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n2doc's JournalUnions refuse to endorse Murray, 3 Democratic House members
The Washington State Labor Council, angry at a pending trade agreement, has denied its endorsement to Sen. Patty Murray and Democratic U.S. Reps. Suzan DelBene, Derek Kilmer and Rick Larsen.
The four federal officeholders, all up for re-election this year, are being punished for their votes last year in favor of giving President Obama "fast track" authority to negotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The TPP is a 12-nation trade agreement fervently opposed by labor unions.
The TPP has unexpectedly become an issue in the 2016 election.
Ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton unexpectedly came out against it. Sen. Bernie Sanders has railed against trade deals that boost corporations, although leaving out his denunciations of the U.S. Export-Import Bank in speeches here. Donald Trump bloviates in general about the U.S. getting the short end on trade agreements.
Sen. Murray spoke to the labor council COPE (Committee on Political Education) convention. A panel of House members was asked "yes" or "no" on the TPP. Only Rep. Adam Smith raised the red "no" card.
more
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/politics/article/Labor-pains-Unions-don-t-endorse-Murray-three-7934459.php
It is only 'unexpected' to those who haven't been paying attention...
Sri Lanka floods expected to cost at least $1.5 billion
Source: Reuters
The cost of Sri Lanka's landslides and floods will be between $1.5 billion and $2 billion at the minimum, the government said on Monday, as the Indian Ocean island struggles to recover from its worst natural disaster since the 2004 Asia tsunami.
The official death toll has risen to 92 but 109 people are feared to have been buried in landslides.
Days of torrential rain forced more than 350,000 people from their homes, though many were returning on Monday.
Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake said more than 125,000 houses and more than 300,000 small and medium businesses were destroyed or damaged.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-sri-lanka-floods-idUSKCN0YE16J
Mushroom hunters scour US wildfire maps in search of elusive morel
Foragers in the US have begun checking maps outlining where the wildfires of 2015 scorched the Pacific north-west in the search for one thing: morel mushrooms.
“It’s going to be a good season for finding morel mushrooms, there’s no doubt about that,” said Brian Harris, spokesman for the Payette national forest in Idaho.
The spongey-looking, woody-tasting delicacies have defied commercial cultivation and can retail for $20 a pound (£14 for 450g).
“They’ve got a kind of cult following,” said Tommy West, a produce manager at the Co-op in the Iadho city of Boise. “When they do come into season they usually move pretty good.”
more
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/23/morel-mushroom-hunters-wildfire-maps-search
How Microsoft's tricky new Windows 10 pop-up deceives you into upgrading
Brad Chacos
Senior Editor, PCWorld May 22, 2016 9:20 AM
This morning, the unthinkable happened: My wife, an avowed PC user who long ago swore to never touch an Apple device, started shopping around for a Mac Mini. And it’s all thanks to Windows 10. Or rather, the nasty new way that Microsoft’s tricking Windows 7 and 8 users into automatically updating to Windows 10.
I adore Windows 10, but I’ve long been a vocal critic of the heavy-handed tactics that Microsoft’s been using to force people into the upgrade, all to hit a goal of migrating 1 billion users to an operating system brimming with freemium services and ads. The annoying “Get Windows 10” pop-up began using deceiving malware-like tactics months ago, but it recently received an overhaul that seems purposefully designed to confuse users who have been wearily slogging through the nagging for half a year now.
That nasty change trick resulted in my wife’s beloved Windows 7 PC being sneakily upgraded to Windows 10 this morning. Sure, she has 30 days to roll it back to Windows 7, but she feels so betrayed—like Microsoft forcibly removed her control over her own PC—that she’s strongly considering embracing the Dark Side and buying a Mac, instead.
The change
In December, the Get Windows 10 (GWX) pop-up changed its verbiage in a way that mimicked malware: The only immediate options were to “Upgrade Now” or “Start download, upgrade later.” An offer you can’t refuse! The wording changed slightly since then, but the only way to decline the upgrade has been the same: By clicking the X button in the GWX pop-up’s right-hand corner and closing the window.
more
http://www.pcworld.com/article/3073457/windows/how-microsofts-nasty-new-windows-10-pop-up-tricks-you-into-upgrading.html
Inside the Clinton paid speech machine
What, exactly, do you get when you pay a Clinton $285,000 for an intimate, closed-to-the-press speech?
By ANNIE KARNI 05/20/16
Hillary and Bill Clinton’s highly paid speeches — whose transcripts they steadfastly refuse to release despite pressure on the campaign trail — are cloaked in secrecy.
Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump have both seized on the issue, raising red flags about what the Clintons say behind closed doors to Wall Street firms and other groups that they don’t say in public. By digging in their heels, the Clintons have only drawn more attention to the question: What, exactly, do you get when you pay a Clinton hundreds of thousands of dollars for an intimate, closed-to-the-press speech?
In Bill Clinton’s case, it turns out, you get a dose of the full, unplugged Bubba.
A transcript of a private, $285,000 paid speech Bill Clinton delivered last year at the “China-U.S. Private Investment Summit” in Austin, Texas, obtained by POLITICO, offers a glimpse behind the curtain of the Clintons' controversial paid speaking gigs — and some insight into how the former president holds court out of sight of the press.
more
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/inside-the-clinton-paid-speech-machine-223395
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