JANUARY 22, 2019

NEWS AND VIEWS

BERNIE TELLS IT LIKE IT IS

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-donald-trump-racist_us_5c46d4cbe4b0a8dbe174777e
POLITICS 01/22/2019 04:34 am ET
Bernie Sanders Flat-Out Calls Donald Trump A ‘Racist’
Sanders blasted Trump during a speech commemorating Martin Luther King Jr. Day in South Carolina.
headshot
By Lee Moran

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) let President Donald Trump have it with both barrels in a speech on Monday.

The possible 2020 Democratic presidential candidate straight-out called Trump “a racist” as he marked Martin Luther King Jr. Day at a town hall event in South Carolina.

“Today we talk about justice and today we talk about racism. And I must tell you, it gives me no pleasure to tell you that we now have a president of the United States who is a racist,” said Sanders, prompting cheers from the audience.

He then blasted Trump for doing “something that no other president in modern history has done.”

“What a president is supposed to do is to bring us together and we have a president intentionally, purposely, is trying to divide us up by the color of our skin, by our gender, by the country we came from, by our religion,” he said.

“This country has suffered too long from discrimination,” Sanders added. “We are not going backwards. We are going forwards to a non-discriminatory society.”

Sanders made similar comments in November 2018, ahead of the midterm elections, calling Trump “a sexist, a racist, a homophobe, a xenophobe and a religious bigot.”

Check out the video above.


THE POPE’S SWISS GUARD ARE BOTH ENTERTAINING AND BEAUTIFUL TO THE EYES, BUT DO THEY FIGHT IF THEY NEED TO? THEY UNDOUBTEDLY DO, BUT IT’S HARD TO IMAGINE. THEY RESEMBLE A TROPICAL BIRD, OR A TOY SOLDIER. SEE THIS HISTORY OF THE TRADITIONAL ROLE AT THE VATICAN. THIS A VERY INTERESTING ARTICLE. HOPE YOU ENJOY IT.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46964805
Swiss Guard don 3D-printed plastic helmets
JANUARY 22, 2019 4 hours ago

GETTY IMAGES
Image caption -- The Swiss Guard were founded in 1509 and act as the Pope's personal bodyguard unit

The Vatican's Swiss Guard have swapped their ancient metal helmets for ones made by 3D printer.

The papal protection force donned their new, thermoplastic helmets on Tuesday, the unit's 513th birthday.

Unveiled last year, they are designed to be lighter, cheaper and cooler to wear.

The helmets are nearly identical in appearance to the older version, but bear the coat of arms of Pope Julius II who founded the unit in 1509.

According to news site Swiss Info, the Swiss-made helmets are 3D printed from the scan of a 16-century original.

They are expected be used only for ceremonial occasions.

"We have to move with the times," Guard commander Christoph Graf told Catholic news agency KNA last year.

Image copyrightCORBIS
Image caption -- The new thermoplastic helmet, unveiled last year, will replace metal ones used for more than 500 years

Each helmet weighs just 570g (1.25lb), compared with their 2kg (4.4lb) metal predecessors.

They cost between 900-1,000 Swiss francs ($911-1,012), around half the price of the older version.

Supported by private donations, the Vatican rolled out 98 helmets on Tuesday with 22 more expected for delivery this year.

The 110 member Swiss Guard are responsible for the personal security of the Pope.

They have served the papacy for five centuries, first coming to Rome to protect Pope Julius II in 1506.

Members of the Guard must be Swiss, Catholic, single and under the age of 30. They are also required to complete basic training with the Swiss army.


POPE FRANCIS IS ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING POLITICAL FIGURES IN THE WORLD, ESPECIALLY SINCE HE HAS TURNED OUT TO BE SO DIFFERENT FROM WHAT I THOUGHT POPES WERE LIKE. HE THINKS DEEPLY, IS PRACTICAL, KEEPS UP WITH WORLD ISSUES – NO RECLUSIVE SCHOLAR – AND CARES ABOUT PEOPLE.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30320800
Pope Francis dismisses 'authoritarian' Swiss Guard commander
3 December 2014
REUTERS
Image caption -- Daniel Anrig has been a Swiss Guard for eight years

Pope Francis is removing the commander of the Swiss Guards, with the pontiff reportedly unhappy at the officer's strict authoritarian style.

The news that Daniel Anrig would not be continuing as commander was published in the Vatican's daily newspaper.

He will leave the Vatican after Christmas at the end of an eight-year stint, and be replaced by his deputy.

Since his election Pope Francis has made efforts to reform the Church and make it more open.

The notice in the L'Osservatore Romano said: "The holy father has ordered that Colonel Daniel Rudolf Anrig end his term on 31 January, at the conclusion of the extension of his mandate."

Col Anrig's approach has riled colleagues, with one Swiss Guard telling Italian media "this is the end of a dictatorship", on news of his departure.

No official reason has been given for the dismissal by the Vatican.

The 110-strong Swiss Guard are responsible for the personal security of the Pope.

They have served the papacy for five centuries, first coming to Rome to protect Pope Julius II in 1506.

PHOTOGRAPH -- AP
Image caption -- The Guard's distinctive uniform was designed in 1905

Analysis: The BBC's David Willey in Rome

Pope Francis, according to Vatican sources, is unhappy at the Swiss officer's excessively strict military discipline imposed on his non-commissioned officers and men.

Colonel Anrig was head of a criminal investigation team in Switzerland before his appointment by former Pope Benedict in 2006.

He was investigated by the Swiss Red Cross and by Amnesty International for alleged human rights violations during a raid he led on an immigrants' refugee centre in 2003, but has denied any wrongdoing.

Pope Francis is apparently also unhappy at the commander's refurbishment of a large and luxurious penthouse apartment for his family above the barracks inside the Vatican where the Swiss Guards are quartered.

The Pope has a relaxed relationship with his security staff, knows most of them by name, and often accepts only reluctantly the advice of those who warn him of possible dangers to his life from lax security arrangements.


THE TERRIBLE NEWS – EVERY BIT AS BAD A MOVE AS THE SEPARATION OF CHILDREN FROM THE PARENTS AT THE BORDER, AND IN THE SAME WAY. IT IGNORES HUMANITY AND THEIR NEEDS.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/rachel-maddow-donald-trump-genius-move-investigations_us_5c46c2c0e4b0a8dbe1746585
MEDIA 01/22/2019 03:36 am ET
Rachel Maddow Reveals Donald Trump’s ‘Genius Move’ To Put FBI Out Of Business
The MSNBC host called it “one neat trick.”
headshot
By Lee Moran

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow suggested Monday night how President Donald Trump was with “one genius move” attempting to put the FBI “out of business.”

And it’s all to do with the ongoing partial government shutdown, which Trump triggered in December over his demands for money to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Maddow noted how FBI workers were routinely subjected to financial background checks throughout their careers to determine whether criminals could gain leverage over them.

“Given that reality, one easy peasy way to screw up” the FBI, federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies would be to “start taking away paychecks from all of those people all at once,” she suggested — which is what is happening during the shutdown, the longest in U.S. history.

“With that one genius move, you can break the family finances of basically every single federal law enforcement and national security agent in the country,” Maddow explained, later adding: “In one fell swoop with just this one neat trick, you screw up all of their careers. You can create security clearance problems for all of them, all at once, by putting them all under financial strain.”

In doing so, Maddow also suggested it would make the FBI and other agencies “seem like super risky, demoralizing places to work” and make it harder for them “from here to eternity” to recruit the best talent.

Check out the full clip above.

Lee Moran
Reporter, HuffPost


THE GOOD NEWS – PEOPLE ARE MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, THE OLD-FASHIONED WAY!! A PICKET SIGN SAYS, “STOP THE WAR ON WORKERS.” ASK YOUR PASTOR IF SHE WANTS TO JOIN THIS MOVEMENT. ASK YOUR CONGRESSIONAL AND SENATORIAL REPRESENTATIVES TO STEP IN AND BAND TOGETHER AGAINST THIS VERY UGLY SITUATION FORCED UPON US BY THE PRESIDENT. WHAT DOES HE CARE IF “THE LITTLE PEOPLE” GO HUNGRY AND CAN’T AFFORD RENT AND MAX OUT THEIR CREDIT CARDS SO THAT THEY GET A BAD RATING? WATCH THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW TODAY ON THIS. SHE MAKES AN INTERESTING SUGGESTION THAT THE PRESIDENT WANTS TO CRIPPLE THE FBI, AND THE WHOLE GOVERNMENT. SHE ALSO STATES THAT WITHOUT OUR KEY PROTECTIVE AGENCIES HE HAS PRODUCED “A CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER” TO OUR NATIONAL SECURITY. ISN’T THAT AN IMPEACHABLE OFFENSE?

SEE THESE ARTICLES ABOUT WHAT INDIVIDUALS AROUND THE COUNTRY ARE DOING TO HELP THE GOVERNMENT WORKERS.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2019/01/19/church-spent-groceries-federal-workers-gift-cards-were-gone-minutes/
A church spent $16,500 on groceries for federal workers. The gift cards were g First Baptist Church in Huntsville, Ala., handed out $16,500 in grocery-store gift cards to furloughed federal workers, part of a community-wide effort to help employees affected by the federal shutdown. (First Baptist Church) ( First Baptist )Gone in 30 minutes.


https://www.washingtonian.com/2019/01/14/jose-andres-shutdown-pop-up-kitchen-dc-federal-employees/
José Andrés Is Opening an Emergency Pop-Up Kitchen in DC to Feed Federal Employees and Their Families Affected by the Government Shutdown
World Central Kitchen will provide meals during the shutdown, similar to areas hit by natural disasters.
WRITTEN BY ANNA SPIEGEL | PUBLISHED ON JANUARY 14, 2019


https://www.capitalgazette.com/news/for_the_record/ac-cn-severn-government-shutdown-20190115-story.html
Severn church offering aid to furloughed federal employees
Phil DavisContact Reporter
pdavis@capgaznews.com
PHOTOGRAPH -- Furloughed federal workers, contractors and union representatives gathered last Thursday before marching to the White House to demand that President Trump reopen the government. (Olivier Douliery / TNS)


https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/425043-comey-tweets-fdr-quote-after-latest-trump-attack
Comey tweets FDR quote after latest Trump attack
BY JOHN BOWDEN - 01/12/19 11:48 AM EST

Former FBI Director James Comey shared a quote from former President Franklin D. Roosevelt about judging one by the enemies they make after President Trump issued his latest round of attacks aimed at Comey on Saturday.

"I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made," Comey tweeted, quoting the former president.

His tweet came hours after the president renewed his criticism of the former FBI director with a series of tweets and a White House statement blasting the nation's former agency chief.

Trump's latest criticism followed a late Friday report from The New York Times detailing how the agency launched an investigation into whether Trump was acting on the direction of Russia after firing Comey in 2017.

After ousting Comey from the FBI, Trump told NBC News at the time that the decision was made due to Comey's handling of the Russia investigation. The Times reports that the decision and Trump's subsequent explanation so alarmed FBI agents that a probe was immediately launched focusing on the president himself.

"Wow, just learned in the Failing New York Times that the corrupt former leaders of the FBI, almost all fired or forced to leave the agency for some very bad reasons, opened up an investigation on me, for no reason & with no proof, after I fired Lyin’ James Comey, a total sleaze!" Trump tweeted Saturday morning.

Subsequent tweets from the president attacked Comey's character, referring to the former FBI chief as a "crooked cop" who Trump argued had overstepped his authority at the Justice Department.

"My firing of James Comey was a great day for America. He was a Crooked Cop who is being totally protected by his best friend, Bob Mueller, & the 13 Angry Democrats," Trump added Saturday.

Comey has remained a vocal critic of the president since his ouster, and frequently attacked the president last year during a media tour surrounding the release of his memoir, "A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership," which in part detailed his time in the Trump and Obama administrations.

TAGS DONALD TRUMP JAMES COMEY


THIS IS AN INTERESTING HEADLINE. I HOPE, OF COURSE, THAT BARR WILL ACT AS AN INDEPENDENT ATTORNEY GENERAL AND “CRUSH” TRUMP. I WAS LARGELY IMPRESSED WITH HIM WHEN HE SPOKE IN FRONT OF THE CONGRESS. HE STRIKES ME AS A MAN OF COURAGE, CLEAR THOUGHT, AND DECENCY. WE WILL SEE, OF COURSE.

https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news-other-administration/425981-ex-fbi-intel-officer-barr-will-crush-trump
CNN analyst Phil Mudd: Barr will ‘crush’ Trump administration
BY TAL AXELROD - 01/18/19 08:43 AM EST

A former FBI intelligence officer on Friday predicted that William Barr, President Trump’s nominee for attorney general, could “crush” the administration in light of a BuzzFeed News report published Thursday suggesting the president told his former personal attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress.

“Barr will be one of the most significant appointments the president has ever made because Barr, I suspect, is going to crush the administration,” Phil Mudd said on CNN Friday.

“The president’s going to say, ‘I never saw that one coming,’ ” Mudd, who is a frequent critic of Trump and the administration, added.

The comments come after BuzzFeed News published a report saying Trump directed Cohen to lie to Congress about plans to build a Trump Tower in Moscow during the 2016 presidential campaign.

The two reportedly met at least 10 times to discuss the tower while Trump maintained to the public that he had no business ties in Russia.

Barr, whose confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee was held this week, suggested before the report came out that such behavior could be considered obstruction of justice.

“The president persuading a person to commit perjury would be obstruction, is that right?” Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) asked, to which Barr responded, “Yes.”

Cohen admitted in November to lying to Congress about Trump’s Moscow property plans. He made the false statements while testifying before two congressional intelligence committees in 2017. He was sentenced in December to three years in prison on a string of charges, including lying to Congress.

TAGS AMY KLOBUCHAR DONALD TRUMP OBSTRUCTION COHEN REPORT CNN


THIS ARTICLE IS SIX MONTHS OLD, BUT I’M GLAD TO SEE THAT SOMEONE IS TRYING TO CREATE A LEGAL CONTROL OVER “FAKE NEWS,” AS LONG AS A STRONG THIRD PARTY WITH NO POLITICAL BIAS OF ITS’ OWN IS IN CHARGE OF DECIDING WHAT IS CORRECT INFORMATION, AND HAS NO GOAL OF WORLD CONTROL. WE DON’T NEED A NEW HITLERIAN REGIME; TELLING LIES WAS HIS METHOD OF OPERATION. HE’S FAMOUS FOR THE PHRASE, DON’T TELL A LITTLE LIE; TELL A BIG ONE.

THAT ISN’T A RIDICULOUS PREMISE, EITHER. WHEN WE HEAR A SUSPICIOUS STORY, WE IMMEDIATELY START TO COMPARE THAT NEW “INFORMATION” TO WHAT WE THINK WE ALREADY KNOW. THAT’S “CRITICAL THINKING.” IF AN ALL-CONSUMING FICTION IS INTRODUCED THAT WILL TOTALLY CONFUSE PEOPLE, THEY PROBABLY WOULD BE MORE LIKELY TO SWALLOW THE WHOLE THING. OF COURSE, EVEN WITHOUT HITLER, WE DO HAVE VLADIMIR PUTIN AND DONALD TRUMP AROUND, SO WE WOULDN’T BE SAFE EVEN WITH THIS NEW AGREEMENT. WE WILL STILL HAVE TO STRUGGLE AGAINST THE DARKNESS.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/22/france-and-germany-renew-postwar-vows-of-friendship
France and Germany provoke populist anger over 'friendship pact'
Macron and Merkel sign update to 1963 Élysée treaty to restate commitment to EU
Angelique Chrisafis in Paris
@achrisafis
Fri 8 Jun 2018 05.37 EDT

PHOTOGRAPH -- Angela Merkel (R) and Emmanuel Macron greet each other in Aachen. Photograph: Sascha Schuermann/Getty Images

France and Germany have renewed their vows of postwar friendship, aiming to show that the traditional engine powering the EU project is still strong, but drawing strong criticism from nationalist and populist parties advancing across the continent.

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, and German chancellor, Angela Merkel, signed the 16-page update to the 1963 Elysée treaty on Tuesday in the German border city of Aachen, the residence of Charlemagne, the “father of Europe” who managed to unite much of the western part of the continent in the ninth century.

With the EU under unprecedented pressure from Brexit, Donald Trump and nationalist governments in Italy, Poland and Hungary, Macron and Merkel sought to renew their nations’ commitment to the bloc and limit the gains Eurosceptic parties are expected to make in European parliamentary elections in May.

“Populism and nationalism are strengthening in all of our countries,” Merkel told French, German and EU officials at the ceremony. “Seventy-four years – a single human lifetime – after the end of the second world war, what seems self-evident is being called into question once more.”

Macron said those “who forget the value of Franco-German reconciliation are making themselves accomplices of the crimes of the past. Those who ... spread lies are hurting the same people they are pretending to defend, by seeking to repeat history.”

The text promises enhanced economic and security cooperation, including the aim of a “German-French economic area with common rules” and a “common military culture” that Merkel said could “contribute to the creation of a European army”.

However, domestic far-right opponents in France and Germany said the document signed away national sovereignty, and Eurosceptics abroad derided it as a symbolic and irrelevant gesture by two significantly weakened leaders.

Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s National Rally party, accused Macron of “an act that borders on treason”, while Alexander Gauland, of Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) said Paris and Berlin were trying to create a “super EU” within the bloc.

“As populists, we insist that one first takes care of one’s own country,” Gauland said. “We don’t want Macron to renovate his country with German money … The EU is deeply divided. A special Franco-German relationship will alienate us even further.”

Italy’s far-right interior minister, Matteo Salvini, said earlier this month that he intended to challenge the text’s pro-European message, and indeed the whole idea of a “Franco-German motor”, with a Eurosceptic “Italian-Polish axis”.

Far-right opposition to the treaty has spawned a raft of conspiracy theories online, including the claim that Macron plans to cede control of Alsace and Lorraine, partially annexed by Germany in 1871 and returned to France after the first world war.

Others include the false claim that France aims to share its permanent seat on the UN security council with Germany, part of broader accusations that the centrist president was determined to “dismantle the power of our country”, – as Le Pen alleged.

Donald Tusk, the president of the European council, who attended the ceremony, said he would like to believe the treaty would “revive faith in the meaning of solidarity and unity”, but Judy Dempsey of the thinktank Carnegie Europe said it “lacked strategic depth” and was a shadow of its 1963 forerunner.

“Maybe the expectations for France and Germany continuing to shape Europe have become too high,” Dempsey said. “Maybe new groupings of countries, big and small, are needed to galvanise support for setting a strategic course for Europe.”

Macron came to power in May 2017 promising to win Merkel’s backing for major EU changes in an effort to restore confidence in the European project, but has made little progress, partly because the chancellor was herself weakened by poor election results.

Merkel has since announced she will step down as chancellor in 2021. The French president, meanwhile, has come under domestic pressure in the form of the anti-establishment, grassroots gilets jaunes (yellow vests) protest movement and plummeting approval ratings.

On closer security cooperation, France and Germany pledge in the text to come to each other’s defence in case of military attack, create a joint defence and security council, harmonise their rules for military equipment exports and work together on procurement.

It comes after Macron last year urged the EU to reduce its military dependence on the US and called for a “real European army”.

The treaty also promises a commitment to economic convergence, to set up a panel of experts to give economic recommendations to each government, and to boost research cooperation in the digital economy and renewable energies.

Finally, the treaty seeks to strengthen concrete ties across the 280-mile (450km) Franco-German border, supporting city partnerships and bi-national initiatives in culture, health, transport and language-learning, with some cross-border regions to be granted greater autonomy to cut through rules and red tape.


OH, BOY! MEN REALLY DO STICK TOGETHER DON’T THEY? THEY EVEN HAVE A SPECIAL NAME THAT THEY USE FOR THEIR ANTI-FEMINIST GROUP, THE WOLF PACK. HOW MACHO THAT SOUNDS! AND THEN THE LAW OFFICIALS DIDN’T EVEN CONVICT THEM OF RAPE, CLAIMING A LACK OF PROOF. NOW THEY HAVE DONE IT AGAIN. TOO BAD WE DON’T HAVE SUMMARY EXECUTION ANYMORE – EXCEPT FOR BLACK MEN, OF COURSE.

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2019-01-22/spain-charges-wolf-pack-with-another-sexual-assault
Spain Charges 'Wolf Pack' With Another Sexual Assault
Jan. 22, 2019, at 3:19 p.m.
BY JOAN FAUS
Jan. 22, 2019, at 3:19 p.m.

FILE PHOTO: Protesters attend a demonstration, after judges upheld the lesser charge of sexual assault against the five men known as the Manada (Wolf Pack), accused of gang-raping an 18-year-old woman during Pamplona's San Fermin festival, in Madrid, Spain, December 5, 2018. REUTERS/Susana Vera/File PhotoREUTERS

MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish prosecutors have tabled another sex crime charge against four men calling themselves "The Wolf Pack" who assaulted a young woman at the Pamplona bull-running festival in 2016.

In a controversial ruling, a Spanish court last year gave nine-year prison sentences to the men for sexually assaulting the 18-year-old in a doorway, but cleared them of rape because of a lack of physical violence.

The case gained notoriety amid the global #MeToo movement and brought calls for changes to Spain's rape law.

In the new case, the Andalusia regional prosecutor's office said it was seeking a seven-year prison sentence for sexual assault and other crimes suspected to have been committed in Pozoblanco, in southern Spain, two months earlier.

Evidence for that was found against four of the five men in total being investigated over the case at the San Fermin festival in the northern city of Pamplona.

Investigators found a video on the cellphone of one of the accused, in which a woman appeared unconscious while men were abusing her inside a car after a night of partying.

The woman was notified about the video and the new case opened, the prosecutor's office said.

Despite the original ruling against them, the men were released on bail in June last year on a legal technicality that says no one can be held for more than two years without a definitive sentence.

A rape charge in Spain requires a plaintiff to present evidence of specific violence such as being threatened with a knife or dealt physical blows. The government has said it plans to change the penal code to make rape convictions easier.

The annual bull-running festival in the Navarran capital Pamplona is famed for its drunken revelry. But concern has grown over increased reports of sex attacks and harassment at the event as well mistreatment of women in general in Spain.

(Reporting by Joan Faus; Editing by Andrei Khalip and Andrew Cawthorne)

Copyright 2019 Thomson Reuters.


https://www.facebook.com/senatorsanders/videos/1049480021904756/
The Trump Shutdown is Anti-Veteran

https://www.facebook.com/senatorsanders/videos/378009032958434/
Trump's "Booming Economy" vs. Bernie's Reality Check


https://www.bbc.com/news/business-46957185
EasyJet says drone chaos was 'wake-up call' for airports
JANUARY 22, 2019 6 hours ago


PHOTOGRAPH -- AFP
Image caption -- The drone sightings led to many people being stranded at Gatwick

EasyJet has said last month's drone disruption at Gatwick was a "wake-up call" for airports.

The drones caused blanket cancellations over a number of days in December and mass passenger disruption as a result.

The airline said the drones cost it £15m in passenger compensation and lost revenues, and hit 82,000 customers.

EasyJet's chief executive, Johan Lundgren, said he was "disappointed" the airport took so long to resolve the situation and reopen the runways.

He acknowledged it was a "criminal act" and difficult to guard against.

More than 400 EasyJet flights were cancelled due to the drone sightings.

Altogether, more than 1,000 flights were grounded and around 140,000 passengers affected.

EasyJet paid out £10m in "customer welfare costs" and said it had lost £5m of revenue due to flight cancellations.

However, the carrier said it had made a good start to the financial year and was "well prepared" for Brexit.

Passenger numbers rose by 15% to 21.6 million for the last three months of 2018.

'Encouraging'
Last week, rival carrier Ryanair cut its profit forecast blaming lower-than-expected air fares.

In contrast, Easyjet said that it had seen "robust" demand from customers.

EasyJet chief executive Johan Lundgren said: "For the first half of 2019, booking levels currently remain encouraging despite the lack of certainty around Brexit for our customers.

"Second half bookings continue to be ahead of last year and our expectations for the full year headline profit before tax are broadly in line with current market expectations."

He also said he was "proud" of the way staff worked around the clock to look after customers affected by the drone incident.

Image copyrightREUTERS
Easyjet's Brexit planning includes registering 130 aircraft in Austria and building up a pool of spare parts in the EU.

It added that both the EU and the UK have committed to ensure that flights between the UK and EU will continue in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

Nicholas Hyett, equity analyst at stockbrokers Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "The drone disruption at Gatwick in December means these results aren't quite what EasyJet was hoping for at the start of the year, but it hasn't blown things too far off course.

"New planes have driven substantial increases in passengers and revenues, and the group's also getting better at selling passengers additional services - think extra leg room, priority boarding and microwaved paninis."


ANOTHER PERSON ON PRESIDENT TRUMP’S ENEMIES LIST SPEAKS OUT. I DON’T KNOW, OF COURSE, BUT I TEND TO AGREE WITH O’DONNELL. HE PROBABLY CAN’T LAST UNTIL 2020, AND I PRAY CAN’T BE REELECTED. ‘COURSE, GIVEN THE POLITICALLY RIGHTIST TREND, WHO KNOWS. ANYWAY, I CERTAINLY THINK HE SHOULD BE REMOVED FROM THE OVAL OFFICE BY HALF A DOZEN BIG FBI AGENTS AND CARTED OFF TO JAIL. “LOCK HIM UP!”

https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/425918-rosie-odonnell-trump-will-be-arrested-before-the-2020-election
Rosie O'Donnell: Trump will be arrested before the 2020 election
BY ARIS FOLLEY - 01/17/19 04:44 PM EST

PHOTOGRAPH – ROSIE O’DONNELL

Rosie O'Donnell, the longtime antagonist to President Trump, said in a recent interview that she believes he will be arrested before the 2020 election.

Pressed by TMZ for a brief interview on Wednesday about whether she thinks Trump will be reelected in 2020, O’Donnell replied: “I certainly do not. I think he’ll be arrested.”

“I believe in America and I believe in our political system, and I believe we will right the wrong of the tyranny of Donald Trump,” she continued.

When asked further if she believes the president will ever succeed in having his long-desired border wall constructed, the comedic actress said: “No, it will never happen."

"Ever," she added.

O’Donnell and Trump have a years-old feud that is believed to have stemmed from critical remarks the comedian made of the then-real estate mogul when she was a co-host on “The View” in 2006.

Trump has referred to O’Donnell in the past as a “loser” and a "pig," while the comedian has blasted him repeatedly as treasonous and “mentally unstable."

“I never in a million years would have imagined that so many people would fall for him,” O’Donnell said in reference to Trump in an interview with Variety in August.

“If you’re from New York, we understand all what he was about because we watched him try to create this façade in real time in front of our eyes as his planes were being repossessed from the runways of LaGuardia,” O'Donnell said.

“And now it’s so tragically sad what he’s doing to a part of the country that doesn’t have neither the time or the resources or desire to look deeper,” the Emmy Award winner continued. “He’s taking the people who are easily fooled and fooling them over and over again to the point where we are now in this horrible predicament.”

TAGS DONALD TRUMP


https://www.bbc.com/news/business-46963971
Huawei chairman warns of end to global 'partnerships'
By Joe Miller
BBC News, Davos
JANUARY 22, 2019 1 hour ago

PHOTOGRAPH -- GETTY IMAGES
Image caption -- Huawei chairman Liang Hua

The chairman of Chinese tech giant Huawei has warned his company could shift away from the US and the UK if it continues to face restrictions.

Huawei has been under scrutiny by Western governments, which fear its products could be used for spying.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Mr Liang Hua said his firm might transfer technology to countries "where we are welcomed".

He also stressed that Huawei follows regulations wherever it operates.

Huawei makes smartphones but is also a world leader in telecoms infrastructure, in particular the next generation of mobile phone networks, known as 5G.

But concern about the security of its technology has been growing, particularly in the US, UK, Canada, Australia and Germany.

Security concerns

The company is banned from bidding for government contracts in the US, where intelligence services have raised questions about Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei's links to China's ruling Communist Party.

Last month, BT confirmed that Huawei equipment was being removed from a communication system being developed for the UK's emergency services.

Meanwhile, Germany is considering blocking the firm from its next generation mobile phone network.

Huawei has always maintained that it is a private company, owned by its employees, with no ties to the Chinese government.

The company's top executives rarely give interviews, but a number of journalists were invited to ask questions of Mr Liang on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

BT bars Huawei kit from 5G network
Germany might block Huawei from 5G

Mr Liang told them that if the company faced further hurdles to doing business in some countries, "we would transfer the technology partnership to countries where we are welcomed and where we can have collaboration with".

While he would not be drawn on whether Huawei could leave the UK, Mr Liang stressed that it would be up to British consumers to decide if they wanted to use the company's technology, before adding, that the "UK is the market that advocates openness and also free trade".

Mr Liang said anyone concerned would be "welcome" to inspect the firm's laboratories in China.

Even as the the storm surrounding Huawei continues to rage, Mr Liang's message was simple - the company's products would speak for themselves.

"We will focus on providing value by offering the high bandwidth ultra low latency and high connectivity [products] to out customers," he said.

Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES
In December, Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of the founder of Huawei, was arrested in Canada and faces extradition to the United States over accusations the company flouted US sanctions against Iran.

Mr Liang called for a "quick conclusion" to the case, so that Ms Meng could regain "her personal freedom".

He also reiterated the company's claim that the detention of two Canadian nationals in China, seen by many as retaliation for the arrest of Ms Meng, "has no relation with Huawei".


https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46960842
Satellites saw rapid Greenland ice loss
JANUARY 22, 2019 2 hours ago

PHOTOGRAPH -- NASA
Image caption -- The south of Greenland viewed from the International Space Station

Greenland has gone through an "unprecedented" period of ice loss within the last two decades.

The Grace satellites revealed a four-fold increase in mass being lost from Greenland's ice sheet from 2003-2013.

The study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that ice loss subsequently stalled for 12-18 months.

The research reveals how different areas of Greenland might contribute to sea-level rise in future.

What did the study look at?
Scientists concerned about sea levels have long focused on Greenland's south-east and north-west regions, where glaciers continually force large chunks of ice into the Atlantic Ocean.

But the largest sustained acceleration in ice loss from early 2003 to mid-2013 occurred in south-west Greenland, which is largely devoid of these large glaciers.

"Whatever this was, it couldn't be explained by glaciers, because there aren't many there," said the study's lead author Michael Bevis, from The Ohio State University.

"It had to be the surface mass - the ice was melting inland from the coastline."

What were the melt drivers?
The ice melt accelerations in this region tracked a weather phenomenon known as the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO).

When in a particular ("negative") phase, the NAO enhances summertime warming and the solar radiation that reaches the Earth's surface, while reducing snowfall - especially in western Greenland.

The researchers believe the melting in south-west Greenland is a combination of climate change and conditions brought on by the NAO.

"These oscillations have been happening forever... so why only now are they causing this massive melt? It's because the atmosphere is, at its baseline, warmer. The transient warming driven by the North Atlantic Oscillation was riding on top of more sustained global warming," said Prof Bevis.

Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image caption -- Melting from Greenland is expected to contribute to future sea level rise
What do the results mean?

The consequence of this finding is that south-west Greenland, which had not been considered a serious threat, now looks as if it will become a major future contributor to sea-level rise.

"We knew we had one big problem with increasing rates of ice discharge by some large outlet glaciers," said Prof Bevis.

"But now we recognise a second serious problem: Increasingly, large amounts of ice mass are going to leave as meltwater, as rivers that flow into the sea."

GPS systems in place now monitor Greenland's ice around most of its margin, but the network is sparse in the south-west.

Because the Grace satellites stopped taking data in 2016, it remains unclear whether the pause in melting - which began in 2013 - has now stopped or is still ongoing.

Andrew Shepherd, professor of Earth observation at the University of Leeds, UK, who was not involved with the latest study, told BBC News: "This study goes a long way towards explaining why Greenland's ice sheet stopped melting in 2013, but unfortunately the Grace satellite died in 2016 just when things started to get interesting.

"So I think we will have to look elsewhere to understand whether the pause has ended and whether it affected the ice flow."

The paper in PNAS also suggests the pause is linked to a change in the phase of the NAO - from negative to positive.

What of future (and past!) science?
Grace (the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) consisted of two Earth-orbiting satellites which took detailed measurements of gravity-field anomalies.

A joint mission between Nasa and the German Aerospace Center, they were launched in March 2002. A replacement pair were put up last year, but have yet to be brought fully online.

Last month, researchers reported that the Greenland melt was unprecedented in 350 years.

A US research team examined ice cores from western Greenland that record the behaviour of the ice sheet dating back to 1650.

The group's analysis indicated that an uptick in melting began soon after the onset of industrial-era Arctic warming in the mid-1800s, and that the decade 2004-2013 experienced more sustained and intense melting than any other 10-year period in the 350-year record.


https://www.bbc.com/news/business-46149743
Sir James Dyson: From barrows to billions
JANUARY 22, 2019 40 minutes ago

Today he is one of the UK's richest men and a well-known supporter of Brexit, but how did Sir James Dyson make his fortune?

Sir James Dyson's most profitable idea began with some humble cardboard and sticky tape.

One day, in the late 1970s, it struck him that the industrial dust extractor at his factory could perhaps be scaled down for use in the home.

The machine in his factory had a potentially blockbuster feature that had never been used in domestic appliances before. It did not need a bag to collect dust; instead it spun air really fast, creating a cyclone that flung dust outwards where it could be collected.

He realised the potential was there for a bag-free and more efficient machine.

Sir James rushed back to his house, dismantled his vacuum cleaner and attached a cyclone device, hastily made from cardboard and sticking tape.

"I started pushing it around the room and it worked," he told Sue Lawley on Desert Island Discs in 1999.

Four years, and more than 5,000 prototypes later, he had a machine that worked to his satisfaction.

Seaside and sand dunes

It was not obvious from Sir James's schooling and early college years that he would become a leading inventor and industrial designer.

Sir James, whose father died when he was a child, grew up in Norfolk in the 1950s. Speaking about his childhood he said, "Money was very unimportant and what was much more important to me, and was a greater gift, was the countryside, the seaside, the sand dunes, the freedom."

Having studied art at school, he went on to art college in London where the principal suggested that he go into design.

He became influenced by the ideas of US architect and designer Buckminster Fuller, known for elegant domes.

Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image caption -- The work of Buckminster Fuller inspired the young James Dyson

"Here was an engineer creating this engineering structure which was incredibly beautiful, without even trying to be beautiful.

"Its elegance came not from its styling but from its engineering and I latched on to that."

Inspired by such work, he helped design the Sea Truck, a high-speed boat, built for beach landings.

Designs and debts

But Sir James wanted his own project and that came in 1974 - a wheelbarrow that featured a large spherical plastic wheel. The ballbarrow was designed to be easier to fill, empty and manoeuvre than existing barrows.

The invention was a commercial success, but in building the business Sir James lost control to outside investors and it was sold against his wishes.

It was an experience he was determined not to repeat with his next invention, the bagless vacuum cleaner.

Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image caption -- Developing his vacuum cleaner almost bankrupted Sir James, pictured here with an early model in 2002

By the early 1980s he had a working prototype, but developing it into a commercial product was a gruelling process that took another 10 years and almost bankrupted him.

At one stage he owed his bank more than a million pounds.

"That's probably why it took me such a long time to get the vacuum cleaner going, because I didn't have any money. I've always been heavily in debt.

"The bank got pretty nervous at times, but they stood by me," he said.

After some false starts, the first machine sold under the Dyson brand was launched in the UK in 1993 and soon became the biggest selling vacuum cleaner in the country.

Industrial giant

Dyson products were made in Wiltshire until 2002, when the firm switched vacuum cleaner production to Malaysia, a move that was unpopular with many at the time, but has proved to be a commercial success.

In recent years Dyson has launched hairdryers, fans and lights and now employs more than 12,000 staff worldwide, including around 4,800 in the UK.

That has all translated into healthy profits. The most recent available results from Dyson are from 2017 and show an underlying profit of £801m, up 27% on the previous year.

It has also made Sir James a very wealthy man. Forbes estimates his wealth at more than $5bn (£3.9bn). He is also reported to be the UK's biggest farmer, owning large amounts of land in Lincolnshire, Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.

Image copyrightDYSON
Image caption -- Dyson has branched out into hairdryers, fans and lighting

Brexit supporter

Sir James is one of the most high-profile business leaders to support Brexit.

In 2016, before the referendum on the UK's membership of the European Union, he argued that the UK would be wealthier outside the EU.

His business had been directly affected by European Union regulation.

He fought, and lost, a long legal battle against the way vacuum cleaners are labelled for energy efficiency in the EU.

He had argued that the labels were based on flawed tests.

Four-wheeled future?

The next challenge for Dyson could be the company's biggest so far - to take on the market for electric cars.

The car will be built in Singapore, where the firm says there are the engineers and suppliers it needs, as well as important markets. It also plans to move its headquarters there.

Sir James has supported engineering in this country through the James Dyson Foundation which introduces young people to the subject.

The Foundation also runs an annual competition for young engineers and designers.

In 2017 Sir James launched the Dyson Institute of Engineering and Technology, offering engineering degrees.


http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20190118-how-migration-formed-the-english-language
The earliest fragments of English reveal how interconnected Europe has been for centuries. As an exhibition in London brings together treasures from Anglo-Saxon England, Cameron Laux traces a history of the language through 10 objects and manuscripts – including a burial urn, a buckle with bling, and the first letter in English.
By Cameron Laux
18 January 2019

The interconnectedness of Europe has a long history, as we’re reminded when we explore the roots of the English language – roots that stretch back to the 5th Century. Anglo-Saxon England “was connected to the world beyond its shores through a lively exchange of books, goods, ideas,” argues the Medieval historian Mary Wellesley, describing a new exhibition at the British Library in London – Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms: Art, Word, War – that charts the genesis of England.

“Something like 80% of all surviving Old English verse survives in four physical books… for the first time in recorded history they are all together [in this exhibition],” she tells BBC Culture. “The period that is represented by Old English is about 600 years, which is like between us and back to Chaucer… imagine if there were only four physical books that survived from that period, what would that say about our literature?”

What we understand as English has its roots in 5th-Century Germany and Denmark, from where the Anglian, Saxon and Jute tribes came. As the Roman legions withdrew around 410AD, so the Saxon war bands (what Rome called ‘the barbarians’) landed and an era of migration from the Continent and the formation of Anglo-Saxon England began. The word “English” derives from the homeland of the Angles, the Anglian peninsula in Germany. Early English was written in runes, combinations of vertical and diagonal lines that lent themselves to being carved into wood and were used by other closely related Germanic languages, such as Old Norse, Old Saxon and Old High German.

(Credit: The Trustees of the British Museum)
Cremation urn from Loveden Hill, 5th Century (Credit: The Trustees of the British Museum)
“The earliest fragments of the English language are likely to be a group of runic inscriptions on three 5th-Century cremation urns from Spong Hill in Norfolk,” Wellesley has written. “The inscriptions simply read alu, which probably means ‘ale’. Perhaps the early speakers of Old English longed for ale in death as well as life.”

The exhibition gathers together an array of documents, books and archaeological evidence to form a dense picture of the Anglo-Saxon period, including a burial urn with runic inscriptions in early English from Loveden Hill, Lincolnshire, England.

Anglo-Saxons cremated their dead and interred their remains in earthenware vessels. About 20 objects with runic inscriptions from before 650AD are known from England, making this vessel – which seems to feature a woman’s name and the word for tomb – one of the earliest examples of English.

(Credit: British Library Board)
World map made in southern England, 11th Century (Credit: British Library Board)
The exhibition also includes a charming 11th-Century English map of the world, which gives us an insight into Anglo-Saxon identity. Britain and Ireland are squeezed into the bottom left-hand corner. (The two main population centres in England, London and Winchester, are noted.) The Mediterranean Sea is at the centre of the world’s land mass, with Rome prominent near the bottom on the left (‘Ro’ and then ‘ma’, with towers in between); across the water, Jerusalem is also prominent. Africa looms large on the upper right (follow the orange line up from the Nile delta), and India is the roughly triangular mass at the top centre.

This worldview was inherited from the Romans, who regarded Britain as being on the far edge of the world, but remained tied to the ‘centre’ by the Christian religion. Throughout the Anglo-Saxon era, which ended with the Norman Conquest in 1066, there was religious (and with it, intellectual) traffic across Europe.

Venerable Bede, an English monk and historian, noted in the early 8th Century that Britain was inhabited by four peoples who used five languages: the Picts (who remain shadowy); the Scots (whose language became Gaelic); the Britons (whose language became Welsh, Cornish, and Breton); and the Anglo-Saxons (who used a form of English). The fifth language was the Latin of the church, which eventually provided an alphabet to replace runes. On top of all of this, the Viking invasion of Britain began in the early 8th Century, adding Danish culture to the mix.

It is important to remember that the formation of English was influenced by a huge range of ethnic and geographical forces. The emerging ‘England’ of this period was a melting pot.

For example, we owe our English names for the days of the week, Tuesday to Friday, to the pagan religion that the Anglo-Saxons brought with them to Britain (Saturday, Sunday and Monday derive from the Greco-Roman tradition). Equally, the name of the Christian festival Easter is linked by Bede to ‘Eostre’, who seems to have been a pagan goddess. Woden, the most important pagan god, to whom we owe the word Wednesday, was also claimed as the ancestor of Anglo-Saxon royal lines. (The similarity to the name of the Norse god Odin is no accident.)

(Credit: British Library Board)
A representation from the 12th Century of the Anglo-Saxon god Woden (Credit: British Library Board)
Even Alfred the Great, an extremely pious Christian, claimed to be a descendant of Woden. The image here is a copy from a 12th-Century manuscript; it shows Woden at the centre of the kingly lines of (clockwise from top right) Wessex, Bernicia, Deira, Mercia and Kent.

One of Alfred’s personal projects was to translate great Latin prose works into Old English vernacular, thereby making them more accessible

Another object in the exhibition is something of a mystery. Made of gold, rock crystal and enamel, it dates from the late 9th Century, and the inscription around the outer edge says “Alfred ordered me to be made”; from the context, scholars have concluded that this refers to Alfred the Great.

(Credit: Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford)
The Alfred Jewel, late 9th Century (Credit: Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford)
What is known as the Alfred Jewel contains an empty socket, suggesting it could have been designed as a reading pointer, or æstel. If so, this object, and others like it, indicate the importance of literacy under Alfred’s reign – and especially literacy in English, which Alfred knew he needed to promote to help constitute a ‘united kingdom’ of England.

“King Alfred was very educated and clearly loved reading,” says Wellesley. “[He felt] there had been a terrible decline in learning in England, and in the more peaceful final four years of his reign he instituted a programme to promote the vernacular. It’s a wily political move, because he’s the first king to use the phrase ‘king of the English’.” In the Anglo-Saxon period, English was “very much a vernacular, a lesser language; not the language of the educated elite” – which was Latin.

According to Wellesley, Alfred had translations made of books that were “‘most needful for men to know’; these include Gregory the Great’s Pastoral Care, Augustine’s Soliloquies, Boethius’s Consolations of Philosophy and others”. She argues that “he juxtaposes the concepts of wealth and wisdom… he is also [with æstels like the Alfred Jewel] kind of bribing the bishops to whom he sends these works”.

The most famous Anglo-Saxon literary text is also included in the exhibition. Set in Scandinavia, Beowulf concerns a hero’s epic encounters with, and slaying of, monsters such as the man-thing Grendel and a dragon.

(Credit: British Library Board)
A page from the only manuscript of Beowulf known to exist (Credit: British Library Board)
The copy we have (the only existing manuscript of Beowulf), which was scorched by fire in the 18th Century, is thought to date from around the end of the 10th Century. Yet the tale was probably much older than that and likely existed as part of an oral tradition of story-telling.

The manuscript was included in a larger collection that attests to the fascination of the period with remote places and exotic monsters. A lurid 11th-Century manuscript commonly called “Marvels of the East” (a page of which is reproduced here) catalogues (in both Latin and English) weird creatures purportedly found in the ‘Far East’.

(Credit: British Library Board)
Page from The Marvels of the East, 11th Century (Credit: British Library Board)
These include people with lions’ manes who sweat blood and people with legs 12ft (3.6m) long who capture and eat anyone passing. The manuscript of Beowulf, meanwhile, describes Grendel crunching on the bones of warriors. It’s literature that offers visually arresting images to readers more used to hearing stories being told.

The Sutton Hoo belt buckle, from an early 7th-Century burial mound in Suffolk, England, is primarily made of gold and weighs over 400g (14oz), but beyond the bling, its intricacy speaks to the surprising sophistication of early Anglo-Saxon culture – and how that fed into the development of the English language.

(Credit: The Trustees of the British Museum)
The Sutton Hoo gold belt buckle, early 7th Century (Credit: The Trustees of the British Museum)
The surface is covered in the zoomorphic interlace which can be seen elsewhere in designs of the period, such as the Lindisfarne Gospels (also in the British Library collection): apparently it is possible to puzzle out 13 snakes, birds and beasts of various sorts tangled together in the web.

In 920, Ordlaf, a regional official in Wiltshire, England, wrote to King Edward the Elder. This, the Fonthill Letter, is the earliest surviving letter in the English language. (Edward the Elder, son of Alfred the Great, was thought to have been “glorious in the power of his rule”. He was neglected by historians until recently and is now thought to be one of England’s great kings.)

(Credit: Reproduced courtesy of the Chapter, Canterbury Cathedral)
The Fonthill Letter, early 10th Century (Credit: Reproduced courtesy of the Chapter, Canterbury Cathedral)
The letter is about what is in essence a convoluted legal dispute. Like many of the most important documents of this period, it survived for centuries through a combination of accident and neglect: it ended up in the archives of the Cathedral Church at Canterbury, where in the 12th Century it was marked “useless” but none-the-less kept. Despite its designated uselessness, the Fonthill Letter gives us a precious glimpse of everyday Anglo-Saxon red tape, as well as the high level of literacy in English which Alfred promoted.

The Ruthwell Cross is an 8th- or early 9th-Century sandstone monument around 16ft 4in (5m) tall which now stands inside the church at Ruthwell, Dumfriesshire, Scotland. It would once have been in the churchyard. (A replica of it appears in the exhibition.)

(Credit: RCAHMS)
A 19th-Century engraving of the Ruthwell Cross, Scotland (Credit: RCAHMS)
From bottom to top, the front of the cross represents the Crucifixion; the Annunciation; Christ curing a blind man; Mary Magdalene drying Christ’s feet; and Mary and Martha. On the other side are depicted the Flight into Egypt; the hermits Paul and Antony; Christ recognised by beasts; and John the Baptist. The narrow sides have elegant vine-scroll ornamentation, around which is an unusual runic inscription of Old English verses that seem to echo and probably draw on the oral tradition of The Dream of the Rood (a ‘dream vision’ of the Cross), an Old English poetic masterpiece that survives in one place, as part of the Vercelli Book from the 10th Century.

(Credit: Biblioteca Capitolare de Vercelli, Italy)
The opening page of The Dream of the Rood, 10th Century (Credit: Biblioteca Capitolare de Vercelli, Italy)
The first word, starting with the big ‘h’, is hwæt, or ‘Listen!’. (Runic ‘w’ looks like a ‘p’.) Since the English runes would have been unintelligible to the indigenous British population of the area, it has been speculated that the cross was a creation of an English monastic community.

The Anglo-Saxons seem remote – they are remote, for at their furthest they are over 1,500 years away from us – and we will probably never fathom many of the details of their lives, but there are also moments where they leap into focus and feel like they might be our grandparents, squabbling about this or that or telling stories in a letter. So much is both alien and familiar. It is fascinating to witness the evolution of the written language; and to imagine our descendants puzzling over our use of it in an exhibition 1,500 years from now.