July 30, 2017

Venezuela's leader casts unusual vote, decries 'terrorism'

Source: AP

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro asked for global acceptance on Sunday as he cast an unusual pre-dawn vote for an all-powerful constitutional assembly that his opponents fear he'll use to replace his country's democracy with a single-party authoritarian system.

Accompanied by close advisers and state media, Maduro voted at 6:05 a.m. local time, far earlier and less publicly than in previous elections. The run-up to the vote has been marked by months of clashes between protesters and the government, including the fatal shooting of a 61-year-old nurse by men accused of being pro-government paramilitaries during a protest at a church a few hundred feet from the school where Maduro voted.

Maduro and his socialist administration deny links to violent paramilitaries and say the political opposition is responsible for the violence that has left at least 113 dead and nearly 2000 wounded in four months of protests.

"We've stoically withstood the terrorist, criminal violence," Maduro said. "Hopefully the world will respectfully extend its arms toward our country."

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/venezuela-leader-assembly-foes-041524298.html

July 29, 2017

Colombia leader won't recognize Venezuela's vote

Colombia's president says he will not recognize the results of Sunday's election in Venezuela for a special assembly to rewrite the struggling nation's constitution.

President Juan Manuel Santos said Friday that the constituent assembly is of "illegitimate origin" and therefore will not be recognized.

Santos says he will continue advocating for a peaceful resolution to Venezuela's nearly four months of political upheaval that has left at least 113 people dead.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is known to level frequent barbs at his Colombian counterpart, casting him as a slave to imperial foreign rule.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/latest-colombia-temporary-legal-status-venezuelans-165022868.html

July 29, 2017

Tesla's Model 3 Arrives With a Surprise 310-Mile Range

Source: Bloomberg News

Three hundred ten.

That’s the electric range of a $44,000 version of Tesla’s Model 3, unveiled in its final form Friday night. It’s a jaw-dropping new benchmark for cheap range in an electric car, and it’s just one of several surprises Tesla had in store as it handed over the keys to its first 30 customers.

Tesla has taken in more than 500,000 deposits at $1,000 a piece, Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk told reporters ahead of the event. That’s created a daunting backlog that could take more than a year to fulfill—even before Musk took the stage in front of thousands of employees, owners, and reservation-holders to lift the curtain on the company’s most monumental achievement yet.

“We finally have a great, affordable, electric car—that’s what this day means,” Musk said. “I’m really confident this will be the best car in this price range, hands down. Judge for yourself.”


Read more: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tesla-model-3-arrives-surprise-041157561.html

July 29, 2017

Elon Musk is talking Tesla Model 3 now

Base model -- $35k, 220 mile range, 5.6 seconds to 60mph
Upgrade model -- $44k, 310 mile range, 5.1 seconds to 60mph

July 28, 2017

Clashes kill five as Venezuela crisis deepens ahead of vote

Source: Reuters

Clashes between Venezuelan security forces and demonstrators have killed five people during the latest opposition-led strike to protest an election on Sunday that critics contend will mark the end of democracy in the oil-rich country.

As Venezuela's crisis deepened, Colombian airline Avianca on Thursday canceled its operations in the country and the U.S. State Department said it was ordering family members of U.S. employees at its embassy in Caracas to leave ahead of the vote.

The controversial Constituent Assembly election is scheduled for July 30.

Critics of President Nicolas Maduro were planning to pile more pressure on the unpopular leftist leader by holding a major protest dubbed 'The takeover of Venezuela' on Friday.

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/clashes-kill-five-venezuelans-protest-vote-congress-001318682--finance.html

July 27, 2017

Jeff Sessions Urges Melania to Work Harder on Campaign to Stop Cyberbullying

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Saying that the problem “is far worse than I imagined,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Wednesday urged First Lady Melania Trump to intensify her campaign against cyberbullying.

Speaking to reporters from his office at the Justice Department, Sessions said that, whatever Mrs. Trump had done to eliminate the scourge of cyberbullying, “It clearly has not been enough.”

“From my perspective, cyberbullying is very much a growing problem,” he said. “And with every passing day it gets worse and worse.”

Sessions said that, while he understands that Mrs. Trump has many other responsibilities as First Lady, “anything you can do to get cyberbullying to stop will be very much personally appreciated by me.”

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/jeff-sessions-urges-melania-to-work-harder-on-campaign-to-stop-cyberbullying

July 27, 2017

Foxconn Says It Plans to Build Factory in Wisconsin, Adding 3,000 Jobs

Source: New York Times

Foxconn, the Taiwanese electronics supplier for Apple and other tech giants, said Wednesday it would open its first major American factory in Wisconsin, a boost both for the battleground state’s economy and the Trump administration’s efforts to bolster domestic manufacturing.

White House officials noted President Trump’s direct negotiations with Foxconn for the project, which they said would create at least 3,000 jobs and represent a $10 billion investment.

Mr. Trump joined Foxconn’s chairman, Terry Gou, at the White House for an announcement on Wednesday, with two Wisconsin Republicans, Gov. Scott Walker and Paul D. Ryan, the House speaker, in attendance.

The new factory, which would produce flat-panel display screens for televisions and other consumer electronics, could raise Wisconsin’s profile in advanced manufacturing. Older industrial firms in the state, like Harley-Davidson in Milwaukee, have struggled recently, with the motorcycle maker saying last week that it planned to lay off 180 workers.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/26/business/foxconn-factory-wisconsin-jobs.html

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Wonder if the factory will also include nets to catch the Foxconn workers jumping off the roof.

July 26, 2017

A President Mike Pence is looking better every day

Donald Trump and those around him have made a long series of mistakes stemming from his campaign's contacts with Russians and subsequent inquiries into the matter, which raise the real possibility of his impeachment. But none of those compares to his biggest blunder: choosing Mike Pence as his running mate.

Pence is in a delicate position, which may be why he is seldom seen or heard from these days. On the one hand, his job as vice president obligates him to be a loyal member of the administration. On the other, he needs to maintain good relations with congressional Republicans, many of whom find Trump exasperating.

The vice president has to give every sign of appearing to support Trump in advancing his agenda, lest his boss turn on him. That means cheerfully endorsing the nonsense that flows nonstop from Trump's mouth, including brazen lies.

But Pence can't go too far. He needs to avoid being completely contaminated by a president who violates every norm of ethics, behaves like a stooge of Vladimir Putin and keeps wading deeper into a scandal that may bring indictments. Pence has to look loyal without making his toadyism too slavish.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chapman/ct-mike-pence-president-sounding-good-chapman-perspec-0723-jm-20170721-column.html

July 26, 2017

Trump's lawyers claim a free-speech right to urge supporters to use 'reasonable force'

Source: LA Times

Lawyers for President Trump say he had a 1st Amendment right to urge his supporters to eject “disruptive protesters” from his campaign rallies, including the “right to use reasonable force” to remove those who are not welcome.

The legal claim came in an emergency motion asking a U.S. appeals court in Ohio to throw out a lawsuit filed by three people who said they were roughed up at a Trump rally in Louisville, Ky., in March of last year. A lower court judge declined to do so.

That district court judge said the plaintiffs’ lawsuit “described a chaotic and violent scene in which a crowd of people turned on three individuals” who were shoved, punched and cursed by Trump’s supporters.

At issue now is whether Trump can be held liable for having provoked violence against the protesters. They sued Trump and the Trump campaign, seeking damages for what they alleged was a reckless incitement to violence.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-protesters-freespeech-20170725-story.html

July 26, 2017

Senator Struggling To Weigh Interests Of Entire Constituency Against Nothing

WASHINGTON—As legislators gathered Tuesday for a critical vote that would go a long way toward finally repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) was reportedly struggling to weigh the interests of her entire constituency against absolutely nothing.

“Honestly, it’s a tough call—on one hand, you have opposition to the repeal from a majority of Republicans, virtually all Democrats, and the entire healthcare industry, while on the other, you have not one sound argument or credible opinion,” said Capito, admitting she was, even now, having difficulty balancing her desire to keep as many West Virginians insured as possible with there being no reason whatsoever to do otherwise.

“This is an agonizing decision. Sure, there are sound justifications for voting no on ‘repeal and replace,’ but then there’s emptiness, literal emptiness, when you look for reasons to vote yes. All I know is, I have to get this right somehow.”

At press time, Senator Capito had resigned herself to the fact that both sides had valid points and she would just have to go with her gut when the time came.

http://www.theonion.com/article/senator-struggling-weigh-interests-entire-constitu-56479