Riots break out in UK's Leeds, bus set on fire, police car overturned

Riots broke out in Leeds's Harehills area with a bus being set on fire and several people throwing debris at it. The windows of a police car were smashed before the vehicle was flipped over. People were advised to avoid the area.

A police car attacked and overturned by some people in Leeds after an unrest broke out. (Photo: X)

India Today World Desk

New Delhi,

UPDATED: Jul 19, 2024 04:52 IST

Written By: Prateek Chakraborty

In Short

• Police respond to disturbance involving agency workers and children
• No injuries reported during riots, more officers have been deployed
• Social media videos show bus being set on fire, police car flipped over

Unrest erupted in a neighbourhood in UK's Leeds city on Thursday (local time) as a bus was set on fire and a police car came under attack, with its windows smashed and the vehicle being overturned.

West Yorkshire Police said officers responded to an "ongoing disturbance", which involved agency workers and "some children" at 5 pm (local time) in Luxor Street in the Harehills area. A crowd began to gather and a decision was taken to remove both the agency workers and the children "to a safe place" but the situation soon escalated into unrest, police told UK's Sky News

West Yorkshire Police said further "pockets of disorder" had broken out while responding to the situation and more officers were deployed to "assist with the management of this incident". No injuries were reported during the riots.

Videos on social media showed a large number of people on the street and a police car being attacked with its windows shattered before it was overturned. One person was seen setting fire to the bus while others threw debris at it.

Several roads were shut to the public and people were advised to avoid the area till the situation came under control.

Police had left the spot by 10:30 pm (local time) but a helicopter remained, scanning Harehills and other nearby areas.

UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said she was left "appalled" by the "shocking scenes" of unrest and said she was being regularly updated about the situation. She thanked the West Yorkshire Police for their response.

"I am appalled at the shocking scenes and attacks on police vehicles and public transport in Leeds tonight. Disorder of this nature has no place in our society. My thanks go to West Yorkshire police for their response. I am being kept regularly updated," she tweeted.

Councillor Salma Arif, for Gipton and Harehills, posted a video in which she was seen with a police officer and advised people to remain at home.

Update: message from Cllr Salma Arif & Inspector Nicholls.

Cllrs are aware of an on-going incident in Harehills.

Please avoid the area if at all possible. pic.twitter.com/6jMX56kalS — Salma Arif (@CllrSalmaArif) July 18, 2024

 

"Update: Message from Councillor Salma Arif and Inspector Nicholls. Councillors are aware of an ongoing incident in Harehills. Please avoid the area if at all possible," she tweeted.

'Very visible police presence' on streets of Leeds after mass riot erupts with vehicles overturned and set on fire

Unrest broke out in the Harehills area of Leeds on Thursday evening, leading to a police car being flipped over and a bus being set on fire. Residents have been urged to stay at home as police deal with a "serious disorder incident".

By Kieren Williams and Claire Gilbody Dickerson, news reporters
Friday 19 July 2024

A large number of police officers have been deployed to the Harehills area of Leeds, where a mass riot broke out earlier on Thursday.

West Yorkshire Police said it was dealing with a serious disorder incident by deploying appropriate specialist public order resources after a double-decker was set on fire and a police vehicle was overturned.

"We want to make it very clear that the full weight of the law will be brought against those responsible."

No one has been reported injured so far, police said, adding they believe the disorder was "instigated by a criminal minority intent on disrupting community relations".

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said she had been left "appalled" by the scenes of unrest, amid what officers described as "pockets of disorder", with councillor Salma Arif asking people to stay at home.

Livestream footage on social media appeared to show large crowds of people on the streets with vehicles on fire, including a bus.

Image:A police car was flipped over amid unrest. Pic: Snapchat/Kardo

Image:Police running to the scene of the incident

Image:The burning bus. Pic: Yapp App

At 5pm in Luxor Street, officers responded to a "disturbance" which involved agency workers and "some children".

MORE ON LEEDS

Leeds: How did one apparent incident spiral into such a level of disorder?

The police said crowds began to gather and a decision was taken to remove both the agency workers and the children "to a safe place".

However, the situation escalated into the later seen riot.

The owner of a restaurant in Harehills said the disorder was linked to local children being taken into care, adding that some people responded by setting fires and "throwing stones".

Images showed one fire being lit in the middle of a street as crowds of hundreds of people gathered.

Image:A fire was set during the unrest. Pic: Snapchat/Kardo


Barriers have been set up along the street where the disorder seems centred.

Videos on social media show what appeared to be a police drone in the air.

Other footage on social media shows a number of people trying to set fire to a bus.

Later on, towards 10pm, riot police could be seen arriving as the crowd began to disperse in places

Image:The bottom of the overturned police car. Pic: Snapchat/Kardo

Speaking at about midnight from the scene of the unrest, Sky News' north of England correspondent Shingi Mararike said the lack of police officers was "noticeable".

"There's not an obvious police presence in and amongst the midst of it," he said.

"They have quite clearly taken that approach in which they are not directly going into the mass of people here."

Police had earlier on been seen leaving the scene, but it is understood they were gathering reinforcements.

Mararike described the astonishing scene of a local resident apparently trying to extinguish the flames of the bus with a fire extinguisher.

"That quite clearly hasn't really worked as you can still see the flames."

In his latest update, Mararike said there was now a "very visible police presence", while crowds looked like they were starting to disperse.

Image:Pic: Yapp App


Mayor of West Yorkshire Tracy Brabin thanked the emergency services in a social media post, adding: "I'm reassured no one has been seriously injured but suggest those who are using this to inflame community tensions to think again."

Local MP Richard Burgon said: "I am on my way back to Leeds from parliament and am in touch with the police and concerned residents about the ongoing incident in Harehills.

"The police say no injuries have been reported but are advising people to avoid the area at the moment if possible."

A spokesperson for First Bus in Leeds said: "Two of our vehicles have been caught up in the public disorder in the Harehills area of Leeds this evening.

"A team from our depot was quickly at the scene to provide support to our drivers and customers.

"We can confirm that both drivers are unhurt and we have no reports of injuries to passengers.

"One of our vehicles has been set on fire but was empty as the customers had earlier been transferred to another bus together with the driver.

"All services are being diverted from this area of Harehills for the safety of our staff and customers. We will follow the advice of the police in deciding when normal routes will resume and update customers as soon as we can."

US disinflation and the COVID-19 supply shock

Robin Brooks, Peter R. Orszag, and William E. Murdock III

July 18, 2024U.S. inflation is declining more rapidly than most expected, as residual seasonality from start-of-year price resets fades.

But even beyond seasonality, there are forces that will keep inflation slowing. A key driver of slowing inflation is the sheer size of pandemic-era supply disruptions.

Lagged effects from supply chain normalization may pull inflation down further, even though—on the surface—supply disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic ended back in 2022.

Read more from  Global Economy and Markets

Follow the authors
@robin_j_brooks
PROGRAM
Global Economy and Development

U.S. inflation has declined more rapidly than consensus expected, as residual seasonality due to start-of-year price resets fades. We flagged the importance of this dynamic in a previous blog post and in a series of CNBC interviews in March and June. But even beyond this residual seasonality, there are reasons to think inflation will keep moderating. An important driver for further disinflation is the sheer size of COVID-19-related supply disruptions, which rival in severity what Japan experienced in the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. Unlike Japan, where supply chains normalized quickly, delivery times remained stretched for well over a year as the U.S. recovered from the pandemic. Given the severity of disruptions—and their length—we think it is likely that lagged effects from supply chain normalization may still pull inflation down, even though—on the surface—disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic ended long ago. We present preliminary evidence from the global manufacturing purchasing manager indices (PMIs) to this effect, which we will explore further in coming blog posts.

The COVID-19 inflation aftermath

We have been emphasizing the importance of residual seasonality in U.S. inflation data. Menu costs mean many companies delay raising prices until the start of a new calendar year. When inflation is stable—as it was pre-COVID—seasonal adjustment filters out these start-of-year price resets, which makes seasonally adjusted data a good gauge for inflation momentum. The COVID inflation spike ended that. Start-of-year price resets were larger than normal due to the higher level of overall inflation. Standard seasonal adjustment failed to filter these start-of-year resets out, making inflation in early 2023 and early 2024 look worse than it really was (Figure 1). These start-of-year price resets are concentrated in services, as our “core” services measure that excludes owners’ equivalent rent, health care, and transportation clearly shows (Figure 2, blue bars), consistent with the idea that menu costs keep many small businesses from adjusting prices until the start of a new calendar year.
Figure 1. Start-of-year price reset effect in core CPI m/m inflation since COVID-19


Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Figure 2. Contributions to US core CPI, in % m/m


Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics


While residual seasonality is an important phenomenon, it is also true that this dynamic has—for now—run its course. Our inflation generalization index, which measures the combined weight of all items in the CPI (consumer price index) with month-over-month inflation above 2%, fell to 62% in June 2024 (Figure 3), meaning it is almost back to its pre-COVID average of 60%. The case for continued disinflation therefore likely lies elsewhere and—we think—the severity of COVID supply disruptions suggests lagged effects of supply chain normalization will still play an important role. The global PMI database by S&P Global provides balance of opinion data on delivery times across countries. We transform these data into Z-scores for better comparability. Figure 4 shows that delivery times in the U.S. in the aftermath of COVID-19 were on par with what Japan experienced after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, only that Japan managed to fix its supply chains quickly, while delivery times in the U.S. remained stretched for over a year.
Figure 3. Inflation generalization in the US


Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Figure 4. Markit manufacturing PMIs: Supplier delivery times expressed as historical Z-scores


Source: S&P Global


The severity—and length—of COVID supply disruptions holds the key to potential further disinflation, even with supply chains having normalized back in 2022. Bare shelves during the COVID-19 pandemic may have made inventory managers more conservative. That more conservative approach to inventories, in turn, could have generated a wider gap between output prices (where higher prices diminish end demand and therefore boost inventories) and input prices. Figure 5 shows output prices from the global PMIs, which are the prices firms charge customers. Figure 6 shows input prices, which are the prices firms pay suppliers. Output prices rose significantly more than input prices, i.e., firms hiked margins, potentially as a mechanism to better conserve inventory as they grappled with a shock as large and disruptive as the COVID-19 pandemic. (Note that this potential driver of COVID-era margin expansion is distinct from and potentially more plausible than “greedflation.”)
Figure 5. Z-scores for manufacturing PMI output prices in the US, eurozone, and global median across 34 countries


Source: S&P Global

Figure 6. Z-scores for manufacturing PMI input prices in the US, eurozone, and global median across 34 countries


Source: S&P Global


This channel of price inflation is diminishing, however. Despite ongoing geopolitical concerns and some increase in shipping costs recently, salient geopolitical tensions and shipping disruptions in the Panama and Suez canals over the past two years have generally eased relative to their peaks. The implication is that conservative inventory management may also ease further, bringing elevated margins via this effect from COVID-19 down over time.
Lagged effects from supply chain normalization

Figures 7 and 8 compare global PMI delivery times and our proxy for company markups, which we construct as the difference between the Z-scores for output and input prices. While delivery times in the U.S. had fully normalized by Q4 2022, markups only began to fall around one year later and—on some metrics—have yet to fully normalize. This is consistent with our adaptive expectations view on how inventory managers reacted to the COVID shock and subsequent news. Normalizing margins could be one possible driver of continued disinflation, even now that residual seasonality has largely played out for 2024. We will examine lagged effects from supply chain normalization in future posts.
Figure 7. Z-scores for manufacturing PMI delivery times in the US, eurozone, and global media across 34 countries


Source: S&P Global

Figure 8. Z-scores for manufacturing PMI output-input prices in the US, eurozone, and global media across 34 countries


Source: S&P Global


AUTHORS


Robin BrooksSenior Fellow - Global Economy and Development@robin_j_brooks


Peter R. OrszagChief Executive Officer - Lazard


William E. Murdock IIIVice President, Special Opportunities Group - Lazard

Usha Vance could be a stealth asset for Republicans in November

HINDU NATIONALIST AND CHRISTIAN NATIONALIST ARE BOTH ISLAMOPHOBES

Her personal attributes could 'take the edge off Trumpism' and she could be deployed to the suburbs of swing states to target female voters, says expert

WAIT IS JD VANCE  GOING TO DEPORT HIS WIFE'S MIGRANT FAMILY

Usha Chilukuri Vance has stepped into the national spotlight after she introduced her husband, JD Vance, at the Republican National Convention (Photo: Evan Vucci/AP)

By Victoria Craw

July 18, 2024 

As Usha Chilukuri Vance strode on stage in Milwaukee to the tune of “Walking on Sunshine”, Republicans in the crowd may have witnessed the unveiling of a major political asset when it comes to taking on Democrats in November.

The 38-year-old lawyer and mother of three smiled and waved tentatively, appearing momentarily overwhelmed before introducing her husband, JD Vance, in a heartfelt speech ahead of his first national address as Donald Trump’s running mate for vice president.

“When I was asked to introduce my husband…I was at a loss. What could I say that hasn’t already been said before? After all, the man has been the subject of a Ron Howard movie,” she said to laughs from the crowd in reference to his memoir-turned-blockbuster, Hillbilly Elegy, that cemented her husband as a Hollywood power-player and gave him his platform for politics.

She described how the pair became friends at university when he was “a working-class guy who had overcome childhood traumas that I could barely fathom to end up at Yale Law School”.

“A tough marine who had served in Iraq but whose idea of a good time was playing with puppies and watching the movie Babe.”

The daughter of Indian academics also revealed details of her own Hindu upbringing and described how the “meat and potatoes kind of guy” adapted to her vegetarian diet and learned how to cook Indian food from her mother.

“That JD and I could meet at all, let alone fall in love and marry, is a testament to this great country,” she said.

“It’s hard to imagine a more powerful example of the American dream.”

Vice presidential nominee Senator JD Vance and his wife at the Republican National Convention (Photo: Julia Nikhinson/AP)

‘Selling the candidates as stories’

Usha’s legal career, youth, immigrant background and megawatt smile appear set to make her an asset to the white, male Republican ticket ahead of November’s election, yet how much of a role she will play remains to be seen.

The New York Times described the registered Democrat-turned-Republican as a “political cipher” and on paper, her biography appears more akin to Vice President Kamala Harris‘s than that of her husband or Trump. Ms Harris is also the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, was born in California, and rose to serve as California attorney general before running for Vice President.

Christopher Phelps, an associate professor of American history at the University of Nottingham, told i the speech was Usha’s major moment in the national spotlight and comes as part of a well-worn American political tradition to “humanise” candidates by revealing details of their family life.

“It’s to personalise and humanise someone who would seem like a purely political figure. To fill in a little bit of story so you know a biography. They’re selling the candidates as stories and part of the authenticity of that story is having the family testify their love for them,” he said.

“In this case, it’s interesting because Vance is in the mold of Trump. If anything, he’s a more coherent exponent of what they’re calling national conservatism” with its focus on strong borders, America first stance in both domestic and foreign policy, he said.

“Part of that of course is rhetoric around immigration. That makes for an interesting contrast with him falling in love with this woman who is the daughter of Indian immigrants.”

Usha hails from a strongly academic family, with her great-aunt, Shanthamma Chilukuri, who is 96, regarded by locals in southern India as the country’s oldest active professor – still travelling 40 miles most weekdays to teach physics. Usha’s mother is a biologist at the University of California at San Diego, while her father is an engineer. Her younger sister is also a mechanical engineer with a semiconductor company in San Diego, and an aunt a medical professional in the southern Indian city of Chennai, according to Reuters.

Shanthamma Chilukuri, a great-aunt of Usha Chilukuri Vance is still teaching physics at age 96 in India (Photo: Reuters)

“Most of our family is academically strong and education has been a top priority,” Shanthamma told Reuters from Visakhapatnam in southern India. A close family member based in India who attended the couple’s wedding but wanted to remain anonymous said Usha’s success can be attributed to the “mindset that one must accomplish something, have degrees from top institutes”.

“Our family WhatsApp group is flooded with messages ever since JD Vance’s name was announced,” they said. “I sent her a congratulatory message and conveyed my best wishes. She was also elated.”

Indian media have also hailed her as the latest among several Americans with Indian heritage who have risen to prominence including Ms Harris, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and former Republican presidential hopefuls Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy, who was JD and Usha’s classmate at Yale.

After receiving her undergraduate degree from Yale, Usha gained a masters of philosophy at University of Cambridge and returned to Yale to study law where she met Mr Vance. She is reported to have been a guiding force for his memoir and the pair married in 2014.

After graduating she spent a year clerking for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, when he served as an appeals court judge in Washington, followed by a year as a law clerk to Chief Justice John Roberts. She also became a trial lawyer for Munger, Tolles and Olson law firm which has been described as “radically progressive” and “woke”. However she left shortly after her husband was chosen as Trump’s running mate.

“Usha has informed us she has decided to leave the firm,” Munger, Tolles & Olson said in a statement. “Usha has been an excellent lawyer and colleague, and we thank her for her years of work and wish her the best in her future career.”

Whether she plays a major role in the campaign remains to be seen, however Professor Phelps said her personal attributes could “take the edge off Trumpism” and she could be deployed to the suburbs of swing states to help bring out female voters.

“The question is whether she in that role can actually off set the much more higher decibel messaging from Trump and Vance themselves which will probably have very harsh moments.”

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Trump VP pick Vance pledges to ‘put America first’

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Professor Phelps said vice presidential debates between Ms Harris and Mr Vance are likely to be fiery, and for Mr Vance, mentioning his family may be able to “neutralise” Democratic attacks.

“His role will be as attack dog. The debate between him and Kamala will be a get-out-the-popcorn moment, they’re both quite skilled debators. There should be quite a clash that night, of visions. They’re both able to throw a rhetorical punch.”

In his memoir and interviews since, Mr Vance credited part of his success and happiness to his wife, saying people don’t realise her brilliance.

“Even at my best, I’m a delayed explosion – I can be defused, but only with skill and precision,” he wrote in his book. “It’s not just that I’ve learned to control myself but that Usha has learned how to manage me.”

In 2020 he told the Megyn Kelly Show, “Usha definitely brings me back to earth a little bit”.

“And if I maybe get a little bit too cocky or a little too proud I just remind myself that she is way more accomplished than I am.”

Silicon Valley BILLIONAIRE conservatives see chance for ‘tech bro’ in White House with JD Vance as Trump running mate


US vice-president candidate and techie JD Vance (centre, in yellow tie) is seen at the Republican National Convention on July 16, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. — Reuters pic
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Wednesday, 17 Jul 2024 4:13 PM MYT


MILWAUKEE, July 17 — Donald Trump's choice of J.D. Vance for a running mate raised the hopes of Silicon Valley conservatives on Tuesday that they stand to gain having a fellow “tech bro” within reach of the White House for the first time.

“WE HAVE A FORMER TECH VC IN THE WHITE HOUSE. GREATEST COUNTRY ON EARTH BABY,” Delian Asparouhov, a partner at billionaire investor Peter Thiel's venture capital firm Founders Fund, wrote on social media site X.

Author of the bestselling memoir Hillbilly Elegy, a graduate of Yale Law School and later a venture capitalist in San Francisco, Vance has had a rapid ascent for American politics.

At 39, he has served but two years in the US Senate representing the state of Ohio.

The Republican National Convention on Monday formally nominated Trump and Vance as their ticket in the Nov. 5 election to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Some right-leaning investors began re-circulating old tweets of Vance's and set their sights on friendlier regulations ranging from artificial intelligence to cryptocurrency.

“He has a direct line to some important influencers as he's evaluating or thinking through some of the policy around tech,” said Matt Murphy, a partner at venture capital firm Menlo Ventures, noting the traditional gap between Washington and Silicon Valley.

On the campaign trail, Vance has used his background to serve as a bridge between Trump associates and wealthy Silicon Valley donors, many of whom have opened their wallets to Trump this election.

Republicans comprise a minority in the overwhelmingly left-leaning San Francisco Bay Area, although conservatives in the tech industry, including Thiel, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen and entrepreneur Elon Musk, have begun to raise their voices more.

Buoyed by the promise of technology, they complain about what they view as unnecessary constraints placed on their businesses by progressive politicians and employees.

Vance has ridden that wave, aided by Thiel, who poured some US$15 million into Vance's successful US Senate campaign in 2022 and invested in the VC firm Narya that he founded in 2019.

Silicon Valley conservatives say they see Vance as one of their own even when they differ on some policies.

Despite his background, Vance has said that large tech companies have too much influence and called for Google to be broken up, positions at odds with conservatives who chafe at government regulation.

Venture capitalist and crypto investor Tim Draper, who backed former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley in the Republican primary, said he was hopeful Vance “is more VC than lawyer”.

“A good understanding of the way freedom and startups drive growth in our economy is critical for the continued success of the Silicon Valley, our nation's 'golden goose,'” Draper said.

Draper saw Vance's crypto investments as a sign that he “probably groks (intuitively understands) the economy of the future to some degree,” he said, using a term popular in tech circles. Grok is also the name of the ChatGPT challenger from Musk's startup xAI.

Vance held more than US$100,000 in Bitcoin as of 2022, according to his federal disclosure from October 2023.

The Trump-Vance campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Vance's ties to Silicon Valley, his proposed tech policies and whether he still holds cryptocurrency.

When asked whether the Trump-Vance ticket would seek to break up Google, Trump's son and adviser Donald Jr., who favoured Vance for the No. 2 job, told Reuters at the convention in Milwaukee: “I'll let them discuss some of the intricacies of the platform ... but I like his (Vance's) understanding of tech”.

Vance introduced Donald Trump Jr. to entrepreneur and investor David Sacks and helped to organise a June fundraiser at Sacks' San Francisco mansion that raised US$12 million for the former president.

Sacks thanked Vance in his speech at the event, according to a source familiar with it, saying “this all started with J.D. Vance calling and asking if we could host an event for President Trump”.

The former president used the June event to pitch himself as a champion for cryptocurrency and slammed Democrats' attempts to regulate the sector, Reuters reported at the time. 

— Reuters

JD Vance thinks EVs are a scam. Elon Musk seems to be fine with it.

Noah Sheidlower and Catherine Boudreau Jul 17, 2024

Elon Musk endorsed Trump's vice presidential pick JD Vance, who has been outspoken against electric vehicles. Marc Piasecki/Getty Images, Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

JD Vance, a critic of electric vehicles, received Elon Musk's endorsement.
Vance has expressed support for the oil industry and has proposed cutting EV subsidies.
Musk also opposes EV subsidies, although Tesla has benefited from past subsidies.

For years, JD Vance has criticized the switch to electric vehicles and said Teslas aren't his thing. Elon Musk endorsed him anyway.

The Ohio senator, and now the Republican vice presidential candidate, has the backing of Musk and other Silicon Valley tech billionaires like Peter Thiel and AOL founder Steve Case, even as Vance became a vocal critic of EVs and the tech industry during his first two years in office.

"If you have a Tesla — and I think they're kind of cool. I don't own one, they're pretty fast. But not my thing," Vance told The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show in 2022.

Vance said his anti-EV stance stems from what he sees as hypocrisy in the charging and manufacturing of the vehicles. While the US doesn't import many EVs directly from China, the country does dominate the supply chain for batteries and the critical minerals inside them. Back in the US, cars are also charged up on a mostly dirty power grid, Vance added, saying, "The whole EV thing is a scam."

"If you plug it into your wall, people think there's Keebler elves back there making energy in the walls," he said. "It comes, of course, from fossil fuels. So you're manufacturing cars in the dirtiest economy in the world. You're still relying on fossil fuels to produce energy."

Vance has also criticized President Joe Biden's tax incentives to encourage more Americans to buy EVs and introduced his own tax credit for gas- and diesel-powered vehicles manufactured in the US.


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But none of this seems to be a problem for Musk. On Tuesday, he also voiced opposition to subsidies for EVs, noting that taking them away "will only help Tesla." Musk in past interviews has said Tesla's advantage over its competitors would widen if federal subsidies ended. Yet Tesla has received subsidies amounting to nearly $3 billion, such as in 2010 when the company got a $465 million federal loan.

On Monday, Musk committed to donating $45 million per month to a pro-Trump super PAC, even though Trump has similarly disproved of EVs, calling the Biden administration's support for EVs "ridiculous."

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Why Vance doesn't like EVs

Vance's opposition to EVs aligns with his recent pivot to being a climate denier.

As recently as a 2020 speech at Ohio State University, Vance said, "a climate problem exists in our society," noting the benefits of solar energy.

However, by 2022, he had changed his mind following his campaign for the Senate, for which the oil and gas industry was a top donor.

Campaign finance watchdog Open Secrets found that since 2019, Vance has received over $340,000 in campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry, the New York Times reported.

In 2022, in an interview on conservative talk radio, Vance said he didn't think there was a climate crisis. And even if there was, he said, it wouldn't be solved by buying "Chinese manufactured electric vehicles."

Vance has argued that EVs are enriching China at the expense of the American auto industry.

Vance's opposition is rooted in how the EV supply chain, including batteries and the critical metals they are made with, is largely controlled by China — "the dirtiest economy" in the world, he said. Then in the US, EVs are getting charged up on a power grid mostly composed of fossil fuels anyway.

Vance's position ignores the fact that tailpipe pollution from cars and trucks is the largest source of US greenhouse gas emissions that are rapidly warming the planet.

Some $250 billion worth of investment by the federal government and private sector is pouring into North America's EV supply chain, from minerals to batteries to assembly, following passage of the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure law — two of President Joe Biden's signature climate laws.

In Vance's home state of Ohio, Biden's Inflation Reduction Act is helping fund a $3.5 billion project to produce lithium batteries for electric vehicles and a new clean steel plant in the state run by U.S. steel giant Cleveland Cliffs.

Despite a blip earlier this year, Americans have been buying more EVs throughout the pandemic, which could comprise over 10% of all new cars sold nationally. According to a Kelley Blue Book analysis, Americans bought nearly 269,000 new EVs in the first quarter of 2024, down from the fourth quarter of 2023 but the first downturn since 2020.

Compared to 1.1 million EV sales in the US in 2023, the International Energy Agency estimates sales will grow to 2.5 million in 2025.

'Damn shameful': J.D. Vance met with uproar as questionable speech claims debunked

Kathleen Culliton
July 18, 2024 

J.D. Vance. (Gage Skidmore.)

Sen. J.D. Vance, the Ohio Republican former President Donald Trump has picked as his running mate, was shamed this week for the questionable claim that undocumented immigrants caused his mother's addiction to drugs.

An X community note was added Wednesday to a Vance 2022 campaign ad called "Are you a racist?" in which he suggested undocumented people were the lone source of the narcotics that took over his mother's life.

"I nearly lost my mother to the poison coming across our border," Vance says. "Joe Biden's open border is killing Ohioans with more illegal drugs and more Democrat voters pouring into this country."

The simple narrative Vance presents in his ad is challenged by the context of his mother's descent into addiction.

While Bev Vance ultimately did find herself addicted to heroin, which a 2022 White House report notes comes primarily from criminal organizations in Mexico, her substance abuse problems began with alcohol, multiple reports show.

The gateway between the two substances appears in a Washington Post report about Vance's "radicalization" that was published the same year as Vance's ad.

It notes Vance's mother "worked regularly as a nurse until she started stealing prescription narcotics and getting high."

Bev Vance's prescription opioid habit developed in the mid-1990s, about the same time the Food and Drug Administration approved Purdue Pharma's OxyContin and triggered an opioid crisis that plagues the nation to this day.

ALSO READ:‘Creepy weirdos’: Senator fears Trump WH staff would destroy government from ‘inside’

It's that context referenced in this week's Community Note, which reads, "Vance’s mother utilized her position as a nurse to steal prescribed medication from her patients, not because of undocumented immigrants."

And it was that context that outraged X users who viewed the ad and challenged its message.

"Damn shameful," replied X user @AspieJames.


"Even without the lie, this ad was disgusting," wrote @ChristinaKilis.

"This tells us exactly who he is," wrote X user Sandy. "He runs with the hares and the hounds."

Another X user reminded readers of criticism Vance faced for a failed nonprofit for people with opioid addictions that "didn’t spend one nickel on anybody," as a political opponent argued in 2022.

"Bold talk coming from a man who set up a fake charity to 'help those affected by the opioid crisis,'" replied Jesse Denney, "and then used all of the proceeds to fund his Senatw [sic] campaign instead of, you know... helping people."

A New York Times report notes, "Some of the nonprofit group’s own workers said they had drawn a different conclusion: They had been lured by the promise of helping Ohio, but instead had been used to help Mr. Vance start his career in politics."

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Turkish warplanes bomb Kurdish Village in northern Iraq, killing one civilian

2024-07-18 

Shafaq News/ On Thursday, Turkish warplanes bombed areas in the Shiladze sub-district in the north of Duhok governorate in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, a government source reported.

The source told Shafaq News Agency that the bombing targeted the village of Khasto, resulting in the death of a 32-year-old civilian, Osman Rushdi, a resident of Shiladze.

Turkiye has been conducting airstrikes against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq.

The PKK is designated a terrorist organization by Turkiye, the United States, and the European Union. Iraq banned the organization last March.

PUK praises electoral reform, rejects unilateral government formation in Iraqi Kurdistan



2024-07-18 03:27

Shafaq News/ The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) lauded the decision to divide the Kurdistan Region into multiple electoral districts on Thursday, also emphasizing its opposition to the formation of a Kurdish government by any single entity.

PUK spokesperson Saadi Ahmed Pira announced that the party had completed preparations for the upcoming Kurdistan Parliament elections, scheduled for October. "We will participate with 173 candidates across all electoral districts," Pira said.

The PUK has appointed leaders for each electoral district: Shalaw Kosrat Rasul for Erbil, Miran Mohammed for Al-Sulaymaniyah, Barzan Osman for Halabja, and Ali Ormari for Duhok.

Pira noted that the introduction of multiple electoral districts, which will be implemented for the first time, aims to prevent vote manipulation. "This election will be entirely different from previous ones. Dividing the Kurdistan Region into several electoral districts is a very important step that aligns with democratic principles," he said.

Regarding the formation of the new regional government, Pira stressed that no single entity should form the government independently, even if it gains more parliamentary seats. "It is essential for the formation process to be inclusive," he added.

Pira expressed optimism about the PUK's prospects in the upcoming elections, anticipating an increase in votes for the party.

In the 2018 parliamentary elections, the PUK came in second place with 21 seats, following the Kurdistan Democratic Party, led by Masoud Barzani, which secured 45 seats in the Kurdish Parliament.