter to Secretary of State Strobe Talbot calling for Kyoto Protocol provisions that “protect national security.” (Photo credit: Department of Defense)

Holly Kaufman shaking hands with Vice President Al Gore. She served as a Pentagon representative in Buenos Aires at the UN Climate Change Conference in 1998. (Photo credit: Environment & Enterprise Strategies)

Stuart Eizenstat appears before The Senate Judiciary Committee in October 1999. Eizenstat, the Under Secretary of State for Economic, Business, and Agricultural Affairs from 1997 to 1999, spoke to the fourth Conference of Parties in November 1998, noting that the Kyoto Protocol fulfills U.S. “national security goals.” (Photo credit: US Department of the Treasury. Also see here)

Bruce DeGrazia speaking on procurement and funding of homeland security programs in October 2002. In 1999 and 2000, he served as the Pentagon’s Assistant Deputy Under Secretary for Environmental Quality and was one of the Pentagon representatives at global climate change conferences during those years. (Photo credit: C-Span: https://www.c-span.org/video/?173351-1/homeland-security-financing at 0:7.22)

Col. Darrell Jones, Ken Paton, Col. Thomas Koning, and Col. David “Dave” T. Peters, during the ceremony in 2003. Peters was a Pentagon representative at the global climate change conference in 2000, along with other military officials. (Photo credit: US Army Corps of Engineers New England District, “Yankee Engineer”: https://ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu/AA/00/06/45/10/00036/03-2003.pdf (see page 11))

Secretary Clinton announces that Todd Stern is appointed as the Special Envoy on Climate Change in January 2009. Stern sent an email to Clinton’s advisors arguing that the “national security threat” posed by climate change could be used to argue for the Waxman-Markey Bill. (Photo credit: State Department photo by Michael Gross, also here)

[glaciescustodia]

For all your ghost dragonic worm, pass this around.

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

The White House announced a sweeping executive order Friday to promote competition throughout the U.S. economy, in the most ambitious effort in generations to reduce the stranglehold of monopolies and concentrated markets in major industries.

The order — whose details POLITICO first reported last week — also includes elements designed to lower the price of prescription drugs, protect consumers' privacy and increase scrutiny of abusive business tactics in the tech industry.

The effort marks a major push by President Joe Biden’s administration to focus on competition as part of the economic recovery from the pandemic. It also offers a response to progressives’ criticisms that the federal government has focused too much on supporting banks and other corporations without concern about the effect on consumers, who have watched their choices dwindle over the years.

Biden plans to sign the order at 1:30 p.m., the White House said.

The order’s impacts could be felt in industries including agriculture, airlines, health, broadband and banking. Previously unreported elements include a provision urging the Federal Communications Commission to reinstate its Obama-era net neutrality rules, as well as a call for financial regulators to allow data sharing among financial companies.

It dives into the specifics on some policy issues — for instance, by calling for over-the-counter sales of hearing aids, urging the Food and Drug Administration to allow imports of prescription drugs from Canada, and ending "exclusivity arrangements" in which landlords "stick tenants with only a single internet option," according to a nearly 4,000-word White House fact sheet issued Friday morning.

The White House said order will include initiatives to require airlines to refund fees to passengers who receive shoddy Wi-Fi service or baggage handling; restricting businesses’ ability to foist noncompete agreements on employees; challenge occupational licensing requirements that limit competition in industries like health care; and guarantee farmers and motorists the right to repair their own vehicles without voiding warranty protections. The last provision would also have implications for consumer products like Apple’s iPhones.

Top White House officials said the order seeks to ensure small businesses and consumers have access to fair markets.

“The overarching objective with the executive order is to make sure the president is encouraging competition in industries around the country,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Thursday.

Taking aim at just one industry the order will cover, Psaki added: “It doesn’t sound right to most people that there are three shipping companies that are dominating the market and upping and increasing costs for suppliers, small businesses, people across the country. That doesn’t sound right or fair, because it isn’t.”

Background:

The executive order builds off one that former President Barack Obama issued in 2016, which encouraged agencies to consider competition in their decisions and rulemakings. That order — largely the work of Jason Furman, chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers — came near the end of Obama’s presidency. Few agencies followed through on the White House’s prodding, and those that did saw their actions largely overturned by former President Donald Trump’s appointees.

Biden’s order goes a step beyond Obama’s by offering pointed suggestions for steps to take, rather than leaving implementation entirely to the agencies.

The new order is the product of months of negotiations among White House officials, particularly Tim Wu — who served on Obama’s National Economic Council and is now a Biden aide focused on technology and competition policy — along with the Justice Department, Federal Trade Commission and other federal agencies.

While the White House can command executive branch agencies like the Departments of Transportation and Agriculture to take action, the order styles its directions as “suggestions” to avoid the appearance the administration is inappropriately seeking to direct independent agencies like the FCC or FTC. That could avoid the kind of blowback that Trump faced when he pressed both agencies to crack down on social media companies.

A Columbia University law professor and antitrust advocate, Wu is considered one of the founders of the New Brandeis movement in antitrust, along with Lina Khan, a fellow Columbia professor whom Biden named FTC chair last month. Wu and Khan have both argued that the federal government should use a variety of tools beyond antitrust enforcement, particularly agency rulemakings, to promote competition.

The White House order will include these items:

Airlines and shipping: The Transportation Department will issue rules aimed at boosting transparency of airlines’ fees for baggage and Wi-Fi service while helping consumers recover those costs when their trips are delayed or the service is substandard. The agency had proposed similar rules in 2016 that would have forced airlines to disclose baggage and change fees before passengers buy their tickets, but the Trump administration canceled the rulemaking.People familiar with the executive order had said they expect it to suggest efforts to encourage competition at major U.S. airports with capacity constraints, such as New York’s JFK International and Ronald Reagan Washington National near D.C. However, the fact sheet does not mention this issue. The order also tasks the Federal Maritime Commission, which regulates ocean shipping, and the Surface Transportation Board, which oversees trucking and railroads, with seeking ways to bring down shipping costs.

Agriculture: The USDA will undertake several rulemakings aimed at protecting farmers and ranchers against unfair practices by large meatpackers and other agribusinesses. The rules seek to make it easier for the agency to challenge unfair and deceptive practices by meat processors and would allow farmers to more easily file complaints with USDA or sue under the Packers and Stockyards Act. People familiar with the order said it would also tighten the rules for so-called poultry grower tournament systems, in which contract farmers are paid more or less than their peers in the same area depending on how closely they meet buyers’ standards. The agency is also moving forward with rules that seek to increase food access through alternatives to supermarkets, like local farmer’s markets, and increase consumer transparency about where meat is raised.

Labor: The order takes aim at noncompete agreements — contractual provisions that attempt to prevent workers from switching jobs within the same industry — and urges the FTC to make rules barring or limiting them. About one in five Americans today is bound by noncompetes, particularly in tech and health care, where the clauses are common. The order will also urge the FTC and the Justice Department to challenge overly broad job licensing requirements imposed by state governments, a move the administration says could make it easier for workers to obtain new licenses when they move to a new state. During the pandemic, about half of U.S. states agreed to modify their occupational licensing requirements to allow out-of-state physicians and health care workers to work in the state or offer telehealth services.

Financial Services: The order is also expected to support open banking regulations, which seek to allow data sharing among financial firms to increase consumer convenience and price transparency. New regulations could provide more clarity about the consumer protection and cybersecurity obligations of financial apps that have access to data from customers' bank and brokerage accounts. Under the 2010 Dodd-Frank law, consumers have the right to access their own financial data. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has yet to issue standards that would govern consumer requests and transfers, however, although it started a potential rulemaking on the subject in October. Progressive groups have called on the Biden administration to adopt a strong interpretation of the law that would make it easy for consumers to switch among banks and take advantage of innovative upstart technology firms that provide lending and investing services.

Right to repair: The order will also task the FTC with establishing rules on when consumers can bypass manufacturers to seek repairs on products they own, a concept known as “right to repair.” The widespread issue affects farmers seeking to fix their own equipment, as well as consumers who want to use cheaper independent mechanics rather than car dealerships for auto repairs ― or small repair shops instead of Apple for cracked iPhone screens. In a May report to Congress, the FTC suggested it might undertake such a rulemaking that would clarify when repair restrictions violate the law. Manufacturers have fought against “right to repair” proposals, saying they could expose customers to substandard repairs or even violate their privacy by undermining devices’ security.

Mergers: The order would urge the FTC and DOJ to update guidance on how they review mergers, potentially pulling back on guidelines the Trump administration approved last year. Those guidelines focused on so-called vertical mergers, which involve companies that are not direct competitors but are in the same supply chain, and which have typically attracted little scrutiny from regulators. The FTC’s two Democrats opposed the Trump-era update, calling it overly deferential to business. Changes to those guidelines could affect several pending deals, including Amazon’s proposed purchase of MGM Studios and UnitedHealth Group’s deal to buy Change Healthcare. The order will also recommend that federal banking regulators work with the Justice Department to update guidance on bank deals. The DOJ partners with the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to vet bank mergers, but hasn’t changed how it looks at potential tie-ups since 1995.

[fuckyeahmarxismleninism]

Parade Celebrates 73rd Founding Anniversary of Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) 

Sept. 9: The parade of paramilitary and public security forces for celebrating the 73rd founding anniversary of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was held in splendor at Kim Il Sung Square.

There was a special entrance ceremony of the combined militant band. Parachutists showed landing skill, covering the nocturnal sky in September with national flags. A column of escort planes flew past the sky above the square and fighters in the form of a fan shot off crackers, revving up the festive mood. The Ensemble of the State Affairs Commission and the Central Military Band of the Ministry of National Defence for playing music for parade took their seats at the square for rendition.

Parade columns of paramilitary and public security forces entered the square throwing out their might all around, to the tune of entrance music. At 00:00 on Thursday, the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the DPRK, came to the platform of the square. The moment, thunderous cheers of "hurrah!" and loud chanting of "Kim Jong Un" and "devoted defence" resounded through and fireworks shot off, presenting fantastic sea of fireworks.

Kim Jong Un extended warm greetings to all the people of the country celebrating the founding anniversary of the dignified country, waving back to the enthusiastically cheering participants in the parade and in the celebrations. Kim Jong Un and cadres of the Party, government and military were presented with fragrant bouquets by members of the Children's Union. Taking the platform were Choe Ryong Hae, Jo Yong Won, Kim Tok Hun and Pak Jong Chon. Taking the platform also were cadres of the Party and the government, leading officials of the Cabinet, commissions, ministries and national institutions, labor innovators and persons of merits who made distinguished contributions to the development of the DPRK. Also taking the platform were leading officials of the armed forces organs. Present at the platform on invitation were Kim Yong Nam, Pak Pong Ju, Kim Ki Nam, Choe Thae Bok, Kim Kyong Ok and Kim Jong Im who worked for the Party and the government for a long time. 

The reviewing stands were taken by the participants in the celebrations. There was a solemn ceremony of raising a national flag. All the citizens expressed noble respects for the national flag. There was a 21-gun salute amid the playing of the song "The Glorious Motherland". 

Ri Il Hwan, member of the Political Bureau and secretary of the Central Committee of the WPK, made a speech. Then there was an inspection for the preparations for the parade. Commander of the Worker-Peasant Red Guards Kang Sun Nam reported to Jo Yong Won, member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau and secretary for Organizational Affairs of the WPK Central Committee, that units of parade have lined up to get their preparations checked. Jo Yong Won inspected the units of parade. He courteously reported to the General Secretary of the WPK that paramilitary and public security forces are ready to start the parade for celebrating the 73rd founding anniversary of the DPRK.

The solemn parade of paramilitary and public security forces began. Entering the square first led by the lead car of the commander of the Worker-Peasant Red Guards was the column of the Pyongyang City Division of Party members. They are the creators of feats and fighters who devotedly carried out the Party's policies to win a victory in the campaign for protecting the people as fitting the detached corps dispatched by the Party Central Committee to the sites for recovery from disaster last year.

Following them were the column of the Worker-Peasant Red Guards of Pyongyang City, militia force defending the capital city, led by Chief Secretary of the City Party Committee of the Kim Yong Hwan and the columns of the Worker-Peasant Red Guards in North Phyongan Province and South Phyongan Province, standing guard over the border and the gateway to the capital as an impregnable fortress, each led by Chief Secretaries of the Provincial Party Committees Mun Kyong Dok and An Kum Chol. 

They were followed by the columns of the red guards of North and South Hwanghae Provinces, ranks of those taking charge of the agricultural front, led by Chief Secretaries of the Provincial Party Committees Pak Chang Ho and Pak Song Chol. The columns of the red guards of Jagang and Kangwon Provinces led by Chief Secretaries of the Provincial Party Committees Kang Pong Hun and Kim Su Gil showed well the unusual pride and self-esteem of creating the spirit of the times while overcoming grim difficulties before the country and the revolution. Marching past in fine array next were the columns of the red guards of North and South Hamgyong Provinces and Ryanggang Province, being led by Chief Secretaries of the Provincial Party Committees Kim Chol Sam, Ri Jong Nam and Ri Thae Il.

Kim Jong Un sent militant salute to the columns marching past in fine array.

The columns of the Ministry of Railways and the Air Koryo Administration marched past the square. As the column of the Kim Chaek Iron and Steel Complex which is the large-scale base of metallurgical industry in the northern part of the country, the column of the Huichon Ryonha Machine Factory that gave an origin of industrial revolution in the new century and the column of the Hungnam Fertilizer Complex which is an arsenal of socialist agricultural front entered the square, the people warmly congratulated the ranks of the heroic working class. It was followed by the column of the Rakwon General Machine Enterprise and the Chollima Steel Complex.

Entering the square following it was the columns of the Ryongsong Machine Complex, the Sunchon Area Youth Coal Mining Complex and the Pyongyang Kim Jong Suk Textile Mill. The columns of emergency epidemic prevention and the Ministry of Public Health were full of patriotic enthusiasm to display the advantages of the socialist system all over the world, while firmly protecting the security of the country and its people from the worldwide pandemic. There were also the column of the State Academy of Sciences, and the column of men of culture and art and sportspersons made up of those artistes, moviemen and sportspersons who contributed to exalting the honor of the country and opening up the efflorescence of socialist culture.

Then there were the columns of Kim Il Sung University, Kim Chaek University of Technology and the Young Red Guards. Following the paramilitary force columns, ranks of public security forces marched past the platform.

Kim Jong Un sent encouraging salute to the parading columns marching past in fine array, displaying the invincibility as the dependable political guard force of our Party and the elite force holding a share of the revolutionary armed forces.

The first column was the cavalry task force column of the Public Security Forces.It was followed by a military dog search column. The mechanized columns of the Worker-Peasant Red guards entered the square, demonstrating the vitality of our Party's military line for self-defence. Following the column of the motorcycles, those in charge of the farm mechanization who were operational in the socialist cooperative fields rolled past the square driving tractors hauling artillery pieces to pound the aggressors and their vassal forces with annihilating firepower in case of emergency. The mechanized columns roared past the square, reminding that our country has turned into an impregnable fortress with a powerful militia capable of carrying out whatever operations and battles independently together with the invincible regular army. 

The column of fire brigade of the Public Security Forces was the last one that concluded the parade. At the end of the parade, fireworks shot off again and an evening gala of youth and students began at the square. The spectacular fireworks added to the enthusiasm and optimism of youth and students. 

After the evening gala and the display of fireworks, stormy cheers of "hurrah!" for the General Secretary again rocked the heaven and the earth. Kim Jong Un warmly acknowledged the enthusiastically cheering crowds for long. All the participants presented the greatest glory and the deepest gratitude to Kim Jong Un, a peerless hero who is fully demonstrating the new era of overall prosperity of the country and the era of our state-first principle with his ardent love and self-sacrificing dedication to the country and the people.

[ts4cyberpunk-followtherabbit]

( Send me suggestions for new roles!) 

LEGALLY EMPLOYED

Politician: is active in politics, holding or seeking office in government. Politicians propose, support, and create laws or policies that often include how much Corpo control is involved in the city’s government.

Attorney: There are lawyers for corporate law, international law, space law, entertainment law, warfare and military justice, and federal and local law. Rates vary on the firm.

Collar: Corpo Employees like Clerks, Secretaries, and junior Executives are commonly known as collars. Usually a low-level employee of a megacorp they don’t have much pull in Corpo biz but benefit from Corpo job perks.

Suits: Senior Corpo executives find themselves higher up in the ranks with more lucrative benefits and higher risk responsibilities usually involving shady Corpo deals. A suit’s front-line is still usually in an office.

Netcop: Sometimes they uncover Corporate treachery or deadly secrets. But that’s not why they Netrun. Working for Netwatch makes them equipped with very powerful software to move through the Net, every Netrunners dream.

Corpo Engineer: create profitable weapons, devices, security systems, and cyberware. They often have access to dangerous and expensive equipment that they can work with at their leisure for personal gain.

Consolidated Agriculture: direct ownership or leasing of farmland by major corp industry in order to mass produce the world with high quality food.

Social Worker: A particularly underfunded sector of the government, social workers are in charge of human resources and financial aid, most often in the form of kibble card distribution and foster care services.

Scientist: conducts research mostly funded by Corpo to provide corporations with the latest in  Cybernetics, Biotechnology, Systems biology, Nanotechnology, Synthetic Engineering, and Metascience.

Medical Technicians: doctors in a specific field. They could be general practitioners, cardiologists, dentists or more elite members of the Trauma team. Most are impossible to afford without a Corpo insurance plan.

Educators: demonstrate effective learning, teaches, informs, instructs, or inspires about general or specific subjects. Anyone with a marketable skill can educate on it.

Accountant: responsible for keeping Corpo’s or crime rings’ financial records. Most accountants are responsible for a wide range of finance-related tasks, but mostly its about making sure acquired income looks legal.

NCPD Badges: Underfunded police that stretches their authority and use procedural abilities as far as they can to get their job done. Most Badges want to make the city a safer place, others just like having authority to abuse.

MaxTac: sometimes referred NCPD Psycho Squad, they are a specialized sub-group of the Night City Police Department. As a cybersquad, MaxTac specializes in dealing with cyberpsychos.

Private Investigators: law enforcement that works for private clients. They interview people, conduct surveillance, find missing persons, and solve crimes. Wages earned vary by the investigator, some are famous, ergo expensive.

Bounty Hunters:  catches criminals and brings them to NCPD badges in return for a reward. Even though they are legally employed with NCPD and Militech corp. BountyHunters are not against working solo gigs to catch criminals.

Firefighters: a rescuer extensively trained to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the city. There is a recruitment drive in the armed forces, suggesting assault-style situations.

Dog Tag: Any individual on active duty with the United States Armed Forces, led by the Department of Defense. The D.o.D consists of four branches: the Army, Aerospace Force, Navy, and Marines. Inactive dog tags are called ex-tags.

Social Worker: A particularly underfunded sector of the government, social workers are in charge of human resources and financial aid, most often in the form of kibble card distribution and foster care services.

Construction Worker:  work makes up almost 70% of available work for civilians. Full body conversions like the NovelTech Samson make workers tireless, incredibly strong, and capable of surviving almost any accident.

Janitors: There aren’t enough janitors in Night City to clean the filth off her streets but all the same companies still hire people to clean their office buildings and shops. Its often nasty work for bad pay.

Binman: a worker who collects and hauls away garbage and municipal solid waste and recyclables from residential, commercial,  industrial for further processing and waste disposal.

Farmer: raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or gene-buddy livestock.

Owner: a privately owned business with a storefront where legal business is conducted. Many owners are under the protection of gangs depending on their location but some owners are perfectly capable of protecting their own store.

SPIRITUALISTS

Paranormal Investigator:  the paranormal is a lucrative business. Most gigs tend to be the work of tech being used to simulate experiences but they are paid to resolve the paranormal activity.

Cultist: A charismatic leader or a follower of an unorthodox cult who generally lives outside of conventional society. Some Cultists are prone to acts of terrorism or unorganized violence for their spiritual or religious cause.

Religious Leader: The duties of a religious leader vary from faith, but usually include encouraging people to make a commitment to their faith and live according to its teachings and explaining the meaning of scripture.

ENTERTAINMENT BIZ

Glitters: Doors open for Glitters that are closed for others because they can bring exposure and popularity. Public icons, fashion gurus, famous investors are all glitters whose only job is to write checks and shine.

Braindance Artist: An actor or actress that works primarily with Diverse Media Systems Braindance Studios. The artist is wired up with the neural feeds and starts recording. The BD artist usually has no script. The art of Braindance recording is spontaneity.

TV Star: From talk shows to “reality shows” TV stars still fill daytime TV channels with drama, action, and comedy. Braindance might be the next best form for the movie cinema and video game industry but TV stars still dazzle the small screen.

Rock stars/Lazrpop Star: Singers that are sponsored by recording companies or other Corp. and are paid to be apolitical so their music creates no discourse, They make beats and lyrics and their income is relative to the size of the audience that idolizes them.

Radio Jockey: A radio jockey hosts a radio show that may take calls from listeners; interview celebrities or gives news, weather, sports, or traffic information.RJ’s can be swayed monetarily to broadcast political leaning content. In between, they play music of preferred genres.

Performative Dancer: From Ballet to Kabuki Theatre, performative dancers are marveled upon in media by more artistic or refined members of society. Many performative dancers utilize cosmetic and athletic cyber to add authenticity to their performance.

Performative Musician: composes, conducts, or performs music on instruments. They are not concerned with conflicts of political interest since their music seldom includes vocals. They are still often sponsored by Corpo though.

Comedian: seek to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, acting foolish or employing prop comedy. Comedians get the most heat in the industry for crossing apolitical lines.

Writer: Most Corpo employed writers are writing scripts for TV stars, comedians, songs for rockstars, and speeches for politicians but some still work the competitive field of novels, they also compete with AI software in creative writing.

Preem Mannequins: Models that work their way up a brutal and competitive industry to stand out for their physical beauty in some way. Most get featured in advertisement billboards and high fashion magazines and most are obsessed with their physical appearance.

Superstar: do it all, record BDs, release songs, dance,and have had their face on billboards. They are masters of the entertainment industry and produce eddies and audiences where ever they go. Most Superstars are completely entitled.

Professional Athlete: Athletes compete in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed or endurance Most professional athletes have particularly well-developed physiques obtained by extensive modification, strict training, and dietary regimen.

Celebrity Agent: represent and promote artists, performers, and athletes in dealings with Corpo sponsors. They handle contract negotiation and other business matters for clients. They also headhunt for new talent to bring in.

Fashion Designer:  design clothing and fashion ranges. They may work in high fashion or designer ready-to-wear fashion, as well as in high-street fashion. Most fashion designers that achieve recognition for their designs assist Corpo techies in producing more creative code in Fashion Ai’s.

Aesthetic Artist: those in the entertainment biz are concerned about their appearances to the media and public. Aesthetic artists’ job is to make sure they look their best. Focused on make-up, hair, and outfit they keep those in the entertainment biz styling.

Creative Craft Artisan:  a very rare breed mostly replaced by 3D design and printing companies, CC Artisans create unique sculptures, woodwork, or pottery made out of the finest materials, and their creations are afforded only by the super-wealthy.

Illustrator Artisan: Illustrators are painters, sketchers, and digital drawers that create original images for a range of printed and digital products. They work closely with marketing teams to turn ideas and printed media into inspiring illustrations.

MEDIA

TV News Reporter:  always somehow on the scene in the thickest of action to get first hand news delivered to the citizens before other networks. It can be a high-risk job.

TV News Anchor: Once reporters work up in ranks they can earn opportunities to become a TV news anchor, a lower risk job with higher pay than TV news reporter. Many TV news anchors gain enough popularity to be considered a glitter media.

Journalist: Journalism in night city means gathering, assessing, creating, and presenting news and information via screamsheets, magazines, or the net. Unlike TV news reporters, journalists are freelance, the job is high risk.

Combat Correspondents: provide perspective on what it’s like inside the U.S. armed forces. These soldier media gather information for news and feature articles much as civilian journalists do , often against military protocol.

Sensationalist: sensationalism is a type of editorial gig. Events and topics in news stories are selected and worded to excite the greatest number of readers and viewers.

Celebrity Hunter: Journalists that focus on the who’s who are usually found chasing down the hottest glitters for interviews that will produce the best ratings. They have a low-risk job but sometimes find themselves in high-risk situations.

Clicker: a freelance photographer or can be employed by photo agencies, magazines or local newspapers. Their job is to shoot the best photo for the best story. Journalists and clickers work as a duet.

Sport Jockey: to make sure you know every score from all the most important games worldwide. It’s a low-risk job with sports celebrity access perks.

Media Techie:In media, there is equipment like cameras, recorders, Braindance,  media techies are hired to maintain, repair or purchase and all equipment for best-produced media in the biz.  

Shutterbug: vagrants of media, shutterbugs are out to get any quote, photo, or story that will garnish any eddies for personal gain. They don’t care about truth or ratings, they simply chase whatever sells quickest.

STREET TRASH

Sharks: have eddies to give away, but interest rates are known to be extreme. consequences of defaulting on a loan shark is often a higher price to pay. only desperate people go to sharks, and they capitalize on it.

Bookie: a person whose business is accepting and paying out money risked on a particular result of something, esp. fighting, racing and competitive activities.

Black Marketeer: a person who trades illegally in officially controlled commodities such as illegally obtained Corpo weapons, Illegal cyberware, BDs, and extreme drugs.

Juicers: work for sharks almost exclusively and aren’t hired to kill but instead hired to squeeze eddies owed to the shark from poor s.o.b’s that are overdue on their debts. They are quick to use extreme force and torturous tactics.

Pushers: SynthCoke,Boost,Blue Glass,Smash,Dorph,Black Lace -pushers sell it all.Pushers only care about moving drugs for eddies. They are prone to using the drugs they push some can be dangerous.Ex-tags and joytoys are common customers.

Cookers: SynthCoke,Boost,Blue Glass,Smash,Dorph,Black Lace- Cookers make it all.They have a dangerous job just from being exposed to lethal chemicals during the cooking process to avoiding the ncpd Vice unit.Cookers use pushers to distribute.

Street Punk: Gang posers,dophers,zoomers, and dregs of society are weak nobodies that get themselves or other people killed during careless acts of petty crimes and gigs. They have a low threat level but are still a nuisance, mostly to the NCPD.

Scavengers: known for kidnapping people and forcibly harvesting their cyberware.Despite all of them pursuing the same distasteful trade, scavengers tend to operate in small groups with no official hierarchy to unite them.

Con Man: night city’s cheats and swindlers who cheat or trick someone by gaining their trust and persuading them to believe or buy something that is not true. Con man are responsible for a lot of disappearances and deaths.

Gangbanger: Gangbangers are the ultimate rules of the city streets. From small gangs like Moxes or Divine Dragons to mega gangs like Tyger Claws  each gang in Night City is as diverse as the street itself all thrown together in a lethal cocktail.

Street Scribbler: Wannabe street artisans take to scribbling opinions, quotes, and sig tags over public property as a form of protest and vandalism. Scribblers are not extremely creative and don’t respect gangbanger tags.

Street Artisans: create graffiti as form of activism and expression but follow strict code and respect gangbanger territory. This respect of code encourages gangbangers to protect some artisans’ artwork from scribblers defacing their work.

Buskers: the jesters of night city from acrobatics, drawing caricatures, comedy, dance, singing, living statue, poetry, street theatre, these citizens earn gratuities by entertaining the city streets on all corners.

Street Vendor: Offers goods or services for sale to the public with a mobile stall. Goods they sell are often second or even third hand, may or may not be stolen or salvaged.

Disc Jockey: DJs, play off the cuff or pre-recorded mixes at nightclubs and at private and public street events. They engage and entertain their audience and incorporate requests into their music line-up.

Fixer: Well-connected information brokers who apply their trade on the black market. They locate, acquire and sell info about desired persons, places or things within their areas of operation. Most gigs solos do come from Fixers.

Nomads: were once corporate wage-slaves, who got fired from employment, and now they roam the highways in motor-gangs.They maintain strong family bonds and have a hard time trusting anyone outside of the family. They despise Corpo.

Ripperdoc: is a medical practitioner who can install a variety of cybernetic prostheses. There are many that operate legally, but some conduct illicit deals, such as installing military-grade cybernetics for the right price.

Deckjockey: is an expert netrunner, usually a specialist at covertly accessing and stealing from corporate databases, buying, trading and selling their deepest secrets and information to Fixers and other Deckjockeys.

Techie: range from technicians to cybernetic specialists. They are usually introverted and “underground’ who do “off-the-record” work and make their living building, fixing and modifying anything from vending machines to weapons.

Bartender: Night City drags dangerous individuals in pretty much every bar, club and pub so many bartenders tend to be ex-gangbangers, ex-cons, ex-tags, and ex-solos.and are accustomed to violence and high-stress environments and how to handle them.

Bouncer:  tend to come from backgrounds of violence but also have the body and modifications to execute more aggressive methods of peacekeeping. A bar’s success can sometimes completely rely on how good the bouncer is at their job.

Smuggler: facilitate entry into a desired location and smuggle a package to be delivered at a predecided destination.They may traffic persons or merchandise and are quick to abandon a package if they suspect they will be caught.

Runners : a driver for hire that has three rules: all deals are final, no names, and never look at the package. Runners don’t abandon packages at the first sight of risk, This makes them more expensive.

Highrider: a pilot for hire who will fly anyone to their destination under any conditions as long as they get half their payment before take-off and the rest when they land. Most highriders die in a flame of glory.

SOLO

Solo Mercenary: is the jack of all trade in the solo biz not particularly a master in one thing a solo merc takes jobs From bodyguard to thief, to assassin. But the point is they get the job done, even if its a bit…messy.

Shinobi: trained shadow solos have finesse. Their proficiency is in katanas, martial arts and stealth so have a great skill-set suited for silent stings and assassinations. They get the job done quietly and you pay extra for it.

Solo Thief: have exceptional skills at stealing and have mastery over all kinds of lock picking and hacking.To the simple pickpocket to the most difficult heist, a solo thief always nabs their target possession.

Solo Assassin: don’t have time for petty thievery and are not in the biz of “protecting’ anybody. Their set of skills is good for one thing: finding and killing a target. Their contracts are usually very expensive.

Solo Bodyguard: are tanks, physically strong and unyielding they use their physical advantage to guard and protect persons or places. solo bodyguards often have contracts with fixers, celebs, politicians, and even Corpos.

Corporate Samurai : Solos that are hired to protect Corporation property and carry out violent and illegal gigs for Mega Corps.The Corporate Samurai will associate and  works for or possibly as a Corrupt Corporate Executive.

Ronin: Previously corpo Samurai are now freelance are called Ronin and are seen as untrustworthy in the solo bizz because of their Corpo past however this past gives them an edge in succeeding against Corpo gigs.

Street Samurai: fight against the Megacorps and follow their own personal codes of honor which is to bring down the society in which they live in order to make a better one so they take Any gig that sticks it to Corpo.

Shinobi: are elite trained and have mastery in espionage and deception hired by Corpos executives, celebs, and politicians for protection. Shinobi are usually against using cyberware and prefer to rely on their own strength.

EROTICA WORK

Joytoy: Licensed prostitutes that work the street.Their biz is selling sex.joytoys have a high risk gig so they often seek out pimps for protection which depending on the pimp can help or complicates a joytoys job and life.

Pimp: a joytoy’s manager. They sometimes bring joytoys clients and deal with problematic customers but mostly they hover around their joytoys and berate them for not bringing enough eddies.Most pimps only ‘manage’ a handful of joytoys.

Doll: A step up from street prostitutes Dolls use neural implants to remove themselves from the experience and implant a fantasy for the customer and the doll doesn’t remember the interaction when it’s over.Dolls are employed by dollhouses.

Caretaker: owners of dollhouses. They employ dolls, provide health care as needed as well as protection for dolls . Caretakers can employ dozens of dolls at one time and dolls work hard for them for higher positions in the dollhouse.

Mannequin: are a  dancer that perform in a window box, usually wearing a fashion brand they are hired to be still, poised, and perfect like a real mannequin, others are hired to perform lavish dances to sell the brand they are wearing.

Stripper: is a person who earns eddies by stripping their clothes off.However, its not as easy as just standing on a stage naked. They are excellent dancers and masters at visual teasing. Some strippers are also joytoys,but not always.

Erotica:  are a dancer that performs for braindances. synaptic acting a-listers. Pure bi-based ecstasy.All eroticas are in a catalog where you ask for their pre-recorded BD. Eroticas don’t generally engage in physical sexual activity.

Black Widow: has a more lucritive and lethal way to use their body .Black widows target Glitters use sex to get closer to the target and murders them before making off with an exceptional score of eddies or merch to sell.

Hooker: an unlicensed sex worker generally wants to avoid STD screenings which would make any sex work they do illegal if they fail the screening.Unlicensed sex workersoffer way cheaper services but with much higher risk of STD spread.

[davidshawnsown]

MESSAGE IN HONOR OF THE 76TH YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE HISTORIC RAISING OF THE NATIONAL FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ATOP THE SUMMIT OF MOUNT SURIBACHI IN IWO JIMA

Ladies and gentlemen, to all the people of the United States of America and Canada, to all our remaining living veterans of the Second World War of 1939-1945 and of all conflicts past and present and their families, to our veterans, active servicemen and women, reservists and families of the entire United States Armed Forces and Canadian Armed Forces, and to all the uniformed military and civil security services of the Allied combatants of this conflict, to all the immediate families, relatives, children and grandchildren of the deceased veterans, fallen service personnel and wounded personnel of our military services and civil uniformed security and civil defense services, to all our workers, farmers and intellectuals, to our youth and personnel serving in youth uniformed and cadet organizations and all our athletes, coaches, judges, sports trainers and sports officials, and to all our sports fans, to all our workers of culture, music, traditional arts and the theatrical arts, radio, television, digital media and social media, cinema, heavy and light industry, agriculture, business, tourism and the press, and to all our people of the free world:

Today, the whole world remembers among others the arrival in 1778 of the great Prussian general Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben to the Continental Army quarters in Valley Forge, the beginning of the historic siege of The Alamo in 1836, and the anniversary of the 1847 Battle of Buena Vista, the 1905 formation of the Rotary Club, the beginning of the February Revolution and the formation of the Federal Communications Commission in 1917, the Miracle on Ice of 1980 and the attempted coup by several officers of the Spanish Civil Guard in the Cortes in 1981.

Today we join in the celebrations of the 51st anniversary since the declaration of the Republic of Guayana in 1970, the one hundredth and third  year  anniversary of the 1918 declaration of independence of the Republic of Estonia and the thirty-seventh year anniversary of the independence of Brunei Darussalam in 1984, as well as the 7th year anniversary of the closing of the Sochi Winter Olympic Games and the victory of the Ukrainian Euromaidan Revolution of 2014.

On this day in 1945 the Red Army and the Polish Armed Forces in the East ended the Nazi occupation of Poznan, the Philippine capital city of Manila was liberated from the Japanese despite its wartime damages and at the cost of so many lives, the Los Banos internment camp in the namesake town in Laguna Province was found and its POWs then liberated by a joint force of Filipino guerillas and American soldiers from the US Army’s 11th Airborne Division, and the RAF Bomber Command destroyed Pforzheim from the air.

Today marks 76 years since Easy Company, 2/506, 3BCT, 101ABN departed from Hagenau in northeastern Alsace, France, after weeks of helping its liberation and reinforcing its defenses against any remaining German resistance. Easy Company’s deployment in this part of France just miles from the Rhine was marked by times of sadness and joys among its men, most notably the return of Market Garden veteran David Webster and the promotion of some of its veteran officers.

And today, ladies and gentlemen, in these changing times in the long history of our planet and of all humankind,  together with the thousands of serving men and women of the United States Marine Corps, we celebrate 76 years since the historic moment that forever has been a part of the heritage of the Marine Corps and the long 245 year history of the United States of America: the diamond jubilee anniversary since the very day that the national flag of the United States of America was raised on the peak of  Mount Suribachi in the Japanese island of Iwo Jima.  What we are celebrating today is now in the clear light of the recent revelations of the United States Marine Corps which was made public on June 23 of 2016 and later on in 2019 thanks to efforts made by historians and history experts and resource persons concerned, ending years of speculation and mystery surrounding the events of this this battle that is, for all generations, part of the history of not just the Corps, but of the entire United States Armed Forces. It is a battle that deserves our profound remembrance and commemoration, and a historic moment that will be always remembered for all our generations.

The six Marine flag raisers of Iwo Jima,  Sergeant Michael Strank, Corporals Harold Keller and Harlon Brock, and Privates First Class Ira Hayes, Franklin R. Sousley and Harold Schultz, all of the 2nd Battalion, 28th Marine Regiment of the 5th Marine Division, all participants of the heroic landing and battle for the liberation of Iwo Jima from the military might of the Empire of Japan, are the very people that represented the hundreds of thousands of Marines of V Amphibious Corps who fought on that island together with their fellow servicemen of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard and the National Guard Bureau. It was these six servicemen who represented the millions of Marines who fought in the Pacific Theater of Operations, as well as serving in Navy and Coast Guards vessels in all theaters of the war. It was they who represented the diversity of peoples from all walks of life and from ethnicities and nationalities who during the long war served as part of the victorious armed forces, resistance organizations and security forces of the Allied Powers. It was they who on this day 76 years ago, chosen by destiny to stand on behalf of millions of Americans, flew the flag of the nation on the summit of Mount Suribachi and became part of the long and cherished memories of a victory that will last forever. It was this flag raising that would be forever be immortalized in the 2005 movie Flags of our Fathers.

These six men, who came from different parts of the United States, were the ones who 76 years past raised our symbol of liberty and independence in the summit of Mount Suribachi, motivated by the foremost wishes of the then Secretary of the Navy, James Forestal, that the Iwo Jima campaign be symbolized by the flying of the national flag not just as symbol of the power and dignity of the Armed Forces and as proof of the American liberation of the island, but also to show the world that the United States Marine Corps has once more performed to the world its primary responsibilty of perfoming amphibious conventional and un-conventional warfare operations for the sake of the defense of the people and government of the United States, its foreign interests and business abroad and in defense of its overseas diaspora and the freedoms and liberties of millions all over the world. The historic flag raising that we remember today is just  part of a long history of faithful service of the branch of the Armed Forces to the nation and people of the United States from its beginnings in 1775 during the Revolutionary War under the authority of the Second Continental Congress to overseas operations today in Iraq and Afghanistan and in support of federal, state and regional authorities in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing vaccination program in the United States and it its military bases abroad. Once more it honors the memory of the heroes and martyrs of one of the greatest military operations in United States history, and the legacy of the heroic valor shown in this island has been forever immortalized in stone in the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia, for over six and a half decades.

As we recall the flagraisers of Iwo Jima, we today recall the legacy they left to our country and people on this very day in our history as they threw open the doors of victory and peace that would in just a few months be upon the world with the victory over the Axis Powers, first in Europe and Northern Africa, and then in the Asia-Pacific.

We will never forget that these six Marines, whose contributions to the legacy of the defense and security of our nation were made on this day, were among those who were worthy to ensure the fierce physical and mental training required to be United States Marines and thus made themselves part of the long and distinguished history of this institution. In these changing times of our history, by our acts of remembrance and honor in memory of the events of the long battle for the liberation of Iwo Jima against the forces of the Empire of Japan, we never forget to remember the heroic actons done during the days of this great battle and most especially the six thousand American military servicemen who perished in this tiny island for the sake of the freedoms, dreams and aspirations not just of the people of the United States of America but also of all the millions of people of the free world. These Marines, together with those who served with them in V Amphibious Corps, are once more a reminder to the nation and the world of the patriotic and internationalist duties of the men and women of our armed forces, whether be active or reserve, together with the National Guard and the state defense forces and state naval forces, in the defense of the independence and liberty of millions all over the world and of both American and common international interests, and the responsibility of all Americans to help not just in national defense but in the building of national prosperity, security and safety, preservation of the country’s religions and cultures, safekeeping the enviroment and the sites of national importance, and becoming active in sports and recreation, as well as in spreading the values of our nation and people to millions all over the world.

The legacy left today by these men in scarlet and dark blue, which has become a part of our military historic and patriotic patrimony and heritage as a people and nation, and a eternal memory of the millions who fought and died in the Second World War, reminds us that as one people we owe a lot to the men and women of our Armed Forces and the National  Guard and their veterans in the defense of the ideals of freedom and independence of our country and its continued existence amongst the community of united and independent nations of the world.

Ladies and gentlemen and people of our free world: 

As one united people, in the midst of the worst pandemic in human history, it is with deep respect and gratitude, with humble respect and our deepest thanks not just to those who died but also to those who survived and our remaining veterans of this great battle living among us, as the whole world remembers and celebrates this very moment in our history and most of all in the history of the glorious United States Armed Forces, we, in remembrance of all the fallen and with profound thoughts of all who serve today in the armed forces and in our uniformed security and civil defense services, greet each other and the men and women of the United States Marine Corps as we celebrate together as one nation and one free world the seventy-sixth year anniversary of the historic raising of the national flag of the United States of America by these 6 brave Marines of the 5th Marine Division, risking even to lose their very own lives in the defense of their country and her people. The diamond legacy left by this historic act remains part of our long history and the patrimony of her Armed Forces, and thus is one of the greatest defining actions by the millions who served during those critical times of our history, those who are collectively called as our “greatest generation” of the armed forces, resistance organizations and our civilian security services. Only few remain living among the thousands who survived the battle and helped win one of the greatest operations in the military history of the United States, and today we thank these remaining living veterans of Iwo Jima, who 76 years ago helped bring forth the victory over the Empire of Japan in the Asia-Pacific, for their service to the nation and for their contributions to the victory won in this part of the world. To them, we owe our gratitude and pledge thus to honor the legacy they left behind in our history and to forever remain committed to fight just as they did long ago towards a better world.

May this great moment, which forever belongs in the annals of American military history, be for all generations a moment that will be forever a part of our history and sacred patrimony, and a part in the long 246-year history of the United States Marine Corps and the 74 years of the modern United States Armed Forces, truly a sacred and memorable moment of national pride that will be forever be remembered and never forgotten in our hearts for years and decades to come and in the hearts of all the people of the free world, and most of all of the American people, a memorable moment that will be treasured to our children. For this very immortal battle, one of many Allied victories in the Pacific Theater of Operations and one of the greatest military victories of the United States Armed Forces in this part of the world during the Second World War, shall be remembered as the one very battle that showed the world the bravery, courage and determination of the United States Marine for the defense of the American nation and all the free peoples of the world, and for the preservation of the values of freedom and liberty on which the United States was formed, thanks in part of the courage and gallantry shown by the US Marines in the early years of the nation that it helped to build. Today, as we honor this historic anniversary of such a great moment by these 6 Marines for our country and Corps, we once again recall the sacrifices made by the men and women of our Armed Forces in the victory won in this battle and many other combat operations in the Second World War in Europe, northern Africa, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific, flying the flag that today was raised in triumph in the peak of Mount Suribachi and in all our installations and military bases, in the sacred cause of the defense of the republic and her people and the cause of independence and liberty of the peoples of the free world. Once more, we today reaffirm that no matter what the dangers this world might face, with the strength and determination of the thousands of servicemen and women in the Armed Forces and the National Guard Bureau, and the inspiration of our heroes of the past, we will overcome all trials and disasters, and forge onwards towards the goal of a better tomorrow for our future generations.

In closing, may the eternal memory of these brave 6 Marine flagbearers, who risked their futures and their lives for the sake of our liberty 76 years ago when they raised the very symbol of our freedom, sovereignity and independence, be honored all the more by our efforts by all of us today, the people of this great land together with the free peoples of the world, everyday and by the generations to come – the very eternal memory of them and of all the millions who fought in the Second World War who will never be forgotten and will be honored for all time, in very age, century upon century, for the peace of our world and for the future of humanity!

And may this historic moment live on the hearts of the millions of American people and forever remain a celebration worthy to be honored as forever a part of the history and patrimony not just of the United States Marine Corps and the United States Armed Forces, but also as a great moment in the history of our great independent homeland the United States of America!

ETERNAL GLORY TO THE FALLEN OF THE BATTLE OF MANILA AND THE BOMBING OF PFORZHEIM!

LONG LIVE THE 37TH NATIONAL DAY OF BRUNEI DARUSSALAM, THE 51st ANNIVERSARY OF THE DECLARATION OF THE REPUBLIC OF GUAYANA, AND THE 7th ANNIVERSARY OF THE CLOSING OF THE SOCHI WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES AND THE VICTORY OF THE EUROMAIDAN REVOLUTION!

ETERNAL GLORY TO THE MEMORY OF THE 6 MARINES WHO ON THIS VERY IMPORTANT DAY IN AMERICAN HISTORY EXACTLY 76 YEARS AGO ON THIS VERY DAY IN OUR HISTORY, ATOP THE PEAK OF MOUNT SURIBACHI IN IWO JIMA, RISKING EVEN TO SUFFER DEATH BY ENEMY GUNFIRE, BAYONETS AND GRENADES, RAISED THE VERY SYMBOL OF FREEDOM AND LIBERTY, OUR GLORIOUS NATIONAL FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!

ETERNAL GLORY AND MEMORY TO THE HEROES, MARTYRS AND VETERANS OF THE GREAT BATTLE OF IWO JIMA, ONE OF THE GREATEST BATTLES EVER FOUGHT BY THE MEN OF THE UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS!

ETERNAL GLORY TO THE MEMORY OF ALL THE VETERANS, ALLIED HEROES AND FALLEN OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR IN THE PACIFIC THEATER OF OPERATIONS!

LONG LIVE THE GLORIOUS, INVINCIBLE AND LEGENDARY UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS, ALWAYS FAITHFUL TILL THE END FOR THE PEOPLE AND THE ENTIRE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND OF THE FREE WORLD!

GLORY TO THE VICTORIOUS PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND HER UNIFORMED SERVICES!

AND FINALLY, GLORY TO THE ARMED FORCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, DEFENDERS OF OUR FREEDOM AND LIBERTY AND GUARANTEE OF A FUTURE WORTHY OF OUR GENERATIONS TO COME!

 May our Almighty God bless our great country, the land of the free and the home of the brave, the first of the free republics of our modern world, our beloved, great and mighty United States of America!

Semper Fidelis! Oorah!

 1800h, February 23, 2021, the 245th year of the United States of America, the 246th year of the United States Army, Navy and Marine Corps, the 127th of the International Olympic Committee, the 125th of the Olympic Games, the 80th since the beginning of the Second World War in the Eastern Front and in the Pacific Theater, the 76th since the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa and the victories in Europe and the Pacific and the 74th of the United States Armed Forces

 Semper Fortis

John Emmanuel Ramos

Makati City, Philippines

Grandson of Philippine Navy veteran PO2 Paterno Cueno, PN (Ret.)

 (Honor by Hans Zimmer) (Platoon Swims) (Rendering Honors)

[newstfionline]

Wednesday, January 13, 2021

House Sets Impeachment Vote to Charge Trump With Incitement (NYT) House Democrats introduced an article of impeachment against President Trump on Monday for his role in inflaming a mob that attacked the Capitol, scheduling a Wednesday vote to charge the president with “inciting violence against the government of the United States” if Vice President Mike Pence refused to strip him of power first. As the impeachment drive proceeded, federal law enforcement authorities accelerated efforts to fortify the Capitol ahead of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s inauguration on Jan. 20. The authorities announced plans to deploy up to 15,000 National Guard troops and set up a multilayered buffer zone with checkpoints around the building by Wednesday, just as lawmakers are to debate and vote on impeaching Mr. Trump. Federal authorities also said they were bracing for a wave of armed protests in all 50 state capitals and Washington in the days leading up to the inauguration.

National Guard inauguration deployment (Military Times) The Defense Department has authorized as many as 15,000 troops to be deployed to Washington, D.C., for the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden. National Guard Bureau chief Gen. Daniel Hokanson said that there will initially be a deployment of 10,000 troops—an increase of about 4,000 from those in D.C. now. That figure is twice the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq combined. The general declined to specify whether the guardsmen will be armed, stating that “we will work very closely with the federal agency, the FBI and law enforcement to determine if there is a need for that.” A D.C. National Guard spokesman told Military Times on Sunday that while some troops came to town with their weapons, carrying them on the streets had not yet been authorized.

Companies cutting off Trump and GOP (Yahoo Finance) Marriott and Blue Cross Blue Shield are just a few of the companies that are halting donations to GOP lawmakers who objected to certifying Joe Biden as president, while other businesses move to cut ties with President Trump directly. The actions come on the heels of Friday’s permanent suspension of Donald Trump’s Twitter account and Amazon’s move to cut off social media platform Parler’s servers. (NYT) The backlash is part of a broader shunning of Mr. Trump and his allies unfolding in the wake of the assault on the Capitol. Schools stripped the president of honorary degrees, some prominent Republicans threatened to leave the party and the New York State Bar Association announced it had begun investigating Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, which could lead to his removal from the group. And the P.G.A. of America announced it would strip Mr. Trump’s New Jersey golf club of a major tournament.

Virus deaths surging in California, now top 30,000 (AP) The coronavirus death toll in California reached 30,000 on Monday, another staggering milestone as the nation’s most populous state endures the worst surge of the nearly yearlong pandemic. Newly confirmed infections are rising at a dizzying rate of more than a quarter-million a week and during the weekend a record 1,163 deaths were reported. Los Angeles County is one of the epicenters and health officials there are telling residents to wear a mask even when at home if they go outside regularly and live with someone elderly or otherwise at high risk. California has deployed 88 refrigerated trailers to use as makeshift morgues mostly in hard-hit Southern California, where traditional storage space is dwindling.

A never-ending scandal (Bloomberg) Lockheed Martin Corp.’s F-35, the fighter jet already being flown by the U.S. and eight allies, remains marred by 871 software and hardware deficiencies that could undercut readiness, missions or maintenance, according to the Pentagon’s testing office. The Defense Department’s costliest weapons system “continues to carry a large number of deficiencies, many of which were identified prior to” the development and demonstration phase, which ended in April 2018 with 941 flaws, Robert Behler, the director of operational testing, said in a new assessment obtained by Bloomberg News in advance of its publication.

Pompeo Returns Cuba to Terrorism Sponsor List (NYT) The State Department designated Cuba a state sponsor of terrorism on Monday in a last-minute foreign policy stroke that will complicate the incoming Biden administration’s plans to restore friendlier relations with Havana. In a statement, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo cited Cuba’s hosting of 10 Colombian rebel leaders, along with a handful of American fugitives wanted for crimes committed in the 1970s, and Cuba’s support for the authoritarian leader of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro. Mr. Pompeo said the action sent the message that “the Castro regime must end its support for international terrorism and subversion of U.S. justice.” The action, announced with just days remaining in the Trump administration, reverses a step taken in 2015 after President Barack Obama restored diplomatic relations with Cuba, calling its decades of political and economic isolation a relic of the Cold War.

Brexit sandwich problems (BBC) A Dutch TV network has filmed border officials confiscating ham sandwiches and other foods from drivers arriving in the Netherlands from the UK, under post-Brexit rules. Under EU rules, travellers from outside the bloc are banned from bringing in meat and dairy products. The rules appeared to bemuse one driver. “Since Brexit, you are no longer allowed to bring certain foods to Europe, like meat, fruit, vegetables, fish, that kind of stuff,” a Dutch border official told the driver in footage broadcast by TV network NPO 1. In one scene, a border official asked the driver whether several of his tin-foil wrapped sandwiches had meat in them. When the driver said they did, the border official said: “Okay, so we take them all.” Surprised, the driver then asked the officials if he could keep the bread, to which one replied: “No, everything will be confiscated—welcome to the Brexit, sir. I’m sorry.”

Merkel sees coronavirus lockdown until early April: Bild (Reuters) Chancellor Angela Merkel has told lawmakers in her conservative party that she expects a lockdown in Germany to curb the spread of the coronavirus to last until the start of April, top-selling Bild daily cited participants as the meeting as saying. “If we don’t manage to stop this British virus, then we will have 10 times the number of cases by Easter. We need eight to 10 more weeks of tough measures,” Bild quoted Merkel as saying.

‘A Stalin with double meat’ (Foreign Policy) A Moscow kebab shop named after Soviet leader Joseph Stalin has closed after just 24 hours of opening after a string of complaints from angry residents. In its brief existence Stalin Doner served items like “Stalin with double meat” and “Beria with tkemali sauce”—a reference to Stalin’s notorious secret police chief. The shop’s owner, Stanislav Voltman, was interviewed by police for three hours following complaints. “They asked me if my head was screwed on straight,” Voltman told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. “It’s not like I had Hitler as the face of my brand,” Voltman said. Despite public outcry about the kebabs, support for Stalin is on the rise in Russia. A Levada Center poll in 2019 found that 70 percent of Russians think Stalin played a completely or relatively positive role in the life of the country.

In Kashmir, Hopes Wither (NYT) Kashmir, the craggily beautiful region in the shadow of the Himalayas long caught between India and Pakistan, has fallen into a state of suspended animation. Schools are closed. Lockdowns have been imposed, lifted and then reimposed. Once a hub for both Western and Indian tourists, Kashmir has been reeling for more than a year. First, India brought in security forces to clamp down on the region. Then the coronavirus struck. The streets are full of soldiers. Military bunkers, removed years ago, are back, and at many places cleave the road. On highways, soldiers stop passenger vehicles and drag commuters out to check their identity cards. Conflict in Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-majority region, has festered for decades. And an armed uprising has long sought self-rule. Tens of thousands of rebels, civilians and security forces have died since 1990. India and Pakistan have gone to war twice over the territory, which is split between them but claimed by both in its entirety. Now, as India flexes its power over the region, to even call Kashmir a disputed region is a crime—sedition, according to Indian officials. Many say that the political paralysis is the worst it has ever been in Kashmir’s 30 years of conflict, and that people have been choked into submission.

India’s top court suspends implementation of new farm laws (AP) India’s top court on Tuesday temporarily put on hold the implementation of new agricultural laws and ordered the formation of an independent committee of experts to negotiate with farmers who have been protesting against the legislation. The Supreme Court’s ruling came a day after it heard petitions filed by the farmers challenging the controversial legislation. The court said that the laws were passed without enough consultation, and that it was disappointed with the way talks were proceeding between representatives of the government and farmer leaders. Tens of thousands of farmers protesting against the legislation have been blocking half a dozen major highways on the outskirts of New Delhi for more than 45 days. Farmers say they won’t leave until the government repeals the laws. They say the legislation passed by Parliament in September will lead to the cartelization and commercialization of agriculture, make farmers vulnerable to corporate greed and devastate their earnings. The government insists the laws will benefit farmers and says they will enable farmers to market their produce and boost production through private investment.

First came political crimes. Now, a digital crackdown descends on Hong Kong. (Washington Post) HONG KONG—The police officers who came to take away Owen Chow on national security grounds last week left little to chance. Determined to find his phones, they had prepared a list of mobile numbers registered to his name, even one he used exclusively for banking, said the 23-year-old Hong Kong activist. Officers called each number in succession, the vibrations revealing the locations of three iPhones around his apartment. By the end of their operation, police had amassed more than 200 devices from Chow and 52 others held for alleged political crimes that day, according to those arrested, as well as laptops from spouses who are not politically active and were not detained. The digital sweep showed how Hong Kong authorities are wielding new powers under the national security law, introduced last summer, far more widely than the city’s leader promised. Since the Jan. 6 raids, authorities have blocked at least one website, according to the site’s owner and local media reports, raising concerns that Hong Kong is headed for broader digital surveillance and censorship akin to that in mainland China. Hong Kong police have begun sending devices seized from arrested people to mainland China, where authorities have sophisticated data-extraction technology, and are using the information gleaned from those devices to assist in investigations, according to two people familiar with the arrangement who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect their safety.

26 missing, at least 13 dead in Indonesia landslides (AP) Rescuers are searching for 26 people still missing after two landslides hit a village in Indonesia’s West Java province over the weekend, officials said Tuesday. At least 13 people were killed and 29 others injured in the landslides that were triggered by heavy rain on Sunday in Cihanjuang, a village in West Java’s Sumedang district. Some of the victims were rescuers from the first landslide.

Leading human rights group calls Israel an ‘apartheid’ state (AP) A leading Israeli human rights group has begun describing both Israel and its control of the Palestinian territories as a single “apartheid” regime, using an explosive term that the country’s leaders and their supporters vehemently reject. In a report released Tuesday, B’Tselem says that while Palestinians live under different forms of Israeli control in the occupied West Bank, blockaded Gaza, annexed east Jerusalem and within Israel itself, they have fewer rights than Jews in the entire area between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. “One of the key points in our analysis is that this is a single geopolitical area ruled by one government,” said B’Tselem director Hagai El-Ad. “This is not democracy plus occupation. This is apartheid between the river and the sea.” That a respected Israeli organization is adopting a term long seen as taboo even by many critics of Israel points to a broader shift in the debate as its half-century occupation of war-won lands drags on and hopes for a two-state solution fade.

Uganda bans social media ahead of presidential election (Reuters) Uganda banned social media on Tuesday, two days ahead of a presidential election pitting Yoweri Museveni, one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders, against opposition frontrunner Bobi Wine, a popular singer. Internet monitor NetBlocks said its data showed that Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Instagram, Skype, Snapchat, Viber and Google Play Store were among a lengthy list of sites unavailable via Uganda’s main cell network operators. Campaigning ahead of the vote has been marred by brutal crackdowns on opposition rallies, which the authorities say break COVID-19 curbs on large gatherings. Rights groups say the restrictions are a pretext for muzzling the opposition. At 38, Wine is half the age of President Yoweri Museveni and has attracted a large following among young people in a nation where 80% of the population are under 30, rattling the ruling National Resistance Movement party.

Coronavirus-spurred changes to global workforce to be permanent (Reuters) Sweeping changes to the global labour market caused by the coronavirus pandemic will likely be permanent, policy makers said on Tuesday, as some industries collapse, others flourish and workers stay home. The pandemic, which has so far infected at least 90.5 million people and killed around 1.9 worldwide, has up-ended industries and workers in almost every country in the world as tough lockdowns were imposed. The International Labour Organization (ILO) has estimated that the impact of huge job losses worldwide is creating a fiscal gap that threatens to increase inequality between richer and poorer countries. The ILO estimated that global labour income declined by 10.7 per cent, or $3.5 trillion, in the first three quarters of 2020, compared with the same period in 2019, excluding government income support. India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said the pandemic had created an “accidental challenge” under which the government delivered food on a regular basis to 800 million people and provided sustained business funds. Philippines central bank Governor Benjamin Diokno said it was clear some industries will not survive, others will not be as dynamic as before, and yet others will be boosted by the massive changes. The need for a more nimble and innovative approach to education will remain long after the pandemic ends, said Helen Fulson, Chief Product Officer at educational publisher Twinkl. “How many children today will be doing jobs that currently don’t exist?’ she said at Reuters Next on Monday. “We don’t know how to train for these jobs.”

[atlasobscurarp]

Occupations  — Atlas Obscura

The occupations list is by no means exhaustive, and may be added to as need arises. Most professions prescribe to the same educational requirements as present day. 

Public Sector

Most accommodations fall under public services, and as such, they are government funded, organized and controlled. Living wages are guaranteed and subsidized, but individual salaries may vary and each citizen controls how they choose to divvy their income and spending. 

Government

The governmental body in Gemini is commonly referred to as The Collective. They’re democratically elected but often consist of individuals backed and funded by Astralis Corp. Grassroots politicians rarely gain the traction needed, so control of the colony remains in the hands of those who represent corporate interests.

Governor [0/1] Delegates [0/5] Administrative and Secretarial Staff Public Relations Specialist Community Relations Specialists & Organizers Policymakers & Policy Researchers  Judges and lawyers 

Agriculture

Agriculture is a robust division with major sectors of the colony dedicated to its development and research. Patchworks of farms are maintained by both manned workers and automated systems to ensure there is an abundant supply of food to sustain the ever-growing colony. Advances in greenhouse technology allows the replication of ideal, Earth-like conditions to cultivate a diverse selection of home world crops. Livestock, including poultry and fish, are maintained in similar conditions, but they remain a small part of the overall agriculture sector due to most colonists subsisting off of synthetic sources of protein.

Chief of Agriculture Botanist Nutrionist Harvesting Greenhouse workers Livestock Packaging

Engineering

Engineering is responsible for the upkeep of the colony and its infrastructure. Responsibilities include day-to-day maintenance and answering inquiries about malfunctioning equipment across all other sectors.

Chief Engineer [0/1] Repairmen Electrical engineer (power grid, lighting) Industrial engineer (colony equipment, IT systems) Civil engineer (colony infrastructure, buildings)

Medical

The medical unit is as technologically capable as Earth’s healthcare systems. It’s resupplied with every pilgrimage as certain equipment and curative substances cannot be sourced without the manufacturing means, but the colony strives for independence, making efforts to develop alternative methods and solutions. 

Doctors Nurses Paramedics Dieticians Psychologists 

Peacekeepers

Peacekeepers are the civil policing force of Gemini Colony. They’re empowered to maintain law and order with branches that extend to criminal investigation, protection against foreign aggressors, and intelligence. All members are authorized with use of force if necessary.

Law Enforcement

Personnel Security Specialists Customs & Immigriation Officers Peacekeeper Officers

Military Division

Expeditionary Convoys Weapons Specialists Tactical Officers

Intelligence Division

Surveillance Specialists Intelligence Analysts Secret Agents

Education

The Learning Center is a multipurpose structure that caters to the educational needs of both children and young adults. Child care is provided for all age groups. Classrooms, while small, provide immersive curriculums that encompass learning models from the 21st century. More specialized subjects that fall under the category of higher education occur through video modules and include internships.

Dean [0/1] Teachers Teaching Assistants Daycare workers

Astralis Corp

With a vested interest in the colony’s success, Astralis Corp continues to have a fixed hand in its development. They often individually select the personnel working in areas under their sphere of control, including but limited to science and exploration. Consultants also aid in other sectors, representing the corporation’s priorities and needs. As of late, there has been a significant push to replicate the Annulus, to establish a reciprocal connection with Earth, but some are wary of the repercussions of how Earth would use the technology and power that has been discovered on Izanagi soil.

Exploration Subdivision

While operating independently, both subdivisions are tasked with exploring the outside world with the intention of mapping the terrain and expanding the colony’s reach. Interplanetary exploration promises the acquisition of more ancient technology as well as natural resources foreign to Izanagi. Exploration on the ground has been decades in the making, often treacherous as storms and electrical events can be disruptive and necessitate downtime.

Space

Astrophysicists  Flight engineers Mechanical engineers Communication technicians 

Planet

Surveyors & Cartographers Archaeologists  Expert Survivalists & Guides Medical Personnel

Science Subdivision

Science exists in conjunction with exploration as samples and substances retrieved require analysis and research. Innovations in energy, communication, and space exploration have been developed in Astralis Corp’s facilities.

Botanists  Biologists Geneticists Chemists Zoologists Physicists 

Private Sector

Privatized occupations or positions are, for the most part, subsidized by the colony. Those businesses deemed necessary for the colony’s development and progress may submit proposals and receive grants based on need. Businesses entirely funded by individuals have become less rare in the last few decades but generally provide secondary or auxiliary services.

Grocery Stores Cafes Etc.

[blackkudosuniverse]

Raoul Peck

Happy birthday to Raoul Peck.

https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Raoul_Peck

Raoul Peck (born January 1, 1953, Port-au-Prince, Haiti) is an Oscar-nominated Haitian filmmaker, of both documentary and feature films, and a political activist. Briefly, from March 1996 to September 1997, he was Haiti's Minister of Culture. His film I Am Not Your Negro about the life of James Baldwin was nominated for an Oscar in January 2017.

Early years and education

At the age of eight, the Haitan-born Peck and his family (he has two younger brothers) fled the Duvalier dictatorship and joined his father in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). His father, Hebert B. Peck, an agronomist, worked for the United Nations FAO and Unesco and had taken a job there as professor of agriculture along with many Haitian professionals invited by the government to fill positions recently vacated by the departing Belgians. His mother, Giselle, would serve as aide and secretary to mayors of Kinshasa for many years. The family resided in DRC for the next 24 years.

Peck attended schools in the DRC (Kinshasa), in the United States (Brooklyn), and in France (Orléans), where he earned a baccalaureate, before studying industrial engineering and economics at Berlin's Humboldt University. He spent a year as a New York City taxi driver and worked (1980–85) as a journalist and photographer before attending and receiving a film degree (1988) from the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (DFFB) in West Berlin.

Career

In 1986 Peck created the film production company Velvet Film in Germany, which then produced or co-produced all his documentaries, feature films and TV dramas.

Peck initially developed short experimental works and socio-political documentaries, before moving on to feature films. His feature L’Homme sur les quais (1993; The Man by the Shore) was the first Haitian film to be released in theatres in the United States. It was also selected for competition at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival.

Peck served as Minister of Culture in the Haitan government of Prime Minister Rosny Smarth (1996–97), ultimately resigning his post along with the PM. He detailed his experiences in this position in a book, Monsieur le Ministre… jusqu'au bout de la patience.

Peck has achieved his highest degree of international public attention for Lumumba, his 2000 feature film about Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba and the period around the independence of the Belgian Congo in June 1960.

A book of screenplays and images from four of Peck's major features and documentary films, called Stolen Images, was published in February 2012 by Seven Stories Press.

Today, he divides his time between Voorhees Township, Camden County, New Jersey, USA, Paris, France, and Port-à-Piment, Haiti.

He is president of La Fémis, the French state film school, since January 10, 2010.

In 2012, he was named as a member of the Jury for the Main Competition at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.

He won the Best Documentary prize at the Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival in 2013 for Fatal Assistance.

The Belgian segment of the shoot for his upcoming film Le Jeune Karl Marx (The Young Karl Marx) resumed in October 2015. The film is about the friendship between Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, authors of the Communist Manifesto, during their youth.

Awards and accolades

* Human Rights Watch's Nestor Almendros Prize (1994)

* Sony Special Prize, Locarno Festival (for Chère Catherine, 1997)

* Human Rights Watch's Lifetime Achievement Award (2001)

* Procirep Prize, Festival du Réel (for Lumumba—Death of a Prophet, 2002)

* Best Documentary, Montreal Film Festival (for Lumumba—Death of a Prophet, 2002)

* Jury member, Berlin International Film Festival (2002)

* Human Rights Watch's Irene Diamond Lifetime Achievement Award (2003)

* Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival Best Documentary Prize for Fatal Assistance (2013)

* Oscar nomination in the Best Documentary Feature category for I Am Not Your Negro, 89th Academy Awards

Filmography

* De Cuba Traigo Un Cantar (short; 1982)

* Exzerpt (short; 1983)

* Leugt (short; 1983)

* The Minister of the Interior is on our Side (short; 1984)

* Merry Christmas Deutschland (short; 1984)

* Haitian Corner (1987–88)

* Lumumba: La mort du prophète (Lumumba: Death of a Prophet, 1992)

* L’Homme sur les quais (The Man by the Shore, 1993)

* Haiti - Le silence des chiens (Haiti - Silence of the Dogs, 1994)

* Desounen: Dialogue with Death (1994)

* Chère Catherine (1997)

* Corps plongés (It's Not About Love, 1998)

* Lumumba (2000)

* Profit & Nothing But! Or Impolite Thoughts on the Class Struggle (2001)

* Sometimes in April (2005)

* L’Affaire Villemin (2006), TV series

* Moloch Tropical (2009)

* Assistance mortelle (documentary, 2013)

* Murder in Pacot (2014)

* I Am Not Your Negro (2016)

* The Young Karl Marx (2017)