"Mass. man charged with 7 counts of negligent homicide in N.H. crash" by Zoe Greenberg, Gal Tziperman Lotan and Jeremy C. Fox Globe Staff and Globe Correspondent, June 24, 2019
A Massachusetts man with a troubled driving history dating back to his teen years was arrested and charged Monday with killing seven people on motorcycles in a violent crash in New Hampshire last week.
At the time of the crash, Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, 23, was free on $2,500 bond in a pending drunken driving case in Connecticut, court records show. He’d also been involved in two at-fault accidents, including one that also involved drunken driving, according to motor vehicle records, and he pleaded guilty to drug possession in 2018, court records say.
Zhukovskyy had begun working for Westfield Transport Inc., a West Springfield trucking company, three days before the crash, according to the company’s owner, Dartanyan Gasanov. Zhukovskyy had gotten his commercial driving license less than a year ago, according to Zhukovskyy’s brother-in-law.
Massachusetts State Police troopers were at Gasanov’s home for about an hour Monday afternoon talking to three men. Gasanov was emotional as the troopers left.
Zhukovskyy’s brother-in-law, who gave his name only as Denis K., said Monday by phone that his relative “looked like a person who went through hell” after the crash. He said Zhukovskyy locked himself in his room and didn’t eat when he returned home from the horrific scene in New Hampshire.
“The only person he talked to was his mom and his dad,” said Denis, who lives with Zhukovskyy. “They just prayed together. His mom was trying to calm him down.”
I feel much sympathy for him, don't you?
Zhukovskyy was arrested Monday morning at the two-family West Springfield home, where he lives with his parents. Later in the day he appeared in court in Springfield, wearing a white T-shirt and black gym shorts. He kept his head down. He was then transported to New Hampshire, where he will appear in the Coos County Superior Court on Tuesday afternoon.
During his arrest Monday morning, state troopers found “wax packets containing a residue suspected of being heroin,” said David Procopio, spokesman for Massachusetts State Police, via e-mail. The substance was not confirmed to be heroin and he was not charged with possession.
His lawyer in Massachusetts, Donald Frank, stressed that Zhukovskyy was innocent until proven guilty, despite the tragic circumstances.
Since when?
“He’s only 23 years old. He’s a high school graduate. He’s on a soccer team,” Frank said. He added that Zhukovskyy had initially been allowed to leave New Hampshire by authorities.
Yeah, they should give him a pass on this.
The charges, though welcomed by the victims’ families, did little to assuage their grief.
Zhukovskyy’s checkered driving record began at age 16. He was arrested in June 2013 for drunken driving in Westfield, his record says. Zhukovskyy was also cited for a lane infraction in February. His second drunken driving arrest, in May of this year, occurred in East Windsor, Conn., and was still pending at the time of the New Hampshire crash, according to legal filings. His next hearing in that case was scheduled for Wednesday.
His lawyer from the Connecticut drunken driving case told the Associated Press that his client denied being intoxicated while driving last month. Prosecutors said Zhukovskyy failed a sobriety test at the scene, according to the AP.
In January 2017, an employee at a gas station in West Springfield picked up Zhukovskyy’s lost wallet and found cocaine and heroin inside, court records show. Zhukovskyy pleaded guilty to possession of the two drugs and was ordered to pay a $200 fine.
The Zhukovskyy family is originally from Ukraine and has lived in the United States for about 13 years.
“He was a nice boy,” his brother-in-law, Denis, said. “He would always get flowers for his mom on Mother’s Day. He would give his sisters a kiss and a hug. My kids love him. He was a nice uncle. We just have no words to describe what happened.”
The section of highway where the crash occurred is mostly straight, though there are dips and small curves that create blind spots.
After the collisions, “there was blood everywhere, along with motorcycle parts,” said Dr. Beatrice C. Engstrand, a neurologist at Androscoggin Valley Hospital in Berlin, N.H., who was among the first to arrive at the scene.
Some victims were “catapulted into the woods” by the impact, Engstrand said. The pickup truck came to rest at the edge of the trees and then exploded into flames, she said.
Jerry Hamanne, co-owner of the nearby Inn at Bowman, also rushed to the scene, where he heard the truck explode five times, he said.
“It was a horrific scene. . . . Such black fumes that went up like a mushroom,” Hamanne said.....
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Poor kid.
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"Kendall Square businesses, citing a ‘state of emergency,’ demand revenue to fix the T" by Jon Chesto Globe Staff, June 24, 2019
Giant drug companies. Tiny biotechs. Landlords. Schools. Hotels.
It’s an eclectic mix — a group of CEOs and other managers from three dozen or so employers who sent a letter to state officials on Monday complaining about an increasing source of frustration: the daily commute.
These executives collectively employ tens of thousands of people in Cambridge’s Kendall Square. They all agree the state’s public transit system has entered what they term “a state of emergency,” and they want more money to fix it.
The tipping point for them: the June 11 derailment on the Red Line.....
The new safety panel wasn't enough?
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Here is why they need more money:
"Agreement clears way for state to help manage T pension fund" by Brian MacQuarrie and Aidan Ryan Globe Staff and Globe Correspondent, June 24, 2019
The state pension system moved a step closer to managing some of the MBTA’s troubled retirement fund, after MBTA workers and the transit authority struck an agreement to allow some money to be invested by managers for the larger state fund.
The fiscal control board of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority voted Monday to add the state retirement fund as a potential manager of some or all of the $1.5 billion MBTA pension fund.
The move came days after the Boston Carmen’s Union, which represents more than 6,000 MBTA employees, voted to amend its trust agreement to add the state’s Pension Reserves Investment Management Board as one of multiple managers for the MBTA pensions.
Governor Charlie Baker and other administration officials have long pushed for the MBTA to transfer oversight of the fund to the state, which the union has resisted.
The fund covers nearly 5,400 active MBTA employees and more than 6,800 retirees. Analysts have warned that the fund’s unfunded liability of more than $1 billion could bring down the system in a decade without urgent reforms.
There are more retirees currently collecting benefits than workers contributing to the system.
Any state management, however, would face a daunting math problem. Even a perennially robust return on investments would go only so far to close the financial gap. In 2017, for example, the pension fund’s unfunded liability grew 13 percent, despite good performances by its investments.....
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Also see:
"Taunton police are looking for a person who allegedly struck and killed several young geese in downtown Taunton Saturday evening. The incident occurred at about 7:30 p.m. Saturday on Washington Street in the area of Hodges Avenue, Taunton police said in a Facebook post. “Some witnesses believe it was a white pickup truck,” Taunton Police Lieutenant Eric Nichols. “Some believe it was intentional.” There is a large population of geese in that area due to the nearby Mill River, Nichols said, and it’s not uncommon for them to cross the road. “People usually stop and let them go,” he said. “This is the first incident I’m aware of, anyway.” The investigation is ongoing."
They are getting more attention than the pedestrian killed and firefighter hurt, so let’s skip the old-boy network and let the woman run Massport in the war of the roses where both are in$iders and bu$ine$$ is booming.
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"Government moves migrant kids after bad treatment is exposed" by Martha Mendoza and Garance Burke Associated Press, June 24, 2019
Attorneys who visited the Border Patrol station in Clint, Texas, last week said older children were trying to take care of infants and toddlers, The Associated Press first reported Thursday. They described a 4-year-old with matted hair who had gone without a shower for days, and hungry, inconsolable children struggling to soothe one another. Some had been locked for three weeks inside the facility, where 15 children were sick with the flu and another 10 were in medical quarantine.
So what diseases are they bringing with them?
I sure hope it isn't an Indian encephalitis outbreak has been exacerbated by hot winds coming from the Sahara Desert.
Clara Long, an attorney who interviewed children at Border Patrol Station 1 last week, and a group of lawyers inspected the facilities because they are involved in the Flores settlement, a Clinton-era legal agreement that governs detention conditions for migrant children and families. The lawyers negotiated access to the facility with officials and say Border Patrol knew the dates of their visit three weeks in advance.....
It's like they are holding the kids hostage with ‘‘these humanitarian abuses.’’
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Related:
"Migrant deaths happen with grim regularity along parts of the United States’ southwestern border, largely when adults and unaccompanied teenagers succumb to harsh desert conditions or a lack of water and die of dehydration, heat stroke, or hypothermia. The discovery Sunday was unusual — it is rare for officials to discover dead migrant children on the US side of the border and rarer still for the bodies of three children to be found together....."
There are as yet no signs of foul play and the immigrants in the country illegally may have died from dehydration and heat exposure, which is “pretty shocking and incredibly heartbreaking.”
I sure hope he isn't making her up, and if not I say get her some water and food before this turns into a spectacle.
"Advocates wonder: Where’s the outreach from Democratic presidential candidates to Latino voters?" by Jazmine Ulloa Globe Staff, June 24, 2019
MIAMI — There is outrage over Trump administration policies that have torn migrant families apart and left some children locked up. There is pervasive fear of immigration raids, and there is the new political reality that Latino voters came out in such force in the 2018 congressional midterm elections they helped flip key seats in the House to Democrats from Republicans.
If there was ever a campaign in which Democratic contenders for the White House were sure to engage in an early courtship of Latino voters, it would be the 2020 race, but Latino advocates like Jacqueline Martinez Garcel have been baffled by the lack of urgency from presidential candidates when it comes to reaching out to Latino voters, and only four of the two dozen candidates have even put forth detailed plans on immigration.
That's because the vast majority of voters are in favor of immigration enforcement, and the Democrats know it.
“We are not one-issue voters, but this matters,” said Garcel, a New York native of Dominican descent who heads the Latino Community Foundation, which works to increase the number of Hispanic leaders. “The Muslim ban, the deportations, the attempt to end protections for Dreamers and visas, the citizenship census question, the family separations.”
Latino political analysts and consultants echoed her concerns, saying Democratic campaigns are overlooking opportunities to rally a key constituency long treated as an after-thought, even as it is expected to be the largest group of eligible nonwhite voters in 2020. The inaction, they say, could open the door for President Trump, who plans an aggressive push to secure Hispanic American votes.
Case in point: 22 Democratic presidential candidates traveled to South Carolina on Friday night for Representative Jim Clyburn’s fish fry and the state’s Democratic convention the following day.
Only eight of the party’s White House hopefuls, including Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, also made a trip beforehand to Miami on Friday to attend an important forum hosted by the Spanish-language network Telemundo and the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials that drew more than 800 of the nation’s top Latino policy makers and strategists.
There is your ticket.
Among the no-shows was the front-runner in the polls, former vice president Joe Biden. Participants in Miami noted the absences.
Denise Diaz, a 32-year-old city councilwoman from South Gate, Calif., said this was the second time Biden had disappointed her. The first was when he skipped California’s Democratic convention three weeks earlier.
“I have really changed my opinion in supporting him,” she said. “I am looking for someone who is relatable, has boots on the ground, and is accessible.”
On Monday, Biden’s campaign appeared to try to make up for the lost opportunity, calling for a citizenship path for immigrants living in the country without legal documentation and unveiling a first glimpse into his potential immigration policy in a Miami Herald op-ed.
Americans are against amnesty.
In key swing states such as Florida and Pennsylvania, Latinos are poised to play a critical role after helping deliver Colorado and New Mexico to Hillary Clinton in 2016. Across the Southwest, they could make the presidential race much more competitive, and in California, which has moved up its Democratic primary to Super Tuesday on March 3, Latinos will make up 30 percent or more of the vote.
The voter bloc is not a monolith, and simply blasting Trump won’t be enough for Democrats, Latino elected officials, organizers, and policy advocates said, particularly as a younger generation craves substantive policies on issues such as police brutality, stagnant wages, and health care.
Many are also antiabortion due to the prevalence of Catholic upbringings.
“This isn’t your mami and papi’s Democratic Party,” said Natalia Salgado, political director for the Center for Popular Democracy Action, a progressive policy advocacy group. “The old strategy of Democrats stopping by, saying a few words at the local action or rally because you feel confident that Latinos are going to come out anyway is no longer going to cut it,” but campaigns have often failed in voter outreach, moving slowly — or not at all — in putting staffers on the ground in heavily Latino neighborhoods, making appeals to Spanish speakers, and taking into account the energy of a population that skews young, organizers and advocates said.
Oh, they can no longer be taken for granted like all the other political identity groups?
While Democrats have been slow to mobilize Latinos, Trump campaign officials have identified the Latino vote in Florida and beyond as crucial to a victory. Just a day before the Democrats hold their first presidential debate in Miami on Wednesday, Vice President Mike Pence is expected to appear there to roll out the “Latinos for Trump” coalition.
Trump has touted what he has claimed is growing support among Latinos. His campaign officials have pointed to the record low unemployment rate among Hispanics, efforts to keep the border secure, as well as his support of change in Venezuela and Cuba.
National exit polls in 2016 found Trump did better with Latinos than expected: He captured 28 percent of such voters compared to 66 percent for Clinton. She lost ground with Latinos when compared to the 71 percent of support Barack Obama drew in 2012.
He also did better with blacks and women, but somehow she won the popular vote by almost 3 million votes.
Sanders’s campaign appeared to be the only one over the weekend to host a separate public event to woo attendees at the forum for the Latin officials association. Over happy hour drinks and hors d’oeuvres at a Miami hotel event room, Chuck Rocha, a senior adviser for Sanders, and Belén Sisa, a press secretary, both Latino, urged more than 30 Latino elected officials and policy makers to join their campaign.
Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz of San Juan, one of four national campaign co-chairs for Sanders, told the crowd the fight against Trump was personal, saying the image of the president throwing paper towels at Hurricane Maria survivors in Puerto Rico was now a GIF you could send someone to show disrespect.
“It is not enough to speak a few phrases in Spanish and believe that buys the Latino vote,” she said. “It is endearing, and we applaud it, but that is very different from having public policies that are consistent, consequential, and bold.”
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Maybe Pelosi should run for president, with Kaling as her vice.
Also see:
"E. Jean Carroll, a New York-based writer who has accused President Trump of sexually assaulting her more than two decades ago, voiced frustration Monday that Trump has not faced consequences from a string of previous allegations of misconduct. ‘‘With all the women it’s the same: He denies it, he turns it around, he attacks and he threatens — and then everybody forgets it until the next woman comes along,’’ Carroll said during an interview on CNN. ‘‘I am sick of it. I am sick of it.’’ Carroll, a longtime advice columnist for Elle magazine, is among 16 women who have publicly accused Trump of sexual misconduct over the past several decades. Most spoke out just weeks before the 2016 election, after The Washington Post published a recording of Trump bragging during a 2005 ‘‘Access Hollywood’’ interview that his celebrity gave him permission to grab women by their genitals. Trump has denied the allegations of misconduct and called the women ‘‘liars.’’ In a statement released Friday night, Trump said the encounter described by Carroll never happened and that he did not know her. In his statement, Trump asked that anyone who has information that Carroll or the magazine were working with the Democratic Party to come forward. Carroll denied politics played any role in her decision to come forward. ‘‘I’m barely political. I can’t name you the candidates who are running right now,’’ she told CNN. ‘‘I’m not organized . . . . I’m just fed up.’’ Carroll, a registered Democrat, told The Post in an interview Friday that she voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016. She donated $1,000 this cycle to Emily’s List, which supports female candidates who back abortion rights, and $500 to President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign in 2012, according to campaign finance records. On Twitter, she has posted several sharp remarks about Trump and retweets of satirical and critical articles about him (Washington Post)."
No offense, but it looks to me like she is knitting a tale of whole cloth:
"A free, 8-million strong social network for knitters, crocheters, and others in the fiber arts has banned any mention of support for President Trump and his administration. The new policy on Ravelry.com was posted Sunday. The post says the site took the action because it can’t provide a space ‘‘inclusive of all and also allow support for open white supremacy.’’ The post went on to say that support of the Trump administration is ‘‘undeniably support for white supremacy.’’ The site, founded in 2017, said the idea was not to ban Republicans or conservative politics but to distinguish them from ‘‘hate groups and intolerance.’’ The policy makes no mention of similar treatment for registered users who criticize Trump or the administration. One of Ravelry’s cofounders, Jessica Forbes, did not immediately return a message for comment Monday. The White House declined comment Monday (Associated Press)."
And Jewish supremacy, but that's okay.
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The Public Enemy of us all:
"US economic expansion is about to set a record, but Trump says Fed ‘Blew It’" by Jeanna Smialek New York Times, June 24, 2019
NEW YORK — President Trump continued his assault on the Federal Reserve Monday, blaming the central bank for reining in a US economy that is on track for its longest expansion in history.
He better be careful because you don't fool with those people.
Trump, in a pair of tweets, said the economy and stock market would have been even stronger had the Fed kept interest rates low rather than raising rates four times in 2018.
“Now they stick, like a stubborn child, when we need rates cuts, & easing, to make up for what other countries are doing against us. Blew it!” Trump tweeted.
The president’s criticism comes at an odd moment: As of July 1, the United States will have experienced the longest economic expansion on record, 10 years and running. The unemployment rate is at a nearly 50-year low, and inflation — though quiescent — has at least gotten close to the central bank’s 2 percent goal. By lifting rates from near zero and shrinking the massive volume of government-backed bonds on its balance sheet, the central bank has bought itself precious space to fight the next economic downturn, when it comes.
The Fed has already signaled that it is prepared to cut rates at its next meeting, with chairman Jerome Powell reiterating last week that officials will take steps to sustain the economic expansion.
Still, Trump continues to blame the Fed for not doing more sooner to goose an economy that, according to most metrics, was not in need of additional goosing.
First-quarter growth came in at a solid 3.1 percent. The Dow Jones index has been climbing steadily this month, buoyed in part by promises of coming Fed rate cuts, and output growth trackers suggest the economy probably grew around 2 percent in the second quarter — roughly in line with the rate that most economists think the United States can sustain, given its demographics and investment level.....
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Yeah, the numbers look great if you discount the labor participation rate.
"The stock market capped a day of listless trading with modest losses Monday as investors focused on upcoming US-China trade talks. The major indexes drifted between small gains and losses, though smaller-company stocks had their worst day since May. The losses erased some of the market’s solid gains from last week, when the benchmark S&P 500 closed at a record high. The muted trading came as investors looked ahead to a highly anticipated meeting between the leadership of the United States and China later this week. The world’s two largest economies have been embroiled in a trade war that has taken the market on a volatile roller-coaster ride this year, and Wall Street is hoping for a deal....."
Related: Protesters block Hong Kong building access, plan new action
They are hoping to draw the attention of leaders attending the G-20 summit this week in Japan, and it is all about keeping China Off Balance:
"Jurors deliberated less than 90 minutes before returning a guilty verdict Monday at the federal death-penalty trial of a former University of Illinois doctoral student who killed a visiting scholar from China after abducting her at a bus stop. Brendt Christensen, 29, looked straight ahead and showed no emotion as a guilty verdict was announced against him. The swift conviction was expected because Christensen’s attorneys acknowledged from the start that he raped and stabbed Yingying Zhang in June 2017. Prosecutors say he beat her to death with a baseball bat and decapitated her. The judge has said there will be a break of a week or more before the penalty phase, a sort of mini-trial that could last several weeks. Illinois no longer has capital punishment, but he could be sentenced to death because he was convicted in federal court. There are more than 5,000 Chinese students attending the 45,000-student University of Illinois Champaign, among the largest such enrollments in the nation. They have closely followed developments from the trial at US District Court in Peoria. Zhang had been in Illinois for just three months — her only time living outside China. The daughter of working-class parents, she aspired to become a professor in crop sciences to help her family financially. Friends and family described her as caring and fun-loving. Defense attorneys began the trial with the rare admission that their client killed Zhang but said they disagreed with prosecutors over how and why. The surprising strategy was a bid to start immediately trying to persuade jurors to spare Christensen’s life. Elisabeth Pollock, an attorney for Christensen, said her client was ‘‘someone who lost control . . . who battled these dark thoughts.’’ When she added, ‘‘We are here because the government wants to take his life,’’ the prosecution objected and Judge James Shadid stopped her. He told jurors they were not yet in the penalty phase of the trial and the only issue now was the defendant’s guilt or innocence. Prosecutor Eugene Miller told jurors that Christensen abducted a stranger who was ‘‘an object for him to fulfill his dark desire — to kill for the sake of killing.’’ Jurors heard evidence that Christensen boasted he killed 12 others before killing Zhang, starting when the Stevens Point, Wis., native was 19 and still living in Wisconsin. He began his studies in Champaign at the university’s prestigious doctoral program in physics in 2013. His lawyers said he made the claim about being a serial killer when he was drunk and that it’s not true, but the FBI didn’t rule it out. Christensen lured Zhang into his car by posing as an undercover officer when she was running late to sign an apartment lease on June 9, 2017. The muscular Christensen He forced the 5-foot-4 Zhang into his apartment in Urbana, Champaign’s sister city 140 miles southwest of Chicago, where he raped and killed her."
"Zhang was unlucky to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, prosecutors said, saying Christensen — who had fantasized about killing — determined to kill someone that day and had been cruising in his car looking for a victim. Earlier, he approached a different young woman posing as an officer, but she refused to get in the car. He and his girlfriend, Terra Bullis, attended a vigil for Zhang on June 29, during which Bullis wore an FBI wire recording him detailing how he killed Zhang. As they left at night, she said she’d rather not call a ride-sharing service, telling him: ‘‘My version of safer is walking at night with a serial killer.’’ He responds: ‘‘Yeah. That’s me.’’ Christensen was arrested on June 30, his birthday. Jurors found Christensen guilty of kidnapping resulting in death, which carries a possible death sentence. Prosecutors are expected in the penalty phase to focus on Christensen’s brutally, with the defense broaching mental health issues. Christensen sought help from mental-health counselors at the school for homicidal and suicidal thoughts in the months before Zhang vanished, according to his lawyers, who said his life was spinning out of control. In his first few semesters as a doctoral student, Christensen was making straight A’s but by late 2016 was getting F’s in all his classes. The federal death-penalty case is the first in Illinois since the state struck capital punishment from its books on grounds death-penalty processes were too error-prone. Some Illinois anti-death-penalty activists criticized what they said was the government’s imposition of a death-penalty case on a non-death-penalty state."
Yeah, poor Christensen getting persecuted!
Time to fly back to China:
"Airline food service workers across the country, including at Logan Airport, have voted to authorize a strike against their employers, LSG Sky Chefs and Gate Gourmet, as they push for a $15 minimum wage and more affordable health insurance. The vote, which covers more than 25,000 workers represented by three unions, is the largest action of its kind in the history of the US airline catering industry. The workers could decide to disrupt air travel in the busy summer travel season by employing tactics used by other transportation unions, including performing only the tasks required by their contract and adhering precisely to safety regulations. This could slow down the process of getting food and drinks onto planes and have a ripple effect on airlines’ carefully orchestrated schedules....."
Some might even call it a conspiracy.
"BBC executive Ann Sarnoff was named chief of Warner Bros. on Monday, making her the first woman to head the movie studio in its 96-year history. Her appointment follows the departure in March of Kevin Tsujihara, who stepped down after misconduct allegations. WarnerMedia chief executive John Stankey announced Sarnoff’s hiring, concluding a three-month search for one of Hollywood’s most prized posts. Many had expected WarnerMedia to turn to an experienced film executive like movie-division head Toby Emmerich, Disney veteran Anne Sweeney, or former Fox chief Stacey Snider, but to surprise of much of the industry, WarnerMedia turned to Sarnoff, who has worked primarily in television....."
I doubt the product at either place will improve much.
"Some of the richest people in the nation are calling for a federal wealth tax. Financier George Soros, heiresses Regan Pritzker, and Abigail Disney and Facebook Inc. co-founder Chris Hughes are among those calling for the levy to help address income inequality and provide funding to address climate change and public health issues. “We are writing to call on all candidates for President, whether they are Republicans or Democrats, to support a moderate wealth tax on the fortunes of the richest one-tenth of the richest 1% of Americans — on us,” according to a letter signed by 19 individuals — one anonymously — and posted online Monday. “The next dollar of new tax revenue should come from the most financially fortunate, not from middle-income and lower-income Americans.”
Why not donate it to the Treasury instead of waiting for a tax increase that will never come?
The fact is, talk is cheap, and Soros is evil -- as are the drag queens (how sickening) that are being misrepresented.
NEXT DAY UPDATES:
They found a scapegoat:
"Mass. trucking company in deadly N.H. crash had troubling history of driver violations" by John Hilliard Globe Correspondent, June 25, 2019
The head of the state’s Registry of Motor Vehicles, Erin Deveney, resigned Tuesday following revelations that the West Springfield truck driver accused of killing seven motorcycle riders in New Hampshire last week had been charged with drunk driving in Connecticut in May, part of a long history of infractions.
State officials said Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, who is charged with negligent homicide in the fiery crash, should have lost his commercial license after the Connecticut incident, but the registry failed to act, allowing the 23-year-old to remain on the road.
“In this case, the RMV had not acted on information provided by the Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles about a May 11 incident that should have triggered termination of this individual’s commercial driver’s license,” Stephanie Pollack, the state’s transportation secretary, said in a statement Tuesday night.
Jamey Tesler, the state transportation’s department’s former chief operating officer, will take over as acting registrar, Pollack said. Tesler will lead a review to “ensure the RMV acts as quickly as possible on any information shared by other states,” she said.
The May 11 incident happened in East Windsor, Conn., where police were called to a Walmart parking lot to investigate a report of a man, later identified as Zhukovskyy, “revving his truck engine and jumping around outside the vehicle.”
During his arrest, Zhukovskyy made “suicidal comments” and displayed “extreme behavior,” police said. Based on his performance during a field sobriety test, Zhukovskyy was arrested for allegedly operating a motor vehicle under the influence of drugs or alcohol, records show. His lawyer in that case has said Zhukovskyy denied the charge.
He refused a chemical test, Massachusetts officials said, which should have resulted in the termination of his commercial license, but Connecticut “failed to provide sufficient information” about the arrest through the federal system for Massachusetts to record the violation, Pollack said.
Just wondering how the victim's families feel regarding all the excuses.
The Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles contacted the Massachusetts registry about the offense on May 29, but the message “did not contain sufficient information to automatically input Zhukovskyy’s OUI into his Massachusetts driving record,” Pollack said.
It did, however, generate a notification for a manual review, which registry personnel in Massachusetts did not conduct.
“Which is why the May 11 chemical test refusal does not appear on Zhukovskyy’s driving record and why his license had not been suspended in Massachusetts,” Pollack said.
Deveney was named interim registrar in 2015. She had previously served as interim commissioner of the state’s Department of Children and Families.
That was here previous experience in government before they shifted deck chairs?
Sarah Finlaw, a spokeswoman for Governor Charlie Baker, said Baker and Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito had ordered an immediate review of the information-sharing with other states.
“The administration will take all necessary steps to ensure the Registry is appropriately handling all data shared between states,” the spokeswoman said.
Little too late for some.
Last Friday, the pickup truck Zhukovskyy was driving crossed the median on a rural two-lane highway in Randolph, N.H.
In a bail order on Tuesday, Judge Peter H. Bornstein wrote that Zhukovskyy’s “criminal and driving history exhibit a pattern of operating a motor vehicle in a dangerous manner. If released, he will likely present a danger to the safety of defendant or the public.”
Officials allege that Zhukovskyy was driving erratically before the crash.
Helen Pereira, whose 58-year-old husband, Daniel, died in Friday’s crash, said she had seen news reports of Deveney’s resignation.
“There is no closure,” she said in a brief interview. “I know that people say there are many stages of grief . . . right now we are just mourning my husband.”
The couple was married 27 years.
Just 18 days before the New Hampshire crash, the car carrier Zhukovskyy was driving rolled over on a Texas highway, authorities said Tuesday.
Zhukovskyy told police in Baytown, Texas, that he had overcorrected after trying to maneuver around a car that had cut him off. Police could not locate the vehicle Zhukovskyy said cut him off, said Baytown police Lieutenant Steve Dorris. The truck was carrying five cars at the time.
Zhukovskyy was uninjured in the June 3 crash and was not cited by police, Dorris said. The truck he was driving was owned by a Westfield, Mass., company called FBI Express Inc., Dorris said. Zhukovskyy did not appear to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time, Dorris said.
The incident was first reported by WCVB-TV. In February, Zhukovskyy was arrested at a Denny’s restaurant in Baytown along Interstate 10, near the spot of his rollover. Police were called to the restaurant around 2 a.m. after Zhukovskyy showed strange behavior while seated at the counter, Dorris said.
“He was talking to himself, like he was talking to someone next to him, but no one was there,” Dorris said.
Zhukovskyy was unsteady on his feet and his pupils were dilated. Officers said it was “pretty clear he was intoxicated,” Dorris said. They found that Zhukovskyy was carrying a crack pipe when they patted him down, Dorris said. He was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia.....
So where is all this going, drug tests to get a driver's license?
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Related:
West Springfield man waives arraignment, pleads not guilty in N.H. crash that killed 7
If only he had a good pre$$ secretary:
"The appointment of Stephanie Grisham, Melania Trump’s loyal and sometimes combative communications director, ensured that another loyalist would become the public face of an administration that has been defined by its pugilistic relationships with journalists. Grisham joined the Trump presidential campaign in 2015 and is one of the last remaining aides from the campaign still serving in the White House. She became a trusted aide after the Trumps moved into the White House, known for defending Melania Trump and the Trump family, and for her ability to keep the East Wing relatively free of leaks. With Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ departure, White House officials have been debating internally whether to revive the daily news briefing as Trump heads into the thick of election season. On the day Sanders announced her resignation, it had been 94 days since she held a briefing with the press, and some officials have argued it would be a powerful tool that would help elevate Trump above his Democratic opponent in the 2020 race. In 2013 Grisham was charged with driving under the influence, speeding, and driving with an invalid license. The charges were reduced in 2014 to reckless driving, according to court records. In 2013 Grisham was charged with driving under the influence, speeding, and driving with an invalid license. The charges were reduced in 2014 to reckless driving, according to court records....."
Stephanie Grisham, who has been with the Trumps since 2015, watched as President Donald Trump and the first lady greeted attendees during the annual Congressional Picnic on the South Lawn in Washington on June 21, 2019.(Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press)
She is the one who ousted Bolton's girl, Mira Ricardel, a former adviser on the National Security Council, for leaking, and Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a former adviser to Melania Trump who publicly disputed the terms of her departure, so expect Grisham to hit back against the pre$$.
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"Facing pressure, Baker will seek $50 million for MBTA to speed the pace of maintenance" by Matt Stout Globe Staff, June 25, 2019
Facing an uproar over public transit funding, Governor Charlie Baker said Tuesday that he’s seeking a one-time, $50 million infusion for the MBTA — and is considering scheduling “more aggressive” service shutdowns — to help the agency speed the pace of maintenance and other projects.
The package of changes, some of which require approval from the Legislature, comes two weeks after a devastating derailment on the Red Line caused widespread delays and shoved the financing of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority back under the public microscope.
Baker’s plan immediately drew skepticism from business leaders, transit advocates, and House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo, who suggested it may be too short-sighted.
Baker, who has long argued the T didn’t need more money to fund upgrades to its aging infrastructure, dismissed the notion that the request is an admission the beleaguered agency doesn’t have enough resources.
“The biggest problem the T has is finding the time to do the work,” Baker said at a press conference.
Baker’s $50 million proposal, which he filed Tuesday, would come from an expected budget surplus. If approved by lawmakers, the money would fund a new team of engineers, bus operators, maintenance workers, and outside contractors to help do inspections, provide service during shutdowns, and complete capital projects, officials said.
State and transit officials said they’re exploring whether to close parts of the system for longer periods at night and on weekends to allow contractors more time to complete their work. They also raised the possibility of disrupting service during the workday, too, to allow for more time for maintenance and construction — a step Baker administration officials said they have largely wanted to avoid.
How painful those service disruptions might be is still unclear. Tapping surplus funds would offer another avenue. Tax revenues were tracking $952 million above projections one month before the fiscal year closes on June 30, though several hundreds of millions of dollars of that would automatically be transferred to the state’s emergency reserves.....
Where it will be $aved for a rainy day.
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Related:
16-year-old boy arrested in connection with shots fired inside Aquarium T station
Six people injured in MBTA bus crash at Copley Square
Vineyard bus drivers to strike Friday
Hundreds of bales of hay catch fire in Beverly
Maybe you should take a boat instead:
John Farrell goes lobstering with Stan Grossfeld
In Gloucester, racing dory boats is a test of tradition
Helping New England fishing communities adapt
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"Wayfair employees plan walkout to oppose furniture sales to migrant detention facilities" by Janelle Nanos Globe Staff, June 25, 2019
Employees of the online housewares giant Wayfair announced Tuesday that they would stage a walkout at the company’s Back Bay headquarters on Wednesday to protest its decision to sell furniture to the operators of facilities for migrant children detained at the southern US border.
Last Wednesday, they learned that a $200,000 order of bedroom furniture had been placed by BCFS, a government contractor that has been managing camps at the border. More than 500 employees signed a letter of protest sent to company executives. When the company refused to change course, employees organized the walkout.
The BCFS also got free $hipping!
“Knowing what’s going on at the southern border and knowing that Wayfair has the potential to profit from it is pretty scary,” said Elizabeth Good, a manager on the engineering team at the company and one of the walkout’s two dozen organizers. “I want to work at a company where the standards we hold ourselves to are the same standards that we hold our customers and our partners to.”
She does know they have never shown a profit, right -- even with the $31 million in tax $ub$idies?
The politically motivated action is taking place at one of Boston’s fastest-growing companies, which employs more than 14,000 people globally and processes 100,000 orders a day. It took in revenue of $6.8 billion in 2018.
In that unsigned letter, company executives said they appreciated the employees’ effort to bring the issue to their attention, but as business leaders, they said, “we also believe in the importance of respecting diversity of thought within our organization and across our customer base.”
“As a retailer, it is standard practice to fulfill orders for all customers, and we believe it is our business to sell to any customer who is acting within the laws of the countries within which we operate,” the reply said. “We believe all of our stakeholders, employees, customers, investors, and suppliers included are best served by our commitment to fulfill our orders.”
In a town hall meeting Tuesday afternoon, according to a recording provided to the Globe, cofounder Steve Conine said he objected to the detention centers and noted that his cofounder, Niraj Shah, was raised in a first-generation immigrant family, but to take action as a company against a lawful customer’s purchase would be treading on a “slippery slope,” he said.
“The level of your citizenship as citizens is really the appropriate channel to try and attack an issue like this. To pull a business into it — we’re not a political entity. We’re not trying to take a political side.”
You are anyway with your actions.
The meeting, attended by more than 500 employees, was heated at times, with staffers pressing Conine on whether he would accede to their requests or force them to walk out.
He “didn’t have the answer they wanted to hear,” and it looks like it is time to hire some new employees (I wonder how many current employees are undocumented).
Wayfair’s stock ended the day down 5.3 percent as news of the planned walkout spread.
Dan Hill, head of the crisis-management specialist Hill Impact, of Washington, D.C., said Wayfair’s decision was a difficult one.
“Once you start opening yourselves up to doing evaluations of sales according to public-policy issues, and things that go beyond legal concerns, it becomes very complicated,” he said. “Their stockholders aren’t going to be OK with them making unilateral decisions based on political skirmishes or public-policy fights.”
Following the corporate response, a Twitter account promoting the @wayfairwalkout quickly gained nearly 12,000 followers, and customers of the brand began expressing their frustration online.....
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Related:
Mass. housing market broke records in May
Mass. housing deficit fuels social ills, report says
Former union boss continues crusade at Harvard with new labor report
The carpenter has moved on to the confines of academia.
Also see:
"The searing photograph of the sad discovery on Monday, captured by journalist Julia Le Duc and published by Mexican newspaper La Jornada, highlights the perils of the latest migration crisis involving mostly Central Americans fleeing violence and poverty and hoping for asylum in the United States. The photo recalls the 2015 image of a 3-year-old Syrian boy who drowned in the Mediterranean near Turkey, though it remains to be seen whether it may have the same impact in focusing international attention on migration to the United States....."
The photograph was staged, the father was a human trafficker, and the flogging of it at this time raises agenda-pushing suspicions, sorry!
Also see: Mark Morgan to lead Customs and Border Protection in latest Homeland Security shakeup
I'm sure he will face meany questions:
"Official’s testimony adds to rancor around census citizenship question" by Catie Edmondson and Michael Wines New York Times, June 25, 2019
WASHINGTON — A Commerce Department official considering whether the 2020 Census should include a citizenship question told congressional aides that he consulted with a professor who argued that the addition was necessary to exclude immigrants in the country illegally from a redistricting of House seats, testimony released Tuesday shows.
The testimony by James Uthmeier, the department’s counsel, to aides on the House Oversight and Reform Committee has drawn the ire of Democrats, who have accused the Trump administration of trying to skew census results to the Republican Party’s benefit.
“The Trump administration claimed that the only reason it wanted to add the citizenship question was to help the Department of Justice enforce the Voting Rights Act, but that claim has now been exposed as a pretext,” said Representative Elijah E. Cummings, Democrat from Maryland, the committee’s chairman.
“Official after official appearing before the committee have refused to answer questions about the real reasons behind their effort,” he continued, “but the mounting evidence points to a partisan and discriminatory effort to harm the interests of Democrats and nonwhites.”
He makes it sound like a conspiracy, and why isn't he worried about the false flag pretexts for war?
During the interview with committee aides, Uthmeier said he had consulted John S. Baker, a visiting professor at Georgetown Law and a longtime mentor of his, “to obtain information on how citizenship data was used historically.”
Lawyers for the Commerce Department, which oversees the Census Bureau, blocked Uthmeier from answering nearly 100 questions during the session, including what Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told him were his reasons for trying to add a citizenship question.
The release of the documents is the latest episode in a politically charged battle over the committee’s attempts to investigate the Trump administration’s decision to ask 2020 census respondents whether they are citizens. The Oversight Committee voted along party lines this month to recommend that Ross and Attorney General William Barr be held in contempt of Congress, after President Trump invoked executive privilege to block the disclosure of documents on the decision. Representative Justin Amash of Michigan was the only Republican to vote for the recommendation.
The issue is currently before the Supreme Court, which is expected to decide the legality of the question within weeks.....
Why not just wait for their ruling then?
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Related:
Democrats’ emoluments lawsuit against Trump can proceed, federal judge rules
The cases could eventually reach the Supreme Court.
Robert Mueller to testify before House committees
The New York Times says it's must-see television and holds the potential to reshape the political landscape around Trump’s presidency.
"Federal prosecutors allege in a new court filing this week that Representative Duncan Hunter, Republican of California, used campaign funds to help facilitate extramarital affairs, and they want to show jurors evidence of the relationships at his upcoming trial. The filing on Monday alleges Hunter used campaign money to fund trips, dinners, and drinks with women with whom he was romantically involved — including three lobbyists, a woman who worked in his congressional office, and another who worked for a member of House of Representatives leadership. In the new filing, prosecutors detailed how Hunter’s alleged romantic entanglements blossomed as he used campaign money for large expenses — such as a ski trip near Lake Tahoe — and small ones, such as Uber rides to and from the women’s homes. Hunter’s defense attorneys did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment....."
So that is why his wife turned on him, and at least it wasn't rape.
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I'm sure immigration will be an issue when the debates start:
"Two nights. Twenty candidates. The first Democratic debates mark a new phase in the presidential race" by Jess Bidgood Globe Staff, June 25, 2019
MIAMI — It all kicks off Wednesday night, when most of the Democrats seeking their party’s nomination are preparing to meet in Miami on their biggest stage yet, for a two-night, 20-candidate extravaganza that marks a new phase in the sprawling campaign to take on President Trump. The events will put household names like former vice president Joe Biden on the same stage as little-known Democrats like Andrew Yang, offering leading contenders a chance to prove their polling leads are about more than name recognition while giving upstart candidates an opening to grab the nation’s attention, but instead of wrestling with substantial questions about the future of the nation, the event will probably feel like speed-dating, with 10 candidates standing elbow-to-elbow each night, all trying to pack soaring rhetoric or clever policy prescriptions into the 60 seconds they have each been allotted to answer questions by the organizers of the debate.
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, who is by far the most prominent candidate in Wednesday night’s matchup, is likely to attract the most scrutiny and attention, and she may use the occasion to try to salve lingering reservations from some in the party about her ability to take on Trump.....
She will be seeking to safeguard the nomination.
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You have waited a long time, babe.
Also see:
The Democratic debates begin tonight. Here’s what to watch for
A viewer’s guide to the Democratic debates
Here are the big economic issues to look for in the Democratic debates
Related:
"Polling released this week by Telemundo showed Trump facing head winds among Hispanic voters in several states. In Florida, only 34 percent of Hispanic voters would like to see Trump reelected, while 56 percent would prefer to replace him with a Democrat, said the survey conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy. The numbers were even less favorable to Trump elsewhere. In California, 26 percent of Hispanic voters would like to see Trump reelected, while 66 percent would prefer a Democrat. In Texas, 25 percent would like to see him returned to office, while 69 percent want a Democrat. Republicans involved in the ‘‘Latinos for Trump’’ initiative express hope that he can build on his performance among Hispanics in 2016. Trump won 28 percent of the Latino vote nationally then, according to exit polling, while Democrat Hillary Clinton won 66 percent....."
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"A small number of protesters handed out fliers and bowed to passers-by Tuesday to apologize for a demonstration that jammed the entrance of a government tax office for nearly two hours the previous day. They said they are trying to maintain public support. ‘‘We want to protest in a peaceful manner and reduce the trouble created for all of Hong Kong’s people,’’ Louis Fung said as he handed out yellow fliers thanking people for their ‘‘consideration of any inconvenience caused.’’ About 100 demonstrators blocked the entry of the Inland Revenue Tower on Monday, the latest in a string of protests over fears that Hong Kong’s legal autonomy is eroding. They then went to the nearby Immigration Tower, where they blocked people waiting in line. Some people trying to file tax returns shouted at the protesters, in some cases getting into shoving matches, though others were supportive. Hundreds of thousands of people have marched in recent weeks to oppose a plan seen as increasing Beijing’s control over the semi-autonomous city....."
It was the backla$h that made them put the protests on ice.
"The duke and duchess of Sussex’s home was renovated with $3.06 million of taxpayers’ money, royal accounts revealed Tuesday. The residence of Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, near Windsor Castle, called Frogmore Cottage, underwent major work to turn five properties back into a single home for the couple and their baby son Archie. Fixtures, fittings, and furnishings at the Victorian-era structure were paid for by the royal couple. The figures were part of the release of the royal family’s accounts, which showed that the British taxpayers spent $85.2 million on the monarchy during 2018-19, a 41 percent increase on the previous financial year. ‘‘The property had not been the subject of work for some years and had already been earmarked for renovation,’’ said Michael Stevens, keeper of the Privy Purse, who is responsible for monarchy accounts. Anti-monarchy campaign group Republic questioned why so much money was spent on the renovations at a time when public services are under financial pressure."
The an$wer $peaks for it$elf, and maybe it is time to kick them out of the castle.
Muslim Man Is Beaten to Death in India
The beating has become another signal of the bitter tensions in India between the country's Hindu majority and its large Muslim minority. Part of the reason that the videos spread so quickly was the mob's repeated efforts to force the victim to chant slogans often used by the governing Bharatiya Janata Party.
See you in court:
"Council of Europe restores Russia’s voting rights" by Steven Erlanger New York Times, June 25, 2019
BRUSSELS — In a decision opposed by most former Soviet-bloc countries, the parliament of the Council of Europe voted Tuesday to end Russia’s suspension, which began with the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.
Only problem is, they didn't annex Crimea, NYT. Crimea voted by referendum to secede from the Ukraine after the Obama coup of 2014, and then petitioned to join the Russian Federation, which accepted. Get it right next time.
Those voting to restore Russia’s full rights in the council, which is separate from the European Union, argued that if Russia left the organization — as it had threatened to do — it would deny Russian citizens the right to bring cases before the European Court of Human Rights, a part of the council.
Opponents argued that Europe was giving in to the illegal annexation of Crimea and Russia’s support for separatist warfare in eastern Ukraine — and just as important, starting a process of normalizing relations with Moscow.
Makes you want to flip 'em the finger.
The vote was 118-62, with 10 abstentions. Russia had said it would quit the council altogether if it was not reinstated in time for a vote for a new secretary-general, scheduled for Wednesday.
The head of Ukraine’s delegation, Volodymyr Ariev, said the decision sent a “very bad message” to Moscow and others.
“Do what you want, annex another country’s territory, kill people there, and you will still leave with everything,” he said.
Not the Germans.
The Ukrainian delegation then walked out in protest.
The new Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, expressed his disappointment in a statement.
It was France and Germany that orchestrated the compromise.
Edgars Rinkevics, the Latvian foreign minister, called the vote “regrettable and disappointing” in a Twitter post. Latvia opposed the move, he said, “because it undermines respect for key values: democracy, rule of law, and human rights.”
Did he say that with a straight face?
The head of the Russian State Duma’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Leonid Slutsky, said that the assembly “made a huge step toward defending the rights of national delegations.” Russia’s delegation will not tolerate “any more sanctions, no matter how insignificant,” he said.
Yascha Mounk, who studies populism and democracy and teaches at Johns Hopkins University, called the vote “yet another example of European institutions lacking not only the courage of their convictions but any kind of conviction, caving to authoritarian powers.”
That's why they climb aboard the U.S. war train despite protestations to the contrary.
Alina Polyakova, a scholar at the Brookings Institution, said, “Since 2014, Russia has only stepped up its repressive behavior at home and aggressive actions abroad. The decision to allow Russia back into the council sends the message that this behavior is acceptable. It’s a dangerous precedent for others.”
Before the vote, Polyakova said, “Since the invasion of Crimea in 2014, Russia has invaded the Donbas, supported Assad in Syria, interfered in the U.S. and Europe’s election, attempted to murder the Skripals, and more,” referring to the nerve agent attack in Britain of former Russian spy Sergie Skripal and his daughter. “How does this behavior justify membership in the Council of Europe?”
The Skripal story has become so silly and a picture is worth a thousand words:
Police in March guarded a street in Salisbury, England, where a former Russian spy was exposed to a nerve agent (ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP/Getty Images/File 2018).
Where is their protective gear?
The circumstances surrounding the event means we will never get the truth. It was just another excuse to impose new sanctions on Russia, expel some diplomats in an unusually coordinated response, and make the Kremlin furious (you have to pay to see that "British officials say that hundreds of people could have been exposed" to something that would kill you nearly instantly and should have sickened the whole block -- instead we have a bobby without so much as a mask on as our first photo when the pos prop-op started -- and that the British government "claims to have solid evidence that Russia was probably behind the attack, and that Putin probably approved it, [but] the British government has not made its evidence public and has been unable to pinpoint the precise source) while comparing them to the old Soviet Union.
Thus the visit was called off as Russia restarted missile tests, a parting shot before stashing away their wealth, and yet somehow he survived (so laughable it's fucking pathetic, and she is clearly being held against her will and under duress because she would never say it that way) despite the trained units and Russian agents botched the job no matter how much backing they got.
Turns out the alleged suspects were tourists, not assassins, with a doctored photo (quickly dismissed) proving their guilt before release -- all to generate anger, fear, and solidarity amongst the British people.
Created in 1949 and based in Strasbourg, France, the Council of Europe is dedicated to upholding democracy, human rights, and the rule of law in its 47 member states, which include all 28 members of the European Union, and encompasses a population of more than 800 million. The European Court of Human Rights, part of the council, is charged with enforcing the 1953 European Convention on Human Rights, which all members are pledged to uphold.
So when do the officials that approved the rendering and black site torture for the U.S. go on trial?
The organization is made up of the foreign ministers of all member states and a parliamentary assembly of member legislators. They voted to lift Russia’s suspension after the foreign ministers agreed to do so in May, in a deal worked out by Germany and France.
Heiko Maas, the German foreign minister, said that the compromise would ensure “millions of Russians the protection of the European Court of Human Rights.” France and Germany had argued that it was better to promote dialogue, especially in the face of fundamental disagreements.
Why did Iran just flash through my mind?
Those who favored the reinstatement argued that excluding Russia would harm organizations operating in the country that work to promote democracy and human rights.
“The immediate impact of Russia’s departure from the council would be felt most not by the Kremlin, but rather by the Russian people,” the Netherlands Helsinki Committee, a human rights group, said in a statement in December. “Russia’s departure from the council would deny Russian citizens protection and justice provided by the court — worsening human rights in the country.”
The largest proportion of cases brought to the European court originate in Russia. Other major sources of cases are Romania, Turkey, and Ukraine.
Well, at least you know which countries aren't toeing the globalist line.
In 2014, Russia was stripped of its voting rights in the parliamentary assembly for two years because of the annexation of Crimea and its support for separatists in eastern Ukraine in a conflict that has killed some 13,000 people.
There they go again!
Russia responded in 2016 by boycotting the assembly, and has since 2017 refused to pay its annual contribution of 32.6 million euros, or about $37.1 million, a large chunk of the council’s budget, and was scheduled to be expelled this year for nonpayment. Russia’s reinstatement means it will resume its contribution.....
Oh, that i$ why they let them back in! They need the dues!!
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Also on the list:
"Turkey trials seen in new light after Erdogan’s Istanbul defeat" by Carlotta Gall New York Times, June 25, 2019
ISTANBUL — President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey was dealing with a rapidly changing political reality Tuesday, meeting with party leaders to discuss a Cabinet shakeup days after a disastrous mayoral election campaign in Istanbul in which his preferred candidate was dealt a humbling defeat.
As the dust settled on that loss for Erdogan’s governing Justice and Development Party, or AKP, observers looked for signs that he would soften his aggressive prosecution of people widely regarded as minor political players after a failed coup attempt in 2016.
Three potentially significant trials are scheduled for this week, and they are expected to be closely watched by foreign governments, which have been troubled by Erdogan’s efforts to crack down on huge swaths of the opposition.
In light of the results in Istanbul, a sliding economy and escalating foreign policy problems — including the threat of US sanctions over his purchase of the S400 Russian missile system; a refugee crisis brewing in Idlib, Syria; and European opposition to Turkish drilling in the Eastern Mediterranean — the dynamic for Erdogan is shifting.
Sixteen civil society activists went on trial Monday accused of trying to overthrow the government for their participation in the Taksim Square protests of 2013, and two Turkish employees of the US Consulate in Istanbul are scheduled to appear in court this week.
It was a U.S. government coup attempt that failed, and Turkey got angry about it.
While Turkey’s judiciary is considered independent, it is currently in crisis. Thousands of judges were purged in the aftermath of the failed 2016 coup attempt, hollowing out the service. Many were hurriedly replaced, often by Erdogan loyalists, and those who remain work in a climate of fear, specialists say.
One of the consulate employees, Mete Canturk, works for the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security and has been living under house arrest since October 2017. Metin Topuz, an employee of the Drug Enforcement Administration, has been in jail since the same date and will appear in court in his continuing trial Friday.
Canturk’s wife and daughter are also on trial, all accused of membership in an armed terrorist organization, accusations that US Embassy officials say are baseless. Those trials will coincide with another high-profile legal case, that of Osman Kavala, one of the country’s most prominent political prisoners, who is often described as the George Soros of Turkey.
Then it must be true!
The cases have been described by diplomats and human rights organizations as a strategy of hostage diplomacy on the part of Erdogan as he negotiates his various disputes with foreign governments.
Erdogan suffered a damaging political defeat over the weekend, when his party’s candidate for Istanbul mayor was soundly defeated by the opposition candidate in an election that came about only after the president pushed for a redo following a first vote in March.
The AKP has controlled Istanbul, Erdogan’s hometown, for 25 years, but voters there emphatically rejected his leadership, with the opposition candidate, Ekrem Imamoglu, significantly increasing his margin of victory in the second round of voting against Binali Yildirim, who was backed by Erdogan.
That was when my printed paper cut it.
That result has raised the question of whether Erdogan, who has been in charge for 16 years and has taken measures to increase his grip on power, is now politically vulnerable.
In his first public appearance since the election result, Erdogan spoke to the AKP’s parliamentary group in Ankara on Tuesday, although the usual enthusiastic shouting of slogans was largely muted.
Yildirim was also in attendance and sat in the front row, visibly dismayed. Erdogan began his speech by congratulating Imamoglu, before adding, “We welcome the people of Istanbul’s decision,” but he defended the decision to hold a second the election, saying it was a “completely legal” move.
He later reiterated the sentiment, noting, “We don’t have the privilege to ignore the message given by the nation.”
Unlike American politicians.
Erdogan said that rather than resent the result, his party must evaluate why it failed to appeal to voters in both the March 31 and June 23 elections. He said the party must work to determine its shortcomings.....
That looks like good advice for Democrats.
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Related: Trial date for Fall River mayor is set for next year
Let the fun and games begin, and if this nation cared about sexual assault, Trump would not be president.
