The American women played a solid game against Chile, a tougher foe than hapless Thailand.  The Chilean goalkeeper, Christiane Endler, was spectacular in the net and was named Player of the Match despite being on the losing team.

The Guardian 6.19.2019

Carli Lloyd had been blunt leading up to the group match against Thailand: she thought she should be starting for the USA in this Women’s World Cup and disagreed with the coach Jill Ellis’s decision over several months to use her as a substitute.

“There’s nothing there that’s holding me back except for the coach’s decision,” Lloyd said on Friday. But against Chile Lloyd got her chance as Ellis heavily rotated her starting lineup to give preferred players a rest – and Lloyd backed her case with a double, leading the US to a resounding 3-0 winwhich should have been a hat-trick as she missed a penalty.

The score would have become greater but for the Chile goalkeeper, Christiane Endler, (pictured below) who had a sensational second half, making nine savesincluding several impressive ones, to stem the bleeding. The Paris Saint-Germain No 1, playing in her home club stadium, made a couple of difficult diving parries to deny Christen Press in the 58th and 66th minutes.

“She made four or five saves that were in-the-goal saves,” Lloyd said. “Just incredible.” Ellis added: “As a fan of this sport, they were some spectacular saves. In a game where you feel like you’re going to get the result, there’s less anxiety in terms of her pulling out such worldie saves. She got player of the match in a game they lost 3-0 and I’m good with that.”

For the Americans, fresh off their 13-0 demolition of Thailand, a similar if less spectacular dismantling of Chile was all part of the plan for the world’s No 1-ranked team. The Americans secured their spot in the knockout stages regardless of how their final group game goes and they have put the rest of the World Cup field on notice.

Ellis, seemingly confident about getting past Chile, made a surprise seven changes to her lineup that shellacked Thailand five days earlier. But it was not actually a new tactic; she did the same thing during World Cup qualifying in October, when she made wholesale changes for the USA’s second match in the knockout round of that tournament, only to start her first-choice starting XI through the rest of the games.

Another slap in the face to the people of the Middle East. The disgraced Israeli Prime Minister once again bows down before Trump

Deutsche Welle 6.16.2019

Israel’s cabinet has visited the Golan Heights to inaugurate the country’s controversial new settlement. In March, Trump recognized the territory that Israel seized from Syria in 1967 as belonging to the Jewish state.

Israel’s cabinet convened in Golan on Sunday for the naming of the neighborhood currently occupied by four settler families.

Addressing the ceremony, Netanyahu called Trump a “great friend” of Israel and described the Golan, which overlooks northern Israel, as an important strategic asset.

“The Golan Heights was and will always be an inseparable part of our country and homeland,” Netanyahu said.

Opposition MPs quickly denounced the naming ceremony as a “cheap PR stunt” by Netanyahu’s interim government, which failed to form a coalition following an April election victory and now awaits a new September vote.

“It’s a non-binding, fake policy,” lawmaker Zvi Hauser was quoted by the Times of Israel as saying. “There is no budgeting, no planning, no location for a settlement, and there is no binding decision to implement the project. But at least they insisted on a name,” he said.

Some 23,000 Druze — an Arab Muslim minority also present in Syria and Lebanon — live in the occupied and annexed portion of the Golan Heights, while 25,000 Israeli settlers have arrived there since 1967.

Trump’s recognition of the area as Israeli followed last year’s relocation of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which sparked anger in the Muslim world.

Developing Ramat Trump will not be easy. Ringed by high yellow grass and landmines, it is roughly 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the Syrian border and a half hour drive from the nearest Israeli town, Kiryat Shmona, a community of about 20,000 people near the Lebanese border.

https://www.dw.com/en/israels-netanyahu-names-new-golan-settlement-trump-heights/a-49228074

I paid  scant attention to the lurid tale of Amanda Knox until I read the 2013 novel by Jennifer DuBois, “Cartwheel,” a fictionalized account of the saga which gripped the media for years. Read the book. Fascinating.

Deutsche Welle 6.15.2019

Once accused of brutally murdering her roommate, the exonerated journalist has called for an end to “irresponsible media.” Her case gained widespread notoriety, partly due to the media frenzy surrounding her trial.

Amanda Knox, an American journalist who was exonerated of her roommate’s 2007 murder, criticized media coverage of her case at a conference in Modena on Saturday, marking the first time she has returned to Italy since she was acquitted.

Knox and her boyfriend at the time, Raffaele Sollecito, were charged with the murder of her British roommate, Meredith Kercher, in the Italian city of Perugia. Her case gained widespread notoriety with lurid headlines that included such phrases as “Foxy Knoxy.”

“In the court of public opinion, you are not a person, you are an object to consume,” Knox said during a panel entitled “Trial by Media.” “I had no doubt my innocence would save me. But my innocence didn’t save me, because the media created a version of me that did not fit with that story. And people loved their story.”

Knox’s trial was widely reported on in Italy and the UK, often with sensational angles

Throughout Knox’s trial, defense lawyers argued that she could not receive a fair trial due to the media frenzy surrounding the case.

In an article published on online publishing platform Medium, Knox described being depicted as a “sex-crazed femme fatale” by Italian prosecutors and fleeing Italy “in a high-speed chase, paparazzi literally ramming the back of my stepdad’s rental car.”

“While on trial for a murder I didn’t commit, my prosecutor painted me as a sex-crazed femme fatale, and the media profited for years by sensationalizing an already sensational and utterly unjustified story,” Knox wrote.  “It’s on us to stop making and stop consuming such irresponsible media.”

Knox was found guilty and acquitted several times before Italy’s highest court definitively acquitted her in 2015. She spent four years in prison before leaving Italy in 2011.

An Ivorian man who long resided in Perugia was found guilty of the murder in 2008. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison after exhausting the appeals process.

In the run-up to Knox’s participation at the Criminal Justice Festival in Modena, a lawyer representing Kercher’s family told The Associated Press that “inviting her to a technical panel on justice was a mistake.”

https://www.dw.com/en/amanda-knox-returns-to-italy-for-first-time-since-acquittal/a-49218894

Could the excessive behavior by law enforcement been due to the fact the Raptors General Manager is black?

Daily Beast 6.14.2019

Toronto Raptors general manager president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri may face charges after allegedly pushing and hitting a sheriff’s deputy in the face moments after his team won the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history, authorities said.

The Alameda County Sheriff’s office confirmed Friday morning that they are pursuing a misdemeanor charge against Ujiri for simple battery of a police officer after the Raptors defeated the Golden State Warriors on Thursday night, a police spokesman told The Daily Beast.

One reporter who recorded the encounter said Ujiri was “punched and pushed” by a police officer. Police rebuffed that narrative despite video evidence that appeared to be to the contrary, according to a statement from the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office.

“We can confirm our deputy was pushed and struck by a Raptors executive after he asked him for his credentials to go on the court at the end of the game,” the spokesperson said.

The altercation allegedly began after the deputy denied Ujiri access to the floor because he “did not have proper credentials.”

Photo-Masai Ujiri being interviewed by Doris Burke after the game.

Video footage from NBC Bay Area appears to show the 48-year-old Canadian basketball executive in a verbal scuffle with a law-enforcement officer, as several men separated and restrained both Ujiri and the sheriff’s deputy. Eventually, Ujiri makes his way to the floor where he was hugged by Raptors star point guard Kyle Lowry.

Ujiri appears to be holding a credential in his right hand in the video, however, per NBA rules, only people with designated gold armbands were allowed on the court after the Game 6 game. It is not immediately unclear if Ujiri was wearing an armband or had one in his possession.

“We are working with the Oakland Police Department to file a report and contact witnesses and review video,” the spokesperson said, adding that Ujiri was not arrested.

Both the sheriff’s office and Oakland police will submit reports to the district attorney’s office, the spokesperson added, who will then determine if charges will be filed next week.

New York Times 6.13.2019

The Toronto Raptors are N.B.A. champions. In a hard-fought game on the road at Oakland’s Oracle Arena, the Raptors beat the two-time defending champion Golden State Warriors, 114-110, taking advantage of a dynasty forced to close out the series without Kevin Durant or Klay Thompson, both of whom were out with injuries.

The Warriors got one final chance, trailing 111-110, with 9.6 seconds left in the game, but Stephen Curry missed a 3-pointer, the team was whistled for a technical foul for calling a timeout when they had none remaining. Kawhi Leonard hit the ensuing free throw to essentially seal the victory. There was a delay as a foul on the final possession for Toronto was sorted out, but the fans in Oakland knew it was over before the final whistle.

Kyle Lowry, Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet led the way offensively in Game 6, making up for a night well below Leonard’s standards.

Golden State’s Thompson led all scorers with 30 points, but he missed the entire fourth quarter with a knee injury.

“New York Goes Wild.”

The return of rent control to New York and other acts of insanity.

That is the headline in the Wall Street Journal editorial bemoaning the pending passage of serious tenant rights legislation in New York State. The WSJ op ed bemoaning this state of affairs is printed in its entirety.  

Wall Street Journal 6.13.2019

There’s a lot of ruin in New York, but progressives who control the state and city governments are intent on showing how much. Law by law, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Democrats are chipping away at the policies that made New York City livable after decades of decline and returning to the bad old days.

Democrats this week are ramming through rent-control bills that will drive away real-estate investment that they purportedly want to attract millennials and tech jobs. The legislation effectively dictates rents for one million or so rent-regulated apartments and restricts landlords’ ability to evict tenants who don’t pay.

Former Governor George Pataki in the 1990s signed legislation that began to phase out rent regulation. Landlords were allowed to charge market rates on vacant apartments once rents hit $2,700. As rents gradually rose with inflation, the stock of rent-controlled units would shrink. About 155,000 units have been liberated from regulation, though rents remain restricted on 45% of units.

Democrats plan to end this market glide path. Once a tenant moves out—which doesn’t happen often since folks can pass on the entitlement to friends and relatives—landlords would be required to offer the unit to another tenant at restricted rates. Landlords also couldn’t raise rents by 20% if a tenant moves as allowed under current law.

Nor could they raise rates by more than 2% annually to pay for improvements or evict a nonpaying tenant who “cannot find a similar suitable dwelling in the same neighborhood.” Since landlords would have less incentive to make fixes, more apartments will deteriorate and come to resemble New York City’s squalid public housing.

Democrats typically have renewed state rent-control laws every few years as part of a deal to extend property tax breaks for housing developers. But they now aim to make their rent regulations permanent. The only things certain in New York are high taxes and rent control.

One result will be less housing investment since developers receive tax breaks for building rent-regulated units, which they will now be less inclined to do. Rates will also rise faster on apartments whose rents aren’t restricted—assuming the city keeps adding people and jobs. This is no guarantee as New York City has lost population for two years.

More restaurants are closing and jobs in food services have declined since the state raised the minimum wage to $15 per hour. Vagrancy and public drug use have increased even in the more affluent areas of Manhattan as the city’s progressives have reversed the policies of Michael Bloomberg and Rudy Giuliani.

In other news, state Democrats are trying to drive away more businesses by amending the state’s consumer protection laws that prohibit business conduct that is intentionally “deceptive.” Democrats want to broaden this standard of conduct to “unfair, deceptive or abusive”—however lawyers and courts choose to define it—and to raise statutory damages to $2,000 from $50 per violation.

Progressives are vindicating CEO Jeff Bezos’s decision to pull Amazon’s second headquarters out of New York. Don’t be surprised if other businesses follow.

Appeared in the June 14, 2019, print edition.

The Russian government, like its authoritarian counterparts, will crack down vigorously and harshly on those advocating for a free press. The mantra is, “Toe the party line or face severe consequences.”

Deutsche Welle 6.12.2019

Police warned that a march against alleged police framing of a journalist would be illegal. Protesters marched regardless and were met with a heavy response.

Investigative reporter Ivan Golunov was arrested last week on allegedly trumped-up drug charges, but in a rare U-turn by authorities he was released Tuesday following an unusually vocal backlash in Russia and internationally.

Golunov vowed to continue his investigative work into corruption and graft.

Despite his release, witnesses said more than 1,000 people marched through central Moscow Wednesday, calling for police involved in the Golunov incident to be punished and chanting “Russia will be free.”

Monitors in Moscow say more than 400 people have been detained in a crackdown on an unsanctioned march in response to the brief arrest of prominent reporter Ivan Golunov.

OVD-Info, a group which monitors arrests of opposition figures, said: “More than 400 people had been detained at the march.”

Police in Moscow had earlier put the number detained at 200 and said charges could result in 20 days in jail.

Among those arrested was Alexei Navalny, (pictured above), the most prominent political rival of President Vladimir Putin. Navalny was released after several hours in custody.

German news weekly Der Spiegel reported that one of its producers was also arrested, despite carrying appropriate permits.

Authorities had warned that the demonstration would be deemed illegal.

DW correspondent Emily Sherwin reported that a heavy police presence was in force to send a message.

https://www.dw.com/en/multiple-arrests-at-moscow-protests-over-journalists-arrest/a-49147765

First it was Oregon earlier this year with Statewide Rent Control. Now New York.  I thought California a True Blue State. If it is genuinely True Blue it would follow the lead of its neighbor to the North and sister state on the East Coast.

New York Times 6.11.2019

Newly empowered Democratic leaders in Albany announced a landmark agreement on Tuesday to strengthen New York’s rent laws and tenant protections, seeking to address concern about housing costs that is helping drive the debate over inequality across the nation.

The changes would abolish rules that let building owners deregulate apartments, close a series of loopholes that permit them to raise rents and allow some tenant protections to expand statewide.

The deal was a significant blow to the real estate industry, which contended that the measures would lead to the deterioration of the condition of New York City’s housing. The industry had long been one of the most powerful lobbies in Albany, but it suffered a loss of influence after its Republican allies surrendered control of the State Senate in the November elections.

“These reforms give New Yorkers the strongest tenant protections in history,” the Senate majority leader, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, and the Assembly speaker, Carl E. Heastie, said in a joint statement. “For too long, power has been tilted in favor of landlords and these measures finally restore equity and extend protections to tenants across the state.”

The current rent regulations expire on Saturday. The new and strengthened rules would mark a turning point for the 2.4 million people who live in nearly one million rent-regulated apartments in New York City after a decades-long erosion of protections and the loss of tens of thousands of regulated apartments.

This team came to play.

Excerpted from Wall Street Journal and The Guardian 6.11.2019

The defending World Cup champions were out for blood and intent on running up the biggest score possible. In that sense, the 13-0 final scoreline – a World Cup record – was perhaps not a surprise. Alex Morgan set a mark of her own, her five goals tied the tournament for the most by one player in a single game.

It was clear what kind of match this would be a few seconds before the whistle blew. The US put seven attacking players on the halfway line while just three defenders hung back with the goalkeeper. Once the game started, those seven US players sprinted past the Thailand midfield toward the goal. The game largely continued like that, with proceedings taking place almost exclusively in the Thailand half.

U.S. players and coach Jill Ellis said they didn’t consider pulling back because they thought to do so would disrespect their opponent. They also noted that goal differential serves as a tiebreaker in deciding where teams place in the group stage.

“A lot of this is about building momentum and so as a coach I don’t find it my job to rein my players in,” Ellis said. “This is what they’ve dreamt about. I respect Thailand, I spoke to some of them afterward and they should keep their heads up. This is part of the growth of the game.”

Up next, the Americans head to Paris where they will take on Chile, who lost to Sweden earlier in the day, on Sunday. The Americans then play Sweden in their final first round match.

Of the 24 teams in the tournament, 16 will qualify for the knockout stage. The two teams finishing first and second in each group and the four best teams among those ranked third will advance.

On Tuesday, fans started the wave started early, when the U.S. had a two-goal lead early in the first half. The crowd of 18,591 at Auguste Delaune Stadium heavily favored the U.S.

UPDATE:  6.11.2019 Warriors Management being questioned for downplaying severity of Kevin Durant’s May 8 “calf injury.”

Watch Warriors GM Bob Myers post game presser. I have rarely seen such raw emotion live on television.

Game Six will be the final game at Oracle Arena in Oakland on Thursday night. Next season the Warriors will move across the Bay to the new Chase Arena.  The final game at Oracle should be emotional and a classic.

Excerpted from New York Times 6.10.2019