Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg came under fire Wednesday in his first televised debate of the Democratic race, the most virulent of the campaign to choose who will run against Donald Trump for the White House in November
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By Web Editor | internet@granma.cu
February 20, 2020 10:02:45
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg came under fire Wednesday in his first televised debate of the Democratic race. It was the most virulent of the campaign to choose who will run against Donald Trump for the White House in November.
Before Saturday’s caucus in Nevada, the third state to hold its party caucus, the Las Vegas showdown was the most controversial of the nine so far, as leftist Bernie Sanders is the clear favorite among the eight contenders still in the race.
Bloomberg, who invested astronomical amounts in advertising that catapulted him to third place in the Democrats’ voting intention in just three months of the contest, was labeled an “arrogant millionaire” and questioned for “sexist remarks” and “racist policies.
Sanders, who won in New Hampshire and came a close second in Iowa, was also targeted, particularly for his universal health plan, but also for his leadership style and economic proposals.
“I don’t think there’s any chance the senator will beat President Trump,” Bloomberg said.
But Sanders was not far behind.
“Mike Bloomberg has more wealth than 125 million Americans underneath him,” the senator said in one of the many bumps and bruises of the evening. “That’s wrong. That’s immoral.”
With an estimated fortune of $64.2 billion, the financial information mogul is considered the eighth richest person in the world according to Forbes’ updated figures.
Another strong exchange between the two was when Bloomberg questioned the economic claims of Sanders, who defines himself as a “democratic socialist”.
“We’re not going to throw away capitalism,” the businessman said. “Other countries tried. It was called communism and it just didn’t work,” he added, a mention that Sanders called a “low blow”.
Sanders leads the race with 32% support, ahead of Barack Obama’s former vice president, moderate Joe Biden, at 16%, and Bloomberg at 14%, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll released Wednesday.
In fourth place is progressive Senator Elizabeth Warren (12%), followed by two other centrists: former Mayor Pete Buttigieg (8%) and Senator Amy Klobuchar (7%).
“We shouldn’t have to choose between a candidate who wants to burn this party and one who wants to buy this party,” said Buttigieg, who won in Iowa and came in a close second in New Hampshire.
“Let’s choose someone who is actually a Democrat,” he added, in a setback for the independent Sanders and for Bloomberg, who was a Democrat before running for mayor as a Republican and as an independent, to finally return to the Democratic Party in 2018.
In an unusual strategy, Bloomberg decided to skip the first four dates of the competition — Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada on Saturday and South Carolina on February 29 — to focus on the “Super Tuesday” of March 3, when 14 states vote and a one-third majority of delegates (1991) must choose the party’s nominee at the Democratic convention in July.
Bloomberg, who is shaping up to be a strong contender against Trump, another 70-something white New York mogul like himself, also was whipped by Warren, who like Klobuchar is struggling to stay afloat.
“Understand this: Democrats are taking a big risk if we just replace one arrogant billionaire with another,” he warned, equating Bloomberg with Trump by recalling that the former mayor once referred to women as “fat broads” and “horse-faced lesbians.
“Democrats are not going to win if we have a nominee who has a history of hiding his tax returns, harassing women and supporting racist policies,” he said.
During his tenure in New York, Bloomberg implemented a policy of arbitrary arrests and searches (“stop-and-frisk”), which his critics say affected Blacks and Latinos much more and for which the candidate has apologized.
“It got out of control,” he said Wednesday in Las Vegas, acknowledging that the issue “really” embarrassed him.
Despite being on the defensive several times, Bloomberg maintained his composure and his firmness, presenting himself as someone capable of defeating Trump and of governing the United States.
From a rally in Arizona, Trump took the opportunity to mock Bloomberg, whom he nicknamed “Mini” in reference to his height. “I hear you’re getting beat up tonight,” he said.
And after dismissing “Crazy Bernie” as a potential contender, he said, “We don’t care who the hell he is because we’re going to win,” as the crowd chanted “Four more years!
(AFP)
Much has been done by the international sports movement to remove discriminatory barriers based on skin color, creed, gender or political affiliation.
by Alfonso Nacianceno
February 18, 2020
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
Sport knows no boundaries. Cheer up, sister, ennoble. It shapes personality, brings values, and is based on a commitment to the purpose of being better every day.
The international sports movement has worked hard to eliminate discriminatory barriers based on skin color, creed, gender or political affiliation. Thus today the wide spectrum of more than 200 countries that gather in each edition of the Olympic Games, are the highest expression of the power of sport to unite wills.
Even wars and conflicts between nations have taken truces to give way to the quadrennial appointments. This ideal of brotherhood is opposed by the xenophobia and racism that are often unleashed in football stadiums, as was the case with Mali striker Moussa Marega during the match between the Vitoria de Guimaraes and Porto in the Portuguese league last Sunday.
Having scored the goal that gave Porto a 2-1 lead, offensives, shouts and even objects thrown at the player started to come from the stands. In the midst of the hullabaloo, the player left the pitch, not without first enduring a caution from a white referee, who far from helping to calm the mood, gave Marega a yellow card.
The unbridled fanaticism of anger, guided on many occasions by the excesses of gamblers who see their money in danger from the stands, puts the lives of tens of thousands who gather in a facility to enjoy a show at risk. The hatred of those who do not respect the human condition overshadows the event.
Many are the sports in which black athletes shine and bring out the jousting. And they are not always the best paid, and the unstoppable commercialization deprives their native nations of this or that figure, who then become players in a club where they do not have to suffer the expressions of contempt like those suffered by Marega.
Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, multi-Olympic and world champion; Kenyan marathon runner Eliud Kipchoge, who recently dropped out of the two-hour race; American basketball player LeBron James; French judoka Teddy Riner, ten times world champion and two-time Olympic champion, to name but three stars from different specialties, attract millions of young people around the world who look to them as role models and deserve the respect they deserve. There is no reason for any human being to be subjected to vexatious treatment.
By Mileyda Menéndez Dávila
February 18, 2020
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
06 león trotski 25-febrero-2015 (1) Walter Lippmann, a journalist and activist from Los Angeles, California, has been working with the Cuban press for many years. About our page, he writes: “In my opinion, Cuba is trying to build a society with ass and for the good of all. The island does not live in a bubble. The weight of tradition and the way we are so connected through the Internet, reaches us all. Sexo Sentido tries to address the problems, concerns and issues of young people and all people. That’s why I look forward to each week’s edition.
“It seems to me that this section’s positive and inclusive attitude towards sex, and its open approach to the many forms of love, is something that we in the English-speaking world could learn from. My Spanish, along with modern technology, has allowed me to voluntarily translate your column into English. It’s something that gives me a lot of pleasure and a way to help the rest of the world know about your reality.
By Mileyda Menéndez Dávila
February 18, 2020
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
Can a father seek communication with his children if he separates from the mother without formalizing a marriage? Who is entitled to receive alimony from the former spouse? Is there a way to divide the property without getting a divorce? These and other questions will be cleared up next Tuesday 25th in an online conversation with representatives of the National Organization of Collective Law Firms and professors of the Department of Law of the University of Havana
By Mileyda Menéndez Dávila
February 18.2020
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
Conversando íntimamente con el adolescente varón (Conversing intimately with the adolescent male), and its continuation (Conversando íntimamente con la adolescente mujer), are two texts by Cuban pediatrician Laura Elena Alvaré, which marked a milestone in sex education for young people in the first decade of this century and are still valid as an enjoyable tool for dialogue in families.
A valuable proposal from the Scientific-Technical Publishing House, both dialogues stand out for their excellent combination of conversational tone with clear scientific information, diaphanous illustrations and, for more benefit, letters and petitions from the adolescent’s point of view, in an effort to build a balance with their overprotective families.
As they came out in 2003 and 2004 it is difficult to find them in bookstores, but they are in many libraries in the country, and if you contact their author through our section, she will surely provide you with a digital version for your enjoyment.
From the web we recommend you to download materials from the official site of Sexur, a Uruguayan institute with a magnificent work of popular education for adolescents and young people, which has visited Cuba to share its experience.
By Mileyda Menéndez Dávila
February 18, 2020
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
There are crazy things that are like arms of the sea:
/ surprise you, drag you, lose you and that’s it.
Silvio Rodriguez
I’m counting on you.
The National Center for the Prevention of STIs/HIV/AIDS (CNP) was established in 1999, and thanks to the support of several international agencies has been able to finance educational projects throughout the country that help contain the HIV epidemic and control the spread of other STIs.
In 2014, it joined other public health departments to give life to the National Center for Health Promotion, Prosalud, in order to promote research and community work adjusted to the socio-cultural characteristics of each territory. According to its current director, Dr. Pablo Feal Cañizares, the message reaches some people better with science and others with humor and creativity.
The educational and counseling work of this center falls mainly on activists who are linked to its lines of work. The oldest one is Support for People Living with HIV (PLHIV), then came Lineayuda (telephone and face-to-face counseling) and little by little they added MSM (men who have sex with men), Condom Marketing with its creative Team Vigor, the dynamic Youth for Life, Women and HIV, 50 and over, and PPST (people who practice transactional sex).
If you are motivated to join this family of volunteers or are looking for a receptive ear for your sexuality questions, call 78303156, visit the national headquarters of Prosalud (27th and A streets, Vedado) or inquire at the provincial and municipal centers of prevention and health promotion.
By Mileyda Menéndez Dávila
February 19, 2020
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
Today I’ll tell you something that happened to me on my way to one of the clubs we do every month at the Mathematics Department of the University of Havana. That day we were celebrating a Sexo Sentido anniversary and I thought I’d bring a piñata, a gift from two enthusiastic readers, beautifully decorated with a host of words related to human sexuality.
A couple of hours before I had a meeting with young leaders of the National Association of the Blind and I was late walking from the meeting place to the university, so I took a bus, with such good luck that a woman decided to carry my fragile object so that it would not be damaged.
Her eight or nine-year-old son began to read the flashy signs, and from all the possible oddities it occurred to him to ask aloud, “Mom, what is an orgasm? Only then did she realize what she was carrying on her lap and look at me in horror, well aware of the sudden silence created in the crowded public transportation.
At the end she answered a hesitant “I don’t know…”, turning red as a poppy. I still wonder what hurt her more, whether her little boy’s disgruntled expression at her “ignorance” or the mocking laughter of the rest of the passengers
The President of the Bolivian Electoral Tribunal (TSE), Salvador Romero, denied on Wednesday that the TSE disqualified the candidacies of former President Evo Morales and former Foreign Minister Diego Pary in the general elections of May 3.
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Author: Granma | internet@granma.cu
February 19, 2020 22:02:43
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
According to the electoral calendar, the disqualified candidates must be disclosed on February 23, not before, but a possible disqualification of the mas’s proposals could aggravate the political crisis of the South American country. Photo: TELESUR
The President of the Bolivian Electoral Tribunal (TSE), Salvador Romero, denied on Wednesday that the TSE had disqualified the candidacies of former President Evo Morales and former Foreign Minister Diego Pary in the general elections of May 3.
The local newspaper El Deber published yesterday that the TSE had disqualified both candidates and cited sources from the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) as the source of the information, reported Prensa Latina.
Romero explained at a press conference that the electoral body has not made any decision on the contested candidacies, and that the information will be made public in accordance with the electoral calendar.
The candidacies of Morales and Pary, aspiring senators from the departments of Cochabamba and Potosi, respectively, are under observation for failing to comply with the requirement of residence in the country for a minimum uninterrupted period of two years.
The TSE’s decision regarding the MAS representatives is expected amidst constant complaints of non-compliance with laws to keep them out of the electoral race.
In previous days, this political organization issued a statement, in which it questioned the decision of the electoral body to submit to a resolution the approval or not of the presence of the candidates observed on the ballots, which it assured was due to political reasons and not due to technical or legal reasons.
Published: Tuesday 18 February 2020 | 11:47:06 pm.
By Juventud Rebelde
digital@juventudrebelde.cu
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
La Paz, February 18.- Bolivia’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal reported that of 2,107 candidates who presented their candidacy on February 3, 1,278 are qualified to continue in the electoral race towards the May 3 elections, while 797 failed to meet the necessary requirements.
At the same time, the TSE is still analyzing 13 cases against which there is a demand for disqualification, and among them are the candidates of the Movement to Socialism (MAS) for the Presidency, Luis Arce Catacora, and for the Senate, Evo Morales and Diego Pary. This has been denounced on social networks because it is considered “not normal” that they seek to force a possible disqualification and this is even seen as a preview of another fascist coup in Bolivia by brushing aside the popular will.
Arce – the former economy minister of Evo Morales, considered the architect of Bolivia’s economic development over the past 13 years – leads the first poll of voting intentions for the next general elections with 31.6 percent, followed by former president Carlos Mesa with 17.1 percent, and by the self-proclaimed president of Bolivia, Jeanine Áñez, the candidate of Juntos, with 16.5 percent.
In less than 48 hours, the Ministry of the Interior, with the help of the population that, as usual, repudiates these actions, which are not usual in Cuba, identified and captured the authors of the act,. All were young people who had been disassociated from their studies and work, who are currently being detained and processed with the established legal guarantees
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Author: Granma | internet@granma.cu
February 18, 2020 20:00:05
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
In the early morning of February 14, in the capital’s Plaza de la Revolución municipality, five subjects intercepted two young university students who were returning to their homes after a recreational activity in order to take their belongings. One of them, after resisting, was attacked with a knife and died.
In less than 48 hours, the Ministry of the Interior, with the help of the population which, as usual, repudiates these actions, which are not usual in Cuba, identified and arrested the perpetrators of the act. All are young people who had been disassociated from their studies and work, and who are currently being held in custody. They are being prosecuted in accordance with the established legal guarantees. Precisely so as not to interfere with the investigation of the case, we waited until now to provide this information.
In view of the incident, family and friends of the deceased young man have received heartfelt expressions of condolence and support from our people.
Once again it is clear that, in the face of situations of this kind, the Revolution and its authorities will not permit impunity and will resolutely confront criminal demonstrations that attempt to affect the citizenry’s tranquility and internal order.
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