CapitalistHQ

Sunday, 29 October 2017

Hundreds of thousands march for unified Spain, poll shows depths of division

Pro-unity supporters take part in a demonstration in central Barcelona, Spain, October 29, 2017. REUTERS/Yves Herman

October 29, 2017

By Sonya Dowsett

BARCELONA (Reuters) – Hundreds of thousands of supporters of a unified Spain filled Barcelona’s streets on Sunday in one of the biggest shows of force yet by the so-called silent majority that has watched as regional political leaders push for Catalan independence.

Political parties opposing a split by Catalonia from Spain had a small lead in an opinion poll published on Sunday, the first since Madrid called a regional election to try to resolve the country’s worst political crisis in four decades.

Polls and recent elections have shown that about half the electorate in the wealthy northeastern region, which is already autonomous, oppose secession from Spain, but a vocal independence movement has brought the current crisis to a head.

Spain’s central government called an election for Dec. 21 on Friday after sacking Catalonia’s president Carles Puigdemont, dissolving its parliament and dismissing its government. That followed the assembly’s unilateral declaration of independence in a vote boycotted by three national parties.

The regional government claimed it had a mandate to push ahead with independence following an unofficial referendum on Oct. 1 which was ruled illegal under Spanish law and mostly boycotted by unionists.

Waving thousands of Spanish flags and singing “Viva España”, protesters on Sunday turned out in the largest display of support for a united Spain since the beginning of the crisis — underlining the depth of division in Catalonia itself.

“I’m here to defend Spanish unity and the law,” said Alfonso Machado, 55, a salesman standing with a little girl with Spanish flags in her hair.

“Knowing that in the end there won’t be independence, I feel sorry for all the people tricked into thinking there could be and the divisions they’ve driven through Catalan society.”

SLIGHT UNIONIST LEAD

The poll of 1,000 people by Sigma Dos for newspaper El Mundo showed unionist parties winning 43.4 percent support and pro-independence parties 42.5 percent.

The survey was taken from Monday to Thursday, just as the central government prepared to take control of Catalonia.

Madrid said on Saturday that secessionist politicians, including Puigdemont, were free to take part in the election. The hardline CUP has been unclear if it would.

The deposed Catalan government will soon have to make difficult decisions, Puigdemont’s former deputy Oriol Junqueras said on Sunday in an editorial in online newspaper El Punt Avui. He stopped short of saying his ERC party would take part in the election.

“We need a shared strategy … it’s important to weave solid alliances with those who are willing to build a state that serves its citizens,” he said, possibly alluding to a rumored alliance between the ERC and the Catalan arm of the anti-austerity Podemos party.

Such an alliance could put the independence movement in difficult position as it would mean a main secession supporter joining forces with parties that reject Madrid’s hard line but do not support separatism.

With weeks to go before the election, the poll showed the CUP, kingmaker for the pro-secessionists in the dismissed 135-seat parliament, would win seven seats, down from a current 10.

The pro-independence coalition Junts pel Si, which held 62 seats previously, was split into parties PDeCat and ERC for the poll as they are unlikely to run on a single platform. The two would win between 54 and 58 seats in total, the poll showed.

At Sunday’s rally, former European Parliament president Josep Borrell called for unionist voters to turn out in December to ensure independence supporters lose their stranglehold on the regional parliament.

“Maybe we’re here because many of us during elections didn’t go and vote. Now we have a golden opportunity. This time, nobody should stay at home,” Borrell said to cheering crowds.

DAMAGE TO CATALONIA

Puigdemont called on Saturday for peaceful opposition to Madrid’s takeover. But he was vague on precisely what steps the secessionists would take as Spanish authorities move into Barcelona to enforce control.

European countries, the United States and Mexico have also rejected the Catalan declaration of independence and expressed support for Spain’s unity.

But emotions are running high and the next few days will be tricky for Madrid as it embarks on enforcing direct rule and putting officials in administrative roles. National police were accused of heavy-handedness during the Oct. 1 referendum.

Officers of the regional police force, called the Mossos d’Esquadra in Catalan, were stationed in main public and government buildings on Sunday.

But the force is believed to have divided loyalties. The central government has removed the Mossos’ chief, Josep Lluis Trapero, and said units could be replaced if warranted.

In an open letter on Sunday, Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido praised the Mossos for their work and urged them to accept temporary direction from Madrid.

The main secessionist group, the Catalan National Assembly, has urged civil servants not to follow orders from the central government and to mount “peaceful resistance”, while the pro-independence trade union CSC has called a strike.

Puigdemont, Junqueras and their advisors left the Catalan government offices on Friday, newspaper La Vanguardia reported on Sunday, effectively handing the building over to Madrid and making a forced eviction on Monday less likely.

Since the return of democracy in the late 1970s Spain has suffered several traumatic episodes, including an attempted military coup in 1981, a violent Basque separatist conflict, and more recently an economic crisis. The Catalan issue is however the biggest challenge to the territorial integrity of what is now a progressive European Union nation.

The chaos has prompted an exodus of businesses from Catalonia, which contributes about a fifth of Spain’s economy, the fourth-largest in the euro zone. Tourism to Barcelona has been hit and markets have darted up and down on the fast-moving developments.

European leaders have also denounced the push, fearing it could fan separatist sentiment around the continent.

(Reporting by Sonya Dowsett in Barcelona and Paul Day and Tomas Cobos in Madrid; Writing by Paul Day; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Catherine Evans)

Source link

source https://capitalisthq.com/hundreds-of-thousands-march-for-unified-spain-poll-shows-depths-of-division/

Twitter Puts Roger Stone In Timeout For Baby Slights Against CNN Anchors

Shutterstock.

7:20 PM 10/28/2017

Twitter is incredible.

People are harassed and truly threatened everyday.

But a few CNN anchors are razzed and suddenly that means “threatened” and President Trump loyalist Roger Stone is out on his ass. Twitter officially suspended him Saturday. Some outlets like BuzzFeed and The Hollywood Reporter are saying the ban is for life.

But get a load of this — he says it’s just for three hours and 12 minutes.

“I have been informed that I have been suspended for 3 hours and 12 minutes,” Stone told The Mirror. “While I am uncertain why, sometimes the stark truth offends some people. I’ll be baaaaaak.”

On Friday night, Stone spewed insults at a variety of journalists that included CNN anchors Don Lemon and Jake Tapper. The reasons vaguely included CNN’s reporting on the Clintons and Uranium and Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller filing his first indictments. [RELATED: Jake Tapper is Meshugganah]

Stone also threw mud at liberal NYT columnist Charles Blow, CNN analyst Ana Navarro and The Weekly Standard‘s Editor-at-Large Bill Kristol (for getting fat).

Stone wrote that Lemon and Tapper deserved to be “punished.” He called Lemon a “covsucker” and said he should be “confronted, humiliated, mocked and punished.”

No doubt Tapper did not take his insults lightly. Stone said Tapper “must be held accountable for his lies and very severely punished and concluded his insult by declaring him a — OUCH — “#Fakenewsasswipe.”

For a serious journalist like Tapper, who spends a hell of a lotta of time on Twitter along with his family pets, that’s gotta sting.

Stone did not specify if their punishments should be in the form of a spanking, a coconut cream pie in the face or a dunk tank. I asked him to clarify about what he meant by “punishments.”

The Mirror will report back when or if he elaborates on that.

Source link

source https://capitalisthq.com/twitter-puts-roger-stone-in-timeout-for-baby-slights-against-cnn-anchors/

Iceland leans toward leftist government in snap election

The Independence Party members and supporters react as they watch the first results of the snap parliamentary election in Reykjavik, Iceland October 28, 2017. REUTERS/Geirix

October 29, 2017

By Elias Thorsson

REYKJAVIK (Reuters) – Icelanders, angry over a string of political scandals, ousted the center-right government in an election that could pave the way for a young charismatic opposition leader to form a left-leaning coalition, final vote counts showed on Sunday.

With the defeat of incumbent Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson’s coalition government, his main opponent, the Left-Green Movement’s Katrin Jakobsdottir, will likely get a chance to form a narrow majority in parliament.

Still, the composition of the coalition government remained uncertain, as the president had not yet mandated a party to form one.

The Nordic island of 340,000 people, one of the countries hit hardest by the 2008 financial crisis, has staged a remarkable economic rebound spurred by a tourism boom.

Benediktsson called the snap election in September, after less than a year in government as a scandal involving his father prompted the Bright Future party to drop out of his ruling coalition, citing a breach of trust.

The previous government was defeated last year in the wake of revelations in the Panama Papers about then Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson’s use of offshore tax havens.

In addition to the political scandals, a growing sense of inequality and unease about immigration in one of the world’s most ethnically homogeneous nations have rattled a democracy known for its political and social stability.

After the final vote count, Jakobsdottir, 41, of the Left-Greens stood to gain a narrow majority in parliament with three other opposition parties.

The result showed a Left-Green-led coalition was possible if they joined forces with the Social Democrats, the Progressive Party and the Pirate Party as they would hold 32 of parliament’s 63 seats.

The parliament will be split between eight parties. There are two new parties while one of the parties in the current tri-party government failed to secure enough votes to remain in parliament.

The Independence Party, the main partner in the current government coalition, lost 4 percentage points from last year’s election to land 25 percent of the vote.

The Left-Greens came in second with 17 percent, up 1 percentage point from last year’s election, and its probable ally the Social Democrats in third with 12 percent, almost doubling its share.

The new Center Party, which was formed in September by former Prime Minister Gunnlaugsson, won 11 percent of the votes.

The Independence Party has dominated Iceland’s politics for decades. It wants to reduce the national debt and cut taxes on individuals and businesses. The party won 21 seats in elections a year ago.

The Left-Greens want to reduce inequality and fund an increase in public health care, education and infrastructure spending by hiking taxes for the wealthy and introducing a property tax.

The party came second in last year’s election with 10 seats but failed to form a ruling coalition.

The Pirate Party, which last year rode on a wave of anger against the establishment to become the third biggest party in parliament, stood to get 9 percent of votes in Saturday’s election down from 14 percent last year.

(Writing by Teis Jensen and Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen; editing by Sam Holmes and Jason Neely)

Source link

source https://capitalisthq.com/iceland-leans-toward-leftist-government-in-snap-election/

THE LATEST: Twitter Has Still Not Reinstated Roger Stone

Political consultant Roger Stone speaks with media after meeting with US President-elect Donald Trump at Trump Tower on December 6, 2016 in New York. EDUARDO MUNOZ ALVAREZ/AFP/Getty Images

11:15 PM 10/28/2017

Twitter put President Trump whisperer Roger Stone in the doghouse this weekend for using a variety of expletives to insult a bunch of journalists, including CNN anchors Don Lemon and Jake Tapper. A number of publications such as Slate and The Hollywood Reporter and some individual reporters have declared that the medium had banned him forever. Some even gloated about it.

Stone, however, was told his punishment would last three hours and 12 minutes.

That time frame has come and gone. Stone has not be reinstated.

“I was informed that I was suspended for three hours and 22 minutes,” Stone informed The Mirror Saturday evening. That suspension ended some time ago, yet my Twitter feed is still not functional. Several media outlets are reporting that I have been permanently banned but Twitter has not informed me that that is the case – hell of way to do business.”

Hell of a way, indeed.

Mediaite sided with Twitter and reported that Lemon has received death threats.

“Given the reported death threat that CNN security reported towards Lemon, this unhinged ranting goes beyond the politically embarrassing to down right dangerous,” wrote reporter Josh Feldman.

Part of the reason Stone was banned was because he told his followers that Lemon and Tapper in particular needed to be publicly shamed and “punished.”

Stone never explained what “punished” actually meant.

But Twitter apparently thinks that’s very bad.

As of 11:10 p.m. Saturday, this is how Stone’s account appears to his followers:

Source link

source https://capitalisthq.com/the-latest-twitter-has-still-not-reinstated-roger-stone/

Saturday, 28 October 2017

Baseball: LA break Houston’s home spell, even World Series

MLB: World Series-Los Angeles Dodgers at Houston Astros

Oct 28, 2017; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Astros pitching coach Brent Strom (right) comes out to talk with relief pitcher Ken Giles in the 9th inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers in game four of the 2017 World Series at Minute Maid Park. Mandatory Credit: Thomas B. Shea-USA TODAY Sports

October 29, 2017

By Frank Pingue

HOUSTON (Reuters) – The Los Angeles Dodgers, playing with their backs against the wall for the first time all year, sprang back to life with a five-run ninth inning on Saturday to beat the Houston Astros 6-2 and level the World Series at two games apiece.

With Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw set to take the mound for Sunday’s pivotal Game Five in Houston, the best team in baseball all season are suddenly back on track in their quest for a first World Series title since 1988.

“It’s now a three-game series, and we’ve got our ace going tomorrow. So I know that in our clubhouse we feel good,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.

The Dodgers, who breezed through regular season and into World Series, were staring at a potential 3-1 series deficit until Cody Bellinger’s bat came alive when he doubled and scored the tying run in the seventh inning.

Bellinger, who had been hitless in his previous 13 plate appearances, then put the Dodgers ahead in the ninth with a run-scoring double as part of a five-run inning that was capped by Joc Pederson’s three-run blast.

“We’ve been doing it all year. We’re a super resilient team,” said Bellinger, whose Dodgers are now guaranteed to host a Game Six on Tuesday. “Taking one here to make sure we go back to LA is huge.”

The game had been a tight affair as both teams got stellar outings from their starting pitchers.

Dodgers left-hander Alex Wood was working on a no-hitter when George Springer opened the scoring with a two-out homer in the sixth that ended the pitcher’s night. The Dodgers responded an inning later when a Logan Forsythe scored single Bellinger.

“I was glad to keep us in it long enough to where our bats came alive. That felt like us there those last few innings,” said Wood. “It’s a big win for us. We’ve got our guy going tomorrow, so we’re excited to be able to take it back to LA, too.”

Houston’s Charlie Morgan was nearly as impressive as he allowed just three hits in 6-1/3 innings.

The Astros sent closer Ken Giles out for the ninth and he promptly allowed a single to Corey Seager, a walk to Justin Turner before Bellinger put the Dodgers ahead.

“He hadn’t faced those guys a ton, but they didn’t have good swings against him in LA,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said of Giles. “One ground-ball base hit to start the inning and things sort of sped up on him a little bit, the walk after that.”

With the Astros down to their final strike, Alex Bregman homered to left but it proved too little too late as Houston’s unbeaten home stretch in the postseason ended at seven games.

Game Five of the best-of-seven World Series is scheduled for Sunday in Houston where the Astros will send Dallas Keuchel to the mound against Kershaw in a battle of left-handed former Cy Young Award winners.

(Reporting by Frank Pingue; Editing by Peter Rutherford/Amlan Chakraborty)

Source link

source https://capitalisthq.com/baseball-la-break-houstons-home-spell-even-world-series/

Trump Decides To Not Be ‘Presidential’ And Make Fun Of Michael Moore

Michael Moore looks off stage during an interview at the site of his one-man Broadway show at the Belasco Theatre in Manhattan, New York, U.S., August 17, 2017. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

7:57 PM 10/28/2017

President Donald Trump wrote Saturday that liberal Michael Moore’s Broadway show was a “total bomb” in a tweet Trump called “not at all presidential.”

While not at all presidential I must point out that the Sloppy Michael Moore Show on Broadway was a TOTAL BOMB and was forced to close. Sad!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 28, 2017

Moore’s one-man performance closed Sunday after 100 shows. The show, “The Terms of My Surrender,” did somewhat poorly at the box office as it grossed less than half of what it could have, according to Forbes.

NEW YORK, NY – AUGUST 10: Award-winning filmmaker Michael Moore celebrates his Broadway Opening Night in “The Terms of My Surrender” at Belasco Theatre on August 10, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for DKC/O&M)

Moore’s show was an anti-Trump performance. “Can a Broadway show bring down a sitting president?” Moore asked in promotional materials.

The documentary filmmaker said, “We need an army of satirists. [Trump’s] Achilles heel is his very, very thin skin.”

Source link

source https://capitalisthq.com/trump-decides-to-not-be-presidential-and-make-fun-of-michael-moore/

Vettel takes 50th pole with Hamilton third

F1 – Formula 1 – Mexican Grand Prix 2017 – Mexico City, Mexico – October 28, 2017 Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel in action during qualifying REUTERS/Henry Romero

October 28, 2017

By Alan Baldwin

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel seized his 50th Formula One pole position at the Mexican Grand Prix on Saturday with title rival Lewis Hamilton third on the grid and poised for a fourth world championship.

The German now has a great chance to win Sunday’s race, barring any recurrence of Ferrari’s recent reliability problems, but he also knows the title outcome is out of his hands.

Hamilton has a 66-point lead over Vettel, a four-times champion, and the Mercedes driver will become Britain’s first quadruple title holder with two races to spare if he finishes fifth.

“It depends on Lewis. For us, we go all out. We deserve a good result so let’s see what we can do tomorrow,” Vettel told reporters.

Hamilton, last year’s winner from pole, had expected a difficult session and congratulated the German on his milestone.

“I tried to deny him but it wasn’t to be. It was a difficult session and it has been a difficult weekend,” said the Briton, who holds the all-time record of 72 pole positions and was chasing his 10th of the season.

“They did a great job and their car was working better than ours this weekend, but I am still there in the fight,” added the 32-year-old, who feared overtaking would be difficult at the high-altitude Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who had looked like becoming the sport’s youngest pole-sitter until Vettel’s late final lap of one minute 16.488 seconds, qualified alongside Vettel on the front row.

Hamilton was 0.446 seconds off Vettel’s time.

STEWARDS INVESTIGATION

Verstappen had risked losing his front-row slot after being summoned to the stewards for allegedly impeding Hamilton’s team mate Valtteri Bottas in the second phase of the session, but they decided to take no further action.

The Dutch driver, who has had several run-ins with stewards and was demoted from third to fourth after last weekend’s U.S. Grand Prix for exceeding track limits, was already frustrated not to be starting from the top slot.

“Second is good but not given the way it went. I really wanted that pole position,” said the 20-year-old, who played down the incident.

“It’s his own problem if he outbrakes himself at the next corner. I was on the inside and didn’t hold him up,” he told Sky Sports television. “I moved to the inside and was past the point where you go to the right. I don’t see an incident.”

Bottas, who said Verstappen had definitely ruined his lap, will start alongside Hamilton in fourth place with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen fifth.

French driver Esteban Ocon qualified sixth and ahead of Force India team mate and local hero Sergio Perez, who will line up a disappointing 10th.

The two team mates had several spats earlier in the season, with Ocon accusing the Mexican of trying to kill him at the Belgian Grand Prix in August and receiving death threats on social media.

The pair have subsequently mended fences and Perez has called on his fans to show respect to his team mate.

Australian Daniel Ricciardo qualified seventh with the Renault pairing of Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz in eighth and ninth.

Ricciardo said he had struggled to get the tyres up to temperature.

“This afternoon should have been a breeze to warm the tyres up and get them going so that’s where it’s more confusing,” he said.

“If we figure it out and get back to the car we had for the rest of the weekend then I think we can race up to a podium. I was helpless in that qualifying.”

New Zealander Brendon Hartley, in only his second race for Toro Rosso, qualified 13th after stopping on track during the second phase with engine problems that could herald a grid penalty.

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Ed Osmond)

Source link

source https://capitalisthq.com/vettel-takes-50th-pole-with-hamilton-third/