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Tensions flare in Washington as thousands gather for pro-Trump demonstrations (nationthailand.com)

Tensions flare in Washington as thousands gather for pro-Trump demonstrations

InternationalDec 13. 2020A Trump supporter dressed as Uncle Sam stands on a ladder in front of the Supreme Court in Washington D.C., where hundreds of other Trump supporters gathered on Saturday. MUST CREDIT: photo for The Washington Post by Astrid Riecken. 

By The Washington Post · Emily Davies, Rachel Weiner, Clarence Williams, Meagan Flynn, Jessica Contrera ·NATIONAL, POLITICS, COURTSLAW 

WASHINGTON – Thousands of maskless rallygoers who refuse to accept the results of the election turned downtown Washington into a falsehood-filled spectacle Saturday, two days before the electoral college will make the president’s loss official. 

Supporters of President Trump gather along Pennsylvania Avenue on Saturday to march to the Capitol and Supreme Court. MUST CREDIT: photo for The Washington Post by Astrid Riecken.

In smaller numbers than their gathering last month, they roamed from the Capitol to the National Mall and back again, seeking inspiration from speakers who railed against the Supreme Court, Fox News and President-elect Joe Biden. The crowds cheered for recently pardoned former national security adviser Michael Flynn, marched with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and around midday, they stood in awe of a flyover from what appeared to be Marine One. 

“There he is! There is our guy!” a woman exclaimed, reaching toward the sky. 

After railing on Twitter about the failure of his most-recent attempt to overturn the election results, President Donald Trump praised the crowd that gathered in his honor, tweeting “Wow! Thousands of people forming in Washington (D.C.) for Stop the Steal. Didn’t know about this, but I’ll be seeing them! #MAGA,” he wrote. 

Later in the day, attention was focused not on the president but on a group he once told to “stand back and stand by”: the Proud Boys, a male-chauvinist organization with ties to white nationalism. In helmets and bulletproof vests, hundreds of men in their ranks marched through downtown in militarylike rows, shouting “move out” and “1776!” 

They seemed intent on intimidating onlookers, and adopted a chant popular with counterprotesters: “Whose streets? Our streets.”

As the sun went down, their antics escalated. A group of Proud Boys and pro-Trump demonstrators repeatedly faced off with counterprotesters near Black Lives Matter Plaza. Each time, officers appeared in riot gear to divide the two sides as fireworks were thrown, causing small explosions.

When the groups splintered and roamed, police also moved, barricading streets with bikes and their bodies, determined not to give the two sides access to each other.

The Proud Boys became increasingly angry as they wove through streets and alleys, only to find police continuously blocking their course.

“Both sides of the aisle hate you now. Congratulations,” a Proud Boy shouted at the officers. 

Counterprotesters also agitated police, with some throwing water bottles at the line of officers. More than once, officers used their bikes and fired pepper spray to push the anti-Trumpers back, leaving at least three demonstrators flushing out their eyes with the help of medics.

District of Columbia Police Chief Peter Newsham made an appearance just before 6:30 p.m., telling protesters: “We’re doing the best we can.” He added: “What I would really like is that no one gets hurt tonight.”

In an interview, Newsham said police units were deployed across downtown to keep the groups apart. He said smaller segments of people who splintered from larger gatherings seemed “intent on conflict.”

Those groups eventually found each other, starting brawls near the Hyatt Place hotel, the Capital Hilton and Harry’s Bar, a hangout popular with Trump supporters.

At least six people were arrested during Saturday’s demonstrations, in addition to five arrests resulting from a brawl Friday night. A police officer was hit in the eyes with pepper spray midday Saturday, and another person was injured during an altercation on Third Street NW near Constitution Avenue. 

The scuffles seemed poised to continue late into the night in areas surrounding Black Lives Matter Plaza, which was partially blocked off by police.

The tension came as most of the day’s earlier rallygoers were on their way home or to hotels, after spending hours cheering for election fraud claims that have been disputed or debunked. The majority-White crowd ranged from gray-haired men and women in red hats to children in wagons, one of whom chanted “100 more years!”

As the nation watches Biden’s transition, rising coronavirus cases and vaccine development, many have tuned out Trump’s attempts to maintain power. But to his most dedicated supporters, the president’s megaphone is as loud as ever. He has continued to falsely claim the election was stolen from him, prompting his faithful to return to the nation’s capital.

Flynn appeared on the steps of the Supreme Court to encourage them to keep hope, despite the justices’ dismissal Friday night of Trump’s long-shot bid to overturn election results.

“Don’t get bent out of shape,” Flynn said. “There are still avenues. . . . We’re fighting with faith, and we’re fighting with courage.”

After Flynn finished speaking, he was chased by shouting admirers who cheered: “We love you, general!” Bodyguards tried to keep the fans at bay as Flynn kept smiling. 

The speakers painted a picture of a country in a battle between good and evil, in which God himself would ultimately ensure Trump remained in power. Sebastian Gorka, a former foreign policy adviser to Trump, said that when he heard the Supreme Court had dismissed an election case from Texas on Friday night, he told himself to “stop, take a deep breath, count to 10, read the Bible and pray.”

“We, thanks to our lord and savior, have already won,” Gorka claimed. 

A priest featured on a Jumbotron prayed to “place thyself at the head of this army of thy children.”

Ruth Hillary, a 58-year-old pastor from California, listened while holding up her “Stop the Steal” sign. She said she will continue to protest as long as the president and vice president believe she should.

“If President Trump accepts it and Vice President Pence accepts it, then we will accept it,” she said. “But right now, this is a Godly protest.”

Jones, the Infowars host and conspiracy theorist known for his denial of the Sandy Hook massacre, alternated between speaking about God and the future president: “Joe Biden is a globalist and Joe Biden will be removed one way or another,” he said from a stage on the National Mall.

Trump backer and MyPillow founder Mike Lindell argued that “Fox [News] was in on it,” while podcaster David Harris Jr. riled the crowd by suggesting that if there was a civil war, “we’re the ones with all the guns,” he said. 

All day, the masses nodded along to falsehoods, prayed for the country and cheered beside each other without masks.

District police did not enforce mask rules or issue fines to those who ignored social distancing guidelines, even as the region faces an unprecedented spike in coronavirus cases. Dozens of District police officers have tested positive in the weeks since the last pro-Trump rally in November. As of Friday, 94 remained in quarantine. Police have declined to draw a direct link between demonstrations and the spike in infections among officers.

On Saturday, local activists were frustrated with the police tactics aimed at maintaining peace. For part of the evening, officers formed intermittent blockades at the perimeter of Black Lives Matter Plaza, essentially penning in counterprotesters while Trump supporters were free to roam. 

“They can move around however they please,” said Constance Young, 37. “We’re not the ones not wearing masks and spreading covid.”

District residents have expressed concern that the influx of maskless protesters puts the entire city at risk, especially workers in restaurants and hotels. Activists flooded the inboxes of city officials, asking them to shut down businesses that allow people to congregate without masks. They called hotels to ask that they refuse to host those planning to attend Saturday’s rallies, with little success. 

Protesters still came in from around the country, with family, friends and flags in tow.

David Dumiter, 33, and his niece Monica Stanciu drove eight hours from Dearborn, Mich., to be at the Washington Monument on Saturday. 

Dumiter, an airplane mechanic who said he has been unemployed since the pandemic decimated air travel, said he knew the Supreme Court had blocked any legal path to reverse the results of the election. That didn’t change his mind about showing up Saturday. The president was still pushing, so he would, too. 

“We’re not going to cave in,” Dumiter said. He walked down the Mall in his Trump hat, Trump sunglasses and Trump jumpsuit, still gripping his flag. 

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Nuclear developers dust off plans for more reactors in U.K. (nationthailand.com)

Nuclear developers dust off plans for more reactors in U.K.

InternationalDec 12. 2020Contractors work inside Reactor Unit Two on the construction project for Hinkley Point C nuclear power station near Bridgwater, England, on July 28, 2020. MUST CREDIT: Bloomberg photo by Luke MacGregor. Photo by: Luke MacGregor — Bloomberg Location: Bridgwater, United Kingdom 

By Syndication The Washington Post, Bloomberg · Rachel Morison 

Nuclear power developers are refreshing plans for new reactors in the U.K. after speculation that the government could be willing to support building more plants than the industry had been expecting.

A little-noticed paper issued by the Treasury on Nov. 25 said it is important that the U.K. can “maintain options by pursuing additional large-scale nuclear projects,” assuming they can be done in a cost-effective way. That wording, with a notable plural on the word “projects,” went beyond a recommendation made two years ago that Britain should build only one more major atomic facility.

After years of waiting for a signal, the document was read by nuclear industry executives as evidence that energy policy could be shifting their way. They anticipate the government may soon look more favorably on nuclear after more than a decade of tilting toward renewables. Electricite de France, Hitachi and China General Nuclear Power Corp. are looking at ways to revive designs that were shelved in the past few years.

“Large-scale projects have a bright future in Britain if the government backs a financing model to cut the cost of capital,” said Tom Greatrex, chief executive officer of the Nuclear Industry Association. “There are a number of viable sites. We need low-carbon power that we can count on to fill the gaps when the wind is down.”

For its part, government insists its policy on nuclear hasn’t changed — even with all the debate about exiting the European Union. It’s allowing EDF to seek planning permission for the Sizewell plant in east England, but ministers have been quiet about what, if any, further plants might win favor.

“The government believes that nuclear has a key role in our future energy system,” a spokesperson at the department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy said. “The energy white paper will set out further information on the government’s future plans for energy.”

Britain is likely to need nuclear to meet net-zero emissions goals even in the event of a no deal Brexit. By 2035, all of the U.K.’s eight existing nuclear plants are due to retire from service. They supply almost a fifth of the nation’s electricity.

The mood in industry has shifted quickly. As recently as Nov. 18, nuclear developers were disappointed that Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s 10-point plan for a green industrial revolution didn’t include thinking on large-scale reactors. Then, ministers pledged to release fresh thinking in the form of a white paper which may include details on a possible funding mechanism for nuclear projects, each of which require $20 billion or more. That paper is due within the next few weeks.

Before the Treasury’s paper on Nov. 25, it was widely believed the government would accept the advice of the National Infrastructure Commission, which in 2018 suggested one more major plant should be built beyond one EDF is constructing at Hinkley Point. Instead, the Treasury noted a need to create low-carbon sources of electricity to meet growing demand.

To the industry, that’s a shifting of the blockage they’ve felt from government. While ministers opened new paths to finance and permit offshore wind farms, they allowed a number of nuclear developments to slip off the agenda. A perception took hold that renewables were favored because they’re increasingly cheaper and quicker to build than nuclear plants.

Now, the government is promising more detail for the industry on how it plans to finance nuclear, giving executives hopes that work at more sites might be viable.

One of the biggest question marks is whether China will be able to move ahead with a long-planned reactor in the U.K. despite a political chill toward investment from that nation. Under pressure from the U.S., the government has clamped down on the spread of 5G mobile technology from Huawei Technologies.

China General Nuclear’s Chief Executive Officer Rob Davies said the company is willing to self-finance the Bradwell B project in southeast England. His remark suggests the company would take a market power price for electricity sold from the plant, a break from EDF’s move at Hinkley Point to secure a long-term contract before moving ahead.

The project would be a Chinese-designed reactor, called HPR1000. It would showcase the nation’s technical skill in Europe. Davies said CGN is committed to nuclear development in the U.K. regardless of the political winds.

“We plan to maintain our support for Hinkley Point C, to help Sizewell C to reach a Final Investment Decision, to complete the general design assessment for the HPR1000 and to continue with Bradwell. That’s our plan and that’s our offer to the U.K. And we’ll self finance,” he said at an industry event this month.

The CEO of Hitachi’s Horizon Nuclear Power subsidiary said he’s lining up a project for the Wylfa site in Wales. His remark is an indication that the project may still be revived even after Hitachi exited it in September after failing to agree on financing.

Horizon is open to nuclear developments both large and small on the Wylfa site and Duncan Hawthorne said he’s “confident that one of those solutions will emerge” after the publication of the white paper.

“We have a very viable offering we can put on the Wylfa site that would allow the site to move pretty seamlessly from the Advanced Boiling Water Reactor solution to another technology solution and broadly offer the same timetable and the same commercial offering to government,” he said, without saying what the project will be.

In June, EDF revamped plans for the Moorside site in Cumbria that Toshiba Corp. pulled out of in 2018. The proposed Clean Energy Hub includes a large nuclear plant, the same design as Hinkley Point and Sizewell, small modular reactors and advanced modular reactors.

“Ultimately it’s for government policy as to how many reactors they want and whether or not they want one technology or they want two technologies,” said Julia Pyke, director of financing for Sizewell at EDF. “We would love to build another U.K. European Pressurized Reactor at Moorside, and it would, of course, get cheaper because each time you do something you learn how to do it better.”

Not all of these projects will be built. In the U.K., EDF is building the Hinkley Point C nuclear plant in Somerset and next in line is the Sizewell site in Essex northeast of London. The government is keen on small modular reactors that are quicker to build and cheaper. If it gets enough of those, there may not be a need for any more large scale stations. That’s what policy makers will hope to avoid tying themselves into.

Just four years ago, nuclear reactors were at the heart of the government’s clean-energy program. Both Labour and Conservative governments backed measures to replace the eight existing plants that supply up to a fifth of the U.K.’s electricity.

“While large nuclear installations are an important part of the national strategy, there are a limited number of suitable sites in the U.K.,” said Vince Zabielski, a lawyer at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman. “A sensible mix of both nuclear and renewables is the middle path that is most likely to lead to a carbon-free future.”

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‘No ban by ministry on use of Thai traditional dance in animation game’ (nationthailand.com)

‘No ban by ministry on use of Thai traditional dance in animation game’

InternationalDec 12. 2020

By The Nation

The Culture Ministry has not banned the developers of “Home Sweet Home” game from using Thai traditional dance, Saroot Tubloy, Yggdrazil Group’s chief operating officer and game director, tweeted on Saturday.

Home Sweet Home is a first-person horror adventure game based on Thai myths and beliefs, which was launched in 2017 followed by the second episode in 2019.

Earlier, Puvaphat Chanasakol, an adviser to a subcommittee on e-sports, tweeted on Thursday that he had found out the ministry had banned the game developers from using Thai traditional dance, as it may result in a negative view of this dance. He later said he had misunderstood.

Saroot said the ministry had only disapproved their request to use illustrations of instruments and practices related to Thai traditional dance in the game because it could make people scared if associated with an animated Thai ghost dancer that looked very scary.

“Therefore, we redesigned the ghost dancer to ensure that people would not be afraid and would instead be impressed with its beauty,” he said.