U.S. Supreme Court grants Pennsylvania 3-day extension to count election ballots - and provide a small victory for Dems in PA

The U.S. Supreme Court will allow Pennsylvania to count ballots received up to three days after the presidential election, rejecting a Republican plea.
,br> The justices divided 4-4 Monday, an outcome that upholds a state Supreme Court ruling that allowed election officials to receive and count ballots until Nov. 6, even if they don't have a clear postmark.

Republicans, including President Donald Trump's campaign, have opposed such an extension, arguing that it violates federal law that sets election day as the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November and that such a decision constitutionally belongs to lawmakers, not the courts.

Read more at: U.S. Supreme Court grants Pennsylvania 3-day extension to count election ballots | CBC News

Slovakia General Elections: Slovakia kicks out centre-left rulers - by Andrew Rettman

The centre-right opposition Ordinary People party claimed victory in the parliamentary election in Slovakia.

The party won 25% of the vote and 53 seats in the 150-seat parliament in a move that steered the country to the right, according to results released by the Statistics Office.

Slovakia has been dominated by the social democratic left-wing populists SMER-SD, led by former Prime Minister Robert Fico, since 2006. In the 2016 election, the leftist party gained 28.3% of votes after campaigning on an anti-migrant ticket.

This time, the SMER-SD party came in second with 18.3% of the vote, winning about 38 seats.

Since the February 2018 murder of journalist Jan Kuciak — who had been investigating the misuse of EU funds in Slovakia, tax fraud and alleged ties between government officials and the Italian mafia — the party’s popularity tumbled.

"After Ján Kuciak's murder, a massive breakthrough occurred in a part of society. The people's cup of patience had flowed over," Slovak political analyst Marián Sekerák told Euronews.

Read more at: Slovakia kicks out centre-left rulers

Israel's embattled Prime Minister Netanyahu wins landslide victory in Likud primary battle

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has won a landslide victory in a primary election for leadership of the ruling Likud party.

Official results announced early Friday showed Netanyahu capturing 72 per cent of the votes, compared with 28 per cent for challenger Gideon Saar.

Earlier, Netanyahu had declared a "huge victory" via Twitter, just over an hour after polls closed

The victory means Netanyahu will lead Likud during March elections, Israel's unprecedented third election in under a year.

Read more: Israel's embattled Prime Minister Netanyahu wins landslide victory in Likud primary battle | CBC News

The Czech Republic’s pro-Russian president is in trouble - Taking back the castle

As Democratic checks and balances buckle in Poland and Hungary, the Czech Republic has seemed to many like the next central European country in line to succumb. Andrej Babis, a billionaire businessman, became prime minister after winning October’s general election despite facing fraud charges. He now collaborates closely with his country’s pro-Russian though largely ceremonial president, Milos Zeman. Liberals fret that the pair pose a growing challenge to the rule of law and to the Czech Republic’s pro-Western orientation. But Czech voters and institutions appear to be pushing back
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Although Mr Zeman came top in the first round of the country’s presidential election, scoring 38.6% of the vote on January 12th-13th, he fell well short of a majority. The runner-up, Professor Jiri Drahos, a soft-spoken political novice who previously led the Czech Academy of Sciences, won a larger-than-expected 26.6%, which puts him in a good position to displace the incumbent in the run-off at the end of the month. Three days later, on January 16th, parliament rejected Mr Babis’s attempt to form a minority government.

As the leader of the largest party, he was invited to try to do so by the president, though he controls just 78 of the 200 parliamentary seats, lacks a coalition partner and is accused of fraud in connection with EU subsidies for a development project. All told, the presidential second round, on January 26th-27th, is shaping up as a referendum on the direction of the country, if not the entire region.

In September MPs voted by 123 to four to strip Mr Babis of his immunity from prosecution on the fraud charges, but because parliament was then dissolved for the October election, they must now do so again. In noticeable contrast to Mr Zeman, Mr Drahos has called on Mr Babis to give up his immunity voluntarily, and prove his innocence. On January 16th Mr Babis obliged. With police and prosecutors pressing the case, the Hospodarske Noviny newspaper recently leaked a report from EU investigators accusing Mr Babis of “numerous breaches of national and EU legislation”.

Read more: The Czech Republic’s pro-Russian president is in trouble - Taking back the castle

USA - Tax Bill:: House passes massive tax package; Senate to vote next - .by S Ohlemacher and M. Gordon

 Gleeful Republicans on Tuesday muscled the most sweeping rewrite of the nation's tax laws in more than three decades through the House. House Speaker Paul Ryan dismissed criticism of the widely unpopular package and insisted "results are what's going to make this popular."

The vote, largely along party lines, was 227-203 and capped a GOP sprint to deliver a major legislative accomplishment to President Donald Trump after a year of congressional stumbles and non-starters.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the Senate would vote Tuesday evening, sending the legislation to Trump for his signature.

Read more: House passes massive tax package; Senate to vote next

Belgium - The Battle of Waterloo June 18 - 1815 - Defeat or Victory?

Battle of Waterloo - June 18 1815  Wellington

Each year on June 18 the great Battle of Waterloo is recalled in what is now Belgium. On that day in 1815, Napoleon’s French army was defeated by a multinational force commanded by the Duke of Wellington. Since then, the phrase “to meet your Waterloo” has come to mean “to be defeated by someone who is too strong for you or by a problem that is too difficult for you.”

When it comes to our spiritual lives, some people feel that ultimate failure is inevitable and it’s only a matter of time until each of us will “meet our Waterloo.” But John refuted that pessimistic view when he wrote to followers of Jesus: “Everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith” (1 John 5:4).

John weaves this theme of spiritual victory throughout his first letter as he urges us not to love the things this world offers, which will soon fade away (2:15–17). Instead, we are to love and please God, “And this is what he promised us—eternal life”

While we may have ups and downs in life, and even some battles that feel like defeats, the ultimate victory is ours in Christ as we trust in His power..

Read more: Defeat or Victory? | Our Daily Bread

China celebrates 70 years of peace, reduces army by 300,000

Chinese President, Xi Jiping  lauded his country as a major player for peace in the world.

The commendation came as the country marked the 70th anniversary of victory over Japan in the World War II.

The celebration was a twin commemoration of the end of the World War II and the war with Japan.

As part of the celebration, the president announced that the Peoples Liberation Army, the world’s largest military, would reduce its troop by 300,000.

He said their victory over Japanese aggression remains the first complete victory won by China in its resistance against foreign aggression in modern times.

EU-Digest

Greece: With Greek ‘No’ Vote, Tsipras Wins a Victory That Could Carry a Steep Price - by Liz Alderman

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras may have won a victory at home on Sunday as the Greek people dealt a resounding “no” to European austerity policies.

But Greece risks paying a high price for that decision. While the vote sharply consolidated Mr. Tsipras’s popularity, that could fade quickly if he leads the country deeper into bankruptcy and financial chaos, creating a new round of instability with consequences for Greece and the broader European project.

If anything, Mr. Tsipras is likely to find it harder, rather than easier, to strike a new financing deal quickly with European creditors, heightening the risk that Greece will careen out of the eurozone unless Europe decides to give Mr. Tsipras and his defiant nation another chance.

“What we need now is more wisdom from both sides,” said Loukas Tsoukalis, the president of the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy, an Athens-based think tank. “Greece can’t go on because we’re on the edge of cliff,” he said. “After all this, the question is whether our partners would be so unwise as to push Greece over the edge, because that would be damaging for everyone.”

Some European officials acknowledged Sunday that greater flexibility might now be needed from their camp. Just as the referendum vote divided Greece, so, too, did it reveal fault lines between those European countries that appear willing to bend to keep Greece in the eurozone, and others, including Germany and the Netherlands, whose policy makers have all but suggested that the eurozone would be better off without Greece.

Read more: With Greek ‘No’ Vote, Tsipras Wins a Victory That Could Carry a Steep Price - The New York Times

USA: Supreme Court's Obamacare decision and 2016 -by Brett LoGiurato

The Supreme Court handed the Obama administration a significant victory on Thursday, when it upheld a key provision of the Affordable Care Act that allows the federal government to keep distributing subsidies to help low-income Americans buy health insurance.

But the decision's ramifications could be felt in the 2016 election and beyond, especially if a Republican wins the White House next year.

That's because the Supreme Court not only ruled the federal subsidies are legal under the Affordable Care Act, but it also did not leave any ambiguity that would allow a future administration to interpret the law differently.

The Supreme Court has definitively determined that the federal government can provide subsidies under the law.

 

Read more US Supreme Court's Obamacare decision and 2016 - Business Insider

USA : WHY DO THE BEST SOLDIERS IN THE WORLD KEEP LOSING? by Rodolfo Acuña

The most recent cover of The Atlantic made me think of this problem. It has a photo of an American soldier and posed the question “Why Do The Best Soldiers in the World Keep Losing?

If taken the reader lacked a historical memory, the question would seem reasonable or even probative. However, if you had an epistemological base the question is open to discussion. I will not go into the merits of who was right because as in the case of World War II, the U.S. was more right than the Axis. 

However, when you talk about who was the best soldiers that is another story. After all the Germans fought on two fronts, overwhelmed by the Russians and half the world. The U.S. was surely the best equipped and had numbers. But would that make them better soldiers? The Japanese were also overwhelmed by numbers and equipment.

The U.S. cannot claim a major part in World War I, we were sojourners. However, we played a decisive role in supply in the Allies who did not want our soldiers, just our money. Not to mention to Winchester and the Gatling gun.

Go back in time, were we better soldiers than the Indians, I think not. Again, technology, numbers and germ warfare were the decisive facts. Numbers and technology also vanquished the Mexicans In the case of the Spanish American War, the U.S. did not best the Spain. The Cubans and Puerto Ricans had won the war and the U.S. stabbed them in the back by leaving them out of peace negations.
 
From Korea on down we have actually lost as the Atlantic alludes to. Numbers and technology and the American peace Movements proved superior. I make these observations because for me memory determines a valid narrative.

Read More: WHY DO THE BEST SOLDIERS IN THE WORLD KEEP LOSING? BY Rudy Acuña 12-28-2014 | Rodolfo Acuña