Louis C.K. and Separating Artists From Their Work
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Texas Driver With Anti-Trump Car Sticker Threatened With Criminal Charge
In a Facebook post, Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls said the owner of a truck with a “F–k Trump and F–k you for voting for him” sticker could violate a disorderly conduct law.
…”If you know who owns this truck or it is yours, I would like to discuss it with you. Our Prosecutor has informed us she would accept Disorderly Conduct charges regarding it,”
…The sheriff also posted a photo of a portion of the Texas law for “Disorderly Conduct” in the comments section of the post “for the point of discussion.”
…”.@SheriffTNehls, you can’t prosecute speech just because it has the word “f–k” in it. (And the owner of the truck should feel free to contact @ACLUTx.) #ConstitutionalLaw101 #FreeSpeech,” the tweet from ACLU Texas read.
At a Wednesday news conference, and following severe backlash and numerous reactions on social media, Nehls seemed to back down from the idea of pressing charges on the driver, saying he supports freedom of speech. He also acknowledged a 1971 Supreme Court case, Cohen v. California, that overturned the conviction of a man accused of disturbing the peace for donning a jacket with an expletive as part of an effort to protest the military draft and the Vietnam War.
Texas Driver With Anti-Trump Car Sticker Threatened With Criminal Charge
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Saad Hariri plans France trip after resigning as Lebanon’s prime minister in Saudi Arabia
His resignation — which he blamed on pressure from Iran and its Lebanese Shiite proxy, Hezbollah — stunned Lebanon and the wider region and raised fears the country would plunge again into factional turmoil.
But Lebanese officials had said Hariri, who is a dual Lebanese-Saudi citizen, had been forced to resign by Saudi authorities and was unable to move or speak freely from Riyadh. Lebanon’s president, Michel Aoun, said Wednesday that Hariri was a “hostage,” and that his government would not accept such an “attack on Lebanese sovereignty.”
…But as Shiite Iran and Saudi Arabia, which is Sunni, have competed for influence in the region, the threat of upheaval in Lebanon intensified. Iran has long backed Hezbollah, Lebanon’s most powerful political and military movement, and which is key to Iranian regional reach.
…For its part, Riyadh has sought to bolster Hariri and his Sunni bloc in Lebanon, and have fought what Saudi officials claim are Iranian proxy forces in Yemen. Iran denies having direct links to the Houthi forces in Yemen that drove out the Saudi-backed president in 2015.
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FBI Investigates: 60 Russian Payments “To Finance Election Campaign Of 2016”
After discovering the $30,000 transfer to the embassy in Washington, Citibank launched a review of other transfers by the Russian foreign ministry. It unearthed dozens of other transactions with similar memo lines. Compliance officers in Citibank’s Global Intelligence Unit flagged them as suspicious, noting that it was unable to determine the financial, business, or legal purpose of the transactions.
Much as checks include a memo line, wire transfers often include a note that states what the money is for. The note on this set of transfers does not indicate what election the money was to be used for, or even the country. Seven nations had federal elections during the span when the funds were sent — including the Duma, Russia’s lower house of Parliament, on Sept. 18, 2016. Russian embassies and diplomatic compounds opened polling stations for voters living abroad.
…Following the congressional requests, Citibank turned over a range of financial documents. The material includes more than 650 suspicious transactions between November 2013 and March 2017 totaling about $2.9 million. That money was sent to four Russian accounts operating in the US: the embassy; the Office of Defense, Military, Air and Naval Attaches; and Russian cultural centers in Washington and New York City.
Most of these wire transfers were not related to the election, sources say, but are the subject of FBI scrutiny for their possible ties to Russian corruption and money laundering.
Secret Finding: 60 Russian Payments “To Finance Election Campaign Of 2016”
Congress has a sexual harassment problem, lawmakers and staffers say
Be extra careful of the male lawmakers who sleep in their offices — they can be trouble. Avoid finding yourself alone with a congressman or senator in elevators, late-night meetings or events where alcohol is flowing. And think twice before speaking out about sexual harassment from a boss — it could cost you your career.
These are a few of the unwritten rules that some female lawmakers, staff and interns say they follow on Capitol Hill, where they say harassment and coercion is pervasive on both sides of the rotunda.
There is also the “creep list” — an informal roster passed along by word-of-mouth, consisting of the male members most notorious for inappropriate behavior, ranging from making sexually suggestive comments or gestures to seeking physical relations with younger employees and interns.
Congress has a sexual harassment problem, lawmakers and staffers say – CNNPolitics
U.N. warns millions at risk in Yemen, urges Saudi coalition to open ports
The Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Houthi movement said last week it had closed all air, land and seaports in Yemen to stem what it said was the flow of arms to the Houthis from Iran.
“We have some 21 million people needing assistance and seven million of those are in famine-like conditions and rely completely on food aid,” U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Yemen Jamie McGoldrick said.
“The continued closure by the Saudi-led coalition of critical seaports and airports is aggravating an already dire humanitarian situation. I think it poses a critical threat to the lives of millions who are already struggling to survive.”
U.N. warns millions at risk in Yemen, urges Saudi coalition to open ports
The “Crying Indian” Ad That Got the Environmental Movement Off Track
KAB needed to propagandize without seeming propagandistic and [counter] the claims of a political movement without seeming political. At the moment the tear appears, the narrator, in a baritone voice, intones: “People start pollution. People can stop it.” By making individual viewers feel guilty and responsible for the polluted environment, the ad deflected the question of responsibility away from corporations and placed it entirely in the realm of individual action, concealing the role of industry in polluting the landscape.
…The shift to the throwaway was responsible, in part, for the rising levels of litter that KAB publicized, but also, as environmentalists emphasized, for the mining of vast quantities of natural resources, the production of various kinds of pollution, and the generation of tremendous amounts of solid waste.
The “Crying Indian” Ad That Fooled the Environmental Movement | Essay | Zócalo Public Square
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