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Adolfo Quinones aka Shabba-Doo dead at age 65
Early Wednesday, dance historians and lovers of all things hip-hop were saddened by reports that Adolfo Quinones, more commonly known as Shabba-Doo, had died.
Early Wednesday, dance historians and lovers of all things hip-hop were saddened by reports that Adolfo Quinones, more commonly known as Shabba-Doo, had died.
WASHINGTON — It's a club Donald Trump was never really interested in joining and certainly not so soon: the cadre of former commanders in chief who revere the presidency enough to put aside often bitter political differences and even join together in common cause. Members of the ex-presidents club pose together for pictures. They smile and pat each other on the back while milling around historic events, or sit somberly side by side at VIP funerals. They take on special projects together. They rarely criticize one another and tend to offer even fewer harsh words about their White House successors. Like so many other presidential traditions, however, this is one Trump seems likely to flout. Now that he's left office, it's hard to see him embracing the stately, exclusive club of living former presidents. “He kind of laughed at the very notion that he would be accepted in the presidents club,” said Kate Andersen Brower, who interviewed Trump in 2019 for her book “Team of Five: The Presidents’ Club in the Age of Trump." “He was like, ‘I don’t think I’ll be accepted.'” It's equally clear that the club's other members don't much want him — at least for now. Former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton recorded a three-minute video from Arlington National Cemetery after President Joe Biden's inauguration this week, praising peaceful presidential succession as a core of American democracy. The segment included no mention of Trump by name, but stood as a stark rebuke of his behaviour since losing November's election. “I think the fact that the three of us are standing here, talking about a peaceful transfer of power, speaks to the institutional integrity of our country,” Bush said. Obama called inaugurations “a reminder that we can have fierce disagreements and yet recognize each other’s common humanity, and that, as Americans, we have more in common than what separates us." Trump spent months making baseless claims that the election had been stolen from him through fraud and eventually helped incite a deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. He left the White House without attending Biden’s swearing-in, the first president to skip his successor's inauguration in 152 years. Obama, Bush and Clinton recorded their video after accompanying Biden to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider following the inauguration. They also taped a video urging Americans to get vaccinated against the coronavirus. Only 96-year-old Jimmy Carter, who has limited his public events because of the pandemic, and Trump, who had already flown to post-presidential life in Florida, weren't there. Jeffrey Engel, founding director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, said Trump isn't a good fit for the ex-presidents club "because he’s temperamentally different.” “People within the club historically have been respected by ensuing presidents. Even Richard Nixon was respected by Bill Clinton and by Ronald Reagan and so on, for his foreign policy," Engel said. "I’m not sure I see a whole lot of people calling up Trump for his strategic advice.” Former presidents are occasionally called upon for big tasks. George H.W. Bush and Clinton teamed up in 2005 to launch a campaign urging Americans to help the victims of the devastating Southeast Asia tsunami. When Hurricane Katrina blasted the Gulf Coast, Bush, father of the then-current president George W. Bush, called on Clinton to boost Katrina fundraising relief efforts. When the elder Bush died in 2018, Clinton wrote, “His friendship has been one of the great gifts of my life," high praise considering this was the man he ousted from the White House after a bruising 1992 campaign — making Bush the only one-term president of the last three decades except for Trump. Obama tapped Clinton and the younger President Bush to boost fundraising efforts for Haiti after its devastating 2010 earthquake. George W. Bush also became good friends with former first lady Michelle Obama, and cameras caught him slipping a cough drop to her as they sat together at Arizona Sen. John McCain’s funeral. Usually presidents extend the same respect to their predecessors while still in office, regardless of party. In 1971, three years before he resigned in disgrace, Richard Nixon went to Texas to participate in the dedication of Lyndon Baines Johnson’s presidential library. When Nixon’s library was completed in 1990, then-President George H.W. Bush attended with former Presidents Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford. Trump's break with tradition began even before his presidency did. After his election win in November 2016, Obama hosted Trump at the White House promising to “do everything we can to help you succeed.” Trump responded, “I look forward to being with you many, many more times in the future” — but that never happened. Instead, Trump falsely accused Obama of having wiretapped him and spent four years savaging his predecessor's record. Current and former presidents sometimes loathed each other, and criticizing their successors isn’t unheard of. Carter criticized the policies of the Republican administrations that followed his, Obama chided Trump while campaigning for Biden and also criticized George W. Bush’s policies — though Obama was usually careful not to name his predecessor. Theodore Roosevelt tried to unseat his successor, fellow Republican William Howard Taft, by founding his own “Bull Moose” party and running for president again against him. Still, presidential reverence for former presidents dates back even further. The nation’s second president, John Adams, was concerned enough about tarnishing the legacy of his predecessor that he retained George Washington’s Cabinet appointments. Trump may have time to build his relationship with his predecessors. He told Brower that he “could see himself becoming friendly with Bill Clinton again," noting that the pair used to golf together. But the odds of becoming the traditional president in retirement that he never was while in office remain long. “I think Trump has taken it too far," Brower said. "I don’t think that these former presidents will welcome him at any point.” Will Weissert And Deb Riechmann, The Associated Press
Sasikala will be released from the Parappana Agrahara prison in Bengaluru, Karnataka on 27 January.
Luguentz Dort (Oklahoma City Thunder) with a deep 3 vs the LA Clippers, 01/22/2021
Serge Ibaka (LA Clippers) with a dunk vs the Oklahoma City Thunder, 01/22/2021
The former BARC CEO’s counsels argued that he was being discharged from JJ Hospital despite being unfit.
Microsoft is pulling away from a price hike of the subscription service following online backlash to the proposed changes.
WASHINGTON — It's taken only days for Democrats gauging how far President Joe Biden's bold immigration proposal can go in Congress to acknowledge that if anything emerges, it will likely be significantly more modest. As they brace to tackle a politically flammable issue that's resisted major congressional action since the 1980s, Democrats are using words like “aspirational” to describe Biden's plan and “herculean” to express the effort they'll need to prevail. A similar message came from the White House Friday when press secretary Jen Psaki said the new administration hopes Biden's plan will be “the base" of immigration discussions in Congress. Democrats' cautious tones underscored the fragile road they face on a paramount issue for their minority voters, progressives and activists. Even long-time immigration proponents advocating an all-out fight concede they may have to settle for less than total victory. Paving a path to citizenship for all 11 million immigrants in the U.S. illegally — the centerpiece of Biden's plan — is “the stake at the summit of the mountain,” Frank Sharry, executive director of the pro-immigration group America’s Voice, said in an interview. “If there are ways to advance toward that summit by building victories and momentum, we’re going to look at them.” The citizenship process in Biden's plan would take as little as three years for some people, eight years for others. The proposal would make it easier for certain workers to stay in the U.S. temporarily or permanently, provide development aid to Central American nations in hopes of reducing immigration and move toward bolstering border screening technology. No. 2 Senate Democratic leader Richard Durbin of Illinois said in an interview this week that the likeliest package to emerge would create a path to citizenship for so-called Dreamers. They are immigrants who’ve lived in the U.S. most of their lives after being brought here illegally as children. Over 600,000 of them have temporary permission to live in the U.S. under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. Former President Barack Obama created that program administratively and Durbin and others would like to see it enacted into law. Durbin, who called Biden's plan “aspirational,” said he hoped for other elements as well, such as more visas for agricultural and other workers. “We understand the political reality of a 50-50 Senate, that any changes in immigration will require co-operation between the parties,” said Durbin, who is on track to become Senate Judiciary Committee chairman. He said legislation produced by the Senate likely “will not reach the same levels” as Biden’s proposal. The Senate is split evenly between the two parties, with Vice-President Kamala Harris tipping the chamber in Democrats’ favour with her tie-breaking vote. Even so, major legislation requires 60 votes to overcome filibusters, or endless procedural delays, in order to pass. That means 10 Republicans would have to join all 50 Democrats to enact an immigration measure, a tall order. “Passing immigration reform through the Senate, particularly, is a herculean task,” said Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., who will also play a lead role in the battle. Many Republicans agree with Durbin's assessment. “I think the space in a 50-50 Senate will be some kind of DACA deal,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who’s worked with Democrats on past immigration efforts. “I just think comprehensive immigration is going to be a tough sale given this environment.” Illustrating the detailed bargaining ahead, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, a moderate who’s sought earlier immigration compromises, praised parts of the bill but said she wants more visas for foreign workers her state's tourism industry uses heavily. Democrats' hurdles are formidable. They have razor-thin majorities in a House and Senate where Republican support for easing immigration restrictions is usually scant. Acrid partisan relationships were intensified further by former President Donald Trump's clamourous tenure. Biden will have to spend plenty of political capital and time on earlier, higher priority bills battling the pandemic and bolstering the economy, leaving his future clout uncertain. In addition, Democrats will have to resolve important tactical differences. Sharry said immigration groups prefer Democrats to push for as strong a bill as possible without making any concessions to Republicans on issues like boosting border security spending. He said hopes for a bipartisan breakthrough are “a fool’s errand” because the GOP has largely opposed expending citizenship opportunities for so long. But prevailing without GOP votes would mean virtual unanimity among congressional Democrats, a huge challenge. It would also mean Democrats would have to either eliminate the Senate filibuster, which they may not have the votes to do, or figure out other procedural routes around the 60-vote hurdle. “I'm going to start negotiating" with Republicans, said Durbin. He said a bipartisan bill would be far better “if we can do it" because it would improve the chances for passage. Democrats already face attacks from Republicans, eyeing next year's elections, on an issue that helped helped power Trump's 2016 victory by fortifying his support from many white voters. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said Biden’s bill would “prioritize help for illegal immigrants and not our fellow citizens.” Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., who heads the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Senate GOP campaign arm, said the measure would hurt “hard-working Americans and the millions of immigrants working their way through the legal immigration process." Democrats say such allegations are false but say it's difficult to compose clear, sound-bite responses on what is a complex issue. Instead, it requires having “an adult conversation” with voters, Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., said in an interview. “Yeah, this is about people but it's about the economy" as well, said Spanberger, a moderate from a district where farms and technology firms hire many immigrants. “In central Virginia, we rely on immigration. And you may not like that, but we do." Alan Fram, The Associated Press
Protesting farmer leaders allege conspiracy to kill 4 of them, disrupt tractor 26 Jan tractor rally
Country diary: a witchy barn owl swoops across a wintry landscapeThixendale, North Yorkshire: In the hazy winter light, hares and partridges blend into the grass and fields
New Delhi [India], January 23 (ANI): The Delhi Traffic Police on Saturday issued an advisory on the arrangements and restrictions in place for smooth conduct of Full Dress Rehearsal on January 23 for the Republic Day parade.
New Delhi [India], January 23 (ANI): As many as 14,256 new COVID-19 cases, 17,130 discharges, and 152 deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours in the country, according to the Union Health Ministry.
Boris Johnson disclosed that the new mutant strain of the virus may be more deadly than the original.
LOS ANGELES — Kawhi Leonard scored 31 points, Paul George added 29 and the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 120-106 on Friday night for their sixth straight win. Serge Ibaka had 17 points and 11 rebounds to help the Clippers improve to 12-4, tying the Lakers for the NBA’s best record. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 30 points and eight assists against his former team. Luguentz Dort added 19 points. The Thunder were in catch-up mode most of the way before dropping their second straight and fourth in five games. They were just 14 of 42 from 3-point range and only got to the free-throw line 13 times. The Clippers grabbed control in the first half, scoring 36 points in the first quarter and 34 in the second on 63% shooting. They had scoring runs of 21-2 and 11-4 in the first. They opened the second quarter with a 19-10 spurt, including George’s steal and dunk followed by his consecutive 3-pointers, for their largest lead of 27 points. From there, the Thunder put together a 25-15 surge, hitting five 3-pointers, to trail 70-53 at halftime. The Thunder worked to reduce a 23-point deficit to 10 points in the third. They outscored the Clippers 15-2 during one stretch, helped by eight points from Dort and Mike Muscala’s first 3-pointer after he missed four attempts in the first half. But Leonard quickly put the Clippers ahead 91-75, running off six in a row. Muscala hit another 3-pointer that left the Thunder trailing by 13 going into the fourth. George scored 11 points in the fourth against his old team, when Gilgeous-Alexander had 10 for the Thunder. TIP-INS Thunder: It took until the second half, but Dort and Muscala continued their streaks of both hitting at least one 3-pointer in each game they’ve played this season. Dort leads the team with 34 3-pointers and Muscala is second with 26. ... They dropped to 1-6 against the West. Clippers: Lou Williams recorded his 249th career game with at least five assists off the bench, tying J.J. Barea for the most such games in NBA history. UP NEXT The teams meet again Sunday at Staples Center. ___ More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports Beth Harris, The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Opening arguments in the Senate impeachment trial for Donald Trump over the Capitol riot will begin the week of Feb. 8, the first time a former president will face such charges after leaving office. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced the schedule Friday evening after reaching an agreement with Republicans, who had pushed for a delay to give Trump a chance to organize his legal team and prepare a defence on the sole charge of incitement of insurrection. The February start date also allows the Senate more time to confirm President Joe Biden's Cabinet nominations and consider his proposed $1.9 trillion COVID relief package — top priorities of the new White House agenda that could become stalled during trial proceedings. “We all want to put this awful chapter in our nation’s history behind us,” Schumer said about the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol siege by a mob of pro-Trump supporters. “But healing and unity will only come if there is truth and accountability. And that is what this trial will provide.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will send the article of impeachment late Monday, with senators sworn in as jurors Tuesday. But opening arguments will move to February. Trump's impeachment trial would be the first of a U.S. president no longer in office, an undertaking that his Senate Republican allies argue is pointless, and potentially even unconstitutional. Democrats say they have to hold Trump to account, even as they pursue Biden's legislative priorities, because of the gravity of what took place — a violent attack on the U.S. Congress aimed at overturning an election. If Trump is convicted, the Senate could vote to bar him from holding office ever again, potentially upending his chances for a political comeback. The urgency for Democrats to hold Trump responsible was complicated by the need to put Biden's government in place and start quick work on his coronavirus aid package. “The more time we have to get up and running ... the better,” Biden said Friday in brief comments to reporters. Republicans were eager to delay the trial, putting distance between the shocking events of the siege and the votes that will test their loyalty to the former president who still commands voters’ attention. Negotiations between Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell were complicated, as the two are also in talks over a power-sharing agreement for the Senate, which is split 50-50 but in Democratic control because Vice-President Kamala Harris serves as a tie-breaking vote. McConnell had proposed delaying the start and welcomed the agreement. “Republicans set out to ensure the Senate’s next steps will respect former President Trump’s rights and due process, the institution of the Senate, and the office of the presidency,” said McConnell spokesman Doug Andres. "That goal has been achieved.” Pelosi said Friday the nine House impeachment managers, or prosecutors, are "ready to begin to make their case” against Trump. Trump’s team will have had the same amount of time since the House impeachment vote to prepare, Pelosi said. Democrats say they can move quickly through the trial, potentially with no witnesses, because lawmakers experienced the insurrection first-hand. One of the managers, California Rep. Ted Lieu, said Friday that Democrats would rather be working on policy right now, but “we can't just ignore" what happened on Jan. 6. “This was an attack on our Capitol by a violent mob,” Lieu said in an interview with The Associated Press. “It was an attack on our nation instigated by our commander in chief. We have to address that and make sure it never happens again.” Trump, who told his supporters to “fight like hell” just before they invaded the Capitol two weeks ago and interrupted the electoral vote count, is still assembling his legal team. White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Friday deferred to Congress on timing for the trial and would not say whether Biden thinks Trump should be convicted. But she said lawmakers can simultaneously discuss and have hearings on Biden's coronavirus relief package. “We don’t think it can be delayed or it can wait, so they’re going to have to find a path forward,” Psaki said of the virus aid. “He’s confident they can do that.” Democrats would need the support of at least 17 Republicans to convict Trump, a high bar. While most Republican senators condemned Trump's actions that day, far fewer appear to be ready to convict. A handful of Senate Republicans have indicated they are open — but not committed — to conviction. But most have come to Trump's defence as it relates to impeachment, saying they believe a trial will be divisive and questioning the legality of trying a president after he has left office. South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, a close Trump ally who has been helping him find lawyers, said Friday there is “a very compelling constitutional case” on whether Trump can be impeached after his term — an assertion Democrats reject, saying there is ample legal precedent. Graham also suggested Republicans will argue Trump's words on Jan. 6 were not legally “incitement.” “On the facts, they’ll be able to mount a defence, so the main thing is to give him a chance to prepare and run the trial orderly, and hopefully the Senate will reject the idea of pursuing presidents after they leave office,” Graham said. Other Republicans had stronger words, suggesting there should be no trial at all. Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso said Pelosi is sending a message to Biden that “my hatred and vitriol of Donald Trump is so strong that I will stop even you and your Cabinet from getting anything done.” Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson suggested Democrats are choosing “vindictiveness” over national security as Biden attempts to set up his government. McConnell, who said this week that Trump “provoked” his supporters before the riot, has not said how he will vote. He said Senate Republicans "strongly believe we need a full and fair process where the former president can mount a defence and the Senate can properly consider the factual, legal and constitutional questions.” Trump, the first president to be impeached twice, is at a disadvantage compared with his first impeachment trial, in which he had the full resources of the White House counsel’s office to defend him. Graham helped Trump hire South Carolina attorney Butch Bowers after members of his past legal teams indicated they did not plan to join the new effort. ___ Associated Press writers Aamer Madhani in Washington, Meg Kinnard in Columbia, South Carolina, and Jill Colvin in West Palm Beach, Florida, contributed to this report. Mary Clare Jalonick And Lisa Mascaro, The Associated Press
Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Photo GettyThe University of Mississippi has been a formidable institution since its founding in 1848—thirteen years before the Civil War started. And it has been steeped in racism and exclusion for decades. The school’s mascot has changed several times since 1928, but the most controversial—from the late ’70s through 2003—was “Colonel Reb,” a caricature of a slaveowner (the current mascot is the “Landshark”). The school didn’t remove the song “Dixie” from its marching band’s repertoire until 2016. A long-contested Confederate statue that graced the entrance of the campus was finally moved in 2020 to a less prominent location on university property. Yet, the racist monikers of “Ole Miss,” an antebellum term used by the enslaved, and “Rebels” who fought to uphold slavery, are still held dear.In 2018, Ed Meek, a wealthy businessman who donated $5.3 million to the School of Journalism and New Media and had it subsequently named after him, wrote a blatantly racist, sexist Facebook post that made Black female students feel specifically targeted and unwelcome at a university where underrepresented Black students and faculty make up 13 and 6 percent respectively in a state where 38 percent of the population is Black. By contrast, an overrepresented 76 percent of students and faculty are white. Several members of the faculty and staff and students initiated a petition to rename the building, remove the confederate statue, and to establish scholarships for Black women in journalism. A name that was floated to replace Meek’s was that of my great-grandmother Ida B. Wells—a journalism pioneer and native Mississippian from nearby Holly Springs.One of those who protested was UM history professor Dr. Garrett Felber, who strongly advocated for the renaming of the journalism school. I met him in 2018 when he organized an Ida B. Wells Teach-In that featured various speakers, a student choir, a short video, and I gave a few remarks. Interacting with advocates for justice and inclusion gave me a sense of hope that UM, which has a contentious history of race relations, would finally get on the path to being a more open and inclusive institution. When I met with the then dean of the journalism school, I did not experience a warm reception. I left the meeting with the impression that there was more sympathy for the wealthy donor Meek, who was viewed as having his character attacked, than the Black students whose presence he implied denigrated the quality of the school. Meek eventually withdrew his money and removed his name from the school.Despite the tough and sometimes racially contentious environments on some college campuses, the academy is routinely framed by some as liberal enclaves where people mull over philosophies that are removed from the “real world.” Felber is the opposite of that. Like Wells, he has advocated fiercely to address and solve issues of criminal justice. He was the lead organizer of the Making and Unmaking Mass Incarceration conference, project director of the Parchman Oral History Project, and co-founder of Liberation Literacy, an abolitionist collective which began as a racial justice reading group inside and outside of prisons in Oregon. He initiated the Prison Abolition Syllabus, which contextualized the prison strikes in 2016 and 2018. He also helped launch Study and Struggle, a political education program that addresses the crises of Mississippi prisons and detention centers.His advocacy is reminiscent of Wells, who frequently visited prisoners and even worked as a probation officer because she was committed to helping those who were easy targets of the police state. She wrote about the injustice of the convict lease system, which used prisoners as sources of free labor. She also wrote her detailed pamphlet The Arkansas Race Riot, after she visited a group of imprisoned sharecroppers from Elaine, Arkansas who defended themselves from attack by a group of white vigilantes.Felber was on the brink of expanding his work focused on the carceral state when a $57,000 grant he applied for was heralded by the university to support the Study and Struggle program. Then a second grant for the same program was rejected by the chair of his department with the claim that the program was political versus historical and could jeopardize department funding. This was in the climate of the Trump administration’s attack on critical race theory and antiracist work. Felber suspected the rejection of the grant was more about appeasing racist donors than the excuse he was given about him not following proper procedure. He requested a written explanation outlining the rationale for the rejection of the grant as a condition of him meeting with his chair about the matter. Then he lost his job.The sudden termination of Felber sends a very strong and disturbing message. Felber was doing antiracist work and initiated programs that benefited the marginalized and disenfranchised. He was questioning the university's deference to wealthy racists, which is part of its long and storied history of racial intolerance, marginalization, and downright violence against Black people and their allies. To directly address past injustices, he organized a program in February 2020 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the mass arrest and expulsion of Black students who simply demanded equality, respect, and support. From the need to have federal protection for James Meredith to integrate the school in 1962, to the lethargy with which the university has addressed offensive symbols, songs, and statues, the flagship state school in my great-grandmother’s home state of Mississippi seems proud to uphold an environment that is hostile toward diversity, equity, and inclusion.A letter of support for Felber with pledges to avoid speaking at the school until he is reinstated has already garnered over 5,000 signatures from his fellow academics across the country. This show of solidarity among scholars illustrates that there is a community that believes in tolerance, inclusion, academic freedom, and institutional transparency. After a protest-filled summer in response to systemic racism and police brutality, some institutions are examining their environments and making significant strides to reckon with racist pasts and policies. Maybe UM will someday be proactive in a march toward reparative justice versus begrudgingly responding to agitation.Michelle Duster teaches at Columbia College Chicago. She is the author of the forthcoming Ida B. the Queen: The Extraordinary Life and Legacy of Ida B. Wells (Atria/One Signal Publishers).Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
Carolina Cabral/GettyIt became a favorite shouting game on the streets of Caracas. Someone would randomly holler President Nicolás Maduro’s name and people nearby would roar back “motherf**ker”!Not any more. This gleeful verbal exchange between total strangers from a year ago is now regarded as a criminal behavior under the recently established Law against Hatred. The so-called Esquinas de Ideas (Corners of Ideas), where opponents used to tear into the country’s leader, are mostly gone. So are the fiery speeches of dissent in the National Assembly.It appears that political and civic opposition has completely retreated from the public spaces all around Venezuela.In this vacuum, Maduro’s allies talk aggressively about the radical social changes they plan to implement while also issuing dark threats against their opponents. These Chavistas—what Maduro supporters call themselves—regained absolute control of the National Assembly following the December 6 elections, which were boycotted by the opposition and not recognized as legitimate by most Western countries, including the U.S. The opposition, calling the election fraudulent, effectively lost the last democratic institution in the country.Disastrous Venezuelan Coup Was Supported by Trump Admin Officials, Lawsuit ClaimsOpposition leader Juan Guaidó—once deliriously popular—has vowed to fight on, even if it would mean getting together with his fellow opposition lawmakers in parks, gymnasiums or backyards. However, many have gone underground and Guaidó is now in danger of becoming irrelevant.The list of opposition setbacks over the past five years is a long one: a failed legislative referendum to depose Maduro, lack of military support for an uprising, street protests lasting over 100 days that ultimately went nowhere, and the failure of an interim government led by Guaidó.At the beginning of his revolt, Guaidó’s popularity hovered over 70 percent. He had the backing of 60 countries around the world—including the U.S. and much of Europe—which recognized him as Venezuela's rightful president. But as the opposition fizzled, the Venezuelan public has lost faith. “The opposition leading figures have only around a 25 percent approval rating, including Guaidó and [Leopoldo] López,” says Luis Vicente León, a sociologist and a director of Datanálisis, a major polling firm based in Caracas.Just over 2 months ago, López—another key resistance leader and longtime political prisoner whose followers have built a Nelson Mandela-like aura around him—escaped to Madrid. He now lives in exile in Spain.The loss of influence by López and Guaidó, combined with the fact that the resistance does not control any public institutions anymore, has led to the near-complete immobilization of the opposition and deeply damaged its reputation.“The opposition tried everything there was but nothing worked out,” asserts Alonso Moleiro, an influential columnist and political analyst based in Caracas. “The regime now feels powerful and will probably impose its authority with an iron fist.”Back in December 2015, the opposition swept socialists from the National Assembly in a landslide electoral win. The incoming lawmakers were darlings of millions of Venezuelans who saw in them a legendary generation that was about to liberate Venezuela from Maduro's socialistic regime.They peaked with the meteoric rise of Guaidó. On January 23, 2019, this young lawmaker boldly called Maduro a usurper and proclaimed himself the interim president while out in the open on the street. Guaidó was at that time next in line for the presidency as President of the National Assembly. He dazzled countless Venezuelans with this move, as well as many international leaders, who recognized him as the president of Venezuela. (U.S. President Joe Biden will reportedly follow suit; his support might save Guaidó from prison, at least for the time being.)Today, Guaidó is without public office and shackled by a record of failed strategies and even corruption allegations. The euphoric public embrace came crashing down and now Guaidó and other opposition politicians face not only a big decline in popular support but also dwindling numbers. Dozens from the resistance have fled into exile.This has created tremendous tension between those who have escaped and those who have remained, analysts say. The lawmakers who are still in the country and have decided to keep challenging the government face both a real possibility of a government crackdown as well as continued economic hardship. Opposition lawmakers in Venezuela never made any money, as they were labeled early on in their tenure as illegitimate by the Supreme Court, which is stacked with Maduro’s allies. They were stripped of their powers in March 2016.Here’s How Venezuela’s ‘Interim President’ Blew His Chance to Oust MaduroBut those abroad do get paid. As part of Guaidó’s exiled government they make money from funds Guaidó has received from the U.S and other western countries. And no secret agents constantly hound them as they do members of the resistance in Venezuela.There is also a divide about the best strategy against Maduro going forward. “Leaders abroad favor more sanctions, isolation and international pressure. But those inside Venezuela feel they need to reassess this strategy, maybe set the bar lower and make the demand something other than Maduro’s exit, at least as a starting point,” says Risa Grais-Targow, a Latin American analyst at the Eurasia Group, a political risk consultancy based in New York. “This split in strategy between moderates and hardliners in the opposition will continue to widen,” she predicts.No wonder: If anti-Maduro lawmakers inside Venezuela were to call now for further economic sanctions or even invasion by Western countries to topple Maduro, they could easily face a one-way ticket to prison.Chavistas in the National Assembly have wasted no time in moving against the opposition. During their first session they set up a commission that will investigate the alleged crimes of Juan Guaidó and his deputies. And most recently, Chavistas in the National Assembly have asked the Venezuelan Attorney General to issue an arrest warrant against Guaidó’s lawmakers.Iris Valera, a radical Chavista and newly named vice-president of the National Assembly, has also called for stripping citizenship from those Venezuelans who have left the country as well as expropriating land and possessions from some of the emigrants.Some political analysts point to López's flight to Spain as indicative of this rift within the opposition as it tries to grapple with the current political dominance of the Chavistas.“Leopoldo López felt he was useless as a prisoner and decided to take his fight to Europe where he can, among other things, keep international support behind Guaidó and away from other opposition leaders,” notes sociologist Luis Felipe León.Last October, after López had spent a total of six years in prison, under house arrest, and in diplomatic asylum in the Spanish ambassador’s residence in Caracas, he escaped and fled the country. This was another blow to the psyche of the opposition supporters.Previously, López's supporters kept declaring that this leader was walking in the footsteps of Nelson Mandela. López had declared he would leave prison only when all other political prisoners were free and the government had met his demands.In November 2019, López told me that he was ready to sacrifice his best years for the country's freedoms and democracy. Along with Mandela and Martin Luther King, Lopéz mentioned another hero of his, the Czechoslovakian dissident and playwright Václav Havel, who became his country’s first democratically elected president in 40 years after the fall of Communism.López talked to me, while he was hiding in the Spanish embassy in Caracas, about his admiration for Havel. “In prison, I read several of Havel's books, among them Letters to Olga. There is one episode that left a huge impression on me. He writes about never giving up, never kneeling down before the dictatorship, that the prison for him was another form of resistance. I have taken the same path.”But last month from Madrid, López told PBS Newshour that being cut off from the outside world left him impotent and so he decided to flee. “I was increasingly more isolated and I needed to contribute from the outside.”López also said that in Venezuela, life is often like a rollercoaster between hope and despair and that the opposition will bounce back again from the current period of despair.But, at least for now, Maduro appears to be firmly entrenched, successfully beating back countless attempts by the opposition to dislodge him. At the same time, the U.S. oil sanctions against Venezuela will probably stay in place for now. But hope that Maduro’s lack of cash might lead to his downfall has repeatedly been proven wrong.On the other hand, being cash-poor is still a weakness for the current regime. Some in the opposition claim that Maduro won’t have enough money to bribe his cronies to keep them on his side and that the powerful and essential generals could at some point turn on Maduro. So the thinking and the hoping goes.“Even though the economy has deteriorated and the pie they all share has shrunk for the military leaders, it is better to be in power with less money than on the outside with no money and in jail,” argues the analyst Risa Grais-Targow. “This regime proved to be remarkably resilient.”Meanwhile many Venezuelans feel abandoned and left on their own in a country where food, medicine and fuel is scarce and power outages occur on a daily basis. Many feel like refugees within their own country. Aurelio Navarro, a farmer, has found solace and refuge on his farm in a picturesque area called Galipán which is nestled in the mountain range Ávila.From one side of his plot of land, he enjoys the azure waters of the Caribbean sea, on the other side, the thick foliage of tropical vegetation. Navarro basks in the calm of his paradise.But don’t talk politics in his presence. The topic immediately puts him in two different emotional mindsets: crippling fear and heavy doses of nostalgia. The first feeling is triggered by the abuses of Maduro’s regime, the second one by Guaidó’s ineffectual opposition.“All my life I’ve been waiting for a leader I could fall in love with,” says Navarro. “It happened with Guaidó but he failed and broke my heart,”Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
New Delhi [India], January 23 (ANI): Union Home Minister Amit Shah will on Saturday launch the "Ayushman CAPF" healthcare scheme for the central paramilitary force personnel in Guwahati, Assam.
Ryan Nichols faces multiple charges for his participation in the failed insurrection attempt at the U.S. Capitol earlier this month
Microsoft won't raise the price of Xbox Live, and it's adding free multiplayer for free-to-play games like 'Fortnite.'
The SpaceX Transporter-1 mission set to launch today will put 133 commercial and government spacecraft, as well as 10 more Starlink satellites, in orbit. SpaceX says that’s “the most spacecraft ever deployed on a single mission” — the previous record holder, an Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, ferried only 104 satellites to space. In addition to having a record-breaking payload, Transporter-1 is also the first dedicated launch under the SmallSat Rideshare Program SpaceX announced back in 2019.