#i have to do a 'progress report' presentation on Tuesday. i have neither progress nor report. i dont even have a topic or thesis statement

[flowercrowngods]

come on brain. do brain things

[blue-opossum]

Where I Played Snakes and Lemmings

        Morning of November 16, 2021. Tuesday.

        Dream #: 20,056-03. Optimized 2 minute 30 second read.

        Because of this morning's heat, I was uncomfortable but slept longer. My dream's narrative corresponded with my ongoing metacognitive expectations that developed from the usual phasing responses of REM sleep.

        My dream self is incorrectly in the front yard of an imaginary distorted version of the Stadcor Street house in Wavell Heights in Brisbane, Australia (where we have not lived for years in real life). I look under the front of the house (open rather than enclosed by slats). I see several unrealistically large rat skulls and consider that many rats had been living there. I do not notice any living rats, but I think there may be some nearby. I do not maintain any concern, only vague curiosity.

        My dream's narrative at this stage indicates the typical lack of viable thinking that often occurs while in the dream state. A skull is an "empty head" lacking the wakefulness of real life. This feature has appeared as an indicator as such in hundreds of previous dreams. My foundational decision to "look under the house" corresponds with my temporary metacognitive focus on "being beneath viable consciousness."

        My dream progresses to an attempt to wake me by presenting a snake. I see a boa constrictor in the front yard of an unknown male. Even though my location has not changed, various ambiguous dynamics alter the narrative. What would have begun as the driveway of the Stadcor Street house is now an alley of an indeterminable length. The man wants someone to help him remove the snake.

        I walk through the alley and see several people walking in my direction from each side. A man and woman are pushing a stroller with a child, so I do not think they want to confront a snake. I call out to other people about the man's situation.

        The snake situation fades without an outcome, but the setting stays the same. My somatosensory phasing response begins as a lemming runs up my right arm and somersaults down it to the ground. I am sitting at this point. A few lemmings are running around that belong to the cheerful wife of the man who confronted the snake. (As I sleep on my left side, this is a potential wakefulness response while beginning to emerge from REM atonia, but there is minimal vivification here.)

        The man sits down and talks to me about various random subjects. (His protoconsciousness role is atypically passive at this point.) At one point, he wants to buy drugs from me, but I tell him I neither have nor sell drugs. After this, he asks me if I will report him. I tell him no and add how I never reported my brother Dennis for anything. I add that he was in Vietnam.

        I consider going home (without recalling when my dream self thought the Stadcor Street house was still our home earlier in this dream). I walk down the long alley without a viable recall of where I live. Vestibular phasing initiates, and as is often the case, it results in slope navigation, in this instance, ascending an outdoor staircase and descending to the other side. Some indoor-outdoor ambiguity occurs for a time.

        In trying to come to my senses, the "seeking the sleeper" imperative initiates (typically the last stage of a dream). I find myself in a hospital room where Zsuzsanna wakes as I come in. Her mother seems to have fabricated concerns about her health (as she did in real life). The nurse acts with hostility and does not understand Zsuzsanna's mother's history as a pathological liar to create drama and manipulate people. (We have not been her victims for years.) I destroy this form of annoying protoconsciousness (the errant nurse) to pull myself from the dream state.

[dpr-lahore-division]

With the compliments of, The Directorate General Public Relations,

Government of the Punjab, Lahore Ph: 99201390

No.143/QU/Akram

HANDOUT (A)

INVESTORS’ DELEGATION CALLS ON CM PUNJAB

LAHORE, January 26:

        An investors’ delegation led by CEO of Tawwan Pvt. Limited Tanvir Hussain Awan met with Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar at his office and showed its interest in investing in the province. Director Suleman Nasir Abdullah, advisor Shahbaz Khan, chief secretary, chairman P&D and others were also present. Talking on the occasion, the CM said that revolutionary steps have been taken by the PTI government to promote investment adding that Punjab has emerged as a haven for the investors. The investors are provided with different facilities under one roof while giving several incentives to the construction sector. He disclosed that the cabinet has given in-principle approval to establish Lahore Central Business District Development Authority which would work for the promotion of business activities at Walton airport and surrounding areas. This authority will provide facilities to the investors on a priority basis, he added. The CM emphasized that red-tapeism has been done away with as all investment-related matters are being reviewed by him. The delegation appreciated that best investment-related steps have been taken by the Punjab government.  

****

No.144/QU/Mujahid

HANDOUT (A)

WB DELEGATION CALLS ON CM PUNJAB

LAHORE, January 26:

A delegation of World Bank led by its country director Mr Najy Benhassine called on Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar at his office on Tuesday. The meeting agreed to enhance cooperation while discussing progress made on different initiatives of infrastructural development.

The CM, while assuring to achieve different targets, said the World Bank is the most important development partner of the Punjab government and vowed to achieve the targets of development framework 2022-26. The government welcomes the WB assistance and the cooperation will also be continued in future, he added. The government is working on a plan to overcome children’s nutritional deficiency while health and educational facilities are being improved at grassroots. He informed that universal health coverage program will be extended to every citizen of the province by December 2021. The government will also take benefit from the experience of WB experts for promoting the use of latest agri. technology to assist the farmers; he added and pointed out that incentives given to the construction sector have promoted business activities. Similarly, ease of doing business has also been ensured, he further said.  

Najy Benhassine stated that the World Bank will further enhance its cooperation with the Punjab government while continuing to work for the improvement of different sectors.

Senior Minister Abdul Aleem Khan, provincial ministers Mian Mahmood ur Rasheed, Sibtain Khan, Hussain Jahania Gardezi, Dr Yasmin Rashid, Mohsin Leghari, Hashim Jawan Bakht, Col. (r) Muhammad Anwar, Raja Yasir Humayun, Murad Raas, Sardar Asif Nakai, Akhtar Malik, Sardar Husnain Bahadur Dreshak, Ansar Majeed Niazi, Bao Rizwan, Advisors Dr Salman Shah, Asif Mahmood, SACM Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan, chief secretary, SMBR, Chairman P&D and administrative secretaries were also present.  

****

No.146/Ehtisham/Akram

HANDOUT (A)

LAHORE, January 26:

A 12-member delegation of notables from different parts of Balochistan under the leadership of Balochistan Minister for Food and Population Welfare Sardar Abdul Rehman Khatran called on Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar at 90-SQA today.

The chief minister warmly welcomed the delegation. The delegation and provincial minister Abdul Rehman Khatran congratulated the CM and expressed good wishes for Usman Buzdar on recovering from Covid-19. Usman Buzdar said that guests from Balochistan are very respectable for us as people of Punjab have a special place for Balochi brethren as well as people from different areas of Pakistan. He said that the progress and prosperity of people of Balochistan are very dear to him. Punjab government has started different projects in education and health sectors as a goodwill gesture. Punjab government is also cooperating with the KPK government, he said. Punjab government is implementing the vision of composite development for putting Punjab on the road to real progress. He said that the people of Barkhan and other areas will be benefitted from the institute of cardiology in DG Khan. Motorcycle ambulance service is being started in the areas of Koh-e-Suleman besides upgrading the health facilities there, he said. He said that electricity and 4G network is a gift for the people of Koh-e-Suleman by the PTI government. Construction of small dams on 13 mountainous trains is being reviewed. Arrangements will be made to fulfil the water needs by constructing a mega-dam at Sanghar Lake. Recruitments are being made in Baloch Levies and border military police for ensuring law & order situation in the areas of Koh-e-Suleman. Sardar Abdul Rehman Khatran said that Punjab is rapidly developing under the leadership of Usman Buzdar. Members of the delegation appreciated the CM and said that he is a proud son of Punjab.

****

No.145/QU/Mujahid

HANDOUT (A)

THE GOVT WILL CONTINUE SURPRISING THE POLITICAL PYGMIES-SACM

LAHORE, January 26:

        Special Assistant to CM on Information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan has said the princess and her bondmaids lack political acumen as they have to eat a humble pie on the issue of Senate election.

In a statement, the SACM said the cabal has left behind even the hypocrites in setting new records of deceit and lies. I have already made it clear that these thieves would neither resign nor hold long march but take part in Senate election, she added. It is better that the so-called princess should shun politics now as all her tall claims have proved incorrect. It seems that she is also an ‘expert’ of giving dates as like forging a fake signature, SACM added. The princess and her bondmaids have failed to gain senses as they are unnerved after the failure of their political designs.

Firdous Awan said the people have foiled the designs of this hypocrite gang and the bondmaids are perplexed after their continuous political failure. The government will continue surprising political pygmies that ignored the lives of the people in the corona. The corona disease has been increased due to the carelessness shown by the PDM, she added.

Meanwhile, 700 new corona cases have been reported in Punjab during the last 24 hours. 40 others died and 18156 tests have been conducted during this period, she added. The total number of deaths has reached to 4608 in Punjab, she concluded.

****

PRESS RELEASE

PML-N's MPA Nishat Ahmad Daha called on Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar and apprised him about the constituency problems and the progress made on various development schemes in his constituency.

The Chief Minister assured him an early resolution of problems and Nishat Daha expressed confidence on the leadership of Chief Minister Usman Buzdar. Usman Buzdar said that his doors are always open for people’s representatives and the resolution of people's problems is his prime responsibility adding that parliamentarians respect will be ensured at any cost and no one will be allowed to create hindrance in the solution of genuine work. Usman Buzdar said that Pakistan is progressing and developing under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan. Those elements which were creating hue and cry have been left behind. PDM doesn’t want the country to progress and its dream to create instability will never materialize, he added.

Nishat Ahmad Daha said that Usman Buzdar always gives us respect and listens to our problems and took a personal interest in the solution of public problems.

****

[khalilhumam]

IOM Empowers Women Business Owners in Somalia to Recover from COVID-19 Impact

New Post has been published on http://khalilhumam.com/iom-empowers-women-business-owners-in-somalia-to-recover-from-covid-19-impact/

IOM Empowers Women Business Owners in Somalia to Recover from COVID-19 Impact

Mogadishu – The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted lives—and economies—across continents, sparing neither high-income countries, nor the low-income ones whose citizens often seek jobs abroad to escape economic distress. Few countries are as migration-dependent as Somalia. And few have been treated as harshly by the global downturn. Somalia’s informal economy—based largely on remittances, imports, and agriculture—has been heavily impacted by COVID-19. It is estimated that 40 per cent of households in Somalia are heavily dependent on remittances, and pandemic-related travel restrictions have cut remittance flows sharply. An IOM study on remittances this past August reported Somalia’s Department of Diaspora Affairs had noted a decline in remittances based on reports received and consultations held with a number of mobile transfer operators indicating a sharp decline. IOM research indicated a decrease of remittances by over 60 per cent. Woman-owned businesses have been especially hard-hit, with disruptions in supply chains and reductions of cashflow. The flow of customers also has been disrupted as curfews and social distancing put many customers off. A recent study, conducted in Mogadishu by IOM and the local research firm Raagsan Consulting, found that, of 320 women-led businesses surveyed, over 300 reported reduced revenue and sales. About half reported having to put their operation on hold with about the same number saying they faced difficulty paying back loans or rent. Almost 60 per cent said they had been forced to shut down during the pandemic, with about one third of that group closing permanently.  Nimco Yusuf, 45, is one businesswoman feeling the pain. She started her kitchen utensils business in Mogadishu ten years ago hoping to address new market demand after years of conflict. She started by offering cooking utensils. “When I started my business, Somalia was coming out of many years of conflict,” she explained. “Families started returning, and there was a need to restart their homes, including kitchen items.” By the start of 2020, Nimco was doing well enough to support 15 children. She was even able to hire outside help, putting two full-time employees to work in her shop.  Then, in March, the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in Somalia. A government-imposed curfew and other mobility measures impacted her business, along with thousands of others.  "I experienced a 62 per cent decrease in sales and a shortage of supplies.” she said. Today, Nimco is one of 185 Somali women being supported by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to deal with the financial impact that the COVID-19 had on their businesses. IOM Somalia, with funding from the German Federal Foreign Office (GFFO), began partnering with Somalia’s Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (MOLSA) to support women-led micro and small enterprises (MSEs) impacted by COVID-19 in Mogadishu.  Cash assistance is the key component, with grants ranging from USD 650 to USD 2,000, depending on the size of the business and its needs. Cash grants are designed to help these entrepreneurs restock supplies and may address other needs, such as paying rent, electricity, or loans. IOM estimates that the grants to 185 beneficiaries will directly improve the lives of 1,122 family members. The financial stimulus that supports these small businesses will also positively impact the local economy. The women also receive five days of training in business continuity, including basic financial literacy. Most of the women receiving this support present high vulnerabilities, including having a high number of dependents, living in rented places or informal settlements, being displaced, having members of the family with disabilities, being unable to write or read, or having children at risk of child labor.  The support of IOM and the national government comes at a crucial time. With remittance flows declining since the start of the pandemic, many families have been pushed deeper into poverty. This risks reversing decades of progress on development and poverty alleviation.  “Addressing the impact of COVID-19 on Somalia’s economy is imperative to reduce push factors for migration that can put at further risk individuals in vulnerable situations, especially women and children,” says Richard Danziger, IOM Somalia’s Chief of Mission.  This kind of support in Somalia addresses not only the most urgent needs of the women, but also empowers them to be agents of change in their communities and an inspiration for future generations. “Please continue to support us, not with money, but with skills training,” said Nimco.  This activity is possible thanks to the generous funding of the German Federal Foreign Office (GFFO). For more information, please contact IOM Somalia Programme Support Unit. Email: iomsomaliapsu@iom.int         

Language English

Posted: 

Tuesday, December 8, 2020 - 13:59

Image: 

Region-Country: 

Somalia

Themes: 

COVID-19

Capacity Building

Gender and Migration

Default: 

Multimedia: 

 A woman sells produce in a market in Madina village, Kismayo, in March 2019. Photo: Rikka Tupaz/IOM 

Press Release Type: 

Global

[keywestlou]

MORNING STEW #43

So much news! Overwhelming! Today, especially so.

Which means a Morning Stew day. No order or sense of continuity. I take my notes as written and go for it.

Respectfully, Trump a “crazy” leading the “crazies.”

He describes liberals and those with opposing thoughts from him as “radical left maniacs.” Words neither conciliatory nor helpful in making friends.

Trump today will be an unwelcome guest in Kenosha. Neither the Mayor nor Governor want him.

Trump’s words on just about every subject scary. Unless you’re a far righter, white supremacist, racist or nut.

Florida’s Governor DeSantis has extended the moratorium on rent evictions one month to October 1. The fifth time he has done so.

In Key West, most renters are the working class who have not been working. Bartenders, waiters and waitresses. Where are they going to get money to pay the accumulated rent due when the time comes?

Gun sales have risen dramatically in the past several months. The reason simple. People are afraid. They sense there might be a need to protect themselves. Even against the government.

From March to July, gun sales were record breaking. This year between these months, up 84 percent from the same period in 2019. Gun sales March to July this year were 8.5 million.

An interesting report from the Kenosha Police Chief. More than half those arrested during the 7 days of unrest were from outside Kenosha.

Anarchy is on the rise in this country. Beware!

Chad Wolf is the acting head of the Department of Homeland Security. On the Tucker Carlson show recently, he said the Department of Justice was “targeting and investigating” leaders of BLM, Antifa, and those paying for the organization of rioters.

Pray tell, what is happening to free speech?

What is good for the goose is good for the gander applies here. Far right groups have financial backers. Wealthy Americans. They have opened their pocket books to provide monies to aid and abet their demonstrators and counter demonstrators.

Both Trump and Biden appeared on TV yesterday. I watched both.

Trump was interviewed by Laura Ingram. My impression throughout the interview was the man is losing it. His blatant racism was evident. A supporter of white supremacism  unquestionably.

Biden appeared alone and presented his thoughts for the day.

Biden impressive. A steady Eddie.

He covered most of the issues briefly and succinctly.

One negative. Biden needs to open his eyes. It is obvious he is reading. Not a problem. Even Trump does. However when he reads and moves his head not, his eyes tend to close to narrow slits. He does look like a sleepy Joe.

When he does move his head to emphasize a point, his eyes open and his words have a greater impact.

Someone tell Biden.

World War II began this day in 1939 when Nazi Germany invaded Poland. A no competition event. Hitler overran Poland in a very few days. Polish soldiers on horses were no match for Hitlers tanks and airplanes.

Coronavirus is the plague of today. There was another in the U.S. in 1862. Yellow fever.

Yellow fever raged in Key West during September of that year. Killed 47. Twenty members of the 90th New York Regiment and 27 at the Marine Hospital.

Key West and Monroe County schools began reopening yesterday. A phased in opening that will take place this entire week.

School officials believe the children will be subjected to a “moderate exposure.” The School District has also prepared a Guide to Safely Reopening Schools.

Some of you may think I am generally opposed to reopening anything. I am.

Not only reopening in our area, but also nationwide.

The U.S. has made little significant progress in fighting/defeating coronavirus. Everyone is tired of confinement, close downs, etc. So the word is lets try.

The reentry is a forced one under the circumstances.

I agree with New York’s Governor Cuomo. A man who has achieved significant success in New York. New York schools are reopening. Cuomo reluctant to see it happen. Not his calling.

Remember, school reopenings involve children.

Cuomo said increases in coronavirus cases is “inevitable” in some places. The question is how good is a school’s plan to deal with new cases, how officials enforce rules, and whether a school’s plan can curb an outbreak.

He went on to say: “What we’re seeing with colleges, I think it’s going to be replicated on K-12.”

Absolutely amazing! September 1 already!

As one gets older, time moves more swiftly. Not comforting.

Take off the masks! No more masks! The cry world wide.

U.S. people have protested against the wearing of masks. They don’t believe the virus will hit them. Some do not believe there is such a disease. Some are fed up with wearing a mask.

The problem is not only in the U.S. In recent days large protests have occurred in London and Berlin.

People want back to normal. Understandable. We all do. Not the time yet, however.

I suspect these demonstrations are organized. In all countries. How can so many get together for such a protest.

Some groups want to overturn/upset the governmental apple cart in every country. Tear down the establishment. Form a new type government.

Shades of Steve Bannon.

Great Britain is getting very hard in its handling of the virus. Anyone organizing an “illegal party” will be fined up to 10,000 pounds. A big time penalty!

Countries are learning they have to become “hard ass” in order to defeat coronavirus. Another example being New Zealand which has opened “quarantine camps.”

The U.S. fails to do anything severe to defeat the virus. Understandable where Trump from day one has failed to take the virus seriously.

It has been months and we are all waiting for the virus “to go away.”

If memory proves correct, there are more than 30 million unemployed in the U.S. Mostly lower waged workers.

There is a second wave of layoffs on the horizon. Has just begun. This one will affect those with well paying jobs. Companies are prepared to slim down staff at higher levels.

These jobs will never return. Once a company learns it can do without high end costly employees, there jobs are gone forever.

In the meantime, lower payed workers have slowly begun returning to work. Automation waiting to replace them.

There is a point to be made. Nothing will ever be “normal” again. A new normal will rise. People will have to learn and to adjust.

Trump has had a hell of a month. Equivocating every day. The King speaking.

New York Times’ Timothy Eagen in an Opinion piece published 8/28/20, referred to Trump’s month as the “Guns of August.” It fits.

What goes around, comes around. So much truth in the statement.

On tuesday, a black Georgia man stabbed a white stranger. His excuse was that after watching videos of “police brutality,” he “felt the need to find a white man to kill.”

Tonight “Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou.” Join me. Listen to me rant and rave about what I like and don’t like in the world

Interesting and fast moving.

Nine my time. www.blogtalkradio.com/key-west-lou.

Enjoy your day!

MORNING STEW #43 was originally published on Key West Lou

[upshotre]

Don’t set Edo ablaze, Obaseki tells Senate

The Senate, on Tuesday, instructed the Edo State Governor,  Godwin Obaseki, to issue a fresh proclamation for the inauguration of the 7th Edo State House of Assembly within one week. The  red chamber  also said if the governor failed to comply with the instructions, the  National Assembly should invoke its powers as contained in the constitution by taking over legislative functions of the House of  Assembly. But  Obaseki  warned the Senate that its insistence on  a fresh proclamation for the inauguration of the  House of Assembly could be exploited by some powerful people to “set our state ablaze merely to satisfy their thirst for power and control”. Obaseki gave the warning  in   a statement by the Secretary to the State Government, Osarodion Ogie, after the Senate’s resolution. The  Senate   adopted   the report of its ad hoc committee on the Edo  House of Assembly crisis  presented by its  Chairman,  Senator Sabi Abdullahi, at plenary. The  House of Representatives took a similar  stand on the crisis   two weeks ago. The resolution reads, “That the Edo State Governor should issue a fresh proclamation letter for a  proper inauguration of the 7th Edo State House of Assembly. “That the governor (should) formally inform the 24 members-elect of the new proclamation through media adverts – in print and electronic media – in conformity with parliamentary best practice. “That in the event that a new proclamation is not issued as recommended within the period of one week, the National Assembly is at liberty of invoke Section 11(4)  of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).” However,  the matter generated  controversy  after  the President of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan, who presided over the plenary, sought comments on the panel’s recommendations despite that the report was neither adopted nor seconded. None of the recommendations was subjected to the process of secondment in line with legislative practice. Obviously uncomfortable with the submission of the Abdullahi’s panel,  the immediate past  governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, warned the Senate against illegality. Okorocha said it appeared  the Senate was in a hurry to take over the Edo State House of Assembly when it was obvious that the problem was allegedly caused by the national leadership of the All Progressives Congress. The APC lawmaker  said, “There is no proof whatsoever that the Edo State House of Assembly is not functioning. We had a case here whereby the mace was taken away and no other Senate came to take over the Senate. “I think the caucus of the APC should try and settle this family matter rather than making it a National Assembly issue. We must not be eager to take over the Edo State House of Assembly.” However, former governors, Adamu Aliero (Kebbi)  and Sam Egwu (Ebonyi),who  applauded the committee’s report, urged the Senate to adopt it and implement its recommendations. They blamed Obaseki  for allegedly creating the crisis because he allegedly issued a proclamation without following due process. However, a lawmaker from Benue State, Emmanuel Jev,    said   Obaseki had not erred in law by proclaiming the House of Assembly at night without much publicity. He  said the constitution did not provide for Obaseki to either publish the proclamation or do so during the day. Lawan    ruled in favour of  the recommendations. He said, “As far as this issue is concerned, it has been laid to rest. The Senate has taken a decision and it is in conformity with that of the House of Representatives two weeks ago.  But Obaseki said the Senate’s  “move was not unexpected in the light of the enormous political pressure which had been brought to bear on the officers and members of the distinguished Senate by highly placed people  who are intent on foisting their will and choices on the good people of Edo State”. He added, “This is borne out by the recorded statements made by one Seid Oshiomhole (a member-elect and younger brother of the National Chairman of the APC Adams Oshiomhole) wherein he boasted that both the Senate President, Senator Ahmed Lawan,  and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, had been instructed on what to do in this matter.” Obaseki  also said the Senate  ad hoc committee  that  visited  the state was informed about  the  suits on  the crisis  pending before various courts. He said, “In  suit No. FHC/PH/CS/159/2019,  the National Assembly, the Clerk of National Assembly, the President of the Senate and Speaker of House of Representatives amongst others were specifically ordered by the Federal High Court to maintain the status quo as of  July 25, 2019. “The Edo State Government is further aware that in suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/815/2019, wherein the Clerk and the National Assembly are defendants before the Federal High Court in Abuja, the National Assembly and the Clerk have not only been duly served with the processes but have entered appearance in the matter. “We are also concerned that the members of the  Senate appear to have very scant regard for the principle of separation of powers as enshrined in our constitution which is manifested by their taking over the functions of the judiciary in dispute resolution and giving directives to a governor  who is certainly not subject to the supervision of the National Assembly.” The governor added, “The  state  is not a colony or a vassal of any person or persons exercising power in Abuja and we shall take all necessary steps within the ambit of the law to defend and validate our position and actions on this matter. “We call on all persons of goodwill to call the powerful wielders of ‘power and authority’ in Abuja and elsewhere to refrain from acts which are clearly unconstitutional, undemocratic and a flagrant disrespect for the principle of due process and separation of powers. “These powerful persons should not be allowed to set our state ablaze merely to satisfy their thirst for power and control.”  

Read the full article

[paulbenedictblog]

%news%

New Post has been published on %http://paulbenedictsgeneralstore.com%

News Northam says he’ll probably ease some restrictions in Virginia on May 15 - The Washington Post

News

RICHMOND — Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam prolonged the command's alternate shutdown through Would possibly presumably perhaps simply 14 on Monday but stated he expects to birth up rolling inspire restrictions after that, marking the Washington area's first shift towards the next section of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Northam (D) stated conditions are in scheme to permit the command to hold into consideration reopening dine-in restaurants and some other establishments below social distancing necessities. Hospitals are reporting extra bed ability and adequate ranges of private protective equipment, he stated, and there appears to be like to be slower progress within the rate of most contemporary infections.

“All the pieces you per chance can have performed has if truth be told made a distinction — we flattened the curve [of infections] and our hospitals haven't any longer been overwhelmed,” Northam stated. “I am keenly unsleeping that it has include a mammoth label. Now we are able to birth to switch into a brand novel section of our response.”

Neither Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) nor D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) has stated they are shut to rolling inspire restrictions, a departure from the coordinated manner the three leaders have taken all around the pandemic to this point.

But Northam’s chief of staff stated Monday that Northam, Hogan and Bowser talked about a imaginable Would possibly presumably perhaps simply 15 birth to the process all over a conference name final week and will talk all once more Tuesday. Chief of staff Clark Mercer stated that Northam has moreover talked about reopening plans with leaders in Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee and Delaware.

Maryland, the District and Virginia added 67 novel coronavirus deaths on Monday as case numbers exceeded 50,000 for the first time. Per capita deaths are a long way elevated within the District and Maryland — 38 and 22 per 100,000 residents, respectively, in contrast with 8.1 per 100,000 in Virginia.

“Each and each command has their very possess command, their very possess challenges,” Northam stated. “We’re per chance no longer going to build every thing on the trusty day, but we’re working as shut as we are able to.”

A spokesman for Hogan (R) stated he had no replace on when Maryland would possibly perhaps perhaps well rob restrictions. The governor has stated he became once focused on early Would possibly presumably perhaps simply but is closely watching metrics, alongside side hospitalizations and ICU bed exhaust. Hospitalizations ticked up barely in Maryland on Monday after three days of dinky declines. ICU bed exhaust has remained flat.

Bowser expects to listen to recommendations next week from an advisory community on how to reopen the District. But the metropolis has no longer seen the sustained decreases in novel cases and rate of residents attempting out particular that officials direct are wished to reopen.

The command that closed most nonessential agencies in Virginia became once scheme to bustle out Friday. Northam stated he would prolong the command one extra week to make certain favorable trends inspire. He moreover says he “would possibly perhaps perhaps well simply alter” a separate conclude-at-dwelling command that expires June 10.

After Would possibly presumably perhaps simply 14, Northam stated, the command hopes to birth up a cautious reopening of some busi­nesses below managed conditions.

That will perhaps perhaps mean people would possibly perhaps perhaps perhaps resume going to accumulate haircuts, he stated, “but you’ll need an appointment, and you’ll note novel safety features within the salon.” Drinking areas would must exhaust much less seating and inspire patrons farther apart, and staff would put on face coverings.

Outlets and gyms would admit fewer possibilities and conduct extra cleansing.

This section of reemergence would possibly perhaps perhaps well simply still final about three weeks, Northam stated, before the command would hold into consideration absorbing to yet some other level of barely extra permissive conditions.

Northam allowed medical doctors, dentists and veterinarians to resume optional procedures Friday, the 1st step within the elevated capital area towards loosening of restrictions that have wreaked havoc on the economy.

Republicans who had on the total supported Northam’s managing of the disaster have clamored for a resumption of alternate. The pandemic is anticipated to fee the command some $3 billion in charges and misplaced income over the rest of this fiscal One year and the next two.

“We hope the Governor is hooked in to reopening next Friday,” Del. Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah), the Home minority chief, stated in an emailed assertion. “Virginians desire a lightweight on the terminate of this tunnel.”

Gilbert added that rural substances of the command with few outbreaks would possibly perhaps perhaps well simply still emerge first.

But Northam stated he'll hold a unified manner.

“I have made the resolution to head into section one — except one thing enormously adjustments — next Friday, and we’ll build that together,” he stated.

Virginia Health Commissioner M. Norman Oliver stated the command expects the quantity of most contemporary cases to proceed to upward thrust once restrictions are eased. His division targets to rent 1,000 contact tracers to abet song down anybody who comes into contact with an contaminated person; exposed people will likely be quarantined.

Northam stated the command is presumably no longer if truth be told trusty until scientists develop a vaccine against covid-19, the disease attributable to the coronavirus, a process that he stated would possibly perhaps perhaps well simply be performed by the terminate of the One year or hold as prolonged as two years.

In Maryland, Hogan has made widespread attempting out a cornerstone of his opinion to rob social distancing necessities and reopen the command’s economy. His arrangement is to raise ability to 10,000 assessments per day. As of final week, ­command-directed labs had been working to ramp up to 2,200 per day.

Despite Hogan’s high-profile acquisition of 500,000 coronavirus test kits from South Korea, insufficient medical and lab presents have small how broadly they'd be deployed. For now, Hogan has fascinated with tamping down sizzling spots and attempting out all nursing dwelling residents and staff, besides constructing obvious medical and public security staff have accumulate entry to to assessments.

The command opened the first force-through coronavirus attempting out facility at a automobile emissions attempting out plight in Western Maryland on Monday, bringing the quantity of such net sites statewide to eight. Most productive sufferers who're both symptomatic and have underlying conditions that put them at high menace of coronavirus considerations are eligible to be examined there.

In the District, Bowser stated she became once optimistic that the metropolis is now not astray to hit targets for hospital ability and protective equipment for health-care staff, but she cautioned that the metropolis Health Division — no longer alternate interests — will force selections about next steps.

“When people demand us or demand you, ‘Are we any nearer to being in a area to reopen?’ an correct put a matter to is, ‘Are we doing every thing we are able to to limit our dawdle to compulsory journeys and following the systems?’ ” Bowser stated at her recordsdata conference.

The metropolis continues to face stark disparities in cases of an infection, officials stated Monday.

The impact on African People — who make up 46 percent of the metropolis but virtually 80 percent of covid-19 fatalities — has drawn essentially the most attention.

But LaQuandra Nesbitt, the director of the D.C. Health Division, stated that per capita an infection charges had been worse amongst Latinos and Hispanic residents and that the heavily Latino Columbia Heights neighborhood has change into amongst the hardest hit.

The metropolis has seen about 1,200 infections per 100,000 Latino and Hispanic residents. That compares with about 820 cases per 100,000 for black residents and 175 cases per 100,000 for white residents. Latinos have moreover been disproportionately affected in Virginia’s Fairfax County, making up 55 percent of 4,615 cases.

Nesbitt stated the fragment of D.C. cases linked to congregant settings equivalent to nursing properties has declined from virtually a third in mid-April to about 16 percent, though such companies proceed to gaze high loss of life charges.

As of Monday, 70 residents of prolonged-term care companies within the District have died of covid-19, metropolis officials stated. That’s bigger than a quarter of all covid-19 fatalities within the District. In all, 247 residents at prolonged-term companies and 85 staff people have examined particular. Two staff have died.

D.C. hospitals reported 447 covid-19 sufferers on Monday, with 130 in intensive care and 91 on ventilators. That’s a shrimp elevate from April 27, when 435 had been hospitalized, with 124 in intensive care gadgets and 84 on ventilators.

“This virus has no longer left the District,” Bowser stated. “We would possibly perhaps perhaps well simply still be unsleeping that we are able to most racy beget the virus if we don’t unfold it to one yet some other.”

The District reported seven novel covid-19 deaths on Monday, for a total toll of 258. It moreover added 154 cases, down from 219 on Sunday.

Maryland added 36 novel deaths and 946 novel infections, with bigger than half of these particular assessments positioned within the D.C. suburbs.

Virginia added 24 novel deaths — the bottom quantity in six days — and 821 novel infections.

The D.C. Council is scheduled to vote Tuesday on emergency coronavirus legislation that would possibly perhaps perhaps perhaps cap commissions charged by meal-shipping companies, require landlords to give fee plans and force insurers to pay alternate interruption claims.

Nirappil reported from Washington. Erin Cox, Antonio Olivo and Rebecca Tan in Washington contributed to this file.

[titheguerrero]

How Stupid Do They Think We Are? - Plutocrats Using Logical Fallacies to Defend the Health Care Status Quo

In the early 21st century, the debate about health care reform in the US ramped up.  The result ultimately was the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA, ACA, "Obamacare"), which arguably improved access to health care, made some reforms in the regulation of health care insurance, but did not affect the fundamental reliance of the US on employer-paid, for-profit health care insurance to finance health care for many patients.  Nor did it really affect the issues we discuss on Health Care Renewal (look here for details). After the tumultuous election of President Donald Trump, the debate started up again with his and his party's attempt to "repeal and replace" Obamacare.  Arguably, Obamacare ended up damaged but not repealed.  Once again, the issues we discuss on Health Care Renewal were ignored, including threats ot the integrity of the clinical evidence base, deceptive marketing, distortion of health care regulation and policy making, bad leadership and governance, concentration of power, abandonment of health care as a calling, perverse incentives, the cult of leadership, managerialism, impunity enabling corrupt leadership, and taboos, or the anechoic effect.  (Look here for a detailed discussion. ) It is time once again to discuss health care reform in the US.  Now the push is from the Democrats and the left, with the stated goals of making care more universal, and perhaps decreasing or even ending the role of for-profit commercial health care insurance companies. It is no surprise that those who benefit the most from the current system (even as modified by Obamacare) are rushing to its defense.  Dark Money to Defend Commercial Health Insurance We already discussed  how large health care corporations, including pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, have been using dark money to funnel money for distinctly partisan purposes, to defeat whom they perceive as too left-leaning politicians, almost all Democrats.  They seem to fear such politicians might promote health care reform efforts that would be based on "anti-free-market, anti-business ideology," that is efforts to decrease the role of commercial, for-profit health insurance in financing health care. More recently, the focus has shifted to Democratic proposals for government run single-payer, or "Medicare for all" health insurance. In early January, 2019, the Hill reported

Thomas Donohue, the president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce, on Thursday vowed to use all of the Chamber's resources to fight single-payer health care proposals. 'We also have to respond to calls for government-run, single-payer health care, because it just doesn't work,' Donohue said during his annual 'State of American Business' address.

The US Chamber of Commerce historically has had many executives of big health care corporations on its board.  We listed 10 such members in 2015.   It also historically has received financial support from some corporations.  We listed 17 in 2018. Then later in January, The Hill reported that a group called Partnership for America's Health Future started digital ads attacking "Medicare for All."  The Hill stated its

members include major industry players such as America’s Health Insurance Plans and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America

So here we have the leaders of big health care corporations funneling corporate money into propaganda campaigns to defeat government run single payer health insurance, an old policy idea that suddenly is looking politically credible.  Current US regulation and practice allows them to hide the exact amounts spent on such campaigns by processing them through dark money organizations. Such stealth health policy advocacy is now not new.  What is surprising now is how some top leaders are willing to jump into the debate themselves, rather than just trying to manipulate public opinion through public relations/ propaganda proxies.  Here are some telling examples. in chronological order. Quest Diagnostics CEO Attacks "Medicare-for-All" Using an Appeal to Authority, an Argument by Gibberish, the Non Sequitur Fallacy, (and an Incomplete Comparison)  On January 24, 2019, Yahoo Finance reported

A top health care CEO is sounding the alarm on 'Medicare for All,' an idea gaining steam in political circles, including from newly-elected Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). 'Most people don’t understand the basics of health-care economics in the United States,' said Steve Rusckowski, chairman & CEO Quest Diagnostics (DGX), in an interview with Yahoo Finance editor-in-chief Andy Serwer at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland....

Mr Rusckowski implied that he knows a lot more about health care economics than most people, so most people should listen to him.  Thus, he began with an implied logical fallacy, the appeal to authority. He then presented the justification for his argument.

'The majority of people get their health care from their employers, and the majority of healthcare costs are paid by employers and employees,' he said. 'If you look at the $3.5 trillion spent on healthcare costs, that portion is actually funding the Medicare and Medicaid programs throughout this country.'

The syntax was fractured, and so this was incoherent and confusing. In particular, it was not clear to what "this portion" referred.  $3.5 trillion? Health care costs paid by employers and employees? The context of  his use of that phrase did not help.  Note that US total health spending was reported to be approximately $3.5 trillion in 2017 by the US Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).  However, that was total health spending, not just the amount spent by Medicare and Medicaid.  Furthermore, Medicare and Medicaid are funded by sources other than employers and their employees.  While employers and employees pay tax on employee income to fund Medicare, general funds from the federal government, and from state governments funds Medicaid. Furthermore, many employers pay parts of their employees' private health insurance premiums, while the employees make up the difference in premiums. Self-employed people may may for their own insurance, etc, etc. Mr Ruskcowski, not to put to fine a point on it, seemed to speaking gibberish, and would use this gibberish to justify his next point.  So in formal terms, he used the logical fallacy of an argument by gibberish.

When incomprehensible jargon or plain incoherent gibberish is used to give the appearance of a strong argument, in place of evidence or valid reasons to accept the argument.

In any case, Mr Rusckowski went on to argue that he

remained skeptical of a Medicare-for-all plan funded by corporations and employees. 'I don’t think [corporations and employees] can afford to provide that access as described.'

However, not only were his earlier statement gibberish, they were not clearly arguments in support of his contention that corporations and employees cannot "afford to provide that access as described."  So this appeared to be an example of the logical fallacy of the non-sequitur. Mr Rusckowski's total compensation as CEO of Quest was over $10 million in 2017, as estimated by Bloomberg News.  So it is perhaps not surprising that is self-interest in preserving the status quo was strong enough to motivate him to jump into the debate.  One would think, however, that someone who managed to become a rich CEO of a medical diagnostic company could manage to be a bit more logical. Anyway, he has some strange bed-fellows in this cause, including two billionaires who are not directly involved in health care corporations, but who have obviously benefited from the current economic status quo. Michael Bloomberg and Howard Schultz Used the Incomplete Comparison Fallacy Two billionaires provided striking examples of one logical fallacy.  First, from the New York Times, January 29, 2019:

Mr. Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor who is considering a 2020 bid on a centrist Democratic platform, rejected the idea of 'Medicare for all,' which has been gaining traction among Democrats. 'I think you could never afford that. You’re talking about trillions of dollars,' Mr. Bloomberg said during a political swing in New Hampshire, which holds the nation’s first primary in 2020. 'I think you can have ‘Medicare for all’ for people that are uncovered,' he added, 'but to replace the entire private system where companies provide health care for their employees would bankrupt us for a very long time.'

Second, from CNN on January 30, 2019:

'Why do you think Medicare-for-all, in your words, is not American?' CNN's Poppy Harlow asked Schultz on Tuesday. 'It's not that it's not American,' Schultz said. 'It's unaffordable.' 'What I believe is that every American has the right to affordable health care as a statement,' Schultz said, lauding the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare, as 'the right thing to do.' He added, 'But now that we look back on it, the premiums have skyrocketed and we need to go back to the Affordable Care Act, refine it and fix it.' He argued that the Democratic progressive platform of providing Medicare, free college education and jobs for everyone is costly and as 'false as President Trump telling the American people when he was running for president that the Mexicans were going to pay for the wall.'

So both billionaire Bloomberg and billionaire Schultz stated that Medicare-for-all would cost too much.  Yet neither addressed how much our current health care system costs.  However, as a subsequent op-ed in the Washington Post by Paul Waldman pointed out, it only makes sense to talk about affordability in the context of a comparison with a reasonable alternative, say, the current health care system:

there is one thing you absolutely, positively must do whenever you talk about the cost of a universal system — and that journalists almost never do when they’re asking questions. You have to compare what a universal system would cost to what we’re paying now. there have been some recent attempts to estimate what it would cost to implement, for instance, the single-payer system that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) advocates; one widely cited study, from a source not favorably inclined toward government solutions to complex problems, came up with a figure of $32.6 trillion over 10 years. That’s a lot of money. But you can’t understand what it means until you realize that last year we spent about $3.5 trillion on health care, and under current projections, if we keep the system as it is now, we’ll spend $50 trillion over the next decade. Again, you can criticize any particular universal plan on any number of grounds. But if it costs less than $50 trillion over 10 years — which every universal plan does — you can’t say it’s 'unaffordable' or it would 'bankrupt' us, because the truth is just the opposite.

These are text-book examples of the fallacy of incomplete comparison. By the way, buried amongst his use of gibberish and non-sequiturs, Quest Diagnostics CEO Rusckowski also opined that Medicare-for-all would be unaffordable without any reference to the costs of the status quo, and hence also provided an example of an incomplete comparison. The Waldman op-ed noted

The fact that these two highly successful businessmen — whose understanding of investments, costs and benefits helped them become billionaires — can say something so completely mistaken and even idiotic is a tribute to the human capacity to take our ideological biases and convince ourselves that they’re not biases at all but are instead inescapable rationality.

Maybe.  However, it may also be a tribute to their arrogance bred by decades of public relations (which Bernays thought sounded better than "propaganda") and disinformation meant to soften up the minds of the public so that they will follow the lead of the rich and powerful.   Schultz Also Added an Appeal to Tradition (or to Common Practice) Also on January 29, the Washington Post reported that

Schultz referred to a town hall hosted Monday night by CNN in which Harris embraced a 'Medicare-for-all' single-payer health insurance system and said she would be willing to end private insurance to make it happen. 'That is the kind of extreme policy that is not a policy that I agree with,' Schultz said on 'The View,' adding that doing away with private insurers would lead to major job losses. 'That’s not correct. That’s not American,' Schultz said on CBS. 'What’s next? What industry are we going to abolish next? The coffee industry?'

Presumably, by saying "that's not American," Schultz means that is not what we have always done, that is not what has been traditional American practice, begging the question of whether that practice could be ill-advised.  Thus Schultz appeared to ladle on an appeal to common practice, otherwise known as an appeal to tradition.  As an aside, the quote also suggests that Schultz's real concern is not with the affordability of Medicare-for-all, particularly in comparison with that of the current system, but with the financial health of the insurance industry.  But that is for another day.... Summary So, to protect against the dread "Medicare for all," that is, proposals for a government single-payer health insurance system to replace our current practice of financing health care through large, mainly for-profit  insurance companies, we see an acceleration of public relations/ propaganda paid by undisclosed donors, that is, via dark money.  We also see prominent multi-millionaire and billionaire executives laying down a barrage of logical fallacies to support the status quo.  It is hard to believe that the defenders of the current system are not mostly self-interested.  That status quo has made some people very rich.    It is also hard to believe they are stupid.  However, a close reading of their arguments suggests they may think we are stupid, or at least befuddled by repeated public relations/ propaganda/ disinformation campaigns. In 2011, we wrote,

Wendell Potter, author of Deadly Spin, has provided a chilling picture of health care corporate disinformation campaigns and the tactics used therein.

In particular,

Mr Potter recounted how deceptive PR campaigns subverted the health care reform plans of US President Bill Clinton, reduced the impact of Michael Moore's movie, 'Sicko,' and helped to remodel the recent health care reform bill to reduce its threat to commercial health insurers.  He further noted how PR distracted public attention from the growing faults of a health care system based on commercial health insurance, and how practical and legal safeguards against abuses by insurance companies were eroded.

Furthermore, Mr Potter

described 'charm offensives;' the deliberate creation of distractions, including the planting of memes for short-term goals that went on to have long-term adverse effects; fear mongering; the use of front groups, including 'astroturf,' (faux disease advocacy and/or grass roots organizations), public policy advocacy groups, and tame (and conflicted) scientific/professional groups; and intelligence gathering.  He provided some practical advice for detecting such tactics. For example, be very suspicious of policy advocacy by groups with no apparent address or an address identical to that of a PR firm, or with anonymous leaders and/or anonymous financial backing.

Now it is 2019, once again health care reform is in the air, and once again the defenders of the status quo are hard at work.  Now, they are even wealthier than they were 10 years ago, and have even more sophisticated tools, like social media and its hacks, at their disposal.  Still, however, their arguments are ultimately built on sand. As I did in 2011, it makes sense to quote Wendell Potter

onslaught drastically weakened health-care reform and how it plays an insidious and often invisible role in our political process anywhere that corporate profits are at stake, from climate change to defense policy. [Potter, Huffington Post]

So,

The onslaughts of spin will not stop, the distortions will not diminish, and the spin will not slow down. To the contrary, spin begets spin, as the successes of corporate PR functionaries increase the revenues of their employers, further funding their employers' efforts to create a more hospitable climate for their business interests. Americans are thus being faced with increasingly subtle but effective assaults on their beliefs and perceptions. Their best defense right now is to understand and to recognize the sophisticated tactics of the spinners trying to manipulate them. Most important is a singular mandate: Be skeptical. [Potter, Huffington Post]

I still hope that summarizing some of Mr Potter's amazing points will help us all to be much more skeptical. You heard it here first. Article source:Health Care Renewal

[olaluwe]

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo [Photo credit: dailypost.ng]

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has suggested the creation of a new political movement to oust President Muhammadu Buhari from office in 2019, saying the president, whom he supported during the 2015 election, has failed and lacks what it takes to take country out of the woods.

In a statement released on Tuesday, where he asked Mr Buhari not to consider seeking re-election in 2019, the former president said since the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the main opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have failed the country, concerned Nigerians should rise and form a third option capable of leading the country towards the path of recovery.

“I have had occasion in the past to say that the two main political parties – APC and PDP – were wobbling. I must reiterate that nothing has happened to convince me otherwise. If anything, I am reinforced in my conviction,” the octogenarian wrote.

“If neither APC nor PDP is a worthy horse to ride to lead Nigeria at this crucial and critical time, what then do we do? Remember Farooq Kperogi, an Associate Professor at the Kennesaw State University, Georgia, United States, calls it ‘a cruel Hobson’s choice; it’s like a choice between six and half a dozen, between evil and evil. Any selection or deflection would be a distinction without a difference.’ We cannot just sit down lamenting and wringing our hands desperately and hopelessly.”

Mr. Obasanjo said the present situation in the country is similar to what prevailed at the outset of the present republic in 1999. He recalled that at that time, the country was saved of what looked like sure damnation because every Nigerian joined hands in a single resolve to roll back the slide. He therefore called for such concerted effort as was displayed in 1999 to save the country from its current nosedive.

“Wherever I go, I hear Nigerians complaining, murmuring in anguish and anger,” the former president said. “But our anger should not be like the anger of the cripple. We can collectively save ourselves from the position we find ourselves. “It will not come through self-pity, fruitless complaint or protest but through constructive and positive engagement and collective action for the good of our nation and ourselves and our children and their children. We need moral re-armament and engaging togetherness of people of like-mind and goodwill to come solidly together to lift Nigeria up.

“This is no time for trading blames or embarking on futile argument and neither should we accept untenable excuses for non-performance.” He said the APC and the Buhari administration had proven that they do not have what is required to take the nation out of its economic situations, which he said has resulted in an increase in reported cases of suicide. He also dismissed his former party, the PDP as being incapable of turning the tide adding that nothing much was to be expected from them.

“Let us accept that the present administration has done what it can do to the limit of its ability, aptitude and understanding,” he continued. “Let the administration and its political party platform agree with the rest of us that what they have done and what they are capable of doing is not good enough for us. They have given as best as they have and as best as they can give.

“Nigeria deserves and urgently needs better than what they have given or what we know they are capable of giving. To ask them to give more will be unrealistic and will only sentence Nigeria to a prison term of four years if not destroy it beyond the possibility of an early recovery and substantial growth. Einstein made it clear to us that doing the same thing and expecting a different result is the height of folly.

“Already, Nigerians are committing suicide for the unbearable socio-economic situation they find themselves in. And yet Nigerians love life. We must not continue to reinforce failure and hope that all will be well. It is self-deceit and self-defeat and another aspect of folly. “What has emerged from the opposition has shown no better promise from their antecedents. As the leader of that Party for eight years as President of Nigeria, I can categorically say there is nothing to write home about in their new team. “We have only one choice left to take us out of Egypt to the promised land. And that is the coalition of the concerned and the willing – ready for positive and drastic change, progress and involvement. Change that will give hope and future to all our youth and dignity and full participation to all our women.” Mr Obasanjo then called for a third force which must put the youth of the country at the forefront in the struggle to rescue the country from the muck it is enmeshed in. “Our youth should be empowered to deploy their ability to learn, innovate and work energetically at ideas and concepts in which they can make their own original inputs. Youth must be part of the action today and not relegated to leadership of tomorrow which may never come. Change that will mean enhancement of living standard and progress for all. A situation where the elected will accountably govern and every Nigerian will have equal opportunity not based on kinship and friendship but based on free citizenship. “Democracy is sustained and measured not by leaders doing extra-ordinary things, (invariably, leaders fail to do ordinary things very well), but by citizens rising up to do ordinary things extra-ordinarily well. “Our democracy, development and progress at this juncture require ordinary citizens of Nigeria to do the extra-ordinary things of changing the course and direction of our lackluster performance and development. If leadership fails, citizens must not fail and there lies the beauty and importance of democracy. We are challenged by the current situation; we must neither adopt spirit of cowardice nor timidity let alone impotence but must be sustained by courage, determination and commitment to say and do and to persist until we achieve upliftment for Nigeria. “Nothing ventured, nothing gained and we believe that our venturing will not be in vain. God of Nigeria has endowed this country adequately and our non-performance cannot be blamed on God but on leadership. God, who has given us what we need and which is potentially there, will give us leadership enablement to actualize our potentiality.” Mr Obasanjo then christened the third force he hoped will wrest power from the APC and the PDP, Coalition for Nigeria (CN). He said CN need not necessarily be a political party but rather it should be a movement for democracy, good governance, and progress. He then offered himself as part of this movement that would “salvage and redeem [the] country.” He however, said he would break link with the movement if it decides to become a political party because of his avowed non-partisanship. “Last time, we asked, prayed and worked for change and God granted our request. This time, we must ask, pray and work for change with unity, security and progress. And God will again grant us. Of course, nothing should stop such a Movement from satisfying conditions for fielding candidates for elections. “This Coalition for Nigeria will be a Movement that will drive Nigeria up and forward. It must have a pride of place for all Nigerians, particularly for our youth and our women. It is a coalition of hope for all Nigerians for speedy, quality and equal development, security, unity, prosperity and progress. It is a coalition to banish poverty, insecurity and despair. “Our country must not be oblivious to concomitant danger around, outside and ahead. Coalition for Nigeria must be a Movement to break new ground in building a united country, a socially-cohesive and moderately prosperous society with equity, equality of opportunity, justice and a dynamic and progressive economy that is self-reliant and takes active part in global division of labour and international decision-making. “The Movement must work out the path of development and the trajectory of development in speed, quality and equality in the short- medium- and long-term for Nigeria on the basis of sustainability, stability, predictability, credibility, security, cooperation and prosperity with diminishing inequality. What is called for is love, commitment and interest in our country, not in self, friends and kinship alone but particularly love, compassion and interest in the poor, underprivileged and downtrodden. It is our human duty and responsibility so to do. Failure to do this will amount to a sin against God and a crime against humanity,” he said. Source: premiumnews.

[democratsunited-blog]

Dissidents: Democratic organization undemocratic - News

https://uniteddemocrats.net/?p=3839

Dissidents: Democratic organization undemocratic - News

Lackawanna County Democratic Party Chairman Chris Patrick cruised to a second four-year term Tuesday, but not without a bit of controversy.

A couple handfuls of dissidents signaled dissatisfaction with party and its selection process by walking out of the reorganization meeting at St. Mary’s Center before all the votes were in .

Upset with what they see as Patrick’s general failure to rally Democrats to elect Democrats, especially during the 2016 presidential election, a faction of newly elected party committee members offered a competing slate of officers.

Progressive Women of NEPA organized the competing slate.

Citing county party by-laws, the party committee refused to allow even the dissident slate’s nomination, let alone a vote on their merits.

After Patrick was re-elected, the dissidents left.

County party bylaws have two basic standards to gain consideration for a party leadership post. At least five fellow elected Democratic committee members must sign petitions nominating someone and submit them to the chairman at least seven days before the election.

Based on that, Patrick had to have the petitions in hand by June 5 because the officer election was June 12.

Instead, the group submitted them with the required signatures June 8. Patrick said he got them last Saturday, June 9.

The day after the meeting, Patrick equated the party rules with state laws for getting on the ballot for public elected offices like mayor.

“The rules are the rules,” he said.

Simple, right?

Not to the dissidents, who believe the whole process reeks of backroom dealing.

The evening actually kicked off with another, similar battle.

Democratic committeeman Chuck Schneider wanted to run for Scranton Democratic Party chairman. He sent present chairman Bob Sheridan a letter announcing his intention. The city party has the same seven-day, five-signature rule.

Schneider’s letter met the seven-day deadline, but he didn’t have signatures nominating him.

Scranton City Councilman Kyle Donahue asked the county party to suspend its rules and allow competing candidates, which he assumed would then apply to the city election, too.

Larry Moran Jr., appointed temporary chairman because Patrick was a candidate, said the bylaws don’t provide for suspending the bylaws.

Donahue argued Robert’s Rules of Order do provide for rule suspensions, but to no avail.

“I walked out,” Donahue said in an interview this week.

Sheridan later got re-elected without a challenge, too.

“Chuck has been in the Democratic Party a long time,” Sheridan said. “He should have known what he had to do.”

Schneider said Sheridan denied him a copy of the by-laws and referred him to Patrick, who dropped off a copy after the deadline.

“I had the votes to beat him and he knew it,” Schneider said.

Though Donahue said he has no problem with Patrick’s leadership, Jan Kelly, a Progressive Women member, and her group do. They don’t think he does anything but run a sloppy, dysfunctional party.

She acknowledged her group had the bylaws for months, but doubted their authenticity because the copy they got from the state Democratic Party, dated Aug. 2, 1984, says they are “proposed rules.”

The group finally got another copy from the bureau of elections — it also says “proposed rules” — and filed late anyway. They wanted to nominate Kelly as chairwoman; Mark Sheridan, first vice chairman; Jennifer Wynn, second vice chairwoman; Joan Davis, third vice chairwoman; Dottie Gentile, secretary; and Robert H. Davis, treasurer.

Kelly and some of her half dozen or so cohorts made arguments similar to Donahue. In an interview and in a letter to Patrick asking for a chance to have their candidates voted on, she pointed out his letter inviting committee members to the meeting arrived at the homes of some committee members on June 2 or later. The bylaws require at least 10 days written notice to committee members so June 2 was exactly 10 days before the vote.

That left only three days to meet the seven-day/five-signature rule.

Patrick’s letter also said nothing about the signature/deadline requirement, Kelly wrote in her letter to Patrick. An open process would inform people of the rules, she said.

An open process also would have allowed a vote on a competing slate and required people nominated for party offices to argue in front of everyone why they should get the posts, Kelly said. Instead, it was announced that 105 committee members submitted proxy votes — which Kelly said no one displayed — allowing someone at the meeting to vote on their behalf. That’s almost enough votes to win just in proxies, she said.

Clearly, in her eyes, the game was rigged.

“Everyone there was there just to rubber stamp the slate, which is, to my mind, an undemocratic process” Kelly said.

Without opposition, Patrick and his slate easily won. He defended his performance as chairman noting party candidates racked up huge numbers the last four years, Hillary Clinton still won the county while she lost in Luzerne County. If anyone wanted to see the proxies, which are allowed in the bylaws, they could have asked. He does not know why the by-laws say “proposed,” but said they are the bylaws.

“We worked out tails off for Hillary Clinton. We just elected a Democratic district attorney for the first time in 50 years,” he said, referring to District Attorney Mark Powell. “I’m probably the most transparent chairman that Lackawanna County ever had … Our process is open and transparent. It’s not my job to do their homework for them.”

In their matchup with local Democratic politics, the dissidents got bloodied. If they’re serious and right about change, they won’t stop.

“We are getting together to see how we can move forward. Our agenda is to revitalize the Democratic Party and bring it into this century and we will try to do that,” Kelly said.

They are not alone. Plenty of Democratic regulars remain angry with Patrick’s 2015 decision to bring Lackawanna County Commissioner Patrick O’Malley back from the Republicans and then have the party endorse him over longtime party Chairman Jerry Notarianni.

For one, Chuck Volpe, the well-known insurance executive, TV talk-show host, general thorn to the county Democratic establishment and newly elected Waverly Democratic committeeman, is furious with Patrick. He blames him for bringing back O’Malley and letting him team up without penalty with a Republican commissioner, Laureen Cummings, in what he views as a Republican administration.

“I think Chris Patrick should resign as Democratic chairman,” Volpe said after the meeting.

OK, but neither Volpe nor some other Democratic committee members who have a problem with Patrick showed up at the meeting. Maybe they don’t want to shake things up with a crucial federal election coming up, maybe it’s something else.

At least the Progressive Women showed up, but Kelly acknowledged they never lobbied other committee members for votes for their slate before the meeting.

Perhaps naively, they came to the meeting expecting to make their case there, a fair expectation if they met the rules to get nominated. Neither happened.

The progressives, Volpe’s allies and maybe others want to alter the county Democratic Party’s direction.

Next, we find out how badly they want it.

BORYS KRAWCZENIUK, The Times-Tribune politics reporter, writes Random Notes.

RANDOM NOTES

Read full story here

[investmart007]

WASHINGTON | The Latest: Japan says it understands Trump's caution

New Post has been published on https://is.gd/ytF3sC

WASHINGTON | The Latest: Japan says it understands Trump's caution

WASHINGTON — The Latest on President Donald Trump canceling his planned summit with North Korea (all times local):

12:10 a.m.

Japan says it understands President Donald Trump’s cancellation of the summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Top officials  there say talks should be held when progress on the North’s denuclearization is achieved.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Friday the summit is useful only when it makes progress on the North’s nuclear and missile abandonment and on the issue of the North’s abductions of Japanese citizens.

Trump cited hostility in recent remarks from North Korea when he canceled the summit on Thursday.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono, in Mexico for talks with officials, said Japan expects a summit where North Korea can commit to denuclearize itself. He said Japan will keep cooperating with Washington to achieve it.

___

9:50 p.m.

Singapore says it regrets the cancellation of the summit that was to be held there next month between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Trump on Thursday abruptly canceled the meeting because he found earlier comments by a North Korean official to be angry and hostile. North Korea responded Friday that it was willing to give the U.S. time to reconsider and was ready to meet anytime.

Singapore had been selected recently from among several locations that were considered, including the Demilitarized Zone between the Koreas where Kim meet South Korean President Moon Jae-in last month.

The statement from Singapore’s foreign affairs ministry says it “hopes that the dialogue and efforts to find lasting peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula will continue.”

__

7:05 p.m.

North Korea says it is still willing to sit down for talks with the United States “at any time, at any format” after President Donald Trump abruptly canceled his planned summit with Kim Jong Un.

Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan issued a statement Friday saying North Korea is “willing to give the U.S. time and opportunities” to reconsider talks.

Kim says North Korea’s “objective and resolve to do our best for the sake of peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and all humankind remain unchanged.”

Kim is calling Trump’s decision “unexpected” and “very regrettable,” and says the cancellation of the talks shows “how grave the status of historically deep-rooted hostile North Korea-U.S. relations is and how urgently a summit should be realized to improve ties.”

__

5 p.m.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in says he’s “very perplexed” that the U.S.-North Korea summit won’t go ahead as planned.

Yonhap news agency cited Moon as urging direct talks between President Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.

Moon was speaking at an emergency meeting of his top security officials in Seoul after Trump announced he was canceling the summit because of North Korean “hostility.”

Moon was quoted as saying: “I am very perplexed and it is very regrettable that the North Korea-U.S. summit will not be held on June 12.”

He said, “Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the establishment of permanent peace are historic tasks that can neither be abandoned nor delayed.”

Moon met Trump in Washington on Tuesday, but appeared caught unawares by the president’s decision Thursday.

___

4 p.m.

The White House says the North Korean government violated several promises to the U.S. and South Korea related to the now-cancelled June summit in Singapore between the U.S. and North Korea. A senior U.S. official says the North Koreans stood up an American delegation last week seeking to make arrangements for the summit and did not return messages from the U.S. seeking to discuss the meeting.

The official says the North also reneged on a pledge to allow international inspectors to monitor the supposed demolition of its nuclear test site Thursday. International journalists were present, but the U.S. government can’t verify the site’s destruction.

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid overshadowing Trump’s comments Thursday.

— By Catherine Lucey

__

3:45 p.m.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says North Korea had fulfilled its promises ahead of the planned summit between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un.

Trump canceled the summit on Thursday, citing “hostility” from North Korea.

But Putin said the North Korean leader “did everything that he had promised in advance, even blowing up the tunnels and shafts” of the country’s nuclear testing site. “After which, we heard about cancellation of the summit by the United States.”

Putin said: “In Russia, we took this news with regret, because we had very much counted on it being a significant step in sorting out the situation on the Korean peninsula and that it would be the beginning of the process of denuclearizing the whole Korean Peninsula.”

He spoke at a news conference with French President Emmanuel Macron.

___

2:10 p.m.

Donald Trump’s letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was dictated by the president to his national security adviser, John Bolton.

That’s according to Republican Sen. Cory Gardner, who met with Bolton at the White House on Thursday, hours after Trump announced he was withdrawing from a planned summit with Kim next month.

Gardner told The Associated press that Bolton described the letter as a “wake-up” to Kim, who had shown a change in attitude after meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The senator cited the North Koreans’ refusal to return phone calls to the administration and turning down high-level talks with South Korea.

He said North Korea had shown a “lack of seriousness” in negotiating on denuclearization.

In the letter, Trump cited “hostility” from North Korea, but kept open the possibility for dialogue.

___

1:25 p.m.

Pentagon officials say American forces on the Korean peninsula remain on a normal state of alert in the aftermath of President Donald Trump’s decision to cancel his planned summit with North Korea’s leader.

Trump said he had spoken to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis about the cancellation and that the U.S. military is prepared for what he called a “foolish or reckless” act by the North.

A spokesman for the Pentagon’s Joint Staff, Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, told reporters the U.S. military will be ready for any North Korean provocation such as a missile launch. But he said the state of vigilance by the U.S. military in South Korea has not changed, with no new preparations or actions since Trump’s announcement. He said U.S. forces are in a “boxer’s stance,” prepared to defend themselves and South Korea.

___

1:05 p.m.

President Donald Trump says he thinks Kim Jong Un wants to do “what’s right” but says it’s up to the North Korean leader to seize the opportunity.

Trump says the dialogue between the U.S. and North Korea was good until the North shifted back to its usual belligerent tone. The president says he understands why that happened, but declined to elaborate.

Trump has canceled a summit with Kim planned for June 12 in Singapore, but has left the door open to meeting on that or another date.

The president adds: “We’ll see whether or not that opportunity is seized by North Korea.”

___

12:10 p.m.

President Donald Trump declares he is “waiting” to see if North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will again “engage in constructive dialogue.”

Trump opened the door for diplomacy Thursday just hours after he canceled a summit with Kim scheduled for next month in Singapore.

But he insisted that Kim reach out, placing the blame on the North Korean leader for the collapse of negotiations.

He also said that until that happened, tough sanctions on Pyongyang would continue and the U.S.-led “maximum pressure campaign is continuing.”

Trump and Kim had been slated to meet June 12 for what White House officials had hoped would be a historic diplomatic breakthrough for the president.

They advised that the summit could be rescheduled.

___

12:05 p.m.

President Donald Trump says the U.S. military is “ready if necessary” to respond to “foolish or reckless acts” by North Korea.

Trump also says he’s been in touch with South Korea and Japan and that both allies are willing to bear much of the financial burden “if such an unfortunate situation is forced upon us.”

Trump on Thursday announced he has called off a planned June 12 summit with North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, citing recent hostile statements by Kim’s government.

North Korea overnight threatened nuclear confrontation with the U.S. and called Vice President Mike Pence a “political dummy.”

Trump says hopefully “positive things” will take place with respect to North Korea’s future. But he adds “If they don’t we are more ready than we have ever been before.”

___

11:30 a.m.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says he was involved in discussions late Wednesday and early Thursday that led to President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of a planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. But, he would not say exactly which, if any, other countries were given a head’s up on the decision, including South Korea.

“I don’t want to get into who all we notified,” he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, adding: “The White House will speak to that at the appropriate time.”

However, Pompeo, who met at the State Department on Wednesday with China’s foreign minister, did say that he had not spoken to Chinese officials since the decision was made.

Asked about a report that South Korea had not been informed before the president’s letter to Kim canceling the summit was made public, Pompeo maintained that Washington and Seoul were “in lockstep.”

___

11:20 a.m.

A prominent Russian lawmaker says the cancellation of the planned summit between President Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un is a serious setback.

Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the foreign affairs committee in the upper house of the Russian parliament, is quoted by the news agency Interfax as saying: “The rejection by Trump of conducting the American-North Korean summit undoubtedly is a serious blow to peaceful settlement in the region.”

He adds that “it’s already the second blow, after the exit from the agreement on the Iranian nuclear program, to global stability in general.”

___

11:05 a.m.

A Republican senator often critical of Donald Trump says the president “made the right call” in canceling a summit with North Korea’s leader.

Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska says Kim Jong Un is a “murderous despot and habitual liar.” Sasse is often critical of Trump but is siding with the president on his decision Thursday to pull out of the summit that had been planned for June 12 in Singapore.

Trump cited recent aggressive statements from Kim’s government for his decision to cancel the meeting.

Sasse adds in a statement that if North Korea wants diplomacy, “it should know that half-measures and spin about its nuclear program won’t cut it.”

Sasse is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee,

___

10:55 a.m.

The U.N. chief says he is “deeply concerned” by the cancellation of the planned summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un.

Antonio Guterres told an audience at the University of Geneva on Thursday that he was urging the parties to keep working “to find a path to the peaceful and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”

Guterres’ comments came as he laid out his disarmament agenda, warning that nuclear agreements between states have been threatened like never before.

Trump announced Thursday that he was canceling the June 12 summit in Singapore with Kim following hostile comments. Overnight, Kim’s government threatened nuclear confrontation and called Vice President Mike Pence a “political dummy.”

___

10:45 a.m.

House Speaker Paul Ryan says achieving a peaceful resolution to the nuclear standoff on the Korean Peninsula will require “a much greater degree of seriousness” from Kim Jong Un.

President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he has canceled a June 12 summit in Singapore with the North Korean leader, citing hostile comments from Kim. Overnight, Kim’s government threatened nuclear confrontation and called Vice President Mike Pence a “political dummy.”

Ryan says in a statement Thursday that Kim’s government has long given ample reason to question its commitment to stability.

The Republican says that, until a peaceful resolution is achieved, Congress has provided “significant tools” to hold North Korea accountable.

Ryan says the U.S. must continue the “maximum pressure” campaign that Trump and others say brought North Korea to the table in the first place.

___

10:35 a.m.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says North Korea did not respond to repeated requests from U.S. officials to discuss logistics for the now-canceled summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Pompeo told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday that the lack of response was an additional reason for Trump’s decision to call off the meeting. Trump cited recent bellicose comments from the North in a letter to Kim released by the White House.

Pompeo says: “We had received no response to our inquiries from them.”

Pompeo says the North’s attitude changed markedly since he returned from a trip to Pyongyang earlier this month, when he met with Kim and secured the release of three American prisoners being held there.

___

10:30 a.m.

A senior Democratic senator says President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from a planned summit with North Korea shows the consequence of his failure to prepare properly.

Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey said Thursday that the withdrawal shows “the art of diplomacy is a lot harder than the art of the deal.”

The top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee says it’s “pretty amazing” that Trump’s Republican administration would be shocked that North Korea “is acting as North Korea might very well normally act.”

He adds: “I’m not sure that constantly quoting the Libya model is the diplomatic way to try to get to the results that we seek in North Korea because that didn’t work out too well for Gadhafi.”

Menendez was speaking Thursday at a committee hearing attended by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

__

By Associated Press – published on STL.News by St. Louis Media, LLC (A.S)

___

[stopkingobama]

Roy Moore Defeats Trump’s Pick, Luther Strange, in GOP’s Alabama Senate Runoff (Race of the Day)

Photo: Gage Skidmore/Flickr (cc by-sa 2.0)

Challenger Roy Moore soundly defeated incumbent Luther Strange in Tuesday’s runoff to choose the Republican nominee in Alabama’s U.S. Senate race.

With all precincts reporting after 11 p.m., Moore had 54.6 percent or 262,204 votes and Strange had 45.4 percent or 218,066 votes. The Associated Press called the race when results from about half the 2,286 precincts were in.

“Republican voters know who a person of principle is,” Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder of Tea Party Patriots, told The Daily Signal in a pre-election interview predicting a victory for Moore, former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court.

Moore will face Democrat Doug Jones in the Dec. 12 special election for the Senate seat vacated by Republican Jeff Sessions when he became attorney general in the Trump administration.

President Donald Trump had endorsed Strange, whom he considered loyal to his priorities.

Trump tweeted congratulations to Moore late Tuesday night:

Congratulations to Roy Moore on his Republican Primary win in Alabama. Luther Strange started way back & ran a good race. Roy, WIN in Dec!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 27, 2017

“From the beginning of this campaign, my priority has been serving the people of Alabama,” Strange, the state’s former attorney general, said in a written concession statement. “Tomorrow, I will go back to work with President Trump and do all I can to advance his agenda over the next few weeks.”

In victory remarks in which he characteristically evoked faith in God, Moore said:

Together we can make America great. We can support the president. Don’t let anybody in the press think that because [Trump] supported my opponent I do not support him and support his agenda. As long as it’s constitutional, as long as it advances our society, our culture, our country, I will be supportive. … But we have to return the knowledge of God and the Constitution of the United States to the United States Congress.

The runoff Tuesday was set up when neither Strange nor Moore garnered 50 percent of the vote in a 10-candidate primary Aug. 15.  (Moore got 40 percent to Strange’s 33 percent, while Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., finished third with 20 percent.)

Republicans seek to preserve their slim 52-seat majority in the 100-seat Senate.

Moore tweeted as his victory became clear:

CONSERVATIVE VICTORY HAS COME TO #ALSEN!

Because of you, tonight, the establishment has been DEFEATED in Alabama!

THANK YOU!

— Judge Roy Moore (@MooreSenate) September 27, 2017

Democrats’ nominee Jones, 63, is a lawyer and former U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama appointed by President Bill Clinton. His campaign platform includes health care reform, environmental protections, civil rights, and criminal justice reform.

On  Feb. 9, then-Gov. Robert Bentley appointed Strange to the seat vacated when the Senate confirmed one of its own, Sessions, as attorney general.

Trump endorsed and stumped for Strange, but also said at a rally Friday night in Huntsville, Alabama, that he would work “like hell” to elect Moore should the challenger prevail.

“I might have made a mistake,” Trump said at one point. “I’ll be honest, I might have made a mistake.”

But the president added: “Luther [Strange] will definitely win.”

It was great being with Luther Strange last night in Alabama. What great people, what a crowd! Vote Luther on Tuesday.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2017

In the runoff, Moore, 70, presented himself as the true conservative, while Strange, 64, batted away accusations that he is too establishment. Moore had led in polls, but Strange appeared to be closing the gap.

Andrew Roth, vice president of government affairs at the Club for Growth, predicted in an interview with The Daily Signal that the runoff would be a bellwether for how state voters view progress in Congress.

“The way I view this race is that it’s more of an establishment versus anti-establishment race,” Roth said. “The issues, conservative or not, didn’t really play in this. The race is more about what voters want out of Congress and out of the Senate.”

Vice President Mike Pence, a former congressman from Indiana as well as that state’s governor, also endorsed Strange.

“Our president needs Luther Strange back in the United States Senate so he can finish the job,” Pence said Monday night at a rally at Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport. “I know Sen. Luther Strange will be there for our president, because he’s already been there.”

The Washington Examiner and other news outlets reported that the Senate Leadership Fund, a political action committee tied to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., filled Alabama’s TV and radio airwaves with millions of dollars worth of ads backing Strange and attacking Moore.

Moore’s high-profile supporters include Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and GOP vice presidential candidate, as well as former Trump White House aides Steve Bannon and Sebastian Gorka.

“A vote for Judge Moore isn’t a vote against the president,” Palin said Thursday night, adding:

It is a vote for the people’s agenda that elected the president. It’s for the big, beautiful movement that we’re all a part of. The president needs support to keep the promises that elected him. So we’re sending Trump someone who has our back, not Mitch McConnell’s … Make no mistake, ‘Big Luther’ is Mitch McConnell’s guy.

Moore-mentum! 👍🏻🇺🇸 https://t.co/4YZvDraYSU

— Sarah Palin (@SarahPalinUSA) September 22, 2017

“While we were honored to have fought hard for Big Luther, Judge Roy Moore won this nomination fair and square and he has our support, as it is vital that we keep this seat in Republican hands,” the Senate Leadership Fund said in a formal acknowledgement of Strange’s loss Tuesday night.

Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, came out Monday in support of Moore.

“A Judge Moore win really would make sure that the Trump agenda gets implemented,” Meadows told Breitbart News, adding:

There’s all kinds of members of Congress and senators who will run, and they really run so incredibly strong like they have a backbone of steel, but they really have a backbone of a banana. You know, when it’s peeled back, it gets real mushy when they get to Washington, D.C. So we need to give them some steel. Judge Roy Moore has a backbone of steel.

Trump won Alabama in November with 62 percent of the vote.

Moore is perhaps best known for being removed twice as Alabama’s chief justice, first in 2003 for refusing to take down a Ten Commandments monument and again in 2016, after his re-election, for ordering judges not to issue licenses for same-sex marriages.

Moore’s campaign platform included support for limited government, immigration reform, a border wall, energy independence, and the military.

Great to talk with President Trump tonight about #ALSen!

I very much look forward to working with the President to win in December! pic.twitter.com/A72Fdc6Mua

— Judge Roy Moore (@MooreSenate) September 27, 2017

The Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund also endorsed Moore.

Martin, the Tea Party Patriots co-founder, told The Daily Signal before the polls opened that by choosing Moore, GOP voters would be “sending a message to Washington that they want someone they can count on to stick to their principles.”

A victory for Strange, she said, would be on account of Trump.

“Given President Trump’s endorsement, people in Alabama will think that Strange will support the president’s agenda,” Martin said.

Freedom Caucus chairman backs @MooreSenate in Alabama Senate race https://t.co/rocBIjPuci VIA @thehill

— TeaPartyCitizensFund (@TPPCitizensFund) September 24, 2017

The GOP runoff was a product of voter frustration with the status quo, the Club for Growth’s Roth said.

“The dysfunction in Washington has been around for so long that maybe, finally the voters have finally had enough,” Roth said, adding:

You certainly saw them express that in November when Trump won [and] you’re going to continue to see the voters express their anger until they get things fixed.

Ken McIntyre contributed to this report, which was updated to include candidate statements and final unofficial results.

Report by Rachel del Guidice. Originally published at The Daily Signal.

[americanlibertypac]

Roy Moore Defeats Trump’s Pick, Luther Strange, in GOP’s Alabama Senate Runoff (Race of the Day)

Photo: Gage Skidmore/Flickr (cc by-sa 2.0)

Challenger Roy Moore soundly defeated incumbent Luther Strange in Tuesday’s runoff to choose the Republican nominee in Alabama’s U.S. Senate race.

With all precincts reporting after 11 p.m., Moore had 54.6 percent or 262,204 votes and Strange had 45.4 percent or 218,066 votes. The Associated Press called the race when results from about half the 2,286 precincts were in.

“Republican voters know who a person of principle is,” Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder of Tea Party Patriots, told The Daily Signal in a pre-election interview predicting a victory for Moore, former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court.

Moore will face Democrat Doug Jones in the Dec. 12 special election for the Senate seat vacated by Republican Jeff Sessions when he became attorney general in the Trump administration.

President Donald Trump had endorsed Strange, whom he considered loyal to his priorities.

Trump tweeted congratulations to Moore late Tuesday night:

Congratulations to Roy Moore on his Republican Primary win in Alabama. Luther Strange started way back & ran a good race. Roy, WIN in Dec!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 27, 2017

“From the beginning of this campaign, my priority has been serving the people of Alabama,” Strange, the state’s former attorney general, said in a written concession statement. “Tomorrow, I will go back to work with President Trump and do all I can to advance his agenda over the next few weeks.”

In victory remarks in which he characteristically evoked faith in God, Moore said:

Together we can make America great. We can support the president. Don’t let anybody in the press think that because [Trump] supported my opponent I do not support him and support his agenda. As long as it’s constitutional, as long as it advances our society, our culture, our country, I will be supportive. … But we have to return the knowledge of God and the Constitution of the United States to the United States Congress.

The runoff Tuesday was set up when neither Strange nor Moore garnered 50 percent of the vote in a 10-candidate primary Aug. 15.  (Moore got 40 percent to Strange’s 33 percent, while Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., finished third with 20 percent.)

Republicans seek to preserve their slim 52-seat majority in the 100-seat Senate.

Moore tweeted as his victory became clear:

CONSERVATIVE VICTORY HAS COME TO #ALSEN!

Because of you, tonight, the establishment has been DEFEATED in Alabama!

THANK YOU!

— Judge Roy Moore (@MooreSenate) September 27, 2017

Democrats’ nominee Jones, 63, is a lawyer and former U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama appointed by President Bill Clinton. His campaign platform includes health care reform, environmental protections, civil rights, and criminal justice reform.

On  Feb. 9, then-Gov. Robert Bentley appointed Strange to the seat vacated when the Senate confirmed one of its own, Sessions, as attorney general.

Trump endorsed and stumped for Strange, but also said at a rally Friday night in Huntsville, Alabama, that he would work “like hell” to elect Moore should the challenger prevail.

“I might have made a mistake,” Trump said at one point. “I’ll be honest, I might have made a mistake.”

But the president added: “Luther [Strange] will definitely win.”

It was great being with Luther Strange last night in Alabama. What great people, what a crowd! Vote Luther on Tuesday.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2017

In the runoff, Moore, 70, presented himself as the true conservative, while Strange, 64, batted away accusations that he is too establishment. Moore had led in polls, but Strange appeared to be closing the gap.

Andrew Roth, vice president of government affairs at the Club for Growth, predicted in an interview with The Daily Signal that the runoff would be a bellwether for how state voters view progress in Congress.

“The way I view this race is that it’s more of an establishment versus anti-establishment race,” Roth said. “The issues, conservative or not, didn’t really play in this. The race is more about what voters want out of Congress and out of the Senate.”

Vice President Mike Pence, a former congressman from Indiana as well as that state’s governor, also endorsed Strange.

“Our president needs Luther Strange back in the United States Senate so he can finish the job,” Pence said Monday night at a rally at Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport. “I know Sen. Luther Strange will be there for our president, because he’s already been there.”

The Washington Examiner and other news outlets reported that the Senate Leadership Fund, a political action committee tied to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., filled Alabama’s TV and radio airwaves with millions of dollars worth of ads backing Strange and attacking Moore.

Moore’s high-profile supporters include Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and GOP vice presidential candidate, as well as former Trump White House aides Steve Bannon and Sebastian Gorka.

“A vote for Judge Moore isn’t a vote against the president,” Palin said Thursday night, adding:

It is a vote for the people’s agenda that elected the president. It’s for the big, beautiful movement that we’re all a part of. The president needs support to keep the promises that elected him. So we’re sending Trump someone who has our back, not Mitch McConnell’s … Make no mistake, ‘Big Luther’ is Mitch McConnell’s guy.

Moore-mentum! 👍🏻🇺🇸 https://t.co/4YZvDraYSU

— Sarah Palin (@SarahPalinUSA) September 22, 2017

“While we were honored to have fought hard for Big Luther, Judge Roy Moore won this nomination fair and square and he has our support, as it is vital that we keep this seat in Republican hands,” the Senate Leadership Fund said in a formal acknowledgement of Strange’s loss Tuesday night.

Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, came out Monday in support of Moore.

“A Judge Moore win really would make sure that the Trump agenda gets implemented,” Meadows told Breitbart News, adding:

There’s all kinds of members of Congress and senators who will run, and they really run so incredibly strong like they have a backbone of steel, but they really have a backbone of a banana. You know, when it’s peeled back, it gets real mushy when they get to Washington, D.C. So we need to give them some steel. Judge Roy Moore has a backbone of steel.

Trump won Alabama in November with 62 percent of the vote.

Moore is perhaps best known for being removed twice as Alabama’s chief justice, first in 2003 for refusing to take down a Ten Commandments monument and again in 2016, after his re-election, for ordering judges not to issue licenses for same-sex marriages.

Moore’s campaign platform included support for limited government, immigration reform, a border wall, energy independence, and the military.

Great to talk with President Trump tonight about #ALSen!

I very much look forward to working with the President to win in December! pic.twitter.com/A72Fdc6Mua

— Judge Roy Moore (@MooreSenate) September 27, 2017

The Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund also endorsed Moore.

Martin, the Tea Party Patriots co-founder, told The Daily Signal before the polls opened that by choosing Moore, GOP voters would be “sending a message to Washington that they want someone they can count on to stick to their principles.”

A victory for Strange, she said, would be on account of Trump.

“Given President Trump’s endorsement, people in Alabama will think that Strange will support the president’s agenda,” Martin said.

Freedom Caucus chairman backs @MooreSenate in Alabama Senate race https://t.co/rocBIjPuci VIA @thehill

— TeaPartyCitizensFund (@TPPCitizensFund) September 24, 2017

The GOP runoff was a product of voter frustration with the status quo, the Club for Growth’s Roth said.

“The dysfunction in Washington has been around for so long that maybe, finally the voters have finally had enough,” Roth said, adding:

You certainly saw them express that in November when Trump won [and] you’re going to continue to see the voters express their anger until they get things fixed.

Ken McIntyre contributed to this report, which was updated to include candidate statements and final unofficial results.

Report by Rachel del Guidice. Originally published at The Daily Signal.

[bettiejohnsonmbayo]

Liberian Political Parties Fail to Register Campaign Vehicles

Monrovia – Document obtained from the Ministry of Transport shows that the Congress of Democratic Change of Senator George Weah and All Liberian Party of businessman Benoni Urey have refused to register their vehicles and motorcycles brought in the country for their respective political campaign. Report by Bettie K. Johnson Mbayo, bettie.mbayo@frontpageafricaonline.com In the ALP, there is only one vehicle registered with several dozens of vehicles and motorcycles only carrying the party’s stickers. The political party vehicle registration record shows that 17 vehicles of the Coalition of Congress of Democratic Change (CDC) are billed but have not completed registration. Last Wednesday at least one of the vehicles owned by the CDC was towed by the Ministry of Transport, and many supporters went to plead for the release of the vehicle. One of the supporters was in support of the Ministry’s action, saying “Our party can’t be seeking state power and fail to pay taxes.” The records from the Ministry of Transport show that none of the 35 vehicles unveiled by the CDC for campaign has been registered with the ministry. The CDC displayed its preparedness for the campaign showcasing 35 vehicles and 300 motorbikes of which none is registered by the Ministry of Transport. The Secretary General of CDC Janga Kowo said the vehicles and motorbikes are insured but registrations haven’t been completed. “Most of our cars are insured but we are still processing the registration, we are just shocked that the ministry will only target us and exclude other political parties, because we are not the only one plying without license plate.” For the ALP, only one of the vehicles is registered and it’s in the A6 category license plates. All the ALP vehicles are plying the streets of Monrovia and other parts of the country without any license plate, according to the Ministry of Transport. The party’s chairman Theodore Momo said he couldn’t respond to any allegation ordering that FPA should write whatsoever it wants to write. “If we haven’t done registration, what does the press have to do with that? If we haven’t done registration let the Ministry of Transport write us, we have nothing to say to FrontPage, write anything you want to write, we have nothing to say, we are going on with our campaign that’s all I can say,” he added. The ALP chairman further said, “If we have problem, it is our problem not the media, let the press find other news to write and avoid our vehicle registration process.” The Alternative National Congress headed by former Coca-Cola head, Alexander Cummings, chairman said all of their vehicles are registered including their motorbikes. “Look at our vehicles, all have licensed plates because we are law abiding, our standard bearer has worked in cooperate setting for long, so our bikes, cars even the building we are in as a party headquarter is insured.” The ruling Unity Party (UP) has registered only five vehicles according to the Ministry, something in the head of press Mo Ali has denied. He said all of the UP vehicles and motorbikes are registered, adding that they are also insured. “All of our vehicles are registered, as far as I know the Ministry is aware, because we bought our vehicles in 2017 and we did the registration of everything before it could ply the streets, including the motorbikes,” he said. But the ministry said only five of the 22 vehicles are registered excluding the motorbikes. Charles Brumskine’s Liberty Party, according to the Ministry, has registered only 36 of its fleet – 23 vehicles and 13 motorcycles. It can be recalled that the Liberty Party made a show of its 75 brand new vehicles and 300 motorcycles. Benjamin Sanvee, Chairman of the Party could neither confirm nor deny the records but promised to have given results on its fleet system at the party. Former security advisor H. Boima Fahnbulleh United People Party (UPP) has the highest motorbikes registered among parties and 46 motorbikes on draft. Draft is when a bill has been submitted to a party but that party has not made payment to complete registration. The Liberia National Police recently reminded the Movement for Progressive Change (MPC) headed by Simeon Freeman to register its automobiles. The LNP communication reads in part as follows: “We present our compliments and best wishes as we gear towards a peaceful 2017 General and Presidential Election." In accordance with title 38 of the Vehicle and Traffic Law of the Republic of Liberia dated May 9, 1972 and approved October 17, 1972, the Liberia National Police wishes to remind you that all motor vehicles operating in the Republic of Liberia are to be duly registered, insured, and operated by a licensed driver. “In view thereof, we ask that your party registers its vehicle(s) to avoid embarrassment before or during the campaign process.” At a press conference last Tuesday, Inspector General of Police, Col. Gregory Coleman disclosed that the LNP is expected to arrest any vehicle plying the streets without license. He said it is regrettable that those who seeking power will refuse to abide by the law. Meanwhile, Transport Minister Samuel Wlue described the failure of the political parties to complete registration as unlawful. He said the ministry is working with the Liberian National Police to enforce the vehicle and registration law. Wlue said the license plates are prepared and are at the one stop shop which can be purchased anytime. “We are prepared for election, this is a very big problem they want to put the country in, you can’t say you want to run a nation and refuse to pay your taxes.” “No serious political party will violate the law, it is ridiculous, they all wishing to swear to the law but are refusing to abide by law.

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There however for the whim of Trump is going, Gary

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There however for the whim of Trump is going, Gary

Is President Trump primed to make Gary Cohn the following Federal Reserve chair? Don’t preserve your breath.

Trump on Tuesday showed weeks of the hypothesis by acknowledging he’s considering nominating his pinnacle monetary adviser to function the following imperative banker. Asked via the Wall Street Journal if Cohn is inside the jogging to replace Janet L. Yellen whilst her first term expires in February, Trump said, “He doesn’t realise this, but sure he is.”Cohn, who turned into the present, laughed and included his ears, in step with the paper. “I without a doubt assume he likes what he’s doing right now,” Trump delivered.

The accumulating consensus from Wall Street to Washington has held that the position, for which Cohn is directing the search, in fact, belongs to him if he wishes it. But given Trump’s record so far, predicting a employees selection months earlier is set as fruitful as looking to forecast the weather over the White House that day.

It’s clear that patronage ranks amongst Trump’s favorite presidential powers — less due to the fact he enjoys making final choices approximately hiring and firing (he doesn’t), more due to the fact he likes wielding his right to do so as a reminder of his general manipulate on this one class at the least. On Tuesday, as an example, the president’s musing approximately his Fed pick out, in short, interrupted some other storyline dominating news from the White House. At a time whilst he can little come up with the money for the distraction, Trump maintains heaping humiliation on Attorney General Jeff Sessions, stoking hypothesis that he hopes to pressure the resignation of one among his first and most vital huge-call supporters.

Here turned into Trump, in an early-morning tweet the day before today:

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has taken a VERY susceptible position on Hillary Clinton crimes (in which are E-mails & DNC server) & Intel leakers!

Asked later if he intends to fire Sessions, Trump stated, “I told you earlier that I’m very upset with the lawyer widespread, however, we will see what takes place. Time will inform.” Why does the president preserve toying with Sessions? As the New York Times’ Maggie Haberman summarised, “Because he can.”

I requested two ppl near Trump why he’s tormenting Sessions as opposed to firing him. The solution from both, paraphrased: Because he can. Cohn fans take note: There however for the whim of Trump is going, Gary. And if Sessions ends up in the ash heap of the president’s discarded early stalwarts, he’ll at least have masses of a company. Last summer, Trump desired to select Chris Christie as his walking mate, but he, in the long run, acceded to stress from advisers to select then-Indiana Gov. Mike Pence instead. After presenting Pence the task, Trump felt so unsure approximately it, he tried backing out.

Christie ended up going for walks the transition crew, a perch that should have afforded him a plum comfort task in the management. Rather, he turned into summarily brushed off less than every week after Trump’s November victory:

Likewise, Rudy Giuliani and Newt Gingrich found themselves at the outside looking in once Trump assembled his operation, regardless of serving as fierce loyalists over the route of the marketing campaign. (Axios stated Monday that Trump was eyeing Giuliani to update Sessions, which Giuliani eventually batted down.)

And folks that have landed choice West Wing jobs haven’t escaped the experience they’re standing on trap-doors. Chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon and leader of staff Reince Priebus have each visible Trump’s assist wane dangerously. Last week, with the hiring of Anthony Scaramucci as communications director, Sean Spicer determined to prevent abiding a protracted series of indignities by way of resigning. (Here’s a rundown of all the human beings Trump has fired or threatened to hearth — and any other of these he’s considering firing next.)

Cohn will be the exception. Under his stewardship, the National Economic Council has been an island of steady professionalism in an in any other case chaotic White House. And the previous Goldman Sachs president appears to have determined the right working temperature, neither too warm nor too cold, to remain inside the president’s true graces. But that still assumes he’s the writer of his very own future. A trail of formerly preferred Trump confidantes might tell him in a different way.

In the same Tuesday interview, Trump talked up his intent to shrink corporate tax rates whilst imparting center-elegance tax remedy, probably through elevating taxes at the wealthy. The Wall Street Journal’s Gerard Baker, Peter Nicholas and Michael Bender file: “Turning to taxes, Mr Trump echoed some of the populist subject matters from his presidential campaign. He defined dual imperatives in overhauling the tax structure: boosting financial increase and easing the tax burden on middle-elegance families. ‘I have wealthy friends that say to me, “I don’t mind paying greater tax,” the president said.”

— Meanwhile, tax negotiators on Capitol Hill will release a fixed of shared concepts with the aid of the give up of the week to demonstrate a few progress on the difficulty before House individuals head domestic for the August recess.

In the same Tuesday interview, Trump talked up his cause to reduce corporate tax costs at the same time as supplying center-elegance tax comfort, in all likelihood by way of elevating taxes on the rich. The Wall Street Journal’s Gerard Baker, Peter Nicholas and Michael Bender report: “Turning to taxes, Mr Trump echoed some of the populist themes from his presidential marketing campaign. He described twin imperatives in overhauling the tax structure: boosting financial increase and easing the tax burden on middle-elegance families. ‘I actually have wealthy buddies that say to me, “I don’t thoughts paying extra tax,” the president said.”

— Meanwhile, tax negotiators on Capitol Hill will launch a fixed of shared concepts by using the quiet of the week to illustrate a few developers on the difficulty earlier than House members head home for the August recess.