Latest news with #Blain
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
November recall election set for Poway councilmember Tony Blain
POWAY (FOX 5/KUSI) — The city if Poway is proceeding with a recall election against embattled District 2 Councilmember Tony Blain. During Tuesday night's meeting, Blain abstained while the rest of council voted to adopt a resolution to accept the 'certification of the San Diego County Registrar of Voters as to the sufficiency of signatures on the recall petition.' On Nov.4, District 2 voters will decide whether Blain should continue serving. 'This is democracy in its rawest form — 2,500 plus people from District 2 order us to have an election and we're going to have an election,' said District 1 Councilmember Christopher Pikus. Former Poway Councilmember John Mullin is at the forefront of the recall push launched in late March and pointed to Blain's actions. San Diego artist turns curbs into stunning street art masterpieces 'It's kind of a laundry list and it goes on and on. He still continues to violate the Brown Act and continues to email the council as a whole,' said Mullin, who is also co-chair of the Committee to Recall Tony Blain. In July, Blain was censured a second time for allegedly bullying and harassing the city manager and city attorney, claims that were verified by an independent investigator. Blain declined an interview with FOX 5/KUSI Tuesday and continued to refute the claims against him. 'This recall is not about wrongdoing. Instead, this recall is about disagreements, about willingness to challenge decisions, to speak up, when I believe something doesn't serve the public and to take a different approach than some have grown used to. That's not misconduct. That's democracy,' said Blain, who represents District 2. Blain was first censured in February after he was accused of attempted vote trading and bribery, threatening recalls against his colleagues, and attempting to use law enforcement to silence critics. 'I hold no personal anger toward my colleagues or political opponents. We simply see things differently,' said Blain. The city is willing to spend up to $305,000 for the special election and directing the San Diego County Registrar of Voters to oversee it. The Poway city attorney said even if Blain resigns, elections code requires the city to hold a special election. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
Observer
6 days ago
- Business
- Observer
The America we knew is rapidly slipping away
Of all the terrible things Donald Trump has said and done as president, the most dangerous one just happened on Friday. Trump, in effect, ordered our trusted and independent government office of economic statistics to become as big a liar as he is. He fired Erika McEntarfer, the Senate-confirmed head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, for bringing him economic news he did not like, and in the hours immediately following, the second most dangerous thing happened: The senior Trump officials most responsible for running our economy — people who in their private businesses never would have contemplated firing a subordinate who brought them financial data they did not like — all went along for the ride. Rather than saying to Trump: 'Mr President, if you don't reconsider this decision — if you fire the top labour bureau statistician because she brought you bad economic news — how will anyone in the future trust that office when it issues good news' — they immediately covered for him. As The Wall Street Journal pointed out, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer had actually gone on Bloomberg TV early on Friday and declared that even though the jobs report that had just been released was revised downward for May and June, 'we've seen positive job growth.' But as soon as she got the news hours later that Trump had fired the very BLS director who reports to her, she wrote on X: 'I agree wholeheartedly with @POTUS that our jobs numbers must be fair, accurate, and never manipulated for political purposes.' As the Journal asked: 'So were the jobs data that were 'positive' in the morning rigged by the afternoon?' Of course not. Going forward, how many government bureaucrats are going to dare to pass along bad news when they know that their bosses — people like Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the director of the National Economic Council, Kevin Hassett, the Labor Secretary Chavez-DeRemer and the US trade representative Jamieson Greer — will not only fail to defend them but will actually offer them up as a sacrifice to Trump to keep their jobs? Shame on each and every one of them — particularly on Bessent, a former hedge fund manager, who knows better and did not step in. What a coward. As Bessent's predecessor, Janet Yellen, the former Treasury secretary and also the former chair of the Federal Reserve — and a person with actual integrity — told my Times colleague Ben Casselman of the BLS firing: 'This is the kind of thing you would only expect to see in a banana republic.' It is important to know how foreigners are looking at this. Bill Blain, a London-based bond trader who publishes a newsletter popular among market experts called Blain's Morning Porridge, wrote on Monday: 'Friday, Aug. 1 might go down in history as the day the US Treasury market died. There was an art to reading US data. It relied on trust. Now that is broken — if you can't trust the data, what can you trust?' In May, the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, fired two top intelligence officials who oversaw an assessment that contradicted Trump's assertions that the gang Tren de Aragua was operating under the direction of the Venezuelan regime. Their assessment undermined the dubious legal rationale Trump invoked — the rarely used 1798 Alien Enemies Act — to allow the suspected gang members to be thrown out of the country without due process. And now this trend towards self-blinding is spreading to further corners of the government. One of America's premier cyberwarriors, Jen Easterly, who was the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency during the Biden administration, had her appointment to a senior teaching position at the US Military Academy at West Point revoked last week by Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll after Laura Loomer, a far-right conspiracy theorist, posted that Easterly was a Biden-era mole. Read that sentence again very slowly. The Army secretary, acting on the guidance of a loony Trump acolyte, revoked the teaching appointment of — anyone will tell you — one of America's most skilled nonpartisan cyberwarriors, herself a graduate of West Point. And when you are done reading that, read Easterly's response on LinkedIn: 'As a lifelong independent, I've served our nation in peacetime and combat under Republican and Democratic administrations. I've led missions at home and abroad to protect all Americans from vicious terrorists .... I've worked my entire career not as a partisan, but as a patriot — not in pursuit of power, but in service to the country I love and in loyalty to the Constitution I swore to protect and defend, against all enemies.' And then she added this advice to the young West Pointers she will not have the honour of teaching: 'Every member of the Long Gray Line knows the Cadet Prayer. It asks that we 'choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong.' That line — so simple, yet so powerful — has been my North Star for more than three decades. In boardrooms and war rooms. In quiet moments of doubt and in public acts of leadership. The harder right is never easy. That's the whole point.' That is the woman Trump did not want teaching our next generation of fighters. And that ethic — always choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong — is the ethic that Bessent, Hassett, Chavez-DeRemer and Greer know nothing of — not to mention Trump himself. That is why, dear reader, though I am a congenital optimist, for the first time I believe that if the behaviour that this administration has exhibited in just its first six months continues and is amplified for its full four years, the America you know will be gone. And I don't know how we will get it back. — The New York Times
CNBC
14-07-2025
- Business
- CNBC
With an exodus of millionaires, businesses and workers, has London lost its spark?
London, the jewel in the crown of the U.K.'s economy and national culture, has taken a bit of a battering lately, with big business looking to expand elsewhere, workers looking for more affordable places to live and a flock of millionaires fleeing the city. A new tax regime targeting the "non-dom" status of the London-based super rich prompted an estimated 10,000 millionaires to flee the city in 2024 in search of safer havens for their cash. For the have-nots, high living costs — and a post-pandemic reevaluation of what makes for quality of life — have prompted many people of working age to leave the city, data shows, as it becomes prohibitively expensive to stay. London's pride as a business hub has also been dented in recent years as homegrown firms have looked elsewhere to base themselves or expand, increasingly looking to IPO abroad or moving their primary listing away from the U.K. So, is it all doom and gloom for the Big Smoke? Not necessarily. While the streets might not be paved with gold, London still has an irresistible pull for millions of people looking for work, study and play, with an estimated 20 million tourists visiting the city in 2023. CNBC asked several U.K.-based analysts for their thoughts on whether the city is on downward trajectory, or just experiencing some bumps in the road. Here's what they had to say. London's crown has been slipping "for years" when it comes to its business appeal and affordability for ordinary folk, Bill Blain, market strategist, former investment banker and author of the "Blain's Morning porridge" newsletter, told CNBC. He said doing business in the capital is "just not nice anymore," and the atmosphere in the affluent City of London and Canary Wharf, the capital's financial districts, is even worse. "There is not the buzz that we used to have in the City, in Canary Wharf," Blain said, lamenting "how quickly London is becoming relevant." "You name me a single significant U.K. investment bank? You name me a single significant U.K. private capital market firm? They're all big American firms," Blain said. "When it comes to the banks, you've got the Europeans, the French and the Germans, who are there just by the skin of their teeth. But there's nothing left for the U.K. You go into the City today and take a look around, and it's dire. There's lots of people there, but they're all insurance clerks, or whatever. They're not the investment bankers of a previous generation. My generation were the last who got it good," he said. Blain blamed over-regulation for the City's demise, believing that "the number of people who are involved in compliance and regulation and form filling vastly outnumbers the number who are on the front line of finance." Blain said he believes it lost its global reputation for having a relatively stable political establishment, with six prime ministers in the last 10 years, and that it was also tarnished in the wake of the tumultuous departure from the European Union five years ago. After a landslide election win last year, the current Labour government, and Finance Minister Rachel Reeves, find themselves under heightened pressure to stick to self-imposed rules on debt and borrowing, while trying to increase public spending and to promote much-needed growth. "In the past, you could look at the U.K. and say, yes, it's no longer the biggest economy in the world, but it's generally stable in [terms of] competence, so you invest in it. But these things are now beginning to be questioned, and that's the big risk for the U.K.," Blain said. Barret Kupelian, chief U.K. economist at PwC was keen to point out it's not all gloom and doom for the capital in the long term. "If I focus on the fundamentals that make London, London the first thing is the rule of law, and then you've got all the intangibles like history, culture, diversity, talent, innovation, regulation, time zone, probity, infrastructure, etc. These things haven't changed in a massive manner in the past few years," Kupelian told CNBC Wednesday. "We see London actually having a quiet, stable, soft infrastructure, and businesses are still here, large businesses that are in London, because of the quality of regulation," he said. Kupelian defended London's status as a hub for financial services but said it's also adapting and evolving. "One of the things that's happening quite in the background is that our goods exports are stagnating, partly because of the trading environment we're in right now, tariffs and what have you ... but services exports are growing quite strongly and a lot of it is being driven by business services," he said. "We always thought FS [financial services] was the crown jewel in London, and it is, but actually, in terms of growth rates, if you take a look at the export side of the ledger, a lot of it is being driven by business services," he noted. PwC, in conjunction with pollster Demos, produces an annual "Good Growth for Cities Index" which measures the economic well-being of British cities and looks beyond economic output, considering factors like jobs, income, health, skills and work-life balance. It found in 2024 that while London was expected to see strong economic growth in 2025, it compared much less favorably with other British cities in terms of livability factors. That includes the lack of affordable housing and creaking transport infrastructure — as anyone on a hot, dirty and cramped Central Line tube on their morning commute to work will attest. "This is the story relative to the rest of the country, but then what about relative to the rest of the world?" Kupelian remarked, noting that "there's always been intense competition between the large metropolises of the world," such as New York, Paris, Singapore, Beijing and Tokyo. "I think London is feeling that competition on a much more intense level now," Kupelian said, with the city needing to look at its counterparts, and itself, with a more critical eye to see what it could do better. Prescribing "targeted interventions" rather than a "complete reinvention," he said London is well placed to keep attracting a talented, skilled workforce, businesses and growth. "Businesses are still here, large businesses that are in London, because of the quality of regulation. I think that that's one of the main appeals of London. [Policymakers should] re-emphasize those points and just keep at it. I don't think there's one thing that would flick the switch leading to fortune and success, but I think there's these smaller things that probably need tweaking rather than complete reinvention — that London can do."
New York Post
07-07-2025
- Health
- New York Post
I'm a sunbed addict and I've got scary moles all over — but I can't stop tanning
A teenager admitted that she regrets becoming addicted to tanning beds — and is now warning others against following in her footsteps after a cancer scare. Megan Blain, 19, traded out fake-tan bottles for sunbeds so she could achieve a darker tan year-round, lying on the beds every day for two years and often staying under the UV lights for as long as half an hour. 6 Megan Blain admitted she regrets her addiction to tanning beds. Kennedy News and Media Advertisement She even injects herself with tanning shots five times a week before going to the tanning beds to get an even darker hue. 'I just liked how I looked with a tan. I'm a person that wears bright colors and liked how it made the colors pop,' she told Kennedy News and Media. Two years later, the student from Seaham, England, admitted that she feels 'addicted' to tanning and she never feels like she's dark enough. Advertisement On top of that, she had a bit of a cancer scare after she noticed a questionable patch on her skin recently — but that still hasn't made her stop. 'I've noticed a patch on my skin which keeps changing size. I've tried to go to the doctors, like, five times, but keep freezing at the door,' Blain said. She added in a video posted by Truly, 'I started noticing moles on my back, my hands – I've got moles all over, but you do get moles off the sunbed. I didn't know if the moles were cancerous.' 'I'm one of those people that will worry over anything, so for me not to be worried about potentially having melanoma I noticed a few months ago, and still abuse the sunbeds, has made me realize this is an addiction. Advertisement 'I just never think I'm dark enough.' Despite her saying that she worries over everything, the addiction to tanning overpowered her fear of cancer. 'It doesn't even faze me that I could have melanoma and could turn into something life-threatening, it doesn't scare me at all.' 6 Megan Blain noticed a questionable patch on her skin recently — but that still hasn't made her stop tanning. Kennedy News and Media Advertisement Blain admitted that before she started tanning, she didn't know much about it, and now she's gotten addicted — regardless of how physically sick it makes her. 'I didn't know much about sunbeds when I first started. So for the first year, I used to go on for half an hour at a time covered in baby oil. It made me feel really confident at first,' she said. 'I started seeing results and how good it made me look and started going on more often. Next thing I know I'm stuck in a cycle of abusing sunbeds and taking tanning injections which make me feel sick and sometimes unable to eat.' 6 Blain admitted that before she started tanning, she didn't know much about it, and now she's gotten addicted. Kennedy News and Media Now, Blain is finally starting to wean herself off of the tanning beds, going four times a week rather than every day — and she's sharing her journey on TikTok to warn others not to make the same mistakes she did. 'After two years, my views on sunbeds have changed. If I could go back in time, I would've never started,' she shared. 'I just feel like I have to go on the sunbeds — it's not even a case of wanting to be tanned anymore.' 'The younger generation seem to be using [sunbeds] more than the older generation which is concerning because If I got addicted without even realizing it then the same could happen to other people.' 6 Megan Blain was using tanning beds daily. Kennedy News and Media Advertisement Blain shared that she wants to stop using tanning beds 'one day' — but she can't imagine herself not going. 'I find it hard to turn the sunbed off once I'm on. I don't even like going on sunbeds, I dread it, but I feel like I physically have to go on,' she said. 'I wouldn't recommend anyone to do this. You could end up addicted without even realizing like me.' In the Truly video, Blain shared that she sometimes cries after using the tanning bed because of all the damage it's doing, but she believes she is 'too far gone.' Advertisement 6 'If I could go back in time, I would've never started,' she shared. Kennedy News and Media The tanning addict has gotten looks from strangers on the street, as well as internet trolls who have labeled her a 'burnt chip.' 'Everywhere I go, I see people staring at me,' she said. 'When people say I'm dark, I actually find that hard to believe. I don't feel dark whatsoever — it's like I'm physically blind.' One internet user compared Blain's skin color to 'the chips that fell off the tray in the oven and I forgot about.' Advertisement 'Did [the sunbeds] cremate you?' another said. 6 Blain is finally starting to wean herself off of the tanning beds, going four times a week rather than every day. Kennedy News and Media Blain admitted that her family also said she's too dark, and she does care about what people online think. 'I've received hate through TikTok. I thought the video that went viral looked nice at the time and wondered why I received so much hate, but now I realize why and that the video actually didn't look nice at all.' Advertisement However, amid all the hate, Blain received some nice comments as well, encouraging her on her journey to let go of the addiction. 'You're beautiful either way don't let anyone tell you any different,' one said. 'You're gorgeous in every way possible. Don't let anyone tell you different. So proud of you,' another added.
The Journal
30-06-2025
- Politics
- The Journal
Fine Gael councillor Ray McAdam elected as new Lord Mayor of Dublin
LAST UPDATE | 2 hrs ago FINE GAEL COUNCILLOR Ray McAdam has been elected as Dublin's newest Lord Mayor. At this evening's Annual Council meeting, McAdam was elected to succeed his party colleague Emma Blain, who had served as Lord Mayor since 18 December. He will now serve as the 358th Lord Mayor of Dublin until 29 June next year. McAdam, a Cavan native who has previously acted as a Parliamentary Assistant to Paschal Donohoe, is a North Inner City councillor and was first elected in 2009. He has been re-elected at subsequent Local Elections in 2014, 2019 and again in 2024. Speaking following the election, McAdam thanked those who elected him as the 358th Lord Mayor of Dublin, his family and his colleagues in the chamber. Congratulations to Councillor Ray McAdam who was Elected as the 358th Lord Mayor of Dublin 🎉 — Lord Mayor of Dublin (@LordMayorDublin) June 30, 2025 McAdam also paid tribute to his predecessor Blain, who he said brought 'empathy and purpose to the role'. 'Let this become the place where ambition meets action,' McAdam said, adding that celebrating Dublin 'will be the guiding star' of his term as Lord Mayor. 'We will celebrate Dublin, not only as it is, but as it can become. Because to truly celebrate something is also to shape it, to lift it up, to call it forward, to demand that it live up to its best self.' McAdam then outlined five key initiatives for her term as Lord Mayor – including the rejuvenation of O'Connell Street, tackling dereliction, a 'get Dublin moving' sports initiative, a Dublin disability inclusion drive and a 'young Dubliners speak' initiative. He also pledged to install a new statue on O'Connell Street within the year honouring 'the women of the revolution'. O'Connell Street. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo 'I am grateful for the courage, the leadership and the sacrifice of the women who shaped Ireland's revolutionary past, and I will do my part to ensure they are remembered not only with dignity and with respect, but in full view of the city they helped to build,' McAdam said. He went on to say that the council knows the challenges facing the city – including housing, safety, climate change and socioeconomic barriers. 'These challenges are real, but they demand action, not avoidance. They demand leadership, not lament,' McAdam said. Advertisement 'Even in the face of these realities, I firmly believe in this city, not only because of what it has been, but because of what it can still be.' Ahead of the election, Blain was invited to address her former Dublin City Council colleagues, where she thanked staff at the Mansion House on Dawson Street, her family and fellow councillors, and recalled some of the many 'memorable moments' during her tenure. 'Thank you for your belief in what Dublin can be,' Blain said. 'It was the greatest honour of my life'. Former Lord Mayor Emma Blain. 'Dublin is in a good place. There's a renewed energy and a sense that we've turned a corner, and I've been glad to play a small part in that work,' she added. 'There is still work to do, but we're building strong foundations with talented and committed people leading the way.' Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe congratulated his constituency and party colleague. 'A glorious moment as my wonderful friend Ray McAdam arrives at the Mansion House having been elected as the 358th Lord Mayor Dublin,' he said in a post on X. 'Ray is one of the hardest working people I know. He is ambitious for the role and will do a magnificent job. I wish him all the luck in the world.' In addition to the support of his Fine Gael party, McAdam also got the backing of Fianna Fáil, Labour and Green party councillors. This is because Dublin City councillors from these parties entered into a political agreement last year , which is set to run until 2029. The position of Lord Mayor is set to be rotated among these parties as part of the agreement. There are 63 councillors within Dublin City Council and 31 councillors belong to this pact. Ray McAdam received 34 votes during the election this evening. Sinn Féin, which has nine councillors elected to Dublin City Council, nominated Councillor Kourtney Kenny as their candidate for Lord Mayor. Sinn Féin is part of a newly-formed 'Progressive Alliance' which includes the Social Democrats, People Before Profit and independent councillors Pat Dunne, Cieran Perry, and John Lyons. This alliance contains 24 councillors who supported Kenny's bid. Kenny received 22 votes this evening. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
