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Tourists flock to Death Valley to experience near-record heat wave 2023-07-20 - One of hottest places on Earth is drawing more visitors this week, not in spite of near-record high temperatures but because of them. Tourists are flocking to Death Valley National Park — a narrow, 282-foot basin on the California-Nevada border — to experience how the triple-digit temperatures feel against their skin. Death Valley is home to Furnace Creek, an unincorporated community that includes a visitors center and an outdoor digital thermometer. Dozens of people have gathered at the temperature reading in recent days, some wearing fur coats as an ironic joke, to experience the heat and snap a picture to impress family and friends on social media. "I just want to go to a place, sort of like Mount Everest, to say, you know, you did it," William Cadwallader of Las Vegas told the Associated Press this week, adding that he visits Death Valley regularly. People visit the unofficial thermometer reading 133 degrees at Furnace Creek Visitor Center on July 11, 2021 in Death Valley National Park, California. Getty Images The tourism uptick started late last week and reached an inflection point Sunday when Death Valley reached 128 degrees Fahrenheit, just seven degrees shy of the highest temperature recorded on Earth — 134 degrees Fahrenheit at Furnace Creek on July 1913. Death Valley is situated below sea level but is nestled among steep mountain ranges, according to the park service's website. The bone-dry air and meager plant coverage allows sunlight to heat up the desert surface. The rocks and the soil emit all that heat in turn, which then becomes trapped in the depths of the valley. Measured 129 in the shade with this bad boy #DeathValley pic.twitter.com/VvGYSgCAgV — Dave Downey⚡ (@DaveDowneyWx) July 17, 2023 "It's very hot," said Alessia Dempster, who was visiting from Edinburgh, Scotland. "I mean, especially when there's a breeze, you would think that maybe that would give you some slight relief from the heat, but it just really does feel like an air blow dryer just going back in your face." Daniel Jusehus, a runner visiting Death Valley from Germany, snapped a photo earlier this week of a famed thermometer after challenging himself to a run in the sweltering heat. "I was really noticing, you know, I didn't feel so hot, but my body was working really hard to cool myself," Jusehus said. Death Valley's brutal temperatures come amid a blistering stretch of hot weather that's put roughly one-third of Americans under a heat advisory, watch or warning. Heat waves aren't as visually dramatic as other natural disasters, but experts say they're more deadly. A heat wave in parts of the South and Midwest killed more than a dozen people last month. –The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Temu and Shein in a legal battle as they compete for U.S. customers 2023-07-20 - In a few short years, China-based apps Shein and Temu have surged within the U.S. consumer landscape, offering a seemingly endless variety of clothes, makeup and household goods for rock-bottom prices. Now, the two are locked in a legal battle, each accusing the other of illegal conduct in their quest to woo American shoppers. Temu sued Shein in federal court in Massachusetts, accusing the older company founded in 2012 of strong-arming suppliers into exclusivity agreements to deprive Temu of goods, in violation of U.S. antitrust laws. Shein forces manufacturers "to sign loyalty oaths certifying that they will not do business with Temu," reads the complaint, filed July 14. If they decline, Shein imposes "extrajudicial fines" on the manufacturers and publicly shames them. These alleged antics have led to 10,000 products being pulled from Temu's site, according to the suit. Shein's alleged strong-arming is a problem, according to Temu, because there are only a relative few manufacturers in China who can keep up with the lighting-fast turnaround required by Temu, and Shein has locked up 8,338 of them into exclusivity agreements, according to the suit. Temu claims that it has lost tens of thousands of listings after suppliers were bullied by Shein into ending their relationships with Temu. Such exclusivity agreements are illegal under U.S. antitrust law. It's also a bad deal for consumers, because "Temu beats just about everyone else on price," the suit claims. Copyright claims galore As the complaint lays it out, Shein and Temu are both part of the "ultra-fast-fashion" world, which "distinguishes itself … by offering not only an overwhelming number of products, but also frequently replacing those products with new designs." Suppliers to Shein and Temu hold almost no inventory; rather, they generate thousands of new designs, produce small production runs of as few as 100 items, frequently change styles depending on shoppers' feedback and do it all on razor-thin margins, resulting in prices as low as $3 for a T-shirt or $15 for a dress. Temu also accuses Shein of filing frivolous copyright claims against suppliers to punish sellers who use both platforms, resulting in Temu losing out on merchandise. Shein sued Temu for copyright and trademark infringement earlier this year in Illinois. Earlier this week, three fashion designers sued Shein in California, accusing the company of racketeering and stealing fashion designs. Shein declined to comment on that suit. In a statement on Temu's suit this week, Shein said, "We believe this lawsuit is without merit and we will vigorously defend ourselves." A fight in the fast-fashion aisles The legal battle is unfolding as the two companies fiercely compete for U.S. consumers in the face of scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers. Shein, which entered the U.S. market in 2017, has come to dominate the fast-fashion industry, where it beat out competitors like Fashion Nova, Forever21, H&M and Zara, taking in more than 50% of sales, according to Temu's suit — a position that makes it a "monopolist," according to its competitor. Temu burst onto the U.S. shopping scene in September 2022 with a heavy advertising campaign that included influencer sponsorships, a series of paid promotional articles in major U.S. newspapers and a $45 billion Superbowl ad. It quickly became the most-downloaded app on Google and Apple and is currently among the top 10 shopping apps, according to Similarweb. "It's been pretty unprecedented to see a shopping app take off so quickly and get so much traction early on," Sky Canaves, a senior retail and e-commerce analyst at Insider Intelligence, told CBS MoneyWatch. The app has also raised consumers' suspicions, with many asking if the too-good-to-be-true low prices are some kind of scam. In the past year, customers have filed nearly 600 complaints against Temu with the Better Business Bureau, where it currently has a C-minus rating. "You have a lot of consumers wondering, what is this company? Is it real? But because it's been so cheap and low-risk to try out … a lot of consumers have been willing to at least give it a try," Canaves said. In Canaves' view, Temu has benefited from the intense inflation in the U.S. over the past year, as well as heavy advertising on social media and a willingness to sell at rock-bottom prices. Its overnight popularity, however, might not be enough for long-term profitability, she said. "I think they are selling a lot of goods at a loss," she said. Serious concerns of slave labor practices U.S. lawmakers have also raised concerns about Temu and Shein's data collection and labor practices. A Congressional report published last month suggested that neither company is fully complying with bans on goods from China's Xinjiang region, writing, "American consumers should know that there is an extremely high risk that Temu's supply chains are contaminated with forced labor." The U.S.-China Economic Secuity and Review Commission also flagged numerous "controversial" business practices by the two firms in an April report, which described the growth of Shein as "a case study of Chinese e-commerce platforms outmaneuvering regulators to grow a dominant U.S. market presence."
How TV Writing Became a Dead-End Job 2023-07-20 - For the six years he worked on “The Mentalist,” beginning in 2009, Jordan Harper’s job was far more than a writing gig. He and his colleagues in the writers’ room of the weekly CBS drama were heavily involved in production. They weighed in on costumes and props, lingered on the set, provided feedback to actors and directors. The job lasted most of a year. But by 2018, when he worked on “Hightown,” a drama for Starz, the business of television writing had changed substantially. The writers spent about 20 weeks cranking out scripts, at which point most of their contracts ended, leaving many to scramble for additional work. The job of overseeing the filming and editing fell largely to the showrunner, the writer-producer in charge of a series. “On a show like ‘The Mentalist,’ we’d all go to set,” Mr. Harper said. “Now the other writers are cut free. Only the showrunner and possibly one other writer are kept on board.” The separation between writing and production, increasingly common in the streaming era, is one issue at the heart of the strike begun in May by roughly 11,500 Hollywood writers. They say the new approach requires more frequent job changes, making their work less steady, and has lowered writers’ earnings. Mr. Harper estimated that his income was less than half what it was seven years ago.
Inside the Private Writings of Caroline Ellison, Star Witness in the FTX Case 2023-07-20 - Three months before the cryptocurrency market imploded last year, Caroline Ellison, the 27-year-old chief executive of the crypto hedge fund Alameda Research, was racked with self-doubt. “I have been feeling pretty unhappy and overwhelmed with my job,” Ms. Ellison wrote in a Google document in February 2022. She added: “At the end of the day I can’t wait to go home and turn off my phone and have a drink and get away from it all.” Ms. Ellison had a lot on her mind. She did not think that she was well suited to running Alameda or was a particularly decisive leader, she wrote in another Google document. She was also going through a breakup with Sam Bankman-Fried, the billionaire entrepreneur who had founded Alameda and then FTX, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges. They had dated on and off, and Ms. Ellison worried about “making things weird” and “causing drama.” “It doesn’t really feel like there’s an end in sight,” she wrote in the February 2022 document. Now Ms. Ellison is poised to be a star witness at Mr. Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial, which is scheduled for Oct. 2.
Help! I Signed Up for a $4,800 Bird-Watching Trip but the Company Shut Down. 2023-07-20 - Dear Tripped Up, In 2021, my husband, my sister and I signed up for a five-day Tremendous Tawas Lake Huron tour run by Pardson, the Ohio company that publishes Bird Watcher’s Digest magazine. We paid almost $4,800 in all. The tour was canceled because of Covid that year, but we were so eager to see the rare Kirtland’s warbler that we accepted a credit. Shortly before the rescheduled trip was to leave in May 2022, the company emailed to tell us it was going out of business, and someone would contact us about a refund. No one did, but through my own efforts I got in touch with Jack Harris, the receiver responsible for the dissolution of Pardson. He told me the only way to get my money back would be through my credit card. But American Express said I was too late. Can you help? Paige, Atlanta Dear Paige, My inbox is full of messages from people who, like you, gave no thought to whether the company they booked a trip with would remain solvent until their departure date. Most of those complaints, though, concern lost flights and cruises, not the missed chance to see a yellow-breasted songbird so rare that it breeds almost exclusively in the shade of young jack pine trees of Michigan and Wisconsin. What this avian cutie has against the shade of more mature trees is beyond the scope of this column. But I can tell you the frustrating reason behind your money being gone forever — even though many others, in similar situations, can get their money back relatively easily.
Why Heat Waves Are Deepening China’s Addiction to Coal 2023-07-20 - China has an answer to the heat waves now affecting much of the Northern Hemisphere: burn more coal to maintain a stable electricity supply for air-conditioning. Even before this year, China was emitting almost a third of all energy-related greenhouse gases — more than the United States, Europe and Japan combined. China burns more coal every year than the rest of the world combined. Last month, China generated 14 percent more electricity from coal, its dominant fuel source, than it did in June 2022. China’s ability to ramp up coal usage in recent weeks is the result of a huge national campaign over the past two years to expand coal mines and build more coal-fired power plants. State media celebrated the industriousness of the 1,000 workers who toiled without vacations this spring to finish one of the world’s largest coal-fired power plants in southeastern China in time for summer. The paradox of China’s energy policy is that the country also leads the world in installing renewables. It dominates most of the global supply chain for clean energy — from solar panels to battery storage to electric cars. Yet for reasons of energy security and domestic politics, it is doubling down on coal.
Kevin Mitnick, Hacker Who Once Eluded Authorities, Is Dead at 59 2023-07-20 - Kevin Mitnick, a reformed hacker who was once one of the most wanted computer criminals in the United States, died on Sunday, according to a statement shared Wednesday by a cybersecurity training company he co-founded and a funeral home in Las Vegas. He was 59. His death was confirmed by Kathy Wattman, a spokeswoman for the training company, KnowBe4. The cause was complications from pancreatic cancer. He had been undergoing treatment at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center following his diagnosis more than a year ago, according to the King David Memorial Chapel & Cemetery in Las Vegas. After serving prison time for breaking into and tampering with corporate computer networks, he was released in 2000 and began a new career as a security consultant, writer and public speaker. Mr. Mitnick was best known for the crime spree during the 1990s that involved the theft of thousands of data files and credit card numbers from computers across the country. He used his skills to work his way into the nation’s phone and cell networks, vandalizing government, corporate and university computer systems.
Marjorie Taylor Greene is rushing to defend Trump from as yet unknown charges 2023-07-20 - On Tuesday, Donald Trump announced that he’d received notice that he’s a target in the Justice Department’s Jan. 6 investigation — a not entirely surprising development. Also unsurprising was the parade of Trump allies lining up to defend their deity: Marjorie Taylor Greene said: “This needs to end. It’s an absolute lie, and every single time, President Trump is proven innocent time and time and time again.” Kevin McCarthy: “If you noticed recently, President Trump went up in the polls and was actually surpassing President Biden for re-election, so what do they do now? Weaponize government to go after their No. 1 opponent.” Even Ron DeSantis couldn’t help but display this same brand of devotion to the guy who is unilaterally responsible for his political demise: “I hope he doesn’t get charged. I don’t think it will be good for the country.” The only way DeSantis could seem more deferential to his opponent would be if he urged his supporters to vote for Trump in the primaries. In effect, these Republicans are positioning themselves against charges that don’t yet exist. First off, I should note that these tantrums began before any indictment had even been unsealed, so in effect, these Republicans are positioning themselves against charges that don’t yet exist. That’s your first clue that all of the public theatrics may not be on the level. What I’d give for a reporter to ask, quite simply, which part of the nonexistent indictment they take issue with. More ridiculous is the assertion that Trump should be immune from prosecution because he’s the leading candidate for the Republican nomination. As if running for an office whose function is quite literally to faithfully execute the laws of the U.S. shouldn’t actually be subject to the laws of the U.S. Please, someone, make it make sense. But most perplexing is why they’ve chosen this hill to die on. The issue of Jan. 6 isn’t a winning one for Republicans. According to a CNN poll, 69% of Americans consider the Jan. 6 attack to be a crisis or a major problem for American democracy, and 79% of Americans feel that Trump acted either unethically or illegally, that he encouraged political violence in his public statements ahead of Jan. 6 (61%) and that he could have done more to stop the attack once it had begun (77%). Add that to Trump’s sky-high disapproval rating, and it would seem that Republicans are hellbent on tying electoral anvils around their necks. And look, I understand the Catch-22 that Republicans find themselves in: Getting elected starts with the base, with which they need to prove themselves adequately loyal to Trump, but the more they tie themselves to Trump, the less electable they become in general. I get the predicament. But Trump enjoys this remarkable power precisely because these Republicans are bending over backward to give it to him— often, like in this very scenario, completely unprovoked. They are falling over themselves to ensure that he remains the leading figure on the right, thereby entrenching the Catch-22 that’s responsible for cycle after cycle of Republican losses. And frankly, the only explanation I can think of given their voluntary rush to defend him over an issue that polls so disastrously for the GOP is that they must enjoy the irreconcilable position they find themselves in. And while I’m certainly not here to kink-shame, I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to wrap my head around their servility to the one person most responsible for the downfall of the modern Republican Party. Just like Republicans have embraced wholly unpopular abortion bans and book bans and interstate travel bans, LGBTQ bans and Don’t Say Gay laws and attacks on earned benefits, they’ll also embrace Trump and his efforts to undermine our democracy on Jan. 6, because this is a party that exists to pander to the same extremist elements that are destroying its own viability.
TX Dem accuses Gov. Abbott of 'masochistic cruelty,' demands probe of migrant policy 2023-07-20 - Texas State Senator Roland Gutierrez joins MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell to discuss shocking allegations from the southern border where Texas Governor Greg Abbott is being accused of enforcing "inhumane" treatment of migrants. A Texas state trooper claims that Texas officials are being ordered to push migrant children back into the Rio Grande river.July 20, 2023
‘Arrogant & brazen’: Legal experts trash Trump lawyer’s docs case argument 2023-07-20 - With the newly-released transcript in hand, MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell discusses the latest hearing in the federal espionage case against Donald Trump over documents at Mar-a-Lago with legal experts Bradley Moss, Harry Litman, and Glenn Kirschner.July 20, 2023
Trump's ongoing threat to American democracy 2023-07-20 - “Nobody is ever prepared, and they think they are going to be the exception. And they don’t listen to the warning signs until it’s too late,” says Ruth Ben-Ghiat, history professor and author. “Authoritarians always tell you what they are going to do as a kind of challenge and as a warning – and people don’t listen until it’s too late.”July 20, 2023
Special counsel eyes second Trump indictment 2023-07-20 - “We thought there was certainly a strong body of evidence the department should consider – but having been a federal prosecutor myself, they are going to look for what is the most provable, strongest case,” says Congressman Adam Schiff. “And he’s been very conservative in the charging of Mar-a-Lago. I think he’ll be conservative in the charging around January 6th if indeed he brings charges against the former president.”July 20, 2023
'The next Trump' will ‘weaponize federal government for revenge’ if elected 'Blowback' author says 2023-07-20 - Donald Trump’s alleged plans for a second term--or those of ‘the next Trump’ put in place by Trumpism--are revealed in the new book ‘Blowback’ by former Trump administration official Miles Taylor. "That's why I wrote 'Blowback,'” Taylor tells The ReidOut, “is to go into deep detail about exactly how they want to weaponize the federal government department by department to exact revenge against their rivals."July 20, 2023
GOP climate deniers roasted in hottest summer ever: The Beat’s Fallback 2023-07-20 - See the three coup crimes that could send Trump to prison
Sen. Casey rolls out bills to protect workers from AI surveillance and 'robot bosses' 2023-07-20 - WASHINGTON — Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., will unveil two new bills Thursday that target artificial intelligence by protecting workers from intrusive workplace surveillance and so-called robot bosses making hiring decisions, according to legislative text first shared with NBC News. The bills focus on what Casey believes will be the next frontier in the fight for workers’ rights as AI rises in popularity and as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., calls on Congress to regulate the fast-moving technology before it’s too late. “I think generally everyone around here is keenly focused on providing a strategy to confront what can only be described as an awesome challenge for the country,” Casey, who serves on the committee that oversees labor issues, told NBC News. “There are also some opportunities with AI, but the challenge of it is — I don’t think I have to exaggerate that.” No 'robot bosses' The first bill, the No Robot Bosses Act, would bar employers from relying solely on automated systems like algorithms and machine learning tools in making employment decisions. It would also require employers to train their employees on how to use such systems and ensure employers disclose when they are using them. The bill would also force employers to provide real-life, human oversight over AI’s use in the workplace before an automated system makes an employment-related decision — such as during the hiring process, when adding or removing work shifts, or when firing a worker based on their performance. “Systems and software, not humans, are increasingly making decisions on whom to interview for a job, where and when employees should work, and who gets promoted, disciplined, or even fired from their job,” a summary of the bill from Casey’s office explains. “Maybe you’re a delivery driver and your employer’s tracking algorithm determines you’re not performing up to its standards — and then sends you an email to let you know you’ve been fired without any warning or opportunity to speak to a human being,” the summary continues. “In 2023, these scenarios are no longer just imaginary. … Without oversight and safeguards, these ‘robot bosses’ increase the risks of discrimination, unfair disciplinary actions, and dangerous working conditions.” Workplace surveillance Casey’s second bill — the Exploitative Workplace Surveillance and Technologies Task Force Act — would create a government body that examines workplace surveillance and submits reports to Congress. It would be led by a Labor Department representative and include officials from the Commerce Department, the Federal Trade Commission, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and other agencies. The task force, according to the bill’s summary, would analyze the effect of workplace surveillance and automated decision systems on employee salaries and scheduling, determine the impact on employee organizing efforts, and evaluate how such systems affect historically marginalized populations in the workplace. So far, Sens. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, and John Fetterman, D-Pa., have signed on as co-sponsors of both Casey bills. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, has co-sponsored the robot bosses bill, while Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., has signed onto the task force bill. The AFL-CIO, Communications Workers of America, National Employment Law Project and the Economic Policy Institute also have endorsed both bills, Casey's office said. A major AI package Casey, who is up for re-election in a battleground state in 2024, will make a push to include both of these bills in a forthcoming AI package being spearheaded by Schumer, a Casey spokesperson told NBC News. In June, Schumer unveiled his sweeping legislative framework for regulating AI, warning that “Congress must join the AI revolution” now or risk losing its only chance to regulate the rapidly moving technology. The majority leader has organized several all-senators briefings on AI throughout the summer and announced that he will launch a series of “AI Insight Forums” featuring top AI developers, executives and experts in the fall to form the foundation for more detailed policy proposals for Congress. “We have no choice but to acknowledge that AI’s changes are coming and in many cases are already here,” Schumer said last month in a keynote address at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a nonprofit bipartisan group focused on foreign policy and national security. “We ignore them at our own peril. Many want to ignore AI because it’s so complex. But when it comes to AI, we cannot be ostriches sticking our heads in the sand.” Across the Capitol, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said he has been focused on educating members of Congress about AI by bringing in guest speakers like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and professors from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. But he warned that too much regulation could stifle innovation and investment in AI. “I do not want to see government create an agency to approve whether someone can build upon AI. I’ve watched what the European Union has done that has actually, their guidelines has taken capital away and people walking away from Europe and investing in AI,” McCarthy told reporters this week. “I want to see an ability to foster AI here in America but also at the same time protect us from any fears that we may have.”
Conservatives are making the Ohio abortion amendment about trans rights 2023-07-20 - Abortion opponents in Ohio are spending millions on attack ads taking aim at a proposed November ballot measure that would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. But their attacks focus on two other issues: transgender rights and parental rights. Officials with the group behind the ads, Protect Women Ohio, argue that the proposed amendment is intentionally worded to be interpreted to allow minors to obtain abortion care and undergo gender-affirming surgery without parental consent or notification. Nonpartisan experts say the ads are inaccurate and misleading, while reproductive rights advocates argue that they are misdirection designed to distract voters from protecting abortion rights, an issue on which the public does not side with the anti-abortion movement. The proposed November measure would allow voters to decide whether to insert language in the Ohio Constitution that enshrines the right of every person “to make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions,” including, “but not limited to,” decisions about contraception, fertility treatment, continuing one’s pregnancy, miscarriage care and abortion. It also specifies that the state shall not “burden, penalize, prohibit, interfere with, or discriminate against” those rights. Organizations on both sides of the abortion divide have allocated tens of millions of dollars in ads. Officials with the reproductive rights coalition supporting the amendment have said they plan to spend at least $35 million through November — more than groups opposed to it. But Protect Women Ohio, the largest anti-abortion spender, has used its ads to argue that the proposed amendment would allow minors to undergo “sex change surgery" without their "parents’ knowledge or involvement.” The group has so far committed $25 million for ads — some of which began running in March — that will run through the November election. The ads claim that the “not limited to” wording is an avenue for abortion-rights advocates to broaden the measure to provide protections for a wider host of culture war issues, some of which — like the question of allowing minors to undergo sex-change operations without parental consent — polling indicates voters would be more likely to reject. In those ads and on its website, Protect Women Ohio alleges that decisions about a person's gender identity, including gender reassignment surgery, are an integral part of “reproductive decisions” — a key phrase in the proposed amendment. It also takes aggressive aim, in particular, at the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio — a civil rights organization that works on a wide variety of issues, including transgender rights. Protect Women Ohio's ads and statements argue that the group’s presence in the pro-amendment coalition is evidence of a push beyond abortion rights. But there is no mention of transgender rights or parental rights in the amendment. Furthermore, nonpartisan constitutional law experts say there is virtually no way the language could be legally interpreted to apply to most topics not specifically mentioned in the measure’s language — even when the “not limited to” phrase is considered. “Opponents have latched on to the ‘but not limited to’ language to say that this could provide a constitutional right to, among other things, gender-affirming care rights. That’s not a legally persuasive argument,” said Jonathan Entin, a constitutional law expert and professor emeritus at the Case Western Reserve School of Law in Cleveland. Entin said that over “decades, maybe centuries,” courts have developed rules about interpreting legal documents that include lists — including ones that have “but not limited to” language — dictating that such language covers things considered only “plausibly related” to the specific items mentioned. “Gender-affirming care is a big stretch from the items that are in the list,” Entin said. Rather, Entin and abortion-rights supporters said, opponents’ argument is a political one, possibly designed to take advantage of voter attitudes that are far less supportive of providing transgender rights to minors than they are of protecting abortion rights. Kellie Copeland, the treasurer of Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom, one of the groups behind the amendment, said: "They’re pushing a false narrative about our campaign. None of the allegations being claimed in these advertisements are true. Our reproductive freedom amendment does not impact care related to gender." There is a reason anti-abortion groups may want to talk about something other than abortion: Abortion access is popular — far more so than expanding transgender rights, for example. Public polling has found that about 59% of Ohio voters support enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution. By comparison, that poll, conducted last fall by Baldwin Wallace University, near Cleveland, found that only 25% of voters said they strongly or somewhat supported laws “allowing medical professionals to provide someone younger than 18 with medical care for a gender transition.” Sixty-six percent of respondents said they were strongly or somewhat opposed. Amy Natoce, a spokesperson for Protect Women Ohio, said in a series of emails that the group’s messaging was “well-founded,” alleging that the proposed amendment was “intentionally written using extremely broad language.” Natoce said it was “no accident” that “the words ‘woman’ and ‘adult’ appear nowhere in the amendment.” “The language means minors can obtain abortions and other life-altering medical procedures,” she wrote. In a separate email, Natoce accused the ACLU and its Ohio affiliate of having a "long and well-documented history of attacking parental rights, pushing trans ideology in classrooms, and encouraging sex changes for kids." The ACLU of Ohio is one of eight founding partners that formed the Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom coalition. It contributes "time and resources" — like funding, personnel, door-knockers and attorneys — said Gabe Mann, a spokesperson for the coalition. Asked about the attacks, Jocelyn Rosnick, the ACLU of Ohio's policy director, said in a statement that "the ACLU has spent over a century protecting personal freedoms." "These freedoms are exactly what groups like this are attacking right now so it’s not surprising they’re attacking the ACLU along with the protections Ohio families need," Rosnick said. Meanwhile, Protect Women Ohio has used the same strategy in ads urging voters to pass an August ballot measure that could make it harder for abortion-rights supporters to amend the state constitution in November. The Aug. 8 ballot measure — known as Issue 1 — will ask voters to decide whether to raise the threshold of support required for future state constitutional amendments to 60%. Currently, just a majority is needed. In the year since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Republicans across the country have largely struggled to talk to voters about abortion rights. For example, abortion-rights advocates enjoyed a clean sweep of victories last year in the six states (even in conservative ones like Kentucky and Kansas) where they placed referendums on the ballot that — like the proposed Ohio measure — proposed enshrining reproductive rights in state constitutions. Reproductive health care advocates said the outcomes have forced abortion opponents to shape the November election around a separate topic. “These groups have had 50 years to make their argument for extreme bans on abortion, but people aren’t buying it. That’s why they’re spending millions to spread these lies to Ohioans,” Copeland said. Her group, together with Protect Choice Ohio, submitted the required number of signatures to place the proposed amendment on the ballot this month. State officials are still reviewing the signatures for duplicates and other potential errors, and Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose has until Tuesday to formally sign off on whether the measure makes the ballot.
Mother and daughter, 5, dead after being swept away by Connecticut river 2023-07-20 - A mother and her five-year-old child died after they were believed to have been swept down a river in Connecticut, state police said on Wednesday. Kelly Dora, 39, of Norwich, and her daughter, Aralye McKeever, were initially reported "lost" on Tuesday just before 5:30 p.m. ET in the Shetucket River in Sprague, about 40 miles southeast from Hartford, Connecticut State Police said in a news release. State troopers and other first responders launched a search for the mother and child, who were eventually found in the river. Rescue crews initiated lifesaving efforts on the scene before the mother and child were taken to a local hospital by ambulance, authorities said. The mother was pronounced dead at the hospital, while Aralye was taken to Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in Hartford. She was pronounced dead on Wednesday. State troopers and other first responders launched a search for Kelly Dora, 39, of Norwich, and her daughter, Aralye McKeever, who were eventually found in the river. via WVIT Authorities said foul play was not suspected and that state police would be investigating the fatalities as "untimely deaths." The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will conduct an investigation to determine cause and manner of death, state police said. The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection put out a separate news release Wednesday saying many rivers and streams in the state are flooded and should be avoided. “Swimming in or near flooded waterbodies with high waters, swift currents, and moving debris can pose serious dangers,” Paul Copleman, media relations manager for DEEP, said, according to NBC Connecticut. It was not clear if the Shetucket River was flooded when the deadly incident unfolded.
China’s Xi Jinping meets with Henry Kissinger in Beijing 2023-07-20 - HONG KONG — Chinese President Xi Jinping met with veteran U.S. diplomat Henry Kissinger in Beijing on Thursday, calling him an “old friend,” Chinese state media reported. Xi said the visit by Kissinger, who has been to China more than 100 times and recently turned 100 years old, had special significance because of the two “hundreds.” Kissinger, who was President Richard Nixon’s national security adviser at the time, made a secret trip to China to 1971 that laid the groundwork for a historic trip by Nixon the following year and the formalization of relations between the United States and China in 1979. “It not only changed the two countries, but also changed the world,” Xi said, according to state-run broadcaster CCTV. Xi said the Chinese people value their country’s friendship with Kissinger and the U.S. “We will never forget our old friend and your historic contribution to promoting the development of Sino-U.S. relations and enhancing the friendship between the Chinese and American peoples,” he said. Kissinger said it was a “great honor” to visit China again, noting that his meeting with Xi at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, where many important diplomatic events are held, was the same place where he met in 1971 with Zhou Enlai, the Chinese premier at the time. “The relationship between the two countries is related to world peace and the progress of human society,” Kissinger said, according to CCTV. The U.S. and China, now the world’s two largest economies, have recently experienced some of their worst relations since diplomatic ties were established amid disputes over trade, human rights and the status of Taiwan, a self-governing island that Beijing claims as its territory. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said this week that the Biden administration was aware of Kissinger’s visit to China but that he was acting “under his own volition, not acting on behalf of the United States government.” Kissinger’s visit to Beijing coincided with one by John Kerry, the U.S. climate envoy, who met with senior Chinese officials but not Xi. Kerry, whose trip marked the first formal top-level climate diplomacy between the world’s two biggest carbon polluters since talks were suspended last year, ended his trip Wednesday without the two countries issuing a joint statement on climate cooperation. Xi also did not meet with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen when she was in Beijing this month. He did meet last month with Secretary of State Antony Blinken during Blinken’s long-anticipated visit to China, which was postponed from February due to the Chinese spy balloon incident. Kissinger also met this week with China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, and Defense Minister Li Shangfu, who is under U.S. sanctions and had rejected a request from the Pentagon for a meeting with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in May on the sidelines of a security forum in Singapore. “U.S. policy towards China requires Kissinger-style diplomatic wisdom and Nixon-style political courage,” Wang told Kissinger during their meeting on Wednesday, according to the official website of the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
Singapore’s ‘squeaky clean’ image takes a beating as scandals rock the government 2023-07-20 - SINGAPORE — Political scandals are rare in Singapore. The city-state has long touted its clean government and incorruptible image to bolster its standing as a leading financial hub in Asia to attract foreign investors. But the Southeast Asian nation is now caught up in a series of high-profile incidents that has entangled its political elite. This is the “most severe crisis” facing Singapore as the latest events “have and could further erode the public’s trust and confidence” in the government, Eugene Tan, an associate professor of law at Singapore Management University, told CNBC. “The ruling party is now looking vulnerable as it never did in recent memory,” he added. “It now has a mountain to climb. How it recovers will matter immensely.” In the latest blow, the political crisis deepened after the sudden resignations of two lawmakers, including the Speaker of Parliament, over an affair this week. Both were members of the ruling People’s Action Party, which has governed Singapore since 1959. The revelation came just days after authorities said cabinet minister S. Iswaran and a business leader in Singapore were involved in a high-profile corruption probe by the anti-graft agency. Singapore’s prime minister said Tan Chuan Jin, the speaker of Parliament, “had to go” over his “inappropriate relationship” with a fellow lawmaker. Yong Teck Lim / Getty Images “These are severe reputational hits to the PAP government that had long prided itself for governing with honesty, integrity, and probity. In turn, Singapore’s reputation and standing is impacted too,” said SMU’s Tan. The spate of events “coming in rapid succession does make a dent on the image of the ruling party,” further noted Tan Ern Ser, associate professor of sociology at the National University of Singapore. This is especially true given that “being squeaky clean is one of the key pillars of the PAP brand,” he added. On Monday, Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said he decided the incumbent speaker of Singapore’s Parliament, Tan Chuan Jin, “had to go.” The decision came after he received information that Tan and another PAP lawmaker, Cheng Li Hui, had continued in their “inappropriate relationship” even after the prime minister advised them to end their relationship in February. In Singapore, politicians are held to a much higher standard since the ruling party’s “whole basis of its political legitimacy” has been built on “clean and incorrupt governance,” SMU’s Tan told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia.” What the government does now is critical, he added. “It has to go beyond damage control to renewing or even purging the system of its inadequacies, blind spots, and frailties,” said Tan. “This is the surest way to avoid withering trust and confidence.” The prime minister’s office did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment. ‘Moral high ground’ Last week, Singapore’s transport minister, S. Iswaran, and prominent hotel tycoon Ong Beng Seng were arrested before being released on bail, in the country’s most serious corruption probe in nearly four decades. Both men are currently assisting with the investigation, Singapore’s Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau revealed. S. Iswaran, Singapore’s transport minister, has been arrested and released on bail in the country’s most serious corruption inquiry in decades. Roslan Rahman / AFP - Getty Images file Singapore’s government officials are among the world’s highest paid, as the country seeks to discourage corruption and attract the best talent. Ministers are paid about 1.1 million Singapore dollars ($822,000) a year, according to the Public Service Division’s website. The political “drama” that has unfolded comes as “a real surprise, a shock perhaps,” to Singaporeans, said Felix Tan, associate lecturer at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Singaporeans, who are not used to political scandals, have taken to memes to express themselves. Social media discussions and commentaries in the local media have also delved into the implications for the country. While the latest spate of incidents don’t “portray a failure of the system,” it certainly acts as a “test for the government” to re-examine its own high standards, said NTU’s Tan. When similar scandals happen to the opposition, “the PAP would take the moral high ground and insist that the opposition do the right thing,” the lecturer said. “And yet, what these cases have shown is that the PAP are doing the exact same things that they urged others not to do,” he said, adding the government has to be “more transparent” in its dealings with the people. Damage control The corruption scandal came on the heels of a public scrutiny over two other ministers who rented state-owned bungalows for their personal use. Questions were raised on whether they were paying less than market rates for the properties. In June, a government review found no evidence of corruption or criminal wrongdoing over the matter. “I think much depends on how the government addresses these fallouts,” said Tan from NUS. “I believe the state institutions are still strong, and the guardrails would be reinforced in the process of responding to these challenges.” The prime minister sought to quickly control the damage, emphasizing the government’s zero-tolerance on corruption to allay public concerns. “No system can be completely infallible,” Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said this week. Kenzo Tribouillard / AFP via Getty Images “High standards of propriety and personal conduct, together with staying clean and incorrupt, are the fundamental reasons Singaporeans trust and respect the PAP, and give us their mandate to form the government,” Lee said Monday. But he also acknowledged, “No system can be completely infallible.” “Sometimes things cluster up, but we make sure we put them right, and I hope I put them right and we will be able to set the right tone for a long time to come,” Lee added. Heavy political cost? The political fallout comes at a delicate time for Singapore, which is navigating a tricky leadership transition. The prime minister is seeking to hand over power to the next generation of leaders in the near future. “The longer the delay, it will raise a lot of concerns about whether the next generation leaders are ready,” said SMU’s Tan. At this week’s briefing, Lee said he has no plans to call an immediate election, despite the vacant seats in Parliament. Singapore will hold its presidential election in the next few months and general elections aren’t due until 2025. “We are in the second half of the present government’s term, we just opened Parliament recently,” he said. “We have a full agenda for this term, we’re working at it and that’s what we will focus on.” Tan from NUS said that if elections were held now, “the negative impact on the PAP’s electoral performance would be significant.” With the government facing pressures from “persistently high inflation,” including rising concerns over home affordability, the ruling party needs to close ranks and “stay on track” in order to achieve “a credible performance,” he added. While it’s tough to gauge whether the scandals will hurt the ruling party and allow the opposition to make inroads, “there will be a heavy political price to be paid for sure,” noted SMU’s Tan. “How much is the political cost? We don’t know at this stage,” he added. “At the very minimal, it could cause the element of doubt. So voters could be more prepared to look at what other parties have to offer.” Regaining the confidence of people will be tough for the government, he added. “Rebuilding trust is demanding. It will also take time, but there isn’t much time to next general election.”
House committee takes aim at U.S. venture capital firms for investments in Chinese A.I. 2023-07-20 - The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party sent letters to four separate U.S. venture capital firms, including Qualcomm’s venture arm, expressing “serious concern” about their investments in Chinese tech startups. The letters, which were made public on Wednesday, were sent to GGV Capital, GST Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures, and Walden International. They were written by Wisconsin Republican Mike Gallagher and Illinois Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi, the top two members on the committee. Of particular concern to the lawmakers are investments in artificial intelligence, chipmakers and quantum computing companies in China. They also noted that some of the companies to receive U.S. money have been linked to the profiling and tracking of Uyghur ethnic minorities in China. “Like AI, the domestic development of semiconductors is a top priority of the Chinese Communist Party,” the letter says. “Semiconductors are essential for artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and other advanced dual use technology.” Representatives from the four venture firms that received the letters did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The outreach represents the latest bipartisan effort by politicians to step up pressure on U.S. investments in China as tension swells between the world’s two largest economies and national security concerns escalate. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen traveled to China earlier this month as part of a plan to stabilize relations with China. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited in June. In their letter, Gallagher and Krishnamoorthi linked dozens of particular investments to human rights violations and efforts to enhance China’s military, which runs counter to American interests. Qualcomm Ventures, for example, made 13 investments in Chinese A.I. companies from 2015 to 2021, according to the letter. One investment was in SenseTime, which a New York Times report linked to Chinese tracking and profiling of the Uyghurs. Qualcomm’s investment in Denglin Technology, an apparent competitor, also faces Congressional scrutiny. Qualcomm was one of Denglin’s earliest backers, according to PitchBook, and invested in an additional 2022 funding round. The firm with the most potentially problematic investments, according to the letter, is GGV Capital, which has offices in Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Shanghai, Beijing and Singapore. The letter identified 43 different investments in Chinese AI companies from 2015 to 2021, more than any other identified by independent researchers at Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology. GGV has $9.2 billion in assets under management, and established operations on the ground in China in 2005. Even before that, it invested in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, and subsequently backed TikTok parent ByteDance and ride-hailing company Didi. Gallagher and Krishnamoorthi identify GGV’s investment in Megvii, a Beijing-based facial recognition software provider, as a point of concern. The company “actively supports the surveillance of Uyghurs,” the letter says. Megvii is backed by a number of major investors, including Alibaba, Foxconn and the Macquarie Group. GGV invested in Megvii in 2019 alongside Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund in a deal that valued the company at about $4 billion. Walden, a smaller firm, was identified as a particularly significant backer of Chinese AI companies. The letter said that from 2015 to 2021, at least 39% of the firm’s AI deals were in that sector, including one investment in a now blacklisted company called Intellifusion. Intellifusion has since gone public and has a market cap of 22 billion Chinese yuan, or roughly $3 billion. Regarding GSR Ventures, the letter said the firm “was among the top U.S.-located investors in PRC artificial intelligence companies between 2015 and 2021, according to a recent report by the Center for Security and Emerging Technology.” The lawmakers cited 33 distinct investments in the six-year period, including Horizon Robotics, which was last privately valued at $5 billion in 2021. The letters advance Gallagher’s push for controls on U.S. money in key technologies in China. After meeting with Silicon Valley executives in April, Gallagher told CNBC in an interview that he “emerged from that day cautiously optimistic that we could put in place some sensible controls on American capital flowing to China that would allow us to not fund our own destruction or fund our own loss in the great AI race.” He said at the time he found there was “broad support” among venture capitalists and others to keep U.S. asset managers from investing in Chinese AI firms. The U.S. Commerce Department has also considered steps to ensure U.S. technologies can’t be overly leveraged by China to advance its own AI efforts. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that the agency was weighing further limits on advanced chips used for AI that could be exported to China. Pressure has been building on VC firms with substantial investments in China, in part due to concerns over intellectual property theft within technology and a budding AI race. Last month, legendary VC firm Sequoia Capital said it would split its international business into three parts, with Neil Shen helming its powerful Sequoia China unit.