A man suspected of involvement in a mysterious dissident groups February raid on North Koreas Embassy in Madrid was arrested in Los Angeles by U.S. authorities.
Christopher Ahn, a former U.S. Marine, was arrested and charged Friday, according to a person familiar with the matter. The specific charges against Ahn were not immediately clear.
The person could not discuss the matter publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
Separately, on Thursday, federal agents raided the apartment of Adrian Hong, a leader of the Free Joseon group, the person said. Hong was not arrested.
Free Joseon, also known as the Cheollima Civil Defense group, styles itself as a government-in-exile dedicated to toppling the ruling Kim family dynasty in North Korea.
The group said it consists of North Korean defectors living in countries around the world, but that it has not worked with or contacted defectors living under tight security in South Korea.
Lee Wolosky, a lawyer for the group, said in a statement that he was dismayed that the U.S. Department of Justice has decided to execute warrants against U.S. persons that derive from criminal complaints filed by the North Korean regime.
The last U.S. citizen who fell into the custody of the Kim regime returned home maimed from torture and did not survive, Wolosky said, referring to college student Otto Warmbiers 2017 death.
We have received no assurances from the U.S. government about the safety and security of the U.S. nationals it is now targeting, he added.
A Spanish police investigator in the case told The Associated Press in Madrid on Saturday that Ahn was identified by the Spanish police at a later stage of its investigation into the Feb. 22 raid and that an international arrest warrant was also issued against him.
Thats in addition to warrants issued for the other suspects named last month in Spanish court documents.
The investigator, who spoke under condition of anonymity given the sensitivities of the case, said that because of judicial secrecy, he couldnt confirm how many arrest warrants had been issued by Spanish authorities beyond the two initially confirmed.
A Spanish judge said an investigation uncovered evidence that a criminal organization shackled and gagged embassy staff before escaping with computers, hard drives and documents.
Cheollima said on its website that it was responding to an urgent situation at the embassy and was invited onto the property, and that no one was gagged or beaten.
The group said there were no other governments involved with or aware of our activity until after the event.
The Spanish court report said the intruders urged North Koreas only accredited diplomat in Spain, So Yun Sok, to defect.
In March 2017, the group said it had arranged the escape of Kim Han Sol, the son of Kim Jong Nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who was assassinated at a Malaysian airport earlier that year.
The Cheollima website said the group shared certain information of enormous potential value from the raid with the FBI, under mutually agreed terms of confidentiality.
According to the Spanish court report, Hong flew to the United States on Feb. 23, got in touch with the FBI and offered to share material and videos. The report didnt say what type of information the items contained or whether the FBI accepted the offer.
The FBI said its standard practice is to neither confirm nor deny the existence of investigations.
Jared Kushner spoke about Russian election interference during the TIME 100 Summit 2019 in New York City.
Brian Ach/Getty Images for TIME
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Brian Ach/Getty Images for TIME
Jared Kushner spoke about Russian election interference during the TIME 100 Summit 2019 in New York City.
Brian Ach/Getty Images for TIME
In a rare public appearance on Tuesday, Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and one of his closest advisers, said that the multiple investigations into Russian election interference have been more harmful to American democracy than the original interference itself.
“The whole thing is just a big distraction for the country,” Kushner said at a Time Magazine event in New York City. “You look at what Russia did — buying some Facebook ads to try and sow dissent. And it’s a terrible thing, but I think the investigation and all the speculation that’s happened over the past two years has had a much harsher impact on our democracy.”
In describing Russia’s efforts leading up to the 2016 election, Kushner emphasized what he called the relatively small amount of money Russian agents spent advertising on social media.
“They said they spent $160,000. I spent $160,000 on Facebook in three hours during the campaign,” Kushner said. “If you look at the magnitude of what they did and what they accomplished, I think the ensuing investigations have been way more harmful to our country.”
Fact check: Were Facebook ads the extent of Russian election interference?
The short answer: No.
The long answer: The redacted version of Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller’s report revealed a years-long plot by the Russian government to interfere in the U.S. that investigators called “sweeping and systemic.”
As to the amount of money expended on Facebook ads, the company said Russian operatives did spend less than $200,000 on advertising on the platform — but that doesn’t account for the organic content the operatives created and shared.
Not only were influence specialists within Russia’s “Internet Research Agency” purchasing normal advertisements, they were authoring their own posts, memes and other content as they posed as American users.
They also reached out to real politically active Americans, posing as like-minded supporters, and helped organize rallies and other events in the real world.
Facebook says the IRA may have reached as many as 126 million people. Separately, Twitter announced that about 1.4 million people may have been in contact with IRA-controlled accounts.
The social media aspect of the interference was just one dimension. Cyber-attackers also went after political victims in the United States — whose emails and other data were released publicly to embarrass them — and state elections officials and other targets. And there may have been other avenues of interference as well.
The origins of the scheme
Russian operatives lied to get into the U.S. as early as 2014 on “intelligence-gathering missions.” They traveled across the country to get the lay of the land before ramping up efforts to try to interfere with American politics.
By September 2016, two months before the U.S. presidential election, the IRA was working with an overall monthly budget that reached over $1.25 million. It employed hundreds of employees, a graphics department, a data analysis department, a search-engine optimization department, an IT department and a finance department, according to an indictment filed last year by Mueller’s team.
And it hasn’t stopped.
The U.S. military reportedly blocked the Internet access of the IRA during last year’s midterm elections to keep it from interfering with the midterm election. U.S. Cyber Command also targeted Russian cyber operatives, according to a report by The New York Times, with direct messages letting them know that American intelligence was tracking them.
And in October, a Russian woman was accused, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court, with conspiring to sow discord and division in the U.S political system.
That conspiracy, the complaint said, “continues to this day.”
El uso de mentiras y calumnias no es nuevo. Es tan viejo como la humanidad. La información siempre ha sido fuente de poder. Su manipulación tienen muchos nombres: guerra sucia, noticias falsas (fake news) o trascendidos.
En la era de lo instantáneo, los chismes y las infamias se mezclan, selectivamente, con trozos de verdad para disponer, al fragor de las batallas políticas, de municiones y morteros para ganar la guerra en el despiadado juego de la política. Lo que es notable, en torno a un tema tan trillado, es que el papa Francisco, fiel a su estilo franco y directo, aborde sin ambages este fenómeno creciente: la difusión masiva de noticias falsas.
El pontífice apuntó: los medios que se centran en los escándalos y difunden información incorrecta para difamar, especialmente a los políticos, cometen “pecados”.
“Los medios de comunicación tienen sus propias tentaciones. Pueden ser tentados por la calumnia y ser usados, por tanto, para difamar a la gente y calumniarla, sobre todo, en el mundo de la política”, sentenció.
En declaraciones al semanario católico belga Tertio, el argentino dijo que expandir la desinformación es, probablemente, el mayor daño que pueden hacer los medios a la democracia.
Al utilizar las redes para este objetivo, todos nos transformamos, figurativamente, en presas cautivas de la coprofilia, patología que genera gusto y excitación por los excrementos. Nos transmutamos en coprófagos, encontrando un placer pervertido al comer heces.
Consciente de lo escatológico de su analogía, el Papa ofreció disculpas por recurrir a estos conceptos, al responder a un cuestionamiento sobre el uso adecuado de los medios en el debate político. “Creo que los medios deben ser muy claros, muy transparentes, y, sin intención de ofender, no caer en la enfermedad de la coprofilia, que es querer cubrir siempre escándalos y cosas desagradables, incluso aunque sean verdaderas”. El segmento anterior, que fue repartido a la fuente del Vaticano con una traducción italiana de la entrevista, realizada en español por el propio Papa, se da en el lenguaje más duro y frontal jamás usado por Francisco para referirse a los medios de comunicación. Lo descrito no debería extrañarnos ya que la noticia falsa de mayor impacto en las redes sociales este año giró en torno a su persona. La web WTOE 5 News publicó un artículo durante la campaña electoral en EU en el que señalaba que el Papa había respaldado a Trump en su camino a la presidencia.
Dicha invención fue compartida por miles de usuarios, no obstante de ser una mentira flagrante. Manipulaciones similares, involucrando al propio Trump y a su rival Clinton, se reprodujeron durante la contienda electoral, generándose una neblina de confusión sin precedente. Así, la veracidad de la información y la incapacidad de los ciudadanos para distinguir la verdad de la mentira, se ha transformado en un reto formidable para el periodismo en el siglo XXI.
BALANCE
Garantizar información fidedigna resulta cada vez más difícil ante los torrentes de datos que con velocidad incomparable fluyen en redes sociales, indómitas e ingobernables.
Inundados por reality shows, blogs, tuits, Facebook posts y snapchats, los consumidores de contenidos, vamos desarrollando un apetito insaciable por información vistosa, de dudosa reputación, con controles de veracidad lentos y defectuosos. Atender este fenómeno, sin vulnerar la libertad de expresión, es central para conservar la buena salud de la democracia en la era de lo instantáneo. Sin duda, un periodismo sin concesiones es la mejor medicina para tan escandalosa enfermedad.
*Secretario para el Fortalecimiento de la Democracia de la OEA. Los puntos de vista son a título personal. No representan la posición de la OEA.
As many states move toward reopening after a horrific April that saw nearly 60,000 deaths because of the coronavirus, a new report offers a stark warning: A group of experts has concluded the pandemic could last as long as two years, until 60% to 70% of the population is immune.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump is scheduled to leave the White House on Friday for the first time in a month to travel to Camp David, one day after the expiration of federal social distancing guidelines.
Our live blog is being updated throughout the day. Refresh for the latest news, and get updates in your inbox with The Daily Briefing.
Here are the most important developments Friday on the coronavirus pandemic.Scroll down for the latest updates.
Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, suggested social distancing could continue in some form through the summer as the White House quietly allowed official guidelines to expire. Meanwhile, a new report warns the pandemic could last up to two years, until the world hits the threshold for herd immunity.
Trump said Thursday he’s seen evidence suggesting the new virus originated in a Chinese virology lab. The president didn’t provide the evidence, but his top national intelligence official said the virus was not man-made or genetically modified, as scientists have concluded. The intelligence community “will continue to rigorously examine” the virus’ origin, the national intelligence director’s office said.
Some positive news today: If you’re a fan of “Parks and Recreation,” then you must catch the show’s quarantine special. It’ll make you laugh, cry and sing for Lil Sebastian.
The U.K. may be forced to create a national unity government to end the impasse over Britain leaving the European Union, as Prime Minister Theresa May clings to the Brexit divorce agreement that Parliament has rejected three times, a senior Conservative suggested Saturday.
Former Education Secretary Nicky Morgan’s comments came a day after the House of Commons rebuffed the prime minister’s call for lawmakers to “put aside self and party,” sending her Brexit deal to its latest defeat. The rejection leaves the U.K. facing the stark prospect of a chaotic departure from the EU in just two weeks — unless squabbling politicians can put aside their differences and engineer a long delay in the process of leaving the bloc.
The British Parliament will vote Monday on a variety of Brexit alternatives in an attempt to find an idea that can command a majority. But May’s government is considering a fourth vote on her deal, bolstered by their success in narrowing her margin of defeat to 58 votes Friday from 230 votes in January.
“If the government refused and Theresa May felt she could not implement what Parliament had identified as a way of leaving the EU, then I think we would have to think very hard about whether a cross-party coalition … could do that in order to make sure that the U.K. does leave the EU in an orderly fashion,” Morgan told the BBC.
Britain has in the past had national unity governments in times of national crisis, such as World War II. But critics point out that such coalitions were forged when there was a single goal — such as defeating Nazi Germany. It is unclear now how Britain’s political parties would agree to cooperate on an issue like Brexit, which has split the country and its two major political parties, May’s ruling Conservatives and the opposition Labour Party.
As a result of Friday’s vote, the U.K. is now scheduled to leave the EU on April 12, regardless of whether the two sides have reached an agreement to cushion the impact. That has led to concerns about crippling tariffs, border gridlock and shortages of food and medicines.
EU officials have suggested, however, they may agree to a lengthy delay to Britain’s departure from the bloc if U.K. politicians agree on a plan.
The House of Commons on Wednesday began the process of debating alternatives to the prime minister’s deal but rejected all eight proposals they considered. Two ideas, a customs union with the EU and a second referendum on any deal, achieved significant support. Lawmakers are expected to hold a second round of votes Monday on Brexit proposals.
Hilary Benn, a Labour Party lawmaker who chairs Parliament’s Brexit committee, dismissed criticism that the parliamentary process was a failure because it didn’t deliver a majority in the first round of voting. Benn said he hopes the latest defeat for May’s deal will “concentrate minds” and help build a clear majority for one of the Brexit options.
“Since it took 2 3/4 years for the government to get what it had negotiated defeated three times, it’s a little bit harsh on Parliament, when it started the process last Wednesday, for not having immediately solved the problem in 24 hours,” Benn said. “So I think a little bit more time is a perfectly reasonable thing to provide as we try and find a way forward.”
While Benn and Morgan are pushing for compromise, others are demanding that the Conservative-led government not cave in.
Some hard-line Conservative Party lawmakers have written to May insisting that she not agree to a Brexit extension beyond May 22, which would force the U.K. to take part in the May 23-26 European Parliament elections, The Sun newspaper reported. The letter, signed by 170 members of the prime minister’s party, called on May to bring her deal back to Parliament for a fourth vote, with the threat of a general election if it is rejected again, the newspaper said.
Brandon Lewis, a Cabinet member and chairman of the Conservative Party, said he was aware of the letter, though he had not seen the final text or the signatures.
“We should be doing everything we can to leave the European Union in good order as quickly as we can, as we said in our manifesto and as we’ve said to Parliament,” Lewis said. “I think the deal is the right way to do that.”
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Follow AP’s full coverage of Brexit at: https://www.apnews.com/Brexit
Insight from Fox News medical contributor Dr. Marc Siegel.
The commutation of Roger Stone’s sentence may have more profound legal implications, and the Redskins changing their name may have more cultural significance.
But the escalating warfare between President Trump and Anthony Fauci may well have a more immediate impact on the pandemic that is increasingly devastating our country.
While it’s easy to cast this as merely a media-generated feud, it represents a fundamental clash over how to handle the coronavirus that keeps breaking records, rather than fading with the July heat, as the administration once predicted.
To be sure, the charge that the White House has done an “oppo dump” on Fauci is rather overblown. To me, that signifies a stealthy handoff of documents or encoded digital communication to get dirt into the hands of reporters. The Trump team is just stabbing Fauci in the front.
And they’re doing it by pointing to his past public statements, which are obviously fair game.
Behind the scenes, the president hasn’t spoken to Fauci in more than a month.
Make no mistake, the president is the decision-maker and Fauci is a medical expert who, by his own account, is not in charge of setting policy. Still, the 79-year-old doctor, who has been part of the government’s infectious disease agency since the Reagan administration, is widely respected, and part of his job is to work on a vaccine.
For an administration that has been accused of ignoring science, this seems somewhat petty. But there is an important clash here: Fauci casts himself as a truth-teller, and Trump wants to control the administration’s message, which is that the pandemic is under control and things will be getting better.
That, admittedly, is a harder sell when the number of new daily Covid-19 cases surged past 66,000 heading into the weekend, and Florida broke the single-day record for a state on Sunday with more than 15,000 cases. And it comes at a time when the president is pressuring governors, with a threatened funding cutoff, to physically reopen the nation’s schools in September.
What the White House has done, among other things, is basically kept Fauci off television. “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan told viewers she’s been trying to book him for three months. The coronavirus task force briefings have become infrequent, handed off to Mike Pence and moved out of the White House, and Fauci’s schedule was such that he couldn’t attend the last one.
Instead, he’s been doing podcasts and print interviews, such as one in which he told the Financial Times: “I have a reputation, as you have probably figured out, of speaking the truth at all times and not sugar-coating things. And that may be one of the reasons why I haven’t been on television very much lately.”
The Washington Post reports that White House communications aides did approve appearances by Fauci on the PBS “NewsHour,” “Meet the Press” and a CNN town hall. But those were canceled after Fauci did a Facebook Live event with Democratic Sen. Doug Jones and disputed Trump’s assertion that the country’s lower death rate was a sign of progress, calling that a “false narrative.”
“Our bigger issue with Fauci is stop critiquing the task force . . . and try to fix it,” an administration official told the Post.
Trump, for his part, has called Fauci “a nice man, but he’s made a lot of mistakes.”
Which brings us to the official counterattack.
“Several White House officials are concerned about the number of times Dr. Fauci has been wrong on things,” says a statement sent by the White House to reporters.
The Post says this “included a lengthy list of the scientist’s comments from early in the outbreak. Those included his early doubt that people with no symptoms could play a significant role in spreading the virus…They also point to public reassurances Fauci made in late February, around the time of the first U.S. case of community transmission, that “at this moment, there is no need to change anything that you’re doing on a day-by-day basis.”
Sure he’s made some missteps, Fauci’s supporters say. But when he downplayed the need for masks early on, it was because he was worried about a shortage and wanted to keep them for health care workers.
The New York Times, in picking up the story yesterday, said the White House left out Fauci’s words, in an NBC interview, immediately after his “no need to change anything” comment:
“Right now the risk is still low, but this could change. When you start to see community spread, this could change and force you to become much more attentive to doing things that would protect you from spread.”
Asked yesterday by CNN’s Jim Acosta why the White House was “trashing” Fauci, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the statement came in response to the Post’s questions and the two men “have always had a very good working relationship.”
The president has mentioned Fauci’s high approval ratings. A Times poll last month found that 67 percent of Americans trusted Fauci on Covid-19, while 26 percent trusted Trump.
If Fauci was a political appointee, he’d probably have gone the way of Jeff Sessions, Jim Mattis and John Bolton by now. But as a career civil servant, he can’t be fired. So the White House is clearly sidelining him instead.
It’s a shame the two men, despite their contrasting styles, can’t find a way to work together, as this is a distraction in the war on their common enemy: the virus itself.
Footnote: President Trump has retweeted the following missive from game show host Chuck Woolery:
“The most outrageous lies are the ones about Covid 19. Everyone is lying. The CDC, Media, Democrats, our Doctors, not all but most ,that we are told to trust. I think it’s all about the election and keeping the economy from coming back, which is about the election. I’m sick of it…There is so much evidence, yes scientific evidence, that schools should open this fall. It’s worldwide and it’s overwhelming. BUT NO.”
The U.S. State Department confirmed on Wednesday it had ordered China to close its consulate in Houston, Texas, prompting Beijing to insist on firm countermeasures unless Washington immediately reverses its decision.
The move comes as political tensions between the world’s two largest economies continue to escalate.
U.S. State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said the directive to close China’s Consulate General Houston had been made to protect American intellectual property and the private information of its citizens.
The Vienna Convention states diplomats must “respect the laws and regulations of the receiving State” and “have a duty not to interfere in the internal affairs of that State,” Ortagus continued.
She added that Washington would not tolerate the People’s Republic of China’s violations of U.S. sovereignty and intimidation of our people, just as we have not tolerated the PRC’s unfair trade practices, theft of American jobs, and other egregious behavior.
China has since condemned the decision, warning of firm countermeasures if the U.S. failed to urgently rescind the order.
“The unilateral closure of China’s consulate general in Houston within a short period of time is an unprecedented escalation of its recent actions against China,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a daily news briefing, Associated Press reported.
The U.S. has given China three days to close the consulate in the Texas city, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said.
Detail of a scarf print from the Beyond Buckskin Boutique. Photo courtesy of shop.beyondbuckskin.com. Download Full Image
Morris said by spearheading innovative partnerships and leveraging resources from ASU, tribes and community organizations, she hopes that Inno-NATIONS will create a “collision community,” causing a ripple effect of economic change in tribal communities.
Both events are free and take place at The Department in downtown Phoenix.
Inno-NATIONS will also launch a three-day pilot cohort with approximately 20 Native American businesses starting in June.
“Beyond Buckskin” features Jessica Metcalfe, a Turtle Mountain Chippewa, Dartmouth graduate and entrepreneur, who grew a small online store into a successful boutique on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in North Dakota.
The store promotes and sells Native American-made couture, streetwear, jewelry, and accessories from more than 40 Native American and First Nations artist, employing tribe members from the Turtle Mountain community.
ASU Now spoke to Metcalfe to discuss her work.
Jessica Metcalfe
Question: We’ve seen Native American fashion emerge and evolve. How did you get into the business?
Answer: I was writing my master’s thesis in 2005 and my advisor at the time had told me about some research she had done, which looked at Native American fashion in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. She had wondered if I was interested in picking up where her research left off. I looked into it and found that there were these breadcrumbs, little bits here in there, that something had been going on in the past 60-70 years, but hadn’t been looked at as a collective movement.
Through my doctoral dissertation, what I discovered was that Native American fashion has gone through waves of acknowledgements by the broader public, but what we’re experiencing now is perhaps the biggest wave yet.
You have designers like Patricia Michaels out at New York’s Style Fashion Week and the Native Fashion Now traveling exhibit touring the country, so there’s really a lot of exciting things happening lately. It’s coming from a collective movement. Designers basically grouping together to share costs but also to put together more events to cause a bigger ruckus.
Q: How did you build your online store into a brick-and-mortar business?
A: I first launched a blog in 2009 as an outlet for my dissertation research, and wanted to share it with more people and to also get more stories and experiences. My readers kept asking where could they see and buy these clothes? At that time, there wasn’t an easy way to access functions like a Native American Pow Wow or market in order to do that.
I had established a rapport with designers through my research and writing. They saw what I was doing through the blog and then a question popped into my head. “How would you feel about creating a business together?” There were 11 initial designers who said they needed the space, and I worked with them to sell their goods online. We just now opened our design lab on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation. We are creating a system where we can meet demand and maximize a need in Indian Country.
We employ Native Americans from ages 15 to 22. There aren’t a whole lot of opportunities for people that age on the reservation. They either work at the grocery store or the gas station. One of them is interested in film and photography and so they run our photo shoots. Another person is interested in business entrepreneurship, and they get to see how an idea goes from concept to execution.
Q: The subtext is that this isn’t just about fashion but, history, representation and cultural appropriation?
A: Our clothing is just more than just objects. It’s about how the material was gathered, what the colors represent, what stories are being told and how does that tie into our value system. One of the things I often discuss is the Native American headdress. Our leaders wear them as a symbol of their leadership and the dedication to their communities. These stories are a way to share our culture with non-Natives and protect our legacy for future generations.
Q: Why is it important for Native American businesses to branch out into other cultures?
A: Native American people desperately need to diversify their economic opportunities on and off the reservations. Up until recently, people haven’t thought of fashion or art as a viable career path.
A recent study conducted by First Peoples Fund that found a third of all Native American people are practicing or are potential artists. That is a huge resource we already have in Indian Country and we need to tap it and develop it, and push for Natives in various fields to look at themselves as entrepreneurs and launching businesses.
Now, Native American people have an opportunity to make a positive impact in their local communities by reaching people through their art and sharing our culture with the rest of the world.
El joven venezolano Marco Coello, perseguido político del gobierno de Nicolás Maduro, fue detenido por ICE al acudir a su primera entrevista por su caso de asilo en la oficina del Servicio de Inmigración en Miami.
“Marco Coello tiene dos condenas criminales por delitos menores y no abandonó el país como pedía su visa”, informó ICE a Univision Noticias en un comunicado al explicar la detención. Se conoció que el joven será presentado ante un juez de inmigración que decidirá su caso.
Sus abogados desconocen los delitos a los que se refiere ICE.
Se pidió al Servicio de Inmigración y Aduanas (USCIS, por su sigla en inglés) que confirmara si Coello tiene un caso abierto de asilo. Una portavoz respondió que la agencia no puede referirse al estatus migratorio de ninguna persona.
Más temprano su madre, Dorys Coello, había confirmado la detención.
Coello, de 20 años, fue arrestado apenas al llegar a su primera entrevista, contó Elizabeth Blandon, la defensora del estudiante y quien lo acompañaba en el momento de la detención junto a un traductor. Fue recluido en un centro de inmigrantes al oeste de Miami conocido como Krome Detention Center.
“Ustedes no tienen idea de lo que han hecho”, dijo la abogada Blandon a los funcionarios de ICE que detenían al joven.
Al entender la traducción de lo que estaba ocurriendo, Coello le dijo a los funcionarios de inmigración: “No me pueden devolver a Venezuela”.
Informes forenses demostraron que el joven sufrió estrés post-traumático luego de las torturas de los cuerpos policiales durante su detención en Venezuela. Este caso fue documentado por distintas organizaciones de derechos humanos, como Human Rights Watch, la ONU y Amnistía Internacional.
Este miércoles, al conocer la noticia y ante los dos funcionarios, el joven “se sentó, lloró”, cuenta su abogada, quien le repetía constantemente: “Esto no es igual, esto no es Venezuela”.
Más temprano, Ros-Ana Guillén, otra de las abogadas, contó que el bufete había pedido acelerar el proceso. “Siempre llega una notificación, pero en este caso nos llamaron por teléfono y nos dijeron: ‘La semana que viene tenemos disponibilidad a las 8:00 am en la oficina en Downtown Miami'”, dijo.
Sus defensores lo prepararon para la entrevista y lo acompañaron la mañana del 26 de abril, pero al llegar lo detuvieron.
Fue detenido en esa fecha por policías, que lo recluyeron en una prisión y lo torturaron para que inculpara al líder opositor Leopoldo López en la violencia que se generó en esas manifestaciones en el centro de Caracas. Desde entonces fue juzgado en el mismo caso.
Llegó a Miami el 3 de septiembre de 2015 acompañado por su padre, ausentándose de su última audiencia y alegando que en Venezuela sería condenado sinderecho a la defensa. Desde ese día, el joven y su familia se encuentran en Estados Unidos, esperando una respuesta sobre su asilo político.
La tortura
En una entrevista con el canal de noticias CNN, Coello contó su detención. Luego de arrestarlo, en la calle, un grupo de funcionarios –que no se identificaron ni llevaban uniforme– le golpearon, incluso con un extinguidor de incendios. “Me golpeaban en la cara, en el estómago, donde llegaban a darme. Era una furia que tenían que no la controlaban (…) Yo trataba de escaparme, les decía ‘no me peguen’ y me protegía, pero se ponían más agresivos aún”, dijo.
Lo trasladaron hasta una de las sedes del Cuerpo de Investigaciones Científicas, Penales y Criminalísticas (CICPC), lo esposaron y lo arrodillaron con la vista hacia una pared durante unas cinco horas. Entonces lo llevaron a un cuarto aparte: “Me ponen una declaración y me dicen que la firme diciendo que yo era el responsable de todos los hechos que habían pasado (en la Fiscalía), ‘que tú eres el culpable y que Leopoldo López te estaba dirigiendo a ti'”.
“Me pusieron una pistola en la cabeza y me dijeron: ‘Si no lo haces, te vamos a matar'”, contó. “‘Sabemos dónde vive tu familia'”, le decían. “Sabían el nombre de mi papá, de mi mamá, de mi hermana, de mis hermanos y dijeron que iban a arremeter contra ellos si yo no firmaba”. Aún así, el joven se negaba a firmar. Entonces, lo trasladaron a un sótano del mismo edificio.
“Entraron como ocho funcionarios, me envolvieron en una colchoneta y empezaron a entrarme entre batazos, palos de golf, golpes, patadas, me echaban gasolina, me ponían un yesquero (encendedor) y me decían que me iban a prender en fuego”, dijo. “Después de cuatro horas de tortura y que vieron que yo no iba a firmar intentaron lo último, que fue darme unos choques eléctricos”, agregó. Después de eso, lo dejaron detenido.
El largo camino del asilo
El asilo en Estados Unidos puede ser solicitado por cualquier persona que haya sido perseguida a razón de su “raza, religión, nacionalidad, pertenencia a un grupo social en particular u opinión política”, según las reglas del Departamento de Seguridad Nacional (DHS por sus siglas en inglés).
Es un proceso que puede durar meses o años, de acuerdo con el camino que decidan las autoridades. Primero se debe llenar una petición de asilo con la forma I-589, “en un plazo de un año a partir de la fecha de su llegada a Estados Unidos”, según DHS.
Una vez que se presenta el formulario y se entrega, el servicio de inmigración notifica que lo recibió y le da curso a la petición de asilo. Luego llaman al solicitante a una primera cita, en la que se realiza la entrevista del miedo creíble.
En este encuentro el funcionario decide dos cosas: si considera que el caso es verídico otorga el asilo en ese momento y se transforma en una petición de asilo afirmativa. Con esto continúa el trámite hasta que conceden el asilo. De lo contrario se convierte en un caso de asilo defensivo y el proceso debe continuar con un juez de inmigración.
Por esta vía los casos suelen retrasarse por el volumen de procesos que debe resolver cada juez.
Solo puede pedir un permiso de trabajo quien haya cumplido 150 días de haber presentado su solicitud completa de asilo. Es el caso de Marco Coello.
Paola Andreína Ramírez Gómez tenía23 años. Como Moreno, falleció el pasado 19 de abril de un disparo en la cabeza en San Cristóbal, en el estado occidental de Táchira. La Fiscalía venezolana confirmó la muerte ocurrida en una plaza de esa ciudad y explicó, sin dar mayores detalles, que la joven transitaba por el lugar cuando fue agredida. Testigos citados por distintos medios aseguran que el disparo fue hecho por los “colectivos”.
SUIFENHE, China (Reuters) – China’s northeast Heilongjiang province which borders Russia has become the new battleground against the coronavirus as authorities reported the highest number of new daily cases in nearly six weeks, driven by infected travellers from overseas.
China fears a rise in imported cases could spark a second wave of COVID-19 and push the country back into a state of near paralysis.
A total of 108 new coronavirus cases were reported in mainland China on Sunday, up from 99 a day earlier and marking the highest number of cases since 143 infections were reported on March 5.
The National Health Commission said 98 of the new cases were imported, a new record. A total of 49 Chinese nationals who entered Heilongjiang province from Russia tested positive.
“Our little town here, we thought it was the safest place,” said a resident of the border city of Suifenhe, who only gave his surname as Zhu.
“Some Chinese citizens they want to come back, but it’s not very sensible, what are you doing coming here for?”
Though the number of daily infections across China have dropped sharply from the height of the epidemic in February, China has seen the daily toll creep higher after hitting a trough on March 12 because of the rise in imported cases.
Chinese cities near the border with Russia are tightening border controls and imposing stricter quarantines in response to influx of infected patients from the country.
Suifenhe last week announced restrictions on movements and gatherings similar to those imposed in Wuhan city, where the coronavirus outbreak first emerged late last year, and extended the closure of its border with Russia.
The land route through the city had become one of few options available for Chinese nationals trying to get into China after Russia stopped all flights to the country.
Suifenhe and Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang, are now mandating 28 days of quarantine for all arrivals from abroad as well as nucleic acid and antibody tests.
Streets in Suifenhe were virtually empty on Sunday evening due to restrictions of movement. Residents said a lot of people had left the city as the number of infected people crossing the border from Russia rose.
“I don’t need to worry,” Zhao Wei, another Suifenhe resident, told Reuters. “If there’s a local transmission, I would, but there’s not a single one. They’re all from the border, but they’ve all been sent to quarantine.”
Reporting by Yew Lun Tian and Huizhong Wu in Suifenhe, Se Young Lee and Lusha Zhang in Beijing; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Michael Perry
El canal de noticias C5N realizó un nuevo spot para celebrar su buena performance en el rating. Según datos de la consultora Ibope la semana pasada pasó al frente entre los canales de noticias de la TV paga.
La presentación destaca que el canal es líder en los segmentos de la mañana, tarde y noche. En la programación durante la primera mañana el canal presenta “Mañanas Argentinas” con Daniela Ballester y Javier Díaz, “Bien temprano” con Mariela Fernández y “Argentina en vivo” con Claudio Rígoli y Agostina Scioli.
“La Tarde”, con Melina Fleiderman y Guillermo Favale y “El Diario” con Pablo Duggan y Julia Mengolini. A la noche “Minuto Uno” con Gustavo Silvestre.
“Porque seguís eligiendo C5N somos líderes absolutos”, puede leerse en el spot.
La semana pasada el canal pasó primero entre los canales de noticias y generales de la TV paga, desde hace meses viene achicándose la brecha entre TN y C5N los canales más vistos del cable. Finalmente el canal del grupo Indalo pasó al frente durante toda la semana.
Según informó la medidora Ibope, durante tres días de la semana que termina, lunes, miércoles y jueves, la emisora del Grupo Indalo derrotó en audiencia a la del Grupo Clarín por 2,67 a 2,50; 2,83 a 2,65, y 2,42 a 2,31 respectivamente.
Con estos números, el canal 5 de noticias pasó a liderar la audiencia, confirmando la supremacía que ya había conseguido hace dos años en el ‘prime time’ matutino.
A tradução deste artigo se encontra no final da versão em inglês
This Friday, Nov. 6, at 7:30 pm, the Martha’s Vineyard Film Center presents the acclaimed Brazilian film “Que Horas Ela Volta?” (The Second Mother), starring famous comedian and Globo actress Regina Casé. The movie portrays the life of Val (Regina Casé), a hardworking live-in maid. Val caters to all of her employers’ needs, as she is appreciative of having a job and a place to live. The one, and perhaps only, happy aspect of the job is her relationship with Fabinho, her employers’ only son, whom she has cared for as her own since Fabinho was a toddler. However, when Val’s daughter Jessica, whom she hasn’t seen in 10 years, decides to move in with Val to pursue her dream of applying to and attending a university, the unspoken but real class barriers that exist within the home are tested, forcing everyone to reconsider what family means.
If you can’t make it to Friday’s screening, you can watch the film on Saturday, Sunday, or next Thursday (Nov. 12) at 7:30 pm at the Film Center.
The first Thursday of every month is referred to as “translation day” at the Edgartown District Courthouse. A translator, usually Maria F. Mello, a Spanish and Portuguese court-certified interpreter from Seekonk, provides translation services for individuals who are not yet proficient in English.
On Thursday, Sept. 3, I spent the day at the Edgartown District Courthouse and met Michelle J. Da Silva, a criminal defense and immigration lawyer. I was very interested in her views regarding the driver’s license dilemma that undocumented immigrants in Massachusetts face. Most of the Brazilians in court that day were confronting the same charge — they had been charged with driving without a license.
Some states, such as Connecticut, have created a driver’s license for undocumented immigrants, one that doesn’t grant the same privileges as an American citizen, or a legally documented immigrant, but that helps ensure public safety and accountability. In Massachusetts, similar initiatives to allow undocumented immigrants to drive legally remain on hold.
Michelle J. Da Silva agreed to an interview in which she shared her views on the matter.
MVTimes: Please tell me about your law practice involving Brazilian nationals.
Michelle J. Da Silva: My practice areas are immigration, criminal defense, and divorce. I would say that 80 percent of my clients are Brazilians, with the remaining being from Spanish-speaking nations.
MVT: To what extent do motor vehicle violations, specifically driving without a license, account for the cases you handle?
MD: Of my criminal defense practice, about 20 percent of cases involve operating without a license and operating under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
MVT: Is there a typical scenario for the Brazilian national charged with driving without a license?
MD: The typical scenario involves an undocumented immigrant (typically Brazilian in my practice, since I am fluent in Portuguese) who is driving using a “foreign or international license.” Most of the time, the clients are first-time offenders who are frightened by the U.S. legal system because of lack of knowledge and understanding of how the system works. They seek the assistance of an attorney to help them navigate the system.
Many undocumented immigrants are under the mistaken belief that a foreign license gives them the right to drive in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Unfortunately, there are unscrupulous businesses that provide these “international licenses” (for a fee, of course) and who often prey on these undocumented immigrants’ fears and misinformation about the true validity of these licenses.
After they acquire the license, they have a false sense of security that they are eligible to drive. It is only once they are stopped by the police and issued a citation and summoned into court for driving without a license that they come to realize that they were defrauded.
However, although the minority of the cases, some undocumented immigrants use the international license as an excuse to violate the laws knowingly.
MVT: Please comment on the typical outcome for a first-time offender on the mainland versus what you know of the outcomes on Martha’s Vineyard.
MD: It is important first to note that the law gives the judge discretion in the fine amount, up to $500 for the first offense. A typical outcome in my experience is that a case is dismissed on fine of $300 to $500 for a first offense. The difference on Martha’s Vineyard from the mainland is that most of the unlicensed-operation violations are held on the same day [because it is the only day there is a Portuguese interpreter available], thus allowing much more consistency in the judge’s ruling.
MVT: Based on what you have observed, is the system for issuing driver’s licenses broken?
MD: In my opinion, the system for issuing licenses is not broken; it is that the current laws are not adequate for the times we are living in. The reality is that we do have undocumented immigrants living within our communities, and will continue to have as long as U.S. employers are willing to employ them. It is also true that U.S. employers will continue to employ these individuals if the U.S. labor market cannot produce the quality of workers that come from abroad. Therefore, the first issue that must be addressed is the need for comprehensive immigration reform.
However, because of the current gridlock in Congress and the polarization involved with the topic of immigration, it is unlikely that we will see any immigration reform shortly. Therefore, a better solution would be to provide licenses for these undocumented immigrants, so that not only do we know who is living among us, but we also reduce the burden to our court system.
Also, by allowing these undocumented immigrants to have access to licenses, we would also be protecting our society. Right now, many undocumented immigrants drive without insurance; that endangers the public and other drivers on the road — this occurs not because they want to evade the law, but because without a valid driver’s license, an insurance company will not insure them.
MVT: In general, do your clients think they are fairly treated by the courts?
MD: Yes, I do think that my clients are treated fairly because I fight for their rights.
Overall, I do believe the system works. Undocumented individuals have all the rights afforded to them as those of a native person in this country. However, I think the system works better for those who have private legal representation than those who do not. In my experience, most of my clients have never been involved with the legal system either here in the U.S. or abroad in their home country. This makes going to court a very scary experience, because many of them think that if they go to court they are automatically going to be deported. The undocumented individual’s fear of the legal system is only because of their lack of education about the American justice system. As a private counsel whose practice deals with a large number of undocumented individuals, I find it necessary to provide a basic understanding of the criminal justice system to my clients in order to ease their fears, which in turns makes them much more trusting of the system and reassures them that they are getting a fair treatment when their case is heard.
Michelle Da Silva’s Law Office Contact Information:
Nesta sexta-feira, dia 6 de novembro, às 7:30 da noite, no Martha’s Vineyard Film center, o filme brasileiro “Que Horas Ela Volta” será exibido. O filme tem recebido diversas críticas positivas. A atriz e comediante global Regina Casé faz o papel de Val, uma empregada doméstica que trabalha há anos para uma família que também a concede moradia. Val gosta do emprego por lhe proporcionar um lugar para morar, assim como um salário. Mas talvez o único elemento positivo de seu emprego seja a sua relação com Fabinho, de quem Val cuida como filho desde que ele ainda era um bebê. Porém, quando sua filha Jessica, que Val não vê há dez anos, decide mudar para onde Val mora, para correr atrás de seu sonho de passar no vestibular e cursar faculdade, as barreiras de classes sociais existentes na casa, mas nunca discutidas, começam a serem testadas, forçando todos a reconhecer o que uma família realmente é.
Se você não conseguir ir a sessão de sexta, pode ver o filme no sábado, domingo ou na próxima quinta (12/nov) às 7:30 da noite no Film Center.
A primeira quinta-feira do mês é conhecida como “dia da tradução” na corte de Edgartown. Um tradutor(a), geralmente Maria F. Mello, uma intérprete de português e espanhol certificada pela corte de Seekonk, provê tradução para indivíduos que ainda não são fluentes em inglês.
Na quinta-feira, dia 3 de setembro, eu passei o dia na corte de Edgartown, onde conheci Michelle Da Silva, uma advogada de defesa criminal e imigração. Eu fiquei muito interessada na opinião de Michelle no tocante dilema que imigrantes que não possuem documentação adequada enfrentam quando se trata de uma carteira de motorista no Estado de Massachusetts. A maioria dos brasileiros em corte naquele dia enfrentavam o mesmo problema – eles estavam na corte por dirigem sem uma carteira de habilitação.
Alguns estados, como Connecticut, já criaram carteiras especificas para imigrantes sem documentação adequada para morar nos Estados Unidos, mas não fornecem os mesmos privilégios que americanos desfrutam, ou imigrantes com documentação adequada. Porém, essas carteiras foram criadas para ajudar a garantir segurança pública, assim como prestação de contas.
The Brazilian lawyer Michelle Da Silva.
Michelle J. Da Silva concordou em dar uma entrevista na qual compartilha seu ponto de vista sobre o assunto.
MVTimes: Por favor descreva sua prática de lei que envolve brasileiros.
Michelle J. Da Silva: As minhas áreas de prática são imigração, defesa criminal e divórcio. Eu diria que 80% dos meus clientes são brasileiros, e os demais são clientes de nações cuja língua oficial é o espanhol.
MVT: Até que ponto as violações de trânsito especificamente dirigir sem licença, contabiliza os casos que você lida?
MD: Na minha prática de defesa criminal, cerca de 20% dos casos envolvem dirigir sem carteira de motorista e dirigir sob a influência de álcool ou drogas.
MVT: Existe um cenário típico para o brasileiro acusado de dirigir sem uma carteira de motorista?
MD: O cenário típico envolve um imigrante sem documentação (tipicamente brasileiro, na minha prática, uma vez que eu sou fluente em Português) que está dirigindo usando uma “licença estrangeira ou internacional”. Na maioria das vezes, os clientes são réus primários que estão assustados com o sistema legal americano, por causa da falta de conhecimento e compreensão de como funciona o sistema. Eles procuram a assistência de um advogado para os ajudar a navegar pelo sistema.
Muitos imigrantes sem documentação estão sob a crença equivocada de que uma licença estrangeira lhes dá o direito de conduzir no Estado de Massachusetts. Infelizmente, há empresas sem escrúpulos que fornecem esses “licenças internacionais” (por uma taxa, é claro) e que, frequentemente, aproveitam-se dos medos e desinformação dos imigrantes sem documentos sobre a verdadeira validade dessas licenças.
Depois de adquirir a licença, eles têm uma falsa sensação de segurança de que eles são habilitados para a condução. É somente quando eles são parados pela polícia, recebem uma citação e são convocados ao tribunal por dirigir sem uma licença que eles percebem que foram defraudados.
No entanto, embora na minoria dos casos, alguns imigrantes sem documentos usam a licença internacional como uma desculpa para violar as leis com conhecimento de causa.
MVT: Por favor, comente sobre o resultado típico de um réu primário em outras cidades de Massachuseets e para um réu primário em Martha’s Vineyard.
MD: É importante primeiro notar que a lei dá ao juiz critério para decidir o valor da multa, até US$ 500 para a primeira ofensa. Um resultado típico, na minha experiência, é que um caso é encerrado com uma multa de US$ 300 a US$ 500 para uma primeira ofensa. A diferença em Martha’s Vineyard é que a maioria dos casos de violações sem licença são realizadas no mesmo dia porque é o único dia no qual há um intérprete de português disponível, permitindo assim muito mais consistência na decisão do juiz.
MVT: Baseado no que você tem observado, o sistema de emissão de carteiras de motorista é defeituoso?
MD: Em minha opinião, o sistema de emissão de licenças não está quebrado; é que as leis atuais não são adequadas para os tempos em que estamos vivendo. A realidade é que nós temos imigrantes sem documentos vivendo dentro de nossas comunidades, e continuaremos a ter, enquanto os empregadores dos EUA estiverem dispostos a empregá-los. Também é verdade que os empregadores norte-americanos continuarão a empregar esses indivíduos se o mercado de trabalho dos EUA não pode produzir a qualidade de trabalhadores que vêm do exterior. Portanto, a primeira questão que deve ser abordada é a necessidade de uma reforma abrangente da imigração.
No entanto, por causa do impasse atual no Congresso e da polarização envolvida com o tema da imigração, é pouco provável que vejamos qualquer reforma da imigração em breve. Portanto, a melhor solução seria a de fornecer licenças para estes imigrantes sem documentos, para que possamos não só saber quem está vivendo entre nós, como também reduzir a carga do nosso sistema judicial.
Além disso, ao permitir que esses imigrantes sem documentos tenham acesso a licenças, estaríamos também protegendo a nossa sociedade. Agora, muitos imigrantes sem documentos conduzem sem seguro; o que põe em perigo o público e outros motoristas nas estradas – isso não ocorre por que eles querem fugir da lei, mas porque, sem uma carteira de motorista válida, uma companhia de seguros não vai segurá-los.
MVT: Em geral, os seus clientes acham que são tratados de maneira justa pelos tribunais americanos?
MD: Sim, eu acho que meus clientes são tratados de forma justa porque eu luto pelos direitos deles.
No geral, eu acredito que o sistema funciona. Indivíduos sem documentos têm todos os direitos concedidos a eles como as de uma pessoa nativa neste país. No entanto, eu acho que o sistema funciona melhor para aqueles que têm representação jurídica de direito privado do que aqueles que não o fazem. Na minha experiência, a maioria dos meus clientes nunca esteve envolvido com o sistema jurídico, seja aqui nos EUA ou no exterior, em seu país de origem. Isso faz com que ir ao tribunal seja uma experiência muito assustadora, porque muitos deles pensam que, se forem ao tribunal, eles serão automaticamente deportados. O medo do indivíduo em situação irregular do sistema jurídico é só por causa de sua falta de educação sobre o sistema de justiça americano. Como uma advogada privada, cuja prática lida com um grande número de pessoas em situação irregular, acho que é necessário fornecer uma compreensão básica do sistema de justiça criminal para os meus clientes, a fim de aliviar seus medos, que por sua vez os torna muito mais confiante no sistema e assegura-lhes que eles estão recebendo um tratamento justo quando seu caso for ouvido.
Informações sobre o escritório da advogada Michelle Da Silva:
El domingo por la noche, un hombre armado mató a 58 personas en un festival de música country fuera del Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino de Las Vegas. El lunes por la mañana, las autoridades identificaron al tirador como Stephen Paddock, pero antes —en un episodio que ya es tristemente familiar tras este tipo de tragedias— los detectives aficionados de 4chan habían identificado incorrectamente al asesino como otro hombre, y esta vez Google ayudó a difundir la desinformación.
Ryan Broderick, de BuzzFeed, señaló en Twitter que había hecho una búsqueda de “Geary Danley” en Google esta mañana y el sitio mostró vínculos al tablón pol (políticamente incorrecto) de 4chan en su sección de Noticias Destacadas, donde identificaban erróneamente a Danley como el tirador. Mashable fue capaz de replicar el resultado, pero los enlaces ya no aparecen en el módulo. Un portavoz de Google nos dijo lo siguiente:
Desafortunadamente, esta mañana apareció brevemente una web de 4chan con información imprecisa en nuestros resultados de búsqueda para un pequeño número de consultas. En pocas horas, la historia 4chan fue sustituida algorítmicamente por resultados relevantes. Esto no debería haber aparecido para ninguna consulta, y vamos a seguir haciendo mejoras algorítmicas para evitar que esto ocurra en el futuro.
Para páginas de extrema derecha como pol, identificar incorrectamente a Danley como el tirador era políticamente conveniente. Como decía un artículo de Gateway Pundit (que ha sido borrado), Danley es “supuestamente un demócrata a quien le gustaba Rachel Maddow, MoveOn.org y estaba asociado con Anti-Trump Army” según la información obtenida de su página de Facebook.
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Uno podría asumir que el carrusel de historias en la parte superior de una búsqueda de Google arroja los enlaces más relevantes y creíbles para tu consulta, pero hacer esa suposición muy razonable sería un error. Los criterios para obtener un lugar en tan codiciado espacio son prácticamente desconocidos. Ciertamente, los enlaces no tienen por qué ser informativamente precisos (en el paso también aparecieron enlaces que negaban el cambio climático en el módulo). Y también es evidente que el sistema puede adulterarse. En febrero, un blogger de LinkedIn escribió más de 150 artículos sobre cómo transmitir la Super Bowl que consistían en secuencias sin sentido de palabras clave destinadas a engañar al algoritmo de búsqueda de Google. Funcionó.
Hoy, Google ha ayudado a promover la agenda de la extrema derecha promoviendo hilos llenos de desinformación. A medida que la gente recurre a la barra de búsqueda de Google para informarse sobre el tiroteo más letal en la historia moderna de Estados Unidos, el gigante tecnológico tiene la responsabilidad de asegurar que sus usuarios no se dejen llevar por un grupo de neonazis.
He also made sure to credit Sinema with cajoling Democrats into that tax-skeptic position after many in her party weighed surtaxes on high earners and pushed for rate increases. Though Sinema’s stayed quiet since Manchin and Schumer announced the deal on Wednesday, Manchin said that he “would like to think she’d be favorable to it.”
“Kyrsten Sinema is a friend of mine, and we work very close together. She has a tremendous, tremendous input in this legislation,” Manchin said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “She basically insisted [on] no tax increases, [we’ve] done that. And she was very, very adamant about that, I agree with her. She was also very instrumental” on prescription drug reform.
Manchin and Sinema were aligned for months last year on pushing back against Democrats’ plans to spend as much as $3.5 trillion. Sinema worked on the prescription drug piece and helped shape the revenue package significantly late last year before Manchin rejected what was once called Build Back Better.
Now they are in different places. Manchin negotiated the deal one-on-one with Majority Leader Schumer while Sinema was caught completely off guard by its announcement, particularly the inclusion of a provision narrowing the so-called carried interest loophole, which brings in $14 billion of the bill’s $739 billion in new revenues.
Manchin said he didn’t brief Sinema or anyone else in the Democratic Caucus on his negotiations because of the very real possibility they would fall apart. He said on CNN that when Sinema “looks at the bill and sees the whole spectrum of what we’re doing and all of the energy we’re bringing in, all of the reduction of prices and fighting inflation by bringing prices down, by having more energy, hopefully, she will be positive about it.”
Sinema had no new public comments on Sunday as she studies the bill and waits for the Senate parliamentarian to rule on whether it meets the conditions to evade a GOP filibuster. Sinema’s always been cooler on changing the tax code than Manchin, citing concerns over changing tax policies that might restrict economic growth or competitiveness.
The legislation plows $369 billion into energy production and fighting climate change, $300 billion into deficit reduction, lowers some prescription drug prices and extends Affordable Care Act subsidies through 2024. It claws back revenue by increasing IRS enforcement, narrows the so-called carried interest loophole on investment gains and imposes a 15 percent corporate minimum tax on corporations worth $1 billion or more.
A Joint Committee on Taxation summary found that the bill would slightly increase tax rates on some people earning under $400,000, leading Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) to say that the legislation “will do nothing to bring the economy out of stagnation and recession, but it will raise billions of dollars in taxes on Americans making less than $400,000.”
But Ashley Schapitl, a spokesperson for Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said those families “will not pay one penny in additional taxes under this bill” and said the JCT analysis is not complete because “it doesn’t include the benefits to middle-class families of making health insurance premiums and prescription drugs more affordable. The same goes for clean energy incentives for families.”
Manchin put it even more plainly on “Meet the Press.”
“I agree with my Republican friends that we should not increase taxes. And we did not increase taxes,” he said. “This is an all-American bill.”
The West Virginia Democrat also answered several questions about the second part of a deal: an agreement with Biden, Schumer and Speaker Nancy Pelosi to increase energy production by implementing federal permitting reform. That piece was excluded from the party-line bill because it is likely to run afoul of the strict budget rules on reconciliation bills.
Asked how he can be so sure that will pass later, Manchin offered a warning on Fox News if it doesn’t happen: “There will be consequences.”
Manchin’s urgent push comes ahead of a critical week for the Democratic Party. With Covid infections still infiltrating their 50-seat majority, Democrats are trying to stick a tricky landing ahead of the August recess. Democrats probably need all their members in town to pass the Manchin deal and still need to get the legislation cleared by the Senate parliamentarian.
On the attendance side, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) announced he would be available for votes this week, a critical boost for Democrats. Provided all Democrats show up this week, they can pass the Manchin-Schumer legislation with Vice President Kamala Harris’s tiebreaking vote, though first they’ll have to all stick together during an unlimited “vote-a-rama” to keep Republicans from gutting the carefully negotiated bill.
Jeremy Corbyn, líder del Partido Laborista de Reino Unido ha acusado a la BBC de “difundir noticias falsas” durante una entrevista con un periodista de esta corporación mediática que le preguntaba de manera insistente sobre los rumores de su posible abandono de la jefatura del partido. El diálogo durante la entrevista fue como sigue:
Periodista: “Existe la información de que usted ha fijado la fecha en que dejará su puesto al frente de los laboristas”.
Jeremy Corbyn: “Esto apareció en IMadeItUpYesterday.com [MeLoInventéAyer.com]”.
Periodista: “¿No hay nada de verdad en ello?”.
Corbyn: “Son completos disparates”.
Periodista: “¿Entonces su futuro como líder laborista sigue completamente intacto? ¿No ha pensado en si usted como líder está dañando al partido?”.
Corbyn: “De verdad me sorprende que la BBC esté difundiendo noticias falsas. Esta noticia no existe”.
BBC: We want to avoid reporting fake news, so please clarify something for us.
El tema de noticias falsas ha cobrado últimamente una gran actualidad. El presidente de EE.UU., Donald Trump, enfrentado a medios nacionales e internacionales por la cobertura negativa que han hecho de su ascenso político, ha planteado este asunto en varias ocasiones, tanto por Twitter, como en su gran rueda de prensa este enero. En particular, Trump ha lanzado sus acusaciones a CNN, BuzzFeed y ‘The New York Times’ entre otros.
¿De dónde vienen los rumores falsos?
El triunfo del Brexit dividió al Partido Laborista, que se ha sumido en una crisis agudizada esta semana, después de que la Cámara Baja del parlamento aprobara la ley que permitirá al Gobierno iniciar el proceso de separación de la UE. Pese a la fuerte oposición dentro del partido, Corbyn apoyó la ley, explicando que la decisión de salir de la UE reside en el pueblo británico y que hay que cumplir su voluntad.
La información sobre la supuesta fecha de renuncia de Corbyn apareció en diciembre en una columna del periodista Adam Boulton en ‘The Sunday Times’. En ella afirmaba, citando una fuente dentro del partido, que Corbyn había confesado que no quería seguir siendo líder del partido después de cumplir 70 años (en mayo de 2019) ni tampoco ejercer este cargo durante las elecciones generales (en 2020).
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