Latest news with #BlackSunday
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Sheinbaum calls Mexico's judicial election 'extraordinary' despite turnout of less than 13%
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum was effusive. "Marvelous, impressive " she told reporters Monday. "Extraordinary. ... A great success." The superlatives kept coming about Sunday's historic judicial elections — which Sheinbaum championed — but the president could not conceal a harsh reality: Only about 13% of 100 million eligible voters cast ballots in a vote that the president had labeled a key component of the ruling party's ongoing "transformation" of Mexican society. She and her allies had spent weeks urging people to vote. No one expected that Sunday's polling — which didn't include contenders for any national or statewide legislative posts — would approach the 61% turnout of last year's national elections. Sheinbaum won a landslide victory last year, and her Morena political bloc swept to huge majorities in both houses of Congress and in state houses and towns across the country. This was a festival of voter fraud, and they dare to say that the people rule. Jorge Romero, national leader of the National Action Party The turnout was more disappointing than even the the lowest pre-election turnout estimates of about 15%. Some election advocates had optimistically predicted as many as one-third of voters would make it to the polls. "Everything can be perfected," the president conceded. The lack of participation, experts said, can be attributed to many factors: it was an off-year election; the balloting process was new and extremely convoluted; the vast majority of more than 7,000 contenders for 881 federal judge positions — and for another 1,800 state jurist posts — were unknown. The election, while the brainchild of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador — the founder of Morena and the mentor of Sheinbaum — was ostensibly nonpartisan. Would-be judges were not identified by political affiliation and were banned from receiving party funds. There were no massive rallies or advertisement blitzes in a contest that largely played out on social media. And it was the first time that Mexico had ever voted for judges, who have historically been appointed by expert panels or, in the case of the Supreme Court, the president. Mexico becomes the first nation in the world with an all-elected judiciary. 'The task was a very time-intensive one for voters, who had to learn about an outrageous number of candidates,' said Kenneth F. Greene, a professor of government at the University of Texas at Austin. "Nobody could possibly learn about all of them." Nonetheless, many political observers deemed Sunday's low turnout an embarrassing setback for a party that had seemed near invincible in its extraordinary march to power since its emergence less than a decade ago. Read more: Mexicans cast ballots for nation's judges in controversial, first-ever vote Government opponents reveled in a rare opportunity to mock Morena's legendary electoral prowess, labeling the vote "Black Sunday," and the end of judicial independence and of Mexico's system of checks and balances. "This was a festival of voter fraud, and they dare to say that the people rule," Jorge Romero, national leader of the center-right National Action Party, said at a news conference that featured images of empty voting booths and testimonies from citizens who didn't know which candidates to vote for. Writing in Reforma newspaper, columnist Denise Dresser archly compared the election to a long-planned gala that no one attends. "They rolled out the carpet, sent the invitations, mounted the chairs, designed the menu, [and] contracted with mariachis," Dresser wrote. "And, at the end, they were alone." Will all the complaints and the low turnout make any difference in the ultimate makeup of the judiciary? Many experts say no — despite the opposition's vow to file a complaint with the Organization of American States, a move that may be more symbolic than substantial. Final results won't be known for a week or two. But at the end, it seems likely that the official count will stand, and pro-Morena judges will take their seats in a system that Sheinbaum has assailed as corrupt and filled with nepotism. "It was always going to reinforce Morena and give President Sheinbaum even more power than she already has," said Greene, who was in Mexico City to observe the voting process. 'My strong guess is that Sheinbaum now dominates all three branches of government and is essentially able to pass whatever laws and constitutional reforms she wants. We're seeing a tremendous concentration of power in the presidency.' The most closely watched race is for the makeup of the new Supreme Court, which will have both fewer judges— nine, instead of the current 11 — and less authority to challenge legislative and presidential decisions. Only three sitting members opted to run for office. All three were appointees of López Obrador, who repeatedly clashed with the justices about his strong-arm efforts to reform electoral law and other initiatives. Read more: Mexico judicial elections: Government calls it essential reform. Critics say it's a farce Whether Mexico's new judges will be an improvement over the current judiciary remains to be seen. Many Mexicans clearly agree with the president's assertions that Mexico's judicial system was in need of an overhaul. But judges are only part of a justice system that has many flaws. Untouched in the judicial reform were other entities, notably district attorney's offices and local police, both notoriously corrupt. Both Sheinbaum and her predecessor have turned to the National Guard as the nation's go-to law enforcement agency. But National Guard troops have themselves been implicated in various recent scandals, including killing civilians and trafficking in black-market gasoline. The election "was a political humiliation," wrote Alejandro Monsivais-Carrillo, a political scientist at El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, on X. "But it doesn't matter much: Party control of public powers advances without retreat." Special correspondent Cecilia Sánchez Vidal contributed. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
3 days ago
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Sheinbaum calls judicial election ‘extraordinary,' despite turnout of less than 13%
MEXICO CITY — Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum was effusive.'Marvelous, impressive ' she told reporters Monday. 'Extraordinary. ... A great success.' The superlatives kept coming about Sunday's historic judicial elections—which Sheinbaum championed—but the president could not conceal a harsh reality: Only about 13% of 100 million eligible voters cast ballots in a vote that the president had labeled a key component of the ruling party's ongoing 'transformation' of Mexican society. She and her allies had spent weeks urging people to vote. No one expected that Sunday's polling — which didn't include contenders for any national or statewide legislative posts — would approach the 61% turnout of last year's national elections. Sheinbaum won a landslide victory last year, and her Morena political bloc swept to huge majorities in both houses of Congress and in state houses and towns across the country. The turnout was more disappointing than even the the lowest pre-election turnout estimates of about 15%. Some election advocates, more optimistic, had predicted as many as one-third of vogters would make it to the polls. 'Everything can be perfected,' the president conceded. The lack of participation, experts said, can be attributed to many factors: It was an off-year election, the balloting process was new and extremely convoluted, the vast majority of more than 7,000 contenders for 881 federal judge positions — and for another 1,800 state jurist posts — were unknown. The election, while the brainchild of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador — the founder of Morena and the mentor of Sheinbaum — was ostensibly non-partisan. Would-be judges were not identified by political affiliation and were banned from receiving party funds. There were no massive rallies or advertisement blitzes in a contest that largely played out on social media. And it was the first time that Mexico had ever voted for judges, who have historically been appointed by expert panels or, in the case of the Supreme Court, the president. Mexico becomes the first nation in the world with an all-elected judiciary. 'The task was a very time-intensive one for voters, who had to learn about an outrageous number of candidates,' said Kenneth F. Greene, a professor of government at the University of Texas at Austin. 'Nobody could possibly learn about all of them.' Nonetheless, many political observers deemed Sunday's low turnout a embarrassing setback for a party that had seemed near invincible in its extraordinary march to power since its emergence less than a decade ago. Government opponents reveled in a rare opportunity to mock Morena's legendary electoral prowess, labeling the vote 'Black Sunday,' and the end of judicial independence and of Mexico's system of checks and balances. 'This was a festival of voter fraud, and they dare to say that the people rule,' Jorge Romero, national leader of the center-right National Action Party, said at a news conference that featured images of empty voting booths and testimonies from citizens who didn't know which candidates to vote for. Writing in Reforma newspaper, columnist Denise Dresser archly compared the election to a long-planned gala that no one attends. 'They rolled out the carpet, send the invitations, mounted the chairs, designed the menu, [and] contracted with mariachis,' Dresser wrote. 'And, at the end, they were alone.' Will all the complaints and the low turnout make any difference in the ultimate makeup of the judiciary? Many experts say no — despite the opposition's vow to file a complaint with the Organization of American States, a move that may be more symbolic than substantial. Final results won't be known for a week or two. But, at the end, it seems likely that the official count will stand, and pro-Morena judges will take their seats in a system that Sheinbaum has assailed as corrupt and filled with nepotism. 'It was always going to reinforce Morena and give President Sheinbaum even more power than she already has,' said Greene, who was in Mexico City to observe the voting process. 'My strong guess is that Sheinbaum now dominates all three branches of government and is essentially able to pass whatever laws and constitutional reforms she wants. We're seeing a tremendous concentration of power in the presidency.' The most closely watched race is for the makeup of the new Supreme Court, which will have both fewer judges— nine, instead of the current 11 — and less authority to challenge legislative and presidential decisions. Only three sitting members opted to run for office. All three were appointees of López Obrador, who repeatedly clashed with the justices about his strong-arm efforts to reform electoral law and other initiatives. Whether Mexico's new judges will be an improvement over the current judiciary remains to be seen. Many Mexicans clearly agree with the president's assertions that Mexico's judicial system was in need of an overhaul. But judges are only part of a justice system that has many flaws. Untouched in the judicial reform were other entities, notably district attorney's offices and local police, both notoriously corrupt. Both Sheinbaum and her predecessor have turned to the National Guard as the nation's go-to law enforcement agency. But National Guard troops have themselves been implicated in various recent scandals, including killing civilians and trafficking in black-market gasoline. The election 'was a political humiliation,' wrote Alejandro Monsivais-Carrillo, a political scientist at El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, on X. 'But it doesn't matter much: Party control of public powers advances without retreat.' Special correspondent Cecilia Sánchez Vidal contributed.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Timeline: El Paso faces record dust storms in 2025, worst since 1936 Dust Bowl
Dust storms in the Borderland are nothing new, but the severity of the weather events and their frequency have worsened, statistics note. Thomas Gill, professor of Environmental Science and Engineering at the University of Texas at El Paso, noted that the recent dust storms have underscored a paradigm shift in how they impact the city. According to Gill, a bevy of inauspicious milestones have already been reached with these storms, which started in the region in March. They include: The last time there have been this many dust storms in El Paso in an entire year was 1936, during the Dust Bowl, which engulfed large swaths of Mid-America and Texas According to data compiled by Gill, El Paso had its windiest March, when this year's dust storms started, since 1964 There have already been over 26 recorded dust storms, as of April. El Paso typically only averages 22 the entire year. More on recent dust storms in El Paso Wind back in El Paso, New Mexico on Sunday. Expect low visibility, blowing dust Black Sunday: On April 14, 1935, Texas and Oklahoma faced the infamous Dust Bowl. Conditions exacerbated by record drought across the nation and high winds led to dust storms on unprecedented levels. Data from the National Centers for Environmental Information noted that 300,000 tons of topsoil were displaced from the prairie area. That was part of a series of dust storms that impacted western Kansas, eastern Colorado, northeastern New Mexico, and the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles. The destruction caused by the dust storms, and especially by the storm on Black Sunday, killed multiple people and was the catalyst for the Soil Conservation Act of 1936 by the federal government. The Southern San Joaquin Valley Dust Storm: Also known as the Great Bakersfield Dust Storm of 1977, it started in the late evening on Dec. 19, 1977, and ended in the afternoon of Dec. 21. It resulted in five deaths and $40 million in damages. Historic records by the NCEI noted that over 25 million cubic feet of topsoil from grazing land alone was moved. Wind was measured at 192 miles per hour in areas of California. In the foothills of the state, the wind was measured at 189 miles per hour. Texas Dust Storms of 1965: In what was considered the most severe dust storm in recent Texas history, Lubbock saw wind gusts up to 75 miles per hour with dust blowing as high as 31,000 feet. Reports stated the rain gauge at Reese Air Force Base in Lubbock contains 3 inches of fine sand. Visibility was reduced to 100 yards. Another dust storm occurred in 1977 and destroyed millions of dollars worth of winter wheat and injured 20 people in El Paso. While the 1965 dust storm was blamed on severe drought conditions, another similar drought happened in 1970. More on El Paso dust storm deaths Dust storm, speeding factors in fatal truck crash in Northeast El Paso Kristian Jaime is the top story reporter for the El Paso Times and is reachable at Kjaime@ This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Timeline: El Paso faces record dust storms, worst since 1936 Dust Bowl
Chicago Tribune
14-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Today in History: President Abraham Lincoln shot
Today is Monday, April 14, the 104th day of 2025. There are 261 days left in the year. Today in history: On April 14, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was shot and mortally wounded by John Wilkes Booth during a performance of the play 'Our American Cousin' at Ford's Theatre in Washington; Lincoln was taken to a boarding house across the street and died the following morning at 7:22 am. Also on this date: In 1828, the first edition of Noah Webster's 'American Dictionary of the English Language' was published. In 1912, the British liner RMS Titanic collided with an iceberg in the North Atlantic at 11:40 p.m., ship's time, and began sinking. (The ship went under two and a half hours later, killing over 1,500 people.) In 1910, William Howard Taft became the first U.S. president to throw the ceremonial first pitch at a baseball game as the Washington Senators beat the Philadelphia Athletics 3-0. In 1935, the devastating 'Black Sunday' dust storm descended upon the central Plains as hundreds of thousands of tons of airborne topsoil turned a sunny afternoon into total darkness. In 1981, the first test flight of America's first operational space shuttle, the Columbia, ended successfully with a landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California. In 2021, A white former suburban Minneapolis police officer, Kim Potter, was charged with second-degree manslaughter for killing 20-year-old Black motorist Daunte Wright in a shooting that ignited days of unrest. (Potter would be found guilty and serve 16 months in prison.) Today's Birthdays: Former NYPD detective Frank Serpico is 89. Actor Julie Christie is 85. Rock musician Ritchie Blackmore is 80. Actor Peter Capaldi is 67. Actor Brad Garrett is 65. Actor Robert Carlyle is 64. Golf Hall of Famer Meg Mallon is 62. Baseball Hall of Famer Greg Maddux is 59. Actor Anthony Michael Hall is 57. Actor Adrien Brody is 52. Rapper Da Brat is 51. Actor Sarah Michelle Gellar is 48. Actor-producer Rob McElhenney is 48. Actor Abigail Breslin is 29.
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Remembering "Black Sunday," 90 years ago during Oklahoma Dust Bowl days
While there are perhaps few Oklahomans with living memory of that consequential Sunday onApril 14th, 1935, there are probably fewer who have never spent time listening intently to theirelders describe the hardships that came with it. I can still remember my grandfather Fred Lucas telling me about Black Sunday. At a familygathering 45 years ago, he went into great detail about that fateful day: Like a scene out ofChristopher Nolan's Interstellar, our community in Crawford, Oklahoma came together for abaseball game – as they did every Sunday afternoon – when that ominous dust cloud rolled the God-fearing men and women of Western Oklahoma, who had just finished a multi-nighthellfire and brimstone revival, the scene was more akin to Sodom and Gomorrah thanInterstellar. The great Oklahoma songwriter, Woody Guthrie, captured the apocalyptic thoughtsof his neighbors that day by writing, 'it fell across our city like a curtain of black… we thought itwas our judgement, we thought it was our doom.' Rushing home, my family spent the next day sheltering the worst storm they'd ever the dust finally settled, the effects left in its wake changed their lives cloud did not stop in Oklahoma, however. Like a bat out of hell, it steamrolled its wayacross America before reaching our nation's capital. Ironically enough, the storm disrupted theHouse Agriculture Committee's meeting that day to discuss the very issue that caused it:conservation efforts – or rather, the lack thereof. It would almost be poetic if it weren't such a tragedy; because that cloud was only a symptom ofthe greatest economic depression our country has ever known, and it was the policy mistakes inWashington that led to it. The perils of the Dust Bowl can be dated back to the Homestead Acts in the late 19th century, inwhich policymakers in Washington allowed millions of Americans to claim land in the West atzero cost. When these settlers came to Oklahoma some decades later in search of a better life,they were unaware of the unique needs of the land. The sandy soils that blanket the western half of the state were susceptible to erosion when notprotected by vegetation. When the newly arrived settlers began plowing up the grasslands andplanting their crops, it only took a few years before they realized the damage it would first erosion surveys taken in 1931 estimated that 13 million of the 16 million acres ofcropland had been destroyed by erosion. The situation would only worsen when a severedrought hit the Great Plains just a few years later. The Homestead Acts intended to bring settlers abundant land in the West and elevate them outof poverty, but these well-intentioned policies would prove of little merit when Oklahomans andAmericans were experiencing the worst of the Great Depression in the early the members of the House Agriculture Committee peered out the window that day in 1935,they could see Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas in the air. The crisis was no longer confined to theplains – it was now on their doorstep in Washington. The call to action could not have beenmore clear. On April 27th, 1935, only 13 days after Black Sunday, President Roosevelt signed into law H.R. 7054. This consequential bill ultimately gave the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) permanent agency within the United States Department of Agriculture. The SCS quickly got to work. By June 1936, the Service had 147 conservation demonstrationprojects underway – averaging 25,000 to 30,000 acres each – and 23 full-fledged researchstations. These did not just provide prudent conservation practices, but also the labor andmaterials that farmers recovering from the Dust Bowl so desperately needed. Because of theseefforts, we went from cataclysmic dust storms and depression to having some of the cleanestair, water, and ecosystems in the world. When I arrived in Washington in 1994, I brought with me many of these stories that mygrandfather told me. They equipped me with a burning desire to avoid the same policy mistakesof the past which brought so much pain and suffering. My grandfather's stories – while bleak and grey – also encourage me to build on the successes that ultimatelygot us out of that pain and suffering, like the fruitful conservation programs of the 20th been over 90 years now since Black Sunday, and like the men whose meeting was disruptedin 1935, I too serve on the House Agriculture Committee. It's my mission to avoid the mistakesthey made. Because we have come so far since then, and our mission is to ensure we never goback. U.S. Rep. Frank Lucas is a fifth-generation farmer from Western Oklahoma. In his Washington,D.C. office, he keeps photos from the Great Depression taken in his Third District as a reminder of thepast. This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: A dark cloud symbolizing the impact of the Great Depression | Opinion
