Victoria Fox's Blog, page 72
August 27, 2024
Two quick gardening jobs to encourage the roses to bloom again in October
Different varieties of roses need to be pruned at different times of the year, and this can help them bloom longer and encourage new growth.
1. Cutting
Monique Gudgeon, Garden Director at Sculpture by the Lakes, said: “Always trim dead, diseased and damaged growth.
“On Rambler roses, last year’s flowering stems must be removed and new growth and vigorous growth combined to replace the old shoots.”
According to the professional, this keeps the plant vigorous and promotes “better flowering”.
Monique added: “Shrub roses, which cover many different types, including hybrid teas, floribundas and patio roses, are pruned to maintain the general goblet shape.”
The expert said the mortality rate depends on whether you want to keep rosehips for wildlife, which is often recommended.
The horticulturist continued: “Some roses don’t produce hips, so they’re just dead-ends to a healthy outward-facing bud, which encourages repeat flowering and keeps it neat and tidy.
“Big roses need some height reduction if you’re in a windy or exposed location to shed rootstock during the winter.
“Pruning takes place in late winter, so remove dead, diseased and damaged growth and decide at what height you want it to bloom.
“Remove crossing branches and weak growth or very old unproductive growth and aim for an open, vague goblet shape.
“Cut to the outward buds, not too close to the bud itself, but not too far or the stem will die.”
2. FeedingAnother job to help them bloom longer is to feed them once in the spring.
“Big roses need some height reduction if you’re in a windy or exposed location to shed rootstock during the winter.
“Pruning takes place in late winter, so remove dead, diseased and damaged growth and decide at what height you want it to bloom.
“Remove crossing branches and weak growth or very old unproductive growth and aim for an open, vague goblet shape.
“Cut to the outward buds, not too close to the bud itself, but not too far or the stem will die.”
Honor Magic V3 will have AI powered by Google Cloud
Honor will begin rolling out the Magic V3 globally on September 5 at IFA 2024 in Berlin. Today, we learned that it will feature three AI cloud features that will be powered by Google Cloud.
The global version of the Honor Magic V3 will introduce several AI features to the device such as the Magic Portal in the Foldable, which allows two different apps to run simultaneously for better multitasking.
Google will then add the following features – AI Eraser, Face to Face Translation, and Notes Live Translation. These will require an online connection for processing and language packs, but should improve “daily life and work in various scenarios, such as business meetings, traveling, lifestyle sharing.”
The Honor Magic V3 will launch internationally as the thinnest foldable smartphone, measuring just 4.4mm when unfolded. It’s also seriously powerful with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset and 12GB of RAM as the base option, and it will also have Google services out of the box.
August 26, 2024
Biden praised Modi for his visits to Poland and Ukraine
US President Joe Biden held a phone conversation with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, praising him for two “historic” visits. The leaders discussed, among other things: Modi’s recent visits to Ukraine and Poland
President Biden commended the Prime Minister for his historic visits to Poland and Ukraine, the first visits by an Indian Prime Minister to these countries in decades, as well as for his message of peace and continued humanitarian support for Ukraine, including its energy sector. The leaders reaffirmed their continued support for a peaceful resolution of the conflict in accordance with international law, based on the Charter of the United Nations.
– said the White House.
“We support respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity.”During his visit to Ukraine – his first since Russia’s full-scale invasion – Modi told President Zelensky that his country wanted to contribute to ending the war.
“I want to tell you and the whole world that this is our belief and our commitment, and we say it very loudly and clearly – that we support respect for (Ukraine – PAP) sovereignty and territorial integrity. This is of great importance to us.”
– added the head of the Indian government.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Washington welcomes the efforts of any country that wants to help bring peace and is willing to do so, listening to Kiev’s perspective and supporting President Zelensky’s just peace formula.
I don’t want to speak for India, whether they join or not.”
– he booked.
An Indian government statement released after the conversation said Modi reported on his visit to Ukraine and “reiterated India’s full support for the early return of peace and stability.”
READ ALSO:
— Indian PM visits Poland. Modi: ‘Close cooperation in defence industries is a symbol of our mutual trust’
— President Andrzej Duda meets with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “Stability in the world is in our common interest.”
— Expert: Multidimensionality of partnership with India undermines the thesis that Modi’s visit to Poland was a stopover on the way to Kiev
link/PAP
Judge Blocks Biden Program That Offers Pathway to Citizenship for Undocumented Immigrants Married to U.S. Citizens
A federal judge in the Eastern District of Texas on Monday temporarily blocked a Biden administration program that allowed undocumented immigrants married to U.S. citizens to apply for green cards without leaving the United States.
The program, dubbed Keeping Families Together by the White House, would offer a type of legal relief known as “parole” to undocumented spouses of US citizens who could prove they had lived in the US continuously for at least 10 years and met a number of other requirements.
Typically, undocumented immigrants married to U.S. citizens must leave the country to apply for green cards and eventually citizenship, risking years or even permanent separation from their families. Parole would have allowed them to apply without leaving the United States
The White House estimated that 500,000 people were eligible for the program, and federal immigration agencies began accepting applications on August 19. But Republican lawyers in Texas and 15 other states sued Friday to end the program, prompting a judge to temporarily block it.
In filing the lawsuit, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said the program “directly violates laws created by Congress.”
U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker wrote in his decision that the states’ arguments “are significant and deserve closer scrutiny than the court has thus far afforded.”
Barker’s decision orders the government to stop granting parole under the program, but does not tell the government to stop accepting applications. Immigrants can still apply to the program, but their applications will not be processed until their stay ends.
The states that brought the suit were assisted by America First Legal, a group founded and led by Stephen Miller, an adviser to former President Donald Trump and an architect of many of his administration’s immigration policies. Miller called Monday’s ruling a “huge victory” in a news release.
Immigrants hoping to benefit from the program expressed pain and frustration. “This is heartbreaking,” said Foday Turay, who was brought to the United States from Sierra Leone as a child and now works as a prosecutor for the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office.
Turay was one of a group of immigrants who filed a motion Monday to intervene in the lawsuit to defend the program alongside the Justice Department. He is married to an American woman from New Jersey with whom he has a 1-year-old son.
“My wife and I really depended on this to get on with our lives and plan for our future,” he said. “It feels like a knife to the heart.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
I heard a voice in my head. It said, “May you be safe, may you be at peace…” That is self-compassion.
I tried to desensitize my anxiety, which is to say, I consciously exposed myself to stressful situations—I tried public speaking whenever I could, but that didn’t help either. Until I learned the loving-kindness meditation and started practicing it regularly. I was once invited to speak at a conference at Harvard Medical School to speak to 600 people. I was terrified and panicked, so I practiced this meditation every morning for the previous four months. It involves repeating phrases like: “May I be safe, may I be calm, may I be healthy, may I live well.”
As soon as I arrived at the conference, my speech was announced, I stood up to speak, but I was very scared and trembling. Then a new but natural voice sounded in my head and said, “May you be safe, may you be at peace…”
And did that change your attitude towards the speech, did it calm you down?
– This is called counterconditioning. There is no miracle here. It was a combination of the experience of panic and words of kindness that changed the experience. Instead of being afraid of the audience and shaking inside, I felt joy. I attribute this to self-compassion.
I also practice mindfulness, which, among other things, means allowing difficult emotions to come and go, creating an internal space for them, a kind of non-judgmental awareness that allows them to simply be.
I wasn’t able to do this when I was speaking in public, but I also discovered why. Well, underneath my anxiety was shame. Fear that people would think I was incompetent because I was trying to talk about mindfulness while shaking like an aspen tree. By practicing self-compassion, I learned that what I was really dealing with was shame, not anxiety, because that anxiety was born out of shame.
I also learned that shame is probably the most difficult human emotion. It’s intense and disturbing. How is self-compassion different from mindfulness?
– When emotions are intense or there are too many of them, we cannot be consciously present. This does not mean that all is lost. Sometimes we need to first hold ourselves in loving awareness before we can hold our experience in loving awareness. And this is the fundamental difference between mindfulness and self-compassion.
I noticed that people were coming to me as a psychologist with intense and difficult emotions. When someone is feeling panic, despair or grief, help within the framework of mindful awareness is always limited. Because you can’t be fully aware and open to this experience. But self-compassion allowed mindfulness to work. It shifts the individual’s physiology from a state of threat to what is called a calming state and allows them to calm down. In the same way, we feel calm when someone hugs us or offers us comfort, love, support and compassion. When we are struggling, we can also do this for ourselves. Two years after the conference mentioned above, I met Kristin Neff, who is the lead researcher in this area. And in 2010, we started teaching self-compassion as part of the MSC (Mindful Self-Compassion) program that we created.
So self-compassion is a connection with yourself, but also with others? You said that when you practiced loving-kindness, you also felt joy through connection with your audience.
– Yes, it was a positive connection with the audience. Previously, this contact was negative because I was afraid of being judged. And then, when I learned to have self-compassion, I didn’t think about it anymore. I just wanted everyone to be happy and have a good time at the conference. My attitude changed. The Dalai Lama said that compassion is always a matter of one sentient being towards another.
Self-compassion and compassion regulate emotions through mechanisms of care and connection. Mindfulness regulates emotions through attention and awareness, that is, what we pay attention to and how we pay attention, so that we can focus on one thing, which will calm the mind.
Mindfulness is an open, loving, accepting way of paying attention. That’s how mindfulness regulates emotions. But self-compassion regulates emotions through care and connection. And as we know, the combination of regulating attention and activating care and connection is a very effective way to work through difficult mental states. So I’ve learned that this additional element—self-compassion—is a good complement to mindfulness.
Can self-compassion support mental health issues like depression, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder?
– Research shows that self-compassion is helpful for almost every mental disorder – anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. It helps with substance abuse and even psychosis. So the research basically shows that self-compassion is what we call a transdiagnostic mechanism for mental well-being. Transdiagnostic, meaning it can help with any diagnosis.
When Kristin Neff began her research in 2003, she wrote the first paper on self-compassion, and there are now seven thousand studies on the topic.
Participants in my MSC (Mindful Self-Compassion) courses emphasize how important it is for them to experience what is called common humanity. It is one of the three components of self-compassion. Can you describe the rest?
– The three components of self-compassion are, first, mindfulness, which counters overidentification or self-absorption. The second element is shared humanity – versus isolation or loneliness, and the third is kindness, which is a counterbalance to self-criticism.
Interestingly, people who have been practicing mindfulness for a long time think that it’s all about mindfulness and that there’s no need for any other ingredients. That would be true if you were always fully aware. But no one is ever fully aware, so conceptually it’s true, but not in reality. In fact, there are other aspects that we need to be fully aware of, and those are, in my opinion, shared humanity and mutual kindness.
Most people think that self-compassion is about kindness and tenderness. That’s true too, but in fact self-compassion is not just kindness, and it’s certainly not just tenderness. To be truly compassionate, we must approach our own suffering with curiosity and openness, feeling it for what it is. This is mindfulness. But to be open to what we experience and learn from it, we also need a common humanity.
We must not remain absorbed only in our own thoughts and feelings, we need to break the shell of our individuality and see what is beyond it, what is happening in a broader context, because that is how we develop.
So all three components of self-compassion work closely together. There is also courageous and kind self-compassion.
– They are like yin and yang. Many people believe that self-compassion is benign, that self-compassion is mainly about suffering.
But there is also a completely different side, which is more action-oriented and largely based on stopping harm and righting injustice. For example, it is doing courageous things like running into a burning building to save people. This is very compassionate behavior.
Compassion can have a gentle side, such as physical relief, emotional comfort, or acknowledging someone’s experience. This is the yin or gentle part. And the yang part – the courageous and resilient part, is more about setting boundaries – it means protecting, saying “no.” It’s also about taking care of needs, which means first acknowledging our needs – emotional or physical, acknowledging them, and then also saying “yes” to providing what we need.
So we must say “no” when harm is done, we say “yes” to nourishing ourselves. The final characteristic of courageous self-compassion is encouraging and motivating.
So self-compassion doesn’t mean self-indulgence or shortcuts?
– NO. Sometimes we really need to encourage ourselves to do difficult things, to motivate ourselves. It’s the ability to have an inner voice that tells us we can do it, that encourages us to take action or to fight. It tells us, “You have what it takes, I believe in you. I trust you.” That kind of internal encouragement. All of this falls under the category of combative self-compassion.
What is the Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) course?
– This course is eight weeks long. It is designed to help people learn to be more compassionate with themselves. First, we want participants to have the opportunity to experience self-compassion firsthand, and we teach them methods that can help them develop self-compassion in their daily lives. The course includes seven meditations, 20 informal practices, and 14 other exercises that can be used in everyday life. So the goal of MSC is to cultivate the inner resource of self-compassion. That’s why we like to say that MSC is a resource-building program, although it is quite therapeutic, it is not therapy. It focuses on developing and cultivating the resource of self-compassion. The basic paradox of self-compassion is that we practice it not to feel better, but because we feel bad. So, everyone who participates in the program to feel better after several struggles and internal battles ends up finding that they are the same person they always were. They still don’t feel good, and that is a moment of disappointment. But really, this is the opportunity to really learn what self-compassion is and to really be compassionate with yourself. It’s about allowing yourself to be fully human, which includes suffering, failure, and the full range of human experiences. This is what meditation teacher Rob Nairn has called “compassionate messiness.” To become not just a mess, as we always have been and always will be, but a compassionate mess. That’s why another meditation teacher, Jack Kornfield, says that our goal is not to perfect ourselves, but to perfect our love. And ultimately, that’s what we do in the course – we learn to automatically respond to suffering with self-compassion.
Dr. Christopher Germer is a clinical psychologist and co-creator of the MSC (Mindful Self-Compassion) program. He is a co-founder of the Center for Mindful Self-Compassion, a center for training, research support, and popularization of self-compassion. He is the author and co-author of books on self-compassion. Among other books, “Self-Compassion: Use Mindfulness Techniques to Accept Yourself and Develop Inner Strength” co-written with Kristin Neff has been published in Polish. He conducts MSC teacher trainings, as well as courses and workshops worldwide. Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School
Joanna Nogaj – psychologist. Certified teacher of Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC – Mindful Self-Compassion) and mindfulness (MBSR – Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction). She belongs to the Polish and German Association of Mindfulness Teachers. She leads individual sessions and courses on mindfulness and self-compassion. She organizes workshops and webinars. She conducts trainings for companies and organizations. She helps people struggling with burnout and stress. She offers psychological support to help deal with chronic gastrointestinal problems, e.g. IBS, SIBO – she created the “Calm Belly” course. She runs the Ukojenie center in Poznań. http://www.ukojenie.com
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov could be free in October: Polymarket
Because Durov was arrested on Saturday, August 24, 2024 at 8:00 p.m. local time when his plane landed at Le Bourget Airport, a general aviation airport north of Paris, he could be held until Wednesday, August 28, 2024 at 8:00 p.m., but gamblers have put their money on a longer detention.
Ram Chara and Upasana party with his daughter Klin Kaara
New Delhi:
We caught a glimpse of Ram Charan’s Janmashtami celebrations courtesy of the family via Upasana’s Instagram stories. Upasana shared a picture of daughter Klin Kaara and wrote, “Amma and Kaara. Lovely simple puja time. #happyjanmashtami.” He shared another click of Ram Charan and pet son Rhyme. The caption read: “Nana and Rhyme joined.” Ram Charan and Upasana welcomed their first child, a daughter, on June 20 last year in Hyderabad. They got engaged on December 11, 2011 and had a grand wedding ceremony on June 14, 2012.
See the photos shared by Upasana here:
Ram Charan shared pictures of Klin Kaara’s first trip with his grandparents last week. “Delightful,” she wrote.
ICYMI, a look at Klin Kaara’s first birthday party. “Happy first birthday my love Klin Kaara Konidela. You complete us. Thank you for bringing so much joy and happiness into our lives. I have watched this video a million times,” Upasana wrote.
On her 12th wedding anniversary in June of this year, Upasana shared this photo, which also includes Klin Kaara. She captioned it: “Here’s to 12 years together! Thank you all for your love and wishes. Each of you has played a special role in making our lives truly wonderful.”
Ram Charan was last seen in the lead role in the highly successful film RRR. The actor will next be seen in Shankar’s A game changer which also features Kiara Advani. The film’s title and first look were revealed on the actor’s birthday last year. In his next film, Ram Charan will star alongside Janhvi Kapoor. Photos of the big RC16 release went viral.
Realme 13 Pro Extreme Edition with Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 SoC and 5200mAh battery: price, specifications
The Realme 13 Pro Extreme Edition has been launched in China. The phone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 chipset paired with 12GB of RAM. It is backed by a 5,200mAh battery with support for 45W wired fast charging. It comes with a dual rear camera setup and has an in-display optical fingerprint sensor for biometric authentication. The smartphone is available in a glass finish as well as a vegan leather finish. The company had launched the Realme 13 Pro+ and the Realme 13 Pro in India in July, and this model is the latest arrival in the series. In China, only the Pro+ variant of the Realme 13 is available alongside the newly launched Realme 13 Pro Extreme Edition.
Realme 13 Pro Extreme Edition PriceThe Realme 13 Pro Extreme Edition is priced at CNY 2,099 (approximately Rs 24,700) for the 12GB + 256GB option, while the 12GB + 512GB variant is priced at CNY 2,399 (approximately Rs 28,300). The phone is available for purchase in China via the Realme website . It is offered in Lake Green and Monet Purple (translated from Chinese) colour options.
Realme 13 Pro Extreme Edition Specifications, FeaturesThe newly announced Realme 13 Pro Extreme Edition sports a 6.7-inch Full HD+ (1080 x 2412 pixels) OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, 2000 nits peak brightness, and SGS AI Eye Protection certification. The phone is powered by the Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 chipset paired with 12GB of RAM and up to 512GB of internal storage. The phone ships with Android 14-based Realme UI 5.0.
In the camera department, the phone is equipped with a 50-megapixel camera with a Sony LYT-600 primary sensor with optical image stabilization (OIS), alongside an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera. Meanwhile, selfies are handled by a 32-megapixel front-facing camera.
The realme 13 Pro Extreme Edition is equipped with a 5200mAh battery with support for 45W wired fast charging. Connectivity options on the phone include 5G, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, GPS, NFC, Bluetooth 5.2, and a USB Type-C port. The handset is IP65-rated against dust and splashes, and is also SGS certified against drops. For security, the phone has an optical fingerprint sensor.
The glass version of the Realme 13 Pro Extreme Edition or Monet Purple measures 161.34 x 73.91 x 8.23 mm and weighs 188 g. Meanwhile, the Lake Green version with a vegan leather finish is 8.41 mm thick but weighs 183.5 g.
They are taking back what the Polish Order took away. Local governments are increasing fees for daycare centers
– If there are government funds available for this purpose, it would not be reasonable to keep our own subsidies so as not to use money from the state budget – says Grzegorz Kubalski from the Association of Polish Counties in an interview with Gazeta Prawna.
Nursery fees until 2025
After Koszalin announced an increase in fixed fees for a child’s stay in a daycare center, a storm erupted. Deputy Minister of Labor Aleksandra Gajewska came to the city and decided to be the first to comment on the matter on the X website:
“I would prefer that such ideas not occur to me. They came, so we need to move on and put an end to this as soon as possible. Together with the president, find a solution – to clearly show how Active Parents should be implemented. Tomorrow I will go to Koszalin,” she wrote.
Later, during a conference with the city’s mayor, Tomasz Sobieraj, Gajewska announced that by 2025 parents will no longer pay extra for daycare. The fee has been changed to PLN 1,500.
The story does not end with Koszalin. Later, the deputy minister traveled to Łódź to confirm that there would be no increases (for parents) and that the change in tuition fees would be financed by the government. After the above-mentioned cities, new cities were added, which the former ruling party took advantage of, writing on social media about “robbing Poles under the pretext of smiling”.
Twitter post is loading
Fee for childcare – PLN 1,500. Who will pay?
That is why Gajewska persists in correcting information that appears in the traditional and social media. The complaints are submitted to the Sejm. This time, Monika Pawłowska writes about salary increases in Zamość. Up to 1,500 PLN, that is, the amount finally covered by the government.
– It is difficult for me to intervene in a situation where care in public kindergartens in Zamość will be free of charge for parents. Yes, this was one of the goals of the Active Parents program – replies to Pawłowska’s message on the website of the 10th Deputy Minister of Labour.
We asked for a comment on, among others, the Union of Polish Metropolises. Sylwia Cyrankiewicz-Gortyńska, the organization’s social affairs coordinator, explained in an interview with Gazeta Prawna that in order to take advantage of the program’s opportunities, local governments increase fees in kindergartens.
– It should be borne in mind that the management of daycare centers is a task for the local government, but it is not mandatory. The costs incurred by local governments for maintaining places in kindergartens significantly exceed the income from tuition fees charged to parents. Local governments contribute significant funds to this activity. In our cities, the highest fee does not exceed PLN 900, and in Warsaw, kindergartens are free of charge, Cyrankiewicz-Gortyńska tells us.
The expert adds that the law introduced a maximum fee for childcare – PLN 2,200. Exceeding this limit will not allow you to participate in the program.
– I have no information about any of the UMP cities [Unii Metropolii Polskich – przyp. red.] considered to be more than PLN 1,500. With this amount, the parent who applies for financing from ZUS will not pay for the child’s stay in daycare – only for food. Today it is possible for parents to receive PLN 400 from the CPR [Rodzinnego Kapitału Opiekuńczego – przyp. red.]so if, for example, the stay costs PLN 900, they pay PLN 500. In order for them to continue paying PLN 500, the city would have to increase the fee to PLN 2,000 (from PLN 900), the UMP coordinator calculates.
Local government finances are in decline
So where do the increases in childcare fees come from? – Many local government units are struggling with budget cuts – as a result of a significant drop in revenues caused by the Polish Order’s tax reforms. It is only natural that local governments look for ways to supplement these funds. Especially since childcare was often co-financed or financed entirely from the city budget – in practice, from its own funds – says Grzegorz Kubalski.
And he emphasizes that there was simply a “realization of taxes, which naturally translated into an increase in taxes”.
As Joanna Proniewicz, spokesperson for the Association of Polish Cities, points out in a comment sent to Gazeta Prawna, cities will not gain anything from increases in flat rates, because the differences will be entirely borne by children. So what will change?
– They will only allow them to reduce the costs of caring for children in these facilities, which are increasing year after year. For example, in Częstochowa, the monthly fee for a child’s stay is currently PLN 721.40 for parents, and the rest up to PLN 2,816.29 is covered by the city (the surcharge for a child is PLN 2,094.89!). This is the real cost of keeping a child enrolled in a daycare center, says Proniewicz.
Representatives of the Association of Polish Cities are not surprised that cities decide to increase fees for daycare centers due to rising costs of care.
– They only aim to reduce funds for children to stay in daycare centers spent on municipal budgets, which are often in a very difficult state. Of the 2,477 municipalities in Poland, more than 1,550 are in a situation of operational deficit, i.e. they have less current income than is necessary to be spent on current mandatory tasks until the end of the year. It is worth adding that the differences in nursery fees in our country are often the result of the different services they offer. Local governments try to do everything they can to ensure that the quality of care for children up to the age of 3 is the best possible and is constantly improved, for example by offering a diverse range of nutritional services and educational support – explains our interlocutor.
Changes in contributions to local governments
In mid-July, Andrzej Domański’s ministry prepared a proposal for changes in the financing of local government units (LGUs).
– We know that the past few years have been very difficult for local governments. That is why we are proposing fundamental changes to the local government financing system, finally breaking with the policy of local governments’ dependence on political decisions.. The changes we propose will ensure the financial stability of local governments for decades to come, Domański said at the conference.
Therefore, there will be a general subsidy for local government units whose revenues will be less than their needs. It was proposed to abandon several fragmented reserves of general subsidies and create a “large” reserve to supplement revenues – as the ministry announced in a press release.
“Other assumptions of the new Law on the income of local government units include, among others: separating cities with county rights as a separate category of local government units and calculating the financial needs of local government units (compensatory needs, educational needs, development needs, ecological needs, supplementary needs) instead of the current shares of the general subsidy,” read the Ministry of Finance statement.
The Ministry estimates that the revenues of local government units after the introduction of the law will increase by PLN 16 billion in 2025, compared to the current system, which already includes a development subsidy of PLN 3.5 billion. The Ministry wants to ensure that each local government will have higher revenues than at present.
Judge to Hear Arguments on Whether to Dismiss Arizona’s Fake Election Case
PHOENIX (AP) — A judge will hear arguments Monday in a Phoenix courtroom on whether to indict Republicans who signed a document falsely claiming Donald Trump won Arizona in 2020 and others accused of plotting to overturn the presidential election. .
At least a dozen defendants are seeking dismissal under an Arizona law that prohibits the use of frivolous legal action to silence critics. The law had long provided protection in civil cases, but the Republican-led legislature changed it in 2022 to cover most criminal charges.
The defendants allege that Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes tried to use the charges to silence them about their constitutionally protected speech about the 2020 election and actions taken in response to the outcome of the race. They say Mayes campaigned for an investigation into the voter fraud case and had shown bias against Trump and his supporters.
Prosecutors say the defendants have no evidence to support their claim of retaliation and crossed the line from protected speech to fraud. Mayes’ office has also said the grand jury wanted to consider indicting the former president, but prosecutors told them not to.
A total of 18 Republicans were charged with forgery, fraud and conspiracy. The defendants consist of 11 Republicans who submitted a document claiming Trump won Arizona, two former Trump aides and five lawyers associated with the former president, including Rudy Giuliani.
So far, two defendants have settled their cases.
Former Trump campaign prosecutor Jenna Ellis, who worked closely with Giuliani, signed a cooperation agreement with prosecutors that led to the dismissal of her charges. Republican activist Loraine Pellegrino also became the first person convicted in the Arizona case when she pleaded guilty to a felony charge and was sentenced to probation.
The rest of the defendants have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Mark Meadows, Trump’s former chief of staff to the president, is trying to move the charges to federal court, where his lawyers say they will seek to have the charges dismissed.
Trump was not charged in Arizona, but the charges point to him as an unindicted co-conspirator.
In the filing, Mayes’ office said that while grand jurors were considering possible indictments, prosecutors asked them not to indict Trump, citing U.S. Justice Department policy that limits indicting someone for the same crime twice. The prosecutor also did not know if the authorities at the time had all the necessary evidence to indict Trump.
Eleven people nominated for the Arizona Republican primary gathered in Phoenix on December 14, 2020, to sign an affidavit stating that they were “duly elected and qualified” voters and claiming that Trump had carried the state in the 2020 election.
President Joe Biden won Arizona by 10,457 votes. At the time, the Arizona Republican Party posted a minute-long video of the signing event on social media. The document was later sent to Congress and the National Archives, where it was ignored.
Prosecutors in Michigan, Nevada, Georgia and Wisconsin have also filed criminal charges over the scheme to rig the election. Arizona authorities announced the felony charges in late April.
Victoria Fox's Blog
- Victoria Fox's profile
- 137 followers
