Friday, November 12, 2021
Thursday, November 11, 2021
Wednesday, November 10, 2021
Why is Kamala Harris here? French confused by Veep’s visit
Washington Examiner
Katherine Doyle - 17h ago
© Provided by Washington Examiner
PARIS — Vice President Kamala Harris’s visit for a series of high-level diplomatic engagements has drawn little public fanfare ahead of her sit-down meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron.
The vice president's visit earned sparse coverage during prime-time hours on France’s TF1, flying under the radar screen on Tuesday. Expectations for the bilateral conference at the Elysee Palace were measured among those who spoke to the Washington Examiner.
Asked what he thought about Harris's visit, Xavier, a restaurant worker in Place Collette, said, “Nothing at all.“
“Politically, I don't know what the purpose is,“ he added.
HARRIS WILL TRAVEL TO FRANCE TO MEND FENCES WITH MACRON AND MEET WORLD LEADERS
Macron and Harris will meet face-to-face Wednesday to discuss climate change, space, the economy, supply chains, global health, and the Indo-Pacific, according to a senior administration official.
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The visit comes just months after a rift over a U.S. plan to provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarine technology. The deal prompted Australia to cut short a multi-billion dollar defense contract with France, causing major strife.
Asked whether Harris intends to raise the submarine issue in her meeting, a senior administration official said she is “focused on moving forward and not looking backward.”
French voters face growing energy costs and inflationary warnings despite a robust economic post-lockdown resurgence earlier this year. And with presidential elections on the horizon, kitchen-table issues are a priority for voters.
Tuesday evening, as Macron prepared to address the country in remarks on the coronavirus pandemic, Harris slipped out of her hotel for a private dinner with second gentleman Douglas Emhoff at the U.S. chief of mission’s residence. A senior administration official said she would not be watching the president’s remarks due to the timing.
The submarine issue remains front of mind for many in the city, however, signifying a breach of trust in the relationship that won't be easily fixed.
Mohamed El Hachmi, a driver in the city, told the Washington Examiner that Harris’s visit was an effort to paper over differences with France after dealing a massive blow to the country.
“It’s politics,” he said.
By sending Harris and not President Joe Biden, Washington showed a lack of respect, El Hachmi said. “It’s not a $400 million blow. It’s billions of dollars' worth of business that collapsed.”
Harris won’t be returning to Washington empty-handed. The official said to expect deliverables from the five-day visit, though said little about what these may be.
“This engagement is important. This is diplomacy,” the official said.
Observers stepped out on high balconies to catch a glimpse of the vice president’s motorcade en route to the Institut Pasteur biomedical research center on Tuesday, where Harris’s late mother researched cancer biomarkers more than three decades ago. As the vice president’s convoy moved through the streets, some filmed it on their cellphones. Others waved.
Speaking to reporters, Harris suggested that politicians and government officials could learn something from the laboratory bench.
“One of the things I think people in politics and government should really take from the approach of scientists: Scientists operate with a hypothesis. I love that. A hypothesis. It’s well thought out. It’s well planned,” Harris said. “They start out with a hypothesis. And then they test it out — knowing invariably if you’re trying something for the first time, there will be glitches, there will be mistakes.”
After 10 months in office and the Democrats’ drubbing in Virginia’s statewide elections last week, some have called on the party to engage in this kind of self-reflection. Harris herself had a 28% job approval rating in a recent USA Today/Suffolk University poll.
David Ramadan, an adjunct professor at the Schar School at George Mason University and resident scholar at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, told the Washington Examiner in the wake of Virginia’s gubernatorial losses a rethink was overdue.
76th annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Dinner
Annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation dinner held in NYC
The 76th annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner returned in person at the Javitz Center after going virtual during the pandemic.
The 76th annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner returned in person at the Javitz Center after going virtual during the pandemic.
Posted October 21
John Kerry: U.S. ‘Won’t Have Coal’ by 2030
9 Nov 20213,030
John Kerry, President Joe Biden’s climate envoy, said there would be no coal in the United States by the end of the decade at the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland.
“By 2030 in the United States, we won’t have coal,” Kerry said in an interview with Bloomberg.
Kerry is the first Biden official to publicly comment on the administration’s environmental policy since the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that contained numerous sections dedicated to climate change passed Congress. His aspiration to rid the country of its coal by 2030 aligns with Biden’s deadlines for lowering greenhouse gasses by the same year.
U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry delivers a speech on stage during a meeting, as part of the World Leaders’ Summit of the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, on November 2, 2021. (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
Despite these goals, Axios reported that “the U.S. did not join last week to a pledge, signed by more than 40 countries, to phase out coal-fired power plants in the 2030s and 2040s.”
According to the U.S Energy Information Administration (EIA), coal accounted for ten percent of our nation’s total energy consumption in 2020.
Kerry went on to say, “we’re saying we are going to be carbon-free in the power sector by 2035.” “I think that’s leadership. I think that’s indicative of what we can do,” he said.
John Kerry, President Joe Biden’s climate envoy, said there would be no coal in the United States by the end of the decade at the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland.
“By 2030 in the United States, we won’t have coal,” Kerry said in an interview with Bloomberg.
Kerry is the first Biden official to publicly comment on the administration’s environmental policy since the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that contained numerous sections dedicated to climate change passed Congress. His aspiration to rid the country of its coal by 2030 aligns with Biden’s deadlines for lowering greenhouse gasses by the same year.
U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry delivers a speech on stage during a meeting, as part of the World Leaders’ Summit of the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, on November 2, 2021. (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
Despite these goals, Axios reported that “the U.S. did not join last week to a pledge, signed by more than 40 countries, to phase out coal-fired power plants in the 2030s and 2040s.”
According to the U.S Energy Information Administration (EIA), coal accounted for ten percent of our nation’s total energy consumption in 2020.
Kerry went on to say, “we’re saying we are going to be carbon-free in the power sector by 2035.” “I think that’s leadership. I think that’s indicative of what we can do,” he said.
PD 10 - New Perspectives on Pandemic Preparedness
@ Timestamp 1:31:30 mins.
listen to Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala state:
"My call to action would be a better global governance – it is too fragmented."
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General, World Trade Organization - WTO.
Tuesday, November 09, 2021
Monday, November 08, 2021
NYC schools start vaccinating 5-11 year-olds, but demand outpaces supply at some sites
By MICHAEL ELSEN-ROONEY and CHRIS SOMMERFELDT
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
NOV 08, 2021 AT 11:37 AM
A city effort to vaccinate newly eligible kids aged 5 to 11 against the coronavirus through school-based vaccine clinics kicked off Monday morning — but ran into some early hiccups.
At some schools, anxious parents spent hours waiting outside in the hopes of securing a vaccine dose for their elementary-aged kids, only to be told the clinic didn’t have enough supply.
Parents at P.S. 8 in Brooklyn Heights began lining up at 6 am for the city-run school vaccine distribution, with the line swelling to more than 100 at its biggest, one parent said. But city workers running the clinic said they could only give out 50 shots because they needed to conserve doses for other schools they were visiting Monday and didn’t have time to re-up, according to parents at the school.
“I just don’t understand why they would have taken this approach,” said Michele Walsh, the parent of a first and fifth-grader who was turned away after waiting for more than an hour on line.
Walsh said she refrained from looking for other appointments for her kids because she was counting on getting them vaccinated at the school.
A line of parents and kids waits outside P.S. 8 in Brooklyn Heights for a COVID-19 vaccine Monday morning. (Obtained by New York Daily News)
She added that P.S. 8 administrators even gave city officials a heads up in advance that there was going to be a huge demand for the shots Monday morning.
Walsh was even more frustrated that her kids had to miss the start of school while waiting outside in vain for a COVID-19 vaccine. “If they had just given us numbers and told us how many they had, the kids could’ve been in school instead of waiting outside,” she said.
A parent at P.S. 40 in Manhattan reported a similar supply problem, and said the shipment of shots still hadn’t shown up by 10:45 am — nearly four hours after the distribution was supposed to start.
Mayor de Blasio said Monday morning that vaccine shipments were delayed at four schools, and that 12 schools across Manhattan’s Districts 1 and 2 and Brooklyn’s District 15 saw lines. That tally did not include P.S. 8, which is in Brooklyn’s District 13.
Hizzoner added that the city had tried to match supply of the youth vaccines with anticipated demand.
“If we’re seeing more demand, then that’s a good thing, but we’ve got to catch up with it quickly,” de Blasio said.
He said officials would try to deliver additional doses as soon as possible to schools with supply shortages. The restocked vaccines could be available as soon as later in the day Monday or during additional distribution times later this week.
She added that P.S. 8 administrators even gave city officials a heads up in advance that there was going to be a huge demand for the shots Monday morning.
Walsh was even more frustrated that her kids had to miss the start of school while waiting outside in vain for a COVID-19 vaccine. “If they had just given us numbers and told us how many they had, the kids could’ve been in school instead of waiting outside,” she said.
A parent at P.S. 40 in Manhattan reported a similar supply problem, and said the shipment of shots still hadn’t shown up by 10:45 am — nearly four hours after the distribution was supposed to start.
Mayor de Blasio said Monday morning that vaccine shipments were delayed at four schools, and that 12 schools across Manhattan’s Districts 1 and 2 and Brooklyn’s District 15 saw lines. That tally did not include P.S. 8, which is in Brooklyn’s District 13.
Hizzoner added that the city had tried to match supply of the youth vaccines with anticipated demand.
“If we’re seeing more demand, then that’s a good thing, but we’ve got to catch up with it quickly,” de Blasio said.
He said officials would try to deliver additional doses as soon as possible to schools with supply shortages. The restocked vaccines could be available as soon as later in the day Monday or during additional distribution times later this week.
“This is just day one, and we will get the vaccine to all of the kids whose parents are supporting it,” said Mitchell Katz, the CEO of NYC Health and Hospitals.
City officials announced the school vaccine distribution last week as part of a city plan to boost inoculation numbers for young kids following the recent federal approval of the vaccine for kids ages 5 to 11. Every public school serving elementary-aged kids will get a one-day pop-up vaccine clinic over the course of this week.
Kids were required to be accompanied by an adult and have written or verbal permission from a parent or guardian to get a shot.
Kids will also get a $100 prize for getting vaccinated, de Blasio said.
He announced Monday that city workers and contractors will get four hours of paid leave from work to take their kids to get vaccinated, and said officials are working on a bill that would require private employers to extend that same flexibility.
Nearly 17,000 kids ages 5 to 11 have gotten a jab since shots started flowing last Thursday, Hizzoner added. He said “if we see a lot of demand, we’re ready to add to that schedule.”
Source
Kids were required to be accompanied by an adult and have written or verbal permission from a parent or guardian to get a shot.
Kids will also get a $100 prize for getting vaccinated, de Blasio said.
He announced Monday that city workers and contractors will get four hours of paid leave from work to take their kids to get vaccinated, and said officials are working on a bill that would require private employers to extend that same flexibility.
Nearly 17,000 kids ages 5 to 11 have gotten a jab since shots started flowing last Thursday, Hizzoner added. He said “if we see a lot of demand, we’re ready to add to that schedule.”
Source
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