Category Archives: Politics

Dina Boluarte Becomes Peru’s First Female President

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Dina Boluarte is making Peruvian history…

The 60-year-old Peruvian politician and lawyer has become Peru’s first female president, following the impeachment of ex-president Pedro Castillo after a dramatic day in Lima on Wednesday.

Dina BoluarteCastillo was impeached hours after he tried to dissolve parliament. Boluarte, previously the vice-president, was sworn in after a dramatic day in Lima on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, Castillo had said he was replacing Congress with an “exceptional emergency government.”

But lawmakers ignored this, and in an emergency meeting impeached him. He was then detained and accused of rebellion.

Reports in local media say he was heading to the Mexican embassy in the capital when he was arrested.

Boluarte said she would govern until July 2026, which is when Castillo’s presidency would have ended.

Speaking after taking the oath of office, she called for a political truce to overcome the crisis which has gripped the country.

“What I ask for is a space, a time to rescue the country,” she said.

Wednesday’s dramatic chain of events began with President Pedro Castillo giving an address on national television in which he declared a state of emergency.

He announced that he would dissolve the opposition-controlled Congress, a move which was met with shock both in Peru – several ministers resigned in protest – and abroad.

The head of the constitutional court accused him of launching a coup d’etat, while the US “strongly urged” Castillo to reverse his decision.

Peru’s police and armed forces released a joint statement in which they said they respected the constitutional order.

Castillo tried to dissolve Congress just hours before it was due to start fresh impeachment proceedings against him – the third since he came to office in July 2021.

In his televised address he said: “In response to citizens’ demands throughout the length and breadth of the country, we have decided to establish an exceptional government aimed at re-establishing the rule of law and democracy.”

He said that “a new Congress with constituent powers to draw up a new constitution” would be convened “within no more than nine months”.

But Congress, which is controlled by parties opposed to Castillo, convened an emergency session and held the impeachment vote Castillo had been trying to prevent.

The result was overwhelming: 101 voted in favor of impeaching him, with only six against and 10 abstentions.

Trailer Released for New Documentary “To The End,” Featuring Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is fighting to the end…

The trailer has been released to Rachel Lears’ new documentary To the End, featuring the 33-year-old Puerto Rican politician and activist who has served as the U.S. representative for New York’s 14th congressional district since 2019.

Alexandria Ocasio-CortezLears’ follow-up to her breakthrough film Knock Down the House documents young progressive activists and Ocasio-Cortez in their relentless effort to engineer major action combatting climate change.

“Fighting for change politically requires faith,” AOC says in the trailer. Regarding the urgent need to avoid a climate catastrophe, Ocasio-Cortez notes, “This is going to be the moon shot of our generation.”

To the End was acquired by Roadside Attractions after its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival last January.

The version of the documentary that hits theaters on December 9 has been significantly revised since Sundance, to reflect dramatic changes in the political fortunes of climate change legislation.

“When the film premiered at Sundance, it was right after [Democratic] Senator Joe Manchin killed the Build Back Better bill. And there was at that point no particular prospect of major climate legislation passing,” Lears tells Deadline. “But as the gears continued churning for a few months, they did reach a deal in July and we knew right away we’ve got to reedit the film, we’ve got to shoot what we can to end the story this way.”

In August President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 into law, providing significant funding for green energy and other measures to attack climate change.

“We changed the ending, for one thing,” Lears explains. “The film now ends with historic legislation passing and our protagonists reflecting on this. And it really shows how their work that we see in the film leads to what happens. What they’ve done is to make politically impossible things become possible.”

Lears shortened her film by 10 minutes and also restructured it to align with what she calls a much more hopeful political picture.

“The film was inspiring to me and to many people who saw it, even in the previous cut, because our protagonists are so determined and motivated in their work,” Lears says. “But it’s even more inspiring now when you see that their work has resulted in historic material change.”

In addition to AOC, the film foregrounds Rhiana Gunn-Wright, director of climate policy at the Roosevelt Institute, Alexandra Rojas, executive director of Justice Democrats, and Varshini Prakash, executive director, Sunrise Movement.

“We are building an army of young people to stop the climate crisis,” Prakash says in the trailer, “and create millions of good jobs for our generation.”

“When we met these folks in 2018 — well, we’ve known some of them before that — they were really setting out to deliberately shift the paradigm on climate. ‘Let’s turn the crisis into an opportunity to build a better society, to make economic and racial justice part of the solution.’ We wanted to see how far are they going to get with that, Lears says. “I don’t think we even imagined that they would manage to pressure the government into passing the biggest climate legislation, not just in U.S. history, but in world history. But that’s exactly what’s happened.”

Becky G Has Teamed Up with Latin Grammys to Get Americans Registered to Vote

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Becky G is helping get out the vote…

Ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, the 25-year-old Mexican American singer, rapper and actress has teamed up with the Latin Grammys to encourage Americans to make sure they are registered to vote.

Becky GBecky G, who’s also a co-chair of When We All Vote, will gift one lucky fan the opportunity to fly to Las Vegas for a meet-and-greet and tickets for two to the Latin Grammy Awards on Nov. 17.

Participants can apply for the When We All Vote “Meet Becky G” Sweepstakes by clicking this link.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CkPZRuSpkH-/

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Graces Cover of GQ Magazine, Talks Possible Presidential Run

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has you covered…

The 32-year-old Bronx-born Puerto Rican politician and activist, currently serving as the U.S. representative for New York’s 14th congressional district, appears on the cover of GQ’s October issue, the first female politician to grace the cover of the men’s magazine.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, GQ MagazineKnown simply as AOC, the New York congresswoman gave an extensive interview to GQ.

In it, she talked about Roe v. Wade, the January 6 insurrection, sexual assault, marriage, being ostracized by her own party and, possibly most candidly, about running for president.

“Sometimes little girls will say, ‘Oh, I want you to be president,’ or things like that,” Ocasio-Cortez told journalist Wesley Lowery. “It’s very difficult for me to talk about because it provokes a lot of inner conflict in that I never want to tell a little girl what she can’t do. And I don’t want to tell young people what is not possible. I’ve never been in the business of doing that. But at the same time…”

Lowery, a Pulitzer Prize winner, writes that at this point in his conversation with AOC “tears pooled in the corners of her eyes” as she spoke even more candidly.

“I hold two contradictory things [in mind] at the same time. One is just the relentless belief that anything is possible. But at the same time, my experience here has given me a front-row seat to how deeply and unconsciously, as well as consciously, so many people in this country hate women. And they hate women of color,” said Ocasio-Cortez. “People ask me questions about the future. And realistically, I can’t even tell you if I’m going to be alive in September. And that weighs very heavily on me. And it’s not just the right wing. Misogyny transcends political ideology: left, right, center. This grip of patriarchy affects all of us, not just women; men, as I mentioned before, but also, ideologically, there’s an extraordinary lack of self-awareness in so many places. And so those are two very conflicting things. I admit to sometimes believing that I live in a country that would never let that happen.”

Bill Richardson to Travel to Russia for Talks to Free Detained WNBA Star Brittney Griner

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Bill Richardson is hoping to help free Brittney Griner.

The 74-year-old Mexican-American politician and former New Mexico governor is planning to travel to Russia for talks aimed at finding a deal to free the detained WNBA star, according to ABC News.

Bill Richardson,He’s expected to go to Moscow in the next couple of weeks, the source said.

The former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Richardson has a long history of working to free Americans wrongfully detained overseas. He most recently played a role in a prisoner exchange that saw Russia release former U.S. Marine Trevor Reed after nearly two and a half years in captivity.

Richardson is currently representing the Griner family, as well as the family of Paul Whelan, another former Marine held by Russia for three and a half years.

Griner has been in detention in Russia since mid-February, when she was stopped at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport and accused of having vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage. Griner pleaded guilty to bringing hashish oil into Russia earlier this week, telling a judge that she had done so “inadvertently” while asking the court for mercy.

ESPN sources say the guilty plea was a strategy to help facilitate a prisoner swap that could bring Griner home, and it also was recognition that there was no way she was going to be acquitted. Griner faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of large-scale transportation of drugs.

The State Department issued a statement on Thursday saying it continues to work for Griner’s release. Asked to comment on Richardson’s potential visit, the White House National Security Council told ABC it was in contact with Richardson and valued his efforts, but declined to say more.

Richardson does not represent the White House. In Reed’s case, he approached Russia’s government and the Biden administration separately to try to feel out what both sides might accept as any possible deal. He then relayed what he had heard back to both sides.

Griner’s wife, Cherelle Griner, said she had requested the Richardson team’s help and would support a trip if it took place.

“We asked the Richardson Center to help and I’m encouraged that he might be going,” Cherelle Griner said in a statement to ABC through Griner’s agent Lindsay Colas.

U.S. Senate Advances Alvaro Bedoya’s Nomination to the Federal Trade Commission

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Alvaro Bedoya is one step closer to being Commission-ed…

The U.S. Senate has narrowly advanced the nomination of the 40-year-old Peruvian attorney and director of the Center on Privacy and Technology at the Georgetown University Law Center to the Federal Trade Commission.

Alvaro Bedoya

Democrats are seeking to end a deadlock on the commission and advance an agenda likely to take a harder line on corporation consolidation and tech giants.

The vote this week was 51-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking a tie. The Senate Commerce Committee split 14-14 earlier this month on the nomination, meaning that Democrats needed to use a more complicated legislative maneuver to move it forward via what is called a discharge petition.

Bedoya now faces additional Senate votes before confirmation, but that can happen if all members of the Democratic caucus stick together.

The FTC under chair Lina Khan did not challenge Amazon’s acquisition of MGM before the two companies closed the transaction, disappointing some union and public interest groups that had urged the agency to take a harder line. But any effort to challenge the merger likely would have been complicated by the lack of a Democratic majority on the FTC given the expectation that two Republican commissioners were expected to vote against a challenge to the transaction.

Still, the Writers Guild of America, Teamsters and other groups have urged the FTC to still challenge the transaction even post-merger.

An FTC spokesperson also did not rule out such a scenario.

“The FTC does not comment on any particular matters. However, we reiterate that the Commission does not approve transactions and may challenge a deal at any time if it determines that it violates the law,” the spokesperson said.

Republicans opposed the Bedoya nomination by arguing that he would be too partisan for the agency, pointing to some of his past social media posts.

Bedoya is the founding director of the Center on Privacy and Technology at Georgetown Law.

The FTC is expected to move to pass a comprehensive set of privacy rules for internet companies. The FTC and the Justice Department’s antitrust division are in the midst of a review of merger guidelines, with the expectation that they will lead to stricter enforcement.

Jennifer Lopez Joins Michelle Obama’s ‘When We All Vote’ Initiative

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Jennifer Lopez is helping get out the congressional vote…

The 52-year-old Puerto Rican superstar is among the celebrities who’ve joined a national nonpartisan voting initiative launched by former Michelle Obama as the effort gears up for the November congressional elections.

Jennifer Lopez

“Are you ready for the midterm elections?” the former first lady asks in the a video announcement.

J.Lo is one the newest co-chairs of Obama’s When We All Vote initiative, alongside H.E.R, Steph Curry, Becky G and Bretman Rock.

They join Selena Gomez, Tom Hanks, Liza Koshy, Janelle Monae, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Chris Paul, Megan Rapino, Shonda Rhimes, Kerry Washington and Rita Wilson.

The volunteer co-chairs use their platforms to help boost voter registration and education with the goal of helping increase turnout for congressional and state elections in November. Democrats currently have slim majorities in both the House and Senate.

“The right to vote is so important and I hope to inspire many in my generation to exercise that right often and purposefully,” H.E.R said in a statement provided by When We All Vote. “That’s the only way that we can hope to make change in policies that affect us all now and for many years to come.”

Mrs. Obama launched the voter education and registration initiative for the 2018 midterm elections.

Lin-Manuel Miranda Introduces “Hamilton” Cast Performance to Mark First Anniversary of January 6th Attack on U.S. Capitol

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Lin-Manuel Miranda is marking the first anniversary of the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol through music.

The 41-year-old Puerto Rican Tony Award-winning actor, songwriter, singer, playwright, producer and film director introduced a Hamilton cast performance of Dear Theodosia as part of the congressional events to mark the historic day.

Lin-Manuel Miranda “We should never take our rights and liberties for granted, but we must remain committed to finding a way forward together,” said Miranda, appearing virtually, along with members of the cast.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi cited lyrics from the song: We’ll make it right for you. If we lay a strong enough foundation, we will pass it on to you, and we will give the world to you.

The performance was followed by a discussion with Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden and historians Doris Kearns Goodwin and Jon Meacham, both of whom put the January 6th attack and the current political divisions in context with other moments of American history.

Their words were a bit of a warning. Goodwin said that “in my lifetime, this is the hardest moment for democracy,” while Meacham said that he believes “this is a chapter, not the end of the story. And if it is the end of the story we will have failed as a people that the world will forever condemn.”

But polls show a wide gap in beliefs even over what happened on January 6th, with revisionist takes over its root causes and conspiracy theories over the role of the government. The significance of the day also has been minimized, with one lawmaker comparing the rioters to tourists at the Capitol.

Meacham said that what people have to do is to “use the power of memory as an incentive, not as a bludgeon,” i.e. by presenting the situation as one of being on the right side of history.

“We don’t build statues to people who tear down; we build statues to people who create,” he said.

Goodwin said that she is hopeful that the January 6th Committee will be able to “retell the story” of that date, so that “more people can be persuaded that this cannot happen again.”

Camila Cabello Among Celebrities Calling on Corporate America to Urge Congress to Support President Joe Biden’s Climate Plan

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Camila Cabello is urging the U.S. Congress to support President Joe Biden’s climate change plan…

While Democratic leadership tries to unite its progressive and moderate wings, a group of 80-plus artists, celebrities and activists, including the 24-year-old Cuban/Mexican singer, are calling on the leaders of Google, Disney, Amazon, Fox, Facebook to join them in urging Congress to support Biden’s Build Back Better plan.

Camila Cabello

The effort was spearheaded by the National Resources Defense Council Action Fund and Cabello, who convinced the sizable group of A-listers to speak out, specifically about the need to address climate change.

In addition to Cabello, signatories to the group letter included J.J. Abrams, Greg Berlanti, Cate Blanchett, Jack Antonoff, Don Cheadle, Ellen DeGeneres, Selena Gomez, Shakira, Chris Evans, Jimmy Kimmel, Lady Gaga, John Legend, Chuck Lorre, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Sean Penn, Joaquin Phoenix, Billy Porter, Robert Redford, Ryan Reynolds, Shakira, Barbra Streisand, Wes Studi, Justin Timberlake, Kerry Washington and many more.

On Monday, a group of 17 Nobel Prize-winning economists also came out in support of Biden’s plan.

Manish Bapna, President and CEO of the NRDC Action Fund said, “These are the tastemakers of our time—and in moments like these they have an opportunity to be the changemakers, too. What started as an idea by Camila Cabello has exploded into a clarion call from entertainers overnight to take action. Congress holds in its hands our best chance at combating our biggest environmental challenge yet. We need all hands on deck to make sure they seize it, and these industry leaders can play a critical role in making sure that they do.”

In today’s initiative, the artists call out the following execs by name: Lincoln Benet at Access Industries (Warner Music Group), Sundar Pichai at Alphabet (Google, YouTube), Andy Jassy at Amazon, Tim Cook at Apple, John Stankey at AT&T (WarnerMedia), Brian Roberts at Comcast, David Zaslav at Discovery (and soon Warner Bros. Discovery), Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook, Lachlan Murdoch at Fox, Reed Hastings at Netflix, Kenichiro Yoshida at Sony, Robert Bakish at ViacomCBS, Arnaud de Puyfontaine at Vivendi (Universal Music Group) and Bob Chapek at Walt Disney.

“It’s no secret that climate change is here and is already affecting people’s lives across the globe,” wrote Cabello in her post on Instagram about the effort. “We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to act boldly to fight the climate crisis, so I am honored to join over 60 fellow artists to call on leaders of the entertainment industry to use their power and demand that Congress pass @potus’s #BuildBackBetter agenda this fall.”

Here’s the full text of the letter and a list of its signatories:

Dear Entertainment Industry Executives:

Climate change has arrived on our doorstep: California is on fire, record-breaking and deadly storms are flooding New York City, hurricanes are devastating the Gulf. This summer alone, nearly one in every three people in the United States experienced an extreme weather event.

Scientists warn that if we fail to act now, every single one of us will feel the impacts, a billion people will be displaced, and low-income people and communities of color will continue to be hit first and worst. Right now, we have a critical window of opportunity to do something about it. And we need all hands on deck to demand that our leaders protect the people we love and the places they live before it’s too late.

Congress has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in a clean, just, and equitable future for all by passing the robust climate action that President Biden called for in his Build Back Better agenda. This legislation will create healthier communities, put millions to work in clean energy jobs, and free us from the fossil fuels that are driving climate change.

As the top leaders of the entertainment industry—one of the nation’s most powerful and influential business sectors—you are needed to lead our community’s call for action and embrace this vision for a better world. The entertainment community has a long, proud tradition of driving societal change. Our industry is already leading the charge toward more sustainable practices within our own businesses and productions. Now is the time to use your influence to shape our future.

Congress needs to hear you demand, unequivocally, that it put forward and pass the most ambitious climate change agenda in U.S. history.

The plan currently before Congress will protect people’s health and clean up our drinking water. It will create a just transition away from dirty fossil fuels and create millions of new jobs. It will protect communities from climate change through investments in clean energy, clean transportation, and infrastructure upgrades. And it will make sure we finally prioritize and invest in the low-income communities and communities of color that are hit hardest by both fossil fuel pollution and climate impacts.

This plan will create a stronger, brighter, and more just America—and we need you to help make this vision a reality.

At this pivotal moment, please lead the call. Demand publicly and loudly that our senators and representatives in Congress pass this critical legislation.

And we pledge to do our part as well. We will use our platforms to remind all Americans: Tell your senators and representatives in Congress that you demand climate action now. Advocate for Congress to take up the president’s climate agenda. And don’t stop there. Tweet. Post. E-mail. Call. Whatever it takes.

Sincerely,

J.J. Abrams
Anitta
Jack Antonoff
Troian Bellisario
Greg Berlanti
Cate Blanchett
Benny Blanco
Dave Burd aka “Lil Dicky”
Camila Cabello
Dove Cameron
Alessia Cara
Don Cheadle
Glenn Close
Coldplay
Jacob Collier
Lily Collins
James Corden
Ellen DeGeneres
Cara Delevingne
Leonardo DiCaprio
Zac Efron
Billie Eilish
Chris Evans
Jimmy Fallon
Finneas
Selena Gomez
Conan Gray
Grimes
Todrick Hall
Hugh Jackman
Jimmy Kimmel
Joey King
Liza Koshy
Lady Gaga
Cyndi Lauper
John Legend
Adam Levine
Kevin Liles
Dua Lipa
Lorde
Chuck Lorre
Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Demi Lovato
Ziggy Marley
Shawn Mendes
Idina Menzel
Lin-Manuel Miranda
Sean Penn
Joaquin Phoenix
Billy Porter
Zachary Quinto
Addison Rae
Robert Redford
Ryan Reynolds
Mark Ronson
Kyra Sedgwick
Shakira
Lilly Singh
Troye Sivan
Barbra Streisand
Wes Studi
Ryan Tedder
Justin Timberlake
Kerry Washington
Sigourney Weaver
Shailene Woodley
Calum Worthy

Alvaro Bedoya Nominated to Serve on Federal Trade Commission

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Alvaro Bedoya could be trading up…

The Peruvian-American privacy advocate and visiting professor of law at Georgetown University, has been nominated as one of five commissioners to the Federal Trade Commission.

Alvaro Bedoya

The White House announced Joe Biden’s nomination of Bedoya on Monday.

If confirmed, Bedoya likely will be another staunch advocate of taking robust action to rein in the power of big tech platforms.

He’s the founding director of the Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown Law. The White House noted that his Bedoya’s research and report on facial recognition technology that paved the way for new restrictions on the use of the practice.

Bedoya would succeed Rohit Chopra, who Biden has selected to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Biden nominated another advocate of strong enforcement, Lina Kahn, who has been critical of the growth of large tech platforms, and appointed her to chair the commission after her confirmation. Among other things, the FTC is reviewing Google’s proposed acquisition of MGM.

Bedoya previously served as the first chief counsel to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law.

He is a naturalized citizen born in Peru, and co-founded the college scholarship Esperanza Education Fund. He’s a graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School.