AZProgressive
AZProgressive's JournalTheresa May Will Reject Calls By Muslim Groups To Define Islamophobia As A Type Of Racism
Exclusive: BuzzFeed News has been briefed on plans to oppose the definition on free speech grounds.
Theresa May is to reject a definition of Islamophobia proposed by British Muslim groups, BuzzFeed News can reveal.
At a parliamentary debate on anti-Muslim prejudice on Thursday, ministers will oppose the definition which states: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.”
More than 750 British Muslim organisations had called on the government to adopt the British Muslims all-party parliamentary group definition, which was produced after consultation with legal experts, MPs, and Muslim groups.
The definition has been formally endorsed by the Labour Party, the Liberal Democrats, and the Scottish Conservatives.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/alexwickham/theresa-may-will-reject-calls-by-muslim-groups-to-define
Study: U.S. Fossil Fuel Subsidies Exceed Pentagon Spending
Study: U.S. Fossil Fuel Subsidies Exceed Pentagon Spending
The world would be richer and healthier if the full costs of fossil fuels were paid, according to a new report from the International Monetary Fund
TIM DICKINSON
MAY 8, 2019 4:48PM EDT
Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/REX/Shuttersto
The United States has spent more subsidizing fossil fuels in recent years than it has on defense spending, according to a new report from the International Monetary Fund.
The IMF found that direct and indirect subsidies for coal, oil and gas in the U.S. reached $649 billion in 2015. Pentagon spending that same year was $599 billion.
The study defines “subsidy” very broadly, as many economists do. It accounts for the “differences between actual consumer fuel prices and how much consumers would pay if prices fully reflected supply costs plus the taxes needed to reflect environmental costs” and other damage, including premature deaths from air pollution.
These subsidies are largely invisible to the public, and don’t appear in national budgets. But according the the IMF, the world spent $4.7 trillion — or 6.3 percent of global GDP — in 2015 to subsidize fossil fuel use, a figure it estimated rose to $5.2 trillion in 2017. China, which is heavily reliant on coal and has major air-pollution problems, was the largest subsidizer by far, at $1.4 trillion in 2015. But the U.S. ranked second in the world.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/fossil-fuel-subsidies-pentagon-spending-imf-report-833035/amp/
Foreign agents introduced Ukranian politician to US political figures in secretive lobbying arrangem
A failed Ukrainian presidential candidate. Former congressmen turned lobbyists. Mysterious shell companies and offshore accounts funding it all.
Foreign agents and lobbyists accused of orchestrating a disinformation campaign attacking former Ukrainian Prime Minister and 2019 presidential candidate Yulia Tymoshenko actually introduced her to key U.S. political players last year, an investigation by the Center for Responsive Responsive Politics has found.
New FARA records reveal foreign agents and lobbyists on the payroll of Livingston Group, a lobbying firm run by former Rep. Bob Livingston (R-La.), played a previously unreported role in Tymoshenko’s meetings with lawmakers during a December 2018 trip to Washington, D.C., including House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.).
That week, former Congressman-turned-lobbyist Bob McEwen (R-Ohio) also quietly introduced Tymoshenko to former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trump’s attorney who joined Trump’s personal legal team amidst special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Giuliani is under scrutiny for his simultaneous “shadow lobbying” operations for foreign clients, including Ukrainian interests.
https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2019/05/foreign-agents-introduced-ukranian-politician-to-us-political-figures-in-secretive-lobbying-arrangement/#utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=twitt_foreign-agents-introduced-ukranian-politician-050819
I love Kamala Harris plan to help public defenders
(CNN) Sen. Kamala Harris, who spent her entire legal career as a prosecutor, will introduce legislation Wednesday aimed at helping the other side of the legal scale -- publicly funded defense attorneys.
Harris' bill seeks to level the playing field between prosecutor and public defender. The bill would set workload limits for full-time public defenders and, within five years, make pay equal between public defenders and prosecutors, funded by a $250 million federal grant program. Dubbed the 'Ensuring Quality Access to Legal Defense' (EQUAL) Act, the bill also authorizes funds for training public defenders and reauthorizing student loan repayment programs.
According to a copy of Harris' bill previewed by CNN, the purpose of the legislation is "to protect the rights of defendants in criminal cases to due process and a fair trial under the Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution."
"After spending my career around the criminal justice system, I've seen up close how it can fail to ensure that poor defendants receive a fair trial and due process, as guaranteed to all of us in our Constitution," Harris said in a statement provided by her Senate office."All too often, our public defenders are overworked and lack sufficient resources. This makes public defense unsustainable over the long haul. And the person who suffers is the defendant, whose liberty is on the line. It's wrong, and it's the opposite of justice."
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2019/05/08/politics/kamala-harris-public-defender-bill/index.html
Russian Embassy: Trump Initiated Putin Call, And It Was 90 Minutes, Not 60
The Russian embassy in Washington said that it was President Donald Trump who initiated the call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, and that the conversation lasted 90 minutes.
Trump said Friday that the controversial call was “probably more than an hour,” and White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters it was “slightly more than an hour.”
Putin urged Trump to “ease the sanction pressure” on North Korea as it makes a “good-faith fulfillment of its commitment,” apparently to denuclearize, the embassy noted on Facebook. The phone conversation occurred the day before Pyonyang fired a barrage of unidentified projectiles into the Sea of Japan. A North Korean statement Saturday said the test of “large-caliber long-range” rocket launchers and “tactical guided weapons” was intended to “increase the combat ability” of the country.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1124672389416144905?s=19
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-initiated-putin-call-013550345.html?.tsrc=fauxdal
I think Assassin's Creed Odyssey might be the best game ever
Especial when you factor in the downloadable content. My first play through I did the main story as well as the side quests in the region's I visited and barely touched the DLC. I started over because I didn't finish killing all the cultists. My second play through I finished the main quests and searching for the Atlantis artifacts I have 2 out of 4. I still have 7 islands left to clear and to my surprise there are A LOT of side quests. Also looking for more cultists. I have just over 100 hours in this play through and havent got to the DLC which they added The Fate of Atlantis recently. This is on top of the DLC content they already added. This game has a ton of content.
For those that don't know it takes place in Greece during 450 BC and the game has the whole country in it. It also takes place during a civil war between Athens & Sparta and you can pick either side for region conquest battles.
I'd recommend to get a game guide to follow the main mission especially to know when to branch out for the Atlantis main quests.
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