Trump cabinet: Democrats boycott health and treasury picks

Democrats say they want more information on Tom Price and Stephen Mnuchin 

 

 

Democrats on the US Senate Finance Committee are boycotting votes for two of President Donald Trump's cabinet nominees, forcing a postponement.

They said they wanted more information about the financial activities of health nominee Tom Price and treasury pick Stephen Mnuchin.
Other Trump choices face votes, among them Jeff Sessions as attorney general.
On Monday the acting attorney general was sacked for questioning the legality of Mr Trump's immigration directive.
It imposes a temporary travel ban on seven mainly-Muslim countries.
Acting Attorney General Sally Yates had been appointed by President Barack Obama.

• Who is US attorney general pick Sessions?
• Tech firms back legal fight on travel ban

Finance Committee Democrats told reporters outside the hearing that they were seeking more information about Tom Price's trading in health company stock.
The Georgia Congressman has been nominated for the post of health and human services secretary in the new administration.
The senators said they were also concerned by reports of financier Stephen Mnuchin's behaviour involving foreclosures at his former bank OneWest.
But Senator Orrin Hatch, the Republican committee chair, described the Democrats' behaviour as "posturing and acting like idiots", AP reported.

Democrats get tough, by Anthony Zurcher, BBC News

Democrats explained to the press why they were boycotting the Finance Committee votes

 

The unexpected walkout by Democrats during scheduled votes to advance two of Donald Trump's more controversial cabinet nominees may be the first shots that lead to total partisan warfare on Capitol Hill.
Democratic senators had been subjected to growing criticism from the grass-roots Left for being too accommodating to Mr Trump and his nominees. On Sunday, for instance, more than 200 protesters descended on Senator Diane Feinstein's California house after she voted to confirm four earlier administration nominees.
Now, it seems, Democrats could be heeding the anger of their base and taking a more combative posture toward Republicans in general and Mr Trump in particular. These politicians likely saw Acting Attorney General Sally Yates become a liberal hero for defying the president on Monday night and are recognising that their party's anger is a force that could propel their careers or tear them apart.
This does not bode well for Mr Trump's Supreme Court nominee, who will be announced on Tuesday night. While Senate Democrats have had to rely on byzantine parliamentary manoeuvres to delay Mr Trump's cabinet picks, they have a powerful weapon - the filibuster - at their disposal to indefinitely block the president's high court selection.

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A battle is also raging in the Senate Judiciary Committee, where a vote is expected on Mr Sessions.
An early Trump backer, Senator Sessions has faced racism allegations which overshadowed his confirmation hearings.
Committee chairman Senator Chuck Grassley began Tuesday's meeting by saying that neither Mr Sessions nor any of his current staff, "had a role in formulating or drafting the executive orders" - including the controversial travel ban. 

Mr Sessions faced two days of intense grilling during his confirmation hearings

Several Democratic Senators have spoken in the committee meeting to say that they intend to vote against the 69-year-old Alabama senator.
Sen Diane Feinstein criticised his role in Mr Trump's election campaign and his closeness to the new president during it.
"It is very difficult to reconcile for me the independence and objectivity necessary for the position of attorney general with the partisanship this nominee has demonstrated," she said.
If Mr Sessions' nomination is approved by the judiciary committee, the full Senate - where Republicans hold a 52-48 majority - is expected to vote on it by the end of the week.

The Alabama senator faced two days of tough questioning during his confirmation hearings this month.
One of the most conservative members of the Senate, Mr Sessions was denied a federal judgeship in 1986 after the judiciary committee heard testimony about his remarks on race.

Also on Tuesday:

• Mr Trump's choice to fill the long-vacant seat on the Supreme Court is due to be announced
• The Senate Energy Committee approves Ryan Zinke to head the Interior Department and Rick Perry to head the Energy Department
• The Education Committee approves Betsy DeVos as education secretary
• The full Senate will vote on whether to confirm Elaine Chao as transportation secretary

The attorney general is America's top prosecutor, leads the justice department and acts as the main adviser to the president on legal issues.
She was sacked by President Trump, who accused her of "betraying" the justice department and being "weak on borders".

• Thousands join anti-Trump protests
• Diplomats' dissent falls on deaf ears

She had said in a letter that she was "not convinced" that the president's order on immigration was lawful.
Mr Trump replaced her with Dana Boente, a federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of Virginia.
The immigration order, signed by the president on Friday, temporarily banned nationals from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen from entering the US. It sparked protests in the US and abroad.
The White House has consistently defended Mr Trump's executive order despite the controversy, with press secretary Sean Spicer saying diplomats should "get with the programme".

Ethiopian Poet, Playwright Lemn Sissay in Rief

Artist Lemn Sissay

 "Everyday, I try to think of an original way to describe the world..."

Lemn Sissay is an Ethiopian desent brought up by white parents in the North West of England. He is the author of the poetry collections: Tender Fingers in a Clenched Fist (1988), Rebel Without Applause (1992); Morning Breaks in the Elevator (1999), The Emperor's Watchmaker (2000), Listener (2008), and his new work Gold from the Stone (2016). He also authored a number of plays both published and streamed on BBC Radio.

I had a brief discussion with Lemn Sissay, as he showed up in Addis for a fleeting Christmas vacation. Here is the glimpse of our discussion.

Lemn's inspiration to write comes from his unique vision

"I think everybody has a unique perspective of life, so what inspires me to write is that sense of unique vision that all people have. We all have a pecuilar vision. We all see things in a way our own experiences lead us to. I am no greater person than the person who is giving out towels in a hotel. She has a unique perspective on the world and so do I."

Themes find him more than he chooses themes

"I write all kinds of things. Themeswise, I write everything from the search for my family, to the battle of Adwa, to racism in England. Every morning I wake up and write a morning tweet. The scent for that is nature, spirit and the world that I am in at the moment. Everyday, I try to think of an original way to describe the world and that has never been done before. People follow my tweets all over the world. So in general, I write about Racism in England, the search for my family since it has been a big thing in my life. I write about anything that comes to my mind. I think themes find me."

He took one step at a time to face challenges and stand on the world stage

"I take one step at a time. My journey has been about single steps not great leaps. That's the only way that I can live my life. So I don't think about my achievements, I just take it one day at a time. I don't know how better to explain it. If you do good, good comes to you. I try to do the right thing. I try to do what I do as good as I can, and I could not have imagined my life would have been this way but I didn't plan it. I did what I believe was right. I found my family, I wrote poetry. I just cut my own half one step at a time.

Following the truth has shaped his life

"The idea that I follow my truth, follow what I believe to be true is the one thing that has seen me through the darkness and difficult times. I know that I have to follow a particular path, one step at a time, when nobody was with me saying 'this is the right way to go'. In fact everybody was saying this is the wrong way to go. I didn't know any Ethiopian or where I was from.

In fact when I found out I was Ethiopian, I say I have to go in this direction. Nobody heard me but I have to just keep going because I knew and I still know I was going in the right direction. And I was following the truth. When there was nobody there, I had to close my eyes and keep going. We all have been through that kind of experience, in so many different ways. The decisions we make are the key points in our life. They shape us. When I was in a small town as a teenager, and I left the children's home and I had nobody, I know I have to go to the city on my own, with no family to look back on or to go to. I came to the city and it was full of Caribbean people. They talk of Ethiopia. I saw that they like Ethiopians and I have to search my family.

When I left the children's home, I know I am from Ethiopia, because they gave me my birth certificate. Then I found my family. I am a singular artist within my family and that's who I am."

Lemn knows plenty of Ethiopian Literature

"I have read Bewketu Seyoum and some English translations of Ephrem Seyoum. I have read Tsegaye Gebremedhin's English poems. I know that I have a lot to learn. There is a contemporary literature and there is also a deep history of literature in Ethiopia even further than Shakespeare. There is rhyming in the Ethiopian literature and that's what I also do in my poems. Therefore I have a lot to learn from Ethiopian literature and English literature as well. The more you know the more you want to know. I want to learn Amharic to be able to speak, write and read."

Adoption was unfortunate for him

"I was stolen from my mother so I wasn't adopted. It was not a legal adoption in my case and it was not good for me. That was rather fundamentally unfortunate considering the fact that my brothers and sisters went to international schools in Paris and Belgium. They were very well educated. My mother works at the UN. It was bad because I was stolen from her. I had my name changed. Now, I have received my files because they keep files in England and the files show what they did. So for me people look at me and say he has done well. But I have no family. You know what that's like. You know how crazy that is like no mother, father, sisters, brothers, uncles, cousins, grandparents."

Poetry is like Sanctuary to Lemn

"When I write, it's like home. My poems have been with me longer than my family and my poems help me click with myself which means I have memory of me and my poems than I do with any family member. Family is just a collection of memories between a group of people disputed over a life time. And poems are like memory of me in the past and present."

Public art: It's been 20 years since Lemn's poems started appearing on city's streets

"There are poems of me installed as public art in England and in Addis Ababa as well. I got a webpage about those public arts on lemnsissaylandmarks.com and these are the only places I want them to be anyway. It just came out of the blue. In the early 1990s a poem appears on a side of a building in Manchester. Now my poems are everywhere and I am proud of that."

Explaining what he meant in his poems

'Before We Get Into This':

'Before we get to know each other

And sing for tomorrow

And unearth yesterday

So that we can prepare our joint grave

You should know that I have no family,

Neither disowned nor distanced - none.

No birthdays nor Christmas,

No telephone calls. It's been that way

Since birth for what it's worth

No next of skin.

I am the guilty secret of an innocent woman

And a dead man - tell your parents, they'll want to know.'

"For my mom, I am her first experience and that's what it means by an innocent woman, my father died on the Ethiopian New Year day, September 11th. As soon as something is hidden there must be some guilt in that."

His Advice for Young Writers: Follow your passion

"Follow your passion and write about whatever you are passionate about. Weather it is the imagination or science fiction, follow that passion in your writing. You can be a lawyer and a writer; you can be a teacher and a writer. There are a lot of journalists, politicians, chemists, doctors who are also poets and novelists. And Read as well... Read ... Read... Read...Read... Read.

With this internet world, it's quite easy to put your stuff online but that's very tricky. Sometimes your work needs to grow before you expose it to the readers. It is nice to let it grow before letting people read it but at the same time don't hold on to it so much so that no body ever sees it. Your work needs to breathe but it also needs to be incubated.

They are like opposite, incubate them and let them breathe, then bring them back to incubate them. Though most importantly follow your passion. Be inspired, don't be cynical, and be emotional.

Lemn chooses to be addressed as poet

People address him as a standup comedian, musician, playwright and mostly poet. However Lemn said, "When I am with my poems I am with my friends. So I chose to be addressed as a poet. I am a poet, poets must cross between boundaries."

He's impressed by Ethiopia

"I have been to Shashamane, Simien Mountains but I need to go to Hawassa, Jimma, Harar, Bahir Dar and do a residency somewhere to write about the place. There is something happening around the world with Ethiopian writers right now. There's Dinaw Mengistu and Meaza Mengiste, they are publishing poetry books now. The generation that left the country in the 1970s are doing great, like the Nigerian writers in the 1960s."

What we can expect from him next

Lemn Sissay is working on his Autobiography to be written and published in 2017. The book will be a collection of his life stories. "I love the way books are sold in the streets of Addis Ababa." Said Lemn and told me that he's speaking to Book World to see through ways to bring the paperbacks of his works so that readers in Ethiopia could be able to have his books.

I asked Lemn about his private life. He told me that He was in a relationship with a beautiful writer from Eritrea brought up in England but separated two years ago. Then he said: Now I am wondering like, What the Hell?

One of the largest collections of Ethiopian religious texts is now in DC

An Ethiopian scroll in the Gerald and Barbara Weiner collection at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

With a recent gift of more than 600 handmade leather manuscripts, the Catholic University of America is now home to one of the most important collections of Ethiopian religious manuscripts in the United States.

The collection includes Christian, Islamic, and “magic” texts. It is the largest collection of Ethiopian Islamic manuscripts outside of Ethiopia.

Dr. Aaron M. Butts, a Professor of Semitic and Egyptian Languages and Literature at Catholic University, said in a statement that the manuscript collection “provides unparalleled primary sources for the study of Eastern Christianity” and reaffirms the school’s standing as one of the leading places to study Near Eastern Christian language, literature, and history. 

The manuscripts are handmade of goat, sheep, or calf hides, and most of them date to the eighteenth or nineteenth centuries.

In total, the collection includes 125 Christian manuscripts, such as psalters, liturgical books, and hagiographies. Within the 215 Islamic manuscripts of the collection are Qurans and commentaries on the Quran.

The collection also contains more than 350 so-called “magic” scrolls – Christian prayer talismans. Each talisman, Butts told CNA, is handwritten by a “debtera” – a lay person or cleric in the Ethiopian Church, and contains the name of the person for whom it is written.

The scrolls are worn around the neck, and are created to help the wearer with a certain kind of ailment, such as headaches. Many of these talismans are dedicated to women’s ailments – such as childbirth or painful menstruation – and Butts said it is clear that some of these “magic” scrolls have been passed down through the generations from mother to daughter.

Butts also noted that at various times in Ethiopian history, use of these prayers has been discouraged within the Ethiopian Church. Because of this status, as well as the domestic, personal nature of their use, he continued, not much research has been done on these devotional tools. 

Many of the manuscripts in the collection, including the “magic” scrolls, contain intricate illuminations and other decorations on the scrolls.

According to Butts, the collection’s age is fairly typical for Ethiopian manuscripts. He explained that while many Western and Middle Eastern manuscripts can date back centuries and even more than a millennium, Ethiopian scripts tend to be much more recent, in part because Ethiopians still use the manuscripts in daily life for prayer and reading, and also because the alternating rainy and dry climate destroys the hides.

The manuscripts will be stored at CUA’s Institute of Christian Oriental Research (ICOR), a research auxiliary of the Semitics department. The donation expands the already-impressive collection of more than 50,000 books and journals as well as antiquities, photographs, and archival materials documenting early Christianity in the Middle East ICOR houses.

The new collection, valued at more than $1 million,  was donated to Catholic University by Chicago collectors Gerald and Barbara Weiner. Butts told CUA that the couple wanted the Ethiopian people to use the scrolls for prayer, along with making the manuscripts available for study by students and researchers.

The Washington, D.C. area is home to one of the largest Ethiopian populations outside of Ethiopia, and there are several Ethiopian Orthodox and Ethiopian Catholic churches, along with cultural centers, in the area. CUA officials are currently working with the community to coordinate the scrolls’ use.

PM Desalegn threatens Merara Gudina with "Justice"

Ethiopia said Monday it will not release a leading opposition figure detained under the country's state of emergency after meeting with European lawmakers in Belgium.

Birhanu Nega, Merara Gudina and Feyisa Lilesa before the European Parliament

Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn told reporters that Merara Gudina of the Oromo Federalist Congress party instead will face justice.

"Individuals in the European Parliament who are harboring anti-peace elements cannot save those who trespass the law of the country," the prime minister said.

Merara is one of 22,000 people the prime minister said were detained under the state of emergency declared in October after widespread, sometimes deadly anti-government protests. The government has said several thousand have since been released.

Merara was arrested immediately after he returned from Belgium, where he met with the lawmakers about the state of emergency. He was accused of meeting with members of an armed Ethiopian opposition group in Brussels, an act banned under the emergency law.

Photos posted on social media show him sitting next to Birhanu Nega, leader of the armed opposition group called Ginbot 7 that mainly operates from Eritrea, and Feyisa Lilesa, the Ethiopian marathon runner who crossed his wrists in a sign of protest while crossing the finish line at the Rio Olympic Games.

The Association for Human Rights in Ethiopia said the state of emergency's wide-ranging restrictions have severely affected freedoms of expression and assembly. "Tens of thousands of individuals have been arrested arbitrarily" and dissent and independent reporting have been quashed, it said.

The state of emergency is set to end in May. The prime minister did not indicate it would be extended, but he told reporters that "as far as the date of lifting the state of emergency is concerned, it should be seen in the perspective that we have to consolidate the gains that we have made so far."

Gena celebrated in Ethiopia

Gena celebrations

Ethiopian Christians on Saturday celebrated Christmas in a festive and joyous atmosphere.

Burgeoning star-rated hotels and malls that dotted the main streets of the capital city, Addis Ababa displayed colorful Christmas trees and lights.

On the eve, an overnight mass was held at churches. All Christian denominations in Ethiopia -- Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant and Seventh-Day Adventist -- celebrate Christmas on Jan. 7 although elsewhere only Orthodox Christians mark Christmas on this day as opposed to the widely recognized Dec. 25. 

"Different Christmas days only means during the first century where communications were backward, people thought Christ was born at the time the news was heralded to them," Deacon Abayneh, a lecturer at the Theology College in Addis Ababa told Anadolu Agency. 

"Obviously, the first people to witness the birth of Christ were those in Jerusalem and its environs," he said.

In his Christmas benediction, patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, Abune Mathias emphasized the need to foster peace.

“Every good thing pivots around peace and we should uphold that idea in our hearts in everything we do," the patriarch said. 

"We ought to extend a hand of generosity and show compassion to one another."

On Christmas, Ethiopians traditionally bake whole grain breads, make a traditional honey wine called "tej" and prepare largely meat-based dishes. Raw meat (beef or goat meat) is a unique festival treat.

Ethiopia has Africa’s largest Christian community. Ethiopian Orthodox Christians constitute more than 40 percent of the 100 million population.

Ethiopia embraced Christianity during the first century at the time of the Axumite King of Izana, who is among the last of the long list of kings that ruled over Ethiopia’s ancient civilization that is known to have its realm of influence on far wider areas than present day borders, according to historical documents

UK ends funding for Ethiopia's Spice Girls

The UK government has officially ended financial support it's been giving to Yegna girl band, Ethiopia's answer to the Spice Girls.

Yegna band off stage

Yegna, which aims to enhance the role of women through music and performance, was reportedly promised £5.2m of British taxpayers' money to develop a radio drama. The band members are Teref Kassahun (nicknamed Melat, aged 26), Lemlem Haile Michael (Mimi, 26), Zebiba Girma (Emuye, 22), Eyerusalem Kelemework (Sara, 27) and Rahel Getu (Lemlem, 22). They produce videos and perform on Ethiopian radio in a weekly drama and talk show for young women, addressing issues such as forced marriage, isolation and teen pregnancies, broadcasting on Sheger FM in Addis Ababa to a population of some 20 million.

In December, International Development Secretary Priti Patel was challenged about the £5.2 million grant to the Yegna when she appeared before MPs and indicated that the programme was under review.

Sculpture Art Gets Its Day in the Sun

Ethiopian marble stone icon sculpture by the Coptic Orthodox Church of Ethiopia

Berhanu, a 40 year old sculpture artist, has a one room office in Megenagna where he tries to design the perfect sculpture for his clients.

He like most of his colleagues, used to work on statues for funeral homes. Such pieces used to cost around 2,000 Br. Nowadays, however, a small sculpture of a person for a funeral home can cost up to 50,000 Br.

"In the 20 years that I have been working, the whole industry has changed drastically," Berhanu told Fortune.

After Berhanu graduated from Addis Ababa University's Alle School of Fine Arts and Design in 1989, he found it hard to earn a living in the art industry.

Sculptures are becoming more visible around town as new businesses and hotels go up and the art industry expands.

"I had to work from home since I had no money to employ assistants," said Berhanu. Most of the pieces he was asked to work on were statues. On a good day, he might be commissioned to make a fountain piece.

His company today, called Hardi Sculpture Company, has five permanent and from 17 to 25 temporary employees, depending on the complexity of the piece they are working on. The company's permanent employees are paid from 1,000 to 6,000 Br a month.

"Half of the payments I get from any given piece goes to the expenses that are incurred in the process of making them," Berhanu said. "Even though the payments have increased, clients are still not aware of our expenses for inputs including materials such as cement, and employees' expenses."

There are three materials most widely used in sculpture in Ethiopia: fibreglass, concrete or bronze. The most expensive are the bronze cast sculptures ,although most of Berhanu's customers request concrete sculptures. The process of making a sculpture begins with a sketch. Then comes a wooden 'skeleton' to reinforce the sculpture. Clay will later be applied to the skeleton. The next step is to cast the sculpture in gypsum. Casting is a process where the clay framework of the sculpture is cut in half, coated with gypsum and then reattached. The gypsum cast will then be removed through a chemical process.

Later on, the two-piece gypsum cast will be filled with a concrete from bottom to top.

"At this point, they need to be watered twice a day until they dry. It can take up to 20 days for a life sized sculpture to dry, depending on the size of the piece," explained Berhanu. Bronze has a similar process as concrete sculptures, except the use of cement for the casting instead of gypsum.

Sculptures are becoming more visible around town as new businesses and hotels go up and the art industry expands.

"Although a sculptor needs to make a name to make a proper living, there are many projects being carried out by institutions that pay well.The construction of more buildings, hotels and malls has increased the exposure of customers to sculptures," says Kiros TekleHaimanot an artist who has been working as a painter for the past 13 years.

One of the best examples of sculpture on the institutional level is the Oromia Cultural Institute, located around the Addis Ababa Stadium. Berhanu was paid 50,000 Br for each of the eight human sized sculptures that resemble the warriors that guard the king called Abba Geda in the Oromia Gedda System. These pieces have a height of 2.20 to 2.50 meters.

The most iconic installation at the centre is entitled "Irreccha and Family." Each part of the installation took three months to finish. He was also paid 115,000Br for each as well. He was awarded around 50,000 Br for his last last sculpture at the Oromia Centre piece, seven mixed media art pieces located outside the walls of the Oromia Centre. They were made from copper, bronze, aluminium and iron.

"My work at this institution also includes 40 reliefs at the Oromia Cultural Institute, it has a height of 2.50 to 3.50 while its width is 150 to 120 cm," he said. He was paid 50,000 for each.

Zemen Bank was one such institutional customer as well. The 'Korma Bera' is a sculpture of a bull that sits outside the bank's headquarters.

The bank's marketing officer, who is very fond of the piece at his work place, explains that the art work was placed right at the front of the office because a picture wouldn't have been able to communicate the message of the company's logo: strength.

"Many are amazed by it," he said. "Out of all of Ethiopia's livestock production, around 80pc are Korma Beras. We were trying to give the impression that one farmer should own at least one Korma to in order to increase livestock production and the overall economy."

The Sheraton Addis Hotel Marketing Manager, Kaleb Assefa, has a differing opinion of the value of sculptures to the aesthetic of hotels.

The only sculpture that the Sheraton possesses is a horse statue at the fountain near the lobby. "The sculpture was a gift to the hotel. We did not purchase it," he explained.

Tesfay Gebre Art and Sculpture Works was given a contract to install 72 artful relief with a contractual agreement of 14.5 million Br.

"Due to a lack of space, we don't have any sculptures, but we do collect art."

Demetros Kidan, another graduate of the Alle School of Fine Arts and Design, currently works in painting rather than sculpture. However, he too agrees with the assessment that the sculpture industry is gaining more acknowledgement.

"When I first graduated, sculptures did not exist in Ethiopia, so I had to direct my energy to painting. If the industry had paid this well back then, I would have remained a sculptor," he said.

Many other sculpture companies have been seeing improved returns from the industry. Tesfay Gebre Art and Sculpture Works was given a contract to install 72 artful relief with a contractual agreement of 14.5 million Br.

They company is best known for constructing the sculpture of Alula Aba Nega in Mek'elle, and a sculpture located in the African Union Hall. However, there are still issues with the demand for sculptures on the wider market. "There should be a central place where tourists and other customers can go when they are looking to purchase such items," said Berhanu.

There is also the problem of space, especially in smaller art galleries. Better known and bigger galleries, such as Makush, should try to make up for the lack of space given to sculptures, according to Berhanu.

Bekele Mekonnen, assistant professor of fine arts at Addis Ababa University, praises the growth in the industry, although he does mention some issues.

"Statistically, the increase in investment, and the development of the city as a whole has been benefiting the sculpture industry. However, the main concerns of decreasing taxation on art supplies and providing space and expert consultation to up and coming artists haven't been addressed yet," says Bekele. "We are latecomers to sculpture art," he added.

"In our country, sculptures have been set in the compartment of "stone and cement." In other countries, sculpture art has reached a wider dynamism." Since Ethiopia is being rehabilitated and refurbished with millions of dollar, the authorities should consult the experts on this field on how to give Ethiopia the look it needs to truly be the capital city of Africa, concluded Bekele.