Comment on The Khashoggi Scandal: Context Matters; The goal is still to roll back Iranian influence

Nine years ago, one of Silverthorne’s few income-restricted housing properties was sold to a private firm. The sale — at a price that was double the property’s assessed value — raised worries in the high-cost mountain community that the new owner of the Blue River Apartments might lift rent caps that had kept its 78 units affordable when the requirements lapsed. That expiration had been set for this year, and local officials were sufficiently concerned that they struck a deal with the new Greenwood Village-based owners to extend the affordability protections through at least the end of 2025, in exchange for $650,000. But if the town had known about the sale ahead of time back in 2015, said Ryan Hyland, Silverthorne’s town manager, then officials could have tried to cobble together the money to buy the apartment complex — or arrange its sale to someone else. As Colorado faces a tidal wave of expiring affordability requirements in the coming years, state lawmakers hope to give local authorities the opportunity Silverthorne didn’t have.

A defunct provision of the Colorado Constitution that limits marriage to between a man and a woman may finally be stripped from the state’s guiding document under a proposed amendment introduced in the state Senate. The resolution, filed late last week by Sen. Joann Ginal, a Fort Collins Democrat, requires support from two-thirds of state senators and representatives.

This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Unilever is to scale back its environmental and social aims, provoking critics to say its board should “hang their heads in shame.” The consumer goods company behind brands ranging from Dove beauty products to Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream was seen as perhaps the foremost proponent of corporate ethics—particularly under the tenure of its Dutch former boss Paul Polman. On Friday, the London-based firm’s current chief executive appeared to signal a strategic U-turn for the company, which is valued at about $116 billion on the London Stock Exchange.

When are we going to get serious about naming and shaming the tactics of the fascist far left?

Like a thief in the night, government has robbed consumers of choice.

A poll shows that Trump is gaining on Biden in securing the youth vote.