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peppertree's JournalEU court declares Germany's highway tolls illegal
The European Court of Justice ruled Tuesday that highway tolls in Germany are illegal because they unfairly penalize drivers from other European Union countries.
The Luxembourg court’s ruling means Germany will have to drop or revise its highway toll system.
The case was brought by Austria, which complained that the levies of up to 130 euros ($146) a year are discriminatory and therefore illegal under EU law.
All motorists have to pay the toll according to their vehicle’s size and engine type - but German taxpayers can file for refunds.
At: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/eu-court-declares-germanys-highway-tolls-illegal/2019/06/18/78577fbe-91b6-11e9-956a-88c291ab5c38_story.html
Complicit bureaucrats and locals get fast-track treatment from then-Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt in a Austrian cartoon lampooning German toll roads.
Argentina's nationwide power outage puts Macri electricity interests in spotlight
The historic blackout that left nearly all of Argentina - and parts of neighboring countries - without electric power most of Sunday, June 16, could not be explained by the government.
"There are no reasons for this to have happened; but the reality is that it happened," Energy Secretary Gustavo Lopetegui noted - a full 7 hours after the blackout began.
But the nationwide blackout - unprecedented in Argentine history - has raised new questions about the role of President Mauricio Macri's business interests in his country's electricity market, as well as those of close business associates and personal friends.
The Argentine Interconnection System (SADI) is managed by Transener, owned by Macri's friend and partner, Marcelo Mindlin - whose Pampa Energía conglomerate is one of the largest Argentine private firms of any type.
The firm that connects Argentina's largest hydroelectric dam, Yacyretá, with SADI is Yacylec - owned by the Macri Group since the electric grid was first privatized in 1993.
Sunday's systemic power failure was determined to have originated in Transener and Yacylec lines running from the Yacyretá and Salto Grande dams, both in NE Argentina.
Macri's sale of the state's 25% share of Transener to Mindlin last year led to a criminal complaint for conflict of interest; Yacylec, for its part, is reported to owe $10 million in unpaid taxes.
The nation's two largest electric utilities are likewise controlled by close Macri associates: Edenor (the largest) by Mindlin; and Edesur by Nicolás Caputo - Macri's best friend, and the beneficiary of the president's latest privatization: the 420-MW Brigadier López power plant.
The result has been underinvestment: Power utility watchdog CEPIS noted that outages this summer (January) had jumped 59% despite 3000% electricity rate hikes in the three years up to that point.
This despite a relatively mild summer, and a 16.5% fall in power demand as a result of both the rate hikes and the worst recession since Argentina's 2001-02 collapse.
At: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&tab=wT&sl=auto&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fkontrainfo.com%2Fapagon-historico-la-desmentida-de-yacyreta-macri-y-mindlin-detras-de-la-corrupcion-de-yacylec-y-transener%2F
Macri and his chief business partners Marcelo Mindlin (left) and Nicolás Caputo (right).
Mindlin and Caputo are the chief shareholders in Argentina top electric companies, making them the chief beneficiaries of Macri's 3000% rate hikes. The Macris, in turn, are minority partners with each.
The distributors directly tied to today's blackout, Transener and Yacylec, are controlled by Mindlin and Macri respectively.
Mothers of Plaza de Mayo leader Nora Cortinas: "Thanks to cannabis, I can still march"
In an interview with the Buenos Aires online journal Infobae, Mothers of Plaza de Mayo leader Nora Cortiñas revealed that "thanks to cannabis, I can still march."
"I told someone my left leg hurt a lot," the renowned, 89 year-old Argentine human rights advocate recalled. "That person mentioned to me that cannabis could help me."
Cortiñas co-founded the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo days after losing her then-24 year-old son, Carlos, in April 1977 - at the depths of the Dirty War against dissidents.
According to dictatorship officials themselves, at least 22,000 perished from 1975 to 1978. They are known worldwide as the "disappeared."
Forty-two years of marches on the Plaza de Mayo (the square facing Argentina's presidential offices) and elsewhere in the Mothers' quest for justice took their toll however:
Frequent leg, hip, and sciatic pain threatened to sideline the tireless Mrs. Cortiñas, or to relying on a wheelchair. She credits her friend's gift of a container of cannabis cream for her recovery.
"I started applying it, and within a month or two, the pain subsided. When I get severe sciatic nerve pain, I apply it and in a couple of days it calms the pain. It works."
While Cortiñas "never liked the idea of marijuana," she revealed she now keeps a few plants at home and has become a vocal advocate for its medicinal use.
High-handed tactics
Argentina legalized cannabis oil for medicinal purposes in 2017 - a bill signed by President Mauricio Macri but opposed by his hard-line Security Minister, Patricia Bullrich.
Bullrich was recently revealed by the ongoing 'Extortiongate' case (into the alleged use of intelligence services to both frame opponents and extract payoffs) to target cannabis and narcotics for political credit.
"Bullrich is so ignorant that she says any nonsense," Cortiñas asserted. "She's only good at repression, brutality and to buy weapons - but she doesn't know the reality of health in Argentina."
Former President José “Pepe” Mujica made neighboring Uruguay, in 2013, the first nation in the world to legalize the cultivation, sale, and use of marijuana - medicinal or not.
At: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&tab=wT&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.infonews.com%2Fnota%2F323953%2Fnora-cortinas-gracias-al-cannabis-puedo
Mothers of Plaza de Mayo leader Nora Cortiñas gives a thumbs up during a 2017 march commemorating the 40th anniversary of the foundation of the renowned human rights advocacy group.
The 89 year-old Cortiñas, who in 1977 lost her 24 year-old son to the dictatorship's Dirty War against dissidents, feared that worsening chronic pain would sideline her from future marches.
A friend's gift of cannabis cream changed all that. "I wish I could buy it in the pharmacy," she says.
Franco Zeffirelli, Italian director known for "Romeo and Juliet," dies at 96
Italian director Franco Zeffirelli, who delighted audiences around the world with his romantic vision and extravagant productions, most famously captured in his cinematic "Romeo and Juliet" and the miniseries "Jesus of Nazareth," died Saturday in his Rome residence at 96.
While Zeffirelli was most popularly known for his films, his name was also inextricably linked to the theater and opera. He produced classics for the world's most famous opera houses, from Milan's venerable La Scala to the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and plays for London and Italian stages.
Zeffirelli made it his mission to make culture accessible to the masses, often seeking inspiration in Shakespeare and other literary greats for his films, and producing operas aimed at TV audiences. Claiming no favorites, Zeffirelli once likened himself to a sultan with a harem of three: film, theater and opera.
His best known films include Romeo and Juliet (1968), Brother Sun, Sister Moon (1971), Jesus of Nazareth (1977), Endless Love (1981), Hamlet (1990), and Tea with Mussolini (1999).
"I am not a film director. I am a director who uses different instruments to express his dreams and his stories – to make people dream," Zeffirelli told The Associated Press in a 2006 interview.
At: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/franco-zeffirelli-dies-96-italian-director-known-for-romeo-and-juliet/
Franco Zeffirelli, 1923-2019.
Gifted in film making but controversial in life, his homophobic statements (as a gay man) and lurch to the right alienated him from many of his colleagues.
Brazilians protest pension reform as Bolsonaro faces first general strike
A nationwide strike called by Brazil's trade unions disrupted public transport and triggered roadblocks across the country Friday, ahead of protests against far-right President Jair Bolsonaro's pension reform plans.
Hours before the opening match of the Copa America in São Paulo, some metro lines in the country's biggest city were paralyzed as professors and students protested planned education spending cuts as well.
It will be the latest mass demonstration against Bolsonaro since he took office in January - but the timing could not be worse for the embattled president as Brazil prepares to play Bolivia in South America's showcase football tournament.
Bolsonaro's right-wing administration is now languishing at around 35% job approval just five months after taking office. Rejection of increasingly authoritarian tactics is being exacerbated by an economic downturn:
GDP slid 0.2% in the first quarter. Compared to the first quarter of 2018, GDP grew only 0.5% - its worst result in two years.
This was followed by reports that unemployment rose another 0.5% in April, to 12.5%.
At: https://www.france24.com/en/20190614-brazil-cities-paralysed-bolsonaro-general-strike-pension-reform
Brazilian demonstrators gather under a sign calling on lawmakers to "stop Bolsonaro's pension reform."
The initiative, inherited from the 2016-18 Temer dictatorship, increases contribution requirements and minimum retirement ages - as well as cutting average pensions by up to 40%.
Following successive raises during the Workers' Party era (2003-16), the average monthly pension in Brazil stands at $467 - one of the highest in Latin America.
Argentina: Two main opposition leaders agree to electoral alliance
The political landscape ahead of this year's presidential elections in Argentina was rocked today by news that the nation's two top opposition leaders, Alberto Fernández and Sergio Massa, agreed to an electoral alliance.
The alliance, announced as the Front for All, brings together the two main factions in the big-tent Justicialist Party (PJ): the centrist Federal Alternative, led by Massa; and the larger, center-left Citizens' Unity, led by former President Cristina Kirchner (Fernández's running mate this year).
The alliance bolsters the PJ in its bid to defeat right-wing President Mauricio Macri, who's seeking re-election amid approval ratings of 24% and the deepest economic crisis since the country's 2001-02 collapse.
The PJ, founded by the late populist leader Juan Perón (and thus known as Peronists), has been long beset by disunity however, and the prospect of Fernández and Massa running separately represented the best - albeit remote - hope for Macri's "Let's Change" coalition of eking out a victory by default.
Recent polling, however, had Fernández ahead of Macri by 13% even with Massa running separately.
"A large part of our society has long awaited our unity, so we may move forward," Fernández tweeted.
A long way back
The negotiations were reportedly made easier by the fact that Fernández, 60, and Massa, 47, are longtime political allies and personal friends.
Both served as chiefs of staff to former President Cristina Kirchner during her first term (2007-11) - but both entered politics in the 1980s supporting the top neo-liberal figure at the time, the late Álvaro Alsogaray.
Both also broke with Mrs. Kirchner over what they saw as a leftward shift in policy, and Fernández served as Massa's campaign chair during the latter's 2015 campaign, where he placed third.
Massa's decision to abstain from endorsing PJ nominee Daniel Scioli four days before the November 22, 2015, runoff, was decisive in Macri's narrow victory of 2.7% - the closest in Argentine presidential election history.
But Macri's sharp right turn in economic policy - in stark contrast to his centrist campaign rhetoric - and the carry-trade debt bubble collapse that followed by 2018, has helped reunite Peronists.
Massa sought to avoid a similar outcome this year.
"Argentina does not simply need a political front," he said in a June 7 rally. "Our country needs a broad agreement, of all sectors, to get out of Macri's crisis and failure, and to grow for the next 20 years."
At: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.eldestapeweb.com%2Fnota%2Felecciones-2019-sergio-massa-y-alberto-fernandez-sellaron-la-unidad-del-peronismo--201961218490
Sergio Massa and Alberto Fernández enjoy a coffee break following today's unity talks in Fernández's Buenos Aires campaign headquarters.
An alliance between Massa's centrist Federal Alternative, and Fernández, the standard bearer for former President Cristina Kirchner's center-left Citizens' Unity, effectively unites Argentina's Peronists - the principal opposition to the neo-con Macri.
Argentine elections: Macri drops VP Gabriela Michetti from ticket
Argentine President Mauricio Macri announced today that Vice President Gabriela Michetti will not be on his right-wing "Let's Change" coalition's 2019 ticket.
Macri picked Senator Miguel Ángel Pichetto as his running mate instead - a surprise choice to most local political analysts.
Pichetto, 68, is the current Senate Minority Leader and had headed the opposition Justicialist Party (PJ) caucus since 2002.
A staunch ally of Macri's most visible opponent, former President Cristina Kirchner, during her 2007-15 tenure, Pichetto has lurched steadily to the right since Macri was narrowly elected in late 2015.
His hard-line stance on immigration and crime, as well as his frequent diatribes on the ongoing Venezuelan crisis (an issue of little interest to most Argentine voters), have led critics to brand him as the "Argentine Bolsonaro" - in reference to Brazil's neo-fascist President Jair Bolsonaro.
Pichetto had sought his party's nomination for this year's election but had seldom polled above 1%. He endorsed Macri on June 4, and following today's announcement resigned his post as PJ caucus leader.
Running on empty
Michetti's replacement was widely expected: She faces charges over alleged campaign money laundering through her right-wing think tank SUMA, and her gruff manner and ineptitude while presiding the senate has eroded her image.
Most, however, believed Macri would tap someone from the junior partners in his 'Let's Change' coalition, the centrist UCR - on whose votes Macri won in 2015; but who since have largely been ignored.
Macri had instead reportedly first offered the slot to Salta Province Governor Juan Manuel Urtubey - the de facto head of the PJ's minority right-wing faction; Urtubey refused.
The move comes as Macri's re-election chances have faded in the face of a sharp recession, the highest inflation in 27 years, and the Extortiongate scandal - involving Macri's alleged use of Argentina Federal Intelligence to both frame opponents and extract ransom payments.
Inflation in April hit 56%, among the highest in the world, while the economy shrank 6.2% in March from the same time last year.
Since the recession began following the collapse of Macri's 2016-17 carry-trade debt bubble, some 296,000 registered jobs have been lost as of March - equivalent to 2.2 million jobs lost in the U.S.
Recent polls show Macri losing to center-left PJ candidate Alberto Fernández, with Mrs. Kirchner as his running mate, by 13%.
"Macri today has over 100 criminal complaints against him," Pichetto himself had said in February. "When his term ends, he'll go straight to federal court."
At: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&tab=wT&sl=es&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pagina12.com.ar%2F199692-pichetto-vice-de-macri
President Mauricio Macri (right), and his new running mate, right-wing Senator Miguel Ángel Pichetto.
While Macri's decision to drop the gruff, unpopular Michetti was not unexpected, his refusal to pick someone from the UCR - the long-ignored junior partners in his "Let's Change" coalition - has further strained relations with UCR leaders and voters.
Brazilian prosecutors who indicted Lula da Silva schemed to prevent his party from winning
An enormous trove of secret documents reveals that Brazil’s most powerful prosecutors, who have spent years insisting they are apolitical, instead plotted to prevent the Workers’ Party, or PT, from winning the 2018 presidential election.
The massive archive, provided exclusively to The Intercept, shows multiple examples of politicized abuse of prosecutorial powers by those who led the country’s sweeping Operation Car Wash corruption probe since 2014.
It also reveals a long-denied political and ideological agenda.
One glaring example occurred 10 days before the first round of presidential voting last year, when a Supreme Court justice granted a petition from the country’s largest newspaper, Folha de São Paulo, to interview former President Luiz Inácio 'Lula' da Silva, who was in prison on corruption charges brought by the Car Wash task force.
Immediately upon learning of that decision on September 28, 2018, the team of prosecutors in the case — who had vehemently denied being driven by political motives — began discussing in a private Telegram chat group how to undermine the Supreme Court decision, and thus block a pre-election interview.
The Car Wash prosecutors explicitly said that their motive in stopping Lula’s interview was to prevent the PT from winning.
“A press conference before the second round of voting could help elect Haddad,” prosecutor Laura Tessler wrote in the chat group, referring to the PT’s candidate Fernando Haddad.
The chief of the prosecutor task force, Deltan Dallagnol, and another prosecutor agreed to “pray” together that the events of that day would not usher in the PT’s return to power.
Haddad replaced Lula after the latter was banned from running, thus paving the way for far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro. Polls showed Lula winning handily, had he been allowed to run.
The former president was convicted in April 2018, just as Brazil's campaign season got underway. Lacking material evidence, his conviction was based solely on testimony from jailed contractors.
The apartment Lula was alleged without proof to have received from a contractor by way of a bribe, was put on the market by its real owner last week.
The judge who oversaw the case, Sérgio Moro, was appointed Minister of Justice by President Bolsonaro.
At: https://theintercept.com/2019/06/09/brazil-car-wash-prosecutors-workers-party-lula/
Former Brazilian President Lula da Silva, arguably his country's most prominent political prisoner, during his April 26 interview - the first he's been allowed to give since his imprisonment a year ago.
What's App and Telegram messages published by The Intercept show that political motives governed prosecutors' actions.
Convicted last year solely on testimony from a contractor kept in a rat-infested dungeon until he incriminated him, the UN considers his detention arbitrary.
George W. Bush, Kobe Bryant, Jordan Peterson promote shady multilevel marketing company
Former President George W. Bush, basketball star Kobe Bryant, and right-wing Canadian professor Jordan Peterson will lend their famous names this summer to a multilevel insurance marketing company that critics say is better at getting money from its own recruits than it is at selling insurance.
PHP Agency is a multilevel marketing company, meaning that it makes money when people recruit lower-ranking members, who then funnel their sales commissions upwards.
Agents move up through the ranks based on their recruitment rates, according to a 2016 PHP fact sheet on “compensations and promotional guidelines.”
But much of PHP’s income appears to come from fees paid by the recruits themselves, according to complaints filed with the Better Business Bureau.
Its PHP page is littered with complaints. Multiple people complained that someone had persuaded them to join their insurance team and pay $150 for “training material,” plus a monthly recurring fee of $14.95.
A Reddit forum devoted to discussions of multilevel marketing companies is filled with similar horror stories about the company, with tales of PHP agents pressuring friends and family members to pay initiation fees to join the company and savings squandered on PHP Agency trainings.
At: https://www.thedailybeast.com/george-w-bush-kobe-bryant-jordan-peterson-promote-shady-multilevel-marketing-company-php-agency
George Dubya Bush: Grifters gonna grift.
Pope Francis: Lawfare endangers democracy, is used politically and to violate social rights
In a speech to some 100 judges from countries across the Western Hemisphere at the end of a two-day Vatican conference (June 3-4) on “Social Rights and Franciscan Doctrine,” Pope Francis emphasized the crucial role of judges in protecting and enforcing the social, economic and cultural rights of people.
“It seems that the constitutional guarantees and the international treaties that have been ratified have in practice no universal value,” the pontiff lamented.
Pope Francis said that, for a political economic system “to develop in a healthy way,” it “needs to guarantee that democracy is more than only nominal”
“There is no democracy when there is hunger, there is not development when there is poverty, there is not justice when there is inequality.”
Pope Francis also spoke of the growing trend of weaponizing the judiciary against critics and opponents - a clear signal to his native Argentina.
President Mauricio Macri, politically aligned and personally close to U.S President Donald Trump, was recently revealed to be using “a web of illegal intelligence operations” against opponents - particularly former President Cristina Kirchner, who is currently running for vice president on a center-left ticket polling ahead of Macri's by double digits.
“A new form of external intervention in the political scenarios of countries through the improper use of legal procedures and judicial formulations.”
“This ‘lawfare,’ besides endangering democracies, is generally used to undermine emerging political processes and tends to systematically violate social rights.”
“In order to guarantee the institutional quality of states, it is essential to identify and neutralize these types of practices - which derive from wrongful judicial activity combined with parallel multimedia operations.”
At: https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2019/06/04/pope-francis-judges-there-no-justice-when-there-inequality
Pope Francis, during his meetings with Argentine President Mauricio Macri (left) and Donald Trump.
He warned that “lawfare” - the practice of weaponizing the judiciary against critics and opponents - “besides endangering democracies, is generally used to undermine emerging political processes and tends to systematically violate social rights.”
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