May 2, 2017

Venezuela opposition blocks streets to protest Maduro's power shakeup

Source: Reuters

Venezuela's opposition was blocking streets on Tuesday to decry unpopular leftist President Nicolas Maduro's decision to create a new super-body known as a "constituent assembly," a move they say is a veiled attempt to cling to power by avoiding elections.

After a month of near-daily protests demanding early general elections, Maduro on Monday announced a new popular assembly with the ability to rewrite the constitution.

His government says that the opposition is promoting street violence and refusing dialogue, so it has no choice but to shake up Venezuela's power structure to bring peace to the oil producer.

Maduro's foes counter that Maduro, a former bus driver they say has turned into a dictator, is in fact planning to staff the new assembly with supporters and avoid elections he would likely lose amid a crushing recession and raging inflation.

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/venezuela-opposition-blocks-streets-protest-maduros-power-shakeup-115035469.html

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Republicans are taking note in preparation for 2018.

May 2, 2017

State Dept. Issues Europe Travel Alert for Summer

Source: U.S. News and World Report

The U.S. State Department is warning travelers about travel in all of Europe this summer.

"Recent, widely-reported incidents in France, Russia, Sweden, and the United Kingdom demonstrate that the Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham (ISIS or Da'esh), al-Qa'ida, and their affiliates have the ability to plan and execute terrorist attacks in Europe," State warned in a travel alert issued Monday. "While local governments continue counterterrorism operations, the Department nevertheless remains concerned about the potential for future terrorist attacks."

The department warned specifically about the dangers in "hotels, clubs, restaurants, places of worship, parks, high-profile events, educational institutions, airports, and other soft targets," and urged U.S. citizens to "exercise additional vigilance in these and similar locations, in particular during the upcoming summer travel season."

The travel warning expires Sept. 1.

Read more: https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2017-05-02/state-department-issues-travel-alert-for-all-of-europe-citing-terrorism

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Ramping up the fear.

Trump and the other draft-dodging Republicans (LaPierre, Rush, Cheney) are determined to turn the USA into a nation of cowards.

May 1, 2017

Seven shot, gunman dead at University City apartment complex

Source: San Diego Union-Tribune

Seven adults were shot, one woman fatally, when a gunman who witnesses said never left his poolside chair opened fire on a birthday party at an University City apartment complex Sunday.

Police shot and killed the suspect, later identified as 49-year-old Peter Selis, a resident at the upscale La Jolla Crossroads complex on Judicial Drive near the Westfield UTC Shopping Center.

A 2015 bankruptcy filing stated that Selis, a father and a car mechanic at a Ford dealership in San Diego, faced crushing debt.

Authorities said the shooter, armed with a semi-automatic pistol, was white and all the victims were people of color — four black women, two black men and one Latino man. The woman killed was not identified.

Read more: http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/public-safety/sd-me-shooting-universitycity-20170430-story.html

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Just another day in the USA.