"Boston scraps summit on climate with China" by David Abel Globe Staff June 01, 2017
Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh said Wednesday that plans to hold an international climate summit in Boston this summer, an event announced to fanfare last year in Beijing, have been scrapped for lack of federal support.
The State Department-sponsored summit in Boston, revealed last June by then-secretary of state John F. Kerry, would have brought thousands of urban and business leaders to Boston from cities across the United States and China. It would have been the third such conference.
And what would the carbon footprint have been for all the elite globalists and agenda-pushers coming here to meet?
The planet thanks you for cancelling!
Environmental advocates and scientists had hoped the summit would provide a stage for Boston to showcase its efforts to curb carbon emissions and defend its coastal areas from rising seas, as well as learn about climate change initiatives from China and from other cities.
“The cancellation of the international climate summit in Boston is another indication of how the Trump administration is pulling out of global engagement in a way that ultimately cedes economic opportunities to other countries,” said David Cash, the former commissioner of the state’s Department of Environmental Protection who now serves as dean of the McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston....
Oh, I'm sorry, I thought this was concerning the environment.
--more--"
Related:
"Georgia’s peach crop is suffering much worse than expected after an overly warm winter and a hard freeze in early spring. Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that nearly 80 percent of the state’s peach crop has been wiped out because of the weather. Black says the lack of peaches could mean a shorter season for Georgia consumers. He says farmers probably won’t ship out of state. Initially, farmers hoped to salvage about 70 percent of the crop. The newspaper reports that the loss, combined with a blow to this year’s blueberry crop, could mean a $300 million hit to farmers. The peach crop issue has been worse in neighboring South Carolina, where Black says he’s told more than 85 percent of the crop was lost."
Also see:
With advisers on both sides, Trump torn on Paris climate accord
Musk threatens to quit Trump’s advisory council over the Paris climate deal
BYE!
And what the Fung, Globe?
"President Donald Trump has welcomed Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc as the first leader to visit the Trump White House from Southeast Asia, where the U.S. vies with China for influence. Billions in U.S.-Vietnam business deals are expected to be signed during his visit. Trump is due to travel to Vietnam to attend an Asia-Pacific economic summit in November, but the relationship is on uncertain ground..... Responding briefly to questions from reporters at the start of Wednesday’s meeting, Trump said he would decide on the Paris accord “very soon.”
PFFFFFFFFT!
Supporters of Roosevelt National Park seek to block refinery
Also see:
Supreme Court travel ban case could test Trump’s reach
The latest effort comes through Trump’s federal budget proposal, which calls for a 25 percent cut in funds for resettling refugees on US soil, funds specifically earmarked for US refugee admissions.
Well, considering the debt and tax situations......
"Rich Americans may hasten a Trump headache: raising debt limit" by Saleha Mohsin and Christopher Condon Bloomberg News June 01, 2017
WASHINGTON — Wealthy Americans have put off some of their tax bills this year, causing such a pinch to government revenue that the United States could face a default on its debt months sooner than the White House expected.
High-income taxpayers may be anticipating a future tax cut from President Trump. But they may also accelerate a political headache for him: persuading Congress to raise the government’s debt limit.
The wealthy may have deferred recognizing as much as 20 percent of their taxable income last year, according to independent estimates, a move that is legal and allows them to delay paying taxes on non-wage earnings including capital gains. Trump’s promise of tax cuts gives richer Americans “large incentives to shift non-wage taxable income from 2016 to 2017,” said Lucy Dadayan, a senior researcher at the Rockefeller Institute of Government.
Treasury’s monthly budget statement for April showed weaker-than-expected income tax receipts. The drop in tax revenue is significant enough to alarm top officials, including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who has urged Congress to pass “clean” legislation raising the debt ceiling without policy riders by August.
White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said last week the administration may soon announce an earlier debt-ceiling deadline, citing the fall-off in tax receipts.
Debates over raising the debt ceiling became especially politicized under former President Barack Obama. Republicans used the specter of a default as leverage to demand spending cuts and other policy changes. Bills to raise the ceiling were commonly passed in the nick of time.
Mnuchin began using special accounting measures in March to stay below the ceiling, and he has projected that the Treasury will run out of money in the second half of the year.
The stakes are high. Global financial markets risk volatility if there is political uncertainty about the US government’s ability to repay its debts. Failure to take action in time could result in the first-ever US default. Mnuchin has said he would not prioritize debt payments over other government spending in the event the ceiling isn’t raised.
America’s wealthiest may be partly to blame if the deadline arrives sooner than anticipated. While most people pay their taxes through deductions from their paychecks, richer taxpayers also earn income through the sale of stocks and other assets, or by taking profits out of companies, resulting in capital gains.
Yeah, only partly.
“Taxpayers often make their decisions on selling assets based on current tax rates as well as expected future tax rates, among other factors,” said Rockefeller’s Dadayan.
Mnuchin in January vowed that a tax cut — part of what he says will be the biggest overhaul since the 1980s — would not benefit the wealthiest Americans, who Trump has said reaped all the benefits of the economic recovery and left lower-income people in despair. More recently, Mnuchin has declined to guarantee that only middle-class taxpayers would receive a cut, saying he may need to make concessions to close a deal with Congress.
Even with a Republican-controlled Congress, advancing the timeline for action on the debt limit will be difficult. Lawmakers are already grappling with two complicated and fraught debates: repeal and replacement of Obamacare and the tax overhaul. Both issues threaten to paralyze a Congress where consensus is already weak and mid-term elections next year loom large.
Uncertainty from debt-limit standoffs can spook financial markets. The 2011 impasse contributed to S&P Global Rating’s decision to downgrade the US credit rating. Higher borrowing costs ripple through to consumers.
Just ask Paul Ryan.
Most analysts project that the government has until October or November to raise or suspend the debt ceiling, citing a mandatory payment from the Treasury to a military retirement trust between $50 billion and $100 billion that is due on Oct. 2.
The administration hasn’t clearly signaled the impact of weak tax revenue. Mulvaney, in a hearing in the House on May 24, said that the Treasury Department’s initial assessment showed it would run out of money in “early September.” That date has “moved a couple of weeks in advance” because of slower-than-expected receipts.
Mulvaney stands by the remarks, Office of Management and Budget spokeswoman Meghan Burris said Tuesday in an e-mail.
Mnuchin “has been consistent and clear in urging Congress to act as soon as possible to raise the statutory debt limit,” Treasury spokesman Tony Sayegh said.
The $olution, as always, is to borrow more money at interest from private central banks (isn't that what has caused the problem in the first place, that and a bought-and-paid-for Congre$$?).
--more--"
That is why the border stays open.
"US stock indexes edged lower for the second day in a row Wednesday as a sharp drop for banks and a rare loss for technology companies canceled out gains for drug makers and consumer-focused companies. Banks fell hard as JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America said their trading businesses are having a rough second quarter. An eight-day winning streak for technology companies ended. Energy companies fell with oil prices. Banks skidded a day earlier as bond yields dropped, which hurts banks by forcing interest rates on loans lower. Yields were little changed Wednesday, but financial firms fell again as investors worried that banks’ revenue from trading stocks, bonds, and currencies is going to weaken. At a conference in New York, Marianne Lake, JPMorgan Chase’s chief financial officer, said its trading revenue is down about 15 percent this quarter. At a different industry event, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said second-quarter trading revenue will fall 10 percent from a year ago. The banking industry had an outstanding first quarter, and trading was a key reason. On Wednesday, JPMorgan stock fell 2.1 percent, and Bank of America lost 1.9 percent. Capital One slumped 1.7 percent, and Goldman Sachs gave up 3.3 percent. Technology companies turned lower. The tech sector has reached its highest levels since the dot-com boom and companies like Apple, Google parent Alphabet, and Facebook have done far better than the rest of the market in 2017. Apple and Facebook are up 32 percent this year, and Alphabet is up 25 percent. All three slid Wednesday. Michael Kors Holdings hit a five-year low after it said it will close up to 125 stores as sales remain weak. The stock tumbled 8.5 percent. Solar power companies sank as investors wondered if President Trump will seek to remove the United States from the Paris climate change accords. Officials from the European Union said the EU and China will maintain their commitments to the pact. First Solar, the largest US solar company, fell 2.5 percent. SunPower fell 3.4 percent....."
Yup, the poor banks and bankers.
How, then, will they $ave the world?
"ExxonMobil fails to fend off shareholder rebellion over climate change" by Steven Mufson The Washington Post June 01, 2017
WASHINGTON — ExxonMobil failed to fend off a shareholder rebellion over climate change, as investors with 62.3 percent of shares voted to instruct the oil giant to report on the impact of global measures designed to keep climate change to 2 degrees centigrade.
And who are the "rebels" picking up your cause?
Although voters’ identities were not disclosed, a source familiar with the vote said that major financial advisory firm BlackRock had cast its shares in opposition to Exxon management and that Vanguard and State Street had likely done the same. All three financial giants have been openly considering casting their votes against management on this key proxy resolution at the annual meeting Wednesday.
That $hould tell you all you need to know regarding this agenda-pu$hing propaganda for the global warming pact.
BlackRock and Vanguard are the biggest shareholders in ExxonMobil, owning 13 percent, or $43.6 billion worth, of the company’s stock. A vote by them against management marked an important step for groups that have been trying to force corporations to adopt greater disclosure and transparency about the financial fallout of climate change.
BlackRock, which said that climate disclosure is one of its top priorities, had warned on its website that ‘‘our patience is not infinite.’’
When does the war begin, and how will the planes fly without BP or Exxon fueling them up?
In fact, why is the world's greatest polluter, the AmeriKan war machine, $trangely ab$ent from the conver$ation?
BlackRock’s website injected a sense of urgency about the issue, and Reuters reported that State Street Global Advisers, another big financial advisory firm that has called for greater climate disclosures, might also oppose management on the resolution. It is the third-largest shareholder, with 5.1 percent of the stock.
Yup, Wall Street is now the environmentalist's best friend!
Fidelity Investments said it was adopting the UN’s Principles for Responsible Investment, though a spokesman said that was just a ‘‘formulization of what we’ve done for a long time.’’
This month similar resolutions demanding that management explain how climate change could affect their businesses were adopted at Occidental Petroleum and PPL.....
--more--"
It's for the health of the planet.
As for yours....
US government may have overpaid as much as $1.27b for EpiPens
Good thing Senator Manchin's daughter runs the company.
Poll finds most think GOP health bill is a far cry from Trump promises
I don't expect him to fulfill any of them anyway, so striking down Paris would be a surprise.
McConnell juggling diverse demands on Republican health bill
Get your new card yet?
My local weather report:
"A gray area, in a black-and-white world" by Yvonne Abraham globe columnist May 31, 2017
REVERE — I spent Memorial Day, the unofficial start of what used to be summer, by the fireplace, feeding logs to flames. And still I shivered.
Ummmmm, thanks for helping out with the greenhouse gas problem.
SIGH!
Revere Beach looked so pathetic on Wednesday morning. America’s beach, the quintessence of summer, was practically deserted.
Retired schoolteacher Jim Palumbo had just gotten back from his winter place in Florida. “This I can’t believe,” he said. “I’ve lived in Revere most of my life and I can’t remember when it’s been this bad for this long.”
It has been this bad before, actually. May of 2008 was as cold as this one, said meteorologist Dave Epstein. May of 2005 was colder. As unlikely as it seems, rainfall around Boston has been about average for this time of year. Also, we’re due for a bit of payback. “We’ve been in a very dry pattern for the past few years,” he said. “It’s been very warm, and Mother Nature has a way of evening things out.”
SIGH!
I was also told the drought was a good thing for the beaches.
But we don’t really want to hear all of that, do we? We want to shake our fists at the heavens and rant, as if a cooler spring was a real problem compared to the sorrows of the world. We complain because that is what we proudly do, in this and all things.
Speak for yourself.
But fear not.
I wasn't.
Relief is at hand, courtesy of our blusterous, witless leader. President Trump is considering walking away from the Paris climate agreement, the international treaty designed to cut carbon emissions and slow global warming. The president claims global warming is a hoax, even though the science is settled. His refusal to go along with the rest of the world will make a warmer planet even more likely.
It's far from settled, but that is just the kind of agenda-pushing closed-mindedness I've come to expect from the Globe.
That means milder springs and hotter summers. And, ultimately, disaster, of course.
Go boil an ice cube and see how cold it gets.
Still, isn’t it comforting to know our grandchildren will long for the dank days that make us so miserable?
You know what makes me miserable?
--more--"
Her sister-in-arms:
"CNN sacks Kathy Griffin over Trump video as backlash builds" The Associated Press | May 31, 2017,
Kathy Griffin has lost a decade-long gig ringing in the new year for CNN as a backlash builds over her video displaying a likeness of President Donald Trump's severed head.
Not that I ever watched it, but YAAAAAAAAY!
CNN, which had called the images "disgusting and offensive" after Griffin posted the video on Tuesday, announced Wednesday it would not invite her back this year for the Times Square live New Year's Eve special she had co-hosted annually since 2007 with CNN's Anderson Cooper.
It might even qualify as.... gulp.... hate speech!
A New Mexico casino has also canceled a performance by Griffin, and a commercial endorsement deal was canceled just weeks after she landed it. Squatty Potty, a Utah-based company whose products include toilet stools and other bathroom accessories, said it was suspending an ad campaign that featured Griffin.
How appropriate. That's what is her genre of comedy and where it belongs.
"We were shocked and disappointed" by the video, said Bobby Edwards, the company's CEO. "I am a true supporter of free speech, but feel Kathy crossed the line," Edwards added. "I regret having to make these decisions, but have no choice."
Griffin's video made Trump seethe and makes you wonder about the mental health of the person who did it.
Not really, and she should be ashamed of herself for doing something so wrong.
Btw, did you see what Melania took a bite out of the other day?
Griffin, a comic known for her abrasive style of humor, had apologized on Tuesday, conceding that the brief video, which she originally described as an "artsy-fartsy statement" mocking the commander in chief, was "too disturbing" and wasn't funny.
"I went too far," she says in her contrite follow-up video. "I sincerely apologize."
But it was too late.
Griffin's comedy approach trades on a self-deprecating streak (she brands herself as mired on the "D List" of show biz) while she targets celebs who are higher up the food chain. And while she may never have riled a celeb of the magnitude of President Trump, the 56-year-old comic has gotten into trouble with her wisecracks.
In 2005 she was fired from her job as an E! network red-carpet commentator after joking at the Golden Globe Awards that child actress Dakota Fanning had checked into rehab.
Her show is getting old and is soooooo played!
Two years later, while accepting an Emmy for her Bravo reality series, "Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D List," she declared that "a lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus."
Then she held up her trophy and said, "Suck it, Jesus. THIS is my God now!"
Her appearance was during the Creative Arts Emmys ceremony, which wasn't aired live but instead was taped for later broadcast by E! Her remarks were therefore edited. But reports of what she said drew fire from many, including Catholic League President Bill Donohue, who called it a "vulgar, in-your-face brand of hate speech."
Griffin remained unrepentant.
"I have a no-apology policy," she told CBS News in 2012. "No apologies for jokes. I apologize in my real life all the time. I say ridiculous things, I make mistakes constantly. But when I'm onstage, I'm at a microphone ... it's a joke!"
Just broke it.
--more--"
You can thank Seinfeld for her presence, and even Mitt Romney and Alan Dershowitz are condemning her. Nothing from Morning Joe yet.
"Curt Schilling still has plenty to say, as anyone knows who listens to his daily Breitbart News radio show or reads his incessant, often conspiratorial tweets. The guy is rarely at a loss for words. Wednesday, for example, Schilling used the tragic bombing in Kabul to tweet about the danger posed by the “Islamic cause.” And who can forget a few weeks ago, when Schilling called Adam Jones a liar after the Orioles player said he was subjected to racial slurs while playing the outfield at Fenway Park. “I don’t believe the story,” Schilling said. “Everybody is starving and hungry to sit in front of a camera and talk and be social justice warriors. And if a fan yelled loud enough in center field for Adam Jones to hear the N-word, I guarantee you we would’ve heard and seen fans around on CNN or MSNBC, they would’ve found multiple fans to talk about what a racist piece of junk Boston is.” Schilling was off Twitter long enough on Wednesday to raise some cash for the Maine Republican Party....."
Why waste the time on him?
************************
So what else is the Globe $erving today?
At war with 7-Eleven? Start a 6-Twelve
Oh, the first sip tasted like $hit so..... maybe I need something to help with the appetite, 'eh?
"Death toll at 90 in huge suicide bombing in Afghan capital" by RAHIM FAIEZ and KATHY GANNON, Associated Press | June 1, 2017
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A suicide attacker struck the fortified heart of the Afghan capital with a massive truck bomb Wednesday, killing 90 people, wounding 400 and raising new fears about the government's ability to protect its citizens nearly 16 years into a war with insurgents.
Well, then the EUS Empire will have to send more troops, won't they?
The bomber drove into Kabul's heavily guarded diplomatic quarter during the morning rush hour, leaving behind a bloody scene of chaos and destruction in one of the worst attacks since the drawdown of foreign forces from Afghanistan in 2014.
HMMMMMMMM!
I smelling a fictional incident or a false flag.
Most of the casualties were civilians, including women and children, said Ismail Kawasi, spokesman of the public health ministry. But the dead also included Afghan security guards at the facilities, including the U.S. Embassy, while 11 American contractors were wounded — none with life-threatening injuries, a U.S. State Department official said.
There was no claim of responsibility for the attack, which came in the first week of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The Taliban flatly denied any involvement in an email to news outlets and condemned all attacks against civilians.
The explosives were hidden in a tanker truck used to clean out septic systems, said Najib Danish, deputy spokesman for the interior minister. The blast gouged a crater about 15 feet deep near Zanbaq Square in the Wazir Akbar Khan district, where foreign embassies are protected by a battery of their own security personnel as well as Afghan police and National Security Forces. The nearby German Embassy was heavily damaged.
Afghanistan's Oklahoma City?
Also in the area is Afghanistan's Foreign Ministry, the Presidential Palace and its intelligence and security headquarters, guarded by soldiers trained by the U.S. and its coalition partners. "The terrorists, even in the holy month of Ramadan, the month of goodness, blessing and prayer, are not stopping the killing of our innocent people," said President Ashraf Ghani.
President Donald Trump spoke with Ghani after the attack, and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson condemned it in a statement as a “senseless and cowardly act. The United States stands with the government and the people of Afghanistan and will continue to support their efforts to achieve peace, security, and prosperity for their country.”
By leaving?
Afghanistan's war, the longest ever involving U.S. troops, has shown no sign of letting up, and the introduction into the battle of an Islamic State affiliate has made the country only more volatile.
Although they are small in number, militants from the Islamic State in Khorasan — an ancient name for parts of Afghanistan, Iran and Central Asia — have taken credit for several brazen assaults on the capital.
Ah, the shadowy CIA group!
"Let's be clear: This is an intelligence failure, as has been the case with so many other attacks in Kabul and beyond. There was a clear failure to anticipate a major security threat in a highly secured area," said Michael Kugelman of the U.S.-based Wilson Center.
Uh-huh.
"The fact that these intelligence failures keep happening suggest that something isn't working at the top, and major and urgent changes are needed in security policy," he said by email.
Or they are inside jobs.
Still, there are questions about whether a U.S. pledge to send more troops to Afghanistan will curb the violence.
From where?
"The sad reality is that more foreign troops would not necessarily ensure these attacks happen less," Kugelman said. "But they could help by supplementing training programs meant to enhance Afghan intel collection capacities, which have long been a deficiency in Afghanistan."
There are currently 8,500 U.S. troops in Afghanistan with a U.S. promise of more to come.
Afghan lawmaker and analyst Nasrullah Sadeqizada bemoaned the abysmal security, saying "the situation is deteriorating day by day."
In an interview, Sadeqizada criticized U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, saying they have done little to improve protection in the country.
But a lot of aid money disappeared.
"If the situation continues to deteriorate, Afghans will lose all trust in the foreigners who are in Afghanistan as friends," he warned.
I hate to tell you this, but the war has been lost for more than five years now.
Gen. Mirza Mohammad Yarmand, former deputy interior minister, said more troops won't help, although he urged the global community to stay committed to Afghanistan.
"I don't think that more U.S. or NATO soldiers can solve the security problems in Afghanistan," he said.....
I think they can -- if they LEAVE!
--MORE--"
Had to go to the Twin cities for it.
Also see:
"The man who detonated explosives at a pop concert in Manchester, England, last week, killing 22 people and wounding dozens, mainly acted alone in the days leading up to the attack, British police said late Tuesday. The sophisticated planning and execution of the attack initially led British authorities to believe that the assailant, Salman Abedi, had the support of a larger terrorist cell. That, in turn, led to fears that a bomb maker and a network of people who provided support could still be at large, and even preparing further attacks, but as detectives moved into the second week of their investigation, they said that their reconstruction of the movements and actions of the 22-year-old bomber in the four days before the attack showed that he had acted mostly on his own. They did not, however, rule out the possibility that others had been involved through analysis of surveillance cameras, phone records, and other interactions he had with people in the days before the attack. More than 300 pieces of digital equipment have been examined as part of the investigation, police said. Abedi, a Manchester resident of Libyan descent, is believed to have visited Tripoli four days before the attack, and experts say that it is likely that he received training there to build the device....."
HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!
They truly expect us to buy this bulls**?
The others involved must have been his MI-5 handlers!
HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!
I'm told “our response to this violence must be to come closer together, to help each other, to love more, to sing louder, and to live more kindly and generously than we did before,” pretty much confirming the agenda-pushing quality of the staged and scripted fiction and psyop.
Whatever you do, don't fly United out off England.
"Montenegro prime minister: Russia’s acts ‘destructive and primitive,’ and stressed it won’t change the tiny Balkan nation’s pro-Western course. Montenegro was a close ally of Russia but is set to become NATO’s 29th member in June. Russia has threatened economic and political retaliation. ‘‘Such attitude against a country which wants to self-determine its future is disappointing,’’ Montenegro’s prime minister Dusko Markovic said. ‘‘I have never registered such a level of destruction, primitivism. It reflects the character of that [Russian] regime.”
That should make up for the loss of Turkey, Egypt, and the Philippines.
"In the Philippines, civilians crushed between ISIS and government troops" by Jim Gomez Associated Press May 31, 2017
MARAWI, Philippines — There was food and water— welcome commodities amid the frequent tears. There was, finally, safety, at least for the moment. And there were stories — stories of things that mothers and fathers hope never happen to their families.
At an evacuation center outside the besieged Philippine city of Marawi on Wednesday, the results of a week of misery — a week of violence and uncertainty and long nights and promises of better tomorrows — were evident in the faces and hearts of the displaced.
About 130 people have been killed in the violence, which erupted last Tuesday after soldiers launched a raid to capture militant leader Isnilon Hapilon, who has been designated leader of the Islamic State group’s Southeast Asia branch, but the operation went awry and Hapilon got away.
I'm CertaIn he hAd help.
Fighters loyal to him surprised government forces with their firepower, fending off air strikes and house-to-house searches. The unrest has boosted fears that the Islamic State group’s violent ideology is gaining a foothold in the country’s restive southern islands, where a Muslim separatist rebellion has raged for decades.
Frightened civilians crowded into schools, basketball courts, and sports centers. Villagers slept on floors and in grandstands and relied on government food and water rations and donations.
On Wednesday, Philippine authorities said troops had cleared almost 90 percent of Marawi city.
President Rodrigo Duterte, who declared martial law on Mindanao island, has approved the creation of a ‘‘peace corridor’’ to hasten the rescue of civilians and delivery of humanitarian aid for displaced people, said presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella.
He said the corridor will be implemented by the government and the main separatist group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which has signed a peace agreement in exchange for Muslim autonomy in Mindanao, the southern third of the Philippines....
--more--"
So where will the terrorists go next?
"Immigrant who can’t be deported to Cambodia released from detention" by Milton J. Valencia Globe Staff May 24, 2017
Sreynuon Lunn, 32, who was born to Cambodian parents in a refugee camp in Thailand, had been in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement since Feb. 6 as authorities tried to deport him to Cambodia.
Cambodian officials do not consider him a citizen of that country and will not allow him to enter. Thai officials say he is not a citizen of their country, either, because he was born in a refugee camp. He was released from the Suffolk County jail, which had been holding him on behalf of ICE, without explanation on Thursday, one of his lawyers said.
Lawyers for Lunn filed a habeas petition in federal court in Boston on Monday seeking his release, saying authorities could not punish him in jail while they try to resolve his status. Lunn has been convicted of crimes including breaking and entering, and immigration officials have tried to deport him three previous times since 2008, but lawyers for Lunn had argued that the failure to deport him in the past demonstrated he would not be removed in the foreseeable future, so it would be unlawful to keep him detained.
“Immigration detention is not supposed to be punishment. If the government cannot deport Mr. Lunn, it has to let him go,” said Matthew Segal, legal director at the ACLU of Massachusetts. Segal would not comment on what alternatives ICE officials might have, but added that “the answer for every societal problem isn’t to lock people in cages.”
Government seems to think killing it is the answer for everything.
The case highlights the challenges immigration officials face in seeking to deport someone who cannot be returned to their home country. President Trump campaigned on a promise to force countries to take back their nationals who are deported from the United States....
What's one more broken promise?
--more--"
Last I saw he was staying at a church in Cambridge, and the North Koreans are now shooting for the sun.
"Top diplomats from across the Western Hemisphere held an urgent meeting Wednesday aimed at ending Venezuela’s worsening democratic crisis, but struggled to reach consensus about whether foreign nations had any right to intervene in Venezuela’s internal affairs. At an emotional gathering of the Organization of American States, foreign ministers broadly shared one hope: that Venezuela, which has vowed to leave the regional group in protest of its potential intervention, would reconsider. Beyond that, there were few points of agreement. Left-leaning nations that have been sympathetic to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro insisted the OAS had no business interfering in the crisis, in which protests against Maduro’s government have left at least 60 people dead....."
You see why Nicaragua is considered a pariah state, right?
So when do U.S. troops land on the shores of Venezuela?
*******************
Portland Stabbing Victim Micah Fletcher Says City Has 'White Savior Complex'
The pre$$ flogging of that event and others leads me to believe they are staged and scripted fictions.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch:
"A Lynn man who was arrested with about 2,500 grams of fentanyl in 2015 pleaded guilty in Essex Superior Court and was sentenced to seven to nine years in prison followed by three years of probation Tuesday. Starling Guerrero, 25, pleaded guilty to charges of trafficking, drug possession with intent to distribute, and possession of a firearm during a felony, Attorney General Maura Healey’s office said in a statement. Guerrero was arrested as part of a joint investigation by the Massachusetts State Police and the US Drug Enforcement Agency, prosecutors said. His home was searched and 2,500 grams of fentanyl, 900 pills of oxycodone and morphine, two guns, as well as about $73,000 in cash, were seized by police, according to the statement. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid and is about 30 to 50 times more potent than heroin, prosecutors said."
"New Hampshire authorities have arrested a suspect in the death of a 23-year-old woman who was found bleeding from a stab wound in Concord on Tuesday night. The victim was identified as Sabrina Marie Galusha, who authorities said was a resident of Concord. Daswan Jette, 20, of Concord, New Hampshire, was arrested Wednesday and charged with second-degree murder for causing Galusha’s death by stabbing her in the chest, the New Hampshire attorney general’s office said. Jette is to be arraigned on the charges at 1 p.m. Thursday at the Merrimack County Superior Court....."
Also see:
Mass. teen birth rate drops, but disparities remain
When broken down by race and ethnicity by the all-inclusive, Kumbya pre$$.
‘She said you killed Bella, bro,’ friend texted McCarthy
"A Connecticut town's Teacher of the Year has resigned amid an investigation into the possible mishandling of Parent Teacher Organization funds. The Republican-American of Waterbury reports that Jane Gargano resigned Friday from her kindergarten teaching job at Alcott Elementary School in Wolcott. She is the town's 2016-2017 Teacher of the Year and was treasurer of the school's PTO. Town police say they're investigating the handling of PTO funds. Details of the allegations have not been released....."
If you can't tru$t the kindergarten teacher, who can you trust?
Trustee shake-up underway at BC High
Alleged threat probed at Brown Middle School in Newton
And how depressing is it that they want to $hove p$ychotropic drugs on your kids at an even younger age?
"Harvest food co-op no longer reaping what it sowed" by Shelby Grebbin Globe Correspondent May 31, 2017
Organic food has grown from a niche business that once appealed mostly to “health nuts” into a booming mainstream industry with $40 billion in annual sales nationwide, but it was dramatically different in 1971, when supermarkets were largely filled with processed and frozen foods, and iceberg lettuce was about as exotic as it got in the produce aisle.
Like those things are not there now in aisle after aisle!!
That’s when the Harvest Food Cooperative was formed by a group of health-conscious people at Boston University. The idea was to save money and eat better by purchasing grains, produce, and other food in bulk. To defray costs, members had to volunteer their time to help buy, organize, and sell the co-op’s goods.
Sorry, but I've lost my appetite.
Before long, Harvest grew into a food store with cooking classes, a recycling program, and a small paid staff to complement members’ donated hours. It prospered and eventually moved into two retail locations in Jamaica Plain and Cambridge. Today, the volunteer worker program is long gone, replaced by 45 full-time and 25 part-time employees in the two stores.
Perhaps just as important, the social fabric integral to spirit of Harvest has frayed. The calender of regular social events that longtime members looked forward to is sparsely populated — the co-op’s online “News & Events” section for May featured a pre-Memorial Day Cookout, a members forum, and a listing seeking a new manager for the organization.
Estis said she’d like to host social events and classes at the recently renovated Jamaica Plain location as a way to generate member interest.
“As just a food store, the co-op doesn’t make a whole lot of economic sense,” said Adam Frost, who has been a Harvest member for more than 20 years. The computer technician remembers an idyllic, vaguely European cooperative experience years ago complete with yoga classes and Cinema Coöp film screenings.
Beside the fact that organic goods used to be harder to come by, Frost said, Harvest for decades could rely on customers to continue coming out of camaraderie and a sense of loyalty.
“There was a time when the food co-ops enjoyed, in some cases, an exclusive market for natural and organic food,” said C.E. Pugh of National Co+op Grocers, an industry group that represents about 150 US grocery co-ops, including Harvest.
But that time has past.
“The vast majority of our membership is co-ops that were founded in the ’70s,” Pugh said. “Over time, the demand and the size of the market attracted competitors, particularly in the ’80s when Whole Foods and Wild Oats began to add stores across the country and about half the cooperatives went out of business.”
It hasn’t gotten much better for the remaining co-ops, but some co-ops are managing to buck — or at least fend off — shopping trends.....
I am so damn sick of the mixed me$$ages coming from the Globe.
--more--"
Maybe you should order in:
"McDonald’s Corp. is relying on Uber Technologies Inc.’s UberEats to handle the “McDelivery” program, part of a gambit that the 77-year-old chain can find a major new source of growth....."
Better get moving then:
"So it looks like Aetna is about to “pull a GE.” Like General Electric, Aetna could move its headquarters from Connecticut to a place with a more powerful innovation economy. Aetna issued a brief statement on Wednesday, all but saying it’s on the way out. CEO Mark Bertolini said the health insurance giant is negotiating with “several states regarding a headquarters relocation, with the goal of broadening our access to innovation and the talent that will fill knowledge economy-type positions.” A decision is expected by “early summer,” and a big number of employees are expected to remain in Hartford. It’s unclear whether Aetna will follow GE to Massachusetts or pick another spot. For now, the money is on New York. A former Republican lawmaker in Connecticut set off a firestorm in Hartford this week by stating on his blog that Manhattan is ahead of Boston in the competition. Details were scant, but the blowback was quick. Political and business leaders, led by Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, lamented the potential loss. Bronin’s concession: Aetna decided a long time ago to relocate out of Connecticut. “Losing Aetna’s flag is a hard blow for the state,” he said. Aetna has been rumored to be sniffing around Boston for office space, including in the Seaport and downtown, and one of Aetna’s top executives, Gary Loveman, lives and works in Wellesley. A top state official says the Baker administration hasn’t heard any word yet on Aetna’s decision."
So how much tax loot will they be receiving to move?
Related: Million-Dollar Lunch
Just melts in your mouth, doesn't it?
Related:
"For Ann Klee, adding the role of running the GE Foundation to her corporate responsibilities has meant taking on the scourge of substance abuse. General Electric has essentially committed $15 million to fight the opioid epidemic in Massachusetts. The latest front in that war was made public Wednesday: GE has teamed up with Attorney General Maura Healey to get substance abuse prevention materials into every middle school in the state. The initiative, dubbed Project Here, will be funded by $1.5 million from the GE Foundation and $500,000 from Healey’s office. Project Here has three prongs: educational materials distributed to classrooms; a mobile app designed by Epicenter Experience; and access to a support network of social workers through the Herren Project. Epicenter Experience founder Paul Krasinski and Herren Project founder Chris Herren joined Klee and Healey at GE’s offices in Fort Point on Wednesday to discuss the new initiative. This effort is an outgrowth of a promise GE made a year ago, as it was about to move its headquarters to Boston from Connecticut. It said it would contribute $15 million to public health efforts here over five years. Klee says the company decided to focus that money on the opioid crisis after asking community leaders where it could have the biggest impact. “Almost everybody came back and said, ‘Where you can have a big impact is in helping us address substance abuse,’ ” the GE vice president says. Fighting opioid addiction also has been a top priority for Healey since she was sworn in as attorney general in 2015. Healey said she constantly heard stories on the campaign trail from families who were affected. Both Healey’s office and GE have already participated in a number of efforts to combat addiction. Project Here is a natural extension...."
The $15 million is a kickback from the hundreds of millions they will be receiving in subsidies and the rest.
I'm glad the fraudulent, double-cro$$ing drug war is making some people rich.
Also see: GE unveils plans to revive abandoned Fort Point pedestrian bridge
They are betting $1.5 million in tax loot on it.
Maybe they could help out the homeless youth in Cambridge?
"From the outset, Bain Capital was smitten with Gymboree Corp. The private equity firm was convinced the children’s apparel retailer was recession-proof — a great brand with lots of growth potential. So in 2010, Bain outbid shops including Apollo Global Management LLC to acquire the company for the hefty sum of $1.7 billion. Seven years later, on the eve of a bankruptcy filing that people familiar with the matter have said could come from Gymboree as soon as this month, Bain executives seem reluctant to give up on their big bet. They’ve snatched up Gymboree bonds as a way to retain a strong position in any revival, according to a person familiar with the matter. And just last week the company named a new chief executive officer with deep retail experience, who is charged with formulating a turnaround strategy."
Maybe they are wrong about tourism in Europe then.
"The New York Times offered buyouts to its newsroom employees Wednesday, aiming to reduce layers of editing and requiring more of the editors who remain. In a memo to the newsroom, Dean Baquet, the executive editor, and Joseph Kahn, the managing editor, said the current system of “backfielders” and copy editors — two separate groups who have different tasks before a story is published — would be replaced with a single group of editors who would be responsible for all aspects of a story. Another editor would be “looking over their shoulders before publication.” The buyouts are aimed primarily at editors, but reporters and others in the newsroom would be free to apply as well, the memo said. Baquet and Kahn said that the savings would be used to hire as many as 100 more reporters. The Times could turn to layoffs if there are not enough volunteers for buyouts, Baquet and Kahn said in the memo. In a separate memo, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., the publisher, said the company would be eliminating the position of public editor, which was established to receive reader complaints and question Times journalists on how they make decisions. Liz Spayd, the current public editor, will leave The Times on Friday."
I never buy the New York Times, and that looks like a failing bu$ine$$ model. Must be all the lies.
Also see: "The “CBS Evening News” is in third place, and the program’s ratings have dropped 9 percent this season, the biggest decline among the three evening news programs....."
They are even worse than the papers, and I was taught to never talk with my mouth full.
"China’s new cybersecurity law leaves foreign companies guessing" by Sui-lee Wee New York Times May 31, 2017
BEIJING — As China moves to start enforcing a new cybersecurity law, foreign companies face a major problem: They know very little about it.
The law, rubber-stamped by the country’s Parliament last year, is part of wide-ranging efforts by Beijing to manage the Internet within China’s borders. Those efforts have been stepped up in the years since Edward Snowden, the whistle-blower and former US intelligence contractor, revealed that foreign technology firms could help governments spy.
And since the Wikileaks revelations, right?
And while Chinese officials say the new rules will help guard against cyberattacks and prevent terrorism, critics, many of them from businesses, have their concerns. Companies worry that parts of the new law, which takes effect Thursday, will make their operations in China less secure or more expensive. In some cases, they argue, it could keep them out entirely.
In May, a coalition of business lobby groups representing European, US, and Asian companies called on China to delay implementing the law, while the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China asked for additional time because of the “substantial compliance obligations.”
The Cyberspace Administration of China, the country’s Internet regulator, has so far decided to delay implementation only of the regulations governing cross-border data flow, which will now take effect at the end of 2018, according to a revised draft of the rules that was seen by The New York Times.
Paul Triolo of the political risk consultancy Eurasia Group noted the decision to delay that component of the law, saying in a report last week that “getting the cross-border data flow issue right is a prerequisite for Beijing’s efforts to promote economic globalization.” He wrote that China, for the time being, “is eager to avoid being seen as stifling digital trade.”
The European Union and China plan to hold a summit meeting on Thursday in Brussels....
--more--"
Related:
"Internet privacy has a new best friend, and it’s the last person you’d expect: US Representative Marsha Blackburn, Republican chairman of the House Communications and Technology Subcommittee. Right now, online companies track us whether we agree to it or not. Getting our permission would be likely to hamper their ability to personalize ads, making them more generic and less precise — and much less profitable. But people who treasure their privacy will rest a a little easier...."
Soon I will.
So whose at the listening post?
"Amherst author Holly Black, who’s on her way to the BookCon in New York City, revealed to fans Tuesday evening that she got cosmetic surgery to change her ears so that they have magical points....."
She now has “ELF EARS.”
Yeah, who doesn't love a good list?
Harvard Square Theater would be replaced with new building, cinema
As if anyone went to the cinema anymore.
Time to close this post, and how $weet it is!
So you at dinner, readers.
