July 26, 2015

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Business July 26, 2015

Senior Senate Republicans Rebuke Cruz After He Criticizes McConnell

Senior Senate Republicans lined up Sunday to rebuke Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz for harshly criticizing Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, an extraordinary display of intraparty division played out live on the Senate floor.

As the Senate met for a rare Sunday session, Sens. Orrin Hatch of Utah, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and John Cornyn of Texas each rose to counter a stunning floor speech Cruz gave on Friday accusing McConnell, R-Ky., of lying.

None of them mentioned Cruz by name but the target of their remarks could not have been clearer. The drama came as the Senate defeated a procedural vote to repeal President Barack Obama’s health care law and took a step toward reviving the federal Export-Import Bank, both amendments on a must-pass highway bill.

“Squabbling and sanctimony may be tolerated in other venues and perhaps on the campaign trail, but they have no place among colleagues in the United States Senate,” said Hatch, the Senate’s president pro tempore. Cruz is running for president.

“The Senate floor has even become a place where senators have singled out colleagues by name to attack them in personal terms, to impugn their character, in blatant disregard for Senate rules,” Hatch said. “Such misuses of the Senate floor must not be tolerated.”

After Hatch spoke, Cruz rose to defend himself for making the accusation that McConnell had lied when he denied striking a deal to allow the vote to revive the Export-Import Bank.

He said he agreed with Hatch’s calls for civility but declared, “Speaking the truth about actions is entirely consistent with civility.”

And far from backing down, Cruz reiterated his complaint about McConnell. “My saying so may be uncomfortable but it is a simple fact, entirely consistent with decorum, and no member of this body has disputed that promise was made and that promise was broken.”

Around 20 senators of both parties were on the floor watching some of the speeches. Cruz’s floor speech Friday had brought nearly unheard-of drama and discord to the Senate floor. But the responses to it were just as remarkable, as senior Republicans united to take down a junior colleague of their own party who poses a growing threat to their attempts to show voters that Republicans can govern.

No senator rose to Cruz’s defense. And by voice vote, the Senate defeated an attempt by Cruz to overturn a ruling made Friday that blocked him from offering an amendment related to Iran, with senators refusing even to agree to his routine request for a roll-call vote.

Cruz’s behavior was the latest example of a Republican presidential candidate causing problems for McConnell. In May, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., infuriated fellow Republicans when he forced the temporary expiration of the Patriot Act when it was up for renewal. Some of Hatch’s remarks seemed to apply to him as well.

For his part, McConnell said that given support for the Export-Import Bank, despite his own opposition no “special deal” was needed to bring it to a vote.

The little-known bank is a federal agency that helps foreign customers to buy U.S. goods. Conservatives oppose it as corporate welfare and are trying to end it. They won an early round, when congressional inaction allowed the bank to expire June 30 for the first time in 81 years.

But on Sunday, senators voted, 67-26, to advance legislation to revive the bank across a procedural hurdle, making it likely that it will be added to the highway bill.

On a separate vote, legislation to repeal Obama’s health care law failed to advance over a procedural hurdle. Sixty votes were needed but the total was 49-43.

The action came as the Senate tries to complete work on the highway bill ahead of a July 31 deadline. If Congress doesn’t act by then, states will lose money for highway and transit projects in the middle of the summer construction season.

With the Export-Import Bank likely added, the highway legislation faces an uncertain future in the House, where there’s strong opposition to the bank as well as to the underlying highway measure.

The Senate’s version of the highway bill, which is on track to pass later in the week, sets policy and authorizes transportation programs for six years, though with funding for only three of those years.

The House has passed a five-month extension of transportation programs without the Export-Import Bank included, and House leaders of both parties are reluctant to take up the Senate’s version.

Complicating matters, Congress is entering its final days of legislative work before its annual August vacation, raising the prospect of unpredictable last-minute maneuvers to resolve the disputes on the highway bill and the Export-Import Bank.

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Sports July 26, 2015

British Cyclist Chris Froome Wins Tour De France

Team Sky rider Chris Froome of Britain, with the race leader's yellow jersey, celebrates his overall victory on the podium after the 109.5-km (68 mile) final 21st stage of the 102nd Tour de France.

Team Sky rider Chris Froome of Britain, with the race leader’s yellow jersey, celebrates his overall victory on the podium after the 109.5-km (68 mile) final 21st stage of the 102nd Tour de France. Stefano Rellandini/Reuters/Landov hide caption

itoggle caption Stefano Rellandini/Reuters/Landov

British cyclist Chris Froome rode to his second Tour de France win in just three years on Sunday, edging out his toughest rival, Colombian Nairo Quintana.

The Guardian reports: “The final stage was effectively a procession, with Froome enjoying a customary glass of champagne on his bike with around 100km to go. Froome was officially declared the winner of this year’s Tour when the riders came into Paris for the first time, before they embarked on the first of their 10 laps of the Champs-Élysées after the finish was [neutralized] due to bad weather.”

Froome, 30, who was forced to abandon the iconic race last year after falling in treacherous conditions, held the yellow jersey on Stage 4 and again on Stage 7 onward after losing it to Tony Martin.

SB Nation writes: “His signature attack was a furious climb up La Pierre-St. Martin on Stage 10, during which he opened his lead from 12 seconds to 2:52 over Tejay Van Garderen.”

SB Nation reports:

“From that point onward, Froome was a marked man, but any attacks against him fell short. Froome himself was magnificent, of course, but so was [his] Team Sky. During the Stage 12 climb up to Plateau de Beille, Richie Porte and Geraint Thomas successfully closed gap after gap with Froome in tow, allowing Froome to then attack on his own in a show of force to his rivals, ultimately forcing a stalemate.

“The next decisive days came at the very end of the Tour in the Alps. On Stage 19, Froome was perhaps truly vulnerable for the first time, losing his lieutenants to the early climbs and being forced to fend off every offensive himself. Nibali attacked him to win the stage when Froome had a mechanical issue, and Quintana was able to wrest 30 seconds away on the general classification, but Froome was still in strong position heading into the Stage 20 climb up Alpe d’Huez, 2:38 ahead of second-place Quintana.”

The BBC notes:

“Inside the last 10km (6 miles) he had to stop to remove a paper bag that had got caught up in his gears, while moments later he rode over a discarded water bottle. If either had caused him to crash and not cross the finish line his title would have been cruelly taken away.

“However, he stayed upright and rode over the line arm-in-arm with his Team Sky team-mates several seconds behind the main bunch.”

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Health July 26, 2015

On A 'Tour De Tacos' With Los Angeles' Eastside Bike Club

The Eastside Bicycle Club on a 35 mile Saturday evening ride with stops for tacos.
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The Eastside Bicycle Club on a 35 mile Saturday evening ride with stops for tacos. Carlos Morales hide caption

itoggle caption Carlos Morales

Decked out in spandex and a yellow and orange racing jersey with Eastside Bicycle Club: Ride To Live on the front, Gabriela Bilich was hanging out at club founder Carlos Morales’ bike shop before a Saturday evening group-ride last weekend, joking with the other cyclists in spanglish.

Bilich says a couple of years ago, she would never have imagined herself riding a bike through the streets of LA. She says the cycling world just didn’t feel welcoming to a 40-something Latina from Southeast LA who struggled with her weight.

“I used to hang out at the Rose Bowl a lot. I used to go walking and I would see the cyclists go by, the whir of the peloton [pack] going by so fast,” she remembers. “All I ever saw were white dudes, tall skinny white dudes on the bikes, middle-age men in Lycra riding around the Rose Bowl and so I was like, ‘Okay, that’s another thing white people do.’ “

But after being introduced to the roughly 400-member Eastside Bike Club, which is mostly Latino, bilingual and bi-cultural, Bilich has found a cycling family where she feels right at home. She’s celebrating her one year bike-a-versary this month and credits cycling for her weight loss, but more importantly, her happiness.

Gabriela “Gabby” Bilich never thought she’d end up riding a bike as her main source of exercise. “All I ever saw were middle-aged men in Lycra riding around,” she says. Shereen Marisol Meraji/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption Shereen Marisol Meraji/NPR

“I was never an athletic person in my life,” she says. “This is the first time that I’ve ever found anything that I liked and that I’m completely addicted to, you know? It’s my therapy.”

In fact, weight loss is what initially pushed Carlos Morales, the founder of the club, to get on a bike in 2008, after a years-long battle with obesity. At age 48, he was 400 pounds and on a dozen different medications. A sobering discussion with his doctor convinced him that if he didn’t get in shape, he’d die.

Morales loved basketball, but was carrying too much weight to play. The next best thing: riding a bike. He remembered he loved biking around his East LA neighborhood as a kid and hoped it would bring him the same satisfaction as an adult. He spent months swimming to lose enough weight that he felt comfortable balancing on the old bike collecting dust in his garage.

When that day came, he called up eight friends from his largely Mexican-American neighborhood in East LA to ride with him. The only time that worked for everyone was Tuesday night at 7 p.m. He’s been riding every Tuesday night at 7 p.m. for the past seven years.

As word of the ride spread, the number of cyclists grew from eight to 20 to 60. People in the neighborhood would come out and clap, Morales recalls. “They thought we were doing something special, and we were just having fun.”

Now there are hundreds of active Eastside Bike Club members in on the fun, and Morales has turned cycling from a recreational activity into his life’s work. A few years ago, he bought a high-end bike shop that had been catering to customers that could buy fancy bikes for thousands of dollars. He kept the name, Stan’s Monrovia Bicycles, but changed things up a bit. Morales brought in more affordable models, and made the shop into a place where both a Hollywood producer and a day laborer could be comfortable, and where Spanish is spoken as freely as English.

Around 6 p.m., Bilich and nearly two dozen other riders headed out from Morales’s bike shop parking lot and onto the unusually wet Southern California city streets. A tropical storm surprised the riders, but they decided to brave the weather and continue what Morales calls the “tour de tacos,” a 35-mile trek with half a dozen stops at taco trucks along the way.

Morales says the Eastside Bike Club is about exercising — he calls the streets of LA his gym — but adds the social aspect is just as important. Having gotten so much from cycling, Morales wants his club to be a place where anyone interested can do the same. It’s free to join; all you need is a bike that works and the will to make the wheels turn. The rest will take care of itself.

All summer, Code Switch is reporting stories on R&R: Race and Outdoor Recreation. Recently, we hung out with Korean and Korean-American hardcore hikers to find out how hiking has remained such a big part of Korean heritage.

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Entertainment July 26, 2015

The Guitar In The Window: How One Instrument Steered Sir Richard Bishop's Life

To create his album Tangier Sessions, Sir Richard Bishop had to learn to love a mysterious and temperamental acoustic guitar.
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To create his album Tangier Sessions, Sir Richard Bishop had to learn to love a mysterious and temperamental acoustic guitar. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

itoggle caption Courtesy of the artist

Some musicians argue that instruments have souls. Guitarist Richard Bishop says he felt a relationship forming the moment he saw a mysterious acoustic guitar in a secondhand store in Switzerland. He’s known for playing electric guitar in the improvisational rock trio Sun City Girls, but something told Bishop the acoustic had to be his.

Bishop was in Geneva last year, going from shop to shop looking for a secondhand acoustic guitar that was small, light and easy to travel with. Finally, a shopkeeper led him to a back room, handed him a guitar with no name on it, and walked away. Bishop started to play, and the earth moved.

“It was instant. It was like there was something about this guitar. You know, it had a power,” Bishop remembers. “You have to get this guitar because this is your one and only chance.”

But it was way too expensive, and rationality prevailed — for a while. He couldn’t stop thinking about the guitar. He kept going back to look at it and deciding he couldn’t afford it. The instrument showed up in his dreams, like a jealous lover sending him messages through his subconscious, and he worried someone else would get it first.

“I mean, I literally had those thoughts,” he says. “You don’t question that. You just do it.”

Bishop raided his savings and bought the guitar. And when he played it again, the earth did not move.

“I’ve played a lot of guitars in my life,” he says. “I’ve been playing for almost 40 years. But this guitar, because it was so small, and it was so old and somewhat fragile, at first the results that came out of it were just … crazy. It just wasn’t really that great.”

For example, when he played high notes up the neck (which he does a lot), they were out of tune. Ted Drozdowski has been there — he’s a guitarist who’s just released an album of his own, as well as a journalist who interviewed Bishop for a guitar magazine. He says that sometimes, an unfamiliar instrument can teach its owner something new.

“He had to learn how to fingerstyle pick … which he hadn’t done before,” Drozdowski says of Bishop. “So I think the guitar forced Richard to grow in certain ways.”

Back home in Portland, Ore., a few months into their relationship, Bishop and the guitar were getting along better. Still, as he prepared for a trip to Morocco to play a show in Tangier, his rational side was telling him to pack an electric and leave the new guitar behind. At the eleventh hour, he resisted.

“I decided at the very last minute, I’m gonna take this new acoustic guitar, ’cause why not?” he says. “I’ll do the show with it just to see what happens.”

The guitar didn’t do so well. Bishop decided it was because he’d tried to play his older material on it, so he spent some time fooling around with the instrument. He went into a room with tiled walls in the building where he was staying and started to improvise, with a digital audio recorder rolling. What it captured became his latest album, Tangier Sessions.

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Bishop has been listening to music from the Middle East and North Africa since he was a child. One of his grandfathers was an immigrant from Lebanon, and Bishop and his brother would beg him to play them Arabic pop from his collection of cassette tapes. When the brothers later formed their band Sun City Girls, they incorporated some of those sounds into its music. Bishop says he doesn’t know the theory behind it — he just knows where to put his fingers. Drozdowski says Tangier Sessions proves that Bishop doesn’t need to know much else.

“The notes are so beautifully carved, and they’re so distinct and rich and evocative of the place they were recorded as well,” Drozdowski says. “That command is something he innately possesses without having all those other intellectual processes to filter it through.”

The identity of Bishop’s new love remains a mystery. Experts who’ve examined it believe it was built in the 1850s, but have no idea where, or who built it. A luthier put a tiny camera inside and found writing, but nobody’s been able to make out what it says, or even what the language is.

Bishop, however, says his intense reaction to the guitar isn’t a mystery anymore — it led to the album. And now that he knows how to play the instrument, he’s in love again.

“I think our little relationship together is just beginning, so who knows what kind of mysteries it still has?” he says. “Who knows what kind of power it will have over me next year, or the year after?”

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