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NATO chief: ‘Freedom is more important than free trade’

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday the protection of freedom is more important than free trade and expressed regret for the West’s reliance on Russian energy.

Stoltenberg emphasized that expanding international trade and globalization have brought great wealth and prosperity.

“But we must recognize that our economic choices had consequences for our security,” Stoltenberg said. “Freedom is more important than free trade. The protection of our values is more important than profit.”

In the 1990s, Stoltenberg, then Norway’s minister of energy, thought expanding the European gas market with supplies from North Africa and Russia would be beneficial. But he said partnerships like that, and the now-scrapped Nord Stream 2 pipeline connecting Russia and Germany, gave Russia too much leverage.

He said relying on Moscow for such a crucial commodity “provides Russia with a tool to intimidate and to use against us.”

The U.S. and its NATO allies have imposed punishing sanctions on Russia’s leaders and its central bank, while dozens of multinational countries have shut down operations in the country — most recently McDonald’s and Starbucks. 

Stoltenberg called out China as well, which has been accused of systematically stealing intellectual property and other forms of commercial espionage. Stoltenberg said China’s role in building out 5G networks in Europe is a vital security consideration.

“We should not trade long-term security needs for short-term economic interests,” he added.

China remains the dominant player in the global 5G race, though the U.S. under former President Trump made it a priority to start catching up. 

Stoltenberg said that while he was not arguing against trade with China, it was crucial that mutual economic benefits do not come at the cost of undermining international order, and he stressed the importance of European and North American partnerships between like-minded countries. 

​​“In the spirit of Davos, I count on you, too,” Stoltenberg said.

Stoltenberg’s speech comes as Russia’s war in Ukraine is compounding global inflation, particularly in food and energy costs, and threatens to push millions around the world into hunger due to closing off Ukraine’s export markets. 

Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, on Tuesday condemned Russia’s use of hunger and grain to gain power, calling their actions “blackmail” during a speech at the Davos forum. 

“Global cooperation is the antidote to Russia’s blackmail,” she added.

But despite the growing economic pressure to end the war, Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova stressed during a speech in Washington on Monday that “peace at any cost is not in anyone’s interest.”

“Either you win and you can live peacefully in your own country, or you die, and it doesn’t matter whether you die quickly, right away from the shells, or you die slowly [from] occupation and torture,” she said.

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United worker fired after video of bloody brawl in Newark Airport, company says

NEWARK, N.J. (WPIX) — A worker for United Airlines was fired after getting into a bloody, caught-on-video fight with a traveler at Newark Airport, a company spokesperson told Nexstar’s WPIX on Tuesday.

Videos of the brawl were posted to Twitter on Sunday and quickly went viral. The incident happened on Thursday just after 11 a.m., according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport.

A traveler in a black hooded sweatshirt and the worker — wearing a white shirt and black vest — were arguing when the worker hit the other man in the face, both videos show. The man in the hoodie hits back, throwing multiple punches that sent the worker careening backward into a check-in table and then to the ground.

When the worker stood up, blood was smeared across the top of his face, both videos show. The two men continued to argue until other airport workers stepped in.

In a series of tweets on Monday, former NFL player Brendan Langley identified himself as the man in the hooded sweatshirt. He claimed the worker followed him and escalated the situation before people started recording the fight. 

“Every angle shows me walking away from buddy, I had a whole a– flight that morning I did not want any smoke! He followed me all the way down to the kiosk just to cause me bodily harm. I’m honestly still shocked,” he tweeted. “[You] can clearly see soooo many @united employees watching everything unfold while I’m basically begging for help. Craziest part not one of them helped de-escalate the situation! It was like they wanted it to happen. Like I had a target on my back.”

Port Authority police took Langley into custody following the fight, an agency spokesperson told WPIX on Tuesday. He was charged with simple assault and released on his own recognizance.

The unidentified worker was an employee of United Ground Express, a subsidiary of United Airlines, according to a company spokesperson. He was not taken into custody following the fight, the spokesperson told WPIX on Monday. The airline is cooperating with authorities in their investigation.

“United Airlines does not tolerate violence of any kind at our airports or onboard our planes and we are working with local authorities in their investigation of this matter,” the United spokesperson said in an updated statement provided to WPIX. “United Ground Express informed us that the employee has been terminated.”

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Finance chair asks accounting firm why it disavowed Trump Org. financial documents

Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) sent a letter to former President Trump’s longtime accounting firm on Tuesday demanding to know why the company disavowed financial statements prepared for the Trump Organization.

Mazars terminated its relationship with the Trump Organization in February, saying that it could no longer vouch for the business’s financial statements for the past decade following revelations from an ongoing investigation by New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) into the family’s business practices.

Wyden wrote in the letter that Mazars had not provided information as to why the documents should no longer be relied upon, asking the firm if the retractions were a result of errors by Mazars personnel or if the Trump Organization provided misleading or inaccurate information. He asked the company for a response by June 7.

“It is highly uncommon for a global accounting firm to directly cast doubt on the validity of its own work for a major client, not least a multi-billion dollar enterprise owned largely by an individual who went on to become the president of the United States,” Wyden wrote.

James’s office revealed earlier this year that it had uncovered “significant” evidence that the Trump Organization has for years been falsifying the value of its assets for financial gain, including to win tax breaks and attract investors.

Trump has fought to block her efforts in both state and federal court, while painting the investigation as a political witch hunt in the media.

A state judge last month found Trump in contempt for failing to turn over requested documents and ordered him to pay $10,000 a day until he complied. Trump paid the fine on Thursday — totaling $110,000 — but James’ office said he still must submit additional paperwork in order to have the contempt order lifted.

In Tuesday’s letter, Wyden also raised concerns about a report that the former president testified that he personally oversaw executive compensation at the Trump Organization, which is the focus of a tax fraud investigation being prosecuted by the Manhattan district attorney.

Wyden noted Mazars’ letter in February stating that the Trump Organization had failed to provide details related to an apartment owned by Matt Calamari Jr., the company’s director of security.

“These questions are all the more concerning in light of allegations that Mr. Trump previously submitted misleading documents to the IRS, as well as past violations of tax laws and ongoing tax fraud investigations involving Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization,” Wyden wrote.

He asked Mazars if it believes the Trump Organization provided materially true and correct information to the accounting firm and if the company engaged in any prohibited political activity.

“As certified tax practitioners, Mazars’ employees are bound by several duties relating to the identification of incorrect information or omissions related to tax returns prepared for its clients,” Wyden wrote.

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1 in 5 likely to switch jobs in next year: survey

A new survey released on Tuesday found that 1 in 5 respondents reported it is very likely or extremely likely that they will switch jobs in the next year.

A report by PwC, “Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2022,” surveyed over 52,000 people in 44 countries and territories. The survey found that in the coming year, over one-third of workers anticipate asking for a raise and about 20 percent of people are likely to change jobs.

The PwC report found that people who said they were very or extremely likely to look for another job were less likely — by 14 percentage points — to say they found their job fulfilling compared to those very or extremely unlikely to look for another job. 

Workers likely to switch jobs were also less likely by 11 percentage points to feel like they could be their true self at work, by 9 percentage points to feel that their team cares about them or that they are fairly rewarded financially and by 7 percentage points to feel heard by their manager, according to the report.

The report comes amid what some are calling the “Great Resignation,” which has seen millions of Americans voluntarily leave their jobs amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and an uptick in union organizing as labor shortages in certain sectors has given workers more leverage than in previous years.

Companies and businesses including Bank of America and Starbucks have raised their wages in hopes of retaining and attracting employees. However, the report warned that higher pay alone would not be enough to keep employees.

“Retaining these employees will require more than just pay; fulfilling work and the opportunity to be one’s authentic self at work also matter to employees who are considering a job change,” the report from PwC, the brand name for PricewaterhouseCoopers, said.

Source: TEST FEED1

Whoopi Goldberg admonishes 'The View' studio audience for booing Kellyanne Conway

Whoopi Goldberg, a co-host of ABC’s “The View,” chastised members of the show’s studio audience on Tuesday after some of them booed former top aide to President Trump Kellyanne Conway as she appeared on set to promote a new book.

As Conway was describing her disappointment in Trump’s 2020 presidential election loss, she was interrupted by members of the audience who booed her after she said Trump “had all these accomplishments and was running against a guy who was stuck in the basement,” in reference to President Biden.

“Listen, this is ‘The View.’ And she’s talking about her view and how she feels about things,” Goldberg said, turning to the studio audience. “Please don’t boo her.”

“I think it was me saying it was Biden staying in the basement that was the problem,” Conway responded with a smile.

Conway is promoting a new memoir about her political career and time in Trump’s White House. In the book, she has acknowledged Trump’s 2020 election loss and criticized members of the former president’s family. She has also shared her thoughts and feelings on the public fighting between Trump and her husband, George Conway.

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America's common ground: Democrats and Republicans alike want transparent, objective elections

Sixteen months after the assault on the U.S. Capitol, candidates who most aggressively questioned electoral integrity scored big wins in last Tuesday’s primaries, and trust in democratic governance remains at or near historic lows. Restoring some measure of national unity to repair and bolster our democracy is a herculean task. But despite unprecedented levels of polarization, there are glimmers of agreement across the political spectrum. Perhaps most importantly, Democrats and Republicans alike want elections that are transparent and objectively administered. 

We are conditioned to view Americans as hopelessly polarized, and not just on hot-button issues such as the future of abortion rights in an anticipated post-Roe era, but even on fundamental questions about the functioning of our democracy.

Perhaps the clearest example is the intensifying polarization over who bears responsibility for the Jan. 6 insurrection, whether those who stormed the Capitol should be prosecuted and what steps, if any, should be taken to ensure such an attack never happens again. In a house so divided, can there be any patches of common ground that at least open a door for bipartisan solutions to shore up American democracy?

To find out, we conducted a unique survey combining a general population national sample with two representative samples in targeted swing congressional districts, Michigan-8 and Texas-15. This sampling strategy allows us to examine whether the political divides or points of intersection observed in the country as a whole are also mirrored in the battleground districts that decide the balance of power in Washington.

To be sure, we found plenty of evidence of a polarized public. For example, just one in four Republicans responded that Jan. 6 was a major threat to democracy, versus 83 percent of Democrats. Similarly, while more than two in three Democrats supported reforms to expand permanently early voting and voting by mail, just 16 percent of Republicans did so. But we also found important, if narrower, points of broad consensus.

Most importantly, wide swaths of Americans from across the political divide expressed concern about and backed efforts to address the integrity of electoral processes themselves. Democrats and Republicans alike recoiled against efforts by state legislatures to strip election oversight and vote counting responsibilities from civil servants and government workers and instead open the door for machinations by political operatives. Super-majorities of both Democrats (63 percent) and Republicans (69 percent) strongly supported reforms that would require all election officials and poll-watchers to be nonpartisan. And while support was stronger and more intense on the Democratic side, majorities in both parties supported reforms that would remove the redistricting process from politicians and instead entrust it to independent commissions.

The survey offered some surprises with important implications for would-be reformers on both sides of the aisle. Among Republicans, perhaps the most unexpected result was the degree of support for a restoration of the pre-clearance provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which were struck down by the Supreme Court in Shelby County v. Holder. More than two in three Republicans supported increased federal oversight of elections laws in states that have a history of discrimination against minority voters or voting rights violations. One in three strongly supported it. 

For Democrats, perhaps the most illuminating finding was the extent of support and emphasis many Democrats place on protecting another cornerstone democratic value — freedom of speech. More than 70 percent of Democrats (and more than 80 percent of Republicans) agreed that the “canceling” of journalists and university faculty for expressing views some find offensive is a major or medium threat to democracy. Just under 80 percent of Democrats approved of reforms to strengthen the right to free speech, even when offensive to some; 70 percent of Democrats supported strengthening free speech in an alternate wording of the question that explicitly mentioned “cancel” culture, often seen as a cause celebre of the ideological right. 

Finally, concerns about election security also span the partisan divide. As expected, an overwhelming majority of Republicans, 95 percent, supported reforms to require a photo identification to vote, with 84 percent strongly supporting such a reform. But just under 75 percent of Democrats also supported requiring a photo ID to vote (with 43 percent strongly supporting such a reform). Moreover, support for stronger voter ID requirements were strongest among Democrats in TX-15 (57 percent strongly supporting the reform in this district versus 40 percent among Democrats nationally), a majority-minority district. 

The Freedom to Vote Act and John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act both remain stalled in the Senate with little hope for passage. And yet, core components of both bills enjoy broad bipartisan support. Further compromises, for example greater guarantees of equitable access to the ballot coupled with greater electoral security, could appeal to even broader majorities in both parties. Such a victory could go some way toward restoring public faith in democratic institutions — if political elites find the will to seize the opportunity.     

Steve Israel represented New York in the U.S. House of Representatives over eight terms and was chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee from 2011 to 2015. He is now director of the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy Institute of Politics and Global Affairs. Follow him on Twitter @RepSteveIsrael. Doug Kriner is faculty director at the Institute of Politics and Global Affairs and Clinton Rossiter Professor in American Institutions, College of Arts and Sciences, at Cornell University.

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Long COVID symptoms can last more than a year, researchers say

A new study published on Tuesday found that long COVID symptoms can last 14.8 months after initial infection.

The study comes as researchers try to better understand the effects of long COVID.

A study published in the Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology looked at 52 people who were a part of an initial subset of 100 long COVID patients surveyed last year. Patients participated in the study between 11 and 18 months since they initially tested positive for COVID-19.

Of those who participated in the follow-up study, 77 percent were vaccinated between the first clinic visit and the second.

Seventy-three percent of those who were surveyed were female and the overwhelming majority — 90.3 percent — were white.

The study determined that there was no “significant” change in the frequency of neurologic symptoms between the first and second evaluations. Neurologic symptoms enumerated in the study included “brain fog,” numbness and tingling, headache and dizziness, among others.

Patients who participated in the survey reported “improvements in their recovery, cognitive function, and fatigue, but quality of life measures remained lower.”

“In addition, there were no significant changes in the frequency of non-neurologic symptoms including fatigue, depression/anxiety, shortness of breath, chest pain, and insomnia,” the study added.

The researchers noted that there were significant increases between the initial evaluation and follow-up evaluation in variation in heart rate, blood pressure and gastrointestinal symptoms.  

The development comes as researchers continue to learn more about long COVID, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines as “a wide range of new, returning, or ongoing health problems that people experience after first being infected with the virus that causes COVID-19.”

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New home sales dropped 16 percent in April, hitting pre-pandemic pace

Sales of newly constructed homes plunged in April as rising interest rates and a historic surge in sale prices kept the housing market in a slowdown.

Sales of new single-family houses fell 16 percent to a seasonally adjusted yearly pace of 591,000 homes sold in April, down sharply from a revised rate of 709,000 homes sold per year in March. New home sales have fallen in five consecutive months and by more than 10 percent in both March and April.

The median sale price for a new home also rose to $450,600, up from $435,000 in March, and the April average sale price jumped to $570,300 from $522,500 in March.

“The housing market is now back to pre-pandemic levels, so this massive hit in April should not be construed as the popping of a bubble,” said Jeffrey Roach, chief economist for LPL Financial, in a Tuesday analysis.

The housing market had been roaring hot throughout most of 2020 and 2021, with both home sales and prices soaring until the end of last year.

The rise of teleworking and remote learning pushed more Americans to buy or upsize homes as ultra low interest rates and a flood of fiscal stimulus fueled higher demand. Longstanding shortfalls in home construction and a reluctance among some owners to sell their homes kept up pressure on prices, leading to increases of nearly 20 percent nationwide.

The hot housing market, however, has begun to cool off as the Federal Reserve raises interest rates and American families feel the strain of rising prices across the economy. The average interest rate for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage is roughly 5.4 percent this week, according to Bankrate.com, after lingering near 2 percent in the beginning of the year.

As the Fed raises its baseline interest rate range and previews future hikes, banks and mortgage lenders set higher rates on home loans as borrowing costs across the economy increase. While interest rates on credit cards are tied directly to Fed actions, banks and lenders set mortgage rates based largely on how the market for Treasury Department bonds acts from day to day.

“Rising prices and increasing borrowing costs are dampening housing demand, especially for first-time buyers. The average 30 year mortgage rates constantly crept up in April, stifling loan demand,” Roach said.

A steady decline in home sales may ease some pressure on housing prices as fewer buyers compete for homes on the market. Even so, rising interest rates and supply chain disruptions will also limit home construction from filling a deep pre-pandemic shortfall of housing exacerbated by the past two years.

Slowing home sales could also slow the overall pace of the economy, as home purchases and the spending needed to furnish them are a key contributor to gross domestic product.

“New home sales will likely recover near-term as some homebuyers draw up new budgets and adjust to higher interest rates,” said Bill Adams, chief economist for Comerica Bank, in a Tuesday analysis.

“Many other buyers will simply be priced out, and either turn to the multifamily market or rent. Home price increases are set to cool considerably in the next few months as this transition unfolds.”

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MacKenzie Scott donates $123 million to Big Brothers Big Sisters

MacKenzie Scott gave $122.6 million to Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, the national youth-mentoring charity announced on Tuesday. The gift is the latest of several the billionaire writer has given to large national nonprofits that carry out their missions through local chapters in neighborhoods throughout the country.

With this latest donation, Scott has contributed a total of nearly $12.5 billion since 2020 to at least 1,253 nonprofits, many of which aim to help low-income and underserved populations. Her latest gift to Big Brothers Big Sisters of America follows three other nine-figure donations she gave to large national charities with local affiliates in March.

Those include $275 million to Planned Parenthood Federation of American for its national office and 21 of its local affiliates, $436 million to Habitat for Humanity International and 84 of its U.S. affiliates, and $281 million to the Boys & Girls Clubs America and 62 of its local chapters.

So far Scott has given at least $1.5 billion in the first five months of 2022, according to roughly 30 nonprofits that have announced Scott gifts this year.

Like almost all of Scott’s donations, the contribution is unrestricted, so the charity can use it for programs, operations, or any other purpose.

“This is a moonshot for the work that we are going to do,” said Artis Stevens, the group’s CEO, who said it has spent the past two years designing a strategic plan for expanding its mentoring capabilities and was starting to devise fundraising efforts when Stevens received news of the gift last week. “Even though this gift is going to be transformative, one in three kids in this country don’t have a positive sustained mentor in their lives and so this challenge is bigger than one organization can take on. We know we have to be able to build a capacity both in our organization as well as partnering with others to take this on.”

Stevens says the organization plans to use Scott’s gift for a variety of efforts in both its national office in Tampa, Florida, and at 38 of its 230 chapters throughout the county. Many of the families and youths the nonprofit serves are from underserved populations and were hit hard by the pandemic and recent social-justice struggles.

The organization currently has 30,000 youths waiting for a mentor. Stevens says Scott’s gift will help expand its ability to match more youths with mentors and provide more mentor-training programs. It also aims to attract more volunteers who identify as people of color and LGBTQ+, as well as those in rural areas.

The nonprofit plans to broaden its offerings beyond its traditional format of one-to-one mentoring for children and teens by creating more group mentoring, peer-to-peer mentoring, and workplace mentoring for 18- to 25-year-olds.

“We’re the largest provider of youth workplace mentoring in the country,” said Stevens. “We want to be able to expand and extend our vision to every company in America to have a youth-mentoring program that both helps supply more of the work force and helps engage employees and give opportunities to kids in underrepresented, underserved communities.”

Youth-mentoring programs take a tremendous amount of resources and staff time to be run well, said David DuBois, a University of Illinois professor who has studied mentoring programs for three decades and was a volunteer mentor for Big Brothers Big Sisters for two years earlier in his academic career.

“You’ve got to be able to support those relationships and check in and make sure that all parties — the kid, the volunteer, the parents — are getting the encouragement and the guidance,” DuBois said. “So there’s a lot of moving parts to these programs.”

A key part is the extensive interview and vetting process volunteer mentors must go through before they are approved to work with youths, he said. Volunteers must be trained, and then the relationship between the volunteer and the young person needs continued guidance and monitoring. Having enough resources to carry all of that out is crucial.

While Scott’s gift is a windfall for the organization, Stevens says with all that the charity hopes to accomplish, he knows it will go only so far. He and his team are already having conversations with the organization’s donors about its ongoing needs. Stevens says he sees the gift as an “invitation”

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