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Jordans King Abdullah swore in an interim government on Monday that takes office facing historic levels of unemployment and a coronavirus pandemic that its predecessor failed to contain.

Bisher Al Khasawneh, the replacement for prime minister Omar Razzaz, is a longtime diplomat who is new to governance. He formed an administration made mostly of Cabinet veterans, former ministers and ambassadors.

Sources at the prime minister's office and those close to the Royal Court said the safe hands were selected to guide Jordan through the biggest economic crisis and wave of public discontent in modern history.

At a socially-distanced swearing-in ceremony in front of the king at the Husseini Palace on Monday, Mr Al Khasawneh said the government will give the pandemic file special importance.

He vowed to enhance health services, improve the co-ordination between partners in the health sector, and develop a new epidemiological monitoring and investigation strategy to cope with the communal transmission phase of the virus and better contact tracing.

For interior minister, Mr Al Khasawneh replaced Salamah Hamad with Gen Tawfiq Al Halalmeh, the first director of Jordans gendarmerie, who helped develop the service into an elite internal security and counter-terrorism force. Gen Al Halalmeh is an influential voice in Jordans security sector.

Ali Al Ayad, a former minister and ambassador to Israel, returned to the post of minister of media affairs and government spokesman, nine years since he last served in the post.

For the post of deputy prime minister and minister of state for economic affairs, Mr Al Khasawneh called on Umayya Toukan, a former finance minister and longtime governor of the Central Bank of Jordan.

Nayef Al Fayez is another former minister returned to an old post, serving again as minister of tourism to address a critical sector that accounts for 14 per cent of the kingdoms GDP and has been badly hit by the pandemic.

Mr Al Fayez has served as tourism minister three times over the past decade, most recently in 2016.

Most notably, the new government replaced Saad Al Jaber, the health minister who relied heavily on his casual and personable media presence to convince Jordanians of the seriousness of the coronavirus and the need for a costly three-month lockdown.

Mr Al Jabers sometimes flippant and often quotable approach made him a polarising figure. His claims that coronavirus had dried up and died in Jordan in June after a three-month lockdown was emblematic of the governments squandering of its hard-earned gains against the virus.

Replacing Mr Al Jaber is Dr Nathir Obeidat, spokesman for Jordans Covid-19 taskforce whose measured, sober and facts-based discussion on the pandemic with media throws Mr Al Jaber's approach into sharp relief.

The post of foreign minister was one of the few left unchanged, with Ayman Safadi retaining the post as the kingdoms top diplomat, a position he has held since 2017. Minister of Education Tayseer Naimi also kept his role.

King Abdullah selected Mr Al Khasawneh, who served as Jordans ambassador to Egypt, France and the Arab League, as prime minister on Wednesday, noting in his letter of designation that the new government arrived at an exceptional time.

Although constitutionally the king-appointed prime minister forms a government independently, former ministers and royal court officials told The National that the palace and security services have great sway over Cabinet selections.

The interim government has several tall tasks at hand, the most immediate of which is the coronavirus.

Despite crushing the curve in the spring and pushing cases down to zero for weeks, mismanagement at the countrys borders with Syria and Saudi Arabia allowed infected lorry drivers and border staff to take the virus into Jordanian communities.

Since then, the Razzaz government struggled to find a balance between reviving the economy and stopping the spread of Covid-19, following a strategy of localised lockdowns and weekend curfews that did little to prevent the infections jumping to more than 1,000 new cases and 10 to 15 deaths a day.

Health experts are speaking of a potential collapse of the health system, after dozens of nurses and doctors caught the virus and hospital beds became scarce.

The economic crisis is just as immediate and, for Jordan, with longer-term implications. Jordans economy has struggled to recover from the three-month coronavirus lockdown imposed in March.

Its debt crisis has widened to more than 100 per cent of GDP, exacerbated by a drop in tax revenue and costly social measures designed to keep citizens afloat.

Jordans unemployment is at a historic high of 23 per cent, according to official statistics, but independent researchers and think tanks put that at close to 40 per cent.

The vast majority of Jordanians still in work receive 50 per cent to 75 per cent of their normal monthly salaries.

Compounding the challenges facing the government is the uncertainty surrounding its shelf-life and its constitutional mandate.

The countrys constitution mandates that once parliament is dissolved upon completion of its ordinary session to pave way for elections, government must also resign to prevent a prime minister running the government without the constitutional check of the legislative body.

King Abdullah instructed Mr Al Khasawnehs interim government to serve until parliamentary elections scheduled for November 10 are complete and a new government is sworn in.

But the countrys Independent High Electoral Commission hinted several times this month that elections may be postponed should Jordans coronavirus case numbers continue to climb.

Hanging over the elections, as with everything else in Jordan, is the prospect of a second national lockdown.

To prevent a collapse of the health system, experts in the Covid-19 taskforce have pushed the government to impose a two or three-week national lockdown to slow transmission.

Incoming health minister Dr Obeidat, in his capacity as Covid-19 taskforce spokesman, said last week that weekend and local lockdowns as enacted by the previous government were ineffective at this stage and that a two or three-week lockdown would be needed to curb communal transmission.

It is unclear how a national lockdown would delay an election campaign season that is already in full swing, and whether the Khasawneh government will serve past its interim period.

Updated: October 13, 2020 09:30 AM

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Jordan's King Abdullah swears in new government of old faces - The National

Wellingtons fern orb returns to public view stronger than ever after a long hiatus.

Neil Dawsons Ferns 2 was initially taken down May 2019 because of metal fatigue but had seen delays in its return to Te Ngkau Civic Square.

Wellington City Council spokesperson Richard MacLean said lockdown played a role in this delay, as did the pieces redesign to make it less fragile.

The hope was fewer alterations would be needed going forward.

READ MORE:* Civic Square fern orb turns up in industrial depot after being hidden for years * Len Lye's former assistant says artist would have been 'deeply hurt' by broken sculpture* New Ferns 'orb' sculpture to be raised in Wellington's Civic Square

MONIQUE FORD/Stuff

Ferns 2 has been redesigned to prevent it from being taken down again.

Ferns 2 was already a replacement for the original commission, Ferns, that sustained significant wind damage and had to be removed permanently. The original Ferns sculpture was last seen in an industrial zone in Grenada North.

Weve had to do serious thinking about redesigning the piece to the situation of pulling it down repeatedly, said MacLean.

The replacement and reinstallation was covered by insurance.

MONIQUE FORD/Stuff

Neil Dawsons fern sculpture has been reinstalled after it was repeatedly taken down for repairs.

It took three cranes and a cherry picker to secure the orb in position at 10am on Tuesday.

Wellington Sculpture Trust chair Sue Elliot said it has been a highly anticipated return.

Elliot was thrilled to see the sculpture back, especially at the start of summer, when Wellingtonians could make the most of its presence.

Wellington City Council/Stuff

Te Ngkau Civic Squares fern orb has been restored after metal fatigue degradation.

We originally raised all the money for the commission. The Trust has its heart and soul in this piece.

Len Lyes Water Whirler sculpture would also be returning to the waterfront on Thursday, October 15.

Stuff

The broken Len Lye Water Whirler, worth an estimated $300,000, sits next to its base on Wellingtons waterfront in 2018.

The work was vandalised in 2018, and returned in June 2019, however the replacement did not function correctly and was taken down once more last summer for further repairs.

The piece was originally commissioned for $300,000 and its replacement was not covered by insurance, yet Elliot could not say how much the overall cost was.

Ross Giblin

Len Lye's waterfront sculpture, Waterwhirler, has been repaired twice after it was vandalised.

I dont like to use the word iconic but these sculptures are iconic and have come from two of the best public sculptors that have ever existed.

The council had put up signs to deter anyone tempted to touch the sculpture.

We are depending on people behaving themselves, MacLean said.

Read more:
Wellington's fern orb returns to Te Ngkau Civic Square after more than a year - Stuff.co.nz

Commentary: I fear the unfortunate timing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburgs death may break the U.S. Senate.

It is, perhaps, the inevitable culmination of a battle between Mitch McConnell and Harry Reid that started years ago, where every time the majority changed, so did the rules. About the only thing left protecting the minority party is the filibuster rule, and its days may be numbered.

With his term as majority leader in danger, McConnell is rushing to get Amy Coney Barrett confirmed to the Supreme Court before the election.

To do so, he has changed the rules established four years ago in declining to consider the nomination of Merrick Garland. Back then it was critical that voters had a voice. Now it is critical that they dont.

Republicans in the Senate can confirm Coney Barrett with a single-vote majority because McConnell changed the rules in 2018 to remove the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees, ensuring confirmation at that time for Neil Gorsuch.

Democrats changed the rules in 2013, when Reid eliminated the filibuster on lower court and cabinet nominees, which were being systematically blocked by McConnell.

Everytime the rules were changed, it took away from the protections of the minority party and made it easier for those in power to avoid compromise.

If Democrats win both the White House and the Senate this year, which appears to be possible, more rule changes are likely. And for good reason.

Because of the electoral college, we are likely to end up with a Supreme Court in which five of the nine justices were appointed by a president who lost the popular vote. A court with a solid 6-3 conservative majority for the next two decades would be wildly out of step with the nation as a whole, and would be in danger of losing its legitimacy.

Sen. Chuck Schumer has said that all options are on the table if Democrats win, including adding new seats to the court. To do so, they would have to get rid of the filibuster entirely.

And that would break the Senate, at least the version that our founders envisioned. No more cooling saucer. It would become the House, but with longer terms.

There has always been a random nature to Supreme Court vacancies, just as there is to any lifetime position. To bring some order to the process, justices often step down when their party is in power to ensure a like-minded replacement.

Ginsburg will rightly be remembered as a champion for equality and a pioneer for women of all professions; and she was widely praised for her grit and toughness. But, she was urged to step down when Barack Obama was in power. In declining, she gambled twice - first that Hillary Clinton would win; and second, that she would survive for at least four years if Clintpn lost.

Only the party in power can stop the constant ratcheting up of partisan advantages. Thats clearly not going to happen in the next few weeks.

If Democrats win, instead of adding seats to the court, they should apply term limits to the position of Supreme Court justice. That would give each president a more equal opportunity to appoint justices, and would make for a more orderly transition.

To do so may require Democrats to end the filibuster. Then, after taking that one vote, they should do the unthinkable - give back all of the powers that have been stripped from the minority during the past decade and start working together to find compromise.

Walter Rubel can be reached at waltrubel@gmail.com.

Original post:
A plan to avoid breaking the U.S. Senate - KRWG

The provincial government's decision to put the brakes on its proposed revamp of the way oil and gas operations are assessed for taxation is being applauded by the head of the Rural Municipalities of Alberta.

Earlier this year, the province laid out four possible new taxation models aimed at providing relief to Alberta's struggling oil and gas companies by reforming the assessment process for their wells and other operations.

The current system evaluates them on replacement cost not market value a practice industry and government officials say overvalues industry assets and inflates tax bills.

But the RMA reacted with alarm and says 69 counties and municipal districts could lose up to 40 per cent of their tax base.

"There's no doubt about it, it's created some tremendous angst among my member municipalities, the proposals that they've had," said RMA president Al Kemmere.

But Tracy Allard, newly installed as minister of municipal affairs in a summer cabinet shuffle, says no decision has been made on a new assessment model and consultations will continue.

"While we of course want our oil and gas businesses to be strong and viable so they can invest, create jobs, and pay taxes in our municipalities, we must also carefully consider the impact a reduction in assessment would have on the municipalities these employers operate in," said press secretary Justin Marshall in an emailed statement.

'We're encouraged'

Kemmere says the RMA in encouraged by that statement.

"She definitely has a desire to hear from all those affected, and then come up with a solution that the industry can live with, that the municipalities can live with and that the province can live with."

The reeve of Ponoka County agrees that some fundamental changes need to be made, but he's not convinced that just changing the way oil and gas operations are taxed is the right approach.

Emilio Avalos/Radio-Canada

For Ponoka, the reforms as proposed would result in an increase in residents' taxes varying from 150 to 200 per cent to maintain the same level of services.

"We need to look at it as a system. It's extremely complex. There's multiple components of it and multiple categories, and you can't just look at one and make modifications to that," said Paul McLauchlin.

The difficulties that the energy sector has been facing for the past five years are affecting the county's bottom line, too, he says.

"We've actually had to write down about $3 million in taxes, which represents roughly 20 per cent of our taxes over the course of the last three or four years," he said.

But according to the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, some businesses are not going to be able to survive unless the province gets on with its changes.

"We still strongly recommend that the government proceed with a decision on reforming the assessment system this year. There will really never be a better time to do it," said CAPP's vice president of oilsands and fiscal policy, Ben Brunnen.

"This is a difficult choice in the best of circumstances."

Brunnen says CAPP's own analysis found that, under the proposed changes, the vast majority of municipalities could get by without a deficit by drawing on their reserves. In some areas even, counties would win, he said.

That's because oil and gas firms will be better able to boost investment in existing operations if they feel they're being taxed under a fairer assessment model, he said.

Story continues

McLauchlin says it's important to realize that in rural areas like his, there's lots of overlap between the energy business and the farmers who let companies operate on their land.

"A lot of folks around here actually support their farming habit with being oil and gas operators or working in the industry," he said.

"So we're very aware of the stress on the industry and the stress that's occurred for a few years now. And so I think the tension might be falsely created by some advocacy by some groups."

McLauchlin also noted that the taxes paid by oil and gas companies largely gets reinvested to maintain and improve the infrastructure used disproportionately by those firms.

"I think most people don't understand the wear and tear the oil and gas industry has on our assets, on our roads," he said.

See more here:
Pause on tax reform for oil and gas firms welcomed by rural leaders - Yahoo News Canada

From nobody really knowing what time it is to ransacking businesses, from a big bang in Homer Hill to marching on Washington, heres a look back on the week that was 100, 75, 50 and 25 years ago on this edition of Turning Back the Clock.

Oct. 14 Oleans failure to keep pace with the other cities in this part of the state robbed the Kiwanis Club of its speaker today. Frank Mott, of Jamestown, was scheduled to be the speaker today but was unaware that Olean was still traveling on state time, so he missed his train. While other municipalities shifted off of Daylight Savings Time early, Olean leaders chose to stick with the state schedule of the end of the month. Today, all states except Arizona and Hawaii have uniform adoptions of DST to avoid such confusions.

Oct. 16 A full moon was reported in Olean last night, police said. M.D. Moon, 56, of Bolivar, was registered in the police station after being arrested on a charge of intoxication a much rarer sight during Prohibition, but hardly out of the ordinary. He furnished bonds in the sum of $10 for his appearance in police court this morning, but he forfeited the money by non-appearance.

Oct. 12 After 20 months of worrying, a Portville family finally has closure on the loss of their son. First Lt. Don Hurlburt, son of Mr. and Mrs. R.C. Hurlburt, was officially declared dead. A 1938 Portville graduate and former Olean Times Herald employee, he joined the U.S. Army months before Pearl Harbor. He later earned his flight wings and was attached to the Eighth Air Force in Great Britain, flying Supermarine Spitfires and Republic P-47 Thunderbolts. In his P-47, Buffalo Barb, he chalked up 64 missions before being shot down while returning from a bomber escort mission Feb. 22, 1944.

Oct. 18 Police are investigating the ransacking of the Olean Glove Co. and Rickersons Olean Bakery on West Sullivan Street. At the glove factory, managers say nothing appears to have been taken, although gloves and leather had been strewn about. The $2,500 in pigskin hides were left untouched. At the bakery, the office had been broken into and a cabinet pried open, with between $12 and $15 missing Mr. Rickerson had taken $535 out earlier in the evening.

Oct. 13 Move over, Route 219. State officials are eyeing Route 16 for a possible north-south expressway corridor in addition to the plans almost a decade old for Route 219. In 1969, Route 16 proponents began campaigning for a switch to the more heavily populated and faster growing Corridor 16 area, with service from the end of the 400 in South Wales to Holland, Arcade, Delevan, Franklinville and Olean. You opened our eyes to a need, said regional NYSDOT Director Donald Ketchum, noting the plan is now receiving at least equal consideration to a Route 219 expansion.

Oct. 14 Almost 10,000 pounds of explosives detonated in the Homer Hill area of Olean to provide fill for the Southern Tier Expressway. Gelmite and fertilizer ammonium nitrate were used to blast more than 15,000 cubic yards of hillside in the first of several planned explosions in the borrow pit owned by Felmont Oil Corp. The remains of the hillside can still be seen on Homer Street and Interstate 86, with the floor carved out used by several industrial and commercial firms including KA-BAR.

Oct. 12 The alarms at Friendship Central School sounded Wednesday and the school evacuated but not for a planned evacuation drill. While officials had already prepared for a drill, and students and staff were aware school would be letting out early, a nearby water line replacement crew struck a gas main, forcing the school to close about 15 minutes earlier than expected. It was amazing that this happened during Fire Prevention Week and the school was preparing for an evacuation, said Friendship Fire Chief Ted Whitcher. No one got sick, and thats because the school is pretty well set up on what to do in case of an emergency.

Oct. 15 Several area Black men will participate in the Million Man March on Washington, hoping the message will transcend the controversial messenger, Louis Farrakhan, whose anti-Semitic remarks leading up to the event have drawn condemnation. Theres a lot that Louis Farrakhan says that I dont believe in, either, said Orman Clemons of Olean. But for me, Im going down for what I can get from it as an African-American male Personally, Ill take what I can take and leave the rest alone. Burlin Bridges, who also disagrees with Farrakhan, said we have to show unity and solidarity in the community.

Read the rest here:
State & Union: Turning back the clock on Olean - Olean Times Herald

A councillor has said that revamping Friary Grange Leisure Centre is not the answer for Lichfield in the long term.

Members of Lichfield District Councils cabinet unanimously backed a move to make Stychbrook Park the preferred site for a new leisure centre at a meeting earlier this week.

The move comes after a community campaign to keep leisure provision in the city.

As a result the local authority has given a short term commitment to Friary Grange, with a long term plan to build a new site elsewhere that location now likely to be Stychbrook Park.

Cllr Richard Cox, cabinet member for leisure and parks, said the council needed to look to the future after some residents questioned why the existing site could not be home to a replacement facility.

What do you do with Friary Grange Leisure Centre? Constantly sticking plasters over it is not the answer.

Even if you were to somehow come to an agreement, you are still sharing a site and it will still have constraints.

This new centre will move away from that and we will have a modern facility that is not more than 50 years old.

I do think Stychbrook Park is the right site for us and I am comfortable about putting a leisure centre on that piece of land as I see it as a sports and recreational area in that sense.

The future of Friary Grange Leisure Centre was thrown into focus after parts of the facility were handed over to The Friary School as part of its move to become an academy.

Cllr Robert Strachan, cabinet member for finance, told the meeting that retaining the centre in the current spot wasnt an option.

The most convenient site is where it currently is, but we dont control that site and the school want us off so that door is closed to us.

Stychbrook Park is the most appropriate site because of previous sports and recreational use on there.

Residents have been critical of the plan to build on the current park which is home to two football pitches.

But Cllr Cox said the fact it had been used for sport meant it was a suitable location for a new leisure centre.

Stychbrook Park is an existing sporting facility in my mind rather than a designated open space because obviously there are two football pitches there.

Knowing the work that the cross-party task group have gone through I think we are seeing the best site.

Im sure theres people who would want us to consider other locations, but this is something thats within our own tenure.

If we were to look at other sites beyond our tenure, we will exceed the timescale to provide an alternative centre as promised.

The council has earmarked 5million to help develop the new leisure centre in Lichfield.

Cllr Liz Little, cabinet member for major projects and economic development, said the local authority would still need to tackle the issue of funding for the scheme to go ahead.

Cost is a bridge we will have to cross and that is a question we will have to answer.

But we are at the current time committed to building a replacement.

We know cost will be an issue but we will do our utmost to overcome that.

Continued here:
Revamping Friary Grange is not the answer to long term leisure provision in Lichfield, councillor says - Lichfield Live

Since Donald Trump has been diagnosed with COVID-19, the health of the president is suddenly an issue. And given the nasty trajectory the disease is capable of taking, the possibility of presidential disability must be considered. Unsurprisingly, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has taken the opportunity to score political points by considering legislation to change the specific procedures on how to deal with presidential disability a move that is sure to go nowhere but no doubt thrills her partys liberal base.

Political angling aside, there are some basic questions members of the public are surely wondering. What happens if the president is incapable of discharging his duties? What do law and history tell us? While it is unlikely that these will actually come into play, its no doubt possible, and understanding what our government is supposed to do can be useful.

The 25th Amendment, ratified in 1967, deals with vacancies in the executive office. It explicitly affirms that if the presidential office is vacated, the vice president becomes president. This had been understood by implication and historical tradition, but when President William Henry Harrison died in 1841, it was not entirely clear whether Vice President John Tyler became president in his own right or simply acting president. Tyler importantly asserted that he was the president arguably his only positive contribution to American history (he would later vote to secede from the Union as a member to the Virginia Convention in 1861). The 25th Amendment also calls for vacancies in the vice presidential office to be filled through a process of nomination by the president and ratification by Congress. It gives the president the power to transfer executive power to the vice president when he is unable to perform his duties. And in the case that the president is not able to make a formal transmission, it invests the power in the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide.

It is this latter provision that is garnering attention right now. How sick is the president? is a question for the medical team attending to him. How sick is too sick to continue to be president, and are we nearing that point? are, ultimately, political questions asked of the men and women of the presidents Cabinet.

Pundits have wondered if the Cabinet should transfer power to Vice President Mike Pence while Trump has been recuperating. That is a matter for the political process, which is informed under the 25th Amendment by our constitutional systems doctrine of separation of powers. If the president is to be declared incapable of discharging his duties, that decision rests with the principal officers of the government not Congress or the courts. The only direct role Congress has in the process of presidential disability (beyond establishing the laws to effectuate the 25th Amendment, a power it shares with the president) is to resolve a dispute within the executive branch namely, if the Cabinet and the vice president believe the president is still unfit but the president believes he is well. If the president is going to be stripped of power because of disability, that decision is to be made within the executive branch alone. James Madison hinted at this reasoning in Federalist 51, in which he noted that the separation of powers requires that the members of each department should be as little dependent as possible on those of the others. Otherwise, members of one branch might seize power by interfering with the officers of the other branches.

The congressional version of this is located in Article 1, Section 5, which gives each chamber the exclusive power to be the Judge of the Elections, Returns, and Qualifications of its own Members ... determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behavior, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member.

Similarly, judges on federal courts enjoy tenure for good behavior and cannot be removed by any traditional reason. The only exception to these rules, whereby the members of each branch are independent from the others, is the power of impeachment and removal, which is housed exclusively in Congress. But impeachment cannot be for no reason the Constitution states that the impeached must be guilty of Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors. It also requires the House to indict and two-thirds of the Senate to convict. That is a high bar.

So, outside of clear instances of executive malfeasance, the president or the Cabinet gets to decide whether the president can fulfill his duties. Thats it. Congress mainly arbitrates disputes between the two, while the people only get a say at the ballot box. And though the 25th Amendment was only ratified in 1967, the executive historically has been protective of its prerogatives on questions of presidential capacity, even when that has meant not disclosing fully to the people what is going on. This long history of such concealment no doubt informs the public and the medias skeptical dissection of every update on Trumps condition.

The first presidential health scare came very early, when George Washington contracted influenza and pneumonia in 1790. Rumors circulated around Congress, at that point located in New York City, that the president was sure to die, or that if he lived, he would be deaf. But Washington recovered, and the executive administration of the government was not interrupted. In the summer of 1813, Madison became extremely ill during a special session of Congress called to deal with the problems of the War of 1812. Madison usually fled the swampy climate of Washington, D.C., for the more pleasant environment of his Montpelier estate, located in the Virginia piedmont, but he had stayed to give direction to Congress when he became severely ill. Again, rumors swirled that the president was not long for the world, and since Vice President Elbridge Gerry was recovering from a stroke (and would die the following year), there was the possibility of two vacancies in the executive. But Madison recovered, never yielded the executive authority, and indeed never fully disclosed to Congress what had afflicted him.

The first real succession crisis occurred with the assassination of President James A. Garfield in 1881. Charles Guiteau shot Garfield at a train station in Washington, D.C., on July 2, but the president did not die right away. In fact, the early prognosis seemed hopeful, but the efforts of the presidents doctors to remove the bullet only made matters worse, and he died on Sept. 19. All the while, Vice President Chester A. Arthur was waiting in the wings but unwilling to take over the executive duties officially, lest he appear to be grasping for power even though Garfield was too weak to carry them out.

Arthurs successor in the White House, Democrat Grover Cleveland, would also have a health scare during his second term. Clevelands doctors discovered an abnormal growth in his mouth in 1893, at which point the country was sinking into the worst economic downturn outside of the Great Depression. Doctors performed a secret surgery on the president aboard a boat, under the cover story that the president was vacationing. Cleveland had part of his jaw removed and later was given a rubberized prothesis as a replacement. When the press grew suspicious, the administration leaked false information that he merely had two bad teeth replaced.

In 1919, Woodrow Wilson was barnstorming the country in support of the Treaty of Versailles, which ended World War I and created the League of Nations. Exhausted from the tour, Wilson returned home in September, only to suffer a severe stroke the next month, which left him partially paralyzed. Not only was the country at large not informed of the presidents condition, Wilson himself was never told how badly he had been injured. Political insiders knew of the graveness of his condition, but Vice President Thomas Marshall refused to assert a constitutional claim to the presidency.

Wilsons assistant secretary of the navy, Franklin D. Roosevelt, would go on to become president some 13 years later, and remain in office for more than a decade thereafter, guiding the country through both the Great Depression and World War II. All this had a terribly debilitating effect on the presidents well-being, which is evident when one compares pictures of him at the start of his presidency in 1933 to those at the end, in 1945. Like Wilson, FDR was not fully informed by his doctors how badly his health had suffered. And there were certainly no details leaked to the public. Indeed, FDR had carefully hidden the ravages of polio from the people, taking care never to be pictured in his wheelchair. Still, political insiders who spent any time with the president knew there was a high chance he would die in office, which led to one of the most consequential vice presidential nominations in 1944, as party insiders competed with one another to secure the preferred candidate. Ultimately, the bosses chose Harry Truman because they could all live with him.

President Dwight Eisenhower, who had served under FDR as the supreme commander of allied forces, became president in 1953. He had a serious heart attack in 1955 that left him hospitalized for six weeks. During that period, Vice President Richard Nixon and Secretary of State John Dulles took on most administrative duties in the executive branch. Later in his administration, Eisenhower suffered a stroke and also had surgery due to Crohns disease.

In 1981, President Ronald Reagan was shot by John Hinckley. Though this occurred after the enactment of the 25th Amendment, power was never officially transferred to Vice President George H.W. Bush, and there was a great deal of confusion in the immediate aftermath. When Reagan was struck, the vice president was in Texas, and Secretary of State Alexander Haig, speaking to the press, assured the country that he was in control here, in the White House, although technically he was fourth in the line of succession.

Ironically, for all the drama surrounding presidential health and successions up until the enactment of the 25th Amendment, its invocations have been anodyne. President Reagan formally transferred power under it to Vice President Bush in 1985 to have colon surgery, and President George W. Bush invoked it twice, in 2002 and 2007, when he underwent colonoscopies. It likely should have been invoked when Reagan was shot in 1981, but the confusion surrounding the assassination kept the Cabinet from acting swiftly.

Indeed, the events of 1981 probably serve as a lesson for why it would be hard in practice to declare a presidential disability in an orderly fashion. It is the flip side of the virtues of a unitary executive. The Founding Fathers wanted a single person to be president rather than a council because he can provide vigor, direction, and swift action when it is called for. The 25th Amendment, meanwhile, empowers a council the presidential Cabinet that will inevitably be slow to act relative to what the president can do as a single individual. Factoring in the presidents desire to keep physical weakness as quiet as possible, the vice president not wanting to look like hes grasping for power, and the doctrine of separation of powers that keeps Congress mostly out of these considerations, it is hard to see anything but confusion surrounding presidential health scares. The 25th Amendment offers guidance and clarity, but it is just a text that has to be carried out by people in the midst of a crisis with multiple competing interests. Each such crisis is unique but similarly confounding.

Jay Cost is a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a visiting scholar at Grove City College.

Original post:
COVID in the capital - Washington Examiner

# 1 Constitutional Amendment, Article VI, Section 2: NO

The ACLU recommends to vote NO:

Vote No on ballot initiative 1, the so-called Citizenship Requirement to Vote in Florida Elections. The amendment purports to limit voting toonlyU.S. citizens. However, federal and state law are already clear voting rights are strictly for U.S. citizens, and there are no movements to expand voting rights to noncitizens in Florida.This amendment is xenophobic and unpatriotriotic. It fails to strengthen our democracy or protect our elections. Instead, it opens the door for additional measures that would subvert and endanger the right of every citizen to vote.

RECOMMENDED READING: Florida General Election November 2020: Who To Vote For In Coral Gables & Miami-Dade County

The League of Women Voters recommends to vote YES:

Raises minimum wage to $10 per hour effective September 30th,2021. Each September 30th thereafter, minimum wage shall increase by $1 perhour until the minimum wage reaches $15 per hour on September 30th, 2026. Fromthat point forward, future minimum wage increases shall revert to being adjustedannually for inflation starting September 30th, 2027.

Support.The League supports secure equal rights and equal opportunity for all, and promotes social and economic justice for all Americans. Floridas present minimum wage yields $17,800 a year for a full-time worker, which doesnt come close to a living wage for a family of four.

RECOMMENDED READING: Use This Checklist to Prepare For The Florida General Election November 2020

The ACLU recommends to vote NO:

Vote No on ballot initiative #3, misleadingly titled, All Voters Vote in Primary Elections for State Legislature, Governor and Cabinet. This amendment would have a negative impact on Black voters and effectively silence their voices. Additionally, it would create a top-two electoral system that could prevent voters in the general election from voting for members of their own party in state legislative, governor and cabinet races. The measure also raises First Amendment concerns by hindering political dissent and a political partys freedom of association, as well as the ability to select its candidates and messaging.

The ACLU recommends to vote NO:

Vote No on ballot Initiative #4, disingenuously and misleadingly titled Voter Approval of Constitutional Amendments. This amendment is a political effort to obstruct voters ability to pass future constitutional amendments, even those with support from a supermajority of voters. This ballot initiative disregards the will of the people and renders their voices mute on the issues Floridians care about most.

The League of Women Voters recommends to vote NO:

Proposing an amendment to the State Constitution, effectivedate January 1, 2021, to increase, from 2 years to 3 years, the period of time duringwhich accrued Save-Our-Homes benefits may be transferred from a priorhomestead to a new homestead.

Oppose.The League has a position that no tax sources or revenue should be specified, limited, exempted, or prohibited in the Constitution.

The League of Women Voters recommends to vote NO:

This would amend Section 6 of Article 7 of the Florida Constitution toallow a homestead property tax discount to be transferred to the surviving spouseof a deceased veteran. This would be in effect until the spouse remarries, sells ordisposes of the property.

Oppose.The League has a position that no tax sources or revenue should be specified, limited, exempted, or prohibited in the Constitution.

Referendum: Shall the County Charter be amended to create an Independent Office of Inspector General who shall, at a minimum, be empowered to perform investigations, audits, reviews and oversight of County and County-funded contracts, programs, and projects for abuse, waste and mismanagement, and provide Inspector General services to other governmental entities, with such offices appointment, term, powers, duties and responsibilities to be further established by Ordinance?

It codifies it into the charter, rather than being something the mayor or the commissioners could change or get rid of, saidMonica Skoko Rodriguez, president of the Miami-Dade League of Women Voters. It secures that office.

Click here to read The Miami Heralds complete breakdown of the Miami-Dade County referendums for the 2020 Florida General Election on November 3rd.

Referendum: Shall the Charter be amended to require that when the Mayor or member of the County Commission resigns prospectively to run for another office the vacancy will be filled by election during the Primary and General Election rather than by appointment or by subsequent Special Election?

Vote YES to avoidspecial elections. Special elections generally have lower voter turnout than primary and general elections. Plus, special elections incur additional costs to taxpayers.

Doug Hanks from The Miami Herald further explains this referendum:

Thesecond charter amendmenton the Miami-Dade ballot would end special elections to replace mayors or county commissioners when they resign in advance to run for a different office.

State law requires local elected officials to give up their seats once they file to run for a different position (federal offices, such as Congress or president, are exempt from the rule). The resignations can take effect any time before the winner of the race would assume office. The proposed charter change would allow the county to elect a replacement for an outgoing commissioner or mayor in the same election that sparked the required resignation.

Click here to read The Miami Heralds complete breakdown of the Miami-Dade County referendums for the 2020 Florida General Election on November 3rd.

Referendum: Shall the Charter be amended to require, commencing with the qualifying for and holding of the General Election in 2024, that, contingent on a change to State law, the election of the Sheriff, Property Appraiser, Tax Collector, and Supervisor of Elections be conducted on a nonpartisan basis and that no ballot shall show the party designation of any candidate for those offices?

This referendum would change the ballot to remove the REP or DEM label next to the candidates running for Sheriff, Property Appraiser, Tax Collector, and Supervisor of Elections.

Click here to read The Miami Heralds complete breakdown of the Miami-Dade County referendums for the 2020 Florida General Election on November 3rd.

Read the original:
The Constitutional Amendments in the 2020 Florida General Election - coralgableslove.com

By the early 1930s, Robert E.Howard was already writing fantasy stories for pulp magazines like Weird Tales. He had previously created a barbarian hero named Kull, who lived in the legendary kingdom of Atlantis. In a 1931 story called "People of the Dark," which deals with reincarnation, Howard first mentioned a black-haired barbarian named Conan, who worshiped a god named Crom. He expanded on the character in 1932, when he rewrote a rejected Kull story into something new. He changed the title from "By This Ax, I Rule" to "The Phoenix on the Sword" and changed the hero from Kull to Conan.

The two characters were similar in many respects, althoughConan was more interested in women. Also, whereas Kull hailed fromAtlantis and had adventures on that mythical continent, Conan came from a place called Cimmeria, but never visited it in any of Howard's stories.Conan was always a wanderer, an outsider in the kingdoms where he found himself. Even when he became a king, as he did in that first 1932 story, it was through a combination of circumstance and his martial skill, never anything to do with birthright or inheritance. Conan swore by a god named Crom, but didn't exactly worship him, because Crom was a colder, more distant god than that.

Howard would go on to write a total of 17 Conan stories and novellas for Weird Tales, with the latter being serialized across multiple issues. An 18th Conan story by Howard was published in the magazine Fantasy Fan. By 1936, his interests as a writer had largely turned to Westerns, but that same year, upon learning that his mother was dying of tuberculosis and not expected to regain consciousness, Robert E. Howard died by suicide.

Go here to see the original:
The untold truth of Conan the Barbarian - Looper

On November 5, people across Great Britain celebrate Guy Fawkes Night with bonfires and fireworks. Centuries after his failed attempt to blow up the British Parliament, Fawkes's image remains prevalent in popular culture, thanks to films like V for Vendetta (2005). Here are 10 fiery facts about Fawkes and the holiday his treasonous attempts inspired.

Guy (also known as Guido) Fawkes was born in 1570 in Yorkshire, England. He was raised by a Protestant family, but secretly converted to Catholicism as a young man. When he was 21, he went to fight alongside the Spanish Catholics in Flanders. During the fighting, he became an expert on explosives. This, alongside his fanatic Catholicism, is what got him recruited to the Gunpowder Plot.

England became a Protestant country after the Reformation. As such, Catholics were persecuted and forced to practice their religion in secret. A wealthy Catholic named Robert Catesby decided the only solution to this discrimination was to overthrow King James I and his government. He recruited a number of other Catholics, including Fawkes, and together they plotted to plant gunpowder under the British Houses of Parliament and blow it sky-high.

The conspirators rented a cellar underneath the Houses of Parliament. Disguised as a servant named John Johnson, Fawkes began filling it with barrels of gunpowder. Once the explosives were in place and Parliament was confirmed to be sitting, ensuring the House of Commons would be full of MPs, the date for ignition was set: November 5, 1605.

Everything was going according to plan, until one of the conspirators decided to write an anonymous letter to a Catholic member of Parliament, Lord Monteagle, warning him to stay away from the Houses of Parliament on the night of November 5. Monteagle, sensing danger, showed the letter to the King, who ordered the area to be immediately searched. Thirty-six barrels of gunpowder were discovered hidden beneath piles of firewood in a storeroom below the House of Lords. Fawkes, found at the scene while armed with long fuses and dressed for his escape, was arrested.

After his capture, Fawkes was sent to the infamous Tower of London, where he was tortured until he confessed and gave the names of his fellow conspirators. Soldiers were soon dispatched to Staffordshire to apprehend Catesby, the mastermind behind the plot. Catesby and his two compatriots died in a gunfight while attempting to combat the approaching soldiers.

Fawkes, meanwhile, was sentenced to death. Treason carried the harshest punishment, and he was to be hung, drawn, and quartered. On the day of his executionJanuary 31, 1606Fawkes managed to wrestle free from the soldiers guarding him and jumped (or fell) from the gallows, fatally breaking his neck. The executioners were not going to let him escape his full punishment: They cut his dead body into quarters, then set the pieces of his corpse to the four corners of the kingdom as a warning to others.

The day of the ill-fated Gunpowder Plot was decreed a day of celebrationafter the attack was prevented, people lit bonfires to toast the King's safety. November 5 was declared a day of thanksgiving, and the first official celebration took place exactly a year after the failed Gunpowder Plot, on November 5, 1606. People across Britain gathered around bonfires and burned effigies of Fawkes.

The festivities developed over the years. It became customary for children to make a life-sized dummy of Fawkes, which they would take around their neighborhood in a wheelbarrow while asking for a penny for the Guy to collect money to buy fireworks. Huge bonfires were built in every village and town, and a Fawkes dummy would be placed on top and set alight. The traditional brightly colored firework displays represent the explosives that were meant to ignite under the Houses of Parliament.

Various songs and rhymes to help school children remember the story of the Gunpowder Plot were created, including this one from the 18th century:

Remember, remember, the fifth of NovemberGunpowder treason and plotWe see no reasonWhy Gunpowder treasonShould ever be forgot

Guy Fawkes Night (also known as Bonfire Night) is still honored on November 5 across Britain and parts of the former British Empire. Some people celebrate with friends in their gardens, while others gather in their village green, parks, and other public spaces. Bonfires are lit and effigies of Fawkes (or more often, modern political leaders or societal villains) are burned while fireworks burst in the sky. Traditionally, people feast on baked potatoes and toffee apples.

One of the most famous celebrations takes place in Lewes in East Sussex, where a number of bonfire societies, each with their own special traditions, host festivities across the city. Before the fires are lit, effigies of political figures are paraded through the town and the streets throng with people.

Numerous pictures and engravings were produced of the dramatic moment Fawkes was apprehended. His big black floppy hat, leather riding boots, and manicured mustache and beard became iconic. Centuries after the thwarted Gunpowder Plot, Fawkess image is still easily recognizable.

The main character in the comic book V for Vendetta (and 2005 movie of the same name) wears a mask of Fawkess face to keep his identity a secret as he fights against a dystopian authoritarian government. As a result, the Guy Fawkes mask has become synonymous with rebellion, and is often worn by anti-establishment protestors.

When Guy Fawkes was captured, he was supposedly holding an iron lantern to light his way in the dark cellars. Peter Heywood, who helped carry out the search of the Houses of Parliament on the night of the failed Gunpowder Plot, kept the beacon as a souvenir. When he died, the lantern went to his brother Robert, who worked at the University of Oxford. Robert gifted the iron lantern to his workplace in 1641. It was put on display at the Bodleian Librarys picture gallery, then later transferred to the Oxfords Ashmolean Museum, where you can still find it today.

Though the failed Gunpowder Plot occurred more than 400 years ago, it's still tradition for the Yeomen of the Guard to search the cellars of the Houses of Parliament before the State Opening each year. The original spot where Fawkes hid his gunpowder burned down during a fire at the Palace of Westminster in 1834, but officials still scour the existing cellars, just to be sure. However, the searches are performed more for tradition and ritual rather than security.

Read more from the original source:
Buffalo Bill's House From The Silence of the Lambs Is Up for Sale - Mental Floss