Britain's Prince William: 'fine by me' if children gay

Yahoo – AFP, June 26, 2019

Prince William's comments came during a visit to a charity dedicated to helping
young people made homeless due to their sexual orientation (AFP Photo/Jonathan Brady)

London (AFP) - Britain's Prince William said Wednesday it would be "fine by me" if his children came out as homosexual, but worried about the pressures it could place on them.

William and his wife Kate have three children: five-year-old Prince George, Princess Charlotte, four, and Prince Louis, who turned one in April.

William, 37, is second in line to the throne after his father Prince Charles, with George third in line to become king.

His comments came during a visit to the Albert Kennedy Trust (AKT), a charity dedicated to helping young people made homeless due to their sexual orientation.

During a discussion with people being supported by the organisation, William was asked how he would react if one of his children came out.

The Duke of Cambridge replied: "You really don't start thinking about that until you are a parent, and I think -- obviously absolutely fine by me.

"The one thing I'd be worried about is how they, particularly the roles my children fill, is how that is going to be interpreted and seen."

Message for society

Due to the monarchy's hereditary nature, William's children, in time, will become key figures in the royal family -- above all George.

The sovereign is the supreme governor of the Church of England and separately head of state of 16 countries around the world.

"It is something I'm nervous about, not because I'm worried about them being gay or anything -- it's more about the fact that I'm worried about the pressures... that they're going to face and how much harder their life could be," William said.

"I wish we lived in a world that it was... really normal and cool, but particularly for my family, and the position that we are in, that's the bit I am nervous about.

"I fully support whatever decision they make, but it does worry me from a parent point of view, how many barriers, hateful words, persecution, all that, and discrimination that might come.

"That's the bit that really troubles me.

"But that's for all of us to try and help correct and make sure that we can put that to the past."

AKT chief executive Tim Sigsworth, who is gay, said the prince's words would make a "massive difference".

Huge Hong Kong rally kicks off as public anger boils

Yahoo – AFP, Jerome Taylor and Elaine Yu, June 16, 2019

Crowds of black-clad protesters were mraching from a park on the main island to
 the city's parliament -- a repeat of a massive rally a week earlier that organisers
said more than a million people attended (AFP Photo/Dale DE LA REY)

Tens of thousands of people rallied in central Hong Kong on Sunday as public anger seethed following unprecedented clashes between protesters and police over an extradition law, despite a climbdown by the city's embattled leader.

Protesters chanted "Scrap the evil law!" as they marched through the streets to pile more pressure on chief executive Carrie Lam, who paused work on the hugely divisive bill Saturday after days of mounting pressure, saying she had misjudged the public mood.

Crowds of black-clad protesters were marching from a park on the main island to the city's parliament -- a repeat of a massive demonstration a week earlier that organisers said more than a million people attended.

Critics fear the Beijing-backed law will tangle-up people in China's notoriously opaque and politicised courts and damage the city's reputation as a safe business hub.

Protesters chanted 'Scrap the evil law!' as they marched through the streets to pile 

more pressure on Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam (AFP Photo/Hector RETAMAL)

"Carrie Lam's response is very insincere. Knowing that the government won't withdraw the bill, I decided to come out today," said protester Terence Shek, 39, who had brought his children on the march.

The city was rocked by the worst political violence since its 1997 handover to China on Wednesday as tens of thousands of protesters were dispersed by riot police firing tear gas and rubber bullets.

"You're supposed to protect us not shoot at us" read one banner carried on Sunday, addressing the city's police force, while others marching held photos of police breaking up crowds in Wednesday's clashes.

Lam stopped short of committing to permanently scrap the proposal Saturday and the concession was swiftly rejected by protest leaders, who called on her to resign, permanently shelve the bill and apologise for police tactics.

Hong Kong activist Jimmy Sham likened chief executive Carrie Lam's offer to 

a 'knife' that had been plunged into the city (AFP Photo/HECTOR RETAMAL)

"The extradition bill being suspended only means it can be revived any time Carrie Lam wants," said activist Lee Cheuk-yan.

Nearly 80 people were injured in this week's unrest, including 22 police officers, and one man died late Saturday when he fell from a building where he had been holding an hours-long anti-extradition protest.

He had unfurled a banner saying: "Entirely withdraw China extradition bill. We were not rioting. Released students and the injured".

Huge queues formed outside the high-end Pacific Place mall with flowers and written tributes piling up as demonstrators paid their respects.

Suspending the bill has done little to defuse simmering public anger and protest organisers have called for a city-wide strike Monday as well as Sunday's rally.

Hong Kong has been rocked by the worst political unrest since its handover to 

China (AFP Photo/Anthony WALLACE)

Jimmy Sham, from the main protest group the Civil Human Rights Front, likened Lam's offer to a "knife" that had been plunged into the city.

"Carrie Lam's speech yesterday in no way calmed down public anger," he said.

'Restore calm to the community'

Lam's decision to press ahead with tabling the bill for debate in the legislature on Wednesday -- ignoring the record-breaking crowds three days earlier -- triggered fresh protests, which brought key parts of the city to a standstill and led to violent clashes with police.

Opposition to the bill united an unusually wide cross-section of Hong Kong, from influential legal and business bodies to religious leaders, as well as Western nations.

Mourners place flowers and offer prayers at the site where a protester died

(AFP Photo/Anthony WALLACE)

The protest movement has morphed in recent days from one specifically aimed at scrapping the extradition bill to a wider display of anger at Lam and Beijing over years of sliding freedoms.

A huge banner hanging from the city's Lion Rock mountain on Sunday read "Defend Hong Kong".

Lam had been increasingly isolated in her support for the bill, with even pro-Beijing lawmakers distancing themselves from the extradition proposals in recent days.

The Chinese government said suspending the bill was a good decision to "listen more widely to the views of the community and restore calm to the community as soon as possible".

The police have faced criticism for heavy handed tactices to disperse 

protesters (AFP Photo/HECTOR RETAMAL)

'Keep the heat on'

Critics were also angry that Lam missed repeated opportunities to apologise for what many saw as heavy-handed police tactics.

Police said they had no choice but to use force to meet violent protesters who besieged their lines outside the city's parliament on Wednesday.

But critics -- including legal and rights groups -- say officers used the actions of a tiny group of violent protesters as an excuse to unleash a sweeping crackdown on the predominantly young, peaceful protesters.

"The pro-democracy group will not stop at this point, they want to build on the momentum against Carrie Lam," political analyst Willy Lam told AFP. "They will keep the heat on and ride the momentum."

People pray outside the government headquarters in Hong Kong on the eve of 

Sunday's mass rally (AFP Photo/HECTOR RETAMAL)

Protest leaders have called for police to drop charges against anyone arrested for rioting and other offences linked to Wednesday's clashes.

Activist Lee said opponents feared reprisals by the government and wanted assurances "that our Hong Kong people, our protesters, are not being harassed and politically prosecuted by this government".

Lam has argued that Hong Kong needs to reach an extradition agreement with the mainland, and says safeguards were in place to ensure dissidents or political cases would not be accepted.

Buttigieg impact felt in US beyond his White House dream

Yahoo – AFP, Michael Mathes, May 5, 2019

South Bend Mayor and Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg (L) speaks
beside husband Chasten Glezman in South Bend, Indiana on April 22, 2019
(AFP Photo/KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI)

Washington (AFP) - The unprecedented campaign of Pete Buttigieg, with husband and potential first gentleman Chasten at his side, is shaking up politics and promises to change perceptions of same-sex marriage -- and what it means to be a family in America.

The Buttigiegs are the most visible same-sex couple of the moment, riding a wave of popularity as Pete, the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana, seeks the Democratic presidential nomination and the right to challenge Donald Trump in 2020.

Should the improbable become reality, Buttigieg would serve as America's first openly gay commander in chief, and his 29-year-old husband of 11 months would become the first-ever US first gentleman.

Together they would challenge expectations of what the first couple could or should be.

While that remains a far-off dream 18 months from election day, experts say the pair is already having substantial cultural impact.

Millions of Americans have now watched Buttigieg's televised town halls, seen the candidate and his husband in person on the campaign trail or viewed their television interviews.

This week's Time magazine profile boldly titled "First Family" features a cover photo of the couple standing outside their home, sleeves rolled up -- an unremarkable image capturing a remarkable cultural moment.

"Pete and Chasten are so... normal and American and relatable," Annise Parker, the former mayor of Houston and one of the first openly gay mayors of a major American city, told AFP.

Because of heightened media coverage during Buttigieg's rising star campaign -- he was virtually unknown weeks ago but now polls in the top tier among 21 candidates -- "it's driving this mainstream middle-American image of a young happily married couple," said Parker, who now heads Victory Fund, which supports LGBTQ candidates.

"It's hard to discriminate against someone you can relate to so strongly."

The Buttigiegs are the most visible same-sex couple of the moment, riding a wave of 

popularity as Pete, the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana, seeks the 

Democratic presidential nomination and the right to challenge Donald Trump 

in 2020 (AFP Photo/SCOTT OLSON)

The average American's position on gay marriage has evolved rapidly, said Brian Powell, a sociology professor at Indiana University who studies same-sex marriage.

In 2003, his research showed, a traditional husband-wife-children view of family dominated. By 2015, the "inclusionist" ideal prevailed, and marriage equality was the law of the land.

Much of that shift was attributable to television, notably shows like "Will and Grace," which helped normalize same-sex households to millions of viewers.

But the real-life Buttigiegs could put even more Americans at ease.

People are "seeing it in a very visible public figure," Powell said. "That can have a transformational effect."

Buttigieg came out as gay during his mayoral re-election campaign, and three years after the Supreme Court struck down state bans on same-sex marriage, he and Chasten tied the knot.

During his campaign launch speech in South Bend, Buttigieg offered thanks to "Chasten, my love, for giving me the strength to do this and the grounding to be myself as we go."

Contrast with Trump

Buttigieg, according to The Atlantic, is "a model of conventional, bourgeois gay domesticity."

He is a military veteran, a monogamous intellectual by all accounts, quick to show off their two dogs.

Much has been made of the contrast with the twice-divorced Trump, accused by multiple women of sexual assault or harassment, and whom Buttigieg has branded as operating a "pornstar presidency."

Buttigieg came out as gay during his mayoral re-election campaign, and three years 

after the Supreme Court struck down state bans on same-sex marriage, he and

Chasten tied the knot (AFP Photo/Eric BARADAT)

"If the public portrayals of the marriages are accurate, then I would say more American families are like the Buttigieg family than they are like the Trump family," Powell said.

For under-40 millennials, sexual orientation is just another human trait, like race or gender, and "is not in any way a disqualifier" for the presidency, said University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire associate professor of sociology Peter Hart-Brinson.

Not all are on board, particularly conservatives. Many in the LGBTQ community view Trump himself as hostile to their rights, and several states still allow employers to fire workers for being gay.

Buttigieg is an Episcopalian with an abiding faith in God, but Christian evangelist Franklin Graham denounced him by name last week.

"As a Christian I believe the Bible which defines homosexuality as sin, something to be repentant of, not something to be flaunted, praised or politicized," Graham tweeted.

"The Bible says marriage is between a man & a woman—not two men, not two women."

By many accounts, the Buttigieg marriage is storybook, a symbol of what is politically achievable today.

Chasten, sitting with his husband, told CBS News last week that they quarrel over who does the laundry or takes out the trash, just like most American couples.

"I do enjoy going out there with Pete and showing people that gay marriage is just like a straight marriage," he said.

Algerian prosecutors ban corruption suspects from leaving country

France24 –AFP, 01 April 2019

Huge protests have been held across Algeria demanding ailing President Abdelaziz
Bouteflika leave power AFP

Algiers (AFP) - Algerian state prosecutors on Monday said they had banned corruption suspects from leaving the country after launching probes into graft and illegal money transfers abroad targeting unnamed individuals.

The moves come amid nationwide protests against President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and follow the arrest of one of the incumbent's key backers, business tycoon Ali Haddad.

Haddad, who Forbes magazine describes as one of Algeria's wealthiest entrepreneurs, was detained overnight Saturday to Sunday at a border post with neighbouring Tunisia, a security source said, without giving a reason for the arrest.

On Sunday, the Algerian authorities also banned all private aircraft from taking off and landing until the end of the month.

The North African state has been rocked by weeks of mammoth protests sparked by Bouteflika's decision in February to seek a fifth term in office.

The veteran leader, who has rarely been seen in public since suffering a stroke in 2013, said last month he would pull out of the race but postponed elections which were due in April.

The concession has done little to halt public ire and hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of the capital Algiers on Friday demanding the president and his entourage go.

Faced with the persistent anger, a succession of veteran Bouteflika loyalists have sought to distance themselves from the president in recent days.

On Tuesday, armed forces chief of staff Ahmed Gaid Salah called for him to step down or be declared medically unfit.

#UPDATE Algeria's ailing leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika submitted his resignation with immediate effect, ceding power in the face of massive street protest after two decades at the helm https://t.co/BdRyTIy9Yu

— AFP news agency (@AFP) 2 april 2019

Pope Francis says Church hasn't known 'how to listen'

Yahoo – AFP, Kelly VELASQUEZ,  January 26, 2019

Pope Francis officiates at a mass at the centuries-old Cathedral Basilica of Santa
Maria la Antigua in Panama City on January 26, 2019 during a global youth
gathering (AFP Photo/Alberto PIZZOLI)

Panama City (AFP) - Pope Francis acknowledged Saturday that the Catholic Church was "wounded by sin" in a message addressed to priests and seminarians reeling from sexual abuse scandals and coverups.

In a mass that he officiated at the centuries-old Cathedral of Santa Maria La Antigua in Panama City, Francis warned of the "weariness of hope that comes from seeing a Church wounded by sin, which has so often failed to hear all those cries."

It was the Argentine pontiff's first reference to the sex abuse scandals rocking the Church since he arrived in Panama on Wednesday for a global gathering of young Catholics.

It comes as he prepares to meet senior bishops from around the world in Rome next month to deal with widespread clergy sex abuse of children and young people.

Addressing white robed young seminarians and priests during the mass, the pope said "a subtle weariness" had entered Church communities that "calls into question the energy resources and viability of our mission in this changing and challenging world."

Those changes, he said, "call into doubt the very viability of religious life in today's world."

But he said that the notion that religious communities had nothing to contribute -- that the world "has no room for our message" -- would be "one of the worst heresies possible in our time."

Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti said Friday that next month's meeting in Rome would be a unique chance to provide bishops with "concrete measures" to tackle the "terrible plague" of sex abuse by the clergy.

Pilgrims pray on January 26, 2019 in front of the centuries-old Cathedral Basilica of 

Santa Maria la Antigua, in Panama City, as Pope Francis celebrates mass inside

(AFP Photo/Raul ARBOLEDA)

Lunch with the pope

After the mass in the basilica -- home of the first diocese on the American mainland -- the pope and the archbishop of Panama, Cardinal Jose Domingo Ulloa, hosted a lunch for 10 young people of different nationalities attending World Youth Day, a tradition at the global gatherings, held every three years.

The pope's homily to seminarians about the challenges of the priesthood raised the problem of dwindling vocations around the world.

Around the globe, there were 414,969 Catholic priests at the end of 2016, more than 800 less than in 2014, according to the Vatican. There were nearly 700 less people joining the priesthood over the same period.

Francis himself acknowledged at a general audience in August that the scandals of abuse and cover-up by Church leaders has caused a decline in vocations to the priesthood in Ireland.

Later Saturday, the pope was set to preside over an evening vigil with an expected crowd of 200,000 pilgrims at the three-kilometer (two-mile) Metro Park on the outskirts of Panama.

Francis, 82, drew the largest crowd of his five-day visit on Friday evening at a solemn ceremony commemorating Christ's crucifixion in another Panama park.

In a swipe at US President Donald Trump's plans to build a border wall against Central American migrants, the pope told hundreds of thousands of young pilgrims that it was "senseless" to condemn every immigrant "as a threat to society."

He has used his encounter with young people in Central America this week to speak out strongly in defense of migrants, and address other problems affecting the region such as poverty, drug trafficking, violence and what he said was a regional "plague" of murders of women.

#UPDATE Pope Francis says the Church wants to foster a culture "that welcomes, protects, promotes and integrates” https://t.co/pVL2AFLLuV pic.twitter.com/pR3y60ZA1u

— AFP news agency (@AFP) January 26, 2019

Related Article:

Pope in Panama blasts 'fears and suspicions' over migration

Two thirds of Americans support stricter gun laws: poll

Yahoo – AFP, February 20, 2018

Americans love their guns, but in the wake of a deadly mass shooting at a Florida

 high school, a new poll shows two out of every three voters support stricter gun 

control laws (AFP Photo/Michele Eve Sandberg)

Washington (AFP) - Americans support stricter gun laws by a more-than two-to-one margin, one of the highest levels on record, a polling agency reported Tuesday one week after the latest US school shooting left 17 people dead.

The tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida has shocked many Americans, inspired students to launch campaigns to reduce gun violence, and put Congress and President Donald Trump's administration in the spotlight as they consider what changes, if any, should be made to the country's gun laws.

Voters support tightening gun laws by 66 to 31 percent, according to Quinnipiac University's national poll, which described the margin as "the highest level of support" since it began surveys on the question in 2008.

The poll also found that a majority of gun owners, 50 percent to 44 percent, backed stricter gun laws, and that their support specifically for universal background checks rose to an overwhelming 97 percent, against just three percent who opposed such checks or expressed no opinion.

"If you think Americans are largely unmoved by the mass shootings, you should think again," Quinnipiac poll assistant director Tim Malloy said in a statement.

"Support for stricter gun laws is up 19 points in little more than two years," he added, referring to December 2015 poll data that showed 47 percent of voters supported tightening such laws.

When broken down by political party, however, the latest results show that just 34 percent of Republicans support stricter gun laws, compared with 86 percent of Democrats.

Trump signaled support Monday for a bipartisan effort to expand and improve a national system of background checks for gun purchases in the wake of the Florida school shooting.

Several legislative proposals were introduced after a shooter killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in 2012, including a ban on semi-automatic weapons like the one used last week in Florida, banning high-capacity magazines of over 10 bullets and a universal background check bill.

None has made it into law.

Related Article:

Florida students turn up heat on lawmakers for gun action

Gates says billionaires should pay 'significantly' more taxes

Yahoo – AFP, February 19, 2018

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates says billionaires should pay
"significantly" more in taxes (AFP Photo/Etienne LAURENT)

Washington (AFP) - Bill Gates says he has paid more than $10 billion in taxes over a lifetime but billionaires like him should pay "significantly" more because they benefit more from the system.

The Microsoft co-founder, the world's second richest man after Amazon's Jeff Bezos, was critical of a recent US tax overhaul that slashed corporate taxes and lowered the top bracket for individual income.

"I've paid more taxes, over $10 billion, than anyone else, but the government should require the people in my position to pay significantly higher taxes," he said in an interview Sunday with CNN.

He said the tax overhaul passed in December favors the rich despite Republican claims it will help the middle and working classes.

"People who are wealthier tended to get dramatically more benefits than the middle class or those who are poor, and so it runs counter to the general trend you'd like to see, where the safety net is getting stronger and those at the top are paying higher taxes," he said.

With a sixth of the US population living in what he called "disappointing" conditions, he said US policymakers need to think about rising inequality and ask, "Why aren't we doing a better job for those people?"

Canada makes national anthem gender neutral

Yahoo – AFP, February 2, 2018

Two words were amended in Canada's national anthem, "O Canada," making the 

song gender neutral and incurring the wrath of conservatives and traditionalists

 (AFP Photo/DON EMMERT)

Ottawa (AFP) - Canadians will soon be singing a new tune after parliament passed a bill to change the lyrics of the national anthem to make it gender neutral.

Only one line in O Canada was amended, from "True patriot love in all thy sons command" to "True patriot love in all of us command."

But it has caused quite a stir.

"It's about two words," Senator Frances Lankin told reporters. "But it's huge in terms of one of our major national symbols, the anthem we sing with pride about our country."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the move "another positive step towards gender equality," while feminist author Margaret Atwood, who has been pressing for this since the 1980s, tweeted her thanks to lawmakers.

Others decried the new lyrics and vowed to continue to sing the older version.

"Disappointed to hear the Liberals changed our national anthem. Somethings (sic) shouldn't change," said MP Bob Saroya in a Twitter message.

The late MP Mauril Belanger had proposed the change to the English language version of the anthem.

Belanger was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, shortly after his party, under Trudeau, took power in 2015.

The proposal passed the House two months before Belanger's death in 2016, and late Wednesday the Senate added its support for the bill.

Now it needs only the governor general's signature to become law, which is a formality, but a date for that has not yet been set.

"It will receive royal ascent in due course," Sabrina Atwal, spokeswoman for government House leader Bardish Chagger, told AFP.

The French version of O Canada, which has not been revised, was originally commissioned by Quebec's lieutenant governor in 1880. The English version followed in 1906.

In 1914 the phrase "thou dost in us command" was changed to "in all thy sons command." A verse was added a decade later.

There have been several attempts in recent decades to further amend the lyrics of the song -- which only officially became Canada's anthem in 1980 -- but they all failed largely due to the entrenched opposition of Conservative lawmakers.

Today the anthem is sung at the beginning of sporting events and in schools across Canada at the start of classes, often mixing both French and English versions.

Once taboo, socialism finds comrades among US millennials

Yahoo - AFP, Maggy DONALDSON, November 11, 2017

Lee Carter, who this week won a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates, is part
of a growing cadre of young politicians pledging their allegiance to the Democratic
Socialists of America

While working as an electrician Lee Carter received a literal shock, through one hand and across the chest, that jolted him into politics and turned him on to what was a dirty word in America for nearly a century: socialism.

His struggle to obtain compensation for the workplace injury inspired him to run for office, and this week Carter ousted a top Republican incumbent to nab a spot in Virginia's House of Delegates, becoming one of over a dozen unabashed socialists newly elected to US state and municipal seats one year after Donald Trump took the White House.

The 31-year-old former Marine is part of a growing cadre of Americans, particularly millennials, pledging their allegiance to the Democratic Socialists of America, the nation's fastest growing leftist group that was originally founded in 1982 as a foothold for Marxists.

Riding the wave of democratic socialist Bernie Sanders's spirited White House bid against primary rival Hillary Clinton, the organization is helping propel socialism out of the shadows.

In the years prior to the Sanders campaign, the DSA's number of card-carrying members hovered around 6,500 -- and has nearly quintupled since 2016's presidential race to more than 30,000.

Its median age has dropped from about 60 to 35, according to organizers, some of whom have playfully referred to the surge among youth as a "socialist baby boom."

Dismayed by Trump's rise to power Jacquelyn Smith in January joined the DSA, which has chapters in nearly every US state. And at just 22 years old, she managed Carter's victorious campaign.

Organizing as a DSA member means "I am challenging the root of the problem and not the symptoms," she told AFP, speaking at a recent convention of the organization's local Washington branch.

"I focus a lot less on challenging Trump and a lot more on challenging why he got there in the first place," she said, citing forces including economic inequality and white supremacist movements.

Today Smith said millennials -- a generation that grew up during the 2008 financial crisis -- are eager for socialism, to "embrace the ideology and really fight with it publicly."

Under her management DSA members spent months canvassing for Carter in Virginia's 50th district, about an hour's drive west of the nation's capital, knocking on more than 9,000 doors in the final four days.

Those grassroots efforts helped propel Carter, who ran as a socialist on the Democratic party ticket, to an upset nine-point victory against one of Virginia's most powerful state Republicans.

Lee Carter's opponent sent out a mailer that juxtaposed the democratic socialist's 

face with portraits of famous communists including Karl Marx and Mao Zedong

'Alarming reputation' fading

Despite their current momentum far-left groups like the DSA remain on the fringes of American politics, working within a two-party system that leaves little space for outsiders.

The political group is not a party, and has nowhere near the clout of sister movements elsewhere such as Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party in Britain, or Syriza in Greece and Podemos in Spain.

But socialism has not had a voice this loud in American politics for decades.

Though she would not yet classify the wave of leftist activism as a mass movement, politics professor Cathy Schneider of American University said the DSA's growth is significant in that it indicates voters shocked by Trumpism are also increasingly disillusioned with the Democratic Party.

"There is a sector of American society who feel that the political parties do not address their concerns," she said. "The Democratic Socialists have said we have an answer for that."

Their current strategy does not necessarily include third-party politics; instead the DSA is fielding socialist candidates for elected office using whichever ballot line makes winning likely, generally that of the Democrats.

And though many members got involved in the aftermath of the Sanders campaign, organizers now say their goal is to build a movement not connected to any single politician but instead based on core issues like universal health care, public investment in education and housing and bolstering labor protections.

Schneider also noted that socialism's "alarming reputation" appears to be fading, no small development in a country that lived through the Red Scare era of anti-communist propaganda.

"People no longer associate socialism with dictatorships in the USSR and China," she said.

That didn't stop Carter's opponent from red-baiting: in the final days of the race the Republican sent a mailer to 11,000 homes that juxtaposed the democratic socialist's face with portraits of famous communists including Karl Marx and Mao Zedong.

But even Republican voters told canvassers they found the attempt to sully the leftist's image "gross," Carter said.

"The scare-mongering around what's essentially a disagreement on economic philosophy doesn't work any more."

Related Articles:

Fuming over Brexit, youth help swing UK vote

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“…Government

Let us speak of government. We're not speaking of your government, but of any government - the way it works, how it survives, how it has survived, the way it campaigns, and how it elects leaders. It's going to change.

Years ago, I told you, "When everybody can talk to everybody, there can be no secrets." Up to this point on this planet, government has counted on one thing - that the people can't easily talk to each other on a global scale. They have to get their information through government or official channels. Even mass media isn't always free enough, for it reports that which the government reports. Even a free society tends to bias itself according to the bias of the times. However, when you can have Human Beings talking to each other all at once, all over the planet without government control, it all changes, for there is open revelation of truth.

Democracy itself will change and you're going to see it soon. The hold-outs, the few countries I have mentioned in the past, are doomed unless they recalibrate. They're doomed to be the same as they have been and won't be able to exist as they are now with everyone changing around them.

I mentioned North Korea in the past. Give it time. Right now, the young man is under the control of his father's advisors. But when they're gone, you will see something different, should he survive. Don't judge him yet, for he is being controlled.

In government, if you're entire voting base has the ability to talk to itself without restriction and comes up with opinions by itself without restriction, it behooves a politician to be aware and listen to them. This will change what politicians will do. It will change the way things work in government. Don't be surprised when some day a whole nation can vote all at once in a very unusual way. Gone will be the old systems where you used to count on horseback riders to report in from faraway places. Some of you know what I am talking about. Government will change. The systems around you, both dark and light, will change. You're going to start seeing something else, too, so let's change the subject and turn the page.

The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. .."