A US oil company just filed for bankruptcy — for the second time this year
Offshore oil platform is seen in Huntington Beach
For the second time in less than a year, oil services provider Hercules Offshore is heading for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection by entering a restructuring support agreement (RSA).
The Wall Street Journal writes that ”In a prepackaged bankruptcy, companies line up creditor support for their debt-payment plans before seeking chapter 11 protection, allowing them a speedier—and cheaper—trip through bankruptcy.
Last August, Hercules filed for Chapter 11 protection—the first time. At the time, the company showed US$13 billion in debt and just over US$546 million in assets, trying to restructure with a new US$450-million credit line.
It resurfaced from this bankruptcy only in November, but the perpetual low oil price environment led to a slump in exploration investment and project cancellations.
Under the new Chapter 11 filing, Hercules is selling assets to pay off investors. The company has reportedly agreed to transfer the right to buy the Hercules Highlander jack-up rig to a subsidiary of Maersk Drilling for US$196 million.
The company said that its international units will not be included in the Chapter 11 filing, but will be part of the sale process.
In just the first four months of 2016 there were double the the number of energy company bankruptcies than in all of 2015. The total secured and unsecured defaults rose to $34 billion, double the $17 billion total for all of 2015. In 2015, 42 oil companies filed for bankruptcy.
In April this year, 27 North American oil and gas companies filed for bankruptcy—11 of them filing under Chapter 11, according to a Haynes and Boone report. Some 69 North American oil and gas producers have filed for various forces of bankruptcy.
Thomson ReutersFile photo of pump jacks at Lukoil company owned Imilorskoye oil field outside West Siberian city of Kogalym
More than one-third of public oil companies globally face bankruptcy, according to a new Deloitte report that paints a fairly gloomy picture of the US shale patch as it struggles to survive under mountains of debt.
The Deloitte report—the first high-profile report on the current financial situation of global oil and gas companies—surveyed 500 companies and found that 175 are facing “a combination of high leverage and low debt service coverage ratios”.
Shale producers amassed huge debts that they are now struggling to service in the oil price downturn. These debts totaled $353 billion for US and Canadian energy companies at end-2015. To compare, Deloitte puts the combined debt of those 175 bankruptcy-threatened companies at more than $150 billion, nearly half of the total for U..S and Canada.
Heartbreaking photos show a Haitian immigrant graduating from one of the US military’s most prestigious academies
Cadet Alix Idrache sheds tears of joy during the commencement for the US Military Academy’s class of 2016 at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York, on May 21.
Second Lt. Alix Schoelcher Idrache never thought that he would one day be standing tall in a commissioned officer’s uniform.
“I am from Haiti and never did I imagine that such honor would be one day bestowed on me,” he told USA Today.
Idrache — an immigrant who came to the US in 2009 from Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince — overcame learning English, earned a congressional appointment, and enlisted in the Maryland Army National Guard in order to get to this moment.
On May 21, 2016, Idrache graduated along with 953 cadets from West Point.
“My dad always said, ‘education is the only gift I can always give you, because I don’t have … anything material to give,” he told the US Army.
Now as a West Point graduate, his next step is attending the US Army Aviation Center for Excellence at Fort Rucker in Alabama.
Newly commissioned 2nd Lt. Alix Schoelcher Idrache, became the Maryland Army National Guard’s first US Military Academy graduate on May 21. Idrache, originally from Haiti, graduated at the top of his class in physics and will attend Army aviation school at Fort Rucker, Alabama.
The Obama Family Will Live in a 9 Bedroom, $5.3 Million After the White House
Situated on about a quarter acre in the tony D.C. neighborhood of Kalorama, the Obama’s home come January will allow the family to stay in Washington until their youngest daughter graduates high school.
President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama will lease the 8,200-square-foot mansion owned by Joe Lockhart and Giovanna Gray after the first family leaves the White House in January, sources told POLITICO Playbook on Wednesday.
Lockhart and his family have moved to Manhattan after he accepted a job in February with the NFL as its executive vice president of communications, while Gray handles special projects for Glamour magazine. According to real-estate data, the home was built in 1928 and features nine bedrooms and eight-and-a-half baths.
Situated on about a quarter acre in the tony D.C. neighborhood of Kalorama, it was last sold in May 2014 for $5,295,000, according to data on Zillow, which also notes that the property has a two-car garage and a gated courtyard for eight to 10 vehicles.
The Obamas have long said they plan to stay in Washington after the president leaves offices so that their youngest daughter, Sasha, can finish high school without interruption.
Young Muslim American women try to succeed in politics in ways their fathers couldn’t
Raaheela Ahmed, 22, speaks with Lindsey Adva, 17, at Northwestern High School in Hyattsville, Md. Ahmed, who is running for a seat on the Prince George’s County Board of Education, is one of several young Muslim women getting involved in local politics. (Bonnie Jo Mount/The Washington Post)
By Pamela Constable/WP – When Raaheela Ahmed knocks on doors to meet potential voters, she covers her black headscarf with a floppy hat so people won’t be distracted from what she has to say. She greets high school students as “y’all” and confides, with a disarming laugh, that she sometimes sneaks to her office gym to pray.
Poised and self-confident at 22, Ahmed is one of a group of young Muslim women, all children of immigrants, who are entering electoral politics in the Maryland suburbs. Eager to help counter the anti-Muslim rhetoric that has been part of the 2016 presidential contest, they say they feel emboldened by their American upbringing and the encouragement of male Muslim mentors.
“My dad was always involved in politics. I remember carrying signs for him in parades,” said Ahmed, who grew up in Bowie and is seeking a seat on the Prince George’s County Board of Education.
Her father, Shukoor Ahmed, 53, an engineer from India, ran unsuccessfully five times for the Maryland House of Delegates and is managing her campaign. “He tried so many times, but he was forever an outsider,” Raaheela Ahmed said. “I speak with less accent, so people take me more seriously.”
Prince George’s and Montgomery counties have diverse and growing Muslim immigrant populations, from Pakistani doctors in Potomac to Somali cabdrivers in Riverdale. In Montgomery, community leaders estimate there are 98,000 Muslim residents, though no official statistics are available.
Members of the Muslim Democratic Club of Montgomery County meet in Silver Spring. From left: Hamza Khan, Hasan Mansori, Aminda Kadir, Rida Bukhari-Rizvi and Nadia Syahmalina. (Bonnie Jo Mount/The Washington Post)
While some affluent Muslims have become important political donors, most maintain a low profile. Few have run for office in the state, and almost all who have are men. There is one Muslim city council member in College Park and one in Takoma Park, one Muslim member of the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee and one Muslim state delegate, Democrat Hasan Jalisi of Baltimore County.
But a younger generation of Muslim American women is testing the political waters, urged on by ambitious men like Shukoor Ahmed and Hamza Khan, 28, a Democratic activist who chairs the Muslim Democratic Club of Montgomery County.
This spring Khan managed the campaigns of Rida Bukhari-Rizvi, 32, a policy analyst from Burtonsville who ran for the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee, and Nadia Syahmalina, 34, an Indonesian American financial manager from Rockville who ran in the Maryland primary to become a delegate for Hillary Clinton at the Democratic National Convention.
Both women narrowly lost, and Syahmalina said she will focus her efforts for the rest of this year on turning out the vote for Clinton in the general election. In interviews, both she and Bukhari-Rizvi said they were energized by their first forays into partisan politics and eager to do more.
Rida Bukhari-Rizvi, left, jokes with Nadia Syahmalina during a gathering of the Muslim Democratic Club of Montgomery County. (Bonnie Jo Mount/The Washington Post)
“I was reluctant at first, but Hamza urged me to run, and it became more than a seat on a committee,” said Bukhari-Rizvi, a Pakistani American who wears a white headscarf and is part of the Shiite sect of Islam. “We have never been given a voice before, but I’m part of a new crop of Muslim American women who are well-educated and well-spoken. We can help combat Islamophobia, and we can carve out a future for others. If no one gives us the mantle, we will take it.”
Shiites are a minority in the U.S. Muslim population of about 3 million. There are many more Sunni Muslims in Maryland, too, with subdivisions along ethnic, political or linguistic lines. There is a also a smaller population of U.S.-born Muslim converts.
Khan, a Pakistani American, grew up in Montgomery County and said the Muslim elite there has long been dominated by South Asian entrepreneurs. He is actively working to open the political arena to other Muslim groups, and especially to women.
“We have nearly 100,000 Muslims in the county, from many countries and walks of life, but their political influence is zero,” he said. “Few of them have faith in the democratic process, and many come from patriarchal societies. This is a battle to empower Muslim women.”
Syahmalina, the Clinton supporter, comes from a moderate Muslim community and does not wear a headscarf. Although active in Indonesian culture and causes, she said she had thought of politics as “dirty” and was nervous when Khan persuaded her to run.
When the results of the April 26 primary were announced, she was astounded to have finished fourth among eight candidates.
“I was way down on the bottom of the ballot, and I have a long name,” she said. “I thought I might get a few hundred votes, but I got 37,000!”
Syahmalina said she has a “passion for change”and wants to “bring a different face” to the national conversation about Muslim Americans, reflecting her Indonesian heritage. “We are not all South Asian and Middle Eastern,” she said.
Raaheela Ahmed, Bukhari-Rizvi and Syahmalina all said they want to offer voters a reasonable, appealing image at a time when they say U.S. politics has become poisoned by anti-Muslim fears. As professional middle-class women, Hamza and others said, they may seem less threatening to voters than their male peers.
“With women, there is a trust factor. People tend to open up more to them,” said Zainab Chaudry, who is Maryland state director for the Council on American Islamic Relations, a nonprofit advocacy group.
Although she is younger than Bukhari-Rizvi and Syahmalina, Ahmed has more political experience. She ran for the Prince George’s school board in 2012, when she was a college student, and was appointed to the University of Maryland Board of Regents for 2014-2015.
A financial consultant, she presents herself as a mainstream liberal despite her conservative attire. Her campaign fliers call for better school safety, parental engagement and financial accountability.
At her recent meeting with immigrant high school students in Hyattsville, Ahmed delivered a pep talk on how to overcome self-doubt and succeed in life. Asked whether she had felt threatened or insulted in public, she shrugged.
“This is the [Donald] Trump era. There is a lot of ignorance, and people make judgments,” she said. “I am a U.S. citizen with a good education. I am also a Muslim, and I wear the hijab. . . . I don’t want people to see just my faith when they look at me. I want them to see the real me.”
In an interview at her home in Bowie, with her parents beaming nearby, Ahmed said she had grown up surrounded by South Asian relatives, with everyone speaking Urdu. But she also described herself as an American girl, born and raised in Prince George’s, who connects easily with black and white voters alike.
In 2012, she ran a close second behind the school board chairwoman, Jeana Jacobs. This year she won the April 26 primary, coming in ahead of Jacobs and another candidate; she will face off in the November general election against Cheryl Landis, 61, a career school system employee.
“Nobody thought I would win in the primary, not even my parents, but I got twice as many votes as I did the last time,” Ahmed said. “A lot of people remembered me when I knocked on their doors. I think they feel like I am home-grown.”
Meet the Muslim-American backing Trump
Nawash believes Trump stands out because of his bold and independent approach [Chris Sheridan/Al Jazeera].By Chris Sheridan
Everything about Kamal Nawash indicates he would be Donald Trump’s least-likely backer: Muslim, Arab and an immigrant.
But ask the Washington DC lawyer about the presumptive Republican nominee – who has threatened to ban all Muslims from entering the country – and he sounds like he pulled a page right out of the Trump playbook.
“He’s [Trump] telling people that are used to being bosses, ‘f— you, I’ve been a boss all my life and I’m going to be a boss even over you,” says Nawash, 46, referring to the candidate’s approach to the political establishment.
Meet the Muslim-American backing Donald J Trump for President of the United States.
The story of Nawash is about as American as they come. Born in the Occupied West Bank town of Bethlehem to Palestinian parents, his father wanted a better life for his children.
“One big thing for him wasn’t really money,” says Nawash, now a father of two children himself.
“It was to get us a good education.”
Nawash’s father chose the United States. More specifically, he chose New Orleans, Louisiana.
Nawash was nine-year-old when his parents brought their five children to the US. A sixth sibling would be born in America.
American dream
The family opened a grocery store in a poor neighbourhood, a very common thing for many new immigrants to do at the time.
“The crime was much higher but the profits were much higher,” recalls Nawash, who worked there as a stock boy and butcher.
Decades later, he is living the American dream. Nawash is an immigration lawyer who runs his own practice that sits just a half block from K street in Washington DC, one of the most prestigious postal codes in the United States.
It’s an area where the powerful converge – attorneys, politicians and lobbyists – to craft legislation, discuss policy or advocate on behalf of multibillion dollar clients.
Not surprisingly, given where he works, he is obsessed with politics. That’s what brought him to Washington 20 years ago after a life-changing family trip.
And in this election cycle, Nawash has found his candidate.
“I respect people who understand how to make a deal,” Nawash says of Trump, a former reality show host and property mogul.
“Most of these other politicians don’t know how to make a deal.”
Nawash has been a card-carrying Republican since 1988, attracted to the party by President Ronald Reagan whose smaller government, pull-up-your-bootstraps message resonated with him.
Anti-war sentiments
But the US-led Iraq War, launched by former US President George W Bush following the 9/11 terror attacks, made him uncomfortable.
“I just thought it was wrong all around,” he says of the military campaign.
“That didn’t shake my belief in the party, but afterwards I started questioning our party leaders.”
So did the rest of the country, adds Nawash, who blames the Republican establishment’s myopic view of that conflict for the rise and eventual election of Barack Obama to the country’s highest office in 2008.
So, last year, when candidate Trump echoed those anti-war sentiments – bucking the Republican view that the Iraq War was justified – and openly criticised Bush, Nawash felt the party had found their nominee.
“The fact that he said that shows a certain level of independence,” says Nawash.
“I liked that.”
Likewise, when Trump stood before an audience of prominent Jewish Republicans in Washington DC in December and refused to declare Jerusalem the undisputed capital of Israel, Nawash was equally impressed.
“It made me respect him,” he adds.
“The fact he didn’t lie and actually told his true feelings to a group where it’s unpopular.”
But his backing for Trump raises obvious questions.
‘Never Trump’ campaign
How does a Muslim immigrant support a man who has said that he would put a ban on people like him if he were elected to the White House?
In December, Trump ignited a controversy – that continues to this day – after two suspects shot up a San Bernardino, California government centre killing 14 people.
Both suspects – who died during a standoff with police afterwards – were reportedly Muslim.
Less than a week later, Trump issued a public statement, “calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States”.
“He never said, ‘I want a ban on all Muslims'”, argues Nawash.
“He said, ‘Let’s look at this in light of the terrorist attacks’.”
As a lawyer, Nawash believes a policy like that would never actually happen. Rather, the statement helped Trump win votes during the primaries.
“It kept him in the news,” Nawash says. “It gave him two extra weeks in the news cycle.”
He also argues that Trump was merely saying what the US is already doing, even if they aren’t publicly admitting it: vetting, much more closely, potential immigrants from Middle Eastern countries.
In spite of Trump’s statements about Muslims, Nawash doesn’t consider himself unique.
“Never Trump” campaign
The Arab and Muslim community in the US is a diverse group, he points out, and he has met others who back Trump.
A survey in February conducted by the Council on American-Islamic Relations found that 7.5 percent of registered Muslim voters would cast their ballot for Trump, versus almost 52 percent for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
“Mr Nawash is the first Arab-American I know of that would be supporting Mr Trump,” argues David Ramadan, a former Virginia State Delegate who is originally from Lebanon and describes Nawash as “a one-man show” and “outlier”.
Referring to Trump as “fascistic”, Ramadan adds the Republican presumptive nominee represents “everything immigrants left behind in the Middle East”.
Ramadan has suspended his membership of the Republican Party as a result and joined the “Never Trump” campaign to prevent him from being elected.
The backlash doesn’t bother Nawash.
Still, he admits Trump’s comments on Muslims won’t help him in the months ahead.
“I would be satisfied if he never mentions it again,” adds Nawash.
Obama signed a bill striking ‘Oriental’ and ‘Negro’ from federal code
Obama signed the bill into law Friday. The measure updates the terms the U.S. federal government uses to describe minorities, including American Indian to Native American and “Spanish speaking individual of Spanish descent” to Hispanic.
(CNN) The federal government will no longer use the terms “Negro” and “Oriental” after President Barack Obama signed a bill into law.
The official terms will be African-American and Asian-American. Welcome to 2016.
In a rare show of bipartisan support, the measure H.R.4238, passed unanimously in the House of Representatives and the Senate earlier this year. Obama signed it into law Friday.
The measure updates the terms the U.S. federal government uses to describe minorities, including American Indian to Native American and “Spanish speaking individual of Spanish descent” to Hispanic.
Here’s what the bill states:
Office Of Minority Economic Impact.—Section 211(f)(1) of the Department of Energy Organization Act (42 U.S.C. 7141(f)(1)) is amended by striking “a Negro, Puerto Rican, American Indian, Eskimo, Oriental, or Aleut or is a Spanish speaking individual of Spanish descent” and inserting “Asian American, Native Hawaiian, a Pacific Islander, African American, Hispanic, Puerto Rican, Native American, or an Alaska Native”.
“The term ‘Oriental’ has no place in federal law and at long last this insulting and outdated term will be gone for good,” said Rep. Grace Meng of New York, who sponsored the bill.
Meng, a Democrat from Queens, encountered the term while doing legislative research and had sought to eliminate its usage from government terminology.
“Many Americans may not be aware that the word ‘Oriental’ is derogatory. But it is an insulting term that needed to be removed from the books, and I am extremely pleased that my legislation to do that is now the law of the land,” she said in a statement.
Meng had similarly pushed a law that eliminated the use of the word when she served in the New York Legislature in 2009.
The H.R. 4328 bill had 76 cosponsors, including all 51 members of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. One of the original cosponsors included Rep. Ed Royce, a California Republican.
“Our country is a rich tapestry of cultural backgrounds, and Americans of all backgrounds deserve to be treated with dignity and respect,” he said in a statement.
Girl’s African-Themed Dress Called ‘Tacky for Prom’ by Teacher
Mayalaya Zanders in her custom gown. (Photo: @_blazemoney/Instagram)
Thanks to Kyemah McEntyre, the teenager who designed her own prom dress last year, high school students across the country are wearing African-themed gowns. Yet despite the popularity of Ankara print gowns, Mayalaya Zanders was shamed for choosing one.
When the 17-year-old, who attends Garfield Heights High School in Cleveland, Ohio, told a teacher about her custom look, the Caucasian administrator reportedly called it “tacky for prom.”
Determined to prove her critic wrong, Mayalaya collaborated with local designer DeAndre’ Crenshaw of IndelibleDC to customize a royal blue java Ankara print gown with a front slit and dramatic mermaid bottom. She accessorized it with a structural belt, a bicep bracelet, and layers of gold necklaces.
Aside from the one bad review, the response to Mayalaya’s outfit has been overwhelmingly positive. “Beautifully done and awesome message,” one person wrote in the comments. Another shared, “I still can’t get over how beautiful you looked. You definitely made this outfit work and it looks absolutely perfect on you.” Multiple others called her “stunning,” “beautiful,” and said that she “slayed.”
“Thank you to everyone who gave me kind words on my prom dress,” Mayalaya shared. “My dress was to make a point. That African style is beautiful. That I am comfortable with my Melanin and roots. And finally that there’s nothing like Black girl Magic.”
After Oregon win, a defiant Bernie Sanders vows to fight Hillary Clinton until ‘the last ballot is cast’
Bernie Sanders at a rally in New Brunswick, N.J. (Photo: Dennis Van Tine/STAR MAX/IPx)
Bernie Sanders took another state from Hillary Clinton in the Democratic presidential primaries with a win in Oregon on Tuesday night. Democratic voters also headed to the polls in Kentucky, but that race remains too close to call.
This victory won’t dent Clinton’s lead, but an undaunted Sanders promised to remain a loud presence heading into the last weeks of the primary at an election night rally.
Heading into these two states, Sanders needed to win over 67 percent of all the remaining pledged delegates to pass Clinton. In other words, he needed a pair of landslides to meaningfully close the gap with Clinton. Anything else meant falling short.
Speaking before results were finalized, Sanders insisted there is a “possibility” he could pull ahead of Clinton. He acknowledged this would be improbable and would take multiple major victories among the six states that will vote on June 7. Nevertheless, Sanders vowed to take his “fight” to the party’s nominating convention, which will take place in Philadelphia in late July.
“We have the possibility. It will be a steep climb, I recognize that, but we have the possibility of going to Philadelphia with a majority of the pledged delegates,” Sanders said. “Some people say that we’ve got a steep hill to climb to do that. And you know what? That is absolutely true. But you know what? Together we have been climbing that steep hill from day one in this campaign.”
Clinton did not make a speech, but she sent out a tweet declaring victory in Kentucky before the Associated Press called the results there. In that brief message, Clinton emphasized party unity.
“We just won Kentucky! Thanks to everyone who turned out. We’re always stronger united,” she wrote.
Polling was scant in both Kentucky and Oregon. Clinton may have been slightly favored to win in Kentucky. Her campaign made a push to win the state in the last two weeks leading up to the primary. Both Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, campaigned in Kentucky. Her team also reversed course and launched a television ad campaign in the state after previously indicating it would no longer be spending money on commercials for the primary. This strategic shift by Clinton provided a dramatic example of the protracted battle with Sanders preventing her from making a planned pivot to the general election.
Hillary Clinton waves to the crowd before speaking during a campaign stop in Bowling Green, Ky., on May 16, 2016. (Austin Anthony/Daily News via AP)Unitewd
Both Kentucky and Oregon were closed primaries, meaning only previously registered Democrats could vote. This dynamic has generally favored Clinton, while Sanders does better in open primaries. However, Kentucky and Oregon were potentially fertile ground for Sanders. He has done well in the Pacific Northwest, which has a white and liberal electorate. Sanders has also performed well in states similar to Kentucky, including his win in last week’s primary in neighboring West Virginia.
Sanders’ chance of winning the nomination is now incredibly slim. But he has repeatedly vowed to stay in the race until the convention. Sanders had already moved forward on Tuesday. He made his election night speech from California, the biggest remaining state on the primary calendar. And in it, Sanders made it clear he isn’t going anywhere.
“Many of the pundits and politicians, they say Bernie Sanders should drop out, the people of California should not have the right to determine who the next president will be,” Sanders said. “Well, let me be as clear as I can be: We are in till the last ballot is cast!”
And as long as Sanders remains in the Democratic primary, he presents an obstacle for Clinton.
Sanders and his team have increasingly criticized the Democratic Party’s primary process and leadership. This dissent in the ranks could make it harder for Clinton to ultimately achieve party unity. Though Clinton dominated early in the primary calendar and in the delegate-rich states of New York and Florida, she has been unable to score a big enough margin to finish off Sanders.
The Vermont senator has said he hopes to help reform the way Democrats choose their nominees going forward. He wants to eliminate closed primaries in favor of open races. Sanders also called for the party to “rethink” its superdelegate system. The Democrats have over 700 superdelegates, party officials and elected leaders who may pick a candidate regardless of how their respective states voted. Clinton currently has an overwhelming lead among these party insiders, with over 500 superdelegates, while Sanders has only 40.
Along with calling for reform, the Sanders campaign has raised questions about voting issues in various states won by Clinton. Sanders’ calls for superdelegate reform and other critiques of the process have fanned flames of anger among some of his supporters who believe Clinton has had an unfair advantage. However, the elements of the primary process Sanders has disputed do not seem to be the reasons he is in second place.
Superdelegates are generally expected to back whoever gets the most pledged delegates from the state primaries, and Sanders has a significant deficit even counting only pledged delegates. A CNN analysis published Tuesday showed that Sanders would still be behind Clinton if some of the reforms he’s pushing for were already in place for this year’s election. And Sanders’ campaign has actually attempted to take advantage of the current system by encouraging superdelegates to switch sides in spite of the election results. The Sanders team’s superdelegate pitch is based on some national polls showing he would perform better than Clinton in a hypothetical matchup against Republican frontrunner Donald Trump.
Tensions between Sanders supporters and the party establishment boiled over during the weekend at Nevada’s state Democratic convention. There were allegations that furious Sanders supporters resorted to throwing chairs and making death threats online over disagreements with party leadership. Clinton won Nevada in February, but Sanders’ campaign made a push to win over delegates and emerge out of the convention ahead.
And Sanders hasn’t exactly pushed for peace. On Tuesday evening, he issued a striking statement in which he said it was “nonsense” for local Nevada Democrats to suggest his campaign has a “penchant for violence.” He also accused the state’s Democratic leadership of using “its power to prevent a fair and transparent process from taking place.”
“I condemn any and all forms of violence, including the personal harassment of individuals,” Sanders said. “But when we speak of violence, I should add here that months ago, during the Nevada campaign, shots were fired into my campaign office in Nevada, and the apartment housing complex my campaign staff lived in was broken into and ransacked.”
Clinton may need to heal some of these wounds if she manages to fend off Sanders and secure the nomination. And while Clinton remains in a contentious primary, Trump has already cemented his presumptive-nominee status.
In a fundraising email sent to supporters last week, top Clinton campaign staffer Marlon Marshall lamented the position they are in. Marshall explained that Clinton is essentially fighting a two-front war.
“We’re opening offices every week in battleground states like Ohio and Florida, AND we’re fighting every day before the California primary,” Marshall wrote, adding, “Here’s the deal: Bernie’s not opening field offices in Ohio, because he’s only focused on the primary. Donald Trump isn’t opening field offices in California, because he’s only focused on the general. We’re the only ones running two races, which means we need this team to step up twice as much.”
Clinton’s latest win makes it even more likely she will survive this dual battle for now. But it also seems clear her inability to decisively finish Sanders off earlier will cost her in the meantime. During his speech in California, Sanders was briefly interrupted by supporters who chanted “Bernie or bust!” The slogan is popular among Sanders backers who say they will never vote for Clinton.
Sanders didn’t respond to the chant. He simply smiled.
Thousands Of Undocumented Kids Can Now Enroll In Health Care Coverage
State Sen. Ricardo Lara, D-Bell Gardens, speaks at a rally where health care and immigrant rights advocates celebrated the expansion of Medi-Cal to children and teens illegally brought to the United States, held at the Capitol Monday, May 16, 2016, in Sacramento, Calif.
This week, more than 170,000 undocumented children became eligible to enroll in state-funded health insurance plans in California, going beyond Obamacare to allow more immigrants to have access to comprehensive health services for the first time in the state.
The “Health4AllKids” health care expansion allows low-income children under the age of 19 to receive affordable care under Medi-Cal, the name for California’s Medicaid program, regardless of their immigration status. This will allow undocumented kids to access the full scope of Medi-Cal benefits — such as regular preventive and primary care, dental, and mental health services, as well as behavioral health treatment for children with autism.
The aim of the expansion is to ensure health care for a population that “for the most part only had limited access to emergency-only services,” the children’s advocacy group First Focus said in a statement on its website.
California’s Department of Health Care Services estimates that 114,981 undocumented children were previously eligible only for restricted-scope Medi-Cal benefits, while another 55,019 children couldn’t receive any Medi-Cal benefits at all.
To qualify for the program, children must belong to a family that meets low-income requirements, making no more than $65,505 for a year for a family of four. Families with lower incomes may be able to receive coverage for free, while other families may pay between $19 per child or $39 for all their children, according to the Desert Sun. About one-sixth of the newly eligible low-income undocumented children live in the agricultural areas of Sacramento and Kern counties.
California is the fifth state to extend coverage to undocumented children, following Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Washington, D.C., and Washington state. Anywhere between 2.7 million to 3.4 million Californians are uninsured, including 1.4 million undocumented immigrants who may not be able to afford private insurance. Although the Affordable Care Act extended affordable insurance options to millions of Americans, undocumented immigrants were left out of health reform.
Health4AllKid‘s original sponsor, State Sen. Ricardo Lara (D) — who is himself the son of an undocumented immigrant — argued that extending coverage to more immigrants would help the government save money in annual emergency room bills. Many uninsured, undocumented individuals do not seek out medical treatment until they have to be rolled into the emergency room, which cannot deny care to anyone regardless of immigration status. In turn, emergency room visits cost the California economy between $18.3 billion and $36.7 billion in lost productivity, according to a 2009 Center for American Progress report.
For practical reasons, not seeking treatment for illnesses can also lead to significant financial hardship, since uninsured people are more likely to fall into medical bankruptcy than insured individuals, according to a 2007 American Journal of Medicine study.
Health advocates also argue that the extending health care services to the undocumented population has the potential of saving lives through preventative care, particularly because uninsured individuals are less likely to seek out services for major health conditions and chronic disease, which could have a big impact in their sunset years.
Vatican Cardinal to U.S. Catholics: ‘In Your Nation, God Is Being Eroded, Eclipsed, Liquidated’
Cardinal Robert Sarah, keynote speaker at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. on May 17, 2016.
(CNSNews.com) — “In your nation, God is being eroded, eclipsed, liquidated,” Cardinal Robert Sarah, who was appointed as Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments by Pope Francis in 2014, told hundreds of prominent Catholic clergy and lay people attending the 12th annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast Tuesday in Washington.
In what he called “portentous times” for the Catholic Church and for the world, Cardinal Sarah condemned same-sex marriage, transgender bathroom laws, and attacks on the family as “demonic”.
“All manner of immorality is not only accepted and tolerated today in advanced societies, it is even promoted as a social good,” the African cardinal said. “The result is hostility to Christians and increasingly, religious persecution.”
“This is not an ideological war between competing ideas,” Sarah told the D.C. gathering. “This is about defending ourselves, children and future generations from the demonic idolatry that says children do not need mothers and fathers. It denies human nature and wants to cut off an entire generation from God.”
“The entire world looks to you, waiting and praying to see what America resolves on the present unprecedented challenges the world faces today. Such is your influence and responsibility,” said the archbishop emeritus of Conakry, Guinea.
“I encourage you to truly make use of the freedom willed by your founding fathers lest you lose it,” he warned his American audience.
Quoting St. John Paul II that “the future of the world and the Church pass through the family,” Sarah pointed out that “this is why the Holy Father openly and vigorously defends Church teaching on contraception, abortion, homosexuality, reproductive technologies, the education of children, and much more.”
“The generous and responsible love of spouses made visible through the self-giving of parents who welcome children as a gift of God makes love visible in our generation. It makes present the perfect charity of eternity. ‘If you see charity, you see the Trinity,’ wrote St. Augustine,” the cardinal noted.
However, a broken family can also be the source of deep psychological wounds, he said.
“The rupture of the foundational relationship of someone’s life through separation, divorce or distorted imposters of the family such as co-habitation or same-sex unions is a deep wound that closes the heart to self-giving love into death, and even leads to cynicism and despair. These situations cause damage to the little children through inflicting upon them deep existential doubt about love….
“This is why the devil is so intent on destroying the family. If the family is destroyed, we lose our God-given anthropological foundations, and so find it more difficult to welcome the saving good news of Jesus Christ: self-giving, fruitful love.”
“Sadly, the advent of artificial reproductive technologies, surrogacy, so-called homosexual marriage, and other evils of gender idolatry will inflict even more wounds in the midst of the generation we live with,” said Sarah, who is also the author of God or Nothing.
“Advanced societies including, I regret, this nation, have done and continue to do anything possible to legalize such situations….This is why it is so important to fight to protect the family, the first cell of the life of the Church in every society.”
The cardinal warned that “hidden” forms of religious persecution are just as damaging to believers as physical attacks.
“Even in this yet young 21st century of barely 16 years, one million people have been martyred around the world because of their belief in Jesus Christ. Yet the violence against Christians is not just physical, it is also political, ideological and cultural.
“This form of religious persecution is equally damaging, yet more hidden. It does not destroy physically, but spiritually… This is the will of the Evil One: to close Heaven out of envy.
“Do we not see signs of this insidious war in this great nation of the United States?” Sarah asked.
(Left to right) Sr. Mary Bernard, Sr. Mary Michael, Sr. Jeanne Veronique, and Sr. Alphonse Marie, members of the Little Sisters of the Poor convent in Washington, at the 2016 National Catholic Prayer Breakfast
“In the name of tolerance, the Church’s teaching on marriage, sexuality and [the] human person are being dismantled. The legalization of same-sex marriage, your beginning to accept contraception within healthcare programs and even bathroom bills that allow men to use the women’s restroom and locker rooms.
“Should not a biological man use the men’s restroom? How simpler can that concept be?” the cardinal asked to applause and laughter from the audience.
“How low we are sinking for a nation built on a set of moral claims about God, the human person, the meaning of life and the purpose of society, even by America’s first settlers and founders….
“George Washington wrote that the establishment of civil and religious liberty was the motive that induced him into the field of battle. Today we find ourselves before the battle of sickness…. I call this sickness the liquidation, the eclipse of God.”
The Church’s challenge today is to “fight with courage and hope… and not be afraid to raise her voice to denounce the hypocrites, manipulators and the false prophets” who would lead the faithful astray.
“The battle to preserve the roots of mankind is perhaps the greatest challenge the world has faced since its origins,” Sarah said.
“Be prophetic, be faithful, pray” for the soul of America and to “help stem the tide of evil that is spreading throughout the world,” the cardinal exhorted. “For in the end, it is God or nothing.”
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