Marco Rubio Slammed After Saying He Paid Off Student Loans by Writing Book

Senator Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, faced criticism online after saying on Saturday that he paid off his student loan debt from the money he gained by writing a book.


Sen. Marco Rubio speaks during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies hearing on Capitol Hill on May 17 in Washington, DC

 Photo by Anna Rose Layden-Pool/Getty Images

"I owed over $100,000 in student loans. The day I got elected to the Senate, I had over $100,000 still in student loans that I was able to pay off because I wrote a book and from that money, I was able to pay it," the senator said during an interview on Fox News' One Nation With Brian Kilmeade.

In a reaction to his comments, Democratic Florida House Representative Anna V. Eskamani said on Twitter: "Interesting how Rubio forgets to mention using $20,000 from his political committee to hire a ghost writer for his memoir, which was potentially an ethics violation."

Eskamani was referring to the ghostwriter who was reportedly hired to help write Rubio's memoir, An American Son in 2012. Rubio's Reclaim America Political Action Committee (PAC) paid $20,000 to his ghostwriter, political strategist Mark Salter, to help write the book, Melville House Publishing reported in 2015. Conservative imprint Sentinel reportedly paid an advance of $800,000.

"Rubio's book was written by a guy paid by his political donors and it was probably an ethics violation. just do that, kids, and you'll be fine," producer Jordan Zakarin wrote, referring to some media reports that mentioned that Salter said that he was paid for "projects unrelated to the book." However, the Tampa Bay Times reported in 2013 that he was paid "for help writing a memoir."

White House Slams GOP On Student Loans: 'All Of A Sudden It's Socialism'

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Meanwhile, screenwriter Randi Mayem Singer reacted to Rubio's comments, saying: "Yeah, kids. Just take NRA blood money, get elected to the Senate and write a book, you lazy f****!"

President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced a relief plan to forgive outstanding federal student loan debt for some borrowers. Biden said that those who have student loans and make less than $125,000 a year are eligible to get $20,000 in student loan forgiveness if they received Pell Grants, while those who make less than $125,000 a year and didn't receive a Pell Grant will be eligible for $10,000 in loan forgiveness. However, Rubio among other Republicans criticized the plan, with some calling it "unfair."

"I think the student loan thing in America is a big problem and it's broken and needs to be fixed and needs to be reformed, and I have bipartisan ideas I've been pushing for years to do this," Rubio said on Fox News. "This is illegal. The president doesn't have the authority to do this. He's not an emperor. He can't just with the stroke of a pen cancel $300-$400 billion worth of student loans...It's unfair."

In another reaction to his comments, Representative Val Demings, a Florida Democrat, wrote: "Marco Rubio's advice to Floridians struggling with student debt: become a career politician and profit off your position. I have a better idea, let's elect someone who will actually show up and fight for Floridians."

Meanwhile, in response to Biden's student loan forgiveness plan, GOP Texas Senator Ted Cruz said on Friday that "slacker baristas" benefitting from loan relief might help Democrats in the midterms later this year, while Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene called the program "completely unfair" during a Wednesday interview on Newsmax.

Alaska upset flashes warning signs for GOP

Caroline Vakil - Set 3,2022

Mary Peltola’s win in the Alaska special election this week became the latest surprise to spark concern for Republicans as it appears that a once presumptive red wave in November is neither definite nor guaranteed.


Peltola, the first Alaska Native and first Democrat in decades to be elected to fill the state’s lone House seat, edged out two formidable Republican challengers on Wednesday, including former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), to serve the remainder of the late Rep. Don Young’s (R) term.

The win came about a week after Democrat Pat Ryan prevailed against Republican Marc Molinaro in a New York special election in what was considered a bellwether ahead of the midterms.

While Peltola was likely aided by the state’s newly implemented ranked-choice voting system, her win also fuels further concerns for the GOP about how energized Democratic voters are, as well as the quality of Republican candidates running in critical races.

“First thought was that the Republican Party has some work to do,” said Rick Whitbeck, who previously served as the vice chair for the Alaska Republican Party and now serves as the Alaska State Director for Power the Future, when asked about his reaction following Peltola’s win.

Whitbeck said he believed Republicans’ underperformance in the special election was in part due to ticket splitting between Palin and fellow Republican contender Nick Begich III competing with Peltola. He said other reasons Peltola might have prevailed could be voters seeing it as a protest vote against the two Republican candidates or the fact that voters might have been uneducated about the candidates.

To be sure, Peltola’s win in Alaska comes with its own caveats that distinguish it from other recent races. For starters, this election cycle marks the first time the state has used ranked-choice to elect its representatives — a system some Republicans have criticized. The Last Frontier is also known for its uniquely independent brand of politics, where ticket splitting is seen as more common than in other states.

But the race also laid bare some of the challenges facing Republicans — including divisions plaguing the party.

One GOP strategist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, pointed to Palin’s standing in the state as an explanation for this week’s surprise upset.

“I think you got to take into account the fact that Palin is just an extremely controversial brand in her own state, has been for a long time now,” the strategist said. “And so she had a core base of people that were always going to support her, but, you know, even in her own party, there was a lot of dissension and disruption, and you saw that, you know, gravitate towards a Begich, for example.”

Concerns over the quality of the Republican candidates this cycle have become apparent in recent weeks, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) even citing that as a reason why the GOP was more likely to flip the House than the Senate this year. McConnell’s admission provoked a furious response from Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), the head of the Senate campaign arm, who called McConnell’s remarks “a shot at our candidates and the voters.”

Meanwhile, Democratic optimism has only grown over the summer amid a string of victories for the party.

Related video: Dem. Peltola wins Alaska House special election
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In Kansas, voters overwhelmingly rejected a ballot measure that would have given the state legislature more authority to regulate abortion in the Sunflower State.

Further emboldening them were special elections in Nebraska, Minnesota and New York earlier this year that saw Democrats lose by smaller-than-expected margins. In another nod to Democrats’ momentum, the nonpartisan Cook Political Report this week shifted their ratings of five House seats toward Democrats.

“I think what’s happening in the Democratic Party right now is, and particularly among the House Democrats, is that the combination of the win in New York last week and Alaska has given Democrats — has changed the Democrats’ understanding of what’s possible in the election,” said Simon Rosenberg, who has served as a senior adviser to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC).

“And we’re now moving from sort of a defensive stance to a much more offensive stance,” he continued. “And I will tell you, I talked to the DCCC the afternoon of the New York special last week, on Tuesday afternoon, and they thought they were going to lose that race by three to four points, and we won by almost two and a half.”

Peltola, who spoke to The Hill in a phone interview on Thursday, was more circumspect in her analysis of what her victory meant.

“I don’t like to make too many predictions. I’m a pretty superstitious person and feel like making declarative statements tends to jinx things. So I do not want to speculate on national trends,” she said. “I won by a decent margin, but it certainly wasn’t a landslide. I’ll be taking a very careful look at where I need to focus more of my time in terms of outreach to Alaskans and connecting with voters.”

Many Republicans remain confident their party is still in a good position heading into November.

Matt Gorman, a former spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, the House GOP’s campaign arm, said Peltola’s win was an “aberration thanks to ranked-choice voting.” He also pushed back against the idea that Republicans were performing less competitively than expected, citing Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District, which was one of several special elections held this year. He noted the late Rep. Jim Hagedorn (R-Minn.) won the House seat by close margins in 2018 and 2020.

And Democrats clearly still have their work cut out for them. While there are new signs of hope that the party could retain control of the Senate, recent polling shows Republican candidates in states like Ohio and Georgia running closely alongside their Democratic counterparts.

An Emerson College Polling survey released last month showed 45 percent of somewhat and very likely general election voters backing Ohio Senate candidate J.D. Vance (R), while 42 percent supported Democratic challenger Tim Ryan, polling that falls just outside the margin of error at plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.

A separate Emerson survey released earlier this week found 46 percent of very likely general election voters in the state supporting Republican candidate Herschel Walker compared to incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) at 44 percent, falling within the margin of error at plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.

And while the Cook Report moved some House seat ratings toward Democrats this week, the nonpartisan election handicapper still predicts Republicans will win between 10 and 20 seats in November.

Still, the primary season has at times been a difficult one for the GOP, which has left candidates bruised after some especially brutal primaries.

“I’ve said this for the 30 years I’ve been involved in politics: Republicans don’t always play nice,” said Whitbeck, the former vice chair of the Alaska GOP, when discussing the toll some Republican-on-Republican races have taken on the party.

“Sometimes I wish the Republicans would figure out how to limit the damage, you know, the circular firing squad mentality,” he added.

But with the primary season largely wrapped up and many campaigns shifting into a general election mindset, some say it’s too early to speculate about how both parties will fare in the midterms — after all, there’s still more than two months to go.

“The teams that win are usually the ones that are able to ride out those bumpy rough stretches and regain their footing heading into the fourth quarter,” said the GOP strategist who spoke on condition of anonymity, likening midterm races to NFL games.

“And in terms of this year, we’re about to, you know, post-Labor Day is the fourth quarter of campaigning, and so even with Republicans having a bit of a bumpy stretch, I actually think Democrats may have hit their peak, you know, during halftime, but in the third quarter, which is just too early.”

California drought raises red flags for agriculture

Zack Budryk - THE HILL


More than 97 percent of California is under at least “severe” drought conditions, raising the specter of difficult agricultural decisions in a state that produces a quarter of U.S. food.

Farming is the main driver of water usage in the state, and the drought, now in its third year, comes alongside increasing pressure on California to bear more of the burden of Colorado River water cutbacks.

As of Thursday, 97.52 percent of the nation’s most populous state is in a state of “severe” drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, while 99.76 percent is at least “moderate” drought. This time last year, 95.56 percent of the state was classified as under “severe” drought.

Much of the drought has been concentrated in the northern part of the state, said Alvar Escriva-Bou, a senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California’s Water Policy Center.

That’s important and a problem, since the Southern California gets much of its water supplies from the Sacramento Valley, he noted.

California produces more than one-third of U.S. vegetables and three-quarters of domestic fruits and nuts, including $5.23 billion in grapes, $3.02 billion in strawberries and $2.03 billion in lettuce in 2021, according to the state Department of Food and Agriculture.

Much of this agriculture is concentrated in the state’s Central Valley, the source of about 8 percent of the nation’s crop output, and the Salinas Valley, the source of about $1.36 billion in lettuce in 2019.

California is the senior-most state in the interstate agreement governing allocations from the Colorado River, which, in the Golden State, primarily goes to farming in the Imperial Valley. As a result, the state avoided any cuts in a new round of allocations announced by the Bureau of Reclamation in August, with the cutbacks focusing on Arizona and Nevada instead.

“Arizona is taking the brunt of that [because] they’re the junior water user, if you will, on the Colorado. But it seems that all the states in the Colorado River Basin are going to have to decrease their use of Colorado River water,” Holly Doremus, James H. House and Hiram H. Hurd professor of environmental regulation at Berkley Law School, told The Hill.


New poll finds Californians extremely concerned by the ongoing drought

CBS SF Bay Area

Separate negotiations are  aking place after basin states missed an August deadline to agree to cuts to avert “dead pool” status in Lake Powell and Lake Mead. The Imperial Irrigation District and Metropolitan Water District, which serve the Imperial Valley and Los Angeles respectively, remain in talks as of this week.

California’s size, combined with its seniority on water rights, means the overallocation of the river hasn’t severely impacted the state yet, but “there’s quite a bit of folks in in other states calling for California to make more of a sacrifice on the Colorado River,” Faith Kearns, an academic coordinator at the California Institute for Water Resources, told The Hill.

For example, earlier this week, Rep. Greg Stanton (D-Ariz.), in a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), called on California to step up its contribution to water preservation, noting the state increased use of river water by 41 percent from April 2021 to April 2022. “The cuts necessary cannot possibly be borne by one or two states alone,” he wrote.

Even aside from the river allocation, “there’s certainly concerns about the long-term viability of agriculture in many parts of this state,” said Jay Lund, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of California Davis’s Center for Watershed Sciences.

Since California’s previous drought, which stretched from 2011-2016, the state has looked at ending groundwater overdraft, which occurs when more groundwater is used from an aquifer than enters it.

“That by itself was going to require fallowing maybe half a million acres of irrigated land in California,” Lund said. “But as we’re seeing this warmer, drier climate, with perhaps greater frequency of droughts and floods, with climate change, in addition to the overdraft and the perilous state of some of the invasive species … California is probably looking at fallowing 1.5 or 2 million acres out of maybe 7 million acres of irrigated land, which is pretty substantial.”

California’s agriculture industry irrigates about 9.6 million acres a year with 34 million acre-feet of water, and cutbacks would likely be achieved by paying farmers to plant less.

Last year, drought conditions cost California agriculture about $1.1 billion as nearly 395,000 acres were idled, according to research from the University of California Merced.

“Should dry conditions persist throughout 2022, a higher tier of adaptation measures may come into play to reduce economic impacts on agriculture and communities that host thousands of households relying on agriculture for a living.” Josué Medellín-Azuara, a professor at UC Merced’s School of Engineering and lead author of the report, warned in a statement.

In addition to the agriculture needs, Los Angeles, the state’s most populous city, is located in one of the driest parts of the state, meaning California’s handling of water often turns into a sort of shell game even without the Colorado River issues, Doremus said.

“We’ve been moving water around the landscape to support our forming and our cities, but there’s just not as much water as we expect to go around these days,” she said.

“I think the cities will be fine, they’ll just have to buy more water,” Lund said. However, he said, if dryer conditions persist, “there will be some important local changes in some of those agricultural areas [like] the Imperial Valley and Paolo Verde as well … you will see a lot of the lower-valued agriculture going away.”

Not all the indicators are going in the wrong direction for California. A year ago, 47.4 percent of the state was under “exceptional” drought conditions, the highest USDM classification. This week, the portion is down to 16.57 percent.

“What we’re looking at, I think over the next 10, 20 years, is finding ways to move water from one use to another without drastically destabilizing our economy or our natural systems,” Doremus said.

THE PURGE

Changes spark chatter of CNN shifting to the right

Dominick Mastrangelo - Friday

Major changes at CNN in recent weeks have sparked chatter in media and political circles that the network’s new corporate ownership is pulling it to the political right.

Changes spark chatter of CNN shifting to the right© Provided by The Hill

CNN strongly denies such a change is taking place, saying it is entirely focused on objective journalism.

But recent high profile on-air departures, coupled with what’s seen by some as a shift in tone in the network’s political coverage, are drawing intense scrutiny.

Criticisms of President Biden by on-air personalities in particular have triggered questions from the political left about whether things are changing at CNN, which has a new corporate owner in Discovery.

Brianna Keilar, an anchor on CNN’s flagship morning program, lambasted Biden’s White House last week over a decision to use U.S. Marines and a dark-red backdrop in the background of a speech slamming Trump Republicans.

“Whatever you think of this speech the military is supposed to be apolitical. Positioning Marines in uniform behind President Biden for a political speech flies in the face of that. It’s wrong when Democrats do it. It’s wrong when Republicans do it,” the anchor wrote on Twitter.

Keilar has also offered pointed criticism of Trump over the years, which to some made the comments about Biden even more significant.

Keilar’s commentary also reportedly angered staffers inside the White House and came a day before the network departure of White House reporter John Harwood, who had been strikingly critical of former President Trump as well.

In late August, CNN canceled “Reliable Sources,” the long-running Sunday show focused on the media, parting ways in the process with host Brian Stelter, one of the most prominent critics in media of Trump and Fox News.

“The message coming out … is that this is part of a deliberate effort to get rid of people at CNN who are seen as too critical of Donald Trump and Fox News,” said Matthew Gertz, a senior fellow at Media Matters for America, a liberal media watchdog.

He also noted “some very high-profile cases of CNN staffers making a sort of public display of criticizing President Joe Biden.”

CNN in a statement to The Hill said criticism from those like Gertz are completely off base.

“CNN is not shifting from left to right or pursuing a centrist position,” a CNN spokesperson told The Hill. “We are entirely focused on our core strength and mission — objective journalism, presented in a fair and compelling way. We will continue to acknowledge different worldviews and experiences. We will always stand up for democracy and call out lies — regardless of their origin. That is not centrism, that is journalism.”

It has been a year that has brought significant change for CNN, which is still churning from the departure in February of former President Jeff Zucker.

Zucker was an imperious presence at CNN, well-known for messaging questions from his control room to on-air personalities as they interviewed public figures and guests.

During the Trump presidency, CNN saw its ratings boom during an often confrontational period with the president that at times seemed personal: Zucker had been a leading executive at NBC when Trump’s show “The Apprentice” was a hit for the network.

Trump regularly derided CNN, Zucker and some of the network’s stars, such as Jim Acosta — at the time a White House correspondent. Trump at one point retweeted a video that showed him wrestling and punching a person whose head had been replaced by the CNN logo.

Zucker was replaced as president of the network by Chris Licht, a broadcast veteran who has come under online criticism over the Harwood firing and other changes since his tenure began — some of which was shared on social media by White House chief of staff Ron Klain.

The hashtag #BoycottCNN was briefly trending on Twitter late last week after the Harwood news broke.

“I decided to #BoycottCNN as soon as the network began its shift to the right,” wrote Jon Cooper, a former finance chair for President Obama. “If I wanted to watch right-wing propaganda, I’d watch Fox.”

Some liberals have suggested any tone shift for CNN can be traced back to John Malone, a billionaire media mogul who is a major shareholder in Discovery, which purchased CNN’s parent company, Warner Media, last year.

Before the purchase, Malone turned heads with comments saying he “would like to see CNN evolve back to the kind of journalism that it started with, and actually have journalists, which would be unique and refreshing.”

Warner Media declined to comment this week on recent changes made to CNN’s programming and personnel, while Malone told The New York Times he had “nothing to do with” the decision to cancel “Reliable Sources.”

That hasn’t stopped the chatter.

“A lot of people on the outside are seeing this as some sort of gambit for audience and viewership,” said Michael J. Socolow, a former assignment editor at CNN who is now an associate professor at the University of Maine’s Department of Communication and Journalism. “There are much bigger economic and regulatory benefits for the political positioning than any kind of viewership gains.”

More shake-ups to the network’s daytime and prime-time evening programs are widely expected, and the recent changes have left a feeling of nervousness among staffers since Licht took over.

“There isn’t a bigger, faster rumor gossip machine than a newsroom,” said Joe Ferullo, a former network television executive who writes occasional columns on the media for The Hill. “In a vacuum, that rumor machine goes in overdrive, so it has to be addressed.”

Since arriving at CNN, Licht has engaged on what he has called a “listening tour” while promising advertisers and staffers his vision for the network is one where partisan rhetoric takes a back seat to objective analysis and sensationalism is trumped by sobriety and context in the outlet’s news reports.

He met with a number of Republicans on Capitol Hill earlier this summer to solicit feedback, a move that rubbed some liberal critics the wrong way. Licht also met with Klain and a number of Democrats on Capitol Hill earlier this summer.

“To contend that there are two sides to the Jan. 6 insurrection or Trump’s methods really is beyond remarkable, it’s kind of repulsive,” said Larry Sabato, a pundit who runs the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics. “Why are they doing it? The media moguls want it done because they’re fairly conservative themselves, whether they openly admit it or not. So they’re pleasing themselves and justifying it by saying we’ve all got to get back together.”

Licht, whom people close to him have described as a methodical tactician more than a top-down visionary as Zucker was, has also not done a sufficient job communicating his ideas internally and externally, others point out.

“While Twitter is not necessarily real life, one can’t help but notice that CNN viewers are growing frustrated with some of these recent developments,” wrote Tom Jones of the Poynter Institute. “It would behoove Licht to get out ahead of this and explain what CNN is doing and where it is going.”

 

The NFU Calls on the Government of Canada to Stop Funding Philippine “Anti-terrorism” Campaigns Targeting Peaceful Farmer Protestors   On June 9th, 2022, 83 Philippine farmers and allies were arrested and charged by the Philippine National Police for engaging in a peaceful protest to obtain food security in response to land-grabbing by corporations and landlords. Held in a cramped and unsanitary prison for three days, these promoters of sustainable food systems are facing charges of disobedience, obstruction of justice, and alleged trespassing on private property.  The National Farmers Union (NFU) joins PEN International in calling for the dismissal of all charges against the “Tinang 83” and for all peaceful protesters currently incarcerated in the Philippines to be released and all charges dropped. The “Tinang 83” were arrested while engaging in  “bungkalan,” a collective act of land cultivation to advance land reform and food sovereignty through the practice of organic and sustainable agriculture. The NFU is outraged that Philippine farmers are being labelled as terrorists without cause. The mass arrest and charges laid against the “Tinang 83” are part of a larger trend of human rights violations against peaceful protesters—including members of the farmers’ reform organization, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP)—executed by the former Duterte regime and now continuing under the authority of the newly elected Ferdinand “Bongbong” Romualdez Marcos Jr., the son of the former dictator, Marcos Sr. In August 2020, Randall “Randy” Echanis, 72, the KMP’s Deputy Secretary General who helped craft the 2008 Agrarian Reform Bill, was stabbed multiple times in his home while undergoing medical treatment. Echanis’ allies allege that it was police forces that carried out his murder while Amnesty International has called on the authorities for an independent investigation. Four months later, Randy’s daughter, Amanda Echanis, a leader of the Amihan National Federation of Peasant Women, was arrested with her month-old baby for alleged possession of firearms, ammunition, and explosives. Amanda and her son, Randall, are still in prison; Amanda maintains that the weapons found were planted by the national police. The NFU agrees with the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines – Canada (ICHRP-Canada) that the Canadian government risks complicity in Philippine’s human rights violations. According to ICHRP-Canada, between 2017-2021 the Philippine government was among the international recipients of $13 million in Canadian government funding to support anti-crime and counter-terrorism capacity building. An additional $3 million in funding since 2018 from Global Affairs Canada has gone to the Philippines to support counter-terrorism and unspecified “security and political affairs” programs. These Canadian funds, argue ICHRP-Canada, have inadvertently enabled the Philippine Government to “criminalize dissent, target human rights defenders and critics of the Government and restrict democracy.” The Philippine Government’s campaign has led to “thousands of killings, false charges, and arbitrary and irregular searches, arrests and detention” including the murder of Randy Echanis, the imprisonment of Amanda Echanis, and the recent mass arrest of the “Tinang 83.” The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and a well-respected team of independent commissioners have provided detailed reports on the Philippine’s ongoing human rights violations.  The NFU joins ICHRP-Canada in calling on the Government of Canada to immediately stop funding all counter-terrorism measures of the Philippine Government.  The NFU supports the ongoing peaceful protests and grassroots actions of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and the Amihan National Federation of Peasant Women, fellow organizational members of La Via Campesina. La Via Campesina is an international farmer and peasant organization that advocates for the rights of peasants, food sovereignty, and family-farm-based sustainable agriculture. We encourage you to write to Global Affairs Canada calling on them to stop funding Philippine so-called "counter-terrorism measures" that have been used to target peaceful protestors. We also encourage you to sign this petition calling for the dismissal of all charges against the Tinang 83.  Global Affairs Canada email: Melanie.Joly@parl.gc.ca

L’UNF exhorte le gouvernement du Canada de cesser de financer les campagnes « anti-terroristes » qui ciblent les fermiers manifestants pacifiques Le 9 juin 2022, 83 fermiers et alliés philippins furent arrêtés et accusés par la police nationale des Philippines d’avoir participé à une manifestation pacifique afin d’obtenir la sécurité alimentaire en réaction à l’accaparement des terres par des corporations et des propriétaires. Retenus dans une prison entassée et insalubre pendant trois jours, ces promoteurs de systèmes alimentaires durables font face à des accusations de désobéissance, d’entrave à l’exercice de la justice et d'allégations d’intrusion sur la propriété privée.   L'Union nationale des fermiers (UNF) se joint à PEN International en demandant la révocation de toutes les accusations contre les « Tinang 83 » et que tous les manifestants paisibles présentement incarcérés aux Philippines soient libérés et que toutes les accusations soient abandonnées.   Les « Tinang 83 » furent arrêtés alors qu’il participaient à un « bungkalan », une action collective de culture des terres pour faire avancer la réforme agraire et la souveraineté alimentaire par l’entremise d’une agriculture biologique et durable.   L’UNF est indignée que des fermiers philippins soient étiquetés comme étant des terroristes sans une cause.   Les arrestations massives et les accusations portées contre les « Tinang 83 » font partie d’une plus vaste tendance de violations des droits de la personne contre des manifestants pacifiques—y compris des membres de l’organisme de réforme agraire, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP)—exécutées par l’ancien régime Duterte et qui continuent présentement sous l’autorité de Ferdinand « Bongbong » Romualdez Marcos Jr., fils de l’ancien dictateur, Marcos Sr.   Au mois d’août 2020, Randall “Randy” Echanis, 72 ans, le Secrétaire général adjoint de KMP, qui a aidé à formuler le Projet de loi sur la Réforme agraire en 2008, fut poignardé plusieurs fois chez-lui alors qu’il subissait un traitement médical. Les alliés d’Echanis affirment que c’était les forces policières qui ont effectué ce meurtre, alors que Amnestie internationale demande une enquête indépendante aux autorités. Quatre mois plus tard, Amanda Echanis, la fille de Randy et leader de la « Amihan National Federation of Peasant Women » (Fédération nationale Amihan des femmes paysannes) fut arrêtée avec son bébé d’un mois pour la prétendue possession d’armes à feu, de munitions et d’explosifs. Amanda et son fils, Randall, sont toujours en prison ; Amanda maintient que les armes trouvées furent placées par la police nationale.   L'UNF est d’accord avec la « International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines – Canada » (ICHRP-Canada) que le gouvernement canadien risque la complicité dans les violations des droits de la personne aux Philippines. Selon  ICHRP-Canada, entre 2017-2021 le gouvernement des Philippines faisait partie des récipiendaires internationaux de 13 millions de dollars de fonds provenant du gouvernement canadien pour renforcer les capacités de lutte contre la criminalité et le terrorisme. Un financement additionnel de 3 millions de dollars depuis 2018 de la part d’Affaires mondiales Canada fut envoyé aux Philippines pour appuyer des programmes de lutte antiterroriste et « d’affaires politiques et de sécurité » non spécifiées. Ces fonds canadiens, comme l’explique ICHRP-Canada, ont aidé par inadvertance le gouvernement des Philippines à « criminaliser la dissidence, à cibler les défenseurs des droits humains et les opposants et à restreindre la démocratie. »   La campagne du gouvernement des Philippines a mené à « des milliers de meurtres, de fausses accusations, à des fouilles arbitraires et irrégulières, ainsi qu’à des arrestations et des détentions », y compris le meurtre de Randy Echanis, l’emprisonnement d’Amanda Echanis et à la récente arrestation massive des « Tinang 83.» Le Haut-Commissariat des Nations-Unies aux droits de l'homme (HCDH) et l’équipe très respectée de commissaires indépendants ont fournis des rapports détaillés sur les violations des droits humains qui sont en cours aux Philippines.    L’UNF se joint à ICHRP-Canada en exhortant le gouvernement du Canada à cesser immédiatement le financement de toutes les mesures antiterroristes du gouvernement des Philippines.    L’UNF appuie les démonstrations pacifiques et les actions de terrain qui sont en cours par la « Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas » (KMP) et la « Amihan National Federation of Peasant Women,» qui sont membres et consoeurs organisationnelles de La Via Campesina. La Via Campesina est un organisme international de fermiers et de paysans qui milite pour les droits des paysans, pour la souveraineté alimentaire, ainsi que pour l’agriculture durable basée sur les familles fermières.   Nous vous encourageons à écrire à Affaires mondiales Canada et leur demander de cesser de financer les soi-disantes « mesures antiterroristes » aux Philippines qui ont été utilisées pour cibler les manifestants pacifiques. Nous vous encourageons également à signer cette pétition demandant la révocation de toutes les accusations contre les 83 individus « Tinang ».

Denmark and Rwanda consider sending asylum seekers arriving in the European country to Kigali

Daniel Stewart - Friday

The governments of Denmark and Rwanda announced Friday that they are studying the possibility of signing an agreement on sending to the African country asylum seekers arriving on Danish territory, a plan similar to the one announced a few months ago by London and Kigali, harshly criticized by many NGOs.


Archivo - La primera ministra de Dinamarca, Mette Frederiksen - Philip Reynaers/BELGA/dpa© Provided by News 360

The foreign ministries of the two countries have indicated in a joint communiqué their "commitment to strengthening bilateral dialogue and partnership in multiple areas", including climate, good governance and "refugee policy".

"Rwanda and Denmark are jointly exploring the establishment of a program through which spontaneous asylum seekers arriving in Denmark can be transferred to Rwanda for consideration of their applications and protection, as well as the option for them to settle in Rwanda," they said.

They stated that "any such agreement would be in line with the international obligations of both countries, including those relating to refugees and human rights", before stressing that the dialogue on this point "is ongoing".

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"The parties are committed to continue exploring the possibility of reaching a formal agreement," they said, while revealing that Denmark will open a project office in Kigali in 2022 with the presence of two diplomats.

"The current global asylum and migration system is dysfunctional and a new stance is needed. Asylum seekers and migrants with sufficient resources use human traffickers to move along migratory routes, while the most vulnerable refugees remain in their countries of origin," they argued.

In this regard, Denmark and Rwanda have stated that "irregular movements caused by human smugglers further affect the security situation of countries along the migratory routes and risk undermining public confidence in the international refugee protection system."

Therefore, both countries have argued that "there is a need to address the underlying causes of irregular migration in countries of origin and transit, including the huge imbalance in human capital opportunities between Europe and Africa," and have indicated that they will contact UN agencies to "facilitate an international dialogue" on this initiative.

The announcement comes in the wake of the announcement made in April by the UK Government, when the then British Home Secretary, Priti Patel, unveiled a "pioneering" project to deport migrants who have arrived illegally on British territory to Rwanda, where their asylum applications could be processed.

However, the first flight of deportations was scheduled for June, but a judicial appeal prevented it from being carried out, amid international criticism, rejected by the authorities of both countries, who defended the need to move forward with the plan.

Nigerian customs bust shipment of 7,000 donkey penises destined for Hong Kong

Brad Hunter - Toronto Sun

Donkey penises and skin are prized for folk medicine in 

China triggering illicit smuggling

Nigerian authorities intercepted an illicit shipment of 7,000 donkey penises destined for horndogs in Hong Kong who believe it boosts their libido.

But it was the stench of the penises packed in 16 sacks that tipped off customs officials at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in the capital of Lagos.

Airport customs controller Sambo Dangaladima told the BBC News Pidgin , the British broadcaster’s online news service in West African Pidgin English, that the animal parts were found in sacks in the animal export section.

Donkey parts — mostly penises and skin — command big money in Asia where they’re seen as an aphrodisiac. The illicit trade is sadly common, the BBC reports.

Dangaladima said that the prime suspect linked to the shipment — worth an estimated $610,000 (200 million Nigerian naira) — managed to slip away and evade capture.

The illicit trade of donkey parts — including the animal’s penises and skin — from Nigeria to China is common. The parts make a folk medicine called ejiao.

According to PETA, donkey prices have shot up during the past decade with the rise in demand for the concoction. Uganda, Tanzania, Botswana, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Senegal have banned donkey exports to China.

The Donkey Sanctuary said in 2019 that 4.8 million donkey hides were required to satisfy the global demand for ejiao resulting in a planet-wide decrease in population. As a result, Brazil also banned donkey exports to China.

BBC News said that in June, the Nigerian Customs Service intercepted three 100-kilogram bags filled with donkey genitalia and 3,712 pieces of donkey skin at an airport.

Four months earlier in March, four suspects were arrested while they were trying to smuggle 2,754 donkey penises and 3,712 pieces of skin.

Between 2012 and 2018, Nigeria claims it lost an eye-watering $9 billion to the black-market trade destined for China. In Nigeria, it is illegal to kill donkeys for their body parts.

The Donkey Dealers Association of Nigeria wants harsh penalties for smugglers.

bhunter@postmedia.com
@HunterTOSun

Guion Bluford's astonishing career — first African American to go to space

Randi Mann - Aug 30

On Tuesday, August 30, 1983, Guion Bluford became the first African American to go to space. Bluford was one of five people on the STS-8 mission. It was NASA's eighth mission to space and the Space Shuttle Challenger's third. The shuttle launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission was overall successful, but Bluford really put it on the map.

Bluford was born on Nov. 22, 1942, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His tenure of education includes a Bachelor of Science in aerospace engineering from Pennsylvania State University, a Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology, a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Aerospace Engineering (with a bonus minor in Laser Physics), and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Houston–Clear Lake.

Guion Bluford's astonishing career — first African American to go to space© Provided by The Weather Network"Bluford on STS-8 in 1983." Courtesy of Wikipedia

Bluford joined the Air Force and received his pilot wings in Jan. 1966. In 1967, he was assigned to the Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas as an instructor pilot. In 1971, Bluford became an executive support officer to the Deputy Commander of Operations.

In 1974 Bluford was assigned to the Air Force Flight Dynamics Laboratory and served as the staff development engineer. By the time he was recruited by NASA in 1978, he logged over 5,200 hours of jet flight time.

Bluford was a part of NASA astronaut group 8. By Aug. 1979, he was officially an astronaut. Bluford's assignments included working with the Space Station operations, the Spacelab systems and experiments, and the Space Shuttle systems.



The STS-8 was NASA's first night launch and landing. During the mission, the crew tested the Canadarm (the Canadian robotic arm), deployed the Indian National Satellite, conducted experiments to better understand the biophysiological effects of space flight, and executed other tasks.

The mission completed 98 orbits around Earth in six days, one hour, eight minutes and 43 seconds before landing at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on Sep. 5, 1983.

Bluford completed four flights with NASA, logging more than 688 hours in space. Bluford has been inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame, the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame, and the National Aviation Hall of Fame.

Lula may tap running mate to head Brazil economic policy, aides say

By Marcela Ayres and Bernardo Caram - Friday

Brazil's Presidential candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva holds a campaign rally, in Nova Iguacu, near Rio de Janeiro© Reuters/RICARDO MORAES

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva could tap his centrist running mate and former rival, Geraldo Alckmin, to run economic policy if he wins a third term in October, four of his senior advisors told Reuters.

Lula's aides said the leftist leader, who is ahead of President Jair Bolsonaro in opinion polls, would only pick his finance minister after the election is settled, but Alckmin, a former Sao Paulo governor who lost to Lula in the 2006 presidential race, is clearly in the running for the job.

If he gets the nod, it would be a clear signal to financial markets that Lula aims to reprise orthodox economic policies from early in his 2003-2010 presidency. Alckmin, a former power broker in the center-right Brazilian Social Democracy Party, has been a key interlocutor between Lula and the business community.

"There are several candidates who fulfill the conditions to be good finance ministers. Certainly Alckmin is one of them: he is a competent administrator, he has been governor more than once, he is qualified," said Guido Mantega, ex-finance minister for Lula and his Workers Party (PT) successor from 2006 to 2014.

Related video: Lula widens lead over Bolsonaro ahead of Brazil election
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PT Congressman Alexandre Padilha, who has also connected Lula's campaign with business leaders, said Alckmin has proven "very loyal and important in political dialogue and with economic actors," which he would "certainly" keep doing in government.

Two other Lula advisors, who are engaged in the campaign's economic debates and requested anonymity to discuss them, said Alckmin is one of several veteran politicians in the running for the top economic job in the next administration. Lula has made clear that he wants a finance minister in that mold, rather than a professional economist.

Workers Party politicians in the mix include Bahia Governor Rui Costa, former Piaui Governor Wellington Dias, Congressman Padilha himself and Lula's former Education Minister Fernando Haddad, if he loses the race for São Paulo governor, aides said.

Alckmin would not be the first vice president to also run a ministry in a Lula government. Vice President Jose Alencar served as defense minister from late 2004 to early 2006.

Alencar's son Josue Gomes, now president of Sao Paulo industry group Fiesp, is another name in the running for finance minister if Lula wins, according to advisors.

Lula's lead over Bolsonaro ahead of the October election has narrowed to 10 points from 12, a Genial/Quaest poll released this week showed.

(Reporting by Marcela Ayres and Bernardo Caram; Editing by Brad Haynes and Richard Pullin)

Slain Las Vegas reporter spent career chasing corruption

By KEN RITTER and JOHN SEEWER

September 9, 2022


1 of 4

Jeff German, host of "Mobbed Up," poses with Planet Hollywood, formerly the Aladdin, in the background on the Strip in Las Vegas, Wednesday, June 2, 2021. Authorities say German, a Las Vegas investigative reporter has been stabbed to death outside his home and police are searching for a suspect. The Las Vegas Review-Journal says officers found journalist German dead with stab wounds around 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 3, 2022, after authorities received a 911 call. 

(K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)


LAS VEGAS (AP) — In four decades of writing about the Las Vegas underworld and government corruption, investigative reporter Jeff German took on plenty of powerful and dangerous people. The hard-bitten newsman was once punched by an organized crime associate and received veiled threats from mobsters.

Nothing seemed to faze him as he doggedly went about his work.

So German (GEHR’-man) characteristically didn’t express concern when Clark County Public Administrator Robert Telles, a virtually unknown politician in charge of an obscure and small government office, took to Twitter last spring to angrily denounce the reporter.

German, who worked for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, had written about bullying and favoritism in the public administrator’s office and an inappropriate relationship by Telles with a female subordinate.

Authorities say German’s initial investigation and follow-up stories were the motivation for Telles to fatally stab German last week at the reporter’s home. DNA at the scene linked Telles to the killing as did shoes and a distinctive straw hat found at his home that matched those worn by a suspect caught on video, investigators said Thursday.

Police arrested Telles on Wednesday after a brief standoff at his home. Telles was hospitalized for what Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo described as non-life-threatening, self-inflicted wounds.

Glenn Cook, executive editor of the Review-Journal, said there was talk within the newspaper about Telles being “unhinged” but he never made any physical threats against German and the reporter never said he was worried.

The thought this was the story that would put German’s safety at risk seemed implausible, he said, remembering how the reporter recounted once being punched by an organized crime associate.

“He cut his teeth covering the mob,” Cook said. “Jeff spent over 40 years covering the worst of the worst of Las Vegas. This was a guy who ran down mobsters, wise guys and killers.”

Killings of journalists in the U.S. in retaliation for their work are extremely rare. Up until German’s death, eight journalists have been killed in the U.S. since 1992, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. The deadliest attack came in 2018 when a shooting at the Capital Gazette in Maryland left five dead.

“Jeff’s death is a sobering reminder of the inherent risks of investigative journalism,” said Diana Fuentes, executive director of the organization Investigative Reporters & Editors. “Journalists do their jobs every day, digging deep to find information the public needs to know and has a right to see.”

German joined the Review-Journal in 2010 after more than two decades at the Las Vegas Sun, where he was a columnist and reporter who covered courts, politics, labor, government and crime. He was 69, but never talked with his boss about retirement, Cook said.

Former co-workers along with attorneys and government officials German counted on as sources called him a hard-nosed, tenacious journalist who could be gruff at times, especially if someone didn’t know him or was holding back information.

“He was not someone who was easily intimidated,” said Geoff Schumacher, who worked with German at the Sun until the late 1990s. “Getting to the truth, that was more important to him than his own well-being or being popular.”

The pair recently worked together on a podcast called “Mobbed Up.”

German talked about receiving veiled threats from mobsters in the early 1980s at a time when people were disappearing as law enforcement cracked down on organized crime. The warnings definitely got German’s attention, but he never went to police, said Schumacher, who now works at at The Mob Museum in Las Vegas

Alan Feldman, a former executive with MGM Resorts International, said getting a call from German was like hearing from the CBS news show, “60 Minutes.” He didn’t talk tough or threaten anyone, Feldman said, but he never backed down.

And he always followed the story even if it didn’t go in the direction he expected, he said.

“The last thing I would say about Jeff is that anything scared him or that he was afraid,” Feldman said. “He was prepared to go after anyone who was doing something not in the public interest.”

Telles, a Democrat who apparently had never served in public office until he was elected in 2018, oversaw less than 10 people and was paid about $120,000 a year to run an office that deals with estates and the property of people after they die. Before that he was a lawyer practicing probate and estate law.

In the weeks before the June primary, German bylined reports about an office “mired in turmoil and internal dissension” between longtime employees and new hires under Telles’ leadership. Following the stories, county officials hired a consultant to help oversee the office.

Telles blamed “old-timers” for exaggerating the extent of his relationship with a female staffer and falsely claiming that he mistreated them. He posted complaints on Twitter about German, saying he was a bully who was “obsessed” with him.

Telles ended up finishing last in the three-way primary and was serving out the remainder of his term at the time of the killing.

The articles “ruined his political career, likely his marriage, and this was him lashing out at the cause,” Chief Deputy Clark County District Attorney Richard Scow said Thursday.

German’s family called him “a loving and loyal brother, uncle and friend who devoted his life to his work exposing wrongdoing in Las Vegas and beyond.”

“We’re shocked, saddened and angry about his death,” they said in a statement. “Jeff was committed to seeking justice for others and would appreciate the hard work by local police and journalists in pursuing his killer. We look forward to seeing justice done in this case.”

___

Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio