#the same credibility as an mayor status

[kstarlitchaotics]

I know they're not really Zuko royalty but the ironic thing of Zuko calling the water tribe siblings peasants is something

He probably never knew afterwards huh especially if no one said Chief Hakoda

[eretzyisrael]

One hundred and fifty years since the Crémieux Decree

It is 150 years since the Crémieux decree, named after the French-Jewish politician and philanthropist Adolphe Crémieux, imposed French nationality on the Jews of Algeria in October 1870, giving them equal rights with the white settlers. The decree freed the Jews from their second class status as dhimmis under Islam but wrought a growing cultural and linguistic gulf with the Arabs. Less well-known, however, is that the Crémieux decree generated a fierce antisemitic backlash. Here is an extract from his book Les Dix Commandements, by Didier Nebot (with thanks: Leon):

In  their very long history, Jewish people have lived for more than two thousand years in Africa. They had been there since the time of the Phoenicians. Some came from  Cyrenaica, others from Judea or Spain.

While a number converted to Islam  when the Arabs arrived in the 7th century, others remained what they still are today, Jews.

They rubbed shoulders with the Berbers, they had moments of happiness, doubt or distress. They have bowed their heads to the dhimmi laws -  they endured humiliation and annoyance with dignity, but they never went under.

Then France arrived, granting them  in 1870 French nationality through the Crémieux decree. The Jews emerged from the state of submission they had been in for centuries, joining the civilization of nascent freedoms, the homeland of human rights.

Another decree was promulgated at the same time putting an end to the military administration in Algeria: It became French, was split into three departments and transferred to civilian rule. the European population rejoiced: the land they cultivated finally belonged to them! France now extended south, across the seas. A merry madness shook the country, but the Muslims did not participate in the celebrations.

Nothing was planned for them. Of course, Napoleon III had offered them French nationality in the senatus-consulte of 1865, but they would have had to accept French laws instead of Sharia. Very few Muslims dared to take the plunge. They were considered renegades by their co-religionists.

Shocked by this denial of their identity, the Muslims cried out in contempt: stripped of their property, they were nothing. They also found it difficult to accept France's granting French nationality to Jews. It was an injustice to them, the Jews who had lived there as dhimmis for centuries, suddenly had more rights than the Arabs. It was crazy! The revolt was brewing and in 1871, the Kabyles rose up. They attacked cities and burned farms. In Palestro, they massacred thirty-one colonists. The Crémieux decree was not the trigger for this strong Muslim reaction, but it contributed to it. Their leader, Bachaga Mokrani said:

"I am willing to put myself under a sabre, even ifit chopped off my head, but under a Jew, never! Never ! "

The Jews themselves, rooted in the contempt they were generously accorded, did not know whether they should rejoice or fear new threats: The looks they met did not bode well. The many Spanish emigrants, who had inherited the same privileges, retained an ancestral contempt for this "cursed race" which had helped crucify Jesus.The French,  parading their obvious superiority,  did not rate this "cowardly, hypocritical and thieving" people. The  newspaper L’Antijuif, was sold in cafes, where people would vilify anyone but Europeans.

Adolphe Crémieux, architect of the decree giving equal rights to the Jews in Algeria

It was at the time of the Dreyfus affair that everything nearly changed. Zola's "J'accuse" article in L'aurore ignited the fuse. There were violent anti-Semitic reactions, both from the Muslim and the Christian side. Led by Max Régis, the son of an Italian immigrant, the anti-Jewish forces in Algiers assembled, spreading horrible incitement against the Jews: "They are upstarts, they are bloodsuckers, they are ruining us,  they are liars. "

And what was to happen happened. On Saturday January 22, 1898, hatred led to attacks throughout the country against the Jews.

During the following days, the situation remained precarious. Although the protests had lessened, calm did not return. Extremists were everywhere, feelings ran  high.The newspaper L’Antijuif used words of unprecedented  violence: “We will water the tree of our freedom with their blood [...] This rot must be eliminated so that our homeland can be glorified. "Only the Jews could be guilty of the  difficulties faced  in developing the country, bad blood with the natives, the agricultural slump, the failure to establish a real democracy here , In the cafes discussions were lively and  brawls frequent. A few  'fanatics'  dared to defend the ' parasites', in the name of  sacrosanct democracy.

Unfortunately, matters got out of hand and extremists took control of Algiers. Max Régis, their leader, was elected mayor. Their only objective was to repeal the Crémieux decree which had allowed the Israelites to become French  - and  to  expel them from Algeria.

After deliverance and the unheard-of hope of emancipation, should the Jews bow their heads again? Business went bad - few Europeans entered Jewish shops. Life became difficult. So the "cursed race" as it was called tried to adapt, as discreetly as possible, while waiting for God to remember His people.

Four years passed. The Jews submitted  without admitting defeat. The racists were grumbling, threatening Paris with secession if the Crémieux decree was not repealed, but their  voices were lost in the immensity of the waves separating the two continents. Their sterile discussions, their clan struggles, the persistent economic slump deprived them of all credibility, so much so that in the elections of 1902 the Republican candidates won over the nationalists. It was the triumph of common sense; Algerian anti-Semitism had failed.

Joy exploded in the Jewish community. Business was given a kick start. Despite an inhospitable climate, the Jews continued their march towards modernity. They  benefited  fully from the laws of the Republic and their social and cultural level rose rapidly. The rapprochement with France, which had passed a law separating Church and State , emphasised  the distance from traditional worship practices. Thus the younger generations, particularly in the big cities, received an increasingly basic religious education. We no longer said bar mitzvah but communion, we often  used  the word Temple instead of synagogue.

[theculturedmarxist]

The Democratic National Committee refused to cooperate with investigators and was “directly involved in the development process” of the infamous Shadow app ahead of the 2020 Iowa caucuses. That’s the conclusion of the former U.S. attorney leading the investigation into what went wrong during the first-in-the-nation caucuses, as relayed to the Iowa State Democratic Party in a closed-session meeting last week, according to a transcript of the meeting obtained by The Intercept.

“The DNC was directly involved in the development process,” Nicholas Klinefeldt, a former federal attorney appointed by President Barack Obama, told the Iowa Democratic Party state steering committee in the December 12 meeting about the findings of an investigation he led alongside former Iowa Attorney General Bonnie Campbell.

Klinefeldt’s revelation about the committee’s involvement counters the DNC’s claim it made immediately after the Iowa caucuses. Back then, the DNC claimed it had “absolutely no involvement” in the development or coding of the Shadow app, which was supposed to record and report caucus results.

When Third District state party member Kim Callahan asked investigators to expand on the DNC’s involvement, they failed to elaborate, simply confirming that the DNC wouldn’t cooperate with its investigation.

Without the DNC’s cooperation in the probe, investigators were hamstrung. “There seemed to be a great deal of culpability by the DNC,” Jim Bunton, a Third District Iowa state party member, said to Klinefeldt in the meeting. “There doesn’t seem to be a lot of cooperation from the DNC from what you’re saying. … How can we hope to have a better outcome next time around? Because the actor we can’t control is the DNC.”

In the closed-session state party meeting, Third District state party member Gabriel De La Cerda asked the attorneys leading the investigation if it was correct that the state party, and Shadow app, had the correct results on caucus night for the delegates won — 26.2 percent for Pete Buttigieg, and 26.1 percent for Bernie Sanders — and could have reported it if not for the DNC’s demand not to. Part of the delay was related to the party’s promise to, for the first time, release popular vote totals, which proved more difficult than tabulating delegates.

“On election night, we knew it was going to be a one-tenth percentage difference” between pledged delegates won, De La Cerda said. Klinefeldt conceded: “They were in fact the same as the results that were finally reported.”

In a statement to Politico, DNC spokesperson David Bergstein said, “Evaluating the nominating process always happens following the election so that DNC staff can remain focused on winning the general election, and this cycle that work helped contribute to President-Elect Biden’s historic victory.”

The DNC-mandated several-day delay in reporting results led Buttigieg to infamously declare victory without any actual results released, with the Sanders campaign claiming its internal results showed it had won the popular vote. The mainstream media elevated the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor’s victory narrative, boosting him in polls for the New Hampshire primary, set eight days after the Iowa caucuses.

“The whole thing didn’t feel right, the whole [DNC] intrusion into the Iowa process didn’t feel right,” James Zogby, a 28-year DNC member who supported Bernie Sanders’s candidacy, told The Intercept.

The DNC’s meddling, which included a last-minute demand that developers of the Shadow app create a special software that would allow the DNC real-time access to the raw numbers before they went public, didn’t sit well with Zogby.

“Why would [the DNC] need to see that?” Zogby said about the DNC’s insistence on access to the raw caucus results before they went public. “Why wouldn’t you trust the state party to make the determination?”

In the transcript from the closed-session meeting held by the state party, members suggested that the DNC’s goal was to strip Iowa of its prestigious first-in-the-nation status.

“I think we’re all aware that the DNC wants us to no longer have first-in-nation status specifically with caucuses,” De La Cerda said, before asking the attorney in charge of the investigation a question about the legality of potentially changing the Iowa caucuses to a ranked-choice voting system in the future.

In the meeting, attorneys Klinefeldt and Campbell stressed their review didn’t “use any sort of legal compulsory process” to obtain documents or other information in this case. When Second District state party member Wesley Clemens asked if the attorneys had looked into any financial records as part of their inquiry, the attorneys said they looked at contracts between the Shadow app and others. The Shadow app was developed by veterans of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign. Buttigieg’s campaign used the firm Shadow Inc. as a vendor, paying the developer $42,500 for text messaging software.

State party members received the caucus report at the beginning of the closed-session meeting; soon after, before they could read it, details of it were published by Politico.

“We’re already getting information from the press that the report, as I feared, would be [leaked] as soon as it was released to the State Central Committee,” state party Chair Mark Smith said. First District state party member Lindsey Ellickson later added, “It’s been two minutes since we got the report, so I feel like the report had to have been leaked honestly even before this.”

A state party source told The Intercept that the refusal of high-ranking DNC executives, including Chair Tom Perez, to cooperate undermined the credibility of the caucus investigation. State members also suspect that DNC members leaked details of the report to Politico before state party members received it.

“Without knowing exactly who at the DNC, or how that went, I think the DNC has to work with the state party in Iowa to figure out what didn’t work in terms of that app and also what’s a good process for 2024 so that small states have representation and not just large states like California,” Larry Cohen, board chair of progressive group Our Revolution, told The Intercept.

On January 23, the Iowa State Democratic Party will hold elections for a new chair; Smith, who took over after Chair Troy Price resigned a week after the caucuses, said he will not seek reelection. Perez also has announced plans to step down as DNC chair.

[nodynasty4us]

From the November 21, 2019 opinion piece:

It is pretty clear that some portion of the Democratic Party has made up its mind to vote for a business-friendly moderate who wants to build incrementally on the Obama administration’s accomplishments, and who will try futilely to bring some measure of unity back to the United States. And if that’s what you’re looking for, Booker strikes me as the best of our current options.

Consider the alternatives.

There’s Joe Biden, whose voice is basically the sound of synapses failing to fire....

There’s Amy Klobuchar, whose slogan at this point might as well be “no we can’t,” given that her post–salad comb run has mostly consisted of promising to voters over and over that she won’t try anything too ambitious....

...the further Buttigieg has risen in the polls, the further he’s drifted from those issues. He’s morphed into a cloying avatar of America’s elite meritocratic institutions with a fine, if somewhat generic, policy platform whose actual track record in government is an uneven run as the mayor of a small Midwestern city, where his handling of police and housing has alienated significant swaths of the black community. Speaking of which: He’s literally polling at zero among black voters in South Carolina.

And then there’s Booker....

You want raw IQ intelligence? He’s a Stanford grad and, like Buttigieg, a Rhodes Scholar. You want experience? He’s been a U.S. senator for six years, and, for all his successes and failures in Newark, he still has experience as the executive of a large, hard-to-govern city where he took a shot at enacting transformational change. ...

Booker is also fairly good about critiquing left-wing ideas on practicality grounds without lapsing into attacks on the values underpinning them or resorting to facile defenses of the status quo. He has suggested that Warren’s wealth tax might be unworkable—and, to be honest, it might be—but also backed ambitious policies like mark-to-market capital gains taxation and major increases in the estate tax that could replicate much of its effect. He says he backs “Medicare for All” in principle but thinks we need to focus on passing incremental reforms first, to set us down the path toward it (which philosophically puts him in the same camp as Buttigieg and Warren).

But the thing that I most respect about Booker is that, unlike some of his moderate competitors for the White House, he actually has a personal crusade. Since arriving in Washington, the man has been a consistent and vocal advocate for criminal justice reform, and spent years working on bipartisan bills to reduce mass incarceration. That work and accumulated credibility paid off last year, when he played a key role helping to negotiate, and rounding up Democratic support for, the First Step Act...

[elcorreodetorreon]

Mexico's drugs war: in the city of death

It was just another massacre in a country plagued by violence. But this time it was carried out by prison inmates – who'd been let out specially



Rory Carroll

 @rorycarroll72

Thu 16 Sep 2010 15.30 EDTFirst published on Thu 16 Sep 2010 15.30 EDT

It was past midnight and the hired band had launched into a raucous ballad, La Cabrona, to wind up the party. Guests joined in, belting out lyrics in a singsong under a Chihuahuan desert moon: "Dime si ya no me quieres cabrona . . ."

The Italia Inn, a walled compound for rent with a courtyard, kitchen and swimming pool, was a great spot for the fiesta. "Everything was going really well," says Hector, the band's 17-year-old trumpet player.

Nobody heard the vehicles pull up on the dirt track outside or saw the gunmen surround the compound. The first salvo, fired from outside, tore through the garage doors. The band members bore the brunt. Five collapsed in a tangled, bloodied heap. Moments later, the killers stormed into the yard, assault rifles blazing. People screamed and scrambled for cover. Bodies crumpled.

One gunman picked his way through the wounded and taunted them before finishing them off, recalls Hector, who does not want his full name published. "Cry!" the gunman ordered one of the musicians, putting a gun to his temple. "Cry!" The terrified man could only pray. The gunman prepared to fire when a command rang out. "Trabajo hecho, vámonos!"Job done, let's go. The killer lowered his rifle and grinned at the musician. "You're lucky."

Seventeen people died and dozens were injured in the 18 July attack, one of the worst massacres in Mexico's drug war. The crime scene is supposed to be guarded but on a recent morning it was possible to step over the yellow police tape, trodden into the dirt, and pick over the courtyard debris: a scuffed brown shoe, whisky bottles, plates with decomposing sludge. Beer cans bobbed in the stagnant pool and sunlight seeped through 24 raisin-sized holes in the kitchen door. Blood smeared the floor and fridge. Windows were smashed, walls pockmarked. Only the silence was unbroken.

A massacre in Mexico tends to have a short news life. Perpetrators vanish and the deed is eclipsed by the next atrocity, and the one after that. Horrors flow so fast that they lose definition and morph into a single, numbing narrative.

This one was different. When the killers sped away that night it was not the end of the story, but the beginning. The attack set in motion a saga of kidnapping, YouTube video clips, revenge and media blackmail, which exposed a harsh, revealing truth about Mexico in the run-up to this week's celebrations for the 200th anniversary of independence. It is a state colonised by organised crime.

Fly north from Mexico City and the landscape below browns into cauterised scrub. Roads and railway lines, black etchings in caramel plains, eventually converge on a glinting sea of tin-roofed sheds, houses and factories. This is Torreón –"the city that conquered the desert". The first thing you notice is the blinding glare of the sun. The second is a relentless, throbbing heat.

The main drag, Boulevard Independencia, could be Texas: pick-up trucks, gas stations, strip malls, Wal-Mart, Baskin-Robbins. You know the Rio Grande must be close because the coffee – watery americano and only watery americano – sucks. The radio, at least, boasts Latin flavour: upbeat, foot-tapping cumbia music. "For dancing with beautiful women!" smiles the taxi-driver. It is about the cheeriest statement I will hear in Torreón.

The local tabloid, Express, seems to have been written by Dante. Page after page of shootings, stranglings, stabbings, burnings, shallow graves, deep graves, mass graves. Advertisements for spiritual healing compete with those for funeral homes. "Miguel's: best quality coffins at affordable prices." One bright spot is an ad for 600 new jobs to armour-plate cars.

For a country in the throes of a war that has claimed 28,000 lives in four years it is perhaps little surprise that a transport hub such as Torreón, intersection for cocaine, heroin, marijuana and methamphetamines, is grim. Murders among the population of 550,000 average three per day. Two massacres in city bars preceded the attack on the Italia Inn party, a bloodbath made worse by the fact the victims had no connection to drug trafficking.

The atrocity's apparent motive was a display of strength by the Sinaloa cartel in its battle to oust a rival group, the Zetas, from Torreón. "It's a turf war, and they'll kill anyone," says Carlos Bibiano Villa, Torreón's police chief. The day after the attack, the Zetas, keen to show they still controlled the city, left four human heads with a note saying the massacre's perpetrators had been punished. Decapitation, once unheard of in Mexico, has become routine.

 The scene of the 18 July massacre in Torreón. Photograph: STR/Associated Press

What came next, however, was new. The Zetas, after killing the four probably random and innocent unfortunates, really did investigate the massacre. The result was a harrowing video uploaded on YouTube. Rodolfo Nájera, bruised, swollen and stripped, gazed into the camera with a confession. The 35-year-old kidnapped policeman, flanked by masked gunmen, must have guessed how the video would end. Asked by an off-camera interrogator about the Italia Inn massacre, Nájera said the killers were Sinaloa members allowed out of prison for nocturnal hits. Guards lent them guns and vehicles. "Who let them out?" barked the voice. "The director," replied the doomed man. The video ends minutes later with a shot to the head.

A tortured confession would hardly be credible except that in this case it was true. The attorney general confirmed the story. Forensic results showed the massacre victims were shot with R-15 rifles – standard issue for prison guards. Federal authorities swooped on the prison and detained the guards. The director, a stout, formidable blonde named Margarita Rojas Rodriguez, who had recently been named "woman of the year 2010" by the state governor, was also arrested. "Disbelief. I just couldn't believe it. I had never heard of something like this," says Eduardo Olmos, Torreón's mayor.

The prison is in Gómez Palacio, a city in Durango state, whereas Torreón is in Coahuila state. But it takes just a few minutes to cross the bridge linking them. Along with the city of Lerdo, they really form one metropolis of just over one million people in a desert bowl that used to be a lagoon. Each state and city has its own police force and jail, a byzantine mess of overlapping institutions and rivalries. It has helped drug traffickers with ample "plomo y plata" – lead and silver, bullets and money – to worm through officialdom like a ripe mango.

From the outside, Gómez Palacio's jail, rising from a dusty plain, looks the part: high white walls, barriers, watch-towers. Officially, it is a "centre for social readaptation", an Orwellian touch. Mothers, wives and girlfriends, the latter in their best jeans and makeup, queue with groceries to get in. The Sinaloa cartel, Mexico's oldest and most powerful, in effect runs the place. A state surrender coyly termed "auto-gobierno", self-government. If you belong to a rival group, odds are you will be carried out in a bodybag. If you cannot pay "cuota", a levy, you sleep outdoors or in a sort of kennel.

Waiting gunmen recently killed three prisoners who had served their time and were leaving the jail on what turned out to be a short walk to freedom. Guards are routinely murdered inside and outside the jail. It is thought Rojas possibly acted more out of fear than greed in allegedly allowing hitmen to borrow guards' vehicles and weapons for nocturnal murder missions.

The next twist came when inmates rioted in protest at Rojas's removal and demanded her reinstatement. The media drove down the one, potholed road leading to the jail to cover the disturbances – and were duly kidnapped: two cameramen from the Televisa network and two reporters from the newspaper group Milenio. The Sinaloa cartel, jealous of the Zetas' YouTube success, demanded that local networks air three of their own videos in return for the hostages.

"This was totally unprecedented. It was brazen blackmail," says one media executive, who asked not to be named. "You couldn't believe these guys were doing this. Things kept reaching new levels of, of . . ." – he searches for the word – "incredibleness." The TV stations broadcast the videos, which turned out to be of frightened police officers accusing colleagues of working for the Zetas. The cameramen and reporters were freed and moved to safe houses in Mexico City. The fate of the police in the videos was unclear.

Javier Garza, sipping Starbucks coffee under a broiling sun, shakes his head. "This is not the place I grew up in." The director of El Siglo de Torreón, the main local newspaper, used to associate the city with progress. Torreón had a bloody role in Pancho Villa's campaign against federal forces in the Mexican revolution but later grew into an economic and industrial hub for ranching, textiles, metallurgy and engineering. It built universities, fountains, a music academy, a championship-winning football team. By the 1990s, when Garza left to study and work in Mexico City and the US, Torreón embodied a newly confident, democratic, thriving Mexico. A hilltop Christ the Redeemer statue, just marginally shorter than Rio's, opened its arms to embrace the city that conquered the desert.

When Garza returned in 2006 to take the reins at El Siglo, local news focused on water scarcity, schools, public works and the football club's battle against relegation. Drugs flowed discreetly north, and flash millionaires built fancy properties, but that was hardly new. Narco-trafficking co-existed with society. "It was peaceful. You could go out and have fun without any problem," says Garza.

That same year, however, things began to change. A drug pusher was shot dead, then a taxi driver, then there was an attack on a wealthy former mayor, the kidnap of a police commander. Homicide rates soared. The same pattern unfolded across much of Mexico. President Felipe Calderón had declared war on the cartels but not anticipated a bloodbath.

Torreón, patrolled by soldiers and police with masks, with shootouts and corpses daily, is enduring violence not seen since the revolution, says Garza. "Instead of being a city of the future, it's like we've closed a circle with the past," he says.

 Eduardo Olmos, mayor of Torreón: 'What people tell me is that they want things to go back to the way they were.' Photograph: Rory Carroll for the Guardian

Streets empty after dusk. Staff at the hospital stack corpses for want of space and cower when narcos with AK-47s storm through the wards, seeking rivals. Tens of thousands of Facebook users pledged to attend two protest rallies against the violence but, after rumours of planned attacks, just dozens showed up.

In his city hall office overlooking Plaza de Armas, the mayor, Eduardo Olmos, with a retinue of eight bodyguards, ponders the question of how it all happened. "The police," he sighs. "They came in through the police. They bribed, threatened and recruited them and were able to use their radios, vehicles, weapons, bulletproof vests, everything." By some estimates the cartels have a $100m budget for infiltrating police nationwide. It was a gradual process, says the mayor. "The police relaxed their ethics and discipline and just gave in. In the end they weren't working for them. They were them."

Poverty and unemployment, said Olmos, helped organised crime to recruit and work at street level. "Here the gangs don't hand out free meals like in other cities. They don't have popular support. But there is a lot of tolerance for them. If that turns into support, that will be very dangerous. The only answer is education and employment. And a new police force."

Few would argue with that, but what about legalising drugs? Or allowing one cartel to prevail and restore the era of peaceful co-existence with narco-trafficking? The mayor shifts in his seat. The first option, though backed by thinktanks and at least two Mexican ex-presidents, remains controversial. The second remains taboo, at least officially. "What people tell me is they want tranquility, for things to go back to the way they were," says Olmos, choosing his words carefully. "I may have my own views on the subject, but as an elected official I can't talk about benefitting one cartel or another."

It is alleged that across Mexico some authorities are indeed picking sides in the hope a "winning" cartel or coalition will emerge and end the mayhem. Torreón, at least for now, appears to be betting on a new police force. The city recently fired its entire 1,200-strong force and hired an ex-army general, Carlos Bibiano Villa, to build a new one from scratch. Other cities, notably Ciudad Juárez, have tried that and failed. Villa, however, does not lack confidence. A bear of a man with a moustache and .44 Magnum strapped to his thigh, he keeps a helmet, flak jacket, assault rifle and four walkie-talkies within reach of his desk.

"There were 1,200 police when I arrived and they were all corrupt, the enemy within. I couldn't trust any of them. Now I've got 526 new ones and we're recruiting more." Does he trust them? The general guffaws. "I don't trust my own shadow. That's how I survived 43 years in the army."

Villa, 61, has a PhD in satellite communications but comes across as a wannabe Rambo. With cartels and former police officers gunning for him he sleeps in a small room beside his office where there is another Magnum under the pillow. His family lives in an undisclosed state. He acknowledges geography and economics mean that drugs will always pass through Torreón, yet remains bullish. "We are going to win!" How? "With a hard hand."

Later that night, one of Villa's 12 personal bodyguards is kidnapped and beheaded.

The force's model officer is Raquel Quezada. The 40-year-old mother of two is the sole member of the previous force who passed the vetting and exams. Hollywood would probably dub her the Last Honest Cop. In fact, the former secretary was inspired to sign up by Demi Moore's character being "pushed to the limit" in the film G.I. Jane. On patrol, the soft-spoken Quezada is transformed by body armour, a rifle and skull-painted mask. To prepare for her new job, Quezada ran 10km every day and lost 6kg in gruelling training. "They taught me to control fear and manage risk. This work is dangerous but noble."

Authorities hope to keep the new force honest by promising a free house to every officer who completes 10 years without blemish. A significant carrot, but it is questionable if it can compete with narco threats and cash.

In a different part of the city, a family in a small, pink house makes its own calculations. A dead father and husband. A dead uncle and brother. Three wounded family members. A baby on the way. Funeral and medical bills. It adds up, says Carmen, 37, the eight-months pregnant head of the family and mother of Hector. "I just don't know what we'll do." Hector, who took two bullets, moves slowly and stiffly, a colostomy bag beneath his T-shirt.

Asked if he will play trumpet again Hector shakes his head. "Music, music is . . ." his voice trails off. His mother finishes the sentence. "Music is not really an option any more."

[theliberaltony]

via Politics – FiveThirtyEight

Have you heard the one about two Republicans and 5,000 Democrats who walk into a primary election? It’s not much of a joke to Democrats. In at least three U.S. House primaries in California on Tuesday, Democrats are in real danger of not advancing a candidate to the November general at all, thanks to the Golden State’s unusual “jungle primary” rules. That’s inspired panic among liberals and frantic — often counterintuitive — efforts to game the system. But there’s a greater chance than people realize that the jungle primary system will burn Republicans as well. In fact, if the GOP is locked out of the two biggest races on the ballot this year — for U.S. Senate and governor — the jungle primary could hurt them a lot more than it does Democrats.

Jungle primaries can be confusing even to locals, so let’s start with a refresher. In California,1 all candidates regardless of party run on the same ballot in the June primary. The top two vote-getters (again, regardless of party) advance to a head-to-head election in November. When this system went into effect in 2012, moderates were supposed to benefit because candidates would have to appeal to the whole electorate rather than just their partisan base. But three elections later, Californians disagree on whether it has succeeded.

What it has done is occasionally let two candidates of the same party slip through to the general election, which critics say deprives voters of a true choice in November.2 Let’s say you have a district that’s perfectly split — 50-50 — between Democratic and Republican voters, but 10 Democratic candidates run for the seat compared with only two Republicans. The two Republicans might get 25 percent of the vote apiece, while the Democrats each receive 5 percent. That would advance the two Republicans to the general election, locking up that district for the GOP.

That’s exactly what Democrats fear will happen in California’s 39th, 48th and 49th congressional districts — and perhaps in the 10th and 50th districts as well. Those districts’ swing status attracted a large number of credible challengers in what has been a great recruiting year for Democrats, but that high Democratic enthusiasm could backfire as a result of the jungle primary.

Crowded fields in California

Primary races by the total number of candidates on the ballot

Candidates running Race Incumbent party Open seat Dems Reps Other/ No Party Total Senate D 10 11 11 32 Governor D ✓ 12 5 10 27 District 39 R ✓ 6 7 4 17 48 R 8 6 2 16 49 R ✓ 4 8 4 16 10 R 6 2 0 8 1 R 4 2 1 7 12 D 4 1 2 7 50 R 3 3 1 7 52 D 1 6 0 7 4 R 4 2 0 6 22 R 3 1 2 6 23 R 4 1 1 6 36 D 1 5 0 6 45 R 4 1 1 6 51 D 1 3 2 6 53 D 1 4 1 6 7 D 1 2 2 5 8 R 3 2 0 5 17 D 3 1 1 5 25 R 4 1 0 5 29 D 2 1 2 5 43 D 1 3 1 5 5 D 1 0 3 4 11 D 2 1 1 4 26 D 2 2 0 4 30 D 3 1 0 4 42 R 2 1 1 4 44 D 2 2 0 4 46 D 1 1 2 4 2 D 2 1 0 3 3 D 2 1 0 3 9 D 1 1 1 3 15 D 1 1 1 3 18 D 1 1 1 3 20 D 2 0 1 3 24 D 1 2 0 3 28 D 2 1 0 3 31 D 2 1 0 3 33 D 2 1 0 3 34 D 1 0 2 3 35 D 2 1 0 3 47 D 1 2 0 3 6 D 2 0 0 2 14 D 1 1 0 2 16 D 1 1 0 2 21 R 1 1 0 2 27 D 2 0 0 2 37 D 1 1 0 2 38 D 1 1 0 2 40 D 1 0 1 2 41 D 1 1 0 2 13 D 1 0 0 1 19 D 1 0 0 1 32 D 1 0 0 1

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Source: California secretary of state

The most clear and present danger for Team Blue seems to be in the 48th District. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher is a magnet for controversy, from his friendliness and contacts with Russia to his belief that homeowners should be able to refuse to sell their houses to gay people. It’s made him a Democratic target in this light red seat (R+4 going by FiveThirtyEight’s partisan lean),3 and even some fellow Republicans are fed up. Former Rohrabacher protégé Scott Baugh is running against his old mentor, providing a viable alternative to buttoned-down Orange County Republicans who may disapprove of the Trumpish incumbent.4 That’s motivated national Democrats to campaign hard against Baugh to secure a top-two finish for one of their eight candidates on the ballot. In an effort to improve that terrible math, three of those Democrats have withdrawn from consideration, and the party is handing out pamphlets reminding voters not to pick their names.

Two major Democratic candidates remain: Stem-cell researcher Hans Keirstead won the California Democratic Party’s endorsement, but the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has sided with entrepreneur Harley Rouda. The DCCC’s move was intended to consolidate support around Rouda, but it may have only formalized the party’s schism. Why the preference? The DCCC no doubt appreciates Rouda’s ability to self-fund and was reportedly scared off by unsubstantiated allegations of Keirstead sleeping with female graduate students and punching one of his female students in the face. The two candidates share a solidly progressive platform, but Rouda may also hold more crossover appeal as a Hillary Clinton-supporting former Republican (like many voters in the district).

But in California’s two open House seats, both parties are at risk of a top-two lockout. In the 39th District (D+3), no fewer than four Democrats and three Republicans have realistic shots at a place on the November ballot. Former state Assemblywoman Young Kim, whom outgoing Rep. Ed Royce has endorsed, is considered the GOP front-runner, but that may be an overly hasty assumption. Two internal polls of the race put Kim in a virtual tie with fellow Republicans Bob Huff, a former state Senate minority leader, and Orange County Supervisor Shawn Nelson.

In turn, just a few points away sit the race’s two independently wealthy Democrats, who have far outspent the rest of the field. Gil Cisneros, a Navy veteran who won a $266 million lottery jackpot in 2010, has lent his campaign $3.5 million, while insurance executive Andy Thorburn has invested “only” $2.8 million. Worried that their high-dollar war of words was just pushing both of them down in the polls, Democratic leadership brokered a cease-fire between them last month. The DCCC initially campaigned here only to drag down Huff and Nelson (apparently ceding one runoff slot to Kim) but has lately started airing ads supporting Cisneros — despite a Democratic legislative candidate’s accusations that he made inappropriate sexual advances toward her. Finally, two other Democrats, Emily’s List-backed pediatrician Mai Khanh Tran and former Obama administration appointee Sam Jammal, could also be factors in the race. The bottom line is that any of the top seven candidates — and therefore any combination of parties — could finish in the top two.

And in California’s 49th District (D+1), national Republicans have been at least as active in trying to manipulate the field as national Democrats have been. The American Future Fund has spent more than $1 million propping up state Board of Equalization member Diane Harkey and Assemblyman Rocky Chávez and fending off a third GOP candidate, San Diego County Supervisor Kristin Gaspar. Meanwhile, the DCCC has spent $1.7 million against Chávez (who is the most moderate Republican and probably the most electable) without picking sides among the Democratic contestants. The strategies seem like they’ve been effective: According to a SurveyUSA poll taken at the end of May, Harkey led the race with 24 percent, followed by Democrats Doug Applegate and Sara Jacobs with 11 percent, Democrat Mike Levin with 10 percent and Chávez (who actually led in SurveyUSA’s previous poll of the race) with 8 percent.

But polls of U.S. House races and primaries are notoriously error-prone, and there’s been plenty of upheaval among the Democrats. Applegate, a retired Marine colonel, was Democrats’ November candidate for this seat in 2016 but has been dogged by 14-year-old allegations that he stalked and threatened his ex-wife, although she has defended and endorsed him in 2018. Meanwhile, Jacobs, whose grandfather is the billionaire co-founder of Qualcomm, has benefited from Emily’s List’s largest-ever independent-expenditure campaign ($2.3 million), but the 29-year-old has been dinged for exaggerating her work experience. And the race’s leading fundraiser is a fourth Democrat, real estate investor Paul Kerr.

In two final districts with vulnerable GOP incumbents, it’s also possible (but less likely) that either party will be shut out of the top two. In the heavily Latino 10th District (D+1), Rep. Jeff Denham has cultivated a moderate reputation, especially on immigration. His lone Republican challenger, Ted Howze, hopes to rally the district’s hard-core conservatives with cries of “amnesty.” Among Democrats, venture capitalist Josh Harder has raised a strong $1.5 million, beekeeper Michael Eggman has plenty of name recognition from his failed 2014 and 2016 campaigns, and former Riverbank Mayor Virginia Madueño enjoys the support of Emily’s List.

Finally, the R+19 50th District wouldn’t be competitive under normal circumstances, but Rep. Duncan Hunter is under FBI investigation for personal use of campaign funds. Democrats Ammar Campa-Najjar and Josh Butner have gone nuclear on each other, potentially paving the way for Republicans Bill Wells or Shamus Sayed to finish second to Hunter. Wells is mayor of El Cajon, a city of more than 100,000 people on the district’s western edge, but businessman Sayed has raised five times as much money. In mid-May, a SurveyUSA poll found all the non-Hunter candidates within the margin of error of one another.

But here’s the thing: If Democrats (or Republicans) miss out on the general election in any of those races, the most either party could lose is one House seat.5 That’s bad, of course, but the damage would be limited. Not so, however, if a party is locked out of the general election in a high-profile statewide race. Unfortunately for conservatives, it’s Republicans who are likely to miss out in November on California’s U.S. Senate race and possibly also the gubernatorial election. And that could have bigger consequences than just one race.

As FiveThirtyEight’s Clare Malone writes, California’s general election for the U.S. Senate is likely to come down to two Democrats representing two different visions for the party: more moderate Sen. Dianne Feinstein and progressive upstart Kevin de León, the former state Senate president. Even worse, Republicans could also be shut out of California’s other major statewide race this year: governor. Everyone else is basically just trying to make the runoff with Democratic Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has raised the incredible sum of $36 million. Not to be outdone, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has raised $34 million and also gotten a $20 million assist from a pro-charter-schools outside group. State Treasurer John Chiang has raised “only” $14 million and hopes to win over Democrats turned off by Newsom’s and Villaraigosa’s past scandals.

Meanwhile, President Trump has urged Republicans via tweet to consolidate behind businessman John Cox instead of state Assemblyman Travis Allen. Newsom has also subtly tried to lift Cox in an effort to face a Republican in the fall. The trend in polling (which, weirdly for this primary season, has been ample) suggests these developments may have made a difference, but Cox — and the GOP — could easily still lose that second runoff spot.

Latest polls of the California governor’s race

Democrats Republicans Dates Pollster Newsom Villaraigosa Chiang Cox Allen May 29-30 Competitive Edge 31% 13% 4% 23% 10% May 22-28 UC Berkeley 33 13 7 20 12 May 21-24 Emerson College 24 12 10 16 11 May 12-24 YouGov 33 9 8 17 10 May 21 SurveyUSA 33 8 10 17 12 May 11-20 PPIC 25 15 9 19 11 Apr. 18-May 18 USC Dornsife/LAT 21 11 6 10 5 Average 29 12 8 17 10

Both California’s senatorial and gubernatorial races were always going to be safely Democratic in this D+26 state, so it may seem like no big deal if Republicans fail to advance in them. It’s even happened before: Democrats Kamala Harris and Loretta Sanchez were the top two vote-getters in the 2016 Senate primary before facing off in the general election. But this year, without a presidential race on the ballot, the races for Senate and governor matter more than just for their own sake. As the two races headlining California’s 2018 ballot, they have the power to drive turnout across this state of 40 million — and all 53 of its congressional races.

A Republican shutout at the top of the ticket could depress conservative turnout statewide, perhaps nudging districts where the Republican is currently favored, like the 4th and 21st, more toward the toss-up column. That could damage the party’s chances in a dozen swing districts, not just in one, like a shutout in an individual House race would. In 2014, poor turnout in “orphan states” — those without competitive races for governor or Senate — cost Democrats House seats that they didn’t even know were in danger. The biggest consequence of the jungle primary could be that California becomes 2018’s version of an orphan state — for Republicans.

[d2kvirus]

Dickheads of the Month: February 2021

As it seems that there are people who say or do things that are remarkably dickheaded yet somehow people try to make excuses for them or pretend it never happened, here is a collection of some of the dickheaded actions we saw in the month of February 2021 to make sure that they are never forgotten.

Let it not be said that Republican senators know what is best for their country.  And what is best for their country?  Putting their party ahead of the country, because it’s far more important to show the country that Republicans stick with one of their own even when “one of their own” isn’t one of their own but stood on a Republican ticket, even though they just so happened to incite a riot at the Capitol having lost on said Republican ticket

The High Court ruled that Matt Hancock acted unlawfully when doling out contract after contract to his mates no matter how unqualified they are, and not only did he not resign, but we had the BBC burying the story with as little a mention as they could get away with when it broke while Keir Starmer said he did not believe the public wanted to see Hancock resign.  Gee, I wonder why the UK is so fucked up?

...and then Matt Hancock went one further by saying that the British public should be thanking him, because apparently we should be grateful for 130,000 dead, his mates making off like bandits on lucrative contracts, multiple spikes in death rates due to gross incompetence by him and his bosses, and him gaslighting the public by saying there was never a PPE shortage while telling the public they should be thanking the greedy, useless, sociopathic cunt

It appears that Dido Harding is the only person on earth who is unaware that viruses mutate.  That sound you just heard was the collective screaming of every biologist, virologist and epidemiologist on earth screaming in unison at the combination of her making such a profoundly moronic statement as if it was an adequate defence, and the fact she was not only given £10bn to be in charge of Serco’s test & trace but is spending £1000 a day on consultants fees in spite having less knowledge of how viruses work than a peanut

Remember how Keir Starmer said he’d unite the Labour party?  I have to ask, as it appears that Starmer has forgotten about that considering all three candidates for the Liverpool mayoral election were dropped from the ballot without any reasoning given short of some vague and meaningless wording of a vague and meaningless statement, something which Starmer has been issuing a lot of lately

Smirking bully Priti Patel seems to have finally cottoned onto the fact her role is to allow boneheads to point to the one non-white person who agrees with them and claim that means everyone agrees with their boneheaded views, which she demonstrated by making some patently absurd comments about the Blame Lives Matter movement while moaning about footballers taking the knee before every match - which no doubt had at least sixteen people named Gary tweeting in support of her within the hour

The fact that several LAPD officers decided that the discussion about both police brutality and endemic racism in policing wouldn’t get in the way of their being a bunch of edgelords and send valentine’s cards mocking the murder of George Floyd in the most twattish way imaginable sums up exactly why the “orL lYfeS mAttUH” knobheads are so far wide of the mark that they don’t even know what the fucking mark is

So the defence which Anne Sacoolas gave in the inquest into the death of Harry Dunn was that she worked for US intelligence, which somehow justifies driving over the speed limit on the wrong side of the road, before legging it out of the country at the earliest opportunity - with the full support of the UK government to make sure she got out of the country

Similarly, apparently it did not occur to Gina Carano that tweeting out all manner of batshittery, culminating with her saying that being a Republican in 2021 America is like being a Jew in Nazi Germany, is the sort of thing that has repercussions for your career.  Such as getting fired from your high profile acting gig while also having your agency drop you like an ice cold turd

Something which escaped the Tory government during their joyous pronouncement that the R number for Covid has dropped below 1 for the first time since July 2020: in doing so, they not only revealed that they pushed ahead with numerous plans, such as getting children back into school, removing employment protections for people who didn’t feel safe trudging into the office, and bribing people into restaurants with a £10 voucher when they were fully aware that the R number was above 1 - which, of course, was also missed by the supposed journalists at the BBC when joyously pronouncing the R number was below 1 for the first time since July 2020

It’s reasonably clear that Ted Cruz isn’t a champion of self-awareness, what with his response to Texas being hit with heavy snowfall and widespread power outages at the exact same time by legging it to Cancun (during a pandemic...) without realising how that made him look and sound remarkably like Mayor Quimby from The Simpsons - and he abandoned his poodle at home to do so

...and sticking with Texas, the image of Fred Meyer posting armed guards outside of their stores to prevent people from taking the produce that the store had dumped outside was one for the Capitalism family photo album

...just as Texas’ power outages led to Tucker Carson trying to blame wind turbines for the outages in spite of the fact wind turbines provide less than 15% of Texas’ power, meaning that Carlson found an entirely new way to blame minorities for problems

While it was incredible to see the ERG doing something that could be classified as research for the first time since their formation in 1992, their “research” involved them demanding that Westminster scrap Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol - the same Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol which every single member of the ERG voted for last year

Professional victim Rachel Riley came under such a vile and sustained attack when she gleefully claimed that Aaron Bastani has finally been booted out of Labour - a claim that would have a crumb of credibility if it wasn't for the fact that Bastani willingly cancelled his Labour membership a year or so ago 

How nice of Oliver Dowden to put forward the idea of all British universities installing a Free Speech Champion, whose role is to shout down criticism of Britain’s less than savoury past because statues of slave traders need to stay up because statues have more rights than people these days

It was remarkable how Andrew Neil managed to spell out exactly how the media have aided and abetted the right‘s bastardisation of the word “woke” into an insult of its original meaning - and somehow failed to notice that is exactly what he was doing as he was tweeting it

The journalistic integrity of Sarah Smith took an absolute battering when she claimed in a report on the story of Nicola Sturgeon and ministerial code - a story which the BBC are giving so much more coverage to compared to the seconds they gave to Matt Hancock being found to have acted unlawfully, by the way -  when she stated that Alec Salmond asked for Sturgeon’s resignation.  Except that simply is not true, as Salmond never asked for that, which makes it look uncannily like the BBC have the knives out for Sturgeon because Scottish lady made BoJo look bad

Man of the British people Richard Littlejohn chimed in from his gated community in Florida claiming that a statue of Captain Tom Moore that currently does not exist would soon be pulled down by BLM protesters that he has made up, which definitely doesn’t read like sixteen different kinds of bollocks to preach to the pig ignorant converted among the Daily Mail’s readership who lack the common sense to ask questions such as “Hang on, are you comparing Captain Tom to a slave trader?”

There was little surprise that The Sun responded to Harry & Megan announcing their pregnancy by trying to say that they’re hiPpPKritZ for wanting privacy yet telling the world that they’re expecting a child, almost as if they cannot understand that the couple being bullied out of the country by both press intrusion and a particularly nasty whispering campaign led by The Sun among others is what they meant when they said they wanted privacy - which seems to be the case given how many articles thundering the same line were vomited forth in the days immediately afterwards

Convicted criminal Darren Grimes didn’t seem to notice how sinister his statement (if a passive aggressive shittweet counts as a statement, which in Grimes’ world it certainly does) about BAME voters being able to vote in “our elections” actually sounded, did he?

Amidst the accolades Andrew Butler and James Wilson have been getting for their short film Keratin, there was one dissenting voice: artist Adam Ellis, who wrote the short comic Super Chill, which Butler and Wilson plagiarised and only informed Ellis when the film was already doing the festival circuit where they asked him to promote a work that ripped off his book in spite neither asking permission nor informing him beforehand, nor did they give Ellis a single credit

There was absolutely nothing normal about how Eddie Marsan lead a particularly vicious pile-on which Ian Austin and Steven Pollard were among those who joined in, all because somebody said that It’s A Sin was let down by Tracy Ann Oberman being in the cast, which naturally must mean this one person is an antisemite who must have dozens of people dogpile onto them in a short space of time while also revealing just how insane Gnasher’s pack have gotten if they now consider a person being a Liverpool fan as one of their red flags for rampant antisemitism

Apparently nobody had the conversation with TJ Ducklo that consists of saying that threatening to “destroy” journalists is not a good look, judging by TJ Ducklo threatening to destroy Politico reporter Tara Palmeri

Waffling gargoyle Nigel Farage demanded that the EU Human Rights Act be scrapped.  Luckily for Nige, there is no longer an EU Human Rights Act so he can claim “victory” - although the fact there wasn’t an EU Human Rights Act during the video he posted demanding it be scrapped, or at any point in history before he posted the video demanding it be scrapped, he’s either lacking in any form of knowledge about the EU whatsoever or is banking on clueless boneheads who have no knowledge of the EU so believe that Acts which don’t exist should be scrapped because waffling gargoyle Nigel Farage said so

Has it occurred to Piers Corbyn that doing things such as comparing lockdown to Auschwitz, and distributing leaflets saying exactly that, is monumentally knobheaded?  Hang on, let me check...no, he hasn’t realised that doing so is monumentally knobheaded, what with him doing precisely that

Something possessed Lauren Boebert to sit in on a Zoom meeting with three assault rifles and a GLOCK precariously balanced on the shelves behind her, somehow failing to notice that not only did it look completely deranged - especially if a spot of light dusting could lead to her unintentionally shooting the neighbours on both sides of her house - but the assault rifle on the bookshelf aesthetic has already been done by Osama bin-Laden

The oppressed underclass that are Manchester United fans once again responded to their team dropping points by racially abusing one of their own players on social media, with Axel Tuanzebe once again bearing the brunt of it after their 3-3 draw with Everton

Good to see that Gab are on the grift again with their free speech device, a device which guaranteed free speech by blocking cable channels that people who still use Gab (or rushed back there after Parler got iced) don’t agree with, because nothing says “free speech” like blocking differing viewpoints

There comes a point where you hope Julia Halfwit Hartley Brewer puts her foot down and tells her paymasters she’s had enough of making moronic statements posed as a question for people dumb enough to agree with the moronic statement, but clearly it wasn’t when she was told that her response to the Perseverance rover landing on Mars should be asking why we can send a probe to Mars yet not visit our neighbours, which is moronic even by the usual bilge she's told to throw out into the world by her paymasters

Hearing PS5 scalpers whine and complain that they are disrespected, and using some patently absurd arguments to defend themselves such as saying they’re simply supermarkets - as if they haven’t emptied said supermarkets of their stocks of PS5s before they even made it to shelves - really sums up how human garbage may have gained sentience, but it hasn’t gained self-awareness

Did it really not occur to DJ Tiiny that his telling record producers that their artists would get on his radio show as long as they bunged him £200 might come out at some point?  Because guess what?  It came out that DJ Tiiny was telling record producers that he could guarantee airtime for their artists if they bunged him £200

Occasional wrestler Austin Aries reminded us why the “occasional” part is relevant, as he decided to do a signing without masks where he signed tinfoil hats for the Covid Truthers who came to reward him for finding a career where he doesn’t have a track record of burning bridges with the entire industry 

And finally, screaming and screaming until he is sick, is Donald Trump throwing a tantrum and quitting the Screen Actors Guild approximately ten minutes before he was expelled for that whole encouraging-white-terrorism-to-storm-the-Capitol thing back in January

[khalilhumam]

Around the halls: Brookings experts on the new Center for Sustainable Development

New Post has been published on http://khalilhumam.com/around-the-halls-brookings-experts-on-the-new-center-for-sustainable-development/

Around the halls: Brookings experts on the new Center for Sustainable Development

By Amar Bhattacharya, Marcela Escobari, George Ingram, Homi Kharas, Anthony F. Pipa Today, the Global Economy and Development program launched the Center for Sustainable Development (CSD). The center will focus on issues pertinent to advancing global sustainable development and implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) across all countries. In this post, Brookings experts housed in the newly launched center explain the key priorities and issue areas that the center will undertake.

Defining the challenge: sustainable development economics and empirics

Amar Bhattacharya, Senior Fellow The climate and sustainable development agendas are intricately linked. Failure to act on climate mitigation and adaptation will affect lives and livelihoods everywhere, especially of the poorest and most vulnerable. On the other hand, strong actions to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon climate-resilient economy can pave the way to sustainable, inclusive, and resilient growth and concomitant progress on the SDGs. A new climate economy must be urgently built—one that escapes a 20th century growth model based on fossil fuel dependence and degradation of natural capital and ecosystem services. The world has been transformed by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has highlighted the dangers and fragilities that had been building in the world economy and the planet. The crisis presents an enormous threat but also a one-off, last chance opportunity—to restructure economies at the pace and scale that the climate crisis requires. The center will focus on how to build a better and green recovery that can restore jobs and livelihoods and pave the way for long-term transformation. It will also assess and inform the strategies, investments, policies, and finance that can build a low-carbon climate-resilient economy that serves the needs of people and the planet.

Homi Kharas, Senior Fellow “You treasure what you measure.” This phrase has become overused because it is so important and applicable. We have become very good at measuring GDP, and the economic policy structures and institutions around the world are geared to maximizing GDP growth. But we have been derelict in measuring other elements of sustainable development—most obviously climate change, biodiversity, inclusion, and justice—that enter into people’s well-being. To give one example, a world with fossil fuel subsidies approaching $5 billion (according to the International Monetary Fund), and a heavy dependence of governments on taxes on labor could well produce GDP growth, but in a distorted way that undercuts society’s core objectives of moving toward green energy and encouraging the formation of more jobs. At this time, with trillions of dollars of public money being spent to revive economies, it is critical to orient economic activity toward areas that are sustainable and inclusive, else another shock to the global economic system will surely recur.

Advancing sustainable development at subnational levels

Amar Bhattacharya, Senior Fellow Developing countries need to substantially scale up investments in sustainable infrastructure to meet their climate and development goals including large additional investments for adaptation. These needs encompass investments in renewable energy and the phasing out of dirty energy (especially coal), sustainable cities and transport, water and sanitation, digital infrastructure, and natural infrastructure. Over the next 10 years, infrastructure investment in emerging markets and developing countries other than China will need to more than double from present levels of around $1 trillion per year, and virtually all the increase must be green infrastructure to meet the Paris targets and adapt to climate change. At present, 80 percent of infrastructure investment is public and it’s mostly publicly financed. Private investment in infrastructure in emerging markets and developing countries has stagnated over the past decade and amounts to less than $100 billion annually. Mobilizing additional private finance for sustainable infrastructure investments is therefore the central challenge of climate finance. In addition to tackling the impediments that are holding back the realization of green investments at scale, it will be essential to improve access to long-term finance and reduce the cost of capital—for both emerging markets and developing countries. Managing, reducing, and sharing risk will be critical. Assessing how to unlock investment opportunities in sustainable infrastructure that can serve both climate and development goals, and identifying ways to bolster and utilize the relevant pools of finance more effectively that can meet the scale of the challenge, will be an important element in the work of the Center.

Marcela Escobari, Senior Fellow Even as the pandemic renews skepticism on the virtues of dense living, cities remain the engines of innovation, growth, and prosperity. In all likelihood, they will bounce back. And their recovery will make for welcome news—a return to the status quo almost certainly portends a more sustainable future than would urban outmigration. Nonetheless, the sustainability of urban epicenters prior to the pandemic was questionable. Cities had become hotbeds of poverty and wellsprings of environmental degradation. Moreover, the astronomical rise of cities, brought on by increasing returns to dense economic activity, led to increasing geographical disparities- even within the same country. This spatial divergence makes a subnational lens to the advancement of sustainable development crucial to global sustainability. As the pandemic and its economic ripples continue to spread, impact—whether it comes as shifts in supply chains, less tourism and travel, new purposes for commercial real estate, stark unemployment, or more rapid automation—will ultimately occur at the subnational level, in each region based upon its own unique history and trajectory. Subnational regions across the globe will face similar challenges but their path to sustainable recovery and growth will depend largely on the region’s existing industry and talent as well as its financial and political ability to repurpose production and redeploy workers. New metrics with the flexibility to accommodate these differences, while still allowing regional comparison and benchmarking, will allow greater subnational coordination, an essential task to drive global sustainability.

Anthony F. Pipa, Senior Fellow Cities are places where the lofty aspirations of sustainable development and the ambitions of the Sustainable Development Goals must be translated into progress felt by real people living in real communities. As evidenced by their leadership during the COVID-19 crisis, mayors and local leaders form the front lines of response to global issues—from the exigencies of public health and economic vulnerability to migration, climate change, and justice. They consistently earn the highest levels of trust of any level of government and are increasingly perceived to be the problem-solvers as political divisions undermine the response of national leaders. Too often however, subnational leaders have too little of the mandate and too limited resources to translate their priorities at the local level into reality. They are thus faced with developing new models of governance to coordinate leadership and resources that go beyond city government and creating new tools and policy interventions to leverage data, technology, and citizen engagement for social and economic progress. Their success will also depend upon their ability to access new modes of financing, and the international finance system must seek to evolve and expand to be able to directly invest in municipalities and subnational governments. Cities are hotbeds of innovation—not just to launch the industries and companies of the future, but to evolve and elevate new methods and mechanisms of public governance and leadership that will be key to advancing sustainable development. The Trump administration’s “America First” foreign policy and the feeble U.S. response to COVID-19 has significantly changed perceptions of the United States and its interest in global cooperation and global progress. U.S. mayors, CEOs, university presidents, and civil society leaders, with serious commitments to using the SDGs to advance racial justice and equity, public health, economic security, and action on climate change, are exhibiting global leadership and proving to be central players in rebuilding U.S. credibility on development issues of global importance.

Advancing effective financing for sustainable development

Homi Kharas, Senior Fellow Imagine you took the Spanish Flu, the Great Depression, and the destruction caused by World War II and wrapped them into a single calamitous event. You would mimic the effects of COVID-19. Not a single sub-Saharan African government has been able to borrow on international capital markets since February of this year. The traditional approach to debt servicing, to roll over debt by funding principal payments to one lender by borrowing from another, has ground to a halt for many developing countries. Ministers of finance are desperately trying to stave off defaults—the messy, expensive, protracted process that led to a lost decade in Latin America—and will be tempted to cut education, nutrition, and agricultural development spending to cope. These have long-lasting, lifetime effects. Absent a concerted plan of financial assistance, the specter of a decade or more of development in reverse awaits, and a generation could be left with little real prospect or opportunities for the future.

Advancing US official and American societal leadership for global sustainable development

George Ingram, Senior Fellow COVID-19’s devastation of human and national well-being, climate change’s disruption of food production, state fragility’s destabilization of nations and uprooting of populations, social and economic inequities within and between nations. These are just a few of the global development challenges that require the U.S. government to elevate its institutions and budget to contribute to the advancement of development by moving from a 20th century maze of programs to a more coherent, unified strategy and structure that is nimble at working with local stakeholders, civil society organizations, the private sector, and the panoply of individuals and entities across America that are contributing to advancing economic, social, and political progress in poor and middle-income countries.

[techcrunchappcom]

New Post has been published on https://techcrunchapp.com/the-latest-s-korea-reports-virus-numbers-trending-lower-national-news/

The Latest: S. Korea reports virus numbers trending lower | National News

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea has reported 73 new cases of the coronavirus, its fifth straight day of below 100, although officials expressed concern that could rise because of increased travel during a five-day holiday period that ended Sunday.

The figures released by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency Monday brought the national caseload to 24,164, including 422 deaths.

Fifty-one of the new cases were reported from the greater capital area, where health workers have scrambled to stem transmissions tied to various places, including churches, hospitals, schools, restaurants and workplaces. The newest cluster of infections in the region is an army unit in Pocheon, north of capital Seoul, where more than 30 troops have so far tested positive.

The KDCA said nine of the new cases were linked to international arrivals, including passengers from the United States, Poland, Britain, Russia and Uzbekistan.

There’s a possibility that the downward trend in confirmed infections is related to the fewer tests that were conducted during the five-day Chuseok harvest holiday. Health Minister Park Neung-hoo during a virus briefing Monday urged people who experience fever or other symptoms after traveling during the period get tested immediately.

Park said usage of express buses and rail services declined by more than 40% during the holiday break compared to last year as officials pleaded that people stay home to help slow transmissions.

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HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:

— Virus spreads on panel handling U.S. Supreme Court nomination.

— Pope: Market capitalism has failed in pandemic, needs reform.

— South African coffin-maker saw COVID-19 at work and at home.

— South Africa and India have asked the World Trade Organization to waive provisions on intellectual property rights to speed efforts to prevent, treat and contain the COVID-19 pandemic.

— Madrid, Europe’s most critical coronavirus hot spot, is under a partial lockdown, with police controlling travel in and out of the city. Still some flamenco houses reopened, with precautions.

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Follow AP’s pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

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HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

ROME — The Italian government is weighing whether to require masks outdoors nationwide amid a steady, nine-week increase in coronavirus infections.

Already several individual regions have imposed outdoor mask mandates in a bid to curb the rebound in infections. On Sunday, Italy added another 2,578 confirmed cases, far fewer new daily infections than in neighboring France or Spain, but cause for concern in the onetime European epicenter of the pandemic.

Another 18 people died, bringing Italy’s toll to 35,986, the second highest in Europe after Britain.

Health Minister Roberto Speranza told RAI 3 television a national outdoor mask mandate was being considered by the government in a bid to keep infections from spiraling out of control now that schools have reopened. There have been 900 cases tied to schools, and 14 school-based clusters in the last week alone. But health authorities said in their weekly monitoring report that it will still be some time before they know the full effect of schools reopening on the infection curve.

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ATHENS, Greece — Greek health authorities announced 229 new coronavirus cases and 4 deaths Sunday.

The total number of cases since the pandemic started is 19,842, with 409 deaths.

There are 82 patients on ventilators.

A health ministry expert said that, while people largely abide by the face mask and social distancing rules during the day, they largely ignore them at nights and this has helped fuel the rise in cases: about 80 percent of new COVID-19 cases have been registered over the past two months.

Government experts say daily new cases must drop before colder weather sets in.

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NEW YORK — New York City’s mayor says he has asked the state for permission to close schools and reinstate restrictions on nonessential businesses in several neighborhoods because of a resurgence of the coronavirus.

Shutdowns would happen starting Wednesday in nine zip codes in the city.

Mayor Bill de Blasio says about 300 public and private schools would have to close. Indoor dining, which just resumed a few days ago, would be suspended. Gyms would also close.

De Blasio said the city needed the state to sign off on the restrictions.

Over the past two weeks, the number of new cases of the virus has been rising in pockets of the city.

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LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has defended his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, but warned that the country faces a “bumpy” winter ahead.

Britain has Europe’s highest coronavirus death toll, at more than 42,000, and Johnson’s Conservative government is facing criticism from all sides. Opponents say tougher social restrictions are needed to suppress a second pandemic wave, but many in Johnson’s own right-of-center party argue that restrictions must be eased to save the economy.

Johnson told the BBC that the government had to strike a difficult balance and he couldn’t “take a course that could expose us to tens of thousands more deaths in very short order.”

Johnson expressed hope that progress on vaccines and testing would “change the scientific equation” in the next few months, allowing a return to normality.

But he said “it’s going to continue to be bumpy through to Christmas. It may even be bumpy beyond.”

Britain on Saturday reported a record 12,872 new coronavirus infections, by far the highest daily total since the outbreak began, though the figure included a backlog of previously unreported cases.

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NEW DELHI — India says it is planning to immunize at least 250 million of its 1.4 billion people by July 2021 after receiving between 400 and 500 million coronavirus vaccine doses.

Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan on Sunday said the government will ensure “equitable access” to the vaccine and is in the process of identifying the high-risk groups that will be the first in line, including health care workers.

India is testing three potential vaccines, including one being developed jointly by the University of Oxford and pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca.

That will be mass produced by India’s Serum Institute, the world’s biggest vaccine producer. The Serum Institute has said it would produce 200 million doses of coronavirus vaccines for developing countries, including India.

India has reported 6.5 million cases and more than 100,000 deaths in the pandemic.

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MOSCOW — Coronavirus infections in Russia hit a new record on Sunday, with the government reporting over 10,000 new confirmed cases for the first time since mid-May.

The 10,499 new cases reported on Sunday bring the country’s total to over 1.2 million. Russia currently has the fourth largest caseload in the world and has so far reported over 21,000 deaths.

The Russian authorities insist there are no plans to impose a second lockdown in the country that has lifted most of the virus-related restrictions imposed in the spring. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday another lockdown is currently not being discussed in the government.

At the same time in Moscow, which reported over 3,000 new cases on Sunday in the biggest surge in months, officials have recommended the elderly to self-isolate at home and have extended upcoming school holidays by a week.

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WASHINGTON —— President Donald Trump went through a “very concerning” period Friday and faces a “critical” next two days in his fight against COVID-19 at a military hospital, his chief of staff said Saturday — in contrast to a rosier assessment moments earlier by Trump doctors, who took pains not to reveal the president had received supplemental oxygen at the White House before his hospital admission.

Trump remained at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Sunday. He offered his own assessment of his status Saturday evening in a video from his hospital suite, saying he was beginning to feel better and hoped to “be back soon.”

Hours earlier, chief of staff Mark Meadows told reporters, “We’re still not on a clear path yet to a full recovery.” In an update Saturday night, Trump’s chief doctor expressed cautious optimism but added that the president was “not yet out of the woods.”

The changing, and at times contradictory, accounts created a credibility crisis for the White House at a crucial moment. With Trump expected to remain hospitalized several more days and the presidential election looming, his condition is being anxiously watched by Americans.

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BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — Slovakia’s record surge of new confirmed coronavirus cases has not slowed down despite tough restrictive measures, surpassing 800 new daily cases for the first time.

The Health Ministry says the day-to-day increase reached a new record high of 818 on Saturday. The government has reacted to the recent spike by declaring a state of emergency accompanied by strict restrictions.

Prime Minister Igor Matovic call3e on fellow Slovaks on Sunday to avoid any public gatherings and not to organize any family celebrations.

“We’re heading for very difficult days,” Matovic said on Facebook.

Slovakia has reported 13,139 virus infections and 55 deaths, still low numbers compared with other European countries.

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JERUSALEM — A member of Israel’s Cabinet has tested positive for the coronavirus as the country remains under lockdown while battling a second wave of infection.

Gila Gamliel, Israel’s environmental protection minister and a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, announced on Twitter Sunday that she had tested positive. She was the fourth minister in Israel’s government to test positive.

The Israeli government imposed a nationwide lockdown on Sept. 18 ahead of the Jewish High Holidays in an effort to rein in a runaway outbreak of the coronavirus. According to Health Ministry figures, Israel has recorded over 264,000 cases and almost 1,700 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.

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WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. — The Navajo Nation, which sprawls across Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, reported 17 new coronavirus cases and no new deaths Saturday.

The total number of deaths related to the virus on the huge reservation remains at 558, and the total number of cases is now 10,421.

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COLOMBO, Sri Lanka: Sri Lankan authorities closed schools countrywide and imposed a curfew Sunday in two suburbs in Western Province, after a person tested positive for the coronavirus.

The person was being treated at a hospital for a fever when a coronavirus test came back positive. About 15 hospital staff and 40 co-workers have been put in self-quarantine.

On Sunday, the Education Ministry announced that schools are closed from Oct 5 after the authorities decided to advance the school holidays to Oct. 5 from the scheduled date of Oct. 9.

The curfew imposed on Sunday covers Minuwangoda and Divulapitiya suburbs, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of the capital Colombo, from where the patient was reported.

For more than two months, health officials have been saying that they have prevented the community spread of the virus.

The country has reported 3,388 confirmed cases, including 13 deaths. Of the total, 3,254 have recovered.

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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia —A very small, limited number of people donning the white terrycloth garment symbolic of the Muslim pilgrimage circled Islam’s holiest site in Mecca after Saudi Arabia lifted coronavirus restrictions that had been in place for months.

The kingdom had taken the rare step of suspending the smaller “umrah” pilgrimage that draws millions year-round from across the world in early March as the coronavirus morphed into a global pandemic.

But as nations begin to ease those restrictions, the Saudi government on Sunday started allowing a maximum of 6,000 pilgrims a day to enter the sprawling Grand Mosque in Mecca. Only Saudi citizens and residents will be permitted to enter the mosque during this first phase of reopening, and each person has up to three hours to complete the pilgrimage.

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MELBOURNE, Australia — The premier of Australia’s Victoria state has called on citizens to “stay the course” after large groups flooded beaches and parks at the weekend in defiance of strict lockdown regulations.

Victoria, emerging from a major winter spike in coronavirus cases, relaxed lockdown regulations last weekend but still allowed only five people from up to two households to congregate outside.

Many ignored those regulations on Saturday and crowded parks and beaches, causing Premier Daniel Andrews to remind Victorians not to be selfish and maintain social distancing. Victoria reported only 12 new coronavirus cases and one death Sunday, well down on the peaks of winter.

Andrews said the situation in Victoria is “delicately poised” as the state moves toward further easing of lockdown rules.

“People love to go to the beach when it’s sunny but there’s a global pandemic on,” he said. “Surely, there’s a greater urge to see this thing, to defeat it and to have a normal summer and have a COVID normal Christmas and 2021.”

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SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea has reported 64 new cases of the coronavirus, the fourth straight day its increase came below 100, possibly reflecting the fewer number of tests conducted during one of the biggest holidays of the year.

The figures released by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on Sunday brought the national caseload to 24,091, including 421 deaths.

Thirty-eight of the new cases were reported from the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area. Health workers have struggled to track transmissions tied to churches, hospitals, schools and offices. Seventeen of the new cases were linked to international arrivals.

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