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Hillary Clinton is going to lose: She doesn-t even see the frustrated progressive wave that will nominate Bernie Sanders 

In this photo taken May 20, 2015, Democratic Presidential candidate Sen// Bernie Sanders, I Vt//, poses for a portrait before an interview with The Associated Press in Washington// For Democrats who had hoped to lure Massachusetts Sen// Elizabeth Warren into a presidential campaign, independent Sen// Bernie Sanders might be the next best thing// Sanders, who is opening his official presidential campaign Tuesday in Burlington, Vermont, aims to ignite a grassroots fire among left leaning Democrats wary of Hillary Rodham Clinton// He is laying out an agenda in step with the party-s progressive wing and compatible with Warren-s platform reining in Wall Street banks, tackling college debt and creating a government financed infrastructure jobs program// Hillary Clinton went to New York-s Roosevelt Island earlier this month to relaunch her campaign for president// Her first kickoff fell flat, perhaps because she herself didn-t attend, opting instead to send a video greeting card in which people she still insists on calling everyday Americansshared their life plans// She came on at the end to say she had plans of her own that include being president, and that she does it all for us// She delivered a 45 minute speech that told us little more than that three minute video// She still won-t say where she-d peg the minimum wage or if she-d ever rein in the surveillance state or get us out of Iraq// Most amazing is how she finesses the Trans Pacific Partnership that President Obama so covets// It-s the biggest deal in the history of commerce; its investor tribunals would substitute corporate for democratic will here and around the world and Clinton hasn-t said boo about it// Some ask how she gets away with it// I-m not so sure she does// Politicians have always ducked tough issues, but today-s Democrats are the worst// When the TPP came before the House, enough Democrats played it cute to leave the outcome in doubt till the very end// Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi didn-t tip her hand until just before the vote// Many who voted no never said exactly why// Some want to curb currency manipulation// Some oppose the fast track process, others the secret tribunals or the intellectual property rules that actually restrain competition// If the caucus as a whole has a bottom line, no one knows what it is// The TPP is a mystery because our leaders wish it so// We don-t know what-s in it because our president won-t let us read it, and not out of respect for precedent or protocol// George W// Bush showed us drafts of his trade agreements// We-re negotiating one right now with Europe, and Europeans get to read those drafts// If a comma gets cut from the TPP, hundreds of corporate lobbyists know in an instant// The only people who don-t know are the American people and that-s only because our president thinks our knowing would ruin everything// The process by which Congress considers the TPP is confusing in itself// The pact is still being negotiated by the 12 nations who-d be parties to it// The fight now is over legislation meant to grease the skids for it when it finally arrives// At issue are trade promotion authority or TPA the fast track by which Congress vows not to amend or filibuster a trade agreement it hasn-t even read and trade adjustment assistance or TAA, which gives benefits (money, health insurance, job training) to workers who can prove to the federal government that they lost their jobs due to trade// Signed into law by John Kennedy, expanded by Bill Clinton and extended by George W// Bush, the half century old program is set to expire in September// The bills now before Congress would keep it alive another six years// Back in May the Senate approved a bill that included both TAA and TPA// On June 12, the House voted on both, but in separate bills under a rule requiring passage of each in order to send either to the Senate// The rule was alternatively described as an attempt to mirror the Senate bill, or a strategy to gain House passage, there being different majorities there for each provision// As a strategy for passage it was a dud// When fast track passed by eight votes (219 to 211), Democrats reversed field and bailed on the TAA just to derail the whole process// The press called the June 12 votes a huge win for labor and a *humiliating defeat* for Obama// Reading such stories one might think fast track or even the TPP itself had suffered a crushing blow// Some on the left even called it historic// Paul Krugman wrote, *House Democrats shocked almost everyone by rejecting key provisions needed to complete the Trans Pacific Partnership//* To Krugman it seemed a watershed: *Ever since Ronald Reagan-s election in 1980, Democrats have been on the ideological defensive// Even when they won elections they seemed afraid to endorse clearly progressive positions… But that era appears to be over//* I wouldn-t pop any corks quite yet// For the first time ever Congress hit the pause button on globalization, but that-s all it did// House Dems didn-t suddenly lurch left: they just did what they always do// In 1993 they voted no on NAFTA// In 2002 they voted against the Iraq War// In 2010 they passed an Obamacare bill with a public option// But they can-t ignore their president or their donors forever// In 2008 they resisted Bush-s bailout but finally gave in to Obama and Wall Street// Republicans held firm, thus setting in motion the Tea Party and the sad, sorry debacle of 2010// On Thursday the Republicans did what any fool could have predicted: they passed a new rule and sent the TPA to the Senate sans worker assistance// We don-t know what will happen next, but we do know fast track has already passed both houses of Congress once// In the end, Obama, Boehner, McConnell and their global capital partners will likely get their way, but June 12 may yet prove historic// In 2008 House Republicans lost the bailout battle but planted the seeds of a grass-roots movement that would win wars// Progressives should examine the precedent// Krugman-s right: there-s a rumbling out there, but most Democrats are a long way from hearing it, let alone joining in// If House Dems stand firm, they too may plant the seeds of a grass roots movement// Much of their party will resist// Every political party is really many parties// The Democrats- presidential, Senate, governors and donors parties all line up with global capital// Even in the House, Minority Whip Steny Hoyer is a staunch free trader and Pelosi herself spent the week before the vote quietly imploring her caucus to swallow the poison pill// No one knows where scores of Democrats really stand// Both parties are caught in a crossfire between their donors and their base// Republican voters are suspicious of the TPP and hate fast track, mostly because they hate Obama// Democratic voters hate fast track but accept the TPP, mostly because they love Obama// Republicans in Congress are civil because they can-t bash Democrats for doing what their base wishes they would do// Democrats in Congress are quiet because they don-t want their donors to think they mean what they say and don-t know when someone may offer them something to take one for the team by switching sides// It-s hard to follow the bouncing ball when the topic-s so opaque, the bill-s locked up like a nuclear code and everyone-s lying or speaking in such empty phrases that they may as well be lying// The press isn-t helping// When all coverage is about motives, message or strategy, it-s easier for politicians to hide their views// This week I told two liberal friends that Pelosi is trying to find *a path to yes on fast track//* (Her words) Both said Pelosi and Clinton had broken with Obama, are moving left and now oppose the deal// In terms of strategy and message it was true all except the part about Clinton and Pelosi opposing the deal// No one plays the game better than Hillary Clinton, the Harry Houdini of syntax// The question is whether it-s a winning game, and if so for whom// It isn-t a winning game for progressives// We only win when debate is specific, honest and brave// The TPP debate is like those we have every day over government// The more abstract the terms, the harder it is for us to win// If we find ourselves debating government or bureaucracy, we lose// If we talk Medicare or Social Security, we win// We even win on foreign aid but only when armed with the facts// It-s the same with the TPP// Everyone wants more -global cooperationbut no one wants to let Big Pharma stamp out generic drugs or let Big Tobacco tell us how they-ll label their products// And no one wants some secretive global tribunal telling a state legislature how to govern// If there-s an easier case to make, I-ve never seen it// You may ask why every Democrat in Congress doesn-t make it, but we-ve gone over that// Whether they-re in thrall to their donors, their consultants, their leaders or their ambitions, whoever or whatever holds them back, they just can-t do it//

 

 ## Nearly every discussion of the Greek fiasco is based on a morality play// Call it Naughty Greece versus Noble Europe// Those troublesome Greeks never belonged in the euro, runs this story// Once inside, they got themselves into a big fat mess and now it-s up to Europe to sort it all out// 

 Eurozone creditors raise hopes of Greek bailout deal 

## Those are the basics all Wise Folk agree on// Then those on the right go on to say feckless Greece must either accept Europe-s deal or get out of the single currency// Or if more liberal, they hem and haw, cough and splutter, before calling for Europe to show a little more charity to its southern basketcase// Whatever their solution, the Wise Folk agree on the problem| it-s not Brussels that-s at fault, it-s Athens// Oh, those turbulent Greeks! That-s the attitude you smell when the IMF-s Christine Lagarde decries the Syriza government for not being *adult * enough// That-s what licenses the German press to portray Greece-s finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, as needing *psychiatric help *// There-s just one problem with this story| like most morality tales, it shatters upon contact with hard reality// Athens is merely the worst outbreak of a much bigger disease within the euro project// Because the single currency isn-t working for ordinary Europeans, from the Ruhr valley to Rome//  On saying this, I don-t close my eyes to the endemic corruption and tax dodging in Greece// Nor am I about to don Farage ist chalkstripes// My charge is much simpler| the euro project is not only failing to deliver on the promises of its originators, it-s doing the exact opposite by eroding the living standards of ordinary Europeans// And as we-ll see, that-s true even for those living in the continent-s number one economy, Germany//  First, let-s remind ourselves of the noble pledges made for the euro project// Let-s play the grainy footage of Germany-s Helmut Schmidt and France-s Giscard d-Estaing, as they lay the foundations for Europe-s grand unifier// Most of all, let-s remind ourselves of what the true believers felt// Take this from Oskar Lafontaine, Germany-s minister of finance, on the very eve of the launch of the euro// He talked of *the vision of a united Europe, to be reached through the gradual convergence of living standards, the deepening of democracy, and the flowering of a truly European culture *// We could quote a thousand other such stanzas of euro poetry, but that single line from Lafontaine shows how far the single currency project has fallen// Instead of raising living standards across Europe, monetary union is pushing them downwards// Rather than deepening democracy, it is undermining it// As for *a truly European culture *, when German journalists accuse Greek ministers of *psychosis *, that mythic agora of nations is a long way off// 

## Of all these three charges, the first is most important because it explains how the entire union is being undermined// To see what-s happened to the living standards of ordinary Europeans, turn to some extraordinary research published this year by Heiner Flassbeck, former chief economist at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, and Costas Lapavitsas, an economics professor at Soas University of London turned Syriza MP// 

## In Against the Troika, the German and the Greek publish one chart that explodes the idea that the euro has raised living standards// What they look at is unit labour costs how much you need to pay staff to make one unit of output| a widget, say, or a bit of software// And they map labour costs across the eurozone from 1999 to 2013// What they find is that German workers have barely seen wages rise for the 14 year stretch// In the short life of the euro, working Germans have fared worse than the French, Austrians, Italians and many across southern Europe//  Yes, we-re talking about the same Germany| the mightiest economy on the continent, the one even David Cameron regards with envy// Yet the people working there and making the country more prosperous have seen barely any reward for their efforts// And this is the model for a continent//Perhaps you have an image of Deutschland as being a nation of highly skilled, highly rewarded workers in gleaming factories// That workforce and its unions still exist but it-s shrinking fast// What-s replacing it, according to Germany-s leading expert on inequality, Gerhard Bosch, are crap jobs// The low wage workforce has shot up and is now almost at US levels, he reckons// 

 ## Don-t blame this on the euro, but on the slow decline of German unions, and the trend of business towards outsourcing to cheaper eastern Europe// What the single currency has done is make Germany-s low wage problems the ruin of an entire continent// 

 ## Workers in France, Italy, Spain and the rest of the eurozone are now being undercut by the epic wage freeze going on in the giant country in the middle// Flassbeck and Lapavitsas describe this as Germany-s *beggar thy neighbour * policy *but only after beggaring its own people *// 

 ## In the last century, the other countries in the eurozone could have become more competitive by devaluing their national currencies just as the UK has done since the banking meltdown// But now they-re all part of the same club, the only post crash solution has been to pay workers less//That is expressly what the European commission, the European Central Bank and the IMF are telling Greece| make workers redundant, pay those still in a job much less, and slash pensions for the elderly// But it-s not just in Greece// Nearly every meeting of the Wise Folk in Brussels and Strasbourg comes up with the same communique for *reform * of the labour market and social security entitlements across the continent| a not so coded call for attacking ordinary people-s living standards// This is what the noble European project is turning into| a grim march to the bottom// This isn-t about creating a deeper democracy, but deeper markets and the two are increasingly incompatible// Germany-s Angela Merkel has shown no compunction about meddling in the democratic affairs of other European countries tacitly warning Greeks against voting for Syriza for instance, or forcing the Spanish socialist prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, to rip up the spending commitments that had won him an election//The diplomatic beatings administered to Syriza since it came to power this year can only be seen as Europe trying to set an example to any Spanish voters who might be tempted to support its sister movement Podemos// Go too far left, runs the message, and you-ll get the same treatment// 

 ## Whatever the founding ideals of the eurozone, they don-t match up to the grim reality in 2015// This is Thatcher-s revolution, or Reagan-s but now on a continental scale// And as then, it is accompanied by the idea that There Is No Alternative either to running an economy, or even to which kind of government voters get to choose// 

 ## The fact that this entire show is being brought in by agreeable looking Wise Folk often claiming to be social democratic doesn-t render the project any nicer or gentler// It just lends the entire thing a nasty tang of hypocrisy//

## A few years ago, he caused shockwaves in France by saying he-d paid backhanders to figures on all sides of the political spectrum after being told he was facing a tax inspection, presumed to have been in the 1970s. A later tax investigation found no irregularity. Decades ago, he left France to live just over the border in Switzerland. *I was never a tax exile,* he is at pains to point out. *I didn-t have a penny when I left.*

## The phrase Aznavour probably hates the most is *farewell tour*. He swears he has never uttered the words, and vows to keep performing until he dies.

 ## *You-ve got to learn to leave the table when love is no longer being served,* he once crooned. But with audiences still dishing up a never ending pot of it, he-s happy to stick around. 

## Charles Aznavour, one of the greatest singer songwriters France has ever known, sits in a velvet armchair a few days before his 91st birthday, discussing the whiff of ladies armpits. 

## A song on his new album, in which he declares, *I love the smell of your underarms,* worried his Swedish wife of 50 years, but Aznavour knows his audience. If he-s the most successful French crooner in the world a lyricist who defined the country-s popular culture for decades it-s precisely because his songs have always been risky.

 ## When Aznavour began writing in the 1940s, sex was something that happened with the light off. It was OK for women singers to howl over their broken hearts, but men didn-t sing about their own emotional despair and later their dodgy prostates. Aznavour shone a spotlight on masculinity and libido, singing about depression, sex, prejudice and rape. His hits ranged from the 1970s story of a gay transvestite in What Makes a Man, to the once banned ballad of muggy, post coital exhaustion, Après l-Amour, and the controversial You-ve Let Yourself Go the plea of a man whose wife has grown dowdy and fat *I gaze at you in sheer despair and see your mother standing there*.He is unrepentant. *It-s a kind of sickness I have, talking about things you-re not supposed to talk about. I started with homosexuality and I wanted to break every taboo.* The armpit line comes in a new ballad about a blind lover-s sense of smell. *When I wrote a song about the deaf , I learned sign language to perform it on stage. On this album, I wanted to describe what it was like for someone non sighted.* He pauses. *I still don-t know how I-m going to perform it …* In his shows, he takes on various personas with dramatic gestures that resemble a mime act. He-s an actor who sings rather than a Frank Sinatra style singer who acts. A few years ago, he caused shockwaves in France by saying he-d paid backhanders to figures on all sides of the political spectrum after being told he was facing a tax inspection, presumed to have been in the 1970s. A later tax investigation found no irregularity. Decades ago, he left France to live just over the border in Switzerland. *I was never a tax exile,* he is at pains to point out. *I didn-t have a penny when I left.*

 ## The phrase Aznavour probably hates the most is *farewell tour*. He swears he has never uttered the words, and vows to keep performing until he dies. 

## *You-ve got to learn to leave the table when love is no longer being served,* he once crooned. But with audiences still dishing up a never ending pot of it, he-s happy to stick around. 

## Aznavour is still composing and performing, he-s written around 1,200 songs and sold more than 100m records in his 70 year career. France worships him as the last living legend of a golden era. Like many popular singers who came to represent the very essence of France such as Georges Moustaki and, to a certain extent, Edith Piaf herself Aznavour is shaped by his foreign roots. Born Shahnour Varenagh Aznavourian in Paris to an actor father and singer mother who had fled the Armenian genocide, he left school and became a child actor at the age of nine. He survived the German occupation of Paris singing in cabarets, while his parents hid fellow Armenians, Jews, Russians and Communists in their apartment and his father joined the resistance. 

## Piaf pestered him to have a nose job. Afterwards he presented himself for inspection. I preferred you before, she said 

## But Aznavour-s path to success was long and torturous. French critics dismissed him as repulsively ugly, too short, with a terrible voice and dubious song titles. It wasn-t until the end of the 50s, a decade after Piaf had taken him on as her songwriter, flatmate and all round bag carrier that he finally began to make it. In 1960, he played the shy and haunted piano player in François Truffaut-s classic New Wave film, Shoot the Piano Player (he went on to act in over 60 films). But his global singing fame was cemented in the 70s with a triumphant crossover into the US and UK –something he puts down to the excellent translation of his lyrics into English. (The bittersweet British No 1, She, is hardly known in France). Britain was seduced by this scrawny Frenchman crooning about painful crushes in a 10 ton accent. *I often say:- France is for lyrics, England is for music,* he muses. 

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## Nowadays, Aznavour is a *dinosaur* his word who trades on agelessness. His 51st studio album is out in the UK now and he is working on his 52nd. He loves being sampled by adoring French rappers. He relishes the irony that at 30 he was considered ugly, but past 90 he is now seen as dashing. What it-s like being 91? *I wouldn-t have a clue,* he says, wide eyed. *I don-t feel 91. I-ve always thought a person must never lose the gaze of a child.* At 5 foot 3, he holds his tiny frame perpetually taut (keeping his shoulders straight is one his secrets of eternal youth). But he-s brutally honest about performing on stage. *I hide nothing from the audience,* he says. He tells them he has an Auto cue because his memory is fading, and says his mouth ulcers make it hard to sing. He relies on hearing aids. But he loathes what he calls the show business *cult of youth*.

 ## *More and more men are changing themselves, having surgery, and you can see it on TV, because their dyed black hair turns blue under the lights,* he says. *I had a problem with my nose, I got it done. I made some white hair that was falling out grow back. But I left my wrinkles where they are. And I look younger than the others because I have never retouched nature-s work.*In fact, it was Edith Piaf cabaret superstar and queen of chanson française, who forced Aznavour to have a nose job 50 years ago. She pestered him for months to fix what she deemed his too large hooter. He eventually went under the knife, and presented himself for inspection. *I preferred you before,* she said. 

## There-s a song about Piaf on the new album. It is the first time he has written about her, though they lived together platonically for eight years. *We were like cousins. We had this extraordinary complicity. I never had a love affair with her that-s what saved us.* Why did Piaf, the star, latch on to him, an unknown nine years her junior? *I brought her my youth, my madness, she loved my whole jazzy side.* 

## I can-t say anything about ,because I would anger half the Armenians. 

## His other main role today is as one of the world-s most famous Armenians. He has finally taken dual Armenian citizenship, is Armenian ambassador to Switzerland and travelled with the French president François Hollande to mark the centenary of the Armenian genocide this year. But France still defines his identity. *I-ve always felt totally French. That really vexed the Armenians in Armenia, but now they-re used to it.* He politely declines to say what he thinks about his challenger as pop culture-s international symbol of the Armenian diaspora: Kim Kardashian. He-s never met her. Does he watch her reality show? 

## *I can-t say anything about it, because I would anger half the Armenians.* He laughs nervously. *I suppose Armenians are quite prudish and don-t like too much nudity …*A few years ago, he caused shockwaves in France by saying he-d paid backhanders to figures on all sides of the political spectrum after being told he was facing a tax inspection, presumed to have been in the 1970s. A later tax investigation found no irregularity. Decades ago, he left France to live just over the border in Switzerland. *I was never a tax exile,* he is at pains to point out. *I didn-t have a penny when I left.* 

## The phrase Aznavour probably hates the most is *farewell tour*. He swears he has never uttered the words, and vows to keep performing until he dies. 

## *You-ve got to learn to leave the table when love is no longer being served,* he once crooned. But with audiences still dishing up a never ending pot of it, he-s happy to stick around.

 ## The boy, named locally as Reggie, was attacked at a house in Falkland Road at about 04:15 BST// ## He was taken to hospital where he later died// Police said the small terrier dog had been removed from the address and was likely to be destroyed// 

## Northumbria Police said a 30 year old man had been arrested in connection with the incident// ## A family member, who did not want be identified, said the baby-s mother named locally as Maria Blacklin was not in the house when the youngster was attacked// 

## The man said the baby-s mother never left her son alone with the dog and she was devastated by what had happened//

 ## A neighbour said the baby was a *lovely bairn*// 

## She said: *They-re all right [the family], they-re no bother and his wife, she looks after them bairns, she was over the moon with her little boy// 

## *It-s a shock more than anything else, I cannot get over it// It-s shocking//*Flowers have been laid against the front wall of the house, along with cards bearing messages of support// 

## Superintendent Gillian Mitchell said: *As you can appreciate, we have concerns with regards to the care of the child at the time this incident occurred// 

## *They {the family} are absolutely devastated as you would imagine, it-s tragic to lose a child at any stage, but in these circumstances it is just unbelievable//*They are receiving support.......it is a very difficult time, the officers attending the scene this morning were faced with quite a significant incident to deal with// 

## *It-s a tragic isolated incident and our thoughts are with the family and friends of the baby and indeed our officers who have dealt with this incident//* 

## Police said additional officers were in the area to provide reassurance to support the public during an *horrendous time in the community*// 

## A police car remains parked directly outside the front of the property// 

## Police said the family-s dog posed no threat to the wider public and is now in secure kennels// More than 200,000 people a year are estimated to be bitten by dogs in England, according to research for the British Medical Journal// 

## Since 2005, 22 people have been killed by dogs in the UK, 12 of them children, according to the Office for National Statistics//Everybody you speak to in this quiet tree lined street knows the family of little Reggie// 

## His proud mum had introduced him to their neighbours in recent days// 

## They also knew the family had a dog, a small terrier which they believed had a good temperament// It obviously didn-t// 

## Those same neighbours have spent the afternoon leaving flowers outside the three week old baby-s home many of them in tears// 

## *He was a bonny little lad*, one of them remarked// 

## A relative came by to tell us the terrier dog was usually kept in a brick outhouse at night// He couldn-t understand why the dog was in the house// He also told us the dog was always well behaved around the other children in the home// 

## The animal is now being kept in secure kennels while police continue their investigation// Meanwhile, a family is trying to come to terms with the loss of their new born child in such horrific circumstances//

 ## The young age of Dylann Roof, who-s charged with sitting alongside nine black churchgoers for an hour before standing up and shooting them dead, is sure to inspire some head scratching in the wake of his attack// He-s 21, which means he-s a millennial, which means he-s not supposed to be racist so the thinking stubbornly [if disingenuously] persists, despite ample research showing that it-s just not true// 

 ## For many, a flush of racial optimism that followed Obama-s first election, which saw younger voters turn out in record numbers to support him, lives on// Roof-s generation, after all, is the one that-s been quoted in big newspaper articles about its impressive tolerance, saying things like, *People are people,* and *At our age, that-s the big thing, being diverse and promoting equality and everything//* 

## Indeed, a big survey by MTV last year found that most people age 14 to 24 do think racism is largely a bogeyman of the past, not one standing in the way today// Nearly 70 percent of respondents said they don-t see people of color any differently than they do white people// So how to reconcile it: we have here a generation consisting of both Roof and his desire to start a *race war* (it almost sounds quaint), and Dionte Savage, a black teenager from the Chicago area who, a couple years into Obama-s first term, told the Chicago Tribune that in his history class, *we talk about how it used to be all the time ... Now, we have multiple ethnicities mixing and working together, and everybody-s cool about it//* 

 ## Of course, every generation houses extremes, and most people Roof-s age will never commit a hate crime// But the misperception that they-re largely free of racial animus persists in many corners, and that-s dangerous in itself// 

 ## There are two big, glaring problems with the idea that millennials have shed the racial baggage that the Greatest Generation and the Boomers and the Gen Xers couldn-t or wouldn-t// First off, despite the floor to ceiling media obsession with millennials, the label covers a fairly narrow slice of the population// As the Washington Post-s Emily Badger explained last week, the term is really *code* for a particular kind of young person coastal, college educated and upwardly mobile: 

 ## *We have this juxtaposition of millennials who are better off, who have college degrees, who-ve had the luxury of moving in,* she says// *They-re coexisting, not entirely harmoniously, with millennials of a different kind who are not going to be able to afford to continue living in the neighborhoods where their parents raised them//* 

## The idea that all that we-re going to cross pollinate our way out of racism is worse than a form of magical thinking// It-s a way of handing down debt// 

## You can take one look at Dylann Roof, an apparent high school dropout with a bowl cut, and get that all the hand wringing over how millennials spend their every waking moment do they text their parents too much? How do they get their news? Gap or Walmart? 

 ## More tellingly, it turns out that even as this generation is on the whole *cool* with interracial marriage and dating, there-s a lot of daylight between the way white millennials and those of color feel about a bunch of other questions about race// In that aforementioned MTV survey, young white people were nearly twice as likely to say that the government pays too much attention to the problems of racial minority groups// They were also nearly twice as likely to say that discrimination against white people has become as big a problem as discrimination against minorities// 

## In many ways, this and other data suggest the attitudes held by white millennials aren-t that different than those held by their parents// In the Oxford journal Public Opinion Quarterly, researcher Vincent Hutching combed through public opinion surveys taken before and after several presidential elections and found that *younger cohorts of whites are no more racially liberal in 2008 than they were in 1988//* 

## And really, why would they be? America-s public schools are more segregated now than they were 40 years ago// Americans continue to live in very different worlds, a 2011 study showed that ethnic identity outranked income as a predictor of where people live// 

## *Among minority households, even those with relatively high incomes tend to be clustered in neighborhoods where most of their neighbors are the same race and many are poor,* the Huffington Post found// The racial gap in household wealth has exploded since the housing bubble burst in 2007// And in the MTV study, white millennials were significantly less likely to say they grew up in families that talked about race compared to people of color the same age// 

 ## There-s also good data suggesting that white millennials have a far rosier view on race relations than their contemporaries of color// This too makes sense when you think about the schools, the stark housing segregation, the fact that on average white people have hardly any friends of color, and, perhaps more importantly than we realize, the fact they they just don-t have much experience talking about this stuff// {In fact, it-s safe to assume that Roof has spent far more time discussing race than most people his age//} As Politico-s Sean McElwee put it, the data that-s out there *suggests that millennials aren-t racially tolerant, they-re racially apathetic: They simply ignore structural racism rather than try to fix it// 

 ## Despite all of this, we still hold out hope that the kids are all right// It-s a hope that seems fueled by the idea that America-s coming non white majority and rising levels of intermarriage augur some harmonious beige future// But even that premise is shaky// A big Pew study on multiracial Americans released in June found that most of the country-s multiracial adults are likely to identify with one race usually a non white one often because of their own experiences with race based discrimination// 

## The idea that all that we-re going to, um, cross pollinate our way out of entrenched racist beliefs and race driven life outcomes is worse than just a form of magical thinking// It-s a way of handing down debt// It requires a tremendous amount of political and social heavy lifting to topple the pillars of structural racism, but instead of rolling up our sleeves, we-ve decided to leave the work of doing so to to our kids, anointing them as some sort of magical post racial elves in the process// 

 ## In the interim, we-ll scratch our heads and wonder just where Roof-s parents were and just how he got so twisted at such a young age// But then we-ll comfort ourselves that Roof is a freakish holdover, an outlier out of his time, and that the real millennials are still out there building a better world, *being diverse and promoting equality and everything//* But it turns out neither Roof nor the rest of his generational cohort are as untethered from history as we fervently want to believe//

## An irresistible force and an immovable object: that would be Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett on Friday evening at Radio City Music Hall where they sang more than 30 standards, separately and together, before a respectful multigenerational audience that tilted older// The immovable object was Mr// Bennett, a living monument at 88, who, when he moved across the stage, proceeded slowly, cautiously and with dignity// With his customary grace and humility, Mr// Bennett embodied the patriarch of American popular song he has been for the last two decades// Around him fluttered that irresistible force, Lady Gaga, an eccentric living bauble, in a succession of extravagant showgirl outfits and wigs// Shape shifting from approximations of Mae West to Marilyn Monroe to a glittery cat suited vamp, she twirled this or that accouterment like an old time burlesque performer// Behind them was a big band augmented by a string section playing sumptuous arrangements, conducted by the pianist Mike Renzi// 

##The chemistry between the performers is noticeably different from the cuddly granddad and granddaughter intimacy of their videos// The program was really two solo sets skillfully sandwiched together with duets in which Lady Gaga-s bright, saucy Broadway trained voice and Mr// Bennett-s mature saloon style couldn-t find a comfortable blend//On the up tempo numbers, Mr// Bennett reverted to his latter day telegraphic style in which crucial words are shouted with a vehemence that in a song like the Gershwins *Who Cares? * makes him a cheerleader for the durability of the American songbook// In her first solo segment, Lady Gaga-s back to back renditions of *Bang Bang * and *Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered * were fraught with drama// Her singing voice is almost as mutable as her provocative fashion plate image// In a quieter mode she resembles Natalie Cole, but with a brassier edge and a more freewheeling approach to tempos// She interjected spoken commentary into a couple of songs// During Cole Porter-s *Ev-ry Time We Say Goodbye, * she remarked enigmatically that saying goodbye to yourself was not a good idea// A bright, aggressive *La Vie En Rose, * sung mostly in French, demonstrated her formidable vocal skills// Her most ambitious interpretation, of Billy Strayhorn-s *Lush Life, * was a sprawling, high strung psychodrama that swooped from mood to mood// 

## For all the flash and synthetic sexiness Lady Gaga brought to the stage, musically the evening belonged to Mr// Bennett who brought his usual heart and optimism to signature songs like *How Do You Keep the Music Playing? * and *Smile// * Mr// Bennett has an unerring ability to spin a song around its key phrases// In *How Do You Keep the Music Playing? * those words are the confession: *The more I love the more that I-m afraid That in your eyes I may not see forever// * Mr// Bennett fully vented that anxiety before hitting the song out of the ballpark with a climbing finale// But the ultimate moment of truth came with his performance of *Smile, * and its declaration *you-ll find that life is still worthwhile// * *Life * was declaimed, followed almost immediately by *still, * shouted as a triumphant affirmation//

 ##Delaware governor Jack Markell has signed into law a bill decriminalising possession and private use of small amounts of marijuana// The move follows the lead of nearly 20 states that have eased penalties for personal consumption, state media reported on Thursday// Individuals in Delware will be allowed to possess up to an ounce of marijuana, and to use it privately without facing criminal sanctions// Police could still confiscate the drug, according to Delaware Online, the News Journal// 

 ##The statute also will reduce the penalty for using marijuana in a public place to a $100 civil fine// Under previous Delaware law, simple marijuana possession was a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail and a maximum fine of $1,150// The law will take effect in six months’ time// Markell, a Democrat, signed the measure almost immediately after the state senate, voting along party lines, gave it final legislative approval// 

 ##According to the Journal, the Democratic backed bill cleared the state legislature without a single Republican vote in either the house or senate// Not counting Delaware, 17 states have passed laws to decriminalise personal marijuana use and possession in small amounts, according to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, a lobbying group// Delaware is one of 23 states, along with the District of Columbia, that allow the use of pot for medical reasons// Voters in Colorado, Washington state, Oregon, Alaska and Washington DC have approved ballot measures legalising cannabis for adult recreational use//

 ##A man remains in a critical condition in hospital after surviving a 10 hour flight by clinging to the undercarriage of a British Airways flight from which another stowaway is feared to have plunged to his death// The survivor was found unconscious in the undercarriage of the plane on Thursday morning having endured freezing temperatures over the 8,000 miles [12,875km] flight from Johannesburg to London// The body of the dead man was discovered an hour later on the roof of a west London office building// It is not clear if he was killed in the fall, flight data reveals the plane would have been at an altitude of around 1,400ft [427m] when it passed over the area// 

 ## Police say they believe they know the survivor-s identity and that he is 24 years old, but are awaiting confirmation// Scotland Yard said officers were looking into whether there was a connection between the survivor and the dead man, who was found under the busy flight path of planes coming into Heathrow over the Richmond area// *At this time, there is no evidence to link the death to the discovery of a stowaway in the undercarriage of a plane at Heathrow airport, however, this is one line of enquiry into identifying the deceased and the circumstances of his death,* the Metropolitan police said// Analysis One in four plane stowaways can survive, but London case is astonishing Incidents of people trying to secrete themselves on aircraft are relatively rare, and the appearance that this occurred at Johannesburg worries security experts 

 ##Read more There have been previous cases of stowaways plunging to their deaths in west London after smuggling themselves on to planes// They hide in the landing gear where they are exposed to the elements and endure sub zero temperatures// Most are killed by the cold and lack of oxygen at high altitude// In September 2012, José Matada, 26, died after falling from the undercarriage of a Heathrow bound flight from Angola on to a street in Mortlake, west London// An inquest into his death heard that the Mozambican man was likely to have survived temperatures as low as 60C [76F] for most of the 12 hour flight// It was believed he was dead or nearly dead by the time he hit the ground// David Learmount, an aviation expert and consulting editor of Flight International magazine, said the fact that one of the two men survived the long flight suggests he may have been able to get into the baggage hold section of the aircraft, which would raise serious security questions// *If these two were neither airline nor airport staff and somehow managed to get on a flight, then it becomes a serious security issue// Just how did they get on the restricted] airside at the airport? 

##*Then there-s the question of just where on the plane these two were// If a person was in the wheel well of a plane on an 11 hour flight there-s really very little chance of surviving// You are either going to be frozen to death by temperatures of 50C or you are going to die through lack of oxygen with the plane flying at 35,000ft//*The victim fell on to the offices of the online marketplace Notonthehighstreet//com on a busy road// Charles Campbell, 59, a carpenter from Ealing in west London, left a bunch of yellow flowers at the scene, saying that he thought no one else would// *He-s got a family and it-s Father-s Day on Sunday// This is not first time this has happened,* he said// Advertisement Worshippers at a church across the road from where the dead man-s body was found would pray for him, the vicar, the Rev Neil Summers, said// *It-s very shocking when something like this happens on your doorstep// Coupled with all the migrants coming across the high seas into Europe from north Africa, it-s just another example of how desperate people are to reach this country to try to find a better life for themselves//* ##Johannesburg-s OR Tambo international airport, where the flight originated, announced that security was being heightened and said the incident was the first of its nature there in 10 years// Colin Naidoo, a spokesman for Airports Company South Africa, which manages the airport, said authorities were still investigating how the stowaways made it past security// *It-s a security breach … we need to find out how and why this happened,* he said// *It-s very rare for this to happen in South Africa//* The British Airways flight departed for Heathrow at 7//45pm 1745 GMT] on Wednesday, Naidoo added// 

 ##A British Airways spokeswoman said: *We are working with the Metropolitan police and the authorities in Johannesburg to establish the facts surrounding this very rare case//* A postmortem examination of the dead man is scheduled to take place next week//

## Chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices Inc is at the initial stage of reviewing whether to split itself in two or spin off a business, seeking to reverse its fortunes and take on rival Intel Corp, according to three people familiar with the matter// 

## The deliberations are preliminary and no decision has been made, the people said// The review highlights Chief Executive Lisa Su-s determination to consider every possible option to turn the company around// 

## AMD, based in Sunnyvale, California, has asked a consulting firm to help it review its options and draw up scenarios on how a breakup or spinoff would work, the people said this week, asking not to be identified because the deliberations are confidential// 

## One option under consideration is separating AMD-s graphics and licensing business from its server business, which sells processors that power data centers, one of the people said// 

## AMD had explored such a move in the past and decided against it, the people said// Su, however, who took over as CEO last October, judged that there is merit for the company to at least consider such a possibility again, the people added// There is no certainty that a split or spin off will occur, the people cautioned// 

## An AMD spokeswoman said no such project was in the works at this time and reiterated the company-s commitment to the longterm strategy it laid out in May at its analyst meeting// 

## AMD, which has a market capitalization of around $2 billion, has competed with much larger Intel since the 1980s, and at times has made inroads with its PC and server chips// AMD has an extensive crosslicensing agreement with Intel, an issue AMD would have to study carefully in the case of a breakup// 

## In the last few years, AMD has been caught somewhat flatfooted by new competitors designing lowcost and powerefficient chips// AMD shares have fallen 40 percent over the last 12 months// 

## The company, which said in October it would cut 7 percent of its workforce, is now shifting its focus to gaming consoles and lowpower servers to combat falling laptop sales 

## While large rivals such as Intel have deeper pockets to fund research on new products, AMD faces declining cash flows and has a more modest balance sheet// 

## AMD-s net loss widened to $180 million, or 23 cents per share, in the quarter that ended March 28, from $20 million, or 3 cents per share, a year earlier// It also missed on revenue expectations// It is forecasting a return to profitability in the second half of the year//

## For Facebook and Google, it-s not enough for computers to recognize images… they should create images, too// Both tech firms have just shown off neural networks that automatically generate pictures based on their understanding of what objects look like// Facebook-s approach uses two of these networks to produce tiny thumbnail images// The technique is much like what you-d experience if you learned painting from a harsh [if not especially daring] critic// The first algorithm creates pictures based on a random vector, while the second checks them for realistic objects and rejects the fake looking shots; over time, you-re left with the most convincing results// The current output is good enough that 40 percent of pictures fooled human viewers, and there-s a chance that they-ll become more realistic with further refinements//

 ## Google-s take heads in the opposite direction// Instead of striving for realism, it-s producing art by letting the neural network run wild and decide on the visual elements that it wants to emphasize// If you give the machine a photo of the sky and it thinks there are birds in the scene, it-ll keep amplifying those avian traits until they-re impossible to miss// The finished work is more than a little trippy, especially if you give it random noise as its source material as you can see above, the results give impressionist and surrealist painters a run for their money// You-re not likely to see these Facebook and Google programs replacing human artists and photographers, but they-re skilled enough to draw images you might enjoy//

 ## Today the High Court of the United Kingdom handed down an excellent decision excellent because the result is so unreasonable, so out of touch with reality, and so divorced from the needs and expectations of ordinary users, that it provides a textbook illustration of the need for urgent reform of the outdated and unbalanced European Copyright Directive// 

## In a nutshell, the court struck down the UK government-s decision to allow users to lawfully make copies of content that they have purchased for personal use, given the absence of a compulsory levy to compensate copyright owners for the “harm” that they suffer from such copying// The government-s choices are now to remove the private copying exception making personal copying illegal again, or to supply additional evidence that copyright owners suffer no or minimal “harm” from personal copying, or else to begin imposing a new tax on users to compensate the industry for that “harm”// 

## The notion that every use of copyright works by users [which for digital works, generally involves a technical act of copying] is a use that rightsholders must be compensated for, is not a notion with any historical foundation in copyright law// Copyright law is a limited monopoly right that is bestowed by statute, and therefore it can be limited or taken away by statute just as easily// Thus, the limitations and exceptions to copyright law are as much an integral part of it as the exclusive rights of copyright owners are// 

## However, in May 2001, with the adoption of European Union Copyright Directive , what had been a well settled principle of British copyright law was suddenly made subject to a new restriction: that no new copyright limitations and exceptions could be introduced without compensation to rightsholders, unless its introduction would cause them minimal or no harm// 

## Seizing on the opportunity to use this supranational directive to overturn a democratically enacted law, music industry groups [the Musicians- Union, UK Music, and the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors] sued the UK government arguing that yes, by making a copy of content that you have purchased, in your own home and for your own use, you are indeed causing them to suffer harm// 

 ## The government-s response was that the added value that consumers receive from being able to make personal copies is already being captured, because it is built in to the purchase price of the original works, resulting in no or minimal loss to rightsholders// The problem, as found by the court, was that the government hadn-t actually done its homework to demonstrate that this was indeed the case//

 ## Whilst accepting that the Copyright Directive does not require “that sellers must be able to extract the very last gram of value from the copyright,” the court found that the personal copying exception might have resulted in some loss of sales [for example, some hypothetical consumer might have refrained from buying an extra copy of their favorite CD for their car, in reliance on the new exception], and that the government had failed to present any evidence that these lost sales were zero or minimal// 

 ## This decision is so bad, that it isn-t even wrong// Not because we think that the government did produce the economic evidence that the court was looking for, but because the fact the government should even be required to produce that sort of evidence before allowing users to make personal copies of purchased works shows how completely detached copyright law has become from the real world// 

 ## In the digital age, the ability for copyright works to be legally copied is not something that can be characterized in any sensible way as an additional value, over and above the value that those works possess in splendid, uncopiable isolation// For many digital works, it is impossible to make use of copyright works at all without making copies; perhaps many times over, and it is absolutely right and proper that the making of those copies ought to be permitted by the law, without relying on a levy or on a license from the copyright owner// 

 ## Demanding that each such lawfully made copy be somehow carved into its own sliver of value, and ensuring that rightholders have been afforded the maximum opportunity to extract rents from that value, is nonsense on every level: it is administratively unworkable, acts as a barrier to fair use and innovation, and has no justifiable legal or moral basis as a matter of copyright policy//

## Whilst we therefore think that the court got it wrong by buying into the industry-s argument that it was entitled to share in the value of personal copying, the court is not alone in carrying the blame for this momentously bad precedent// As suggested above, the fault must also be shared by the inflexible and one sided European Copyright Directive// 

 ## Neither can we fully absolve the rightsholders from blame; although a stupid law is an open invitation for anyone to take advantage of it, it still takes a special kind of mercenary greed to use it to strike down an exception that allows people to freely make personal copies of CDs, videos and personal photographs in the privacy of their own homes// [And let-s not kid ourselves that the recording industry in the United States wouldn-t pull the same stunt if they thought they could//] 

 ## Today-s decision puts the very worst features of copyright law on full display, and to that extent is an excellent illustration of the need for change// It bolsters the argument that thousands of European citizens have made that the Copyright Directive must be urgently reviewed, though measures such as the introduction of a fair use style exception// Unfortunately this week-s refusal by the European 

## Parliament-s Legal Affairs Committee to recommend just such an exception as proposed by Member of Parliament [MEP] Julia Reda does not bode well for the success of the pending review// 

## But perhaps a stupid decision like this is just what is needed to turn the temperature up a notch, and place more British users on the offensive// After years of lobbying for a free personal copying exception, its loss at the hands of the music industry clearly outlines the incursions that unbalanced copyright law makes upon users- freedom to make reasonable, private [and public] uses of copyright works// It-s high time to bring European copyright law back into line with reality//

 ## The assets were seized in a move triggered by a court ruling over the now defunct Yukos oil firm// In July 2014, an international arbitration court said Russian officials had manipulated the legal system to bankrupt Yukos// Yukos was then taken over by a Russian state firm// Its former boss, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, was also jailed// Last year a court told Russia to pay Yukos shareholders $50bn [£32bn] in compensation, after Yukos-s break-up// But Russia does not acknowledge the court-s findings, leading former Yukos shareholders to get Russian state assets frozen// 

## Responding to the asset seizure, Russia-s President Vladimir Putin said he would *defend our interests by the route of justice*//Belgium-s ambassador to Moscow was summoned to the Kremlin, and told the asset seizure was *an openly hostile act* that *crudely violates the recognised norms of international law*// While visiting China, Belgium-s Foreign Minister Didier Reynders said: *A solution has been found to unblock as a priority accounts for the running of the embassies, and the rest will follow//* France also seized Russian state accounts in about 40 banks, along with several buildings// It is not known if those assets will also be unblocked//

## One of the biggest health insurers in the country, Anthem, on Saturday announced an offer to acquire a rival, Cigna, for more than $47 billion in cash and stock// The move is the latest step toward an expected consolidation among health insurance companies// Last month, Humana, another competitor, was said to be exploring a sale of itself// Driving the push to get bigger has been the Obama administration*s health care overhaul, which has bolstered revenues// Yet, at the same time, profit margins have come under pressure in the face of greater pricing transparency and less generous funding of government plans// By going public with its offer, Anthem is seeking to stir up Cigna*s shareholders and force the company back to the negotiating table// Anthem said it had been in talks with Cigna over a potential combination since August// Continue reading the main story RELATED COVERAGE DealBook: Mergers Might Not Signal Optimism JUNE 8, 2015 ® 

## Shares of Humana jumped in afternoon trading on Friday//Humana Is Said to Consider Sale of CompanyMAY 29, 2015 Dr// Emily Rubenstein, right, with Sandra Guaccio during a dermatology consultation at Swedish Covenant Hospital, which recently teamed with an insurer to offer a so called limited network health plan//Health Insurance Shoppers Look to Limited Networks to Save MoneyAPRIL 13, 2015 Those talks floundered, Anthem said in a statement, over **Cigna*s insistence on uncommon governance demands** - chiefly over the leadership and board structure of a combined company// In particular, Anthem cited the demand that David Cordani, the chief executive of Cigna, lead the combined company// **We were stunned that the Cigna board continues to insist on a guaranteed C//E//O// position for Mr// Cordani over choosing to allow its stockholders to realize the significant premium being offered,** Joseph R// Swedish, the chief executive of Anthem, wrote in a letter on June 18 to Cigna*s chairman that was released on Saturday// Cigna declined to comment// Anthem*s proposed takeover comes as the nation*s largest for profit health insurers are all looking to combine, creating what Ana Gupte, an analyst at Leerink Partners, predicts will become an industry of the Big Three from the current five: Aetna, Anthem, Cigna, Humana and UnitedHealth Group// UnitedHealth, the industry*s largest player, is already well diversified// In addition to providing health insurance directly to consumers as well as through employers, United*s Optum business includes companies offering a broad range of health and technology services// While no one has ruled out United as a possible suitor, the company could run into regulatory hurdles, depending on what it acquired// Drastic industry changes in recent years are fueling the interest in mergers// ®

 ## Growth from the traditional market of providing health coverage to employees has stalled as fewer companies provide insurance for their workers// As a result, the insurers have steadily moved into the heavily regulated government markets of Medicare and Medicaid as well as the individual market under the Affordable Care Act// The proposed deals represent the companies* interest in trying to capture as much revenue growth as they can, Ms// Gupte recently told investors// The expectation is that the companies can use their larger size to be more efficient// The proposed combination of Anthem and Cigna would create a much larger entity with $115 billion in revenue// Anthem operates well known Blue Cross plans in 14 states and has a strong presence in offering Medicaid plans for low income individuals// Cigna is best known for offering plans through employers and selling other kinds of insurance like dental and disability// ®