Wednesday 21 June 2017

GOP Rep. stands by comment Obama partly to blame for climate that led to Scalise shooting

Washington (CNN)Republican Rep. Steve King is standing by comments he made last week in which he said President Barack Obama is partly to blame for the divided political climate that he argues led to the shooting of House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and others on a baseball field in Alexandria, Virginia.
"Erin, the answer is no," the Iowa lawmaker said when asked by CNN's Erin Burnett on Wednesday if he regrets blaming the former President in an interview with Simon Conway on WHO Iowa radio June 14.
"I do want to put some of this at the feet of Barack Obama," King said in the radio interview. "He contributed mightily to dividing us. He focused on our differences rather than our things that unify us. And this is some of the fruits of that labor."
King gave context to the statement on "OutFront," saying he made some of the remarks that were published in articles "on site, on location, near the ballfield shortly after I learned of the shooting."
"But I am not going to excuse any of that away," he said. "In fact, those statements were supported by the facts that later poured out."
The congressman told Burnett that he has made that comment about Obama before, not just in the aftermath of the shooting, which occurred during a Republican early-morning practice ahead of a charity baseball game. Scalise, a congressional staffer, a lobbyist and a Capitol Police officer were shot.
King said he has called out Obama for "nearly eight years" in a handful of other instances, including after Obama commented on Arizona's immigration law.
"What about Mexicans being rapists?" Burnett asked, referring to comments President Donald Trump has made. "Would that contribute to being divisive also?"
"He clarified that statement," King said. "And I don't know that was a very healthy thing to say either, but we had a president elected in a perfect position to heal the divisions in this country, and Barack Obama failed in that regard. And 73% of America thinks we're further divided than we were before he became president. And I think we need to go the other direction. We have to speak about these things accurately. What I said on that ball field about that politically motivated shooting is exactly on target, and most of the public agrees with me on it."
But King did have a change of tune when it came to the Russia investigation. In February, King told CNN's Alisyn Camerota on "New Day" that Russian interference in the 2016 election is a "CNN narrative."
"I think it's a CNN narrative that the allegations that the Russians were trying to influence the US election between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton," he said.
On Wednesday, he told Burnett that he believes Russia probably did interfere; however, he said he would like to "see evidence in front of us before I can accept the idea."
"The American people should know what is this evidence? How did the Russians try to hack into the DNC?" he said. "We also heard (former Homeland Security Secretary) Jeh Johnson say it didn't affect the election. I'm happy ... to look into this. I believe there is more than a kernel of truth in it. It probably happened."
credit : http://edition.cnn.com/2017/06/21/politics/steve-king-barack-obama-steve-scalise/index.html
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Yulin dog meat festival begins despite rumours of ban

A controversial dog meat festival has begun in the Chinese city of Yulin, despite earlier reports it had been cancelled or toned down this year.

Yulin dog meat festival begins despite rumours of ban



The Lychee and Dog Meat festival takes place annually in Guangxi province.
Earlier this year, US campaigners claimed that vendors had been told by authorities not to sell dog meat.
But stall holders had told the BBC they had heard nothing about this from officials. On 15 May, city officials confirmed there was no ban.

Is dog meat still for sale?

Yes. On Wednesday, reports from Yulin said dead dogs could be seen hanging from meat hooks at stalls in Dongkou market, the biggest in the city.
There were also reports of a heavy police presence on the streets.
One activist in the city told the BBC she was prevented by police from entering the Dashichang market where she believed live dogs were on sale.
Image copyrightAFP
Image captio
In previous years there have been scuffles between stall owners and activists trying to rescue the dogs slated for slaughter.
The city of Yulin is not the biggest dog meat consumer in Guangxi province though. It is only since the festival started around 10 years ago that the city received national and international attention.

What's wrong with dog for dinner?

It is all about accusations of animal cruelty and changes in attitudes to dogs in China.
Residents and vendors say the dogs are killed in a humane way and that eating them is no more or less cruel than consuming pork, beef or chicken.
Eating dog is an old tradition in China, South Korea and some other Asian countries. Those in favour of it are upset by what they say is foreigners interfering with local traditions.
In Chinese culture dog meat is said to be beneficial during the hot summer months.
Even many who do not eat dog defend the practice as long as the animals are not stolen or killed in an inhumane way.
Image copyrightAFP
Image captio
But critics say the dogs are transported from other cities in small, cramped cages ahead of the festival and brutally killed. Activists also allege many of the dogs are stolen pets.
Protests against the festival come both from abroad and from within China. The number of pet dogs in the country has skyrocketed in recent years with 62 million registered canine companions.
This has gradually changed many people's opinion on eating dog meat.

Why the confusion this year?

In May, US activists had claimed there was a ban on the sale of dog meat this year. This was not the case.
The Yulin government has repeatedly said that it does not officially organise the festival so cannot prohibit it. Eating dogs is not illegal in China.
Image copyrightAFP
Image capti
In 2016, they banned the slaughter of dogs in public in anticipation of protests.
This year, reports said there was less public slaughtering taking place, though the scale of the event was not immediately clear.
Activists estimate that in peak years, about 10,000 dogs and cats were killed and eaten during the 10-day festival.

credit : http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-40337327
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Tuesday 20 June 2017

Marco Rubio opens Twitter 'investigation' into failed Ivanka Trump hug

Washington (CNN)Sen. Marco Rubio went on a tweetstorm Tuesday afternoon after his greeting with Ivanka Trump on Capitol Hill earlier that day went viral.

Marco Rubio opens Twitter 'investigation' into failed Ivanka Trump hug


A picture of the two apparently attempting an embrace surfaced on social media soon after the pair met at the Capitol to discuss tax reform and parental leave.

Ivanka Trump, daughter of President Donald Trump, is greeted by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., as she arrives at the Capitol to meet with lawmakers about parental leave, in Washington, Tuesday, June 20, 2017.

Hours after the photo began to make the rounds on Twitter, Rubio responded from his account, saying he had just learned of the photo and would open his own investigation to expose what really happened during his encounter with Trump.
    Two minutes later, Rubio tweeted again, saying he has his own evidence to add to the discussion.
    He also added that he and his team were attempting to obtain video footage of the encounter to expose what really happened between himself and the White House adviser and first daughter.
    A call for help came next, when Rubio asked those who happened to be filming at the Senate carriage entrance Tuesday between 11:20 a.m. and 11:25 a.m. to hand over their footage.
    Thirty minutes after Rubio opened the investigation, he tweeted out a photograph that shed new light on the supposed hug.
    Just over a half hour after that first photo, Rubio tweeted another image providing a different perspective, announcing it as "BREAKING NEWS."
    In a seventh tweet, Rubio closed the case by saying the evidence, and his own memory, concludes that no hug was attempted, although the images seem to show something different.
    He closed out by calling the "press covfefe" false, a nod to the now famous misfire from President Donald Trump's Twitter account.
    Soon after Rubio closed the case, Ivanka responded to the "anonymous sources" by giving no comment.
    She also retweeted Rubio's tweet with the photo of the blurred faces, calling it "Fake news!" and ensuring that her followers know that Rubio is, in fact, a good hugger, despite Rubio's denial of the hugs.
    However, the two subjects of the investigation gave conflicting accounts of what exactly occurred.
    While Rubio claims a hug did not take place, Trump's tweets signify that a hug did indeed happen between the two.
    While we may never know the truth, Rubio did show off his solid investigative chops. Maybe the senator has a future in journalism?

    credit : http://edition.cnn.com/2017/06/20/politics/marco-rubio-tweets-ivanka-trump-hug/index.html
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    Video of Police Killing of Philando Castile Is Publicly Released

    Days after a police officer was acquitted of all charges in the fatal shooting of Philando Castile, a black motorist in Minnesota, video of the shooting was publicly released on Tuesday for the first time.

    Video of Police Killing of Philando Castile Is Publicly Released



    Millions of people have seen the immediate aftermath of the shooting because Mr. Castile’s girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, had livestreamed it on Facebook. But few have seen video of the moments before that, when the shooting actually took place along a suburban street last year.
    This video, from a dashboard camera on Officer Jeronimo Yanez’s patrol car, parked right behind Mr. Castile’s car, was played several times this month to jurors during Officer Yanez’s manslaughter trial but had not been shown outside the courtroom.
    The video reveals how a mundane conversation about a broken taillight devolved within seconds into gunfire. The newly released footage provides the fullest account yet of an episode that led to a national debate over police conduct toward black people, but it also leaves unanswered critical questions about what happened that day.

    Before they meet

    The video opens at dusk on July 6, 2016, on a busy street near the Minnesota state fairgrounds. Officer Yanez is following a white Oldsmobile driven by Mr. Castile in Falcon Heights, a St. Paul suburb. When Officer Yanez turns on his flashing lights, Mr. Castile, a longtime school cafeteria worker, quickly pulls to the side and stops his car. Ms. Reynolds is in the front passenger seat, and her young daughter is in the back.
    Though it is not heard on the video, Officer Yanez radioed to a colleague that he thought Mr. Castile matched the description of a robbery suspect from a few days earlier. He tells a fellow officer that Mr. Castile’s “wide-set nose” looked like the robber’s. Officer Yanez waits for the second officer to arrive before pulling Mr. Castile over, but he never mentions his robbery suspicions to Mr. Castile.

    What the video shows

    Most revealing, perhaps, about the newly released video are the voices that can be clearly heard on it — a calm, polite discussion at first, and then, in seconds, a sudden burst of tension and shots.
    At first, Officer Yanez walks up to Mr. Castile’s window and tells him that his brake light is broken. The officer asks for proof of insurance and a driver’s license. Mr. Castile responds politely and hands his insurance card through the window.
    Mr. Castile, who had a permit to carry a gun, then says, “Sir, I have to tell you I do have a firearm on me.”
    Officer Yanez then reaches toward his holster and says, “O.K., don’t reach for it, then.”

    “I’m not pulling it out,” Mr. Castile says, and Ms. Reynolds also tries to assure Officer Yanez that her boyfriend is not grabbing the gun.    Mr. Castile starts to answer, but is cut off by Officer Yanez, whose voice is now raised. “Don’t pull it out!” the officer yells.
    Officer Yanez again yells, “Don’t pull it out!” Then he fires seven shots, fatally wounding Mr. Castile. “I wasn’t reaching,” Mr. Castile says softly just after the gunfire stops.
    In the minutes after the shooting, Officer Yanez keeps his gun pointed into the car as he calls for backup and an ambulance. He grows emotional and repeatedly yells an expletive.

    What the video doesn’t show

    The video does not show images that might have been essential for jurors to consider: a full view of the front seat of Mr. Castile’s car, which would have showed his hands — and what he was reaching for — just before the shooting.
    Officer Yanez has said that Mr. Castile was reaching for his gun, and his lawyers made that a central point in his defense. Officer Yanez, who was charged with three felonies, including second-degree manslaughter, told jurors he feared for his life. But Ms. Reynolds has said that Mr. Castile was simply reaching for his driver’s license, as the officer had asked him to do.
    From where the dashcam was perched, though, behind the car, the video cannot resolve this.

    Reacting to new images

    The footage quickly spread Tuesday afternoon after it was released by state investigators. The images drew anger, prompting responses on social media from rights activists and others.
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    Phoenix flights cancelled because it's too hot for planes

    As temperatures climb in Phoenix, Arizona, more than 40 flights have been cancelled - because it is too hot for the planes to fly.


    Phoenix flights cancelled because it's too hot for planes

    The weather forecast for the US city suggests temperatures could reach 120F (49C) on Tuesday.
    That is higher than the operating temperature of some planes.
    American Airlines announced it was cancelling dozens of flights scheduled to take off from Sky Harbor airport during the hottest part of the day.
    The local Fox News affiliate in Phoenix said the cancellations mostly affected regional flights on the smaller Bombardier CRJ airliners, which have a maximum operating temperature of about 118F (48C).
    Media captionFirefighting in extreme Arizona heatwave
    The all-time record for temperatures in Phoenix is just slightly higher, at 122F, which hit on 26 June 1990.
    The cancelled flights were scheduled to take off between 15:00 and 18:00 local time.

    Why can't planes fly?

    At higher temperatures, air has a lower density - it is thinner. That lower air density reduces how much lift is generated on an aircraft's wings - a core principle in aeronautics.
    That, in turn, means the aircraft's engines need to generate more thrust to get airborne.
    It's a well-known problem - a 2016 report from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) even warned that higher temperatures caused by climate change could "have severe consequences for aircraft take-off performance, where high altitudes or short runways limit the payload or even the fuel-carrying capacity".
    Those problems are why many countries in the Middle East, and some high-altitude airports in South America, tend to schedule long flights for the evening or night, when it is cooler.
    Bigger aircraft like Boeing 747s and Airbus models have a slightly higher operating temperature, and have not been affected by the heat in Phoenix.
    An American Airlines statement provided to The Arizona Republic newspapersaid those jets should be fine up to 126-127F (53C) - just a little higher than what is expected.
    Tweet from @ABC15: 100 degrees already in Phoenix. It will be 117 degrees today. We will be fine...right? Right? (Pro tip: Stay inside)Image copyrightTWITTER
    Tweet from @IanFox74: Nobody in Phoenix does anything til 8pm when it finally goes gets under 100 degrees smfhImage copyrightTWITTER
    Those temperatures, however, are forecast for the aptly named Furnace Creek in Death Valley, in California, with some areas expecting new temperature records on Tuesday.
    The Death Valley National Parks Service has issued a warning to visitors to avoid hiking after 10am, and to "travel prepared to survive".

    credit : http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40339730
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    Middle Class, Not Poor, Could Suffer if Trump Ends Health Payments

    ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Jane and Abe Goren retired here five years ago to escape the higher cost of living they had abided for decades in the suburbs of New York City. They did not anticipate having to write monthly checks for health insurance that would exceed their mortgage and property taxes combined.

    Middle Class, Not Poor, Could Suffer if Trump Ends Health Payments


    Ms. Goren, 62, is paying nearly $1,200 a month for coverage through the individual insurance market (her husband, 69, is on Medicare) and accumulating enough debt that her sons recently held a fund-raiser to help. For next year, her insurer, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, has proposed raising premiums by an average of 22.9 percent, a spike it is blaming squarely on President Trump.
    For months, the Trump administration has threatened to stop billions of dollars in payments that lower out-of-pocket medical costs for nearly six million low-income patients. Mr. Trump’s hedging has created deep uncertainty in the Affordable Care Act markets, the impact of which may become clearer on Wednesday, the deadline for insurers to say whether they plan to sell next year on the federal marketplace created under the health law and to file rate requests.
    North Carolina has more than 300,000 people benefiting from these “cost-sharing” subsidies, which reimburse insurers for absorbing the deductibles and co-payments of low-income customers. The Affordable Care Act requires that these customers’ out-of-pocket costs be lowered one way or another. If the federal government stops reimbursing insurers, many insurers have said they will make up for it by raising premiums.

    Paradoxically, that will primarily hurt not poor customers but millions of middle-class people like the Gorens, who earn too much to qualify for premium assistance under the law and will bear the full brunt of any rate increase.
    Across the nation, individual market customers like them are seeing signs of big premium increases, which insurers are largely attributing to the possibility of losing the federal cost-sharing subsidies and of Mr. Trump’s not enforcing the health law’s mandate that most people have coverage or pay a penalty. Mr. Trump has repeatedly pointed to such increases as signs that the markets are in “a death spiral” and to bolster support as the Republican Senate leadership rushes to vote on a bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act next week.
    Maryland’s largest insurer, CareFirst, has asked to raise rates by an average of 52 percent, for example, while Virginia’s largest insurer, Anthem, has proposed an average rate increase of 34 percent.
    Pennsylvania’s insurance commissioner said rates would rise by 8.8 percent next year if the cost payments continue; if Mr. Trump ends them, rates will soar by 36.3 percent. While some insurers and state regulators have discussed limiting the sharpest increases to plans for people who receive premium subsidies — allowing unsubsidized customers to get lower rates outside the marketplaces — it remains to be seen how widespread such actions would be.
    Some insurers are pulling out of the marketplaces completely: Several dozen counties in Ohio, Missouri and Washington State have no insurers signed up for next year.
    In North Carolina, Blue Cross and Blue Shield said it would have sought an 8.8 percent average increase, instead of 22.9 percent, if not for the uncertainty.
    In Ms. Goren’s case, her coverage has been a lifesaver. Infected with hepatitis C through a blood transfusion 30 years ago, she was found to have liver cancer in 2014 and received a new liver last September. Though transplants are among the most expensive surgeries, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars, under the health law her out-of-pocket costs are capped at about $7,000 a year.

    Jane Goren, 62, at her home in Asheville, N.C. She is currently paying nearly $1,200 a month for health coverage, and her insurer has proposed raising premiums next year by an average 22.9 percent.Mike Belleme for The New York Times
    But combined with her monthly premiums — which have nearly tripled since 2014, the first year people could buy Affordable Care Act plans — the financial burden is enough that Ms. Goren started taking her Social Security retirement benefits early, which lowers the amount.
    “We will use every available resource we have financially until we’ve ground it down to nothing,” Ms. Goren said during an interview in her home in a rural subdivision outside Asheville. “But I’m scared of what’s coming.”
    With the distinct possibility that the Affordable Care Act could soon be repealed altogether, she is afraid to touch the $15,000 that her two sons raised this spring through a 5K race to help with her medical expenses.
    “We’re sitting on it like Horton with the egg,” Ms. Goren said, referring to the Dr. Seuss book.
    When President Barack Obama was still in office, the Republican-controlled House sued to stop the cost-sharing subsidies on grounds that Congress had not appropriated the money. A judge sided with the House last year, but the Obama administration appealed. Mr. Trump, who has talked about using the payments as a bargaining chip to help pass a Republican health bill, has twice asked the court to delay a ruling.
    Although the 5.9 million low-income Americans who do benefit from cost-sharing payments will continue to have deductibles and co-payments waived as long as the Affordable Care Act survives, they, too, are facing uncertainty about the future of their health care. If Republicans in Congress succeed at repealing and replacing the law — still a big “if,” but the House has already passed a bill that would do so and the Senate is hurrying to finish its own version — insurance costs for low-income Americans could leap. The House bill provides flat premium subsidies based on age, not income — a formula that penalizes older and poorer people.
    Lonnie Carpenter, 55, a self-employed roofer in Winston-Salem, N.C., is in that category. His back was badly injured in a car accident in 2013, and he has not been able to work full time since. Last year, his spinal surgery was paid for by his Affordable Care Act plan from UnitedHealthcare. He owed only about $2,000 thanks to cost-sharing reductions, compared with $11,000 for an operation in 2014, before he got subsidized insurance under the law.
    “I’m in a position where I’m maxed out with bills because I’ve missed so much work in the last four years,” Mr. Carpenter said. “But it would have been a whole lot tougher to survive without that insurance. If I hadn’t had that, I’m being honest, I don’t know where I’d be right now.”
    Cost-sharing reductions apply to people with annual incomes up to 250 percent of the poverty level; that comes to $29,700 for a single person and $60,750 for a family of four. Deductibles for those with incomes below 150 percent of the poverty level were reduced to $243 on average this year, from $3,703, according to Avalere Health, a consulting firm.
    Even as Mr. Trump has remained coy about whether to continue the cost-sharing reductions next year — or even, for that matter, after this month — some powerful Republicans in Congress have begun lobbying for him to do so. They include Representative Kevin Brady of Texas, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, chairman of the Senate Health Committee, who urged in a hearing last week that the payments be extended through 2019.
    “The payments will help to avoid the real possibility that millions of Americans will literally have zero options for insurance in the individual market in 2018,” Mr. Alexander said, adding that Republicans should “do some things temporarily that we don’t want to do in the long term.”
    In North Carolina, Blue Cross and Blue Shield increased rates even more this year and last than it is proposing for 2018, blaming unexpectedly high claims costs among its marketplace customers. But the insurer said last month that it now had “a better handle on expected medical costs,” and thus would seek a far more modest rate increase if the cost-sharing payments were guaranteed.
    “You don’t mean to wish your life away, but my prayers are that I wake up and my wife is 65,” said Mr. Goren, a former radio advertising salesman, referring to the age at which people become eligible for Medicare. “We saved, but that money, it goes fast.”

    credit : https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/20/health/health-subsidy-cuts-could-hurt-the-middle-class-the-most.html
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