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Post by mhbruin on Jan 8, 2024 9:18:12 GMT -8
Shotgun wedding - A case of wife or death. Killed for DWD (Driving with a Drone)A Palestinian journalist loses another son in an Israeli strike, but vows to keep reportingIn a makeshift funeral service on a packed sidewalk in southern Gaza, Wael Dahdouh fought back tears as he led a communal prayer over a body draped in a white burial shroud covered with a blue press jacket. Dahdouh's 27-year-old son, Hamza Dahdouh, on Sunday became the latest Palestinian journalist killed in an Israeli airstrike, and the latest searing loss for the veteran reporter. Yet after joining mourners who wailed and prayed over the death of his son, the elder Dahdouh — Al Jazeera's Gaza bureau chief who has become a symbol for many during this war of both personal tragedy and defiant perseverance — vowed to continue his work. “It is true that the pain of losing someone is very difficult and when it is about your eldest son after the death of the family, then it becomes even more difficult,” he told an NBC News crew in Gaza later Sunday, as he sat with grieving relatives to receive condolences. “In the end, this does not change anything of reality, and will not change any of our decisions. We are going to proceed as long as we are alive and breathing. As long as we are able to do this duty and deliver this message,” Dahdouh said. Addressing crowds who gathered to pay respects and bid farewell to his son, Dahdouh described Hamza as “chivalrous,” “tender” and “generous.” He comforted his daughter, who wept on his shoulder. Like his father, Hamza was an Al Jazeera journalist. He was killed alongside a colleague, Mustafa Thuraya, in a strike on their car in the southern city of Rafah on Sunday. Their deaths drew calls for an independent investigation from the United Nations and outrage from press freedom groups. Israel has denied targeting journalists, and said it works hard to avoid harming civilians as it battles Hamas. The Israel Defense Forces confirmed carrying out the strike, saying that it had targeted a “terrorist” in the vehicle. “An IDF aircraft identified and struck a terrorist who operated an aircraft that posed a threat to IDF troops,” the IDF said in a statement. “We are aware of the reports that during the strike, two other suspects who were in the same vehicle as the terrorist were also hit.” Asked by NBC News if the IDF had evidence to support its allegation that an individual in the vehicle was a terrorist, IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said the incident was “unfortunate” and an investigation was still ongoing. “Every journalist that dies it’s unfortunate," he said. “We understand they were putting a drone, using a drone. And using a drone in a war zone, it’s a problem. It looks like the terrorists,” Hagari said, adding that Hamas uses drones to collect intel on Israeli forces. “So we will investigate this incident and we will provide the data,” Hagari said. Al Jazeera managing editor Mohamed Moawad told NBC News that Thuraya was a freelance drone operator for the network. He said the duo were in the car on their way home from filming the aftermath of an airstrike when their vehicle was targeted by Israeli forces, adding that they were not flying a drone while driving back to Rafah. |
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 8, 2024 9:20:04 GMT -8
Trying to Rescue Ohio from the QOP One Ballot Measure at a Time
A new ballot initiative effort is underway in Ohio that would let voters enact a transformative expansion of voting access in a state where Republican officials have long sought to restrict it. If this proposed constitutional amendment and a separate one that would end Republican gerrymandering both qualify for November's ballot, 2024 could be a watershed moment for the future of fair elections in the Buckeye State.
These efforts come on the heels of two ballot measures last year where voters first rejected a GOP attempt to restrict direct democracy by requiring a 60% supermajority of voter support—instead of a simple majority—to pass future amendments. Rejecting that measure then enabled Ohioans to vote 57-43 to restore abortion-rights protections last fall.
This latest amendment would establish sweeping new protections for voting by deeming it a "fundamental right" and prohibit any policies, procedures, intimidation, or "any means whatsoever" that have the intent or effect of denying or unreasonably burdening the right to vote. It would also prohibit lawmakers from adding any voter qualifications not allowed by the amendment—including any that impose a "test, tax, charge, or expense" for voting—except for felony disenfranchisement, which currently applies only to people in prison.
The amendment would also make voting more accessible by easing voter-registration burdens. Eligible voters who do business with the state's Bureau of Motor Vehicles would be automatically registered unless they choose to opt out via a subsequent mailing. Voters could also newly register and cast a ballot on the same day throughout the early-voting period or on Election Day, replacing Ohio's registration deadline of 30 days before Election Day, which is the earliest allowed under federal law.
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 8, 2024 9:21:19 GMT -8
Stay Dishonest
On Sunday, ABC News reported on alleged statements from Donald Trump staffers forced to testify to special counsel Jack Smith about events on Jan. 6, 2021. Included was former deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino, who continues to work for Trump as a paid adviser to his election campaign. Those statements shred any idea that Trump did anything other than support the insurgency.
The result of testimony by Scavino and others who were present in the White House as the Trumpist mob stormed the Capitol doesn’t just confirm what was already known—that Trump sat and watched images of the insurrection without taking action—it undercuts a critical item that supporters have been using in an effort to distance Trump from assaults on police and threats against members of Congress.
A tweet including the phrase “stay peaceful,” which appeared on Trump’s Twitter account almost half an hour after the pro-Trump forces smashed through the windows of the Capitol, was not written by Trump. Instead, it was both written and posted by Scavino while Trump sat cheering on the attack.
The “stay peaceful” part of the tweet was always a lie. The message appeared over an hour after police on the scene first reported injuries and called for backup as the Trump mob forced them to retreat to the Capitol steps and broke through line after line. It was far too late for Trump’s supporters to stay peaceful.
The brief tweet seems to be urging Trump supporters to at least halt their assaults on the police, though it notably doesn’t call for them to withdraw from the Capitol.
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 8, 2024 9:22:45 GMT -8
The Other 63%
Who are the 14% of Democrats?
Why Jan. 6 is a problem for Trump’s campaign
Views of the attack have shifted among Republicans, but it remains toxic with the rest of the electorate.
And it’s not just a poll-based hypothetical that direct ties to Jan. 6 or broader denial of the 2020 election results are a millstone for Trump and his aligned candidates. Only 14 months ago, voters in the midterms rejected the majority of 2020 election deniers — especially in battleground states — despite a political environment and generic ballot that otherwise favored Republicans.
The latest poll results — conducted ahead of Saturday’s anniversary — show that views of the Jan. 6 violence have changed little overall since 2021. A Washington Post-University of Maryland poll out this week showed half of respondents believe the protestors who entered the Capitol were mostly violent, down only slightly from 54 percent two years ago.
The percentage of Americans who said the legal punishments for people who broke into the Capitol have been too harsh ticked up 7 points, from 19 percent two years ago to 26 percent in the new poll, with the greatest gains among Republicans. More than 4-in-10 Republicans, 42 percent, now say the Jan. 6 rioters’ punishments have been too harsh.
Most Americans Are Not Republicans
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 8, 2024 9:32:58 GMT -8
A God Complex
On Friday, Donald Trump posted a fan-made tribute video, “GOD MADE TRUMP”.
“On June 14, 1946, God looked down on his planned paradise and said: ‘I need a caretaker.’ So God gave us Trump. God said I need someone willing to get up before dawn. Fix this country. Work all day. Fight the Marxists. Eat supper. Then go to the Oval Office and stay past midnight at a meeting of the heads of state. So God made Trump.
"God had to have someone willing to go into the den of vipers. Call out the fake news for their tongues as sharp as a serpent’s. The poison of vipers is on their lips. And yet stop. So God made Trump."
"God said, “I will need someone who will be strong and courageous. Who will not be afraid or terrified of the wolves when they attack. A man who cares for the flock. A shepherd to mankind who won’t ever leave or forsake them. I need the most diligent worker to follow the path and remain strong in faith. And know the belief in God and country."
"And then his oldest son turns and says, “Dad, let’s make America great again. Dad, let’s build a country to be the envy of the world again. So God made Trump."
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 8, 2024 9:35:17 GMT -8
Not Exactly a Magnetic Personality And God Created Magnets
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 8, 2024 9:37:50 GMT -8
The Border is Not a Crisis. Insurance IS a Crisis.Buying Home and Auto Insurance Used to Be Routine. It’s Becoming a Nightmare.After Allstate suffered billions of dollars in losses and failed to get the rate increases it wanted, it resorted to the nuclear option. The insurance giant threatened last fall to stop renewing auto insurance for customers in three states that hadn’t given in to its demands, which would have left those policyholders scrambling for coverage. The states blinked. In December, New Jersey approved auto rate increases for Allstate averaging 17%, and New York, a 15% hike. Regulators in California are allowing Allstate to boost auto rates by 30%, but still haven’t decided on its request for a 40% increase in home-insurance rates after the insurer refused to write new policies. For many Americans, getting insurance for both their cars and homes has gone from a routine, generally manageable expense to a do-or-die ordeal that can strain household budgets. Insurers are coming off some of their worst years in history. Catastrophic damage from storms and wildfires is one big reason. The past decade of global natural catastrophes has been the costliest ever. Warmer temperatures have made storms worse and contributed to droughts that have elevated wildfire risk. Too many new homes were built in areas at risk of fire. As losses mounted, inflation only made matters worse, boosting the cost of repairing or replacing cars or homes. Climate change also has made it harder for insurers to measure their risks, pushing some to demand even higher premiums to cushion against future losses. “I have never seen the overall market this bad,” said Barry Gilway, a 52-year veteran of the industry who retired in 2023 as head of Florida’s Citizens Property Insurance, a state-created insurer of last resort that sells plans to people who can’t get coverage elsewhere.
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 8, 2024 9:39:27 GMT -8
And Builders Created Offices --- Too Many of Them
America’s offices are emptier than at any point in at least four decades, reflecting years of overbuilding and shifting work habits that were accelerated by the pandemic.
A staggering 19.6% of office space in major U.S. cities wasn’t leased as of the fourth quarter, according to Moody’s Analytics, up from 18.8% a year earlier. That is slightly above the previous records of 19.3% set in 1986 and 1991 and the highest number since at least 1979, which is as far back as Moody’s data goes.
The new record shows how remote work has upended the office market. But that is only part of the story. Much of the market’s current malaise traces its roots to the office-market downturn of the ’80s and ’90s.
That surge in office vacancies in the 1980s and early 1990s followed years of overbuilding. Easy lending fueled a construction boom, particularly in the South where land was cheap and red tape sparse. Banks often financed speculative office projects that didn’t have any tenants signed up.
“The building I built was almost a million square feet—100% empty,” said developer Bruce Eichner, who built the Manhattan office tower 1540 Broadway in the 1980s.
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 8, 2024 9:42:21 GMT -8
Five Hours Outdoors in Chicago in JanuaryDropped off in suburb wearing T-shirts and sandals, migrants finally reach Chicago by Metra train After they missed their train from Glen Ellyn to Chicago early Friday morning, migrants wrapped themselves in thin white blankets on the concrete platform. They were left at the Metra station after a ride in a large charter bus from El Paso, Texas, and given train tickets by their bus driver. They ran toward a train that was just pulling out of the station, but had gotten there too late. Police said the next train wouldn’t come for five hours. “It’s so bad,” said 22-year-old Daniel Torres from Maracay, Venezuela, after riding the bus for over 30 hours. “Look at the time we arrived.” A complex humanitarian crisis in Venezuela that has brought record numbers of migrants to the U.S. border is now being twisted into a game of human transport where people are passed off like cargo. Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has sent more than 630 buses to Chicago in the past 16 months carrying some 29,000 migrants, as of city data Friday. He began sending migrants on buses from his state to suburbs of Chicago when the city tightened rules in mid-December to ask for more coordination and communication about drop-offs with Texas. Prior to the city’s rules, buses were coming at all hours of the day and night, without warning. Now, in order to skirt new $3,000 fees issued by the city, they’re doing the same in the suburbs — leaving some migrants in uncertainty and forced to stand or walk long distances outside in the cold. Friday was the second day in a row Glen Ellyn received a bus, following a wave of nearby municipalities who passed similar ordinances with high fines for sending uncoordinated buses.
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 8, 2024 9:44:22 GMT -8
What a Waste of WaterUS intel shows China's army had missiles filled with water instead of fuel in a corruption scandal that led to Xi's military purgeChina's army fielded missiles filled with water instead of fuel and arrays of silos with improper lids — examples of military corruption that led to a dramatic purge of top officials, Bloomberg reported, citing US intelligence. Bloomberg, which did not name its sources, reported on Saturday that the intelligence indicated Xi Jinping's recent ousting of more than a dozen senior commanders in the People's Liberation Army stemmed from serious issues of graft such as these. The purge went so far as to ax even the Chinese defense minister, Li Shangfu, who disappeared for two months before being replaced in October. US intelligence sources told Bloomberg that corruption was so severe in China's Rocket Force and the wider PLA that it would most likely force Xi to recalibrate whether Beijing can take on any major military action soon. The Rocket Force is China's main military branch overseeing its nuclear weapons and has been a key focus of Xi's recent push to rapidly modernize Beijing's forces. It's been especially central to China's posturing on Taiwan, with Beijing rolling out long-range missiles on its coast to threaten the self-governed island. In 2021, researchers said satellite images showed China was constructing hundreds of nuclear-capable missile silos in the Xinjiang desert, allowing its arsenal to potentially rival those of Russia or the US. But US intelligence said one example of corruption was that entire fields of silos in Western China were fitted with lids that prevented missiles from launching effectively, a source told Bloomberg. The outlet did not say what sort of missiles had been filled with water.
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