November 23, 2020

Empty cruise ships in the middle of the ocean are now tourist destinations

Empty Cruise Ships In the Middle of the Ocean Are Now Tourist Destinations
They were once floating cities bustling with life, but now they're more like drifting ghost towns.

https://i.insider.com/5fb6ef1132f2170011f70320?width=700&format=jpeg&auto=webp

Five times bigger than the Titanic and with an onboard giraffe sculpture that is the size of three Mini Coopers, Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas is now anchored off the coast of England—empty. Moored in Poole Bay in the English Channel, the Allure is haunting and quiet, devoid of the frolic and fun that usually takes place on a cruise ship of this caliber. But interestingly, people are still flocking to it.

Enterprising Englishman Paul Derham, a former captain of the similarly-ghostly P&O Aurora, now owns a ferry called the Josephine. One day he decided to venture out and take a look at the ship he used to helm, and came up with the idea to offer tours around the dormant liners.


In July, he posted the idea on Facebook and promptly sold out the first two cruises in a matter of hours. A steady supply of “ghost ship” cruise customers have sailed the channel with Derham at $25 per person, visiting these ships as closely as they can without boarding, as shown recently during CBS This Morning.

A tour might include a slow circle around the Allure and the Aurora as well as Royal Caribbean’s Anthem of the Seas and Jewel of the Seas; P&O’s Arcadia; the Carnival Valor, and Cunard’s Queen Mary 2.

November 23, 2020

'Do they just not care?' Miami immigrants troubled by surge of Latino support for Trump

Although she is a U.S. citizen, Mariana Martinez counts many undocumented immigrants and TPS holders among the ranks of her Salvadoran family members. Trump’s popularity with Miami-Dade’s Latinos isn’t something she was shocked by: in the lead-up to the election, she saw more Trump signs popping up in Cutler Bay, where she lives, and in Homestead, where her work as an immigrant rights advocate with the American Friends Service Committee often takes her. But lack of surprise doesn’t mean lack of disappointment.

“I guess it’s like, ‘What happened?’ I’m honestly still trying to figure out what went down. But it’s really disheartening, how a lot of people voted against their communities, because I can name a couple of folks whose families are also mixed-status, and they still voted for Trump,” she said.



“It’s a big disconnect. In Miami-Dade, everybody knows someone who is undocumented. [So] why would you vote for someone that’s not trying to give members of your community status? … Do they just not care?”’

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Stark differences in Biden and Trump’s immigration platforms has made the swell of Latino support for the president in South Florida difficult to process.

“It leaves a bad taste in your mouth,” said Montenegro. “It feels a bit like betrayal.”

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In Miami, some non-voting immigrants say that indifference towards immigration matters is something they’ve run up against, and have been frustrated by, even among close friends and family members.

“It’s really sad. It really hurts me … I don’t even want to ask my family who they voted for because I don’t want to hear it, I couldn’t take it,” said Ramirez, the DACA recipient from Colombia. “But there is a family member who was saying, ‘Yeah, I’m voting for Trump.’ And I was like, ‘Wait, are you sure? That’s your vote? For someone who wants to send me home?’ And that person was like, ‘Yeah.’”

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“The message that Biden is a socialist was really effective,” Hernandez said. “I don’t understand why people closed their eyes and let themselves be fooled. It’s frustrating.”

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“The [anti-socialism] propaganda was everywhere and the Democratic Party did nothing to set the record straight,” Hernandez said. “The support was lacking. It was really lacking. They need to put in the work ahead of time and help educate voters … They didn’t run a good campaign in Florida” in 2020.

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article247278394.html

November 23, 2020

Nail Salons, Lifeline for Immigrants, Have Lost Half Their Business - on the verge of collapse

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/23/nyregion/new-york-city-nail-salons-coronavirus.html

Nail Salons, Lifeline for Immigrants, Have Lost Half Their Business
New York City nail salons reopened in July, but few customers come in. “No matter how hard I work, I make no money,” one owner said.

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Juyoung Lee dreamed of opening her own business, but her nail salon in Flushing, Queens, has few customers now.Credit...Jeenah Moon for The New York Times

On most days, Juyoung Lee is the only person inside Beverly Nail Studio, the salon that she owns in Flushing, Queens. It is often eerily quiet, and when no customers come by, Ms. Lee at times sits at her work station and weeps.

“Maybe, just maybe, tomorrow will be busy,” she said. “I’m waiting.”

Like nail salons across New York City, her business had to close when the pandemic hit in March. There was a brief surge in demand after the lockdown was lifted in July, but then appointments started dwindling. Often, customers requested cheaper services. Now, they hardly come at all.

The beauty industry in the city seemed well positioned to bounce back after restrictions ended. After all, many customers had spent months without professional grooming. But now, many of these businesses are on the verge of collapse — a drastic hit for an industry that is an economic engine for immigrant women.

Some nail salons have had a difficult time persuading customers that it is safe to come in. Others, especially those in Manhattan business districts, have yet to see regular customers come back because many of them had left the city or are working from home.

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Eighty-one percent of the national nail salon work force are women while 79 percent are foreign-born, according to a 2018 report conducted by the U.C.L.A. Labor Center.

November 22, 2020

"Silver Spoons", "NYPD Blue" star Ricky Schroeder helps bail out Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse

Rittenhouse, center, smiles alongside attorney John Pierce (left) and actor Ricky Schroeder (right)

Former NYPD Blue actor Ricky Schroeder and My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell helped stump up the cash to free him along with other supporters.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8971593/Kenosha-shooter-Kyle-Rittenhouse-17-released-custody-posting-2M-bail.html

November 22, 2020

he opted out of Cal football due to COVID concerns. Received a $24K tuition bill

Henry Bazakas, a University of California football team walk-on five years ago who opted out of this season - his final year - because of coronavirus concerns, at the campus in Berkeley, Calif., Nov. 13, 2020. Bazakas found his scholarship cut off, and he was then billed more than $24,000 halfway through his summer term because the athletic department revoked the financial aid that it had already paid.

https://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/A-Cal-Football-Player-Opted-Out-Because-of-the-15743432.php

A third-generation Cal student who grew up in Berkeley, Bazakas arrived on campus five years ago as a walk-on offensive lineman. Three times he earned an award for having the team’s highest grade-point average. He and a teammate spearheaded a summer reading program at local elementary schools. He won another award, for his commitment to strength and conditioning while recovering from a torn knee ligament. And last season, after he finally earned an athletic scholarship, he started three games at left tackle.


But none of that counted for much in June, when Bazakas called the Cal football coach, Justin Wilcox, to say that he was opting out of his final season because of health concerns related to the coronavirus pandemic.
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Nine days later, Bazakas found his scholarship had been cut off, and he was then billed more than $24,000 halfway through his summer term because the athletic department had revoked the financial aid that it had already paid.

The summer school aid was ultimately reinstated by a university appeals committee, which said the school had violated NCAA rules by abruptly pulling Bazakas’ aid before giving him an opportunity for a hearing.


Bazakas also asked for his scholarship back for the fall semester, but the appeals panel sided with the athletic department’s decision to not renew it. While most of his teammates arrived at Cal with scholarships pledged for four years, walk-ons like Bazakas, who eventually earn scholarships, may not get them in subsequent years, and Cal had met an NCAA deadline in July not to renew his.

“It feels like the second I was done playing football, the program was done with me,” said Bazakas, who waited nearly three months for his summer aid to be restored through appeal.

November 22, 2020

Time person of the year voting live: Harris 68% Biden 64% Trump 2%, Fauci 81%, BLM 61%, Pence 3%

https://time.com/person-of-the-year-reader-poll-2020/?go=true

Kaepernak 29%
Putin 3%

November 22, 2020

Inside the Lives of Immigrant Teens Working Dangerous Night Shifts in Suburban Factories

Inside the Lives of Immigrant Teens Working Dangerous Night Shifts in Suburban Factories

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/11/immigrant-child-labor-factories-bensenville-illinois/

During the day, they attend high school. At night, they work to pay debts to smugglers and send money to family.

After nine hours hosing down machinery at a food processing plant, Garcia is tired and hungry. But he has less than an hour to get ready for high school, where he is a junior. He quickly showers, gets dressed and reheats some leftover chicken soup for a meal he refers to as his dinner. Then he gulps down some coffee, brushes his teeth, and walks outside to catch the school bus waiting near the edge of the sprawling apartment complex.

Here in the Chicago suburb of Bensenville, and in places like it throughout the country, Guatemalan teenagers like Garcia spend their days in class learning English and algebra and chemistry. At night, while their classmates sleep, they work to pay debts to smugglers and sponsors, to contribute to rent and bills, to buy groceries and sneakers, and to send money home to the parents and siblings they left behind.

They are among the tens of thousands of young people who have come to this country over the past few years, some as unaccompanied minors, others alongside a parent, amid a spike in the number of Central American migrants seeking asylum in the U.S.

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The teenagers use fake IDs to get the jobs through temporary staffing agencies that recruit immigrants and, knowingly or not, accept the papers they are handed. Working overnight allows the teens to attend school during the day. But it’s a brutal trade-off. They nod off in class; many ultimately drop out. And some, like Garcia, get hurt. Their bodies bear the scars from cuts and other on-the-job injuries.

Around Urbana-Champaign, the home of the University of Illinois, school district officials say children and adolescents lay shingles, wash dishes, and paint off-campus university apartments. In New Bedford, Massachusetts, an indigenous Guatemalan labor leader has heard complaints from adult workers in the fish-packing industry who say they’re losing their jobs to 14-year-olds. In Ohio, teenagers work in dangerous chicken plants.

November 22, 2020

A City Put Up Candle-Like Christmas Lights. 'Some People See Other Things.' Mayor apologizes

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A City Put Up Candle-Like Christmas Lights. ‘Some People See Other Things.’
The Belgian city of Oudenburg’s holiday display has made international headlines for the wrong reasons.

The Belgian city of Oudenburg was getting into the Christmas spirit, and it prepared to unveil a lights display on scores of columns set up to look like festive candles scattered around one of its districts.

But when the switch was flipped, something else appeared: instead of candles, the 80 columns looked more like a certain part of the male anatomy topped with blue lights, illuminating bus stops, green spaces and even the surroundings of a church.

The display in Oudenburg, 10 miles west of Bruges, was quickly noticed with amusement by local residents, and then picked up gleefully by Belgian and international news media.

The mayor of Oudenburg, Anthony Dumarey, said the city was making the best of the situation, and he hoped that the display, and all the attention it had received, would cheer up local residents dispirited by the coronavirus pandemic.

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By day, the almost six-foot-high installations looked like ordinary columns draped with strings of lights. But lit up at night, they took on a completely new aspect, which Mr. Dumarey said took him by surprise.

“When the lights are not on, I swear, you cannot see it.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/20/world/europe/phallic-christmas-lights-belgium.html?action=click&algo=bandit-all-surfaces&block=trending_recirc&fellback=false&imp_id=998505454&impression_id=1083ed49-2cbb-11eb-ad2a-f914ab0d4974&index=9&pgtype=Article®ion=footer&req_id=553172886&surface=most-popular



https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8965461/Mayor-apologises-Belgian-towns-phallic-Christmas-decorations.html


'It was not our intention to install Christmas lights that remind people of a penis': Mayor apologises for Belgian town’s phallic Christmas decorations
Officials were originally thinking of making candles but decided it was a cliché
They instead decided to place a blue ball on top of the column in Oudenburg
Residents quickly realised the festive decor looked more like male genitalia

November 22, 2020

Tucker Carlson under attack from the right for gently telling them the truth

https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/21/media/tucker-carlson-fox-news-traitor/index.html

Traitor. Globalist. Sellout.

Those weren't the insults reserved for a CNN or MSNBC anchor on Friday. No, those were the insults aimed at conservative media darling Tucker Carlson. In what feels like the most severe moment of backlash since his Fox News show premiered in 2016, Carlson is fielding criticism from the right.

Carlson angered some of his audience Thursday when he called out Sidney Powell, President Trump's attorney who has peddled wild conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. Carlson was careful not to deviate too far from the party line, opening his show with deference to the fraud claims presented by Rudy Giuliani. He also offered up reasons his audience should trust him. He explained to his viewers that he had reached out to Powell for supporting evidence with an open mind. And he pointed out his coverage of the Russia probe and how he never rules anything out — even UFOs.

Then Carlson broke the news ever so softly to his viewers: He said that, despite his polite requests, Powell had not provided a shred of evidence to support her outlandish claims and had even told him to stop contacting her. Not only had she failed to provide him with evidence, Carlson said, she had also failed to support her claims to others in Trumpworld.

But what is remarkable is that, ever since he called out Powell, Carlson has been the subject of denunciation by some on the right. His mentions on Twitter have been flooded with disappointed viewers saying that they feel betrayed by him. Right-wing websites have homed in on the controversy. And pro-Trump internet personalities have criticized him for having the nerve to challenge Powell.

November 21, 2020

Twitter will hand @POTUS to Biden on Inauguration Day, even if Trump doesn't concede

The presidential @POTUS Twitter handle will automatically transfer to President-elect Joe Biden the moment he’s sworn in at noon on Inauguration Day — whether or not President Donald Trump has conceded, the company confirmed to POLITICO on Friday.

Same goes for @whitehouse, @VP, @FLOTUS, and a handful other official accounts associated with the presidency.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/20/twitter-trump-transition-biden-potus-438880