LOS ANGELES — In Anaheim, California, Disneyland worker Judy Hart, 62, says she’ll never get the COVID-19 vaccine because it’s “experimental.”
What about masks? Hart wears one while working retail sales at the most magical place on Earth, but nowhere else. “It’s against our freedoms,” she says. “And I’m not some religious weirdo who thinks it’s the mark of the beast.”
After more than 18 months of a pandemic, with 1 of every 545 Americans killed by COVID-19, a substantial chunk of the population continues to assert their own individual liberties over the common good.
This great divide – spilling into workplaces, schools, supermarkets and voting booths – has split the nation at a historic juncture when partisan factionalism and social media already are achieving similar ends.
It is a phenomenon that perplexes sociologists, legal scholars, public health experts and philosophers, causing them to wonder:
At what point should individual rights yield to the public interest? If coronavirus kills 1 in 100, will that be enough to change some minds? Or 1 in 10?
Today, millions of U.S. residents shun vaccines that have proven highly effective, and resist masks that ward off infection, fiercely opposing government restrictions.
Others clamor for regulation, arguing that those who take no precautions are violating their rights – threatening the freedom to live of everyone they expose.
In an online dialogue about the friction between liberty and the greater good, Clare Palmer, a philosophy professor at Texas A&M University, agreed that exercising a freedom to go maskless creates “catastrophic threats to the well-being of others.”
“How much should government constrain citizens’ otherwise rightful activities to lower the risk?” she asked. “We may be entering a period… when countries will need to reassess their willingness to use the law to protect the most vulnerable and to advance the common good.”
No matter where one stands, it puts a new spin on the famous line delivered at America’s founding by Patrick Henry: “Give me liberty or give me death.”
‘An act of defiance’
Seldom in the nation’s past has a culture boundary been so clear-cut, or the clash between personal rights and public welfare been so polarized.
COVID-19 is now killing more than 2,000 Americans each week, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, with new infections topping 60,000 a day for the first time in more than three months. Nearly two-thirds of the nation’s counties are reeling from substantial or high transmission rates as defined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.
Against that backdrop, a striking paradox has evolved: About 99% of America’s COVID-19 deaths today are people who did not get shots. Yet, the unvaccinated – who are more susceptible to infection and more likely to spread the disease – also appear to be most resistant to wearing masks.
While the scientific research is evolving and medical messaging has been muddled, the vaccine has worked beyond expectations – “a huge celebration of effectiveness,” as Johns Hopkins notes – with limited side effects recorded so far.
That means getting shots saves lives.
It also means vaccines could prevent the mutation of more virulent coronavirus strains while hastening a return to economic and social normalcy. So, why do so many turn down the shots and shun masks? Is it a social syndrome that puts self-interest above the common good? Is it a stand for principle? Is it something else?
Michael Sandel, a Harvard professor of government who teaches a course on “ethics in an age of pandemics,” noted in the university’s gazette that mask wearing has emerged as “a new front in the culture wars.”
While covering one’s face is not difficult, mask opponents are driven by another concern: They don’t want government dictating their behavior. Put simply, Sandel said, the resistance is not about public health: “It’s about politics.”
“Even as the pandemic highlights our mutual dependence, it is striking how little solidarity and shared sacrifice it has called forth,” he noted. “The pandemic caught us unprepared – logistically and medically, but also morally. … (It) arrived at just the wrong moment – amid toxic politics, incompetent leadership and fraying social bonds.”
“It’s an act of defiance,” said Steven Tipton, a professor of sociology and religion at Emory University. “‘You can’t make me.’ And I will enact my own freedom even if it kills me and others around me who I love.’”
Tipton co-wrote the book “The Good Society,” describing how America’s institutions have fallen from grace. He is among many who trace this viral distrust a half-century back to President Ronald Reagan’s quote: “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’”
As economic inequities mushroomed and social isolation festered, Tipton said, average Americans came to feel betrayed by government, the marketplace and so-called elites. For them, rejecting science and spurning authorities is a statement of moral outrage rather than an act of selfishness. And that sentiment is encouraged in a social media echo chamber that bonds the disconnected.
In the end, however, COVID-19 has no politics or ethical code. The virus, acting on a principle of proliferation, has killed more than 4.2 million people worldwide – especially now those who didn’t get shots.
The moral, Tipton suggested: “Being a good citizen is being mutually responsible. If you believe in the gospels, wear your mask.”
Mixed messages, lies and confusion
During World War II, the Greatest Generation forged unity with common goals. Americans tended victory gardens to overcome food shortages, volunteered for national defense and made personal sacrifices for the good of the country.
Today, in the face of a pandemic that already has killed more U.S. citizens than the big war, we block one another’s Facebook pages, stage anti-vax protests and in some cases attack one another for requiring or wearing masks.
To be sure, public confusion and discord have been abetted by muddled messages from government and science, compounded by lies and disinformation spewed via social media.
The miscues are legend:
Early in the pandemic, President Donald Trump declared a premature victory over COVID-19 as his chief medical adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci, warned against opening the country too soon. Fauci and the CDC have issued guidance in favor of masks, then against them, and then for them again – in part because the virus itself has morphed.
President Joe Biden last week applied a carrot-and-stick approach, urging local authorities to pay $100 to unvaccinated people who get the shots while announcing that federal employees will face strict testing requirements if they are not vaccinated.
But in the absence of authority or fortitude to impose public health policies, federal leaders have largely deferred to state and local government. The result: a bewildering and inconsistent panoply of policies that vary from one jurisdiction to the next, and may change overnight.
“There’s just been such tremendous inconsistency in communications about this,” said Corey Basch, chair of the public health department at William Paterson University in New Jersey. “I can understand why there are pockets of the population who really don’t want this mandated, and (they) feel distrust.”
A tale of two counties
Consider Los Angeles and Orange counties in California, sibling hotbeds of COVID-19 that form the nation’s largest metro area.
In May, after the Orange County Board of Supervisors announced plans to offer a digital record for residents who have been vaccinated, hundreds of enraged people — leery of a new vaccine —jammed a meeting and denounced what they mistakenly believed was a mandatory COVID-19 passport system.
Jeanine Robbins, 60, of Anaheim, who attended that event, noticed that nearly all the people opposed to vaccination were also maskless. “I think they’re just taking advantage, and they’re putting other people at risk,” Robbins said. “It’s selfishness.”
By contrast, Michael Thomas, a 62-year-old accountant in San Clemente, said he doesn’t believe masks work and he won’t be getting shots because “a person’s immune system will either fight off COVID or it won’t.”
Asked whether his decisions endanger others, Thomas shook his head. “It’s a personal right to do what you want,” he said. “A God-given right.”
Thomas volunteered that he sees COVID-19 as a “war crime,” adding, “The guy who made it – the people who developed the virus – should be brought to justice.”
Asked who he believes created and spread the disease, Thomas said, “I understand Dr. Fauci was intimately involved …” He would not identify his source for that allegation.
According to The Associated Press, a picture circulating on right-wing social media sites, which purportedly shows Fauci with then-President Barack Obama at the Wuhan, China, lab in 2015, was actually taken at the National Institutes of Health in Washington, D.C., during 2014.
In conservative Orange County, plans for digital vaccine recordkeeping were canceled, and there are no generalized mask requirements. But late last month, Disneyland reinstated a mask mandate and announced mandatory coronavirus shots for most employees.
City of the Angels
Barely one month after Gov. Gavin Newsom ended most COVID-19 restrictions in California, declaring that the state was “turning the page on this pandemic,” viral caseloads in Los Angeles County had increased sevenfold.
On July 16, in a push for public safety, the Board of Supervisors reinstated indoor mask requirements. Sheriff Alex Villanueva promptly announced that his deputies would not enforce the measure because it is “not backed by science.”
In the shadow of downtown skyscrapers, Steven Nuñez, 35, mulled the question and allowed that public leaders had no choice but to impose mandates. “We’ve already seen what happens when it’s voluntary,” he noted.
Nuñez, a minister with the International Buddhist Meditation Center, said his theology calls for a balancing of compassion and wisdom, with action based not on personal interests but the welfare of others. “I don’t wear a mask in public because I’m afraid,” he stressed, “but because doing that might keep someone safe.”
‘Typhoid Mary’
In the early 1900s, a domestic cook for wealthy families named Mary Mallon unwittingly infected hundreds of people in New York with the Salmonella typhi bacteria before medical investigators identified her as a superspreader.
Mallon, nicknamed “Typhoid Mary,” refused to be tested and fled from authorities, only to be captured and quarantined. During two years of confinement, she sued the health department. Upon release, she violated an agreement not to resume cooking and worked at a maternity hospital in Manhattan where more people were infected and died.
COVID-19 may be caused by a novel coronavirus, but the legal-ethical issues are not new. And just what constitutes the common good has always been a matter of disagreement.
Plato advocated conduct that promotes social harmony. His student, Aristotle, promoted action allowing individuals to fulfill their human purpose. Thus, the debate proceeded.
When the United States was founded, a Bill of Rights got locked into the Constitution to ensure that personal liberties were protected from a coercive government.
But those freedoms are not limitless. One person’s right to throw a punch stops at another’s nose. If you scream “Fire!” in a crowded theater, it could be a ticket to jail.
“Keep in mind we have seat belt laws,” noted Jessica Berg, law school dean and a professor of bioethics at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio. “We have speed limits.”
When inoculations for smallpox and polio were first mandated in the past century, backlashes erupted, eventually dying as shots eradicated two of the world’s worst scourges. Yet, Berg noted, some batches of the early polio vaccine had devastating side effects.
The question is not whether government should constrain personal liberties in the public interest, she concluded, but when and how. With face masks and vaccinations, Berg allows that constraints should result in the least possible loss of choices and the most respect for liberty.
For example, rather than threats of jail or fines, those who refuse to take precautions might be banned from crowded venues or required to undergo regular testing. The point, Berg said, is to allow for a stand on personal rights by letting people make choices.
“I think if we want to accept the benefits of living in a society,” Berg added, “we also have to accept there are some constraints on individual liberty.”
Pamela Hieronymi, a UCLA professor who specializes in moral philosophy, said COVID-19 has revealed the “trickiness of freedoms.” She described various schools of ethical thought, noting that if someone asked four philosophy professors whether vaccines and masks should be mandated, there likely would be four different answers.
Then she mentioned a book – “Assholes: A Theory” – by colleague Aaron James, which argues that American culture is producing a swarm of annoying, self-righteous people who behave as if they are so special that normal rules do not apply.
More than a lack of civility, Hieronymi said, “we’ve lost sight of the common good.”
Near downtown Los Angeles, social worker Alexandra Sheehy, 37, said she gave birth during the pandemic. As a combat veteran who served in Iraq, she understands that fighting a contagious disease requires a “collective and collaborative effort.”
But she also worries about how conflict, anger and stress are wounding society and individuals. “I’ve learned you can’t control everybody,” Sheehy said. “You can only control how you react.”
The FDA, CDC and American Medical Association have all warned against the use of ivermectin (shown here in India) in treating COVID-19 patients.
Soumyabrata Roy/NurPhoto/Getty Images
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Soumyabrata Roy/NurPhoto/Getty Images
The FDA, CDC and American Medical Association have all warned against the use of ivermectin (shown here in India) in treating COVID-19 patients.
Soumyabrata Roy/NurPhoto/Getty Images
A judge in Ohio has reversed an earlier emergency order that required a hospital to administer ivermectin to a COVID-19 patient against the hospital’s wishes. The anti-parasitic drug is most commonly used in the U.S. as a dewormer in animals.
A previous ruling bya different judge had ordered the hospital, West Chester Hospital near Cincinnati, to administer the drug to a patient after his wife brought suit over the hospital’s refusal to administer a prescription written by an outside doctor.
“After considering all of the evidence presented in this case, there can be no doubt that the medical and scientific communities do not support the use of ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19,” Judge Michael A. Oster wrote in the new ruling, issued Monday.
Ivermectin is used in humans to treat parasites such as lice and the worms that cause river blindness. It is also approved by the Food and Drug Administration for similar use in animals, including as a livestock dewormer and a heartworm preventative for dogs and cats.
At the center of the lawsuit affected by Monday’s order is Jeffrey Smith, who tested positive for the coronavirus in July, court records say.
After Smith was admitted to West Chester Hospital, his condition deteriorated steadily. In mid-July, he was transferred to the intensive care unit. On Aug. 1, he was placed on a ventilator. By Aug. 20, doctors put him in a medically induced coma.
His wife, Julie Smith, contacted Dr. Fred Wagshul, affiliated with the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance, which has lobbied for the use of ivermectin in COVID-19 patients. He is not board certified within any specialty and has not worked at a hospital in 10 years, according to his own testimony.
Wagshul provided a prescription for ivermectin, doing so without having seen Smith and despite lacking medical privileges at West Chester Hospital, court records say.
The hospital refused to administer the drug, saying it would interfere with other medications.
When Julie Smith filed suit, a different judge granted an emergency injunction on Aug. 23 that ordered West Chester Hospital to begin administering 30 milligrams daily for 21 days. The Smiths’ attorney say that Jeffrey Smith’s condition has since improved.
But in another hearing last week, doctors from West Chester Hospital told the court that ivermectin had not helped their patient. Wagshul, testifying on behalf of the Smiths, did not convince the judge otherwise.
“Plaintiff’s own witness … testified that ‘I honestly don’t know’ if continued use of ivermectin will benefit Jeff Smith,” Oster wrote in the ruling.
“While this court is sympathetic to the Plaintiff and understands the idea of wanting to do anything to help her loved one, public policy should not and does not support allowing a physician to try ‘any’ type of treatment on human beings,” the judge wrote.
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Luisa Ortega cree que todo lo derivado de la Asamblea Constituyente supone un “delito de lesa humanidad”.
La fiscal general de Venezuela, Luisa Ortega Díaz, elevó este lunes el tono de sus acusaciones contra el gobierno de Nicolás Maduro, al que acusó de cometer un “delito de lesa humanidad” y de tener “ambición dictatorial”.
Un día después de la elección de los miembros de la controvertida Asamblea Nacional Constituyente, Ortega, convertida en azote del gobierno desde dentro del Estado, aseguró desconocer al nuevo suprapoder, tal y como hace la oposición.
Ortega dijo desconocer “el origen, el proceso y el presunto resultado de la inmoral Constituyente presidencial”.
El Consejo Nacional Electoral (CNE) dijo el domingo que la elección, en la que no participó la oposición, superó los ocho millones de votos, cifra que, al igual que la oposición, la propia fiscal puso en duda.
Ortega denunció la “ambición dictatorial” del gobierno del presidente Nicolás Maduro, que ya ha mostrado su deseo de que la plenipotenciaria Constituyente reforme el Ministerio Público.
Se espera que una de las primera decisiones sea la destitución de la fiscal, que se considera chavista pero es crítica con el gobierno de Maduro.
El gobierno la acusa de “traidora” e “indigna”, de haberse pasado a la oposición y de haber fomentado la impunidad de lo que considera como acciones “terroristas”.
Derechos de autor de la imagen Reuters
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Luisa Ortega fue muy cercana a Hugo Chávez, pero no a Maduro.
El prominente líder oficialista Jorge Rodríguez dijo el domingo que Ortega “ya es pasado”.
Pese a la amenaza que pende sobre ella, se mostró firme: “Me mantengo frente a este Ministerio y no lo voy a abandonar”.
“Estamos ante un delito de lesa humanidad que se ha venido cometiendo de manera sistemática y sostenida desde la convocatoria de la Constituyente presidencial”, denunció Ortega.
La fiscal aseguró que si es destituida llevará las investigaciones de presuntas violaciones de derechos humanos a instancias jurídicas internacionales.
La fiscal dijo que ya ha habido 121 muertos en los cuatro meses de protestas contra el gobierno. Diez de ellos solo en la jornada del domingo.
De los 121, el 25% fueron víctimas de las fuerzas de seguridad, y el 40% cayeron a manos de civiles armados en contra de manifestantes, según los datos de Ortega.
Derechos de autor de la imagen Getty Images
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La jornada de la elección fue el día más cruento de la actual ola de protestas.
La Constituyente podría enconar aún más la polarización que vive un país en crisis económica y política dado que, con el control del oficialismo, tendrá poder absoluto y podrá destituir a la fiscal y disolver el Parlamento, de mayoría opositora.
Ortega cree que lo que busca el gobierno con la Constituyente es “mantenerse en el poder”.
“Poder absoluto en manos de una minoría”
“Veremos un poder absoluto en manos de una minoría, mucho poder pero un grupito detentándolo”, criticó la fiscal, firme defensora de lo que considera como el legado de Hugo Chávez, al que volvió a mencionar en su declaración de este lunes para contraponerlo a la gestión de Maduro.
Ortega anticipó que la plenipotenciaria Constituyente, que estará por encima de cualquier poder del Estado “acabará con el derecho al sufragio”.
“No hay más elecciones, no hay separación de poderes”, agregó.
Este lunes, Estados Unidos calificó abiertamente como “dictador” a Maduro, al que impuso como sanción su congelación de bienes y activos en el país.
Derechos de autor de la imagen AFP
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Sin nombrarlo, Luisa Ortega fue muy crítca con el presidente Nicolás Maduro, al que acusó de una “ambición dictatorial”.
“Todos los derechos políticos están en peligro, estamos ante una ambición dictatorial“, condenó Ortega, que hizo referencia a la severa crisis económica que vive Venezuela, “inimaginable incluso en los países en guerra”.
La fiscal mencionó con sarcasmo que la primera misión de la Constituyente vaya a ser su destitución en lugar de mejorar la situación de un país con carencia de alimentos y medicinas y con la mayor inflación del mundo.
Derechos humanos
Ortega fue especialmente dura ante lo que considera como “patrones de violaciones sistemáticas de derechos humanos”. “Forman parte de una lógica para ejercer el poder sin límite alguno, no es el proyecto de país que proponía Chávez”, afirmó.
La fiscal culpó a la iniciativa de la Constituyente de haber exacerbado la violencia y denunció la “extorsión” a funcionarios para que fueran a votar el domingo.
Derechos de autor de la imagen AFP
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La fiscal atribuye a la fuerzas de seguridad el 25% de las 121 muertes en cuatro meses de protestas.
Ortega anunció que abrió una investigación penal. “Pero si se cumplen las amenazas (de destitución), estoy evaluando acudir a instancias internacionales porque los delitos de lesa humanidad los pueden conocer los organismos internacionales con todo el cúmulo de pruebas para garantizar sanciones a los responsables”, dijo.
Ya varios altos cargos de la Guardia Nacional han sido citados por la fiscalía “por graves violaciones de derechos humanos”.
Odebrecht
Ortega también se refirió al problema de la corrupción, de la que dijo tener más de 36.000 investigaciones. Hizo especial referencia al escándalo del caso de pago de sobornos de la constructora brasileña Odebrecht, en el que también se ha visto implicada Venezuela.
La fiscal dijo que el gobierno de Venezuela pagó a la compañía US$30.000 millones por 11 obras que no se han completado.
Ortega afirmó que el Ministerio Público no será sumiso y se despidió ante el aplauso de los trabajadores de la fiscalía, convertida en bastión de disidencia contra el gobierno de Maduro.
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¿Tiburón o inversor-activista? En cualquier caso, malas noticias para Apple.
“Algunos se vuelven ricos estudiando la inteligencia artificial. Yo hago dinero estudiando la estupidez humana”.
Así es como se define en su cuenta de Twitter el multimillonario Carl Icahn, conocido como uno de los más célebres “inversores-activistas” del mundo, quien acaba de anunciar su retirada de Apple debido a su preocupación por las perspectivas de la compañía en China.
No es poca cosa: en algún punto del año pasado, Icahn fue dueño de 53 millones de acciones en Apple, cerca del 1% del total, por un valor que rondaba los US$6.500 millones.
Aunque el monto de la operación de venta no ha sido revelado, informes señalan que obtuvo unos US$2.000 millones por la transacción.
Difícilmente son buenas noticias para el gigante tecnológico, cuyos resultados financieros esta semana dieron cuenta de una caída del 13% en sus ganancias, atribuida a una disminución en las ventas del iPhone.
En el pasado, un anuncio de compra de acciones por parte de Icahn se traducía en una subida inmediata. Ahora, como podía esperarse, la reacción fue a la baja: al cierre del jueves, habían perdido 3% de su valor.
Image copyright Getty
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Cómo habrá recibido la noticia Tim Cook…
Pero aún más difícil es imaginarse la reacción de Tim Cook, jefe de Apple, cuando Icahn le soltó la noticia de que se iba con su millones a otro lado.
“Lo llamé esta mañana. Me dijo que lo sentía, obviamente. Pero le dije que es una gran compañía“, dijo el inversionista.
China
Tampoco es sencillo evaluar las razones de Icanh para retirarse de Apple.
De acuerdo con lo que le dijo a la cadena estadounidense CBS, le preocupan las barreras que China pueda poner al comercio de los productos de Apple.
Ese país fue uno de los puntos particularmente débiles en el desempeño comercial de la compañía: allí las ventas cayeron un 26%.
“En China, por ejemplo, le van a hacer muy difícil a Apple vender. Podrían, teóricamente, ¿sabes?… Básicamente, en cierta forma son, cómo decirlo, quizás benevolentes, pero en una dictadura benevolente. Aunque no sé si ‘benevolente’ es la palabra correcta”, señaló en la entrevista televisada.
Este mes Pekín cerró los servicios de películas y libros de la tienda de Apple en China, tras la introducción de una ley que exige que todo el contenido que circula en China sea almacenado en servidores dentro de su territorio.
Image copyright AFP
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Icahn estima que las cosas no van a mejorar para Apple en China, donde registró una caída de 26%, según los últimos resultados financieros.
Estos argumentos pesaron más que su apreciación por la compañía, de la que comenzó a comprar acciones en 2013, y de la que era fan declarado.
“En Apple hoy, en contraste a (lo que pasaba) hace seis meses o un año, no hay necesidad de activismo, porque creo que tiene una muy buena gerencia“, señaló.
El inversor activista
¿A qué se refiere con “no hay necesidad de activismo”? ¿Y por qué lo llaman “inversor-activista”?
La respuesta tiene que ver con la manera como se involucra con aquello en lo que invierte, más que con sus ideas respecto a la situación de los derechos humanos en China, por ejemplo.
Este empresario neoyorquino de 80 años, que se inició en los negocios como corredor de bolsa en Wall Street en los años 60 -después de obtener un título universitario en filosofía-, desarrolló una reputación como despiadado “tiburón” financiero tras la compra hostil de varias compañías de alto perfil.
Hoy es el accionista mayoritario de Icahn Enterprises, un holding empresarial con una variedad de intereses, desde la minería hasta los bienes raíces, pasando por la tecnología.
US$18.000
millones es su fortuna estimada, según Forbes (2015)
1978 Fue el año en que comenzó a tomar puestos de control en compañías
2do Es el puesto que ocupa en la lista de Forbes de los 40 dueños de fondos de inversión más ricos del mundo
US$2.000 millones es la suma que habría obtenido por la venta de sus acciones en Apple
Y parte su estrategia para acumular una fortuna estimada en unos US$18.000 millones ha sido tener una actitud beligerante en las empresas en las que ha participado.
En compañías como Apple, Hertz o el conglomerado de entretenimiento Time Warner ha usado su derecho a voto en la junta de accionistas para presionar para que hubiera cambios.
Por ejemplo, en octubre del año pasado exhortó a la multinacional de seguros AIG a dividirse.
“Usted no ha mostrado ningún signo de urgencia y ha escogido una estrategia de ‘ver y esperar’ por años, vacía de un liderazgo decisivo”, le dijo en una carta abierta al jefe de la compañía.
“Es más que obvio que el simple acto de dividir la compañía incrementaría grandemente el valor para los accionistas”.
Por si estos ejemplos no lo dejan claro, el activismo de Icanh no entra en la misma categoría que caracteriza a las organizaciones sin fines de lucro.
De hecho, como argumenta un artículo de la revista Time de 2014, la etiqueta de “inversor-activista” de hoy es otro nombre para los “tiburones” de los 80.
¿Así que estos activistas son de los “buenos” o de los “malos”?
La revista responde citando al bloguero James Kwak:
“En finanzas, rara vez se producen batallas entre buenos y malos. En cambio, tienes batallas de -digamos- avariciosos y corruptos versus avariciosos e implacables”.
A Harvard graduate, Mark Riddell had an uncanny knack for standardized tests, able to calibrate his answers perfectly to get any score.
His mastery made him an invaluable commodity in the college admissions bribery scheme, an SAT and ACT ringer who doctored entrance exams or took the tests on behalf of students at least 25 times, prosecutors said Friday in federal court in Boston. He was paid a total of $240,000, they said.
Riddell, a 36-year-old former tennis pro from Palmetto, Fla., pleaded guilty Friday to two federal felony charges in connection with the nationwide college admissions scandal.
He faces a sentence of 33 to 41 months in prison under sentencing guidelines, and is the latest defendant to plead guilty in the college admissions cheating scheme that helped the children of celebrities and wealthy power brokers get into elite colleges that otherwise may not have accepted them.
Many of the students were unaware of the fraud. But in at least one case, the daughter of a Silicon Valley hedge fund leader was there when Riddell helped her with the SAT, and gloated about it afterward, prosecutors say.
“They celebrated the successful cheating on the car ride to Riddell’s hotel,” Assistant US Attorney Eric S. Rosen told a federal judge Friday.
After his arrest, Riddell was placed on leave from his job as director of college entrance exam preparation at IMG Academy, a private prep school in Florida that coaches elite high school athletes.
Dressed in a navy blue suit and wearing a black scarf, Riddell appeared calm as he sat in US District Court and told Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton that he understood the charges.
“I’m here to plead guilty to fraud for cheating on the SAT and ACT test,” he told the judge.
Riddell admitted to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services fraud, and to conspiracy to money laundering. He was paid $10,000 for each fraudulent test, prosecutors said.
He is slated to be sentenced July 18. His attorney, Benjamin Stechschulte of Florida, said he would not comment on the case.
The scheme was carried out in two ways: Riddell and others would help students cheat on tests, or fix their scores, with the test proctors allegedly having knowledge of the fraud; or, those involved in the scheme would bribe athletic coaches to list potential students as recruits, which could facilitate their admission, even if the student had never played the sport competitively before, and wouldn’t for the college.
The alleged architect, William “Rick” Singer, 58, of California, who authorities say collected $25 million, has already pleaded guilty and is slated to be sentenced on June 19.
Singer is cooperating with investigators and helped unravel the conspiracy. Authorities say he set up a set up fake charitable organizations that collected bribes from wealthy parents, and funneled the money to coaches and others, such as Riddell, who helped falsify test scores.
Earlier this week, 13 parents, including Hollywood actress Felicity Huffman, said they plan to plead guilty to a sole count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
Separately, 16 other parents, including actress Lori Loughlin and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, were indicted this week on money laundering charges.
The parents allegedly paid bribes ranging from $50,000 to $1.2 million.
Prosecutors have said Riddell knew the material in tests well enough, without any advance information, to help students score well, but not so well that the scheme would raise suspicion.
“Just a really smart guy,” US Attorney Andrew Lelling told reporters in March.
He first helped fix a student’s scores in 2011, Rosen said. He traveled to Vancouver, Canada, where he used fake identification and posed as the older son of David Sidoo, a Canadian businessman, to take the son’s SAT test. The son was admitted to Chapman University in California. Another son was admitted to the University of California Berkeley, allegedly with Singer’s help.
Sidoo allegedly paid Singer $300,000. He has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.
The student who allegedly celebrated the cheating with Riddell was the daughter of Elizabeth and Manuel Henriquez, who allegedly paid $450,000 to Singer, for helping to fix the scores for two daughters, and for bribing a Georgetown tennis coach. The couple has been charged with mail fraud and money laundering.
Federal authorities have also charged several people involved in the scheme, including two people who oversaw the SAT and ACT tests in Texas and California, with racketeering.
After Riddell’s arrest last month, he released a statement through his attorney apologizing “for the damage I have done and grief I have caused . . . as a result of my needless actions.”
“I understand how my actions contributed to a loss of trust in the college admissions process,” he said.
“I will always regret the choices I made,” he added. “But I also believe that the more than 1,000 students I legitimately counseled, inspired, and helped reach their goals in my career will paint a more complete picture of the person I truly am.”
Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, who was tapped for the House panel on the Capitol attack, reacts to testimony from the commission’s first hearing.
Four police officers who defended the Capitol from the pro-Trump mob that invaded it on Jan. 6 criticized the former president and Republicans who are loyal to him for allegedly inspiring and then downplaying the attack.
They asked members of the House select committee investigating the events of that day to get to the bottom of their culpability.
“You guys are the only ones we’ve got to deal with crimes that occur above us,” Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Officer Daniel Hodges said. “I need you guys to address if anyone in power had a role in this. If anyone in power coordinated, or aided abetted or tried to downplay, tried to prevent the investigation of this terrorist attack.”
The officers made the comments before a panel with no hostile questioners. Republicans pulled all of their appointees to the committee after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., blocked two of them for being too closely aligned with Trump.
The fact the only Republicans on the committee – Reps. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., and Liz Cheney, R-Wyo. – were selected by Pelosi made for a hearing with little dissent or fireworks. But with graphic body camera video and emotional testimony, the hearing was still gripping and at times jarring television.
U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell left, and U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Harry Dunn stand after the House select committee hearing on the Jan. 6 attack on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, July 27, 2021. (AP Photo/ Andrew Harnik, Pool)
“The mob of terrorists were coordinating their efforts… shouting ‘heave, ho,’ as they synchronized pushing their weight forward crushing me further against the metal doorframe,” Hodges said. “A man in front of me grabbed my baton… he bashed me in the head and face with it, rupturing my lip and adding additional injury to my skull.”
MPD Officer Michael Fanone, meanwhile, detailed how he was “electrocuted again and again and again with a taser. I am sure I was screaming, but I don’t think I could hear my own voice.”
At least two lawmakers – Kinzinger and Rep. Adam Schiff, R-Ill. – were choked up listening to the officers’ testimony.
The committee members, led by Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., asked the police for details on a handful of fronts. Besides aiming to emphasize the severe violence from Jan. 6 – to push back on claims that the attack was like a “normal tourist visit” – they asked the officers for details about who the rioters were, and for what they would like to see the committee accomplish.
U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) Private First Class Harry Dunn talked about how the attackers hurled the N-word at him. USCP Sergeant Aquilino Gonell meanwhile emphasized that the mob “was not Antifa. It wat not Black Lives Matter. It was not the FBI. It was [Trump’s] supporters that he sent them over to the Capitol that day.”
On what he would like the committee to accomplish, Fanone said he wanted it to dig beyond the security failures at the Capitol and the USCP budget – ground he said has already been covered – and ask more fundamental questions.
“While I understand there have been investigations [on] the events of Jan. 6, my understanding is that those have addressed some of the micro-level concerns,” he said.
“We had violent political rhetoric. We had the organization of a rally whose title was ‘Stop the Steal’ and that rally occurred on Jan. 6, which I don’t believe was a coincidence,” he continued. “The circumstances of that rhetoric and those events leads in the direction of our president and other members… of Congress and the Senate.”
Fanone added: “What I am looking for is an investigation into those actions… and also whether there was collaboration between those members, their staff, and these terrorists.”
USCP Private First Class Harry Dunn asked the committee not to shy away from the political causes of the attack.
“It’s not a secret that it was political. They were literally there to ‘stop the steal,’” Dunn said. “Telling the truth shouldn’t be hard.”
The officers were also harsh on Republicans who are downplaying the violence, which forced hundreds of lawmakers and former Vice President Mike Pence into hiding.
“It’s disgraceful that members of our government I believe were responsible for inciting that behavior and then continue to propagate those statements. Things like this was 1776,” Fanone later said. “To me those individuals are representative of the worst that America has to offer.”
U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Harry Dunn testifies during the House select committee hearing on the Jan. 6 attack on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, July 27, 2021. (Jim Lo Scalzo/Pool via AP)
“You’re talking about people who claim that they are pro-law enforcement, pro-police, pro-law and order,” Gonell also said. “And yet when they have the chance and the opportunity to do something about it, to hold people accountable, you don’t. You pass the buck like nothing happened.”
It’s not clear how long the select committee’s investigation will last, although it’s expected to go on for months. Thompson said that there could be another hearing by the committee next month. Punchbowl News reported that Thompson plans to issue promptly issue subpoenas to get witnesses before the committee.
It’s likely those subpoenas will include some congressional Republicans, high-profile Trump allies, and maybe even the former president himself.
Republicans, however, argue that the committee is asking the wrong questions. Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., who was blocked from the committee by Pelosi, said the officers were not asked, “Why were they not prepared for Jan. 6 when there was intelligence… that told them something dangerous was going to happen.”
“This is politically designed by the Democrats to stop Republicans from winning back the majority in the midterm election,” Banks alleged.
Meanwhile, Dunn put the responsibility for the Jan. 6 attack at the feet of Trump and Trump’s allies.
“This wasn’t the first time that… the MAGA people came up here to the Capitol,” Dunn said. “There were some skirmishes but it was never an attempt to overthrow democracy.”
Dunn added: “The only difference that I see in [Jan. 6] is that they had marching orders so to say. When people feel emboldened by people in power, they assume that they’re right.”
Fox News’ Jason Donner and Chad Pergram contributed to this report.
São Paulo – Last Thursday (26th), for the first time in history, Algeria earned a spot in the round of eight of the Fifa World Cup in Brazil. But this is not enough. The team’s striker who scored the goal against Russia and moved the Arab national team into the second round of the tournament, Islam Slimani, has told the website of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) that now he is dreaming of defeating his next rival: Germany, one of the favourites to take the trophy home.
Press Release/Curitiba City Hall
Players celebrate as the game ends
“We came to Brazil with a goal of making it to the second round. Now that we did it, we can be proud, but we will not settle for this. We always want more, and we hope to be able to continue with our dream. I don’t want anyone to wake me up from it,” said Slimani.
This is Algeria’s fourth time in the World Cup. The country has played the editions of 1982, in Spain, 1986, in Mexico, and 2010, in South Africa. In the 1982 World Cup, Algeria beat West Germany 2 to 1. “We know what the victory against Germany in 1982 was like, with players such as Madjer, Assad and Belloumi. We want to follow on their footsteps, because if it has been achieved once, then why not dream about doing it again?,” the striker said.
Algeria qualified for the second round in the second half of the match against Russia, at Arena da Baixada in Curitiba, Paraná. The Arab team had lost to Belgium 2 to 1 on their first game, then defeated South Korea 4 to 2, and could not afford to lose their last game of the first round to Russia. After the latter scored a goal early on in the game, coach Vahid Halilhodzic’s team tied after the Russian goalkeeper made a mistake, 14 minutes into the second half.
“We had support from everyone in the Arab countries, which was wonderful. People here in Brazil have also appreciated our sincerity and enthusiasm, and I take pride in this. But most of all I take pride in how the team has played. Now, everyone will be talking about 1982, when Algeria beat Germany, but 32 years ago is a long time,” Halilhodzic said at the end of the game, according to FIFA.
Germany, with whom Algeria will play for a spot in the round of eight next Monday (30th), in Porto Alegre, finished first in Group G, after defeating Portugal 4 to 0, tying 2 to 2 with Ghana and beating the United States 1 to 0.
Brilliant qualification
Press Release/Curitiba City Hall
Fans party in Curitiba
Algeria’s feat was even lauded by the Algerian president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika. According to news agency APS, he said the Arab team’s achievement has been a “brilliant qualification.”
According to a report released this Friday by the state-owned news agency, on Thursday (26th) Bouteflika sent a message congratulating the players and the management staff. “Your success is neither coincidence nor a gift. It is the result of your good performance, your perseverance and your adequate preparation,” the president said.
Bouteflika also noted that not only the Algerians, but also the fans of African and Muslim countries are supporting the North African team. “I want to express my sincere congratulations. May God almighty be with you so you may be successful in your next round,” he said. After the game ended, fans took to the streets in Algiers, the Algerian capital, and in French cities where Algerian immigrants live.
Our Spanish language channel, NY1 Noticias, reached a milestone Monday.
It was 11 years ago that the channel was launched.
Since then, the Noticias staff has more than doubled in size and its coverage continues to grow.
The executive editor says the station is looking forward to serving the community for many years to come.
“We are so happy to be, and we are so proud to be part of this community for more than 10 years and we’re looking forward for this next decade and providing the same content, the same vital information that our community needs. Our community knows that they have a voice—that they can come here and we’re open 24/7 for them,” said NY1 Noticias Executive Editor Roberto Lacayo.
To check out NY1 Noticias, turn to channel 95 on Time Warner Cable, or channel 194 on Cablevision, or visit ny1 noticias dot com.
A judge ordered the release Wednesday of the Indiana man charged by the feds with acting as the so-called straw purchaser of the gun that killed Chicago Police Officer Ella French — and drew the ire of the city’s top cop.
Prosecutors had said they wanted Jamel Danzy held in custody, and a detention hearing had been set for Wednesday. But when the hearing began, U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Gilbert said lawyers had come to an agreement on conditions for Danzy’s release.
Gilbert then agreed to release Danzy, 29, on terms that included a $4,500 unsecured bond, supervision by court personnel and a warning to have no contact with Eric Morgan, who has been charged along with his brother in state court in connection with French’s death.
Chicago Police Supt. David Brown blasted the decision, which he views as another example of the lax judicial system releasing too many people charged with serious offenses.
“To say that I am extremely disappointed in U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffery Gilbert’s decision to release Jamel Danzy on an unsecured bond today is an understatement,” Brown said in a written statement. “It is an outrage.”
Brown said “the court has done a disservice to Officer French’s memory, to the entire Chicago Police Department, and to the thousands of men and women across the country who work around the clock, day in and day out to stem the violence that is plaguing our communities.”
The Saturday shooting at 63rd Street and Bell Avenue left French dead and her partner in critical condition.
Danzy, who was arrested Sunday, is charged with conspiracy to violate federal firearm laws. His release underscores the uphill battle authorities say they face when prosecuting so-called straw purchasers, who use their clean criminal records to put guns in the hands of people who aren’t supposed to have them.
“[Gilbert’s] decision sets a dangerous precedent that straw purchasers like Danzy are not a danger to society, despite the fact that his alleged actions directly led to the murder of a Chicago Police Officer and left another in critical condition,” Brown said. “The outrageous abundance of illegal firearms in our city and our nation is a major factor driving the violence that is continually cutting short the lives of our loved ones and fellow human beings.”
Straw purchasing has been characterized as a so-called paperwork crime that involves lying on a form. And straw purchasers have clean criminal records by nature, though prosecutors would point out that they use their clean records to commit their crime.
To have Danzy held, the feds would have had to show he is a danger to the community or a flight risk. They signaled during an earlier hearing that part of their argument could have involved at least one other straw purchase he allegedly made. Danzy admitted he also purchased a gun for his cousin, who he knew was a convicted felon, records show.
The criminal complaint filed against Danzy alleges the Honda CR-V stopped by the officers Saturday was registered to Danzy. He was not present at the shooting, it said. Authorities then traced the gun used in the shooting to Danzy.
He allegedly purchased the Glock semi-automatic pistol from a licensed dealer in Hammond on March 18.
Federal agents approached Danzy on Sunday at a Munster restaurant where he works, according to the complaint. He agreed to speak to the agents, and he initially told them his purchase of the gun was legitimate, the document said. Eventually, the feds say he admitted he was lying. He said he bought the gun for Eric Morgan knowing Eric Morgan could not legally purchase it because of a criminal conviction, court records show.
Eric Morgan was previously convicted of felony theft in 2019 in Dane County, Wisconsin, records show. He was sentenced to three years of probation.
Its max sustained winds were 60 mph with higher gusts as it moves toward the northwest near 15 mph.
This general motion is expected to continue through Monday, followed by a turn toward the north-northwest on Tuesday.
On the forecast track, the center of Elsa will approach south-central Cuba late Sunday night and early Monday. Elsa is expected to move across central and western Cuba and head toward the Florida Straits on Monday, and pass near the Florida Keys early Tuesday.
Elsa is then forecast to move near or over portions of the west coast of Florida on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Some strengthening is expected before Elsa moves over Cuba, followed by some weakening while the center moves over land. Slight restrengthening is possible after Elsa moves over the southeastern Gulf of Mexico.
Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 90 miles from the center.
SUMMARY OF WATCHES AND WARNINGS IN EFFECT:
A Hurricane Watch is in effect for:
The Cuban provinces of Camaguey, Granma, and Las Tunas.
A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for:
The Cuban provinces of Camaguey, Granma, Guantanamo, Holguin, Las Tunas, Santiago de Cuba, Ciego de Avila, Sancti Spiritus, Villa Clara, Cienfuegos, Matanzas, Mayabeque, and Havana
The Florida Keys from Craig Key westward to the Dry Tortugas
A Storm Surge Watch is in effect for:
West coast of Florida from Bonita Beach to the Suwannee River
A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for:
Cayman Brac and Little Cayman
The Cuban province of Artemisa
The Florida Keys from east of Craig Key to Ocean Reef
Florida Bay
West coast of Florida from Flamingo northward to the Anclote River
A Tropical Storm Warning means that tropical storm conditions are expected somewhere within the warning area.
A Hurricane Watch means that hurricane conditions are possible within the watch area. A watch is typically issued 48 hours before the anticipated first occurrence of tropical-storm-force winds, conditions that make outside preparations difficult or dangerous.
A Storm Surge Watch means there is a possibility of life-threatening inundation, from rising water moving inland from the coastline, in the indicated locations during the next 48 hours.
A Tropical Storm Watch means that tropical storm conditions are possible within the watch area.
Interests elsewhere in the Florida peninsula should monitor the progress of Elsa. Additional watches and warnings will likely be required Sunday night or early Monday.
WIND: Tropical storm conditions are expected in portions of Jamaica Sunday. Tropical storm conditions are expected and hurricane conditions are possible in portions of eastern and central Cuba later Sunday and Sunday night. Tropical storm conditions are expected in the warning area in the Florida Keys by late Monday. Tropical storm conditions are possible in the watch areas in the Cayman Islands by Sunday night, and in the upper Florida Keys and the southwest coast of Florida by Monday night.
STORM SURGE: A storm surge will raise water levels above normal tide levels by as much as the following amounts in areas of onshore flow within the hurricane watch and warning areas…
Southern coast of Cuba – 3 to 5 feet
The combination of a storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline. The water could reach the following heights above ground somewhere in the indicated areas if the peak surge occurs at the time of high tide:
Bonita Beach to Suwannee River including Tampa Bay – 2 to 4 feet
Flamingo to Bonita Beach – 1 to 3 feet
Ocean Reef to Dry Tortugas including Florida Bay – 1 to 2 feet
Surge-related flooding depends on the relative timing of the surge and the tidal cycle, and can vary greatly over short distances.
RAINFALL: Across portions of southern Haiti and Jamaica, storm total rainfall of 4 to 8 inches with isolated total amounts of 15 inches are expected through Sunday. This rain may lead to scattered flash flooding and mudslides, some of which could be significant.
Across portions of Cuba Sunday into Monday, rainfall of 5 to 10 inches with isolated maximum amounts of 15 inches is expected. This will result in significant flash flooding and mudslides.
Across the Cayman Islands Sunday into Monday, rainfall of 3 to 5 inches is expected. This rain may lead to scattered flash flooding.
Rainfall from Elsa will impact portions of the Florida Keys and Florida Peninsula Monday through Wednesday. Amounts of 2 to 4 inches with localized maximum amounts up to 6 inches will be possible, which may result in isolated flash, urban, and minor river flooding.
TORNADOES: A couple of tornadoes are possible across southern Florida Monday afternoon and Monday night into Tuesday.
SURF: Swells generated by Elsa will spread westward along the coast of Jamaica and the southern coast of Cuba during the next day or two. Swells will increase near the Florida Keys and south Florida early next week.
Attorney General William Barr is expected to release a redacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report in the coming days and conservative attorney George Conway says there’s one key phrase to look for.
“As the report states: ‘[T]he investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.’”
But Conway ― husband of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway ― shared a tweet from former prosecutor and CNN legal analyst Elie Honig that pointed out there was more to that quote:
Conway has been a fierce Trump critic despite his wife’s role at the highest levels of the administration. Last month, the president called him a “total loser” on Twitter and Conway fired back with:
Tuesday, top U.S. military officials publicly acknowledged they advised President Joe Biden to keep 2,500 troops in Afghanistan despite the president’s claim otherwise.
This amid multiple sources confirming extremist organizations such al-Qaeda and ISIS-K are still present in Afghanistan and remain a rising threat to U.S. national security. While Tuesday’s Senate hearing was a productive start to this investigation, I am looking forward to asking General Mark Milley, Secretary Lloyd Austin, and General Kenneth McKenzie questions in Wednesday’s House Armed Services Committee Hearing.
Leading up to the Biden Administration’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, the president touted an “over-the-horizon” capability that would allow the U.S. to identify and eliminate threats from afar. The Biden administration has claimed the U.S. did not need a counterterrorism force in Afghanistan because the U.S. possessed significant intelligence and military capability to attack and eliminate terrorist threats reaching into Afghanistan from other U.S. military locations.
However, Biden’s withdrawal left a gap in intelligence gathering capabilities that has caused targeting decisions to be made with incomplete information, with increased risk and assumptions, and outside the norms of standard protocols. The Administration’s reliance on this counterterrorism strategy demonstrates an inherently faulty decision-making process that on August 29th, led to mistakenly killing an aid worker and his family and has raised questions that Biden must now address.
In the wake of the August 26th ISIS-K suicide attack that killed 13 American service members and dozens of Afghans, President Biden vowed to hunt down those responsible for the bloodshed. The Pentagon has admitted, in an effort to frustrate a subsequent and possibly imminent ISIS-K attack, a pack of U.S. drones surveilled an alleged ISIS safe house and spotted a vehicle implicated in the plot.
During this time, Zemari Ahmadi, an aid worker, apparently drove this very same type of make and model car, though ubiquitous in Kabul, to the compound under surveillance by a U.S. Strike Cell. While now unknowingly under the watchful eye of U.S. intelligence analysts, Ahmadi went about his daily errands to support the feeding of displaced Afghans. Eight hours later, a hellfire missile destroyed Ahmadi’s vehicle, killing him and nine family members, several of whom were children.
So, what went wrong?
Leading up to the strike, the administration admits that the “over-the-horizon” U.S. strike cell hastily analyzed limited available intelligence that alarmingly, but not surprisingly, predicted a second imminent ISIS-K attack during the ongoing chaotic U. S. evacuation at the Karzai Airport.
On the morning of August 29th, this is where Ahmadi began his day, reportedly stopping at the home of his boss, not an ISIS-K hideout. After eight hours, during which Ahmadi apparently visited the offices of a U.S.-based aid group, an Afghan district police station and the homes of several coworkers for pick-up and drop-off, the “over-the horizon” assessment was that Ahmadi’s vehicle contained explosives and supplies for an attack.
More from Opinion
Although initially characterized as a ‘righteous strike,’ by General Milley, against an ‘ISIS facilitator’ that prevented an attack against U.S. forces still on the ground, the Pentagon was forced to admit weeks later that it was wrong.
When considering this admission, one might ask, were standard protocols required to launch a strike compromised? General McKenzie, the CENTCOM Commander, suggested future targeting would be more deliberate and would include increased monitoring, planning and assessment of risk to establish a ‘pattern of life.’ But in the case of Ahmadi, ‘pattern of life,’ confirming his identity and his home as the target, was tragically not established.
Why the short cuts? And who made that call?
Some answers may include the believed imminence of an attack on U.S. forces, still haphazardly evacuating personnel from the nearby airport. However, was the increased risk of uncertainty accounted for in the analysis about this particular car? For Ahmadi, his claimed stop at or near a suspected ISIS-K operation, the loading and unloading of bags and jugs of water into his vehicle, and the proximity of his car to the airport was enough for the Biden Administration’s “over-the-horizon” protocols to seal his fate. Ahmadi’s actions to the Biden Administration were consistent with those of a Terrorist. They are also, obviously, consistent with an international aid worker.
These false assumptions demand answers from the Biden administration. Biden’s false bravado in his capacity to conduct “over-the-horizon” counter terrorism operations puts our Nation at risk and increases the chance that terrorist groups that we cannot see and, therefore, cannot stop, will strike our homeland from Taliban-sanctioned safe harbors in Afghanistan. It also increases the chance that American mistakes will weaken our allies’ willingness to permit U.S. operations that may kill innocent people.
Biden’s assumptions jeopardize the prestige of our military and undermine our reputation for lawful warfare earned with the service of our Nation’s young men and women. Because the White House needed a win, it declared the mistaken strike a “win,” and for weeks, defended its “over-the-horizon” strategy.
But now that we know the full story, it begs the question, what happened to the original target? Was there really a second imminent attack as the Administration claims and, if so, why did it not occur since they got the wrong guy?
Este 30 de junio se registraron varios hechos que captaron la atención de nuestros lectores. ¿Querés saber cuáles son? Te los detallamos a continuación:
“MURIENDO POR CRUZAR,” AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE INCREASING NUMBER OF IMMIGRANT DEATHS ALONG THE BORDER, THIS SUNDAY, AUGUST 3 AT 6 P.M./5 C
Carmen Dominicci and Neida Sandoval present the Telemundo and The Weather Channel co-production
Miami – July 31, 2014 –Telemundo presents “Muriendo por Cruzar”, a documentary that investigates why increasing numbers of immigrants are dying while trying to cross the US-Mexican border near the city of Falfurrias, Texas, this Sunday, August 3 at 6PM/5 C. The Telemundo and The Weather Channel co-production, presented by Noticias Telemundo journalists Carmen Dominicci and Neida Sandoval, reveals the obstacles immigrants face once they cross into US territory, including extreme weather conditions, as they try to evade the border patrol. “Muriendo por Cruzar” is part of Noticias Telemundo’s special coverage of the crisis on the border and immigration reform.
“‘Muriendo por Cruzar’” dares to ask questions that reveal the actual conditions undocumented immigrants face as they try to start a new life in the United States,” said Alina Falcón, Telemundo’s Executive Vice President for News and Alternative Programming. “Our collaboration with The Weather Channel was very productive. They have a unique expertise in covering the impact of weather on people’s lives, as we do in covering immigration reform and the border crisis. The result is a compelling documentary that exposes a harrowing reality.”
“Muriendo por Cruzar” is the first co-production by Telemundo and The Weather Channel. Both networks are part of NBCUniversal.
Image caption
Corea del Sur detectó el lanzamiento de los misiles de Corea del Norte, pero estos no iban dirigidos a ningún objetivo específico. (Imagen de archivo)
Corea del Norte lanzó seis misiles de corto alcance hacia el mar de su costa este en la madrugada de este jueves (hora local).
La acción, que fue detectada por el ejército de Corea del Sur, se llevó a cabo horas después de que el Consejo de Seguridad de la ONU autorizó nuevas sanciones en contra de Pyongyang.
Según medios de Corea del Sur, los proyectiles ascendieron unos 150 km antes de caer al mar y no parecían tener un objetivo específico.
Los observadores aseguran que es probable que se incrementen las tensiones en la península coreana después de las sanciones, que fueron impuestas en respuesta a la prueba nuclear que Corea del Norte realizó en enero y al lanzamiento de un cohete en febrero.
Samantha Power, la embajadora de Estados Unidos ante la ONU, afirmó que los castigos definidos por esta nueva resolución son los más severos que se han impuesto en 20 años.
Un funcionario surcoreano le dijo a la agencia de noticias oficial Yonhap que los proyectiles fueron disparados a alrededor de las 10.00 hora local desde Wonsan, en la costa este del país.
Indicó que se trataba de cohetes o misiles guiados.
Más tensiones
El corresponsal de la BBC en Seúl, Steve Evans, afirma que el lanzamiento de misiles es visto en Corea del Sur como una señal de indignación y desafío de Corea del Norte.
“Y se espera lleven a cabo más lanzamientos”, agrega.
“Es un ritual que se ha llevado a cabo muchas veces en el pasado que resulta en un incremento de tensiones. En este caso, después de la prueba nuclear y lanzamiento del cohete a principios de año siguió la clausura de un complejo industrial conjunto y las sanciones de la ONU”, afirma el corresponsal.
La próxima semana se llevarán a cabo los ejercicios conjuntos regulares entre Corea del Sur y EE.UU.
“Cada año, cuando esto ocurre, Corea del Norte manifiesta mucha indignación” -señala Steve Evans- “y afirma que están practicando para llevar a cabo una invasión”.
“Este año habrá mucho más tensión. La retórica de Pyongyang ha sido temible. Los medios estatales han vinculado a la presidenta surcoreana con un ‘murciélago que vive en una cueva sórdida’. Dicen que ella ‘se levantaría la falda’ por los estadounidenses”.
“Ante todo esto, la gran pregunta ahora es si Corea del Norte realizará una quinta prueba nuclear”, afirma el corresponsal de la BBC.
Según los observadores es difícil predecir si esto ocurrirá.
La cuarta prueba nuclear surgió de la nada. Corea del Norte logró esconder todos los preparativos y podría estar llevando a cabo nuevamente el trabajo de forma encubierta bajo los entrometidos ojos de los satélites.
Nuevas sanciones
Image copyright Naciones Unidas
Image caption
La ONU también ha prohibido la venta de armas ligeras a Corea del Norte.
Las nuevas sanciones prevén, entre otras medidas, que todos los cargamentos que reciba la nación liderada por Kim Jong-un sean inspeccionados para verificar que no haya materiales que pudieran utilizarse para su programa balístico y nuevas limitaciones a sus exportaciones e importaciones.
Además, se agregan 13 personas a la lista de individuos que tienen prohibido viajar y cuyos activos quedan congelados.
Se espera que la tensión en la península coreana aumente a causa de estas sanciones.
Los medios norcoreanos ya han atacado verbalmente a la presidenta de Corea del Sur, Park Geun-hye, a la que han descrito como un “murciélago que vive en una sucia cueva”.
Image caption
Maduro anuncio también reformas en el sistema de control de precios.
El presidente de Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, anunció este miércoles una devaluación de la moneda, una flexibilización del control de cambios y una subida en el precio de la gasolina por primera vez en 20 años.
Maduro dijo en una intervención televisada que el precio del litro de 91 octanos pasará a ser de 1 bolívar y el de 95 octanos, que representa un 70% del mercado, se venderá a 6 bolívares.
Eso equivale a US$0,10 y US$0,60 si se calculan a la tasa de cambio oficial fija, que también el presidente anunció será devaluada para pasar a ser de 10 bolívares por dólar.
Sin embargo, el precio es mucho menor si se toman en cuenta los más de 1.000 bolívares a que se cambia el dólar en el mercado negro.
El nuevo sistema de precios de la gasolina entrará en vigor este viernes 19 de febrero en las 1.600 bombas de gasolina del país.
Image copyright Isabella Saturno
Image caption
En la capital del país, Caracas, los ciudadanos acudieron a comprar gasolina preocupados por la anunciada subida.
La última vez que el gobierno venezolano subió el precio de la gasolina fue en 1996.
Sectores de la oposición han rechazado lo que consideran un “paquetazo”, pues dicen que el pueblo ha sido castigado por los errores del gobierno.
El sistema de cambio de divisas pasa de tener tres a dos tasas oficiales, pero analistas dicen que su funcionalidad y éxito solo dependerá de cómo se maneje y de la cantidad de dólares que le asignen.
Además de la crisis económica interna, marcada por el déficit fiscal y los desequilibrios económicos, Venezuela se ha visto fuertemente impactada por la caída del precio del petróleo, su principal fuente de divisas.
Aunque medidas de este estilo habían sido propuestas por analistas financiaros hace casi dos años, el gobierno las había pospuesto debido a su alto impacto político y social.
Recuerdos del “Caracazo”
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El nerviosismo se empieza a sentir en las gasolineras de Caracas.
El asunto sigue siendo políticamente muy delicado por el recuerdo del “Caracazo”, la ola de protestas contra el alto costo de la vida duramente reprimida en 1989 y que tuvo como uno de sus detonantes la subida del precio de la gasolina.
A pesar de la subida, la gasolina venezolana sigue siendo una de las más baratas del mundo.
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Análisis, Daniel Pardo, BBC Mundo, Caracas
El aumento de la gasolina de 1,328% y 6,085% es histórico por lo que generó la misma medida en 1989.
Pero en esta oportunidad, tras una ambiciosa campaña publicitaria de dos años del gobierno para justificar el aumento, es poco probable que se produzcan escenarios similares a los del “Caracazo”.
Si bien muchos venezolanos apoyan la medida, la mayoría va a ver que su gastos, ya altos debido a la inflación, aumentarán aún más.
El venezolano crítico del gobierno puede entender la necesidad del aumento del gasolina, pero le indigna verse afectado por medidas que buscan sanar lo que consideran errores de la revolución.
Si antes llenar el tanque de un carro en Venezuela costaba lo mismo que una menta, ahora cuesta lo mismo que dos cervezas en lata.
El aumento, así como la devaluación también anunciada por Maduro, pueden ayudarle al gobierno a financiar el déficit fiscal, que agencias financiera estiman en más de 20% y es un detonante de la ya disparada inflación.
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Algunos analistas creen que la caída del precio del petróleo, entre otros factores, exigían medidas más radicales.
Sin embargo, analistas dicen que la caída del precio del petróleo, el estancamiento de la producción nacional y las diferentes deudas con proveedores extranjeros exigían un conjunto de medidas aún más radical, por lo que el anunciado dicen que puede ser insuficiente.
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Sistema cambiario
Maduro además anunció cambios en el sistema de control de cambios en el que hasta ahora vienen funcionando en paralelo tres tasas oficiales, junto a la del mercado negro.
A partir de ahora, el esquema se manejará bajo dos bandas: una protegida y otra en un sistema complementario flotante.
El mandatario habló del Plan Nacional de Divisas convertibles con el que la tasa del llamado Sistema Marginal de Divisas (Simadi) pasará a ser “flotante”.
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