********** USA POLITICS **********
return to top
The New Mexico Spring
Fri, 16 Apr 2021 10:00:52 +0000
How progressives took power in the state's Democratic Party.
The post The New Mexico Spring appeared first on The Intercept.
When a democratic socialist slate won in March, establishment staffers rushed to drain party funds. Now the new staff has raised it back — and then some.
The post Nevada’s New Democratic Party Raises Back Funds Shuttled by Ex-Staff appeared first on The Intercept.
The Constitution allows Congress to set the number of Supreme Court justices.
The post House and Senate Democrats Plan Bill to Add Four Justices to Supreme Court appeared first on The Intercept.
State legislators are crafting ever more extreme abortion restrictions designed to reach the Supreme Court. 2021 has already seen more than 500 bills filed across the country.
The post Oklahoma Lawmaker Calls Abortion Worse Than Slavery appeared first on The Intercept.
Putting conditions on U.S. aid to Israel has become a controversial topic — but it was the norm in Washington just a few decades ago.
The post Rep. Betty McCollum Leads Effort to Block Israel From Using U.S. Aid to Destroy Palestinian Homes appeared first on The Intercept.
Dangerous nighttime expulsions are surging in Northern Mexico while organized crime and government security forces prey on stranded asylum-seekers.
The post As Biden Continues Trump’s War on Asylum, Danger Mounts in the Deadly Sonoran Desert appeared first on The Intercept.
The new Georgia voting rights law makes it harder to vote, especially for communities that tend to vote for Democrats – and that's what Republicans want. But it's not just Georgia: these restrictive voting laws are being considered in nearly every state in America, from Arizona to Texas to Florida.
These efforts come on the heels of the 2020 presidential election, which Republicans lost by slim margins in several states. Many Republicans claimed they lost because of voter fraud – because people who were ineligible to vote found a way to skirt the rules and cast ballots. Election officials around the nation said there was no widespread fraud, but Republicans are using this argument to push for a wide array of laws that will skew election in their favor.
If enacted, Americans will have to ask a hard question: is the US still a democracy?
Alvin Chang and Sam Levine explain this Republican effort to suppress voting rights as part of the Guardian's Fight to Vote series
Continue reading...Despite pledging to recuse herself from contracts involving her partner “as necessary,” the council member-turned-House-candidate approved $17 million to Perk.
The post Shontel Brown Approved Major Contract, Then Contractor Backed Her Campaign appeared first on The Intercept.
What began as the shaming of David Cameron now threatens to drag the current government into a cesspit
It has been a dreadful few weeks for David Cameron, the former prime minister and golden boy of the Tory party. His reputation – already terribly damaged by losing the 2016 Brexit referendum and his subsequent resignation – has now sunk to depths that once would have seemed unimaginable.
After winning a majority at the 2015 election, and freed of the need for coalition partners, Whitehall civil servants remember Cameron and his chancellor, George Osborne, at their peaks, strutting around Downing Street, radiating extraordinary power and confidence.
Continue reading...It is in danger of becoming received wisdom that the Greensill affair is an example of “Tory sleaze” similar to that which polluted the party’s reputation in the late 1990s. They do not compare. I had a ringside seat for the seedy death throes of John Major’s government. The scandals of those years mainly involved hitherto obscure politicians being caught with their peckers out or their snouts in the trough. The tabloids discovered various Conservative MPs in bed with people who were not their wives, often a career-busting transgression then, but now so accepted that Boris Johnson can be prime minister. There were also some notorious cases of Tory backbenchers taking undeclared payments – “cash for questions” – to promote business interests in parliament. This swelled the public’s feeling that the Conservatives had been corrupted by a long stretch in power and contributed to their landslide defeat at the 1997 election, but none of it threw into question the integrity of government itself.
The Greensill affair is several orders of magnitude more serious. A former prime minister is at the heart of this scandal that points to something rotten about how we are governed and is now embroiling not just politicians, but also the civil service.
Continue reading...From climate to healthcare, fundamental challenges demand the US change with the times
America is about to revive an idea that was left for dead decades ago. It’s called industrial policy and it’s at the heart of Joe Biden’s plans to restructure the US economy.
Related: Republican ‘attacks’ on corporations over voting rights bills are a hypocritical sham | Robert Reich
Continue reading...Sadiq Khan will consult on move to ‘recognise sacrifice’ of workers in pandemic, if re-elected
Supermarket and care staff could be added to the list of key workers in London to give them preferential access to cheaper housing, as part of a new post-pandemic settlement being considered by the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.
A consultation on including the occupations alongside nurses, firefighters and other public servants will be launched next month, if the Labour mayor wins a second term in the 6 May election. He led his nearest rival, the Conservative candidate, Shaun Bailey, by 22 points in a recent poll.
Continue reading...Next year’s Élysée race looks like a battle between a fading Emmanuel Macron and the far-right leader. And some believe she might win this time
In Paris’s symbolic Place de la République, under the watchful gaze of France’s allegorical figurehead Marianne, the skateboarders are not in the mood to discuss politics.
For the young here, as everywhere, life has been paused during a pandemic that has halted studies, jobs, socialising and parties. What they want is their lives back, not to talk about an election.
Continue reading...The Guardian’s banking correspondent, Kalyeena Makortoff, and political correspondent Rajeev Syal discuss the unprecedented formal inquiry into lobbying by the former prime minister David Cameron on behalf of the collapsed finance company Greensill Capital
The Guardian’s banking correspondent, Kalyeena Makortoff, talks to Rachel Humphreys about Greensill, a company that specialised in supply-chain finance, and its relationship with the former prime minister David Cameron. Cameron joined Greensill as an adviser in 2018, two years after resigning as prime minister. It has emerged that last year he sent texts to Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, and “informally” phoned two other Treasury ministers, asking for Greensill Capital to get the largest possible allocation of government-backed loans under the Covid corporate financing facility, or CCFF. He also lobbied a No 10 aide, and in 2019 took Lex Greensill to a “private drink” with Matt Hancock, the health secretary.
Although Cameron hasn’t broken any rules, there have been questions raised over the fact that he appears to have used personal contacts to seek preferential treatment for a company in which he had a financial stake. On Monday No 10 said it was launching an independent investigation into Cameron’s lobbying, led by the corporate lawyer and government adviser Nigel Boardman. Rachel also hears from Guardian political correspondent Rajeev Syal about how Cameron has responded to the scandal and the wider role of lobbying in UK politics.
Continue reading...A change in Border Patrol policies is straining human aid networks in one of the deadliest areas along the border.
The post “It’s Consumed Our Lives”: Volunteers Step In as Border Patrol Drops Migrants Off in Tiny Arizona Towns appeared first on The Intercept.
The Greensill scandal shows that public servants have been fatally compromised
The right is making Britain a normal country. I don’t mean that as a compliment, just as a statement of the dismal fact that in most countries it’s normal for the ruling clique to seek to limit the independence of the judiciary, control state television and fill the taxpayer-funded civil service with cranky ideologues, who will screech out its message, and drones who obey its orders.
Like authoritarian governments everywhere, the Johnson administration wants to rig the system. If you think “that kind of thing doesn’t happen here”, you are suffering from a sentimental version of British exceptionalism. If you say: “Come on, it’s hysterical to compare Johnson to authoritarian leaders”, I’m afraid you haven’t been paying attention.
Continue reading...Observer analysis of those companies condemned by unions also shows that some raised executive pay
Nearly 70% of companies accused of launching fire-and-rehire assaults on workers’ wages and conditions are making a profit and half have claimed government support during the pandemic.
Boris Johnson has called the practice “unacceptable”, but ministers have also insisted that firms in financial difficulty must have the flexibility to offer new terms and conditions.
Continue reading...Invited to dinner to muse on the EU, I found little to suggest a latent Brexiter
It was a Monday evening in early 2004 when a group of Europhiles and Europhobes gathered for a Buckingham Palace dinner at the Duke of Edinburgh’s invitation. We were there to discuss the proposed treaty for a European constitution, just written and whose ratification across Europe was about to begin. I had been one of 12 European “thinkers” who had made joint recommendations on what European values should be in its preamble, hence my presence. What followed was one of the most surreal evenings of my life, brought to mind by the three German princes the Duke of Edinburgh insisted should attend yesterday’s funeral.
Evidently he cared about the issue, hosting the dinner after an Atlantic night flight and two public engagements earlier that day. Conversation over pre-dinner drinks was wary – Labour MP Austin Mitchell relieved our awkwardness by switching the lights on his union jack bow tie on and off – and eventually we were ushered through long corridors to a banqueting room, lit by low chandeliers and guttering candles.
Continue reading...The US president has chosen to stand up to Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping with steady diplomacy
In one respect, the punitive measures imposed on Russia last week by the Biden administration are an attempt to clean up the mess left by Donald Trump. On issue after issue, such as Russian meddling in the 2016 and 2020 elections and cyber-attacks and hacks of US government agencies and businesses, the former president failed to take prompt retaliatory action or any action at all.
Trump cast doubt on Russia’s responsibility for these and other hostile acts, contradicting the findings of America’s intelligence agencies. He routinely declined to criticise Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, for his support for Syria’s murderous regime, the 2018 Salisbury poisonings and the persecution of the opposition activist Alexei Navalny.
Continue reading...Howard Dean, ex-governador democrata no estado de Vermont, se junta à indústria farmacêutica para lutar contra o compartilhamento de propriedade intelectual para vacinas de baixo custo.
The post Pressão sobre Biden contra vacinas genéricas de covid-19 para outros países vem até de ex-governador democrata appeared first on The Intercept.
A new reality check is coming unless the west replicates its ‘whatever-it-takes approach’ to help poorer countries cope
Denial. Panic. False dawn. Relief mingled with a decent dollop of euphoria. Britain’s response to Covid-19 has moved through distinct phases, and there are at least two more to come. Despite the success of the vaccine programme, a look around the world – to India, to Chile, to Brazil, to France and Germany – can lead to only one conclusion: this is not over yet.
The early stages of the crisis are now easy to document. The denial phase lasted from the first cases of Covid-19 being reported in China towards the end of 2019 until the middle of March 2020. Initially, perhaps, some scepticism was warranted because there had been talk of global pandemics in the past that had not lived up to their horror-show billing.
Continue reading...UK’s ‘bag for a week’ habit is no green alternative – rather, it has created more problems for the environment
Green campaigners have urged higher prices for so-called bags for life after dramatic sales increases at some retailers since the ending of sales of single-use plastic carrier bags.
Marks & Spencer sold six times as many bags for life in 2019 as the year before, up from 13.4m to 82.6m, according to figures from Greenpeace and the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). Iceland tripled its sales, to 107.3m from 34m the previous year.
Continue reading...Did we miss it? No, of the “clear plan” an incoming Boris Johnson promised within 12 months, thus differentiating his resolve from the way social care funding had been “shirked by governments for about 30 years”, there is still no sign. Nor of promised cross-party talks.
Although to be fair, Matt Hancock, the health secretary, did ask every single MP and peer for any social care hints or hacks they might have – excluding the thrifty tip, inexplicably omitted from Andrew Dilnot’s 2011 report, that where possible, middle-aged men restrict their relationships to future care-givers at least a decade younger than themselves. This is already being trialled.
Continue reading...General secretaries representing 5 million workers urge the government to reject findings of the Tony Sewell commission
Trade union leaders have written to the prime minister, calling on him to reject the “insulting” report published by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities.
In a letter seen by the Observer, 33 trade union general secretaries representing more than 5 million workers have urged the government to “pick a different path”, noting that “there is no conflict between defending working-class interests and pushing for equality for BME [black and minority ethnic] workers. Today’s working class is multi-ethnic and multi-faith.”
Continue reading...UK’s greater inequality levels made impact worse for the less well off, study suggests
British households were plunged into the Covid pandemic with lower savings, more debt and weaker welfare support than their French and German counterparts, according to analysis revealing how inequality increased the impact of the UK crisis.
High levels of income inequality also weakened the financial resilience of poorer households as the pandemic hit. The greater exposure of British households, revealed in an analysis by the Resolution Foundation thinktank to be published in full this week, comes despite similar levels of average income with our European neighbours.
Continue reading...Politicians will continue to line their pockets until a ministerial code is strictly enforced and breaches are punished
When David Cameron predicted in 2010 that lobbying was “the next big scandal waiting to happen”, he could not have envisaged that a decade later he would be at the heart of it. But that is exactly where he is: a former prime minister who has traded his time in public office to accept a lucrative role at now-collapsed financial services firm Greensill Capital, lobbying former colleagues for access to government schemes that would have helped protect his financial interests in the company.
Related: Role call: the former ministers who found private sector jobs
Continue reading...Jonathan Powell reminded us of Boris Johnson’s pledge to the DUP that he would never agree to a border in the Irish Sea, only to do precisely that when he negotiated the Northern Ireland protocol to “get Brexit done” (“Peace in Northern Ireland is in danger – Johnson’s lies and inaction offer no help”, Comment). Loyalists in Northern Ireland feel betrayed and we are witnessing the consequences playing out in rising anger and violence. The protocol is now enshrined in legislation and all interested parties have an obligation to make it work in order to reduce the tensions it is causing.
However, there is one stumbling block: Johnson’s stubborn refusal to admit that there is an effective trade border in the Irish Sea. In addition to lying to the DUP, he continues to lie to himself. Until Johnson accepts the reality of what the protocol means in practice, and stops playing cowardly political games, there is little chance of making it work as it should and the unrest will continue.
Mike Pender
Cardiff
Cross-party group says people should be housed in community rather than ‘unacceptable’ camp in Kent
A cross-party group of parliamentarians has urged the home secretary to close a controversial military barracks being used to house asylum seekers with immediate effect, and instead house them in the community where they can receive appropriate support.
Members of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on immigration detention, which has more than 40 members, have written to Priti Patel to say they “entirely agree” with serious concerns aired by the then independent chief inspector of borders and immigration, David Bolt, about conditions at Napier barracks in Kent.
Continue reading...Home Office accused of undermining investigations into the deaths of migrants awaiting deportation
Scores of people who could be key witnesses to deaths in detention may have been “deliberately” deported before they could give evidence, it has been claimed. It has also emerged that the home secretary, Priti Patel, failed to address concerns from a coroner last year that the actions of her department could have undermined police investigations.
Patel was told last August of concerns from a coroner that Home Office officials possibly “chose to ignore the fact” that witnesses to the contentious death of a black detainee were due to give evidence before attempting to remove them from the UK.
Continue reading...UK officials are exploring restrictions on product after minister described it as ‘unbearably barbaric’
The head of France’s foie gras producers’ association has said she is “shocked and outraged” that the British government is considering banning imports of the product.
And she has invited MPs to visit French farms producing foie gras to see the force feeding of ducks and geese and judge for themselves whether it is “cruel and torturous”, as animal rights campaigners claim.
Continue reading...America will depart without having accomplished its goals and with more Afghan suffering ahead.
The post The U.S. Could Have Left Afghanistan Years Ago, Sparing Many Lives appeared first on The Intercept.
Mesmo que surjam novos atritos, generais estão de cabeça na missão. Conheça 4 cenários para o futuro – nenhum é bom para a democracia.
The post Militares ficarão abraçados a Bolsonaro até o fim do governo appeared first on The Intercept.
A new poll found most Americans want Biden to break drug companies' monopolies and end Covid-19 vaccine apartheid.
The post There Shouldn’t Be Vaccine Patents in a Health Crisis. Most Americans Agree: Waive Them. appeared first on The Intercept.
The New Yorker editor on Fragile Earth, a new collection of the magazine’s climate crisis writing, the continuing dangers of Trumpism – and seeing his family for the first time in a year
David Remnick has been the editor of the New Yorker since 1998. The Fragile Earth, a selection of the writing that has appeared in the magazine about climate change, is out now.
You say that as a young reporter you wrote quite a lot about dramatic weather events. Can you remember when those localised storms and fires and floods started to suggest something more apocalyptic?
When I was at the Washington Post, Len Downie, Ben Bradlee’s successor as editor, was obsessed with “weather stories” and played them big. And there was much high-minded, wise-guy joking about this, as if it were the height of ordinariness. But when I think back on it, Downie was right. Weather is what envelops and affects us all. And our decades-long heedlessness to climate change has done great damage to the world. So when we think about all of these unusual storms and fires, these are no longer “weather stories” – banalities, part of the nature of things – they aren’t merely that. They’re exacerbated by human behaviour over time and they are harbingers of worse.
As long-serving president Idriss Deby seems set for election win, fighting has broken out between army and rebels in country’s north
The US has ordered its non-essential diplomats out of Chad over fears of insurgent attacks on the capital, as early election results show president Idriss Deby is poised to continue his three-decade rule of the African nation.
With armed groups appearing to be advancing on the capital, N’Djamena, the US State Department on Saturday ordered non-essential diplomats and families of American personnel to leave the country.
Continue reading...When it rolls out free period products in schools the government should think about sustainability and educating boys
As Labour tries to fulfil its many election promises, there is one area it could score an easy win – the period product rollout scheduled for June.
And if New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern is serious about ending period poverty, she needs to take a good look at England and Scotland.
Continue reading...Sheriffs in Minnesota worried about who would oversee an escrow account, funded by pipeline giant Enbridge, to reimburse the costs of policing protests.
The post Local Cops Said Pipeline Company Had Influence Over Government Appointment appeared first on The Intercept.
Customs and Border Protection is dropping asylum-seekers in remote border towns with few resources to receive them.
The post The Border Patrol’s Abdication in the Sonoran Desert appeared first on The Intercept.
The EPA inspector general found that Bill Wehrum, who ran the agency’s office of Air and Radiation, buried data about cancer risks from ethylene oxide pollution.
The post Chemical Industry Lobbyist in Trump EPA Suppressed Evidence of Cancer Risk appeared first on The Intercept.
The S&P 500 and Dow clinched fresh records Thursday, after economic reports continued to affirm a healthy recovery from the pandemic, highlighted by retail sales surging in March on the back of fiscal stimulus checks to consumers and jobless benefit claims falling to a fresh low for the COVID period. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up more than 300 points at a fresh milestone at 34,000, on a preliminary basis, the S&P 500 index notched a 1.1% advance to log its all-time closing high at around 4,170 and the Nasdaq Composite Index finished 1.3% higher at about 14,039, marking its first finish above 14,000 since February and its third-highest close in its history. U.S. retail sales surged almost 10% in March thanks to $1,400 stimulus checks paid to consumers by the federal government. Sales climbed 9.8% last month, the government said Thursday. Economists polled by Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal had forecast a 6.1% increase.Adding to the market's optimism, weekly jobless benefit claims fell to a pandemic-era low. U.S. unemployment claims sank by 193,000 in the week of April 10, an unusually large decline that likely reflects both an improving economy but also continuing problems in processing applications for jobless benefits.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
Privately held Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX, was selected by NASA on Friday to move forward in developing a human landing system to carry the next two U.S. astronauts to the moon "and pave the way for sustainable lunar exploration." That's under NASA's Artemis program, which aims to return humans on the moon, collaborating with commercial and international partners, and eventually send astronauts to Mars. Elon Musk is chief executive on SpaceX as well as Silicon Valley electric-car maker Tesla Inc. SpaceX in February announced plans to send four space tourists to orbit later this year on a mission to raise awareness for a children's hospital. Last month, the company's prototype Mars rocket Starship broke apart while attempting to land.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
Shares of Mer Telemanagement Solutions Ltd. shot up 62.4% on very heavy volume in morning trading Friday, to pace all gainers on major U.S. exchanges, after the Israel-based telecom expense management company agreed to be acquired by sports betting company SharpLink Inc. Trading volume spiked to 46.2 million shares, compared with the full-day average over the past 30 days of about 343,900 shares, to make the stock the second-most active on major U.S. exchanges. The stock's rally, which puts it on track for the highest close since August 2015, has pushed Mer's market valuation up to $24.1 million. Following the closing of the merger, SharpLink shareholders will own 86% of the combined company. "Following the merger, our company will be on the leading edge of a potentially massive sports betting market in the U.S. and globally," said Mer Chief Executive Roy Hess. "By providing proprietary advanced conversion and engagement solutions for the sports betting industry, we expect SharpLink's services will be needed by many companies looking to capitalize on this opportunity." Mer's stock has tripled (up 200.7%) year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 11.2%.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
Shares of Kansas City Southern tacked on 0.1% in premarket trading, after the rail road operator reported a first-quarter profit and revenue miss, with Chief Executive Patrick Ottensmeyer citing "several unique and challenging events," but he said he can "confidently confirm" the full-year outlook. Net income rose to $153.0 million, or $1.68 a share, from $151.7 million, or $1.58 a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, such as merger costs and foreign exchange losses, adjusted earnings per share came to $1.91, below the FactSet consensus of $1.95. Revenue fell 3.5% to $706.0 million, missing the FactSet consensus of $714.0 million. Among the "challenging" events mentioned by CEO Ottensmeyer were adverse weather resulting from the Polar Vortex and lingering network congestion. The company said in January that it expects 2021 revenue growth in the double-digit percentage range and EPS of $9.00 or better. The stock has rallied 26.7% year to date through Thursday, while the Dow Jones Transportation Average has advanced 19.4% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained 11.2%.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
The global tally for the coronavirus-borne illness rose above 139 million on Friday, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University, as the death toll climbed above 2.98 million. The U.S. leads the world in cases and deaths by wide margins, with 31.5 million cases, or about 23% of the global total, while the 565,289 death toll makes up about 19% of the global toll. The U.S. added at least 74,312 new cases and 909 new deaths on Thursday, according to a New York Times tracker. The U.S. has averaged 70,514 cases a day in the past week, up 8% from the average two weeks ago. Pfizer Inc. Chief Executive Albert Bourla said it is likely that people who receive Covid-19 vaccines will need booster shots within a year afterward, and then annual vaccinations, to maintain protection against the virus as it evolves, the Wall Street Journal reported. "The variants will play a key role. It is extremely important to suppress the pool of people that can be susceptible to the virus," Bourla said during a virtual event hosted by CVS Health Corp. that aired Thursday but was recorded April 1. Outside of the U.S., India has replaced Brazil as the country with the second highest number of cases at 14.3 million, and is fourth globally by deaths at 174,308. Brazil is third by cases at 13.7 million and second with a death toll of 365,444. Mexico is third by deaths at 211,213 and 14th highest by cases at 2.3 million. The U.K. has 4.4 million cases and 127,438 deaths, the highest in Europe and fifth highest in the world.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
Tobias Menzies played Prince Philip in Netflix hit The Crown. On the eve of the royal’s funeral, Menzies discusses the unique challenge of trying to get inside the mind of a person seen by so many but known by so few
Tobias Menzies talks to Anushka Asthana about playing Prince Philip in seasons 3 & 4 of Netflix smash hit The Crown.
When Tobias landed the job, he knew little about Prince Philip, a person who was so often photographed but so little known.
Continue reading...The UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, has announced plans for a domestic Covid-status certificate. We look to Israel, where a similar scheme has been introduced, and discuss how it might work here
Last week, Boris Johnson set out plans for a domestic vaccine passport system to help the country emerge from lockdown.
To see how it might work, Anushka Asthana talks to the Guardian’s Jerusalem correspondent, Oliver Holmes, about life in Israel, where the government introduced a similar scheme in February.
Continue reading...Nomes da comissão indicam que responsáveis pelo genocídio em curso vão suar para explicar o boicote sistemático a todas medidas de combate à pandemia.
The post CPI da Covid: quando as instituições funcionam, Bolsonaro perde appeared first on The Intercept.
A falta de vacina contra a covid-19 é só mais um dos elementos que compõem a crise no Haiti hoje. O país caminha sem Congresso, com violência em alta e um presidente cada vez mais autoritário.
The post Haiti: único país sem vacinas contra a covid-19 na América Latina appeared first on The Intercept.
Mas o nome da big tech não aparece na indicação feita por subordinados de Paulo Guedes. Escolha cabe a Bolsonaro.
The post Executivo do Facebook é indicado pelo governo para Conselho Nacional de Proteção de Dados appeared first on The Intercept.
Applications are open for ESA’s first astronaut selection in over a decade, and all qualified candidates are encouraged to put themselves forward.
Video:
00:01:46
On 31 March 2021, the European Space Agency is opening the application process for its first astronaut selection in over a decade.
If you meet the minimum requirements and want to join Europe’s journey into space, this is your chance to apply.
Website esa.int/YourWayToSpace provides everything you need to know to prepare your application. All applications must be submitted to ESA’s careers website by 28 May 2021.
Image:
ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti has started training at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, USA. Set to launch for her second mission in spring 2022, Samantha is already getting reacquainted with International Space Station systems in a series of refresher courses.
Samantha was last on the International Space Station in 2014 for her Futura mission. She spent 200 days in space, conducting European and international scientific experiments and Space Station operations.
In the coming months, her schedule will intensify as she trains for the specific experiments and tasks she will perform in space during her second mission.
As a collaborative, international effort between the United States, Europe, Canada, Russia and Japan, Space Station training takes place across the globe. Samantha will be training between Johnson Space Center in the USA, the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre in Star City, Russia and the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany.
Samantha and her fellow Class of 2009 astronauts will soon welcome new colleagues. For the first time in over a decade, the European Space Agency is seeking new astronauts and applications are open from 31 March to 28 May 2021. A six-stage selection process will start thereafter. This is expected to be completed in October 2022.
Ready to make #YourWayToSpace? Check out the dedicated website with all the information relating to ESA’s 2021–22 astronaut selection.
Most importantly, get ready to apply. Perhaps you will find yourself where Samantha is today.
From MasterChef to Noma, and street food to the rise of female chefs
By the time OFM launched in April 2001, Gordon, Heston, Hugh, Jamie and others were already on a spectacular trajectory. These were the decades of reality TV so we didn’t just watch them, we took an unshakeable interest in their personal lives. Nobody knew what Delia Smith did when the cameras were off. Keith Floyd never invited us into his beautiful home, but the cooks we now knew by their first names were all over the tabloids and the new gossip magazines. A slightly bewildered Delia Smith expressed it well when, in 2008, she said of Gordon Ramsay: “That’s not teaching. I like him when he does his recipes, but I’m not keen on his swearing.”
Continue reading...Clever cooking makes clams and asparagus go a lot further
The clams clatter into the sink. I have taken to steaming the tiny netsuke-coloured shellfish in their own juices with nothing more than an egg cup of fino sherry and a couple of twists of the peppermill. I tear off a piece of bread – more holes than crumb – and wipe the briny juices from my plate. The larger clams, their shells grey and amber and plump like a dumpling, get steamed, too – but this time the nuggets of seafood are tugged from their shells, and tossed with coils of linguine, olive oil and chilli flakes the colour of dried blood.
I have taken to steaming clams in their own juices with nothing more than an egg cup of fino sherry and a little pepper
Continue reading...Chef Jeremy Lee on the precious anchovy condiment that adds roundness to dishes such as braised lamb and porchetta tonnato
Alici is the essence of anchovy and it’s a very precious condiment. It comes in a very small bottle, like a bottle of perfume. It’s not cheap, but it’s relatively easy to get, and a little goes a long way. It’s never gone off – well, not that it lasts long enough to find out. I get it from Andy Harris at the Vinegar Shed and use it very sparingly.
It’s an elegant variation on using Worcestershire sauce in something, but it’s not so overwhelming. There’s a softness to it that’s amazing, it adds a roundness. You just need a few drops.
Continue reading...Local grapes, indie producers, back to basics… wine has seen a world of change in the past 20 years
The supposedly sedate, conservative world of wine has been anything but in the years since Philip Schofield told OFM’s Tim Atkin about his passion for claret as the pair toured his purpose-built cellar in the magazine’s first wine column in April 2001.
Back then, France was still fending off the New World charge that would see it lose its position as the biggest seller of wine in the UK’s wine shops to Australia, with much press fanfare, in 2002, before being relegated into third place by the USA, (specifically California) in 2008.
Continue reading...Hydraulic pumps can collect a day’s worth of clams in minutes, but experts are concerned about how they effect the ecosystem
Along the beaches of northern California, and the past year has seen a boom in crowds on the hunt for one of the region’s favorite edible delights: clams.
But among the buckets and shovels, clam hunters are increasingly coming armed with a powerful new tool: hand-operated, water-squirting pumps that allow them to take more clams, faster than ever before.
Continue reading...Dangerous nighttime expulsions are surging in Northern Mexico while organized crime and government security forces prey on stranded asylum-seekers.
The post As Biden Continues Trump’s War on Asylum, Danger Mounts in the Deadly Sonoran Desert appeared first on The Intercept.
M&S and Aldi are at loggerheads over a cake. What’s at stake and what’s behind Britain’s love affair with the confection?
Colin the Caterpillar first darkened M&S’s shelves in the autumn of 1990, mere weeks before Margaret Thatcher stood down as prime minister. It’s too simple to put the timing down to coincidence. The symbolism was obvious. Here was an anthropomorphic chocolate sponge log ready to hold the nation’s hand through the coming decade. The lady wasn’t for turning; the new guy wasn’t for turning into a butterfly. In a confusing and fast-changing Britain, Colin has been a continuity figure.
The stubbornly larval national icon has been at the centre of a row this week. On Thursday it was reported that M&S had lodged a legal complaint against its discount rival, Aldi, whose “Cuthbert the Caterpillar”, it claims, besmirches Colin’s good name. It’s sad to see Colin dragged through the mud like this, but he has always been a quietly provocative figure.
Continue reading...In an exchange of emails for Observer Food Monthly’s 20th anniversary, the broadcaster and writer explains how Twitter helped her through lockdown and what she eats on a night off
What were you doing 20 years ago this month?
I’m afraid I have only a rather muddled memory of that time. My husband, John Diamond, who’d had his cancer diagnosed in March 1997, had died in March 2001, and consequently all I can remember of this time 20 years ago, is feeling dazed, and mainlining bagels and cream cheese from Panzer’s. I know I’d been filming (and this must have been for the second series of Nigella Bites) as I had – ridiculous as it now seems – just a week off in the middle of it, and my one acute memory is feeling painfully aware that the herbs we had back of shot when John had died were still alive and flourishing when I resumed. I suspect most of April, once the series had been finished, was spent taking the children, who were then four and six, to school then going back under the duvet until it was time to collect them.
What were you mostly cooking then?
I dare say none of us is impervious to fads and fashion, but my cooking seems to change mostly according to where I am in my life, and at that time I remember rolling endless meatballs – or rather, getting my children to do so, their small hands perfectly suited to the job. The pasta machine, a basic hand-cranked model, was often clamped to the kitchen table, too. My kids used to love turning the handle. Makes me feel I should reclaim it from the back of the cupboard and bring it into play again, even if I have to turn the handle myself!
Secret picnic spots, spring fashion, zesty cocktails, dining in the garden… Make the most of the open air with our fabulous guide to outside living
Now the lockdown is easing, it’s time to get outside and embrace alfresco living. Whether you’ve got a balcony or a back garden, there are many ways in which you can create an idyllic outdoor retreat to entertain friends and family. We asked six professional hosts and designers to share their expert advice.
Warm it up Temperature is a key element when trying to create the perfect alfresco space – especially on a chilly evening. “If it’s cold, my new addition is a hot-water bottle for everyone to place on their laps,” says chef and presenter Clodagh McKenna. “John Lewis has a range with textured, faux-fur covers (£25) that are so soft and lovely. They make a huge difference.” As for rain: “There are ways of keeping dry that don’t involve a mac,” according to supper-club host Alexandra Dudley. “A pretty parasol, such as the vintage-inspired fringed options from Business and Pleasure Co (from £132), work as well as rain covers or sun shades.” Think about cover that is equally useful in good and bad weather, such as pergolas, shade sails and gazebos. Woodside sells an all-weather pleasingly pointed gazebo for £119.99 that can be assembled in under a minute.
Continue reading...What I learned in my year as a restaurant critic stuck at home
Won’t somebody think of the poor restaurant critics? Won’t anyone consider the plight of these hard-working, committed professionals, robbed this past year of their vital place in society? Week after week pre-pandemic, we pulled up to a thickly clothed table, ordered potentially nice things to eat at somebody else’s expense, and then returned to our desks to write sharply honed accounts of the great risks we had taken, carefully larded and barded with the most elegant of knob gags. Can’t at least a few of you take to your doorsteps to bang a pan? No? Oh.
I’ll level with you. Throughout the pandemic, I’ve attempted to check my privilege, really I have
Continue reading...  | submitted by /u/propperprim [link] [comments] |
UK officials are exploring restrictions on product after minister described it as ‘unbearably barbaric’
The head of France’s foie gras producers’ association has said she is “shocked and outraged” that the British government is considering banning imports of the product.
And she has invited MPs to visit French farms producing foie gras to see the force feeding of ducks and geese and judge for themselves whether it is “cruel and torturous”, as animal rights campaigners claim.
Continue reading...Shares of Merck & Co. were up 0.1% in premarket trading on Thursday after the drug company said the oral antiviral COVID-19 treatment it is developing with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics did not help hospitalized patients in a mid-stage clinical trial. The companies now plan to test molnupiravir in non-hospitalized COVID-19 patients in a Phase 3 trial, with plans to file for emergency authorization in the second half of the year. They are also planning to see if the experimental therapy works for post-exposure prophylaxis. In a separate news release, Merck said it is discontinuing MK-7110 as a treatment for patients hospitalized with COVID-19, saying that the Food and Drug Administration's request for additional clinical information would push the launch into 2022. "Merck is now focusing its efforts on advancing molnupiravir, which, as an oral medicine for outpatient use, represents a promising potential new approach, and on accelerating production of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine," Dr. Roy Baynes, chief medical officer for Merck Research Laboratories, said in the release. Merck's stock has gained 6.6% since the start of the year, while the broader S&P 500 is up 9.8%.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
A change in Border Patrol policies is straining human aid networks in one of the deadliest areas along the border.
The post “It’s Consumed Our Lives”: Volunteers Step In as Border Patrol Drops Migrants Off in Tiny Arizona Towns appeared first on The Intercept.
Image:
ESA-sponsored medical doctor Nick Smith snapped this photo of the storage containers at Concordia research station in Antarctica shortly before sunset, 8 April 2021. The dark blue line at the horizon is the shadow of the Earth.
The containers store food, recycling and the scientific samples of blood, saliva, and stool that Nick routinely takes. The units on the right are part of the summer camp, during which researchers sleep in tents.
Science for the benefit of space exploration does not only happen off planet. While some studies require the weightless isolation of the International Space Station, Antarctica also provides the right conditions for investigating the consequences of spaceflight, and it is a little easier to access than space.
Part of the 17th crew to spend an entire year at one of the most remote bases in the world, Nick and 11 other crew members have taken up the adventurous challenge in the backdrop of a pandemic to continue important research that is furthering space exploration.
Located at the mountain plateau called Dome C, Concordia is a collaboration between the French Polar Institute and the Italian Antarctic programme, and is one of only three bases that is inhabited all year long.
As well as offering around nine months of complete isolation, Concordia’s location at 3233 m altitude means the crew experience chronic hypobaric hypoxia – lack of oxygen in the brain.
During the Antarctic winter, the crew of up to 15 people also endure four months of complete darkness: the sun disappears from May and is not seen again until late August.
Temperatures can drop to –80°C in the winter, with a yearly average of –50°C. The temperature at the time of this image was -65°C, with wind chill at about -80°C. To put this cold into perspective, it was so cold that the camera battery died within ten minutes.
As a station set in Earth’s harshest space, Concordia is an ideal stand-in for studying the human psychological and physiological effects of extreme cold, isolation and darkness. For the rest of the year, Nick is poking and prodding the crew for samples to study changes in mood, immune systems, blood cells, and gut health.
Follow his adventures on the Chronicles from Concordia blog.
For food writer Suzy Pope, summer brings with it walks to the beach and picnics in the park – but whatever the occasion, a sip of cider makes it all the sweeter
As the weather turns balmy and folk meander to open spaces for some much-needed vitamin D, my mind leaves the warming hum of a smoky whisky behind and craves something cold and dripping with condensation. Every summer, I start drinking cider – and I’m not alone. What is it about the zingy, apple-based drink that sends the saliva glands into overdrive as soon as the sun comes out?
Before I was a food and drink writer, I was a student. I didn’t think about the terroir of grape-growing, the nose of whisky or what wine to pair with raw tilapia. On sunny days, I just thought about the most enjoyable way to quench my thirst. Now, the clank of a metal bottle opener and the hiss of a cold Thatchers Cider opening is enough to bring me back to the Meadows in Edinburgh, for a post-lecture picnic with friends. Stretched out on the grass as the rays warm my skin, the air is filled with the smoky smell of barbecue.
Continue reading...
Video:
00:04:14
English Astronaut vlog: space food and fitness
ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer is preparing for his mission to the International Space Station, scheduled for launch in late 2021. This mission is known as Cosmic Kiss.
In this video log from his current training base at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, USA, Matthias shows a space food tasting session and shares how astronauts maintain their fitness for a safe return to Earth.
Astronauts exercise for two hours a day, six days a week while on the International Space Station to combat muscle and bone loss caused by an extended stay in microgravity. Diet also plays an important role in maintaining physical and mental wellbeing.
Due to the current situation with COVID-19, all personnel are required to adhere to special safety precautions while training. These include wearing a mask – as seen in the clip.
Matthias will continue his training for Cosmic Kiss at partner agencies around the world over the next weeks and months. Stay tuned for further footage of his training and experiences.
German Astronauten-Vlog/ Matthias Maurer: Weltraumnahrung und Fitness
ESA-Astronaut Matthias Maurer bereitet sich auf seine Mission zur Internationalen Raumstation vor, die Ende 2021 starten soll. Diese Mission trägt den Namen "Cosmic Kiss".
In diesem Video-Log von seiner aktuellen Trainingsbasis im Johnson Space Center der NASA in Houston, Texas, USA, zeigt Matthias eine Verkostung von Weltraumnahrung und erzählt, wie Astronauten ihre Fitness für eine sichere Rückkehr zur Erde aufrechterhalten.
Astronauten trainieren während ihres Aufenthalts auf der Internationalen Raumstation an sechs Tagen in der Woche täglich zwei Stunden, um dem Muskel- und Knochenschwund entgegenzuwirken, der durch den langen Aufenthalt in der Schwerelosigkeit verursacht wird. Auch die Ernährung spielt eine wichtige Rolle bei der Erhaltung des körperlichen und geistigen Wohlbefindens.
Aufgrund der aktuellen Situation mit COVID-19 müssen alle Mitarbeiter beim Training besondere Sicherheitsvorkehrungen beachten. Dazu gehört auch das Tragen einer Maske - wie im Video zu sehen.
Matthias wird in den nächsten Wochen und Monaten sein Training für seine Cosmic Kiss-Mission bei Partneragenturen auf der ganzen Welt fortsetzen. Bleibt dran - Wir werden mit weiterem Filmmaterial über sein Training und seine Erfahrungen berichten.
RSS Rabbit links users to publicly available RSS entries.
Vet every link before clicking! The creators accept no responsibility for the contents of these entries.
Relevant
Fresh
Convenient
Agile
We're not prepared to take user feedback yet. Check back soon!
