Santa Barbara County News and Events

Columbia dice que ICE usó pretextos falsos para entrar a una residencia universitaria y detener a una estudiante

Kraig Pakulski 0 18 Article rating: No rating

Por Emma Tucker y Alaa Elassar, CNN

Ellie Aghayeva había documentado una sesión intensiva de estudio de 10 horas en la biblioteca de la Universidad de Columbia el miércoles por la noche, compartiendo en sus considerables redes sociales cómo se prepara para un examen y realiza una investigación.

Lo que ella no sabía en ese momento es que al día siguiente pasaría aproximadamente la misma cantidad de horas en un centro de detención federal de inmigrantes.

Aghayeva, estudiante de último año de la universidad, fue detenida por agentes del Departamento de Seguridad Nacional en un edificio residencial propiedad de Columbia en la ciudad de Nueva York aproximadamente a las 6:30 a. m. del jueves, informaron funcionarios de la universidad. Unas nueve horas después, publicó en su cuenta de Instagram que había sido liberada.

Funcionarios de la universidad afirmaron que los agentes falsearon su propósito para acceder al edificio, entrando “sin orden judicial” y con el pretexto de buscar a una menor desaparecida. El DHS afirmó que buscaban a Aghayeva por ser una inmigrante indocumentada, “cuya visa de estudiante fue cancelada en 2016 bajo la administración de Obama por no asistir a clases”.

El alcalde de Nueva York, Zohran Mamdani, planteó la detención de Aghayeva al presidente Donald Trump durante una reunión en la Casa Blanca el jueves, y dijo poco después que Trump le había informado que sería liberada.

Mientras la incertidumbre continúa envolviendo las circunstancias de su detención, esto es lo que sabemos y lo que no sabemos sobre el caso:

Aghayeva es una estudiante internacional de Azerbaiyán, con doble especialización en neurociencia y ciencias políticas, según la Asociación Estadounidense de Profesores Universitarios.

Con más de 100.000 seguidores en Instagram, ha logrado una considerable cantidad de seguidores en las redes sociales y publica regularmente sobre sus sesiones de estudio en la biblioteca, así como sobre su estilo de vida y hábitos de productividad.

Aghayeva compartió la noticia de su detención en Instagram el jueves, mostrando una foto donde solo aparecen sus piernas con el texto: “El DHS me arrestó ilegalmente. Por favor, ayúdenme”. ​​La publicación fue eliminada tras su liberación.

Aghayeva compartió más tarde en Instagram que había sido liberada, diciendo que estaba “sana y bien” y que iba camino a casa. “Estoy en completo shock por lo sucedido… Necesito un poco de tiempo para procesarlo todo. Volveré pronto. Pero, por favor, no se preocupen”, escribió.

Una amiga de Aghayeva, Sabah Bari, la describió como una persona “muy motivada” y “extremadamente inteligente”, involucrada en organizaciones estudiantiles, académicamente exitosa y “muy divertida”.

Aghayeva está en camino de graduarse en mayo, dijo Bari, estudiante de la Escuela de Salud Pública Mailman de Columbia.

La universidad alega que los agentes federales que detuvieron a Aghayeva hicieron “tergiversaciones para ingresar al edificio y buscar a una ‘persona desaparecida’”, según la presidenta interina de la Universidad de Columbia, Claire Shipman, en una carta a la comunidad del campus.

Los agentes entraron al edificio residencial “sin ningún tipo de orden judicial” y las cámaras de seguridad “capturaron a los agentes en el pasillo mostrando imágenes de la presunta niña desaparecida”, dijo Shipman en una declaración posterior en video .

Un agente de seguridad pública llegó cuando “quedó claro” que habían falseado sus declaraciones. El agente “solicitó varias veces una orden judicial, que no le fue presentada, y pidió tiempo para llamar a su jef

Nasdaq and S&P are set for worst month since March. Here’s how to navigate the shift

Kraig Pakulski 0 26 Article rating: No rating

By John Towfighi, CNN

New York (CNN) — Technology stocks aren’t carrying the market like they used to — but investors can protect their portfolios during the volatility.

After years of powering the market on the promise of revolutionizing productivity, tech and AI stocks have hit a lull. It’s been four months since the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite hit a record high. The S&P 500 is roughly flat this year and on pace for its worst month since March.

Meanwhile, stocks with less exposure to AI are climbing higher. The blue-chip Dow, which is less reliant on tech than the Nasdaq and the S&P, is up 3% this year.

It’s part of a broader shift on Wall Street, which is navigating an AI maelstrom. Nvidia (NVDA), the star of the AI trade, on Thursday had its worst day since April despite posting stellar quarterly earnings.

Nerves about AI disrupting business models continue to wreak havoc on software companies. And there is persistent angst about Big Tech’s enormous spending on data centers and uncertainty about whether it will translate into a return on the hundreds of billions of dollars of investment.

But analysts and portfolio managers say investors shouldn’t give in to these nerves just yet, pointing instead to shifts in the markets that could create new opportunities.

The broader market also tends to climb higher in the long run, resulting in strong average annual returns for the S&P 500. This means long-term investors in indexes like the S&P 500 can often ignore short-term volatility.

Search for safety

Nearly 40% of the S&P 500’s value is concentrated in mega-cap technology stocks like Nvidia, Microsoft (MSFT) and Alphabet (GOOG). Concerned investors could rebalance their holdings or look for sectors with less exposure to AI.

“Investors can become heavily tech-exposed without realizing it,”said Jon Ulin, managing principal at Ulin & Co Wealth Management.

Nerves about tech are fragile, and that has left the S&P 500 trading sideways. The index closed at a record high in late January but lost some ground in February and is roughly flat since late October.

Ulin told CNN that it’s important not to react to noise in the market but still review portfolios in times of tumult. He said he is relying less on Big Tech stocks, instead reallocating his portfolio to include more sectors like materials, energy, infrastructure, industrials, health care and staples.

Craig Johnson, chief market technician at investment bank Piper Sandler, this week lowered his rating of the technology sector from “overweight” to “neutral.” In other words, he shifted the balance of his portfolio to rely less on tech.

Johnson is positive on sectors like energy, and he expects a rotation to continue playing out in the market as investors seek protection from recent volatility in tech stocks.

Energy, materials and consumer staples are the three top-performing sectors in the S&P 500 so far this year, while tech and financials lag behind. A popular exchange-traded fund tracking the energy sector is up 23%, while an ETF tracking the tech sector is down 2%.

Diversify your portfolio

It’s unclear whether the worst of the AI uncertainty is behind us, analysts said. How investors should respond to the moment depends on their savings and investment goals — but there are strategies to protect your portfolio during the heightened unease.

“Investors have become really skittish and fearful of AI’s impact,” Jed Ellerbroek, portfolio manager at Argent Capital Management, said. “The market is sk

How US envoy Kushner’s ‘incomprehension’ of diplomacy stunned France

Kraig Pakulski 0 21 Article rating: No rating

By Melissa Bell, CNN

Paris (CNN) — As far as the French are concerned, the case is now closed. The US ambassador to Paris, Charles Kushner’s access to the French government has been restored, allowing him to resume his diplomatic duties. But the row that briefly threatened to derail the Franco-US friendship in the year of its 250th anniversary illustrates a deeper problem now facing Europe as it tackles increasingly open US interference in its internal political affairs.

France’s foreign minister summoned Kushner this week after the embassy reposted comments from the US State Department saying the recent killing of a far-right activist in France showed that “violent radical extremism is on the rise,” then briefly blocked him from speaking to government ministers when he failed to show up.

French President Emmanuel Macron called for calm ahead of a rally held on Saturday by far-right groups in memory of Quentin Deranque, the 23-year-old far-right activist whose killing earlier this month at a demonstration in Lyon had deepened political polarization ahead of next month’s municipal elections.

French Foreign Ministry spokesperson Pascal Confavreux said the US ambassador had now provided assurances he had not meant to interfere in “the internal sphere of France.” As to Kushner’s initial no-show when summoned, Confavreux made allowances for the American real-estate magnate, who only took up his functions as ambassador to Paris in July, being relatively new to the more genteel world of diplomacy.

“To summon an ambassador is completely part and parcel of diplomatic grammar. And so sometimes when you have ambassadors who are not career diplomats, it can lead to some incomprehension,” he said of the father of US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Yet beyond the ruffling of French feathers by a lack of diplomatic niceties lies the deeper question of how to handle increasingly obvious American attempts to interfere in European domestic matters – often using the very public platform X.

The US Ambassador to Poland Tom Rose recently posted that he was cutting off ties with the leader of the lower house of parliament after he spoke out against giving President Donald Trump the Nobel Peace Prize.

In Belgium, Ambassador Bill White has repeatedly weighed into an ongoing judicial investigation into circumcision practices in Antwerp’s orthodox Jewish community. Most recently, he posted on X that “the case should be immediately dropped,” although unlike Kushner, White did at least turn up at the country’s foreign ministry when summoned.

All three cases demonstrate at once a break with traditional diplomatic form, the use of social media rather than back channels, and a new willingness on the part of Washington to involve itself more aggressively in the judicial or political processes of other countries, and specifically European ones.

That, says Pierre Vimont, a former French ambassador to Washington, requires a new kind of vigilance from the Europeans. “American foreign policy has a very strong ideological content nowadays, and I think this is what needs to be handled very carefully,” he told CNN. “Interference in domestic politics is not the way diplomacy should unfold. I think it must be put very strongly to the American side that this is not what diplomacy is all about.”

As to why Europe appears to be a particular target for the American administration, Vimont also blames the ideology of the current American administration. “In theory, we share a common vision of what democracy is all about, democratic rules, free speech, the independence

Todos tienen algo que decir en la Corte Suprema de EE.UU. ¿Por qué el fallo sobre aranceles tenía más de 160 páginas?

Kraig Pakulski 0 15 Article rating: No rating

Por Joan Biskupic, Analista jefe de CNN de la Corte Suprema

La extraordinaria cantidad de opiniones encontradas en el caso de la Corte Suprema de Justicia de EE.UU. sobre los aranceles del presidente Donald Trump, que dejó al descubierto las divisiones entre los jueces, también se convirtió en la base de un chiste.

Esta semana, en el estrado del alto tribunal en una disputa entre una empresa de oleoductos y el estado de Michigan, el abogado John Bursch sostuvo que su postura podría llevar a una decisión fácil: “Quiero decir, podría ser una opinión de 160 páginas menos que la opinión sobre los aranceles de la semana pasada”.

“Bueno”, respondió el juez Samuel Alito mientras él y otros jueces comenzaban a reír, “Ese es ciertamente un objetivo al que aspirar”.

El rostro del presidente de la Corte Suprema, John Roberts, se iluminó y pareció especialmente divertido durante el intercambio.

Roberts había redactado la opinión principal del tribunal que anulaba los aranceles de la administración Trump y luego esperó semanas a que sus colegas terminaran sus diversas opiniones adicionales.

Las siete opiniones separadas en el caso de aranceles Learning Resources v. Trump demostraron cómo un proceso puede convertirse en un foro para ventilar diferencias doctrinales más amplias.

O, a veces, los jueces simplemente quieren desahogarse.

El resultado puede ser una falta de claridad en la ley, ya que el público en general, junto con los abogados y los jueces, se enfrentan a puntos de vista contrapuestos.

El número de resoluciones concurrentes —escritos de un juez que se adhiere a la conclusión de la mayoría, pero añade un punto de vista distinto— ha ido en aumento en la corte contemporánea.

Esto refleja una mayor polarización y demuestra que los jueces de los bloques conservador y progresista a menudo discrepan en su razonamiento y enfoque jurídico.

La opinión mayoritaria de Roberts en la disputa arancelaria fue de 21 páginas. La principal opinión disidente, escrita por el juez Brett Kavanaugh, se extendió a 63 páginas. Sin embargo, otros cuatro jueces, que habían apoyado a Roberts, escribieron opiniones concurrentes: Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett, Elena Kagan y Ketanji Brown Jackson.

La más extensa provino de Gorsuch, de 46 páginas. Clarence Thomas añadió una opinión disidente por separado.

Los escritos totalizaron 164 páginas, a las que se suman otras seis para el programa de estudios que los acompaña.

“Me sentí muy excluido en el caso de los aranceles”, comentó Alito a Bursch con humor. “La jueza Sotomayor no escribió, y yo tampoco”.

Sonia Sotomayor se reunió con los demás y manifestó riendo: “Tal vez tengamos una oportunidad aquí”.

Bromas aparte, las opiniones encontradas en la disputa sobre la afirmación de Trump de su poder unilateral para imponer aranceles a productos extranjeros sorprendieron a la comunidad jurídica.

“Me impresionó la cantidad y la extensión de los votos separados”, indicó Jean Galbraith, profesora de derecho de la Universidad de Pensilvania. “El dictamen del juez Gorsuch se destacó por lanzar un desafío directo a sus colegas, lo que hizo que todos sintieran la necesidad de escribir más en respuesta”.

En décadas anteriores, los jueces tendían a escribir opiniones concurrentes para dejar en claro los límites de una decisión mayoritaria, dijo Galbraith, un estudioso del derecho internacional que anteriormente trabajó como asistente legal del difunto juez John Paul Stevens.

“Hoy en día, las resoluciones concurrentes s

The question Joe Biden keeps asking: ‘You think we can actually come back from this?’

Kraig Pakulski 0 20 Article rating: No rating

By Edward-Isaac Dovere, CNN

(CNN) — The line Joe Biden used to put into nearly every big speech — “I’ve never been more optimistic about America’s future” — is a long way from what he says in private now.

These days, multiple people who’ve spoken to him over the last year say, Biden often punctuates conversations with: “You think we can actually come back from this?”

The 83-year-old Biden continues to feel out a post-presidency that may prove to be one of the shortest in history and is already one of the most complicated.

There are days when Biden is heartbroken, indignant or in disbelief about what is happening as President Donald Trump — the man he defeated in 2020 — returned and moved not just to tear down his accomplishments, but to dig in with petty insults like the autopen photograph he put in Biden’s spot in the “Presidential Walk of Fame” installed at the White House.

Biden knows that because of decisions he and close advisers made and the trends roiling the country and the world, he risks being forgotten for what he feels he accomplished as president and who he is as a man. He’s watching the attacks on democratic norms and the international order that he warned would come from Trump’s return — and registering the disgust directed his way that so many Democrats feel because they blame him for helping make that possible.

“There’s a general sense in the family that it’s a legacy that was never established,” a friend of the family who asked not to be named told CNN. “It’s like the record skipped a track.”

Nearly two dozen people in contact with the former president spoke to CNN. A wider circle of friends and former aides who tend to use the word “tragic” when discussing Biden worry that those around him so far may not be up to the task of really changing that.

Biden heads back Friday night to South Carolina for a friendly invitation he eagerly accepted, on the sixth anniversary of the seismic primary victory that pulled his 2020 candidacy back from the brink and on a direct path to his lifelong dream.

He will speak a few blocks away to a smaller room than he did that February night in Columbia or even the usual venue for state Democratic Party events, but a space chosen to give him a warm, intimate welcome with faces he knows were with him six years ago.

“He wasn’t a perfect president, but he was a good president. He did a lot of good things for this country and they just get overshadowed,” said South Carolina Democratic Party chair Christale Spain, who brought the event together. “We just believe in giving folks their flowers.”

A quiet influence

For all the frailty on display in his final months in the White House, Biden keeps popping up since leaving office, even as his age continues to show.

He is heartened by the applause and hugs he gets when he’s spotted walking to his seat on an airplane or – in his trademark choice of travel – back and forth on Amtrak trains between Washington, DC, and Delaware.

While people close to him say they have been encouraged by how he responded to prostate cancer treatments that ended their first course in early October, they acknowledge he needed days to recover from the fatigue brought on by the radiation.

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