Hungary: PM Orban hits out at 'shameful' EU legal action

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban accused the European Commission of "legalized hooliganism" after it launched legal action over an anti-LGBTQ law. Critics say the legislation conflates homosexuality with pedophilia.


Orban has come under fire from EU leaders for his approach to LGBTQ rights


The EU's legal action against Hungary over a new anti-LGBTQ law is a "shameful" move that amounts to "legalized hooliganism," Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday.

The legislation bans the depiction of homosexuality and gender transition to those under the age of 18 and has sparked outrage across Europe.

Hungary's government dismisses the criticism, insisting that sex education is a matter of parental choice only.


Orban has dismissed the latest row with the EU as interference in Hungary's domestic affairs by "Brussels bureaucrats"

Orban, who faces an election next year, told Hungarian state radio that he would never let LGBTQ activists "march up and down" in schools promoting what he called sexual propaganda.

"Both family law and education are national competencies," he said. "It is shameful that the European Commission is asking us to amend our education law."
What is the EU doing?

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told European lawmakers last week that the Hungarian legislation was "a disgrace."

On Thursday, the EU executive said it had written to the Hungarian government demanding answers. That is the first step in a lengthy legal process known as an infringement procedure, which are launched by the Commission when it believes a member state has broken EU law.

The case could end up in the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.

If the Hungarian government loses, it potentially faces billions of euros in fines.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte suggested last month that Hungary "has no business being in the European Union anymore" after the law had been approved.

The European Parliament also demanded action.

MEPs passed a motion earlier this month that called the law "another intentional and premeditated example of the gradual dismantling of fundamental rights in Hungary".

Poland is also facing a similar legal case over its 'LGBT-free' zones declared by some Polish towns and cities.
What has been happening in Hungary?

Orban, in power since 2010, has taken an increasingly tough line on social policies, such as LGBT rights and immigration.

He says he is defending traditional Christian values against left-wing liberalism.

The Hungarian prime minister canceled plans to attend Hungary's Euro 2020 game against Germany in Munich last month after it emerged that the city's mayor wanted to light up the Allianz Arena in rainbow colors.

But UEFA declined the German request.


Dieter Reiter, the mayor of Munich, wanted to repeat a gesture the city often makes during its annual Pride march

Last year, Hungarian lawmakers banned same-sex couples from adopting children and passed legislation that prevents people from legally changing their gender.

Hungary also does not recognize gay marriage.

Budapest has regularly clashed with Brussels over the past decade over LGBTQ rights, media freedom, the treatment of immigrants and the rule of law.

In December, the European Court of Justice ruled parts of the Hungarian government's asylum policy to be illegal.

Judges found that excessive red tape meant migrants wishing to claim asylum in Hungary "were in practice confronted with the virtual impossibility of making their applications."

Interview
Gwen Berry: ‘I’m not anti-American … I want justice for everybody’

The hammer thrower made headlines when she was involved in a controversy over the US national anthem. But she says she is fighting for American values

Gwen Berry of the United States competes in the women’s hammer throw at the Golden Grand Prix track and field event in Kawasaki, Japan. Photograph: Shizuo Kambayashi/AP


Allison Torres Burtka
Fri 16 Jul 2021 10.29 BST

At the US Olympic Track and Field trials in June, hammer thrower Gwen Berry earned a spot on her second Olympic team, placing third in her event. She also became a face of athlete activism. She raised her fist when she was introduced before the hammer throw, and when she was on the podium, she turned around and draped a T-shirt that said “activist athlete” over her head.

Berry emerged as a visible activist athlete in 2019, when she won gold at the Pan American Games and raised her fist on the podium, near the end of the national anthem. She did it to draw attention to racial injustice in the US that doesn’t get enough attention, she said. “You can see the racial wealth gap, you can see voter suppression, you can see that Black communities don’t have resources, like grocery stores, water, and access to public transportation.”
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Berry’s silent demonstration violated the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) prohibition on athletes’ demonstrations, so the body reprimanded her and put her on probation for a year. It did the same to fencer Race Imboden, who took a knee on the podium. Some of Berry’s corporate sponsors dropped her.

Since then, the USOPC has stopped sanctioning athletes for such demonstrations, and it specified that they could raise a fist or kneel at the Olympic trials without being punished. It also specified that athletes can wear clothing displaying messages such as “Black Lives Matter”.

In the months leading up to the Olympic trials, Berry and all the other athletes knew they could demonstrate peacefully without fear of punishment from the USOPC. “I feel like it gives the athletes a strong sense of support, saying, ‘We do care about your lives, we do care about you, in and out of the sport,’” Berry said.

At the trials, sprinter Noah Lyles raised a gloved fist when he was introduced before the 100m final. Heptathlete and 100m hurdler Taliyah Brooks wore Black Lives Matter patches on her uniform in some of her events.

The rules will be different at the Tokyo Olympics.

The USOPC’s shift came after the Team USA Council on Racial and Social Justice recommended allowing silent, peaceful demonstrations, arguing that banning them violates athletes’ rights to free speech and freedom of expression. Team USA athletes had voiced concern, particularly about Berry being punished. The council asked the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to reconsider its ban on these demonstrations, but the IOC upheld the ban in April

The IOC’s Rule 50 says that “no kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted” at any Olympic venue. The International Paralympic Committee has a similar rule. But, Berry and other American athletes have argued, kneeling or raising a fist is not about politics – it’s about human rights. “Peaceful protest is a basic human right,” Berry said.

On 2 July, shortly after the Olympic trials, the IOC revised its guidelines to allow athletes to demonstrate before the start of their event. But they still can’t demonstrate on the podium, on the field of play, at the opening or closing ceremony, or in the Olympic Village. They also can’t wear anything that says “Black Lives Matter”.

This adjustment isn’t enough, Berry said. “The risk of the penalty remains the same. So if athletes do decide to protest in their moment, the penalty is, without a doubt, too much.”

The risk of violating the IOC rule is too high for some athletes, Brooks said. “I know a lot of athletes probably would want to, but they know if they do that, they’ll lose everything that they have.” She added, “I hope that they change those rules, because then you’re making an athlete choose between sport and a lifelong dream, or bringing awareness to something that is affecting them, or maybe affecting a friend or family member.”

The Team USA Council on Racial and Social Justice argued that Rule 50’s specific bans on kneeling and raising a fist target Black athletes and go against Olympic and Paralympic values.

The Olympic Charter states: “The goal of Olympism is to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of humankind, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity.”

At the trials, after the hammer throw finals, Berry and the first- and second-place finishers were ushered onto the podium, where they would be introduced to the crowd, pose for photos briefly, and step down. At the Olympics, the gold medalist’s national anthem is played while they stand on the podium, but that doesn’t happen at the trials. The national anthem is played at the start of each evening’s session, not for each event’s medalists.

So when the three women stepped up and the anthem started playing, Berry was caught off guard. “We were told that we will be introduced to the crowd, either before the playing of the national anthem or after the playing of the national anthem,” Berry said. “I would not have stood on the podium if they played the national anthem, just because that would have been my preference.”

She shifted on her feet, turned around, and then draped the shirt over her head. Berry thought someone played the anthem at that moment to create controversy, “because they knew that I would react,” she said. “I didn’t turn my back to the flag. I turned every which way, because I was so upset.”

Gwen Berry on the podium at the US Olympic trials. Photograph: AP/Charlie Riedel

When Berry’s reaction made headlines, she came under widespread public criticism. But the critics calling her anti-American are getting it wrong, she said. “I am trying to fight for a better America for everybody,” she said. “That doesn’t make me anti-American. If anything, it makes me more American, because I really want freedom and justice for everybody.”

Before the trials, Berry signed with a new sponsor that supports her activism: Puma. This match was made by the nonprofit racial justice organization Color of Change. Last year, Color of Change launched its first athletic sponsorship to support Berry financially, and then it brought some major brands to the table to consider sponsoring her.

“As we watched her bravery and then watched the attacks against her, we thought that this would be not just an excellent moment to support someone who had taken a risk and taken a stand, but also send a message to corporations that, far too often, virtue-signal and commodify blackness, through their statements or through their advertising, while not actually standing up when the moment truly presents itself,” said Color of Change president Rashad Robinson.

Robinson said he hopes other corporations “will take the lead from what we’ve done here, what Puma has done, and support athletes as their full selves – and support Black athletes as their full selves.” He added, “I think that [Puma] deserves some credit for stepping in where others actually stepped back.”

Racial inequity in the current context of the Olympics and Black women athletes also includes Sha’Carri Richardson being barred from the Olympics, the Soul Cap swim cap being banned from the Olympics, and two Namibian women sprinters being banned from the Olympics for naturally high testosterone levels. These things strengthen Berry’s motivation to take a stand, she said.

“Sometimes folks will say things like, ‘the rules are the rules.’ But that doesn’t mean that the rules are fair,” Robinson said. “Society has had to change the rules over and over again to create more justice and more opportunity.” Color of Change is trying to get the IOC to abolish Rule 50.

How exactly Team USA athletes who violate Rule 50 in Tokyo will be punished remains unclear, because the USOPC is normally the entity exerting the discipline, but violations will be reviewed case by case.

Brooks said that Berry’s advocacy – along with that of Colin Kaepernick, John Carlos, and Muhammad Ali – has allowed other athletes to be less afraid to use their platform.

“There’s strength in numbers,” Berry said. “And if we all speak out against these issues, and we use our voices to express how we feel, in and out of the sport, I think that’s when we begin to create change…. One person can’t change enough, but 10 can. And 100 really can.”
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At the trials, Brooks wore Black Lives Matter patches on her uniform in the first round of the 100m hurdles and in some of her heptathlon events. She didn’t get to finish the heptathlon because she collapsed on the track in the extreme heat, and competition was postponed shortly afterward.

Brooks has been wearing Black Lives Matter patches in competitions all year, after getting the OK from her sponsor, Asics, she said. “It’s not political, but I think people choose to make it political to get away from the actual topic itself.”

Last year, after Brooks and fellow University of Arkansas track and field athlete Markus Ballengee attended a protest following George Floyd’s murder, they commissioned artists to create a “No Justice, No Peace” mural in Fayetteville and held a community event unveiling it that included voter registration, a speech from the city mayor, and other activities. “We just really wanted to do something in our town to bring awareness but have a lasting impact,” she said.

The US saw an outpouring of support for Black communities after George Floyd’s murder, but not enough has changed since then, Berry said. “The point is, there needs to be more attention on what’s going on in America, with the racial wealth gap and all of these issues that we still haven’t fixed.”

Berry is looking forward to Tokyo, but also beyond it. After the Olympics, “whatever I can do to further help Black communities, that’s what I’m going to do – whether it be speaking engagements or grassroots community work,” she said. “America is extremely capable of sticking to its notion of freedom and justice for us all.”

Israeli Spyware campaign targeted journalists, activists: researchers

Agence France-Presse
July 16, 2021

Hacker (Photo: Shutterstock)

A spyware campaign using tools from a secretive Israeli firm was used to attack and impersonate dozens of human rights activists, journalists, dissidents, politicians and others, researchers said Thursday.

Statements from Microsoft security researchers and the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab said powerful "cyberweapons" were being used in precision attacks targeting more than 100 victims around the world.

Microsoft said it patched this week the vulnerability exploited by the group, known by the names Candiru and Sourgum.

Citizen Lab said in a blog post that "Candiru is a secretive Israel-based company that sells spyware exclusively to governments," which can then use it to "infect and monitor iPhones, Androids, Macs, PCs, and cloud accounts."

"We found many domains masquerading as advocacy organizations such as Amnesty International, the Black Lives Matter movement, as well as media companies, and other civil-society themed entities," Citizen Lab said.

Microsoft observed at least 100 victims in the Palestinian territories, Israel, Iran, Lebanon, Yemen, Spain, Britain, Turkey, Armenia and Singapore.

The US tech firm said it moved to thwart the attacks with Windows software updates that prevent Candiru from delivering its malware.

"Microsoft has created and built protections into our products against this unique malware, which we are calling DevilsTongue," a Microsoft statement said.

"We have shared these protections with the security community so that we can collectively address and mitigate this threat."

According to Microsoft, DevilsTongue was able to infiltrate popular websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Yahoo and others to collect information, read the victim's mesages and retrieve photos.

"DevilsTongue can also send messages as the victim on some of these websites, appearing to any recipient that the victim had sent these messages," said the statement from Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center.

"The capability to send messages could be weaponized to send malicious links to more victims."

Citizen Lab researchers found evidence the spyware can exfiltrate private data from a number of apps and accounts, including Gmail, Skype, Telegram and Facebook.

It can also capture browsing history and passwords, as well as turn on the target's webcam and microphone, according to the findings.

Citizen Lab said the Israeli firm's current name is Saito Tech Ltd, and that it has some of the same investors and principals as NSO Group, another Israeli firm under scrutiny for surveillance software.

Climate experts shocked at severity of floods in Germany and Belgium

Julia Conley, Common Dreams
July 16, 2021

A car is seen stuck in a pedestrian area of Bad Muenstereifel, western Germany on July 16, 2021, after heavy rain hit parts of the country and caused widespread flooding. (Photo: Ina Fassbender/AFP

Climate scientists on Friday were stunned by the intensity of flooding in Germany and Belgium that killed at least 120 people and damaged tens of thousands of homes, with experts saying they did not expect such extreme weather to result from the human-caused climate crisis as rapidly as it has.

More than a dozen records for rainfall were set across Western Europe, including in Cologne, where officials recorded six inches of rainfall in just 24 hours on Wednesday into Thursday morning—nearly double the monthly average for July. The city's previous record for daily rainfall was only three inches.

"This week's event is totally untypical for that region," Dieter Gerten, professor of global change climatology and hydrology at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, told The Guardian.

Aerial footage of Ahrweiler in Rhineland Palatinate showed fallen trees, abandoned cars, and indundated roads.

According to the European Severe Weather Database, Reifferscheid saw more than eight inches of rainfall in just nine hours, leading to extreme flash flooding.

"We are still waiting for a definitive toll, but it could be that this flood becomes the most catastrophic our country has ever known."
—Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo

On Thursday night, officials reported that as many as 1,300 people were still unaccounted for, noting that the high number could be related to power supplies and cell phone networks being disrupted and some areas being difficult for rescue crews to reach.

Gerten expressed shock at the severity of the disaster.

"We seem to be not just above normal but in domains we didn't expect in terms of spatial extent and the speed it developed," Gerten said.

Climate scientists have warned for years that the continued extraction of fossil fuels is causing numerous changes in the climate, including extreme heat, drought, and more frequent and heavy rain—which has been linked to the warming of oceans and increased amounts of water evaporating into the air.

"With climate change we do expect all hydro-meteorological extremes to become more extreme. What we have seen in Germany is broadly consistent with this trend," Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, told The Guardian.

But as the BBC reported, scientists said Friday they "failed to predict the intensity of the German floods" as well as the extreme heat which enveloped the Western United States and Canada in recent weeks, killing hundreds of people

"The obvious acceleration of the breakdown of our stable climate simply confirms that—when it comes to the climate emergency—we are in deep, deep shit," Bill McGuire, a professor emeritus of geophysical and climate hazards at University College London, told the BBC.

The effects of the torrential downpour stretched across Western Europe, with officials in Belgium saying Friday at least 23 people were confirmed dead and at least 19 were missing, and experts in the Netherlands and Switzerland expecting more inundation on Friday.

"We are still waiting for a definitive toll, but it could be that this flood becomes the most catastrophic our country has ever known," said Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo on Friday.

On social media, progressive organizer Doyle Canning of Oregon, where temperatures reached 116 degrees earlier this month, responded to a video of flash flooding in one German city.

"This is your climate on fossil fuel," said Canning as she reshared the footage.

The flooding came days after the European Union unveiled a plan to transition away from fossil fuels by 2030 as part of its plan to become carbon-neutral by 2050.

Armin Laschet, the governor of one of Germany's hardest-hit states and a candidate to replace Angela Merkel as chancellor in the September elections, said the rising death toll and damage to communities across Germany demonstrated that "we need to continue Germany's path toward climate neutrality even faster."

Miami Democrats, progressives and Black Lives Matter torn on Cuba protests response
2021/7/16 

©Miami Herald

Hundreds of people participate in a community-wide rally in support of freedom in Cuba at the Cuban Memorial at Miami's Tamiami Park, Tuesday, July 13, 2021. - Michael Laughlin/TNS

MIAMI – For four days, the Democratic Progressive Caucus of Florida deliberated and drafted a statement in response to historic anti-regime protests in Cuba.

On Thursday, the organization made its position public. The statement didn’t include support for the protests or call out violence from the Cuban military and police. Instead, it focused on a call to end the U.S. embargo.

“The DPCF demands the one thing that the United States has within its power to do right now that we know will immediately and measurably improve the lives of the Cuban people suffering on the island: President Biden, lift the Cuban embargo now!” the organization said.

Michael Calderin, a Cuban-American who serves as president of the Florida Progressive Caucus, said support for the protests and condemning police brutality weren’t included in the statement “because we didn’t feel it was necessary.”

“I would like to think the statement is very focused on what we can do to help the people in Cuba,” Calderin said. “That’s got to be number one. I understand our approach there is a bit different than most.”

Manny Diaz, a Cuban-American who is chairman of the Florida Democratic Party, said the state party was not consulted or made aware of the Progressive Caucus statement.

“It’s completely, factually incorrect and it plays into the communist playbook that the U.S. is always a bogeyman,” Diaz said, emphasizing that the Progressive Caucus’ position is not the position of the state party.
Dems divided three ways

The divide between Democrats on Cuba in the last week cuts three ways. South Florida Democrats in elected office have urged President Joe Biden to do more and use the protests to show Cubans the United States’ commitment to human rights and democracy. Progressives have called for an end to the embargo and criticized longtime U.S. opposition to Havana — while largely ignoring the protests on the streets and violent crackdowns in response. And the White House occupies a middle ground, condemning violence against protesters but continuing to say that policy changes are under review.

“It’s a missed opportunity by this group of Democrats to convey that while they oppose the U.S. embargo against Cuba that they also condemn the abhorrent treatment of Cuba’s communist leadership against the multiracial coalition of Cubans, young and old, who have never done this before,” said Mike Hernandez, a Democratic strategist and analyst at Miami’s Spanish-language Telemundo 51 TV station.

The Florida Progressive Caucus statement came a day after the national Black Lives Matter organization released a statement that did not voice support for protesters, many who are are Afro-Cuban, facing brutal crackdowns from military and police forces.

“The people of Cuba are being punished by the U.S. government because the country has maintained its commitment to sovereignty and self-determination,” the group wrote on Instagram. “United States leaders have tried to crush this revolution for decades. Instead of international amity, respect and goodwill, the U.S. government has only instigated suffering for the country’s 11 million people, of which 4 million are Black and Brown.”

The Black Lives Matter statement ignored the three-year-old San Isidro Movement, a loose collective of artists — many of whom are Black — advocating for freedom of expression on the communist island. Their hunger strikes last year were a prelude to the much larger protests throughout the country, and the song “Patria y Vida” (“Homeland and Life”) that was part of the San Isidro Movement’s efforts to challenge the regime.

The song, which was produced and sung by a majority of Black artists in Cuba and abroad, questioned the Castro regime’s revolutionary slogan, “Patria o Muerte” (“Homeland or Death”).

Republicans and Democrats condemned the Black Lives Matter statement, with Republican Sen. Marco Rubio saying “my office stands ready to help the leaders of the Black Lives Matter organization emigrate to Cuba.”

Cuban-American Democratic pollster and consultant Fernand Amandi said the “disgraceful and erroneous words in the Black Lives Matter statement hurt the larger Black Lives Matter movement, which many of us support and continue to support.”

Democratic state Rep. Omari Hardy, a self-identified progressive from West Palm Beach who voiced public support for ending the embargo after Sunday’s protests, did not criticize Black Lives Matter but said calling out police violence in Cuba is important.

“I know my values and my values demand that I call out oppression when I see it,” said Hardy, who is running for U.S. Congress in a district that spans Broward and Palm Beach counties. “I will be consistent and call out police brutality and oppression wherever it occurs, that goes for police brutality and brutality that Cubans are falling victim to at the hands of the regime there.”

But he also said a lot of the criticism of groups like the Florida Progressive Caucus and Black Lives Matter on Cuba is coming from individuals who didn’t speak out during widespread protests in the United States last year.

“I don’t want to hear from Republicans or moderate Democrats who didn’t take to the streets with Black Lives Matter protests last summer that progressives and Black Lives Matter aren’t speaking forcefully enough about oppression in another country,” Hardy said. “They recognize brutality and oppression in other countries better than they can recognize it in their own.”
Congressional Democrats come together

The divide continues among the Democratic Party on Cuba. Prominent Democrats outside of Florida have voiced support for ending the embargo and Trump-era sanctions in the wake of protests while each of the state’s 10 Democrats in Congress signed on to a bipartisan resolution condemning the violence. The resolution was co-authored by Rubio, Miami Republican Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart and Miami Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz. And the words of left-leaning groups like Black Lives Matter and the Florida Progressive Caucus turn into fuel for Republican attacks a year after Democrats performed poorly with Cuban-American voters in South Florida.

“The Biden administration is squandering a historic opportunity to stand for freedom and human rights in our home region,” former President Donald Trump said in a statement on Thursday. “I fought for Cuba, they didn’t.”

Hernandez said Democrats should treat the situation in Cuba as a humanitarian crisis, and that the Biden administration should swiftly allow remittances to be sent from the U.S. to Cuba along with making a public offer of COVID-19 vaccines.

“I think the frustration with the progressive Democratic caucus’ statement and the wait-and-see approach from the Biden administration is a political party trying to figure how to best address this when it’s not even about votes, it’s a humanitarian issue,” Hernandez said. “Make sure [the people] get access to remittances, offer the Cuban government access to vaccines. Force the regime to show the world they are heartless bastards if they reject vaccines that are lifesaving.”

And Amandi said Democrats should solely listen to the protesters in Cuba as they consider how best to respond to the loudest cry for democracy in a generation.

“The best way to explain the position is to listen what the courageous Cuban protesters on the island are saying themselves, which is not a call to the end to the embargo or more vaccines but the end of the Castro regime which has failed them and their families for over 60 years,” Amandi said. “That’s who we should be taking our cues from.”

OF COURSE HE DOES 

Joe Manchin headed to Texas fundraiser hosted by oil billionaires and wealthy Republican donors

Abby Livingston, The Texas Tribune
July 16, 2021

Joe Manchin on Facebook.

WASHINGTON - West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin — a key Democratic holdout over efforts to pass federal voting rights legislation — is expected to head to Texas on Friday for a fundraiser with a host committee that includes several wealthy Republican donors.

The fundraiser comes just a day after Manchin met with Texas House Democrats on Capitol Hill who are desperate for his support of the congressional efforts which could preempt the statewide GOP's push to pass bills that would restrict voting access for Texans.

Manchin is also one of two Democratic senators, along with Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who have proven to be obstacles to moving voting rights legislation through the U.S. Senate. At the center of the impasse is their opposition to eliminating or changing the filibuster, which requires 60 senators to put a bill on the floor.

"We invite you to join us for a special evening supporting our friend, US Senator Joe Manchin," according to the invitation's cover letter, which went on to call Manchin "a longtime friend since his days as Governor of West Virginia."

The host committee includes titans of the Texas oil and gas industry — many of whom donate almost exclusively to Republicans. But there is a prominent Democrat included among the hosts: former Houston Mayor Bill White. White was the 2010 Democratic nominee for governor.

Manchin is the chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, the most powerful perch on Capitol Hill when it comes to oil and gas policy. He will be up for reelection in 2024.

Among the hosts are oil billionaires like Jeff Hildebrand, who cofounded the energy company Hilcorp and Richard Kinder, a cofounder of Kinder Morgan, an energy infrastructure company. Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry appointed Hildebrand to the University of Texas Board of Regents for a six-year term beginning in 2013.

The fundraiser will take place late Friday afternoon in the River Oaks area of Houston, one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Texas. An invitation obtained by The Texas Tribune encouraged donors to contribute $5,800 to Manchin's reelection campaign and $5,000 to his leadership PAC. Organizers anticipate more than 150 people to attend, according to a source familiar with the event.

Manchin's office did not respond to requests for comment.

Many of the hosts are prolific donors to past GOP nominees, including former President Donald Trump, and to organizations like the Republican Party of Texas, the Republican National Committee, state parties, GOP candidates across the country and to Republicans in U.S. Senate and House leadership. Hosts have also contributed to Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dade Phelan.

Even so, some of these donors have made occasional contributions to Democrats who are either moderate or serve on committees with oversight of the energy sector. Energy is a key driver of the Houston economy.

Some of the Democrats over the years who are on the receiving end of these donations include U.S. Rep. Lizzie Pannill Fletcher, the West Houston congresswoman who serves on the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, former U.S. Sens. Max Baucus of Montana and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and former U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinksi, of Illinois.

"We basically are just getting some people together to show our support," said Darren Blanton, a Republican donor who planned to attend the event.

He pushed back on the notion that this is a wholly Republican event.

"It's just people that respect and support him," he said.t

Democrats flew to Washington, D.C. on Monday in a bid to break the House's quorum and prevent the passage of the GOP's priority voting bill.

In their time in Washington this summer, Manchin and his staff have been receptive to the state's Democratic legislative and Congressional delegations, taking meetings the Texans both in June and this week. Texas Democrats interviewed after a June meeting praised Manchin for being receptive to their arguments.

They vow to stay outside of Texas until the special legislative session ends Aug. 6, but Abbott has said he'll continue to call special sessions until the bill is passed.

Democrats have said they chose the nation's capital for their decampment largely so they could urge Congress to take federal action, given that Republicans have majorities in both chambers of the Legislature and are poised to push through their priorities.

Carla Astudillo contributed to this report.

440,000 National Guard members face missing paychecks as GOP blocks funding: report

RAW STORY

The National Guard at the US Capitol (AFP)


Hundreds of thousands of members of the National Guard will not receive their paychecks due to the cost of post-January 6th security at the Capitol with Republicans blocking a spending bill.

The adjutant generals of Indiana, Illinois, and Massachusetts held a Friday media call with reporters, telling them they are canceling drills in August and September, which will result in a loss of paychecks, Defense One reported.

The cancelations are planned for the height of both forest fire and hurricane seasons.

"If you cancel an annual training period, and two individual training periods the month of August and September for Guardsmen, you have in essence cut almost 50% of their training days that prepare them to deploy domestically and internationally in response to whatever missions that the president or the governor has set up for us," said Indiana Adjutant General Maj. Gen. Roger Lyles.

The deployment following the insurrection cost $521 million.

NBC News reported Maj. Gen. Richard Neely, the adjutant general of the Illinois National Guard, warned, "Time is running out."

There could be major impacts on individual Guard families.


"If annual drills in August and September are cancelled, the men and women in the Army and Air National Guard will lose two months of salary. Many will in fact owe the government money because money for their healthcare and retirement plans will still be deducted," NBC's Courtney Kube explained.

Discovery of 10 Unknown Phases of Plasma Could Bring Us Closer to Fusion Power

Plasma test in the MAST tokamak, a plasma fusion chamber. (Dobbin74/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 4.0)
PHYSICS

MICHELLE STARR

15 JULY 2021

A new way of classifying magnetized plasma has led to the discovery of 10 previously unknown topological phases of plasma.

Learning more about these phases, and specifically the transitions between them, could help plasma physicists chase down the white whale of energy - plasma fusion. That's because the transitions between them support edge modes, or waves at the intersection of the plasma surface

These exotic excitations could broaden the potential practical uses for magnetized plasma.

"These findings could lead to possible applications of these exotic excitations in space and laboratory plasmas," said physicist Yichen Fu of Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL).

"The next step is to explore what these excitations could do and how they might be utilized."

Recent research has started to consider plasma topologically, that is, studying the shapes of the waves inside it.

However, the topological phases in cold magnetized plasma, and the transitions between them, have not been comprehensively explored. This is important, because it can help us understand how plasma interacts with itself.

Diagram of the topological phases. (Fu & Qin, Nature Communications, 2021)

Fu and his colleague, PPPL physicist Hong Qin, sought to mathematically describe the topological phases of a cold plasma in a uniform magnetic field. They found 10 different novel phases, separated by edge modes - the boundary between two topologically different regions within the plasma. Numerical studies verified the pair's findings.

"The discovery of the 10 phases in plasma marks a primary development in plasma physics," Qin sai

"The first and foremost step in any scientific endeavor is to classify the objects under investigation. Any new classification scheme will lead to improvement in our theoretical understanding and subsequent advances in technology."

What those advances might be is not speculated in the paper, but there are some interesting possibilities. Plasma is often called the fourth state of matter, a gas in which electrons have been stripped from the atoms therein, forming an ionized material.

It's abundant in space - in fact, it's the state of matter found in stars, which is key to a potential plasma technology.

Deep in their plasma cores, stars fuse nuclei to form heavier elements, a process that generates vast amounts of energy. Scientists have been working towards plasma fusion here on Earth as a form of energy production that will be clean and practically limitless.

As you might imagine, this is extremely difficult. We need to be able to maintain a stable plasma at temperatures hotter than the Sun for long enough to generate and extract energy. There are many obstacles, and so we're pretty far from that goal - but better understanding plasma can only bring us closer.

This research represents a step in that direction.

"The most important progress in the paper is looking at plasma based on its topological properties and identifying its topological phases," Fu said.

"Based on these phases we identify the necessary and sufficient condition[s] for the excitations of these localized waves. As for how this progress can be applied to facilitate fusion energy research, we have to find out."

The research has been published in Nature Communications.

NASA Hubble Space Telescope glitch: troubleshooting identifies potential fix

After over a month in safe mode, there's a new sense of hope for Hubble.


Amanda Kooser
July 14, 2021 


The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope during deployment in 1990.NASA/Smithsonian Institution/Lockheed Corporation

The Hubble Space Telescope is one of NASA's most beloved projects. After over 30 years in service, it's now facing one of its greatest challenges, as a technical glitch has left it in safe mode for over a month. On Wednesday, NASA said it may have tracked down the source of the issue.

The Hubble team had been looking at the payload computer -- hardware dating back to the 1980s -- as the potential source of a memory problem. "A series of multi-day tests, which included attempts to restart and reconfigure the computer and the backup computer, were not successful, but the information gathered from those activities has led the Hubble team to determine that the possible cause of the problem is in the Power Control Unit," NASA said.

As with the payload computer, the PCU is part of Hubble's Science Instrument Command and Data Handling unit. The PCU is responsible for supplying a constant and steady source of electricity to the computer and its memory. Herein lies the possible problem.

"The team's analysis suggests that either the voltage level from the regulator is outside of acceptable levels (thereby tripping the secondary protection circuit), or the secondary protection circuit has degraded over time and is stuck in this inhibit state," NASA said.

NASA unveils 30 dazzling new Hubble space images for an epic anniversary See all photos

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Hubble is equipped with a lot of backup systems, including a backup PCU. On Thursday, NASA will attempt the switch to the other hardware in an effort to restore the telescope to normal operations. Since the issue cropped up on June 13, Hubble's science work has been stalled.

If the plan works, it could still take several days to get the telescope back up and running. There has been concern for the aging telescope, which is a joint project from NASA and the European Space Agency. Hubble's successor, the much-delayed James Webb Space Telescope, is still here on Earth, waiting for a possible October launch.

Hubble has weathered many technical glitches in its time, and it may yet survive this latest one. The good news is NASA has a plan, and the hope to go along with it.

Follow CNET's 2021 Space Calendar to stay up to date with all the latest space news this year. You can even add it to your own Google Calendar.

First published on July 14, 2021 at 1:39 p.m. PT.

NASA IS THE MIC*
Lockheed Martin opens new spacecraft facility in Florida


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A model of NASA's Orion spacecraft is displayed at Lockheed Martin's new Spacecraft Test Assembly and Resource Center in Titusville, Fla., on Thursday. Photo by Joe Marino/UPI | License Photo

TITUSVILLE, Fla., July 15 (UPI) -- Lockheed Martin opened a new spacecraft facility Thursday to help build NASA's Orion lunar capsules near Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Lockheed Martin says the new STAR Center in Titusville is now a "digitally transformed factory of the future" that will help produce spacecraft to take astronauts to the moon. STAR stands for Spacecraft Test, Assembly and Resource.

"This represents the next level of commitment for NASA's and Lockheed Martin's exploration missions," said Paul Marshall, NASA assistant Orion program manager. "Our work here is just getting started, and in August, this place will be humming with activity."

NASA awarded Lockheed a $4.6 billion contract in 2019 to build six new Orion capsules. At 55,000 square feet, the spacecraft center will build large components for Orion, which still will be assembled on NASA property about 10 miles away.

"Large elements such as the heat shield and wiring harness will be built at the STAR Center and then transported for final integration," according to the company, which is based in Maryland.

Having the additional high-tech capability nearby will free up space at NASA's historic 600,000-square-foot Neil Armstrong Operations & Checkout Building, built in 1964 for the Gemini and Apollo programs and renovated for $55 million in 2009.

The new building will allow a faster schedule for Orion construction than would otherwise have been possible, the company said.

"It's not just the building, but the flight that we are preparing for soon with Artemis I, which is so exciting," said Rick Ambrose, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Space. "We want to explore and we want to get Orion out there and the Artemis program."

The new facility will start building components for the Artemis III mission that is intended to return American astronauts to the lunar surface as early as 2024, although that date is in question due to weak congressional funding.

Lockheed Martin spent 18 months and $20 million renovating the center, which formerly housed the Astronaut Training Experience tourist attraction.

Orion is designed for 21-day crewed journeys, but it can be fitted for longer missions to the moon or even Mars, according to Lockheed.

A test model of the Orion capsule has been to space, without astronauts aboard. It was launched in December 2014 and splashed down about 4 1/2 hours later in the Pacific Ocean.

The capsule includes deep space navigation and communication systems, advanced life support, radiation shielding and a heat shield designed to withstand 5,200 degrees F coming back from the moon at 24,700 mph.

Many people at the opening event Thursday said they remembered the building when it was a tourist attraction and hosted space camp programs.

"As a kid I remember running up and down this road, trying to find the best place to watch Apollo launches," state Rep. Thad Altman, R-Fla., said.

* MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX