Turkey’s parliament OKs Sweden’s NATO membership

• January 23, 2024

By Suzan Fraser | Associated Press

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish legislators on Tuesday endorsed Sweden’s membership in NATO, lifting a major hurdle on the previously nonaligned country’s entry into the military alliance.

The legislators ratified Sweden’s accession protocol by 287 votes to 55, with four abstentions. The ratification will come into effect after its publication in the Official Gazette, which is expected to be swift.

Hungary then becomes the only NATO ally not to have ratified Sweden’s accession.

“Today we are one step closer to becoming a full member of NATO,” Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. The U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, Jeff Flake, also welcomed the Turkish parliament’s decision calling it a “great move” for Sweden, Turkey and NATO.

NATO-member Turkey had been delaying Sweden’s membership for more than a year, accusing the country of being too lenient toward groups that Ankara regards as security threats. It has been seeking concessions from Stockholm, including a tougher stance toward Kurdish militants and members of a network that Ankara blames for a failed coup in 2016.

Turkey had also been angered by a series of demonstrations by supporters of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, in Sweden as well as Quran-burning protests that roiled Muslim countries.

Last month, parliament’s foreign affairs committee gave its consent to Sweden’s bid in the first stage of the legislative process, after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent its accession protocol to lawmakers for approval.

“In the past, Sweden was a country that had become a center in Europe in terms of the existence and of the activities of the PKK,” Fuat Oktay, a senior legislator in Erdogan’s governing party and the head of the parliament’s foreign affairs committee told parliament.

Sweden had since, among other things, amended its anti-terrorism laws, curbed the PKK’s financial activities, convicted a suspect for alleged money laundering and financing terrorism, extradited another suspect and lifted restrictions on arms sales to Turkey, he said.

“PKK-affiliated circles no longer find a comfortable room for maneuver in Sweden as they did in the past,” Oktay said, explaining why the ruling party was now supporting Stockholm’s bid.Sweden has pledged deeper cooperation with Turkey on counterterrorism and to support Turkey’s ambition to revive its EU membership bid.

Turkey’s main opposition party also supported Sweden’s membership in the alliance but a center-right party and the country’s pro-Kurdish party were among parties that opposed it.

“Sweden’s steps concerning its extradition of wanted criminals or the fight against terrorism have remained limited and insufficient,” Musavat Dervisoglu, a legislator from the Good Party told parliament.

Erdogan has linked ratification of Sweden’s NATO membership to the U.S. Congress’ approval of a Turkish request to purchase 40 new F-16 fighter jets and kits to modernize Turkey’s existing fleet. He has also urged Canada and other NATO allies to lift arms embargoes on Turkey.

Koray Aydin, another Good Party legislator, urged parliament to hold out on ratifying Sweden’s accession until the F-16 sales and the modernization kits are approved in Washington, saying Turkey would lose an important bargaining chip.

U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration never formally tied the sale of the F-16s to Turkey’s ratification of Sweden’s NATO membership. However, numerous influential members of Congress had said they would not support the sale unless and until Turkey signs off on Sweden’s accession to the alliance.

Administration officials say they expect relatively quick action on the F-16 sale after Turkey’s ratification of Sweden’s NATO membership.

In Washington, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that Sweden is “more than ready to become a NATO ally.”

He added, “It’s time for Sweden to become a NATO ally. They have a modern, advanced military– one that we’re very comfortable with. And they’ll add real significant military capabilities to the alliance.”

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Sweden and Finland abandoned their traditional positions of military nonalignment to seek protection under NATO’s security umbrella, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Finland joined the alliance in April, becoming NATO’s 31st member, after Turkey’s parliament ratified the Nordic country’s bid.

Hungary has also stalled Sweden’s bid, alleging that Swedish politicians have told “blatant lies” about the condition of Hungary’s democracy. Hungary has said it would not be the last to approve accession, although it was not clear when the Hungarian parliament intends to hold a vote.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced Tuesday that he sent a letter to his Swedish counterpart, Ulf Kristersson, inviting him to Budapest to discuss Sweden’s entry into NATO.

NATO requires the unanimous approval of all existing members to expand, and Turkey and Hungary were the only countries that have been holding out, frustrating other NATO allies who had been pressing for Sweden and Finland’s swift accession.

Associated Press writers Aamer Madhani and Matthew Lee contributed from Washington.

​ Orange County Register 

Norms is marking its 75th anniversary with $5.99 deals

• January 23, 2024

Norms Restaurants will celebrate its 75th anniversary throughout 2024 with cheap eats, according to a news release.

The current deal is seven meals for $5.99 through March 30.

Items include a half rack of baby back ribs with fries; chicken tenders with fries; a crispy chicken quesadilla; garlic parmesan fettuccine Alfredo; a half sandwich with choice of soup or salad; a sausage breakfast burrito; and a Breakfast Trio with two eggs, two hotcakes and choice of two bacon strips or sausage links.

The offer is available Monday through Thursday for dine-in customers only.

The seven for $5.99 menu will change every four to five months depending on demand, the news release said.

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Also through March 30, Norms is also serving four-course meals with entrées ranging from wild-caught whitefish, $13.99, to a sirloin steak trio with chicken tenders and shrimp for $22.49.

The name Norms comes from founder Norm Roybark, an auto dealer who opened the first restaurant in 1949 in Hollywood, according to the company. It was at 6353 W. Sunset Blvd., across the street from where the Cinerama Dome is today.

Norms now lists 23 locations across Southern California on its website.

Information: norms.com

​ Orange County Register 

Street in Orange named after William Steiner, a ‘tiger in defense of children who had nobody’

• January 23, 2024

There’s taking work home from the office, and taking work home from the office the way William Steiner would do it.

“We all have our memories,” Jim Steiner, Steiner’s eldest son, told the Orange County Board of Supervisors. “He would often bring children home to spend time with us for the holidays, to experience love and family and laughter.”

But the thing that really showed the young Steiner that his late dad was something special was the day they had to run by the office — Orangewood Children’s Home for abused and neglected kids, which William Steiner muscled into existence by sheer force of will. As they entered a room filled with children, “every kid ran toward him and threw themselves in his arms screaming ‘Mr. Bill’s here!’ He called every one of them by their first names. That’s who our dad was. He truly was a special human being.”

County supervisors were more than pleased to approve a street name change to honor Steiner, who died in 2022, on Tuesday, Jan. 23. The street in front of Orangewood Children’s Home in the city of Orange will heretofore be known as Steiner Way, rather than Justice Center Way.

“My last conversation with your dad was about, of course, a project he was working on in Tustin to help families,” Supervisor Katrina Foley told the Steiner children assembled. “He was very passionate about it – he was really a great example of how, after leaving office, he continued to serve the community. He stayed involved, always tried to find nonpartisan ways to support the community.”

Supervisors and Orange city councilmembers spoke about the support and advice William Steiner gave them on doing their jobs (including the advice his mother once gave him: “You want to hold public office? No! Don’t do it!” He didn’t listen either).

Orange city councilmember Jon Dumitru hopes that, years from now, people will wonder “Who was this Steiner guy?” Google his name and learn about him. “He was an absolute tiger in defense of children who had nobody,” Dumitru said.

This cements a piece of history, honors Steiner’s work, and hopefully inspires others to lean in and do the same, Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento said. “He had a special place in his heart for our most vulnerable children.”

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​ Orange County Register 

Fairmont Prep and La Habra boys basketball teams playing like CIF-SS contenders

• January 23, 2024

Orange County boys basketball will have plenty of teams capable of going far in the CIF Southern Section playoffs that begin Feb. 6.

Fairmont Prep and La Habra will be among those teams based on how they have played lately.

Fairmont Prep’s roster has been strengthened by improved health and the addition of four transfer players who became eligible to play Dec. 24. That’s when the sit-out period expired for transfers who do not make the change of residence that would have made them eligible at the start of the season.

One of those now-eligible players for the Huskies, who are 16-8 overall and 4-1 in the San Joaquin League, is Kamerin Lewis, a 6-1 junior guard who transferred from Buena Park.

“Kam’s averaging 13 points a game,” Fairmont coach Joedy Gardner said. “We haven’t lost since he’s been active.”

The Huskies have won five in a row, including a 66-47 victory over Pacifica Christian in a league game Saturday. Fairmont Prep lost to Pacifica Christian by 10 points in their previous league encounter.

Also bolstering the Fairmont Prep roster are sophomore transfers Leroy Davis and Jacob Hsu.

The remainder of Fairmont Prep’s regular-season schedule is challenging. The Huskies, who are No. 14 in the Orange County rankings and tied for first place with Pacifica Christian, have a league game at home against Orangewood Academy on Thursday. Then they play a nonleague game against Del Rio League-leading La Serna on Saturday before league games against Capistrano Valley Christian and San Gabriel Academy next week, the final week of the regular season.

Fairmont Prep will be in Division 1 of the CIF-SS playoffs.

La Habra is alone in first place in the Freeway League with a 6-0 record. The Highlanders are 20-4 overall, have won 11 in a row and could be considered under-ranked in the Orange County Top 25 at No. 17. They are No. 1 in the CIF-SS Division 3AA poll that comes from the CIF-SS Basketball Committee.

Grayson Sinek, a 6-1 guard who was All-Orange County fourth team last season as a sophomore, is averaging 17 points, four rebounds and two steals a game.

“Grayson does it on the defensive end, too,” said La Habra coach Aaron Riekenberg. “He gets in the passing lanes to get those steals for us. Our point guard Acen Jimenez has been playing lights out. He was all-league last year as a freshman and he’s taken another big step this year.”

Riekenberg said 6-3 junior Jaedon Anderson has been another consistent contributor.

After playing Troy on Wednesday the Highlanders have league games remaining against Sunny Hills and Fullerton before finishing the regular season at home against Sonora, which is tied with Troy for second place.

RULES CHANGE

A rule change that went into effect this season is the elimination of the one-and-one free-throw shooting situation that began with the seventh team foul of a half.

Now teams are awarded two free throws when the opposing team has reached five team fouls in each quarter. Teams begin the following quarter with zero team fouls.

Coaches like it, including Canyon’s Nate Harrison.

“I feel like we’re shooting fewer free throws because of it,” Harrison said. “I think it’s been good for the flow of the game. It’s been a good rule.”

PLAYOFFS

The CIF-SS boys basketball playoff brackets will be released Feb. 4 at noon. Before the brackets come out the CIF-SS will announce which teams received at-large spots in the playoffs.

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​ Orange County Register 

Angels hope Robert Stephenson and his new slider can add consistency to bullpen

• January 23, 2024

Robert Stephenson said he doesn’t consider the new pitch that turned around his season to be a new pitch at all.

The Angels freshly-signed reliever did acknowledge it was different, though.

“I still call it a slider,” Stephenson said of the pitch sometimes identified as a cutter. “It’s the exact same grip I used with my slider before. I just released a little bit different now so might move a little differently, but it’s still the same grip.”

Whatever you call the tweak the Tampa Bay Rays made with Stephenson after they acquired him last June, it seems to be largely responsible for the three-year, $33-million deal that became official on Tuesday.

Stephenson, 30, had a 5.14 ERA in two months with the Pittsburgh Pirates and a 4.90 ERA in parts of seven previous major league seasons, before the Rays suggested the change to his slider.

After that, Stephenson had a 2.35 ERA with 60 strikeouts in 38⅓ innings.

“He had a new toy, with the change of speed on his slider, and he was one of the best, if not the best, relievers in baseball over the last 40 innings,” Angels general manager Perry Minasian said.

That’s why the Angels were willing to make a relatively large investment for a setup man. The Angels also hedged their bet by including in the contract a $2.5 million club option that can be exercised if Stephenson spends 130 consecutive days on the injured list with an elbow issue. It is essentially insurance that allows the Angels to get back any season that Stephenson might miss because of Tommy John surgery. There is no buyout.

“I expect myself to be healthy every year,” Stephenson said, “but if something happens to my elbow where I end up getting hurt and missing time for it, it feels fair that on the backside I’d get a little bit more time with the Angels than originally planned.”

Stephenson also expressed confidence that his performance in his breakout season is sustainable. He said, besides the new way he started throwing his slider, he also had a new approach with the Rays.

“Just being more aggressive and trying to put guys in a hole quicker,” Stephenson said.

The Angels’ bullpen needed plenty of help after finishing 25th in the majors with a 4.88 ERA last year. Closer Carlos Estévez was solid in the ninth inning for about two-thirds of the season, but the Angels had issues all season setting him up.

The Angels had a 5.28 ERA in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings last season. They were outscored by 113 runs in those innings.

“For us to win more games and especially compete, we have to be better in the middle innings,” Minasian said.

Stephenson would seem to go into camp as the Angels’ eighth-inning reliever, with Estévez handling the ninth. The Angels also have newly signed right-handers Luis Garcia and Adam Cimber, along with returning pitchers José Soriano, Ben Joyce, Andrew Wantz and Jimmy Herget.

The highest lefty on the depth chart is probably Adam Kolarek, who is not even on the 40-man roster.

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“Do we have to (add a lefty)? Not necessarily,” Minasian said. “But it would be nice obviously to mix in a lefty or two, if we can.”

Minasian said the Angels are still open to additions in all areas.

“Definitely not done from an offseason standpoint,” he said. “It’s got to be the right fit. It’s got to make sense. But I do believe there’s still players out there that can help us improve and, and make us a more competitive club.”

NOTE

The Angels reportedly agreed to a minor league deal with infielder Miguel Sanó. Sanó, 30, has a career .808 OPS in parts of eight big league seasons with the Minnesota Twins, but he did not play in 2023.

​ Orange County Register 

California suffers largest job-growth drop in US

• January 23, 2024

”Survey says” looks at various rankings and scorecards judging geographic locations while noting these grades are best seen as a mix of artful interpretation and data.

Buzz: California’s job growth was essentially cut in half by the coronavirus and the state’s reaction to the pandemic.

Source: My trusty spreadsheet looked at employment stats for the state and 29 regional job markets from the Employment Development Dept. and the Bureau of Labor Statistics – focusing on before and after 2019, the year before the pandemic hit. Essentially, this math asks, “What if COVID-19 never happened?” by assuming job creation continued the last four years along its 2015-19 pace.

Topline

Yes, California added 640,300 jobs in the four years through 2023. So all the job losses from the coronavirus business limitations have been refilled, and then some.

But this job growth is 743,000 short of the 1.38 million workers added in pre-pandemic 2015-19.

California’s job-creation shortfall ranks as the largest among the states, as the Golden State fell from No. 1 for new jobs in 2015-19 to No. 3 in 2019-23.

And this hiring slowdown equals a 54% cut in job creation between these two, four-year periods.

Details

The drop in hiring was widespread across the state, as shrinking employment growth was found in 25 of the 29 job markets tracked.

Look at the chill in the state’s largest job markets …

Los Angeles County: 195,500 slower job growth – 79,000 hires in 2019-23 vs. 274,500 added staff for 2015-19. That’s a 71% cooling vs. the pre-pandemic pace.

San Francisco: 113,800 short – 26,300 past four years vs. 140,100 for 2015-19. That’s off 81%.

Orange County: 88,900 short – 39,000 past four years vs. 127,900 for 2015-19. That’s off 70%.

Oakland-Berkeley: 81,300 short – 11,400 past four years vs. 92,800 for 2015-19. That’s off 88%.

Inland Empire: 70,500 short – 128,400 past four years vs. 198,900 for 2015-19. That’s off 35%.

San Jose-Santa Clara: 63,600 short – 36,500 past four years vs. 100,100 for 2015-19. That’s off 64%.

San Diego County: 48,300 short – 69,900 past four years vs. 118,200 for 2015-19. That’s off 41%.

Sacramento: 36,900 short – 67,600 past four years vs. 104,500 for 2015-19. That’s off 35%.

By the way, job creation improved in five smaller markets in the last four years. Visalia-Porterville jobs expanded by 2,800; Bakersfield was up 2,600, Stockton was 1,800 ahead, El Centro hiring grew by 700 and Yuba City was up 300.

Details

California’s job market was a prime example of collateral damage from the state’s battle to halt the spread of coronavirus.

The hiring scene also suffered from a lack of job candidates due to various factors, including a slow but steady decline in population.

Please note that this job-creation shortfall isn’t a California-only quirk.

In the other 49 states and the District of Columbia, 4.6 million jobs were added in the past four years, vs. 7.7 million in 2015-19. That 3.1 million hiring shortfall equals a 40% dip in job creation.

Still, between those four-year periods, 10 states saw improvements in their hiring pace: Texas added 191,900 more workers in 2019-23 vs. 2015-19 followed by Montana (11,200), North Dakota (10,300), South Dakota (9,400), Arkansas (8,100), Wyoming (8,000), Kentucky (5,800), Alaska (5,500), Idaho (4,300), and Kansas (700).

Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at [email protected]

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​ Orange County Register 

Deepfake audio of Biden alarms experts in lead-up to US elections

• January 23, 2024

Margi Murphy | (TNS) Bloomberg News

No political deepfake has alarmed the world’s disinformation experts more than the doctored audio message of U.S. President Joe Biden that began circulating over the weekend.

In the phone message, a voice edited to sound like Biden urged voters in New Hampshire not to cast their ballots in Tuesday’s Democratic primary.

“Save your vote for the November election,” the phone message went. It even made use of one of Biden’s signature phrases: “What a bunch of malarkey.” In reality, the president isn’t on the ballot in the New Hampshire race — and voting in the primary doesn’t preclude people from participating in November’s election.

Many have warned that new artificial intelligence-powered video and image generators will be used this year for political gain, while representation for nearly half of the world is on the line in polls.

But it’s audio deepfakes that have experts worried now.

They’re easy to edit, cheap to produce and particularly difficult to trace. Combine a convincing phone message with a voter registration database, and a bad actor has a powerful weapon that even the most advanced election systems are ill-equipped to handle, researchers say.

“The political deepfake moment is here,’’ said Robert Weissman, president of the consumer advocacy think tank Public Citizen. He called on lawmakers to put in place protections against fake audio and video recordings to avert “electoral chaos.”

The fake Biden message comes as an increasing number of U.S. political campaigns use AI software to reach constituents en masse — and as investors are pouring money into voice-cloning startups.

On Monday, while the deepfake phone message was making the rounds, the AI voice-replicating startup ElevenLabs announced it had raised a new round of funding that valued the company at $1.1 billion.

The doctored political recording wasn’t the first. Last year, audio deepfakes spread on social media ahead of Slovakia’s parliamentary elections, including one clip in which party leader Michal Simecka appeared to be discussing a plan to purchase votes. Political use of video and audio deepfakes have meanwhile proven limited.

It’s unclear exactly how the Biden message was generated. New Hampshire’s attorney general was investigating the call on Monday. But tracking the fake audio to its source will prove especially difficult because it was spread by telephone as opposed to online, according to Joan Donovan, an assistant professor of journalism and emerging media studies at Boston University. Audio messages delivered by phone don’t come with the same digital trail.

“This is an indication of the next generation of dirty tricks,” Donovan said.

There’s another reason the fake Biden clip was particularly worrisome to disinformation researchers and election officials. It confirmed their biggest fear: Bad actors are using deepfakes not just to influence public opinion but to stop voters from coming to the polls altogether.

“Even if such misinformation introduces confusion that only impacts a few hundred or thousands of votes, it could be meaningful in terms of the results and outcome,” said Nick Diakopoulos, a professor at Northwestern University who has researched manipulated audio and elections.

The U.S. Federal Election Commission has taken small steps toward regulating political deepfakes, but it has yet to clamp down on the technologies helping to generate them. Some states have proposed their own laws to curb deepfakes.

Elections officials are running training exercises to prepare for an onslaught. Around 100 federal and state officials assembled in Colorado in August to brainstorm the best response to a hypothetical fake video containing bogus elections information.

Deepfakes were the focus of another exercise in Arizona in December when officials worked through a scenario in which a video of Secretary of State Adrian Fontes was falsified to spread inaccurate information.

Meanwhile, deepfake detection tools are still in their infancy and remain inconclusive.

On Monday, for example, ElevenLabs’ own detection tool indicated that the Biden call was unlikely to have been created using cloning software — even as deepfake detection startup Clarity said it was more than 80% likely to be a deepfake.

_____

©2024 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

​ Orange County Register 

Dodgers set to add lefty James Paxton to starting rotation

• January 23, 2024

LOS ANGELES – The Dodgers are putting the finishing touches on a near-complete makeover of their starting rotation.

The Dodgers are reportedly close to signing free agent left-hander James Paxton to a one-year contract for $11 or $12 million. The deal would also include bonus clauses that could take it higher. The team has not announced the signing officially yet.

The signing would take the Dodgers’ projected payroll for 2024 past $310 million and into the highest tear of the Competitive Balance Tax.

The addition of the 35-year-old Paxton means the Dodgers will head to spring training with a starting rotation of Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Walker Buehler (who is expected to join the rotation at some point early in the season), Bobby Miller and James Paxton. Young starters Emmet Sheehan, Gavin Stone and Landon Knack will compete as depth pieces. Paxton is the only left-hander in the group.

A year ago, the Dodgers opened the season with a starting rotation of Julio Urias, Dustin May, Clayton Kershaw, Noah Syndergaard and Michael Grove. Only Kershaw was still starting games at the end of the season. Only May (recovering from elbow surgery) and Grove (likely ticketed for a bullpen role) are still with the Dodgers now.

With 156 career starts over 10 seasons with the Seattle Mariners, New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, Paxton is the most experienced pitcher in this year’s group. But he continues the Dodgers’ well-established willingness to take on pitchers with an injury history.

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Paxton has made more than 20 starts just three times in those 10 seasons (2017-19). He threw a no-hitter for the Mariners in 2018 but finished the season on the Injured List with a back injury. He eventually underwent surgery and made just five starts during the shortened 2020 season.

He left his first start of the 2021 season with elbow discomfort and underwent Tommy John surgery which sidelined him until 2023.

He made two trips to the IL last season (for a hamstring injury and knee inflammation) but went 7-5 with a 4.50 ERA in 19 starts. Paxton didn’t finish well. After going 5-1 with a 2.73 ERA in 10 starts before the All-Star break (and winning the American League Pitcher of the Month award), Paxton was 2-4 with a 6.98 ERA in nine starts after the break before ending the season on the IL with the knee issue.

​ Orange County Register