Who knew that a condiment could spark so much civil unrest?
It all began a few weeks ago, when a few right-leaning lunch customers at City Beans began rejecting the usual squirt of Heinz ketchup on their paninis, saying they did not want to support a company with the same name as the wife of the presidential contender Senator John Kerry. It was not long before strident remarks about US President George W. Bush, Kerry, the economy and the war in Iraq began whizzing up and down the lunch line, with Democrats and Republicans trading barbs as they waited to be served by Narciza Lopez, the assistant manager. "People never used to talk politics here," said Lopez.
"Now every day is like a war. It's making me crazy," she said.
A similar kind of war breaks out each Sunday night around a dinner table in working-class Kearny, where hotheaded political discourse has begun cleaving Josefa Salino's family into two camps. "My parents used to agree on everything and now they're like enemies when it comes to Bush and Kerry," said Salino, an accountant.
"It's hard to enjoy your food when everyone is yelling," Salino said.
Although he is outnumbered by Republicans on the trading floor of Prudential Securities' Newark offices, Rob Lawrence has begun making a pest of himself, cornering colleagues with pointed invective against what he sees as the failings of the Bush administration. "I just can't help myself," said Lawrence, a lawyer and self-described liberal.
"I'm trying to win converts, although I haven't been very successful yet," he said.
Political passions are raging all across New Jersey, where office workers, sunbathers and drinking buddies have been swept up in spirited debate over the presidential contest, the war on terrorism and Fahrenheit 9/11, the documentary by Michael Moore that is critical of the Bush administration. Political apathy has been replaced by the kind of vocal discourse not seen since the race between former presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan in 1980, when gas lines ran for blocks and US hostages where being held in Iran.
Cliff Zukin, a public policy professor at Rutgers University, said he was surprised to hear people talking presidential politics last week during a visit to the state motor vehicles office. "I've never seen people so passionate, where they genuinely believe there's a lot at stake," Zukin said.
"It you're a political scientist following the race, this is very cool," Zukin said.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
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