La semaine dernière, Eva Green était pointée du doigt aux Etats-Unis à cause de l’affiche, jugée trop sexy, de Sin City 2. La jeune actrice se défend et assume le cliché, s’étonnant juste des proportions prises par cette affaire.
Eva Green ne pensait pas que Sin City 2 lui apporterait une telle notoriété aux Etats-Unis, et même dans le monde. Pas facile en effet pour la jeune Française de 33 ans de tirer son épingle du jeu au milieu des Josh Brolin, Jessica Alba, Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Rosario Dawson et autre Mickey Rourke. Le film n’est même pas encore sorti que c’est pourtant d’Eva Green dont on parle le plus. La raison: une des affiches de Sin City 2 qui fait polémique en raison d’un cliché de la fille de Marlène Jobert, jugé trop dénudé.
Aujourd’hui, Eva Green réagit dans une interview accordée à Vanity Fair. «Je ne suis pas vraiment nue, se défend-elle. C’est un peu bizarre, c’est beaucoup de bruit pour rien». La tête sur les épaules, l’actrice tente de prendre un peu de recul vis-à-vis de la polémique. «Il y a tellement de choses plus violentes dans l’industrie du film, et ça c’est plutôt gentil. Je ne suis pas nue, c’est suggéré» affirme-t-elle.
Femme de caractère, Eva Green n’est pas du genre à faire profil bas devant la critique. Elle assume même la photo en déclarant: «Je trouve ça très sexy en fait. C’est assez beau. Après, si ça choque des gens, je ne peux pas y faire grand-chose». La seule chose qui la chiffonne c’est d’être catalogué. «Je ne veux pas être vue uniquement comme une femme fatale ou être mise dans une stupide boîte, j’espère que les gens auront assez d’imagination». C’est justement ça le problème, que les censeurs et les défenseurs de la vertu aux Etats-Unis aient trop d’imagination. On espère juste qu’en France, où le film sort le 17 septembre, les affiches d’Eva Green ne seront pas censurées.
Très rare devant les médias, Patrice Evra a été assailli de questions hier par les journalistes venus en nombre pour le questionner. Détendu, blagueur et parfois piquant, Patrice Evra s’est livré à un exercice de haute voltige hier au camp de base des Bleus situé à Ribeirão Preto. Il s’en est sorti avec brio.
Bouc-émissaire de l’Equipe de France lors de la calamiteuse Coupe du Monde 2010, Patrice Evra a marqué des points hier après-midi lors de sa conférence de presse. Le défenseur de Manchester United a notamment insisté sur son bonheur d’être présent au mondial brésilien. «Depuis qu’on est ici, j’ai l’impression d’être un gosse de huit ans, l’âge de mon fils, a-t-il confié devant les journalistes. Je suis heureux, sur le terrain comme devant vous. Je vis le moment présent et chaque moment est important.» Comme le répète à l’envi les joueurs devant les médias depuis leur arrivée au Brésil, pas de doute l’ambiance est au beau fixe dans le groupe France. «Tout va bien et parfois, ça fait peur, admet l’ancien capitaine des Bleus (Hugo Loris porte aujourd’hui le brassard ndlr). Tous les feux sont au vert, j’en ai même entendu un qui me disait : « Pat, t’imagines si on jouait tous dans le même club… » Je lui ai répondu : « On joue tous pour le même pays, c’est déjà magnifique. » Depuis le France-Ukraine, je ressens vraiment qu’il y a cette fierté de porter le maillot Bleu. Et ça peut nous emmener loin.»
Réputé pour son franc-parler, Patrice Evra n’a éludé aucune question. Morceaux choisis. Quelle différence y-a-t’il entre le Evra de 2010 et celui de 2014 ? “Pourquoi tu ne l’aimes pas celui de 2010 ? (Sourire) Je suis le même, je fais les mêmes choses. En 2010, j’ai pris mon rôle un peu trop à cœur et ça m’a bouffé. Maintenant, je reçois plus et ça me change la vie. Ma priorité, c’est que tous les gars donnent le maximum” Avez-vous plus de sympathie pour le Evra de 2014 ? “Je m’aime tout le temps… Je sais, c’est un peu arrogant. Que ce soit dans les moments difficiles ou de joie, je reste le même. Je ne vais pas critiquer ma personne. Il y aurait peut-être certaines choses que je n’aurais pas faites. Mais les deux Pat, je les kiffe… “ Avez-vous finalement trouvé la taupe de Knysna? “On était dans une telle bulle. J’en ai été résolu à chercher une taupe… (Il s’interrompt) Un grand moment et je l’ai toujours pas trouvée (rires).”
Il a revanche trouvé la bonne méthode pour faire mouche face aux journalistes!
The Chicago Police Department believe Empire actor Jussie Smollett staged an attack on himself last month, according to a report.
“Chicago Police believe Jussie Smollett paid two men to orchestrate the assault. The sources tell CNN that the two men are now cooperating fully with law enforcement,” tweeted CNN crime and justice reporter Shimon Prokupecz Saturday evening.
Earlier Saturday, Fox 32 Chicago’s Rafer Weigel, citing several police sources, reported Abimbola “Abel” and Olabinjo “Ola” Osundairo — the two Nigerian brothers arrested and later questioned by police about the alleged incident — purchased the rope found around the actor’s neck the night of the alleged attack at an ACE hardware store.
CBS Chicago’s Charlie De Mar reports at least one of the brothers bought the rope at Craft Beaver hardware store the weekend of January 25th. The rope was purchased at the direction of Smollett, De Mar, citing sources, added.
Further, the brothers were paid $3,500 before traveling to Nigeria and promised an extra $500 upon their return, according to De Mar.
The dramatic developments come after Chicago police released the two men, citing to “new evidence” obtained in their interrogations. “Due to new evidence as a result of today’s interrogations, the individuals questioned by police in the Empire case have now been released without charging and detectives have additional investigative work to complete,” said Chicago Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.
In a phone interview with New York Times reporter Sopan Deb, Guglielmi would not confirm Weigel’s report, but did say, “After we spoke to the former suspects last night, detectives reached out to Jussie Smollett’s attorneys and expressed interest that we need to talk to him again.”
On Wednesday, the Osundairo brothers were arrested by police at O’Hare Airport after returning from a trip to Nigeria to visit family, and brought in for questioning. The brothers were reportedly spotted on surveillance footage in the Chicago neighborhood where the alleged incident occurred. Gloria Schmidt, an attorney for the brothers had told CBS 2 that her clients could be charged on Friday. “They were actually detained at customs at O’Hare airport yesterday around 5:45 p.m.,” Schmidt said. “They had no idea what was going on, and they’ve been detained since then.”
“When they first learned about what happened to him they were horrified. This is someone they know. This is someone they’ve worked with, so they don’t want to see somebody go through that,” she continued.
The lawyer confirmed the Osundairos had been extras on Empire and went to the gym with Smollett.
Smollett, who is black and gay, has said two masked men shouting racial and anti-gay slurs and “This is MAGA country!” beat him and looped a rope around his neck early on January 29 before fleeing the scene. He said they also poured some kind of chemical on him. Smollett, 36, said he was out getting food at a Subway sandwich shop in downtown Chicago when the attack occurred.
Smollett has maintained that he has been truthful about the incident, contending his story has not changed since it took place. “I am working with authorities and have been 100% factual and consistent on every level,” the actor said in a statement to ESSENCE magazine. “Despite my frustrations and deep concern with certain inaccuracies and misrepresentations that have been spread, I still believe that justice will be served.”
Michael Monico, the high-powered criminal defense attorney representing longtime Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, revealed Thursday that he is also representing Smollett, a sign the actor-singer may be gearing up for a major legal battle.
In his first interview since the alleged attack, Smollett told ABC’s Good Morning America he was targeted due to his outspokenness against President Donald Trump and his administration. “I come really, really hard against 45. I come really hard against his administration. I don’t hold my tongue,” he told Robin Roberts in a sitdown that aired Friday.
The alleged encounter spurred Democrat presidential contenders and score of Hollywood celebrities to condemn the attack — for which many of those entertainment and politic figures blamed President Donald Trump.
Reacting to the alleged incident, comedian Billy Eichner tweeted: “Heartbroken and furious reading about the attack on @JussieSmollett. I want Trump and all MAGA lunatics to burn in Hell.”
“The racist and homophobic attack on Jussie Smollett is a horrific instance of the surging hostility toward minorities around the country. We must come together to eradicate all forms of bigotry and violence,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said.
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) condemned the alleged assault, describing it as an “attempted modern day lynching.”
“No one should have to fear for their life because of their sexuality or color of their skin. We must confront this hate,” she said.
In response to the alleged attack, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) had even called on the House to pass legislation that would designate lynching a federal hate crime — re-upping the bill, which passed the Senate in December.
President Trump also weighed in on the matter, calling the alleged attack “horrible,” adding that “It doesn’t get worse.”
Smollett could receive between one to three years in jail for filing a false police report under State of Illinois law. Associated Press contributed to this report.
Screenwriter and director Chuck Konzelman told Breitbart News that big tech companies should “make the algorithms public” in an effort to be more transparent about “what’s allowed and what’s not.” Konzelman is the co-writer and co-director of the recently released pro-life film, Unplanned, and offered his remarks in a Thursday interview on SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily with host Amanda House.
Konzelman, who spoke to a Senate panel at a subcommittee hearing on the stifling of speech on social media on Wednesday, told Breitbart News of the struggles that he and his business partners had faced over declined advertisements, as well as online censorship, which he believes has stifled the promotion and awareness surrounding the pro-life film, Unplanned.
The director suggested that one step in the right direction would be for big tech companies to make their algorithms transparent. “If the tech giants want to be protected by the special protection under the law that they have, I think that they have to make the algorithms public — that they use to figure out what’s allowed and what’s not,” stated Konzelman.
“I think they should be allowed to keep the mathematics secret — but that’s kind of a proprietary formula — I think that they need to show everything else. They need to be transparent as far as everything else, and look — I think they’ll resist at every turn, and I think it’s going to be a very long, very difficult fight, which is going to go on for years,” added the director.
Konzelman also spoke about the problems they had with Twitter, as well as Google, which had turned down “any and all banner advertisement” for the film.
“And then, [the film] finally came out, [Google] found a new objection,” added Konzelman, “They found some ticket event sales prohibition that they had on the books somewhere, which none of our market people had ever heard of — and then, on the night of our film’s release, our Twitter account was suspended.”
“Our next challenge that we will face — and we’re already well aware — is streaming,” continued Konzelman, who added that Unplanned is currently in the top few — if not the number one — independent movie of the year thus far, which would make the film “irresistible bait for streaming giants,” such as Netflix.
Konzelman said that a recent meeting between the film’s distribution chief and one of the streaming giant’s founders had resulted in “no appetite whatsoever” for Unplanned.
“They just don’t want it,” said the director.
When it comes to Amazon Prime, the director said that the streaming platform is currently funding a pro-abortion film. “So we know where the sentiments lie,” added Konzelman, who went on to also talk about the struggle they have had with obtaining license studio-owned music for the pro-life film.
“We were able to pay, we went far down the negotiation process — from one studio, we were then asked, ‘Is this a Christian film, and is it about abortion, and what side are you on?’ And when we told them honestly, they said ‘No, no no, no music for you,’” said Konzelman.
The film, as described by Konzelman during Wednesday’s hearing, is about “the true-life story of Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood surgical abortion clinic director, who, after seeing an abortion take place in real time on a sonogram screen, the image created via the ultrasound probe that Abby herself was holding turned her entire worldview upside-down and became a pro-life advocate.”
You can follow Unplanned‘s Twitter account at @UnplannedMovie. The film is currently playing in theaters across the country.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Twitter at @ARmastrangelo and on Instagram.
The first female Captain Marvel was a black woman and an online petition calling for Brie Larson to be replaced is gaining steam.
The petition’s goal is 9,000 signatures and already (as of this writing) over 8,000 supporters have signed on.
“We need Brie Larson to step down from her role to prove she is an ally of social justice and ensure a gay woman of color plays the role,” the petition reads [emphasis original]. “Let Monica, the original female & BLACK Captain Marvel instead of white-washing characters for the benefit of the straight, white men running Disney.
To back up their argument that Larson is “all talk,” the petitioners also criticize the Oscar-winner for her charitable giving … or lack of…
“She hasn’t donated money to any charity other than The Motion Picture and Television Fund Foundation (https://www.looktothestars.org/celebrity/brie-larson) and it’s time for her to show she is not all-talk.”
The “Monica” referred to in the petition is the character Monica Rambeau, created by Marvel comics all the way back in 1982. Rambeau is a black woman (based on The Mighty Pam Grier) but there is no reference to her being homosexual.
Monica Rambeau does appear in the movie Captain Marvel, but as the daughter of Carol Danvers’ (Larson) best friend.
Here’s the thing — and this is important — the petitioners have a point, because Monica Rambeau was indeed the first female Captain Marvel, not Larson’s Carol Danvers.
Monica Rambeau became Captain Marvel in 1982. She even led the Avengers for a time!
Carol Danvers was Ms. Marvel in 1977, but did not become Captain Marvel until … 2012, a full 30 years after Rambeau.
In other words, this petition is not a troll; the petitioners have a real point. Marvel did step over a black woman to cast Brie Larson, who might be the whitest woman in the world, as a female Captain Marvel.
“To me it’s like, we gotta move faster,” Larson said of representation in movies. “But I’m always wanting to move faster with this stuff.”
But now we know it is indeed all talk from Larson. She had the opportunity to move things faster by refusing to allow Captain Marvel to be whitewashed. She could have turned down the role, she could have passed the test and made a stink about how Marvel Studios (which Disney owns) was casting a white woman in a role originated by a black woman.
Brie Larson was offered the opportunity to make a difference and chose instead to selfishly grab the fame and paycheck away from a black actress.
And what the hell’s the matter with Marvel-Disney? Larson is the single most unlikable star in any of the Marvel Studios movies (or any movie, actually), and for decades Hollywood has been an embarrassment of riches when it comes to charismatic and talented black actresses who are under-utilized.
Marvel not only stepped right over the opportunity to honor its own legacy-canon-source material by casting a black woman as Captain Marvel, in order to do so Marvel fans have been punished with Larson’s insufferable presence; her Captain Wonder Bread, who is as unappealing as she is generic.
Left-wing Hollywood remains one of the most racist institutions in this country. Casting a black woman as Captain Marvel was a no-brainer decision for Disney-Marvel, was the right decision, and they should all be ashamed of themselves — as should shameless hypocrite Brie Larson.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.
Italian Health Minister Beatrice Lorenzin | Emmanuel Dunand/AFP via Getty Images
Vaccine debate gives Italian election campaign a shot in the arm
Populists play on widespread fears of inoculation.
Mandatory vaccinations are an unexpectedly prominent campaign issue in Italy’s March 4 election.
Mainstream parties and insurgent populists are clashing over last year’s move to increase the number of obligatory childhood immunizations from four to 10 amid a raging measles outbreak, which infected 5,000 people in 2017 and killed four.
Dubbed the “Lorenzin law,” the compulsory vaccinations were championed by Beatrice Lorenzin, health minister in the government of Paolo Gentiloni from the center-left Democratic Party, but her measures spooked parents who fear jabs could be linked to autism and other side effects.
Vaccination remains one of Lorenzin’s core manifesto pledges and she founded a new centrist political party last month with the slogan: “Vaccinate against incompetence.” She is calling on scientists to run along with her on her Civica Popolare party to combat what she sees as fear-mongering about her inoculation campaign.
But she is running into strong headwinds from powerful populist parties, which are building political momentum by criticizing scientific orthodoxy. Lorenzin’s chief adversaries are the right-wing Northern League and the radical 5Star Movement, which both vow to roll back her reforms if they win power. Northern League leader Matteo Salvini tweeted that inoculations should be left to parents’ discretion: “Vaccination yes, obligation no.”
“These two large political forces are surfing the wave of fear and ignorance spread by blogs and anti-scientific sites,” Lorenzin said in an interview. “They have replaced their anti-state revolt with an anti-science approach.”
Lorenzin’s difficulty is that both her anti-obligatory–jab opponents are polling well.
The 5Star Movement alone is polling better than a left-wing alliance of the Democratic Party and smaller groups such as Civica Popolare, but it would be difficult for its members to join the government as it rejects broad alliances.
The anti-immigrant Northern League has a clearer route to government, if Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia needs it as an ally to win back power. The vaccination issue, however, could ultimately be a sticking point in a potential center-right coalition. Berlusconi expressed support for Lorenzin’s 10 immunizations last year, saying it was “desired by the scientific community and in the vital interest of minors.”
In January, after Salvini pledged to enact a full voluntary regime, Forza Italia’s Senate leader Paolo Romani all but ruled out including it in the center-right’s program. “We have voted strongly” to back compulsory vaccines, he told Italian media.
Spurning the syringe
The 5Stars’ rise in Italy roughly coincides with falling vaccination rates. Its founder, comedian Beppe Grillo, mocked compulsory vaccines as part of his stand-up routine in the late 1990s, and the party repeatedly tied vaccines to autism, citing research that has since been debunked.
It proposed scrapping mandatory vaccines in 2015. Meanwhile, estimated vaccination rates in Italy dropped from 90 percent of 2-year-olds in 2013, to 85 percent in 2015, according to the U.N. The World Health Organization says a population requires 95 percent coverage to be protected against measles.
Italy had Europe’s second-worst measles outbreak last year. Romania was the hardest hit, with some 5,560 cases in 2017 but Italy followed close on its heels, with just over 5,000 cases during the last year, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Around the Continent, total measles cases tripled in 2017 compared to 2016, topping 14,450. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker declared in his State of the EU speech in September, “It is unacceptable that in 2017 there are still children dying of diseases that should long have been eradicated in Europe.”
Lorenzin’s opponents in Italy say that they are out to assert parental autonomy rather than challenge science.
“We are the movement that has always sustained parents’ awareness in the vaccination process, but we’ve never been against vaccines,” said the Northern League’s Luca Coletto, health commissioner of the northern Veneto region, which has been on the frontline in challenging the Lorenzin law.
Approved in July, the law makes parents present proof of vaccinations to gain admission into preschools, while parents of children of mandatory school age face fines of up to €500 for noncompliance. The requirements cover 10 vaccinations, including diphtheria, tetanus, measles, mumps, rubella and chicken pox.
Coletto says his region doesn’t need it. It created a computer registry in 2007 to track immunizations, and it’s now at 94 percent coverage, he claimed. “This means that spreading correct information, without obligations, pays back.”
Softening stance
The 5Stars are softening their anti-vaccine stance in an apparent effort to show they are serious about governing. Leader Luigi Di Maio recently said he would roll back the obligation to only four vaccines, restoring the rules in place before the Lorenzin law — rather than eliminating requirements. Since Grillo distanced himself from the party last month, Di Maio has broadly embraced a more moderate tone, often traveling to the United States and visiting prestigious institutions to strengthen his international standing.
“We feel bad about the 5Stars’ U-turn,” said Claudio Simion, president of Comilva, which coordinates groups protesting mandatory vaccines at the national level.
“We had the impression that they’re trying to win some credit with the international establishment, to present themselves as a party that has the legitimacy to govern and walk away from their populist label,” Simion said.
Sweeping vaccine requirements are also drawing a vocal response in France, where President Emmanuel Macron’s government imposed requirements of 11 childhood inoculations this year. Germany and Romania have considered using fines to prod parents to vaccinate in recent months.
The pharmaceutical industry, which recognizes it’s not best placed to reassure skeptics, is largely sitting on the sidelines of fights like Italy’s for now.
“Rather than involvement in any one political discussion, our focus is on ensuring that the science, the crucial case for vaccination, is understood across Europe,” said Andrew Powrie-Smith, a spokesman for the Brussels pharma lobby EFPIA.
European Commissioner for Health Vytenis Andriukaitis, however, recently told reporters he’s “very worried” about candidates seizing on vaccines in Italy. The Lorenzin law is “in line with science,” he said. “Those politicians have to understand that. You are responsible if figures of vaccinated people are going down. It’s very dangerous for our society.”
Lorenzin hopes to create a new scientific counterpoint to the populists through Civica Popolare.
“We have opened our lists to researchers and scientists who will be allowed to run as independent candidates, without necessarily embracing the rest of our political agenda,” she said. She predicts “strong numbers” for Northern League and the 5Stars, so “we need to have a group of lawmakers able to represent the strong values of science.”
The other side plans to have at least one more big show of force, two weeks before the election.
Comilva is organizing its next national protest in Rome on February 24.
Giada Zampano reported from Rome. Carmen Paun and Giulia Paravicini contributed reporting.
Jussie Smollett appears to have picked the wrong location for his “hate crime” to be caught on video, if we compare his Good Morning America interview to the latest reports about the two Nigerian men who say the actor-singer paid them to stage an assault.
As of now, it looks as though police believe Empire star Smollett not only lied about a phony hate crime committed against him by supporters of President Trump, he also hoped to arrange for the hoax to be recorded by a surveillance camera.
According to CBS Chicago, Smollett, who is black and gay, paid $3500 to two brothers (who are also black) to stage a racist and homophobic attack on him.
If the reports are accurate, Smollett’s planning was meticulous, including rehearsals and the purchase of the items used in the attack.
Smollett claimed he was accosted by two men in downtown Chicago at about 1:30 a.m. on January 29. He told police his attackers recognized him, shouted racist and homophobic slurs, beat him up, poured bleach on him, wrapped a noose around his neck, and warned him that “This is MAGA country!”– a reference to the president’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.
Over the past 20 or so days, according to various media reports, the story has completely fallen apart.
Police sources tell CBS Chicago that the rope wrapped around Smollett’s neck was traced back to a purchase made by Smollett himself.
What’s more, a search of the brothers’ apartment turned up bleach, a red hat, and a script from Smollett’s TV show Empire. Apparently, one or both of the brothers worked on the show with Smollett.
CBS Chicago adds, “The brothers told detectives the three men rehearsed the attack days prior to it happening.”
The most important dot to connect to all of the above, though, comes from Smollett himself, who told Good Morning America (GMA) last week that he suspected a surveillance camera caught the whole incident.
Speaking to GMA’s Robin Roberts, Smollett said, “And I looked up and I saw there was a camera directly on the light post that is in the intersection. So I’m like, ‘there it is!’… And then the detective told me that the camera inside of the casing was facing north, so they didn’t have it, and that was disappointing.”
That detail appears to stick in his craw. Later in the interview, unprompted, he brings it up again: “The camera facing north, how is that my issue?”
If these brothers are telling the truth that the attack was pre-planned, Smollett may have arranged for it to take place in a location where he assumed it would be recorded.
And one can imagine, had there been surveillance footage of the attack, the investigation would have proceeded very, very differently.
Once police had the footage, it would leak. Once cable and network news had the footage, it would loop endlessly. The fact that the two brothers are black wouldn’t matter. CBS Chicago reports that a black face mask was found in their apartment. Smollett told police the attackers wore face masks. With those face masks, the organized left (the media, Democrats, celebrities) were allowed to assume his racist attackers were white.
If local media reports prove true and Smollett did plan this, it’s easy to see what he could have gained — had the altercation occurred in front of any of the other cameras he walked past that night.
First off, he despises Trump and, it seems, Trump’s supporters, and this was an easy way to smear both, especially in a world with a corrupt media that is always eager to spread any kind of fake news or hoax that makes Trump or his supporters look evil.
There is also Smollett’s debut album, which is scheduled to hit store shelves on March 2, and the live performances promoting the album, which began just a few days after the attack.
Overall, it is just a fact that we now live in a media and entertainment culture where being a victim, most especially a black and gay victim of racist Trump supporters, assures you endless news cycles, worldwide fame, and unearned status as America’s conscience. Smollett may have not only believed his hoax would sell millions of albums but make him a civil rights hero — the kind of victim-icon offered a prime speaking slot at the 2020 Democrat National Convention, a potent weapon relentlessly wielded by the media to pummel Trump and his supporters.
Take a step back, though…
Take a step back and look at the fire Smollett was allegedly willing to play with…
Imagine what it would have done to this country and to the city of Chicago if the attack had been recorded, if an outlet like TMZ had leaked the video, and if the wildly irresponsible race baiters at CNN had broadcast that video over and over and over again — an endless loop of two men assaulting a gay, black man; pouring bleaching on him and tying a noose around his neck.
It would have been just like that other media hoax — “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” — and we all know what that led to: the destruction of a predominantly black neighborhood in the ensuing riots.
The American media are garbage.
Thank heaven the Chicago police are not.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.
How the European Parliament can save the EU’s biofuels policy
It’s not too late to find common ground on a crucial issue
If you have been following the EU biofuels debate lately, your head is probably spinning. Almost every week brings a new committee vote or draft position on what role biofuels should play in Europe’s transport energy mix for the 2020-2030 period. There are a lot of numbers and positions and annexes and scenarios.
But one thing should be clear to everyone: the EU needs to do something to improve its efforts in the fight against climate change — and quickly. That’s because just as often as a new position on EU biofuels policy gets staked out, another reminder arises that Europe is falling behind in its commitments to decarbonizing transport.
The latest news comes from the European Environment Agency, which reported this month that greenhouse gas emissions have risen for the third year in a row in the EU. Everyone from European Commission Vice President, Maroš Šefčovič, to environmental lobby groups, is warning that we need to do more.
Yet, at the same time, they are proposing policies that would achieve less. The European Commission wants to reduce all crop-based biofuels — even the ones like renewable European ethanol that deliver high greenhouse-gas savings with low risk of adverse impact to almost nothing by 2030. And by proposing a low-emissions fuel blending obligation of just 6.8 percent by 2030, starting from 1.5 percent in 2021, it would leave most of the transport energy mix taken up by fossil fuels.
The European Parliament’s various committees have been weighing in with their opinions over the last couple of months. The environment committee, the lead panel on the biofuels file, wants to go even further than the Commission, and phase out crop-based biofuels entirely by 2030.
The transport committee could not find agreement on the environment committee language and ended up rejecting its own draft opinion on the legislation. This week the industry, research and energy committee and lead on the entire Renewable Energy Directive, will vote. Even traditional political groups are divided on the issue.
The swirl of differing opinions means the European Parliament may not have a clear line on this important issue going into plenary vote in January. But it is not too late for MEPs to find common ground and move closer to what EU Member States want and have articulated coherently in their draft position: build on the success of the existing framework, leave in place the 7 percent cap on crop-based biofuels, and promote advanced biofuels and renewable electricity in addition to, not at the expense of, existing solutions.
Here’s how the European Parliament can get this debate out of the traffic jam it’s stuck in and get it moving again:
Admit the scope of the problem
When it comes to cutting greenhouse gases in EU transport, the gap between ambition and reality continues to widen, as the new EEA data shows all too clearly. The situation has made for some strange positioning and alliances. The lobby group Transport and Environment, for example, says the EU needs to do more to decarbonize transport but then, in almost the same breath, says the EU should not set targets for renewables in transport. Like the European Commission, it wants to remove one of the best tools available for decarbonizing transport: sustainable biofuels like renewable ethanol, which delivers average 66 percent GHG reduction over fossil fuel.
We need more renewables in transport, not less. And we need renewables that are available, at scale, now. The European Parliament should push to set an ambitious target of 15 percent renewables in transport and make a clear distinction between good biofuels like ethanol and bad ones, like palm oil.
Go with what works
Renewable EU ethanol is sustainably produced from European feedstock, using only a minuscule portion of Europe’s total grain harvest. It works in today’s car fleet, delivering significant reduction greenhouse gas emissions and getting more climate-friendly every year. It will take decades for electric cars to become commonplace, as the International Energy Agency’s chief pointed out this week. In the meantime, we should decarbonize transport and our existing cars with what works now.
Don’t believe the misinformation
Opponents of crop-based biofuels often deride them as food-based but the implication that biofuels production takes food out of peoples’ mouths is misleading. In fact, ethanol production creates high-protein animal feed in addition to low-carbon fuel. The European Commission says the impact of European ethanol production on food prices is “negligible.” And international agencies from the UN FAO, UNFCCC and IEA have all said that biofuel production and food production can coexist.
Be consistent
Many of the same people who are pushing against crop-based biofuels today were for them only a few short years ago. Now many are urging investment in new technology, such as second-generation biofuels. But unless there is policy consistency, it will be hard to convince investors in renewable energy that policy won’t shift again in a few years’ time. Meanwhile the challenge remains and the goal is supposed to be shared by everyone: the EU needs to do better at decarbonizing transport if it wants to meet climate change commitments.
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Tampering with odometers in second-hand cars cost an estimated €5.6 and €9.6 billion per year in the EU | Michal Cizek/AFP via Getty Images
Brussels aims to increase trust in used car sellers
Belgium serves as a model on how to crack down on odometer tampering.
The fight is on to stop fraudsters from turning back the clock.
Tampering with odometers in second-hand cars is a problem across the EU. Studies estimate the cost of such fraud at between €5.6 billion and €9.6 billion a year. So the European Parliament is gearing up to demand new laws to clamp down on the practice — using Belgium as the role model.
There, a 2004 law mandating regular data collection on locally registered vehicles has drastically curtailed the practice.
But in Poland, the EU’s biggest second-hand car market, an estimated 70 to 90 percent of the annual 1 million cars imported each year have turned-back odometers — clocks measuring the distance a car has traveled — according to research published by the European Parliament.
“I think that most of the cars being bought outside Poland and imported have changed mileage,“ said Adam Adamczewski, who runs the Overland Motors garage in Warsaw. The trick is turning back the mileage on cars that have been driven mainly on highways, and so have less of the visible wear and tear associated with inner-city driving, Adamczewski said.
Przemysław Borkowski, from the University of Gdańsk, helped draft the Parliament’s report on odometer tampering. He said a common problem is with second-hand German cars being sold in Poland — a business dominated by small traders moving one or two cars at a time.
It’s an easy con. With tools available online, an unscrupulous seller can add thousands of euros to the price of a used vehicle with almost no chance of being caught. In Poland, Adamczewski said, odometers on second-hand cars rarely show more than 200,000 kilometers on the clock as that’s the distance beyond which sales are tough to close.
“The chances of being caught are very low for these fraudsters and it’s very hard to prove who is [the] bad guy in these chains,” said Michel Peelman from Belgium’s Car-Pass in December. The company has collected data on vehicles for over a decade under the 2004 law and Peelman wants a similar system deployed elsewhere in the EU.
In Belgium, odometer readings from mechanics, body shops, tire companies and on-road maintenance teams are fed back into the Car-Pass database. That means every vehicle registered in Belgium has an easy-to-reference history of mileage readings for prospective buyers.
The catch is that imported vehicles aren’t part of the database, leaving an opening for fraud.
The European Parliament wants the European Commission to act. MEP Ismail Ertug has lodged an own-initiative report calling for legislation that takes the Car-Pass model, and a similar system introduced in the Netherlands, and makes it Europe-wide.
“The most crucial element here is to enable the cross-border exchange of those odometer readings,” said Ertug. “This will enable consumers to verify the mileage of a used vehicle they intend to buy. The examples of Belgium and the Netherlands show that those combined measures drive down odometer fraud close to zero.”
An EU-wide binding initiative for logging mileage in used vehicles would cost €97 million to set up and wipe out some 97 percent of all fraud, according to the Parliament report drafted to complement Ertug’s paper.
“The strength of the system depends on how often you get data from as many sources as possible,” said Peelman.
The alternative is getting carmakers to install tamper-proof odometers in new vehicles, while carrying out a retrofit program for the millions of cars already on the road. That would cost €19.6 billion, according to the Parliament’s study. And even that may not work.
“It is not realistic,” said Adamczewski. “Men cannot make something that another man cannot change. Someone will find a way to make a fraud.”
Another hope for better security is using blockchain technology, which could create a system that logs mileage on a shared ledger. But that poses a problem as, according to Borkowski, there needs to be some way to edit the odometer in the case of a fault, meaning producers will always need to leave a backdoor that con artists can also use.
“Any technical solution can be cracked, you just need time,” Borkowski told MEPs while presenting his report.
Rapper 21 Savage, born She’yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, told the New York Times in an interview that he will “fight” federal charges that he is unlawfully in the country, describing himself as a representative of “poor black Americans.”
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), 21 Savage was brought to the United States from the United Kingdom when he was a child in 2005 and did not leave after his visa expired a year later. He was arrested by ICE in early February and subsequently released on bond.
In its write-up of the interview, the New York Times would not describe 21 Savage as an illegal alien or unlawfully in the country. It characterized 21 Savage as someone “without legal status” and as a person whose “status wasn’t settled.” The New York Times also conflated legal and illegal immigrants in describing 21 Savage as similar to “a lot of other immigrants.”
Despite saying, “I’m 26, and I’m rich,” 21 Savage also said, “I represent poor black Americans and I represent poor immigrant Americans.”
“It made me who I am,” he said of being in the country illegally. “I wouldn’t write it no other way if I had the choice. If they said, ‘Hey, you could start your life over and make yourself a citizen,’ I wouldn’t have never did it. I still want to go through this right here ’cause it made me who I am, it made me strong.”
In describing his desire to stay in the country, the Atlanta rapper did not say a word about American culture or values.
“Damn, I love my house, I ain’t gonna be able to go in my house no more?” asked 21 Savage. “I ain’t gonna be able to go to my favorite restaurant that I been going to for 20 years straight? That’s the most important thing.”
Asked if he would create music about his “experience,” 21 Savage replied, “Not right now, ’cause I feel like me putting it into music got me in this situation, kind of.”