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.
Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam came under fire Wednesday after he waded into the fight over a controversial abortion bill that one sponsor said could allow women to terminate a pregnancy up until the moment before birth — with critics saying Northam indicated a child could be killed after birth.
Northam, whose office is now pushing back on those claims, appeared on WTOP to discuss The Repeal Act, which seeks to repeal restrictions on third-trimester abortions. Virginia Democratic Del. Kathy Tran, one of the sponsors, sparked outrage from conservatives when she was asked at a hearing if a woman about to give birth and dilating could still request an abortion. The bill was tabled in committee this week.
Northam, a former pediatric neurologist, was asked about those comments and said he couldn’t speak for Tran, but said that third-trimester abortions are done with “the consent of obviously the mother, with consent of the physician, multiple physicians by the way, and it’s done in cases where there may be severe deformities or there may be a fetus that’s not viable.”
“So in this particular example if a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen, the infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”
The intent of his comments was not clear. But some conservative commentators and lawmakers took his remarks to mean he was discussing the possibility of letting a newborn die — even “infanticide.”
“This is morally repugnant,” Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., said in a statement to National Review. “In just a few years pro-abortion zealots went from ‘safe, legal, and rare’ to ‘keep the newborns comfortable while the doctor debates infanticide.’ I don’t care what party you’re from — if you can’t say that it’s wrong to leave babies to die after birth, get the hell out of public office.”
Wednesday evening, Northam tweeted: “I have devoted my life to caring for children and any insinuation otherwise is shameful and disgusting.”
Northam Communications Director Ofirah Yheskel said GOP critics were “trying to play politics with women’s health” — and sought to clarify:
“No woman seeks a third trimester abortion except in the case of tragic or difficult circumstances, such as a nonviable pregnancy or in the event of severe fetal abnormalities, and the governor’s comments were limited to the actions physicians would take in the event that a woman in those circumstances went into labor. Attempts to extrapolate these comments otherwise is in bad faith and underscores exactly why the governor believes physicians and women, not legislators, should make these difficult and deeply personal medical decisions.”
Former Sen. Jim DeMint called Northam’s remark’s “evil.”
“VA Gov Northam is no moderate, this is one of the most vile, radical pro-abortion positions ever put forward. This is evil. He should recant or resign,” he said.
The effort in Virginia follows New York passing a bill last week loosening restrictions on abortion, as New Mexico, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Washington also pass new laws expanding abortion access or move to strip old laws from the books that limit abortions.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo last week directed the One World Trade Center and other landmarks to be lit in pink Tuesday to celebrate the passage of “Reproductive Health Act.” Under that legislation, non-doctors are now allowed to conduct abortions and the procedure could be done until the mother’s due date if the woman’s health is endangered or if the fetus is not viable.
The previous law only allowed abortions after 24 weeks of pregnancy if a woman’s life was at risk.
A charter plane carrying 143 people and traveling from Cuba to north Florida sits in a river at the end of a runway, Saturday, May 4, 2019 in Jacksonville, Fla. The Boeing 737 arriving at Naval Air Station Jacksonville from Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, with 136 passengers and seven aircrew slid off the runway Friday night into the St. Johns River, a NAS Jacksonville news release said. (AP Photo/APTN)
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A chartered jet carrying 143 people from the U.S. military base in Cuba tried to land in a thunderstorm and ended up in the river at Naval Air Station Jacksonville. Authorities said everyone on board emerged without critical injuries, lining up on the wings and waiting to be rescued.
The Boeing 737 arriving in north Florida from Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, with 136 passengers and seven crew members came to a stop in shallow water in the St. Johns River. Everyone on board was alive and accounted for, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said, with 21 adults transported to local hospitals in good condition.
Marine units from the sheriff’s department and Jacksonville Fire Rescue joined first responders from the naval air station, helping passengers and crew to safety.
Capt. Michael Connor, the commanding officer of NAS Jacksonville, said during a news conference that those on board were a mix of civilian and military personnel, and that while some were staying in the area, others planned to fly on to other parts of the country.
“I think it is a miracle,” Connor said. “We could be talking about a different story this evening.”
The base’s fire chief, Mark Bruce, said passengers were lined up on the plane’s wings when first-responders started rescuing them.
Several pets were on the plane as well, and their status wasn’t immediately clear. A navy statement early Saturday offering “hearts and prayers” to their owners said safety issues prevented rescuers from immediately retrieving the animals.
It wasn’t immediately clear what went wrong. Boeing said in a tweet Friday night that it was investigating: “We are aware of an incident in Jacksonville, Fla., and are gathering information.” The Federal Aviation Administration was referring media inquiries to NAS Jacksonville. The National Transportation Safety Board dispatched a team of 16 investigators to determine what happened.
Connor said he didn’t know what impact the weather had on the flight. “I was at home when this happened and there were thunderstorms and lightning,” he said.
A photo posted by deputies shows a Miami Air International logo on the plane. The company didn’t immediately respond to messages from The Associated Press.
It wasn’t known how long it would take to remove the plane from the river, but Connor said the landing gear appeared to be resting on the river bed, making it unlikely for the aircraft to float away. He said crews began working to contain any jet fuel leaks almost immediately after securing the passengers’ safety.
Liz Torres told the Florida Times-Union that she heard what sounded like a gunshot Friday night from her home in Orange Park, about 5 miles (8 kilometers) south of NAS Jacksonville. She then drove down to a Target parking lot where police and firefighters were staging to find out more.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” she said.
The Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department posted on Twitter that approximately 90 personnel responded to the scene, adding that the department’s special operations team had trained with marine units for a similar incident earlier Friday. Navy security and emergency response personnel also were on the scene, the Navy release said.
___
Schneider reported from Orlando. Other Associated Press contributors included David Fischer in Miami.
WASHINGTON, Feb 14 (Reuters) – The U.S. Congress on Thursday aimed to end a dispute over border security with legislation that would ignore President Donald Trump’s request for $5.7 billion to help build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border but avoid a partial government shutdown.
Late on Wednesday, negotiators put the finishing touches on legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) through Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year, along with a range of other federal agencies.
Racing against a Friday midnight deadline, when operating funds expire for the agencies that employ about 800,000 workers at the DHS, the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Justice and others, the Senate and House of Representatives aimed to pass the legislation later on Thursday.
That would give Trump time to review the measure and sign it into law before temporary funding for about one-quarter of the government expires.
Failure to do so would shutter many government programs, from national parks maintenance and air traffic controller training programs to the collection and publication of important data for financial markets, for the second time this year.
“This agreement denies funding for President Trump’s border wall and includes several key measures to make our immigration system more humane,” House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey, a Democrat, said in a statement.
According to congressional aides, the final version of legislation would give the Trump administration $1.37 billion in new money to help build 55 miles (88.5 km) of new physical barriers on the southwest border, far less than what Trump had been demanding.
It is the same level of funding Congress appropriated for border security measures last year, including barriers but not concrete walls.
Since he ran for office in 2016, Trump has been demanding billions of dollars to build a wall on the southwest border, saying “crisis” conditions required a quick response to stop the flow of illegal drugs and undocumented immigrants, largely from Central America.
He originally said Mexico would pay for a 2,000-mile (3,200-km) concrete wall – an idea that Mexico dismissed.
Joaquin, 36, a chef from Guatemala who says he was deported from the United States, builds a bed in a tree, near a section of the border fence separating Mexico and the United States, in Tijuana, Mexico, February 26, 2017. “I’ve tried to cross so many times that the (U.S.) border guards even got to know me, but I never made it back,” said Joaquin, who makes a living by collecting trash in Tijuana that he tries to sell to a local recycling plant. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido SEARCH “FENCE GARRIDO” FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH “WIDER IMAGE” FOR ALL STORIES.
Joaquin, 36, a chef from Guatemala who says he was deported from the United States, poses for a photograph while leaning on a section of the border fence separating Mexico and the United States, in Tijuana, Mexico, February 26, 2017. “I’ve tried to cross so many times that the (U.S.) border guards even got to know me, but I never made it back,” said Joaquin, who makes a living by collecting trash in Tijuana that he tries to sell to a local recycling plant. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido SEARCH “FENCE GARRIDO” FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH “WIDER IMAGE” FOR ALL STORIES.
Mexican architect Carlos Torres, 68, adjusts signs near the double border fences separating Mexico and the United States, in Tijuana, Mexico, February 25, 2017. “Walls won’t halt immigration,” Torres said. Trump, he said, “doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Here at this fence, people keep crossing every week.” REUTERS/Edgard Garrido SEARCH “FENCE GARRIDO” FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH “WIDER IMAGE” FOR ALL STORIES.
Mexican architect Carlos Torres, 68, is reflected in a glass window of his house near a section of the double border fences separating Mexico and the United States, in Tijuana, Mexico, March 1, 2017. “Walls won’t halt immigration,” Torres said. Trump, he said, “doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Here at this fence, people keep crossing every week.” REUTERS/Edgard Garrido SEARCH “FENCE GARRIDO” FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH “WIDER IMAGE” FOR ALL STORIES.
Joaquin, 36, a chef from Guatemala who says he was deported from the United States, sits underneath a tree near a section of the border fence separating Mexico and the United States, in Tijuana, Mexico, February 28, 2017. “I’ve tried to cross so many times that the (U.S.) border guards even got to know me, but I never made it back,” said Joaquin, who makes a living by collecting trash in Tijuana that he tries to sell to a local recycling plant. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido SEARCH “FENCE GARRIDO” FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH “WIDER IMAGE” FOR ALL STORIES.
Up Next
See Gallery
Trump has not yet said whether he would sign the legislation into law if the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives and Republican-led Senate approve it, even as many of his fellow Republicans in Congress were urging him to do so.
Instead, he said on Wednesday he would hold off on a decision until he examines the final version of legislation.
But Trump, widely blamed for a five-week shutdown that ended in January, said he did not want to see federal agencies close again because of fighting over funds for the wall.
Senator Richard Shelby, the Republican negotiator who is chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in a Twitter post he spoke to Trump later on Wednesday and he was in good spirits. Shelby told Trump the agreement was “a downpayment on his border wall.”
‘NATIONAL EMERGENCY’
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who is in regular contact with the White House, said Trump was “inclined to take the deal and move on.”
But Graham also told reporters that Trump would then look elsewhere to find more money to build a border wall and was “very inclined” to declare a national emergency to secure the funds for the project.
Such a move likely would spark a court battle, as it is Congress and not the president that mainly decides how federal funds get spent. Several leading Republicans have cautioned Trump against taking the unilateral action.
Under the bill, the government could hire 75 new immigrant judge teams to help reduce a huge backlog in cases and hundreds of additional border patrol agents.
Hoping to reduce violence and economic distress in Central America that fuels immigrant asylum cases in the United States, the bill also provides $527 million to continue humanitarian assistance to those countries.
The House Appropriations Committee said the bill would set a path for reducing immigrant detention beds to about 40,520 by the end of the fiscal year, down from a current count of approximately 49,060.
Democrats sought reductions, arguing that would force federal agents to focus on apprehending violent criminals and repeat offenders and discourage arrests of undocumented immigrants for minor traffic violations, for example.
Pastor Jose Murcia, 47, preaches to migrants, part of a caravan of thousands from Central America traveling to the U.S., outside a temporary shelter in Tijuana, Mexico November 24, 2018.
(REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis)
Nicolas Alonso Sanchez, 47, from Honduras, part of a caravan of thousands of migrants from Central America traveling to the U.S., poses for a picture as he holds a cross at a temporary shelter in Tijuana, Mexico November 24, 2018. “God helped me and gave me the strength, helped me to make my dreams come true. God gave me all the strength to get all the way here,” Sanchez said.
(REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis)
Migrants, part of a caravan of thousands from Central America traveling to the U.S., pray before food distribution outside a temporary shelter in Tijuana, Mexico December 1, 2018.
(REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis)
Juan Francisco, 25, from Honduras, part of a caravan of thousands of migrants from Central America traveling to the U.S., shows his tattoo of the 23rd Psalm of the Book of Psalms as he poses for a picture outside a temporary shelter in Tijuana, Mexico November 26, 2018.
(REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis)
Victor Alfonso, 29, from Guatemala, part of a caravan of thousands of migrants from Central America traveling to the U.S., poses for a picture as he wears charms depicting the Virgin of Guadalupe at a temporary shelter in Tijuana, Mexico November 26, 2018.
(REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis)
David Amador, 25, from Honduras, part of a caravan of thousands of migrants from Central America traveling to the U.S., poses for a picture as he holds a cross at a temporary shelter in Tijuana, Mexico November 28, 2018.
(REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis)
Migrants, part of a caravan of thousands from Central America traveling to the U.S., raise their hands while praying before moving by buses to a new shelter, in Tijuana, Mexico November 30, 2018.
(REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis)
A migrant, part of a caravan of thousands from Central America traveling to the U.S., is wrapped with a banner depicting the Virgin of Guadalupe in front of a riot police cordon, as migrants try to reach the border wall between the U.S. and Mexico in Tijuana, Mexico November 25, 2018.
(REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis)
Herso, 17, from Honduras, part of a caravan of thousands of migrants from Central America traveling to the U.S., poses for a picture as he wears a t-shirt depicting the Virgin of Guadalupe outside a temporary shelter in Tijuana, Mexico November 24, 2018.
(REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis)
A booklet of Psalm 119:105 is left on a self-made tent at a temporary shelter of a caravan of thousands of migrants from Central America traveling to the U.S., in Tijuana, Mexico November 27, 2018.
(REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis)
Migrants, part of a caravan from El Salvador traveling to the U.S., pray as they are blocked by the Mexican police during an operation to detain them for entering the country illegally, in Metapa, Mexico November 21, 2018.
(REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis)
Migrants, part of a caravan of thousands from Central America traveling to the U.S., raise their hands as they listen to the preaching of pastor Jose Murcia (not pictured) outside a temporary shelter in Tijuana, Mexico November 24, 2018.
(REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis)
A migrant, part of a caravan of thousands from Central America traveling to the U.S., sleeps with a book in Spanish “What does the Bible teach us?” in a temporary shelter in Tijuana, Mexico November 24, 2018.
(REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis)
A writing “Jesus Christ is the Lord” is seen on a car window outside a temporary shelter for a caravan of thousands of migrants from Central America traveling to the U.S., in Tijuana, Mexico November 24, 2018.
(REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis)
Elmer, 29, from Honduras, part of a caravan of thousands of migrants from Central America traveling to the U.S., poses for a picture as he holds an icon depicting Jesus Christ and the Virgin of Guadalupe while lining up for food distribution outside a temporary shelter in Tijuana, Mexico November 24, 2018.
(REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis)
Juan Francisco, 25, from Honduras, part of a caravan of thousands of migrants from Central America traveling to the U.S., shows his tattoo reading “I can do everything with Christ who strengthens me” as he poses for a picture outside a temporary shelter in Tijuana, Mexico November 26, 2018.
(REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis)
An image of the Virgin of Guadalupe is seen in a tent of migrants part of a caravan of thousands from Central America trying to reach the United States, on a street in Tijuana, Mexico, December 15, 2018.
(REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins)
Up Next
See Gallery
The Senate Appropriations Committee, which is run by Republicans, said there were provisions in the bill that could result in an increase in detention beds from last year.
Lowey said the bill would improve medical care and housing of immigrant families in detention and expand a program providing alternatives to detention.
The wide-ranging bill also contains some important domestic initiatives, including a $1.2 billion increase in infrastructure investments for roads, bridges and other ground transport, as well as more for port improvements.
With the 2020 decennial census nearing, the bill provides a $1 billion increase for the nationwide count. Also, federal workers, battered by the record 35-day partial government shutdown that began on Dec. 22 as Trump held out for wall funding, would get a 1.9 percent pay increase if the bill becomes law.
(Reporting by Richard Cowan Editing by Robert Birsel and Chizu Nomiyama)
Incredible GoPro footage takes you inside the gunfire-heavy raid that ended drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s six months on the run.
The video, obtained from Mexican authorities, looks as if it’s from an action movie. The camera follows the armed men as they storm the house, unleash grenades and bullets, and search room to room.
The Friday raid was called “Operation Black Swan,” according to the Mexican show “Primero Noticias.” Authorities decided to launch the raid Thursday after they got a tip about where Guzman was sleeping, the show reported.
Seventeen elite unit Mexican Marines launched their assault on the house in the city of Los Mochis at 4:40 a.m., “Primero Noticias” said.
They were met by about one dozen well-armed guards inside who were prepared for a fight, the show said.
The Marines moved from room to room, clearing the house. Upstairs they found two men in one room and found two women on the floor of a bathroom. All were captured, “Primero Noticias” said.
After 15 minutes, the Marines controlled the entire house, according to “Primero Noticias.”
In the end, five guards were killed and two men and two women were detained. One of the women was the same cook Guzman had with him when he was detained a couple years ago, according to “Primero Noticias.”
Eventually the marines determined that the only bedroom on the first floor was Guzman’s and they began pounding on the walls and moving furniture, finding hidden doors, the show said.
His room had a king-sized bed, bags from fashionable clothing stores, bread and cookie wrappers, and medicine including injectable testosterone, syringes, antibiotics and cough syrups, the show said. The two-story house had four bedrooms and five bathrooms. There were flat-screen TVs and Internet connection throughout the house, according to “Primero Noticias.”
The Marines eventually found a hidden passageway behind a mirror, with a handle hidden in the light fixture. The handle opened a secret door, leading down into the escape tunnel, the show explained.
The escape tunnel was fully lit and led to an access door for the city sewage system, “Primero Noticias” said, adding that Guzman had at least a 20-minute head start on the Marines.
The address where Guzman was captured had been monitored for a month, Mexican Attorney General Arely Gomez has said. According to Gomez, Guzman and his lieutenant escaped through that drainage system.
“Primero Noticias” said it obtained surveillance footage showing Guzman and his lieutenant emerging from the manhole cover, where they then stole two cars to flee, the show said.
Guzman was finally caught when he and the lieutenant were stopped on a highway by Mexican Federal Police, the show said.
Authorities took them to a motel to wait for reinforcement. The men were then taken to Los Mochis airport and transfered to Mexico City.
Rebecca Blackwell/AP PHOTO
Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is escorted by soldiers and marines to a waiting helicopter, at a federal hangar in Mexico City, Jan. 8, 2016.
Guzman is now back in prison as his lawyers fight his extradition to the U.S.
The drug kingpin escaped from the Altiplano prison near Mexico City on July 11, launching an active manhunt. When guards realized that he was missing from his cell, they found a ventilated tunnel and exit had been constructed in the bathtub inside Guzman’s cell. The tunnel extended for about a mile underground and featured an adapted motorcycle on rails that officials believe was used to transport the tools used to create the tunnel, Monte Alejandro Rubido, the head of the Mexican national security commission, said in July.
Guzman had been sent there after he was arrested in February 2014. He spent more than 10 years on the run after escaping from a different prison in 2001. It’s unclear exactly how he had escaped, but he did receive help from prison guards who were prosecuted and convicted.
Guzman, the leader of the Sinaloa cartel, was once described by the U.S. Treasury as “the most powerful drug trafficker in the world.” The Sinaloa cartel allegedly uses elaborate tunnels for drug trafficking and has been estimated to be responsible for 25 percent of all illegal drugs that enter the U.S. through Mexico.
The press did pry out of DHS the board’s goal to contest disinformation crafted by Russia as well as the general disinformation (authors unstated) that had deceived immigrants from Haiti and other places that the U.S. southern border was open. Republicans like Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri and conservative media like the Washington Times flipped out at the announcement, dusting off their Orwell and combing out their fright-wigs to warn of an impending DHS crackdown on not just free speech but free thinking. “This is dangerous and un-American,” Hawley said in a statement. “The board should be immediately dissolved.”
The idea that the Biden administration would pulp the First Amendment and institute an authoritarian regime through its agents at DHS is immediately dismissible if only because it is one of the most ineffectual departments in the president’s Cabinet. Had Biden given the task to Agriculture or Commerce or another department with a better GPA in governing, we should be afraid. But DHS couldn’t stamp out disinformation or erect an American Reich if we reallocated to it all of the arms we’re currently shipping to Ukraine. It’s peopled by a confederacy of dunces and botch-artists, incapable of carrying out its current mission. For instance, DHS shrugged off the Jan. 6 warning signs, according to a Government Accountability Office report. It failed to share intelligence about the wave of Haitian immigrants who breached the border in 2021. (Based on its track record, DHS’ content monitors will surely miss any treacherous disinformation the Russkies ship our way.) The department is so riddled with “copycat” programs that duplicate duties handled by other federal agencies, Dara Lind argued in Vox, that it should be abolished, a view held by many. In 2020, former Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) wrote an op-ed regretting having midwifed it with her Senate vote.
But never mind DHS. Who among us thinks the government should add to its work list the job of determining what is true and what is disinformation? And who thinks the government is capable of telling the truth? Our government produces lies and disinformation at industrial scale and always has. It overclassifies vital information to block its own citizens from becoming any the wiser. It pays thousands of press aides to play hide the salami with facts.
This is the government that lied about winning the war in Vietnam, that said the Watergate affair was a “third-rate burglary,” that fought a secret war in Nicaragua, that lied about a clandestine love affair in the White House, that used faulty intelligence to force a war in the Middle East. Even President Barack Obama shortchanged the truth. Of 600 Obama statements PolitiFact checked during his administration, a quarter of them fell into the “red zone” of being false, mostly false, or “pants on fire” false. Not so long ago, 50 intelligence officials — each of them smarter and better informed than any DHS brainiac — assured the nation that the Hunter Biden laptop story bore “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.” How did that work out? The idea that Covid could have come from a Chinese lab was similarly dismissed as disinformation; now it’s considered a legitimate possibility by the Biden administration. Meanwhile, we have documented proof from the Washington Postthat even Joe Biden can’t handle simple truths! (We don’t need to reassess the Donald Trump presidency here, do we?)
Making the federal government the official custodian of truth would be like Brink’s giving a safe-cracker a job driving an armored car. On top of that, who is going to accept DHS’ determinations? Not reporters, who are accustomed to government lies. Not the man in the street. Certainly not the so-called low-information voters the government would like to diaper and stuff into an escape-proof playpen. By conjuring the Disinformation Governance Board into existence, the Biden administration will give itself a referee’s power to declare some things completely out of bounds. Without stepping out on the slippery slope, that would give Biden’s people the power to find some things dangerous or objectionable. After branding something disinformation, it’s only a short slide to suppressing the contested information or replacing it with what Kellyanne Conway fancifully called “alternative facts.”
If Russian disinformation is a problem, it has been so for almost a century. As Lawfare reported in 2017, the Russians started sending out fake defectors in the 1930s to spread disinformation in the West. After World War II, the Soviets shifted their focus to the United States. Two years after the surrender of Nazi Germany, Soviet leadership sought to influence public opinion by covertly funding newspapers and radio stations around the world and establishing fronts to nurture communism. It forged documents and attempted to plant them in credible publications. In one disinformation campaign, it promulgated the tall tale that AIDS was the product of an American biological weapons experimentation. And so on.
Somehow we survived the Soviet onslaught without a Disinformation Governance Board to guide us. Not every particle of disinformation can be blocked. Anybody who is good at inventing lies can produce disinformation faster than anybody can shoot disinformation down. (See this RAND report about the Russian “firehose“ of lies.) Instead of installing a Truth Politburo at DHS, the government should leave the job of policing disinformation to the competitive organs of the press, which compete “to obtain the earliest and most correct intelligence of the time, and instantly, by disclosing them to make them the common property of the nation,” as Times of London editor J. T. Delane put it in 1852.
If DHS so badly needs a paperwork project, it can address a problem closer to home: set up a bureau to study and eradicate U.S. government disinformation.
*******
Thanks to Nick Gillespie for expanding my consciousness on this one. Earlier this week, David C. Lowery of Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker fame responded to the Disinformation Governance Board news by tweeting a poll: “Okay you’re a punk rocker in 1982 and the Department of Homeland Security under President Reagan sets up a Disinformation Governance Board to combat disinformation. You’re reaction: That’s punk rock; That’s not punk rock.” Send government disinformation to [email protected]. You can’t subscribe to my email alerts because the list is full. My Twitter feed liked Cracker more than CVB. My RSS feed believes nothing.
Wilbur Scoville ganhou um Doodle do Google com direito a um jogo que simula o ‘teste da escala quente’ de pimentas. Hoje, o Google celebra o nascimento do químico há 151 anos (1865-1942). Scoville, além de receber a homenagem desta sexta-feira (22), é conhecido por ter inventado um método de avaliação do nível de ardência de vários tipos de pimenta, a famosa Escala de Scoville, disponível abaixo em app.
O Doodle do Google, além de animado, é interativo. No jogo, os usuários devem fazer com que um sorvete acerte a pimenta para acabar com a ardência na boca de Scoville, após o químico prová-la. O leite, muito presente no sorvete, é um dos principais componentes neutralizadores do ardor da pimenta.
Doodle de Wilbur Scoville brinca com jogo que usa ‘teste da pimenta’ (Foto: (Foto: Reprodução/Google))
A cada degustação que Wilbur Scoville prova, uma pimenta diferente e as suas propriedades e curiosidades também são reveladas. Após terminar as “lutas”, que você pode ganhar (e aí desbloquear “novas pimentas” para enfrentar) ou perder (e fazer com que Scoville caia no chão com a boca “pelando”), um sistema de compartilhamento dos resultados do jogo nas redes sociais é exibido.
O Doodle foi produzido pela artista e doodler do Google Olivia Huynh. Para a designer, a melhor parte do trabalho foi desenhar as pimentas e as reações de Scoville. “O conceito de picante é universal, cômico, e foi o que tentei usar para criar esse jogo de luta”, explica Huynh, em post do Google.
“Fiz storyboards de como poderia ser, rascunhos e testamos um protótipo. Depois vieram os cenários e animações. Desenhar as pimentas e as reações de Scoville foram minhas partes favoritas”, conta.
Doodle também é informativo, detalhando tipos de pimentas (Foto: Reprodução/Google)
Escala de Scoville
Wilbur Lincoln Scoville nasceu em Bridgeport, nos Estados Unidos, em 22 de janeiro de 1865 e morreu em 10 de março de 1942. O trabalho do americano como farmacêutico é reconhecido mundialmente: criou o Teste Organoléptico de Scoville, que gerou a já conhecida Escala de Scoville.
Com este método, Wilbur Lincoln Scoville definiu o grau de pungência de vários tipos de pimenta, através da detecção da concentração de capsaicina, substância responsável pela ardência da pimenta.
O teste é um Procedimento de Diluição e Prova. Scoville misturava as pimentas puras com uma solução de água com açúcar, e quanto mais solução fosse necessária para diluir a pimenta, mais alta seria sua picância. Depois disso, o método foi melhorado e foram criadas as unidades de calor Scoville (Scoville Heat Units, ou SHU).
Doodle Wilbur Scoville (Foto: Reprodução/Google)
Uma xícara de pimenta que equivale a 1.000 xícaras de água é uma unidade na escala de Scoville. A substância Capsaicina, que gera a ardência nas pimentas, equivale a 15 milhões de unidades Scoville.
A pimenta mexicana Habanero chega a 300 mil, uma “Red Savina Habanero”, modificada, tem 577 mil, e a Tezpur indiana, 877 mil.
Entretanto, este não foi o único trabalho de Scoville. “The Art of Compounding” (A Arte dos Compostos), de 1895, é um de seus livros, que foi usado como referência na farmacologia até os anos 60.
Scoville também publicou um livro com centenas de fórmulas de perfumes e outras essências, que foi chamado de “Extract and Perfumes” (Extratos e perfumes).
Em 1922, Scoville recebeu o Prêmio Ebert, e em 1929 ganhou a sua Medalha de Honra Remington e o título de Doutor honoris causa em Ciências pela Universidade de Columbia. O pesquisador morreu no dia 10 de março de 1942, deixando mulher e dois filhos.
Polémica. El caso de Silvana Buscaglia, la mujer que agredió a un policía tras resistirse a una intervención, tuvo fuerte repercusión mediática y en redes sociales, pero la creación de una página en Facebook para apoyarla tras lo ocurrido ha generado gran polémica y críticas por parte de varios usuarios de esta red social.
Los usuarios en redes sociales han compartido todo tipo de comentarios sobre la página Facebook ya que esta afirma que la “minoría blanca” en el Perú es “altamente discriminada”.
Foto: Captura / Facebook
“Silvana, cometiste una infracción. Pero tu verdadero delito es ser blanca en un país de cholos, resentidos y envidiosos”, fue una de las publicaciones que generó mayor indignación en Facebook.
Además, en la última imagen compartida, la página de Facebook afirma que el Gobierno debe reconocer a la “minoría blanca” como población perseguida.
Hasta el momento no se sabe si se trata de una web satírica.
Walsh and Weld have announced GOP primary campaigns against Trump in 2020, while Sanford has said he is considering one as well.
“Can you believe it? I’m at 94% approval in the Republican Party, and have Three Stooges running against me,” Trump tweeted, though it was unclear what poll he was citing.
“One is ‘Mr. Appalachian Trail’ who was actually in Argentina for bad reasons,” he continued, referring to Sanford.
“Another is a one-time BAD Congressman from Illinois who lost in his second term by a landslide, then failed in radio. The third is a man who couldn’t stand up straight while receiving an award. I should be able to take them!” he added, referring to Walsh and Weld, respectively.
….Another is a one-time BAD Congressman from Illinois who lost in his second term by a landslide, then failed in radio. The third is a man who couldn’t stand up straight while receiving an award. I should be able to take them!
Weld, who ran on the Libertarian Party ticket in 2016, was the first to announce he would seek to challenge Trump for the GOP nomination. The 74-year-old has struggled to gain traction, however, and most polls have shown him receiving single-digit support.
Walsh, meanwhile, announced his campaign on Sunday. He previously served one term as a congressman in Illinois and went on to become a conservative talk radio host, though he said this week that he lost his show upon launching his primary bid.
The ex-congressman has become a fervent critic of Trump’s rhetoric and character. Walsh himself has a history of making controversial statements, and acknowledged in recent days that he has said “racist things.”
Sanford said last month he was considering a primary challenge to Trump, though he has not formally announced a campaign. He has also been critical of the president, and he lost his reelection bid for his House seat last year after Trump endorsed his primary opponent.
Sanford had an extramarital affair in 2009 while serving as governor of South Carolina, but he lied and said he was hiking the Appalachian Trail when he had actually gone to Argentina to visit his mistress.
All three men and any other prospective challengers face slim odds to unseat Trump on the 2020 ticket.
The president has the financial backing of the Republican National Committee, and he has solidified support within the GOP, consistently polling close to 90 percent among Republicans in Gallup surveys.
After a few weeks away, Baldwin appeared as Trump in the show’s cold open mocking the president’s White House Rose Garden speech where he declared a national emergency in order to build his border wall. On Sunday morning, Trump tweeted, “Nothing funny about tired Saturday Night Live on Fake News NBC!” He also pondered how “networks get away with these total Republican hit jobs without retribution?”
Nothing funny about tired Saturday Night Live on Fake News NBC! Question is, how do the Networks get away with these total Republican hit jobs without retribution? Likewise for many other shows? Very unfair and should be looked into. This is the real Collusion!
On “SNL,” Baldwin’s nearly seven-minute faux press conference took aim at many of the president’s declarations.
“I’m here to declare a very urgent, important national emergency. This is a big one so I don’t want to waste any time. That’s why first I want to blow my own horn a little bit, OK?” Baldwin began before mocking Trump’s health exam and upcoming summit with North Korea.
“Let’s cut to the chase, folks: We need wall. OK? We have a tremendous amount of drugs flowing into this country from the southern border, or ‘the Brown Line,’ as many people asked me to call it,” Baldwin continued. “That’s why we need wall. Because wall works. Wall makes safe. You don’t have to be smart to understand that; in fact, it’s even easier to understand if you’re not smart. You all see why I need to fake this national emergency, right? I have to because I want to. It’s really simple.”
Trump told reporters Friday “I could do the wall over a longer period of time. I didn’t need to do this, but I’d rather do it much faster.”
Baldwin wrapped up the sketch by taking questions from the press. He poked fun at Trump’s tiff with CNN’s Jim Acosta, played by Kyle Mooney, who said statistics show that undocumented immigrants commit less crime than native-born Americans.
“Oh my God, Jim, those numbers are faker than this emergency,” Baldwin quipped. “In conclusion, this is a total emergency, a five-alarm blaze, which means I have to go to Mar-a-Lago and play some golf.”
A Winter Weather Advisory has been issued for parts of the Chicago area until midnight.
Counties include Cook, DuPage and Lake counties in Illinois.
Plan on slippery road conditions due to accumulating snow and reduced visibilities.
And the cold and snow will last through the weekend and beyond.
The cold is to tighten its grip on the Chicago area as the core of the bitterly cold air mass, locked over Canada and a chunk of the Lower 48, rotates southward over the area–especially Sunday and Monday.
Daytime highs and minimum morning wind chills expected over the coming days look like this:
Las firmas agrícolas fueron las de mayor peso entre las principales empresas exportadoras de 2015 y tomaron fuerza las madereras, pero el ranking sigue siendo encabezado por Conaprole con 5,1% del total. A su vez, hay nueve frigoríficos entre las 20 empresas más exportadoras, pero ninguno en los primeros lugares.
Según datos brindados a El País desde el Instituto Uruguay XXI, del total de US$ 8.967 millones (incluyendo las zonas francas) exportados desde Uruguay en 2015, un 36% corresponde a estas 20 firmas.
Conaprole fue la empresa con mayor volumen exportador durante 2015 al totalizar US$ 465 millones y 177.000 toneladas de ventas. Sin embargo, su vicepresidente Wilson Cabrera dijo que “fue un año muy malo para la exportación de productos lácteos” por los bajos precios internacionales.
Efectivamente, los tamberos nucleados en Conaprole elevaron su nivel de producción exportadora en 2015, aunque recibieron menos dinero que en los últimos años. La empresa láctea vendió al exterior el año pasado un 35% más de toneladas de leche que en 2014 pero facturó un 7,1% menos. En comparación con 2013, el volumen de exportaciones fue 8,9% superior y el monto recibido fue 20,5% menos.
El año pasado fue el primero con un ciclo completo de producción de la planta de celulosa de Montes del Plata, lo que derivó en que la firma Eufores S.A. (la encargada de los bosques) ocupe el segundo lugar en el ranking de exportadores con 3.396.000 de toneladas de madera vendida a la zona franca donde está la planta. Estas transacciones totalizaron casi US$ 300 millones en 2015, un 98% más que la cifra alcanzada por la firma en 2014.
El gerente general de Montes del Plata, Luis María Rodríguez, manifestó a El País que el volumen de producción alcanzando por la planta de celulosa tuvo “una curva creciente” durante el año que se alcanzó tras realizar “algunos ajustes para alcanzar la plena capacidad”.
En el tercer escalón del ranking aparece la granelera Crop Uruguay con US$ 235 millones en ventas de soja y trigo. Este sector al igual que el lácteo se vio afectado por la caída en el precio internacional de los alimentos, lo que se refleja en una baja de 33,7% de las exportaciones en monto de la firma respecto a 2014 y de 44,7% respecto a 2013.
La firma Compañía Forestal Oriental (la maderara que provee a la plata de celulosa UPM) ocupa el cuarto lugar. En 2015 totalizó 2.931.000 toneladas de madera vendida por un valor de US$ 219 millones, montos inferiores a los alcanzados en los últimos dos años.
En el quinto lugar aparece la firma agrícola LDC Uruguay con un total de US$ 192 millones de exportación, con la soja como principal producto pero también ventas de arroz y trigo. Otra granelera como Barraca Jorge W. Erro la sigue en el listado, con US$ 190 millones y 560.000 toneladas exportadas el año pasado. Ambas firmas tuvieron caídas superiores al 15% en sus montos de exportación durante los últimos dos años.
En la séptima posición se encuentra la arrocera Saman, que supo ocupar el podio de empresas exportadoras en 2008 y 2009. El año pasado registró ventas al exterior de 342.000 toneladas de arroz por US$ 165 millones, lo que representa una caída cercana al 30% en monto en comparación con los últimos dos años.
A partir del octavo lugar se ubican nueve frigoríficos. En comparación con las ventas de 2014, cinco empresas incrementaron sus cifras de exportación, Pulsa tuvo montos iguales y las restantes tres tuvieron caídas. Breeders & Packers Uruguay y Frigorífico Tacuarembó son las únicas exportadoras de carne dentro del ranking que incrementaron sus ventas en los últimos dos años. En contrapartida, los frigoríficos San Jacinto y Carrasco redujeron sus niveles respecto a 2013 y 2014.
El director del Frigorífico Las Piedras, Alberto González, dijo que la caída del precio internacional de la carne en promedio fue de 6% durante el pasado año. Pero el mayor volumen de producción en Uruguay hizo posible que muchos establecimientos pudieran acercarse, igualar o superar los anteriores montos totales de exportación. “Las ventas fueron más importantes en el segundo semestre que en el primero”, añadió.
El director general para el Cono Sur del Grupo Marfrig (Frigorífico Tacuarembó y Establecimientos Colonia entre otros), Marcelo Secco, señaló un enlentecimiento de las ventas en el sector. Identificó “procesos más complejos” a la hora de cerrar contratos, sin facilidades para ingresar a nuevos mercados como ocurrió años atrás con Rusia, China o Europa.
En la parte final del ranking se encuentran la curtiembre Paycueros, la agrícola Cereoil Uruguay, la firma de oleaginosos Aarhuskarlshamn (AAK) y Cristalpet, dedicada a la manufactura de plástico.
Paycueros y AAK atraviesan ciclos positivos con importantes incrementos de sus ventas al exterior en los últimos dos años, mientras que Cereoil y Cristalpet sufrieron caídas significativas, en especial la firma agrícola que bajó más de 50% sus exportaciones.
Perspectivas
Cabrera indicó que el panorama del sector lácteo hacia el futuro “es incierto” porque no hay señales que hagan prever una suba de los precios. “En el mercado internacional en este momento sigue habiendo una oferta abundante y una demanda más bien retraída”, explicó el vicepresidente de Conaprole. Agregó que los negocios concretados hasta el momento se dieron nuevamente a valores bajos.
Otros sectores con problemas similares son la carne (ver aparte) y los granos. Se estima que el valor mundial de la soja continuarán en baja tras una cosecha récord en Estados Unidos. Mientras que en el sector oleaginoso, el aumento de producción de Brasil “no dejará mucho espacio para la recuperación de precios”, informó hace algunas semanas a El País el asesor agrícola Fernando Villamil.
Rodríguez de Montes del Plata señaló que el objetivo para 2016 es “producir a capacidad de diseño durante todo el año” y generar al menos 1,3 millones de toneladas de pulpa de celulosa.
Frigoríficos se preparan para año complejo
El responsable para el Cono Sur del Grupo Marfrig, Marcelo Secco, dijo que hay varios factores que podrían complicar al sector cárnico este año: el fortalecimiento global del dólar, los problemas económicos de China, el aumento de oferta de competidores directos como Australia y Brasil, y la recuperación de Argentina.
Además, Secco expresó que probablemente le haya llegado la hora a la carne de reducir sus valores internacionales, tras la caída de precios que han experimentado en el último tiempo los principales commodities. Para el director del Frigorífico Las Piedras, Alberto González, en 2016 el sector aumentará aproximadamente 5% su producción. Aunque indicó que esta suba posiblemente no alcance para “compensar la baja de los precios” de exportación.
Hubo caída en el sector exportador tras 5 años
La colocación de bienes en el exterior acumuló US$ 8.967 millones en 2015 y cerró el año con una baja de 11,6% respecto a 2014. También acumulan trece meses consecutivos de resultados negativos. El año pasado hubo menores ventas a 14 de los 20 principales destinos de Uruguay, con significativas caídas en las exportaciones hacia Brasil (30,2%) y China (6,1%). Las exportaciones uruguayas no registraban un cierre de año con caída desde 2009.
TRES DE LOS QUE MÁS EXPORTAN
Rodríguez: “La producción tuvo curva creciente
2015 fue el primer año calendario completo (en Montes del Plata) con más de 1,2 millones de toneladas de producción anual. La capacidad de producción fue optimizándose a lo largo del año, especialmente luego de que realizáramos algunos ajustes”.
“Cabrera: “Un año muy malo para los lácteos
No tuvimos una baja en la cantidad de producción (en Conaprole) pero sí en los precios internacionales, donde hubo una caída importantísima. Esto influyo para que se cierren muchos establecimientos, yo creo que como nunca había pasado en Uruguay”.
“Secco: “Fue muy complejo cerrar contratos
Fue un año de transición, porque veníamos de tiempos dinámicos. La demanda apuntó a procesos más complejos y trabajosos para cerrar contratos, y en precios fue un año de ajustes. Esta lentitud para la concreción de negocios seguirá en 2016″.
Impeaching a U.S. president might not be the be-all-end-all for their career. We explain why this is the case. Just the FAQs, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON – Expanding his scorched-earth defense against possible impeachment, President Donald Trump now accuses House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of “treason” and says she is the one who should be impeached.
Having made similar claims against Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Trump said Pelosi has abetted unfair tactics in the investigation of his dealings with Ukraine.
“This makes Nervous Nancy every bit as guilty as Liddle’ Adam Schiff for High Crimes and Misdemeanors, and even Treason,” Trump tweeted late Sunday. “I guess that means that they, along with all of those that evilly ‘Colluded’ with them, must all be immediately Impeached!”
Members of Congress cannot be impeached. Impeachment is a tool that Congress uses to investigate judges or executive branch officials they believe may have committed crimes.
Nancy Pelosi knew of all of the many Shifty Adam Schiff lies and massive frauds perpetrated upon Congress and the American people, in the form of a fraudulent speech knowingly delivered as a ruthless con, and the illegal meetings with a highly partisan “Whistleblower” & lawyer…
Pelosi, Schiff, and other Democrats have made clear they will continue to investigate Trump’s efforts to have Ukraine and perhaps other countries investigate Joe Biden, a Democratic U.S. presidential candidate.
“It’s about a damning call in which the President pressured a foreign power to investigate a political rival, harming national security,” Schiff tweeted over the weekend. “It’s about our democracy.”
Trump’s attack on Pelosi came during a weekend of angry tweets against Democrats, journalists, whistleblowers, and others involved in the impeachment drama.
Post to Facebook
Posted!
A link has been posted to your Facebook feed.
U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch was recalled to Washington for “consultations” on April 29, 2019. The whistleblower complaint cited a Rudy Giuliani interview with a Ukrainian journalist published on May 14, 2019, where he stated that Yovanovitch was “removed … because she was part of the efforts against the President.” Seen here, Yovanovitch, center, sits during her meeting with then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Kiev, Ukraine, on March 6, 2019. Mikhail Palinchak, Presidential Press Service Pool Photo via AP
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., joins Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., right, at a news conference as House Democrats move on depositions in the impeachment inquiry of Trump, at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 2, 2019. J. Scott Applewhite, AP
Trump also called to have Romney impeached, though, again, members of Congress are not subject to the impeachment process.
CLOSE
President Donald Trump is acknowledging Democrats in the House “have the votes” to begin a formal impeachment inquiry, but he says he’s confident it will backfire politically and they won’t have the votes to convict in the GOP-controlled Senate. (Oct. 4) AP, AP
This is a widget area - If you go to "Appearance" in your WP-Admin you can change the content of this box in "Widgets", or you can remove this box completely under "Theme Options"
