La nueva Asamblea Nacional, de mayoría oficialista, eligió este domingo a sus autoridades principales a 10 días de la investidura del presidente electo Lenín Moreno.
Los asambleístas del partido de gobierno Alianza PAIS (AP), José Serrano, Viviana Bonilla y Carlos Bergman, quedaron al frente del Legislativo para el periodo 2017-2021.
Serrano, quien fuera Ministro del Interior en el gobierno de Rafael Correa, fue postulado por Juan Cárdenas (AP), de la provincia del Cañar, para ocupar la Presidencia. Los otros asambleístas propuestos para el principal puesto del Legislativo fueron Henry Cucalón (PSC) y Patricio Donoso (CREO).
La postulación de Serrano fue respaldada con 77 votos afirmativos. En tanto que 31 asambleístas votaron en contra, 26 se abstuvieron y otros dos lo hicieron en blanco.
Tras la votación, la asambleísta Gabriela Rivadeneira (AP) procedió a tomar juramento a Serrano y realizó la respectiva posesión.
El flamante presidente del legislativo pronunció un discurso en el que recordó su paso por el Ministerio del Interior. Señaló que ahora, desde la Asamblea, atenderá las necesidades y reivindicaciones de los ecuatorianos para convertirlos en derechos.
“Las diferencias que podemos encontrar en la nueva Asamblea son parte de la diversidad y riqueza del país (…) Haremos de esta nueva Asamblea la casa de todos y todas, una Asamblea de puertas abiertas, de trabajo en territorio”, dijo Serrano, quien estará en el cargo durante los próximos dos años.
Vicepresidencias
En tanto que la primera vicepresidencia fue ocupada por la asambleísta nacional Viviana Bonilla (AP), exgobernadora del Guayas, quien logró 74 votos a favor. 33 asambleístas votaron en contra y 30 se abstuvieron.
Los otros propuestos para esta dignidad fueron los asambleístas Roberta Zambrano (PSC) y Luis Pachala (CREO).
Mientras que el manabita Carlos Bergmann se hizo con la segunda vicepresidencia. El asambleísta de AP alcanzó 77 votos a favor, 25 negativos y 30 abstenciones.
Patricia Enríquez (PSC) y Rina Campain (CREO) fueron los otros legisladores propuestos para este puesto.
El oficialismo tiene 74 de los 137 curules de la Asamblea Nacional lo cual le asegura la mayoría absoluta, pero no le da los dos tercios del Congreso que le permitían, por ejemplo, reformar la Constitución, como ocurrió en 2015 cuando aprobó la reelección indefinida.
Analistas consideran que la mayoría de AP es frágil pues una veintena de diputados pertenecen a movimientos políticos locales que se aliaron a AP.
Se trata de los asambleístas Soledad Buendía Herdoíza (AP), primera vocal; por la bancada de AP y sus aliados, Verónica Arias (ARE), segunda vocal; Luis Fernando Torres (PSC), tercer vocal; y queda pendiente la elección del cuarto vocal.
El Pleno también eligió a Libia Rivas Ordóñez como Secretaria General y al doctor Diego Torres, como Prosecretario General, por los próximos dos años. (I)
Mr. Bolton did not address the matter afterward, and a spokesman declined to comment on Tuesday. Speculation arose when the national security adviser skipped the state dinner, although it was not clear why. But rather than fly home with the president, as an aide worried about his position might do, Mr. Bolton flew directly to the United Arab Emirates for meetings, a sign to his allies of the confidence he has in his relationship with Mr. Trump.
“Ambassador Bolton works for the president, and the president sets the policy,” said Fred Fleitz, the president of the Center for Security Policy who was Mr. Bolton’s chief of staff until last year. “Bolton has said for years: ‘Look, I work for the guy who won the election. He sets the policy.’ That’s always been his approach under any president he’s worked for.”
It was left to the State Department to try to clean up the confusion on Tuesday, when it declared that “the entire North Korean W.M.D. program,” referring to weapons of mass destruction, is “in conflict with the U.N. Security Council resolutions,” which would presumably include the short-range missiles.
For his part, Mr. Bolton has privately expressed his own frustration with the president, according to several officials, viewing him as unwilling to push for more transformative changes in the Middle East. At the same time, his allies said he had been misunderstood, cast as favoring military action in Venezuela, for instance, when in fact they say he does not.
But Mr. Bolton is an inveterate disrupter, eagerly upsetting the status quo in furtherance of his policy goals. He has never seemed to worry much about offending others; he does not appear to care much about being liked.
He came into the job last year saying he hoped to emulate the process Brent Scowcroft ran under President George Bush, but he has had his own conflicts with the Pentagon and the State Department.
In reorganizing the national security apparatus, Mr. Bolton eliminated some meetings of the highest-ranking officials known as the principals’ committee, or P.C., in favor of what are called “paper P.C.s,” meaning documents that are distributed. Cabinet officers rarely complain about fewer meetings, but this may lessen opportunities to air points of contention in person.
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Muchos dirán que, en todo caso, las noticias siempre han sido mentira, pero este fenómeno quizás merece una reflexión que vaya un poco más allá.
Inventar noticias deliberadamente para engañar o entretener no es algo nuevo. Pero la llegada de las redes sociales hizo que las historias reales y las ficticias se puedan presentar de una manera tan similar que a veces es difícil distinguir entre ellas.
Si bien es cierto que internet ha permitido el intercambio de conocimiento a una escala con la que generaciones previas sólo podían soñar, también ha fundamentado lo que el ensayista Jonathan Swift escribió en 1710:
La falsedad vuela y la verdad viene cojeando tras ella”
En Estados Unidos, por ejemplo, una investigación del Pew Centre reveló que el 62% de los estadounidenses adultos reciben noticias a través de las redes sociales, de manera que es cada vez más probable que más de nosotros estemos viendo -y creyendo- información que no sólo no es precisa sino que a veces es totalmente inventada.
Hay cientos de sitios web de noticias falsas, desde las que imitan diarios reales, hasta sitios de propaganda gubernamental, y otras que se mueven por la fina línea que divide la sátira con la desinformación.
Image copyright National Report
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Una historia falsa sobre las elecciones en EE.UU. que asegura que los marihuaneros votan por Hillary Clinton.
Uno de esos medios es The National Report, que se promociona como “la primera fuente de noticias independientes de EE.UU.”, fundada por Allen Montgomery (no es su nombre real).
“Hay veces que es como una droga”, le dijo Montgomery a la BBC.
“Es genial ver cómo el tráfico sube y cómo pescaste a la gente con la historia. ¡Me divierte mucho!”.
Una de las más grandes de esas historias fue sobre una ciudad de EE.UU. que supuestamente estaba siendo acordonada debido a una enfermedad mortal.
Según explica Montgomery, han perfeccionado el arte de hacer que la gente lea y comparta las noticias falsas que The National Report les ofrece.
“El nombre mismo del sitio es parte de la fórmula: tienes que tener un sitio para tus noticias falsas que se vea lo más legítimo posible”.
“Obviamente, el titular es clave. La gente deja de leer después del titular y los dos primeros párrafos, así que si estos suenan como noticias legítimas, puedes hacer lo que quieras con el final de la historia, hasta volverla ridícula”.
Pero, ¿por qué lo hacen?
La respuesta es: serias cantidades de dinero.
Sitios como The National Report atraen publicidad de manera que pueden ser muy lucrativos.
Esas potencialmente abultadas recompensas seducen a los dueños de páginas web a abandonar los chistes satíricos y empezar a producir contenido más creíble que tiene posibilidades de ser más ampliamente compartido.
Y a las agencias de publicidad les interesa eso: que la gente comparta, pues la idea es que más personas vean lo que venden, sin importar si lo ven acompañado de mentiras.
“Algunas de nuestras noticias nos han dado US$10,000. Cuando damos en el clavo e impulsamos esas historias, ganamos miles de dólares”, dice Montgomery.
¿Debe preocuparnos que existan estos sitios de noticias falsas?
Brooke Binkowski de Snopes, uno de los sitios más grandes de chequeo de información que lucha contra la desinformación, piensa que aunque puede que no sea peligroso que circulen una que otra historia falsa su potencial para causar daño aumenta con el tiempo.
Image copyright Empire News
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Titular: “Hombre que murió en casa embrujada no fue descubierto por semanas: todos pensaron que era ‘un maniquí muy realista'”… ¿Broma o regalito?
“Hay mucho sesgo de confirmación: mucha gente queriendo probar que su visión del mundo es la apropiada y correcta”, explica.
Y es precisamente eso lo que Allen Montgomery dice que su sitio de noticias falsas trata de explotar: la idea de reforzar las creencias y confirmar con mentiras los prejuicios de la gente.
“Constantemente tratamos de sintonizarnos con los sentimientos que sospechamos que la gente tiene o quiere tener”.
“Recientemente publicamos una historia que decía que a Hillary Clinton le habían dado las respuestas antes de un debate. Ya había algunos rumores sobre eso -todos falsos-, pero ese tipo de titulares entra en la burbuja de los de derecha y son ellos los que mantienen viva la historia”.
El camino de la mentira a la verdad es corto
Craig Silverman, quien trabaja en Buzzfeed liderando el equipo que estudia los efectos de las noticias falsas, explica cuán fácil es que ese tipo de historias terminen siendo reportadas como ciertas en los medios tradicionales.
“Una página de noticias falsas publica un embuste y, como recibe mucha atención en las redes sociales, otro sitio web lo toma, escribe la historia como si fuera verdad y no la vincula a la página de noticias falsas original”.
“Eso provoca una reacción en cadena hasta que algún periodista de un medio creíble la ve y escribe algo sobre ella. Como los periodistas ahora tratan de escribir tantas historias como sea posible y de que esas historias atraigan muchos lectores y atención en las redes, la tendencia es producir más y chequear menos“, dice Silverman.
Image copyright Clickhole
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Lejos de la verdad. Según el titular, el senador estadounidense Paul Ryan tuvo visiones de un nuevo partido republicano tras probar ayahuasca.
Además, señala Anthony Adornato, del departamento de periodismo del Ithaca College en New York, muchos medios tradicionales no están al día en cuestión de políticas de verificación.
“Es común hoy en día que los medios dependan del contenido compartido pero no todas las salas de redacción tienen una política respecto a cómo autenticar esa información”.
Un estudio reciente dirigido por Adornato en estaciones de televisión locales de EE.UU. reveló que casi el 40% de las políticas editoriales no incluían guías sobre cómo manejar la información de las redes sociales a pesar de que los jefes de noticias admitieron que más del 30% de sus boletines habían reportado información proveniente de esa fuente que luego resultó falsa o imprecisa.
¿Perdimos la batalla contra las mentiras entonces?
Image copyright Thinkstock
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¿Cómo distinguir la información falsa si la escriben como fidedigna?
Según Allen Montgomery, Facebook ya tomó medidas para reducir el impacto de sitios falsos.
“Hemos sido uno de los blancos específicos de los cambios en el algoritmo de suministro de noticias. Han ahogado nuestras historias para que no sean compartidas ni gustadas, y no dudo que estén haciendo lo mismo con otros sitios de noticias falsas”.
“Pero la verdad es que si se trata de algo que produce dinero – y esto lo produce- uno apela a la creatividad“.
Es por eso que Montgomery ahora tiene 9 sitios de noticias falsas por los que mueve el contenido para tratar de burlar la censura de Facebook.
*Parte o todo lo que le dijo a la BBC Allen Montgomery puede ser falso.
Thousands of protesters on foot and in vehicles converged Wednesday on Michigan’s capital to rally against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s stay-at-home orders in the state.
“Operation Gridlock,” organized by the Michigan Conservative Coalition, created a huge bumper-to-bumper traffic jam around the Michigan Capitol Building in Lansing, Fox 2 Detroit reported.
Meshawn Maddock, an organizer for the group, said the demonstrators include Republicans, Democrats and independents.
“Quarantine is when you restrict movement of sick people. Tyranny is when you restrict the movement of healthy people,” Maddock told Fox News. “Every person has learned a harsh lesson about social distancing. We don’t need a nanny state to tell people how to be careful.”
The protests had been expected to start at noon, but a line of vehicles stretching for miles began earlier in the morning.
“Operation Gridlock” was just one of many demonstrations planned across the country to push back on the stay-at-home orders, calling on state governments to focus on the economic toll the coronavirus pandemic has caused along with taking care of the sick.
Nearly 17 million Americans have been laid off or furloughed in the past three weeks – or one out of every 10 workers.
People take part in a protest for “Michiganders Against Excessive Quarantine” at the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing, Michigan today.Jeff Kowalsky/AFP via Getty Images
Echoing President Trump that “we cannot let the cure be worse than the disease,” Maddock said the restrictions are wrecking people’s lives and may have killed more than the virus.
“The health-care system is basically shut down,” she said. “People with issues are having trouble seeing a doctor because everyone is focused on the virus. My husband and I are checking in on my in-laws, but even doing that is now breaking the law.”
Whitmer, who acknowledged that people in Michigan are under pressure by the orders she signed last week, compared the stay-at-home orders to being snowed in.
“So we just had snow. I got snow on the ground here in Michigan. I got snow on the ground in Lansing and we’re expecting up to 30 inches of snow in the Upper Peninsula,” she said on the “Today” show.
“The fact that we’re cracking down on people traveling between homes or planting or landscaping or golfing, really, for a couple more weeks is not going to meaningfully impact people’s ability to do so, because the snow will do that itself.”
Asked what factors she is looking at to determine whether it’s safe to return to work, Whitmer said more testing capability.
“It’s that we get robust testing, and that is still a struggle across this nation. We need some assistance from the federal government when it comes to swabs and reagents and making sure that we get the kind of robust testing that we need so we get data that we can actually rely on,” Whitmer said.
Some governors, including New York’s Andrew Cuomo, have joined regional task forces to decide when to have their states ease restrictions and reopen their economies.
BRACKETTVILLE, Texas—As this South Texas border county has seen a jump in illegal border crossings, Sheriff Brad Coe is cooperating with groups of armed private citizens to help patrol the border and arrest migrants for trespassing.
The Kinney County sheriff has been in regular contact for months with a group of men donning body armor and rifles while patrolling to look for migrants. Another armed group offered use of a high-tech drone, and went on a patrol along with the sheriff. It has also pursued potential partnerships with private security firms.
President Trump suggested linking gun control legislation to immigration laws after the El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, mass shootings. USA TODAY
WASHINGTON – Americans overwhelmingly blame the mental health system, racism and white nationalism, and loose gun laws for a series of mass shootings that have shaken communities across the country.
A USA TODAY/Ipsos Poll taken Monday and Tuesday, in the wake of deadly violence in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, shows bipartisan agreement on some of the factors people hold responsible for incidents of gun violence. It is an issue on their minds; many say fear of mass shootings has changed the way they live their daily lives.
Though there are partisan divisions – including over the role President Donald Trump and his rhetoric have played in the violence – there is broad agreement on steps Congress should take.
A majority of those surveyed, including 59% of Republicans, say the U.S. Senate should pass two measures approved this year by the House of Representatives that would tighten background checks on gun purchasers. Overall, two-thirds, 67%, support passage of the bills. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has refused to bring them up for consideration.
More than half of those surveyed say McConnell should cancel the Senate’s August recess to hold a vote.
The poll illustrates some of the political undercurrents that have complicated and often paralyzed proposals for a government response to mass shootings that have killed people going about their regular routines – shopping for back-to-school supplies, enjoying a Saturday night out on the town, worshiping in a synagogue.
Republicans are more likely to say violent video games play a role, for instance – 60% compared with 47% of Democrats. Democrats are twice as likely as Republicans to blame gun manufacturers and the National Rifle Association – 72% versus 37%.
And Trump?
Nearly three of four Democrats, 74%, say some of the responsibility is on the president, who has been criticized for tweets condemned as racist and provocative rhetoric aimed at Mexicans, Muslims, blacks and others. That compares with 23% of Republicans – although the fact that nearly one in four of his fellow Republicans place some blame on Trump is notable.
A 51% majority of Republicans join an overwhelming 83% of Democrats in blaming loose gun laws.
More than two-thirds of Americans, 69%, say racism and white nationalism hold some responsibility for the mass shootings. That includes 84% of Democrats and 57% of Republicans. Seventy-three percent of those surveyed blame the mental health system, the factor that tops the list.
“Americans across the board are horrified by these mass shootings and looking for stronger gun violence measures,” says Cliff Young, president of Ipsos Public Affairs. “Unfortunately, there is an absolute inability to come to consensus on the issue, because the perceived symptoms and causes of these shootings are seen through partisan lenses.”
Most Democrats blame congressional Republicans. Most Republicans blame congressional Democrats.
The online poll of 1,004 adults has a credibility interval of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
Americans are paying attention.
More than nine in 10 say they are familiar with or have heard about the gun violence over the past week in El Paso and Dayton. Even so, eight in 10 say they have felt mostly or very safe in public spaces over the past few weeks; 15% have felt mostly or very unsafe.
Nearly half of those surveyed say the threat of mass shootings in recent years has affected their lives. About one in five, 21%, say they have skipped public events where a lot of people will gather. Nearly as many, 18%, say they have avoided shopping in crowded places. One in four, 25%, have talked with family members about what to do if a shooting happened in a place where they were.
A handful, 7%, have contacted public officials to press for new laws.
Across party lines, Americans agree that gun laws should be stricter, although the survey didn’t explore the details of that debate. By more than 6-1, those surveyed support stricter gun laws, not looser ones. The margin was wide even among Republicans, though the GOP generally has opposed new gun laws. By 3-1, 54%-18%, Republicans say gun laws should be tightened. Democrats, by a sweeping 87%-7%, agree.
That doesn’t reflect a significant shift in public sentiment after the latest mass shootings. The results were similar to those found in Ipsos polls taken in February 2018 and October 2017. Since those surveys, the federal government hasn’t enacted stricter gun laws.
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Jamila McNichols embraces her son, Mason, 2, in front of her brother Thomas “TJ” McNichols’ makeshift memorial on East Fifth Street in Dayton’s Oregon District Monday, August 5, 2019, the day after a gunman killed nine people, including TJ. “Life is so short for all the crazy madness going on, life is too short,” said McNichols, as she reflected on her brother’s death, “You just can’t get them back.” Meg Vogel
Una de las ocupantes del vehículo falleció al salir expulsada, mientras otras tres personas, que también iban a bordo, resultaron heridas.
El vehículo perdió el control, chocó contra el separador de la calle 82 con autopista Norte, sentido sur-norte, y dio vueltas unos 200 metros.
El accidente ocurrió hacia las 4:30 de la madrugada. Los lesionados fueron identificados como Nastia Osorio -quien venía conduciendo-, Carlos Andrés Triviño y Leonardo Forero.
“The issues that are facing this country are generational,” said Michael McDonald, a professor of political science at University of Florida. He said the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement, coupled with the heightened political engagement since Mr. Trump’s election, had produced a highly energized electorate.
“We wish we could care about other things in our lives, but right now, politics matter so much, and people are engaged,” he said.Of course, non-battleground states, or states without a competitive statewide race, are unlikely to generate such intense voter interest, and early turnout can sometimes lagfor reasons ranging from different start dates to disruptions from a hurricane.
But amid the swelling turnout is growing concern over the yawning gap between absentee ballots that have been requested and those that have been returned. With just days to go, 36 million ballots that were requested have either not been returned or have been rejected. Many of those ballots could still be in the mail or in processing or might have been sent to people who now plan to vote in person.
Any problems with the early vote are also likely to affect Democrats more than Republicans. In almost every state, Democrats have requested absentee ballots at a higher rate than Republicans. In Pennsylvania, nearly two million registered Democrats requested absentee ballots, compared with fewer than 790,000 Republicans. And while 70 percent of those Democratic voters have returned their ballots, roughly 590,000 ballots sent to registered Democratic voters have not yet been returned, along with 360,000 ballots sent to registered Republicans.
Voters in Pennsylvania, one of the most important battleground states, have been increasingly unnerved by the flurry of litigation regarding the deadline for when ballots can be accepted. The Supreme Court left open a possibility of a future ruling on ballots that are postmarked by Election Day but arrive late, and the secretary of state told all county election officials to segregate those ballots.
Worries about the U.S. Postal Service have added to the anxiety. The agency said in a filing that staffing issues resulting from the pandemic were causing problems in some facilities, including some in central Pennsylvania. Only 78 percent of employees are available, according to the filing.
On Sunday afternoon, 4 July, Pope Francis was taken to A. Gemelli Policlinic in Rome where he will undergo scheduled surgery. The Pope recited the Angelus as usual with the faithful gathered in St Peter’s Square. He left Casa Santa Marta in the afternoon.
The Director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, confirmed the information through a statement to accredited journalists sent through Telegram: “This afternoon, His Holiness Pope Francis was taken to A. Gemelli Policlinic in Rome where he will undergo a scheduled surgery for a symptomatic diverticular stenosis of the colon.”
Performing the surgery is Prof. Sergio Alfieri. Dr. Alfieri is in the hospital’s Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences and heads the Digestive Surgery Complex Operational Unit. He is specialized in general, digestive, colon-rectal, stomach and pancreatic surgery.
Another “medical bulletin will be issued at the end of the surgery”, the press office’s message concluded.
“Human actions threaten more species with global extinction now than ever before,” the report concludes, estimating that “around 1 million species already face extinction, many within decades, unless action is taken.”
Unless nations step up their efforts to protect what natural habitats are left, they could witness the disappearance of 40 percent of amphibian species, one-third of marine mammals and one-third of reef-forming corals. More than 500,000 land species, the report said, do not have enough natural habitat left to ensure their long-term survival.
Over the past 50 years, global biodiversity loss has primarily been driven by activities like the clearing of forests for farmland, the expansion of roads and cities, logging, hunting, overfishing, water pollution and the transport of invasive species around the globe.
In Indonesia, the replacement of rain forest with palm oil plantations has ravaged the habitat of critically endangered orangutans and Sumatran tigers. In Mozambique, ivory poachers helped kill off nearly 7,000 elephants between 2009 and 2011 alone. In Argentina and Chile, the introduction of the North American beaver in the 1940s has devastated native trees (though it has also helped other species thrive, including the Magellanic woodpecker).
All told, three-quarters of the world’s land area has been significantly altered by people, the report found, and 85 percent of the world’s wetlands have vanished since the 18th century.
And with humans continuing to burn fossil fuels for energy, global warming is expected to compound the damage. Roughly 5 percent of species worldwide are threatened with climate-related extinction if global average temperatures rise 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, the report concluded. (The world has already warmed 1 degree.)
“If climate change were the only problem we were facing, a lot of species could probably move and adapt,” Richard Pearson, an ecologist at the University College of London, said. “But when populations are already small and losing genetic diversity, when natural landscapes are already fragmented, when plants and animals can’t move to find newly suitable habitats, then we have a real threat on our hands.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s announcement that not only would President Trump declare a national emergency to build a border wall, but that he would support it, is going to come back to haunt conservatives.
As I noted last month, the possibility of an emergency declaration became a lot more likely when Trump caved on border wall funding to end the government shutdown, thus making him feel he had to find another way to show his base that he was willing to use all the tools at his disposal to try and deliver on his campaign promise.
The idea of Trump taking such an action was then, and remains now, a terrible idea with dangerous consequences for limited government conservatives. McConnell’s blessing makes matters even worse.
Those who seek to limit the size and scope of government should want it to be more difficult for the executive to arbitrarily use power. That Trump is taking this action means that a Republican president will have been on board with using emergency powers to undertake a massive infrastructure project without the consent of Congress. What’s more, the Republican leader in the Senate, along with no doubt plenty of other Republicans, will have signed on this action, along with, no doubt, plenty of conservative Trump cheerleaders.
For the past week, we’ve been debating infeasibility of the Green New Deal. But many of its provisions suddenly become a lot more politically possible if a president is allowed to seize emergency powers in such a way. If Trump succeeds, it would not be difficult for a Democrat to declare an emergency based on the National Climate Assessment, and then go about using the military for massive infrastructure projects in clean energy.
The only hope for limited government conservatives is that any emergency declaration gets quickly enjoined, and eventually nixed, in federal court. At least then, the silver lining would be that a legal precedent would be set that the president cannot attempt such an end around Congress.
Either way, however, Trump’s action and the likely overwhelming support by Congressional Republicans will shred their ability to resist any sort of attempt by a future Democratic president seeking to broadly employ executive power.
And all for what? Even in the event of an eventual victory in court, any legal process is going to take at least a year to be resolved, without much time to do actual construction before the 2020 election, which Trump could lose. So basically there’s a non-zero chance that Trump will have gotten Republicans to go along with him setting a precedent for the next Democratic president, only to not even have a border wall to show for it.
This is a dangerous, rash, reckless, and myopic decision that should be passionately opposed by all principled conservatives.
The mass shootings in Texas and Ohio add to the country’s troubling statistics on gun violence. There have been at least 255 mass shootings this year that killed 273 people and injured more than a thousand others. NYPD deputy commissioner John Miller testified before Congress in 2016 about law enforcement support for new gun laws. He joined “CBS This Morning” to talk about law enforcement’s assessments of the recent massacres.
Watch “CBS This Morning” HERE: http://bit.ly/1T88yAR Download the CBS News app on iOS HERE: https://apple.co/1tRNnUy Download the CBS News app on Android HERE: https://bit.ly/1IcphuX Like “CBS This Morning” on Facebook HERE: http://on.fb.me/1LhtdvI Follow “CBS This Morning” on Twitter HERE: http://bit.ly/1Xj5W3p Follow “CBS This Morning” on Instagram HERE: http://bit.ly/1Q7NGnY Get new episodes of shows you love across devices the next day, stream local news live, and watch full seasons of CBS fan favorites anytime, anywhere with CBS All Access. Try it free! http://bit.ly/1OQA29B Each weekday morning, “CBS This Morning” co-hosts Gayle King, Anthony Mason and Tony Dokoupil deliver two hours of original reporting, breaking news and top-level newsmaker interviews in an engaging and informative format that challenges the norm in network morning news programs. The broadcast has earned a prestigious Peabody Award, a Polk Award, four News & Documentary Emmys, three Daytime Emmys and the 2017 Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Newscast. The broadcast was also honored with an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award as part of CBS News division-wide coverage of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Check local listings for “CBS This Morning” broadcast times.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell plans to say Tuesday that the investigation into Russian electoral interference and a possible Trump-Russia conspiracy is “case closed,” according to excerpts of his floor speech.
The Kentucky Republican will issue a call to “finally end this ‘Groundhog Day’ spectacle, stop endlessly re-litigating a two-and-a-half-year-old election result, and move forward for the American people.”
The speech, which McConnell will deliver on the Senate floor at 10 a.m., will focus on Russian interference in American elections and the work of special counsel Robert Mueller and Attorney General William Barr.
“This investigation went on for two years,” McConnell will say of Mueller’s probe. “It’s finally over. Many Americans were waiting to see how their elected officials would respond.”
“With an exhaustive investigation complete, would the country finally unify to confront the real challenges before us?” he will continue.
“Would we finally be able to move on from partisan paralysis and breathless conspiracy theorizing? Or would we remain consumed by unhinged partisanship, and keep dividing ourselves to the point that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and his agents need only stand on the sidelines and watch as their job is done for them. Regrettably, I think the answer is obvious.”
Mueller’s report, which Barr released in redacted form last month, detailed multiple contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia, although the special counsel said the evidence did not amount to a Trump-Russia conspiracy. Mueller also detailed Trump’s actions with regard to possible obstruction of the investigation, saying that “while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”
Barr, weeks before he released the report, determined that Trump did not obstruct justice, saying the evidence did not support that charge. In congressional testimony last week, Barr said he “did not exonerate” the president.
La compañía de transporte Cutcsa compartió este martes la carta enviada por la madre de una pasajera, quien agradeció a un chofer de la empresa por evitar un “posible caso de trata de blancas” con su hija como víctima.
Según indica la mujer, una señora le pidió a la joven que la ayudara con su celular y, si bien no llegó a tocar el aparato, comenzó a sentirse mareada, por lo que decidió pedirle ayuda al conductor del ómnibus.
El chofer le pidió que se sentara y no bajara del vehículo. En ese momento vio que la mujer y otro hombre se bajaban rápidamente del ómnibus. La joven se quedó en el vehículo, un 180 con destino a Plaza España, hasta que llegó a destino. Allí la esperaba su madre, quien la llevó a un centro de salud y posteriormente a elevar una denuncia a la Policía.
La madre argumenta que ha oído casos de trata de personas en los que las jóvenes son secuestradas luego de drogarlas con una sustancia impregnada en el aparato.
Si bien el relato de los episodios es muy similar a otros usados para realizar estafas o atemorizar a la población a través de las redes, Cutcsa en su comunicado asegura que la situación fue corroborada usando las cámaras de sus unidades y reportado a las autoridades correspondientes.
El departamento de Relaciones Públicas de Cutcsa confirmó a El País que las cuentas de redes sociales de la compañía no fueron hackeadas, y el comunicado fue publicado por el equipo de la empresa.
El padre de la joven, dijo a El País que el hecho ocurrió en avenida 18 de julio y Carlos Roxlo, cerca de las 22:40 horas del domingo. La mujer mencionada cubría su rostro con una bufanda y una capucha, e iba acompañada por otro hombre, con el rostro descubierto.
Según relata el hombre, su hija comenzó a sentirse mal y decidió caminar hacia el lugar del chofer, al que le dijo “creo que me drogaron”. En ese momento fue que los dos desconocidos se bajaron del vehículo.
El padre de la joven confirmó que fue contactado por personal policial de la seccional 3ª, desde donde le indicaron que ya están en su poder las grabaciones de las cámaras de vigilancia del ómnibus.
En conversación con el país, la joven, de 21 años, dijo que fue examinada por una toxicóloga, quien le indicó que podía presentar restos de una “droga volátil” en su organismo, aunque aún no se conocen los resultados del estudio. También señaló que la mujer aparentaba tener unos 50 años y el hombre tendría entre 20 y 30 años.
Esta tarde, El Ministerio del Interior emitió un comunicado brindando detalles de la denuncia.
Indicaron que, al momento de solicitar a Cutcsa las imágenes que corroboraban el hecho, desde la empresa dijeron que “por un problema técnico del DVR de la unidad de transporte en la que se dieron los hechos, no contaban con imágenes de los mismos, como habían informado anteriormente por las redes”.
Desde el ministerio señalaron también que no era cierto que Cutcsa estuviera colaborando con las autoridades, e informaron que la compañía emitirá un comunicado más tarde, aclarando lo sucedido.
Comunicado del Minsterio del Interior
El pasado sábado 11 de junio, una joven que viajaba en la línea 180 de la empresa CUTCSA, debió ser asistida por el personal del coche de transporte al sentirse mareada luego de intercambiar unas palabras con una pasajera que le exhibió un celular.
Advertida por denuncias -nunca confirmadas hasta hoy- que circularon por las redes sociales, no accedió al pedido de dicha pasajera de ayudarle con su teléfono celular al que tenía en modo seguro sin saber que hacer para operarlo; desconfiando del pedido ni siquiera tocó el aparato a pesar de tener guantes. Sin embargo, dijo sentirse afectada casi de inmediato con mareos, sequedad bucal y naúseas, pidiendo asistencia al personal del coche al que advirtió que creía haber sido víctima de una maniobra para drogarla.
Según su relato, intentó sin éxito hacer una llamada a su familia, dándose cuenta que no podía y se acercó al chofer para solicitar auxilio, quien le dijo que permaneciera en el coche hasta la terminal. Mientras tanto, la pasajera en cuestión y otro individuo se bajaron en 18 y Convención siguiendo la unidad hasta Plaza España, destino final del recorrido.
Una vez en destino, logra llamar a su novio con quien concurre a un centro asistencial para ser examinada. Posteriormente radicó denuncia en la Seccional 3ª sobre las 02:00 del día domingo.
En la tarde de este martes 14 de junio, la empresa CUTCSA difundió una nota hecha llegar por la familia de la víctima, agradeciendo el gesto del personal de la unidad y la asistencia brindada a la joven, destacando al final del mensaje que los hechos habían sido “corroborados” con la tecnología existente en los buses y que estaban “colaborando” con las autoridades para identificar a los responsables.
Sobre esto último hay que mencionar que desde el Ministerio del Interior nos comunicamos con autoridades de la empresa quienes manifestaron que por un problema técnico del DVR de la unidad de transporte en la que se dieron los hechos, no contaban con imágenes de los mismos, como habían informado anteriormente por las redes. Tampoco era correcto que se estuviera colaborando con las autoridades en la identificación de los responsables; CUTCSA emitirá un comunicado oficial aclarando estos extremos.
Las investigaciones están siendo dirigidas por el propio Jefe de Policía de Montevideo, Crio. Mayor (R) Ricardo Pérez, quien impartió directivas a todas las unidades policiales a su cargo para extremar la vigilancia y reportar de inmediato este tipo de situaciones hasta dar con los responsables, dando cuenta a la Dirección General de Represión al Tráfico Ilícito de Drogas y a la Justicia competente de los hechos ocurridos.
In the escalating battle of 2020 Democratic presidential candidates to see who can offer the most free stuff, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has taken the extraordinary step of calling for having the government forgive student loan debt. This pander will not only be incredibly costly, but it will be a slap in the face to those who have already struggled to pay off their student loans without government assistance.
The political logic is understandable for Warren, who has been struggling to break through in polls. Like most other candidates, Warren has promised to deliver free college. But free college doesn’t do much for millennials, who make up a sizable portion of the Democratic electorate. They are already past college age, and mostly are not old enough to have kids nearing college. But what they do have is a mountain of student loan debt, so promising to cancel all of their debt would have a huge impact on their finances.
Right now, more than a third of millennials have student loan debt, and studies have shown that the debt is leading them to delay major life decisions including purchasing a house, saving for retirement, and even getting married and having kids. Total student loan debt is now at $1.6 trillion in the United States, making the money owed high than auto loans and credit card debt and trailing only mortgages in terms of the value of various forms of consumer credit. Unlike other forms of debt that are spread across the whole population, student loan debt is concentrated mostly among younger Americans.
What Warren is proposing is to offer debt cancellation of up to $50,000 to more than 42 million people, or 95% of those with debt. She says that will completely wipe out debt for 75% of borrowers with student loans.
Aside from the cost, which, like her child care proposal, she claims would be covered by her ultra-millionaires tax, the plan would be tremendously unfair to those who have been struggling for years to pay off their student loans.
It’s true, some people may simply earn too little to make a dent in student loans no matter how hard they work and no matter how much they reduce their expenses. But that doesn’t tell the whole story.
There are those who may have taken higher-paying jobs they didn’t necessarily want to pay off loans. And there are those who have cut expenses to the bare bones to pay off loans while watching their friends with similar salaries eat out and travel and de-prioritize paying off loans. Those who were more responsible will feel justifiably enraged at the idea that those who may have been more profligate will now get a bailout from the government.
This is the worst sort of pander from an increasingly desperate politician.
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