Share this
The 39-year-old centrist independent will win, it looks like, by a decisive margin of 65% to 35%.
Le Pen’s 35% is seen as still being an important indicator of political feeling in the country.
The Speaker Editors
The First U.S. Offshore Windfarm Just Shut Down a Diesel Plant
Share this
2017 marks the first offshore windfarm in the U.S.
The wind farm, located off Block Island, isn’t providing all of the island’s power, but whereas before the island’s grid was isolated from the mainland, the windfarm allowed Block to be connected to the New England power grid for the first time, and therefore the island’s 2,000 residents no longer need the diesel plant.
They burned around 1 million gallons of diesel per year.
China’s Solar Output Increased 80% in First Quarter
Share this
China, the world’s biggest solar power market, added 21.4b kilowatt-hours in the three months before March 31, compared with a year earlier, according to the NEA.
It’s total installed capacity is now 85gw. Their increase is despite an unused capacity (congested transmission infrastructure) worth 2.3b kilowatt-hours in the first quarter.
Confederate Monument Removal Protesters Clash
Share this
New Orleans has been removing monuments to its Confederate history, led by Mayor Mitch Landrieu.
Sunday afternoon protesters met at Lee Square, as did people who support monument removal.
The protesters included some considered to be white supremacists, but the peaceful protesters of all beliefs were aligned, as, in the words of one man who attended who did not give his full name: “As long as they’re fighting for my interests I’m with them.”
Many have voiced their concern about the erasing of history, whether they agree with the beliefs of those commemorated at the time or not.
However, monument removal advocates voiced their opinion in chants such as “Go home racists,” and “Hey hey, ho ho, white supremacy’s got to go.”
One U.S. Media Company to Have Over 200 Stations If Approved
Share this
Sinclair Broadcast Group, the largest local TV station operator, is ready to buy Tribute Media, a rival, for $3.9b.
If Sinclair gets regulatory approval for the buy, they will have over 200 stations.
Macron Still Faces Challenges
Share this
The French president-elect, the youngest leader of the country since Napoleon and a man who was unknown a year ago, could find himself without much power to act if he doesn’t quickly form a movement to win a majority in the French national assembly.
In the run up to the election, two candidates were chosen from a dozen, with Macron getting voter support from 24% of French citizens and Le Pen getting 22%.
Between the two candidates, Macron won a decisive victory, getting 65% of the votes in an election in which relatively few people went out to vote for either option. In all, less than a third of the country voted for the president in the election.
Evidence of how divided France is can be seen in the 35% garnered by Le Pen, whose political views are considered extreme and very different from those of the new president, who was the first choice of less than a quarter of the French public. Another important statistic: 40% of France is against the EU (which represents globalization in Europe), which Macron is in favor of.
Analysts said that there has never been a similar situation in French political life.
Tough Legal Question: The President’s Statements VS Acts
Share this
A debate is taking place in legal circles, matching the contentious findings of the various judges that have been dealing with figuring out how Trump’s executive orders are related to his earlier statements.
During the campaign trail, Trump said he would institute a Muslim ban. Most legal experts would consider such a ban to be a violation of the Constitutionally protected right to freedom of religion. Now that Trump is trying to enact a travel ban from several countries where Muslims are the majority, the claim that travel from the countries poses a risk to the U.S. is not enough.
His first attempt at the travel ban was struck down in court because of his earlier statements. Those arguing against the ban said that because Trump had earlier said he wanted a Muslim ban, no matter what he says now about a travel ban, the ban is actually a ban against Muslims, even if it has no language in it mentioning religious affiliation. Trump’s second attempt at travel restrictions is facing similar challenges.
Another aspect of the debate is the question of what would be enough to satisfy those arguing against Trump that he no longer wanted a Muslim ban, and just wanted to increase security. In the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals this week, Judge Robert King asked, “What if the President repudiated his statements in the campaign and post-election about the Muslim ban? What if he repudiated them all?”
The lawyer for the International Refugee Assistance Project, Omar Jadwat, responded that it would be “a significant fact” but that it “would not change the result.”
Judge Dennis Shedd then followed up, “What if he says he’s sorry every day for a year? Would that do it for you?”
Jadwat responded, “… Here’s the issue, your honor. What the establishment clause prohibits is targeting and denigrating religion. At a minimum, that’s what it prohibits. And the question is, would reasonable people see what he was doing in total as achieving that effect?”
“You say reasonable people would say he doesn’t really mean it when he says he’s sorry?”
“Your honor, I think it’s possible that saying sorry is not enough.”
Other hypotheticals were posed by the court, such as whether another candidate had won the election and they tried to instute the travel ban, or if Trump had said he hated Muslims earlier in life (in college), or if there was a clear threat from a religious group. The questions circle the main issue: Are executive orders to be judged based just on national security, or does the religious liberty clause jurisprudence come into play as well?
The Story of Michael Flynn
Share this
The former Obama administration director of the Defense Intelligence Agency and former Trump administration National Security Advisor is back in the news this week after Sally Yates, former acting-Attorney General, testified to the Senate about his history.
She said that the Obama administration had warned Trump not to hire Flynn because Flynn was vulnerable to blackmail from Moscow because Flynn wanted to hide his dealings with Russia.
The reasons behind Flynn’s decisions are known only to him and perhaps the FBI, which is investigating Flynn and others in the Trump administration for possible collusion with Russia during the election.
Flynn was first fired by Obama in 2014.
Between that time and Trump’s candidacy, Flynn was a paid guest on RT, where he criticized the U.S. government, and even shared a table with Putin, reportedly.
During Trump’s run in 2016, Flynn was a big supporter, although he also was being paid $500,000 by Turkey to work on their behalf, reportedly. Flynn did not disclose the relationship with Turkey to the relevant authorities in the U.S. or to the Trump administration.
When Trump was elected he appointed Flynn as National Security Advisor, despite reported warnings from the Obama administration and, according to some, Obama himself, that Flynn could not be trusted because he had lied to the Trump administration about meetings Flynn had with a Russian ambassador (Sergey Kislyak, talking about lifting the sanctions currently on Russia over Crimea and Ukraine issues) during the election.
Additionally, when he was appointed by Trump to become National Security Advisor he did not disclose his dealings with Russia on his security clearance form (a federal crime).
When the Trump administration was warned by the Obama administration about Flynn, he was not fired until 2 weeks later, just after the Washington Post reported on the conversation Flynn had with the Russian Ambassador.
Washington Post, NYTimes, NYTimes, NYTimes, NBC News, Foreign Policy, CBS News
Exciting B.C. Election
Share this
The Liberals and Christy Clark did not receive a majority … yet.
They might not get one. They won 43 of B.C.’s 87 electoral districts, one short of a majority.
That means that the NDP with 41 and the Greens with 3 may form a coalition or other governing arrangement, and NDP leader John Horgan could find himself premier of B.C. This gives a special kind of power to the Greens (under leader Andrew Weaver) which they haven’t had before.
B.C. hasn’t had a minority government since 1953.
The outcome of the election is not yet final, however, as there will be recounts. Some districts were close, with Courtenay-Comox the closest at a 9-vote NDP win over the Liberals.
1.3m Dodge Rams Recalled
Share this
During a rollover, side airbags and seatbelts may not work properly due to a defect in the truck’s software so far blamed for one death.
The vehicles being recalled are the 2013-16 Ram 1500 and 2500 pickups, and the 2014-16 Ram 3500.
Fiat Chrysler said the recall covered 1m vehicles in the United States and 300k trucks in Canada, Mexico and elsewhere.
The company recently recalled 1.4m Jeep, Dodge, and Chrysler vehicles due to infotainment (remote) hacking. The new recall is a different problem, and doesn’t have to do with remote hacking, according to Fiat Chrysler.
Ebola Event in DRC
Share this
At least one person has died and it is believed at least 10 others are affected by a new outbreak in the northernmost province of the Congo.
It has been 3 years since the West African Epidemic peaked. The epidemic killed over 11,000.
UK Hospitals Recover from Virus
Share this
Around 24 hours after being hit by the big malware attack that affected 100 countries, 97% of UK hospitals were back to normal.
There is talk that the computers were breached through a vulnerability in older Microsoft systems which was long ago identified by the NSA and which the NSA included it in its list of cyber weapons. The NSA information was leaked earlier this year.
According to the FBI, ransomware attacks are up 300% since last year.
Most computer infections have the same MO as always: a user clicks on an attachment in an email that installs the malware, or that “patches” aren’t updated on systems when vulnerabilities come to light.
One way to protect computer information: Regularly back it up on an external drive or the cloud — somewhere secure.