Hasta La Gadget!

It is where Donald Trump’s reality-TV persona from “The Apprentice” meets his presidency that he can make the most significant difference for the “left behind” constituencies that voted for him. Last week, President Trump issued an executive order calling for the doubling of funding for apprenticeship grants in the United States ― a key area, like infrastructure, where a consensus can be built across America’s divided politics.

In an interview with The WorldPost this week, former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers makes Trump’s case: “We don’t do anything for people who don’t go to college. They are left to either sink or swim, and mostly they sink. I’m thinking here of the kind of vocational apprentice arrangements that Germany has implemented successfully.” Summers also argues for international economic policies that benefit the average person more than the global corporations, such as closing tax loopholes and shutting down tax havens as a priority over securing intellectual property protection for pharmaceutical companies. “Right now,” he says, “when we discuss the global economy, we mainly talk about things that improve ‘competitiveness’ and are painful to the regular worker.”

Alongside greater investment in public higher education, on-the-job vocational training is essential to creating workforce opportunities not only in a global economy, but, more importantly, when faced with the perpetual disruptions of digital capitalism. As economist Laura Tyson points out, “about 80 percent of the loss in U.S. manufacturing jobs over the last three decades was a result of labor-saving and productivity-enhancing technological change, with trade coming a distant second.” Constantly adjusting to an ever-shifting recomposition of the knowledge-driven innovation economy is only possible if skills remain aligned to the needs of employers.

Brookings Institution policy analyst Mark Muro thinks the president managed to get the big things right with his executive order. “In noting that a four-year college degree isn’t for everyone,” Muro writes, “he spoke reasonably about the potential of paid, hands-on workplace experiences that train workers and link them to employers. In addition, Trump rightly underscored the need for industry — rather than the government — to play the largest role in structuring those experiences.” Tamar Jacoby, president of Opportunity America, a Washington-based nonprofit working to promote economic mobility, concurs that industry, not government, knows best what skills they need. “After more than two years of unlikely promises — to restore coal mining, end offshoring and recreate the manufacturing jobs of a bygone era,” writes Jacoby, “the president is finally focusing on a solution that could make a difference for the working-class voters who elected him: skills.” 

Writing from Munich on her way to an international gathering on apprenticeships, Jobs for the Future’s Nancy Hoffman emphasizes that the most successful programs “combine structured learning in a workplace with credit-bearing community college course-taking so that a student arrives at completion of the apprenticeship not just with job-related skills, but with a useable transferable credential as well.” Joshua Pearce, who heads Michigan Tech’s Open Sustainability Technology Lab, completes the picture. “A relatively minor investment in retraining,” he says, “would allow the majority of coal workers to switch to solar-related positions.”

But not everyone is completely on board. McKinsey & Company’s Mona Mourshed offers a cautious note: only around 30 percent of youth employment programs have proven effective, according to World Bank estimates. “The hallmarks of an effective program,” she writes, “are employer engagement, a practice-based curriculum, student support services and a commitment to measuring results post-program.”

Stanford University economist Eric Hanushek is even more skeptical that the U.S. can replicate the successful German model of apprenticeship, because failing K-12 schools in America are not providing young people entering the workforce with the requisite cognitive skills to effectively prepare them for an uncertain future.

Bolstering vocational apprenticeship programs in the U.S. is imperative to enabling non-college-educated Americans to find work in a continually churning economy. But, clearly, much work will have to be done to realize that imperative itself.

Other highlights in The WorldPost this week:

• Asian ‘Boat People,’ Once Opposed More Than Syrian Refugees Today, Speak Out 
• The Fastest-Growing Refugee Crisis Is The One You’ve Probably Heard The Least About
• How Obama Won The French Election
• It’s Been A Long, Crazy Year Since Britain’s Shocking Brexit Vote
• How The British Media Helps Radicalize People Against Islam
• Here’s What Happens When A President Doesn’t Have A Clear Foreign Policy

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Another group with a controversial name is ecstatic over the Supreme Court’s recent decision on an Asian-American rock band’s case. 

Dykes On Bikes, a nonprofit lesbian motorcycle organization that has had trademark troubles of its own, is celebrating after band The Slants won its case on Monday. The Patent and Trademark Office had previously struck down the band’s request to trademark its name, citing a policy that had prohibited the trademarking of “disparaging” names.

But the Asian-American group explained that its name was actually meant to be empowering for Asians. 

“Kids would pull their eyes back in a slant-eyed gesture to make fun of us,” frontman Simon Tam told NPR in January. “I wanted to change it to something that was powerful, something that was considered beautiful or a point of pride instead.”

In Matal v. Tam, the court overturned the anti-disparagement clause, saying the measure violated the First Amendment. And Dykes On Bikes, whose trademark obstacles mirror The Slants’, couldn’t be happier. 

“As with any transformative news you receive in life, it felt like a growing tide of emotion,” Kate Brown, president of the organization’s San Francisco chapter, told HuffPost. “There were a thousand thoughts going through my mind, but mostly ‘This really happened! It’s finally over! We’ve finally, finally, reached the end of this and it went in our favor!’”

Brown told HuffPost that the organization’s name was intended to turn an epithet into a source of pride.  But, similar to The Slants’ case, the PTO initially refused to approve the name and claimed it was “derogatory” to lesbians, Dykes on Bikes’ lead attorney Brooke Oliver told HuffPost. Though the office rejected its application, the group appealed through the courts and eventually won in the federal circuit courts. Its name was officially registered in 2007.

The trademark battle wasn’t over, however. The group faced more challenges years later when it attempted to register its logo. The PTO rejected its request, arguing once again that it was derogatory to lesbians. The office suspended the application until The Slants’ fate was decided. So, the motorcycle club filed an amicus brief to support the Asian-American band in its fight.

Now, the group can finally rest easy.

“It was crazy to put us through that twice. It shows how arbitrary the standard was,” Oliver said, reflecting on the cases. “It left this decision about what’s derogatory up to individual government officials and that’s the essence of viewpoint discrimination.” 

While Dykes on Bikes has a lot to celebrate, Brown admits that the Supreme Court decision is a double-edged sword. The Washington Redskins will ultimately benefit from the case since the anti-disparagement policy, which was used by activists to argue against the football team’s name, was struck down.

But Brown says that the Redskins’ situation is different from theirs and in its amicus brief, the motorcycle group made it clear that it does not endorse the football team’s use of the Native American slur. Brown added that though the Redskins, who are not a Native American group, may have the legal right to use the name, it doesn’t mean it should. 

“Both the Dykes on Bikes and The Slants have reclaimed self-referential terms in efforts to trademark our names on behalf of the groups to which we respectively belong. The Washington Redskins is not a group reclaiming generally understood insulting language on its own terms,” Brown said. “We agree that while the First Amendment protects people from abuse of power by government, we as a society have a responsibility to make good decisions under that protection.”

Moreover, Oliver said that the decision actually has the power to help marginalized groups and nonprofits, since these organizations will be able to trademark traditionally offensive names and “take the sting out of them,” while also keeping others from commercially exploiting the monikers.  

The motorcycle club says it now sees an end to its own trademark battle. Following The Slants’ case, the group filed a request with the PTO to expedite its logo registration. Though it hasn’t received a response yet, Oliver said she’s feeling optimistic this time around. They no longer have a legal impediment to keep them from moving the logo forward. 

“Nobody can take the strength and courage of claiming, for ourselves, our own name away from us,” Brown said. “We chose the name Dykes on Bikes because it truly is who we are.”

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House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) is no longer in the intensive care unit at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, officials said.

The move signals an improvement in Scalise’s condition since undergoing multiple surgeries after a lone gunman shot him in the hip last week while he was practicing for the annual Congressional Baseball Game for Charity.

“Congressman Steve Scalise’s continued good progress allowed him to be transferred out of the Intensive Care Unit on Thursday. He remains in fair condition as he continues an extended period of healing and rehabilitation,” according to a statement released Friday by the hospital.

The third-ranking House Republican was one of several people shot by suspected gunman James T. Hodgkinson in Alexandria, Virginia, last Wednesday. His injury indicated that the bullet had “travelled across his pelvis, fracturing bones, injuring internal organs and causing severe bleeding,” the hospital said in a statement last week.

The four others shot by the gunman last week have been steadily recovering. Two U.S. Capitol Police officers, members of Scalise’s security detail, were injured while engaging in gunfire with Hodgkinson.

Officer David Bailey, on crutches from a bullet wound, threw out the first pitch of the Congressional Baseball Game last Thursday. On Wednesday, Capitol Police officer Crystal Griner, who was shot in the ankle, threw out the first pitch of the Congressional Softball Game from a wheelchair.

Matt Mika, a lobbyist for Tyson Foods, is expected to make a full recovery after being shot in the chest, his family said in a statement Saturday. He has since moved out of the ICU and is in “good condition,” according to CBS News.

Zachary Barth, a staffer for Rep. Roger Williams (R-Texas), was taken to the hospital after his leg was grazed by a bullet. He was discharged hours later.

Barth said he “blessed to be alive” last Wednesday and praised Bailey and Griner for their heroic actions during the attack.

“These officers were fabulous,” Barth said during an appearance on the “Today” show on NBC. “They saved all our lives. No question that it would have been different if they hadn’t been there, and we owe a lot to them.”

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“Wonder Woman” is about to break yet another awesome record for women in Hollywood. 

This week, the Patty Jenkins–directed film not only crossed the $600 million threshold, but it will also surpass Phyllida Lloyd’s 2008 “Mamma Mia!” to become the highest grossing live-action film directed by a woman, The Hollywood Reporter first noted. “Wonder Woman” hit $609.5 million for its global sum ― $293.2 million domestic and $316.3 million international ― through Thursday, and will officially break the record sometime Friday, Warner Bros. said in a statement to HuffPost. “Mamma Mia!” earned $609.8 million worldwide. 

“It’s an incredible achievement when you look at the success of this movie,” Warner Bros. President of Domestic Distribution Jeff Goldstein told HuffPost Friday, saying that with each passing day and week the film continues to outpace where any historical comparisons predicted it should be. 

“The real story is the fact that Princess Diana has really hit everybody ― young and old, male and female,” Goldstein added. “It’s truly a four-quadrant movie. The universal themes of what ‘Wonder Woman’ stands for are really positive. When you look at what Patty Jenkins put together in a movie, it really is fun.”

Not only has Goldstein heard stories of multiple viewings by both men and women, but Father’s Day stood out as a particularly successful day. 

“Wonder Woman,” starring Gal Gadot under Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment, became the biggest opening for a female director ever when it hit theaters June 2 and raked in more than $100 million. 

The film is a contender to beat Jennifer Yuh Nelson’s $665.7 million worldwide box office tally for 2011′s “Kung Fu Panda 2” to become the top-grossing film by a solo female director, THR notes. Jennifer Lee is another record-holder for Disney’s “Frozen,” which she co-directed with Chris Buck to earn $1.28 billion worldwide.

“Wonder Woman’s” 21-day domestic total of $293 million has already surpassed that of 2013′s “Man of Steel,” according to Forbes. (Sorry, Superman.)

Even Jenkins has had her moments of shock. 

“I’m stunned by the success of the film. But I’m also surprised how rare it’s been,” she told TIME. “I can’t wait till enough women filmmakers have had a chance to make movies of this size and scale and those movies have been successful. There will still be conversation about smaller issues. But it will be nice that they can just be filmmakers making films.” 

Fans, get excited. Jenkins is already working on the sequel. 

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<span class="articleLocation”>Two U.S. studies on the effects of marijuana on drivers in states where it is allowed for recreational use came to different conclusions about whether it increases risks behind the wheel.

A study by the American Journal of Public Health published on Thursday looked at motor vehicle fatalities and found no significant increase in Colorado and Washington State, where recreational marijuana use is legal, compared with eight states where it is not legal that have similar populations, vehicle ownership, and traffic laws. Alabama, Kentucky and Texas were among the states in the comparison group.

“Our study focused on deaths and actually found what we expected going into this,” Jason Adedoyte, lead author of the study said in a telephone interview. Adedoyte is a trauma surgeon at Dell Seton Medical Center at the University of Texas at Austin.

“Back in 2012 some argued that people would ride around in their cars crash and die. Our study proved that isn’t true,” he said.

The American Journal of Public Health examined data from 2009 to 2015 taken from the U.S. Fatality Analysis Reporting System.

In another study published on Wednesday, the Highway Loss Data Institute analyzed the frequency of car insurance collision claims in Washington, Colorado and Oregon, where recreational marijuana is also permitted.

It found a 3 percent increase in collision claims in those states compared with Wyoming, Idaho and Nevada, where it is not legal.

“In states that passed legislation approving the recreational use of marijuana, the data showed that there was a strong indicator that marijuana was a factor in considering the rise of claims,” Matt Moore, senior vice president of The Highway Loss Data Institute, said in a telephone interview.

The Institute examined about 2.5 million insurance collision claims from January 2012 and October 2016.

Mason Tvert, communication director of the Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project, a pro-legalization group, questioned the methodology of the Institute’s study.

“There’s no clear evidence that marijuana is a factor. It’s going to take several years and studies before we can determine that,” he said in a telephone interview.

The Institute’s Moore defended its approach, saying, “We looked at the correlation of states with similar insurance claim frequencies, and the states we chose had the highest correlation.”

Federal law prohibits recreational use of marijuana in the country, however, it has been approved by eight states including Maine, Massachusetts, Colorado, Washington, Alaska, Oregon, California, Nevada and the District of Columbia.

(Reporting by Taylor T. Harris in New York; Editing by Frank McGurty)

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