Whos On Second? Prop 131 Answers With New Lieutenant Governors Office | Arizona Capitol Times
Who’s On Second? Prop 131 Answers With New Lieutenant Governor’s Office | Arizona Capitol Times https://digitalarizonanews.com/whos-on-second-prop-131-answers-with-new-lieutenant-governors-office-arizona-capitol-times/
Home / Featured News / Who’s on second? Prop 131 answers with new lieutenant governor’s office
By: Tristan Richards Cronkite News October 11, 2022
Sen. J. D. Mesnard, R-Chandler, hopes voters approve Proposition 131, which would make Arizona one of the last states in the country to create an office of lieutenant governor who would succeed the governor.
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Tags: Mecham, ducey, secretary of state, Proposition 111, election, gubernatorial succession, governor, Mofford, Proposition 131, National Lieutenant Governors Association, brewer, lieutenant governor, napolitano, Mesnard
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IMF Warns Of Slowing Growth Rising Market Risks As Finance Officials Meet
IMF Warns Of Slowing Growth, Rising Market Risks As Finance Officials Meet https://digitalarizonanews.com/imf-warns-of-slowing-growth-rising-market-risks-as-finance-officials-meet/
WASHINGTON, Oct 11 (Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund warned on Tuesday that colliding pressures from inflation, war-driven energy and food crises and sharply higher interest rates were pushing the world to the brink of recession and threatening financial market stability.
In gloomy reports issued at the start of the first in-person International Monetary Fund and World Bank annual meetings in three years, the IMF urged central banks to keep up their fight against inflation despite the pain caused by monetary tightening and the rise in the U.S. dollar to a two-decade high, the two main drivers of a recent bout of financial market volatility.
Cutting its 2023 global growth forecasts further, the IMF said in its World Economic Outlook that countries representing a third of world output could be in recession next year.
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“The three largest economies, the United States, China and the euro area, will continue to stall,” Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, the IMF’s chief economist, said in a statement. “In short, the worst is yet to come, and for many people, 2023 will feel like a recession.”
The IMF said Global GDP growth next year will slow to 2.7%, compared, down from its July forecast of 2.9%, as higher interest rates slow the U.S. economy, Europe struggles with spiking gas prices and China contends with continued COVID-19 lockdowns and a weakening property sector.
The global lender maintained its 2022 growth forecast at 3.2%, reflecting stronger-than-expected output in Europe but a weaker performance in the United States, after torrid 6.0% global growth last year as the COVID-19 pandemic eased.
Some key European economies will fall into “technical recession” next year, including Germany and Italy, as energy price spikes and shortages slam output. China’s growth outlooks also were downgraded as it struggles with continued COVID-19 lockdowns and a weakening property sector, where a deeper downturn would slow growth further, the IMF said.
The growing economic pressures, coupled with tightening liquidity, stubborn inflation and lingering financial vulnerabilities, are increasing the risks of disorderly asset repricings and financial market contagions, the IMF said in its Global Financial Stability Report.
“It’s difficult to think of a time where uncertainty was so high,” Tobias Adrian, the IMF’s monetary and capital markets director, told Reuters in an interview. “We have to go back decades to see so much conflict in the world, and at the same time inflation is extremely high.”
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) logo is seen outside the headquarters building in Washington, U.S., September 4, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas
Finance officials from the IMF’s 190 member countries this week are grappling with these uncertainties from differing economic positions in Washington, along with food and energy crises prompted by the war in Ukraine and other global challenges including massive clean energy financing needs.
PRIORITY: INFLATION
The IMF said central bankers had a delicate balancing act to fight inflation without over-tightening, which could push the global economy into an “unnecessarily severe recession” and heap economic pain on emerging markets that are seeing their currencies fall sharply against the dollar.
But Gourinchas said controlling inflation was the bigger priority and letting up too soon would undermine central banks’ “hard-won credibility.”
“What we are recommending is that central banks stay the course. Now that doesn’t mean that they should accelerate compared to what they’ve been doing,” Gourinchas said in a news conference, adding that it was “a bit early” to shift course.
“I think right now our advice is, ‘let’s make sure we see a decisive decline in inflation.'”
The IMF forecast that global headline consumer price inflation would peak at 9.5% in the third quarter of 2022, declining to 4.7% by the fourth quarter of 2023.
But the outlook could darken considerably if the world economy is hit by a “plausible combination of shocks,” including a 30% spike in oil prices from current levels, the IMF said, pushing global growth down to 1.0% next year – a level associated with widely falling real incomes.
Other components of this “downside scenario” include a steep drop-off in Chinese property sector investment, a sharp tightening of financial conditions brought on by emerging market currency depreciations and a continued overheating of labor markets that results in lower potential output.
The IMF put a 25% probability of global growth falling below 2% next year – a phenomenon that has occurred only five times since 1970 – and said there was more than a 10% chance of a global GDP contraction.
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Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Paul Simao
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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Prosecutors Ask Jury To Recommend Death Sentence For Parkland Shooter | CNN
Prosecutors Ask Jury To Recommend Death Sentence For Parkland Shooter | CNN https://digitalarizonanews.com/prosecutors-ask-jury-to-recommend-death-sentence-for-parkland-shooter-cnn/
CNN —
Prosecutors have called on a Florida jury to recommend the Parkland school shooter be put to death, saying in a closing argument Tuesday he meticulously planned the February 2018 massacre, and that the facts of the case outweigh anything in his background that defense attorneys claim warrant a life sentence.
“What he wanted to do, what his plan was and what he did, was to murder children at school and their caretakers,” lead prosecutor Michael Satz said of Nikolas Cruz, who pleaded guilty to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder for the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in which 14 students and three school staff members were killed. “That’s what he wanted to do.”
But Cruz “is a brain damaged, broken, mentally ill person, through no fault of his own,” defense attorney Melisa McNeill said in her own closing argument, pointing to the defense’s claim that Cruz’s mother used drugs and drank alcohol while his mother was pregnant with him, saying he was “poisoned” in her womb.
“And in a civilized humane society, do we kill brain damaged, mentally ill, broken people?” McNeill asked Tuesday. “Do we? I hope not.”
With closing arguments, the monthslong sentencing phase of Cruz’s trial is nearing its end, marking prosecutors’ last chance to convince the jury to recommend a death sentence and defense attorneys’ last opportunity to lobby for life in prison without parole.
Prosecutors have argued Cruz’s decision to commit the deadliest mass shooting at an American high school was premeditated and calculated, while Cruz’s defense attorneys have offered evidence of a lifetime of struggles at home and in school.
Each side was allotted two and a half hours to make their closing arguments.
Jury deliberations are expected to begin Wednesday, during which time jurors will be sequestered, per Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer.
If they choose to recommend a death sentence, the jurors must be unanimous, or Cruz will receive life in prison without the possibility of parole. If the jury does recommend death, the final decision rests with Judge Scherer, who could choose to follow the recommendation or sentence Cruz to life.
In his remarks, Satz outlined prosecutors’ reasoning, including the preparations Cruz made. For a “long time” prior to the shooting, Satz said, Cruz thought about carrying it out.
Revisiting ground covered in the trial, the prosecutor said Cruz researched mass shootings and their perpetrators, including those at a music festival in Las Vegas; at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado; at Virginia Tech; and at Colorado’s Columbine High School.
Cruz modified his AR-15 to help improve his marksmanship; he accumulated ammunition and and magazines; and he searched online for information about how long it would take police to respond to a school shooting, Satz said.
Then, the day of, Satz said, Cruz hid his tactical vest in a backpack and took an Uber to the school, wearing a Marjory Stoneman Douglas JROTC polo shirt to blend in. Based on his planning, he told the Uber driver to drop him off at a specific pedestrian gate, knowing it would be open soon before school let out.
“All these details he thought of, and he did,” Satz said.
Satz also detailed a narrative of the shooting, which he called a “systematic massacre,” recounting how the shooter killed or wounded each of his victims, whose families and loved ones filled the courtroom gallery.
Cruz, wearing a striped sweater and flanked by his public defenders, looked on expressionless, occasionally looking down at the table in front of him or talking to one of his attorneys.
“The appropriate sentence for Nikolas Cruz is the death penalty,” Satz concluded.
In her own statement, McNeill stressed to jurors that defense attorneys were not disputing that Cruz deserves to be punished for the shooting.
“We are asking you to punish him and to punish him severely,” she said. “We are asking you to sentence him to prison for the rest of his life, where he will wait to die, either by natural causes or whatever else could possibly happen to him while he’s in prison.”
The 14 slain students were: Alyssa Alhadeff, 14; Martin Duque Anguiano, 14; Nicholas Dworet, 17; Jaime Guttenberg, 14; Luke Hoyer, 15; Cara Loughran, 14; Gina Montalto, 14; Joaquin Oliver, 17; Alaina Petty, 14; Meadow Pollack, 18; Helena Ramsay, 17; Alex Schachter, 14; Carmen Schentrup, 16; and Peter Wang, 14.
Geography teacher Scott Beigel, 35; wrestling coach Chris Hixon, 49; and assistant football coach Aaron Feis, 37, also were killed – each while running toward danger or trying to help students to safety.
The lengthy trial – jury selection began six months ago, in early April – has seen prosecutors and defense attorneys present evidence of aggravating factors and mitigating circumstances, reasons Cruz should or should not be put to death.
The state has pointed to seven aggravating factors, including that the killings were especially heinous, atrocious or cruel, as well as cold, calculated and premeditated, Satz said Tuesday. Other aggravating factors include the fact the defendant knowingly created a great risk of death to many people and that he disrupted a lawful government function – in this case, the running of a school.
Together, these aggravating factors “outweigh any mitigation about anything about the defendant’s background or character,” Satz said.
Satz rejected the mitigating circumstances presented during trial by the defense, including that Cruz’s mother smoked or used drugs while pregnant with him. Those factors would not turn someone into a mass murderer, Satz argued, adding it was the jury’s job to weigh the credibility of the defense witnesses who testified to those claims.
Satz cast doubt on the defense’s other proposed mitigators. In response to a claim that Cruz has neurological or intellectual deficits, Satz pointed to the gunman’s ability to carefully research and prepare for the Parkland shooting.
In response to claims Cruz was bullied by his peers, Satz argued Cruz was an aggressor, pointing to testimony that he walked around in high school with a swastika drawn on his backpack, along with the N-word and other explicit language.
“Hate is not a mental disorder,” Satz said.
During trial, prosecutors presented evidence showing the gunman spent months searching online for information about mass shootings and left behind social media comments sharing his express desire to “kill people,” while Google searches illustrated how he sought information about mass shootings. On YouTube, Cruz left comments like “Im going to be a professional school shooter,” and promised to “go on a killing rampage.”
“What one writes,” Satz said, referencing Cruz’s online history Tuesday, “what one says, is a window to someone’s soul.”
In their own case, the public defenders assigned to represent Cruz have asked the jury to take into account his troubled history, from a dysfunctional family life to serious mental and developmental issues, with attorney McNeill describing him earlier in the trial as a “damaged and wounded” person.
“His brain is broken,” she said during her opening statement in August. “He’s a damaged human being.”
Among the first witnesses was Cruz’s older sister, Danielle Woodard, who testified their mother, Brenda Woodard, used drugs and drank alcohol while pregnant with him – something McNeill said made his brain “irretrievably broken” through no fault of his own.
“She introduced me to a life that no child should be introduced to,” she said. “She had no regards for my life or his life.”
The defense also called teachers and educators who spoke to developmental issues and delays Cruz exhibited as a young child, including challenges with vocabulary and motor skills. Various counselors and psychiatrists also testified, offering their observations from years of treating or interacting with Cruz.
Former Broward County school district counselor John Newnham testified Cruz’s academic achievements in elementary school were below expectations. Cruz would describe himself as “stupid” and a “freak,” Newnham said.
Despite these apparent issues, Cruz’s adoptive mother, the late Lynda Cruz, was reluctant to seek help, according to the testimony of a close friend who lived down the street from the family, Trish Devaney Westerlind.
Newnham’s testimony echoed that: While Lynda Cruz was a caring mother, after the death of her husband, she would ask for help but not use the support available.
“She was overwhelmed,” Newnham said. “She appeared to lack some of the basic foundations of positive parenting.”
Westerlind still accepts calls from Cruz and, says though he’s in his 20s, Cruz still talks like an 11-year-old child.
Cruz’s attorneys acknowledged as he grew older he developed a fascination with firearms, and school staff raised concerns about his behavior to authorities, McNeill said.
In June 2014, an adolescent psychiatrist and a school therapist at the school Cruz attended at the time wrote a letter to an outside psychiatrist treating Cruz, in which they expressed concern Cruz had become verbally aggressive and had a “preoccupation with guns” and “dreams of killing others.”
The psychiatrist, Dr. Brett Negin, who testified he treated Cruz between the ages of 13 and 18, said he never received the letter.
As part of the prosecution’s case, family members of the victims were given the opportunity this summer to take the stand and offer raw and emotional testimony about how Cruz’s actions had forever changed their lives. At one point, even members of Cruz’s defense team were brought to tears.
“I feel I can’t truly be happy if I smile,” Max Schachter, the father of 14-year-old victim Alex Schachter, testified in August. “I know that behind that smile is the s...
Analysis | Trump Revels In The GOPs Fealty. Tim Ryan Wants To Make It A Campaign Issue.
Analysis | Trump Revels In The GOP’s Fealty. Tim Ryan Wants To Make It A Campaign Issue. https://digitalarizonanews.com/analysis-trump-revels-in-the-gops-fealty-tim-ryan-wants-to-make-it-a-campaign-issue/
It’s one thing for former president Donald Trump to exercise dominion over the Republican Party, which he unquestionably does. It’s quite another for Trump to regularly rub that in Republicans’ faces and force them to kowtow to him — often quite publicly and degradingly.
That’s been the GOP’s unhappy reality over the past six years. Yet for perhaps the first time, a Democrat is actually seeking to use this highly visible dynamic against his Republican opponent.
At a debate Monday night, Ohio Senate candidate Rep. Tim Ryan (D) invoked his Republican opponent J.D. Vance’s tortured relationship with Trump.
But rather than focus on Vance’s evolution from harsh Trump critic to enthusiastic backer, he focused more on Trump’s having later gloated about it.
At a rally in Ohio last month, Trump subtly brought up Vance’s past criticisms while reinforcing that he has ultimately brought the ambitious young political newcomer to heel.
“J. D. is kissing my ass! He wants my support so much,” Trump said, adding: “I think he’s running, J.D., on an ‘I love Donald Trump’ policy. Yeah, he said some bad things about me, but that’s before he knew me, and then he fell in love.”
At the debate Monday, Ryan noted that Vance later appeared onstage and spoke approvingly of the visit from the man who had just spoken of him in those terms. He said this showed not only that Vance would do what Trump and Vance’s other benefactors wanted but that it was most concerning because it showed a lack of dignity.
“I don’t know anybody I grew up with, I don’t know anybody I went to high school with, that would allow someone to take their dignity like that and then get back up onstage,” Ryan said. “We need leaders who have courage to take on their own party. And I’ve proven that. And he was called an ass-kisser by the former president.”
Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) calls out GOP Senate opponent J.D. Vance for being too subservient toward Donald Trump:
“We need leaders who have courage to take on their own party … He was called an ‘ass-kisser’ by the former president.” pic.twitter.com/LPGt5xXYnx
— The Recount (@therecount) October 11, 2022
Ryan later returned to the point, saying, “I’m for Ohio. I don’t kiss anyone’s ass like him. Ohio needs an ass-kicker not an ass-kisser.”
Trump’s comments at the rally were lighthearted. But this is merely the latest in a long line of examples of Trump’s very publicly putting his fellow partisans in their places — a routine that they sometimes go along with willingly, and other times less so.
When former New Jersey governor Chris Christie dropped out of the 2016 presidential primary and endorsed Trump, Trump soon inflicted upon him several indignities. They included having Christie awkwardly stand behind him at a particularly loquacious Super Tuesday news conference, seeming to joke about Christie’s weight, a campaign aide apparently making up a story about Christie fetching McDonald’s for Trump, and Trump needling Christie for having campaigned for president so much — even as Christie was being criticized for absenteeism as governor of New Jersey.
At a 2017 event, the White House seated the president next to Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) — who in 2016 said he was “99 percent against Trump” — although Heller didn’t yet support Trump’s proposal to repeal Obamacare. Trump turned to Heller and assured him that he would ultimately be onboard, adding, “Look, he wants to remain a senator, doesn’t he?”
Sure enough, Heller embraced both the ultimate “skinny repeal” bill and Trump in his 2018 reelection campaign, which he lost.
Trump offered somewhat similar comments to Sen. Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.) during a meeting with senators on gun control in 2018 — although in that instance he did not say the GOP senators were beholden to him, but rather that they were “afraid” and “petrified” of the National Rifle Association.
Then there was Vice President Mike Pence trying to set the world record for praising your boss the most times in a span of three minutes, Trump’s saying that critical Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) had sought his counsel about seeking reelection, and Trump’s dangling the secretary of state job in front of vociferous critic Mitt Romney, only to yank it away after he had made his point about Romney’s kissing his ring.
This has also taken the form of those spurned by Trump nonetheless bending over backward to seek his approval.
Former Trump administration attorney general Jeff Sessions sought a return to the Senate by emphasizing his work with Trump, despite Trump’s repeatedly deriding him and effectively running him out of office. Sessions even ran an ad that The Washington Post summarized accordingly: “Jeff Sessions basically begs Trump for mercy in his first Senate ad.”
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) responded to Trump’s endorsing her primary opponent by recording a video in front of Trump Tower pledging her fidelity.
And, in perhaps the starkest example, Wisconsin state Senate candidate Chris Kapenga (R) last year responded to Trump’s criticisms of him by pleading with Trump to correct the record. Kapenga added that “the power of your pen to mine is like Thor’s hammer to a Bobby pin.” He also asked to be invited to golf with Trump and promised to continue wearing his Trump socks and Trump-Pence face mask regardless of whether Trump responded to his concerns about being impugned.
And none of this, it bears emphasizing, includes all the ways in which Republicans have more subtly contorted themselves to remain in Trump’s good graces — such as supporting a plot to overturn the 2020 election that they knew was baseless and foolhardy, criticizing Trump for the violence on Jan. 6, 2021, and then shortly thereafter pretending none of it ever happened.
But will Ohio voters care about this? Certainly, it’s a state that has trended red during the Trump era, as much of the Rust Belt has. And a recent Siena College poll showed more voters there like Trump (44 percent) than President Biden (39 percent). The idea of a GOP nominee being a reliable vote for Trump’s agenda is probably something Ohioans like more than voters in a lot of other states with competitive Senate races. In many ways, this line of attack might be more valuable to Ryan as a potential rallying cry for the left.
But whether moderate or even slightly conservative-leaning voters want Vance to reflexively support Trump could be another matter. For all Trump’s domination of the GOP, the percentage of Republicans who define themselves as party-first rather than Trump-first has increased since the 2020 election, and moderate voters can still decide races like the one in Ohio. Ryan can credibly argue that he has proved himself more willing to buck his party. Even Monday, he called for Biden not to seek reelection in 2024 — something that would be unthinkable from the likes of Vance in reference to Trump.
What’s clear is that jabs like the one Trump made at Vance’s expense last month reinforce that he is much more interested in demonstrating GOP fealty than he is in boosting his fellow Republicans to help them win. And he’ll keep doing it because it’s vital to his own political prospects, drawing an ever-more-subservient crop of Republicans into politics.
Which is why we should expect way fewer criticisms a la J.D. Vance circa 2016 and a whole lot more gestures akin to what Arizona GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake did this weekend.
This is a real photo of Kari Lake vacuuming the red carpet before meeting Donald Trump.
A member of Kari team told us she insisted on personally making sure the carpet was spotless out of “respect for the office of the President of the United States.”
This is servant leadership pic.twitter.com/FNzduy223x
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) October 10, 2022
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Orbán: Trump Offers ‘hope For Peace’ In Ukraine https://digitalarizonanews.com/orban-trump-offers-hope-for-peace-in-ukraine/
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban speaks during a panel discussion organised by publisher houses about ‘Storm over Europe – the Ukraine war, the energy crisis and geopolitical challenges’ in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán called for a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia as he accused the U.S. of fueling the war and said former President Trump offers the best “hope for peace.”
Speaking at a forum in Berlin hosted by news outlet Berliner Zeitung and Cicero Magazine, Orbán, who has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, said any ceasefire in the war must be negotiated between the U.S. and Russia.
“It would be better if the public didn’t hear what I’m saying now,” the Hungarian leader said, according to Cicero Magazine. “The ceasefire does not have to be between Russia and Ukraine, but between Russia and the USA.”
Orbán made clear he was on the side of Ukraine because Russia violated international law, but he urged an immediate ceasefire “otherwise tens of thousands will die and the war will be carried to Europe.”
“I belong to the peace camp, so I am for an immediate ceasefire, no matter what the Ukrainians think of it,” he said. “That distinguishes me from those who want to derive decisions from Ukrainian interests.”
The Hungarian prime minister, a darling of conservatives in the U.S. who appeared at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) over the summer in Texas, also argued that President Biden has escalated tensions with Moscow while appearing to back Trump’s efforts to deescalate.
“That’s why Joe Biden went too far with his comments about Putin,” Orbán said, per Cicero Magazine. “The hope for peace is Donald Trump.”
Trump has used his political prestige to slam Biden’s handling of the war in public appearances and on Truth Social, including at an Arizona rally over the weekend.
“We must demand the immediate negotiation of the peaceful end to the war in Ukraine, or we will end up in World War III and there will be nothing left of our planet all because stupid people didn’t have a clue,” Trump said. “They really don’t understand … what they’re dealing with. The power of nuclear. They have no idea what they’re doing.”
Trump has offered few solutions as to what the U.S. should do to end the war in Ukraine, other than calling for a ceasefire and posting that he would “head up group” on negotiations.
Biden, meanwhile, has warned of “armageddon” after Putin threatened he could deploy nuclear weapons amid humiliating setbacks for Russia in the war and domestic disturbance at home.
American public support remains high for supporting Ukraine, and Congress has provided billions of dollars to the nation in security and financial aid.
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City-Funded Sewing Class Gearing Up For Second Year
City-Funded Sewing Class Gearing Up For Second Year https://digitalarizonanews.com/city-funded-sewing-class-gearing-up-for-second-year/
In addition to housing the classes, the Sonoran Stitch Factory also contracts work with businesses in the area.
Megan Myscofski/AZPM
Six people were sitting at a table on the edge of a nearly silent warehouse in Tucson. The only sounds that broke the silence were the gentle hums and taps of sewing machines and the occasional, quiet guidance of sewing instructor Dennis Phillips.
They’re part of a new, city-funded industrial sewing program in Tucson called the Arizona Stitch Lab that’s gearing up for its second year. The classes prepare students to work on sewing projects that range from airplane seats to drapery and clothing, and program leaders say there’s high interest from businesses looking for local workers to help cut down on supply chain issues and deliver on high-quality work.
Phillips currently works for a body armor company when he’s not teaching here, but he has sewn a range of things through his career, from coats to curtains.
And he said he prepares his students to be able to specialize, but also be ready to pivot, like he has.
For him, it’s almost like meditation.
“You get to a point where you’re just doing the sewing, but it’s all muscle memory, and your mind is 100 miles away,” he said. “You’re either listening to an audiobook or thinking, you know, great, esoteric thoughts. Figuring out the mysteries to the universe.”
VIEW LARGER Dennis Phillips helps student Alvin Ng through sewing a curtain scallop.
Megan Myscofski/AZPM
The classes take place at the Sonoran Stitch Factory, which also contracts work for businesses that want local production.
Erica Yngve owns the Sonoran Stitch Factory, and she said several of the products made here are tailor-made for Arizonans, like western wear shirts, gear for hiking in the sun, and gloves.
She helped found the Arizona Stitch Lab with the Pascua Yaqui Tribe and economic development non-profit Moonshot AZ. The city awarded the group $300,000 for two years of courses back in December, and the first course was off the ground the following month.
She said even though this work often gets sent overseas, there are a lot of companies interested in the Sonoran Stitch Factory and the training program.
“I am getting inundated with demand,” Yngve said.
She said keeping the production work local means cutting down on the potential for supply chain issues and miscommunication.
“People in Tucson can drive to my factory and actually see it being made, deal with, you know, issues in production or demand or whatever and have their hands right on it,” she said.
Trivantage is one of those companies that took immediate interest in the program. It’s a wholesale distributor of fabrics and other items for outdoor upholstery. Account manager Paul Ricciuti says a lot of the work his clients do is custom, and that’s a lot easier to make work when the sewers are local.
“Prior to the economy, having struggles back in like 2005, 2008, there used to be trade schools that taught industrial sewing, but those programs were quickly cut, and they never really returned,” he said.
VIEW LARGER Erica Yngve owns the Sonoran Stitch Factory, and she says there’s high demand for workers who know how to sew in the area.
Megan Myscofski/AZPM
At the Stitch Lab class, Phillips called sewing a solitary sport.
“Sewers are always individualists,” he said. “They’re always very unique.”
Some of those students, like Ginger Baca, have been sewing for decades.
“I made my own clothes for a number of years and have always wanted to learn upholstery, which is quite different. It teaches you everything that you thought you knew, but didn’t,” she said.
And others are brand new, like Alvin Ng.
“I’ve seen my grandmother use those electrical sewing machines, whether it was to hem my clothes or fix my clothes,” he said.
He helps set up people looking for work with training programs, and when this one came across his desk, he got the urge to try it himself.
Phillips agrees that finding people who are sewers at heart and bringing them into the industry is rewarding.
“I’m a high school dropout. I wouldn’t have had much opportunity until I got into sewing, and it’s really, over the course of time, become a very good career for me. So the ability to pass that on, just really is a nice feeling.
The Stitch Lab is currently taking applications for classes starting in the new year.
The Sonoran Stitch Factory is located centrally in Tucson in the San Ignacio Yaqui community.
Megan Myscofski/AZPM
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Trump Lawyer Who Vouched For Documents Meets With FBI
Trump Lawyer Who Vouched For Documents Meets With FBI https://digitalarizonanews.com/trump-lawyer-who-vouched-for-documents-meets-with-fbi/
WASHINGTON (AP) — A lawyer for former president Donald Trump who signed a letter stating that a “diligent search” for classified records had been conducted and that all such documents had been given back to the government has spoken with the FBI, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Christina Bobb told federal investigators during Friday’s interview that she had not drafted the letter but that another Trump lawyer who she said actually prepared it had asked her to sign it in her role as a designated custodian of Trump’s records, said the person, who insisted on anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.
The process is of interest to investigators because the Justice Department says the letter was untrue in asserting that all classified records sought by the government had been located and returned. Though the letter, and 38 documents bearing classification markings, were presented to FBI and Justice Department officials during a June 3 visit to Mar-a-Lago, agents returned to the Florida estate with a search warrant on Aug. 8 and seized about 100 additional classified records.
According to an August court filing, the signed certification letter was presented to investigators who visited Mar-a-Lago on June 3 to collect additional classified material from the home. The Justice Department had weeks earlier issued a subpoena for the records after it says it developed evidence that more classified documents remained at the estate beyond those contained in 15 boxes recovered in January by the National Archives and Records Administration.
The letter produced for investigators asserted that, in response to the subpoena, “a diligent search was conducted of the boxes that were moved from the White House to Florida” and that “any and all responsive documents accompany this certification.” The letter also included the caveat that the statements in it were true “based upon the information that has been provided to me.”
FILE – President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate is seen from the media van in the presidential motorcade in Palm Beach, Fla., March 24, 2018, en route to Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Fla. Christina Bobb, a lawyer for former president Donald Trump who signed a letter stating that a “diligent search” for classified records had been conducted and that all such documents had been given back to the government has spoken with the FBI, according to a person familiar with the matter. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)
Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Carolyn Kaster
At the time, the FBI was presented with an envelope containing 38 documents with classification markings, including at the top-secret level. But agents began to suspect that they had not received the entire stash of records, and returned two months later with a warrant.
Bobb told the FBI that the letter was actually drafted and prepared by another of Trump’s lawyers, M. Evan Corcoran, and that he had asked her to sign it in her capacity as custodian of the records, according to the person.
Corcoran did not immediately return an email and phone message on Tuesday. Spokespeople for the FBI and Justice Department declined to comment, and Bobb did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment.
The interview was first reported by NBC News. The person familiar with it said it was a voluntary discussion with investigators and did not take place before a grand jury, and that she is not regarded as a target of the investigation.
The Justice Department has said that, beyond investigating possible crimes in the retention of the documents themselves, it is also investigating whether anyone sought to obstruct its probe. It is not clear if anyone will be charged.
_____
Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/etuckerAP
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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Comedian Almost Hit With Beer Can After Being Heckled By Audience Member Viral Video Shows
Comedian Almost Hit With Beer Can After Being Heckled By Audience Member, Viral Video Shows https://digitalarizonanews.com/comedian-almost-hit-with-beer-can-after-being-heckled-by-audience-member-viral-video-shows/
POINT PLEASANT, N.J. (WPIX) – A comedian performing at a New Jersey comedy club was nearly hit by a can of beer thrown by an audience member after an uncomfortable exchange with a heckler. But instead of letting it get to her, the young comedian picked up the can and chugged the remaining beer.
Ariel Elias was on the stage at Uncle Vinnie’s Comedy Club in Point Pleasant Beach at around 9:30 p.m. on Saturday night when a woman in the audience began asking Elias who she voted for in the 2020 presidential election.
“Did you vote for Donald Trump?” the woman asked, as seen in video shared by Elias on social media.
The comedian tried to brush it off with a joke, replying, “Why would you ask me that knowing I’m the only Jew in this room? Are you trying to get me killed?!”
“So you voted for Biden?” the woman yelled back.
“I dunno. What does it matter?” Elias responded.
“Yes, you did!” the heckler replied. “I could just tell by your jokes you voted for Biden.”
“I can tell by the fact that you’re still talking, when nobody wants you to, that you voted for Trump,” Elias fired back, eliciting cheers from the crowd.
A few seconds pass, and then a beer goes flying across the stage. The drink whizzed by Elias and exploded on a brick wall behind her. Elias was startled at first, and appeared to gasp, before picking up the can and chugging the rest of the beer, the video shows.
Club co-owner Dino Ibelli said the beer was hurled by the audience member’s husband. The club’s management has filed a police report, and they’ve banned the customer from the venue.
“She handled it like a pro,” Ibelli told Nexstar’s WPIX of Elias. “That’s adrenaline. You can’t write that. Afterward, she was a bit shaken.”
Just before the beer was thrown, Ibelli said he warned the audience member — allegedly a Trump supporter — to pipe down or leave after she interrupted Elias’ set. She decided to leave, but when Ibelli turned his back, he heard the can hit the wall, and someone pointed out the perpetrator, he said.
“Thank God nobody got hurt,” Ibelli said. “If I see [the alleged perpetrator] again, he won’t make it through the door.”
WPIX reached out to Elias and Point Pleasant police but did not immediately receive a response.
On Twitter, however, Elias joked that this may have been the best thing to happen to her.
“I’d really appreciate it if anyone could please just let my teachers know that chugging a beer has in fact been great for my career,” she joked on Twitter.
The incident also caught the eye of Jimmy Kimmel, who awarded Elias “five stars for this flawless performance.”
“Can I make my late night debut on your show?” Elias then asked Kimmel.
“Absolutely,” he responded.
The show’s producers are currently in touch with Elias, Deadline confirmed, and are looking to book her for an upcoming episode.
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S&P 500 Rebounds From Earlier Losses Tries To Snap 4-Day Losing Streak
S&P 500 Rebounds From Earlier Losses, Tries To Snap 4-Day Losing Streak https://digitalarizonanews.com/sp-500-rebounds-from-earlier-losses-tries-to-snap-4-day-losing-streak/
Credit Suisse shares fall on report of U.S. tax probe
U.S.-listed shares of Credit Suisse fell more than 2% after Bloomberg News reported that the embattled European bank was facing a U.S. tax investigation and a Senate inquiry. The stock is now down more than 54% year to date.
Credit Suisse later confirmed the report, saying in a statement:
“Credit Suisse does not tolerate tax evasion. We have implemented extensive enhancements since 2014, to root out individuals who seek to conceal assets from tax authorities. … Credit Suisse is cooperating extensively with US authorities, including the US Senate and US Department of Justice, and will continue to do so.”
— Fred Imbert
JPMorgan, Bank of America and Citigroup shares hit fresh 52-week lows ahead of bank earnings
(L-R) Chairman, President, and CEO of The PNC Financial Services Group William Demchak, Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co. Jamie Dimon, CEO of Citigroup Jane Fraser, Chairman and CEO of Bank of America Brian Moynihan, Chairman and CEO of Truist Financial Corporation William Rogers Jr., and President and CEO of Wells Fargo & Company Charles Scharf testify during a hearing before the House Committee on Financial Services at Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill on September 21, 2022 in Washington, DC. The committee held a hearing on “Holding Megabanks Accountable: Oversight of America’s Largest Consumer Facing Banks.”
Alex Wong | Getty Images
The three biggest U.S. banks by assets each hit fresh 52-week lows Tuesday on concern that an economic downturn will force the companies to build reserves for bad loans.
JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup set the new lows just days before the industry kicks off third-quarter earnings on Oct. 14.
While the outlook for banks’ revenue from interest income has actually been improving as the Federal Reserve increases rates, that has also spooked investors concerned that the Fed will inadvertently trigger a recession. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon added to the concerns Monday when he told CNBC that the U.S. was likely headed towards a recession by next year.
“There is a disconnect between near-term fundamentals and stock performance because the key driver of strong fundamentals is the continued rise in interest rates,” JPMorgan banking analyst Vivek Juneja said Tuesday in a research note. “However, [the] sharp rise in rates is raising concerns about a hard landing (recession.)”
Investors are waiting for banks to “rip off the proverbial Band-Aid” and begin to build loan loss reserves commensurate with a recession, as well as revise deposit costs higher, UBS bank analyst Erika Najarian said Tuesday in a note.
Fund managers are “waiting for a more `cathartic’ moment that would signal the stocks have troughed,” said Najarian.
—Hugh Son
Recession next year is ‘a coin flip,’ wealth manager says
With the potential for a recession next year, with Sandi Bragar, chief client officer at Aspiriant, said equity values could fall with a wide range given the uncertainty.
“It’s a coin flip of whether we’re in a recession or not next year,” she said. “Knowing that, we think there’s a wide range of fair values for equities given the macro situation.”
Her comments echo the sentiment across Wall Street and among retail investors, as market participants feel increasingly uneasy over a potential recessionary period coming with the Federal Reserve continuing to increase interest rates in a bid to hamper inflation.
But she also said there’s “money to be made” for investors aware of how the market is moving.
“There’s cash on the sidelines that’s eager to get to work,” she added. Investors know that there’s a lottery payoff if you can time the market with when the Fed will pivot.”
— Alex Harring
Mester cautions of recession danger for U.S. economy
Cleveland Federal Reserve President Loretta Mester cautioned Tuesday that a slowing economy combined with tightening monetary policy could produce a recession ahead.
“With growth well below trend over the next couple of years, it is possible that a shock could push the U.S. economy into recession for a time,” the central bank official said in remarks prepared for a speech in New York.
Nevertheless, Mester said tackling inflation is paramount if the U.S. economy is going to achieve sustained growth with full employment and stable prices.
“Despite some moderation on the demand side of the economy and nascent signs of improvement in supply side conditions, there has been no progress on inflation,” she said. “None of this is painless, but the high inflation we are experiencing is already inflicting pain on many people,” Mester added.
She said she is advocating an even higher trajectory for interest rates than the median outlook of other Fed policymakers as she is concerned that the Fed has not made progress in its inflation fight.
Mester, who is a voting member of the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee, said the danger of doing too little to halt inflation is greater than the danger of doing too much that likely will slow growth.
—Jeff Cox
Stocks rebound, reversing earlier losses to trade higher
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq posted large rebounds Tuesday, reversing earlier losses that pushed the S&P 500 to a multiyear low and the Nasdaq to a 52-week low.
At midday, the S&P 500 was up 0.21% and the Nasdaq rose 0.02% to trade flat. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up about 260 points, or 0.89%.
—Carmen Reinicke
Amgen pops after Morgan Stanley upgrades stock
Amgen shares jumped 5.6% during day trading after Morgan Stanley upgraded the biopharmaceutical company’s stock because of its “defensive positioning.”
The firm upped its price target to $279 from $257, which would mean it would trade about 22.2% higher than where it did at Monday’s close.
Analyst Matthew Harrison wrote in a Tuesday note to clients the optimistic outlook stemmed from the differentiation potential of obesity medication AMG133 and AMJEVITA, which is used for multiple inflammatory diseases, being on track for a January 2023 launch.
— Alex Harring
Cryptocurrency prices hold steady as investors wait for key inflation data this week
Bitcoin and ether were slightly lower on Tuesday as investors refrained from taking any bets ahead of key inflation data due later this week.
Bitcoin was last was last lower by 1% at $19,027.69, according to Coin Metrics. Its volatility has been uncharacteristically low for about a month, while the VIX is climbing to its highest level since the summer.
Ether fell 2% to $1,281.30.
— Tanaya Macheel
U.S. 10-year yield backs off highs as traders watch U.K. market
The 10-year Treasury yield eased back off its highs in late morning trading, as traders keep a wary eye on the U.K. gilt market.
The yield on the U.S. benchmark hit 4% in overnight trading, as British gilt yields shot higher. The Bank of England in the early morning calmed the market slightly after it announced it was expanding its bond buying plan.
The U.S. 10-year yield fell gradually in U.S. trading to 3.91%.
“This is the first time in years the U.K. is drivng the global bond market. Let’s hope it’s not off a cliff,” said Michael Schumacher of Wells Fargo. Yields move opposite price.
Schumacher said the U.S. yield was simply retracing its earlier move, and was not driven lower by news. But the Treasury market remains glued to gilts, and the focus is on actions of the Bank of England. The central bank said it would add index-linked gilts to its purchases but still plans to end its purchases Oct. 14.
“They’ve got to get rid of that date. Your first priority if you’re a central bank is to stabilize the bond market,” he said. “they’re going to do the buy program through the 14th and quickly get back to sales. They’ll have to get rid of that date quickly.”
–Patti Domm
Uber slides following new Labor Department proposal
Gig economy stocks fell sharply on Tuesday after the Department of Labor released a proposed rule that could cause the companies to classify drivers employees instead of independent contractors.
Shares of Uber fell more than 12%, while Lyft dropped 13.5%. Doordash fell nearly 10%.
Read more about the proposed rule here.
— Jesse Pound
S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite both notch 52-week lows
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite both fell to multi-year lows on Tuesday as the broader market sold off on growth fears.
The S&P 500 hit the lowest level since November 2020, nearing a two-year low for the index. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slid to a new 52-week low.
Technology and semiconductor companies led the declines. Technology companies are sensitive to rising interest rates, and semiconductors are falling after the Biden Administration limited manufacturing sales to China.
Major technology ETFs notched multi-year lows, with the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund
hitting its lowest level since November 2020 and the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF falling to lows not seen since May 2020.
Top semiconductor ETFs also fell to lowest levels since November 2020.
—Carmen Reinicke, Gina Francolla
Barclays cuts Apple price target 8%
Barclays cut Apple’s price target 8% to $155, which implies the stock’s value will grow 10% over the next year.
The firm called a 3% upside on hardware revenue, showing growth despite headwinds due to international markets getting hit by the surging U.S. dollar. Barclays also noted a strong upside for new MacBooks and smaller one for the new iPhone line.
App store revenue declined for the first time ever, Barclays predicted.
— Alex Harring
Stocks slump at market open
All three major indexes fell at the market open on Tuesday as investors weighed upcoming inflation data and earnings reports that will give more information on the state of the U.S. economy.
...
Dry Star Restoration Offers Water Damage Repairs In Phoenix Digital Journal
Dry Star Restoration Offers Water Damage Repairs In Phoenix – Digital Journal https://digitalarizonanews.com/dry-star-restoration-offers-water-damage-repairs-in-phoenix-digital-journal/
Mesa, Arizona –
Dry Star Restoration, a company based in Mesa, AZ, is pleased to announce that they are offering water damage repairs in Phoenix and surrounding areas. Their team of water extraction experts are always ready 24/7 such that when a disaster strikes, they can respond quickly to mitigate the damage caused by water on the property. They will not only fix the original issue but they will also ensure that every affected part of the property will be professionally cleaned, sanitized, and deodorized.
Richard Appel, owner of Dry Star Restoration, says, “The top priorities for the water mitigation services of ours are safety, exceptional customer service, and quality. If you have flood damage of any type, our expertly trained and certified water damage cleanup gurus can effectively and rapidly resolve the issue on short notice. Specific moisture detecting tools are used to determine where the water has migrated. All of these areas are addressed and properly dried as well. Any structural damage is repaired or replaced. Great care and up to date techniques are used to prevent damage from warping, swelling, buckling and delaminating. Due to our timeliness and professionalism, odors, mold, and other health issues will be prevented or eliminated.”
Water damage may occur in a house or property because of various reasons. Rivers can overflow and cause flooding, pipes in the home can break, or toilets can crack. Water damage resulting from sewage backup or a rising river is worse because of the dirty water. The professional water damage contractors from Dry Star will examine the source of the water before deciding on the appropriate action to take. In most cases, working quickly is vital because the longer the fabrics, infrastructure, and valuable belongings are soaked in water, especially when the water is dirty, it may result in those items getting damaged beyond repair.
There is also the potential problem of mold and mildew. Mold and mildew thrive in damp places, which is why they are likely to grow in water damaged parts of the home or property. This is why it is essential to perform the water damage mitigation as quickly as possible. The water damage experts from Dry Star Restoration will start working on drying affected areas as quickly as possible to ensure that mold and mildew will not have a chance to grow inside the home.
Specifically, the flooring and drywall will be inspected closely. If dirty water is able to get into the pore spaces of these materials, it will be more difficult for them to dry out and prevent the growth of mold and mildew. The water damage experts will quickly evaluate these parts of the home and do their best to get them dried fast. This will also increase the chances of salvaging these parts of the home and allow the homeowner to save a significant amount of money.
Carpets and rugs will also need to be checked if they need to be replaced. Oftentimes, rugs and carpets will simply be replaced, particularly if they are waterlogged. Since they tend to hold on to odors much more easily, it makes more sense to remove them and replace them with new ones if they have been soaked in dirty water. On the other hand, if they got soaked in clean water, it may be possible to simply to get them dried and reuse them.
Founded in 2012, Dry Star Restoration has evolved into a leading provider of water and fire damage restoration in Arizona. They are a family-owned comprehensive service water damage restoration company that promise to offer the best possible service in restoring the home or business to its original state before the disastrous event. Their certified professionals have become well-known for being very responsive and having the appropriate knowledge and experience on mitigation that is essential in minimizing the disruption caused by a catastrophic event, such as a flooding or fire. Their service area includes: Fountain Hills, Chandler, Apache Junction, Gilbert, Higley, Glendale, Paradise Valley, Mesa, Gold Canyon, Peoria, Rio Verde, Phoenix, Scottsdale, San Tan Valley, Queen Creek, Tortilla Flat, and Tempe.
Those who require water damage restoration in Mesa can check out the Dry Star Restoration website, call them on the phone, or contact them through email. They are open 24 hours a day, at any day of the week.
###
For more information about Dry Star Restoration, contact the company here:
Dry Star Restoration
Richard Appel
(480) 664-4264
[email protected]
3045 N. Norfolk, Mesa, AZ 85215
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Los Angeles County Federation Of Labor President Resigns Amid City Council Racist Remarks Scandal | CNN
Los Angeles County Federation Of Labor President Resigns Amid City Council Racist Remarks Scandal | CNN https://digitalarizonanews.com/los-angeles-county-federation-of-labor-president-resigns-amid-city-council-racist-remarks-scandal-cnn/
CNN —
A union federation president who was part of a leaked conversation in which Los Angeles City Council member Nury Martinez was heard making racist remarks about a fellow council member and his Black child has resigned, according to the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.
Ron Herrera, the president of Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, resigned at a meeting Monday, the union said in a statement in which it called on elected officials who were present when the racist remarks were made to step down as well.
“Racism in any form has no place in the House of Labor,” the chair of the union’s executive board, Thom Davis, said in a statement.
“It is unconscionable that those elected to fight for our communities of color would engage in repulsive and vile anti-Black, anti-LGBTQ, anti-Asian and anti-Oaxacan remarks that pit our working communities against each other. These sentiments will not be tolerated by our organization or those who we represent.”
The Los Angeles Times reported that the leaked audio details a conversation among Martinez, Councilmembers Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León and Herrera that focused on maps proposed by the city’s redistricting commission and the councilmembers’ frustration with them.
Martinez resigned as the city council president Monday after she was heard in that audio making racist remarks about Councilmember Mike Bonin, a White man, and his Black child.
Herrera has not responded to CNN’s request for comment, but the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO tweeted an apology from him.
“There is no justification and no excuse for the vile remarks made in that room. Period,” the apology said. “And I didn’t step up to stop them and I will have to bear the burden of that cross moving forward.”
In its statement, the union said, “Equality and justice for all no matter your race or the color of your skin are the core of the labor movement and the work of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. As we move forward, the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, on behalf of our over 300 affiliates and over 800,000 workers, remains united in the fight to dismantle racism through our solidarity and our commitment to protecting the rights of working people.”
The leaked audio was posted anonymously on Reddit and obtained by the Times.
When talking about the redistricting maps, the councilmembers discussed the need to “ensure that heavily Latino districts did not lose economic assets” in the once-in-a-decade process, according to the Times.
The councilmembers then discussed Bonin. In clips of the leaked audio posted by the Times, Martinez is heard recounting a conversation and says, “Bonin thinks he’s f**king Black.”
According to the Times, Martinez says Bonin appeared with his son on a float in a Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade and he “handled his young Black son as though he were an accessory.” The boy is 8 years old, according to a Facebook post by his father.
The Times reported that Martinez also said of Bonin’s child, “Parece changuito,” or “He’s like a monkey.”
In a statement Monday, Martinez apologized for the comments. “I take responsibility for what I said and there are no excuses for those comments.”
Martinez’s resignation as president was effective immediately, according to the statement, though she remains a member of the council.
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GPS Insight Acquires Certified Tracking Solutions To Extend Reach And Expand Capabilities Of Its Fleet Management Field Service And Telematics Portfolio
GPS Insight Acquires Certified Tracking Solutions To Extend Reach And Expand Capabilities Of Its Fleet Management, Field Service, And Telematics Portfolio https://digitalarizonanews.com/gps-insight-acquires-certified-tracking-solutions-to-extend-reach-and-expand-capabilities-of-its-fleet-management-field-service-and-telematics-portfolio/
The acquisition strengthens GPS Insight’s position as a leader in the fleet and field service management spaces, cultivating a stronger suite of solutions for customers
, /PRNewswire/ — GPS Insight, a leading provider of SaaS-based fleet and field service management software solutions, today announced the acquisition of Certified Tracking Solutions, a leader in GPS telematics, fleet tracking and management, connected transportation, and industrial IoT. Certified Tracking Solutions’ premiere brand, Titan GPS, offers a full range of fleet management solutions and support to thousands of fleet operators across Canada and the United States.
“GPS Insight is pleased to announce this strategic partnership with Certified Tracking Solutions, as it allows us to provide even more robust solutions for our customers while extending our competitive advantage across the fleet management and field service industries,” said Gary Fitzgerald, CEO of GPS Insight. “We are committed to providing tools for businesses to operate more efficiently, and by combining our teams and platforms, we create an unparalleled synergy to guarantee high-quality, reliable service while enabling our clients to deliver a superior end-to-end service experience for their own customers.”
This acquisition expands the reach of GPS Insight more extensively into Canada and adds a new suite of tools, including a new ELD solution already certified in advance of the Canadian ELD mandate, specialty tracking and management solutions, and Bluetooth asset tracking for high-value tools. In addition to bolstering fleet management, Certified Tracking Solutions also brings custom forms solutions that target field operations, and highway maintenance and winter operations tools that boost government fleet capabilities. The acquisition also leverages existing partner relationships with Bell, Rogers and several OEMs—including integration to large OEMs like Caterpillar, Komatsu, John Deere and GM.
“Joining forces with GPS Insight will help Certified Tracking Solutions achieve its goal of offering a more comprehensive suite of fleet management and field service solutions to our partners,” said Ben Jensen, Jr., Founder and CEO of Certified Tracking Solutions. “Our existing and future customers can expect to see benefits immediately as we expand to a new level of innovation for companies and assets of all kinds.”
To keep up with the latest regarding this acquisition, follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.
About Certified Tracking Solutions/Titan GPS
Certified Tracking Solutions (established in 2004) is an innovative leader in GPS telematics, connected transportation, and industrial IoT. Certified Tracking Solutions markets state-of-the-art fleet management solutions under the Titan GPS brand to help fleets of all sizes and types gain a holistic view for optimal decision-making. Customers choose CTS for advanced, enterprise-level GPS tracking, end-to-end visibility, and deep insights. Intelligent camera systems provide 360-degree video coverage, the user-friendly FieldDocs app helps digitize and manage paperless workflows, and battle-tested hardware complements the robust platform. For over a decade, thousands of fleets across North America have trusted Titan GPS to elevate their efficiency, compliance, and profitability.
Certified Tracking Solutions is headquartered in Edmonton, Alberta, and our US HQ is in Scottsdale, AZ. Learn more at https://titangps.com/.
About GPS Insight
GPS Insight helps fleet and field service businesses by delivering innovative solutions and actionable insights. Organizations across the globe turn to GPS Insight when they have high operating costs, are worried about safety on the roads, and struggle with fleet and field inefficiencies that waste valuable time and money. GPS Insight offers best-of-breed technology for organizations with drivers and technicians in the field, fleets of vehicles, trailers, and other mobile assets. GPS Insight provides many solutions that include vehicle and asset tracking, fleet management, AI-enabled smart cameras, field service management, and regulatory compliance solutions.
Public Relations Contact
Coleman Pyeatt
anthonyBarnum Public Relations
[email protected]
214.797.9848
SOURCE GPS Insight
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Israel Says Historic Agreement Made With Lebanon On Maritime Borders
Israel Says Historic Agreement Made With Lebanon On Maritime Borders https://digitalarizonanews.com/israel-says-historic-agreement-made-with-lebanon-on-maritime-borders/
JERUSALEM — Israeli and Lebanese leaders appear to have agreed to a U.S.-brokered deal that will let both countries exploit gas fields in the eastern Mediterranean, potentially ending a decades-long dispute over their maritime border, easing growing military tensions and providing a desperately needed source of income to Lebanon’s collapsing economy.
The agreement, which needs formal approval in both countries, was hailed by leaders in Beirut and Jerusalem as a historic breakthrough. It is the first agreement on border demarcation between the two nations.
“This is an historic achievement that will strengthen Israel’s security, inject billions into Israel’s economy, and ensure the stability of our northern border,” Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said in a statement Tuesday.
Lebanese leaders have yet to make an official announcement on the deal, but President Michel Aoun said in a tweet Tuesday that “the final version of the offer is satisfactory for Lebanon and answers its demands and preserves its rights to its natural wealth.” Later, he tweeted that he had received a phone call from President Biden “in which he congratulated [Aoun] on the conclusion of the negotiations.”
“If everything goes well, [Washington’s] efforts could imminently lead to a historic deal,” Elias Bou Saab, Lebanon’s lead negotiator on the issue and deputy parliament speaker, told Reuters after receiving the text of the deal from American officials Tuesday.
Officials hope the agreement, if finalized, will cool intensifying tensions along the frontier. Hezbollah, the Iran-allied militant group that controls southern Lebanon, has threatened to attack a new offshore gas facility that Israel is readying for production in what Lebanon claims are disputed waters. The group has launched drones toward the gas field more than once, including three unmanned aircraft that were shot down by Israel in early July.
In the face of Hezbollah’s threats to strike should Israel begin pumping natural gas from the Karish Field, Defense Minister Benny Gantz put troops on high alert after the maritime border talks ran into last-minute disputes last week.
Hezbollah, which along with its allies, holds the largest bloc in parliament, had no immediate comment on the draft of the agreement. A media officer for the group told The Washington Post that Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah is likely to talk about the deal in a speech scheduled for Tuesday. “Today we’ll find out,” the official said.
The agreement would define only the offshore boundary between the sworn enemies, not the 50-mile land border that remains in dispute after multiple wars and continues to be patrolled by a United Nations monitoring force after more than four decades.
The maritime frontier has proved to be equally contentious in recent years, particularly after gas deposits were discovered in the sea bed inside the 330-square mile region. Israel, which has already developed gas fields in nearby waters, strung a line of buoys three miles out from a rocky cliff near the U.N. headquarters. Beirut condemned the move as a unilateral provocation.
Resolving the dispute — which has gained urgency as the risk of conflict rose and Lebanon’s economic free fall has grown more critical — has been a regional priority for the Biden administration. The president’s special envoy, Amos Hochstein, brokered talks over the past year with the goal of giving countries fair access to the area.
The deal comes as gas discoveries are remaking the energy map of the Mediterranean just as Europe is looking for alternate sources in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Gas diplomacy may also be thawing Israel’s tense relationship with Turkey, for example, as the two countries seek to revive long-abandoned plans for a pipeline through Turkey to Europe.
Details of the agreement were not made public Tuesday. But reports of its broad terms in recent weeks suggest that it clarifies the lines of exclusive economic zones for both countries. Lebanon would gain access to promising fields in previously disputed waters; Israel would be free to begin operating the Karish well with Lebanon’s agreement.
Lebanese officials have said the final deal would not have them in direct partnership with Israel, and it was unclear how royalties would be split from the one area, the Qana Field, which lies partially in Israeli waters.
Lebanon in 2017 issued licenses to move forward with offshore oil and gas development for two of the 10 blocks in the Mediterranean, including Qana, and officials were moving quickly to advance the process.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati met Tuesday morning with Energy Minister Walid Fayyad and a delegation from French oil giant Total. Fayyad expressed hope that the deal will benefit Lebanon and grant it its “rights and full share in Qana Field without sharing it with anyone,” according to state media. He also emphasized the need to begin exploration and development, which often take years, as soon as possible.
“Logistical issues take time but work will begin immediately,” he said.
Lebanon’s leaders and public hope the deal will pave the way for gas exploration and bring in much-needed revenue to the country, which has been hit by sharp economic decline and a banking crisis that have ravaged the local currency and left much of the country out of work.
In a place previously an oasis for opulence, people sifting through trash cans for food is now a common sight in the capital Beirut. The World Food Program said in a report last month that an estimated 33 percent of Lebanese now lack minimum dietary provisions.
Access to gas fields could mean export revenue and energy sources for a country where electricity is now an expensive luxury and some Lebanese have begun joining Syrians and other migrants in perilous boat journeys to Europe.
Israel hopes access to the gas deposits will help pull Lebanon back from the brink of collapse and reduce the risk of another all out war.
“Such a field would weaken Lebanese dependency on Iran, restrain Hezbollah and bring regional stability,” Lapid told his cabinet earlier this month.
In Israel, which does not have diplomatic relations with Lebanon, it was unclear what steps the government needed to take to ratify the agreement. Legal experts said the deal could be enacted simply on the approval of the cabinet, most of whom have signaled enthusiasm for a draft they said benefits both countries. They pushed back on some right-wing lawmakers, including former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who blasted the government for “surrendering” to Hezbollah.
But Israel is holding national elections in less than a month, and some officials, including alternate Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, have said in the past that such an important agreement should go before the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.
Bennett, as Lapid’s partner in the government, still holds an effective veto in the cabinet. His office said Tuesday that he will make a decision on the agreement after reading the draft and consulting with security officials.
Dadouch reported from Beirut.
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RED Development Is 100% Leased At The Grove Office Building AZ Big Media
RED Development Is 100% Leased At The Grove Office Building – AZ Big Media https://digitalarizonanews.com/red-development-is-100-leased-at-the-grove-office-building-az-big-media/
RED Development announced today that the Class AA office building at The Grove, the highly anticipated mixed-use destination in Phoenix, is now 100% fully leased prior to the completion of construction, which is a first in Arizona commercial real estate history. JLL, a global brokerage firm, represented RED in leasing The Grove office building and is the first tenant to move in this week with close to 130 employees from its Phoenix division.
Aon, the global professional services firm, also leased the remaining 3,600-square-foot office space this week, bringing The Grove’s 180,000-square-foot office building to full capacity. Additionally, RED garnered record-breaking price-per-square-foot rates, setting a new standard for Class AA office rents in the state with all leases executed during the global pandemic. JLL and Aon will join other best-in-class tenants, including Sendoso, Clayco, Clear Sky Capital and Common Bond Development Group.
READ ALSO: RED Development breaks ground on $300M The Grove in Phoenix
READ ALSO: Sam Fox will bring The Global Ambassador hotel to Valley
RED hired notable architect George Melara of Nelsen Partners, the architects behind Kierland Commons and Scottsdale Quarter, and interior designer Judi Testani of Testani Design Troupe, whose project portfolio includes Ocean 44, Sanctuary Camelback Mountain and The Global Ambassador. Testani curated the building’s interiors, which are stylish, sophisticated and rich with amenities. The undertaking marks the first office project for the design firm. Testani and Nelsen collaborated to create a top-tier space complete with lavish amenities. On the fifth-floor rooftop amenity deck, tenants have full access to an indoor/outdoor pavilion with a well-equipped gourmet kitchen for catered events, a pickleball court and a lush, quiet seating areas amongst a garden setting with stunning views of Camelback Mountain.
“As we unveil the first phase of The Grove with the completion of the office component, we’re tremendously proud to be fully leased and welcoming JLL as our first tenant,” said Mike Ebert, managing partner at RED Development. “We’re grateful to our construction and architectural partners at Okland Construction and Nelsen Partners in helping us achieve this grand opening at this level of quality of design and construction. This latest accomplishment brings RED’s overall office portfolio to 98% leased, which is a testament to how we continue to set the standard with our dedication to creating mixed-use spaces in sought-after locations along with unmatched amenities.”
Additionally, two restaurants will soon open at The Grove beginning in January 2023. The first will be Pyro, a Japanese izakaya bistro by Flagship Restaurant Group. Pyro will feature an open-flame concept for its menu with sustainably-sourced seafood and proteins. Open for lunch and dinner, the restaurant will use fire to achieve different layers and textures across its vast selections, ensuring each dish has a distinctive flavor. The second restaurant will be announced in the coming weeks.
The Grove, a $400 million, 750,000 square-foot mixed-use destination on the northwest corner of 44th Street and Camelback Road, is located at one of the most high-profile intersections in the Valley with construction by Okland Construction, Wood Patel and financing by Alliance Bank of Arizona. The campus combines Class AA office space; The Global Ambassador, a first-ever boutique hotel by famous restaurateur Sam Fox and Common Bond Development Group opening in late 2023; unique upscale retail and dining venues and The Bergen, luxury residences by StreetLights Residential. The Grove is also home to the state-of-the-art Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury training facility.
To learn more about The Grove and RED Development, visit REDdevelopment.com.
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Timothy “Bogie” Bogenreif https://digitalarizonanews.com/timothy-bogie-bogenreif/
Timothy M. “Bogie” Bogenreif, 62, of Gilbert, AZ, passed away peacefully Sunday, October 9, 2022, at son, Jon’s home in Fargo surrounded by family and under the care of Sanford Hospice.
Timothy Michael Bogenreif was born December 4, 1959, in Fergus Falls, MN, the son of Ed and Emily (Lillehaug) Bogenreif. He was raised in Breckenridge, MN and graduated from Breckenridge High School in 1978. Tim then attended Fergus Community College and played football. He was employed by M&M Construction in Breckenridge until beginning employment with Minn-Dak in Wahpeton, ND. Tim later managed numerous “C” stores in the Fargo-Moorhead area. He married Jane Haire, August 23, 1980, and they were blessed with four sons. Tim later married Jodi Anderson on July 10, 1999, and they were blessed with an additional son. Tim worked as a free-lance sports broadcaster for 30 years spending much time working with KBMW in Wahpeton and Lakes Radio in Fergus Falls. Tim and Jodi moved to Gilbert, AZ where he started his own company, Compassion Family Care, an in-home health care service. Tim was diagnosed with cancer in February of this year and arrived home to Fargo a week ago to spend quality time with his sons and families.
The time spent with his sons, grandchildren and friends was very special and he always shared a joke or two. Tim enjoyed sports especially slow pitch softball and coaching his sons in all sports as they grew up. Tim also enjoyed fishing, golfing, and watching the Minnesota Twins, Vikings and Wild.
Surviving are his wife: Jodi of Gilbert, AZ; sons: Jon (Nikki) of Fargo and their family: Carlie, Reagan, Addison and Brooklyn; Dan (Amber) of Kent, MN and their family: Hunter and Owen; Tony (Brittany) of Breckenridge, MN and their family: Madelyn, Makenna and Easton; Joel (Emily) of Mapleton, ND and family: Jack and Brady; Darien (Gretchen Vesledahl) of Grand Forks; siblings: Cathy (Tim) Rice of Pocatello, Idaho, Gene (Lois) of Elizabeth, MN, Sharon (Russ) Olson of Fargo; Jim (Betty) of Breckenridge, MN and Ronnie (Jill) of Fridley, MN; mother-in-law: Marilyn Anderson of Wahpeton, ND; sister-in-law:
Janet (Steve) Peterson of Robbinsdale, MN; brother-in-law: Jim (Cat Shearer) Anderson of Tucson, AZ; and numerous nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his parents; brother: Bill; sister: Mary; father-in-law: Arden Anderson; former father-in-law: Jerome Haire; nephew: Ryan Peterson, niece: Tiffany Bogenreif. I Love You…Don’t Forget It!
A Go Fund Me has been established for Tim’s family. https://gofund.me/22718cff
Visitation: 5:30 to 7:00p Wednesday, October 12, 2022 Prayer Service 7 p.m. West Funeral Home, West Fargo Celebration of Life : 2 pm Thursday, October 13, 2022, at Northview Church in Fargo. West Funeral Home & Life Tribute Center westfuneralhome.com
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Health Officials Warn Time To Get Flu COVID Shots Is Now
Health Officials Warn Time To Get Flu, COVID Shots Is Now https://digitalarizonanews.com/health-officials-warn-time-to-get-flu-covid-shots-is-now/
TUCSON, Ariz. (KOLD News 13) – A recent survey from CBS shows 49% of Americans are expected to get a flu shot, but health care professionals say they’re concerned about that low number because they’re expecting a more active flu season compared to 2020 and 2021.
Experts recommend getting your flu shot by Halloween because it takes two weeks for your body to be fully protected.
Most pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens offer walk-ins or residents can schedule an appointment online with most insurances covering the full cost of the vaccine.
The latest CDC guidance also suggests COVID-19 boosters are recommended for adults and children 12 and older.
“It is perfectly OK to get the flu vaccine and COVID vaccine at the same time. In fact, it’s pretty recommended that you do both at the same time just so you don’t have to come back for a repeat visit, which saves you time,” district leader for CVS Justin Ellis says.
Ellis added that what health professionals are seeing from the Southern Hemisphere is pointing towards a more prevalent flu season.
And data from the CDC already shows thousands more cases right now than this time last year.
Copyright 2022 KOLD News 13. All rights reserved.
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Meyers Mocks Trump For Making Midterm Endorsement Speeches All About Him Like A Best Mans Drunken Toast (Video) IMDb
Meyers Mocks Trump For Making Midterm Endorsement Speeches All About Him, Like A Best Man’s ‘Drunken Toast’ (Video) – IMDb https://digitalarizonanews.com/meyers-mocks-trump-for-making-midterm-endorsement-speeches-all-about-him-like-a-best-mans-drunken-toast-video-imdb/
Meyers Mocks Trump for Making Midterm Endorsement Speeches All About Him, Like a Best Man’s ‘Drunken Toast’ (Video)
11 October 2022
by Andi Ortiz
The Wrap
Donald Trump is on the campaign trail for several GOP candidates ahead of the midterm elections in a few weeks. But Seth Meyers can’t help but notice that most of the time, the twice impeached former president isn’t exactly campaigning for them.
“Even though Trump is theoretically supposed to be there to campaign for other candidates, he always, without exception, makes it about himself,” Meyers mocked on Monday night. “He’s like the best man at a wedding who gives a drunken toast about how awesome he is.”
Also Read:
Seth Meyers Relentlessly Mocks Revelations That Trump ‘Loudly Complained’ About Rudy Giuliani’s Bathroom Smells (Video)
Naturally, Seth broke out his Trump impression to act out exactly how he thought that speech might go, culminating in Trump’s beloved catchphrase, “Lock her up!”
But, using specific examples, the late night host called up footage from campaign stops Trump
See full article at The Wrap »
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Donald Trump Threatens More Lawsuits Against Media: Also Adds Jan. 6 Committee To His Potential Legal Targets
Donald Trump Threatens More Lawsuits Against Media: Also Adds Jan. 6 Committee To His Potential Legal Targets https://digitalarizonanews.com/donald-trump-threatens-more-lawsuits-against-media-also-adds-jan-6-committee-to-his-potential-legal-targets/
John Eggerton | NextTV (Broadcasting + Cable)
Donald Trump says he plans to file lawsuits against “a large number” of news outlets, just as he has against CNN.
In an e-mail to supporters, the former president said those other news outlets — he did not identify them — were guilty of “lies, defamation, and wrongdoing,” including as it pertains to “The Big Lie.”
Click here to read more.
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JID & Smino Announce 2023 Co-Headlining Tour https://digitalarizonanews.com/jid-smino-announce-2023-co-headlining-tour/
Atlanta rapper JID and St. Louis rapper Smino are teaming up for the co-headlining ‘Luv is 4Ever Tour’ in 2023. It supports JID’s recently-released album The Forever Story and Smino’s upcoming LP Luv 4 Rent.
NYC gets a show on March 3 at Terminal 5. Tickets for the whole tour go on sale Friday (10/14) at 10 AM local time with presales beforehand. All dates are listed below.
Check out recently-released videos from JID and Smino’s new/upcoming albums, and a previous collaboration from both rappers:
JID / Smino — 2023 Tour Dates
Sun Jan 22 – Seattle, WA – Paramount Theatre
Tue Jan 24 – Vancouver, BC – PNE Forum
Thu Jan 26 – Portland, OR – Roseland Theater
Sat Jan 28 – Oakland, CA – The Fox
Tue Jan 31 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Palladium
Thu Feb 2 – San Diego, CA – SOMA San Diego
Fri Feb 3 – Phoenix, AZ – The Van Buren
Wed Feb 8 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Complex
Fri Feb 10 – Denver, CO – The Mission Ballroom
Mon Feb 13 – Dallas, TX – South Side Ballroom
Tue Feb 14 – Austin, TX – Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater
Wed Feb 15 – San Antonio, TX – Aztec Theatre
Thu Feb 16 – Houston, TX – Bayou Music Center
Sat Feb 18 – Atlanta, CA – Coca-Cola Roxy
Tue Feb 21 – St. Petersburg, FL – Jannus Live
Wed Feb 22 – Miami, FL – Oasis Wynwood
Fri Feb 24 – Charlotte, NC – The Fillmore Charlotte
Sun Feb 26 – Silver Spring, MD – The Fillmore Silver Spring
Wed Mar 1 – Philadelphia, PA – The Fillmore Philadelphia
Fri Mar 3 – New York, NY – Terminal 5
Tue Mar 7 – Wallingford, CT – Dome at Toyota Oakdale Theatre
Thu Mar 9 – Boston, MA – House of Blues Boston
Sun Mar 12 – Montreal, QC – MTELUS
Wed Mar 15 – Toronto, ON – HISTORY
Fri Mar 17 – Detroit, MI – The Fillmore Detroit
Sun Mar 18 – Grand Rapids, MI – GLC Live at 20 Monroe
Tue Mar 21 – Chicago, IL – Byline Bank Aragon Ballroom
Thu Mar 23 – Madison, WI – The Sylvee
Fri Mar 24 – Minneapolis, MN – The Fillmore Minneapolis
Sat Mar 25 – Kansas City, MO – Arvest Bank Theatre at the Midland
Tue Mar 28 – Cincinnati, OH – The Andrew J Brady Music Center
Wed Mar 29 – Nashville, TN – Marathon Music Works
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Ada Fisher Influential Black Republican In NC Dies At 74
Ada Fisher, Influential Black Republican In NC, Dies At 74 https://digitalarizonanews.com/ada-fisher-influential-black-republican-in-nc-dies-at-74/
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Dr. Ada Fisher, a retired physician who was one of North Carolina’s members on the Republican National Committee for over a decade, has died at age 74, a funeral home said Tuesday.
Fisher, who gained prominence as a Black Republican who pushed for more diversity within the GOP, died Friday in Salisbury, according to Fisher Memorial Funeral Parlor in Durham. Christopher C. Fisher, a parlor staff member and Ada Fisher’s nephew, didn’t immediately have information on a cause of death.
Ada Fisher also was known for her no-nonsense conservative views and her early support for former President Donald Trump. Fisher made the 2016 announcement on the Republican National Convention floor that gave 29 delegate votes to Trump.
A Durham native who earned advanced degrees from the University of Wisconsin and John Hopkins University, Fisher entered politics after a career as a practicing physician in both family practice and corporate settings. She settled in Salisbury.
Fisher, who was once a board member for the Rowan-Salisbury schools district, ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in 2002. She also ran for the U.S. House, losing to Rep. Mel Watt, D-N.C., in the 2004 and 2006 general elections.
State GOP activists elected Fisher as an RNC committeewoman in 2008 and she remained in the position until 2020.
“Dr. Ada Fisher was an incredible woman and an NCGOP institution who fought harder than anyone to support the party and advance conservative principles,” U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., wrote in a tweet Monday.
Many of her views were expressed in opinion pieces within The Salisbury Post, which continued running up until last month.
Funeral arrangements were incomplete Tuesday.
___
The story has been updated to correct Fisher’s age to 74.
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Russian Military exhausted Putins Judgment flawed U.K. Spy Chief Says
Russian Military ‘exhausted,’ Putin’s Judgment ‘flawed,’ U.K. Spy Chief Says https://digitalarizonanews.com/russian-military-exhausted-putins-judgment-flawed-u-k-spy-chief-says/
LONDON — The United Kingdom’s top spy chief warned in a rare public speech Tuesday that Russian forces in Ukraine are overstretched and “exhausted” — and that President Vladimir Putin is committing “strategic errors in judgment.”
The assessment from Jeremy Fleming, head of the secretive GCHQ, Britain’s intelligence, cyber and security agency, comes after Putin drafted reservists to bolster his war effort and claimed a “massive strike” across Ukraine this week. The missile attacks hit energy facilities and civilian infrastructure across the country, including in the heart of Kyiv, in retaliation for a weekend explosion on Russia’s strategic Crimean Bridge.
“Russia’s forces are exhausted. The use of prisoners to reinforce, and now the mobilization of tens of thousands of inexperienced conscripts, speaks of a desperate situation,” Fleming said in an address to the Royal United Services Institute think tank in London.
“Far from the inevitable Russian military victory that their propaganda machine spouted, it’s clear that Ukraine’s courageous action on the battlefield and in cyberspace is turning the tide,” Fleming added.
Ukraine’s military has launched successful counteroffensives with the help of Western weapons, recapturing swaths of land previously held by Russian forces.
Putin’s “decision-making has proved flawed,” Fleming said, and he has “little effective internal challenge” from Russia’s military and political elite.
“We know — and Russian commanders on the ground know — that their supplies and munitions are running out,” he said.
Britain’s Defense Ministry has become a daily source of information since Russia invaded its neighbor in February, churning out frequent bite-sized updates on social media analyzing Moscow’s military strategy and war effort.
The move to be more transparent with intelligence follows a strategically unusual decision by Western intelligence agencies, including the U.S. intelligence community, to publicly share information about Putin’s plans — although it ultimately was not enough to deter the invasion.
By speaking out, Fleming told the BBC in an interview early Tuesday, his agency hopes to “illuminate the threat” and encourage public trust. He cautioned that the United Kingdom is not writing off the threat from Russia. The last 24 hours have proved Moscow still has a “very capable military machine,” he said, referring to the strikes on dozens of Ukrainian cities Monday.
However, he added, Russia is running low on munitions and troops, and “it’s certainly running short of friends.”
Putin last month announced a partial military mobilization of as many as 300,000 reservists for what he still terms Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine. The decision sparked public panic, sending thousands of eligible men fleeing to borders and scrambling for flights to avoid being called up for deployment to the front lines.
Russians are “seeing just how badly Putin has misjudged the situation,” Fleming said. “They’re fleeing the draft, realizing they can no longer travel. They know their access to modern technologies and external influences will be drastically restricted. And they are feeling the extent of the dreadful human cost of his war of choice.”
A little more than a month after the war started, Fleming warned that Russian soldiers were low on morale and weapons and had, at times, refused orders and sabotaged their own equipment — painting a picture of chaos on Russia’s front lines even then.
Following this weekend’s attack on the Crimean Bridge, Moscow retaliated Monday by launching a wave of strikes that targeted parks, playgrounds and downtown areas far from the front lines, sparking outrage and killing at least 19 people, according to Ukrainian authorities.
Yet the strikes were cheered by backers of Putin. Viktor Bondarev, head of the foreign affairs committee of Russia’s upper house of parliament, called Monday’s strikes the beginning of “a new phase” and promised more “resolute” action to come.
Fleming also warned that Russia’s threats to use nuclear weapons to reverse its losses in Ukraine are “very dangerous” and could lead to a “catastrophe.” However, he stressed, so far there have been no indicators of their deployment, and Putin has been “staying within the doctrine of their use.”
This is consistent with the views of U.S. officials, who say they think it unlikely that Putin will carry out his threats. President Biden nevertheless warned last week that Putin was “not joking” and called his nuclear threats the most serious “prospect of Armageddon” in 60 years.
The United Kingdom has three main intelligence services: MI6, the foreign intelligence service, popularized by the fictional spies James Bond and George Smiley; MI5, the domestic agency; and Government Communications Headquarters, known as GCHQ, the eavesdropping service. The entire intelligence community is famously secretive.
Fleming also spoke more broadly on global threats to security on Tuesday, singling out China’s bid to spread its influence through science and technology.
Saying this could be a “sliding doors moment in history,” Fleming accused China’s ruling Communist Party of seeking to create “client economies and governments.” He said China aims to bring countries into its sphere of influence by encouraging them to buy Chinese tech and incur what he called “hidden costs.”
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Tulsi Gabbard Announces She Is Leaving Democratic Party Calling It An 'elitist Cabal Of War Mongers'
Tulsi Gabbard Announces She Is Leaving Democratic Party, Calling It An 'elitist Cabal Of War Mongers' https://digitalarizonanews.com/tulsi-gabbard-announces-she-is-leaving-democratic-party-calling-it-an-elitist-cabal-of-war-mongers/
Former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard announced she is leaving the Democratic Party, denouncing it as an “elitist cabal of war mongers,” while calling upon other “common sense independent minded Democrats” to exit with her.
“I can no longer remain in today’s Democratic Party that is now under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue & stoke anti-white racism, actively work to undermine our God-given freedoms, are hostile to people of faith & spirituality, demonize the police & protect criminals at the expense of law-abiding Americans, believe in open borders, weaponize the national security state to go after political opponents, and above all, dragging us ever closer to nuclear war,” Gabbard said on Twitter.
Gabbard represented Hawaii’s 2nd Congressional District from 2013 to 2021 as a Democrat, and in 2020 she mounted an unsuccessful bid for the party’s presidential nomination. In in a video posted to Twitter on Tuesday, she claimed that the party she’s exiting stands for the “powerful elite,” not the people.
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard answers media questions following a campaign event on Feb. 9, 2020, in Portsmouth, N.H.
Scott Eisen/Getty Images, FILE
“If you can no longer stomach the direction that the so called woke Democratic Party ideologues are taking our country. I invite you to join me,” she said.
Gabbard paired her announcement with the launch of a podcast series on YouTube called “The Tulsi Gabbard Show.” The first upload is a 28-minute episode titled “Why I’m leaving the Democratic Party,” where she details her entrance into the Democratic party as a young person, “inspired by Democrats who stood up against the war in Vietnam” and those who stood up for plantation workers in Hawaii.
Chief among the reasons her 20-year stint as a member of the Democratic Party will be cut short, she said, is her fear that “President Biden and Democratic Party elites have pushed us to the precipice of nuclear war, risking starting World War III and destroying the world as we know it.”
Gabbard said that her entrance into the 2020 presidential cycle was also because of imminent “nuclear holocaust.”
“I ran for president in 2020 because I knew that this is where we were headed. All the signs were there. I raised this issue every single day during the campaign and on the national debate stage for those of you who may have come to a town hall or who were watching, I’m sure you noticed, but the politicians and the media completely ignored it,” she said.
In her announcement and throughout the episode, Gabbard touted a number of traditionally conservative talking points, repeating right-wing rhetoric like “wokeness” and “elites,” and harkening back to phrasing top GOP leaders have regularly circulated.
In this Feb. 8, 2020, file photo, Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, speaks during the McIntyre-Shaheen 100 Club Dinner in Manchester, N.H.
Mary Altaffer/AP, FILE
She accused Democrats for turning American democracy into “a banana republic”– a term widely imparted by Republican leaders, especially to characterize the FBI’s search of former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in August.
“The raid of MAL is another escalation in the weaponization of federal agencies against the Regime’s political opponents, while people like Hunter Biden get treated with kid gloves. Now the Regime is getting another 87k IRS agents to wield against its adversaries? Banana Republic,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wrote after the raid.
Gabbard has long been a Fox News contributor– she even guest-hosted “Tucker Carlson Tonight” in August, following the FBI’s raid of Mar-a-Lago.
“Now, whatever your views are on Donald Trump, there’s no denying that the unprecedented raid on his Palm Beach home earlier this week has set our country on a dangerous new course, and there’s no turning back,” she said on the show.
Gabbard did not announce her next steps, or if she’d consider jumping to the Republican Party.
ABC News’ Beatrice Peterson contributed to this report.
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UK Bond Market Moves Are Dramatic And Confusing. And Analysts Think It Could Get Worse
UK Bond Market Moves Are Dramatic — And Confusing. And Analysts Think It Could Get Worse https://digitalarizonanews.com/uk-bond-market-moves-are-dramatic-and-confusing-and-analysts-think-it-could-get-worse/
LONDON — U.K. bonds sold off again this week, pushing yields to their highest level since before the Bank of England‘s historic intervention to avert a pension fund collapse late last month.
Monday’s sharpest moves were concentrated in the index-linked gilt market — illiquid bonds where payouts to bondholders are benchmarked in line with the U.K. retail price index.
The scale of the rise in bond yields — which move inversely to prices — prompted the Bank to expand its emergency bond purchase program on Tuesday to include index-linked gilts until the deadline on Friday. In a statement, the Bank said dysfunction in the index-linked gilt market posed a “material risk to U.K. financial stability.”
The Bank’s initial temporary rescue measures on Sep. 28 were launched after warnings from liability driven investment (LDI) funds that they faced imminent collapse as a result of the capitulation in long-dated U.K. government bond prices.
Yields cooled modestly after Tuesday’s expansion to the purchase program to capture index-linked gilts, which followed a decision Monday to increase the daily limit for gilt purchases, but remained near levels seen before the Bank’s first intervention.
Analysts broadly expect volatility to continue in the coming weeks, at least until Finance Minister Kwasi Kwarteng’s make-or-break fiscal policy announcements on Oct. 31. Kwarteng announced on Monday that the medium-term fiscal plan would be brought forward three weeks from its scheduled date as the Treasury looks to assuage market fears.
Kwarteng’s initial “mini-budget” announcement on Sep. 23 sent markets into turmoil and was widely criticized for its swathe of debt-funded tax cuts aimed at high earners and corporations, with the government claiming that its plan would drive economic growth.
Yields heading ‘in one direction only’
Also on Oct. 31, the Bank of England plans to begin its delayed sale of gilts as part of a wider quantitative tightening effort and unwinding of pandemic-era monetary stimulus. The Monetary Policy Committee will not meet again until Nov. 3, after the scheduled recommencement of gilt sales.
Several strategists have attributed the lingering skittishness in bond markets, despite the Bank’s efforts, to the limited timescale of its intervention and the prospect of gilt sales beginning again. Others have pointed to uncertainty over whether the government can re-establish credibility with its fiscal policy projections at the end of the month.
Stuart Cole, head macro economist at brokerage Equiti Capital, said the sequence of announcements from the Bank of England since its initial intervention may suggest that it is starting to “lose control” of the gilt market.
“It has to tighten policy to try and get inflation back under control, but at the same time it is engaging in what is, effectively, a further bout of quantitative easing, and so far we have not really had any signs from the Government that it is considering reversing more of the measures announced end-September,” Cole told CNBC via email.
“The market can smell blood and is taking the view that, if the BoE sticks to its plans and ceases its intervention this week, then with no response expected from the Government, and with pressure on the BoE to raise rates more forcefully at the November MPC meeting, yields will be heading in one direction only.”
Based on analysis of the Bank of England’s bond purchases so far, strategists at RBC highlighted in a note Tuesday that the program is not designed to drive yields down, but rather to offer investors who are desperate to sell a means through which to do so.
“This is not the same goal as with the original ‘QE’ programmes where the BoE went into the market with a size target and actively influenced the price. This should give us pause for the coming weeks,” RBC Global Macro Strategist Peter Schaffrik said.
“If the market is already shifting yields aggressively higher with the BoE in the market on the buying side, how will the market deal with an active QT programme, where a predefined size will have to be pushed into the market?”
For this reason, RBC said there is a “distinct possibility” that the Bank of England reconsiders whether to press ahead with its quantitative tightening program, scheduled to begin on Oct. 31 and targeting £80 billion ($88.8 billion) in annual gilt sales.
Schaffrik suggested that the date clash of the government’s medium-term fiscal plan and forecasts, and the beginning of the Bank’s QT program may offer the central bank cover to delay the start, and allow the MPC to assess the market reaction to the Treasury’s plan.
The next few days will be a ‘rollercoaster’
Through its relatively tepid response to inflation earlier in the year, some economists believe the Bank laid the foundations for the volatility and illiquidity currently plaguing the U.K. bond market.
James Athey, investment director at Abrdn, noted Tuesday that the Bank’s decisions are now more fraught, as a lack of aggression will be perceived as weakness by the market, while an overly exuberant reaction could be interpreted as panic.
“Their recent attempts to deal with weakness and volatility in U.K. asset markets, ably assisted by the pernicious impact of excess and unwise leverage in the LDI sector, are but mere sticking plasters,” Athey said.
“As ever though the maxim will hold true – there is nothing so permanent as a temporary government program and the risk for the Bank is that they have already trapped themselves into a program of asset purchases at a time where their mandate dictates they should be withdrawing liquidity to tighten policy.”
As the impending deadline for the temporary gilt purchases draws nearer with neither market weakness nor volatility having “meaningfully subsided,” Athey suggested the next few days are likely to be a “rollercoaster,” regardless of what the Bank eventually decides to do.
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U.S. Government Back And Forth On 'gig' Workers Contractors
U.S. Government Back And Forth On 'gig' Workers, Contractors https://digitalarizonanews.com/u-s-government-back-and-forth-on-gig-workers-contractors/
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Labor on Tuesday unveiled a proposal that would make it harder for companies to treat workers as independent contractors, potentially upending the gig economy and other industries that rely heavily on contract labor, the latest effort by the Biden administration to reverse a Trump-era rule.
Legal battles over which workers can be classified as employees, which forces companies to pay overtime and foot the bill for payroll taxes, social security and benefits, have raged since companies like Uber, Doordash and Lyft have become popular in the United States over the past decade.
Federal guidance has see-sawed depending on who is in power.
OBAMA ADMINISTRATION
The administration of Barack Obama, a Democrat, actively enforced employee misclassification cases but didn’t craft a new regulation, leaving it to Congress to pass legislation interpreting employee status and courts to set boundaries through case law.
It did issue guidance in 2015 that said employment relationships should be measured more by workers’ economic dependency on employers and less by the amount of control exerted over them. TRUMP-ERA RULES:
That dependency guidance was withdrawn in 2017 by Republican Donald Trump’s first labor secretary, and nixed by a U.S. appeals court in 2018 as too broad.
The National Labor Relations Board in May 2019 issued an advisory memo that concluded that because Uber drivers set their hours, own their cars and are free to work for the company’s competitors, they cannot be considered employees under federal labor law.
A DOL proposal in September 2020 made it easier for companies to classify workers as independent contractors if they operated an independent business and had opportunities for profit or loss. In January 2021, two weeks before Trump was to leave office, his administration finalized a rule under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) that reflected that proposal.
BIDEN ADMINISTRATION
The administration of Democrat Joe Biden blocked the Trump rule in May 2021.
A U.S. district judge in Texas in March 2022 blocked the Biden administration withdrawal and ordered the Trump rule to take effect. The Justice Department appealed.
In June 2022, the DOL said it would develop a proposed rule on determining employee or independent contractor status. It held forums in June to hear from workers and companies.
(Reporting by David Shepardson and Nandita Bose; Editing by Heather Timmons and Mark Porter)
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J.D. Vance And Tim Ryan Clash In Ohio Senate Debate Over Who Is 'moderate' And 'extreme'
J.D. Vance And Tim Ryan Clash In Ohio Senate Debate Over Who Is 'moderate' And 'extreme' https://digitalarizonanews.com/j-d-vance-and-tim-ryan-clash-in-ohio-senate-debate-over-who-is-moderate-and-extreme/
WASHINGTON — At different points during Monday night’s debate, the two candidates to represent Ohio in the U.S. Senate favorably referenced Rob Portman, whose imminent retirement leaves open the seat now furiously contested by Rep. Tim Ryan, the Democratic nominee, and his Republican opponent, J.D. Vance.
At a time of intense polarization, Sen. Portman harkens back to a somewhat more moderate mood in Washington. Never much of a Trump administration critic, Portman was instrumental in brokering a deal on President Biden’s $1 trillion infrastructure bill. He was also one of only two Republicans in the Senate to vote in favor of confirming Biden’s nominee to lead the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Though an unabashed conservative, Portman does not engage in conspiracy theories or Twitter feuds.
Ryan and Vance each tried to cast himself as similarly moderate, focused on restoring Ohio’s standing as a manufacturing epicenter while curbing crime and the fentanyl epidemic. With only one debate scheduled between them, and polls showing the two candidates in a virtual tie, Monday was an opportunity for the kind of moment that can boost a candidate across the finish line.
Ultimately, neither Ryan nor Vance achieved the goal. Each took hard but predictable jabs at the other’s professional record, with Ryan depicting Vance as a Silicon Valley elitist and Vance criticizing Ryan for the two decades he has spent in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Ohio Senate candidate Tim Ryan greets Somali community members at a local marketplace in Columbus, Ohio. (Andrew Spear/Getty Images)
“I wish that you were the reasonable moderate you said you were,” Vance said of Ryan, whom he lashed tightly to Democratic congressional leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, exaggerating the congressman’s positions on abortion, immigration, racial justice and transgender rights.
“The extremist here, Tim, is you,” Vance said during one heated exchange.
Ryan seemed faltering at times. On the whole, Vance showed somewhat more vehemence, but it is not clear that his performance will be enough to convince undecided voters, some of whom may not be sure if Vance is the maverick populist who authored “Hillbilly Elegy” and criticized then-President Donald Trump or, once his political ambitions came into focus, the ardent Trump supporter who echoed the defeated president’s conspiracies about the 2020 election.
“You’re from Silicon Valley,” Ryan said at one point, referencing Vance’s work for venture capital firms in the San Francisco Bay Area. “You don’t understand what’s going on here in Ohio.”
During a recent rally for Vance, even Trump joked about Vance’s about-face, mocking the Yale Law School graduate for “kissing my ass.” Ryan eagerly reprised the line on Monday, telling Vance that “Ohio needs an ass-kicker, not an ass kisser,” in what appeared to be the debate’s most popular line on social media.
With the midterm elections now less than a month away, Ohio has emerged — along with neighboring Pennsylvania and nearby Wisconsin — as a key battleground that will determine control of the Senate. Ryan distanced himself from Democratic leadership in Washington, agreeing that Biden should not seek re-election in 2024.
Ohio Republican Senate candidate J.D. Vance speaks to supporters at a Save America Rally at the Covelli Centre in September in Youngstown. (Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)
“I’d like to see a generational change,” Ryan said, though he did not clearly answer a question later in the debate about whether Schumer should remain the Democratic leader in the Senate. He also said that Vice President Kamala Harris was “absolutely wrong” when she declared last month that the border with Mexico was “secure.”
Throughout the summer, Democrats have relied on anger over the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned the 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion, to help blunt Republicans’ momentum heading into the midterms. But there are signs that abortion is fading as an electoral issue at precisely the wrong moment for Democrats.
Reproductive choice came up, as expected, during Monday’s debate, and both candidates seemed prepared with familiar arguments unlikely to convince the unconvinced. About Sen. Lindsey Graham’s controversial national abortion ban proposal, Vance said that “some minimal national standard is totally fine with me.”
During a discussion about the case of a 10-year-old Ohio girl who had been raped and was forced to travel to Indiana to legally obtain an abortion, Vance turned the discussion into one of illegal immigration, since the alleged rapist was an undocumented immigrant.
“Do your job on border security,” Vance flatly told Ryan.
Vance also had Ryan on the defensive about crime, an issue on which Republicans believed they have the more compelling message. Using racially charged rhetoric popular with other conservatives, he cast Ryan as an ally of “the BLM riots,” a reference to the Black Lives Matter racial justice protests that shook the nation in the summer of 2020.
“I’ve tried to be a part of the solution here,” Ryan answered somewhat defensively about the issue of public safety. Like many other Democrats, he has had to rebut false charges that he is in favor of defunding the police. The charge appears to have been especially potent in Wisconsin, where the perennially unpopular incumbent Sen. Ron Johnson is using attacks on crime and policing to open a narrow but consistent lead against Democratic candidate Mandela Barnes.
Ultimately, it was difficult to see how either candidate would benefit from the debate, given that each gave his opponent plenty of fodder for the kinds of partisan attacks that will dominate Ohio airwaves in the weeks to come. Perhaps a series of debates would have let the candidates more clearly articulate their positions, but Vance would agree to only a single debate, in keeping with an emerging trend among Republicans.
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Trump Records Lawyer Meets With FBI In Mar-A-Lago Probe
Trump Records Lawyer Meets With FBI In Mar-A-Lago Probe https://digitalarizonanews.com/trump-records-lawyer-meets-with-fbi-in-mar-a-lago-probe/
FILE – President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate is seen from the media van in the presidential motorcade in Palm Beach, Fla., March 24, 2018, en route to Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Fla. The FBI search of Donald Trumps Florida estate has spawned a parallel special master process that this month slowed down a criminal investigation and exposed simmering tensions between Justice Department prosecutors and lawyers for the former president. The probe into the presence of top-secret information at Mar-a-Lago continues. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File) (Carolyn Kaster, Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
WASHINGTON – A lawyer for former president Donald Trump who signed a letter stating that a “diligent search” for classified records had been conducted and that all such documents had been given back to the government has spoken with the FBI, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Christina Bobb told federal investigators during Friday’s interview that she had not drafted the letter but that another Trump lawyer who she said actually prepared it had asked her to sign it in her role as a designated custodian for Trump’s records, said the person, who insisted on anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.
The process is of interest to investigators because the Justice Department says the letter was untrue in asserting that all classified records sought by the government had been located and returned. Though the letter, and 38 documents bearing classification markings, were presented to FBI and Justice Department officials during a June 3 visit to Mar-a-Lago, agents returned to the Florida estate with a search warrant on Aug. 8 and seized about 100 additional classified records.
According to a court filing last month, the signed certification letter presented to investigators who went to Mar-a-Lago on June 3 to recover classified material after earlier issuing a subpoena for them said that “a diligent search was conducted of the boxes that were moved from the White House to Florida” and that “any and all responsive documents accompany this certification.”
The letter also included the caveat that the statements in it were true “based upon the information that has been provided to me.”
At the time, the FBI was presented with an envelope containing 38 documents with classification markings, including at the top-secret level. But agents began to suspect that they had not received the entire stash of records, and returned two months later with a warrant.
Bobb told the FBI that the letter was actually drafted and prepared by another of Trump’s lawyers, M. Evan Corcoran, and that he had asked her to sign it in her capacity as custodian, according to the person.
Corcoran did not immediately return an email and phone message on Tuesday. Spokespeople for the FBI and Justice Department declined to comment, and Bobb did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment.
The interview was first reported by NBC News. The person familiar with it said it was a voluntary discussion with investigators and did not take place before a grand jury, and that she is not regarded as a target of the investigation.
The Justice Department has said that, beyond investigating possible crimes in the retention of the documents themselves, it is also investigating whether anyone sought to obstruct its probe. It is not clear if anyone will be charged.
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Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/etuckerAP
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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New Zogby Poll Shows Biden Much Stronger Among Dems Than Thought And Beating Trump
New Zogby Poll Shows Biden Much Stronger Among Dems Than Thought And Beating Trump https://digitalarizonanews.com/new-zogby-poll-shows-biden-much-stronger-among-dems-than-thought-and-beating-trump/
Biden Challenger Jerome Segal Also Beats Trump, Gets 1/5 of Democrats Against Biden
47% want Biden:
, /PRNewswire/ — A new poll by John Zogby Strategies showed that 47% of Democrats want President Biden as their nominee in 2024, 23% do not, and 30% are undecided. Previous polls had showed that a majority of Democrats did not want the President to run again.
In July, a New York Times – Siena College poll reported that 63% of Democrats preferred that the nominee be someone other than Biden, and in September a Washington Post – ABC poll found that among Democrats and Democrat-leaning Independents, by 56% to 35%, voters preferred that he not be the candidate.
The new poll surveyed 1006 likely voters on-line. It was conducted Oct 5th and has a margin of error of +/- 3.2 % for all voters and +/- 5.3 % for when only Democrats were queried.
The poll was commissioned by “2024 – Segal For President” the campaign committee of social philosopher and peace activist Jerome Segal who is challenging Biden for the Democratic nomination.
Commenting on these results Segal said,
“The new data make clear that it will be more difficult than previously thought for anyone to prevent Biden from getting the nomination, if he decides to run. And this may discourage some from deciding to challenge him. On the other hand, 47% is not a strong showing; less than half of Democrats want a sitting president to run again. The 30% who said they were “undecided” were mostly saying, “It depends on who the alternative is.”
“Also, the poll did not measure depth of support. In 2020, Biden won the nomination because it was widely believed that he had the best shot at beating Trump. He needs to show that he can do it again, both against Trump or any other likely Republican candidate. If other candidates show they can also beat Trump, they will have strong support; and if someone shows that they are stronger against Trump or DeSantis than Biden, it’s a whole new ball game.”
Biden beats Trump 45% to 41%:
The poll gave Biden the critical element that he needs to retain party support, that he can beat off a challenge by former President Trump. Biden won, 45% to 41%, with 7% saying they would vote for “other” and “6.5%” saying they were unsure.
Segal also beats Trump:
The poll also examined how Segal would do against Trump. It showed Segal beating the former President by 40% to 39%. Trump actually got fewer votes against Segal than against Biden, declining from 41% to 39%. Segal’s margin of victory was narrower because those choosing “unsure” almost doubled, going to 12.7%, from 6.5% in the Biden v Trump contest.
Segal commented:
“This for me is the big news. It puts the campaign in an entirely different light. If you say to voters, “Here are two Democrats, both of them can beat Trump, which one do you prefer?” it totally transforms the race, as it undermines the primary reason Democrats coalesced around Biden. That was his main selling point. No one is really passionate about him.”
Segal gets 22% against Biden:
The poll also pitted Segal in a head-to-head contest with Biden. The President won handily. Segal got 22% of the Democratic vote to Biden’s 56%, with another 22% undecided.
Segal commented: “If it had been known that I could beat Trump, my vote total against Biden would have, at least, been doubled. Democrats overwhelmingly support the new kind of socialism I am advocating. I’m held back because the assumption is that a socialist, especially one without wide name recognition, can’t beat Trump. Once it’s clear that I can, attention will focus more on what I’m for than on Trump.”
Democrats Support Socialism:
Segal is the founder of bread and roses socialism. In the poll this was described to voters as:
“A new set of ideas that blends Bernie Sanders type policies with a key goal of simple living: being able to meet basic needs with a modest income so that one is free to reduce the amount of time one puts in at the job. This would involve a cultural shift towards lives with more leisure time, or more meaningful work, rather than more money and more stuff. Under this approach, everyone would have a legal right to a 3-day job. And with policies such as higher minimum wages and strong limits on the costs of meeting core needs of healthcare, education, housing, transportation and childcare, everyone could have a vibrant life even without a super job. The other 4 days a week could be devoted to pursuing our passions, whatever they might be, with or without pay, or just having more time with friends and family.”
Asked how they felt about this new form of socialism, 62% of Democrats said they either “love it” or “like it” and only 12% saying “dislike” or “hate it.” Even among Republicans, 33% said “love or like,” and 46% said “dislike or hate.”
Segal commented:
“This again shows the real potential of the campaign. With this underlying support for my policies, as I get better known, and as it is clear that I can beat Trump, support will surge.”
Separate releases will detail voter preferences that were surveyed on eight separate questions about bread and roses socialism and its policy agenda, as well as on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, both central aspects of Segal’s program.
For more information contact Dr. Segal at [email protected] or 445-216-3846
SOURCE Jerome Segal
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Post Politics Now: Biden Seeks To Make His Partys Case In Prime-Time TV Interview
Post Politics Now: Biden Seeks To Make His Party’s Case In Prime-Time TV Interview https://digitalarizonanews.com/post-politics-now-biden-seeks-to-make-his-partys-case-in-prime-time-tv-interview/
Today, with the midterm elections only four weeks off, President Biden will seek to make his party’s case in a sit-down interview airing in prime time on CNN. The conversation with the network’s Jake Tapper offers Biden an opportunity to discuss the economy, abortion rights and other issues at top of mind for voters. Biden gives such interviews infrequently.
Earlier, Biden is scheduled to participate in a virtual meeting of the Group of Seven nations — Britain, Germany, France, Japan, Italy, Canada and the United States — to discuss Russia’s latest aggressions and to renew support for Ukraine. The meeting comes at a critical point as Russian President Vladimir Putin attempts to escalate the conflict in Ukraine.
Your daily dashboard
8 a.m. Eastern: Biden and other G-7 leaders hold a virtual meeting to discuss support for Ukraine.
1:15 p.m. Eastern: White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre briefs reporters. Watch live here.
2:30 p.m. Eastern: Biden delivers virtual remarks at the Summit on Fire Prevention and Control. Watch live here.
Got a question about politics? Submit it here. After 3 p.m. weekdays, return to this space and we’ll address what’s on the mind of readers.
The latest: Ads try to help Abrams with undecided Black male voters
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In an effort to boost support for Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams, People for the American Way is launching a new plan focused on undecided Black male voters in Georgia.
The group is beginning a radio ad on Tuesday that starts with an extraordinary admission. “Look, I know she’s not your favorite,” one man says to the other in the spot, referring to Abrams. “But Brian Kemp? You gotta watch what he does, not just what he says.”
Kemp, Georgia’s Republican governor, is campaigning for a second term as polls show he has an edge in the race. And polls show that Abrams, who is African American, is underperforming with Black men.
Take a look: Son’s accusations about Herschel Walker are focus of new ad
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A national Democratic group announced a new television ad Tuesday that features recent criticism that Republican Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker’s son leveled last week against his father.
Georgia Honor, a group funded by the Senate Majority PAC, which is affiliated with Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), quotes a recent social media statement by Christian Walker, Herschel’s son, along with news coverage of the public family fallout. The ad was first reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The latest: Republican Kinzinger endorses Democrats in key races
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Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), a fierce critic of former president Donald Trump, is out with a list of a dozen candidates endorsed by his leadership PAC, Country First.
Half of them are Democrats.
Kinzinger, who opted not to seek reelection this year himself, endorsed four Democratic secretary of state candidates: incumbents Steve Simon in Minnesota and Jocelyn Benson in Michigan; and Adrian Fontes in Arizona and Cisco Aguilar in Nevada, both of whom are seeking open seats. The winners of these races will play a big role in administering elections in their states.
Analysis: Biden faces new tests on Ukraine
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The war in Ukraine is at a critical inflection point as Russian President Vladimir Putin attempts to escalate the conflict despite a hampered military, with Ukraine’s allies skittish about high energy prices ahead of winter and the United Nations set to vote on a draft resolution condemning Russia.
Writing in The Early 202, The Post’s Theodoric Meyer and Leigh Ann Caldwell say that President Biden will attend a virtual meeting of the Group of Seven — Britain, Germany, France, Japan, Italy, Canada and the United States — Tuesday to discuss Russia’s latest aggressions and to renew support for Ukraine. Per our colleagues:
On our radar: Biden to sit for prime-time interview with CNN
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President Biden plans to sit for a one-on-one interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper that is scheduled to air Tuesday night in prime time.
Biden, who grants such interviews infrequently, is expected to make his party’s case ahead of the November midterms, which are now just four weeks off. CNN plans to air the interview at 9 p.m. Eastern time.
Biden has previously taken part in CNN-hosted town halls but has not granted the network a one-on-one interview. His most recent such interview aired last month on CBS’s “60 Minutes.”
Noted: ‘Nobody should have to go to jail for smoking weed,’ Harris says
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Vice President Harris on Monday urged both governors and Congress to take action in the wake of President Biden’s announcement last week that he is offering mass pardons to people convicted of a federal crime for simply possessing marijuana.
“Nobody should have to go to jail for smoking weed, right?” Harris said during an appearance on NBC’s “Late Night with Seth Meyers.”
Harris, a former prosecutor, reiterated Biden’s plea to governors to take similar actions at the state level, where the vast majority of marijuana-related convictions take place.
On our radar: Abortion rights advocates eye ballot measures for 2024
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Abortion rights advocates are exploring ballot measures to enshrine access to the procedure in state constitutions in 2024, including in a handful of Republican-led states with restrictions on the books.
The Post’s Rachel Roubein reports that the effort represents an emerging strategy for abortion rights advocates and a growing belief that public opinion is on their side. After the Supreme Court overturned the decision granting a constitutional right to abortion, activists know that appealing directly to voters is one of the only ways to counteract bans in conservative states and reshape access in a post-Roe America. Per Rachel:
Noted: How Trump’s legal expenses consumed GOP donor money
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Donald Trump’s political operation has spent more money since he left office on lawyers representing him and a pair of nonprofits staffed by former Cabinet members than it has on Republican congressional campaigns, according to a review of financial filings.
The Post’s Isaac Stanley-Becker and Josh Dawsey report that Trump’s leadership PAC, Save America, has blitzed supporters in recent days with fundraising solicitations that focus on next month’s high-stakes contest for control of Congress. “It is IMPERATIVE that we win BIG in November,” blared an email last week.
The latest: Ohio Senate candidates play to center in debate
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Both of Ohio’s Senate candidates played to the center Monday at their first debate, attempting to define themselves as the common-sense alternative to ideologically extreme opponents.
Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan (R) praised the trade and military funding policies of former president Donald Trump, while saying President Biden should not run again and Vice President Harris was “absolutely wrong” when she said the southern border was secure.
He cast Republican J.D. Vance as an “extremist” supplicant to Trump.
Noted: New book details how McCarthy came to support Trump after Jan. 6
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A new book details a Republican-wide campaign to whitewash the details of what happened on Jan. 6, 2021, in the aftermath of the second impeachment of President Donald Trump, including the role played by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).
The Post’s Marianna Sotomayor reports on the book, “Unchecked: The Untold Story Behind Congress’s Botched Impeachments of Donald Trump,” by Washington Post reporter Karoun Demirjian and Politico reporter Rachael Bade. A copy was obtained by The Post ahead of its release next week.
The latest: Biden scrambles to avert cracks in pro-Ukraine coalition
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President Biden is pushing hard to hold together what has become a central mission of his presidency: maintaining the global and domestic coalition supporting Ukraine against Russia’s aggression.
The Post’s Yasmeen Abutaleb and John Hudson report that as the war heads into its first winter, probably a bitter and brutal one, some U.S. allies face economic head winds propelled by the war, while at home some Republicans voice skepticism about the billions in aid going to Ukraine. Per our colleagues:
These efforts face a major test Wednesday when the United Nations votes on a draft resolution condemning Russia’s annexation of four parts of Ukraine.
Biden and U.S. officials have been working to convince nonaligned countries in Latin America, Asia and Africa to refrain from taking a neutral position and condemn the Kremlin outright, an effort analysts said might be bolstered by Russia’s barrage of missile attacks Monday on Kyiv and other major Ukrainian cities.
U.S. leaders are hoping at least 100 of the 193 U.N. member states — the number that supported a 2014 U.N. resolution condemning Russia’s annexation of Crimea — will support the draft resolution, several senior administration officials said.
You can read the full story here.
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