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Celerity
Celerity's Journal
Celerity's Journal
November 1, 2021
November 1, 2021
8:32 PM CET
WASHINGTON, Nov 1 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden's domestic agenda suffered a significant setback on Monday when moderate Democratic Senator Joe Manchin announced he would not yet support a $1.75 trillion framework unveiled late last week.
"While I’ve worked hard to find a path to compromise, it’s obvious: compromise is not good enough for a lot of my colleagues in Congress. It’s all or nothing, and their position doesn’t seem to change unless we agree to everything," Manchin told a news conference.
"Enough is enough. It’s time our elected leaders in Washington, all of us, stopped playing games with the needs of the American people in holding a critical infrastructure bill hostage.”
He portrayed the bill as being filled with "shell games" and "budget gimmicks" that would end up costing far more than its $1.75 trillion price tag.
snip
In blow to Biden, Joe Manchin will not commit to backing $1.75 trillion spending bill
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-congress-november-agenda-not-faint-heart-2021-11-01/November 1, 2021
8:32 PM CET
WASHINGTON, Nov 1 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden's domestic agenda suffered a significant setback on Monday when moderate Democratic Senator Joe Manchin announced he would not yet support a $1.75 trillion framework unveiled late last week.
"While I’ve worked hard to find a path to compromise, it’s obvious: compromise is not good enough for a lot of my colleagues in Congress. It’s all or nothing, and their position doesn’t seem to change unless we agree to everything," Manchin told a news conference.
"Enough is enough. It’s time our elected leaders in Washington, all of us, stopped playing games with the needs of the American people in holding a critical infrastructure bill hostage.”
He portrayed the bill as being filled with "shell games" and "budget gimmicks" that would end up costing far more than its $1.75 trillion price tag.
snip
November 1, 2021
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/31/macron-accuses-australian-pm-of-lying-over-submarine-deal
Macron accuses Australian PM of lying over submarine deal
French president criticises Scott Morrison and expresses scepticism that Aukus pact will deliver on schedulehttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/31/macron-accuses-australian-pm-of-lying-over-submarine-deal
Emmanuel Macron has accused the Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, of lying to him over an abandoned $90bn submarine contract, in a significant escalation of tensions between Paris and Canberra.
The French president levelled the accusation in impromptu comments to Australian journalists on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Rome. He said he had a lot of “respect and friendship” for Australia and Australians, but that respect between nations needed to be reciprocated.
“I just say when we have respect, you have to be true and you have to behave in line and consistent with this value,” he said.
When asked whether he thought Morrison had lied to him by not revealing Australia’s secret dialogue with the UK and US over the acquisition of nuclear submarines, a dialogue that ultimately became the Aukus pact, Macron was direct in his response. “I don’t think, I know,” he said.
The French president levelled the accusation in impromptu comments to Australian journalists on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Rome. He said he had a lot of “respect and friendship” for Australia and Australians, but that respect between nations needed to be reciprocated.
“I just say when we have respect, you have to be true and you have to behave in line and consistent with this value,” he said.
When asked whether he thought Morrison had lied to him by not revealing Australia’s secret dialogue with the UK and US over the acquisition of nuclear submarines, a dialogue that ultimately became the Aukus pact, Macron was direct in his response. “I don’t think, I know,” he said.
November 1, 2021
Spurs confident a deal with Conte can be done this time
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/nov/01/nuno-sacked-by-tottenham-after-only-17-matches-as-manager
Tottenham in advanced talks with Conte after sacking Nuno as manager
Nuno dismissed after only 17 matches in chargeSpurs confident a deal with Conte can be done this time
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/nov/01/nuno-sacked-by-tottenham-after-only-17-matches-as-manager
Tottenham are in advanced talks with Antonio Conte over their manager’s job after sacking Nuno Espírito Santo, with the Italian understood to be close to accepting their offer. Nuno has departed after only four months and 17 matches in charge.
Negotiations between Conte and Tottenham broke down in the summer but he remains out of work and the club’s managing director of football, Fabio Paratici, is confident a deal will be done. Conte is expected in London on Monday to continue discussions in the hope of sealing an agreement.
Conte is generally averse to taking a job midway through a season but made it known he would make an exception for Manchester United if Ole Gunnar Solskjær were sacked and Spurs believe they have convinced him to take the same view of their offer. Conte is asking for guarantees regarding the next transfer windows and for a long-term contract. Nuno was given a two-year deal in late June.
Talks collapsed with Conte in June after Tottenham thought they were close to a deal. At that point Paratici, who worked with the manager at Juventus, had not been hired. Conte, who has won top-flight league titles with Juve, Chelsea and Internazionale, left Inter in May over their plan to sell players.
Negotiations between Conte and Tottenham broke down in the summer but he remains out of work and the club’s managing director of football, Fabio Paratici, is confident a deal will be done. Conte is expected in London on Monday to continue discussions in the hope of sealing an agreement.
Conte is generally averse to taking a job midway through a season but made it known he would make an exception for Manchester United if Ole Gunnar Solskjær were sacked and Spurs believe they have convinced him to take the same view of their offer. Conte is asking for guarantees regarding the next transfer windows and for a long-term contract. Nuno was given a two-year deal in late June.
Talks collapsed with Conte in June after Tottenham thought they were close to a deal. At that point Paratici, who worked with the manager at Juventus, had not been hired. Conte, who has won top-flight league titles with Juve, Chelsea and Internazionale, left Inter in May over their plan to sell players.
November 1, 2021
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/31/us/politics/paid-family-leave.html
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Democrat of New York, said she had been developing paid family and medical leave legislation for nearly a decade.Credit...Stefani Reynolds for The New York Times
Why Paid Family Leave's Demise This Time Could Fuel It Later
In failing to secure a benefit with bipartisan appeal, President Biden joins a long line of frustrated politicians. But some Republicans say it could be resurrected on its own.https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/31/us/politics/paid-family-leave.html
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Democrat of New York, said she had been developing paid family and medical leave legislation for nearly a decade.Credit...Stefani Reynolds for The New York Times
WASHINGTON — In late 2019, with bipartisan backing, including from the iconoclastic Senate Democrat Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, President Donald J. Trump’s daughter Ivanka hosted a summit at the White House to promote her vision for paid family and medical leave.
As with many domestic initiatives of the Trump years, the effort went nowhere, thanks in part to the former president’s lack of interest in legislating. But it also stalled in part because of opposition from Democrats like Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, who saw the plan not as a true federal benefit but as a “payday loan” off future Social Security benefits. Ms. Gillibrand believed she could do much better.
Last week was the Democrats’ turn to fail. A 12-week paid family and medical leave program, costing $500 billion over 10 years, was supposed to be a centerpiece of President Biden’s social safety net legislation. But it fell out of his compromise framework, a victim of centrists who objected to its ambition and cost.
The demise of the effort, even amid bipartisan interest, in part reflected the polarization surrounding Democrats’ marquee domestic legislation, which Republicans are opposing en masse.
As with many domestic initiatives of the Trump years, the effort went nowhere, thanks in part to the former president’s lack of interest in legislating. But it also stalled in part because of opposition from Democrats like Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, who saw the plan not as a true federal benefit but as a “payday loan” off future Social Security benefits. Ms. Gillibrand believed she could do much better.
Last week was the Democrats’ turn to fail. A 12-week paid family and medical leave program, costing $500 billion over 10 years, was supposed to be a centerpiece of President Biden’s social safety net legislation. But it fell out of his compromise framework, a victim of centrists who objected to its ambition and cost.
The demise of the effort, even amid bipartisan interest, in part reflected the polarization surrounding Democrats’ marquee domestic legislation, which Republicans are opposing en masse.
November 1, 2021
Sacramento Has Become Nation's Least Affordable Housing Market
https://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2021/10/30/sacramento-has-become-nations-least-affordable-housing-market/SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – Sacramento has topped the list of the least affordable new home markets in the country.
The median new construction home price in the Sacramento region is $650,000. In order to afford the $39,000 down payment, Sacramentans need an income of about $128,000. But the median household income here is just over $76,000.
The housing crisis has reached the rental market as well. Home values in the region jumped 21 percent in the last year.
The typical apartment rent in the Sacramento region is now $1,760 per month. That’s higher than in Seattle, Washington D.C., and New York City.
The median new construction home price in the Sacramento region is $650,000. In order to afford the $39,000 down payment, Sacramentans need an income of about $128,000. But the median household income here is just over $76,000.
The housing crisis has reached the rental market as well. Home values in the region jumped 21 percent in the last year.
The typical apartment rent in the Sacramento region is now $1,760 per month. That’s higher than in Seattle, Washington D.C., and New York City.
November 1, 2021
Sheri Berman argues that democracy today faces a more insidious threat than coups d’état—slow strangulation by elected autocrats.
https://socialeurope.eu/stopping-democratic-backsliding
In recent years democracy has been under siege: since 2015 the number of countries experiencing democratic backsliding has outstripped the number democratising. Varieties of Democracy, an organisation which tracks the global development of democracy, describes this as ‘an age of autocratization’. While this trend should sadden, from an historical perspective it should probably not surprise. The backstory to contemporary backsliding is the ‘third wave of democracy’ at the end of the 20th century—a wave which left in its wake more democracies than ever previously existed. Waves are characterised by their power and sweep when ascendant but also by the inevitable undertow coming after.
As anyone knows who has studied the previous waves of democratisation, for example, those which swept over Europe in 1848 and at the end of the first world war, these undertows can indeed be formidable. Yet as the well-known aphorism often attributed to Mark Twain goes, ‘History doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes.’ That an undertow has followed the third wave of democracy indeed repeats the historical pattern, but that does not mean it is a mere facsimile of its predecessors. Unlike in previous undertows, during the past years democracies have not died—as one influential treatment puts it—quickly or violently ‘at the hand of men with guns’. Rather, they have been eroded gradually, at the ‘hands of elected leaders’ who have used their power to undermine democracy over time.
‘Electoral autocracy’
Another, related difference is in the type of authoritarian regime left behind. During much of the 20th century, the collapse of democracy most often gave way to closed, repressive dictatorships, such as those in interwar Europe or the military regimes established in Asia and Latin America during the 1960s and 70s. In contrast, the most common authoritarian product of the third wave’s undertow has been ‘electoral autocracy’.
Viktor Orbán’s Hungary, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Turkey and Narendra Modi’s India fall into this category. These regimes are less authoritarian than their predecessors, allowing flawed elections and some space for civil society. They thereby provide potential opportunities for oppositions to mobilise and peacefully transform their societies. But because the system is rigged in electoral autocracies—such as by gerrymandering, control of the press and corruption—oppositions must be unified to take advantage of potential opportunities available to them, prioritising the defeat of incumbent leaders over their own disparate goals.
snip
Stopping democratic backsliding
Sheri Berman argues that democracy today faces a more insidious threat than coups d’état—slow strangulation by elected autocrats.
https://socialeurope.eu/stopping-democratic-backsliding
In recent years democracy has been under siege: since 2015 the number of countries experiencing democratic backsliding has outstripped the number democratising. Varieties of Democracy, an organisation which tracks the global development of democracy, describes this as ‘an age of autocratization’. While this trend should sadden, from an historical perspective it should probably not surprise. The backstory to contemporary backsliding is the ‘third wave of democracy’ at the end of the 20th century—a wave which left in its wake more democracies than ever previously existed. Waves are characterised by their power and sweep when ascendant but also by the inevitable undertow coming after.
As anyone knows who has studied the previous waves of democratisation, for example, those which swept over Europe in 1848 and at the end of the first world war, these undertows can indeed be formidable. Yet as the well-known aphorism often attributed to Mark Twain goes, ‘History doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes.’ That an undertow has followed the third wave of democracy indeed repeats the historical pattern, but that does not mean it is a mere facsimile of its predecessors. Unlike in previous undertows, during the past years democracies have not died—as one influential treatment puts it—quickly or violently ‘at the hand of men with guns’. Rather, they have been eroded gradually, at the ‘hands of elected leaders’ who have used their power to undermine democracy over time.
‘Electoral autocracy’
Another, related difference is in the type of authoritarian regime left behind. During much of the 20th century, the collapse of democracy most often gave way to closed, repressive dictatorships, such as those in interwar Europe or the military regimes established in Asia and Latin America during the 1960s and 70s. In contrast, the most common authoritarian product of the third wave’s undertow has been ‘electoral autocracy’.
Viktor Orbán’s Hungary, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Turkey and Narendra Modi’s India fall into this category. These regimes are less authoritarian than their predecessors, allowing flawed elections and some space for civil society. They thereby provide potential opportunities for oppositions to mobilise and peacefully transform their societies. But because the system is rigged in electoral autocracies—such as by gerrymandering, control of the press and corruption—oppositions must be unified to take advantage of potential opportunities available to them, prioritising the defeat of incumbent leaders over their own disparate goals.
snip
November 1, 2021
Mon, November 1, 2021, 5:01 AM
snip
'Alarming finding': 30 percent of Republicans say violence may be needed to save U.S., poll shows
https://news.yahoo.com/prri-poll-republicans-violence-040144322.htmlMon, November 1, 2021, 5:01 AM
Almost one-third of Republicans say they think violence may be necessary to solve the problems facing the United States, according to a new national survey by the nonprofit Public Religion Research Institute. The finding is part of PRRI’s 12th annual American Values Survey released Monday which, among other things, highlights the continued impact of the same falsehoods and conspiracy theories that fuelled the violent Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol nearly one year later.
The survey was conducted between Sept. 16 and Sept. 29 through online interviews with a random sample of 2,508 adults living in all 50 states. Nearly one in five, or 18 percent, of overall respondents said they agreed with the statement: “Because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country,” including 30 percent of Republicans, 11 percent of Democrats and 17 percent of independents.
“It is an alarming finding,” said Robert Jones, CEO and founder of PRRI. “I’ve been doing this a while, for decades, and it’s not the kind of finding that as a sociologist, a public opinion pollster, that you’re used to seeing.” Overall, the responses to this question illustrate the “significant and rapidly increasing polarization in the United States,” he said.
Mark Pitcavage, a senior research fellow at the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism, said that it’s “extremely disturbing” that “nearly a third of the Republicans measured in this poll are getting comfortable with the idea of political violence.” And, he said, the much smaller percentages of Democrats and independents who expressed support for this idea are also “enough to be concerning.”
The survey was conducted between Sept. 16 and Sept. 29 through online interviews with a random sample of 2,508 adults living in all 50 states. Nearly one in five, or 18 percent, of overall respondents said they agreed with the statement: “Because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country,” including 30 percent of Republicans, 11 percent of Democrats and 17 percent of independents.
“It is an alarming finding,” said Robert Jones, CEO and founder of PRRI. “I’ve been doing this a while, for decades, and it’s not the kind of finding that as a sociologist, a public opinion pollster, that you’re used to seeing.” Overall, the responses to this question illustrate the “significant and rapidly increasing polarization in the United States,” he said.
Mark Pitcavage, a senior research fellow at the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism, said that it’s “extremely disturbing” that “nearly a third of the Republicans measured in this poll are getting comfortable with the idea of political violence.” And, he said, the much smaller percentages of Democrats and independents who expressed support for this idea are also “enough to be concerning.”
snip
November 1, 2021
Mon, November 1, 2021, 5:17 AM·
Supreme Court takes up Texas law banning most abortions
https://news.yahoo.com/supreme-court-takes-texas-law-041730087.htmlMon, November 1, 2021, 5:17 AM·
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is taking up challenges to a Texas law that has virtually ended abortion in the nation’s second-largest state after six weeks of pregnancy.
The justices are hearing arguments Monday in two cases over whether abortion providers or the Justice Department can mount federal court challenges to the law, which has an unusual enforcement scheme its defenders argue shield it from federal court review.
In neither case is the right to an abortion directly at issue, but the motivation for lawsuits filed by abortion providers and the Justice Department is that the Texas law conflicts with landmark Supreme Court rulings that prevent a state from banning abortion early in pregnancy.
The justices will hear a separate challenge to the decisions in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey in a case over Mississippi's ban on abortion after 15 weeks. Those arguments are set for Dec. 1.
The justices are hearing arguments Monday in two cases over whether abortion providers or the Justice Department can mount federal court challenges to the law, which has an unusual enforcement scheme its defenders argue shield it from federal court review.
In neither case is the right to an abortion directly at issue, but the motivation for lawsuits filed by abortion providers and the Justice Department is that the Texas law conflicts with landmark Supreme Court rulings that prevent a state from banning abortion early in pregnancy.
The justices will hear a separate challenge to the decisions in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey in a case over Mississippi's ban on abortion after 15 weeks. Those arguments are set for Dec. 1.
November 1, 2021
According to a report from the HuffPost's Ryan Reilly, prosecutors urging jail time for a Texas realtor who took part in the Jan 6th Capitol riot cited her boast on Twitter that there is no way she is headed for jail time because she is white, has blonde hair and has a "great job."
Prosecutors are asking U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper to sentence Jenna Ryan to 60 days in jail, even though other Capitol rioters who've pleaded guilty to the same offense have been sentenced to probation.
As part of their argument they cited a tweet by the Dallas resident where she wrote,she has "blonde hair white skin a great job a great future and I'm not going to jail" as proof that she felt she was above the law.
According to the filing, "A defendant who believes she is immune from strict punishment because of her race and physical appearance may reoffend because the consequences for wrongdoing will never, in the defendant's mind, be severe even when severity is merited."
snip
Prosecutors cite Capitol rioter's claim she won't go to jail because she's blonde with a great job
https://www.rawstory.com/jenna-ryan-2655463536/According to a report from the HuffPost's Ryan Reilly, prosecutors urging jail time for a Texas realtor who took part in the Jan 6th Capitol riot cited her boast on Twitter that there is no way she is headed for jail time because she is white, has blonde hair and has a "great job."
Prosecutors are asking U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper to sentence Jenna Ryan to 60 days in jail, even though other Capitol rioters who've pleaded guilty to the same offense have been sentenced to probation.
As part of their argument they cited a tweet by the Dallas resident where she wrote,she has "blonde hair white skin a great job a great future and I'm not going to jail" as proof that she felt she was above the law.
According to the filing, "A defendant who believes she is immune from strict punishment because of her race and physical appearance may reoffend because the consequences for wrongdoing will never, in the defendant's mind, be severe even when severity is merited."
snip
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