peppertree
peppertree's JournalThousands take to streets in Barcelona protesting police violence over referendum
Source: CBC
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Catalonia on Tuesday to protest against Sunday's violent crackdown by Spanish police on an outlawed independence referendum for the region.
Spain's conservative government has said it will respond with "all necessary measures" to counter the Catalan defiance, and is holding talks with national opposition leaders to find multi-partisan consensus on the response, which could include suspending the region's self-government.
Meanwhile, in Barcelona's Catalonia and University squares, a sea of demonstrators waved flags, most of them "esteladas," embraced by those seeking secession, but there were also plenty of Spanish national flags.
One of the biggest groups concentrated around the Spanish national police headquarters in Barcelona, where protesters called them "occupying forces" and called for Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to resign.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/catalonia-barcelona-spain-protests-referendum-1.4318538
Paris is for walkers and cyclists as city bans cars for day
Parisians and tourists were encouraged to stroll through the City of Light on Sunday as officials banned cars from its streets for a day.
Paris has experimented with car-free days in the past, but Sunday marked the first time the entire city was handed over to ramblers, cyclists and roller-bladers.
Only emergency vehicles, buses and taxis were allowed on the streets from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. Paris time.
"It's nice for the air quality, for enjoying the city, walking around without any noise, without any risk to be run over by a car," Maxime Denis said as he strolled near Place de la République in the city center. "But it should be a real no car day. There are still a few so we are careful."
Another resident, François Boillat, noted that "as a Parisian, I only use public transport all the time, even though I have a car buried in a sixth basement car park and I barely use it. It is a bit stupid. I should sell it."
At: http://www.seattlepi.com/news/world/article/Paris-bans-all-cars-from-the-whole-city-for-a-day-12244314.php
Catalan referendum: preliminary results show 90% in favour of independence
Source: The Guardian
Catalan officials have claimed that preliminary results of its referendum have shown 90% in favour of independence in the vote vehemently opposed by Spain.
Jordi Turull, the Catalan regional government spokesman, told reporters early on Monday morning that 90% of the 2.26 million Catalans who voted Sunday chose yes. He said nearly 8% of voters rejected independence and the rest of the ballots were blank or void. He said 15,000 votes were still being counted. The region has 5.3 million registered voters.
Turull said the number of ballots did not include those confiscated by Spanish police during violent raids which resulted in hundreds of people being injured. At least 844 people and 33 police were reported to have been hurt, including at least two people who were thought to have been seriously injured.
Catalonias regional leader, Carles Puigdemont, spoke out against the violence with a pointed address: On this day of hope and suffering, Catalonias citizens have earned the right to have an independent state in the form of a republic.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/01/dozens-injured-as-riot-police-storm-catalan-ref-polling-stations
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who considers today's referendum illegal, sent in shock troops to sequester ballot boxes and stop today's vote.
Lobbyists See a Billion-Dollar Boon in Tax Rewrite's Lack of Detail
Source: New York Times
The sweeping tax rewrite unveiled by President Trump and Republican lawmakers this past week leaves many of the details to Congress; but two sentences in the nine-page framework have Washington lobbyists salivating over a payday that some industry experts predict could top $1 billion.
That language has prompted concerns among a wide range of businesses and industries about the prospect of losing valuable tax breaks — from preferential tax treatment for insurers to credits for renewable energy to a prized tax treatment used by the commercial real estate industry.
And those fears are being stoked by lobbyists, who are urging clients and prospective clients to get out in front of any changes that could eliminate or weaken sections of the tax code that benefit them.
“You’re either going to be at the table, or you’re going to be on the table,” said Thomas M. Reynolds, a former Republican congressman from New York who served on the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee and is now a lobbyist at Holland & Knight focusing on tax issues.
Most businesses that could be affected by the tax overhaul “will not have to be encouraged to engage,”Reynolds said.
Read more: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/lobbyists-see-a-billion-dollar-boon-in-tax-rewrite%E2%80%99s-lack-of-detail/ar-AAsEweM?OCID=ansmsnnews11
The swamp will be busy tonight.
Justice Department nominee with ties to Russian bank voted out of committee
Source: Washington Examiner
The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday approved President Trump's nominee to lead the Department of Justice's Criminal Division.
Brian Benczkowski, a Republican lawyer who once served as a staff director of the committee for former Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-AL, was advanced in an 11-9 party-line vote and will soon head to the Senate floor for a confirmation vote.
Benczkowski admitted earlier this year that he worked for Russia's Alfa Bank during his time as a partner at the law firm Kirkland & Ellis. He also ran the Trump transition team at the Justice Department.
The New York Times first reported that Benczkowski represented the bank, one of Russia's largest with ties to President Vladimir Putin. The FBI investigated the bank last year after it was mentioned in a dossier containing unproven allegations about the Trump campaign and possible collusion with Russia, but it ultimately concluded there was no wrongdoing or misconduct.
Benczkowski also downplayed his role in the Trump campaign during his confirmation hearing.
Read more: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/justice-department-nominee-with-ties-to-russian-bank-voted-out-of-committee/article/2635920
Criminal division nominee Brian Benczkowski; 'criminal' being the adjective in this case.
Trump defaulted on his Puerto Rico golf course, leaving the territory a $33 million debt
Long before Hurricanes Irma or María decimated much of Puerto Rico, the island was already in trouble. Earlier this year, faced with $123 billion in debt (and growing), the U.S. territory took the unprecedented step of essentially declaring bankruptcy.
Trump made it clear that he had little interest in helping Puerto Rico’s debt situation, tweeting on April 27 that "Democrats want to shut government if we don't bail out Puerto Rico and give billions to their insurance companies for OCare failure. NO!"
But according to PolitiFact Florida, Trump only exacerbated the problem.
The Trump International Golf Club Puerto Rico, which, according to Fortune, borrowed $26.4 million in government-backed bonds in order to pay for improvements, later defaulted on a $119,814 bondholder payment. In 2015, the club filed for bankruptcy, which is when Trump (who licensed his name to the property) desperately tried to distance himself from the place bearing his name.
“We have zero financial investment in this course,” Eric Trump told Bloomberg News in July 2015. “This has absolutely nothing to do with Trump. This is a separate owner. We purely manage the golf course.”
Except that Trump, according to BuzzFeed News, did pocket the hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees from the resort. And when the club defaulted on those bonds and declared bankruptcy, it left Puerto Rico taxpayers with a hefty $32.7 million bill to pay in order to clean up the soon-to-be-president’s mess.
At: https://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/346335/trump-golf-course-puerto-rico-default-33-million-tax-debt/?utm_source=share-fb&utm_medium=button
Saudi Arabia driving ban on women to be lifted
Saudi Arabia's King Salman has issued a decree allowing women to drive for the first time, state media say.
Government ministries are to prepare reports within 30 days and the order will be implemented by June 2018, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world to forbid women from driving. Under the current system, only men are allowed driving licences and women who drive in public risk being arrested and fined.
Because of the law, many families have had to employ private drivers to help transport female relatives.
At: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-41408195
Buenos Aires students and scientists stage sit-ins to protest unpaid internships, cutbacks
Students from over 30 public high schools in Buenos Aires, Argentina, have been staging sit-in strikes this month to protest municipal educational reform proposals that would force high school seniors to participate in unpaid internships.
Budget cutbacks have also prompted over 330 laid-off fellowship holders at the National Research Council (CONICET) to do likewise at the Ministry of Science and Technology, in Buenos Aires' upscale Palermo neighborhood.
President Mauricio Macri's right-wing administration has repudiated the sit-ins, with Justice Minister Germán Garavano calling them “illegal” despite a court ruling last week that authorized them.
Students are mainly protesting proposals to have senior-year students spend “50% of their time in businesses and organizations, applying what they learned based on their talents and interests.” They argue that this is in fact a cover to provide companies free labor, while leaving little time for their studies.
The proposals, moreover, were not submitted to public comment from teachers, students, and educational NGOs, as current law mandates. Student leaders note as well that the unpaid internship clause was left out of the city's original draft - but discovered only because it had been accidentally published in the city's own website.
High school representatives met with municipal Education Minister Soledad Acuña last week; but negotiations failed. No further meetings have as yet been announced.
The Macri administration has come under fire from teachers' unions and much of the nation's progressive political spectrum for attempting to impose curriculum changes by decree and for cutbacks of 20% in real educational spending since taking office two years ago.
Former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, currently running for the Senate, sided with students. She encouraged students to fight for what they consider right, arguing that “everyone has a right to express their views.”
“You don’t have to say 'yes' to everything,” she said in a rally last Friday. “It’s not democratic, and don’t let yourselves be pushed over - because they (the government) will try to.”
At: http://www.thebubble.com/education-reform-justice-minister-says-occupying-schools-is-illegal-as-students-begin-fifth-week-of-protests/
No to "high schools of the future" - the euphemism used by the city government to describe its educational reform decree.
The GOP Health Care Bill Is Near Collapse With Rand Paul Still Opposed
Source: Time
A spokesman for Sen. Rand Paul says the Kentucky Republican remains opposed to the GOP bill repealing the Obama health care law. Paul's opposition would almost certainly doom the measure.
Just three Republican opponents would kill the bill in the narrowly divided Senate.
Arizona GOP Sen. John McCain opposes the measure and Maine Republican Susan Collins seems almost sure to do so. Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski is undecided but voted against earlier versions this summer.
Spokesman Sergio Gor says Paul wants a "significant" reduction in the law's $1 trillion in spending, elimination of its coverage requirements and establishment of broad health plans consumers could join.
Gor calls meeting those demands "the only way" Paul votes yes.
Read more: http://time.com/4955799/rand-paul-health-care-bill-opposition/
Eight Lessons from Germany's Elections
Angela Merkel is back for a fourth term, the Social Democrats are wounded and a right-wing populist party has been elected to parliament for the first time in decades.
First: The right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) is the third-strongest political party in the country and will be taking seats in the German parliament, the Bundestag.
It marks the first time since the early days of postwar Germany that a far-right party will be represented in the Bundestag. That will have consequences in the form of clashes, provocations and scandalous rhetoric.
Second: Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives (the CDU and its Bavarian sister party, the CSU) have suffered significant losses; but Merkel has still been returned to the Chancellery for a fourth term.
Creating a governing coalition this time around will be complicated. The Social Democrats (SPD) no longer want to be part of a grand coalition with Merkel's conservatives, which leaves Merkel with only a single option: a coalition with the Green Party and the business-friendly Free Democrats (FDP).
There are, however, several hurdles to such a constellation: For one, it would include four separate parties, placing a premium on the amount of day-to-day coordination among them. Plus, it remains to be seen if the Greens are interested in joining forces with a suddenly reanimated FDP.
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Eighth: The parliamentary opposition will be polarized between the SPD on the one hand and the AfD on the other - at a time when the governing coalition will likely be one (a "Jamaica" coalition between the CDU/CSU, the FDP, and the Greens) that Germany has never before seen at a federal level.
In the best case, that could be an opportunity for renewal - and when it comes to confronting the AfD, Germany's fundamental values, including freedom and democracy, are at stake.
More at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/angela-merkel-afd-spd-eight-lessons-from-germany-s-elections-a-1169606.html
Chancellor Angela Merkel confers with the runner-up, SPD leader Martin Schulz. Schulz has indicated the SPD will not stay on as junior partners in Merkel's grand coalition, thus forcing her to govern through an as-yet undetermined minority coalition.
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