Latest news with #Mullin
Irish Daily Mirror
2 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Former Mayo star Oisín Mullin hails Kerry duo after signing new AFL contract
Oisín Mullin says that the Irish connection is key to his progress at Geelong Cats after signing a new contract with the AFL giants. The former Mayo star has been at the club since 2022 and has committed his future to them until 2027 having become a mainstay this season in particular. After making six AFL appearances in 2023 followed by 12 last year, Mullin has featured in 18 of their 19 games so far this season as the Cats sit in fourth place in the Premiership table with four games to go, leaving them in a strong position to contest the finals series. Laois native Zach Tuohy, who retired last year, was at the club when Mullin first joined, along with Kerry's Mark O'Connor, whose fellow countyman Cillian Burke is now on the books. 'Obviously the Cats have been known for having a great culture and when I was coming over there was Zach and Mark here as well so having that Irish connection was a big pull and a big factor in coming over here,' Mullin told the club's website. 'The two of them were very important in the journey from the get-go so yeah, it definitely had a big influence.' He continued: 'Zach, from the beginning, I worked with him a lot. Done a lot of kicking and stuff, his kick was obviously unbelievable. Mark as well, just nailing the skills and stuff like that, just chatting me through what it takes to keep developing. 'It takes a lot of patience as well, things aren't going to click from the get-go but obviously the off-field transition as well, Mark especially has been at the club… this is his ninth season and he's just been through that whole transition period just for tips, not just on the field but off the field as well and obviously getting Cillian to join this year has been great. 'He's a great personality to have around the club so I've been loving it with them.' Mullin has been handed greater responsibility in the side this year having been handed a key 'tagging' role. He added: 'It's an enjoyable role, it's a very cool experience getting to match up with some of the best in the game. Not something I thought I'd be doing this early in my career but it's definitely been very helpful, helping me to develop and it's nice to know the coaches have the confidence to back me in that role and attack the game.'
Gizmodo
2 days ago
- Business
- Gizmodo
Brace for the Most Expensive Coffee Yet, as Trump's Tariffs Mix With the Climate Crisis
Eight years ago, when Debbie Wei Mullin founded her company Copper Cow, she wanted to bring Vietnamese coffee into the mainstream. Vietnam, the world's second-largest exporter of coffee, is known for growing robusta beans. Earthier and more bitter than the arabica beans grown in Brazil, Colombia, and other coffee-growing regions near the Equator, robusta beans are often thought of as producing lower-quality coffee. In an effort to rebrand robusta, Mullin signed deals with coffee farming cooperatives in Vietnam and created smooth blends. Over the years, she helped a cohort of farmers convert their operations to organic. 'We put in huge investments and were certified as the first organic specialty-grade coffee farms ever in Vietnam,' said the CEO and founder. In a few weeks, Copper Cow is planning to launch its first line of organic coffee at Whole Foods and Target. But the second Trump administration has changed the calculus of her business. Mullin said she 'was bullish' about her company's prospects when President Donald Trump first took office, believing that Vietnam would likely be exempt from exorbitant tariffs since the president has many supporters in the coastal Southeast Asian country. Then, in April of this year, the White House announced a 46 percent tariff on goods from Vietnam. The shock left Mullin rethinking the very thesis she had set out to prove. 'A big part of our mission is about how robusta beans, when treated better, can provide this really great cup of coffee at a lower price,' she said. 'Once you put a 46 percent tariff on there, does this business model work anymore?' Trump soon paused his country-specific tariffs for a few months, replacing them with a near-universal 10 percent tax. This month, Trump announced on social media that he would lower Vietnam's eventual tariff from 46 to 20 percent—a sharp price hike that still worries Mullin. Meanwhile, Trump has threatened to impose an astounding 50 percent tariff on goods from Brazil, the nation's largest importer of coffee, starting August 1. 'I joke with my partner that I feel like I'm in a macroeconomics class,' said Mullin. In lieu of raising its prices, Copper Cow, which sells directly to consumers as well as to retailers, has scrambled to cut costs by reconsidering its quarterly team get-togethers and slowing down its timeline for helping more farmers go organic. The price of coffee hit an all-time high earlier this year, a dramatic rise due in part to ongoing climate-fueled droughts in the global coffee belt. As the U.S. considers fueling a trade war with coffee-producing countries, 'it just feels like such an insult to an injury,' said Mullin. 'It's like, let's have an earthquake hit a place that is in the middle of a hurricane.' Economists like to say that demand for coffee is relatively inelastic—drinkers are so attached to their daily caffeine fix that they keep buying it even when prices increase. As the Trump administration mounts its retaliatory trade agenda, that theory will be put to the test. Coffee growers, as well as the roasters and sellers that purchase [from] them in the U.S., are now facing unforeseen geopolitical and economic challenges. 'We have not seen tariffs of this magnitude before,' said David Ortega, a professor of food and economics policy at Michigan State University. 'There's no playbook for this.' Should Trump's threatened tariffs go into effect next month, it will likely hurt consumers, as many businesses will pass on the costs by raising prices. But it could also have ripple effects on coffee farms, as companies may cut costs by pulling back on investments in environmentally conscientious practices like organic or regenerative agriculture. 'Our goal was always to slowly convert the rest of our products to certified organic,' said Mullin. 'And we feel like that is not an option anymore because of the tariffs.' Even if the tariffs do not go into effect in August, the ongoing economic uncertainty will likely impact coffee growers in Brazil, which provided 35 percent of America's unroasted coffee supply as of 2023. As U.S. coffee companies navigate the Trump administration's evolving trade policies, they are likely to seek out new, cheaper markets for coffee beans. 'Suddenly, they become less attached to where they source their coffee from,' said João Brites, director of growth and innovation at HowGood, a data platform that helps food companies measure and reduce carbon emissions along their supply chain. The problem with that, according to Ortega, is that other countries in the coffee belt, such as Colombia, do not have the production capacity to match Brazil's and meet U.S. demand for coffee. If the threat of punitive tariffs on Brazil kickstarts an increase in demand for coffee from other countries, that will likely raise prices. For coffee drinkers, 'there are very few substitutes,' said Ortega. These pressures on coffee farmers and buyers are coming after a period of worsening climate impacts. A majority of coffee grown in Brazil—about 60 percent—comes from smallholder farms, grown on about 25 or fewer acres of land. 'The current reality they're operating in is that they're already very stretched,' particularly because of weather disruptions, said Brites. Coffee grows best in tropical climates, but in recent years unprecedented droughts in Brazil have stunted growers' yields, forcing exporters to dip into and almost deplete their coffee reserves. Vietnam has been rocked by drought and heat waves—and though robusta beans need less water to grow than arabica beans, making them a relatively climate-resilient crop, growers have also seen their yields decline. (Mullin said she is seeing early signs of harvests rebounding this year.) Brites speculated that U.S. companies buying from smallholder farms in Brazil may be able to pressure growers into selling their beans at lower prices, adding to the economic precarity that these growers face. 'For a lot of these coffee growers, the U.S. is such a big market,' he said, adding that it would take time for them to find new buyers in other markets. Growers themselves are worried. Mariana Veloso, a Brazilian coffee producer and exporter, said producers are facing logistical challenges—and anticipating more. 'If we want to ship a coffee in the next month, we will probably not be able to,' said Veloso, remarking that sometimes cargo ships holding coffee sit at Brazilian ports for weeks before setting out. Shipping companies seem to be delaying shipments from Brazil, said Veloso, perhaps in anticipation of the looming tariffs. In the U.S., not every coffee company sources from Brazil or Vietnam. But the Trump administration's existing 10 percent across-the-board tariffs are still rattling the coffee business. 'We source coffees from all around the world. So we're not immune to anything,' said Kevin Hartley, founder and CEO of Cambio Roasters, an aluminum K-cup coffee brand. He added, 'You know, 10 percent here and 30 percent there, that's not trivial.' Hartley added that one of the impacts of droughts on coffee growers is that younger farmers worried about the future are considering leaving the business. 'In coffee farming families around the world, it's a tough life, and the current generation is showing reticence to take off where their parents began,' he said. Regardless of whether the U.S. imposes prohibitive tariffs on individual coffee-growing countries, climate change is already taking a toll on this workforce. 'Everyone's looking for a solution for this,' said Mullin, who believes robusta beans can offer a drought-resistant alternative to the ever-popular arabica beans. Copper Cow has even started experimenting with a lesser-known varietal of coffee beans called liberica, which requires even less water to grow than robusta beans. 'And it's delicious,' Mullin said. It's an extremely labor-intensive crop because the coffee plant grows so tall, but one of the farmer cooperatives she works with is starting to plant them now, thinking the investment will be worth it as temperatures keep rising. This new era of environmental, economic, and geopolitical challenges has shaken coffee brands. 'Everybody's wondering, in 50 years, will there be much coffee anymore? People are trying to be really realistic about what that world is going to look like,' said Mullin. In the midst of that broader uncertainty, the impact of Trump's tariffs is another question only time can answer. This article originally appeared in Grist at Grist is a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. Learn more at
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
GOP Senator Refuses to Admit Bush, Not Obama, Was President During Epstein's Plea Deal
Sen. Markwayne Mullin tried to blame former President Barack Obama for Jeffrey Epstein's 2008 plea deal, despite Obama not being president at the time. Mullin made the comments while being interviewed by Jake Tapper on CNN's State of the Union on Sunday. First, Tapper and Mullin debated over whether the attorney general has the ability to release documents related to the Epstein investigation, with Mullin insisting that only judges have the ability to make that information public and Tapper arguing that there is additional information that Attorney General Pam Bondi could — and has promised to — release, yet she has not done so. Then Mullin made a bizarre claim that Epstein struck a deal in Florida in 2009, under President Obama. But that is factually incorrect, as Tapper pointed out. 'Remember there was a plea deal that was struck in 2009, way before I was in office, way before Trump was even considering it to be in office, way before Pam Bondi was office, way before Kash Patel was director,' Mullin said. '[In] 2009, there was a sweetheart plea deal that was made underneath the Obama administration with Epstein, and that sweetheart has not been exposed.' 'No, that's not right,' Tapper said. 'It's not? Well, when was the case heard?' Mullin asked. 'It was 2008 … The U.S. attorney at the time was a guy named Alex Acosta,' Tapper said. 'He was a Bush appointee. He went on to become President Trump's secretary of labor. It all took place in 2008.' 'Who was in office at the time?' Mullin asked. '[In] 2008, George W. Bush,' Tapper said, reciting a well-known fact. But Mullin continued to insist on incorrect information. 'No, 2009 is when the case came out, and it was — and Obama was in office at the time,' Mullin said. 'It's not true. It's not true,' Tapper said. Mullin doubled down later in the interview. 'I will go back to what you're saying about it wasn't true,' Mullin said. 'The case was sealed in 2009. That's absolutely true. It was heard in 2008. It was sealed in 2009.' Tapper is correct, and Mullin is wrong. An executive summary report of the Epstein case by the Justice Department states that in the summer of 2008, then-U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta negotiated a nonprosecution agreement with Epstein in which the billionaire pleaded guilty to state charges in Florida for soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution. Because of the deal, instead of serving a possible life sentence, he was sentenced to 18 months in a work-release program followed by 12 months of house arrest. Epstein was then allowed to leave the minimum-security facility for 12 hours a day to work at a foundation he had incorporated. Epstein was released after serving less than 13 months. He was also mandated to register as a sex offender and make payments to his victims. According to the Justice Department, Epstein began serving his sentence in October 2008, and a judge unsealed the non-prosecution agreement in September 2009. A lead prosecutor in the investigation, Marie Villafana, said in 2020 that Epstein's sweetheart deal was an 'injustice.' 'That injustice, I believe, was the result of deep, implicit institutional biases that prevented me and the FBI agents who worked diligently on this case from holding Mr. Epstein accountable for his crimes,' Villafana said.
The 42
3 days ago
- Sport
- The 42
Former Mayo star Oisín Mullin commits future to Geelong Cats
OISÍN MULLIN HAS committed his future to Geelong Cats by agreeing a contract extension until the end of the 2027 AFL season. The former Mayo GAA star has been with the Victoria club since switching codes in 2021. A former All Star and Young Player of the Year, Mullin has gradually established himself as a key figure across half back and midfield. The 25-year-old has played 18 games so far this season and executive general manager Andrew Mackie praised Mullin for how he has adapted to life and the demands Down Under. Advertisement 'Oisín has shown enormous growth in a short space of time and continues to impress us with his work ethic and willingness to learn,' Mackie said. 'As with all our Irish players, we understand the enormity of the decision to move to Australia, we love having Oisín as part of our program and we can't wait to see him play an important role for us over the next two years and beyond.'
The Hill
7 days ago
- Politics
- The Hill
GOP senator objects to second Democratic request in eight days to release Epstein files
Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R) on Thursday objected to a Democratic resolution demanding the Department of Justice release all files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego (D) went to the Senate floor Thursday at lunchtime to demand for the second time in eight days that Attorney General Pam Bondi release all files related to Epstein, something that MAGA-aligned activists have demanded for months and has divided the Republican Party. But Mullin, who had blocked the resolution the first time, stepped in to object again, dismissing Gallego's call as 'political theater.' He said Republicans want 'transparency' into Epstein's illicit activities, including alleged sex trafficking, but he argued that it's not Congress's role to dictate to the Justice Department what sensitive files must be released to the public. 'We want to know what happened, the American people want to know what happened. What this resolution does is it's actually a blurred line between the separation of powers,' Mullin said. 'When we start dictating to the Department of Justice what they can and can't do, there's a clear separation of power.' 'We're the legislative branch. That's what we do. We make laws. We can't dictate to other branches on what they must and how they must do their job,' he added. The Oklahoma Republican then offered an alternative resolution calling on a Florida federal judge to release grand jury documents related to the criminal investigation into Epstein. The judge, Robin Rosenberg, this declined the Justice Department's request to unseal the grand jury transcripts, saying the standard invoked by the Trump administration to request grand jury documents was on the basis of public interest and not to meet the needs of an ongoing judicial proceeding. Mullin argued that judges have the power to release more information about Epstein and asked Gallego to agree to his resolution. But Gallego instead suggested combining his resolution with Mullin's to demand both the Department of Justice and the judicial branch to release files and grand jury documents that might shed light onto Epstein's activities. The Arizona Democrat tried to ratchet up the pressure on Mullin to accept the modified request by suggesting that objecting to it would amount to an effort to 'protect the powerful elites.' Mullin, however, objected to combining the two requests and needled his Democratic colleague over the failure of the Biden administration to release the Epstein files. 'Let's be honest. We know these files have been out there forever. I don't remember a single time the Biden administration called on these things to be released. And I don't remember my colleague from Arizona asking for the files to be released,' he said.
