Raising sand

The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee will not sanction athletes for raising their fists or kneeling during the national anthem at Olympic trials, previewing a contentious policy it expects to stick to when many of those same athletes head to Tokyo this summer. The USOPC released a nine-page document Tuesday to offer guidance about the sort of “racial and social demonstrations” that will and won’t be allowed by the hundreds who will compete in coming months for spots on the U.S. team. The document comes three months after the federation, heeding calls from its athletes, determined it would not enforce longstanding rules that ban protests at the Olympics. The International Olympic Committee’s Rule 50 is an ongoing source of friction across the globe. Many U.S. athletes have spearheaded the call for more freedom in using their platform at the Olympics to advance social justice causes. But others, both in and outside the U.S., balk at widespread rule changes that they fear … [Read more...] about Raised Fists, Kneeling During Anthem OK at US Olympic Trials

PHILADELPHIA (CNN) — In the beginning stages of Pennsylvania’s high stakes Democratic Senate primary, even the most progressive of candidates are downplaying the label. Republican Sen. Pat Toomey’s decision to retire next year means that for the first time in more than a decade, voters in what has become one of the country’s most hotly contested swing states will not see an incumbent senator on the ballot in 2022. The opening has gifted Democrats both a chance to expand their narrow advantage and — depending on who captures the nomination — the opportunity to introduce a pathbreaking new lawmaker to the Senate’s mostly wealthy and buttoned-down, White male ranks. READ MORE: Fall Full-Capacity Concerts, Xfinity Live! Preparing To Reopen Has Philadelphia's Stadium District Buzzing With Energy Following President Joe Biden’s victory last November — and his early success in coalescing Democratic lawmakers behind his agenda — overlapping questions of representation and ideology are … [Read more...] about Pennsylvania’s Democratic Senate Race Raises Simmering Divisions Inside Party

The problem-plagued Suncor Energy oil refinery’s push to renew its operating permits, and questions about state regulatory oversight, have intensified fears of residents, business owners and elected officials that toxic pollution north of Denver won’t end. Suncor’s unveiling this week of a long-awaited report on causes of frequent malfunctions, with promises to improve automatic shutoffs, failed to reassure opponents calling for closure of the refinery. Mistrust of the state government and the company, ingrained through years of seeing nighttime orange flares and inhaling hydrocarbon fumes, remains high. Officials at the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment tasked with deciding on the permits couldn’t cite a case where their agency directly rejected an application for a large industrial facility. The refinery employs 500 workers who supply fossil fuels and asphalt for the Rocky Mountain region, processing up to 98,000 barrels of crude oil per day and up to … [Read more...] about Long-awaited report on Suncor malfunctions does little to quell calls for refinery’s closure

It’s easy to mock video gamers as dorky loners in yellowing underpants. Indeed, in previous columns, I’ve done it myself. Occasionally at length. But, the more you learn about the latest scandal in the games industry, the more you start to sympathise with the frustrated male stereotype. Because an army of sociopathic feminist programmers and campaigners, abetted by achingly politically correct American tech bloggers, are terrorising the entire community – lying, bullying and manipulating their way around the internet for profit and attention. It’s a fact of life that the video games industry is awash with marginalised, troubled people who have found it difficult to manage their lives in mainstream society. It’s particularly the case when you look at independent or “indie” video game developers, a remarkable proportion of whom suffer from depression or anxiety disorders. Many of these people end up as enthusiastic campaigners for one or more causes they feel deserve wider attention. … [Read more...] about Feminist Bullies Tearing the Video Game Industry Apart

ROMA, Texas — As darkness sets on the Rio Grande, U.S. Border Patrol agents hear pumps inflating rafts across the river in Mexico. It is about to get busy. Within an hour, the rafts drop off about 100 people in six trips into the United States, including many families with toddlers and children as young as 7 traveling alone. All of them wear numbered yellow plastic wristbands that look like they could be used to get into a concert or amusement park, and everyone rips them off and tosses them on the ground after setting foot in the U.S. Large black letters on the wristbands read, “Entregas,” or “Deliveries,” apparently a mechanism for smugglers to keep track of migrants they are ferrying across the river that separates Texas and Mexico. Roma, a town of 10,000 people with historic buildings and boarded-up storefronts in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, is the latest epicenter of illegal crossings, where growing numbers of families and children are entering the United States to seek asylum. … [Read more...] about Small Texas border town is thoroughfare for migrant children