Tag: helped

Biden judicial nominee helped free-market group that opposed administration on climate change

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Delaney’s relationship with the organization, which has not been reported in the media until now, is just one of several aspects of his resume that causes concern among some progressives. He has already faced questions about his work defending an elite boarding school that was sued over sexual assault, and for signing a brief defending a state abortion restriction.
The White House continues to support Delaney, calling him “extraordinarily qualified” in a statement to POLITICO this week. The two senators from his home state of New Hampshire, both of whom are Democrats, are also standing behind him.
Delaney did not respond to a request for comment on this reporting. The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to review his nomination at a markup on Thursday.
Delaney was New Hampshire’s attorney general from 2009 to 2013. He now heads the litigation department for McLane Middleton, a law firm with offices in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
In 2018, Delaney joined the board of the New England Legal Foundation, according to his Senate questionnaire. He is also on the foundation’s legal review committee. Daniel Winslow, the president of the foundation, told POLITICO that the committee members vet the foundation’s amicus briefs before they are filed.
Winslow added that he was not aware of Delaney weighing in on briefs since Winslow became the group’s head in October 2021, likely because he expected to be nominated to the bench. Biden tapped Delaney in January of this year, and the Senate Judiciary Committee held his nomination hearing in February.
The New England Legal Foundation’s website touts its “vigorous advocacy of free market principles” and describes its mission as championing “individual economic liberties, traditional property rights, properly limited government, and inclusive economic growth.” Its “About” page features a quote from John W. Davis, the U.S. solicitor general under former President Woodrow Wilson: “Property rights and civil rights are not essentially in conflict; they are two sides of the same coin.” Late in his career, Davis defended school segregation and the “separate but equal” doctrine before the Supreme Court in a companion case to Brown v. Board of Education, representing the state of South Carolina for free.
NELF’s June 2021 amicus brief in the climate change case urged the Supreme Court to take up the case and overrule a lower court that had sided with the EPA. After the justices agreed to hear the case, NELF filed another amicus brief in December 2021 opposing the administration’s position. The Supreme Court ultimately ruled against the EPA in a June 2022 opinion that Biden called a “devastating decision that aims to take our country backwards.” In the coming weeks, the EPA is expected to release a new climate change rule.

Winslow said the group’s work on the case was of a piece with its mission: Advocating for free enterprise, property rights, limited government and inclusive economic growth.
“Consistent with the rule of law, if you’re an agency, the boundaries of your conduct are set by the elected, accountable branch, Congress,” he said. “And when the administrative state goes beyond that boundary to the point of being unaccountable to the people directly — which Congress is — that violates our principle of rule of law, and that’s why we were involved in that case.”
Delaney graduated from Georgetown University Law Center in 1994, according to his law firm bio. Five years later, he was heading the homicide prosecution unit in the New Hampshire attorney general’s office. He later served as counsel to the governor and then as the state’s attorney general before moving into private practice.
During Delaney’s time on NELF’s board, the group has filed amicus briefs siding with the Chamber of Commerce and a host of powerful companies, including Facebook, Uber and Deutsche Bank.
In the Uber case, NELF supported the company in a lawsuit brought by a blind man who alleged the rideshare app illegally discriminated against him by refusing to let him bring his guide dog on rides. Uber moved to force the resolution of the matter in arbitration rather than in court, citing its terms of service. NELF backed Uber, but the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court sided with the plaintiff.
That was just one of multiple cases where NELF worked to shore up companies’ rights to resolve disputes through mandatory arbitration. In its 2019/2020 report, the group detailed its work successfully defending arbitration before the Supreme Court in one case — known as Lamps Plus v. Varela — but noted that its efforts on another arbitration-related case — New Prime v. Oliveira — didn’t prevail.
Mandatory arbitration clauses have long drawn condemnation from progressives, who argue they result in customers and employees unwittingly ceding their rights to go to court, as the liberal advocacy group Public Citizen has detailed.
Biden himself has also criticized mandatory arbitration. Last year, he signed legislation banning the requirement in cases of sexual assault and sexual harassment. At the signing ceremony, he assailed the practice more broadly.
“Sixty million Americans are bound by forced arbitration clauses that were included in the fine print of their contracts,” he said. “And many don’t even know they exist. You might have signed one without knowing it. I strongly believe no worker should have to make such a commitment.”
NELF also filed a brief in an important 2021 Supreme Court case involving a clash between union organizers and private property rights. Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid involved a California regulation that gave labor organizers the right to enter the property of agricultural employers in order to speak with workers about joining a union. NELF sided with the companies challenging the regulation, and the high court ultimately found the regulation unconstitutional.
The Biden administration defended the California regulation in the case. So did a group of Democratic lawmakers: Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.)., Cory Booker (N.J.), Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), Jeff Merkley (Ore.) and Alex Padilla (Calif.). In their brief, the senators listed NELF as one of several entities filing amicus briefs that are funded by “industry-tied foundations and anonymous money groups.”
NELF’s most recent annual report listed dozens of corporations, law firms and individuals as contributors. The report said the group got 45 percent of its 2020 revenue from corporate sponsors.
NELF also weighed in on a case related to a New Hampshire regulator’s effort to reduce dangerous PFAS contaminants — known as “forever chemicals” — in drinking water. NELF sided with 3M Company in its effort to block a rule reducing the presence of those contaminants. The group argued that New Hampshire’s Department of Environmental Services hadn’t done a proper cost-benefit analysis before tightening its regulations of the chemicals.
“Our amicus brief said, ‘Hey judges, let the legislature have the first crack at this issue,’” Winslow, the group’s president, said. “No, we don’t favor PFAS.”
PFAS contamination has been a major concern for the Biden administration, as the White House detailed in a fact sheet released this March.
Some advocates for liberal causes voiced concerns about Delaney’s nomination after being informed by POLITICO of his connection to NELF.
Jeff Hauser, the head of the progressive watchdog group Revolving Door Project, told POLITICO that he found Delaney’s nomination puzzling.
“The Biden agenda on economic issues, such as protecting workers and the environment, faces a judicial headwind from the conservative legal movement of which NELF and Delaney is a part,” Hauser wrote in an email. “That tension between the Biden Administration’s legal interests and Delaney’s revealed preferences makes elevating Delaney to the bench a confoundingly counterproductive idea.”
And Mike Kink, the head of the union-backed Strong Economy for All Coalition, said the Senate should seek more information about Delaney’s role at the group.
“Anyone who’s concerned about economic justice should be concerned about this nominee’s connections” to the foundation, Kink said. “The group Delaney helped head has shielded corporate polluters and fraudsters while fighting eviction protections for tenants and fair taxes on the wealthiest individuals and corporations. The Senate must closely question this nominee and assure Americans he’ll work on the bench for regular people who need the law on their side, not just for the rich and powerful.”
On the right, meanwhile, Delaney’s link to NELF is the opposite of a red flag.
“If in fact he is conservative-leaning, then perhaps it was not the best move for Republicans to oppose his nomination,” said Josh Blackman, a conservative law professor at the South Texas College of Law Houston.
Andrew Bates, a White House spokesperson, said the president’s support for Delaney is unchanged. “We are unmoved by an affiliation the President’s extraordinarily qualified nominee disclosed to the public and the Senate months ago, in the most thorough and transparent way available,” Bates said. “This is also the first we have heard any concerns about this expressed at all; and we are skeptical of complaints that surface in the press before we have heard them privately.”
At the Senate Judiciary Committee’s February nomination hearing, members pressed Delaney on his work for a boarding school that was sued over its handling of a sexual assault, as POLITICO has detailed.
Delaney has also taken some heat from the left for signing a brief defending a New Hampshire abortion restriction when he worked in the New Hampshire attorney general’s office. The brief backed a New Hampshire law requiring minors to notify their parents before receiving abortions. The law has since been repealed.
But Delaney has received broad support from a host of other groups, including numerous former state attorneys general and the head of New Hampshire’s Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children.
His home state senators, Democrats Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, both strongly supported his nomination. Their spokespersons told POLITICO they still firmly back him.
“Before considering Michael Delaney’s nomination, Senator Shaheen reviewed his full record, which includes his fierce defense of LGBTQ rights, bringing criminals to justice and leading one of the most significant legal battles against a massive oil company in New Hampshire state history,” said Sarah Weinstein, a spokesperson for Shaheen. “Michael Delaney’s wide scope of supporters includes individuals in the advocacy and legal sectors, as well as judges on the New Hampshire Supreme Court, which reaffirm his respected reputation as a public servant committed to seeking justice.”
Laura Epstein, a spokesperson for Hassan, sent a similar statement. “His background has been thoroughly vetted, and throughout his career, he has shown a strong commitment to justice, including supporting civil rights and the environment,” Epstein said. “His strong, bipartisan support from a wide cross-section of leaders — from public defenders to Attorneys General from 20 states across the country to the CEO of New Hampshire’s Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) — underscores why he will make for an excellent First Circuit Judge.”
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#Biden #judicial #nominee #helped #freemarket #group #opposed #administration #climate #change
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

May 4, 2023
How Jill Biden helped Joe get to yes on running for reelection at 80

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“She sees herself as a wife and a mom and a nana. And what wife, mom and Nana wouldn’t defend their family?” one senior Biden adviser said. “She is going to defend her family and take issues with attacks on her family. But she has been in politics a long time. And so they’re well aware that nasty attacks have come in the past and they’ll come now and they’ll come in the future.”
And at a time when suburban women are drifting toward Democrats and the nation’s schools have become political battlefields, the White House sees utility in having a prominent educator standing beside her husband. The issue of “book banning” featured prominently in Biden’s reelection launch video.
“She can reach suburban women, in particular, in a way that really resonates with them. She is really effective in talking about how the Biden agenda is good for moms, for women, for working women,” former White House communications director and 2020 deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield said. “I think she brings a credibility that comes from having kept her job as a teacher, even as they came into the White House, both when he was V.P. and now.”
Aides expect the first lady to keep up an intense travel schedule — she already boasts the most travel among the four White House principals — but her responsibilities on the reelection trail won’t just be public facing. Instead, she’ll serve as a confidant for her husband as he tries to defy naysayers who fear he is too old and too much of a political relic.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

May 1, 2023
A debt limit fight helped Democrats in 2011. This time, it’s no guarantee.

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Republicans, led by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, can point to polls showing only tepid backing for raising the debt ceiling and preference for spending cuts over tax increases to bring down the budget deficit. On President Joe Biden and the Democrats’ side: overwhelming support for lifting the cap once poll respondents are told breaching it could lead to a default.
That’s a mixed bag of public opinion: 54 percent of Americans opposed raising the debt ceiling in a new CBS News/YouGov poll this week, but that number dropped to only 30 percent when respondents were asked if they would let the U.S. default. But in Washington, polling uncertainty about the political fallout can have serious consequences. In the debt limit fight, it’s emboldening both sides.
Biden is in an especially precarious position, as he reportedly prepares to roll out his reelection campaign as soon as next week. He’s entering this fight with lower approval ratings than Obama’s ahead of the 2011 crisis, and voters remain worried about inflation and the economy — which, along with government dysfunction, could supplant more Democratic-friendly issues like abortion in the news in the coming weeks.
A POLITICO/Morning Consult poll from late February underscored the volatility of the situation — and the current disincentive for either party to cave: Asked whom they would blame if the U.S. defaulted, a plurality of voters, 37 percent, said they’d hold both parties equally responsible. Another 30 percent said Democrats would be most to blame, while 24 percent said the GOP would be.
It’s a different climate from 12 years ago. A Washington Post/Pew Research Center poll from mid-June of 2011 — about six weeks before the crisis was ultimately resolved — found more Americans said they would blame Republicans (42 percent) than Obama (33 percent) if the debt limit wasn’t raised.
In that debate, Obama and Democrats were generally seen as more in line with public opinion, backing a combination of spending reductions and tax increases on the wealthy — a generally popular plank — in exchange for raising the debt ceiling, compared with Republicans’ more drastic budget cuts.
That combination hasn’t been floated this year, given Republicans’ aversion to new taxes and Biden’s lack of engagement with McCarthy so far. Broadly, Americans are split when asked to choose between the two: tax hikes or spending cuts, with a slight preference to trimming spending.
A NPR/PBS Newshour/Marist College poll in February found that half of voters, 50 percent, thought in order to close the national debt the government should “mostly cut programs and services,” while 47 percent said it should “mostly increase taxes and fees.”

In that poll, 52 percent of voters favored raising the debt ceiling “to deal with the federal budget deficit” — slightly different wording than the CBS News poll that yielded slightly stronger support. But only 26 percent of Republicans supported raising the debt ceiling, even as McCarthy seeks support for his plan in the House next week among a bloc of members who even opposed hiking it under then-President Donald Trump.
What could make 2023 different from 2011, Republicans say, is inflation.
“There is one really important change that’s occurred,” said David Winston, a Republican pollster and adviser to former House Speakers Newt Gingrich and John Boehner. “When you go back to prior discussions [about the debt ceiling], the national debt is still an abstraction.”
But now, Winston said, “There is a clear connection that the electorate has between spending and inflation.”
The GOP catered much of its 2022 midterm economic message around trying to connect government spending with the rapid increase in prices over the past few years.
There’s some evidence that’s worked, to a degree: A YouGov poll from last October, just weeks before the midterms, found that 53 percent of Americans assigned “a lot” of blame for inflation to “spending from the federal government” — though that was fewer than blamed “the price of foreign oil” (60 percent) and roughly equal to those who held “large corporations trying to maximize profits” (52 percent).
For Biden and Democrats searching for the upper hand, there are some encouraging signals in the polling. An ABC News/Washington Post poll from late January and early February asked Americans if Congress should only raise the debt ceiling if Biden agrees to spending cuts, or if “the issues of debt payment and federal spending” should “be handled separately?”
The public took Biden’s side on the strategic question: Only 26 percent said Congress should only raise the debt limit if Biden cut spending, while 65 percent said the debt payments and spending should be separate.
Moreover, while reducing spending might be broadly popular, there’s the issue of what to cut. In this week’s CBS News/YouGov poll, not only do seven-in-10 respondents want the country to avoid a default, but majorities actually support increasing spending on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid as part of the budget notifications. Even on defense spending, more Americans want to see it increased (41 percent) than decreased (26 percent). A third, 33 percent, want it to remain the same.
But Biden is also less popular than Obama — who was still enjoying a bounce in his poll numbers after the killing of Osama bin Laden entering the final three months of the 2011 debt crisis — at this point in the process. Biden’s average approval rating is 42 percent, according to FiveThirtyEight, while Obama in May 2011 was sitting on majority approval. And even Obama’s approval rating slipped as the country approached the debt ceiling that summer — a potential preview of what’s to come.
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#debt #limit #fight #helped #Democrats #time #guarantee
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 22, 2023
Proud Boy who helped ignite Capitol breach tells jury he got “caught up” in Jan. 6 chaos

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Pezzola would subsequently enter the Capitol — arriving at the precise moment that Sen. Chuck Grassley, then the third in line to the presidency, was being evacuated. And he would record a video celebrating the breach of the Capitol that has been a key piece of evidence for prosecutors in the seditious conspiracy trial against Pezzola and four Proud Boys leaders: Enrique Tarrio, Joe Biggs, Ethan Nordean and Zachary Rehl.
In addition to seditious conspiracy, the five men are charged with attempting to obstruct Congress’ proceedings that day and aiding in the destruction of government property.
Pezzola used the early portion of his testimony to separate himself from the group’s leadership.
“The craziest damn thing is I never even knew these guys before I met them at the courthouse,” Pezzola said.
Pezzola’s turn on the stand is a climactic moment for the trial, and potentially the last before the four-month-long trial goes to the jury. Prosecutors have portrayed the Proud Boys as a sinister force on Jan. 6, plotting to do whatever they could to disrupt the transfer of power from Trump — who they viewed as an ally — to President Joe Biden. Trump’s call for a “wild” protest in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6 was the moment the group’s leaders decided to take measures to help Trump disrupt the incoming Biden presidency, prosecutors have alleged.
The group also took a sharp turn against police in mid-December 2020, when four members of the Proud Boys were stabbed outside a bar following a pro-Trump event and the alleged perpetrator was not apprehended, prosecutors contended.
The case relied heavily on thousands of Telegram messages sent among members of the group describing their intentions and coordinating rallies and protests related to the election results. They also showed ample video of the group’s movements in Washington D.C. on Jan. 6. The government’s key witness in the case, Proud Boy leader Jeremy Bertino, testified that he knew the group’s goal was to derail the transfer of power, even though there were no explicit plans relayed to the group’s broader membership.
The defense has contended that the group’s role has been inflated, that they’re more akin to a drinking club whose members use a lot of hyperbole and overheated language that they didn’t intend to back up.

Pezzola’s testimony — expected to last at least deep into Wednesday — continued in that vein. He said he viewed the Proud Boys as a forum for camaraderie and brotherhood, not a force for violence. He said that on Jan. 6, he never had any inkling of a plan or conspiracy to stop Congress from convening to count electoral votes.
He acknowledged trespassing and crossing police lines at least twice. And he admitted that he shattered “one pane of glass” of the Senate window. But after that, he said, he “wandered around lost with no idea where I was going, took some pictures.”
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#Proud #Boy #helped #ignite #Capitol #breach #tells #jury #caught #Jan #chaos
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 19, 2023
Amitabh Bachchan ‘fails’ to post picture on Instagram, check who helped him out

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Mumbai: Amitabh Bachchan can’t be wrong with his social media posts as he believes in perfection.
So, the superstar posted a picture of himself in which his head is getting cut. Actor Angad Bedi has pointed out that and told him.
Accepting his suggestion, Amitabh tried to repost the picture. He failed. And then who helped him? She is none other than his granddaughter Navya Nanda.

Posting a picture where the ‘Piku’ actor dressed in traditional south Indian attire, he wrote on Instagram, “Posting again because @angadbedi told me your head in the picture is getting cut, and said it can be changed .. so tried failed .. finally got @navyananda to assist .. and BOOM !!!
So ..here goes all over again .. Wishing you all a very happy #Baisakhi, Bohag #Bihu, #Vishu, Puthandu, Poila Baisakh and Mahavishuba Sankranti!”
Navya reciprocated to his grandfather’s post saying, “You are welcome!” Angad Bedi also wrote, “@navyananda @amitabhbachchan sir there you go!! Well done navya. We got his back!!”
Mouni Roy and Shamita Shetty also extended their wish to Amitabh.
The actor has resumed work after getting healed from the injury, he incurred during the shoot of “Project K” in Hyderabad.

“In Hyderabad at shoot for Project K, during an action shot, got injured, rib cartilage popped broke and muscle tear to the right rib cage. Cancelled shoot, did doctor consult & scan by CT at AIG Hospital in Hyderabad and flown back home,” posted Amitabh.
Helmed by Nag Ashwin, ‘Project K’ is a bilingual film shot simultaneously in two languages i.e., Hindi and Telugu across various locations. Deepika Padukone and Prabhash are playing pivotal roles in the film. Apart from that, he will also be seen in Ribhu Dasgupta’s next courtroom drama film ‘Section 84’.

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#Amitabh #Bachchan #fails #post #picture #Instagram #check #helped
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 16, 2023
Working in South films helped Pooja Hegde improvise dialogues in ‘KKBKKJ’

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Mumbai: Actress Pooja Hegde plays a Telugu girl in the upcoming theatrical film ‘Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan’. The actress shared that having worked in South Indian film industries for over a decade trained to make improvisations in her dialogues while filming the Salman Khan-starrer.
The actress told IANS: “Years of working in the South Indian film industries have made me proficient with regard to improvising the lines of my character instantaneously on sets if the character speaks any of the south Indian languages like for this part in ‘Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan’.”
Having equal proficiency across languages hugely helps an actor to get the essence of a character coming from a particular background.

“I could easily mouth the dialogues in Telugu or improvise my lines because I have been working in that medium for quite some time now and have a decent understanding of that world and the culture,” the actress concluded.
‘Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan’ is set to arrive in cinemas on April 21 on the occasion of Eid.
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#Working #South #films #helped #Pooja #Hegde #improvise #dialogues #KKBKKJ

( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 16, 2023
Punjab: Amritpal aide Joga Singh who helped him hide in Pilibhit arrested

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Chandigarh: Police have arrested a key aide of radical preacher Amritpal Singh for allegedly providing shelter and other assistance to the absconding Khalistan sympathiser in Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh.
Joga Singh, who is a resident of Ludhiana and is managing a ‘dera’ in Pilibhit, was coming to Punjab from Haryana, a senior police official said on Saturday, adding the police were on his trail.
“Joga Singh was in direct contact with Amritpal Singh. He arranged shelter and vehicles for Amritpal Singh. He arranged for him to stay in Pilibhit and then return to Punjab,” Deputy Inspector General (Border Range) Narinder Bhargav said at a press conference.

Earlier, police said two more men have been arrested for allegedly harbouring Amritpal Singh, who has been on the run after police launched a crackdown against him last month.
The arrested men were identified as Rajdeep Singh of Babak village in Hoshiarpur district and Sarbjit Singh of Jalandhar district, the police said.
Both Rajdeep Singh and Sarbjit Singh were produced before the duty magistrate on Friday night and sent to one-day police remand.
The police launched a major crackdown against Amritpal Singh and members of his ‘Waris Punjab De’ outfit last month.
The Khalistan sympathiser, who is yet to be nabbed, escaped the police’s net in Jalandhar district on March 18, switching vehicles and changing his appearance.

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#Punjab #Amritpal #aide #Joga #Singh #helped #hide #Pilibhit #arrested
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 15, 2023
Sunil Gavaskar’s bravery against a lynch mob helped save lives of taxi driver and his family

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Sunil Gavaskar used to be called the Little Master during his playing days and could face bouncers from dreaded fast bowlers like Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Dennis Lillee and many others without flinching. During the communal riots in Mumbai in 1992-93 he showed his courage in a different way outside the cricket field. Following the demolition of the Babri Masjid, the entire city was engulfed in flames of communal carnage.
One day the former India captain witnessed an act of violence against a hapless taxi driver and his family. The family belonging to the minority community was travelling along the road when their vehicle was stopped by a murderous mob. They beat up the driver and were preparing to lynch all the family members including children. Gavaskar was standing on the balcony of his building when he saw what was happening on the street below.
He shouted to his wife to inform the police and then rushed downstairs without any weapon in his hands except his raw courage. His wife not only told the police but also informed other residents of the building that her husband had gone out to save innocent lives. She asked them to also go and help out. A few of them showed the courage to follow Gavaskar’s example and rushed downstairs.

But Gavaskar was the first to arrive at the scene. He told the rioters: “Whatever you are thinking of doing to this man and his family, you must do it to me first. I will not step out of the way.” The violent mob knew who Gavaskar was. The Indian captain was too famous a personality to go unrecognised. Seeing the cricketer’s determination they hesitated. They could not muster the courage to fight with a world famous cricket player.
When a few other residents of the building also arrived and took their positions beside Gavaskar, the would-be murderers realised that things would not go their way. After venting their frustration by shouting abuse at the taxi driver and his family members, they melted away and left the scene. The driver was clearly overwhelmed at this close shave and thanked Gavaskar and his neighbours profusely. Finally Gavaskar himself advised the man to leave the scene at once and reach his home safely.
Sunil Gavaskar never mentioned the incident thereafter to anyone. But his son Rohan, who was also a good cricketer, related the tale at an awards function which had been arranged by the Sports Journalists Association of Mumbai. Heaping praise on his father’s batting skills and determination on the cricket field, Rohan Gavaskar also told the gathering about his father’s bravery and what had transpired during the riots.
Between December 1992 and January 1993, it is estimated that more than 900 people lost their lives in Mumbai. This country needs more eminent people who have the courage and commitment towards peace that Sunil Gavaskar displayed that day. If our celebrities show this kind of fearlessness then many others will follow their example and plenty of innocent lives will be saved whenever such conflicts arise.

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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 10, 2023
CCTVs Installed Along LoC Helped Trap Poonch Infiltrators

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SRINAGAR: An intruder was killed while two others were held in injured condition along with 17 kg narcotics along the Line Of Control (LOC) in Shahpur sector of Poonch district last night .
The CCTVs installed at sensitive areas on the LoC to track movement of infiltrators helped in elimination and arrest of the intruders, media reports said.
Movement of the three infiltrators was visible on CCTV cameras installed on the LoC thus helping army to keep a track of their movements.
“Around midnight, on April 8 the group crossed the LoC and started infiltrating into this side. The alert troops kept the movement of the infiltrating group under continuous observation. At 2 am, as the group approached the fence, the alert Army troops challenged them,” a spokesperson of defence ministry based in Jammu said.”
He said that as soon as the intruders started to run away, they were fired upon. One of them was shot dead while the other two managed to escape into a jungle taking advantage of the thick foliage, darkness and rocky outcrop.
“The area was immediately cordoned off to prevent their escape across the LoC and a search operation was launched at first light wherein the body of the slain intruder was recovered at the encounter site,” sources said.
In the search operatiom so far three bags with fourteen packets of narcotics weighing 17 kgs, Pkistani currency, some documents and eatables have been recovered.
The CCTVs installed at sensitive areas on the LoC to track movement of infiltrators helped in elimination and arrest of the intruders, as per media reports.

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#CCTVs #Installed #LoC #Helped #Trap #Poonch #Infiltrators
( With inputs from : kashmirlife.net )

April 10, 2023
Ted Cruz helped kill Biden’s FAA nominee. Now he has thoughts about a replacement.

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On the other hand, Nolen would not represent the clean break from industry dominance at the FAA that Biden had promised with his original nominee, Denver airport CEO Phil Washington. Washington withdrew his nomination on Saturday, following attacks from Cruz and other critics who called him too inexperienced.
The questions about Washington’s successor offer Biden a fundamental choice in what direction to take the FAA, an agency that has presided over an era of unprecedented safety in air travel but has also faced doubts about its oversight of companies such as Boeing, whose 737 MAX jetliner killed 346 people in crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia in 2018 and 2019.
The White House hasn’t announced any plans for a new FAA nominee and did not respond to a request for comment Monday. On Saturday, the White House said it would move quickly to nominate another candidate.
Cruz led the opposition to Washington as the top Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee, which vets FAA nominations. But Washington had also faced doubts from non-GOP lawmakers on the panel.
Those include Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), who said in a statement Monday that Biden “should quickly nominate a permanent FAA Administrator with the necessary, substantial aviation safety experience and expertise.” Sinema and Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) had both declined to declare a stance on Washington before Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) postponed a committee vote on his nomination last week.
Cantwell, who gave a tepid reaction to Washington’s nomination when it was first announced, spent months avoiding taking a position on him. She finally came out in support of him early this year, arguing that the FAA needed a fresh, independent voice.
Now, if Nolen gets the nod, Cantwell would face the possibility of advancing a new nominee who is ingrained in the aviation industry.
Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), who was a major backer of Washington’s nomination, said Monday he wants to see the White House nominate someone from outside FAA for the permanent role.

“I think Billy Nolen’s done a great job. I think they would be better served to get someone from the outside but Billy Nolen is certainly a very talented public servant,” Hickenlooper said, adding that he was frustrated that Washington’s nomination was stalled in part by Democrats.
Besides being a pilot, Nolen spent time at the aviation industry’s trade group Airlines for America after a long career at American Airlines before joining the FAA in early 2022.
Nolen, like Washington, would be the first Black person to serve as the FAA’s permanent administrator if confirmed.
Cruz endorsed Nolen during an aviation safety hearing earlier this month, asking Democrats on the panel: “Do you think Phil Washington could come anywhere close to acting Administrator Nolen’s knowledge? I think the answer is no.”
Cruz said in his podcast on Monday that his endorsement of Nolen “was an audible” called in the middle of the hearing.
“I turned back to my staff and said, ‘What do you think about Nolen? Would it be crazy for me to suggest right now that they should withdraw Washington and nominate Nolen?’” Cruz said. “And my guys were like ‘No, that’s fine.’”
Cruz added that a former Biden White House official reached out afterward to say his remarks had caught the administration’s attention.
Aviation industry consultant Robert Mann also said Nolen would be an obvious choice.
“We have a very competent acting administrator in Mr. Nolen,” said Mann, who works with airlines operators to make their flight operations more efficient. “He’s been doing the job and he’s been responding to issues.”
In contrast, Mann said Washington’s lack of knowledge about aviation showed itself during his confirmation hearing this month, where Cruz asked him detailed questions about technical issues such as the 737 MAX’s “angle of attack” sensors. While conceding that “I’m not a pilot,” Washington contended that his career as an Army officer and his leadership of transit agencies had shown his ability to manage large organizations.
Still, “I don’t know why he was proposed, to be perfectly honest,” Mann said of Washington. “At the end of the day you have to actually understand something about the business.”
On the other hand, Nolen’s nomination would not win unanimous support.
Michael Stumo, who helped draft a letter in support of Washington from family members of people killed in the 737 MAX crash in Ethiopia, said Nolen probably disqualified himself from winning their support after telling senators this month that the plane is safe. Nolen was responding to questions from Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) about recent, nonfatal incidents involving Boeing’s jet, which returned to service in late 2020.
“I can say categorically that the 737 MAX … is safe,” Nolen said during that hearing, while adding that he “would want to know more” about the incidents Vance was citing.
That was troubling, said Stumo, who lost his daughter Samya in the Ethiopian Airlines crash in March 2019.
“He said the MAX qualified as safe but he didn’t know about the [most recent] incidents,” Stumo said. “That is … probably disqualifying in my view.”
Vance, in an interview on Monday, said Cruz’s call to elevate Nolen permanently was an “interesting suggestion” but said he is not set on supporting Nolen himself yet.
“He clearly knows his stuff, that’s one thing I’d say,” Vance said. “He knows a lot about the aviation industry, which is unfortunately something I wouldn’t say for Mr. Washington.”
Groups speculating about potential leaders for the FAA in the past have floated names including C.B. “Sully” Sullenberger, the retired US Airways pilot who safely landed a passenger jet on the water during the January 2009 “Miracle on the Hudson.” Sullenberger left his Senate-confirmed role as U.S. ambassador to the International Civil Aviation Organization last July after five months on the job, and didn’t give a reason for his departure.
One union coalition that supported Washington’s nomination was at a loss Monday on who should get the nod now.
“From my perspective, it’s not like we have been asked about potential backups at this point,” said Greg Regan, president of the AFL-CIO’s Transportation Trades Department. “I think there was the full commitment to try to get him across the finish line. Phil had their full trust and support. I think there’s a little bit of urgency here with how they move next.”
Burgess Everett contributed to this report.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 28, 2023