Friday, June 29, 2018

11 quotes from US politicians who are not fans of socialism - Independent


11 quotes from US politicians who are not fans of socialism
Posted on June 27, 2018 by Greg Evans in news 
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Tuesday saw one of the most surprising political results in American history as 28-year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defeated veteran Democrat Joe Crowley in the party's congressional primary in New York City.

Ms Ocasio-Cortez, who is of Puerto Rican descent, is a former Bernie Sanders volunteer and describes herself as a socialist Democrat. She was also the first person from the part to challenge Crowley in 14 years.

She received a huge amount of support from the ethnic minority districts in the Bronx and Queens, receiving 42.5 per cent of the vote from that particular demographic, winning with an overall 57.5 per cent of the vote.

According to BBC News, Crowley had been tipped as a potential leader for the Democrats in the future, or even Speaker of the House, but now he'll have to look on as his younger successor will now face Republican Anthony Pappas in the November mid-terms.

Should she win, she'll become the youngest woman to ever be elected to Congress.

This could be a significant moment for American politics, especially on the left, which Ocasio-Cortez echoed in a Twitter thread.


Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

@Ocasio2018
 Almost two years ago, I started what was then a completely ‘impossible’ bid for Congress.

Since then, everything has changed.

Now, there’s only 20 minutes left.

And it feels great.

10:47 AM - Jun 27, 2018
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

@Ocasio2018
Replying to @Ocasio2018
I have spent today criss-crossing the district my family has called home for generations. I have met strangers who knew my dad, and knew stories about my loved ones.

I have touched the hands of people who have felt ignored and invisible for a long, long time. And they felt seen.

10:50 AM - Jun 27, 2018
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

@Ocasio2018
Replying to @Ocasio2018
Today I saw people voting that are almost never seen in an off-year midterm primary.

Just now, as I’m typing this with 8 minutes left, two young men of color, 20 years old, just walked up to me and said they just voted.

2 yrs ago, the “experts” told me not to bother with them.

10:55 AM - Jun 27, 2018
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

@Ocasio2018
Replying to @Ocasio2018
But I knew that in refusing to engage with non-voters, we were churning a cycle of neglect and cynicism.

So I reached out. And we have been embraced. We have built power. We have organized.

What we have built is permanent. No. Matter. What.

11:00 AM - Jun 27, 2018
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

@Ocasio2018
 This is the start of a movement.

Thank you all.

2:21 PM - Jun 27, 2018
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Although Bernie Sanders was ultimately unsuccessful in his attempts to become the Democrat's presidential candidate in 2016, his philosophy seems to have continued to resonate with the American people - or at least those in New York.

Ocasio-Cortez's victory might seem minor at the moment, but it flies in the face of what many US politicians would want their public to believe socialism is about.

For instance, the current President, Donald Trump has gone on record to unsurprisingly denounce socialism with a bad 'joke'.

Last year, during a speech at the United Nations, Trump highlighted countries like Venezuela and Cuba as examples of where socialism has failed. He said:

The problem... is not that socialism has been poorly implemented but that socialism has been faithfully implemented.

From the Soviet Union to Cuba to Venezuela, wherever true socialism or communism has been adopted, it has delivered anguish and devastation and failure.

Trump's comments were met with silence and laughter from his fellow world leaders.

Luckily for him, Sarah Sanders was there to back him up.


Sarah Sanders

@PressSec
 "The problem in Venezuela is not that socialism has been poorly implemented, but that socialism has been faithfully implemented." @POTUS

12:41 AM - Sep 20, 2017
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It would appear that a firm grasp of the ideals of socialism does not run deep in the Trump family as Donald Trump Jr proved with this tweet on Halloween.

View image on Twitter
View image on Twitter

Donald Trump Jr.

@DonaldJTrumpJr
 I’m going to take half of Chloe’s candy tonight & give it to some kid who sat at home. It’s never to early to teach her about socialism.

8:53 AM - Nov 1, 2017
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Trump's vice president Mike Pence has also said a few choice words about socialism in the past too.

At a presidential campaign rally at Georgia State Fairgrounds in August 2016, he quoted Margaret Thatcher when criticising Hillary Clinton.




We should probably point out that Hillary Clinton almost never defined herself as a socialist, or at least not as broadly as Sanders did.

Earlier this year, the former First Lady spoke at the Shared Values Leadership Summit, where she admitted that being a capitalist probably hurt her position among Democrats.

I mean, it’s hard to know, but if you’re in the Iowa caucuses and 41 per cent of Democrats are socialists, or self-described socialists, and I’m asked, ‘Are you a capitalist’, and I say ‘Yes, but with appropriate regulation and accountability,’ that probably gets lost in the ‘Oh my God, she’s a capitalist!’

Her husband, former president Bill Clinton, also shares these values. Speaking at a health care rally in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, Clinton highlighted his belief in a private health care system in America.

He said:

Socialism is when the government runs a health care system.

We don't have socialized medicine in this country, and my plan is for private insurance and private doctors.

[The 20 century marked] the victory of democracy over totalitarianism, of free enterprise over state socialism.

This isn't a current trend, however.

Back in 2008, then-Republican presidential candidate John McCain referenced the infamous Joe the Plumber incident in a speech about Barack's Obama's proposed policies.

He said:

Joe, in his plainspoken way, said this sounded a lot like socialism.

And a lot of Americans are thinking along those same lines. In the best case, ‘spreading the wealth around’ is a familiar idea from the American left.

And that kind of class warfare sure doesn't sound like a ‘new kind of politics'.

McCain's former vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin also branded Obama a socialist during the 2008 campaign.

Citing the same Joe the Plumber incident, she said:

Obama is a socialist/Marxist. Joe suggested that that sounded a little bit like socialism.

Whatever you call it, I call it bad medicine for an ailing economy, and it's what Barack Obama will do to those who want to create jobs, and we're willing to call Barack Obama on it.

Another one of Barack Obama's opponents, Mitt Romney, also criticised the former President's seemingly socialist approach.

In a September 2011 speech, the Republican said:

Barack Obama is a big-spending liberal. He takes his inspiration from Europe and the socialist democrats in Europe.

Europe isn't working in Europe. It's not going to work here. I believe in America.

I believe in the opportunity and the freedom that is American opportunity and freedom. I believe in free enterprise and capitalism.

That being said, Obama was hardly an outstanding advocate for socialism.

Speaking at the 2013 CEO Council, Obama addressed the claims that he was a socialist. He said:

People call me a socialist sometimes, but you've got to meet real socialists, you'll have a real sense of what a socialist is. I'm talking about lowering the corporate tax rate, my health care reform is based on the private marketplace, the stock market is doing pretty good the last time I checked and it is true that I am concerned about growing inequality in the system, but nobody questions the efficacy of a market economy in terms of producing wealth and innovation and keeping us competitive.

In addition in a speech made in Argentina in March 2016, Obama encouraged young people to find their own way in politics and not feel like they have to conform to either a socialist or capitalist theory.

[S]o often in the past there’s been a sharp division between left and right, between capitalist and communist or socialist. 

And especially in the Americas, that’s been a big debate, right?  Oh, you know, you’re a capitalist Yankee dog, and oh, you know, you’re some crazy communist that’s going to take away everybody’s property. 

And I mean, those are interesting intellectual arguments, but I think for your generation, you should be practical and just choose from what works. 

You don’t have to worry about whether it neatly fits into socialist theory or capitalist theory — you should just decide what works.

Melania Trump makes second solo trip to border - CBS News

 June 28, 2018, 2:17 PM
Melania Trump makes second solo trip to border

Last Updated Jun 28, 2018 2:17 PM EDT

First Lady Melania Trump is making her second solo trip to the southern border to visit immigration facilities. The first lady, who visited children and federal immigration authorities in Texas last week, landed in Tucson, Arizona, Thursday.

The first lady, her spokeswoman said, is eager to see what has changed since her last visit. Melania Trump — who President Trump said raised the issue of family separation with him — continues to discuss the border situation with the president, said her communications director, Stephanie Grisham. Grisham did not elaborate on those discussions.

"This is a complex issue. She recognizes that," Grisham told reporters, according to the White House press pool.

While in Tucson, Melania Trump is touring a U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility, where she is expected to have a roundtable discussion with officials from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the U.S. Marshals Service. Then, according to the White House press pool, she will tour the Tucson Coordinating Center, a short-term holding facilities. The first lady will also do a closed-press tour of an intelligence center.

Grisham said the trip to Tucson was planned last week, after the first lady's trip to Texas was cut short due to flooding. 

"She wasn't able to visit a DHS facility, and she wants to learn from the people on the front lines at the border," Grisham told reporters.

On her last trip to the border, the first lady made headlines when she sported a jacket that said, "I don't care, do you?" The first lady didn't wear the jacket when she was with the children, and although her spokesperson said there was no "hidden message," President Trump claimed the jacket was an attempt to hit back at the media. On Thursday when she boarded the plane in D.C., the White House press pool observed nothing unusual about her attire.

Bill Gates: Everyone should know these 3 facts - CNBC

June 29, 2018

Bill Gates: Everyone should know these 3 facts
Catherine Clifford
Bill Gates
Adam Galica | CNBC
Bill Gates
Billionaire Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates says you need to know three facts to better understand the world.

Those statistics are the global rate of childhood deaths, the fertility rate and the number of people who escape extreme poverty.

The facts come from Oxford economist Max Roser, the founder of the data and statistics website, OurWorldInData.org.

“One of my favorite websites is OurWorldInData.org. Based at the University of Oxford, it uses statistics — on everything from health and population growth to war, the environment, and energy — to give you phenomenal insight into how living conditions are changing around the world,” says Gates in a post published on his blog Tuesday. “I asked its founder, Oxford economist Max Roser, to share three facts from the site that everyone should know.”

Roser says memorizing a few statistics gives you a framework to more accurately understand the world.

“Yes, for some details, it makes sense to just search for them when you need them. But for the large global developments, it is important to know some basic statistics that describe living conditions currently and the direction of change that we have seen over the past few decades,” says Roser in a piece published on the Gates Notes blog.

“Knowing the facts on global changes gives you the context for the daily news and allows you to make sense of new information that you learn. And it must be the basis for political debate, so that we can discuss what we should and shouldn’t do as a society.”

Here's what Gates and Roser say you need to know:


1. Annual childhood deaths have fallen by more than half since 1960
Each year, 5.6 million children under the age of five die. That’s 15,500 deaths per day and 11 deaths of children per minute, according to data from the UN. In the 1950s and 1960s, 20 million children were dying every year, according to the same data set.

“One key reason why we struggle to see progress in the world today is that we do not know how very bad the past was. Both are true at the same time: The world is much better than in the past and it is still awful,” says Roser.


Bill Gates

@BillGates
 · 27 Jun
Replying to @BillGates
Here are three facts from the site that Max thinks everyone should know…


Bill Gates

@BillGates
Fact #1: Fewer children are dying before the age of 5. pic.twitter.com/RNcCNcBTFz

3:21 AM - Jun 27, 2018

“To bring this to mind I need to know both statistics: When someone says we can sit back and relax because the world is in a much better place, I point out that 11 children are still dying every minute. We cannot accept the world as it is today. And when I feel hopeless in the face of this tragedy, I remember that we reduced annual child deaths from 20 million to 5.6 million in the last 50 years," writes Roser.

2. The average number of children born per woman per year is falling
In the last 50 years, the global fertility rate, or the average number of children every woman in the world has, has fallen from five to less than 2.5, Roser says. That means the rate of population growth has gone from 2 percent a year to just over 1 percent per year.

Availability of contraceptives and access to education and higher quality jobs affect fertility rates, says Roser. So too does child mortality rates.


Bill Gates

@BillGates
 · 27 Jun
Replying to @BillGates
Fact #1: Fewer children are dying before the age of 5. pic.twitter.com/RNcCNcBTFz


Bill Gates

@BillGates
Fact #2: Since 1960, the number of children born per woman has fallen by half. pic.twitter.com/BzCFzdwdWE

3:21 AM - Jun 27, 2018

“Improvements in conditions for women and the health of children have driven a rapid reduction in fertility rates across the world,” says Roser. “The statistic that I remember on population growth is the one that tells me that rapid population growth is coming to an end in this century.”

Why is that important? "The problem is that the population is growing the fastest where people are less able to deal with it," Gates explained in a 2012 blog post, so there is an inability to feed, educate, employ and protect the environment.

3. More than 100,000 people a day have escaped extreme poverty in recent decades
Between 1990 and 2015, 137,000 people left “extreme poverty” each day, says Roser.

Someone is defined as living in "extreme poverty" if they live on the equivalent of less than about $1.90 per person per day, as determined by the World Bank.

Today, 706 million people in the world live in extreme poverty. In 1990, 1.86 billion people lived in extreme poverty. That means the number of people living in extreme poverty has fallen to one in 10 people from one in three.


Bill Gates

@BillGates
 · 27 Jun
Replying to @BillGates
Fact #2: Since 1960, the number of children born per woman has fallen by half. pic.twitter.com/BzCFzdwdWE


Bill Gates

@BillGates
Fact #3: The world is making progress against extreme poverty. pic.twitter.com/PCH6aMzxfd

3:21 AM - Jun 27, 2018

“When you ask people whether the world is making progress against extreme poverty, the majority of us believe things are getting worse — that the number of people in extreme poverty in the world is rising,” says Roser. “The opposite is true. Both the number and the share of people in extreme poverty is falling.”

Though the number of people living in extreme poverty is still “unacceptably large," says Roser, "we should also know that the trend is moving in the right direction. The number of people in extreme poverty is falling. It is possible to end extreme poverty.”

Knowing these statistics is a reason feel optimistic, says Roser. “The statistics on global change over time tell us that it is possible to work for a better world. The number of child deaths is dropping. The challenges of rapid population growth will not continue indefinitely. And the number of people in extreme poverty is falling,” he says. “Our past successes should encourage us to work for more progress.”

Gates also advocates holding onto an optimistic view of the world.


“I’m not trying to downplay the work that remains. Being an optimist doesn’t mean you ignore tragedy and injustice. It means you’re inspired to look for people making progress on those fronts, and to help spread that progress,” Gates wrote as the guest editor for Time magazine in January.

“To some extent, it is good that bad news gets attention. If you want to improve the world, you need something to be mad about," he said. "But it has to be balanced by upsides. When you see good things happening, you can channel your energy into driving even more progress."

BAE wins multi-billion pound Australian warship contract - BBC News

June 29, 2018

BAE wins multi-billion pound Australian warship contract

British defence giant BAE Systems has won a multi-billion pound contract from the Australian government to build nine new warships, marking a significant victory for British military exports.

BAE beat Italian and Spanish rivals to win a large slice of the £19.6bn ($25.7bn; A$35bn) spending programme.

The ships will be based on anti-submarine frigates that BAE is building for the UK's Royal Navy.

However, the new warships will be built in Australia by a local workforce.

BAE's Australian arm said the construction of the ships locally would make a significant contribution to Australia's economy "creating thousands of jobs, supporting new industries and boosting the national supply chain for decades to come".

"We are proud to have been selected as preferred tenderer to provide the Royal Australian Navy with a world-class ship, equipped with the latest technologies and designed specifically to meet its needs," BAE Systems Australia chief executive, Gabby Costigan said.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May said the deal was also an "enormous boost" for the UK economy and reflected the government's strategy to "build on our close relationships with allies like Australia" as the UK prepares to leave the EU.

It is the first export of a British design for new-build frigates since the 1970s, the UK government said.

The ships to be built will be based on BAE Systems' Type 26 frigate, and will be called the "Hunter class".

Production in Australia is expected to commence in 2020.

Australian jobs
The Hunter class ships will be built in Adelaide, South Australia, by government-owned ASC Shipbuilding and the programme is expected to create at least 5,000 local jobs across about 30 years.

"The Hunter class will provide the Australian Defence Force with the highest levels of lethality and deterrence our major surface combatants need in periods of global uncertainty," the Australian government said.

The ships will be fitted with long-range anti-missile defence systems.

The Type 26 currently being built for the Royal Navy forms the basis of the design sold to the Australian government
While the overall budget is £19.6bn, only a part of that will come to BAE Systems for the design and build of the frigates.

BAE Systems chief executive Charles Woodburn said: "I am proud that our world class anti-submarine warfare design and our approach to transferring technology and skills to the nations in which we work is expected to contribute to the development of an enduring world-class naval shipbuilding industry in Australia."

Italy's Fincantieri SpA and Spain's Navantia also bid for the contract.

'Deal of the century'
BAE's shipyards on the Clyde in Glasgow are unlikely to see a significant boost to jobs.

Gary Cook of the GMB union criticised the deal, saying: "The inconvenient truth is that we're not exporting ships, only manufacturing jobs that should be going to British shipbuilding communities.

"And had the UK government and BAE invested in the promised frigate factory at Scotstoun, those frigates could easily be built here.

"Instead, there is a rubble pile where that factory should be, while 4,000 jobs and significant prosperity will be enjoyed in Australia and not the UK."

Nevertheless, defence analysts said the deal represented a significant success for British naval exports.

"It is the deal of the century," said Francis Tusa, editor of industry newsletter Defence Analysis.

The UK has had an "abysmal" export record for warship sales for the past five decades, he said. But this represented "a massive sea-change".

Canada, which is also planning to order warships later this year, might be influenced by Australia's decision, he added.

Selling the design overseas will help spread the costs of design and production of many elements of the frigate, potentially bringing down the cost of the Type 26 to the Royal Navy significantly, according to Mr Tusa.

However, it was not only BAE Systems who would benefit from the deal, he said.

Small and medium-sized UK companies would be likely to win orders for some of the technology required on the Australian ships.

Firms that are already supplying the UK government's order of the Type 26 would be in a strong position to also supply Australian orders.

Analysis: Douglas Fraser, Scotland business editor
The design success of the Global Combat Ship, otherwise known as the Type 26, is a breakthrough for BAE Systems. Over several decades, it has struggled to turn the Royal Navy's requirements into a design that other countries want to buy, or are willing to pay for.

Orders from other navies used to mean manufacturing at UK yards.

But now, other countries want to get the economic benefit of their military spending, so they insist on building themselves.

The hull can be the relatively cheap bit of building a complex warship, so there may be benefits to British arms exporters in selling weapons systems that fit into the Australian frigates.

However, this looks like a design which was heavily subsidised by the UK taxpayer, being sold overseas, and wholly to the benefit of BAE Systems. It appears that the UK taxpayer sees none of the direct payback or royalties from that investment.

Innovative design
Independent defence analyst Paul Beaver said the appeal of the Type 26 design is that it is modular.

"We are supplying the technology behind the hull, other nations will put their engines, their weapons systems into it. It's designed in a way that it can cope with that.

"You don't have to buy a certain type of missile or gun. You can buy a raft of different ones which will be very attractive."

He said he believed the agreement would turn out to be part of a wider deal on defence procurement between the UK and Australia.

Migrant crisis: EU leaders plan closed migrant centres - BBC News

June 29, 2018

Migrant crisis: EU leaders plan closed migrant centres

Why is the Aquarius migrant rescue ship empty?
Closed migrant centres are to be set up in EU states to process asylum claims under a deal reached after marathon talks at a leaders summit in Brussels.

The centres, hosted on a voluntary basis, would determine who are illegal migrants "who will be returned".

Italy - the entry point for thousands of migrants, mainly from Africa - had threatened to veto the summit's entire agenda if it did not receive help.

Resettlement of genuine refugees would also take place on a voluntary basis.

There were no details on which countries would host the centres or receive refugees.

The numbers illegally entering the EU have dropped 96% since their 2015 peak, the European Council says.

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The EU leaders' joint communique also speaks of restricting the movement of asylum seekers between EU states.

"After this European summit, Europe is more responsible and offers more solidarity," said Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. "Today Italy is no longer alone."

But German Chancellor Angela Merkel said more needed to be done to resolve disagreements.

The EU's new migrant prisons?
By the BBC's Adam Fleming in Brussels

A few things stand out as wins for Italy's new prime minister. The summit's conclusions now include a statement about the need for boats that pick up migrants in the Mediterranean to respect international law.

But the big one is approval of the concept of closed, secure processing facilities for migrants arriving in the EU. Some say this will make it easier to send back people whose claims for asylum are rejected, others are already describing them as prisons.

This paragraph is full of caveats, commas and sub-clauses - all the hallmarks of something drafted in the middle of the night.

Another striking pledge is for an ambitious partnership with Africa. That's the EU trying to balance its tough internal approach with a friendly external one, and offering incentives to North African countries to host facilities where migrants can be assessed for resettlement in Europe.

What else has been agreed?
The 28 EU leaders also agreed several other measures:

strengthening external border controls, and boosting financing for Turkey and countries in North Africa
exploring the possibility of "regional disembarkation platforms", which are aimed at breaking the business model of people-smuggling gangs by processing refugees and migrants outside the EU. However getting North African countries to host such centres could be very difficult and Morocco again on Thursday rejected the idea
internal measures taken by member states to stop migrants moving within the EU, which the agreement said undermined asylum policy and the border-free Schengen travel area
more investment in Africa to help the continent achieve a "substantial socio-economic transformation" so people no longer leave for a better life
Further work to reform EU asylum policy, including changes to the so-called Dublin regulation under which migrants must be considered for asylum in the first safe country where they arrive
Whose needs does the deal meet?
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte had earlier taken the rare step of blocking the conclusions of the joint communique until the leaders had settled the migration issue. Both Italy and Greece want other countries to share the burden.

However several Central European states have so far rejected an EU scheme to relocate 160,000 refugees from overcrowded camps in Greece and Italy.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel had said that the migration issue could be a defining moment for the EU - but she also needed the summit to avert a political crisis at home that could bring down her government.

Migrant crisis: EU border force Frontex explained
Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, from her Bavarian coalition partner, the CSU, had given her a deadline of this weekend. He has threatened to start turning away migrants who have already registered elsewhere from the border in his home state.

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Without the CSU, Mrs Merkel would lose her parliamentary majority.

It is unclear whether the measures agreed will be enough, and speaking to reporters at 05:00 local time (03:00 GMT), she acknowledged the EU still had "a lot of work to do to bridge the different views".

How many migrants are entering the EU?
The flows of people include refugees fleeing the Syrian war and other conflicts, urgently seeking asylum.

It is not a crisis on the scale of 2015, when thousands were coming ashore daily on the Greek islands.

But this month's tensions over migrant rescue ships barred from entry to Italian ports - most recently the German charity ship Lifeline - have put the issue firmly back in the EU spotlight.

Reality Check: Who is responsible for migrants at sea?
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The Lifeline was only allowed to dock in Malta after intense diplomacy among several EU states, who each agreed to take some of the migrants on board. Malta said that Norway had now also agreed to take a share.