Month: March 2018

Lights Go Dark for Earth Hour to Highlight Climate Change

Posted on by SeeEU

In Paris, the Eiffel Tower went dark. In London, so did the Tower Bridge, Big Ben, Piccadilly Circus, the London Eye. 

 

That scene was repeated over and over around the world Saturday night: at Sydney’s Opera House; at New Delhi’s great arch; at Kuala Lumpur’s Petronas Towers; at Edinburgh Castle in Scotland; at Brandenburg Gate in Berlin; at St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow.

It lasted for an hour and its power is purely symbolic. But in countries around the world, at 8:30 p.m., people were switching off their lights for Earth Hour, a global call for international unity on the importance of addressing climate change. 

‘Universal message’

Since beginning in Sydney in 2007, Earth Hour has spread to more than 180 countries, with tens of millions of people joining in, from turning off their own porch lights to letting the grand sites like the Opera House go dark. 

 

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said 300 Paris buildings observed the blackout to send a “universal message.”

 

Those 60 minutes are “an opportunity” to shift “the consumption culture and behavior change toward sustainability,” Indian Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan said.

 

All this happens and yet many people, of course, barely notice. 

 

Around India Gate, New Delhi’s monument to the Indian dead in World War I, thousands embraced the city’s nightly warm-weather ritual Saturday. They bought ice cream and cheap plastic trinkets. They flirted. Young children rode in electric carts that their parents rented for a few minutes at a stretch. 

 

But for an hour the arch stayed dark, a silent call for change.

Guinness attempt

 

In Jordan, the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature arranged 11,440 candles on a hilltop in the capital of Amman, establishing a Guinness World Record for the largest candle mosaic. 

 

The candles spelled the Earth Hour motto of “60+.” However, attempts to light the candles largely failed because of wind on the hilltop, which is close to the city’s landmark, the Amman Citadel.
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Young Catholics Urge Creative Church Outreach — to Coffee Bars

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It might be called Cappuccino Catholicism.

Young Catholics told their church elders on Saturday that the faith should be spread in the places where they like to hang out, such as coffee bars.

“We would like the church to meet us in the various places in which she currently has little or no presence,” reads part of a 12-page document written by 300 young Catholic delegates from around the world, who met for a week at the Vatican.

“The church should try to find creative new ways to encounter people where they are comfortable and where they naturally socialize: bars, coffee shops, parks, gyms, stadiums and any other popular cultural centers,” it said.

The delegates met in Rome to share their ideas and concerns with Vatican officials ahead of a synod, or meeting of bishops, in October, on the theme of “Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment.”

At a news conference presenting the paper, which will feed into a larger working document to be used by the bishops, participants said they wanted their church to be more open and transparent and less severe.

The document called for a greater role for women in the church, which bars them from the priesthood.

“What are the places where women can flourish within the church and society? The church can approach these problems with real discussion and open-mindedness to different ideas and experiences,” it said.

“If it is difficult for young people to feel a sense of belonging and leadership in the church, it is much more so for young women,” the document said.

They said they wanted to “encourage the church to deepen its understanding of the role of women and to empower young women.”

Earlier this month, Catholic women, led by former Irish President Mary McAleese, demanded a greater decision-making role for women in the church, urging the pope to tear down its “walls of misogyny.”

The document said the 1.2 billion-member church “oftentimes appears as too severe and is often associated with excessive moralism.” It called for a church that is “welcoming and merciful … and which loves everyone, even those who are not following the perceived standards.”
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Some Fear Steel Tariff Could Hurt Auto Industry in the South

Posted on by SeeUS

German business leaders are expressing concerns that President Donald Trump’s 25 percent tariff on imported steel could affect the auto industry in the South.

 

WABE Radio reports Mercedes-Benz USA this month opened its new North American headquarters in Sandy Springs, Georgia, for 1,000 employees.

The luxury car manufacturer is owned by Germany-based Daimler, but Mercedes-Benz USA CEO Dietmar Exler used the grand opening to remind the crowd of the brand’s U.S. presence.

German automakers in US 

That includes operations in South Carolina and in Alabama.

 

“We are now in the midst of construction of our own factory here, which will open doors in the fall in Charleston, South Carolina, and we’ll make all of the Sprinter vans for North America right here,” Exler said at the grand opening of its headquarters in Sandy Springs, Georgia, just north of Atlanta.

 

“Right next to me you have a member of the most successful SUV family, a GLE Coupe,” Exler said. “As you know, the GLE and the GLS are produced in Alabama. Last year, 280,000 cars were produced here not just for the U.S. market, but for markets all over the world.”

 

German car factories in the U.S. made more than 800,000 vehicles last year, and about half were sold overseas, according to the German Association of the Automotive Industry.

 

This month, Volkswagen of America Inc. announced plans to build a new five-passenger SUV at its factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where it manufactures other vehicles. Volkswagen AG is based in Wolfsburg, Germany.

 

“During my time as governor, I’ve watched Volkswagen Chattanooga flourish from a single vehicle producer, starting with the Passat, into what it is today — a thriving U.S. manufacturing operation that can produce three models, and counting,” said Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam said in a statement Monday, when plans were announced.

 

“We value Volkswagen as a committed partner, whose investments in the state have not only created new jobs, but have helped us build a skilled Tennessee workforce,” Haslam said.

Volkswagen Chattanooga also manufactures the Passat and the Atlas.

​Trump proclamation, industry concern

Trump signed a proclamation last week to impose a 25 percent tariff on steel from every country except Canada and Mexico. The hope is to boost steel manufacturing in the U.S.

The concern among some industry experts is that tariffs on steel could hurt companies like Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and Porsche, all of which have significant operations in the South, said Stefan Mair of the Federation of German Industries in Berlin.

 

“Do you see the cars outside? There’s a lot of steel in there,” Mair said at the grand opening of the Georgia headquarters complex. “We think there will be some additional percentage points on the prices of cars.”

 

That price increase could be enough to stop people from buying new cars, said Lisa Cook, who teaches economics and international relations at Michigan State University.

 

“If consumers are price sensitive, and they are for many types of cars, this could cause people to postpone their decision to purchase a car,” Cook said.

US steel in cars

 

A little more than a quarter of all U.S. steel is used to make cars in this country, according to the German American Chamber of Commerce for the southern U.S.

 

“Approximately 25 percent of all steel is used in automotive manufacturing and 10 percent in machinery and equipment; both industries that German companies have heavily invested in the U.S. over the years,” said Stefanie Ziska, president of GACC South.

 

Making cars more expensive to build and export could hurt U.S. jobs, said Jeffrey Rosensweig, who teaches international business at Georgia’s Emory University.

 

“That would not only cost us jobs, it would hurt the U.S. and could potentially harm the U.S. trade balance,” Rosensweig said. “Just the opposite of what President Trump thinks he’s trying to achieve.”

 

He said the steel tariffs could trigger a trade war that would go beyond the auto industry.

 

“These foreign nations that we’re going to put these import taxes on, these tariffs, are not stupid,” Rosensweig said. “They’re going to retaliate against our exports, and they’re going to hit us where it hurts, which is often our farm exports.”
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Martin Luther King Jr’s Granddaughter Appeals for ‘Gun-Free World’

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The 9-year-old granddaughter of Martin Luther King Jr. made a rousing appearance at a huge protest for gun control in Washington on Saturday, saying that like the slain civil rights leader she too has a dream — “a gun-free world.”

The poised young girl made a surprise appearance at the “March For Our Lives” rally, held near the National Mall where her grandfather delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech calling for an end to racism in the United States in August 1963.

WATCH: Yolanda Renee King at March for Our Lives event

“My grandfather had a dream that his four little children will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character,” Yolanda Renee King told the crowd.

“I have a dream that enough is enough,” she said. “And that this should be a gun-free world — period.”

She then led the rapt crowd in a chant. “Spread the word have you heard, all across the nation, we are going to be a great generation,” she said.

A crowd estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands attended the March For Our Lives in Washington calling for tougher US gun laws — less than two weeks before the 50th anniversary of the fatal shooting of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968.

Large rallies were also held in scores of cities across the country.

The protests were organized by students at Marjory Douglas Stoneman High School in Parkland, Florida, where 14 students and three adult faculty members were shot dead by a troubled 19-year-old former classmate on February 14.
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Are Budget, Tax Cuts Enough for Voters to Stick With GOP?

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With the passage of an enormous budget bill, the GOP-controlled Congress all but wrapped up its legislating for the year. But will it be enough to persuade voters to give Republicans another term at the helm?

In two big ways, Republicans have done what they promised. They passed a long-sought tax overhaul bill that slashed tax rates. They’ve rolled back regulations, in ways they claim are boosting the economy. In the Senate, they confirmed a justice to the Supreme Court.

But there are signs Americans wanted more: immigration reforms, gun control legislation, even an infrastructure plan that President Donald Trump promised voters. Tax cuts, for now, will have to do.

“It’s very clear that tax reform was going to be the biggest legislative crown jewel of this Congress,” said Matt Gorman, the spokesman for the House GOP’s campaign arm, the National Republican Congressional Committee. “That is a massive centerpiece of our campaign.”

​Mixed messages

But polls swing wildly these days, strategists said. Voters are rarely focused for too long on single issues that can make or break campaigns, as when Republicans seized control of the House in 2010 amid the economic downturn or Democrats pushed to the majority in 2006 over opposition to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and congressional ethics scandals.

Trump’s mixed messages on the GOP’s accomplishments only make the campaigning more difficult. At the White House on Friday, he toyed with a veto of the $1.3 trillion budget package, complaining it lacked his immigration deal and smacked of overspending, before ultimately signing it. Such shifting views leave Republicans without a reliable partner as they try to push through political headwinds in what’s expected to be a tough battle for majority control of the House and Senate.

Lawmakers left town for a two-week recess that marks the unofficial end of the legislating season having shelved resolution of other issues.

Leftovers: health care, DACA

Congress failed to pass legislation to curb rising health insurance premiums or protect young immigrants known as Dreamers from deportation, two issues that have stirred voters this year. And before the nationwide “March for Our Lives” protests against gun violence, lawmakers took modest steps to boost school safety funds and improve compliance with the federal gun purchase background check system.

Kris Brown, co-president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said the measures are “just not enough.”

“The American people have been screaming from the rooftops for real, bold change to fight against” tragedies such as the Florida and Las Vegas shootings, Brown said. “We have seen the consequences of Congress’s inaction.”

A modest agenda

Congress’ spring agenda is thin. It includes modest plans to finish a banking bill that rolls back some of the regulations put in place after the financial crisis and pass a big farm bill that sets agriculture and school nutrition policies. The Senate also has to begin confirmation hearings for Trump’s nominees for secretary of state and CIA director.

The one legislative lift will be another spending bill when the one Trump signed into law expires at the end of September. But it may bring more political risk than reward for Republicans, since conservatives largely sided with the president against this one, and could pose a more serious threat of voter revolt in the fall.

Strategists say it will be up to candidates to make the case that the GOP’s signature legislative accomplishment is worth their re-election.

Democrats have been hammering on the tax law as a giveaway to big business, in part because the steep reduction in corporate rates, from 35 percent to 21 percent, is permanent while the reduced rates for individuals and other provisions for families, including expanded child tax credits, expire in coming years.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has derided the lopsided benefits for households as “crumbs” — a quip Republicans eagerly throw back at Democrats. 

Millions in GOP ads

To prop up public opinion of the GOP’s top accomplishment, millions are being spent by outside groups. American Action Network, which is aligned with House Speaker Paul Ryan, is unleashing more than $30 million in ads, and the network backed by the influential Koch brothers will spend more than $20 million, heaping praise on lawmakers who voted for the tax cuts and informing voters about those who didn’t.

And with passage of tax cuts so important to the GOP election effort, Republicans might take the unusual step of trying to pass them again.

“We think there’s more we can do,” Ryan said.

House GOP leaders are seriously considering legislation this summer — “Tax Cuts 2” — that would try to build on the original bill that became law in December by making the individual tax cuts permanent.

A do-over tax cuts bill is not expected to pass this Congress. But setting up another showdown accomplishes political goals for Republicans by turning attention back on the tax law, and pushing Democrats into the uncomfortable position of voting against it, again.

Americans for Prosperity, one of the groups in the Koch network, launched an ad campaign urging Congress to fortify the law by making tax cuts permanent. “More needs to be done,” the group says on a website for its advocacy.

“Even if there are things that get passed between now and the fall, the bottom line is the single most important piece of legislation is going to be the tax bill,” said veteran strategist David Winston, who advises House and Senate GOP leadership. “That defines what this Congress is about.”
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Survivor Marks 6 Minutes of Strength, Silence at Rally

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Chin high and tears streaming, Florida school shooting survivor Emma Gonzalez stood silent in front of thousands gathered for the “March for Our Lives” rally in Washington.

She continued to stand silently as a few crowd members shouted out support. She remained silent as tentative chants broke out. Her silence continued as those attending also fell quiet, many weeping.

The gripping moment stretched for 6 minutes and 20 seconds, the amount of time Gonzalez said it took a shooter to kill 17 people and wound 15 others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, last month.

6 minutes and 20 seconds

“Everyone who has been touched by the cold grip of gun violence understands,” Gonzalez told the hushed crowd, describing the long hours spent waiting for authorities to identify their slain classmates, the horror of discovering many of them had breathed their last breaths before many students even knew a “code red” alert — designed to warn staffers and students of a potential threat — had been called.

“Six minutes and 20 seconds with an AR-15 and my friend Carmen [Schentrup] would never complain to me about piano practice,” she said, her voice strong but her throat momentarily catching. “Aaron Feis would never call Kyra ‘Miss Sunshine.’ Alex Schachter would never walk into school with his brother Ryan.”

Gonzalez went on, listing name after name of those killed at the school Feb. 14.

Silence spreads

And then she stopped, her breath heaving but remaining composed, looking straight ahead and silent.

Seemingly unsure what to do, the crowed waited. Some appeared to catch her intent right away, watching with hands covering mouths, foreheads wrinkled and tears falling. Chants of “never again” broke out for a time, and later someone came out from the wings of the stage to put a hand on her shoulder and whisper in her ear.

The silence by now had spread to the thousands thronging Pennsylvania Avenue. Protesters, parents, television news crews waited to see what Gonzalez would do next.

The beeping of a digital alarm broke the silence.

“Since the time that I came out here, it has been six minutes and 20 seconds. The shooter has ceased shooting and will soon abandon his rifle, blend in with the students as they escape and walk free for an hour before arrest,” she said, voice clear. “Fight for your lives before it’s someone else’s job.”

‘Get out there and vote’

Gonzalez is one of several teens from the school to become gun control activists in the wake of the shooting. Their efforts have galvanized youth nationwide, with hundreds of thousands attending similar rallies across the country.

As the three-hour rally wrapped up, Gonzalez assigned some homework for the demonstrators:

“One final plug,” she said. “Get out there and vote.”
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New Protest Held Against Volokolamsk Landfill Near Moscow

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About 1,000 people have protested again in Volokolamsk, some 100 kilometers west of Moscow, demanding the closure of a landfill that has been leaking toxic gas that harmed dozens of children this week.

The protesters gathered outside the local administration headquarters, many of them wearing pink ribbons as homage to a local schoolgirl who shamed Moscow region Governor Andrei Vorobyov with a defiant gesture during a previous protest.

Saturday’s protest came despite the fact that Vorobyov the previous day fired the district chief, after dozens of local children were hospitalized Wednesday due to apparently breathing gas that leaked from the Yadrovo landfill near Volokolamsk.

Vorobyov’s office said that he replaced Yevgeny Gavrilov with another regional official.

Some 150 schoolchildren sought medical assistance Wednesday after they felt extremely sick following a suspected leak of noxious gas from Yadrovo.

The same day, angry residents scuffled with government officials in Volokolamsk, demanding explanations and the closure of the dump. Vorobyov was pelted with snowballs and confronted by irate residents.

During the protest, 10-year-old Tanya Lozova, a local girl who was wearing a pink ski cap and bright jacket, was caught on cameras pointing her finger in a throat-cutting gesture at Vorobyov, who was promising furious residents that he would quickly deal with the problem.

Lozova, who instantly became an internet hero in Russia, told Dozhd TV that her gesture was meant to say “You are killing us!” She said she wanted the landfill to close so “people finally could breathe fresh air.”

On March 7, Volokolamsk authorities declared a temporary state of emergency, saying the level of hydrogen sulphide in the air was recorded as 2.5 times higher and the level of nitric oxide was double usual levels because of a gas leak at the landfill.

The Yadrovo landfill was opened in 2008 and is a dumping site for garbage from Moscow and nearby regions. Local residents have been staging protests, demanding the closure of the landfill for some time.

The Moscow regional authorities said earlier Friday that the landfill will suspend its operations until April 14, after which the old section of the dump will be closed.

In the past, local authorities had promised to “modernize” the landfill but refused to consider closing it.
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UK Watchdog Evaluates Evidence From Cambridge Analytica

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Britain’s information regulator said Saturday that it was assessing evidence gathered from a raid on the office of data mining firm Cambridge Analytica, part of an investigation into alleged misuse of personal information by political campaigns and social media companies like Facebook.

More than a dozen investigators from the Information Commissioner’s Office entered the company’s central London office late Friday, shortly after a High Court judge granted a warrant. The investigators were seen leaving the premises early Saturday after spending about seven hours searching the office.

The regulator said it would “consider the evidence before deciding the next steps and coming to any conclusions.”

“This is one part of a larger investigation by the ICO into the use of personal data and analytics by political campaigns, parties, social media companies and other commercial actors,” it said.

Authorities in Britain as well as the U.S. are investigating Cambridge Analytica over allegations the firm improperly obtained data from 50 million Facebook users and used it to manipulate elections, including the 2016 White House race and the 2016 Brexit vote in Britain.

Both Cambridge Analytica and Facebook deny wrongdoing. 

​Chief executive suspended

The data firm suspended its CEO, Alexander Nix, this week after Britain’s Channel 4 News broadcast footage that appeared to show Nix suggesting tactics like entrapment or bribery that his company could use to discredit politicians. The footage also showed Nix saying Cambridge Analytica played a major role in securing Donald Trump’s victory in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Cambridge Analytica’s acting chief executive, Alexander Tayler, said Friday that he was sorry that SCL Elections, an affiliate of his company, “licensed Facebook data and derivatives from a research company [Global Science Research] that had not received consent from most respondents” in 2014.

“The company believed that the data had been obtained in line with Facebook’s terms of service and data protection laws,” Tayler said.

His statement said the data were deleted in 2015 at Facebook’s request, and he denied that any of the Facebook data that Cambridge Analytica obtained were used in the work it did on the 2016 U.S. election.
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Bombing Kills 2 in Egypt’s Alexandria, Targets Security Chief

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A bomb placed under a car exploded in Egypt’s second city Alexandria on Saturday, killing two people including a policeman, state news agency MENA

reported.

The bombing, which also wounded four policemen, had targeted Alexandria’s security chief police Major General Mostafa al-Nemr, the interior ministry said.

MENA quoted Nemr as saying that two people, a policeman and a driver, were killed in the blast.

Photos on social media that Reuters could not independently verify showed a burnt out car and smoke at the site of the blast.

“On Saturday March 24 an explosive device planted underneath a car exploded … as the Alexandria security chief drove by,” the interior ministry statement said.

Eyewitnesses said police and military personnel had formed a perimeter around the site of the explosion, which took place two days before the country is due to hold a presidential election.
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Wayne Huizenga, Who Built Fortune in Trash, Dies at 80

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H. Wayne Huizenga, a college dropout who built a business empire that included Blockbuster Entertainment, AutoNation and three professional sports franchises, has died. He was 80.

Huizenga died Thursday night at his home, said Valerie Hinkell, a longtime assistant. The cause was cancer, said Bob Henninger, executive vice president of Huizenga Holdings.

Starting with a single garbage truck in 1968, Huizenga built Waste Management Inc. into a Fortune 500 company. He purchased independent sanitation engineering companies, and by the time he took the company public in 1972, he had completed the acquisition of 133 small-time haulers. By 1983, Waste Management was the largest waste disposal company in the United States.

The business model worked again with Blockbuster Video, which he started in 1985 and built into the leading movie rental chain nine years later. In 1996, he formed AutoNation and built it into a Fortune 500 company.

Sports team owner

Huizenga was founding owner of baseball’s Florida Marlins and the NHL’s Florida Panthers — expansion teams that played their first games in 1993. He bought the NFL’s Miami Dolphins and their stadium for $168 million in 1994 from the children of founder Joe Robbie but had sold all three teams by 2009.

“Wayne Huizenga was a seminal figure in the cultural history of South Florida,” current Dolphins owner Stephen Ross said in a statement. “He completely changed the landscape of the region’s sports scene. … Sports fans throughout the region owe him a debt of thanks.”

The Marlins won the 1997 World Series, and the Panthers reached the Stanley Cup Finals in 1996, but Huizenga’s beloved Dolphins never reached a Super Bowl while he owned the team.

“If I have one disappointment, the disappointment would be that we did not bring a championship home,” Huizenga said shortly after he sold the Dolphins to Ross. “It’s something we failed to do.”

Fan favorite — for a time

Huizenga earned an almost cultlike following among business investors who watched him build Blockbuster Entertainment into the leading video rental chain by snapping up competitors. He cracked Forbes’ list of the 100 richest Americans, becoming chairman of Republic Services, one of the nation’s top waste management companies, and AutoNation, the nation’s largest automotive retailer. In 2013, Forbes estimated his wealth at $2.5 billion.

For a time, Huizenga was also a favorite with South Florida sports fans, drawing cheers and autograph seekers in public. The crowd roared when he danced the hokey pokey on the field during an early Marlins game. He went on a spending spree to build a veteran team that won the World Series in the franchise’s fifth year.

But his popularity plummeted when he ordered the roster dismantled after that season. He was frustrated by poor attendance and his failure to swing a deal for a new ballpark built with taxpayer money.

Many South Florida fans never forgave him for breaking up the championship team. Huizenga drew boos when introduced at Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino’s retirement celebration in 2000 and kept a lower public profile after that.

In 2009, Huizenga said he regretted ordering the Marlins’ payroll purge.

“We lost $34 million the year we won the World Series, and I just said, ‘You know what, I’m not going to do that,’” Huizenga said. “If I had it to do over again, I’d say, ‘OK, we’ll go one more year.’”

He sold the Marlins in 1999 to John Henry, and sold the Panthers in 2001, unhappy with rising NHL player salaries and the stock price for the team’s public company.

Dolphins man

Huizenga’s first sports love was the Dolphins; he had been a season-ticket holder since their first season in 1966. But he fared better in the NFL as a businessman than as a sports fan.

He turned a nifty profit by selling the Dolphins and their stadium for $1.1 billion, nearly seven times what he paid to become sole owner. But he knew the bottom line in the NFL is championships, and his Dolphins perennially came up short.

Huizenga earned a reputation as a hands-off owner and won raves from many loyal employees, even though he made six coaching changes. He eased Pro Football Hall of Famer Don Shula into retirement in early 1996, and Jimmy Johnson, Dave Wannstedt, interim coach Jim Bates, Nick Saban, Cam Cameron and Tony Sparano followed as coach.

Johnson tweeted: “A great man, one of the nicest individuals I have ever known, Wayne Huizenga passed away. RIP.”

Garbage business

Harry Wayne Huizenga was born in the Chicago suburbs on Dec. 29, 1937, to a family of garbage haulers. He began his business career in Pompano Beach in 1962, driving a garbage truck from 2 a.m. to noon each day for $500 a month.

Huizenga was a five-time recipient of Financial World magazine’s “CEO of the Year” award, and was the Ernst & Young “2005 World Entrepreneur of the Year.”

Regarding his business acumen, Huizenga said: “You just have to be in the right place at the right time. It can only happen in America.”

In 1960, he married Joyce VanderWagon. Together they had two children, Wayne Jr. and Scott. They divorced in 1966. Wayne married his second wife, Marti Goldsby, in 1972. She died in 2017.
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FBI Seeks Answers in Fiery Van Crash at California Air Base

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Investigators are working around the clock to determine why a man with no apparent ties to terrorism drove a flaming minivan full of propane tanks and gasoline cans through the main gate of a major Northern California Air Force Base this week.

Hafiz Kazi, 51, died in the Kia minivan Wednesday night after veering through the gate at Travis Air Force Base and crashing, FBI agent Sean Ragan said Friday. Kazi had no known links to terrorism, did not leave behind a manifesto or any threats or explanation, and a video found on a cellphone provided no clue.

“Why did this individual end up at the front gate of Travis Air Base on fire and now deceased? We don’t have the answers to that,” Ragan said. “We’ve got a significant amount of investigators assigned to it night and day since this occurred. … They will continue at it until we get those answers.” 

No other threats

Investigators know of no one else associated with the incident nor any threats to air base or the community.

Air Force gate personnel initially thought they were dealing with a vehicle accident when Kazi crashed and they realized he was on fire. No shots were fired as he entered the base, and it was only after the fire was out and they broke through the locked minivan doors to aid Kazi that they realized it was loaded with five propane tanks, three gallon-size gasoline cans and several cigarette lighters, Ragan said. Also found was a gym bag with personal effects and three cellphones.

Kazi’s body was so badly burned that he had to be identified by fingerprints. Ragan said he is a native of India who has lived in the United States since 1993 and was a permanent legal resident. He never served in the military and has no known ties to the air base, he said.

No religious, other affiliation

Ragan said they have been unable to find any of Kazi’s family living in the United States. A family member in India has been notified of Kazi’s death, Ragan said. He said Kazi appeared to work as a cab driver in the past, but that investigators haven’t determined if he was currently employed. It’s not clear if he owned the minivan.

“We don’t have any evidence of any religious affiliation or anything at this point,” Ragan said. “As of right now, we know of no other associates.”

Investigators have interviewed some of Kazi’s acquaintances and are working on some search warrants, he said. They also are scouring social media, so far without result.

Calls to several numbers associated with Kazi were not returned Friday.

About 10,000 people live and work on the base 55 miles (88 kilometers) northeast of San Francisco.
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In Egypt, Wall-to-Wall el-Sissi Banners Inspire Satire

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In a surreal scene from the 2001 film Vanilla Sky, Tom Cruise runs through a deserted Times Square before screaming in despair. In a satirical version widely shared in Egypt, the square is filled with campaign billboards for President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.

Open your eyes anywhere in Egypt these days, and you’ll see billboards, banners and posters hailing the general-turned-president, who will stand for re-election next week against a little-known politician who has made no effort to challenge him.

The outcome of the election is a foregone conclusion, so the advertising blitz appears aimed at encouraging turnout to try and bolster the vote’s legitimacy.

​The memes begin

In the meantime, the displays have provoked a wave of grim satire on social media, one of the last remaining avenues for dissent amid a sweeping crackdown that has escalated in the lead-up to the March 26-28 vote.

A still photo cropped from the 1997 blockbuster Titanic shows Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet seated on the doomed ship’s deck with an el-Sissi banner in the background. Another shows the stars of Friends gathered at their favorite cafe, with a sign outside saying: “Gunther and the rest of the staff at Central Perk support Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.”

The real banners are paid for by individuals and entities from all walks of life, from private businesses and loyal political groups to lawmakers, trade unions and state-owned companies. Even a small tea house or grocery store might hang a banner out front.

“You alone are our beloved,” swoons one banner, sponsored by a private company in the Sinai Peninsula. Another, with the image of a child, says “Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa supports Grandpa el-Sissi.”

​Dictators’ ploy

Autocratic rulers across the Middle East have enjoyed similar displays of public adulation for decades. Iraq’s Saddam Hussein and Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi stared down from ubiquitous signs and billboards, until joyous crowds tore them down when the longtime dictators were overthrown.

During Egypt’s 2011 uprising, crowds tore down portraits of Hosni Mubarak and changed the name of a central metro station from Mubarak to Martyrs. When they took over Cairo’s Tahrir Square they transformed it into a sprawling gallery of opposition banners, artwork and revolutionary graffiti.

Egypt’s first freely elected president, the Islamist Mohammed Morsi, was widely mocked, both online and off, during his divisive year in power, before being overthrown by the military on el-Sissi’s orders. Since then, the government has silenced its critics, arresting thousands of Islamists as well as prominent secular activists, and blocking hundreds of independent and critical websites.

Egyptian culture

Imad Hussein, the pro-government editor of the independent Al-Shorouk daily, says the proliferation of banners in support of el-Sissi is part of Egyptian culture.

“It’s like a traditional Egyptian wedding when the guests try to outdo each other with how much money they give the newly wed couple to help them start their life together,” he told The Associated Press.

Others see the banners, and the election itself, as the latest evidence of Egypt’s slide back into authoritarianism. A string of potentially serious candidates withdrew from the race under pressure or were arrested, and the resulting vote strongly resembles the one-man referendums held by Arab autocrats going back to the 1950s.

“Most of these banners are made by people as a means of self-preservation or as part of their pursuit of personal gain,” said Ibrahim Awad, a political scientist at the American University in Cairo. “The satire and sarcasm on social media show that a large segment of the population, especially activists, is not taking the elections seriously.”

Aphrodite to Harry Potter

A collage posted online has an elderly man waking up in his bed, shocked at the sight of an el-Sissi banner smiling down at him. Another has a statue of a nude Aphrodite with an el-Sissi sticker pasted on it. With her hand on her chest, she seems to plead with a passing museum visitor, saying: “Enough with the posters already.”

“The master of darkness and all death eaters support Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi,” declares a banner hung over a scene from a “Harry Potter” movie with the staff and students of Hogwarts seated around a conference table.

The banners have inspired other jokes that are circulating the old-fashioned way, by word of mouth. There’s the one about the voter who can’t decide between the two candidates — el-Sissi looking to his left or el-Sissi looking to his right.
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March For Our Lives Events Planned Globally

Posted on by SeeUS

WHAT: March For Our Lives is a planned demonstration created by, inspired by and led by students across the country to demand their lives become a priority and to end the epidemic of mass school shootings. Organized by the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., where 17 people were killed Feb. 14 in a mass school shooting.

WHEN: Saturday, March 24, 2018. It will begin at 12 p.m. local time.

WHERE: The main march will be in Washington, D.C., starting at Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest and Third Street Northwest.

EXPECTED ATTENDANCE: About 500,000

DONATIONS: The GoFundMe page for March For Our Lives has raised more than $3,380,000 in one month.

OTHER MARCHES: There are 838 sister marches being planned that day; at least one march is planned in each of the 50 U.S. states, as well as worldwide.

CELEBRITY SUPPORT: Actor George Clooney and wife, Amal Clooney, a lawyer, gave March For Our Lives a $500,000 donation, which was matched by actress and TV host Oprah Winfrey, director Steven Spielberg and producer Jeffrey Katzenberg. Comedian Ellen DeGeneres and photo publishing service Shutterfly announced a joint donation of $50,000. Model Chrissy Teigen and husband John Legend, a musician, pledged $25,000.

The Clooneys, late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel, singers Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus and Demi Lovato, and actors Jennifer Hudson, Sofia Vergara and Julie Bowen have all expressed intentions of attending the march.
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Washington Readies for Student-Led Demonstration for Stricter Gun Control

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Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to attend a “March for Our Lives” demonstration in Washington Saturday, drawing attention to school violence in the U.S. and what they see as a need for stricter gun control.  Organizers are hoping to draw half a million people.

Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where 17 people were killed on February 14 in the latest mass U.S. school shooting, are the organizers of Saturday’s event.

They are demanding that children’s lives be prioritized in a country where mass school shooting have become an epidemic.

More than 800 sister marches have been planned in each of the 50 U.S. states and other countries.

Americans have been reluctant to give up their guns and there have been few changes in gun laws in response to mass shootings.

Americans have been reluctant to give up their guns and there have been few changes in gun laws in response to mass shootings. Among the questions facing march organizers and participants will be how to translate a one-day event, regardless of turnout, into meaningful legislative change.

​A new poll conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, however, indicates that sentiment may be changing.  The poll found that 69 percent of Americans surveyed now think gun laws should be tightened, up from 61 percent in October, 2016, and 55 percent in October 2013.

Overall the survey indicated 90 percent of Democrats, 50 percent of Republicans and 54 percent of gun owners now favor stricter gun control laws.

But nearly half of Americans, the poll revealed, do not expect their politicians to take action towards changing gun laws.

Student activists, however, have begun concentrating on voter registration with mid-term congressional elections coming up in November.

The March for Our Lives website reports that it has almost reached its goal of raising $3.8 million.

Actor George Clooney and wife, Amal Clooney, a lawyer, gave March For Our Lives a $500,000 donation, which was matched by actress and TV host Oprah Winfrey, director Steven Spielberg and producer Jeffrey Katzenberg. Comedian Ellen DeGeneres and photo publishing service Shutterfly announced a joint donation of $50,000. Model Chrissy Teigen and husband John Legend, a musician, pledged $25,000.

The Clooneys, late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, singers Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus and Demi Lovato, and actors Jennifer Hudson, Sofia Vergara and Julie Bowen have all expressed intentions of attending Saturday’s march in Washington.

 
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Why is Austin an Attractive Hub for Many Tech Companies?

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When a Silicon Valley company in northern California asked Sumat Lam to transfer to Austin, Texas, common stereotypes came to mind.

“I definitely was confused when I was offered the role out of college for Austin. You think about cowboys. You think a little bit about the barbecue. Everything is bigger in Texas,” Lam, a Cambodian-American, recalled.

Texas could have seemed like another country for Lam, who grew up in California as the son of immigrant parents. He is from the Greater San Francisco Bay Area and went to Stanford University, in the Silicon Valley technology corridor. His friends encouraged him to give Austin a try. He moved and has been working in Austin for the last four years.

WATCH: Why is Austin an Attractive Hub for Many Tech Companies?

“I definitely love Austin more after four years here. I was really taken aback by how small it was. I was expecting a much larger metropolitan area, but me, I actually love the size of Austin.

“It’s not as embedded in the Texas stereotype as people presume,” Lam said. “People from all over are coming, people are bringing in the culture, their influences from Boston and New York and Philadelphia.”

Characteristics of a tech hub

While Austin is not Silicon Valley, technology companies from that area and other major U.S. hubs are taking notice of Austin’s growing tech scene. The lower cost of living and doing business, combined with a smaller size, are among the reasons that people and companies are attracted to Austin.

“I look at all the companies that have already moved here or in the process of moving here. Google, Apple, two of the big leaders in the tech already have large offices down here,” Lam said.

“I’ve heard people call it Silicon Ranch. I think it’s kind of hilarious,” said Austin native Meghan Berry, who also works for a tech company.

Start-ups and big companies are taking up office spaces downtown and more are being built.

Offices influenced by Silicon Valley tech culture, featuring ping pong tables, catered meals and massage therapists, can be found in Austin. Lam also noticed the area’s transient culture.

“I’ve come to realize it’s such a transient place. People tell me they do a few years at a given tech company and look for the next role at another company,” he said.

​What fuels Austin’s tech industry?

Many Texans consider the Austin-based computer company Dell, as the flagship firm that gave birth to an entire tech ecosystem in the city.

“There was a thing called “Dellionaires,” and so people who became millionaires after they worked at Dell, then went out and they started a bunch of companies,” said Chris Valentine, event manager and producer for a technology event called the SXSW Accelerator Pitch Event.

The University of Texas, plus the annual SXSW (South by Southwest) technology conference and music festival increase the city’s tech presence on the map by attracting tech experts and entrepreneurs from around the globe. People in the music business also fuel the tech industry in Austin.

“A lot of my friends are musicians. They also work in the tech field so there’s a huge overlap,” Berry said.

“There’s a strong foundational tech base that’s here. There’s that creative aspect and really bringing that all together is a powerful combination,” said Lou Kikos, general manager of Los Angeles-based web hosting provider Media Temple. The company has had a presence at SXSW in Austin for the past 11 years.

“A lot of companies are coming here. They have access to capital; it’s a very open community. That’s one of the wonderful things about Austin; people just seem to be kind of very open, kind of wanting to help each other,” Valentine said.

Culturally, Lam said that while Austin is home to people from Latin America and Europe, there are not that many people who look like him in town.

“When I walk out on the street, let’s just say I’m more than likely to be one of the only minorities, sort of, on any given street or any given room,” he said.

While Lam misses Cambodian food, he would recommend Austin to anyone who wants to relocate because the standard of living is high, and Austin has all the benefits of a big city without being too big. Another perk, Lam said, is the people.

“I’ve never felt unwelcome here,” he said.
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French Police Officer Who Traded Himself for Hostage Dies

Posted on by SeeEU

The French Interior Minister said Saturday that the French police officer who exchanged himself for a hostages held by a gunman in a supermarket in the southwestern town of Trebes has died.

“Lieutenant-Colonel Arnaud Beltrame has passed away. He died for his country. France will never forget his heroism,” Interior Minister Gerard Collomb wrote Saturday on his Twitter account.

Authorities say two people have been arrested in connection with the shootings, including a woman who is reported to have been close to the assailant.  

The gunman shot three people to death Friday during a burst of violence.

Car hijacking

First, he hijacked a car near Carcassonne, in southern France, Friday morning, killing the passenger and wounding the driver. He then drove off in the car and shot into a group of police officers who had been jogging, wounding one of them.

Next, in Trebes, near Carcassonne, he walked into the Super U supermarket where he opened fire, killing two people. He held several hostages in the supermarket, where Beltrame volunteered to trade himself for the hostages.

The gunman agreed and Beltrame kept an open line on his phone so his fellow officers could hear what was going on. When the officers heard more gunshots, they stormed the market, killing the gunman. Beltrame had been wounded.

​Terrorism

After French President Emmanual Macron said evidence suggested the gunman’s actions were considered terrorism, the Islamic State militant group’s propaganda arm claimed responsibility.

“The person who carried out the attack in Trebes in southern France is a soldier of the Islamic State and he carried out the operation in response to a call to target the states” of the anti-IS global coalition, the Amaq agency stated on the messaging app Telegram.

Interior Minister Collomb said Friday, however, police had not considered 26-year-old suspect Redouane Lakdim, who was born in Morocco and lived in Carcassonne, a terrorist threat.

“He was known by the police for petty crimes. We had monitored him and did not think he had been radicalized,” Collomb said. He added, “He was already under surveillance when he suddenly decided to act.”

The Paris prosecutor’s office said counterterrorism authorities have assumed control of the investigation.

France has been on high alert after being hit with a series of Islamic State extremist attacks since 2015 that have killed more than 200 people.
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EU Backs Britain in Russian Spy Standoff; Europe Demands Full US Tariff Exemptions

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European Union leaders have given their unqualified backing to Britain over its accusation that Russia used a nerve agent to try to kill a former double agent and his daughter in Southern England earlier this month. At a two-day summit in Brussels that ended Friday, EU leaders also demanded a permanent exemption from proposed U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. Henry Ridgwell reports.
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Serbia Cancels Handball Match With Kosovo Over Security Concerns

Posted on by SeeEU

Serbia has canceled a women’s World Championship qualifier handball match with Kosovo over security concerns after nationalists announced they would protest the game.

Serbia’s Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic told local media Friday he called off the match to avoid any clashes between nationalist fans and police.

In response, the European Handball Federation (EHF) said it was expelling the Serbian team from the tournament.

Match moved

The game would have been the first documented sporting encounter between Serbia and its former province, Kosovo, which declared independence in 2008. Serbia does not recognize Kosovo as a nation.

“Could we have organized for this match to go ahead? Certainly. But at what cost?” Stefanovic told the news website B92. “We are not ready to have the police beat up people for the sake of a match, which contradicts all our positions.”

The match was originally set to be played Friday in the central town of Kragujevac, but was moved to an isolated sports center in Kovilovo for security reasons. Both teams agreed the game would be played without fans or media because of the security concerns.

Fans, protesters gather

However, some Serbian fans gathered at the Kovilovo sports center Thursday evening, waving Serbian flags and singing patriotic songs. Police were deployed to the venue Friday in anticipation of the game.

Kosovo declared independence in 2008, nearly a decade after a NATO bombing campaign ended a crackdown by Serbian authorities against secessionists in Kosovo, populated mostly by ethnic Albanians.
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Labour Sacks Northern Ireland Policy Chief Over Call for Second EU Referendum

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Britain’s opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn sacked his shadow Northern Ireland minister Friday after he called for a second referendum on Brexit, a move that exposes deep divisions in the party over whether to leave the European Union.

Owen Smith, who challenged Corbyn for the party leadership in 2016, wrote an article in the Guardian newspaper Friday urging his party to reopen the question of whether Brexit was the right decision.

Smith said he was sacked for voicing his opinion that Brexit will damage the economy and threaten the 1998 Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland, which ended decades of armed sectarian conflict in the province.

“Those views are shared by Labour members & supporters and I will continue to speak up for them, and in the interest of our country,” Smith said in a Twitter post.

Labour is narrowly ahead in opinion polls but, like Prime Minister Theresa May’s ruling Conservatives, remains deeply divided on Brexit.

Britain is due to formally leave the EU on March 29, 2019.

Over the last few months, Labour has diverged from the government’s policy on Brexit. Last month it said it wanted to remain in the EU’s customs union — a move that would make commerce with the European Union easier but limit Britain’s ability to strike future trade deals with non-EU countries.

The government has ruled out staying in any form of the customs union.

Corbyn, who supported the “Remain” campaign in the 2016 referendum but with little enthusiasm, has repeatedly said it is not Labour’s policy to offer Britons a vote on any final deal that Britain negotiates with the EU.

Smith will be replaced by a former Labour minister, Tony Lloyd, who returned to parliament last year after quitting in 2012 to become police and crime commissioner in Manchester.

Critics of the move

Some Labour lawmakers criticized Corbyn’s decision to sack Smith.

Pro-EU Labour lawmaker Chuka Umunna said it was “extraordinary” that a shadow cabinet member should be sacked for advocating a Brexit policy that commands the overwhelming support of the party.

“What has happened to our party?” he said on Twitter.

Peter Hain, the former Northern Ireland minister and a Labour lawmaker in the House of Lords, Britain’s unelected upper house, accused Corbyn of carrying out of a “Stalinist purge.”
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Investigators Enter UK Headquarters of Research Firm Cambridge Analytica 

Posted on by SeeEU

British investigators have entered the London offices of the data research firm Cambridge Analytica, which is at the center of controversy over the alleged use of millions of people’s personal data from the Facebook social network.

About 20 investigators arrived at the firm’s central London offices late Friday, soon after a judge granted a search warrant that Britain’s Information Commissioners Office had requested.

Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham is investigating claims the research firm illegally acquired the personal data from Facebook. 

The research firm is alleged to have illegally used the data of an estimated 50 million Facebook users to build profiles for U.S. political campaigns, including the presidential campaign of Donald Trump.
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Russian Journalist Says Zhirinovsky Groped Him

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A journalist with Current Time TV has claimed that Russian nationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky touched him inappropriately in 2006.

Renat Davletgildeyev made the allegation on his Facebook page and spoke about it with Timur Olevsky on Current Time TV, a Russian-language TV and digital network led by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in partnership with VOA. Zhirinovsky’s son, Duma deputy Igor Lebedev, called the accusations “nonsense.”
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Iowa Inmates to Perform at New York City Opera

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Inmates from an eastern Iowa prison have spent weeks learning German and perfecting inflections to make their New York City opera debut in a broadcast performance of Beethoven’s Fidelio.

Heartbeat Opera invited the Oakdale Community Choir to perform the Prisoner’s Chorus for its New York City live production in May.

Production Director Ethan Heard traveled to the medium-security prison in Coralville, Iowa, on Wednesday to record the choir, comprised of 40 inmates and 30 community members. It’s among six choirs being recorded singing for a pivotal scene.

Inmate Shane Kendrick says any humanizing depiction of inmates is good for them and the community that they’ll re-enter.

Heard tells the Iowa City Press-Citizen that the idea to reimagine Fidelio came to him when he began exploring injustice in today’s prison system.
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California Storm Forces Flood Rescues but Spares Montecito

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A powerful storm that swelled California rivers, flooded streets and triggered water rescues throughout the state moved on early Friday, leaving only a few stray showers in its wake.

Though the three-day storm had spared communities a repeat of the deadly debris flows following a deluge earlier this year, it dumped record rainfall in some parts and unleashed flooding that led to dramatic rescues Thursday from Los Angeles in Southern California all the way to Folsom, some 400 miles (645 kilometers) to the north.

Most flood and weather warnings were rescinded but flooding remained possible along the Middle Fork Feather River in northeastern California. Winter storm warnings were posted across the top of the state and along the Sierra Nevada for heavy snow expected from new weather systems arriving Friday and expected to last through the weekend.

Authorities lifted evacuation orders for some 30,000 people Thursday in disaster-weary Santa Barbara County, which includes Montecito, where mudslides killed 21 people and inundated hundreds of homes in January.

“We dodged a bullet when this storm did not reach its full potential and actually veered off to the north and south of us,” Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said at a news conference.

Meanwhile in San Luis Obispo County in central California, rescuers reported pulling 10 people from the Salinas River in separate incidents throughout the day Thursday. A helicopter plucked six people from the water while swimmers got the others, said Paso Robles Fire Chief Jonathan Stornetta.

“I was swimming and going from tree to tree,” Monica Johnson, among those rescued from the Salinas River, told KSBY-TV.

Johnson, her boyfriend and their dog were rescued from the river by helicopter after they got trapped on an island trying to cross it.

“The guy, I told him, `Thank you,’ the guy that grabbed me up,” she said. “He wasn’t sitting there making me feel panicking. He made me feel safe.”

Rescuers pulled a man and his dog from the Los Angeles River and in Folsom, a man had to jump from the roof of his car to a rescue boat after he got stuck in floodwaters.

Some 80 miles (129 kilometers) east of Santa Barbara, passers-by helped rescue a couple whose car had turned upside down in rushing water on a neighborhood road, according to video posted by the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Department. Another video showed the moment a passer-by jumped onto the overturned SUV and broke out a back window before pulling out the driver.

Meanwhile, various problems arose in Tuolumne County, in the central part of the state

“We had a very heavy rain cell that came through and caused a great deal of havoc throughout the county,” Sheriff Jim Mele said at a news conference. “This cell was very powerful.”

One couple stranded atop a chicken coop had to be rescued after their home and cars were flooded, and a dam leak in the Sierra Nevada foothills prompted about three dozen people to evacuate. A full dam failure was averted.

Not far from the dam in the small community of Groveland, flooded streets caused minor property damage and students at two schools had to shelter in place because buses weren’t able to reach them. They were later released to their parents.

“We had basically a river going through downtown Groveland,” Mele said, adding that waters also dislodged two propane tanks from a home. The tanks hit a car and a home but no damage was reported.

Authorities began praising the storm for dropping a good dose of much-need water in the area, where drought conditions have recently gone back to extreme or severe levels.

“We’re still in a drought so this was a good rain, and we could use more of the good rain,” National Weather Service meteorologist Mark Jackson said.

The county saw between 2 to 5 inches (5 to 13 centimeters) of water in coastal areas, 4 to 6 inches (10 to 15 centimeters) in foothills and mountains and 8 to 10 inches (20 to 25 centimeters) in parts of the central coast.

Thousands of people fled Montecito and neighboring communities in advance of the storm, just as they had during previous rains and last year during a wildfire that became the largest in state history as it destroyed more than 1,000 buildings, mostly homes.

In Los Angeles County, authorities canceled some planned mandatory evacuations because of a projected decrease in rainfall but kept others in place because of debris flows in one canyon area stripped bare by wildfires.

A large chunk of a hillside fell away in a Los Angeles canyon that burned last year, but no one was hurt.

The storm also toppled a pine tree across one neighborhood street and a eucalyptus tree into a home in another neighborhood. No one was injured.

The storm came ashore earlier in the week as a so-called atmospheric river, a long plume of Pacific moisture that is also known as a “Pineapple Express” because of its origins near Hawaii.
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Trump Signs $1.3 Trillion Spending Bill Despite Veto Threat

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U.S. President Donald Trump says he has signed a $1.3 trillion spending bill into law Friday despite threats to veto the measure due to its lack of protections for undocumented immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children and because it does not fully fund his proposed border wall.

“I will never sign a bill like this again,” Trump said. He did sign the bill, which prevented a Friday midnight federal government shutdown. “Nobody read it. Its only hours old,” the president said of the nearly 2,200-page bill released Wednesday night.

A a hastily arranged White House media briefing, the Republican president blamed Democrats for the lack of protections for immigrants arrived under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

“We want to include DACA in this bill. The Democrats would not do it,” the president said.

Trump called on congress to give him a “line item veto for all government spending bills” in the future.

The measure, which funds the federal government through September 30, was passed by Senate early Friday morning after the House of Representatives approved the measure on Thursday. Lawmakers had just hours to read the nearly 2,200-page bill released Wednesday night.

 

With midterm elections looming in November, the bill was likely the final time Capitol Hill considers major legislation this year. The law fulfills Trump’s vow to boost military funding but provides funding for limited parts of his immigration agenda. The law includes a 2.4 percent pay raise for military personnel.

 

After extensive negotiations between Republicans and Democrats, the law also provides $1.6 billion for physical barriers and 150 kilometers of a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border, short of the $25 billion Trump requested for the project he repeatedly touted on the campaign trail while pledging Mexico would pick up the cost.

 

“Got $1.6 Billion to start Wall on Southern Border, rest will be forthcoming. Most importantly, got $700 Billion to rebuild our Military, $716 Billion next year…most ever. Had to waste money on Dem giveaways in order to take care of military pay increase and new equipment,” Trump said on Twitter.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi touted the agreement in a letter to her Democratic colleagues, saying negotiators “fought for and achieved drastic reductions to the Trump/GOP plan,” including much less funding for the wall than Trump requested and a limit on the number of immigrants that can be detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

 

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said there was “plenty” of compromise in the spending package and that members of his party “feel very good.”

 

“So many of our priorities for the middle class are included,” Schumer tweeted. “From opioid funding to rural broadband, from student loans to child care, this bill puts workers & families first.”

Despite Democrats’ efforts, the law makes no mention of protections for so-called Dreamers, undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children. They were protected from deportation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that began in 2012. Trump, however, rescinded the program late last year while giving Congress six months to come up with a permanent plan for the immigrants.

 

Democrats had called on Republican leadership to bring to a vote on the House floor a range of proposals that would fix DACA. Federal judges have meanwhile ordered the Trump administration to keep in place certain parts of DACA while legal challenges continue.

Republicans hold majorities in both the House and Senate, but there was not universal support in the party for the bill.

 

Both parties touted the $4.6 billion in total funding to fight the nation’s opioid addiction epidemic, and a record $3 billion increase for medical research at the National Institutes of Health.

Speaker Ryan said the measure tackles a number of critical programs, including boosting defense spending and funding for the Veterans Administration, as well as opioid treatment and drug enforcement and improvements for roads, railways and airports.

 

Facing growing calls to address recent school shootings, lawmakers also included bipartisan legislation strengthening the federal background check system for gun purchases. The “Fix NICS” measure provides funding for states to comply with the existing National Instant Criminal Background Check system and penalize federal agencies that don’t comply.

 

“This doesn’t restrict gun rights in any way, shape or form,” Republican Rep. Tom Cole told reporters shortly before the vote. “The FIX NICS was very bipartisan and we all recognize there are gaps in the background system.”

 

It also includes money to improve school safety, including money for training school officials and law enforcement officers on how to identify signs of potential violence and intervene early, installing metal detectors and other steps to “harden” schools to prevent violence.
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