Hong Kong riot police fire tear gas at university campus amid unrest

Hong Kong riot police fired tear gas at City University campus in Kowloon Tong on Tuesday, a day after a protester was shot and a man set on fire in some of the most dramatic unrest to rock the Chinese-ruled city in more than five months.

from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/2NEk1fA

‘Tootsie’ to Pack Up Her Wig on Broadway

By BY ELIZABETH A. HARRIS from NYT Theater https://ift.tt/36UenO7

‘This Will Be Forever’: How the Ambitions of Evo Morales Contributed to His Fall

By BY ERNESTO LONDOÑO from NYT World https://ift.tt/32wwE0w

Chile’s President Says He Will Support a New Constitution

By BY PASCALE BONNEFOY from NYT World https://ift.tt/2KbCwWq

Charles Rogers, Former Detroit Lions Receiver, Is Dead at 38

By BY SANDRA E. GARCIA from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/34SwZfv

Capitalism and socialism are just words

As the field of Democratic Party presidential contenders narrows, we may well find ourselves stuck in a big ideas debate over the merits of "capitalism" versus "socialism." Of the three front-runners, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) famously called herself "a capitalist to my bones," while Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) identifies as a democratic socialist. Former Vice President Joe Biden seems to be... whatever will keep the big money donors rolling in. Meanwhile, a lot of centrists, liberals and leftists are drawing up battle lines depending on whose label they prefer.But "socialism" and "capitalism" are just words. And the way they get used in everyday debate covers a vast and diverse array of economic arrangements. At the edges, they bleed into one another to the point you can't tell where one ends and one begins.For instance, consider the way your average Fox News pundit slings the word "socialist" at anyone to the left of West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin. Or how the establishments of both parties, as well as the American billionaire class, are hell-bent against Warren becoming president. These are the defenders of America's status quo, which is understood to be capitalism. But whatever Warren means by the term is clearly something they want no part of. Meanwhile, if you actually pick through Sanders' definition of democratic socialism, it's basically some combination of Franklin Roosevelt's politics plus Nordic social democracy -- two things lots of people traditionally understood as falling under the capitalism umbrella.The difference between, say, giving markets "better rules" -- as Warren says she wants to do -- and "interfering with" or "disrupting" markets -- as Warren and Sanders' critics say they will do -- is entirely in the eye of the beholder. That's because markets themselves are social constructs all the way down. They simply don't exist before government, or whatever your local social authority is, lays down some rules giving them form and structure.In that spirit, allow me to sketch what is, I think, something close to my own ideal economy: The private sector is made up of many small-to-medium sized firms, all run and owned by the workers who labor within them. Wages are determined through sectoral bargaining. If stocks still exist at all, they confer no voting rights, and are simply an alternative means of raising finance. Financial markets are modest and straightforward affairs geared solely toward facilitating real investment. Wall Street and the big banks are no more, and loans for private business are created through a national network of public banks and credit unions. Major conglomerates, corporate monopolies, and big tech platforms have all been smashed by antitrust law, nationalized, or tamed as tightly regulated public utilities.Companies are still permitted to go under if they can't compete, and banks are still allowed to fail if they make bad bets. But the government stands ready to ensure continued full employment, through a national job guarantee, public investment, and industrial policy as needed. The government also provides (not necessarily exclusively) health care, education, child care, sweeping public transit, public housing, basic utilities, retirement income, a vast suite of cash welfare benefits, generous research and development funding, and community development grants. Steeply progressive taxes put a hard ceiling on how much income one person can bring home, and how much wealth they can accumulate.So... is this a capitalist economy or a socialist one?Those aforementioned Fox News pundits, party establishments, and Bloomberg-ian billionaires, I'm sure, would all say my vision is socialism -- and they'd consider it some mix of absurd and horrifying. On the flip side, markets and competition and the iterative trial-and-error that is capitalism's best feature still play big roles in this scenario. Companies that are not competitive still go bust; banks and financial institutions still suffer losses if they make bad investment decisions.Self-identified socialists have long said that markets would still play a role in their preferred societies -- but exactly what role tends to be vague. One of the more useful thinkers on this score is Karl Polanyi, because he was very concrete and specific: get land (housing), labor (employment), and money itself (i.e. credit and financing) out of the market context. I think you could throw stuff like health care and education and transit onto that list as well. But the point is, if we say markets will play some limited role -- as opposed to gobbling up all of society like they do now -- then we're not really saying anything until we start laying down specifics. All the real work is in the nitty gritty of this question.I've been reading Matt Stoller's Goliath, about American politics' long battle against monopolies -- which we are currently losing badly. One thing he touches on is how much of the post-war U.S. left became infatuated with bigness: organizing an economy of shared abundance is easier when you have a few giant unions and giant corporate powerhouses to deal with, rather than a vast system of modestly-sized yeoman businesses and worker organizations. The problem is that, historically speaking, big central planning has tended to come packaged with authoritarianism and repression. See modern China or Soviet Russia -- or, as Stoller notes, the historical linkages between monopoly cartels and fascism. Friedrich Hayek was onto something in that regard.America's current irony is that, in its efforts to avoid socialist authoritarianism, it's delivered itself into the hands of capitalist authoritarianism. In both cases, the mistake is the same: the refusal to grapple with the structure of power. And I hope one thing my little scenario gets across is how a society that embodies socialist values could also be a decentralized one, with lots of little power centers engaged in a democratic give-and-take with one another, instead of a few big power centers running everything."The people will own the means of production" is not a terribly helpful phrase. How exactly will that ownership be structured and enforced? By what processes will we determine what the people wish to do with their property? At what level and jurisdiction will those processes operate?These are the questions that determine whether you've built democracy and egalitarianism into the structure of the economy itself, or whether you merely have a democratic government that hopefully remains democratic as it runs a top-down economy. I think it's clear that you can't really achieve the former without significant reliance on competitive markets in some way. At the same time, modern America's vacuous faith in "unfettered" markets as the solution to all social problems ultimately ends with neither democratic government nor democratic economics.At the end of the day, I don't really care if you call yourself a capitalist, a socialist, a distributist, a progressive, or a populist. Tell me how you will organize and dole out power.Want more essential commentary and analysis like this delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for The Week's "Today's best articles" newsletter here.More stories from theweek.com The coming death of just about every rock legend The president has already confessed to his crimes Why are 2020 Democrats so weird?

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2Kb7azz

Mexico makes arrests in massacre of American women, children -minister

Mexico has made an unspecified number of arrests over last week's massacre of three women and six children of dual U.S-Mexican nationality in the north of the country, Security Minister Alfonso Durazo said on Monday. "There have been arrests, but it's not up to us to give information," Durazo told reporters in Mexico City. The women and children from families of U.S. Mormon origin who settled in Mexico decades ago were killed last Monday on a remote dirt road in the state of Sonora by suspected drug cartel gunmen, sparking outrage and condemnation in the United States.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2CKuWON

McConnell: Bevin 'had a good 4 years,' but likely lost

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin "had a good four years," but he says a review of Bevin's narrow reelection defeat is unlikely to change the outcome. Bevin trailed Democrat Andy Beshear by about 5,000 votes in the Nov. 5 election. McConnell was in Carroll County on Monday to tout a US-Spain treaty he helped pass that cut the taxes for the North American Stainless plant there.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2p899gx

After Baseless Trump Claim About Transcripts, Lawyer Says Sondland’s Is Fine

President Donald Trump accused Democrats on Monday of scheming to alter witnesses’ transcripts from the impeachment inquiry, but a lawyer for a key witness said his client’s transcript looks fine. Robert Luskin, who represents Ambassador Gordon Sondland, a key witness and a Trump administration political appointee, said his client’s testimony hadn’t been altered. “No reason to believe that the transcript was altered, and the clarification was released in the form that it was submitted,” Luskin emailed The Daily Beast on Monday morning. Lee Wolosky, a lawyer for ex-Senior Director for Russian and Eurasian Affairs Fiona Hill, confirmed her client's testimony was unaltered. "We have seen nothing to suggest that Dr. Hill’s transcript was altered (beyond routine correction of errata),” she wrote in an email. Thousands of pages of testimony have already been released and neither lawmakers nor witnesses have complained about the contents of the depositions. In addition to accusing Democrats of misdeeds without evidence, Trump said Republicans should release their own versions of the documents as a check. Sondland testified to the inquiry on Oct. 17, but updated his testimony just last week to say he had suspected the Trump administration withheld military aid from Ukraine to pressure the country into investigating a company linked to former Vice President Joe Biden. Democrats pointed to Sondland’s admission as evidence of their worst suspicions: that the administration put the president’s political goals over support for a key American partner at war with Russian-backed fighters. Sondland, however, also said in his update that nobody in the Trump administration told him about a quid pro quo scheme, and that he still does not know why Trump temporarily withheld the military aid. Sondland’s reversal has been pilloried on the right, with some Republicans even accusing him of working with Democrats. Trump, who a month ago described the ambassador as  “a really good man and great American,” has not lashed out publicly at Sondland but planted what seemed to a kiss of death in comments to reporters last week. “I hardly know the gentleman,” Trump said, when asked about Sondland’s edited testimony. And Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of Trump’s most staunch congressional allies, suggested in a Fox News interview that Sondland may have conspired with Democrats to add the damaging material to his testimony. “Why did Sunderland change his testimony?” Graham said, inaccurately referring to Sondland. “Was there a connection between Sunderland and Democratic operatives on the committee? Did he talk to Schiff? Did he talk to Schiff’s staffers?”Trump’s anger with the inquiry is percolating as Democrats gear up for the first week of public impeachment hearings. On Wednesday, State Department officials George Kent and Ambassador Bill Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, are set to testify before the House Intelligence Committee. Then on Friday, former U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch –who represented the U.S. in Kyiv until a scheme helmed by Rudy Giuliani resulted in her removal from that post–will testify. Transcripts from all three witnesses’ closed-door testimonies have been released. They include damaging allegations about Trump’s relationship with Ukraine. But some of the information that could cause the most trouble for the president is second- or third-hand. Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2Q8fwvx

Hong Kong police watchdog unequipped to probe protest response: experts

Hong Kong's police watchdog is currently unequipped to investigate the force's handling of months of pro-democracy protests, a panel of international experts appointed by the city's own government has found. The international finance hub has been upended by five months of huge and increasingly violent rallies, but Beijing has refused to give in to most of the movement's demands. One of the core demands, alongside fully free elections, is an independent inquiry into the police, who have been left to battle protesters for 24 consecutive weeks and are now loathed by large chunks of the deeply polarised population.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2Q5YOwE

Rep. Swalwell: Impeachment committee ‘has evidence of extortion scheme involving president’ and Ukraine

Politicians have evidence of an “extortion scheme” by President Trump to try to pressure a foreign government to investigate his opponents, a member of the House intelligence committee has said ahead of public impeachment hearings beginning this week.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2qHwnKM

AP FACT CHECK: Trump's flawed 'read the transcript' defense

Heading into public hearings this week, people have read the transcript , and that's why President Donald Trump has an impeachment problem. The whistleblower, the rough transcript of the July 25 phone call between Trump and Ukraine's leader, and the words of a succession of career civil servants and Trump political appointees brought before Congress are largely in sync. Together they have stitched an account that shows Trump pressing for a political favor from a foreign leader and, as key testimony has it, conditioning military aid on getting what he wanted.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/34Mzf80

Alison Roman Cooks Thanksgiving in a (Very) Small Kitchen

By Unknown Author from NYT Food https://ift.tt/34Jv2SC

Poland Objects to Holocaust-Era Map in Netflix Series

By BY JULIA JACOBS from NYT Arts https://ift.tt/2CLdgCF

Robert Freeman, Photographer of Beatles Albums, Dies at 82

By BY RICHARD SANDOMIR from NYT Arts https://ift.tt/2CxS5DJ

After burying last victims, some in Mexico's breakaway Mormon community head north

Members of a breakaway Mormon community tucked in the hills of northern Mexico buried the last of their dead on Saturday after a devastating massacre, and some headed for safer ground in the United States. Hundreds of friends and family from both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border gathered in rural Colonia LeBaron to honor Christina Langford, who died in an ambush on Monday that killed nine.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/36QSpve

Douglas MacArthur Is One of America's Most Famous Generals. He's Also the Most Overrated

He might be one of President Trump's favorite generals, but as Hampton Sides writes, Douglas MacArthur was far from a military genius.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2q2DYDU

Mexico grants asylum to Bolivia's Evo Morales

Mexico granted asylum to Bolivia's former President Evo Morales on Monday as unrest shook the South American nation, helping cement the Mexican government's emerging role as a bastion of diplomatic support for left-wing leaders in Latin America. Mexico's Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said Morales' life was in danger, and the decision to grant him asylum was in Mexico's long tradition of sheltering exiles. Morales' government collapsed on Sunday after ruling party allies quit and the army urged him to step down in the wake of a disputed election, adding to a sense of crisis in Latin America, which has been hit by weeks of protests and unrest. Looting and roadblocks convulsed Bolivia after Morales stepped down. He said "violent groups" attacked his house. His exact whereabouts were unknown, though it was believed he had left in the presidential plane for his stronghold of Chapare province. "His life and integrity is at risk," Ebrard told reporters. "We will immediately proceed to inform Bolivia's foreign ministry that under international law, it should offer safe conduct." Mexico has informed the Organization of American States, and will inform the United Nations, he added. The Washington-based OAS delivered a report on Sunday citing serious irregularities during Bolivia's October vote. The departure of Bolivia's first indigenous president, one of a wave of leftists who dominated Latin America's politics at the start of the century, comes amid a widespread rejection of incumbent leaders from either side of the political divide in the region, from Mexico to Brazil and Argentina. Mexico elected its first left-leaning government in decades last year, moving closer to like-minded governments and distancing itself from diplomatic initiatives aimed at pushing socialist President Nicolas Maduro from power in Venezuela. Argentina last month elected a left-leaning leader, as voters rejected economic policies aimed at stabilizing the economy but that deepened poverty and inflation. The resignation of Morales, who governed for 14 years, followed protests in Ecuador and Chile that forced their governments to step back from policies raising fuel and transport prices. Ebrard said earlier on Monday his government viewed Sunday's events in Bolivia as a "coup" because the military broke with the constitutional order by pressing Morales to resign. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador praised Morales saying he chose to resign rather than put the lives of Bolivia's citizens at risk

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2qNQ43B

Thousands join French march against Islamophobia

Over 10,000 people turned out north of Paris on Sunday for a march against Islamophobia that drew criticism from both the government and the far right. The march was called by a number of individuals and organisations, including the Collective against Islamophobia in France (CCIF). It also came as the debate over the veil has been revived in France and against a background of several jihadist attacks in France in recent years.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/34Kk0MX

Democrats Say Republican Impeachment Witnesses May Testify

(Bloomberg) -- Democrats signaled their willingness to let some witnesses requested by Republicans testify as the House starts public impeachment hearings of Donald Trump this week, but only those people with knowledge of the president’s actions. And not Hunter Biden or the whistle-blower.Ahead of the first session on Wednesday, Republicans gave the committee a list of witnesses they want called -- including former Vice President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, and the anonymous whistle-blower whose complaint sparked the inquiry.Democratic Representatives Jackie Speier of California and Sean Patrick Maloney of New York, both members of the House Intelligence Committee, said on Sunday morning political shows that there are Republican witnesses panel Chairman Adam Schiff could call -- not Biden’s son or the whistle-blower, whose account has been corroborated by other witnesses.Speier suggested former National Security Council official Tim Morrison and former U.S. special representative to Ukraine Kurt Volker could appear. But Speier said the whistle-blower, whose identity is protected, isn’t needed, and any testimony has to be focused on the July call in which Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate the Bidens.‘Stay Focused’“We want to stay focused on the Ukraine call,” Speier said on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, calling the conversation “a very strong case of bribery.” She added: “Having Hunter Biden come in is unrelated to the Ukraine call. And so that becomes irrelevant.”Public testimony starting with career public servants could raise political risks for Trump as he seeks to de-legitimize the impeachment process while preserving his re-election prospects in 2020. But there is also risk for Democrats who are trying to build public support for impeachment and protect moderate members who will be campaigning in Trump-friendly districts next year.Republican Senator Lindsay Graham of South Carolina, a vocal Trump ally, called the Democratic impeachment inquiry a “complete joke” because the whistle-blower has not been identified and subjected to cross-examination.“If they don’t call the whistle-blower in the House, this thing is dead on arrival in the Senate,” Graham said on Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”Representative Mac Thornberry of Texas, the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, said on ABC that what Trump did was “inappropriate” but not an impeachable offense. Fellow Texas Republican Will Hurd, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said while Trump’s actions may have been illegal, impeachment may not be the right tool to address it.“I think if you’re trying to get information on a political rival to use in a political campaign is not something a president or any official should be doing,” Hurd said on “Fox News Sunday.” “Most Republicans have said that would be a violation of the law.”He said talk about impeachment “has been premature,” and said he wanted to see whether the actions established “a criminal intent.” And, Hurd said the whistle-blower’s identity should be protected.Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” the case could come down to Trump’s intent and motive -- and whether he was asking for an investigation of a political rival or a probe of possible corruption of someone who happened be a political rival.If a request for a probe of a rival could be proved, that would be “over the line,” Kennedy said. Asked whether that means impeachable, Kennedy replied, “yeah, probably” but that he wants to hear the testimony.Trump sent a tweet Sunday afternoon telling congressional Republicans not to suggest what he did was wrong but not impeachable.“Republicans, don’t be led into the fools trap of saying it was not perfect, but is not impeachable. No, it is much stronger than that. NOTHING WAS DONE WRONG!” Trump tweeted.The president also complained on Twitter that Schiff won’t allow a White House lawyer or “ANY of our requested witnesses.” He called it “a first in due process and Congressional history!”Thornberry defended Republicans focusing on the process and complaints that Democrats are being too partisan, noting that under the U.S. legal system, murders, robbers and rapists are sometimes allowed to go free if their due process rights are violated.“The integrity of the processes under our legal system is more important than the outcome of one particular case,” Thornberry said. “So I don’t think you can sweep under the rug.”Democratic Representative Eric Swalwell of California, another member of the House Intelligence Committee, said on CBS the panel won’t “chase witnesses to the courts” that the White House is blocking, such as former National Security Adviser John Bolton. He said the committee already has enough “evidence of an extortion scheme,” but it’s important for witnesses to answer questions from members of both parties.William Taylor, who took charge of U.S. embassy in Ukraine after the former ambassador was ousted in May, told House committees that he initially thought a July 25 phone call between Trump and the Ukrainian president “sounded like a good idea” as Ukraine sought to strengthen its fight against Russian-backed separatists.But as the date approached, Taylor became concerned by the efforts of Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani to involve Ukraine in an investigation of one of Trump’s political rivals, according to a transcript of the diplomat’s Oct. 22 closed-door testimony released Wednesday.Taylor, a career diplomat, is scheduled to be one of the first two witnesses when the committee begins public hearings. He is scheduled to testify Wednesday along with State Department official George Kent. Former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, who Taylor replaced, will testify two days later.(Updates with Trump tweets from 14th paragraph and comment from Swalwell in 19th.)\--With assistance from Christopher Condon.To contact the reporters on this story: Mark Niquette in Columbus at mniquette@bloomberg.net;Craig Torres in Washington at ctorres3@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: James Ludden at jludden@bloomberg.net, Steve GeimannFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2NZk6t7

EU agrees sanctions on Turkey over Cyprus drilling, to add names later

The decision, reflecting a broader deterioration in EU ties with Turkey, aims to punish Ankara for violating Cyprus' maritime economic zone by drilling off the divided island. It follows a separate decision to stop new arms sales by EU governments to Turkey over Ankara's Oct. 9 incursion into Syria. Turkey, which is a formal candidate to join the EU, says it is operating in waters on its own continental shelf or areas where Turkish Cypriots have rights.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2qKjoIA

Pete Alonso Becomes the 6th Met to Be Named Rookie of the Year

By BY KEVIN ARMSTRONG from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/33zDCmG