Category Archives: Viva!

Corbyn faces backlash from Labour pro-Europeans after sending Brexit plan to PM – Politics live

as well he should – he should be talking to Labor base that backed it and convince them that staying is better for working class than leaving

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Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including Theresa May’s visit to Brussels for Brexit talks with Donald Tusk and Jean-Claude Juncker

10.12am GMT

Theresa May has arrived in Brussels. Last night Downing Street sent out a briefing note setting out the key messages that Theresa May will be delivering in Brussels today. For the record, here they are in full.

The UK’s objective is to find a way to guarantee we cannot, and will not, be trapped in the backstop.

The prime minister is open to different ways to achieve this, but is clear it must be legally binding and therefore will require changes to the withdrawal agreement.

9.56am GMT

The People’s Vote campaign, which wants a second referendum, has released a response to the Corbyn letter from the Labour MP Phil Wilson, one of its supporters. He calls for the Corbyn plan to be scrutinised – so that it can be rejected. He says:

It was perhaps inevitable that at some point my party would publish something like this even though most Labour MPs, members and voters have long since worked out that there is no form of Brexit that can meet the promises made in 2016 or do anything but make people poorer.

What’s needed now is for this and any other alternative Brexit proposal to be given the same level of scrutiny that led parliament to reject the government’s deal last month. That will show that no number of tweaks to the political declaration pretending we can have our cake and eat it can change the reality that any Brexit deal means leaving the EU without clarity or certainty about where we will end up.

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Grannies against the right: older women are rising up – could they bring down Brexit?

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From Germany to the US, older women have been at the forefront of recent demonstrations. This could be the protest force we now need in the UK

“Lest we forget” is engraved on many a war memorial. But across Europe, as far-right parties rise in one election after another, too many voters have forgotten how racist extremism led to war and the Holocaust. That is why a group of older German women are taking to the streets of Berlin in trademark hand-knitted woolly hats, with placards reading: “Omas gegen Rechts” – Grannies against the right.

They protest regularly against the AfD – Alternative für Deutschland – the nationalist party that made alarming gains with its anti-Muslim campaign in Germany’s 2017 elections. “I was born in 1943. I remember the ruins of destroyed houses and destroyed streets,” Cordula Grafahrend tells the Daily Telegraph. “For us, it’s easy to see what we have gained in security, peace and freedom. Our children don’t know what it is to live with your life in danger. It’s our responsibility to tell them and our grandchildren.” The owner of the cafe where they meet sees all the echoes of the Nazis: “Back then it was against the Jews, now it’s against the Muslims. But they use the same language. They use words like Volk and Heimat.

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Gucci withdraws $890 jumper after blackface backlash

dumb is dumb and insensitive dumbness even worse

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Italian fashion house lambasted over ‘balaclava’ polo neck with large red lips

Gucci has withdrawn a polo neck jumper from its shops after social media users said it resembled blackface.

The $890 (£689) “balaclava” knit, part of the autumn/winter 2018 collection, covers the bottom half of the face and has a cutout mouth with large red lips.

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H.R. 996: To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to exclude from gross income certain federally-subsidized loan repayments for dental school faculty.

Introduced: Sponsor: Rep. Yvette Clarke [D-NY9]

This bill was referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and House Committee on Ways and Means which will consider it before sending it to the House floor for consideration.

H.J.Res. 37: Directing the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities in the Republic of Yemen that have not been authorized by Congress.

Legislation Coming Up: This resolution has been added to the House’s schedule for the coming week, according to the House Majority Leader. More information can be found at http://bit.ly/2g091ss.

Last Action: This resolution is in the first stage of the legislative process. It was introduced into Congress on January 30, 2019. It will typically be considered by committee next before it is possibly sent on to the House or Senate as a whole.

The political crisis in Virginia is a test for the Democratic party | Douglas Williams

Lt. Gov should resign so Governor can appoint someone clean and then resign himself. GOP would screw citizens in Virginia!

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If the Democratic party’s actions are to ever credibly meet its rhetoric, then Northam, Fairfax and Herring must resign

When Democrats won all three statewide constitutional offices in 2013 for the first time in over two decades, it seemed to herald a new era in Virginia politics. This change also brought significant policy wins, such as former governor Terry McAuliffe restoring the voting rights of over 200,000 convicted felons who had served out their sentences and attorney general Mark Herring’s refusal to defend Virginia’s ban on same-sex marriage in the courts. This generally positive direction seemed confirmed when the Virginia Democrats held all three of those offices and made significant inroads in the state legislature in the 2017 elections.

Related: Policies that harm black bodies deserve the same outrage as blackface | Shanita Hubbard

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