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<p />
<p>Many people took note of the moment during the <a href="/mojoblog/archives/2007/05/4436_hating_on_musli.html" type="external">GOP debate</a> when Brit Hume proposed a hypothetical in which American shopping centers had been bombed and perpetrators had been caught. How hard do you interrogate the perps, Hume asked, to prevent another attack?</p>
<p>Pretty much every candidate used coded words to say they endorsed torture, or something close to it. Use “enhanced interrogation techniques,” said Romney. Let the interrogators use “any method they can think of,” said Giuliani. (John McCain, of course, is the exception here; he has been a strong opponent of torture. For a detailed account of what torture did to McCain’s body in Vietnam, see the second page of <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-mccain17may17,1,1358144.story?coll=la-headlines-nation" type="external">this LA Times feature</a>.)</p>
<p>The crowd loved the tough talk, but you know who was a bit disgusted? Members of the military.</p>
<p>Today, two former generals <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/16/AR2007051602395.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns" type="external">articulate in the Washington Post</a> what made millions thousands [Ed. Note: Sorry, no one watches these things.] of Americans queasy after the debate:</p>
<p>Fear can be a strong motivator. It led Franklin Roosevelt to intern tens of thousands of innocent U.S. citizens during World War II; it led to Joseph McCarthy’s witch hunt, which ruined the lives of hundreds of Americans. And it led the United States to adopt a policy at the highest levels that condoned and even authorized torture of prisoners in our custody….</p>
<p>The American people are understandably fearful about another attack like the one we sustained on Sept. 11, 2001. But it is the duty of the commander in chief to lead the country away from the grip of fear, not into its grasp. Regrettably, at Tuesday night’s presidential debate in South Carolina, several Republican candidates revealed a stunning failure to understand this most basic obligation. Indeed, among the candidates, only John McCain demonstrated that he understands the close connection between our security and our values as a nation….</p>
<p>This war will be won or lost not on the battlefield but in the minds of potential supporters who have not yet thrown in their lot with the enemy. If we forfeit our values by signaling that they are negotiable in situations of grave or imminent danger, we drive those undecideds into the arms of the enemy. This way lies defeat, and we are well down the road to it.</p>
<p /> | Former Generals Reprimand GOP for Tough Torture Talk | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2007/05/former-generals-reprimand-gop-tough-torture-talk/ | 2007-05-17 | 4left
| Former Generals Reprimand GOP for Tough Torture Talk
<p />
<p>Many people took note of the moment during the <a href="/mojoblog/archives/2007/05/4436_hating_on_musli.html" type="external">GOP debate</a> when Brit Hume proposed a hypothetical in which American shopping centers had been bombed and perpetrators had been caught. How hard do you interrogate the perps, Hume asked, to prevent another attack?</p>
<p>Pretty much every candidate used coded words to say they endorsed torture, or something close to it. Use “enhanced interrogation techniques,” said Romney. Let the interrogators use “any method they can think of,” said Giuliani. (John McCain, of course, is the exception here; he has been a strong opponent of torture. For a detailed account of what torture did to McCain’s body in Vietnam, see the second page of <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-mccain17may17,1,1358144.story?coll=la-headlines-nation" type="external">this LA Times feature</a>.)</p>
<p>The crowd loved the tough talk, but you know who was a bit disgusted? Members of the military.</p>
<p>Today, two former generals <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/16/AR2007051602395.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns" type="external">articulate in the Washington Post</a> what made millions thousands [Ed. Note: Sorry, no one watches these things.] of Americans queasy after the debate:</p>
<p>Fear can be a strong motivator. It led Franklin Roosevelt to intern tens of thousands of innocent U.S. citizens during World War II; it led to Joseph McCarthy’s witch hunt, which ruined the lives of hundreds of Americans. And it led the United States to adopt a policy at the highest levels that condoned and even authorized torture of prisoners in our custody….</p>
<p>The American people are understandably fearful about another attack like the one we sustained on Sept. 11, 2001. But it is the duty of the commander in chief to lead the country away from the grip of fear, not into its grasp. Regrettably, at Tuesday night’s presidential debate in South Carolina, several Republican candidates revealed a stunning failure to understand this most basic obligation. Indeed, among the candidates, only John McCain demonstrated that he understands the close connection between our security and our values as a nation….</p>
<p>This war will be won or lost not on the battlefield but in the minds of potential supporters who have not yet thrown in their lot with the enemy. If we forfeit our values by signaling that they are negotiable in situations of grave or imminent danger, we drive those undecideds into the arms of the enemy. This way lies defeat, and we are well down the road to it.</p>
<p /> | 1,600 |
<p>A new show is coming out that will feature interviews of celebrities who channel their faith toward their passions.</p>
<p>Matthew Faraci, who has an extensive career in politics, journalism and writing, will be hosting the show <a href="http://franklyfaraci.com/" type="external">Frankly Faraci</a> through the Dove Channel. The first episode, which focuses on the band known as The Piano Guys, will premiere on March 21 and will be available on platforms like Roku and Amazon Prime. Other shows will feature celebrities such as the rapper Propaganda; suggestions for possible guests on future shows are to be sent to the show's <a href="https://www.facebook.com/FranklyFaraci/" type="external">Facebook page</a>.</p>
<p>Below is The Daily Wire's interview with Faraci.</p>
<p>Tell me a little bit about your show.</p>
<p>The show is fundamentally about interviewing famous people who are doing good things in the world and happen to have a faith background and that's what drives them ... I think so often both people of faith and conservatives, there's a stereotype that's popular, a sort of mainstream popular stereotype that they're angry, sort of finger-pointing, holier-than-thou do-gooders, right, and what I have found in my interviews is that these are some of the most coolest, most carefree, just enjoyable people that you'll ever meet. And so, in that sense, I definitely want to change that perception, which is I think is a false perception.</p>
<p>Also, I think the big story here is this show is actually produced by Cinedigm, which is a major Hollywood distribution company. In some sense, you know, I think it's a recognition that there's an audience for family-friendly content. You know, there's an audience that wants this kind of stuff, and Hollywood obviously causes great consternation for a lot of people. When Hollywood does something right, I think we need to stand up, you know, when you look at something like a Hacksaw Ridge, I was one of the first people to say, "Hey, this is great. We need to be applauding this kind of stuff." Rather than bashing Hollywood always, I think it's important to encourage Hollywood when they make the kind of stuff that we want for our audience.</p>
<p>You've been a political strategist, you've been a journalist, how did you end up going from all those different career paths to running this show?</p>
<p>It's a fun journey. I actually started out – you may be too young to remember this – the very first political talk show that really sort of created all subsequent talk shows was something called the McLaughlin Group ... I started my career in Washington as a producer on that show. And so ... I started my career in Los Angeles; right after I graduated, I came to Los Angeles and I produced and wrote and did stand-up comedy. I tried my hand at the various things that young people tend to try their hands at when they come out here. So I did that, then went back to D.C., served as a producer, then I worked on Capitol Hill, and then I went to work in the Bush administration. I was actually a spokesperson for Elaine Chao, who is the current Transportation Secretary, as you know.</p>
<p>I feel like all those experiences led up to this, but what was interesting was during that time, I got to know a lot of these people, a lot of these leaders in that world. I got to see that there are, that the popular perception is that people in Washington are out for themselves, they're self-important, they're sleazy. You know, I don't have to tell you all the things. What I was surprised to find was that so many of the people that I got to know were good people who wanted what was right for the country and they were driven to do the right thing, and on both sides, frankly. In other words, even though I may have disagreed with some people on the other side, I did discover that their motives were that they thought they were doing what was right for the country. That's really when I started to think about that – maybe people aren't always looking at the whole person when you see an interview; maybe you don't get the full picture of who that person is.</p>
<p>Right, so it sounds like you're then trying to get the full person out of these interviews then.</p>
<p>Yeah, Propaganda's like this super-interesting guy who's trying to, one of his things is talking about racial reconciliation, but in a way that's constructive and helpful; like he's actually trying to lead a dialogue on that rather than just getting angry, which is what too many people are doing these days. I feel like this is in some small sense an anecdote for all the social media that we look at. Everything's angry, angry, angry, angry, angry negatives and I'm hoping to bring some positivity into that conversation.</p>
<p>Of the celebrities that you've interviewed so far, who was it that was most intriguing to you?</p>
<p>I would have to say The Piano Guys because first of all, what they have done is so surprising, right? Like dropping a piano on top of a cliff, playing on the Great Wall of China, all that kind of stuff. I thought that maybe, because they're so huge at this point that they would all have egos. What I was surprised to find is that not only do they not have egos, they're hilarious, dude! You probably saw it in the interview. I was laughing with them the whole time. I mean, those guys are just carefree and funny. I guess I didn't know what to expect and I couldn't believe how cool they were. They were just amazing.</p>
<p>How are you able to find all these various faith-based celebrities?</p>
<p>I am an avid researcher and also Dove has a very good research team. I dig and I dig and I dig and what I look for is stories where you get one little quote and you go, "Aha! I think I have a lead." So for example, Harry Connick Jr. is somebody I want to sit down with because I saw in a story that he said "My faith informs everything that I do and every decision that I make," something like that. And I was like, "Oh ho ho ho ho!" You know there's a nugget, there's a lead. Chris Pratt, who's the biggest actor in Hollywood, has tweeted some Bible verses at times, so has Justin Bieber, and I'm like, "Aha!" Usually you can tell because these people have a goodness in them. You can tell that they have a passion to bring good into the world. Even when you look at Chris, like he's kind of funny; there's a positivity about Chris, you know. And so, I feel that way about Speaker Ryan. I think you can see that in Speaker Ryan. So, I look for any little piece of evidence that I can find and as soon as I verify that, I go for it.</p>
<p>So you mentioned that you want to interview people like Chris Pratt. Are there any other particular celebrities you're hoping to have on your show at some point other than the ones you just mentioned to me?</p>
<p>Yeah, I'd love to interview Speaker Ryan. I would love to talk to the president. I would love to talk to Joe Manchin ... I'd love to talk to Bono, Candace Cameron, as I said Harry Connick Jr. ... J.J. Reddick from the Clippers, I'd love to interview him. Clayton Kershaw from the Dodgers, very much a person of faith who gives a lot of his money away. I'd also like to interview Steve Green from Hobby Lobby, who is a businessperson and is obviously funding the Museum of the Bible or helping to fund it. There are a couple of people in Silicon Valley that I'm looking into. So really, it's like people in business, sports, politics, music, kind of the wide range of folks who are doing important things in the world and that's what guides them and drives them.</p>
<p>So obviously your show doesn't come out till the 21st, but I take it that there are probably people who have already seen the first episode for reviews. Have you gotten any feedback so far about your show?</p>
<p>Honestly, we're just at the point where we're letting people know, to your point about the reviews and stuff. But everybody that has seen it privately has sort of said – it's sort of funny because I like to make fun of myself – they're like, "Wow! We didn't know you'd be so good at this." I'm like, "Okay, thanks a lot, guys." Most of what we've gotten is, "Wow, it's refreshing, it's positive, and it's different; it's just we haven't seen anything like that before." And that's what most of the early feedback has been, and I'm super-grateful about that because that's what I was going for.</p>
<p>What is that you hope that viewers take away from watching your show?</p>
<p>First of all, I want people to be inspired to see that anything is possible. These people have done special things, but that doesn't make them special. Right? Does that make sense? They've done special things but anybody can do what they've done, just as long as they're determined to be authentic, to be who they are, and of course relentless in pursuing their passions. I'm hoping that this is a show for the whole family, and I want kids, for example, to be inspired to do these things. So, for example, there are a lot of kids who are classical music fans who are picking up the cello or playing the piano because they've seen The Piano Guys and now they're saying that it's igniting a passion in them. I told The Piano Guys they're making classical music great again. We live in the "Great Again" era, right? You look at Lindsey Stirling, who's a violin player; she's somebody else we want to sit down with. And so, we really want to inspire a whole generation of young people to see that anything is possible, and that nothing has to get in their way, that they can do this too.</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/bandlersbanter" type="external">Follow Aaron Bandler on Twitter.</a></p> | EXCLUSIVE: Q&A With Matthew Faraci, Host Of 'Frankly Faraci' | true | https://dailywire.com/news/14461/exclusive-qa-matthew-faraci-host-frankly-faraci-aaron-bandler | 2017-03-15 | 0right
| EXCLUSIVE: Q&A With Matthew Faraci, Host Of 'Frankly Faraci'
<p>A new show is coming out that will feature interviews of celebrities who channel their faith toward their passions.</p>
<p>Matthew Faraci, who has an extensive career in politics, journalism and writing, will be hosting the show <a href="http://franklyfaraci.com/" type="external">Frankly Faraci</a> through the Dove Channel. The first episode, which focuses on the band known as The Piano Guys, will premiere on March 21 and will be available on platforms like Roku and Amazon Prime. Other shows will feature celebrities such as the rapper Propaganda; suggestions for possible guests on future shows are to be sent to the show's <a href="https://www.facebook.com/FranklyFaraci/" type="external">Facebook page</a>.</p>
<p>Below is The Daily Wire's interview with Faraci.</p>
<p>Tell me a little bit about your show.</p>
<p>The show is fundamentally about interviewing famous people who are doing good things in the world and happen to have a faith background and that's what drives them ... I think so often both people of faith and conservatives, there's a stereotype that's popular, a sort of mainstream popular stereotype that they're angry, sort of finger-pointing, holier-than-thou do-gooders, right, and what I have found in my interviews is that these are some of the most coolest, most carefree, just enjoyable people that you'll ever meet. And so, in that sense, I definitely want to change that perception, which is I think is a false perception.</p>
<p>Also, I think the big story here is this show is actually produced by Cinedigm, which is a major Hollywood distribution company. In some sense, you know, I think it's a recognition that there's an audience for family-friendly content. You know, there's an audience that wants this kind of stuff, and Hollywood obviously causes great consternation for a lot of people. When Hollywood does something right, I think we need to stand up, you know, when you look at something like a Hacksaw Ridge, I was one of the first people to say, "Hey, this is great. We need to be applauding this kind of stuff." Rather than bashing Hollywood always, I think it's important to encourage Hollywood when they make the kind of stuff that we want for our audience.</p>
<p>You've been a political strategist, you've been a journalist, how did you end up going from all those different career paths to running this show?</p>
<p>It's a fun journey. I actually started out – you may be too young to remember this – the very first political talk show that really sort of created all subsequent talk shows was something called the McLaughlin Group ... I started my career in Washington as a producer on that show. And so ... I started my career in Los Angeles; right after I graduated, I came to Los Angeles and I produced and wrote and did stand-up comedy. I tried my hand at the various things that young people tend to try their hands at when they come out here. So I did that, then went back to D.C., served as a producer, then I worked on Capitol Hill, and then I went to work in the Bush administration. I was actually a spokesperson for Elaine Chao, who is the current Transportation Secretary, as you know.</p>
<p>I feel like all those experiences led up to this, but what was interesting was during that time, I got to know a lot of these people, a lot of these leaders in that world. I got to see that there are, that the popular perception is that people in Washington are out for themselves, they're self-important, they're sleazy. You know, I don't have to tell you all the things. What I was surprised to find was that so many of the people that I got to know were good people who wanted what was right for the country and they were driven to do the right thing, and on both sides, frankly. In other words, even though I may have disagreed with some people on the other side, I did discover that their motives were that they thought they were doing what was right for the country. That's really when I started to think about that – maybe people aren't always looking at the whole person when you see an interview; maybe you don't get the full picture of who that person is.</p>
<p>Right, so it sounds like you're then trying to get the full person out of these interviews then.</p>
<p>Yeah, Propaganda's like this super-interesting guy who's trying to, one of his things is talking about racial reconciliation, but in a way that's constructive and helpful; like he's actually trying to lead a dialogue on that rather than just getting angry, which is what too many people are doing these days. I feel like this is in some small sense an anecdote for all the social media that we look at. Everything's angry, angry, angry, angry, angry negatives and I'm hoping to bring some positivity into that conversation.</p>
<p>Of the celebrities that you've interviewed so far, who was it that was most intriguing to you?</p>
<p>I would have to say The Piano Guys because first of all, what they have done is so surprising, right? Like dropping a piano on top of a cliff, playing on the Great Wall of China, all that kind of stuff. I thought that maybe, because they're so huge at this point that they would all have egos. What I was surprised to find is that not only do they not have egos, they're hilarious, dude! You probably saw it in the interview. I was laughing with them the whole time. I mean, those guys are just carefree and funny. I guess I didn't know what to expect and I couldn't believe how cool they were. They were just amazing.</p>
<p>How are you able to find all these various faith-based celebrities?</p>
<p>I am an avid researcher and also Dove has a very good research team. I dig and I dig and I dig and what I look for is stories where you get one little quote and you go, "Aha! I think I have a lead." So for example, Harry Connick Jr. is somebody I want to sit down with because I saw in a story that he said "My faith informs everything that I do and every decision that I make," something like that. And I was like, "Oh ho ho ho ho!" You know there's a nugget, there's a lead. Chris Pratt, who's the biggest actor in Hollywood, has tweeted some Bible verses at times, so has Justin Bieber, and I'm like, "Aha!" Usually you can tell because these people have a goodness in them. You can tell that they have a passion to bring good into the world. Even when you look at Chris, like he's kind of funny; there's a positivity about Chris, you know. And so, I feel that way about Speaker Ryan. I think you can see that in Speaker Ryan. So, I look for any little piece of evidence that I can find and as soon as I verify that, I go for it.</p>
<p>So you mentioned that you want to interview people like Chris Pratt. Are there any other particular celebrities you're hoping to have on your show at some point other than the ones you just mentioned to me?</p>
<p>Yeah, I'd love to interview Speaker Ryan. I would love to talk to the president. I would love to talk to Joe Manchin ... I'd love to talk to Bono, Candace Cameron, as I said Harry Connick Jr. ... J.J. Reddick from the Clippers, I'd love to interview him. Clayton Kershaw from the Dodgers, very much a person of faith who gives a lot of his money away. I'd also like to interview Steve Green from Hobby Lobby, who is a businessperson and is obviously funding the Museum of the Bible or helping to fund it. There are a couple of people in Silicon Valley that I'm looking into. So really, it's like people in business, sports, politics, music, kind of the wide range of folks who are doing important things in the world and that's what guides them and drives them.</p>
<p>So obviously your show doesn't come out till the 21st, but I take it that there are probably people who have already seen the first episode for reviews. Have you gotten any feedback so far about your show?</p>
<p>Honestly, we're just at the point where we're letting people know, to your point about the reviews and stuff. But everybody that has seen it privately has sort of said – it's sort of funny because I like to make fun of myself – they're like, "Wow! We didn't know you'd be so good at this." I'm like, "Okay, thanks a lot, guys." Most of what we've gotten is, "Wow, it's refreshing, it's positive, and it's different; it's just we haven't seen anything like that before." And that's what most of the early feedback has been, and I'm super-grateful about that because that's what I was going for.</p>
<p>What is that you hope that viewers take away from watching your show?</p>
<p>First of all, I want people to be inspired to see that anything is possible. These people have done special things, but that doesn't make them special. Right? Does that make sense? They've done special things but anybody can do what they've done, just as long as they're determined to be authentic, to be who they are, and of course relentless in pursuing their passions. I'm hoping that this is a show for the whole family, and I want kids, for example, to be inspired to do these things. So, for example, there are a lot of kids who are classical music fans who are picking up the cello or playing the piano because they've seen The Piano Guys and now they're saying that it's igniting a passion in them. I told The Piano Guys they're making classical music great again. We live in the "Great Again" era, right? You look at Lindsey Stirling, who's a violin player; she's somebody else we want to sit down with. And so, we really want to inspire a whole generation of young people to see that anything is possible, and that nothing has to get in their way, that they can do this too.</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/bandlersbanter" type="external">Follow Aaron Bandler on Twitter.</a></p> | 1,601 |
<p>BERLIN (Reuters) - She has not faced a credible challenge to her rule as German chancellor for more than 12 years. Now, members of Angela Merkel’s conservatives are starting to look ahead to potential alternatives to lead their party and country.</p> FILE PHOTO: Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the acting German Chancellor Angela Merkel delivers a speech before exploratory talks about forming a new coalition government at the SPD headquarters in Berlin, Germany, January 7, 2018. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke
<p>Merkel’s immediate fate depends on the Social Democratic Party (SPD), which votes on Sunday on whether their leaders should pursue coalition negotiations with her Christian Democrats after striking a preliminary deal last week.</p>
<p>A “no” vote could force fresh elections as well as renewed debate on the issue of succession.</p>
<p>Interviews by Reuters with more than a dozen party lawmakers indicate that the coalition talks have brought pressure from Merkel’s party for new faces to be included in the next cabinet and prompted early conversations on a succession plan.</p>
<p>“We need to talk about how the Union can renew itself,” said Paul Ziemiak, who chairs the youth wing of the Union of Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) and the Christian Social Union (CSU), which run together in national elections on the same ticket.</p>
<p>Merkel herself decided to seek a fourth term only after long reflection, and said in November 2016 she was seeking to stay on “if health allows”. In 1998 she was quoted as saying: “I don’t want to be a half-dead wreck when I leave politics.” On the other hand, she has not ruled out running for a 5th term.</p>
<p>The departure of Merkel, whose time in office has overlapped with four French presidents and four British prime ministers, risks creating a leadership vacuum in the European Union at a critical and uncertain time.</p>
<p>To smooth the transition, many in the CDU favor the idea of a gradual transition. That could involve handing the party chairmanship over first.</p>
<p>Others want Merkel to go sooner, however, frustrated with her handling of the refugee crisis, which hurt the party in Sept. 24’s national election. Lamenting their loss of support to the far right, they complain she lacks the common touch.</p>
<p>One CDU lawmaker, who admired Merkel’s mastery of detail but complained she lacks empathy, said that handing over the chancellorship early would strengthen her successor and the party in the next election, due in 2021.</p>
<p>“Tactically, a chancellor has an incumbency advantage. That means there could be a change within the legislative period,” the lawmaker said.</p> SUPERCHARGED DEBATE
<p>The succession debate has been supercharged by the inclusion of a clause in the preliminary coalition deal with the SPD that envisages a review of the next government’s progress after two years to assess whether any changes to its mission are needed.</p>
<p>“A good time for Merkel to resign,” one CDU lawmaker, speaking on condition of anonymity, said of the review.</p>
<p>The risk of a handover at that point is that the SPD, if it agrees to govern with the conservatives, could pull the plug on the coalition and force fresh elections. But the situation also could come to a head far sooner.</p>
<p>Sunday’s SPD vote is an immediate hurdle. If fresh elections are held, a small minority of lawmakers on the right of the CDU and in the CSU hope she would not run again for chancellor, according to those who spoke to Reuters.</p>
<p>Others reject this idea.</p>
<p>“We are not of the view that if the SPD votes ‘no’ on Sunday, that this is the fault of the Union or the chancellor,” said Detlef Seif, deputy EU spokesman for Merkel’s conservative parliamentary bloc.</p>
<p>Merkel has said she would run again for chancellor in the event of new elections. Voters still respect her, polls show.</p>
<p>A Forsa poll published on Thursday showed support for Merkel’s CDU/CSU bloc rose to 34 percent, slightly above its election result of 32.9 percent. Support for the SPD slipped to 18 percent, below the 20.5 percent it achieved in the election.</p>
<p>Many conservatives favor an orderly transition.</p>
<p>“I think a sensible succession arrangement must be found within the Union, but not at the moment given all that the chancellor has achieved, and not in the middle of a legislative period,” said Seif.</p>
<p>One way, discussed by some other CDU lawmakers, of achieving an orderly handover would see Merkel relinquish the CDU party chair to a designated successor in 2020 while remaining chancellor, a scenario which would allow the person to raise their profile.</p>
<p>Merkel has in the past said she believes the party chair and chancellorship should be held by the same person.</p>
<p>The CDU botched its last leadership handover.</p>
<p>Late chancellor Helmut Kohl handed over the chairmanship to Wolfgang Schaeuble after his defeat at the 1998 election, only for them both to be compromised by a party funding scandal. Merkel then took over as leader, calling for a new start.</p>
<p>Schaeuble, highly respected by conservatives for imposing fiscal discipline on the euro zone during his time as finance minister, is perhaps the only CDU figure who could lead a putsch to oust Merkel. A trusted, if awkward, ally for Merkel, he is unlikely to do so.</p>
<p>Younger contenders are circling, notably deputy finance minister Jens Spahn.</p>
<p>“Germans love orderly processes, but when it comes to handing over the chancellorship it doesn’t happen,” said Carsten Nickel at advisory firm Teneo Intelligence. “I think there will be a lot of movement in the CDU in the next four years.”</p>
<p>Editing by Sonya Hepinstall</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>GAZA BORDER (Reuters) - Israeli troops shot dead seven Palestinian protesters and wounded at least 200 along the Israel-Gaza border on Friday, Gaza medical officials said, raising the death toll to 27 in the week-long disturbances.</p>
<p>They said the demonstrators, including two teenage boys aged 16 and 17, were killed at protest sites along the frontier during a round of daily demonstrations that has been dubbed “The Great March of Return”.</p>
<p>The day of violence, which saw bigger Palestinian crowds than in recent days but not as large as when the demonstration began last Friday, calmed down as night descended.</p>
<p>Gazans, including Palestinian refugees and their descendants seeking to regain ancestral homes in what is now Israel, have set up tent encampments a few hundred meters (yards) inside the 65-km (40-mile) fence that separates Israel from the Gaza Strip.</p>
<p>Large groups of youths have ventured much closer to the no-go zone along the barrier, risking live fire from Israeli troops to roll burning tires and throw stones.</p> Related Coverage
<a href="/article/us-israel-palestinians-gaza-explainer/explainer-gazas-70-years-of-woe-idUSKCN1HD16O" type="external">Explainer: Gaza's 70 years of woe</a>
<p>“Israel took everything from us, the homeland, freedom, our future,” said Samer, a 27-year-old protester who would not give his full name, fearing Israeli reprisals. “I have two kids, a boy and a girl, and if I die, God will take care of them.”</p>
<p>The number of protesters on Friday was larger than in recent days, but lower than the outset of the disturbances on March 30, when 17 Palestinians were fatally shot by Israeli forces. The Israeli military estimated Friday’s turnout at around 20,000.</p>
<p>Refugees comprise most of the 2 million population of Israeli-blockaded Gaza, an enclave ruled by the Islamist movement Hamas which calls for Israel’s destruction and is designated by Western states as a terrorist organization.</p>
<p>Many of those killed were militants, said Israel, which stationed sharpshooters on the frontier to stop Palestinians attempting “any breach of the security infrastructure and fence, which protects Israeli civilians”.</p> WAR OF WORDS
<p>David Keyes, an Israeli government spokesman, accused Hamas of having instigated violent protests along the border.</p>
<p>“This is a travesty for the Palestinian people that the Hamas government is encouraging its people to attack Israel, it is encouraging its people to commit acts of violence,” he said.</p>
<p>Hamas’s Gaza leader, Yehya Al-Sinwar, spoke at a protest encampment to praise those who turned out to confront the “enemy who besieges us”. He said the demonstrations would continue, telling the crowds: “We will uproot the borders, we will pluck out their hearts, and we will pray in Jerusalem.”</p>
<p>Earlier, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem urged protesters to keep the rallies peaceful. “Maintaining the peaceful nature of the protests will strike all fragile Zionist propaganda,” Qassem said in a statement.</p>
<p>Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who holds little sway in Gaza, condemned what he described as Israel’s “acts of killing and oppression conducted...against the peaceful uprising.”</p>
<p>Israel’s response to the protests has drawn international criticism, with human rights groups saying it involved live fire against demonstrators posing no immediate threat to life.</p>
<p>The demonstrators have revived a longstanding demand for the right of return of Palestinian refugees to towns and villages which their families fled from, or were driven out of, when the state of Israel was created.</p>
<p>The Israeli government has ruled out any right of return, fearing that the country would lose its Jewish majority.</p> A Palestinian protects himself from inhaling tear gas at the Israel-Gaza border during a protest demanding the right to return to their homeland, in the southern Gaza Strip April 6, 2018. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
<p>Palestinian youths burned Israeli flags and planted Palestinian banners on dirt mounds beside tented encampments as others arrived on large trucks carrying piles of more tires to burn. Others launched stones with slingshots.</p>
<p>With Israeli tear gas rising into the air, Palestinian youths used T-shirts, cheap medical masks and perfume to try and protect themselves. Israel tried to douse the burning rubber with jets of water directed over defensive dirt mounds on its side of the border.</p>
<p>A U.N. human rights spokeswoman urged Israel to exercise restraint against the Palestinian protesters. “We are saying that Israel has obligations to ensure that excessive force is not employed. And that if there is unjustified and unlawful recourse to firearms, resulting in death, that may amount to a wilful killing,” Elizabeth Throssell said in Geneva.</p>
<p>Israel says it is doing what it must to defend its border and that its troops have been responding with riot dispersal means and fire “in accordance with the rules of engagement”.</p>
<p>The Palestinian deaths have elicited scant concern in Israel, which has been the target of thousands of rocket strikes from Gaza over the past few years.</p> Slideshow (4 Images)
<p>Palestinian militant groups have also dug tunnels under the border fence to smuggle weapons, and to launch attacks.</p>
<p>Additional reporting by Eli Berlzon and Amir Cohen on the Gaza border, Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; writing by Stephen Farrell and Ori Lewis; editing by Mark Heinrich</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak announced the dissolution of parliament on Friday, paving the way for a general election showdown with his old mentor and the country’s most seasoned campaigner, Mahathir Mohamad.</p> A woman passes a live telecast of Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak addressing the nation on the dissolution of Parliament at a electronics shop in Port Klang, Malaysia April 6, 2018. REUTERS/Lai Seng Sin
<p>Najib is under pressure to deliver an emphatic win for the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, as he struggles to appease Malaysians unhappy with rising costs and a multi-billion dollar scandal at a state fund he founded.</p>
<p>The 64-year-old leader is expected to retain power due to a rift in opposition ranks between Mahathir’s bloc and the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party.</p>
<p>But analysts predict a tough fight from Mahathir, who transformed Malaysia into an industrial nation from a rural backwater during his iron-fisted 22-year rule until 2003.</p>
<p>The opposition says the election will be unfair.</p> Related Coverage
<a href="/article/us-malaysia-election-factbox/factbox-malaysias-najib-calls-for-polls-to-face-toughest-election-yet-idUSKCN1HD0OQ" type="external">Factbox: Malaysia's Najib calls for polls, to face toughest election yet</a>
<p>In recent days, parliament approved plans to redraw electoral boundaries and passed a contentious anti-fake news bill, changes critics say will favour Najib.</p>
<p>The government rejects the accusations.</p>
<p>“If victory is given to BN, we promise to do our best, to carry out a bigger, more inclusive and more comprehensive transformation of the country,” Najib said in an announcement on state television, adding that the dissolution of parliament would be effective from Saturday.</p>
<p>Polling must be held within 60 days of a dissolution. The Election Commission is expected to meet in days to announce a date for the approximately 14 million eligible voters to cast their ballots.</p>
<p>High living costs and corruption are issues that have resonated with voters but overall, Najib’s standing is likely to be bolstered by a robust economy.</p>
<p>“We don’t choose parties, we choose leaders,” said 27-year-old Amir Mukris Bakeri, a travel agent in Kuala Lumpur.</p>
<p>“If the leader can provide for people’s welfare, that’s who we’d pick.”</p>
<p>Growth has been buoyed by a recovery in global crude oil prices and increased trade and infrastructure investment from Malaysia’s largest trading partner, China.</p> Malaysia's former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad speaks during a Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia briefing in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in this still image taken from social media video, April 6, 2018. Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia /via REUTERS ‘TRICKS’
<p>Political apathy, however, is pervasive among young Malaysians and urban voters, many of whom are reluctant to choose between Mahathir and Najib, who are seen as cut from the same cloth.</p>
<p>Mahathir, 92, who was himself criticised for his authoritarian premiership, told a news conference Malaysia’s 14th general election would be “dirty”.</p>
<p>“Should Najib win this election through his tricks and his cheating, then we can kiss goodbye to democracy in the 15th, 16th, 17th elections,” Mahathir said.</p>
<p>If elected, Mahathir would become the world’s oldest prime minister.</p>
<p>Najib resisted demands to step down in mid-2015 following reports of financial mismanagement at state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), including that $681 million was deposited into his personal bank account.</p>
<p>Najib has denied any wrongdoing in connection with 1MDB, but the scandal created a rift between Najib and Mahathir, who has become the prime minister’s harshest critic.</p>
<p>With the common goal of taking down Najib, Mahathir has joined hands with his former deputy and jailed opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, ending a feud that had shaped the country’s political narrative over two decades.</p> ‘UNPREDICTABLE’
<p>Najib’s United Malay National Organisation (UMNO) party heads the ruling coalition that has held power since Malaysia’s independence in 1957.</p> Slideshow (2 Images)
<p>The coalition lost the popular vote in the last election, in 2013, but Najib held on to power with a smaller majority in parliament.</p>
<p>Malaysia has a first-past-the-post election system, which is based on the number of seats won, not the popular vote.</p>
<p>Even if Najib’s coalition retains power, a weak victory could lead to an internal leadership challenge against him.</p>
<p>His predecessor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, had to step down after the coalition lost its two-thirds majority in the 222-seat parliament for the first time in 2008.</p>
<p>“He wants not only to win, but to win big,” said Yang Razali Kassim, Senior Fellow at S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.</p>
<p>The election could be a very close call, he said.</p>
<p>“This will in fact be the most unpredictable general election in Malaysian politics,” he said.</p>
<p>Additional reporting by A.Ananthalakshmi, Emily Chow, Liz Lee and Ebrahim Harris; Writing by Praveen Menon; Editing by Michael Perry, Robert Birsel</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>SEOUL (Reuters) - A South Korean court jailed former President Park Geun-hye for 24 years on Friday over a scandal that exposed webs of corruption between political leaders and the country’s conglomerates.</p>
<p>Park became South Korea’s first democratically elected leader to be forced from office last year when the Constitutional Court ordered her out over a scandal that landed the heads of two conglomerates in jail.</p>
<p>The court also fined Park, the daughter of a former military dictator, 18 billion won ($16.9 million) after finding her guilty of charges including bribery, abuse of power and coercion.</p>
<p>“The defendant abused her presidential power entrusted by the people, and as a result, brought massive chaos to the order of state affairs and led to the impeachment of the president, which was unprecedented,” judge Kim Se-yoon said as he handed down the sentence.</p>
<p>Up to 1,000 Park supporters gathered outside the court, holding national flags and signs calling for an end to “political revenge” against her.</p>
<p>The court found Park guilty of colluding with her old friend, Choi Soon-sil, to receive about 7 billion won ($6.56 million) each from Lotte Group, a retail giant, and Samsung, the world’s biggest maker of smartphones and semiconductors, while demanding 8.9 billion won from SK, an energy conglomerate.</p>
<p>Most of the money was intended to bankroll non-profit foundations run by Choi’s family and confidants, and to fund the education of Choi’s horse-riding daughter, the court said.</p>
<p>Prosecutors sought a 30-year sentence and a 118.5 billion won ($112 million) fine for Park.</p>
<p>Park, 66, who has been in jail since March 31 last year, has denied wrongdoing and was not present in court.</p>
<p>The judge said Park had shown “no sign of repentance” but had instead tried to shift the blame to Choi and her secretaries.</p>
<p>“We cannot help but sternly hold her accountable,” Kim said.</p> ‘HEARTBREAKING’
<p>Park apologized while in office for seeking help from Choi, who had no policy or political experience, but that was as close as she came to admitting any guilt.</p>
<p>Kang Chul-koo, one of Park’s state-appointed lawyers, said he would discuss with her the possibility of an appeal.</p>
<p>“We tried our utmost but regret the result turned out very bad,” Kang told reporters at the court.</p>
<p>“The truth will be revealed one day.”</p>
<p>The sentence will be a bitter blow for Park, who returned to the presidential palace in 2012 as the country’s first woman leader, more than three decades after she left it following the assassination of her father.</p>
<p>Her ouster from office last year led to a presidential election won by the liberal Moon Jae-in, whose conciliatory stand on North Korea has underpinned a significant warming of ties between the rival neighbors.</p>
<p>Moon’s office said Park’s fate was “heartbreaking” not only for herself but for the country, and added that history that was not remembered would be repeated.</p>
<p>“We will not forget today,” the office said.</p>
<p>Park is the latest former leader of South Korea to run afoul of the law.</p>
<p>Two predecessors, Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo, were convicted in 1996 of mutiny, treason and corruption and sentenced to long prison terms but both received presidential pardons and were freed after a couple of years.</p> FILE PHOTO: South Korean ousted leader Park Geun-hye arrives at a court in Seoul, South Korea, August 25, 2017. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji
<p>But Moon took office pledging to end the practice of pardoning public and corporate officials convicted of corruption.</p> WATERSHED?
<p>Park’s friend, Choi, was convicted and jailed for 20 years after a separate trial in February.</p>
<p>The chairman of the Lotte Group, the country’s fifth-largest conglomerate, Shin Dong-bin, was jailed for two years and six months.</p>
<p>Samsung Group heir Jay Y. Lee was jailed for a similar term on charges of bribery and embezzlement but in a surprise decision in February, an appeals court freed him after a year in detention.</p>
<p>Park’s supporters and opponents reflect divisions in a society still haunted by Cold War antagonism.</p>
<p>Most supporters are older conservatives who remember her father’s authoritarian 18-year rule, beginning in 1961, when their country began its remarkable surge toward becoming an economic power.</p>
<p>Younger, liberal voters, who staged months of protests against Park before her ouster, will be hoping the verdict will be a watershed in efforts by the new government to end the self-serving collusion between political leaders and the powerful conglomerates known as chaebol.</p> Slideshow (4 Images)
<p>“The ruling will be a lesson for many companies,” said Choi Woon-youl, a lawmaker of the ruling Democratic Party.</p>
<p>“They have to boost transparency and sever the ties of collusion with government. If you have nothing to hide, whether about management or succession, you don’t have to be bullied by the government.”</p>
<p>Reporting by Hyonhee Shin and Heekyong Yang; Additional reporting by Soyoung Kim and Christine Kim; Editing by Robert Birsel</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a> | Slowly, Germany begins to ponder life after Merkel Israeli troops kill seven Palestinians on day of heightened Gaza border protests: medics Malaysia's PM dissolves parliament paving way for toughest election yet South Korean court jails former president Park for 24 years | false | https://reuters.com/article/us-germany-politics-merkel/slowly-germany-begins-to-ponder-life-after-merkel-idUSKBN1F81PT | 2018-01-19 | 2least
| Slowly, Germany begins to ponder life after Merkel Israeli troops kill seven Palestinians on day of heightened Gaza border protests: medics Malaysia's PM dissolves parliament paving way for toughest election yet South Korean court jails former president Park for 24 years
<p>BERLIN (Reuters) - She has not faced a credible challenge to her rule as German chancellor for more than 12 years. Now, members of Angela Merkel’s conservatives are starting to look ahead to potential alternatives to lead their party and country.</p> FILE PHOTO: Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the acting German Chancellor Angela Merkel delivers a speech before exploratory talks about forming a new coalition government at the SPD headquarters in Berlin, Germany, January 7, 2018. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke
<p>Merkel’s immediate fate depends on the Social Democratic Party (SPD), which votes on Sunday on whether their leaders should pursue coalition negotiations with her Christian Democrats after striking a preliminary deal last week.</p>
<p>A “no” vote could force fresh elections as well as renewed debate on the issue of succession.</p>
<p>Interviews by Reuters with more than a dozen party lawmakers indicate that the coalition talks have brought pressure from Merkel’s party for new faces to be included in the next cabinet and prompted early conversations on a succession plan.</p>
<p>“We need to talk about how the Union can renew itself,” said Paul Ziemiak, who chairs the youth wing of the Union of Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) and the Christian Social Union (CSU), which run together in national elections on the same ticket.</p>
<p>Merkel herself decided to seek a fourth term only after long reflection, and said in November 2016 she was seeking to stay on “if health allows”. In 1998 she was quoted as saying: “I don’t want to be a half-dead wreck when I leave politics.” On the other hand, she has not ruled out running for a 5th term.</p>
<p>The departure of Merkel, whose time in office has overlapped with four French presidents and four British prime ministers, risks creating a leadership vacuum in the European Union at a critical and uncertain time.</p>
<p>To smooth the transition, many in the CDU favor the idea of a gradual transition. That could involve handing the party chairmanship over first.</p>
<p>Others want Merkel to go sooner, however, frustrated with her handling of the refugee crisis, which hurt the party in Sept. 24’s national election. Lamenting their loss of support to the far right, they complain she lacks the common touch.</p>
<p>One CDU lawmaker, who admired Merkel’s mastery of detail but complained she lacks empathy, said that handing over the chancellorship early would strengthen her successor and the party in the next election, due in 2021.</p>
<p>“Tactically, a chancellor has an incumbency advantage. That means there could be a change within the legislative period,” the lawmaker said.</p> SUPERCHARGED DEBATE
<p>The succession debate has been supercharged by the inclusion of a clause in the preliminary coalition deal with the SPD that envisages a review of the next government’s progress after two years to assess whether any changes to its mission are needed.</p>
<p>“A good time for Merkel to resign,” one CDU lawmaker, speaking on condition of anonymity, said of the review.</p>
<p>The risk of a handover at that point is that the SPD, if it agrees to govern with the conservatives, could pull the plug on the coalition and force fresh elections. But the situation also could come to a head far sooner.</p>
<p>Sunday’s SPD vote is an immediate hurdle. If fresh elections are held, a small minority of lawmakers on the right of the CDU and in the CSU hope she would not run again for chancellor, according to those who spoke to Reuters.</p>
<p>Others reject this idea.</p>
<p>“We are not of the view that if the SPD votes ‘no’ on Sunday, that this is the fault of the Union or the chancellor,” said Detlef Seif, deputy EU spokesman for Merkel’s conservative parliamentary bloc.</p>
<p>Merkel has said she would run again for chancellor in the event of new elections. Voters still respect her, polls show.</p>
<p>A Forsa poll published on Thursday showed support for Merkel’s CDU/CSU bloc rose to 34 percent, slightly above its election result of 32.9 percent. Support for the SPD slipped to 18 percent, below the 20.5 percent it achieved in the election.</p>
<p>Many conservatives favor an orderly transition.</p>
<p>“I think a sensible succession arrangement must be found within the Union, but not at the moment given all that the chancellor has achieved, and not in the middle of a legislative period,” said Seif.</p>
<p>One way, discussed by some other CDU lawmakers, of achieving an orderly handover would see Merkel relinquish the CDU party chair to a designated successor in 2020 while remaining chancellor, a scenario which would allow the person to raise their profile.</p>
<p>Merkel has in the past said she believes the party chair and chancellorship should be held by the same person.</p>
<p>The CDU botched its last leadership handover.</p>
<p>Late chancellor Helmut Kohl handed over the chairmanship to Wolfgang Schaeuble after his defeat at the 1998 election, only for them both to be compromised by a party funding scandal. Merkel then took over as leader, calling for a new start.</p>
<p>Schaeuble, highly respected by conservatives for imposing fiscal discipline on the euro zone during his time as finance minister, is perhaps the only CDU figure who could lead a putsch to oust Merkel. A trusted, if awkward, ally for Merkel, he is unlikely to do so.</p>
<p>Younger contenders are circling, notably deputy finance minister Jens Spahn.</p>
<p>“Germans love orderly processes, but when it comes to handing over the chancellorship it doesn’t happen,” said Carsten Nickel at advisory firm Teneo Intelligence. “I think there will be a lot of movement in the CDU in the next four years.”</p>
<p>Editing by Sonya Hepinstall</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>GAZA BORDER (Reuters) - Israeli troops shot dead seven Palestinian protesters and wounded at least 200 along the Israel-Gaza border on Friday, Gaza medical officials said, raising the death toll to 27 in the week-long disturbances.</p>
<p>They said the demonstrators, including two teenage boys aged 16 and 17, were killed at protest sites along the frontier during a round of daily demonstrations that has been dubbed “The Great March of Return”.</p>
<p>The day of violence, which saw bigger Palestinian crowds than in recent days but not as large as when the demonstration began last Friday, calmed down as night descended.</p>
<p>Gazans, including Palestinian refugees and their descendants seeking to regain ancestral homes in what is now Israel, have set up tent encampments a few hundred meters (yards) inside the 65-km (40-mile) fence that separates Israel from the Gaza Strip.</p>
<p>Large groups of youths have ventured much closer to the no-go zone along the barrier, risking live fire from Israeli troops to roll burning tires and throw stones.</p> Related Coverage
<a href="/article/us-israel-palestinians-gaza-explainer/explainer-gazas-70-years-of-woe-idUSKCN1HD16O" type="external">Explainer: Gaza's 70 years of woe</a>
<p>“Israel took everything from us, the homeland, freedom, our future,” said Samer, a 27-year-old protester who would not give his full name, fearing Israeli reprisals. “I have two kids, a boy and a girl, and if I die, God will take care of them.”</p>
<p>The number of protesters on Friday was larger than in recent days, but lower than the outset of the disturbances on March 30, when 17 Palestinians were fatally shot by Israeli forces. The Israeli military estimated Friday’s turnout at around 20,000.</p>
<p>Refugees comprise most of the 2 million population of Israeli-blockaded Gaza, an enclave ruled by the Islamist movement Hamas which calls for Israel’s destruction and is designated by Western states as a terrorist organization.</p>
<p>Many of those killed were militants, said Israel, which stationed sharpshooters on the frontier to stop Palestinians attempting “any breach of the security infrastructure and fence, which protects Israeli civilians”.</p> WAR OF WORDS
<p>David Keyes, an Israeli government spokesman, accused Hamas of having instigated violent protests along the border.</p>
<p>“This is a travesty for the Palestinian people that the Hamas government is encouraging its people to attack Israel, it is encouraging its people to commit acts of violence,” he said.</p>
<p>Hamas’s Gaza leader, Yehya Al-Sinwar, spoke at a protest encampment to praise those who turned out to confront the “enemy who besieges us”. He said the demonstrations would continue, telling the crowds: “We will uproot the borders, we will pluck out their hearts, and we will pray in Jerusalem.”</p>
<p>Earlier, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem urged protesters to keep the rallies peaceful. “Maintaining the peaceful nature of the protests will strike all fragile Zionist propaganda,” Qassem said in a statement.</p>
<p>Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who holds little sway in Gaza, condemned what he described as Israel’s “acts of killing and oppression conducted...against the peaceful uprising.”</p>
<p>Israel’s response to the protests has drawn international criticism, with human rights groups saying it involved live fire against demonstrators posing no immediate threat to life.</p>
<p>The demonstrators have revived a longstanding demand for the right of return of Palestinian refugees to towns and villages which their families fled from, or were driven out of, when the state of Israel was created.</p>
<p>The Israeli government has ruled out any right of return, fearing that the country would lose its Jewish majority.</p> A Palestinian protects himself from inhaling tear gas at the Israel-Gaza border during a protest demanding the right to return to their homeland, in the southern Gaza Strip April 6, 2018. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
<p>Palestinian youths burned Israeli flags and planted Palestinian banners on dirt mounds beside tented encampments as others arrived on large trucks carrying piles of more tires to burn. Others launched stones with slingshots.</p>
<p>With Israeli tear gas rising into the air, Palestinian youths used T-shirts, cheap medical masks and perfume to try and protect themselves. Israel tried to douse the burning rubber with jets of water directed over defensive dirt mounds on its side of the border.</p>
<p>A U.N. human rights spokeswoman urged Israel to exercise restraint against the Palestinian protesters. “We are saying that Israel has obligations to ensure that excessive force is not employed. And that if there is unjustified and unlawful recourse to firearms, resulting in death, that may amount to a wilful killing,” Elizabeth Throssell said in Geneva.</p>
<p>Israel says it is doing what it must to defend its border and that its troops have been responding with riot dispersal means and fire “in accordance with the rules of engagement”.</p>
<p>The Palestinian deaths have elicited scant concern in Israel, which has been the target of thousands of rocket strikes from Gaza over the past few years.</p> Slideshow (4 Images)
<p>Palestinian militant groups have also dug tunnels under the border fence to smuggle weapons, and to launch attacks.</p>
<p>Additional reporting by Eli Berlzon and Amir Cohen on the Gaza border, Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; writing by Stephen Farrell and Ori Lewis; editing by Mark Heinrich</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak announced the dissolution of parliament on Friday, paving the way for a general election showdown with his old mentor and the country’s most seasoned campaigner, Mahathir Mohamad.</p> A woman passes a live telecast of Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak addressing the nation on the dissolution of Parliament at a electronics shop in Port Klang, Malaysia April 6, 2018. REUTERS/Lai Seng Sin
<p>Najib is under pressure to deliver an emphatic win for the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, as he struggles to appease Malaysians unhappy with rising costs and a multi-billion dollar scandal at a state fund he founded.</p>
<p>The 64-year-old leader is expected to retain power due to a rift in opposition ranks between Mahathir’s bloc and the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party.</p>
<p>But analysts predict a tough fight from Mahathir, who transformed Malaysia into an industrial nation from a rural backwater during his iron-fisted 22-year rule until 2003.</p>
<p>The opposition says the election will be unfair.</p> Related Coverage
<a href="/article/us-malaysia-election-factbox/factbox-malaysias-najib-calls-for-polls-to-face-toughest-election-yet-idUSKCN1HD0OQ" type="external">Factbox: Malaysia's Najib calls for polls, to face toughest election yet</a>
<p>In recent days, parliament approved plans to redraw electoral boundaries and passed a contentious anti-fake news bill, changes critics say will favour Najib.</p>
<p>The government rejects the accusations.</p>
<p>“If victory is given to BN, we promise to do our best, to carry out a bigger, more inclusive and more comprehensive transformation of the country,” Najib said in an announcement on state television, adding that the dissolution of parliament would be effective from Saturday.</p>
<p>Polling must be held within 60 days of a dissolution. The Election Commission is expected to meet in days to announce a date for the approximately 14 million eligible voters to cast their ballots.</p>
<p>High living costs and corruption are issues that have resonated with voters but overall, Najib’s standing is likely to be bolstered by a robust economy.</p>
<p>“We don’t choose parties, we choose leaders,” said 27-year-old Amir Mukris Bakeri, a travel agent in Kuala Lumpur.</p>
<p>“If the leader can provide for people’s welfare, that’s who we’d pick.”</p>
<p>Growth has been buoyed by a recovery in global crude oil prices and increased trade and infrastructure investment from Malaysia’s largest trading partner, China.</p> Malaysia's former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad speaks during a Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia briefing in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in this still image taken from social media video, April 6, 2018. Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia /via REUTERS ‘TRICKS’
<p>Political apathy, however, is pervasive among young Malaysians and urban voters, many of whom are reluctant to choose between Mahathir and Najib, who are seen as cut from the same cloth.</p>
<p>Mahathir, 92, who was himself criticised for his authoritarian premiership, told a news conference Malaysia’s 14th general election would be “dirty”.</p>
<p>“Should Najib win this election through his tricks and his cheating, then we can kiss goodbye to democracy in the 15th, 16th, 17th elections,” Mahathir said.</p>
<p>If elected, Mahathir would become the world’s oldest prime minister.</p>
<p>Najib resisted demands to step down in mid-2015 following reports of financial mismanagement at state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), including that $681 million was deposited into his personal bank account.</p>
<p>Najib has denied any wrongdoing in connection with 1MDB, but the scandal created a rift between Najib and Mahathir, who has become the prime minister’s harshest critic.</p>
<p>With the common goal of taking down Najib, Mahathir has joined hands with his former deputy and jailed opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, ending a feud that had shaped the country’s political narrative over two decades.</p> ‘UNPREDICTABLE’
<p>Najib’s United Malay National Organisation (UMNO) party heads the ruling coalition that has held power since Malaysia’s independence in 1957.</p> Slideshow (2 Images)
<p>The coalition lost the popular vote in the last election, in 2013, but Najib held on to power with a smaller majority in parliament.</p>
<p>Malaysia has a first-past-the-post election system, which is based on the number of seats won, not the popular vote.</p>
<p>Even if Najib’s coalition retains power, a weak victory could lead to an internal leadership challenge against him.</p>
<p>His predecessor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, had to step down after the coalition lost its two-thirds majority in the 222-seat parliament for the first time in 2008.</p>
<p>“He wants not only to win, but to win big,” said Yang Razali Kassim, Senior Fellow at S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.</p>
<p>The election could be a very close call, he said.</p>
<p>“This will in fact be the most unpredictable general election in Malaysian politics,” he said.</p>
<p>Additional reporting by A.Ananthalakshmi, Emily Chow, Liz Lee and Ebrahim Harris; Writing by Praveen Menon; Editing by Michael Perry, Robert Birsel</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>SEOUL (Reuters) - A South Korean court jailed former President Park Geun-hye for 24 years on Friday over a scandal that exposed webs of corruption between political leaders and the country’s conglomerates.</p>
<p>Park became South Korea’s first democratically elected leader to be forced from office last year when the Constitutional Court ordered her out over a scandal that landed the heads of two conglomerates in jail.</p>
<p>The court also fined Park, the daughter of a former military dictator, 18 billion won ($16.9 million) after finding her guilty of charges including bribery, abuse of power and coercion.</p>
<p>“The defendant abused her presidential power entrusted by the people, and as a result, brought massive chaos to the order of state affairs and led to the impeachment of the president, which was unprecedented,” judge Kim Se-yoon said as he handed down the sentence.</p>
<p>Up to 1,000 Park supporters gathered outside the court, holding national flags and signs calling for an end to “political revenge” against her.</p>
<p>The court found Park guilty of colluding with her old friend, Choi Soon-sil, to receive about 7 billion won ($6.56 million) each from Lotte Group, a retail giant, and Samsung, the world’s biggest maker of smartphones and semiconductors, while demanding 8.9 billion won from SK, an energy conglomerate.</p>
<p>Most of the money was intended to bankroll non-profit foundations run by Choi’s family and confidants, and to fund the education of Choi’s horse-riding daughter, the court said.</p>
<p>Prosecutors sought a 30-year sentence and a 118.5 billion won ($112 million) fine for Park.</p>
<p>Park, 66, who has been in jail since March 31 last year, has denied wrongdoing and was not present in court.</p>
<p>The judge said Park had shown “no sign of repentance” but had instead tried to shift the blame to Choi and her secretaries.</p>
<p>“We cannot help but sternly hold her accountable,” Kim said.</p> ‘HEARTBREAKING’
<p>Park apologized while in office for seeking help from Choi, who had no policy or political experience, but that was as close as she came to admitting any guilt.</p>
<p>Kang Chul-koo, one of Park’s state-appointed lawyers, said he would discuss with her the possibility of an appeal.</p>
<p>“We tried our utmost but regret the result turned out very bad,” Kang told reporters at the court.</p>
<p>“The truth will be revealed one day.”</p>
<p>The sentence will be a bitter blow for Park, who returned to the presidential palace in 2012 as the country’s first woman leader, more than three decades after she left it following the assassination of her father.</p>
<p>Her ouster from office last year led to a presidential election won by the liberal Moon Jae-in, whose conciliatory stand on North Korea has underpinned a significant warming of ties between the rival neighbors.</p>
<p>Moon’s office said Park’s fate was “heartbreaking” not only for herself but for the country, and added that history that was not remembered would be repeated.</p>
<p>“We will not forget today,” the office said.</p>
<p>Park is the latest former leader of South Korea to run afoul of the law.</p>
<p>Two predecessors, Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo, were convicted in 1996 of mutiny, treason and corruption and sentenced to long prison terms but both received presidential pardons and were freed after a couple of years.</p> FILE PHOTO: South Korean ousted leader Park Geun-hye arrives at a court in Seoul, South Korea, August 25, 2017. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji
<p>But Moon took office pledging to end the practice of pardoning public and corporate officials convicted of corruption.</p> WATERSHED?
<p>Park’s friend, Choi, was convicted and jailed for 20 years after a separate trial in February.</p>
<p>The chairman of the Lotte Group, the country’s fifth-largest conglomerate, Shin Dong-bin, was jailed for two years and six months.</p>
<p>Samsung Group heir Jay Y. Lee was jailed for a similar term on charges of bribery and embezzlement but in a surprise decision in February, an appeals court freed him after a year in detention.</p>
<p>Park’s supporters and opponents reflect divisions in a society still haunted by Cold War antagonism.</p>
<p>Most supporters are older conservatives who remember her father’s authoritarian 18-year rule, beginning in 1961, when their country began its remarkable surge toward becoming an economic power.</p>
<p>Younger, liberal voters, who staged months of protests against Park before her ouster, will be hoping the verdict will be a watershed in efforts by the new government to end the self-serving collusion between political leaders and the powerful conglomerates known as chaebol.</p> Slideshow (4 Images)
<p>“The ruling will be a lesson for many companies,” said Choi Woon-youl, a lawmaker of the ruling Democratic Party.</p>
<p>“They have to boost transparency and sever the ties of collusion with government. If you have nothing to hide, whether about management or succession, you don’t have to be bullied by the government.”</p>
<p>Reporting by Hyonhee Shin and Heekyong Yang; Additional reporting by Soyoung Kim and Christine Kim; Editing by Robert Birsel</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a> | 1,602 |
<p><a href="http://variety.com/tag/harvey-weinstein/" type="external">Harvey Weinstein</a>’s career in Hollywood is likely over.</p>
<p>A bombshell report <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/05/us/harvey-weinstein-harassment-allegations.html?hp&amp;action=click&amp;pgtype=Homepage&amp;clickSource=story-heading&amp;module=a-lede-package-region&amp;region=top-news&amp;WT.nav=top-news" type="external">in the New York Times</a> on Thursday, filled with detailed allegations of sexual harassment and abuse involving famous actresses such as Ashley Judd and Rose McGowan, as well as a half dozen former employees, have forced Weinstein to temporarily step down from the company he runs. If previous scandals involving Bill Cosby, Bill O’Reilly and Roger Ailes are any indication, this will be the first of many damaging articles about Weinstein’s misbehavior. Such stories tend to have a dam-bursting impact, jarring loose stories of misbehavior and emboldening women to come forward publicly with fresh allegations.</p>
<p>There’s something different about the Weinstein case. Unlike Ailes or O’Reilly, he is not part of a public company, thus he is not subject to the same pressure points. He reports to a (largely hand-picked) board and is his own boss. It’s possible that these board members or his brother and company co-founder Bob Weinstein may pressure him to part ways. But Weinstein stopped short of saying he would step down in a bizarre and rambling statement to the Times, in which he quoted Jay-Z and hit out at Donald Trump and the NRA. He did not mount much of a defense, though his lawyer Charles Harder says he is preparing a lawsuit against the paper.</p>
<p>Rather, his ostracization will likely come from the creative community. Will Netflix want to buy shows from the Weinstein Co. if <a href="http://variety.com/2017/film/news/lena-dunham-amber-tamblyn-harvey-weinstein-sexual-harassment-1202581729/" type="external">Harvey Weinstein</a> is still at the helm? Will Michael Moore and other liberal filmmakers want their projects appearing under the Weinstein Co. banner? Will the CAAs and WMEs of the world remain willing to let their clients place projects with the indie company?</p>
<p>His other problems will involve financing. It seems unlikely that a major investment firm will feel comfortable signing up for another round of backing with Weinstein. There’s not much of a company without him, and right now his brand is toxic.</p>
<p>Hollywood is a relationship business and the movie business’ tendrils spread out in thousands of different directions. Many prominent names will have trouble distancing themselves from a worsening Weinstein story. As the Times story makes clear, Weinstein’s alleged history of abuse dates back 30 years, extending to his days running Miramax, the Oscar-winning studio behind “Shakespeare in Love” and “Pulp Fiction.” At the time, Miramax was owned by Disney.</p>
<p>How much did executives at the company know about Weinstein’s behavior? Did they do enough to safeguard their employees or are they complicit in creating a toxic workplace environment? Was Disney’s money used to pay off Weinstein’s accusers? Spokespeople for the studio did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But these stories have a way of leaving everyone dirty.</p>
<p>In truth, the noose has been tightening for years around Harvey Weinstein. There’s been a bunker-like mentality at the Weinstein Co. for years, as the indie studio’s money troubles have worsened and as it tried to migrate away from prestige fare and into television. There were too many film flops such as “Tulip Fever,” “Burnt,” and “Gold,” and persistent mutterings that the company could no longer pay its bills. High profile executives would leave, with positions remaining vacant or filled by junior staffers. It’s been a while since the studio was a major force at film festivals, swinging its checkbook around to nab the hottest Sundance titles. In the meantime, new players like A24 and Bleecker Street have emerged, establishing themselves as more auteur-friendly (Weinstein had a reputation for battling directors), while Amazon and Netflix have been able to outspend all comers.</p>
<p>Even before the reports broke, agents were already wary about working with Weinstein because of reports that its money was running out. One agent told Variety that the Times’ report&#160;will give them an even bigger reason to stay away from the studio.</p>
<p>In some respects, Thursday’s piece was the confirmation of decades of rumors and shop talk that have clung to Weinstein. At various times, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and the New Yorker (which has its own competing piece still set to launch) have tried to break this story. They’ve aggressively pursued the angle of whether or not Weinstein used corporate funds at Miramax to pay for legal settlements with women. In most cases, Weinstein was able to successfully hit back at those claims. Another stumbling block was that many women did not want to go on the record with their allegations. That will likely change with the Times piece.</p>
<p>Weinstein is a fighter, a screamer, and a bully. He’s paying big money to top lawyers and is on the hunt for public relations firms in search of advocates. He’s probably not going to go quietly and his attorneys will be pitbulls. But in the court of public opinion, the jury may already be out. Threats may not be enough this time.</p>
<p>Justin Kroll contributed to this report.</p> | Is Harvey Weinstein Done in Hollywood? | false | https://newsline.com/is-harvey-weinstein-done-in-hollywood/ | 2017-10-05 | 1right-center
| Is Harvey Weinstein Done in Hollywood?
<p><a href="http://variety.com/tag/harvey-weinstein/" type="external">Harvey Weinstein</a>’s career in Hollywood is likely over.</p>
<p>A bombshell report <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/05/us/harvey-weinstein-harassment-allegations.html?hp&amp;action=click&amp;pgtype=Homepage&amp;clickSource=story-heading&amp;module=a-lede-package-region&amp;region=top-news&amp;WT.nav=top-news" type="external">in the New York Times</a> on Thursday, filled with detailed allegations of sexual harassment and abuse involving famous actresses such as Ashley Judd and Rose McGowan, as well as a half dozen former employees, have forced Weinstein to temporarily step down from the company he runs. If previous scandals involving Bill Cosby, Bill O’Reilly and Roger Ailes are any indication, this will be the first of many damaging articles about Weinstein’s misbehavior. Such stories tend to have a dam-bursting impact, jarring loose stories of misbehavior and emboldening women to come forward publicly with fresh allegations.</p>
<p>There’s something different about the Weinstein case. Unlike Ailes or O’Reilly, he is not part of a public company, thus he is not subject to the same pressure points. He reports to a (largely hand-picked) board and is his own boss. It’s possible that these board members or his brother and company co-founder Bob Weinstein may pressure him to part ways. But Weinstein stopped short of saying he would step down in a bizarre and rambling statement to the Times, in which he quoted Jay-Z and hit out at Donald Trump and the NRA. He did not mount much of a defense, though his lawyer Charles Harder says he is preparing a lawsuit against the paper.</p>
<p>Rather, his ostracization will likely come from the creative community. Will Netflix want to buy shows from the Weinstein Co. if <a href="http://variety.com/2017/film/news/lena-dunham-amber-tamblyn-harvey-weinstein-sexual-harassment-1202581729/" type="external">Harvey Weinstein</a> is still at the helm? Will Michael Moore and other liberal filmmakers want their projects appearing under the Weinstein Co. banner? Will the CAAs and WMEs of the world remain willing to let their clients place projects with the indie company?</p>
<p>His other problems will involve financing. It seems unlikely that a major investment firm will feel comfortable signing up for another round of backing with Weinstein. There’s not much of a company without him, and right now his brand is toxic.</p>
<p>Hollywood is a relationship business and the movie business’ tendrils spread out in thousands of different directions. Many prominent names will have trouble distancing themselves from a worsening Weinstein story. As the Times story makes clear, Weinstein’s alleged history of abuse dates back 30 years, extending to his days running Miramax, the Oscar-winning studio behind “Shakespeare in Love” and “Pulp Fiction.” At the time, Miramax was owned by Disney.</p>
<p>How much did executives at the company know about Weinstein’s behavior? Did they do enough to safeguard their employees or are they complicit in creating a toxic workplace environment? Was Disney’s money used to pay off Weinstein’s accusers? Spokespeople for the studio did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But these stories have a way of leaving everyone dirty.</p>
<p>In truth, the noose has been tightening for years around Harvey Weinstein. There’s been a bunker-like mentality at the Weinstein Co. for years, as the indie studio’s money troubles have worsened and as it tried to migrate away from prestige fare and into television. There were too many film flops such as “Tulip Fever,” “Burnt,” and “Gold,” and persistent mutterings that the company could no longer pay its bills. High profile executives would leave, with positions remaining vacant or filled by junior staffers. It’s been a while since the studio was a major force at film festivals, swinging its checkbook around to nab the hottest Sundance titles. In the meantime, new players like A24 and Bleecker Street have emerged, establishing themselves as more auteur-friendly (Weinstein had a reputation for battling directors), while Amazon and Netflix have been able to outspend all comers.</p>
<p>Even before the reports broke, agents were already wary about working with Weinstein because of reports that its money was running out. One agent told Variety that the Times’ report&#160;will give them an even bigger reason to stay away from the studio.</p>
<p>In some respects, Thursday’s piece was the confirmation of decades of rumors and shop talk that have clung to Weinstein. At various times, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and the New Yorker (which has its own competing piece still set to launch) have tried to break this story. They’ve aggressively pursued the angle of whether or not Weinstein used corporate funds at Miramax to pay for legal settlements with women. In most cases, Weinstein was able to successfully hit back at those claims. Another stumbling block was that many women did not want to go on the record with their allegations. That will likely change with the Times piece.</p>
<p>Weinstein is a fighter, a screamer, and a bully. He’s paying big money to top lawyers and is on the hunt for public relations firms in search of advocates. He’s probably not going to go quietly and his attorneys will be pitbulls. But in the court of public opinion, the jury may already be out. Threats may not be enough this time.</p>
<p>Justin Kroll contributed to this report.</p> | 1,603 |
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<p>On Tuesday, the House approved a bill sponsored by Republican Rep. Steve Pearce that would reauthorize the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996. The congressman has worked on the bill for almost two years.</p>
<p>Later Tuesday, a deal emerged that incorporated several public lands bills sponsored by Democratic Sens. Martin Heinrich and Tom Udall into a defense authorization bill. That legislation, expected to win approval by both chambers of Congress, now includes:</p>
<p>• A bill designating the Columbine-Hondo area in Taos County as wilderness. The bill would expand the Wheeler Peak Wilderness by 650 acres and shift a boundary to create a loop trail along the Lost Lake Trail from Taos Ski Valley to the East Fork Trail to Red River.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>• A bill to move the Valles Caldera National Preserve in northern New Mexico into a new management structure designed to increase public access. The legislation would transfer management of the preserve from the current board of trustees to the National Park Service.</p>
<p>• A bill to establish the Manhattan Project National Historical Park in Los Alamos. The park would conserve sites and artifacts that played a key role in the dawn of the nuclear era. Rep. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., co-sponsored the legislation.</p>
<p>• A measure to extend a pilot program that has helped the Bureau of Land Management streamline the oil and gas drilling permit process while strengthening a review system that helps meet environmental and safety standards.</p>
<p>“Thanks to years of effort and support from the local communities, our state will have new destinations for families and visitors to enjoy,” Heinrich said.</p>
<p>Pearce’s Native American housing bill would reauthorize a program that disburses federal block grants to tribes and Alaska Native villages, which use the money to sustain affordable housing for low-income tribal households. The Pearce bill would create a loan guarantee program to help tribes obtain private financing for housing and authorize money,which would still need to be appropriated, for training and technical assistance.</p>
<p>Pearce said he is optimistic the Senate will pass the bill before the end of the current session of Congress.</p>
<p>“We got a lot of bipartisan support,” Pearce said. “I think we’ll see this thing passed and signed into law.”</p>
<p>Earlier this month, Congress also cleared a bill sponsored by Udall and Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, also a New Mexico Democrat, that would allow the Amy Biehl charter school in Albuquerque to purchase the old post office it currently leases for classroom space. President Barack Obama signed the legislation into law last week. Lujan Grisham said the move would “provide a permanent home to a high school located in the heart of Downtown Albuquerque that provides quality education to at-risk students.”</p>
<p />
<p /> | NM bills moving ahead in Congress | false | https://abqjournal.com/505180/nm-bills-moving-ahead-in-congress.html | 2least
| NM bills moving ahead in Congress
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<p />
<p>On Tuesday, the House approved a bill sponsored by Republican Rep. Steve Pearce that would reauthorize the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996. The congressman has worked on the bill for almost two years.</p>
<p>Later Tuesday, a deal emerged that incorporated several public lands bills sponsored by Democratic Sens. Martin Heinrich and Tom Udall into a defense authorization bill. That legislation, expected to win approval by both chambers of Congress, now includes:</p>
<p>• A bill designating the Columbine-Hondo area in Taos County as wilderness. The bill would expand the Wheeler Peak Wilderness by 650 acres and shift a boundary to create a loop trail along the Lost Lake Trail from Taos Ski Valley to the East Fork Trail to Red River.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>• A bill to move the Valles Caldera National Preserve in northern New Mexico into a new management structure designed to increase public access. The legislation would transfer management of the preserve from the current board of trustees to the National Park Service.</p>
<p>• A bill to establish the Manhattan Project National Historical Park in Los Alamos. The park would conserve sites and artifacts that played a key role in the dawn of the nuclear era. Rep. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., co-sponsored the legislation.</p>
<p>• A measure to extend a pilot program that has helped the Bureau of Land Management streamline the oil and gas drilling permit process while strengthening a review system that helps meet environmental and safety standards.</p>
<p>“Thanks to years of effort and support from the local communities, our state will have new destinations for families and visitors to enjoy,” Heinrich said.</p>
<p>Pearce’s Native American housing bill would reauthorize a program that disburses federal block grants to tribes and Alaska Native villages, which use the money to sustain affordable housing for low-income tribal households. The Pearce bill would create a loan guarantee program to help tribes obtain private financing for housing and authorize money,which would still need to be appropriated, for training and technical assistance.</p>
<p>Pearce said he is optimistic the Senate will pass the bill before the end of the current session of Congress.</p>
<p>“We got a lot of bipartisan support,” Pearce said. “I think we’ll see this thing passed and signed into law.”</p>
<p>Earlier this month, Congress also cleared a bill sponsored by Udall and Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, also a New Mexico Democrat, that would allow the Amy Biehl charter school in Albuquerque to purchase the old post office it currently leases for classroom space. President Barack Obama signed the legislation into law last week. Lujan Grisham said the move would “provide a permanent home to a high school located in the heart of Downtown Albuquerque that provides quality education to at-risk students.”</p>
<p />
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<p>To add to the long list of designers that are refusing to dress Melania and Ivanka, Zac Posen, famous designer that formally dressed Michelle Obama, Kim Kardashian, and a host of other stars, has decided he wants to keep his image out of politics…by standing against politics.</p>
<p>It seems to have come to the point where designers, and other corporations, are stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to standing up for what they believe in. While Posen’s reasons for refusing to dress Melania or Ivanka are strong and commendable, his wishy washy stance on politics and fashion make his message a little confusing. Posen <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2017/03/13/zac-posen-explains-why-wont-be-dressing-ivanka-and-melania-trump-again.html" type="external">states</a>:</p>
<p>“Right now, I’m staying away from bringing my brand into politics.”</p>
<p>This is a sentiment that many companies providing a service or product have taken. However, and this is where we see him fighting with himself, Posen continues by <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/03/10/zac-posen-on-fashion-fame-and-why-he-won-t-design-clothes-for-ivanka-and-melania-trump.html" type="external">saying</a>:</p>
<p>“There are issues that are being questioned that are fundamentally upsetting to me — deeply: LGBT rights, immigration, funding for the arts, Planned Parenthood and women’s rights. These are just issues that are very close to my heart, and I use my own private voice and funds to fight them and in support of them. I think it’s important to use your voice. I think that every brand and person has a right to be vocal.”</p>
<p>It is very apparent that Posen is extremely upset by the lack of positive output towards equal rights that the Trump Administration has put out, but like so many others, he seems afraid to jump in head first in his declaration by including his brand in his feelings towards the issues. Posen seems to also keep a strong feeling of hope in the background by <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/03/10/zac-posen-on-fashion-fame-and-why-he-won-t-design-clothes-for-ivanka-and-melania-trump.html" type="external">stating:</a></p>
<p>“I’m very upset with the state of affairs right now. I always try to be optimistic. I think that freedom will prevail. And I don’t dictate who buys my clothing in a store.”</p>
<p>It seems this designer is fearful of losing money by 100 percent standing behind his dislike for the Trump clan but also doesn’t want to stay completely out of it. This is not surprising having seen the backlash some people and companies have taken from both Trump temper-tantrums and the current political arena.</p>
<p>Let’s hope that Trump’s backlash doesn’t start to make other’s fearful for standing up for what is right.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Featured image via&#160;By U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Gabriela Garcia/Released. Unit: HQMC <a href="https://www.dvidshub.net/image/1892813/mc-lef-20th-annual-semper-fidelis-gala" type="external">Combat Camera</a>, <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=53412249" type="external">Public Domain</a>.</p> | This Designer Stands Against The Trump Idea Of Equal Rights (VIDEO) | true | http://offthemainpage.com/2017/03/15/this-designer-stands-against-the-trump-idea-of-equal-rights-video/ | 2017-03-15 | 4left
| This Designer Stands Against The Trump Idea Of Equal Rights (VIDEO)
<p>To add to the long list of designers that are refusing to dress Melania and Ivanka, Zac Posen, famous designer that formally dressed Michelle Obama, Kim Kardashian, and a host of other stars, has decided he wants to keep his image out of politics…by standing against politics.</p>
<p>It seems to have come to the point where designers, and other corporations, are stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to standing up for what they believe in. While Posen’s reasons for refusing to dress Melania or Ivanka are strong and commendable, his wishy washy stance on politics and fashion make his message a little confusing. Posen <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2017/03/13/zac-posen-explains-why-wont-be-dressing-ivanka-and-melania-trump-again.html" type="external">states</a>:</p>
<p>“Right now, I’m staying away from bringing my brand into politics.”</p>
<p>This is a sentiment that many companies providing a service or product have taken. However, and this is where we see him fighting with himself, Posen continues by <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/03/10/zac-posen-on-fashion-fame-and-why-he-won-t-design-clothes-for-ivanka-and-melania-trump.html" type="external">saying</a>:</p>
<p>“There are issues that are being questioned that are fundamentally upsetting to me — deeply: LGBT rights, immigration, funding for the arts, Planned Parenthood and women’s rights. These are just issues that are very close to my heart, and I use my own private voice and funds to fight them and in support of them. I think it’s important to use your voice. I think that every brand and person has a right to be vocal.”</p>
<p>It is very apparent that Posen is extremely upset by the lack of positive output towards equal rights that the Trump Administration has put out, but like so many others, he seems afraid to jump in head first in his declaration by including his brand in his feelings towards the issues. Posen seems to also keep a strong feeling of hope in the background by <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/03/10/zac-posen-on-fashion-fame-and-why-he-won-t-design-clothes-for-ivanka-and-melania-trump.html" type="external">stating:</a></p>
<p>“I’m very upset with the state of affairs right now. I always try to be optimistic. I think that freedom will prevail. And I don’t dictate who buys my clothing in a store.”</p>
<p>It seems this designer is fearful of losing money by 100 percent standing behind his dislike for the Trump clan but also doesn’t want to stay completely out of it. This is not surprising having seen the backlash some people and companies have taken from both Trump temper-tantrums and the current political arena.</p>
<p>Let’s hope that Trump’s backlash doesn’t start to make other’s fearful for standing up for what is right.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Featured image via&#160;By U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Gabriela Garcia/Released. Unit: HQMC <a href="https://www.dvidshub.net/image/1892813/mc-lef-20th-annual-semper-fidelis-gala" type="external">Combat Camera</a>, <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=53412249" type="external">Public Domain</a>.</p> | 1,605 |
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>This is the war that President Bush said he wanted; the War on terrorism. Remember, “Bring it on!” Now that events in Iraq have brought that dream to full flower, we find our unelected leader headed for the exits.</p>
<p>In a series of statements from top Administration officials including Condi Rice, Colin Powell and Paul Bremer,( as well as their counterparts in the Military) we have heard repeatedly that the US plans to hand over more responsibility to the Iraqis. The most recent of these came from the supreme commander of the armed forces in Iraq, General John Abizaid. Abizaid said last week, “We have to take risk to a certain extent, by taking our hands off the controls. It’s their country, it’s their future.” His comments came on the heels of an announcement that the Military is planning to remove its troop s from within Baghdad to eight bases beyond the city. There they will create a military cordon around the entire city to stop the flow of insurgents and terrorists from entering.</p>
<p>The real meaning of the General’s remarks is entirely clear and much more sinister. The Bush Administration has decided to ignore its responsibilities to provide security for the Iraqi people; a responsibility that is required of an occupying force under the Geneva Conventions. Instead, the military will situate itself in a way that it can secure the oil fields from disruptive elements, but not put American lives at risk. Abizaid’s comments are the “kiss of death” for Iraqis who have already seen a steady increase in attacks and suicide bombings. Now, that the US expressing its intention to withdraw, the potential for factional fighting and even civil war looks much more likely.</p>
<p>The reasons for the withdrawal are numerous. First of all, it doesn’t bode well for Mr. Bush’s re-election campaign to be losing American lives in a war that, as yet, has no moral legitimacy.(NO WMDs) Bush’s advisors are obviously coaching him that the American public won’t care if Iraqi blood fills the streets of Baghdad and Fallujah, as long as US servicemen are protected. Second, the administration is hoping to shift the blame for the ongoing chaos onto their all-purpose scapegoat; foreign terrorists. Presently, the Bush loyalists in the American press are focused on a solitary al Qaida operative, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as the source of Iraq’s troubles. Zarqawi appears to be the administration’s “flavor of the month”, replacing both bin Laden and Saddam as the current justification for poor planning and abysmal policy decisions. It’s difficult to know how many American’s are still buying this nonsense, but we can be reasonably sure that as things keep deteriorating the profusion of excuses will continue.</p>
<p>In contrast to the Bush-Bremer analysis that the attacks are being carried out by foreign terrorists, key Iraqi officials are calling them “homegrown”. “The plan and the attackers are Iraqi,” said Fallujah’s police chief, Aboud Farhan al-Isawi.</p>
<p>Lt. Col. Brian Drinkwine, who commands the 82nd Airborne in Fallujah, agrees. “I have no reason to believe it was al Qaida.”</p>
<p>Another senior military officer who spoke on condition of anonymity said, the attack on the police station “was a complex, well-coordinated” and appeared to be the work of former members of the Republican Guard.</p>
<p>Whether the attacks are remnants of the Republican Guard, Ba’athist loyalists or foreign terrorists, is of limited interest to anyone except the public relations team on the Bush re-election campaign. Everyone else just wants to see the US honor its commitments and establish security for the Iraqi people.</p>
<p>We all remember President Bush saying, “We didn’t come this far in the liberation of Iraq only to give in to a band of thugs and assassins.”</p>
<p>Apparently, Mr. Bush has reconsidered his boastful claims as he is planning to “run away” from the Iraqi struggle and place his army out of harm’s way. Perhaps, the President’s calculated retreat will give him the bump upwards in the polls that he needs to convince a skeptical electorate that he deserves another four years.</p>
<p>In any event, the prospect of Muslims killing each other has never bothered occupants of the Oval Office. We harkens back to Henry Kissinger’s words during the eight year Iraq-Iran War, when over one million conscripts were killed in the hostilities. (At different intervals, the US was providing weaponry to both sides.) Kissinger brilliantly summarized the US position on the brutal conflict, “I hope they kill each other.”</p>
<p>Some things never change.</p>
<p>MIKE WHITNEY can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p> | "I Hope They Kill Each Other" | true | https://counterpunch.org/2004/02/19/quot-i-hope-they-kill-each-other-quot/ | 2004-02-19 | 4left
| "I Hope They Kill Each Other"
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>This is the war that President Bush said he wanted; the War on terrorism. Remember, “Bring it on!” Now that events in Iraq have brought that dream to full flower, we find our unelected leader headed for the exits.</p>
<p>In a series of statements from top Administration officials including Condi Rice, Colin Powell and Paul Bremer,( as well as their counterparts in the Military) we have heard repeatedly that the US plans to hand over more responsibility to the Iraqis. The most recent of these came from the supreme commander of the armed forces in Iraq, General John Abizaid. Abizaid said last week, “We have to take risk to a certain extent, by taking our hands off the controls. It’s their country, it’s their future.” His comments came on the heels of an announcement that the Military is planning to remove its troop s from within Baghdad to eight bases beyond the city. There they will create a military cordon around the entire city to stop the flow of insurgents and terrorists from entering.</p>
<p>The real meaning of the General’s remarks is entirely clear and much more sinister. The Bush Administration has decided to ignore its responsibilities to provide security for the Iraqi people; a responsibility that is required of an occupying force under the Geneva Conventions. Instead, the military will situate itself in a way that it can secure the oil fields from disruptive elements, but not put American lives at risk. Abizaid’s comments are the “kiss of death” for Iraqis who have already seen a steady increase in attacks and suicide bombings. Now, that the US expressing its intention to withdraw, the potential for factional fighting and even civil war looks much more likely.</p>
<p>The reasons for the withdrawal are numerous. First of all, it doesn’t bode well for Mr. Bush’s re-election campaign to be losing American lives in a war that, as yet, has no moral legitimacy.(NO WMDs) Bush’s advisors are obviously coaching him that the American public won’t care if Iraqi blood fills the streets of Baghdad and Fallujah, as long as US servicemen are protected. Second, the administration is hoping to shift the blame for the ongoing chaos onto their all-purpose scapegoat; foreign terrorists. Presently, the Bush loyalists in the American press are focused on a solitary al Qaida operative, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as the source of Iraq’s troubles. Zarqawi appears to be the administration’s “flavor of the month”, replacing both bin Laden and Saddam as the current justification for poor planning and abysmal policy decisions. It’s difficult to know how many American’s are still buying this nonsense, but we can be reasonably sure that as things keep deteriorating the profusion of excuses will continue.</p>
<p>In contrast to the Bush-Bremer analysis that the attacks are being carried out by foreign terrorists, key Iraqi officials are calling them “homegrown”. “The plan and the attackers are Iraqi,” said Fallujah’s police chief, Aboud Farhan al-Isawi.</p>
<p>Lt. Col. Brian Drinkwine, who commands the 82nd Airborne in Fallujah, agrees. “I have no reason to believe it was al Qaida.”</p>
<p>Another senior military officer who spoke on condition of anonymity said, the attack on the police station “was a complex, well-coordinated” and appeared to be the work of former members of the Republican Guard.</p>
<p>Whether the attacks are remnants of the Republican Guard, Ba’athist loyalists or foreign terrorists, is of limited interest to anyone except the public relations team on the Bush re-election campaign. Everyone else just wants to see the US honor its commitments and establish security for the Iraqi people.</p>
<p>We all remember President Bush saying, “We didn’t come this far in the liberation of Iraq only to give in to a band of thugs and assassins.”</p>
<p>Apparently, Mr. Bush has reconsidered his boastful claims as he is planning to “run away” from the Iraqi struggle and place his army out of harm’s way. Perhaps, the President’s calculated retreat will give him the bump upwards in the polls that he needs to convince a skeptical electorate that he deserves another four years.</p>
<p>In any event, the prospect of Muslims killing each other has never bothered occupants of the Oval Office. We harkens back to Henry Kissinger’s words during the eight year Iraq-Iran War, when over one million conscripts were killed in the hostilities. (At different intervals, the US was providing weaponry to both sides.) Kissinger brilliantly summarized the US position on the brutal conflict, “I hope they kill each other.”</p>
<p>Some things never change.</p>
<p>MIKE WHITNEY can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p> | 1,606 |
<p>Protesters on Thursday will gather in Washington, D.C. to demand the closure of detention center at the U.S. naval base in Guatanamo Bay, Cuba, according to the human rights organization <a href="https://www.amnestyusa.org/press-releases/activists-gather-to-demand-closure-of-guantanamo/" type="external">Amnesty International USA</a>.</p>
<p>Amnesty International USA on Thursday said the demonstrations will also call for an end to America's indefinite detention of detainees on the 16th anniversary of the controversial facility's opening.</p>
<p>Protesters will additionally reject the use of torture by the U.S. government, and Thursday's event will include other human rights organizations like the Center for Constitutional Rights and Witness Against Torture.</p>
<p>The prison at Guantanamo is used to hold suspected terrorists, and The Associated Press reported last month that the facility holds 41 detainees.</p>
<p>Former President Barack Obama's administration drastically reduced the number of detainees from 242 to 41, but Congress blocked him closing the facility entirely.</p>
<p>President Trump said during his 2016 election campaign that he intended to leave the detention center open, and he also floated the possibility of increasing the number of detainees there.</p> | Protesters are demanding Guantanamo Bay's closure on its 16th anniversary | false | https://circa.com/story/2018/01/11/nation/guantanamo-bay-protesters-demand-closure-on-16th-anniversary | 2018-01-11 | 1right-center
| Protesters are demanding Guantanamo Bay's closure on its 16th anniversary
<p>Protesters on Thursday will gather in Washington, D.C. to demand the closure of detention center at the U.S. naval base in Guatanamo Bay, Cuba, according to the human rights organization <a href="https://www.amnestyusa.org/press-releases/activists-gather-to-demand-closure-of-guantanamo/" type="external">Amnesty International USA</a>.</p>
<p>Amnesty International USA on Thursday said the demonstrations will also call for an end to America's indefinite detention of detainees on the 16th anniversary of the controversial facility's opening.</p>
<p>Protesters will additionally reject the use of torture by the U.S. government, and Thursday's event will include other human rights organizations like the Center for Constitutional Rights and Witness Against Torture.</p>
<p>The prison at Guantanamo is used to hold suspected terrorists, and The Associated Press reported last month that the facility holds 41 detainees.</p>
<p>Former President Barack Obama's administration drastically reduced the number of detainees from 242 to 41, but Congress blocked him closing the facility entirely.</p>
<p>President Trump said during his 2016 election campaign that he intended to leave the detention center open, and he also floated the possibility of increasing the number of detainees there.</p> | 1,607 |
<p>Obama dodges Netanyahu’s attempts to suck the U.S. into a war against Iran; Stephen Colbert’s many fictional faces are interfering with real world politics; meanwhile, the Argentine LGBT community is combatting the country’s deep-rooted stereotypes. These discoveries and more below.</p>
<p>On a regular basis, Truthdig brings you the news items and odds and ends that have found their way to Larry Gross, director of the USC Annenberg School for Communication. A specialist in media and culture, art and communication, visual communication and media portrayals of minorities, Gross helped found the field of gay and lesbian studies.</p>
<p>The links below open in a new window. Newer ones are on top.</p>
<p><a href="http://ipsnews.net/print.asp?idnews=106361" type="external">Obama Seeks to Distance U.S. from Israeli Attack</a> President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are engaged in intense maneuvering over Netanyahu’s aim of entangling the United States in an Israeli war against Iran.</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16410806" type="external">Banksy inspires Polish art student’s gallery stunt</a> An unknown art student has boosted his profile after hanging one of his own works at the National Museum in Poland.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2012/jan/04/porn-roman-brothel-tokens-erotic-art" type="external">Porn yesterday: Roman brothel tokens and the rise of erotic art</a> Bronze discs depicting sex acts, like the one discovered in London, were used to hire prostitutes — and directly led to the birth of pornography during the Renaissance.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/magazine/stephen-colbert.html?pagewanted=print" type="external">How Many Stephen Colberts Are There?</a> There used to be just two Stephen Colberts, and they were hard enough to distinguish.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.economist.com/node/21542162" type="external">Muslims revere the Koran. But its study is not taboo</a> Religions invite stereotypes, holy texts even more so.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.salon.com/2011/12/31/should_we_erase_painful_memories/singleton/" type="external">Should we erase painful memories?</a> “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” could soon become a reality — but the concept raises some thorny questions.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.theatlanticcities.com/housing/2012/01/do-gay-populations-influence-housing-prices/882/" type="external">How Gay Populations Influence Housing Prices</a> Exactly how gay populations affect the urban housing market is something of an open question.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71097.html" type="external">Newt has super PAC buyer’s remorse</a> Not long ago Newt Gingrich seemed to be a big fan of super PACs.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/life/roiphe/2012/01/why_is_the_freedom_app_so_popular_.html?wpisrc=newsletter_tis" type="external">The illusion of Internet freedom</a> How many people made New Year’s resolutions to spend less time on the Internet?</p>
<p><a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/argentina/111018/same-sex-marriage-legal-argentina-ready-fight-equali" type="external">Same-sex marriage legal, Argentinians ready to fight for full equality</a> LGBT rights advocates secured a major legal victory last year in Argentina, but culture change will be a much slower process.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/mouse-in-mountain-dew-563891" type="external">Mountain Dew Will Dissolve Rats On Contact</a> Defending itself from a lawsuit claiming that an Illinois man found a dead mouse inside a can of Mountain Dew, PepsiCo contends that a rodent would have disintegrated and been transformed into a “jelly-like” substance between the time of the soft drink’s bottling and the day the plaintiff reportedly purchased the soda from a vending machine at his office.</p> | Obama Avoids Alignment With Israel Against Iran | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/obama-avoids-alignment-with-israel-against-iran/ | 2012-01-06 | 4left
| Obama Avoids Alignment With Israel Against Iran
<p>Obama dodges Netanyahu’s attempts to suck the U.S. into a war against Iran; Stephen Colbert’s many fictional faces are interfering with real world politics; meanwhile, the Argentine LGBT community is combatting the country’s deep-rooted stereotypes. These discoveries and more below.</p>
<p>On a regular basis, Truthdig brings you the news items and odds and ends that have found their way to Larry Gross, director of the USC Annenberg School for Communication. A specialist in media and culture, art and communication, visual communication and media portrayals of minorities, Gross helped found the field of gay and lesbian studies.</p>
<p>The links below open in a new window. Newer ones are on top.</p>
<p><a href="http://ipsnews.net/print.asp?idnews=106361" type="external">Obama Seeks to Distance U.S. from Israeli Attack</a> President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are engaged in intense maneuvering over Netanyahu’s aim of entangling the United States in an Israeli war against Iran.</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16410806" type="external">Banksy inspires Polish art student’s gallery stunt</a> An unknown art student has boosted his profile after hanging one of his own works at the National Museum in Poland.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2012/jan/04/porn-roman-brothel-tokens-erotic-art" type="external">Porn yesterday: Roman brothel tokens and the rise of erotic art</a> Bronze discs depicting sex acts, like the one discovered in London, were used to hire prostitutes — and directly led to the birth of pornography during the Renaissance.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/magazine/stephen-colbert.html?pagewanted=print" type="external">How Many Stephen Colberts Are There?</a> There used to be just two Stephen Colberts, and they were hard enough to distinguish.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.economist.com/node/21542162" type="external">Muslims revere the Koran. But its study is not taboo</a> Religions invite stereotypes, holy texts even more so.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.salon.com/2011/12/31/should_we_erase_painful_memories/singleton/" type="external">Should we erase painful memories?</a> “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” could soon become a reality — but the concept raises some thorny questions.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.theatlanticcities.com/housing/2012/01/do-gay-populations-influence-housing-prices/882/" type="external">How Gay Populations Influence Housing Prices</a> Exactly how gay populations affect the urban housing market is something of an open question.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71097.html" type="external">Newt has super PAC buyer’s remorse</a> Not long ago Newt Gingrich seemed to be a big fan of super PACs.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/life/roiphe/2012/01/why_is_the_freedom_app_so_popular_.html?wpisrc=newsletter_tis" type="external">The illusion of Internet freedom</a> How many people made New Year’s resolutions to spend less time on the Internet?</p>
<p><a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/argentina/111018/same-sex-marriage-legal-argentina-ready-fight-equali" type="external">Same-sex marriage legal, Argentinians ready to fight for full equality</a> LGBT rights advocates secured a major legal victory last year in Argentina, but culture change will be a much slower process.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/mouse-in-mountain-dew-563891" type="external">Mountain Dew Will Dissolve Rats On Contact</a> Defending itself from a lawsuit claiming that an Illinois man found a dead mouse inside a can of Mountain Dew, PepsiCo contends that a rodent would have disintegrated and been transformed into a “jelly-like” substance between the time of the soft drink’s bottling and the day the plaintiff reportedly purchased the soda from a vending machine at his office.</p> | 1,608 |
<p>Corey Lewandowski, Donald Trump’s campaign manager, apparently has one set of rules for himself and one for everyone else when it comes to using violence or cheating to get his own way.</p>
<p>Speaking recently of people who had allegedly been roughed up at Trump rallies, Lewandowski told <a href="http://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2015/08/23/sotu-corey-lewandowski-full-interview.cnn" type="external">CNN</a>, “Nobody’s condoning violence. Mr. Trump would never condone violence …We would never condone violence.”</p>
<p>Yet Lewandowski yanked Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields’ arm and nearly <a href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/on-media/2016/03/trump-campaign-manager-breitbart-reporter-220472" type="external">threw her to the ground</a> Saturday night when Fields attempted to ask Trump a question. Fields’ boyfriend, Daily Caller reporter Jamie Weinstein, was furious, remarking that Trump surrounded himself with thugs:</p>
<p>Trump always surrounds himself w thugs. Tonight thug Corey Lewandowski tried to pull my gf <a href="https://twitter.com/MichelleFields" type="external">@MichelleFields</a> to ground when she asked tough q</p>
<p>This wasn’t the first time Lewandowski’s violent attitude toward women has surfaced; last August, after Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly asked Trump hard questions during a debate, Trump supporters targeted Kelly, and Michael Cohen, an advisor to Trump, went so far as to retweet from an account named “surfersfortrump” that said, “#boycottmegynkelly @realDonaldTrump we can gut her.” He <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/08/donald-trump-deputy-megyn-kelly-gut-her-retweet-121160" type="external">said</a> at the time, “I didn’t and don’t believe that the tweet implied physical violence against Ms. Kelly."</p>
<p>Lewandowski had no problem remembering the vitriol directed toward Kelly, apparently using it as a threat five months later. In January, when Trump dodged a Fox debate in Iowa, Fox News revealed that Lewandowski threatened Kelly, <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/01/27/full-statement-on-trump-declining-to-participate-in-fox-newsgoogle-debate.html" type="external">stating</a> of Trump’s dodge:</p>
<p>We’re not sure how Iowans are going to feel about him walking away from them at the last minute, but it should be clear to the American public by now that this is rooted in one thing – Megyn Kelly, whom he has viciously attacked since August and has now spent four days demanding be removed from the debate stage. Capitulating to politicians’ ultimatums about a debate moderator violates all journalistic standards, as do threats, including the one leveled by Trump’s campaign manager Corey Lewandowski toward Megyn Kelly.</p>
<p>In a call on Saturday with a FOX News executive, Lewandowski stated that Megyn had a ‘rough couple of days after that last debate’ and he ‘would hate to have her go through that again.’ Lewandowski was warned not to level any more threats, but he continued to do so. We can’t give in to terrorizations toward any of our employees.</p>
<p>As Katy Tur of NBC noted:</p>
<p>Capitulating to politicians’ ultimatums violates journalistic standards, as do threats leveled by Lewandowski <a href="https://t.co/uGh90pze5l" type="external">pic.twitter.com/uGh90pze5l</a></p>
<p>As far as Lewandowski’s apparent win-at-all-costs attitude which he feels gives him license to cheat, he has reportedly <a href="http://time.com/4248702/donald-trump-fox-debate-rule-violation/" type="external">repeatedly ignored</a> debate rules precluding candidates from consulting with their staff during breaks in the debate, even going so far as brazenly <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2016/03/05/media/donald-trump-fox-debate-rules/index.html" type="external">walking on stage</a> to advise Trump during a break. In that case, he was even advised by Fox News to leave, but refused.</p>
<p>“Mr. Trump would never condone violence.” The fact that Lewandowski assaulted Fields and is still Trump’s campaign manager tells you all you need to know about that falsehood.</p> | Here's What You Need To Know About The Trump Campaign's Manager Who Allegedly Assaulted a Journalist | true | https://dailywire.com/news/4036/trumps-campaign-manager-thinks-violence-shouldnt-hank-berrien | 2016-03-10 | 0right
| Here's What You Need To Know About The Trump Campaign's Manager Who Allegedly Assaulted a Journalist
<p>Corey Lewandowski, Donald Trump’s campaign manager, apparently has one set of rules for himself and one for everyone else when it comes to using violence or cheating to get his own way.</p>
<p>Speaking recently of people who had allegedly been roughed up at Trump rallies, Lewandowski told <a href="http://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2015/08/23/sotu-corey-lewandowski-full-interview.cnn" type="external">CNN</a>, “Nobody’s condoning violence. Mr. Trump would never condone violence …We would never condone violence.”</p>
<p>Yet Lewandowski yanked Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields’ arm and nearly <a href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/on-media/2016/03/trump-campaign-manager-breitbart-reporter-220472" type="external">threw her to the ground</a> Saturday night when Fields attempted to ask Trump a question. Fields’ boyfriend, Daily Caller reporter Jamie Weinstein, was furious, remarking that Trump surrounded himself with thugs:</p>
<p>Trump always surrounds himself w thugs. Tonight thug Corey Lewandowski tried to pull my gf <a href="https://twitter.com/MichelleFields" type="external">@MichelleFields</a> to ground when she asked tough q</p>
<p>This wasn’t the first time Lewandowski’s violent attitude toward women has surfaced; last August, after Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly asked Trump hard questions during a debate, Trump supporters targeted Kelly, and Michael Cohen, an advisor to Trump, went so far as to retweet from an account named “surfersfortrump” that said, “#boycottmegynkelly @realDonaldTrump we can gut her.” He <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/08/donald-trump-deputy-megyn-kelly-gut-her-retweet-121160" type="external">said</a> at the time, “I didn’t and don’t believe that the tweet implied physical violence against Ms. Kelly."</p>
<p>Lewandowski had no problem remembering the vitriol directed toward Kelly, apparently using it as a threat five months later. In January, when Trump dodged a Fox debate in Iowa, Fox News revealed that Lewandowski threatened Kelly, <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/01/27/full-statement-on-trump-declining-to-participate-in-fox-newsgoogle-debate.html" type="external">stating</a> of Trump’s dodge:</p>
<p>We’re not sure how Iowans are going to feel about him walking away from them at the last minute, but it should be clear to the American public by now that this is rooted in one thing – Megyn Kelly, whom he has viciously attacked since August and has now spent four days demanding be removed from the debate stage. Capitulating to politicians’ ultimatums about a debate moderator violates all journalistic standards, as do threats, including the one leveled by Trump’s campaign manager Corey Lewandowski toward Megyn Kelly.</p>
<p>In a call on Saturday with a FOX News executive, Lewandowski stated that Megyn had a ‘rough couple of days after that last debate’ and he ‘would hate to have her go through that again.’ Lewandowski was warned not to level any more threats, but he continued to do so. We can’t give in to terrorizations toward any of our employees.</p>
<p>As Katy Tur of NBC noted:</p>
<p>Capitulating to politicians’ ultimatums violates journalistic standards, as do threats leveled by Lewandowski <a href="https://t.co/uGh90pze5l" type="external">pic.twitter.com/uGh90pze5l</a></p>
<p>As far as Lewandowski’s apparent win-at-all-costs attitude which he feels gives him license to cheat, he has reportedly <a href="http://time.com/4248702/donald-trump-fox-debate-rule-violation/" type="external">repeatedly ignored</a> debate rules precluding candidates from consulting with their staff during breaks in the debate, even going so far as brazenly <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2016/03/05/media/donald-trump-fox-debate-rules/index.html" type="external">walking on stage</a> to advise Trump during a break. In that case, he was even advised by Fox News to leave, but refused.</p>
<p>“Mr. Trump would never condone violence.” The fact that Lewandowski assaulted Fields and is still Trump’s campaign manager tells you all you need to know about that falsehood.</p> | 1,609 |
<p>Journal Article - American Political Science Review</p>
<p />
<p>Scholars of world politics enjoy well-developed theories of the consequences of unipolarity or hegemony, but have little to say about what happens when a state's foreign relations take on imperial properties. Empires, we argue, are characterized by rule through intermediaries and the existence of distinctive contractual relations between cores and their peripheries. These features endowthem with a distinctive network-structure from those associated with unipolar and hegemonic orders. The existence of imperial relations alters the dynamics of international politics: processes of divide andrule supplant the balance-of-power mechanism; the major axis of relations shift from interstate to those among imperial authorities, local intermediaries, and other peripheral actors; and preeminent powers face special problems of legitimating their bargains across heterogeneous audiences. We conclude with some observations about the American empire debate, including that the United States is, overall, less of an imperial power than it was during the Cold War.</p>
<p /> | What's at Stake in the American Empire Debate | false | http://belfercenter.org/publication/whats-stake-american-empire-debate | 2007-05-01 | 2least
| What's at Stake in the American Empire Debate
<p>Journal Article - American Political Science Review</p>
<p />
<p>Scholars of world politics enjoy well-developed theories of the consequences of unipolarity or hegemony, but have little to say about what happens when a state's foreign relations take on imperial properties. Empires, we argue, are characterized by rule through intermediaries and the existence of distinctive contractual relations between cores and their peripheries. These features endowthem with a distinctive network-structure from those associated with unipolar and hegemonic orders. The existence of imperial relations alters the dynamics of international politics: processes of divide andrule supplant the balance-of-power mechanism; the major axis of relations shift from interstate to those among imperial authorities, local intermediaries, and other peripheral actors; and preeminent powers face special problems of legitimating their bargains across heterogeneous audiences. We conclude with some observations about the American empire debate, including that the United States is, overall, less of an imperial power than it was during the Cold War.</p>
<p /> | 1,610 |
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<p>&#160;</p>
<p>DENVER – New Mexico State women’s tennis Vanessa Valdez was named this week’s Western Athletic Conference Player of the Week the conference office announced.</p>
<p>Valdez, a Mazatlan, Mexico, native, went undefeated in her first collegiate dual match last Saturday and clinched the match for the Aggies. Valdez first teamed up first teamed up with fellow freshman Rebecca Keijzerwaard for NMSU’s lone victory in doubles action when they took down Central Oklahoma’s pair 6-1.</p>
<p>With the Aggies holding a 3-2 lead in singles action, Valdez cruised past UCO’s Kirtana Bhat 6-3, 6-2 at the No. 2 singles position to give NM State the match clinching point.</p>
<p>New Mexico State will now hit the road for a three-match road swing in Las Vegas, Nev., (Jan. 20-22) to play host UNLV (Jan. 20), Pacific (Jan. 21) and Weber State (Jan. 22). All three matches are schedule to begin at 11 a.m. MT.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Women’s tennis: NMSU freshman is WAC player of the week | false | https://abqjournal.com/929622/womens-tennis-nmsu-freshman-is-wac-player-of-the-week.html | 2least
| Women’s tennis: NMSU freshman is WAC player of the week
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<p>&#160;</p>
<p>DENVER – New Mexico State women’s tennis Vanessa Valdez was named this week’s Western Athletic Conference Player of the Week the conference office announced.</p>
<p>Valdez, a Mazatlan, Mexico, native, went undefeated in her first collegiate dual match last Saturday and clinched the match for the Aggies. Valdez first teamed up first teamed up with fellow freshman Rebecca Keijzerwaard for NMSU’s lone victory in doubles action when they took down Central Oklahoma’s pair 6-1.</p>
<p>With the Aggies holding a 3-2 lead in singles action, Valdez cruised past UCO’s Kirtana Bhat 6-3, 6-2 at the No. 2 singles position to give NM State the match clinching point.</p>
<p>New Mexico State will now hit the road for a three-match road swing in Las Vegas, Nev., (Jan. 20-22) to play host UNLV (Jan. 20), Pacific (Jan. 21) and Weber State (Jan. 22). All three matches are schedule to begin at 11 a.m. MT.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | 1,611 |
|
<p>Perhaps the most intriguing moment of <a href="" type="internal">the second presidential debate</a> came late in the contest when a rock-ribbed undecided voter asked both candidates, "What do you believe is the biggest misperception that the American people have about you as a man and a candidate?" And really, this is the sort of compelling inquiry that makes these contrived town hall-style debates so worthwhile.</p>
<p>President Barack Obama <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/10/16/transcript-second-presidential-debate/" type="external">began his answer</a> with a strong statement: "I believe that the free enterprise system is the greatest engine of prosperity the world's ever known." I have no doubt that Obama believes he believes in free enterprise - except in the case of health care policy, the auto industry, the housing market, education, banking, job creation, manufacturing, green energy and so on and so forth.</p>
<p>Basically, the genius of free enterprise must never be applied to anything that's too important in our lives. When it is, naturally, it must be applied "fairly."</p>
<p />
<p>But it's fair to say that undecideds - as is their nature - may have been confused. After all, someone who deems the free enterprise system the greatest engine of prosperity ever in the galaxy typically wouldn't spend four years arguing that job creation springs from government spending. And granted, not many true believers of capitalism - our president excluded - denigrate profit motives and wealth with such elan.</p>
<p>If you believed the free enterprise system is the mechanism of great prosperity, your <a href="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/march_april_2012/features/obamas_top_50_accomplishments035755.php" type="external">crowning achievement</a> might not be <a href="http://www.heritage.org/issues/health-care/obamacare" type="external">legislation</a> that constricts competition in health care, layers it generously with regulations, institutes effective price controls, coerces participation and sets up a government board to mete out advice on rationing.</p>
<p>Put it this way: Folks who admire free enterprise seldom spend two months bashing private equity to kick off a re-election campaign for president.</p>
<p>Those who believe that free enterprise is the gold standard of economic policy may even support allowing our failing education system to participate so that parents and kids can enjoy some choice and competition. A free market enthusiast might not nationalize all student loans.</p>
<p>One suspects that a real fan of free enterprise wouldn't refer to a little competition in Medicare as "radical," and he probably wouldn't consider a plan that allows Americans a small choice of how to invest their Social Security dollars (a choice that might bring them back more than that 1 percent return on the dollar) extreme.</p>
<p>Folks who believe that the free enterprise system is tops might argue that poorly run, out-of-touch companies should fail so other, healthier companies can move in and create self-sustaining jobs. They would also probably avoid scaremongering about "outsourcing," because doing so often helps <a href="" type="internal">create better-paying and more productive jobs here in America</a>. (Though, in fairness, the president's certainly not alone on this one.)</p>
<p>If you trust that the free enterprise system is the greatest engine of prosperity, you understand that one person's wealth and success don't deprive anyone of his own.</p>
<p>Merriam-Webster <a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/free%20enterprise" type="external">defines</a> "free enterprise" as "freedom of private business to organize and operate for profit in a competitive system without interference by government beyond regulation necessary to protect public interest and keep the national economy in balance." If Obama believes that he's instituted and supported economic policy that comports with that description, he's more confused than the average town hall participant.</p>
<p /> | Barack Obama: The Free Enterprise President? | true | http://humanevents.com/2012/10/17/obama-the-free-enterprise-president/ | 2012-10-17 | 0right
| Barack Obama: The Free Enterprise President?
<p>Perhaps the most intriguing moment of <a href="" type="internal">the second presidential debate</a> came late in the contest when a rock-ribbed undecided voter asked both candidates, "What do you believe is the biggest misperception that the American people have about you as a man and a candidate?" And really, this is the sort of compelling inquiry that makes these contrived town hall-style debates so worthwhile.</p>
<p>President Barack Obama <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/10/16/transcript-second-presidential-debate/" type="external">began his answer</a> with a strong statement: "I believe that the free enterprise system is the greatest engine of prosperity the world's ever known." I have no doubt that Obama believes he believes in free enterprise - except in the case of health care policy, the auto industry, the housing market, education, banking, job creation, manufacturing, green energy and so on and so forth.</p>
<p>Basically, the genius of free enterprise must never be applied to anything that's too important in our lives. When it is, naturally, it must be applied "fairly."</p>
<p />
<p>But it's fair to say that undecideds - as is their nature - may have been confused. After all, someone who deems the free enterprise system the greatest engine of prosperity ever in the galaxy typically wouldn't spend four years arguing that job creation springs from government spending. And granted, not many true believers of capitalism - our president excluded - denigrate profit motives and wealth with such elan.</p>
<p>If you believed the free enterprise system is the mechanism of great prosperity, your <a href="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/march_april_2012/features/obamas_top_50_accomplishments035755.php" type="external">crowning achievement</a> might not be <a href="http://www.heritage.org/issues/health-care/obamacare" type="external">legislation</a> that constricts competition in health care, layers it generously with regulations, institutes effective price controls, coerces participation and sets up a government board to mete out advice on rationing.</p>
<p>Put it this way: Folks who admire free enterprise seldom spend two months bashing private equity to kick off a re-election campaign for president.</p>
<p>Those who believe that free enterprise is the gold standard of economic policy may even support allowing our failing education system to participate so that parents and kids can enjoy some choice and competition. A free market enthusiast might not nationalize all student loans.</p>
<p>One suspects that a real fan of free enterprise wouldn't refer to a little competition in Medicare as "radical," and he probably wouldn't consider a plan that allows Americans a small choice of how to invest their Social Security dollars (a choice that might bring them back more than that 1 percent return on the dollar) extreme.</p>
<p>Folks who believe that the free enterprise system is tops might argue that poorly run, out-of-touch companies should fail so other, healthier companies can move in and create self-sustaining jobs. They would also probably avoid scaremongering about "outsourcing," because doing so often helps <a href="" type="internal">create better-paying and more productive jobs here in America</a>. (Though, in fairness, the president's certainly not alone on this one.)</p>
<p>If you trust that the free enterprise system is the greatest engine of prosperity, you understand that one person's wealth and success don't deprive anyone of his own.</p>
<p>Merriam-Webster <a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/free%20enterprise" type="external">defines</a> "free enterprise" as "freedom of private business to organize and operate for profit in a competitive system without interference by government beyond regulation necessary to protect public interest and keep the national economy in balance." If Obama believes that he's instituted and supported economic policy that comports with that description, he's more confused than the average town hall participant.</p>
<p /> | 1,612 |
<p>(Screenshot courtesy of YouTube)</p>
<p>“Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures,” an HBO documentary about the life of gay photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, has been released.</p>
<p>The film, named after the famous speech by Sentaor Jesse Helm who condemned Mapplethorpe’s work for its homosexual themes, explores the mind of the iconic photographer. Interviews with his family offer a look inside his personal life and audio interviews from Mapplethorpe himself are also included.</p>
<p>The documentary premieres on HBO on Monday, April 4 at 9 p.m.</p>
<p />
<p>&#160;</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">HBO</a> <a href="" type="internal">Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures</a> <a href="" type="internal">Robert Mapplethorpe</a> <a href="" type="internal">Senator Jesse Helm</a></p> | Robert Mapplethorpe documentary trailer released | false | http://washingtonblade.com/2016/03/08/robert-mapplethorpe-documentary-trailer-released/ | 3left-center
| Robert Mapplethorpe documentary trailer released
<p>(Screenshot courtesy of YouTube)</p>
<p>“Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures,” an HBO documentary about the life of gay photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, has been released.</p>
<p>The film, named after the famous speech by Sentaor Jesse Helm who condemned Mapplethorpe’s work for its homosexual themes, explores the mind of the iconic photographer. Interviews with his family offer a look inside his personal life and audio interviews from Mapplethorpe himself are also included.</p>
<p>The documentary premieres on HBO on Monday, April 4 at 9 p.m.</p>
<p />
<p>&#160;</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">HBO</a> <a href="" type="internal">Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures</a> <a href="" type="internal">Robert Mapplethorpe</a> <a href="" type="internal">Senator Jesse Helm</a></p> | 1,613 |
|
<p>This week was a big week for controversy. &#160;Starbucks went full racist, Hillary deleted emails, but even more strangely, a man-turned-woman (kind of) decided to use the ladies' changing room at Planet Fitness. &#160;That's not the controversial part. &#160;One woman, noticing a man in the ladies room, complained. &#160;She was kicked out of the gym for being "judgmental." &#160;A national dialogue ensued.</p>
<p>This week, in my own hidden camera experiment, I decided to become a woman, go to Planet Fitness and figure out just how far their "no judgment policy" really goes...</p> | HIDDEN CAMERA: Cross-Dressing At 'Tolerant' Planet Fitness! | true | http://truthrevolt.org/commentary/hidden-camera-cross-dressing-tolerant-planet-fitness | 2018-10-03 | 0right
| HIDDEN CAMERA: Cross-Dressing At 'Tolerant' Planet Fitness!
<p>This week was a big week for controversy. &#160;Starbucks went full racist, Hillary deleted emails, but even more strangely, a man-turned-woman (kind of) decided to use the ladies' changing room at Planet Fitness. &#160;That's not the controversial part. &#160;One woman, noticing a man in the ladies room, complained. &#160;She was kicked out of the gym for being "judgmental." &#160;A national dialogue ensued.</p>
<p>This week, in my own hidden camera experiment, I decided to become a woman, go to Planet Fitness and figure out just how far their "no judgment policy" really goes...</p> | 1,614 |
<p>Looking back on <a href="http://st.com/articles/2013/02/12/what-to-look-for-in-tonight-s-state-of-the-union.html" type="external">yesterday's predictions</a> for last night's State of the Union speech, I find that most of my most pessimistic predictions were confirmed. Lots of symbolic nods towards base-pleasing issues like infrastructure, manufacturing, early childhood education, and climate change but little in the way of specific plans--on climate change, he resorted to a vague threat to use executive orders if Congress wouldn't pass something. He talked about the budget, but spent most of that section implying that we could fix these problems by taking more stuff from rich people, if only the GOP weren't such obstructionists. He was not making the case to his own party for real reform, or even offering up a serious starting point for negotiations. He is preparing for a streetfight, one in which the prize is not "What sort of deal do we get to fix the budget?" but "Who takes the blame when we don't?"</p>
<p>His supportes will say that the GOP has left him no choice. This may be true (though the level of obstruction has clearly moderated since the election.) It's dispiriting either way.</p>
<p>Yesterday I closed with a quote from Bill Galston:</p>
<p>The inauguration speech, says Galston, "stated coherently and elegantly the ensemble of beliefs that animate the coalition that returned Obama to power.</p>
<p>The question that only the president can decide is whether he's willing to run his presidency within the four corners of those beliefs."</p>
<p>I don't know the answer to that, I said, but I think we will by the end of the speech. I think we do: this was a speech to make Democrats happy and Republicans mad, and put no one in very much of a mood for a deal. He's decided that the best way to get anything out of Republicans is to accuse them of not caring about the vulnerable, which may be true--but it's only a way to get the most minimal possible level of cooperation. It will not get you the kind of actual willing cooperation that you need to get anything more ambitious than a three month extension of the sequester.</p>
<p>Nor did he prepare his own side for compromise. He did not ask anyone to the left of Susan Collins to make any sacrifices. The way he ended on gun control was very powerful, and undoubtedly gave that legislation a boost. But I think it's telling that this was where he put the emotional weight of the speech.</p>
<p>Gun control--at least as it can pass within the confines of the US political system--is not a transformative issue. It does not fundamentally alter American society, or change our relationship with the state, and sadly, what is going to pass will probably not save many lives, either. That tells you something about how Obama sees his second term--that he probably doesn't think further transformation is within his grasp. Instead he's going to go for marginal improvements on emotional issues that are important to his base. l'll have posts up later about specific issues like the minimum wage and preschool, but that's the overall takeaway: Obama has given up on transformative change, and will settle for what he's already done.</p>
<p>This means, I suspect, that he is hoping to pass off the painful budget choices to his succeessor. At last year's Peterson Fiscal Summit, Doug Holtz-Eakin noted that any deal had to be done this year, because next year we'll be going into midterms, and after that, Obama will not have enough political capital: folks will be looking forward to the 2016 election. (Can you say "permanent election cycle"?) By then the choices will be much more painful, as more of the baby boomer retirements will be showing up in the budget calculations. But when it comes to spending cuts and tax hikes, politicians (and voters) seem to be hyperbolic discounters: they prefer a lot of pain later to a little pain now. Obama, like Congress, is punting on the biggest issue facing them: how much government we are willing to pay for.</p>
<p>As a result, the biggest news of the night was not in Obama's speech, but in Rubio's response: he did it well. Yes, yes, <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57569097/marco-rubios-water-bottle-gate-moment/" type="external">drink of water</a>, hahahaha. But that was the most effective SOTU response I've ever seen, water included. I'm not grading the policy content of the speech, mind you--though as an aside, let's just say that I'm not a fan of false claims that the GOP can get the economy up to 4% growth by unleashing the awesome power of the free market. But Rubio mounted the most effective response I've seen to the President's attacks on Republicans as uncaring obstructionists, and he delivered it well.</p>
<p>That by itself is an amazing achievement; delivering an emotional speech to a camera is extremely hard to pull off, which is why most of them come off as something between eighth-grade awkward and completely robotic. Rubio is obviously a gifted speaker with a keen ear for winning political rhetoric, and he is pretty clearly going to run for the White House in 2016. He will make a formidable opponent. Though I do recommend that he pay a little more attention to hydrating before major events.</p> | State of the Union Address: What Did We Learn? | true | https://thedailybeast.com/state-of-the-union-address-what-did-we-learn | 2018-10-03 | 4left
| State of the Union Address: What Did We Learn?
<p>Looking back on <a href="http://st.com/articles/2013/02/12/what-to-look-for-in-tonight-s-state-of-the-union.html" type="external">yesterday's predictions</a> for last night's State of the Union speech, I find that most of my most pessimistic predictions were confirmed. Lots of symbolic nods towards base-pleasing issues like infrastructure, manufacturing, early childhood education, and climate change but little in the way of specific plans--on climate change, he resorted to a vague threat to use executive orders if Congress wouldn't pass something. He talked about the budget, but spent most of that section implying that we could fix these problems by taking more stuff from rich people, if only the GOP weren't such obstructionists. He was not making the case to his own party for real reform, or even offering up a serious starting point for negotiations. He is preparing for a streetfight, one in which the prize is not "What sort of deal do we get to fix the budget?" but "Who takes the blame when we don't?"</p>
<p>His supportes will say that the GOP has left him no choice. This may be true (though the level of obstruction has clearly moderated since the election.) It's dispiriting either way.</p>
<p>Yesterday I closed with a quote from Bill Galston:</p>
<p>The inauguration speech, says Galston, "stated coherently and elegantly the ensemble of beliefs that animate the coalition that returned Obama to power.</p>
<p>The question that only the president can decide is whether he's willing to run his presidency within the four corners of those beliefs."</p>
<p>I don't know the answer to that, I said, but I think we will by the end of the speech. I think we do: this was a speech to make Democrats happy and Republicans mad, and put no one in very much of a mood for a deal. He's decided that the best way to get anything out of Republicans is to accuse them of not caring about the vulnerable, which may be true--but it's only a way to get the most minimal possible level of cooperation. It will not get you the kind of actual willing cooperation that you need to get anything more ambitious than a three month extension of the sequester.</p>
<p>Nor did he prepare his own side for compromise. He did not ask anyone to the left of Susan Collins to make any sacrifices. The way he ended on gun control was very powerful, and undoubtedly gave that legislation a boost. But I think it's telling that this was where he put the emotional weight of the speech.</p>
<p>Gun control--at least as it can pass within the confines of the US political system--is not a transformative issue. It does not fundamentally alter American society, or change our relationship with the state, and sadly, what is going to pass will probably not save many lives, either. That tells you something about how Obama sees his second term--that he probably doesn't think further transformation is within his grasp. Instead he's going to go for marginal improvements on emotional issues that are important to his base. l'll have posts up later about specific issues like the minimum wage and preschool, but that's the overall takeaway: Obama has given up on transformative change, and will settle for what he's already done.</p>
<p>This means, I suspect, that he is hoping to pass off the painful budget choices to his succeessor. At last year's Peterson Fiscal Summit, Doug Holtz-Eakin noted that any deal had to be done this year, because next year we'll be going into midterms, and after that, Obama will not have enough political capital: folks will be looking forward to the 2016 election. (Can you say "permanent election cycle"?) By then the choices will be much more painful, as more of the baby boomer retirements will be showing up in the budget calculations. But when it comes to spending cuts and tax hikes, politicians (and voters) seem to be hyperbolic discounters: they prefer a lot of pain later to a little pain now. Obama, like Congress, is punting on the biggest issue facing them: how much government we are willing to pay for.</p>
<p>As a result, the biggest news of the night was not in Obama's speech, but in Rubio's response: he did it well. Yes, yes, <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57569097/marco-rubios-water-bottle-gate-moment/" type="external">drink of water</a>, hahahaha. But that was the most effective SOTU response I've ever seen, water included. I'm not grading the policy content of the speech, mind you--though as an aside, let's just say that I'm not a fan of false claims that the GOP can get the economy up to 4% growth by unleashing the awesome power of the free market. But Rubio mounted the most effective response I've seen to the President's attacks on Republicans as uncaring obstructionists, and he delivered it well.</p>
<p>That by itself is an amazing achievement; delivering an emotional speech to a camera is extremely hard to pull off, which is why most of them come off as something between eighth-grade awkward and completely robotic. Rubio is obviously a gifted speaker with a keen ear for winning political rhetoric, and he is pretty clearly going to run for the White House in 2016. He will make a formidable opponent. Though I do recommend that he pay a little more attention to hydrating before major events.</p> | 1,615 |
<p />
<p>The Federal Reserve could replace its expiring Operation Twist with a smaller program of outright Treasury purchases and still get the same stimulative effect on the U.S. economy, the head of the St. Louis Fed told the Wall Street Journal on Monday.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Under Twist, the Fed buys $45 billion in long-term Treasuries each month, and sells a like amount of short-term Treasuries. Many economists believe that policymakers will decide to buy Treasuries outright next year to make up for the yearend expiration of Twist.</p>
<p>James Bullard said that it might be too "dovish'' to replace Twist with the full $45 billion in monthly Treasury purchases.</p>
<p>"You could go down to $25 billion in outright purchases and probably get the same stimulative impact,'' he told the paper. The Fed has also been buying $40 billion in mortgage-backed securities each month to help bring down too-high employment. The U.S. economy will probably grow at at least a 3% pace in 2013 if the so-called fiscal cliff is averted, Bullard said.</p> | Fed's Bullard on Replacing Operation Twist | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2012/12/03/fed-bullard-on-replacing-operation-twist.html | 2016-03-03 | 0right
| Fed's Bullard on Replacing Operation Twist
<p />
<p>The Federal Reserve could replace its expiring Operation Twist with a smaller program of outright Treasury purchases and still get the same stimulative effect on the U.S. economy, the head of the St. Louis Fed told the Wall Street Journal on Monday.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Under Twist, the Fed buys $45 billion in long-term Treasuries each month, and sells a like amount of short-term Treasuries. Many economists believe that policymakers will decide to buy Treasuries outright next year to make up for the yearend expiration of Twist.</p>
<p>James Bullard said that it might be too "dovish'' to replace Twist with the full $45 billion in monthly Treasury purchases.</p>
<p>"You could go down to $25 billion in outright purchases and probably get the same stimulative impact,'' he told the paper. The Fed has also been buying $40 billion in mortgage-backed securities each month to help bring down too-high employment. The U.S. economy will probably grow at at least a 3% pace in 2013 if the so-called fiscal cliff is averted, Bullard said.</p> | 1,616 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Frontier Airlines is eliminating its Albuquerque service in January, according to an airport spokesman, leaving Sunport fliers with just six major airline choices in 2014. And since two of the remaining carriers plan to merge — American and U.S. Airways — that number may dip to five unless the Sunport succeeds in its ongoing quest to woo new carriers.</p>
<p>“It’s fewer choices for our customers, and that’s something we don’t like to see,” Sunport spokesman Dan Jiron told the Journal. “We understand it’s a business decision on (Frontier’s) part and can’t take it personally.”</p>
<p>Frontier did not respond to Journal messages, but Jiron said he’s been told the airline wasn’t doing enough business to sustain its Sunport operation.</p>
<p>Frontier currently offers two daily flights between Albuquerque and Denver, a route also served by United Airlines and market dominating Southwest Airlines. Frontier had 2.7 percent of Sunport market share in June.</p>
<p>“It doesn’t come as a major surprise, but it’s disappointing,” Jiron said of losing an airline partner whose ties to the city go back more than 20 years.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Frontier accounted for $1.5 million of the Sunport’s $74 million in revenue in FY2012, and Jiron said some of that money will continue to come in until Frontier’s lease expires in 2016.</p>
<p>It is another troubling development at an airport that keeps losing passengers. Sunport traffic has declined the last five years. Year-to-date passenger numbers through May are down 8.8 percent from 2012.</p>
<p>Jiron said there is an ongoing effort to attract new airlines but it “really boils down to ‘When is the (passenger) demand going to come back?’”</p>
<p>On a bright note, recent Sunport addition JetBlue has had a strong showing with its daily nonstops to New York City. Averages from the flight’s first few months show it’s operating at about 80 percent capacity, Jiron said, adding, “we’re very pleased with that.”</p> | Frontier ending its two daily flights into and out of Sunport in 2014 | false | https://abqjournal.com/231668/frontier-ending-its-two-daily-flights-into-and-out-of-sunport-in-2014.html | 2013-07-31 | 2least
| Frontier ending its two daily flights into and out of Sunport in 2014
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Frontier Airlines is eliminating its Albuquerque service in January, according to an airport spokesman, leaving Sunport fliers with just six major airline choices in 2014. And since two of the remaining carriers plan to merge — American and U.S. Airways — that number may dip to five unless the Sunport succeeds in its ongoing quest to woo new carriers.</p>
<p>“It’s fewer choices for our customers, and that’s something we don’t like to see,” Sunport spokesman Dan Jiron told the Journal. “We understand it’s a business decision on (Frontier’s) part and can’t take it personally.”</p>
<p>Frontier did not respond to Journal messages, but Jiron said he’s been told the airline wasn’t doing enough business to sustain its Sunport operation.</p>
<p>Frontier currently offers two daily flights between Albuquerque and Denver, a route also served by United Airlines and market dominating Southwest Airlines. Frontier had 2.7 percent of Sunport market share in June.</p>
<p>“It doesn’t come as a major surprise, but it’s disappointing,” Jiron said of losing an airline partner whose ties to the city go back more than 20 years.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Frontier accounted for $1.5 million of the Sunport’s $74 million in revenue in FY2012, and Jiron said some of that money will continue to come in until Frontier’s lease expires in 2016.</p>
<p>It is another troubling development at an airport that keeps losing passengers. Sunport traffic has declined the last five years. Year-to-date passenger numbers through May are down 8.8 percent from 2012.</p>
<p>Jiron said there is an ongoing effort to attract new airlines but it “really boils down to ‘When is the (passenger) demand going to come back?’”</p>
<p>On a bright note, recent Sunport addition JetBlue has had a strong showing with its daily nonstops to New York City. Averages from the flight’s first few months show it’s operating at about 80 percent capacity, Jiron said, adding, “we’re very pleased with that.”</p> | 1,617 |
<p />
<p>More retail investors are putting their money into the market, and online brokerages are reaping much of the benefit.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Shares of the major online brokerages ticked higher on Thursday following upbeat trading data for the month of May from both TD Ameritrade&#160;(NASDAQ:AMTD) and E*Trade&#160;(NASDAQ:ETFC) as investors poured cash into equities.</p>
<p>TD Ameritrade said average client trades per day climbed 13% in May to 417,000 from the same period last year. Trades were up 9% from April.</p>
<p>The Omaha, Neb.-based securities brokerage said total client assets as of May 31 were $530.9 billion, up 23% from the year-earlier period, while average spread-based balances grew 14% to $83.8 billion. Average fee-based balances grew 37% to $119.9 billion from the same period in 2012.</p>
<p>Shares of TD Ameritrade jumped 2% to $22.90 in recent trade and are up close to 38% on the year. Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS) raised its price target on the company to $19 from $18.50, but maintained its “neutral” rating.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>E*Trade’s shares rose 1% on Thursday, putting them up 25% year-to-date. The New York-based brokerage said daily avenue revenue trades in May were up 15% from April.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, shares of the online provider of foreign exchange trading services, FXCM (NYSE:FXCM), were up 1.3% on the day to $14.07 and 40% on the year. Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS) raised its price target on FXCM to $18 from $15 on an "outperform" rating.</p>
<p>Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) rode the industry’s tailwinds, increasing 1% Thursday morning. Its shares have advanced about 34% since January 1.</p> | Online Brokerages Rally as Investors Pour Cash into Equities | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2013/06/06/online-brokerages-rally-as-investors-pour-cash-into-equities.html | 2016-03-05 | 0right
| Online Brokerages Rally as Investors Pour Cash into Equities
<p />
<p>More retail investors are putting their money into the market, and online brokerages are reaping much of the benefit.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Shares of the major online brokerages ticked higher on Thursday following upbeat trading data for the month of May from both TD Ameritrade&#160;(NASDAQ:AMTD) and E*Trade&#160;(NASDAQ:ETFC) as investors poured cash into equities.</p>
<p>TD Ameritrade said average client trades per day climbed 13% in May to 417,000 from the same period last year. Trades were up 9% from April.</p>
<p>The Omaha, Neb.-based securities brokerage said total client assets as of May 31 were $530.9 billion, up 23% from the year-earlier period, while average spread-based balances grew 14% to $83.8 billion. Average fee-based balances grew 37% to $119.9 billion from the same period in 2012.</p>
<p>Shares of TD Ameritrade jumped 2% to $22.90 in recent trade and are up close to 38% on the year. Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS) raised its price target on the company to $19 from $18.50, but maintained its “neutral” rating.</p>
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<p>E*Trade’s shares rose 1% on Thursday, putting them up 25% year-to-date. The New York-based brokerage said daily avenue revenue trades in May were up 15% from April.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, shares of the online provider of foreign exchange trading services, FXCM (NYSE:FXCM), were up 1.3% on the day to $14.07 and 40% on the year. Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS) raised its price target on FXCM to $18 from $15 on an "outperform" rating.</p>
<p>Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) rode the industry’s tailwinds, increasing 1% Thursday morning. Its shares have advanced about 34% since January 1.</p> | 1,618 |
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<p>With his bid to run now all but dead, Sami Annan becomes the latest in a string of potential competitors to el-Sissi who have dropped out or have been driven out. El-Sissi, a former head of the military, is considered virtually certain to win re-election in the March 26-28 vote.</p>
<p>A security official with first-hand knowledge of the Annan affair said the ex-general was arrested by the military simultaneously with the release to the official media of an armed forces’ statement listing the allegations facing him.</p>
<p>The statement said Annan would be questioned on charges of forging documents relevant to the formal end of his active service, breaching army regulations by declaring his intention to run without first clearing it with the military and inciting against the armed forces in his comments to the nation when he declared his intention to run for president earlier this month.</p>
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<p>“The Armed Forces could not allow itself to ignore the blatant legal violations committed by the aforementioned which constituted a gross breach of the rules and regulations governing the service of armed forces officers,” said the statement, using uncompromising legal lingo.</p>
<p>“In upholding the principle of the law’s sovereignty as the basic rule of the state, it is imperative that legal measures pertaining to these violations and crimes be taken and he (Annan) is summoned for questioning by the relevant authorities,” it said.</p>
<p>His arrest was reported by two top aides. One, Mustapha al-Shall, who broke the news to The Associated Press but had no details. Another one, Mahmoud Refaat, reported the arrest on his Twitter account, but again gave no details.</p>
<p>A brief statement by Annan’s campaign said it was suspending its activity indefinitely.</p>
<p>“The campaign for the nomination of Sami Annan as president of Egypt regrettably announces the indefinite suspension of the campaign out of fear for the safety and security of all citizens who dream of change,” it said on the campaign’s official Facebook page.</p>
<p>With Annan out of the race and possibly facing a court martial, only one serious presidential hopeful is left in the field: Prominent rights lawyer Khaled Ali. But his candidacy is also at risk. In September, he was convicted of making an obscene hand gesture in public, and if that ruling is upheld on appeal, he will be ineligible to run. The next hearing is scheduled for March 7.</p>
<p>An aide at Ali’s campaign, Khaled Abdel-Hameed, told The Associated Press that Ali and his campaign leaders would meet later on Tuesday to assess the situation following Annan’s arrest. “All options are open, including quitting the race,” he said.</p>
<p>Annan, who was chief of staff until 2012, only had an outside chance against el-Sissi, but his participation would have lit it up a race whose outcome is virtually a foregone conclusion.</p>
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<p>The election is scheduled for March 26-28, with runoffs the following month, if needed.</p>
<p>The move by the military did not come as a complete surprise given that the powerful military establishment would have been loath to see two of its graduates slug it out in an election contest, regardless of the overwhelming odds in favor of el-Sissi.</p>
<p>Moreover, Annan has been the subject of fierce criticism by the pro-el-Sissi media since he announced his intention to challenge the president. He has been accused of seeking the support of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, conspiring with the West against el-Sissi and defaming the country’s military.</p>
<p>In a video statement announcing his intention to run, Annan appealed to military and state institutions to remain neutral in the presidential race, saying it should not be biased in favor of el-Sissi who might not be president in a few months’ time.</p>
<p>He also decried el-Sissi’s policy of involving the military in mega infrastructure projects embarked on since 2014, saying that was to blame for what he called the “erosion” of the state’s ability to deal with major domestic and foreign policies, including combating terror and economic woes.</p>
<p>Two other presidential hopefuls besides Annan have been forced to quit the race.</p>
<p>Former prime minister and air force general Ahmed Shafiq said he did not think he was the “ideal” man to lead the nation after days of harsh criticism, some personal, by the pro-el-Sissi media. Shafiq finished a close second in a 2012 election and his candidacy would have lit up the 2018 race.</p>
<p>Another one is former lawmaker Mohammed Anwar Sadat. He said he quit the race partially because he feared his supporters could be subjected to arrest or intimidation by authorities. Sadat is a nephew of Egypt’s late leader Anwar Sadat.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Associated Press writers Maggie Michael and Samy Magdy contributed to this report.</p> | Egypt’s military arrests presidential hopeful, ex-general | false | https://abqjournal.com/1123133/egypts-military-arrests-presidential-hopeful-ex-general.html | 2018-01-23 | 2least
| Egypt’s military arrests presidential hopeful, ex-general
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<p />
<p>With his bid to run now all but dead, Sami Annan becomes the latest in a string of potential competitors to el-Sissi who have dropped out or have been driven out. El-Sissi, a former head of the military, is considered virtually certain to win re-election in the March 26-28 vote.</p>
<p>A security official with first-hand knowledge of the Annan affair said the ex-general was arrested by the military simultaneously with the release to the official media of an armed forces’ statement listing the allegations facing him.</p>
<p>The statement said Annan would be questioned on charges of forging documents relevant to the formal end of his active service, breaching army regulations by declaring his intention to run without first clearing it with the military and inciting against the armed forces in his comments to the nation when he declared his intention to run for president earlier this month.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“The Armed Forces could not allow itself to ignore the blatant legal violations committed by the aforementioned which constituted a gross breach of the rules and regulations governing the service of armed forces officers,” said the statement, using uncompromising legal lingo.</p>
<p>“In upholding the principle of the law’s sovereignty as the basic rule of the state, it is imperative that legal measures pertaining to these violations and crimes be taken and he (Annan) is summoned for questioning by the relevant authorities,” it said.</p>
<p>His arrest was reported by two top aides. One, Mustapha al-Shall, who broke the news to The Associated Press but had no details. Another one, Mahmoud Refaat, reported the arrest on his Twitter account, but again gave no details.</p>
<p>A brief statement by Annan’s campaign said it was suspending its activity indefinitely.</p>
<p>“The campaign for the nomination of Sami Annan as president of Egypt regrettably announces the indefinite suspension of the campaign out of fear for the safety and security of all citizens who dream of change,” it said on the campaign’s official Facebook page.</p>
<p>With Annan out of the race and possibly facing a court martial, only one serious presidential hopeful is left in the field: Prominent rights lawyer Khaled Ali. But his candidacy is also at risk. In September, he was convicted of making an obscene hand gesture in public, and if that ruling is upheld on appeal, he will be ineligible to run. The next hearing is scheduled for March 7.</p>
<p>An aide at Ali’s campaign, Khaled Abdel-Hameed, told The Associated Press that Ali and his campaign leaders would meet later on Tuesday to assess the situation following Annan’s arrest. “All options are open, including quitting the race,” he said.</p>
<p>Annan, who was chief of staff until 2012, only had an outside chance against el-Sissi, but his participation would have lit it up a race whose outcome is virtually a foregone conclusion.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The election is scheduled for March 26-28, with runoffs the following month, if needed.</p>
<p>The move by the military did not come as a complete surprise given that the powerful military establishment would have been loath to see two of its graduates slug it out in an election contest, regardless of the overwhelming odds in favor of el-Sissi.</p>
<p>Moreover, Annan has been the subject of fierce criticism by the pro-el-Sissi media since he announced his intention to challenge the president. He has been accused of seeking the support of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, conspiring with the West against el-Sissi and defaming the country’s military.</p>
<p>In a video statement announcing his intention to run, Annan appealed to military and state institutions to remain neutral in the presidential race, saying it should not be biased in favor of el-Sissi who might not be president in a few months’ time.</p>
<p>He also decried el-Sissi’s policy of involving the military in mega infrastructure projects embarked on since 2014, saying that was to blame for what he called the “erosion” of the state’s ability to deal with major domestic and foreign policies, including combating terror and economic woes.</p>
<p>Two other presidential hopefuls besides Annan have been forced to quit the race.</p>
<p>Former prime minister and air force general Ahmed Shafiq said he did not think he was the “ideal” man to lead the nation after days of harsh criticism, some personal, by the pro-el-Sissi media. Shafiq finished a close second in a 2012 election and his candidacy would have lit up the 2018 race.</p>
<p>Another one is former lawmaker Mohammed Anwar Sadat. He said he quit the race partially because he feared his supporters could be subjected to arrest or intimidation by authorities. Sadat is a nephew of Egypt’s late leader Anwar Sadat.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Associated Press writers Maggie Michael and Samy Magdy contributed to this report.</p> | 1,619 |
<p />
<p />
<p>The Conservative Report indicated that when Obama disappeared for eight hours in the September 11, 2012 attack on the Benghazi consulate, Valerie Jarret took charge and may actually have given the stand down order.</p>
<p>It's well known that an email was sent at 6:07 p.m. Washington time to the White House Situation Room stating that the Al-Qaeda-linked group Ansar al-Sharia was taking credit for the attack. The stand down was given shortly after the Ansar al-Sharia email came in, and some time before the CIA Annex came under attack. However, it is presumed that Valerie Jarrett gave the stand down order in a bid to protect Obama from a Jimmy Carter-like military debacle in the event that saw the rescue attempt turn to a total disaster.</p>
<p>It's worth keeping in mind that a stand down order can only be authorized by the President of the United States. Even the Secretary of Defense who was serving under Obama's tenure, Leon Panetta, or the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey who was also present in the White House Situation Room, were not authorized to give the stand down order.</p>
<p>Congressional testimony by Gregory Hicks who was the State Department's deputy chief of mission in Libya, revealed that a stand down order was definitely given as demonstrated by the disaster that involved Lt. Colonel Gibson who, until this date remains hidden by the Obama administration.</p>
<p>The Special Operations Command Africa commander Lt. Colonel Gibson assembled a rescue team; as they were about to board a C-130 from Tripoli to Benghazi, Gibson got a phone call from AFRICOM headquarters that demanded that his team stand down.</p>
<p>Despite the thousands of soldiers and special forces in nearby bases in Europe, the fighter jet groups based in Europe and on aircraft carriers, none of them were dispatched. A blanket stand down order was given to the entire European and Africa commands.</p>
<p>Obama was such a disgrace to the U.S. when he disappeared for eight hours and let an unelected, unqualified underling Valerie Jarret-give the stand down order and let Americans get slaughtered.</p>
<p>SOURCE: <a href="http://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/jarrett-gave-benghazi-stand-down-order/" type="external">investors.com/politics/editorials/jarrett-gave-benghazi-stand-down-order</a></p> | Did Valerie Jarret Give the BENGHAZI Stand Down Order? | true | http://thegoldwater.com/news/1607-Did-Valerie-Jarret-Give-the-BENGHAZI-Stand-Down-Order | 2017-03-04 | 0right
| Did Valerie Jarret Give the BENGHAZI Stand Down Order?
<p />
<p />
<p>The Conservative Report indicated that when Obama disappeared for eight hours in the September 11, 2012 attack on the Benghazi consulate, Valerie Jarret took charge and may actually have given the stand down order.</p>
<p>It's well known that an email was sent at 6:07 p.m. Washington time to the White House Situation Room stating that the Al-Qaeda-linked group Ansar al-Sharia was taking credit for the attack. The stand down was given shortly after the Ansar al-Sharia email came in, and some time before the CIA Annex came under attack. However, it is presumed that Valerie Jarrett gave the stand down order in a bid to protect Obama from a Jimmy Carter-like military debacle in the event that saw the rescue attempt turn to a total disaster.</p>
<p>It's worth keeping in mind that a stand down order can only be authorized by the President of the United States. Even the Secretary of Defense who was serving under Obama's tenure, Leon Panetta, or the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey who was also present in the White House Situation Room, were not authorized to give the stand down order.</p>
<p>Congressional testimony by Gregory Hicks who was the State Department's deputy chief of mission in Libya, revealed that a stand down order was definitely given as demonstrated by the disaster that involved Lt. Colonel Gibson who, until this date remains hidden by the Obama administration.</p>
<p>The Special Operations Command Africa commander Lt. Colonel Gibson assembled a rescue team; as they were about to board a C-130 from Tripoli to Benghazi, Gibson got a phone call from AFRICOM headquarters that demanded that his team stand down.</p>
<p>Despite the thousands of soldiers and special forces in nearby bases in Europe, the fighter jet groups based in Europe and on aircraft carriers, none of them were dispatched. A blanket stand down order was given to the entire European and Africa commands.</p>
<p>Obama was such a disgrace to the U.S. when he disappeared for eight hours and let an unelected, unqualified underling Valerie Jarret-give the stand down order and let Americans get slaughtered.</p>
<p>SOURCE: <a href="http://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/jarrett-gave-benghazi-stand-down-order/" type="external">investors.com/politics/editorials/jarrett-gave-benghazi-stand-down-order</a></p> | 1,620 |
<p>Sitting here, blogging from my home breaks in Houston, which is currently on the dirty side of Hurricane Harvey.</p>
<p>My brother-in-law’s family evacuated from the coast yesterday to dryer ground inland.</p>
<p>As these things go, no one is entirely sure what to expect, but wisdom always suggests we prepare for the worst.</p>
<p />
<p>Some models show the storm making landfall as a category 3 possibly even 4 where it will park for a few days then stroll up the Gulf Coast to make landfall again just outside of Houston as a category 2. Needless to say, if models are in any way accurate, this is one nasty piece of work.</p>
<p />
<p>This is one incredible storm:</p>
<p />
<p>We don’t live in a flood plain, so that shouldn’t be a concern for us, though with these things you never know.</p>
<p>But we’re prepared. We have enough food, water, ice, booze, batteries, diapers, dog food, and supplies to get us through the end of next week, maybe a little more. And because I know not everyone is prudent, have a little extra for others in case it’s needed.</p>
<p>We’ve moved outside furniture to the garage, taken down clothes lines, rolled up Old Glory, and brought in the bird feeders, leaving me a little anxious for our backyard hummingbirds. I hope they find a safe place to wait out the storm.</p>
<p>My husband and I are both native Houstonians, so this is not our first major hurricane, but as he observed last night, it’s the first for many new residents. Ten, even fifteen years ago, most everyone here was born and raised Houstonian stock. Now, not so much. It seems we never meet fellow natives these days.</p>
<p>As locals and long-time Gulf Coast residents know, this is just part of coastal living. As my dear friend and Galveston native explained:</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>The beer is an absolute must. Or if not beer, then a Harvey Wallbanger seems appropriate here.</p>
<p>If this happens to be your first storm, please, please, please exercise wisdom, caution, and extreme prudence. Listen to city officials for guidance, not random internet info. Official city release is <a href="http://cityofhouston.news/city-of-houston-prepares-for-impacts-from-hurricane-harvey/" type="external">here</a>.</p>
<p>If you’re not in an evacuation area and can stay inside, do. If you don’t know how high the water is, DO NOT DRIVE THROUGH IT. According to the National Hurricane Center 9 out of 10 deaths in a storm’s aftermath occur in a vehicle. There’s still time to gather supplies before this evening, but you best make haste. And if you need help, ask. As I was gathering storm preparations yesterday, baby strapped to me, no less than 6 people volunteered help. Texas, Louisiana, and the Gulf Coast is full of amazing people, willing to help.</p>
<p>We’re prepared but not anxious and informed but not worried. We’ve prayed and continue to pray <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2091" type="external">Psalms 91</a> over our family, our home, and over all of those in the path of Hurricane Harvey.</p>
<p>If you are in Harvey’s path, we’re praying for you too.</p>
<p>Follow Kemberlee on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/KemberleeKaye" type="external">@kemberleekaye</a></p> | How We’re Preparing for Hurricane Harvey | true | http://legalinsurrection.com/2017/08/how-were-preparing-for-hurricane-harvey/ | 2017-08-25 | 0right
| How We’re Preparing for Hurricane Harvey
<p>Sitting here, blogging from my home breaks in Houston, which is currently on the dirty side of Hurricane Harvey.</p>
<p>My brother-in-law’s family evacuated from the coast yesterday to dryer ground inland.</p>
<p>As these things go, no one is entirely sure what to expect, but wisdom always suggests we prepare for the worst.</p>
<p />
<p>Some models show the storm making landfall as a category 3 possibly even 4 where it will park for a few days then stroll up the Gulf Coast to make landfall again just outside of Houston as a category 2. Needless to say, if models are in any way accurate, this is one nasty piece of work.</p>
<p />
<p>This is one incredible storm:</p>
<p />
<p>We don’t live in a flood plain, so that shouldn’t be a concern for us, though with these things you never know.</p>
<p>But we’re prepared. We have enough food, water, ice, booze, batteries, diapers, dog food, and supplies to get us through the end of next week, maybe a little more. And because I know not everyone is prudent, have a little extra for others in case it’s needed.</p>
<p>We’ve moved outside furniture to the garage, taken down clothes lines, rolled up Old Glory, and brought in the bird feeders, leaving me a little anxious for our backyard hummingbirds. I hope they find a safe place to wait out the storm.</p>
<p>My husband and I are both native Houstonians, so this is not our first major hurricane, but as he observed last night, it’s the first for many new residents. Ten, even fifteen years ago, most everyone here was born and raised Houstonian stock. Now, not so much. It seems we never meet fellow natives these days.</p>
<p>As locals and long-time Gulf Coast residents know, this is just part of coastal living. As my dear friend and Galveston native explained:</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>The beer is an absolute must. Or if not beer, then a Harvey Wallbanger seems appropriate here.</p>
<p>If this happens to be your first storm, please, please, please exercise wisdom, caution, and extreme prudence. Listen to city officials for guidance, not random internet info. Official city release is <a href="http://cityofhouston.news/city-of-houston-prepares-for-impacts-from-hurricane-harvey/" type="external">here</a>.</p>
<p>If you’re not in an evacuation area and can stay inside, do. If you don’t know how high the water is, DO NOT DRIVE THROUGH IT. According to the National Hurricane Center 9 out of 10 deaths in a storm’s aftermath occur in a vehicle. There’s still time to gather supplies before this evening, but you best make haste. And if you need help, ask. As I was gathering storm preparations yesterday, baby strapped to me, no less than 6 people volunteered help. Texas, Louisiana, and the Gulf Coast is full of amazing people, willing to help.</p>
<p>We’re prepared but not anxious and informed but not worried. We’ve prayed and continue to pray <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2091" type="external">Psalms 91</a> over our family, our home, and over all of those in the path of Hurricane Harvey.</p>
<p>If you are in Harvey’s path, we’re praying for you too.</p>
<p>Follow Kemberlee on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/KemberleeKaye" type="external">@kemberleekaye</a></p> | 1,621 |
<p>The deadline for attending the Baptist World Alliance's 100th anniversary congress in Birmingham, England, with the Virginia Baptist Mission Board is approaching.</p>
<p>Travel and hotel arrangements made through TraveLink Inc.-the agency working with the Virginia Baptist Mission Board-must be done prior to March 18.</p>
<p>Contact Annie Betts at TraveLink at 828-252-8484 or 800-227-5689, or at [email protected] or [email protected].</p>
<p>For more information, contact Dean Miller or Linda Terry at the Mission Board at 1-800-255-2428, [email protected] or [email protected].</p> | Want to join Virginia Baptists at the BWA Congress? | false | https://baptistnews.com/article/wanttojoinvirginiabaptistsatthebwacongress/ | 3left-center
| Want to join Virginia Baptists at the BWA Congress?
<p>The deadline for attending the Baptist World Alliance's 100th anniversary congress in Birmingham, England, with the Virginia Baptist Mission Board is approaching.</p>
<p>Travel and hotel arrangements made through TraveLink Inc.-the agency working with the Virginia Baptist Mission Board-must be done prior to March 18.</p>
<p>Contact Annie Betts at TraveLink at 828-252-8484 or 800-227-5689, or at [email protected] or [email protected].</p>
<p>For more information, contact Dean Miller or Linda Terry at the Mission Board at 1-800-255-2428, [email protected] or [email protected].</p> | 1,622 |
|
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>Bill Maher is onto something. Then again, this something most sociologists know. When people are hurting they either takes it out on their own communities or it manifests itself against some scapegoat.</p>
<p>When Martin Luther King was assassinated folks in the inner cities rioted and destroyed their own neighborhoods. When the police thugs got acquitted from the inhumane beating of Rodney King, again folks destroyed their own neighborhoods.</p>
<p>During the Great Depression the Mexican workers that were cherished for their labor were rounded up and deported. During World War II Japanese were rounded up and thrown into concentration camps.</p>
<p>Bill Maher had an interesting New Rules monologue today that while raunchy funny, deserves a more in depth analysis. He says,</p>
<p>This week we crowned a <a href="" type="internal">new Miss America</a>, Nina Davuluri who happens to be the first of Indian decent and the Twitter sphere exploded with so much racist hatred you would have thought President Obama just made a reasonable remark. … My question is why, why, why has hate become the national pastime. Yes the technology has something to do with it. But to those who say ‘oh people were always horrible. We just have Twitter and Facebook now’, no, not like this.</p>
<p>The greatest generation had celebrities. … I think the problem is this. We just found out that the percentage of Americans who describe themselves as poor has doubled in the last five years; which is very significant because in the past the poor consistently and erroneously described&#160; themselves as middle class. Because they had hope. Because they still&#160; believed in that Ponzi scheme formally known as the American Dream. But now they are starting to get it; that the fix is in. And that the two Americas thing is kind of true. And they are in the wrong one.</p>
<p>Apple just released two new iPhones, an expensive gold one for the haves. And for the serfs a shitty plastic lime green one that looks like your phone is wearing crocks.</p>
<p>But here is the good news. Wages may not go up again. And good jobs may never come back. Andd you can now get an iPhone for ninety nine bucks.And you can use it to tell Betty White …..</p>
<p />
<p>Bill Maher seemed to have distilled one of the <a href="" type="internal">best monologues about the American Dream to date</a> by the one and only George Carlin. The growth of hate towards our fellow Americans is growing with the decline in wealth and income of the middle class. Instead of being cognizant of those that are really causing this decline and fighting them, and lashing out against them, our closet peers, our anonymous peers, and those others take the brunt of our disgust and despair.</p>
<p>This is all by design. American citizens are played like violins. How are they played? They are kept entertained with cheap products and fed with high volumes of low quality foods. If the masses are entertained and their bellies are full, enough are willing to maintain the status quo. <a href="" type="internal">This skit</a> by Salt Lake City Move to Amend is says it all.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /> LIKE My <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/EgbertoWilliescom/181893712536" type="external">Facebook Page</a> – Visit My Blog: <a href="http://www.EgbertoWillies.com" type="external">EgbertoWillies.com</a></p>
<p>'</p> | Bill Maher Gives His Take On Why So Much Hate Today (VIDEO) | true | http://egbertowillies.com/2013/09/21/bill-maher-gives-take-much-hate-today-video/?fb_source%3Dpubv1 | 2013-09-21 | 4left
| Bill Maher Gives His Take On Why So Much Hate Today (VIDEO)
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>Bill Maher is onto something. Then again, this something most sociologists know. When people are hurting they either takes it out on their own communities or it manifests itself against some scapegoat.</p>
<p>When Martin Luther King was assassinated folks in the inner cities rioted and destroyed their own neighborhoods. When the police thugs got acquitted from the inhumane beating of Rodney King, again folks destroyed their own neighborhoods.</p>
<p>During the Great Depression the Mexican workers that were cherished for their labor were rounded up and deported. During World War II Japanese were rounded up and thrown into concentration camps.</p>
<p>Bill Maher had an interesting New Rules monologue today that while raunchy funny, deserves a more in depth analysis. He says,</p>
<p>This week we crowned a <a href="" type="internal">new Miss America</a>, Nina Davuluri who happens to be the first of Indian decent and the Twitter sphere exploded with so much racist hatred you would have thought President Obama just made a reasonable remark. … My question is why, why, why has hate become the national pastime. Yes the technology has something to do with it. But to those who say ‘oh people were always horrible. We just have Twitter and Facebook now’, no, not like this.</p>
<p>The greatest generation had celebrities. … I think the problem is this. We just found out that the percentage of Americans who describe themselves as poor has doubled in the last five years; which is very significant because in the past the poor consistently and erroneously described&#160; themselves as middle class. Because they had hope. Because they still&#160; believed in that Ponzi scheme formally known as the American Dream. But now they are starting to get it; that the fix is in. And that the two Americas thing is kind of true. And they are in the wrong one.</p>
<p>Apple just released two new iPhones, an expensive gold one for the haves. And for the serfs a shitty plastic lime green one that looks like your phone is wearing crocks.</p>
<p>But here is the good news. Wages may not go up again. And good jobs may never come back. Andd you can now get an iPhone for ninety nine bucks.And you can use it to tell Betty White …..</p>
<p />
<p>Bill Maher seemed to have distilled one of the <a href="" type="internal">best monologues about the American Dream to date</a> by the one and only George Carlin. The growth of hate towards our fellow Americans is growing with the decline in wealth and income of the middle class. Instead of being cognizant of those that are really causing this decline and fighting them, and lashing out against them, our closet peers, our anonymous peers, and those others take the brunt of our disgust and despair.</p>
<p>This is all by design. American citizens are played like violins. How are they played? They are kept entertained with cheap products and fed with high volumes of low quality foods. If the masses are entertained and their bellies are full, enough are willing to maintain the status quo. <a href="" type="internal">This skit</a> by Salt Lake City Move to Amend is says it all.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /> LIKE My <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/EgbertoWilliescom/181893712536" type="external">Facebook Page</a> – Visit My Blog: <a href="http://www.EgbertoWillies.com" type="external">EgbertoWillies.com</a></p>
<p>'</p> | 1,623 |
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<p />
<p>A June 20 video that captured unprofessional and cruelly insensitive — at best, chilling at worst — comments by two Albuquerque Police Department SWAT team members during a fatal standoff once again demonstrates why the department needs a major attitude adjustment.</p>
<p>The latest move to bring about that kind of change is the hiring of a new APD Academy director, an outsider with experience training federal agents. And that move, and the man selected, offer hope that improvements are on the horizon.</p>
<p>The video is the latest glimpse at the cultural problem within APD. Police say Santiago Chavez, who barricaded himself inside a home in Southwest Albuquerque on June 20, killed himself after a 15-hour standoff.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>A police lapel camera picked up officers complaining about laws and APD policies governing the use of force. One officer smiles while speculating that the situation is escalating, and a sergeant at least twice says he feels “threatened” — one of the factors that permits an escalation in the use of force.</p>
<p>Officers are also recorded using expletives referring to female anatomy and speaking in a mocking falsetto tone.</p>
<p>Chief Ray Schultz calls the comments “boy talk” and says while some were inappropriate, they don’t reflect a larger problem.</p>
<p>A lawyer for the family disagrees. Refreshingly, APD’s new Police Academy Director Joe Wolf labeled the comments as “indefensible.”</p>
<p>Wolf comes on board as APD is under fire for excessive force cases, the payouts of millions of dollars to settle misconduct cases and calls for a U.S. Justice Department investigation over police shootings.</p>
<p>At the top of Wolf’s to-do list is instilling less of a paramilitary mentality in new recruits and attempting to convince current officers that “tactically it makes sense to soften (their) approach.”</p>
<p>That’s his directive from Mayor Richard Berry and Schultz, who correctly identifies community trust as the major issue facing local law enforcement today not only in Albuquerque but throughout the United States.</p>
<p>Wolf will work to develop a new crop of police officers who treat the public they encounter and taxpayers with respect, as they do their difficult and dangerous jobs.</p>
<p>But much work will still be needed by the chief and other top-level supervisors. That group of police officers who have tarnished the department’s reputation — and their line supervisors — need to understand that such an us-and-them attitude is no longer tolerated by APD.</p>
<p>This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.</p> | Editorial: Video Shows Challenge For APD Training Boss | false | https://abqjournal.com/119738/video-shows-challenge-for-apd-training-boss.html | 2012-07-23 | 2least
| Editorial: Video Shows Challenge For APD Training Boss
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<p />
<p>A June 20 video that captured unprofessional and cruelly insensitive — at best, chilling at worst — comments by two Albuquerque Police Department SWAT team members during a fatal standoff once again demonstrates why the department needs a major attitude adjustment.</p>
<p>The latest move to bring about that kind of change is the hiring of a new APD Academy director, an outsider with experience training federal agents. And that move, and the man selected, offer hope that improvements are on the horizon.</p>
<p>The video is the latest glimpse at the cultural problem within APD. Police say Santiago Chavez, who barricaded himself inside a home in Southwest Albuquerque on June 20, killed himself after a 15-hour standoff.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>A police lapel camera picked up officers complaining about laws and APD policies governing the use of force. One officer smiles while speculating that the situation is escalating, and a sergeant at least twice says he feels “threatened” — one of the factors that permits an escalation in the use of force.</p>
<p>Officers are also recorded using expletives referring to female anatomy and speaking in a mocking falsetto tone.</p>
<p>Chief Ray Schultz calls the comments “boy talk” and says while some were inappropriate, they don’t reflect a larger problem.</p>
<p>A lawyer for the family disagrees. Refreshingly, APD’s new Police Academy Director Joe Wolf labeled the comments as “indefensible.”</p>
<p>Wolf comes on board as APD is under fire for excessive force cases, the payouts of millions of dollars to settle misconduct cases and calls for a U.S. Justice Department investigation over police shootings.</p>
<p>At the top of Wolf’s to-do list is instilling less of a paramilitary mentality in new recruits and attempting to convince current officers that “tactically it makes sense to soften (their) approach.”</p>
<p>That’s his directive from Mayor Richard Berry and Schultz, who correctly identifies community trust as the major issue facing local law enforcement today not only in Albuquerque but throughout the United States.</p>
<p>Wolf will work to develop a new crop of police officers who treat the public they encounter and taxpayers with respect, as they do their difficult and dangerous jobs.</p>
<p>But much work will still be needed by the chief and other top-level supervisors. That group of police officers who have tarnished the department’s reputation — and their line supervisors — need to understand that such an us-and-them attitude is no longer tolerated by APD.</p>
<p>This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.</p> | 1,624 |
<p>On Saturday, in the largest protest in the Northeast against tar sands, hundreds of people from Maine, New England and Canada carried signs and marched across Portland to rally at the Maine State Pier.</p>
<p>The rally and march were held to oppose an emerging proposal to send dirty tar sands oil through the 236-mile long, 62-year-old Exxon/Enbridge pipeline across Canada, Maine and New England. Specifically, participants called on elected officials and the U.S. State Department to require a new Presidential Permit application and full environmental review before the company could reverse the pipeline to carry tar sands. Unless the State Department decides to require a new Presidential Permit, there may not be a permit application, adequate public input or environmental review in store for this line reversal and change to pipe tar sands oil.</p>
<p>Speakers addressed the crowds at the rally on Maine State Pier, against the backdrop of oil tanks and tankers in Casco Bay.</p>
<p>“Reversing the flow of the Portland Pipeline so tar sands oil can be delivered to Portland Harbor would pose some serious environmental risks and I’m going to ask the Obama Administration to do a full environmental review of any attempts to pump tar sands through that pipeline,” said Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-ME). “ExxonMobil shouldn’t be allowed to go ahead with this risky scheme without a Presidential Permit and I don’t believe the facts will support one.”</p>
<p>“With climate change once again at the forefront of our minds, it is crucial that we work together to end our dependence upon on foreign oil and keep our community free of fuels like tar sands,” said Portland Mayor Michael Brennan. “We need to work together to expand the market for renewable energy and eliminate the demand for tar sands and other fuels that are not only a root cause for climate change, but also carry real risks of pollution and spills in our backyard.” Portland City Council members are now considering a measure that would ensure the city does not use fuel made from tar sands oil in its vehicles or buildings.</p>
<p>“I’m so proud to be here today to say ‘no’ to tar sands in Maine. The people of Casco have spoken that tar sands would be a bad deal. There is too much at risk for our town and our welfare.” said Connie Cross, a resident of Casco. Casco was the first Maine town to vote against the pipeline at its town meeting in December 2012. Several other towns are considering similar resolutions.</p>
<p>“Vermont’s largest city wanted to take a stand on tars sands by keeping Burlington and Vermont tar sands free,” said Burlington City Councilor Maxwell Tracy. “We stand with New England, and believe that New England should work together to keep the east tar sands free.” The city of Burlington recently passed a comprehensive anti-tar sands/pipeline resolution.</p>
<p>“People ask me about the scientific imperative to address climate change.” said Unity College President Stephen Mulkey. “Actually science doesn’t tell us what to do—it tells us about some of the disastrous consequences of doing nothing. This is a moral and practical imperative. That we must have this rally and march is evidence that our leaders are having the wrong discussion. This tar sands pipeline should simply be unthinkable at this stage of the climate crisis. We are out of time, and our kids will hold us accountable.” Unity College was the first college in the nation to divest its endowment from fossil fuels.</p>
<p>“As a landowner living along the Crooked River and near the pipeline I absolutely oppose sending toxic tar sands through this pipeline,” said Lee Margolin a landowner and business owner in Harrison. “The increased risk of a toxic tar sands spill is a health concern for me and my family first and foremost. I also own a small brewery that depends on clean water—I’m just one of thousands of businesses in the region that depends on a clean environment and clean water.”</p>
<p>“Today people from across Maine and the northeast are sending a clear signal that tar sands doesn’t belong here,” said Dylan Voorhees, clean energy director for the Natural Resources Council of Maine. “A tar sands pipeline would be far too dangerous for our waters, our health, our climate, our economy.”</p>
<p>The history of disastrous tar sands pipeline spills and escalating extreme weather disasters from fossil fuel-driven climate change, make tar sands oil especially risky.</p>
<p>The rally was held to demonstrate a wall of opposition to this risky proposal and to call on federal officials to ensure there is a full environmental review of this project—because the threats are too great for the environment and economy of Maine, New England, Canada and the Earth.</p>
<p>Maine is threatened by the emerging proposal to reverse the direction of an ExxonMobil/Enbridge oil pipeline and to start sending tar sands through it instead. The pipeline runs through Ontario, Quebec, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine to Portland Harbor. In Maine, the pipeline passes next to Sebago Lake, the drinking water supply for more than 15 percent of Mainers, crosses the Androscoggin and Crooked Rivers, and ends at Casco Bay, where it could endanger fishing and lobster industries.</p>
<p>Heavy, thick tar sands oil is more toxic, corrosive and dangerous to ship through pipelines, putting the region’s environment, water quality and economy at risk. Tar sands oil is diluted with toxic chemicals like benzene, and per mile of pipe, tar sands pipelines have leaked or spilled at three times the rate of conventional oil pipelines. When tar sands does spill, it causes more damage to the health of people and our environment by sinking into sediments and releasing toxic gases. Tar sands oil spills are also nearly impossible to clean-up, even at enormous expense, as evidenced by the 2010 spill in Michigan’s Kalamazoo River. That spill is still being cleaned today, at a cost of more than $725 million and counting. Even in its more refined form of “Synthetic Crude Oil,” tar sands has a massive environmental and climate footprint.</p>
<p>Worrisome signs all point emerging threat of tar sands to Maine and New England:</p>
<p>• In November 2012, Enbridge applied for permission to reverse and expand the portion of the pipeline across Ontario and Quebec ending in Montreal, specifically seeking permission to carry tar sands.</p>
<p>• An oil company affiliated with the Portland Pipe Line has an application pending for a pumping station in Quebec whose sole purpose would be to send oil south through New England.</p>
<p>• Over the last several months, officials with the pipeline company have handed out information touting tar sands oil to towns along the pipeline, while their oil industry allies have sent opinion pieces to Maine newspapers defending tar sands.</p>
<p>• In late 2011 the pipeline company and lobbyists for tar sands met with Maine Governor Paul LePage to promote tar sands oil, according to documents obtained through Maine’s Freedom of Access Law.</p>
<p>• In January 2013 the company publicly opposed a proposed resolution for the City of Portland to avoid purchase of fuels derived from tar sands.</p>
<p>• Research uncovered the fact that the pipeline running through New England—the Portland-Montreal Pipeline—is controlled by ExxonMobil. ExxonMobil has direct interests in the tar sands and a poor environmental track record in pursuit of its massive profits.</p>
<p>“Unless we raise our voices and insist this reckless pipeline project is thoroughly reviewed and then rejected, it will go forward without ever considering the massive potential impacts to Sebago Lake, Casco Bay and our climate,” said Environment Maine director Emily Figdor. “It may take an army of us to go toe-to-toe with ExxonMobil, the biggest of Big Oil, but together we can convince President Obama to stop the project, protect the waterways we love and tackle the climate crisis.”</p>
<p>“Landowners in the Western foothills have been partnering with the land trusts protecting the Crooked River watershed for years to conserve precious lands and waters in Western Maine, to protect essential fisheries and to insure clean drinking water for the greater Portland area,” said Lee Dassler, executive director of the Western Foothills Land Trust. “We treasure and depend on a clean environment with public access, for recreation, for family and cultural traditions, and to help support our economy. A tar sands pipeline could place those efforts at risk. We need to keep tar sands out of Maine.”</p> | In Maine, 1,000 Rally Against Exxon Tar Sands Pipeline | true | http://occupy.com/article/maine-1000-rally-against-exxon-tar-sands-pipeline | 4left
| In Maine, 1,000 Rally Against Exxon Tar Sands Pipeline
<p>On Saturday, in the largest protest in the Northeast against tar sands, hundreds of people from Maine, New England and Canada carried signs and marched across Portland to rally at the Maine State Pier.</p>
<p>The rally and march were held to oppose an emerging proposal to send dirty tar sands oil through the 236-mile long, 62-year-old Exxon/Enbridge pipeline across Canada, Maine and New England. Specifically, participants called on elected officials and the U.S. State Department to require a new Presidential Permit application and full environmental review before the company could reverse the pipeline to carry tar sands. Unless the State Department decides to require a new Presidential Permit, there may not be a permit application, adequate public input or environmental review in store for this line reversal and change to pipe tar sands oil.</p>
<p>Speakers addressed the crowds at the rally on Maine State Pier, against the backdrop of oil tanks and tankers in Casco Bay.</p>
<p>“Reversing the flow of the Portland Pipeline so tar sands oil can be delivered to Portland Harbor would pose some serious environmental risks and I’m going to ask the Obama Administration to do a full environmental review of any attempts to pump tar sands through that pipeline,” said Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-ME). “ExxonMobil shouldn’t be allowed to go ahead with this risky scheme without a Presidential Permit and I don’t believe the facts will support one.”</p>
<p>“With climate change once again at the forefront of our minds, it is crucial that we work together to end our dependence upon on foreign oil and keep our community free of fuels like tar sands,” said Portland Mayor Michael Brennan. “We need to work together to expand the market for renewable energy and eliminate the demand for tar sands and other fuels that are not only a root cause for climate change, but also carry real risks of pollution and spills in our backyard.” Portland City Council members are now considering a measure that would ensure the city does not use fuel made from tar sands oil in its vehicles or buildings.</p>
<p>“I’m so proud to be here today to say ‘no’ to tar sands in Maine. The people of Casco have spoken that tar sands would be a bad deal. There is too much at risk for our town and our welfare.” said Connie Cross, a resident of Casco. Casco was the first Maine town to vote against the pipeline at its town meeting in December 2012. Several other towns are considering similar resolutions.</p>
<p>“Vermont’s largest city wanted to take a stand on tars sands by keeping Burlington and Vermont tar sands free,” said Burlington City Councilor Maxwell Tracy. “We stand with New England, and believe that New England should work together to keep the east tar sands free.” The city of Burlington recently passed a comprehensive anti-tar sands/pipeline resolution.</p>
<p>“People ask me about the scientific imperative to address climate change.” said Unity College President Stephen Mulkey. “Actually science doesn’t tell us what to do—it tells us about some of the disastrous consequences of doing nothing. This is a moral and practical imperative. That we must have this rally and march is evidence that our leaders are having the wrong discussion. This tar sands pipeline should simply be unthinkable at this stage of the climate crisis. We are out of time, and our kids will hold us accountable.” Unity College was the first college in the nation to divest its endowment from fossil fuels.</p>
<p>“As a landowner living along the Crooked River and near the pipeline I absolutely oppose sending toxic tar sands through this pipeline,” said Lee Margolin a landowner and business owner in Harrison. “The increased risk of a toxic tar sands spill is a health concern for me and my family first and foremost. I also own a small brewery that depends on clean water—I’m just one of thousands of businesses in the region that depends on a clean environment and clean water.”</p>
<p>“Today people from across Maine and the northeast are sending a clear signal that tar sands doesn’t belong here,” said Dylan Voorhees, clean energy director for the Natural Resources Council of Maine. “A tar sands pipeline would be far too dangerous for our waters, our health, our climate, our economy.”</p>
<p>The history of disastrous tar sands pipeline spills and escalating extreme weather disasters from fossil fuel-driven climate change, make tar sands oil especially risky.</p>
<p>The rally was held to demonstrate a wall of opposition to this risky proposal and to call on federal officials to ensure there is a full environmental review of this project—because the threats are too great for the environment and economy of Maine, New England, Canada and the Earth.</p>
<p>Maine is threatened by the emerging proposal to reverse the direction of an ExxonMobil/Enbridge oil pipeline and to start sending tar sands through it instead. The pipeline runs through Ontario, Quebec, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine to Portland Harbor. In Maine, the pipeline passes next to Sebago Lake, the drinking water supply for more than 15 percent of Mainers, crosses the Androscoggin and Crooked Rivers, and ends at Casco Bay, where it could endanger fishing and lobster industries.</p>
<p>Heavy, thick tar sands oil is more toxic, corrosive and dangerous to ship through pipelines, putting the region’s environment, water quality and economy at risk. Tar sands oil is diluted with toxic chemicals like benzene, and per mile of pipe, tar sands pipelines have leaked or spilled at three times the rate of conventional oil pipelines. When tar sands does spill, it causes more damage to the health of people and our environment by sinking into sediments and releasing toxic gases. Tar sands oil spills are also nearly impossible to clean-up, even at enormous expense, as evidenced by the 2010 spill in Michigan’s Kalamazoo River. That spill is still being cleaned today, at a cost of more than $725 million and counting. Even in its more refined form of “Synthetic Crude Oil,” tar sands has a massive environmental and climate footprint.</p>
<p>Worrisome signs all point emerging threat of tar sands to Maine and New England:</p>
<p>• In November 2012, Enbridge applied for permission to reverse and expand the portion of the pipeline across Ontario and Quebec ending in Montreal, specifically seeking permission to carry tar sands.</p>
<p>• An oil company affiliated with the Portland Pipe Line has an application pending for a pumping station in Quebec whose sole purpose would be to send oil south through New England.</p>
<p>• Over the last several months, officials with the pipeline company have handed out information touting tar sands oil to towns along the pipeline, while their oil industry allies have sent opinion pieces to Maine newspapers defending tar sands.</p>
<p>• In late 2011 the pipeline company and lobbyists for tar sands met with Maine Governor Paul LePage to promote tar sands oil, according to documents obtained through Maine’s Freedom of Access Law.</p>
<p>• In January 2013 the company publicly opposed a proposed resolution for the City of Portland to avoid purchase of fuels derived from tar sands.</p>
<p>• Research uncovered the fact that the pipeline running through New England—the Portland-Montreal Pipeline—is controlled by ExxonMobil. ExxonMobil has direct interests in the tar sands and a poor environmental track record in pursuit of its massive profits.</p>
<p>“Unless we raise our voices and insist this reckless pipeline project is thoroughly reviewed and then rejected, it will go forward without ever considering the massive potential impacts to Sebago Lake, Casco Bay and our climate,” said Environment Maine director Emily Figdor. “It may take an army of us to go toe-to-toe with ExxonMobil, the biggest of Big Oil, but together we can convince President Obama to stop the project, protect the waterways we love and tackle the climate crisis.”</p>
<p>“Landowners in the Western foothills have been partnering with the land trusts protecting the Crooked River watershed for years to conserve precious lands and waters in Western Maine, to protect essential fisheries and to insure clean drinking water for the greater Portland area,” said Lee Dassler, executive director of the Western Foothills Land Trust. “We treasure and depend on a clean environment with public access, for recreation, for family and cultural traditions, and to help support our economy. A tar sands pipeline could place those efforts at risk. We need to keep tar sands out of Maine.”</p> | 1,625 |
|
<p>By Bob Allen</p>
<p>Simply denouncing acts of overt violence against gays without addressing the underlying message that people with same-sex attractions are abnormal and inferior to heterosexuals is not enough, a gay Baptist minister argues in a recent Religion Dispatches <a href="http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/atheologies/6679/queer_suicide_and_the_malpractice_of__love__/" type="external">article</a>.</p>
<p>Cody Sanders, a graduate of McAfee School of Theology now pursuing a doctorate at Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth, Texas, lamented the recent suicide of a Michigan teenager who had just told his mother he was gay as evidence of “ministerial malpractice” going on in American pulpits.</p>
<p>Sanders, a featured speaker at last April’s [Baptist] Conference on Sexuality and Covenant co-sponsored by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and Mercer University’s Center for Theology and Public Life, said people discuss malpractice by clergy less than other professions. When they do it usually refers to cases of criminal child sexual abuse that have come to light in various denominations in recent years.</p>
<p>He applied the term to the well-meaning but misguided belief that violence both committed against LGBT persons and the self-loathing that causes gay teenagers to take their own life will go away if churches just learn to “love” people who are gay.</p>
<p>“Love” covers a multitude of meanings in various religious traditions, Sanders said. Churches that practice “reparative” or “conversion” therapy aimed at “normalizing” gays by changing their sexual orientation say they are motivated by love and compassion.</p>
<p>Other congregations are more “accommodating” to people attracted to members of the same sex. Some are the “silent type” that loves and welcomes everybody without getting into specifics. Others are the “vocal type,” which intentionally include gay people in structures like leadership, ordination and marriage already enjoyed by straight folks.</p>
<p>Sanders said “accommodation” is helpful, but he called for a broader vision of love “supported by a robust understanding of justice, concerned not only with the wider distribution of privileges but also with the more fundamental inequality of some having to grow up with the marks of insult and hatred being written onto their bodies.”</p>
<p>Sanders cited several examples of what he means by “ministerial malpractice.”</p>
<p>–“Negligent attitudes of clergy and congregations concerning the violence being enacted upon queer lives, not just the violence of bullying, but the persistent injury to the bodies, psyches and souls of queer people.”</p>
<p>–“The youth minister who invites representatives of ‘ex-gay’ ministries to speak to teenagers because these ‘practices of love’ are theologically responsible, despite evidence of their destructive power.”</p>
<p>–“The pastor who knows the realities of violence enacted upon queer lives and is deeply concerned, but who, nevertheless, avoids any mention of sexuality in the pulpit so as not to upset parishioners.”</p>
<p>–“The theological scholar who prevaricates in public when asked about concerns of justice for queer lives — not even out of a sense of personal conviction on the matter, but in order to protect a public career: speaking invitations, book deals.”</p>
<p>–“The congregation that skirts around open discussions of queer affirmation, inclusion and justice, because they don’t want to become a ‘gay church’ or (more liberally) they don’t want to be ‘defined by that one issue.’”</p>
<p>Sanders discussed the article Dec. 15 in an <a href="http://stateofbelief.com/" type="external">interview</a> on the State of Belief radio program with <a href="http://stateofbelief.com/about-the-host/" type="external">Welton Gaddy</a>, head of the Interfaith Alliance and an ordained Baptist minister who serves as pastor for preaching and worship at <a href="http://www.northmin.com" type="external">Northminster (Baptist) Church</a> in Monroe, La.</p>
<p>Sanders told Gaddy he has long been concerned about gay teen suicides, and began writing and speaking publicly on the topic after a string of highly publicized such deaths in 2010. He has also made it an item of research in his pursuit of a Ph.D. in pastoral theology and pastoral care.</p>
<p>Sanders described the problem as “fists with footnotes.”</p>
<p>“We are aware of fist bullies that attack queer lives on a daily basis in schools, in society, but we often aren’t aware of the footnotes that those fists come with,” Sanders said. “The physical bullying and the violence is a citation of the larger social and religious discourse that mentions the queer self as sick or sinful or an object of disgust or derision.”</p>
<p>“The words don’t even have to be said,” he continued. “We all already know the reason that queer people become subjected to violence and bullying.”</p>
<p>What is less obvious, he said, is how the “fists with footnotes mentality” affects the psyche of adolescents trying to square same-sex attraction with a healthy image of “self.”</p>
<p>“What I’m suggesting in the article is that we need to sort of revisit these practices of love,” Sanders said, “to re-imagine these practices of love so that they are supported by a more robust notion of justice that takes into account the effects of multiple levels of violence experienced by queer people in our society.”</p>
<p>In addition to his studies, Sanders is editor of the forthcoming revised edition of <a href="http://soulforce.org/pdf/rdwt.pdf" type="external">Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth: A Resource for Congregations in Dialogue on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity</a>, published by the <a href="http://www.allianceofbaptists.org/" type="external">Alliance of Baptists</a>, the <a href="http://www.awab.org/" type="external">Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists</a>, and the <a href="http://www.bpfna.org/" type="external">Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America</a>.</p>
<p>Previous related story:</p>
<p><a href="faith/theology/item/7160-speakers-say-churches-can-learn-from-same-sex-couples" type="external">Speaker says churches can learn from same-sex couples</a></p>
<p>Other commentary by Cody Sanders:</p>
<p><a href="opinion/commentaries/item/4602-on-gay-rights-is-there-common-ground" type="external">On gay rights, is there common ground?</a></p>
<p><a href="opinion/commentaries/item/5001-the-questions-we-aren’t-asking-about-gays-and-the-church" type="external">The questions we aren’t asking about gays and the church</a></p>
<p><a href="opinion/commentaries/item/5725-public-professions-and-sexuality" type="external">Public professions and sexuality</a></p> | Scholar says gay teen suicide a moral issue | false | https://baptistnews.com/article/scholar-gay-teen-suicide-a-theological-issue/ | 3left-center
| Scholar says gay teen suicide a moral issue
<p>By Bob Allen</p>
<p>Simply denouncing acts of overt violence against gays without addressing the underlying message that people with same-sex attractions are abnormal and inferior to heterosexuals is not enough, a gay Baptist minister argues in a recent Religion Dispatches <a href="http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/atheologies/6679/queer_suicide_and_the_malpractice_of__love__/" type="external">article</a>.</p>
<p>Cody Sanders, a graduate of McAfee School of Theology now pursuing a doctorate at Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth, Texas, lamented the recent suicide of a Michigan teenager who had just told his mother he was gay as evidence of “ministerial malpractice” going on in American pulpits.</p>
<p>Sanders, a featured speaker at last April’s [Baptist] Conference on Sexuality and Covenant co-sponsored by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and Mercer University’s Center for Theology and Public Life, said people discuss malpractice by clergy less than other professions. When they do it usually refers to cases of criminal child sexual abuse that have come to light in various denominations in recent years.</p>
<p>He applied the term to the well-meaning but misguided belief that violence both committed against LGBT persons and the self-loathing that causes gay teenagers to take their own life will go away if churches just learn to “love” people who are gay.</p>
<p>“Love” covers a multitude of meanings in various religious traditions, Sanders said. Churches that practice “reparative” or “conversion” therapy aimed at “normalizing” gays by changing their sexual orientation say they are motivated by love and compassion.</p>
<p>Other congregations are more “accommodating” to people attracted to members of the same sex. Some are the “silent type” that loves and welcomes everybody without getting into specifics. Others are the “vocal type,” which intentionally include gay people in structures like leadership, ordination and marriage already enjoyed by straight folks.</p>
<p>Sanders said “accommodation” is helpful, but he called for a broader vision of love “supported by a robust understanding of justice, concerned not only with the wider distribution of privileges but also with the more fundamental inequality of some having to grow up with the marks of insult and hatred being written onto their bodies.”</p>
<p>Sanders cited several examples of what he means by “ministerial malpractice.”</p>
<p>–“Negligent attitudes of clergy and congregations concerning the violence being enacted upon queer lives, not just the violence of bullying, but the persistent injury to the bodies, psyches and souls of queer people.”</p>
<p>–“The youth minister who invites representatives of ‘ex-gay’ ministries to speak to teenagers because these ‘practices of love’ are theologically responsible, despite evidence of their destructive power.”</p>
<p>–“The pastor who knows the realities of violence enacted upon queer lives and is deeply concerned, but who, nevertheless, avoids any mention of sexuality in the pulpit so as not to upset parishioners.”</p>
<p>–“The theological scholar who prevaricates in public when asked about concerns of justice for queer lives — not even out of a sense of personal conviction on the matter, but in order to protect a public career: speaking invitations, book deals.”</p>
<p>–“The congregation that skirts around open discussions of queer affirmation, inclusion and justice, because they don’t want to become a ‘gay church’ or (more liberally) they don’t want to be ‘defined by that one issue.’”</p>
<p>Sanders discussed the article Dec. 15 in an <a href="http://stateofbelief.com/" type="external">interview</a> on the State of Belief radio program with <a href="http://stateofbelief.com/about-the-host/" type="external">Welton Gaddy</a>, head of the Interfaith Alliance and an ordained Baptist minister who serves as pastor for preaching and worship at <a href="http://www.northmin.com" type="external">Northminster (Baptist) Church</a> in Monroe, La.</p>
<p>Sanders told Gaddy he has long been concerned about gay teen suicides, and began writing and speaking publicly on the topic after a string of highly publicized such deaths in 2010. He has also made it an item of research in his pursuit of a Ph.D. in pastoral theology and pastoral care.</p>
<p>Sanders described the problem as “fists with footnotes.”</p>
<p>“We are aware of fist bullies that attack queer lives on a daily basis in schools, in society, but we often aren’t aware of the footnotes that those fists come with,” Sanders said. “The physical bullying and the violence is a citation of the larger social and religious discourse that mentions the queer self as sick or sinful or an object of disgust or derision.”</p>
<p>“The words don’t even have to be said,” he continued. “We all already know the reason that queer people become subjected to violence and bullying.”</p>
<p>What is less obvious, he said, is how the “fists with footnotes mentality” affects the psyche of adolescents trying to square same-sex attraction with a healthy image of “self.”</p>
<p>“What I’m suggesting in the article is that we need to sort of revisit these practices of love,” Sanders said, “to re-imagine these practices of love so that they are supported by a more robust notion of justice that takes into account the effects of multiple levels of violence experienced by queer people in our society.”</p>
<p>In addition to his studies, Sanders is editor of the forthcoming revised edition of <a href="http://soulforce.org/pdf/rdwt.pdf" type="external">Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth: A Resource for Congregations in Dialogue on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity</a>, published by the <a href="http://www.allianceofbaptists.org/" type="external">Alliance of Baptists</a>, the <a href="http://www.awab.org/" type="external">Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists</a>, and the <a href="http://www.bpfna.org/" type="external">Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America</a>.</p>
<p>Previous related story:</p>
<p><a href="faith/theology/item/7160-speakers-say-churches-can-learn-from-same-sex-couples" type="external">Speaker says churches can learn from same-sex couples</a></p>
<p>Other commentary by Cody Sanders:</p>
<p><a href="opinion/commentaries/item/4602-on-gay-rights-is-there-common-ground" type="external">On gay rights, is there common ground?</a></p>
<p><a href="opinion/commentaries/item/5001-the-questions-we-aren’t-asking-about-gays-and-the-church" type="external">The questions we aren’t asking about gays and the church</a></p>
<p><a href="opinion/commentaries/item/5725-public-professions-and-sexuality" type="external">Public professions and sexuality</a></p> | 1,626 |
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<p>In New Mexico, the people wore their wealth.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Bedecked in silks, gold and silver, their hair held by tortoise shell combs, they flaunted their personal decoration on Santa Fe’s dirt streets in a show of power and pageantry.</p>
<p>“Filigree and Finery: The Art of Spanish Elegance” displays these accoutrements at the Museum of Spanish Colonial Arts beginning Saturday. The exhibition runs through May 27.</p>
<p>“It was a very class-oriented society in the colonial days,” curator Robin Farwell Gavin said.</p>
<p>“Here it was less stratified because we were so far removed,” she continued. “But certainly those who could claim being direct descendants from Spain were usually the upper class…</p>
<p>“The tourists who came in the 1800s had a very derogatory view of the Spanish,” Farwell Gavin said. “The Native Americans were idealized.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Attitudes didn’t begin to change until the 1980s as the ascension of Spanish Market, bolstered by the support of the Spanish Colonial Arts Society, helped to elucidate the culture.</p>
<p>While visiting New Spain in 1625, the English friar Thomas Gage wrote, “Both men and women are excessive in their apparel … A hat-band of pearls is ordinary in a tradesman …”</p>
<p>Eighteenth-century portraits show upper-class female sitters draped in European fashion, complete with loops and bowknots of gold and diamonds, pearl necklaces, bracelets and earrings. Men wore coats dotted with diamond buttons, shoe buckles and cravats set with precious and semi-precious stones.</p>
<p>In New Mexico, wills and inventories document the importance of being well-clad. Women paraded down Santa Fe’s dusty streets in silk shawls, crinolines and filigree. The inventory of the estate of Juana Luján, who died in 1762, lists scalloped lace gloves, a Chinese silk cape, silk stockings, silver filigree rings, a pearl and coral necklace, and gold and pearl earrings.</p>
<p>The caravans that headed up the Camino Real carried silk shawls – mantones de Manila – from China via Spain’s port in the Philippines, as well as rolls of silk, linen and velvet. Other embellishments came through dowries. The colonists also brought silk, tortoise shell, and ivory fans, whose choreography revealed the language of courting. The late Concha Ortiz y Piño de Kleven, the state’s first female minority whip, donated a late-19th century comb. Artisans cut fans from paper, then hand-painted them in gold leaf. Women wore mantones, or silk shawls, with intricate mantillas (lace head scarves) for fiestas, often threaded with floral designs throughout the lace. Tiny fingers hand-knotted the fringe like macrame.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“There were special workshops and experts in just making the fringe,” Farwell Gavin said. “It was important to have as expensive a wardrobe as you could afford.”</p>
<p>Indigenous Mexican weavers made rebozos – a kind of cross between a scarf and a shawl — for more subdued occasions. Celebrities and artists like Frida Kahlo popularized these garments. Today the weavers of towns like Tenancingo in Mexico and Santa María del Río in San Luis Potosí have garnered international awards and recognition for their work.</p>
<p>Although 18th century New Mexican documents recognized filigree, the jewelry was especially fashionable in Mexico during the short reign of Maximilian and Carlota from 1864-1867.</p>
<p>Filigree was originally traded up the Camino Real. Trained New Mexican craftsmen were producing the intricate jewelry by the mid-1800s. Santa Fe and New Mexico became known as the only place to buy the real thing in North America, as noted in an 1879 edition of Harper’s Bazaar. Tourists flocked from the East Coast specifically to collect the thread-like adornment.</p>
<p>“There are accounts from the 19th century of people saying, ‘The first place I headed were the filigree shops on the Plaza’,” Farwell Gavin said.</p>
<p>Tourists praised its high quality as early as the 1840s. The late Adolfo Ortiz, who died in 1974, was known as the last New Mexican filigree artist left at the time of his death. The art lay dormant for about 20 years before being revived in the 1980s. Sometimes Ortiz mixed the Old World style with New World materials. National magazines trumpeted filigree’s popularity.</p>
<p>The collection features a delicate gold filigree cross centered by a piece of turquoise.</p>
<p>Today silk shawls have been incorporated into popular culture through flamenco and Spanish workshops specializing in the interweaving of the delicate fringe. The rebozo has become Mexico’s national symbol. In New Mexico, both weavers and filigree artists show their work at Spanish Market, embellishing and reviving historic precedents.</p> | Fashion of Old N.M. | false | https://abqjournal.com/163311/fashion-of-old-n-m.html | 2013-01-25 | 2least
| Fashion of Old N.M.
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<p />
<p>In New Mexico, the people wore their wealth.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Bedecked in silks, gold and silver, their hair held by tortoise shell combs, they flaunted their personal decoration on Santa Fe’s dirt streets in a show of power and pageantry.</p>
<p>“Filigree and Finery: The Art of Spanish Elegance” displays these accoutrements at the Museum of Spanish Colonial Arts beginning Saturday. The exhibition runs through May 27.</p>
<p>“It was a very class-oriented society in the colonial days,” curator Robin Farwell Gavin said.</p>
<p>“Here it was less stratified because we were so far removed,” she continued. “But certainly those who could claim being direct descendants from Spain were usually the upper class…</p>
<p>“The tourists who came in the 1800s had a very derogatory view of the Spanish,” Farwell Gavin said. “The Native Americans were idealized.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Attitudes didn’t begin to change until the 1980s as the ascension of Spanish Market, bolstered by the support of the Spanish Colonial Arts Society, helped to elucidate the culture.</p>
<p>While visiting New Spain in 1625, the English friar Thomas Gage wrote, “Both men and women are excessive in their apparel … A hat-band of pearls is ordinary in a tradesman …”</p>
<p>Eighteenth-century portraits show upper-class female sitters draped in European fashion, complete with loops and bowknots of gold and diamonds, pearl necklaces, bracelets and earrings. Men wore coats dotted with diamond buttons, shoe buckles and cravats set with precious and semi-precious stones.</p>
<p>In New Mexico, wills and inventories document the importance of being well-clad. Women paraded down Santa Fe’s dusty streets in silk shawls, crinolines and filigree. The inventory of the estate of Juana Luján, who died in 1762, lists scalloped lace gloves, a Chinese silk cape, silk stockings, silver filigree rings, a pearl and coral necklace, and gold and pearl earrings.</p>
<p>The caravans that headed up the Camino Real carried silk shawls – mantones de Manila – from China via Spain’s port in the Philippines, as well as rolls of silk, linen and velvet. Other embellishments came through dowries. The colonists also brought silk, tortoise shell, and ivory fans, whose choreography revealed the language of courting. The late Concha Ortiz y Piño de Kleven, the state’s first female minority whip, donated a late-19th century comb. Artisans cut fans from paper, then hand-painted them in gold leaf. Women wore mantones, or silk shawls, with intricate mantillas (lace head scarves) for fiestas, often threaded with floral designs throughout the lace. Tiny fingers hand-knotted the fringe like macrame.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“There were special workshops and experts in just making the fringe,” Farwell Gavin said. “It was important to have as expensive a wardrobe as you could afford.”</p>
<p>Indigenous Mexican weavers made rebozos – a kind of cross between a scarf and a shawl — for more subdued occasions. Celebrities and artists like Frida Kahlo popularized these garments. Today the weavers of towns like Tenancingo in Mexico and Santa María del Río in San Luis Potosí have garnered international awards and recognition for their work.</p>
<p>Although 18th century New Mexican documents recognized filigree, the jewelry was especially fashionable in Mexico during the short reign of Maximilian and Carlota from 1864-1867.</p>
<p>Filigree was originally traded up the Camino Real. Trained New Mexican craftsmen were producing the intricate jewelry by the mid-1800s. Santa Fe and New Mexico became known as the only place to buy the real thing in North America, as noted in an 1879 edition of Harper’s Bazaar. Tourists flocked from the East Coast specifically to collect the thread-like adornment.</p>
<p>“There are accounts from the 19th century of people saying, ‘The first place I headed were the filigree shops on the Plaza’,” Farwell Gavin said.</p>
<p>Tourists praised its high quality as early as the 1840s. The late Adolfo Ortiz, who died in 1974, was known as the last New Mexican filigree artist left at the time of his death. The art lay dormant for about 20 years before being revived in the 1980s. Sometimes Ortiz mixed the Old World style with New World materials. National magazines trumpeted filigree’s popularity.</p>
<p>The collection features a delicate gold filigree cross centered by a piece of turquoise.</p>
<p>Today silk shawls have been incorporated into popular culture through flamenco and Spanish workshops specializing in the interweaving of the delicate fringe. The rebozo has become Mexico’s national symbol. In New Mexico, both weavers and filigree artists show their work at Spanish Market, embellishing and reviving historic precedents.</p> | 1,627 |
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<p />
<p>“If I’m asleep, I won’t say anything that they can use against me,” he said calmly, indicating that he wasn’t completely out of his mind and that the methamphetamines he’d taken had worn off.</p>
<p>Someone in the community had found him incoherent and uncooperative and notified the authorities that he needed help. Then his car was found on the interstate with loaded guns inside. On a previous occasion, when he was brought to the emergency room, jacked up on meth, he wore a pistol strapped to his ankle.</p>
<p>Still convinced that people were after him, he told me there that he had a “right to carry a sidearm into any public place except a school.” Many things about his delusions and violent statements were downright scary, but even more terrifying was this: Here was someone who thought he had a constitutional right to come to a hospital armed.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>I work as a psychiatric nurse on a unit where we routinely treat patients who have guns at home, including assault weapons. Many of those patients have been previously committed, which means they have a documented record of mental illness. Yet it is not uncommon to hear these patients brag about the ease with which they can purchase guns without “hassle” (background checks). How is it possible for mentally ill people, especially those with a history of violence, to obtain guns?</p>
<p>One chronically mentally ill patient in his 50s, who lives with his mother, told me he walked into Walmart and bought a rifle because it was “cheap.” His frequent stays in the state hospital were no obstacle to the purchase. During a casual conversation shortly before he was discharged, he told me he bought the gun for just over a hundred dollars, a purchase he made with his disability check.</p>
<p>When medicated, this man is easygoing and docile. He doesn’t believe he has a mental illness, or that he needs medication. When he stops taking the pills, however, the demons inside him resurface. His mother, his sole source of support, reported that she knows he’s in trouble when he aims the gun at her.</p>
<p>After release from whatever institution will hold them long enough for them to be stabilized, patients frequently refuse to comply with further prescribed treatment. Who wants to wash down pills that make you feel hungry all the time, or feel sluggish, or make it impossible to maintain an erection and even make you drool? Their judgment goes down the toilet along with their prescriptions.</p>
<p>Without the drugs that silence the voices or suppress the rage, they again begin to lose touch with reality. It’s only a matter of time before crisis workers or the police pick them up and bring them in to an emergency room. It is the ones who come in armed that give me pause.</p>
<p>When I read about the mass murder in Aurora, Colo., it amplified my conviction that something must be done to enact gun control.</p>
<p>Whatever diagnosis this young man gets, he should never have been able to buy assault weapons powerful enough to blast through concrete walls, nor should he have been able to buy an unregulated arsenal of bullets.</p>
<p>One of my co-workers defended the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms. Another reminded me that guns are not about to disappear from a country where people distrust the government; people feel the need to be armed in case of internal attack, she said.</p>
<p>I don’t win these kinds of arguments at work, and my opinion falls on deaf ears in Washington, D.C. The system is clearly broken. The National Rifle Association calls the shots, and too many elected officials have become afraid to stand up to them. Gun advocates have direct access to media and online outlets to induce fear, generate paranoia and encourage citizens to arm themselves in order to fight for their “constitutional right to bear arms.”</p>
<p>The result? A single, powerful organization promotes violence through distortion, hate-mongering and paranoia. It leaves many of us in fear for our lives, robbing us of the freedom to do something as simple as go to the movies without fear of attack from a fellow American. If this isn’t terrorism, I don’t know what is.</p>
<p>Eliza Murphy is a contributor to Writers on the Range, a service of High Country News (hcn.org). She writes in the Willamette Valley of Oregon.</p> | Fear of Attack at Movies Is Terrorism | false | https://abqjournal.com/121483/fear-of-attack-at-movies-is-terrorism.html | 2012-08-01 | 2least
| Fear of Attack at Movies Is Terrorism
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<p />
<p>“If I’m asleep, I won’t say anything that they can use against me,” he said calmly, indicating that he wasn’t completely out of his mind and that the methamphetamines he’d taken had worn off.</p>
<p>Someone in the community had found him incoherent and uncooperative and notified the authorities that he needed help. Then his car was found on the interstate with loaded guns inside. On a previous occasion, when he was brought to the emergency room, jacked up on meth, he wore a pistol strapped to his ankle.</p>
<p>Still convinced that people were after him, he told me there that he had a “right to carry a sidearm into any public place except a school.” Many things about his delusions and violent statements were downright scary, but even more terrifying was this: Here was someone who thought he had a constitutional right to come to a hospital armed.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>I work as a psychiatric nurse on a unit where we routinely treat patients who have guns at home, including assault weapons. Many of those patients have been previously committed, which means they have a documented record of mental illness. Yet it is not uncommon to hear these patients brag about the ease with which they can purchase guns without “hassle” (background checks). How is it possible for mentally ill people, especially those with a history of violence, to obtain guns?</p>
<p>One chronically mentally ill patient in his 50s, who lives with his mother, told me he walked into Walmart and bought a rifle because it was “cheap.” His frequent stays in the state hospital were no obstacle to the purchase. During a casual conversation shortly before he was discharged, he told me he bought the gun for just over a hundred dollars, a purchase he made with his disability check.</p>
<p>When medicated, this man is easygoing and docile. He doesn’t believe he has a mental illness, or that he needs medication. When he stops taking the pills, however, the demons inside him resurface. His mother, his sole source of support, reported that she knows he’s in trouble when he aims the gun at her.</p>
<p>After release from whatever institution will hold them long enough for them to be stabilized, patients frequently refuse to comply with further prescribed treatment. Who wants to wash down pills that make you feel hungry all the time, or feel sluggish, or make it impossible to maintain an erection and even make you drool? Their judgment goes down the toilet along with their prescriptions.</p>
<p>Without the drugs that silence the voices or suppress the rage, they again begin to lose touch with reality. It’s only a matter of time before crisis workers or the police pick them up and bring them in to an emergency room. It is the ones who come in armed that give me pause.</p>
<p>When I read about the mass murder in Aurora, Colo., it amplified my conviction that something must be done to enact gun control.</p>
<p>Whatever diagnosis this young man gets, he should never have been able to buy assault weapons powerful enough to blast through concrete walls, nor should he have been able to buy an unregulated arsenal of bullets.</p>
<p>One of my co-workers defended the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms. Another reminded me that guns are not about to disappear from a country where people distrust the government; people feel the need to be armed in case of internal attack, she said.</p>
<p>I don’t win these kinds of arguments at work, and my opinion falls on deaf ears in Washington, D.C. The system is clearly broken. The National Rifle Association calls the shots, and too many elected officials have become afraid to stand up to them. Gun advocates have direct access to media and online outlets to induce fear, generate paranoia and encourage citizens to arm themselves in order to fight for their “constitutional right to bear arms.”</p>
<p>The result? A single, powerful organization promotes violence through distortion, hate-mongering and paranoia. It leaves many of us in fear for our lives, robbing us of the freedom to do something as simple as go to the movies without fear of attack from a fellow American. If this isn’t terrorism, I don’t know what is.</p>
<p>Eliza Murphy is a contributor to Writers on the Range, a service of High Country News (hcn.org). She writes in the Willamette Valley of Oregon.</p> | 1,628 |
<p>Led by the Associated Press, the mainstream media coverage of the state appellate court ruling overturning two anti-bullet train trial court rulings is somewhat peculiar in that it depicts the ruling as <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/01/bullet-train-california-court/13450161/" type="external">monumental</a>. Read the 49-page decision, and it seems procedural.</p>
<p>I wrote about this for the <a href="http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/aug/01/straitjacket-still-on-bullet-train-project/" type="external">U-T San Diego</a>:</p>
<p>The decision of a state appeals court vacating a November ruling by a lower court that enjoined the California High-Speed Rail Authority from spending billions in already-approved bonds was immediately hailed as a huge victory for Gov. Jerry Brown and other advocates of the state’s bullet-train project.</p>
<p>But in the very first paragraph of the 49-page decision, the three judges on the appeals court declared that the “scope of our decision is quite narrow.” Their ruling said Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael Kenny had acted prematurely in invoking the protections included in Proposition 1A — the 2008 initiative providing $9.95 billion in bond seed money for the bullet train project — because his ruling was based on a preliminary business plan from the rail authority, not a finalized plan that can only take effect with the approval of the Legislature and other parties. …</p>
<p>And what’s absolutely crucial about the appellate ruling is that it affirmed Kenny’s key findings.</p>
<p>The decision did not say Kenny was wrong to declare the rail authority had a financing plan that was deficient because it had failed to identify the $26 billion in funding it needed to complete the project’s 300-mile initial operating segment, as required by Proposition 1A. Instead, the judges agreed that voters ordered a “financial straitjacket” be put on the state to ensure the project’s “financial viability.” …</p>
<p>Nor did the decision say Kenny was wrong to declare the rail authority had inadequate environmental reviews for the 300-mile initial operating segment. Instead, it affirmed that the state must have “all the requisite environmental clearances before construction begins.” Once again, it only held that Kerry had acted prematurely by enjoining bond spending based on this requirement at this stage of the project.</p>
<p>If the state’s media hasn’t figured this out, it appears the rail authority has. It hardly went on a victory lap, contrary to authority board chair Dan Richard’s normal tendency to bluster and bully.</p>
<p>I remain absolutely baffled by how the Associated Press’ Juliet Williams could get such basic facts wrong in her <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/01/bullet-train-california-court/13450161/" type="external">account</a>.</p>
<p>SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A state appellate court on Thursday overturned two lower court rulings that had stalled funding for California’s $68 billion bullet train, handing a big win to the project and allowing the state to resume selling bonds to pay for it.</p>
<p>The court overturned rulings by Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Michael Kenny last year in which he said the high-speed rail project no longer complies with the promises made to voters when they approved selling nearly $10 billion in bonds for it in 2008.</p>
<p>The ruling didn’t say the state could “resume selling bonds” at all. Instead, the opinion said …</p>
<p>“… bond funds cannot be committed and spent until the second and final funding plan is approved by the authority and submitted to the director of the Department of Finance and the Chairperson of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, and an independent financial consultant prepares a report. This latter report is particularly significant in that the independent consultant must certify that construction can be completed as proposed and is suitable for high-speed rail [and that] the planned passenger train service will not require an operating subsidy.”</p>
<p>Nor did the appeals court say Kenny was wrong to hold the “project no longer complies with the promises made to voters.”</p>
<p>As noted above, the appeals court didn’t challenge his finding of deficiencies at all.</p>
<p>These aren’t trivial errors. AP owes its readers and clients a correction. Or corrections.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Associated Press blows coverage of bullet-train ruling | false | https://calwatchdog.com/2014/08/03/what-did-appellate-court-actually-say-about-bullet-train/ | 2018-08-20 | 3left-center
| Associated Press blows coverage of bullet-train ruling
<p>Led by the Associated Press, the mainstream media coverage of the state appellate court ruling overturning two anti-bullet train trial court rulings is somewhat peculiar in that it depicts the ruling as <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/01/bullet-train-california-court/13450161/" type="external">monumental</a>. Read the 49-page decision, and it seems procedural.</p>
<p>I wrote about this for the <a href="http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/aug/01/straitjacket-still-on-bullet-train-project/" type="external">U-T San Diego</a>:</p>
<p>The decision of a state appeals court vacating a November ruling by a lower court that enjoined the California High-Speed Rail Authority from spending billions in already-approved bonds was immediately hailed as a huge victory for Gov. Jerry Brown and other advocates of the state’s bullet-train project.</p>
<p>But in the very first paragraph of the 49-page decision, the three judges on the appeals court declared that the “scope of our decision is quite narrow.” Their ruling said Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael Kenny had acted prematurely in invoking the protections included in Proposition 1A — the 2008 initiative providing $9.95 billion in bond seed money for the bullet train project — because his ruling was based on a preliminary business plan from the rail authority, not a finalized plan that can only take effect with the approval of the Legislature and other parties. …</p>
<p>And what’s absolutely crucial about the appellate ruling is that it affirmed Kenny’s key findings.</p>
<p>The decision did not say Kenny was wrong to declare the rail authority had a financing plan that was deficient because it had failed to identify the $26 billion in funding it needed to complete the project’s 300-mile initial operating segment, as required by Proposition 1A. Instead, the judges agreed that voters ordered a “financial straitjacket” be put on the state to ensure the project’s “financial viability.” …</p>
<p>Nor did the decision say Kenny was wrong to declare the rail authority had inadequate environmental reviews for the 300-mile initial operating segment. Instead, it affirmed that the state must have “all the requisite environmental clearances before construction begins.” Once again, it only held that Kerry had acted prematurely by enjoining bond spending based on this requirement at this stage of the project.</p>
<p>If the state’s media hasn’t figured this out, it appears the rail authority has. It hardly went on a victory lap, contrary to authority board chair Dan Richard’s normal tendency to bluster and bully.</p>
<p>I remain absolutely baffled by how the Associated Press’ Juliet Williams could get such basic facts wrong in her <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/01/bullet-train-california-court/13450161/" type="external">account</a>.</p>
<p>SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A state appellate court on Thursday overturned two lower court rulings that had stalled funding for California’s $68 billion bullet train, handing a big win to the project and allowing the state to resume selling bonds to pay for it.</p>
<p>The court overturned rulings by Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Michael Kenny last year in which he said the high-speed rail project no longer complies with the promises made to voters when they approved selling nearly $10 billion in bonds for it in 2008.</p>
<p>The ruling didn’t say the state could “resume selling bonds” at all. Instead, the opinion said …</p>
<p>“… bond funds cannot be committed and spent until the second and final funding plan is approved by the authority and submitted to the director of the Department of Finance and the Chairperson of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, and an independent financial consultant prepares a report. This latter report is particularly significant in that the independent consultant must certify that construction can be completed as proposed and is suitable for high-speed rail [and that] the planned passenger train service will not require an operating subsidy.”</p>
<p>Nor did the appeals court say Kenny was wrong to hold the “project no longer complies with the promises made to voters.”</p>
<p>As noted above, the appeals court didn’t challenge his finding of deficiencies at all.</p>
<p>These aren’t trivial errors. AP owes its readers and clients a correction. Or corrections.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | 1,629 |
<p>With midterms coming up at many college campuses, some students will be turning to a study aid that can't be checked out of the library.</p>
<p>They're called "smart drugs," prescription stimulants intended for people who suffer from attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder but used by millions of young people in search of increased focus and stamina.</p>
<p>A group of students from Boston University spoke to NBC News about the growing problem of "academic doping" for TODAY's series "Campus Undercovered."</p>
<p>"The majority of people that I know are taking it," a student named Gabi said.</p>
<p>Another, named Wyatt, said everyone in his social circle uses drugs like Adderall, Ritalin, Focalin, Vyvanse. "Every single person," he said. "You can go up to the second floor of the library and see, you know, a full wing of people just cracked out."</p>
<p>One study estimated that a third of college students may be misusing ADHD stimulants — troubling experts who say the pills can lead to addiction, psychiatric breakdowns and even suicide.</p>
<p>Watch our "Campus Undercovered" report for more on the dark side of "academic doping."</p>
<p /> | Why ADHD Drugs Are the Hottest Study Aid on College Campuses | false | http://nbcnews.com/news/us-news/why-adhd-drugs-are-hottest-study-aid-college-campuses-n663696 | 2016-10-10 | 3left-center
| Why ADHD Drugs Are the Hottest Study Aid on College Campuses
<p>With midterms coming up at many college campuses, some students will be turning to a study aid that can't be checked out of the library.</p>
<p>They're called "smart drugs," prescription stimulants intended for people who suffer from attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder but used by millions of young people in search of increased focus and stamina.</p>
<p>A group of students from Boston University spoke to NBC News about the growing problem of "academic doping" for TODAY's series "Campus Undercovered."</p>
<p>"The majority of people that I know are taking it," a student named Gabi said.</p>
<p>Another, named Wyatt, said everyone in his social circle uses drugs like Adderall, Ritalin, Focalin, Vyvanse. "Every single person," he said. "You can go up to the second floor of the library and see, you know, a full wing of people just cracked out."</p>
<p>One study estimated that a third of college students may be misusing ADHD stimulants — troubling experts who say the pills can lead to addiction, psychiatric breakdowns and even suicide.</p>
<p>Watch our "Campus Undercovered" report for more on the dark side of "academic doping."</p>
<p /> | 1,630 |
<p />
<p>First, I spent it wishing to (all your) gods that my kids were in school. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107048/" type="external">Groundhog Day!</a> Let it be Groundhog Day, a Monday with them in school for all eternity! Is that so much to ask?</p>
<p>Help me Jesus/Vishnu/Yahweh/Buddha/Satan/the Goddess etc.—they were just home for the fricking weekend. One day of freedom and they’re my responsibility again? Why am I so heavily taxed? On top of it all, it is cold and rainy here in the tundra we live in, so no ignoring them while they tumble headfirst off unsafe playground equipment, swearing that the more they bleed the tougher they are. Damn.</p>
<p>In desperation, after hours of them trying to dismember each other, and me them, I took them to the home of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Fast-Food-Nation-Dark-All-American/dp/0060938455" type="external">the anti-Christ</a> and prayed to the god/goddess of the playroom that my son wouldn’t headbutt more than three kids per minute and that my daughter would release her death grip on our invisible umbilical cord and let me read in peace for three minutes at a time. In a perfect world, those three minutes would overlap with my son’s warfare lulls and visits from irate parents, clutching their wounded progeny.</p>
<p>No such luck.</p>
<p>What was I trying, in vain, to read? Guns, Germs, and Steel:</p>
<p />
<p>Explaining what William McNeill called The Rise of the West has become the central problem in the study of global history. In Guns, Germs, and Steel Jared Diamond presents <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Guns-Germs-Steel-Fates-Societies/dp/0393317552/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1226508063&amp;sr=1-1" type="external">the biologist’s answer</a>: Geography, demography, and ecological happenstance. Diamond evenhandedly reviews human history on every continent since the Ice Age at a rate that emphasizes only the broadest movements of peoples and ideas. Yet his survey is binocular: One eye has the rather distant vision of the evolutionary biologist, while the other eye—and his heart—belongs to the people of New Guinea, where he has done field work for more than 30 years.</p>
<p>Guess what he thinks explains Europe’s domination of the planet? A) Aryan superiority. B) Nothing but real estate and good luck. C) God’s will. D) Yo mama.</p>
<p>What else could follow such a paradigm-shifting book but the pinko <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Peoples-History-United-States-Present/dp/0060838655/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1226440370&amp;sr=1-1" type="external">A People’s History of the United States</a>. To quote Amazon again, this book:</p>
<p />
<p>…turns traditional textbook history on its head. Howard Zinn infuses the often-submerged voices of blacks, women, American Indians, war resisters, and poor laborers of all nationalities into this thorough narrative that spans American history from Christopher Columbus’s arrival to an afterword on the Clinton presidency.</p>
<p>Addressing his trademark reversals of perspective, Zinn—a teacher, historian, and social activist for more than 20 years—explains, “My point is not that we must, in telling history, accuse, judge, condemn Columbus in absentia. It is too late for that; it would be a useless scholarly exercise in morality. But the easy acceptance of atrocities as a deplorable but necessary price to pay for progress (Hiroshima and Vietnam, to save Western civilization; Kronstadt and Hungary, to save socialism; nuclear proliferation, to save us all)—that is still with us.”</p>
<p>Let’s just say it’s a tad subversive and more than met my “blame America first” quotient for the day.</p>
<p>Second, I took them to a toy store.</p>
<p>I know, I know.</p>
<p>But I was hoping that the mounds of useless, expensive things ALL OF WHICH THEY MUST HAVE OR DIE, on top of their vacation-induced hysteria, would render them unconscious so I could cart them back home, comatose, and chuck them abed. That, or that some childless a-hole would call CPS while I bellowed bloody murder at them and we’d all be put out of my misery.</p>
<p>Again, no such luck.</p>
<p>As we pulled into the toy store parking lot, my freely chosen Little Big Horn, Lee Greenwood’s “I’m Proud to be an American” played, reminding me, with its fulsome intro, that it was indeed Veterans’ Day and not just a day designed to drive me insane. I did what I always have to do when I hear it: Pull over lest the chills running through me made me an unsafe driver. What can I say? That lowest-common-denominator, knee-jerk, ugly American song ‘unmans’ me every goddamn time. Does it reduce me, every time, to a quivering mass of patriotic jelly simply because it appeared when I was enlisted? (1980-1985. Commissioned USAF officer 1985-1992.) Or is it because it just pushes so many simplistic American buttons? I’ll never know.</p>
<p>All I know for sure? I’m an American. How do I know that? Because I thrill to criticism of my country that is so dead-on it makes me want to cry in the frustration of making it right.</p>
<p /> | How One Vet Spent Her First Veterans’ Day After “The World Changed” | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2008/11/how-one-vet-spent-her-first-veterans-day-after-world-changed/ | 2008-11-11 | 4left
| How One Vet Spent Her First Veterans’ Day After “The World Changed”
<p />
<p>First, I spent it wishing to (all your) gods that my kids were in school. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107048/" type="external">Groundhog Day!</a> Let it be Groundhog Day, a Monday with them in school for all eternity! Is that so much to ask?</p>
<p>Help me Jesus/Vishnu/Yahweh/Buddha/Satan/the Goddess etc.—they were just home for the fricking weekend. One day of freedom and they’re my responsibility again? Why am I so heavily taxed? On top of it all, it is cold and rainy here in the tundra we live in, so no ignoring them while they tumble headfirst off unsafe playground equipment, swearing that the more they bleed the tougher they are. Damn.</p>
<p>In desperation, after hours of them trying to dismember each other, and me them, I took them to the home of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Fast-Food-Nation-Dark-All-American/dp/0060938455" type="external">the anti-Christ</a> and prayed to the god/goddess of the playroom that my son wouldn’t headbutt more than three kids per minute and that my daughter would release her death grip on our invisible umbilical cord and let me read in peace for three minutes at a time. In a perfect world, those three minutes would overlap with my son’s warfare lulls and visits from irate parents, clutching their wounded progeny.</p>
<p>No such luck.</p>
<p>What was I trying, in vain, to read? Guns, Germs, and Steel:</p>
<p />
<p>Explaining what William McNeill called The Rise of the West has become the central problem in the study of global history. In Guns, Germs, and Steel Jared Diamond presents <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Guns-Germs-Steel-Fates-Societies/dp/0393317552/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1226508063&amp;sr=1-1" type="external">the biologist’s answer</a>: Geography, demography, and ecological happenstance. Diamond evenhandedly reviews human history on every continent since the Ice Age at a rate that emphasizes only the broadest movements of peoples and ideas. Yet his survey is binocular: One eye has the rather distant vision of the evolutionary biologist, while the other eye—and his heart—belongs to the people of New Guinea, where he has done field work for more than 30 years.</p>
<p>Guess what he thinks explains Europe’s domination of the planet? A) Aryan superiority. B) Nothing but real estate and good luck. C) God’s will. D) Yo mama.</p>
<p>What else could follow such a paradigm-shifting book but the pinko <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Peoples-History-United-States-Present/dp/0060838655/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1226440370&amp;sr=1-1" type="external">A People’s History of the United States</a>. To quote Amazon again, this book:</p>
<p />
<p>…turns traditional textbook history on its head. Howard Zinn infuses the often-submerged voices of blacks, women, American Indians, war resisters, and poor laborers of all nationalities into this thorough narrative that spans American history from Christopher Columbus’s arrival to an afterword on the Clinton presidency.</p>
<p>Addressing his trademark reversals of perspective, Zinn—a teacher, historian, and social activist for more than 20 years—explains, “My point is not that we must, in telling history, accuse, judge, condemn Columbus in absentia. It is too late for that; it would be a useless scholarly exercise in morality. But the easy acceptance of atrocities as a deplorable but necessary price to pay for progress (Hiroshima and Vietnam, to save Western civilization; Kronstadt and Hungary, to save socialism; nuclear proliferation, to save us all)—that is still with us.”</p>
<p>Let’s just say it’s a tad subversive and more than met my “blame America first” quotient for the day.</p>
<p>Second, I took them to a toy store.</p>
<p>I know, I know.</p>
<p>But I was hoping that the mounds of useless, expensive things ALL OF WHICH THEY MUST HAVE OR DIE, on top of their vacation-induced hysteria, would render them unconscious so I could cart them back home, comatose, and chuck them abed. That, or that some childless a-hole would call CPS while I bellowed bloody murder at them and we’d all be put out of my misery.</p>
<p>Again, no such luck.</p>
<p>As we pulled into the toy store parking lot, my freely chosen Little Big Horn, Lee Greenwood’s “I’m Proud to be an American” played, reminding me, with its fulsome intro, that it was indeed Veterans’ Day and not just a day designed to drive me insane. I did what I always have to do when I hear it: Pull over lest the chills running through me made me an unsafe driver. What can I say? That lowest-common-denominator, knee-jerk, ugly American song ‘unmans’ me every goddamn time. Does it reduce me, every time, to a quivering mass of patriotic jelly simply because it appeared when I was enlisted? (1980-1985. Commissioned USAF officer 1985-1992.) Or is it because it just pushes so many simplistic American buttons? I’ll never know.</p>
<p>All I know for sure? I’m an American. How do I know that? Because I thrill to criticism of my country that is so dead-on it makes me want to cry in the frustration of making it right.</p>
<p /> | 1,631 |
<p>WAILUKU, Hawaii (AP) — A judge dropped an arrest warrant Thursday for a University of Hawaii professor who refused to respond in court to English and spoke Hawaiian instead.</p>
<p>Samuel Kaleikoa Kaeo was in court Wednesday facing a trial for charges connected to his participation in a 2017 protest against the construction of a solar telescope on top of Haleakala, a volcano on Maui, Hawaii News Now <a href="http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/37344278/arrest-warrant-issued-after-maui-professor-speaks-hawaiian-in-court" type="external">reported</a> .</p>
<p>When Judge Blaine Kobayashi asked Kaeo to confirm his identity, he repeatedly responded in Hawaiian instead of English.</p>
<p>Kobayashi said he couldn't understand Kaeo and issued a warrant for Kaeo's arrest, saying "the court is unable to get a definitive determination for the record that the defendant seated in court is Mr. Samuel Kaeo."</p>
<p>Kaeo, an associate professor of Hawaiian Studies at the University of Hawaii Maui College, said he has appeared before the judge before and complained that "it was about the fact that I was speaking Hawaiian that he didn't like."</p>
<p>Kobayashi recalled the bench warrant Thursday, the state Judiciary said in a statement. Judiciary spokesman Andrew Laurence declined to answer questions about the recall, including what prompted it.</p>
<p>Kaeo faces misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and obstructing a sidewalk.</p>
<p>Kaeo, who also speaks English, requested a Hawaiian interpreter in the courtroom but prosecutors had objected, saying it was an unnecessary expense that would have caused delays.</p>
<p>A hearing has been scheduled for his request, the Judiciary said.</p>
<p>In 1978, Hawaiian was recognized as an official language of Hawaii, along with English. However, court cases are primarily conducted in English, with interpreters provided for those who speak other languages.</p>
<p>The Hawaii State Judiciary said previously in a statement that there is no legal requirement "to provide Hawaiian language interpreters to court participants who speak English but prefer to speak in Hawaiian" and that judges can grant or deny the requests.</p>
<p>On Thursday, the Judiciary said it will be reviewing policies for providing Hawaiian language interpreters.</p>
<p>The Native Hawaiian Legal Corp., which is not representing Kaeo, said issuing the warrant was inexplicable, nonsensical and absurd. "The court essentially ignored Professor Kaeo's physical presence based solely on his sincere desire to proceed and present his case in Hawaiian," the corporation said in a statement.</p>
<p>The chief executive officer of the state's Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Kamanaopono Crabbe, called the event an example of "punishing Native Hawaiians for speaking our native language."</p>
<p>He said it was reminiscent of Hawaii's past when Hawaiian "was prohibited in schools, a form of cultural suppression that substantially contributed to the near extinction of the Hawaiian language."</p>
<p>According to the most recent Census data available for 2009-2013, 5.7 percent of the state's residents spoke Hawaiian at home.</p>
<p>In 2016, a defendant representing himself against an obstruction charge after being arrested while protesting a giant telescope planned for another mountain, was found not guilty after being allowed to go to trial with a Hawaiian language interpreter. Kahookahi Kanuha cross-examined witnesses in Hawaiian. The interpreter translated the questions and the witnesses answered in English.</p>
<p>____</p>
<p>This version corrects the last name of Office of Hawaiian Affairs chief executive officer Crabbe, not Crabben, the last name of the judge, Kobayashi, not Kobayshi, and corrects the name of the news service, Hawaii News Now not Hawaii New Now.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: KGMB-TV, <a href="http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/" type="external">http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/</a></p>
<p>WAILUKU, Hawaii (AP) — A judge dropped an arrest warrant Thursday for a University of Hawaii professor who refused to respond in court to English and spoke Hawaiian instead.</p>
<p>Samuel Kaleikoa Kaeo was in court Wednesday facing a trial for charges connected to his participation in a 2017 protest against the construction of a solar telescope on top of Haleakala, a volcano on Maui, Hawaii News Now <a href="http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/37344278/arrest-warrant-issued-after-maui-professor-speaks-hawaiian-in-court" type="external">reported</a> .</p>
<p>When Judge Blaine Kobayashi asked Kaeo to confirm his identity, he repeatedly responded in Hawaiian instead of English.</p>
<p>Kobayashi said he couldn't understand Kaeo and issued a warrant for Kaeo's arrest, saying "the court is unable to get a definitive determination for the record that the defendant seated in court is Mr. Samuel Kaeo."</p>
<p>Kaeo, an associate professor of Hawaiian Studies at the University of Hawaii Maui College, said he has appeared before the judge before and complained that "it was about the fact that I was speaking Hawaiian that he didn't like."</p>
<p>Kobayashi recalled the bench warrant Thursday, the state Judiciary said in a statement. Judiciary spokesman Andrew Laurence declined to answer questions about the recall, including what prompted it.</p>
<p>Kaeo faces misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and obstructing a sidewalk.</p>
<p>Kaeo, who also speaks English, requested a Hawaiian interpreter in the courtroom but prosecutors had objected, saying it was an unnecessary expense that would have caused delays.</p>
<p>A hearing has been scheduled for his request, the Judiciary said.</p>
<p>In 1978, Hawaiian was recognized as an official language of Hawaii, along with English. However, court cases are primarily conducted in English, with interpreters provided for those who speak other languages.</p>
<p>The Hawaii State Judiciary said previously in a statement that there is no legal requirement "to provide Hawaiian language interpreters to court participants who speak English but prefer to speak in Hawaiian" and that judges can grant or deny the requests.</p>
<p>On Thursday, the Judiciary said it will be reviewing policies for providing Hawaiian language interpreters.</p>
<p>The Native Hawaiian Legal Corp., which is not representing Kaeo, said issuing the warrant was inexplicable, nonsensical and absurd. "The court essentially ignored Professor Kaeo's physical presence based solely on his sincere desire to proceed and present his case in Hawaiian," the corporation said in a statement.</p>
<p>The chief executive officer of the state's Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Kamanaopono Crabbe, called the event an example of "punishing Native Hawaiians for speaking our native language."</p>
<p>He said it was reminiscent of Hawaii's past when Hawaiian "was prohibited in schools, a form of cultural suppression that substantially contributed to the near extinction of the Hawaiian language."</p>
<p>According to the most recent Census data available for 2009-2013, 5.7 percent of the state's residents spoke Hawaiian at home.</p>
<p>In 2016, a defendant representing himself against an obstruction charge after being arrested while protesting a giant telescope planned for another mountain, was found not guilty after being allowed to go to trial with a Hawaiian language interpreter. Kahookahi Kanuha cross-examined witnesses in Hawaiian. The interpreter translated the questions and the witnesses answered in English.</p>
<p>____</p>
<p>This version corrects the last name of Office of Hawaiian Affairs chief executive officer Crabbe, not Crabben, the last name of the judge, Kobayashi, not Kobayshi, and corrects the name of the news service, Hawaii News Now not Hawaii New Now.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: KGMB-TV, <a href="http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/" type="external">http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/</a></p> | Warrant dropped for professor who spoke Hawaiian in court | false | https://apnews.com/amp/49958cd0c1e7469896172ccddaa172dd | 2018-01-26 | 2least
| Warrant dropped for professor who spoke Hawaiian in court
<p>WAILUKU, Hawaii (AP) — A judge dropped an arrest warrant Thursday for a University of Hawaii professor who refused to respond in court to English and spoke Hawaiian instead.</p>
<p>Samuel Kaleikoa Kaeo was in court Wednesday facing a trial for charges connected to his participation in a 2017 protest against the construction of a solar telescope on top of Haleakala, a volcano on Maui, Hawaii News Now <a href="http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/37344278/arrest-warrant-issued-after-maui-professor-speaks-hawaiian-in-court" type="external">reported</a> .</p>
<p>When Judge Blaine Kobayashi asked Kaeo to confirm his identity, he repeatedly responded in Hawaiian instead of English.</p>
<p>Kobayashi said he couldn't understand Kaeo and issued a warrant for Kaeo's arrest, saying "the court is unable to get a definitive determination for the record that the defendant seated in court is Mr. Samuel Kaeo."</p>
<p>Kaeo, an associate professor of Hawaiian Studies at the University of Hawaii Maui College, said he has appeared before the judge before and complained that "it was about the fact that I was speaking Hawaiian that he didn't like."</p>
<p>Kobayashi recalled the bench warrant Thursday, the state Judiciary said in a statement. Judiciary spokesman Andrew Laurence declined to answer questions about the recall, including what prompted it.</p>
<p>Kaeo faces misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and obstructing a sidewalk.</p>
<p>Kaeo, who also speaks English, requested a Hawaiian interpreter in the courtroom but prosecutors had objected, saying it was an unnecessary expense that would have caused delays.</p>
<p>A hearing has been scheduled for his request, the Judiciary said.</p>
<p>In 1978, Hawaiian was recognized as an official language of Hawaii, along with English. However, court cases are primarily conducted in English, with interpreters provided for those who speak other languages.</p>
<p>The Hawaii State Judiciary said previously in a statement that there is no legal requirement "to provide Hawaiian language interpreters to court participants who speak English but prefer to speak in Hawaiian" and that judges can grant or deny the requests.</p>
<p>On Thursday, the Judiciary said it will be reviewing policies for providing Hawaiian language interpreters.</p>
<p>The Native Hawaiian Legal Corp., which is not representing Kaeo, said issuing the warrant was inexplicable, nonsensical and absurd. "The court essentially ignored Professor Kaeo's physical presence based solely on his sincere desire to proceed and present his case in Hawaiian," the corporation said in a statement.</p>
<p>The chief executive officer of the state's Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Kamanaopono Crabbe, called the event an example of "punishing Native Hawaiians for speaking our native language."</p>
<p>He said it was reminiscent of Hawaii's past when Hawaiian "was prohibited in schools, a form of cultural suppression that substantially contributed to the near extinction of the Hawaiian language."</p>
<p>According to the most recent Census data available for 2009-2013, 5.7 percent of the state's residents spoke Hawaiian at home.</p>
<p>In 2016, a defendant representing himself against an obstruction charge after being arrested while protesting a giant telescope planned for another mountain, was found not guilty after being allowed to go to trial with a Hawaiian language interpreter. Kahookahi Kanuha cross-examined witnesses in Hawaiian. The interpreter translated the questions and the witnesses answered in English.</p>
<p>____</p>
<p>This version corrects the last name of Office of Hawaiian Affairs chief executive officer Crabbe, not Crabben, the last name of the judge, Kobayashi, not Kobayshi, and corrects the name of the news service, Hawaii News Now not Hawaii New Now.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: KGMB-TV, <a href="http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/" type="external">http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/</a></p>
<p>WAILUKU, Hawaii (AP) — A judge dropped an arrest warrant Thursday for a University of Hawaii professor who refused to respond in court to English and spoke Hawaiian instead.</p>
<p>Samuel Kaleikoa Kaeo was in court Wednesday facing a trial for charges connected to his participation in a 2017 protest against the construction of a solar telescope on top of Haleakala, a volcano on Maui, Hawaii News Now <a href="http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/37344278/arrest-warrant-issued-after-maui-professor-speaks-hawaiian-in-court" type="external">reported</a> .</p>
<p>When Judge Blaine Kobayashi asked Kaeo to confirm his identity, he repeatedly responded in Hawaiian instead of English.</p>
<p>Kobayashi said he couldn't understand Kaeo and issued a warrant for Kaeo's arrest, saying "the court is unable to get a definitive determination for the record that the defendant seated in court is Mr. Samuel Kaeo."</p>
<p>Kaeo, an associate professor of Hawaiian Studies at the University of Hawaii Maui College, said he has appeared before the judge before and complained that "it was about the fact that I was speaking Hawaiian that he didn't like."</p>
<p>Kobayashi recalled the bench warrant Thursday, the state Judiciary said in a statement. Judiciary spokesman Andrew Laurence declined to answer questions about the recall, including what prompted it.</p>
<p>Kaeo faces misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and obstructing a sidewalk.</p>
<p>Kaeo, who also speaks English, requested a Hawaiian interpreter in the courtroom but prosecutors had objected, saying it was an unnecessary expense that would have caused delays.</p>
<p>A hearing has been scheduled for his request, the Judiciary said.</p>
<p>In 1978, Hawaiian was recognized as an official language of Hawaii, along with English. However, court cases are primarily conducted in English, with interpreters provided for those who speak other languages.</p>
<p>The Hawaii State Judiciary said previously in a statement that there is no legal requirement "to provide Hawaiian language interpreters to court participants who speak English but prefer to speak in Hawaiian" and that judges can grant or deny the requests.</p>
<p>On Thursday, the Judiciary said it will be reviewing policies for providing Hawaiian language interpreters.</p>
<p>The Native Hawaiian Legal Corp., which is not representing Kaeo, said issuing the warrant was inexplicable, nonsensical and absurd. "The court essentially ignored Professor Kaeo's physical presence based solely on his sincere desire to proceed and present his case in Hawaiian," the corporation said in a statement.</p>
<p>The chief executive officer of the state's Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Kamanaopono Crabbe, called the event an example of "punishing Native Hawaiians for speaking our native language."</p>
<p>He said it was reminiscent of Hawaii's past when Hawaiian "was prohibited in schools, a form of cultural suppression that substantially contributed to the near extinction of the Hawaiian language."</p>
<p>According to the most recent Census data available for 2009-2013, 5.7 percent of the state's residents spoke Hawaiian at home.</p>
<p>In 2016, a defendant representing himself against an obstruction charge after being arrested while protesting a giant telescope planned for another mountain, was found not guilty after being allowed to go to trial with a Hawaiian language interpreter. Kahookahi Kanuha cross-examined witnesses in Hawaiian. The interpreter translated the questions and the witnesses answered in English.</p>
<p>____</p>
<p>This version corrects the last name of Office of Hawaiian Affairs chief executive officer Crabbe, not Crabben, the last name of the judge, Kobayashi, not Kobayshi, and corrects the name of the news service, Hawaii News Now not Hawaii New Now.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: KGMB-TV, <a href="http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/" type="external">http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/</a></p> | 1,632 |
<p>By Wayne Cole</p>
<p>SYDNEY (Reuters) – Asian shares edged ahead on Thursday as speculation the Federal Reserve might not tighten U.S. policy as aggressively as first thought slugged the dollar and boosted bonds globally.</p>
<p>MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan () added 0.15 percent to scale a fresh 10-year peak. Activity was light with Japanese markets closed for a holiday and the United States off for Thanksgiving.</p>
<p>The dollar was nursing losses after suffering its worst one-day fall in five months on Wednesday, while hitting a three-month trough against the Japanese yen.</p>
<p>The rout came after minutes of the Fed’s last meeting showed “many participants” were concerned inflation would stay below the bank’s 2 percent target for longer than expected.</p>
<p>That echoed comments from Fed Chair Janet Yellen that she was uncertain about the outlook for inflation and led markets to pare back pricing for more hikes next year.</p>
<p>While a move in December to between 1.25 and 1.5 percent is still almost fully priced in, Fed fund futures &lt;0#FF:&gt; rallied to show rates at just 1.75 percent by the end of next year.</p>
<p>“The US dollar was already staggering into Thanksgiving when the FOMC minutes gave it another shove,” said Sean Callow, a senior currency analyst at Westpac. “The FOMC seems to be increasingly uneasy about “ongoing softness” in inflation.”</p>
<p>“Investors can be forgiven for wondering why they should buy more U.S. dollars if we are heading into a “Powell pause” in the first half of 2018,” he added, referring to newly appointed Fed Chair Jerome Powell.</p>
<p>BONDS GET REPRIEVE</p>
<p>Against a basket of currencies, the dollar was huddled at 93.277 (), having shed 0.75 percent overnight.</p>
<p>The euro was enjoying the view at $1.1817 after climbing from $1.1731 on Wednesday. The dollar also crumbled to 111.23 yen , its lowest since Sept. 20. That was the largest single-day fall against the yen since May.</p>
<p>The Fed’s dovish turn helped break the inexorable sell off in short-term U.S. Treasuries, with yields on the two-year note falling almost five basis points to 1.727 percent. That was the sharpest daily drop since early September.</p>
<p>Wall Street was an oasis of calm in comparison with the Dow () off 0.27 percent, while the S&amp;P 500 () lost 0.08 percent and the Nasdaq () added 0.07 percent.</p>
<p>Verizon (N:) and AT&amp;T (N:) rose 2.0 percent and 1.6 percent respectively on bets they will benefit from the U.S. government’s plan to rescind net neutrality rules put in place by the Obama administration.</p>
<p>Commodities were buoyed by the dive in the dollar, with gold up at $1,290.56 an ounce having added 0.9 percent overnight.</p>
<p>Oil prices hit their highest in more than two years after the shutdown of one of the largest crude pipelines from Canada cut supply to the United States.</p>
<p>U.S. crude futures () were hovering at $58.00 a barrel after jumping 2 percent on Wednesday to ground last trod in mid- 2015. Brent crude () was firm at $63.29 a barrel.</p>
<p />
<p>Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.</p> | Dollar dumped, bonds boosted on Fed inflation caution | false | https://newsline.com/dollar-dumped-bonds-boosted-on-fed-inflation-caution/ | 2017-11-22 | 1right-center
| Dollar dumped, bonds boosted on Fed inflation caution
<p>By Wayne Cole</p>
<p>SYDNEY (Reuters) – Asian shares edged ahead on Thursday as speculation the Federal Reserve might not tighten U.S. policy as aggressively as first thought slugged the dollar and boosted bonds globally.</p>
<p>MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan () added 0.15 percent to scale a fresh 10-year peak. Activity was light with Japanese markets closed for a holiday and the United States off for Thanksgiving.</p>
<p>The dollar was nursing losses after suffering its worst one-day fall in five months on Wednesday, while hitting a three-month trough against the Japanese yen.</p>
<p>The rout came after minutes of the Fed’s last meeting showed “many participants” were concerned inflation would stay below the bank’s 2 percent target for longer than expected.</p>
<p>That echoed comments from Fed Chair Janet Yellen that she was uncertain about the outlook for inflation and led markets to pare back pricing for more hikes next year.</p>
<p>While a move in December to between 1.25 and 1.5 percent is still almost fully priced in, Fed fund futures &lt;0#FF:&gt; rallied to show rates at just 1.75 percent by the end of next year.</p>
<p>“The US dollar was already staggering into Thanksgiving when the FOMC minutes gave it another shove,” said Sean Callow, a senior currency analyst at Westpac. “The FOMC seems to be increasingly uneasy about “ongoing softness” in inflation.”</p>
<p>“Investors can be forgiven for wondering why they should buy more U.S. dollars if we are heading into a “Powell pause” in the first half of 2018,” he added, referring to newly appointed Fed Chair Jerome Powell.</p>
<p>BONDS GET REPRIEVE</p>
<p>Against a basket of currencies, the dollar was huddled at 93.277 (), having shed 0.75 percent overnight.</p>
<p>The euro was enjoying the view at $1.1817 after climbing from $1.1731 on Wednesday. The dollar also crumbled to 111.23 yen , its lowest since Sept. 20. That was the largest single-day fall against the yen since May.</p>
<p>The Fed’s dovish turn helped break the inexorable sell off in short-term U.S. Treasuries, with yields on the two-year note falling almost five basis points to 1.727 percent. That was the sharpest daily drop since early September.</p>
<p>Wall Street was an oasis of calm in comparison with the Dow () off 0.27 percent, while the S&amp;P 500 () lost 0.08 percent and the Nasdaq () added 0.07 percent.</p>
<p>Verizon (N:) and AT&amp;T (N:) rose 2.0 percent and 1.6 percent respectively on bets they will benefit from the U.S. government’s plan to rescind net neutrality rules put in place by the Obama administration.</p>
<p>Commodities were buoyed by the dive in the dollar, with gold up at $1,290.56 an ounce having added 0.9 percent overnight.</p>
<p>Oil prices hit their highest in more than two years after the shutdown of one of the largest crude pipelines from Canada cut supply to the United States.</p>
<p>U.S. crude futures () were hovering at $58.00 a barrel after jumping 2 percent on Wednesday to ground last trod in mid- 2015. Brent crude () was firm at $63.29 a barrel.</p>
<p />
<p>Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.</p> | 1,633 |
<p>The Federal Reserve released a proposal to enact an international agreement on higher capital standards for banks, known as Basel III, that largely rejects pleas by the U.S. banking industry to soften parts of the new standards.</p>
<p>U.S. banks have pushed the Fed to allow them to more heavily count mortgage servicing rights and the unrealized gains and losses of certain securities toward their capital requirements than allowed by Basel III, but the U.S. central bank's draft rule closely follows the international agreement.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The Fed board is scheduled to vote later on Thursday on whether to put the proposal out for public comment. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp and the Comptroller of the Currency are expected to approve the proposal soon as well.</p>
<p>The Basel agreement is the cornerstone of efforts by international regulators following the 2007-2009 financial crisis to make sure the global banking system is more resilient.</p>
<p>The new standards would force banks to rely more on equity than debt to fund themselves, so that they are able to better withstand significant losses.</p>
<p>It is up to each country to write rules to implement the Basel agreement for its banks.</p>
<p>The accord, which is to be phased in from 2013 through 2019, will require banks to maintain top-quality capital equivalent to 7 percent of their risk-bearing assets, about three times what they are required to hold under existing rules. The Fed proposal adheres to this standard.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Banks have mostly agreed this minimum level is necessary.</p>
<p>The biggest banks, however, have balked at a part of the agreement to have 28 global "systemic" banks hold as much as an additional 2.5 percent capital buffer.</p>
<p>This provision would hit the largest international financial institutions such as JPMorgan Chase &amp; Co, Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Deutsche Bank AG.</p>
<p>The Fed draft proposal released on Thursday does not address the capital buffer for the largest banks; it will be considered at a later date.</p>
<p>The Fed broke up its proposal for implementing the Basel agreement into three separate rules. The first two, which govern capital levels and the types of assets that can count toward the new standards, would apply to all U.S. banks with $500 million or more in assets.</p>
<p>The third rule addresses the models and methods the largest banks, those with more than $250 billion in assets, can use to determine the amount of capital they have to hold based on the risk of their assets.</p>
<p>Also on Thursday, the Fed board is set to vote on a final rule implementing new capital standards regarding risks posed specifically by banks' trading books.</p>
<p>This update for trading books is known as Basel 2.5.</p>
<p>In response to the financial crisis, regulators across the world agreed to update their capital guidelines to better take into account the risks from such things as securities made up of mortgages, which played a key role in the meltdown.</p>
<p>U.S. regulators had delayed putting this rule into place because the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial oversight law bans the use of work done by credit rating agencies in U.S. banking regulations, including those that assess bank capital. The agencies have struggled to find alternatives.</p>
<p>Banks have argued that some of the substitutes for credit ratings included in a proposed rule released in December will not be effective.</p>
<p>For instance, they have questioned whether relying on ratings from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to gauge the riskiness of sovereign debt will work.</p>
<p>In the proposed final rule released on Thursday the Fed rejected this concern and said regulators will use OECD ratings.</p> | Fed Unveils Basel Bank Capital Proposal | true | http://foxbusiness.com/politics/2012/06/07/fed-unveils-basel-bank-capital-proposal.html | 2016-03-03 | 0right
| Fed Unveils Basel Bank Capital Proposal
<p>The Federal Reserve released a proposal to enact an international agreement on higher capital standards for banks, known as Basel III, that largely rejects pleas by the U.S. banking industry to soften parts of the new standards.</p>
<p>U.S. banks have pushed the Fed to allow them to more heavily count mortgage servicing rights and the unrealized gains and losses of certain securities toward their capital requirements than allowed by Basel III, but the U.S. central bank's draft rule closely follows the international agreement.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The Fed board is scheduled to vote later on Thursday on whether to put the proposal out for public comment. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp and the Comptroller of the Currency are expected to approve the proposal soon as well.</p>
<p>The Basel agreement is the cornerstone of efforts by international regulators following the 2007-2009 financial crisis to make sure the global banking system is more resilient.</p>
<p>The new standards would force banks to rely more on equity than debt to fund themselves, so that they are able to better withstand significant losses.</p>
<p>It is up to each country to write rules to implement the Basel agreement for its banks.</p>
<p>The accord, which is to be phased in from 2013 through 2019, will require banks to maintain top-quality capital equivalent to 7 percent of their risk-bearing assets, about three times what they are required to hold under existing rules. The Fed proposal adheres to this standard.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Banks have mostly agreed this minimum level is necessary.</p>
<p>The biggest banks, however, have balked at a part of the agreement to have 28 global "systemic" banks hold as much as an additional 2.5 percent capital buffer.</p>
<p>This provision would hit the largest international financial institutions such as JPMorgan Chase &amp; Co, Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Deutsche Bank AG.</p>
<p>The Fed draft proposal released on Thursday does not address the capital buffer for the largest banks; it will be considered at a later date.</p>
<p>The Fed broke up its proposal for implementing the Basel agreement into three separate rules. The first two, which govern capital levels and the types of assets that can count toward the new standards, would apply to all U.S. banks with $500 million or more in assets.</p>
<p>The third rule addresses the models and methods the largest banks, those with more than $250 billion in assets, can use to determine the amount of capital they have to hold based on the risk of their assets.</p>
<p>Also on Thursday, the Fed board is set to vote on a final rule implementing new capital standards regarding risks posed specifically by banks' trading books.</p>
<p>This update for trading books is known as Basel 2.5.</p>
<p>In response to the financial crisis, regulators across the world agreed to update their capital guidelines to better take into account the risks from such things as securities made up of mortgages, which played a key role in the meltdown.</p>
<p>U.S. regulators had delayed putting this rule into place because the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial oversight law bans the use of work done by credit rating agencies in U.S. banking regulations, including those that assess bank capital. The agencies have struggled to find alternatives.</p>
<p>Banks have argued that some of the substitutes for credit ratings included in a proposed rule released in December will not be effective.</p>
<p>For instance, they have questioned whether relying on ratings from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to gauge the riskiness of sovereign debt will work.</p>
<p>In the proposed final rule released on Thursday the Fed rejected this concern and said regulators will use OECD ratings.</p> | 1,634 |
<p><a href="" type="internal" /> <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/shell-oil-spill-gulf-mexico_us_57353058e4b060aa7819ee00" type="external">The leak</a> has reportedly been sealed off, but question is who is going to clean up the mess?</p>
<p>A 2,100-barrel oil spill in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico forced Royal Dutch Shell on Thursday to shut in all wells that flow to its Brutus platform, federal regulators said.</p>
<p>The U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) said a 2 mile by 13 mile (about 3 km by 21 km) sheen was visible in the sea about 97 miles off the Louisiana coast.</p>
<p>About 88,200 gallons was reportedly released from the pipeline, the Coast Guard said, adding the source of the discharge was reported as secured.</p>
<p>The sheen is near Shell’s Glider Field, a group of four subsea wells whose production flows through a subsea manifold to the Brutus platform, which sits in water with a depth of 2,900 feet (884 m).</p>
<p>In a statement, Shell spokesman Curtis Smith said a company helicopter observed the sheen on Thursday, and that the wells were under control after it isolated the leak and shut in production.</p> | LEAKAGE IN THE GULF: Oil Spill Has Many Crying Foul After THOUSANDS of Barrels are Left Floating | true | http://girlsjustwannahaveguns.com/leakage-in-the-gulf-oil-spill-has-many-crying-foul-after-thousands-of-barrels-are-left-floating/ | 0right
| LEAKAGE IN THE GULF: Oil Spill Has Many Crying Foul After THOUSANDS of Barrels are Left Floating
<p><a href="" type="internal" /> <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/shell-oil-spill-gulf-mexico_us_57353058e4b060aa7819ee00" type="external">The leak</a> has reportedly been sealed off, but question is who is going to clean up the mess?</p>
<p>A 2,100-barrel oil spill in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico forced Royal Dutch Shell on Thursday to shut in all wells that flow to its Brutus platform, federal regulators said.</p>
<p>The U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) said a 2 mile by 13 mile (about 3 km by 21 km) sheen was visible in the sea about 97 miles off the Louisiana coast.</p>
<p>About 88,200 gallons was reportedly released from the pipeline, the Coast Guard said, adding the source of the discharge was reported as secured.</p>
<p>The sheen is near Shell’s Glider Field, a group of four subsea wells whose production flows through a subsea manifold to the Brutus platform, which sits in water with a depth of 2,900 feet (884 m).</p>
<p>In a statement, Shell spokesman Curtis Smith said a company helicopter observed the sheen on Thursday, and that the wells were under control after it isolated the leak and shut in production.</p> | 1,635 |
|
<p>(Miley Cyrus. Photo courtesy of Capital Pride. )</p>
<p>Miley Cyrus,&#160;Tinashe, the Pointer Sisters and VASSY will headline the 2017&#160;Capital Pride Concert, Capital Pride announced on Tuesday.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.capitalpride.org/events/pride-concert-2017/" type="external">The Capital Pride Concert,</a> presented by Hot 99.5, will take place on three stages on Pennsylvania Avenue at Third Street on Sunday, June 11. Performances kick off at 1 p.m.</p>
<p>Cyrus, who identifies as pansexual, is known for her hit&#160;singles “We Can’t Stop” and “Wrecking Ball.” &#160;The 24-year-old is the founder of Happy Hippie Foundation, a non-profit organization that aids homeless youth and fights for the welfare of LGBT youth and women, among other social justice issues.</p>
<p>Tinashe, 21, came out with her debut album, “Aquarius” in 2014. Her singles&#160;“2 On”, “Pretend” and “All Hands on Deck” were on the Billboard Hot 100.</p>
<p>Legendary R&amp;B group the Pointer Sisters began their long career in the 1970s. Known for their hit singles&#160;“He’s So Shy,” “Jump (for My Love),” among others, the group has won three Grammy Awards and three American Music Awards.</p>
<p>VASSY is an electronic music artist whose single “We Are Young” reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Dance Chart. She is also an ambassador for the NOH8 campaign.</p>
<p>“We are unapologetically proud to join with Miley Cyrus, Tinashe, and all of the headliners at the 2017 Capital Pride Festival! This is sure to be an awesome weekend full of great music and lots of fun,” Tommy Chuck, Program Director of HOT 99.5, said in a statement.</p>
<p>The Capital Pride Festival&#160;presented by Live! Casino &amp; Hotel kicks off at noon. This year more than 300 exhibitors will be on display along with beverage gardens and a family zone.</p>
<p />
<p><a href="" type="internal">Capital Pride</a> <a href="" type="internal">Capital Pride Concert</a> <a href="" type="internal">Capital Pride Festival</a> <a href="" type="internal">Hot 99.5</a> <a href="" type="internal">Miley Cyrus</a> <a href="" type="internal">Pointer Sisters</a> <a href="" type="internal">Tinashe</a> <a href="" type="internal">VASSY</a></p> | Miley Cyrus to headline Capital Pride Concert | false | http://washingtonblade.com/2017/05/09/miley-cyrus-to-headline-capital-pride/ | 3left-center
| Miley Cyrus to headline Capital Pride Concert
<p>(Miley Cyrus. Photo courtesy of Capital Pride. )</p>
<p>Miley Cyrus,&#160;Tinashe, the Pointer Sisters and VASSY will headline the 2017&#160;Capital Pride Concert, Capital Pride announced on Tuesday.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.capitalpride.org/events/pride-concert-2017/" type="external">The Capital Pride Concert,</a> presented by Hot 99.5, will take place on three stages on Pennsylvania Avenue at Third Street on Sunday, June 11. Performances kick off at 1 p.m.</p>
<p>Cyrus, who identifies as pansexual, is known for her hit&#160;singles “We Can’t Stop” and “Wrecking Ball.” &#160;The 24-year-old is the founder of Happy Hippie Foundation, a non-profit organization that aids homeless youth and fights for the welfare of LGBT youth and women, among other social justice issues.</p>
<p>Tinashe, 21, came out with her debut album, “Aquarius” in 2014. Her singles&#160;“2 On”, “Pretend” and “All Hands on Deck” were on the Billboard Hot 100.</p>
<p>Legendary R&amp;B group the Pointer Sisters began their long career in the 1970s. Known for their hit singles&#160;“He’s So Shy,” “Jump (for My Love),” among others, the group has won three Grammy Awards and three American Music Awards.</p>
<p>VASSY is an electronic music artist whose single “We Are Young” reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Dance Chart. She is also an ambassador for the NOH8 campaign.</p>
<p>“We are unapologetically proud to join with Miley Cyrus, Tinashe, and all of the headliners at the 2017 Capital Pride Festival! This is sure to be an awesome weekend full of great music and lots of fun,” Tommy Chuck, Program Director of HOT 99.5, said in a statement.</p>
<p>The Capital Pride Festival&#160;presented by Live! Casino &amp; Hotel kicks off at noon. This year more than 300 exhibitors will be on display along with beverage gardens and a family zone.</p>
<p />
<p><a href="" type="internal">Capital Pride</a> <a href="" type="internal">Capital Pride Concert</a> <a href="" type="internal">Capital Pride Festival</a> <a href="" type="internal">Hot 99.5</a> <a href="" type="internal">Miley Cyrus</a> <a href="" type="internal">Pointer Sisters</a> <a href="" type="internal">Tinashe</a> <a href="" type="internal">VASSY</a></p> | 1,636 |
|
<p>SOCHI, Russia -- Who needs flowers, cards and fancy dinners when you've got curling, freestyle skiing and figure skating?</p>
<p>Approximately 6,345 miles away from home, Sochi will do just fine for Melanie, 39, and Ronnie Draper, 41, of Oklahoma City, Okla. Their Valentine's Day will include a romantic walk around the Olympic Park, an evening curling game and preparations for Saturday's big U.S.-Russia men's hockey game.</p>
<p>"It's a lot better than trying to find a reservation at an expensive restaurant," said Ronnie, as the couple finished shopping at the Team USA House in the Olympic Park Friday afternoon.</p>
<p>Asked what her husband Greg Best had given her as a gift, Monica Best, 44, also from Oklahoma City, said, "He brought me here, and that's a pretty good start."</p>
<p>For Vandana Bahri and Vika Anand of Stamford, Ct., this is the first Valentine's Day they'll spend as a couple since getting married in 2012. Vika was traveling last year during the month of February, so simply spending time together will make this day special.</p>
<p>"We're going to watch curling, and then tonight we're going up in the mountains to see ski jumping, which is something I've always wanted to see," said Vandana. "How many times do you get to say you spent Valentine's Day at the Olympics?"</p>
<p>In the town of Sochi proper, <a href="http://laguna99.ru/" type="external">one local cafe, called Laguna</a>, is waiving cover fees for anyone named Valentine, whether male or female, single or taken.</p>
<p>But music fans who had planned to spend their Valentine's Day in Sochi with hip-hop star Xzibit will be heartbroken to hear the rapper's show scheduled for Friday night in the Baikal Restaurant within the Olympic Park, was moved to Sunday.</p>
<p>But don't fret -- your Valentine may be just a swipe away.</p>
<p>Smartphone dating app Tinder remains one of the most popular apps of the Olympics for athletes -- and it's likely that Valentine's Day will be a big day.</p>
<p>American snowboarder Jamie Anderson, who brought home a gold this week in slopestyle snowboarding, <a href="http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/jamie-anderson-olympic-snowboarder-tinder-in-the-olympic-village-is-next-level-2014122" type="external">told Us Weekly</a> earlier in the week that, "Tinder in the Olympic Village is next level. It's all athletes! In the mountain village it's all athletes. It's hilarious. There are some cuties on there."</p>
<p>Justin Mateen, the co-founder of Tinder, was tickled, but had this to say to <a href="http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/tinder-co-founder-tells-olympian-jamie-anderson-to-focus-on-competition-not-the-app-2014132" type="external">Anderson on Thursday</a>: "Tinder is a great way to meet new people when you're traveling and want to get the most out of your experience in a new city, but for now, focus on giving it your all while competing. Tinder will always be here when you're done."</p>
<p>Meanwhile, other athletes, <a href="https://twitter.com/CharlieaWhite/status/434260206827352064" type="external">including U.S. figure skater Charlie White</a>, are turning to more mainstream applications such as Twitter when looking for a Valentine.White's secret relationship with former ice dancer Tanith Belbin was revealed earlier in the week.</p>
<p>And poking a bit of fun at herself after her facial expression Saturday in figure skating became an online meme, <a href="https://twitter.com/AshWagner2010/status/434273080568217600" type="external">Ashley Wagner took to Twitter</a> to wish all of her followers a Happy Valentine's Day... sort of.</p>
<p /> | From Sochi with Love: Valentine’s Day at the Olympics | false | http://nbcnews.com/storyline/sochi-olympics/sochi-love-valentines-day-olympics-n30166 | 2014-02-14 | 3left-center
| From Sochi with Love: Valentine’s Day at the Olympics
<p>SOCHI, Russia -- Who needs flowers, cards and fancy dinners when you've got curling, freestyle skiing and figure skating?</p>
<p>Approximately 6,345 miles away from home, Sochi will do just fine for Melanie, 39, and Ronnie Draper, 41, of Oklahoma City, Okla. Their Valentine's Day will include a romantic walk around the Olympic Park, an evening curling game and preparations for Saturday's big U.S.-Russia men's hockey game.</p>
<p>"It's a lot better than trying to find a reservation at an expensive restaurant," said Ronnie, as the couple finished shopping at the Team USA House in the Olympic Park Friday afternoon.</p>
<p>Asked what her husband Greg Best had given her as a gift, Monica Best, 44, also from Oklahoma City, said, "He brought me here, and that's a pretty good start."</p>
<p>For Vandana Bahri and Vika Anand of Stamford, Ct., this is the first Valentine's Day they'll spend as a couple since getting married in 2012. Vika was traveling last year during the month of February, so simply spending time together will make this day special.</p>
<p>"We're going to watch curling, and then tonight we're going up in the mountains to see ski jumping, which is something I've always wanted to see," said Vandana. "How many times do you get to say you spent Valentine's Day at the Olympics?"</p>
<p>In the town of Sochi proper, <a href="http://laguna99.ru/" type="external">one local cafe, called Laguna</a>, is waiving cover fees for anyone named Valentine, whether male or female, single or taken.</p>
<p>But music fans who had planned to spend their Valentine's Day in Sochi with hip-hop star Xzibit will be heartbroken to hear the rapper's show scheduled for Friday night in the Baikal Restaurant within the Olympic Park, was moved to Sunday.</p>
<p>But don't fret -- your Valentine may be just a swipe away.</p>
<p>Smartphone dating app Tinder remains one of the most popular apps of the Olympics for athletes -- and it's likely that Valentine's Day will be a big day.</p>
<p>American snowboarder Jamie Anderson, who brought home a gold this week in slopestyle snowboarding, <a href="http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/jamie-anderson-olympic-snowboarder-tinder-in-the-olympic-village-is-next-level-2014122" type="external">told Us Weekly</a> earlier in the week that, "Tinder in the Olympic Village is next level. It's all athletes! In the mountain village it's all athletes. It's hilarious. There are some cuties on there."</p>
<p>Justin Mateen, the co-founder of Tinder, was tickled, but had this to say to <a href="http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/tinder-co-founder-tells-olympian-jamie-anderson-to-focus-on-competition-not-the-app-2014132" type="external">Anderson on Thursday</a>: "Tinder is a great way to meet new people when you're traveling and want to get the most out of your experience in a new city, but for now, focus on giving it your all while competing. Tinder will always be here when you're done."</p>
<p>Meanwhile, other athletes, <a href="https://twitter.com/CharlieaWhite/status/434260206827352064" type="external">including U.S. figure skater Charlie White</a>, are turning to more mainstream applications such as Twitter when looking for a Valentine.White's secret relationship with former ice dancer Tanith Belbin was revealed earlier in the week.</p>
<p>And poking a bit of fun at herself after her facial expression Saturday in figure skating became an online meme, <a href="https://twitter.com/AshWagner2010/status/434273080568217600" type="external">Ashley Wagner took to Twitter</a> to wish all of her followers a Happy Valentine's Day... sort of.</p>
<p /> | 1,637 |
<p>Baltimore City Paper Here's what news is like when it's tweaked by the Media Deconstruction Kit: "Talking heads presiding over news crawls become pixellated blurry abstractions. Press-conference footage is cut up and rearranged on-screen. Sound and dialog are stuttered and out of sync, or overlapped to become as disorienting as a Robert Altman movie." Artist Randall Packer, who has worked on the device for two years, will unveil it on Saturday.</p> | Media Deconstruction Kit manipulates TV news content | false | https://poynter.org/news/media-deconstruction-kit-manipulates-tv-news-content | 2003-10-22 | 2least
| Media Deconstruction Kit manipulates TV news content
<p>Baltimore City Paper Here's what news is like when it's tweaked by the Media Deconstruction Kit: "Talking heads presiding over news crawls become pixellated blurry abstractions. Press-conference footage is cut up and rearranged on-screen. Sound and dialog are stuttered and out of sync, or overlapped to become as disorienting as a Robert Altman movie." Artist Randall Packer, who has worked on the device for two years, will unveil it on Saturday.</p> | 1,638 |
<p>Is Vladimir Putin’s dictator chic to blame for Josef Stalin’s makeover? The Soviet tyrant who presided over the suffering of millions and helped launch World War II has been rebranded as a “competent manager” and, if Moscow’s deserted Gulag Museum is any indication, Russians appear to be lapping it up. — PS</p>
<p>Global Post:</p>
<p>Inside Russia, the story is more complicated. [Stalin] was, according to a school textbook adopted last year and endorsed by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, a “competent manager” who committed atrocities at home out of necessity.</p>
<p>Earlier this year, Stalin nearly won a nationwide call-in poll asking people to vote for the person who best represents Russia.</p>
<p />
<p>Stalin’s grandson, Yevgeny Dzhugashvili, is fighting the claim that Stalin was directly involved in the Gulag deaths. He has launched a libel suit against Novaya Gazeta, Russia’s leading opposition newspaper, seeking more than $300,000 in damages for saying that Stalin had personally signed execution orders, according to declassified documents.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/russia/090910/josef-stalin-gulag-museum?page=0,0" type="external">Read more</a></p> | Meet Josef Stalin, 'Competent Manager' | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/meet-josef-stalin-competent-manager/ | 2009-09-16 | 4left
| Meet Josef Stalin, 'Competent Manager'
<p>Is Vladimir Putin’s dictator chic to blame for Josef Stalin’s makeover? The Soviet tyrant who presided over the suffering of millions and helped launch World War II has been rebranded as a “competent manager” and, if Moscow’s deserted Gulag Museum is any indication, Russians appear to be lapping it up. — PS</p>
<p>Global Post:</p>
<p>Inside Russia, the story is more complicated. [Stalin] was, according to a school textbook adopted last year and endorsed by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, a “competent manager” who committed atrocities at home out of necessity.</p>
<p>Earlier this year, Stalin nearly won a nationwide call-in poll asking people to vote for the person who best represents Russia.</p>
<p />
<p>Stalin’s grandson, Yevgeny Dzhugashvili, is fighting the claim that Stalin was directly involved in the Gulag deaths. He has launched a libel suit against Novaya Gazeta, Russia’s leading opposition newspaper, seeking more than $300,000 in damages for saying that Stalin had personally signed execution orders, according to declassified documents.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/russia/090910/josef-stalin-gulag-museum?page=0,0" type="external">Read more</a></p> | 1,639 |
<p>Jan 18 (Reuters) -</p>
<p>* MOODY NATIONAL REIT II INC FILES TO SAY IT IS OFFERING UP TO $990 MILLION IN ANY COMBINATION OF FOUR CLASSES OF SHARES OF ITS COMMON STOCK - SEC FILING Source text: ( <a href="http://bit.ly/2BbJbcd" type="external">bit.ly/2BbJbcd</a>)</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s biggest carmaker Jaguar Land Rover ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=TAMO.NS" type="external">TAMO.NS</a>) will cut production and jobs due to Brexit and the fall in demand for diesel models, ITV’s business editor tweeted on Friday.</p> FILE PHOTO: New Land Rover cars are seen in a parking lot at the Jaguar Land Rover plant at Halewood in Liverpool, northern England, September 12 , 2016. REUTERS/Phil Noble/File Photo
<p>“Formal announcement will be made on Monday. I’m told around 1,000 roles will be affected and that JLR will blame Brexit and sharp fall in demand for diesel,” Joel Hills tweeted.</p>
<a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=TAMO.NS" type="external">Tata Motors Ltd</a> 357.05 TAMO.NS National Stock Exchange of India -1.35 (-0.38%) TAMO.NS
<p>JLR did not offer an immediate comment when contacted by Reuters.</p>
<p>In January, the firm said it would temporarily reduce production at its northern English car plant in Halewood later this year in response to weakening demand due to Brexit and tax hikes on diesel cars but did not detail any job losses.</p>
<p>Reporting by Costas Pitas; editing by Stephen Addison</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>LONDON (Reuters) - Rolls-Royce ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=RR.L" type="external">RR.L</a>) on Friday warned it would require more money and more inspections to fix problems with Trent 1000 engines on Boeing ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=BA.N" type="external">BA.N</a>) 787 Dreamliner planes, leading to further disruption for airlines.</p> FILE PHOTO: A view of one of two Rolls Royce Trent 1000 engines of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner during a media tour of the aircraft ahead of the Singapore Airshow in Singapore February 12, 2012. REUTERS/Edgar Su/File Photo
<p>Problems with turbine blades on the engines wearing out sooner than expected have hampered a restructuring program at Rolls prompted by declining older engine programs and plunging demand for oil equipment.</p>
<p>It said the matter would require more regular inspections and lead “to higher than previously guided cash costs being incurred during 2018”.</p>
<p>“We sincerely regret the disruption this will cause to our customers,” CEO Warren East said in a statement.</p>
<p>Rolls said it would reprioritize spending to mitigate the costs and kept its 2018 free cash flow guidance unchanged at around 450 million pounds ($643 million), give or take 100 million pounds.</p>
<p>Shares in Rolls, one of the biggest names in British manufacturing, were down 1 percent at 1053 GMT.</p>
<p>It announced the need for stepped up inspections after liaising with authorities over a separate issue with the compressor on Trent 1000 Package C series engines.</p>
<p>Rolls said there were 380 such engines in service.</p>
<p>Boeing said about 25 percent of the 787 Dreamliners flying were powered by the engine and it was deploying support teams to mitigate service disruptions.</p>
<p>General Electric ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=GE.N" type="external">GE.N</a>) engines used on some 787s are not affected.</p> SHORTAGES
<p>The need to inspect and repair Trent 1000 engines has led to an industry-wide shortage.</p>
<p>East said Rolls was working with Boeing and airlines to minimize the disruption.</p>
<a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=RR.L" type="external">Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC</a> 871.6 RR.L London Stock Exchange -9.60 (-1.09%) RR.L BA.N GE.N SIAL.SI
<p>“Our team of technical experts and service engineers is working around the clock to ensure we return them to full service as soon as possible,” he said.</p>
<p>A Rolls spokesman added that aviation safety regulators would be issuing guidance to the airlines in the coming days. “We recognize that the application of these actions may cause additional disruption to our airline customers.”</p>
<p>Virgin Atlantic said it had up to four 787s grounded at any one time while it sourced replacement engines with Rolls.</p>
<p>Virgin has also leased three Airbus A330-200s to help cover its flying program.</p>
<p>A Virgin spokeswoman said it had been aware of the increased inspections announced on Friday and that the cover it had in place would be sufficient.</p>
<p>British Airways, Japan’s ANA, Air New Zealand and Thai Airways, which also use Trent 1000 engines, were not available for immediate comment.</p>
<p>Scoot, a budget carrier owned by Singapore Airlines ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=SIAL.SI" type="external">SIAL.SI</a>), said it expected some impact on operations.</p>
<p>In December, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) ordered airlines to replace some Rolls Trent 1000 engines.</p>
<p>In March, Rolls said the cash hit from the problem should hit a peak of 340 million pounds in 2018 before falling in 2019.</p>
<p>Additional reporting by Victoria Bryan, editing by David Goodman and Jason Neely</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Twelve U.S. senators on Thursday asked the Federal Communications Commission to investigate Sinclair Broadcasting Group ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=SBGI.O" type="external">SBGI.O</a>) for “deliberately distorting news” and asked the commission to pause its ongoing review of the company’s proposed $3.9 billion acquisition of Tribune Media Co ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=TRCO.N" type="external">TRCO.N</a>).</p> The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) logo is seen before the FCC Net Neutrality hearing in Washington February 26, 2015. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas
<p>Sinclair, which is already the largest U.S. broadcaststation owner, announced plans in May 2017 to acquire Tribune’s 42 TV stations in 33 markets, extending its reach to 72 percent of American households.</p>
<p>In a letter, the senators, 11 Democrats and independent Bernie Sanders, expressed concern about local news anchors at Sinclair-owned stations around the country being forced to read company-mandated scripts. The scripts criticized “the troubling trend of irresponsible, one sided news stories plaguing our country” and have drawn fire.</p>
<p>“We are concerned that Sinclair is engaged in a systematic news distortion operation that seeks to undermine freedom of the press and the robust localism and diversity of viewpoint that is the foundation of our national broadcasting laws,” the senators wrote. They added that it “may have violated the FCC’s longstanding policy against broadcast licensees deliberately distorting news by staging, slanting, or falsifying information.”</p>
<p>In a letter to senators on Thursday reviewed by Reuters, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai rejected their request, saying the agency does not have authority to revoke a license based on the content of a particular newscast. Pai made similar comments last year when President Donald Trump suggested NBC’s licenses could be challenged over its news reporting.</p>
<p>“I can hardly think of an action more chilling of free speech than the federal government investigating a broadcast station because of disagreement with its news coverage or promotion of that coverage,” Pai wrote.</p>
<p>After the scripts drew significant public attention, Trump tweeted on April 2 in defense of Sinclair: “Sinclair is far superior to CNN and even more Fake NBC.”</p>
<a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=SBGI.O" type="external">Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc</a> 29.5 SBGI.O Nasdaq -- (--%) SBGI.O TRCO.N
<p>In February, Representative Frank Pallone, a Democrat, said the FCC’s inspector general was investigating whether Pai was biased in Sinclair’s favor.</p>
<p>Pallone in November asked the inspector general to investigate, citing a string of FCC decisions he said benefited Sinclair and a media report that Trump’s election campaign struck a deal with Sinclair for favorable coverage.</p>
<p>Pai has repeatedly denied he has taken actions aimed at benefiting a single company and Sinclair has denied improper conduct.</p>
<p>Sinclair declined to comment on the senators’ letter, signed by the 11 Democrats, including Senators Maria Cantwell, Tom Udall, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker and Richard Blumenthal, as well as Sanders.</p>
<p>Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Dan Grebler</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s commerce ministry said on Thursday trade negotiations with the United States would be impossible as Washington’s attempts at dialogue were not sincere, and vowed to retaliate if U.S. President Donald Trump escalates current tensions.</p>
<p>China President Xi Jinping on Tuesday vowed to open China’s economy further and lower import duties on goods such as cars, boosting hopes for an easing of tensions between both nations. Trump responded via Twitter he was “thankful” for Xi’s remarks on tariffs and access for U.S. automakers, and said both countries would “make great progress together.”</p> Related Coverage
<a href="/article/us-usa-trade-china-beef/trump-touts-effect-of-his-call-with-chinas-xi-on-u-s-beef-exports-idUSKBN1HJ383" type="external">Trump touts effect of his call with China's Xi on U.S. beef exports</a>
<p>Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng told reporters during a regular briefing, however, that Xi’s remarks had nothing to do with the trade row and should not be mischaracterized as a concession to Washington.</p>
<p>“I hope some people in the U.S do not misjudge the situation,” he said. “If the United States takes any action to escalate the situation, China will not hesitate to fight back.”</p>
<p>The world’s two largest economies have threatened each other with tens of billions of dollars’ worth of tariffs in recent weeks, spurring worries of a full-scale trade war that could damage global growth and roil markets.</p>
<p>Some U.S. officials and analysts have said they believe the dispute could eventually be resolved via dialogue, but Beijing reiterated on Thursday that no formal talks have taken place.</p> Shipping containers are seen at the port in Shanghai, China April 10, 2018. REUTERS/Aly Song
<p>“It is not a matter of whether China is willing to participate in the negotiations. It is about the U.S. not showing sincerity at all,” Gao said.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters on Thursday that talks between Beijing and Washington had been positive: “We’re doing really well with China. I think we’re having some great discussions, we’ll see what happens.”</p> Shipping containers are seen at the port in Shanghai, China April 10, 2018. REUTERS/Aly Song
<p>Later, Trump said at a White House event on taxes that China was negotiating “very hard, very long” but he was optimistic about the outcome. “I think it will end up the tariffs off and the barriers down.”</p>
<p>China’s Global Times tabloid wrote in a commentary that Washington could either respond sincerely to China’s determination to conduct interactions showing good will with the U.S. or keep pressuring China with unreasonable demands and escalate trade frictions.</p>
<p>Washington accuses Chinese firms of stealing the trade secrets of U.S. companies and forcing them into joint ventures to acquire their technology - the crux of Trump’s current tariff threats against China. Beijing denies this charge.</p>
<p>Trump on Monday criticized China for maintaining 25 percent import tariffs on autos compared to the 2.5 percent duties of the U.S., calling the relationship “stupid trade.” But Gao said WTO rules do not require equal tariffs and demand for such parity is unreasonable.</p>
<p>He said China would continue to open its markets and implement lower tariffs pledged by Xi as soon as possible.</p>
<p>Reporting by Se Young Lee and Yawen Chen; Additional reporting by Jeff Mason in Washington; Writing by Ryan Woo; Editing by Sam Holmes and Bernadette Baum</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a> | BRIEF-Moody National Reit II Inc Files For Offering Up To $990 Million Of its Common Stock Jaguar Land Rover to cut production and jobs due to Brexit, diesel slump: ITV Rolls-Royce ups estimate to fix Boeing Dreamliner engines Twelve senators seek FCC probe of Sinclair news scripts, pause in Tribune review China vows to fight back if U.S. escalates trade spat | false | https://reuters.com/article/brief-moody-national-reit-ii-inc-files-f/brief-moody-national-reit-ii-inc-files-for-offering-up-to-990-million-of-its-common-stock-idUSFWN1PD1EW | 2018-01-18 | 2least
| BRIEF-Moody National Reit II Inc Files For Offering Up To $990 Million Of its Common Stock Jaguar Land Rover to cut production and jobs due to Brexit, diesel slump: ITV Rolls-Royce ups estimate to fix Boeing Dreamliner engines Twelve senators seek FCC probe of Sinclair news scripts, pause in Tribune review China vows to fight back if U.S. escalates trade spat
<p>Jan 18 (Reuters) -</p>
<p>* MOODY NATIONAL REIT II INC FILES TO SAY IT IS OFFERING UP TO $990 MILLION IN ANY COMBINATION OF FOUR CLASSES OF SHARES OF ITS COMMON STOCK - SEC FILING Source text: ( <a href="http://bit.ly/2BbJbcd" type="external">bit.ly/2BbJbcd</a>)</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s biggest carmaker Jaguar Land Rover ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=TAMO.NS" type="external">TAMO.NS</a>) will cut production and jobs due to Brexit and the fall in demand for diesel models, ITV’s business editor tweeted on Friday.</p> FILE PHOTO: New Land Rover cars are seen in a parking lot at the Jaguar Land Rover plant at Halewood in Liverpool, northern England, September 12 , 2016. REUTERS/Phil Noble/File Photo
<p>“Formal announcement will be made on Monday. I’m told around 1,000 roles will be affected and that JLR will blame Brexit and sharp fall in demand for diesel,” Joel Hills tweeted.</p>
<a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=TAMO.NS" type="external">Tata Motors Ltd</a> 357.05 TAMO.NS National Stock Exchange of India -1.35 (-0.38%) TAMO.NS
<p>JLR did not offer an immediate comment when contacted by Reuters.</p>
<p>In January, the firm said it would temporarily reduce production at its northern English car plant in Halewood later this year in response to weakening demand due to Brexit and tax hikes on diesel cars but did not detail any job losses.</p>
<p>Reporting by Costas Pitas; editing by Stephen Addison</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>LONDON (Reuters) - Rolls-Royce ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=RR.L" type="external">RR.L</a>) on Friday warned it would require more money and more inspections to fix problems with Trent 1000 engines on Boeing ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=BA.N" type="external">BA.N</a>) 787 Dreamliner planes, leading to further disruption for airlines.</p> FILE PHOTO: A view of one of two Rolls Royce Trent 1000 engines of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner during a media tour of the aircraft ahead of the Singapore Airshow in Singapore February 12, 2012. REUTERS/Edgar Su/File Photo
<p>Problems with turbine blades on the engines wearing out sooner than expected have hampered a restructuring program at Rolls prompted by declining older engine programs and plunging demand for oil equipment.</p>
<p>It said the matter would require more regular inspections and lead “to higher than previously guided cash costs being incurred during 2018”.</p>
<p>“We sincerely regret the disruption this will cause to our customers,” CEO Warren East said in a statement.</p>
<p>Rolls said it would reprioritize spending to mitigate the costs and kept its 2018 free cash flow guidance unchanged at around 450 million pounds ($643 million), give or take 100 million pounds.</p>
<p>Shares in Rolls, one of the biggest names in British manufacturing, were down 1 percent at 1053 GMT.</p>
<p>It announced the need for stepped up inspections after liaising with authorities over a separate issue with the compressor on Trent 1000 Package C series engines.</p>
<p>Rolls said there were 380 such engines in service.</p>
<p>Boeing said about 25 percent of the 787 Dreamliners flying were powered by the engine and it was deploying support teams to mitigate service disruptions.</p>
<p>General Electric ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=GE.N" type="external">GE.N</a>) engines used on some 787s are not affected.</p> SHORTAGES
<p>The need to inspect and repair Trent 1000 engines has led to an industry-wide shortage.</p>
<p>East said Rolls was working with Boeing and airlines to minimize the disruption.</p>
<a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=RR.L" type="external">Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC</a> 871.6 RR.L London Stock Exchange -9.60 (-1.09%) RR.L BA.N GE.N SIAL.SI
<p>“Our team of technical experts and service engineers is working around the clock to ensure we return them to full service as soon as possible,” he said.</p>
<p>A Rolls spokesman added that aviation safety regulators would be issuing guidance to the airlines in the coming days. “We recognize that the application of these actions may cause additional disruption to our airline customers.”</p>
<p>Virgin Atlantic said it had up to four 787s grounded at any one time while it sourced replacement engines with Rolls.</p>
<p>Virgin has also leased three Airbus A330-200s to help cover its flying program.</p>
<p>A Virgin spokeswoman said it had been aware of the increased inspections announced on Friday and that the cover it had in place would be sufficient.</p>
<p>British Airways, Japan’s ANA, Air New Zealand and Thai Airways, which also use Trent 1000 engines, were not available for immediate comment.</p>
<p>Scoot, a budget carrier owned by Singapore Airlines ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=SIAL.SI" type="external">SIAL.SI</a>), said it expected some impact on operations.</p>
<p>In December, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) ordered airlines to replace some Rolls Trent 1000 engines.</p>
<p>In March, Rolls said the cash hit from the problem should hit a peak of 340 million pounds in 2018 before falling in 2019.</p>
<p>Additional reporting by Victoria Bryan, editing by David Goodman and Jason Neely</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Twelve U.S. senators on Thursday asked the Federal Communications Commission to investigate Sinclair Broadcasting Group ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=SBGI.O" type="external">SBGI.O</a>) for “deliberately distorting news” and asked the commission to pause its ongoing review of the company’s proposed $3.9 billion acquisition of Tribune Media Co ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=TRCO.N" type="external">TRCO.N</a>).</p> The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) logo is seen before the FCC Net Neutrality hearing in Washington February 26, 2015. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas
<p>Sinclair, which is already the largest U.S. broadcaststation owner, announced plans in May 2017 to acquire Tribune’s 42 TV stations in 33 markets, extending its reach to 72 percent of American households.</p>
<p>In a letter, the senators, 11 Democrats and independent Bernie Sanders, expressed concern about local news anchors at Sinclair-owned stations around the country being forced to read company-mandated scripts. The scripts criticized “the troubling trend of irresponsible, one sided news stories plaguing our country” and have drawn fire.</p>
<p>“We are concerned that Sinclair is engaged in a systematic news distortion operation that seeks to undermine freedom of the press and the robust localism and diversity of viewpoint that is the foundation of our national broadcasting laws,” the senators wrote. They added that it “may have violated the FCC’s longstanding policy against broadcast licensees deliberately distorting news by staging, slanting, or falsifying information.”</p>
<p>In a letter to senators on Thursday reviewed by Reuters, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai rejected their request, saying the agency does not have authority to revoke a license based on the content of a particular newscast. Pai made similar comments last year when President Donald Trump suggested NBC’s licenses could be challenged over its news reporting.</p>
<p>“I can hardly think of an action more chilling of free speech than the federal government investigating a broadcast station because of disagreement with its news coverage or promotion of that coverage,” Pai wrote.</p>
<p>After the scripts drew significant public attention, Trump tweeted on April 2 in defense of Sinclair: “Sinclair is far superior to CNN and even more Fake NBC.”</p>
<a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=SBGI.O" type="external">Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc</a> 29.5 SBGI.O Nasdaq -- (--%) SBGI.O TRCO.N
<p>In February, Representative Frank Pallone, a Democrat, said the FCC’s inspector general was investigating whether Pai was biased in Sinclair’s favor.</p>
<p>Pallone in November asked the inspector general to investigate, citing a string of FCC decisions he said benefited Sinclair and a media report that Trump’s election campaign struck a deal with Sinclair for favorable coverage.</p>
<p>Pai has repeatedly denied he has taken actions aimed at benefiting a single company and Sinclair has denied improper conduct.</p>
<p>Sinclair declined to comment on the senators’ letter, signed by the 11 Democrats, including Senators Maria Cantwell, Tom Udall, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker and Richard Blumenthal, as well as Sanders.</p>
<p>Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Dan Grebler</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s commerce ministry said on Thursday trade negotiations with the United States would be impossible as Washington’s attempts at dialogue were not sincere, and vowed to retaliate if U.S. President Donald Trump escalates current tensions.</p>
<p>China President Xi Jinping on Tuesday vowed to open China’s economy further and lower import duties on goods such as cars, boosting hopes for an easing of tensions between both nations. Trump responded via Twitter he was “thankful” for Xi’s remarks on tariffs and access for U.S. automakers, and said both countries would “make great progress together.”</p> Related Coverage
<a href="/article/us-usa-trade-china-beef/trump-touts-effect-of-his-call-with-chinas-xi-on-u-s-beef-exports-idUSKBN1HJ383" type="external">Trump touts effect of his call with China's Xi on U.S. beef exports</a>
<p>Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng told reporters during a regular briefing, however, that Xi’s remarks had nothing to do with the trade row and should not be mischaracterized as a concession to Washington.</p>
<p>“I hope some people in the U.S do not misjudge the situation,” he said. “If the United States takes any action to escalate the situation, China will not hesitate to fight back.”</p>
<p>The world’s two largest economies have threatened each other with tens of billions of dollars’ worth of tariffs in recent weeks, spurring worries of a full-scale trade war that could damage global growth and roil markets.</p>
<p>Some U.S. officials and analysts have said they believe the dispute could eventually be resolved via dialogue, but Beijing reiterated on Thursday that no formal talks have taken place.</p> Shipping containers are seen at the port in Shanghai, China April 10, 2018. REUTERS/Aly Song
<p>“It is not a matter of whether China is willing to participate in the negotiations. It is about the U.S. not showing sincerity at all,” Gao said.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters on Thursday that talks between Beijing and Washington had been positive: “We’re doing really well with China. I think we’re having some great discussions, we’ll see what happens.”</p> Shipping containers are seen at the port in Shanghai, China April 10, 2018. REUTERS/Aly Song
<p>Later, Trump said at a White House event on taxes that China was negotiating “very hard, very long” but he was optimistic about the outcome. “I think it will end up the tariffs off and the barriers down.”</p>
<p>China’s Global Times tabloid wrote in a commentary that Washington could either respond sincerely to China’s determination to conduct interactions showing good will with the U.S. or keep pressuring China with unreasonable demands and escalate trade frictions.</p>
<p>Washington accuses Chinese firms of stealing the trade secrets of U.S. companies and forcing them into joint ventures to acquire their technology - the crux of Trump’s current tariff threats against China. Beijing denies this charge.</p>
<p>Trump on Monday criticized China for maintaining 25 percent import tariffs on autos compared to the 2.5 percent duties of the U.S., calling the relationship “stupid trade.” But Gao said WTO rules do not require equal tariffs and demand for such parity is unreasonable.</p>
<p>He said China would continue to open its markets and implement lower tariffs pledged by Xi as soon as possible.</p>
<p>Reporting by Se Young Lee and Yawen Chen; Additional reporting by Jeff Mason in Washington; Writing by Ryan Woo; Editing by Sam Holmes and Bernadette Baum</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a> | 1,640 |
<p>Rio de Janeiro is known for its many breathtaking views and landmarks.</p>
<p>Its mountains, the beach at Ipanema, its shantytowns, the famous Christ the Redeemer statue…</p>
<p>We're looking for another famous Rio landmark in Monday's Geo Quiz.</p>
<p>It's a distinct "cone-shaped" building — a cathedral, right in Rio's downtown "Centro" district. The standing-room capacity of this house of worship? 20,000 people. Also inside are four stained glass windows that rise 200 feet from floor to ceiling.</p>
<p>Can you name the building pictured below?</p>
<p>The answer to Monday's Geo Quiz is The Cathedral of St. Sebastian.</p>
<p>Jokke Sommer, a Norwegian daredevil, recently jumped out of an ultra-light "trike" plane as it flew over Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.</p>
<p>He zipped over the city's skyline wearing a special aerodynamic wingsuit, literally "flying" into the city and narrowly steering past skyscrapers as he and a companion made their high speed descent.</p>
<p>Along the way, the pair flew over the cathedral. Here is the video of the usual wingsuit flight over Rio. See if you can spot it!</p> | Daredevil Flies Into Rio de Janeiro Wearing a Wingsuit | false | https://pri.org/stories/2013-03-18/daredevil-flies-rio-de-janeiro-wearing-wingsuit | 2013-03-18 | 3left-center
| Daredevil Flies Into Rio de Janeiro Wearing a Wingsuit
<p>Rio de Janeiro is known for its many breathtaking views and landmarks.</p>
<p>Its mountains, the beach at Ipanema, its shantytowns, the famous Christ the Redeemer statue…</p>
<p>We're looking for another famous Rio landmark in Monday's Geo Quiz.</p>
<p>It's a distinct "cone-shaped" building — a cathedral, right in Rio's downtown "Centro" district. The standing-room capacity of this house of worship? 20,000 people. Also inside are four stained glass windows that rise 200 feet from floor to ceiling.</p>
<p>Can you name the building pictured below?</p>
<p>The answer to Monday's Geo Quiz is The Cathedral of St. Sebastian.</p>
<p>Jokke Sommer, a Norwegian daredevil, recently jumped out of an ultra-light "trike" plane as it flew over Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.</p>
<p>He zipped over the city's skyline wearing a special aerodynamic wingsuit, literally "flying" into the city and narrowly steering past skyscrapers as he and a companion made their high speed descent.</p>
<p>Along the way, the pair flew over the cathedral. Here is the video of the usual wingsuit flight over Rio. See if you can spot it!</p> | 1,641 |
<p>As Jonathan Swift <a href="https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/inconsistency" type="external">once noted</a>: “There is nothing constant in this world but inconsistency.”</p>
<p>That’s the operative motto for all things Trump, one that makes analyzing the gap between what he thinks and what he tweets much easier. Along those lines, my former boss from my Goldman Sachs days—Gary Cohn—just resigned from his White House post as chief economic adviser to the Chaos Producer in Chief. This was ostensibly in protest against the president’s&#160; announcement&#160; about imposing steel and aluminum tariffs. The next day, Trump <a href="" type="external">signed the order</a> sealing that deal, citing his actions as a “matter of necessity for our security.”</p>
<p>Along the way, he said there would be <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2018/03/04/trump-trade-adviser-says-no-exceptions-for-allies-on-new-aluminum-and-steel-tariffs/?utm_term=.f4d09d85b698" type="external">no exemptions</a> to the tariffs, then said <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/08/us/politics/trump-tariff-announcement.html" type="external">there would be</a>—for Canada and Mexico. Trump glowed in the light of his new-found power grab over trade agreements, leaving himself room to decide which countries would be “in” and “out” with respect to these and other tariffs in the future. And that was the week that was in Trump World.</p>
<p>The timing of Cohn’s departure certainly put a wrench in his plans to convene executives dependent on steel and present their case against steel tariffs to Trump. Instead, Trump signed the tariffs order flanked by steel and aluminum workers supporting it. Speaking of steel, Cohn’s nerves were seemingly made of that metal. At Goldman, he was the man who regularly waded through deals without losing his cool (unlike Trump). On 9/11, I witnessed him directing traders to keep trading oil as shreds of debris and billows of smoke engulfed the windows of the Goldman trading floor, only a few blocks away from the World Trade Center.</p>
<p />
<p>He became president (or number two) at Goldman, continually handling the less “cool” behavior of chairman and CEO Lloyd Blankfein, who remained above him in the pecking order for decades. Cohn commanded daily activities at Goldman that led to the firm’s creation of shady financial instruments that were later at the core of the financial crisis. Under Cohn, Goldman was bailed out by U.S. taxpayers. The firm morphed, for government subsidy purposes, into a bank holding company, though it handled scant deposits from regular people. It did this to retain access to Federal Reserve support, as it has done, over the past decade. Cohn was also at Goldman when it reached a <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/goldman-sachs-agrees-pay-more-5-billion-connection-its-sale-residential-mortgage-backed" type="external">$5 billion settlement</a> with the Department of Justice over its consistent misconduct regarding mortgage-related securities from 2005 to 2007.</p>
<p>That type of conflict-meets-crisis readied him for his government service. When Cohn came up against Trump, the president’s flavor-of-the-minute trade policy hawk, <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/03/04/report-trump-calls-gary-cohn-a-globalist-in-oval-office-trade-meeting/" type="external">Peter Navarro, met “Globalist Gary”</a> head on. Then Cohn’s Trump administration career was over.</p>
<p>The financial news media didn’t take Cohn’s departure well. Past transgressions forgotten completely, it considered Cohn, one of the few adults in the room, another Trump appointee biting the dust, pointing to what we already know: Inconsistency is the only constant in this White House.</p>
<p>The Tariffs</p>
<p>When Trump added imported steel and aluminum to his list of already announced tariffs for <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/01/22/trump-imposes-tariffs-on-solar-panels-and-washing-machines-in-first-major-trade-action/?utm_term=.abf75982fbf1" type="external">solar panels and washing machines</a>, members of his own party joined the world in expressing their disapproval. Many business sectors reliant on raw steel expressed fears that the tariffs would ultimately lead to major job losses, not gains, throughout that U.S. economy. Though the action invoked Section 232 of the 1962 Trade Expansion Act, the rest of the world knows that imported steel costs don’t represent security risks, whereas the alienation of allies actually does.</p>
<p>As European Commission President <a href="https://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/united-states-america/40647/european-commission-responds-us-restrictions-steel-and-aluminium-affecting-eu_en" type="external">Jean-Claude Juncker said:</a> “We strongly regret this step, which appears to represent a blatant intervention to protect U.S. domestic industry and not to be based on any national security justification.” He vowed that Europe would retaliate.</p>
<p>There were three sets of tariffs proposed by the Commerce Department, run by billionaire Wilbur Ross, and the latest, a 25 percent tariff on steel and 10 percent tariff on aluminum imports, are the harshest so far. For the president to circumvent Congress on tariffs, it must allegedly alleviate what would otherwise be a national security risk. That’s just the loophole Trump used to ostensibly deliver on his campaign promises to American steelworkers. The problem is that the tariffs could wind up hurting those and other workers, as well as American consumers, instead. It would also add fuel to the fire in an already existing trade war.</p>
<p>Why is it already existing? Because Trump’s entire isolationist posture and dogma have already caused U.S. allies and adversaries to seek tighter relationships with each other, from a currency and trade agreement perspective. The latest tariffs are another element on the path away from diplomacy (which could be better used to create agreements that truly benefit workers on all sides of our borders) and toward the street-yard bullying tactics Trump adheres to.</p>
<p>Reactions from around the world were of anger. <a href="" type="external">China’s foreign ministry</a> called the tariffs “unreasonable and excessive” and, in true trade war style, promised that Beijing “will take necessary measures to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests.”</p>
<p>Our friend to the north, Canada, one of the biggest sources of steel for the U.S., and one of biggest buyers of American steel, was equally incensed. Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum would be “ <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-trump-canada/unhappy-canada-vows-to-retaliate-against-any-u-s-steel-tariffs-idUSKCN1GD67P" type="external">absolutely unacceptable</a>.”</p>
<p>Even if Trump meant well (OK, a really big IF), his lack of diplomacy will ultimately render products the U.S. must import more expensive. As for American steel, any money made on extra tariffs will be lost on a reduced pool of buyers for our exported products. Domestic consumers ranging from home to bridge builders will inevitably face higher raw steel prices as a result.</p>
<p>Tariff Timing and Mexico’s Stance Affecting NAFTA Talks</p>
<p>Before Trump decided to levy the tariffs, conversations between the U.S. and its NAFTA partners, Mexico and Canada, were coming along, not perfectly, but well enough. Then, the subject of the border wall resurfaced during a phone conversation between Trump and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto. That stalemate continues. Peña Nieto reiterated that Mexico won’t pay for the wall. Trump “ <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/01/opinions/steel-aluminum-tariffs-nafta-opinion-andelman/index.html" type="external">insisted that it would</a>.” According to The Washington Post, an involved Mexican official said that the entire conversation sparked Trump’s temper. Surprise, surprise. Trump’s ongoing temper tantrums are a real chip at the wall of international diplomacy.</p>
<p>It was following that heated discourse (after which Peña Nieto canceled his trip to the U.S., the second time he has done so due to the wall dispute), Trump declared he would impose the tariffs.</p>
<p>Whether a negotiation technique, or a campaign promise confirmed to his base, Trump initially implied that the tariffs were aimed at China (from which the U.S. imports less than 6 percent of its steel). But they hurt Canada the most. Canada provides 16 percent of U.S. imported steel. Brazil and South Korea rank second and third. China isn’t even one of America’s top 10 suppliers. Worse for Canada, 75 percent of our northern friend’s total steel exports go to the U.S. The tariff would cripple one of Canada’s leading exports while we are trying to negotiate the “best” NAFTA deal with them.</p>
<p>But that’s exactly what Trump wants. By dangling financial threats and then taking them away, he elevates himself to being more of a dictator, and less of a leader, of the country’s trade agenda. On Monday, he tweeted that he might consider dropping the tariff on Canada and Mexico if they played ball with him on the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/05/politics/trump-tweet-tariffs-nafta/index.html" type="external">new NAFTA agreement</a>. Trump’s notion of reciprocity at that time meant Mexico paying for a wall and Canada “treating our farmers better.” Navarro, director of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House_National_Trade_Council" type="external">White House National Trade Council</a>, had said something different earlier that morning, but the mismatch between Trump’s tweets and people trying to do their jobs in perpetual guess mode as to his decision is par for the course.</p>
<p>All manner of diverse voices called out the tariffs. Goldman Sachs noted that “ <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-06/will-trump-tariffs-help-steel-in-america-s-rust-belt-quicktake" type="external">import tariffs</a> make the U.S. less competitive by raising the prices of raw materials.”</p>
<p>In Hamburg, Juncker responded to Trump’s announcement with: “ <a href="http://www.euronews.com/2018/03/03/juncker-responds-to-trump-s-trade-tariffs-we-can-also-do-stupid-" type="external">We can also do stupid</a>.” He vowed to fight back against Trump’s tariffs, noting, “This is basically a stupid process, the fact that we have to do this. But we have to do it. We will now impose tariffs on motorcycles, Harley Davidson, on blue jeans, Levis, on bourbon. We can also do stupid. We also have to be this stupid.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-threatens-to-tax-european-cars-if-the-eu-retaliates-against-us-tariffs-2018-3" type="external">Trump retorted</a> with an uppercut to the jaw. “If the E.U. wants to further increase their already massive tariffs and barriers on U.S. companies doing business there, we will simply apply a Tax on their Cars which freely pour into the U.S.,” <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/969994273121820672" type="external">he tweeted</a> on Saturday. “They make it impossible for our cars (and more) to sell there. Big trade imbalance!”</p>
<p>Perhaps, just perhaps, competition for stupid isn’t in the interest of the U.S., other countries, or the workers and citizens of the world. Destroying U.S. credibility only reduces the desire of other countries to buy from the U.S., or to negotiate better terms for U.S. consumers or workers, and instead, trade more with each other.</p>
<p>Trade War Casualties</p>
<p>It’s not rocket science. If it costs more to import steel, either that cost will be passed on to the end user of steel-made products and to middlemen that build things using steel, or U.S. steel manufacturers will step up to the demand that comes from less imported steel.</p>
<p>The part of U.S. industry that uses steel is far larger than that which supplies steel. The ratio is more than <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/trumps-tariffs-will-hurt-the-65-million-us-workers-at-steel-consuming-manufacturers-2018-03-02#false" type="external">6.5 million workers</a> to about 140,000 in the steel industry itself. And sure, as billionaire U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross pointed out, if a Campbell’s soup can uses 2.6 cents worth of steel, and if that steel cost rises by 25 percent, it adds only an extra six-tenths of one cent to the can’s price.</p>
<p>But that math doesn’t account for whether American companies can accommodate extra domestic steel demand, or whether they will also now raise steel prices—because they can. The U.S. has been behind in infrastructure surrounding the steel industry, one of the reasons U.S. steel mills have been at over, not under, capacity. Renovating mills would enable domestic steel producers to produce more steel for domestic use than raising tariffs on importing steel would.</p>
<p>When the Bush steel tariff was in effect in 2002, 200,000 Americans in industries requiring steel <a href="https://qz.com/1220847/what-trumps-tariff-trade-war-could-mean-for-you-higher-prices-layoffs-and-economic-nosedives/" type="external">lost their jobs</a> because of higher steel prices, versus 187,500 workers working in the steel industry. The reality is that there needs to be better infrastructure.</p>
<p>The Trade Deficit</p>
<p>Trump’s use of tariffs as a means to control trade deficits comes after his first year in office, during which the overall U.S. <a href="https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/balance-of-trade" type="external">trade deficit</a> widened 12.1 percent to $566 billion, its highest level since the 2008 financial crisis. Exports rose 5.5 percent to $2.33 trillion, while imports climbed 6.7 percent to a record $2.9 trillion. The trade gap with China increased 8.1 percent to a record $375.2 billion, and the gap with Mexico rose to $71.1 billion, the second highest on record.</p>
<p>According to the Department of Commerce’s <a href="" type="external">International Trade Administration</a>, the U.S. is the world’s largest steel importer, with U.S. imports representing about 8 percent of all steel imported globally. Part of the reason for that is not just the price of steel, but the ability of U.S. steel companies to produce it in the U.S. The top eight countries that export steel to the U.S. provide about 1 million metric tons each and make up 75 percent of U.S. steel imports. Canada, Brazil and Mexico send more than a third of their total steel exports to the U.S.</p>
<p>Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin tried <a href="" type="external">to assuage</a> fears of global trade wars at a congressional committee hearing, saying, “We are not looking to get into trade wars.” He added that he was “supportive” of imposing the duties, thereby contradicting himself, taking a page out of Trump’s book of bipolarity and reducing the legitimacy of anything the U.S. government says or does.</p>
<p>House Speaker Paul Ryan has also expressed repeated concerns about a trade war. Yet our internal dramas just serve to alienate us from the world, not obtain better overall “deals,” because we are doing so from a position of increasing weakness and erratic White House behavior.</p>
<p>1920s Isolationism and Tariffs</p>
<p>U.S. history during an equally isolationist and deregulatory period shows that alienating the world doesn’t help the U.S.—or the world. The Emergency Tariff Act, signed in May 1921, increased import taxes on wheat, sugar, meat, wool and other agricultural products.</p>
<p>The Fordney-McCumber Tariff Act, signed in September 1922, raised tariffs and extended them to industrial goods. The tariffs did encourage Americans to buy American goods. However, they did not help U.S. exports. Other countries retaliated by introducing tariffs of their own, so U.S. exports became more expensive and less popular.</p>
<p>In 1930, following the crash of 1929, President Hoover signed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, against, raising already high tariffs on more than 20,000 imported goods to as much as 60 percent. That set off a global trade war, causing more trading partner retaliation, and a 66 percent drop in global trade between 1929 and 1934 that deepened the Great Depression. To lower the <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/tariff.asp" type="external">high tariffs</a>, President Roosevelt passed the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act in 1934.</p>
<p>Why Mexico Matters</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the seventh round of NAFTA talks between Mexico, Canada and the U.S. finished in Mexico City this week, three weeks before Mexico’s’ campaign season begins on March 30. Jared Kushner flew to Mexico City, having lost his security clearance and thus ability to negotiate world peace in the Middle East. Whether he had anything to do with it or not, the next day, Trump did relent, and agree to exempt Mexico and Canada from tariffs. That said, he could easily re-impose them if talk about a wall or other conversation goes against his demands.</p>
<p>A trade war is about more than prices in and prices out. It’s about considering how those prices impact real people and jobs. It’s about considering multiple trade and diplomatic relationships—not just between other countries and the U.S., but among those countries with each other.</p>
<p>Trump’s supporters may believe that drawing a line in the sand against China that impacts Canada is good for American jobs, but the devil is in the details, and details are not Trump’s forte. The reality is that America is losing its position on the world stage as a country that shows consistency in any capacity. These tariffs will inspire better trade relationships among other countries, something Trump’s isolationist stance has already put in motion. They will diminish U.S. credibility, the lack of which is a product Trump has coined as his main export.</p>
<p>In the 1930s, U.S.-initiated trade wars contributed to a global Great Depression, one factor that lead to World War II. This time around, the rest of the world is more likely to work together and less with the U.S., not quake in economic fear of U.S. retaliation. This is clear and evidenced by the <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/in-focus/eu-japan-economic-partnership-agreement/" type="external">recent agreement</a> between Japan and the EU, and the <a href="http://asean.org/?static_post=rcep-regional-comprehensive-economic-partnership" type="external">Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership</a>, in which Japan and China are key participants, their historical differences set aside, in efforts to forge non-U.S. trade relationships.</p>
<p>The U.S. remains in a precarious economic situation, as does the world, and that means Trump’s trade war and nationalism, coupled with bank deregulation, could inflict more risk on depleted economies. That path would be a truly disastrous one for the U.S</p> | Trade Wars and Diminished Credibility | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/trade-wars-diminished-credibility/ | 2018-03-10 | 4left
| Trade Wars and Diminished Credibility
<p>As Jonathan Swift <a href="https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/inconsistency" type="external">once noted</a>: “There is nothing constant in this world but inconsistency.”</p>
<p>That’s the operative motto for all things Trump, one that makes analyzing the gap between what he thinks and what he tweets much easier. Along those lines, my former boss from my Goldman Sachs days—Gary Cohn—just resigned from his White House post as chief economic adviser to the Chaos Producer in Chief. This was ostensibly in protest against the president’s&#160; announcement&#160; about imposing steel and aluminum tariffs. The next day, Trump <a href="" type="external">signed the order</a> sealing that deal, citing his actions as a “matter of necessity for our security.”</p>
<p>Along the way, he said there would be <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2018/03/04/trump-trade-adviser-says-no-exceptions-for-allies-on-new-aluminum-and-steel-tariffs/?utm_term=.f4d09d85b698" type="external">no exemptions</a> to the tariffs, then said <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/08/us/politics/trump-tariff-announcement.html" type="external">there would be</a>—for Canada and Mexico. Trump glowed in the light of his new-found power grab over trade agreements, leaving himself room to decide which countries would be “in” and “out” with respect to these and other tariffs in the future. And that was the week that was in Trump World.</p>
<p>The timing of Cohn’s departure certainly put a wrench in his plans to convene executives dependent on steel and present their case against steel tariffs to Trump. Instead, Trump signed the tariffs order flanked by steel and aluminum workers supporting it. Speaking of steel, Cohn’s nerves were seemingly made of that metal. At Goldman, he was the man who regularly waded through deals without losing his cool (unlike Trump). On 9/11, I witnessed him directing traders to keep trading oil as shreds of debris and billows of smoke engulfed the windows of the Goldman trading floor, only a few blocks away from the World Trade Center.</p>
<p />
<p>He became president (or number two) at Goldman, continually handling the less “cool” behavior of chairman and CEO Lloyd Blankfein, who remained above him in the pecking order for decades. Cohn commanded daily activities at Goldman that led to the firm’s creation of shady financial instruments that were later at the core of the financial crisis. Under Cohn, Goldman was bailed out by U.S. taxpayers. The firm morphed, for government subsidy purposes, into a bank holding company, though it handled scant deposits from regular people. It did this to retain access to Federal Reserve support, as it has done, over the past decade. Cohn was also at Goldman when it reached a <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/goldman-sachs-agrees-pay-more-5-billion-connection-its-sale-residential-mortgage-backed" type="external">$5 billion settlement</a> with the Department of Justice over its consistent misconduct regarding mortgage-related securities from 2005 to 2007.</p>
<p>That type of conflict-meets-crisis readied him for his government service. When Cohn came up against Trump, the president’s flavor-of-the-minute trade policy hawk, <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/03/04/report-trump-calls-gary-cohn-a-globalist-in-oval-office-trade-meeting/" type="external">Peter Navarro, met “Globalist Gary”</a> head on. Then Cohn’s Trump administration career was over.</p>
<p>The financial news media didn’t take Cohn’s departure well. Past transgressions forgotten completely, it considered Cohn, one of the few adults in the room, another Trump appointee biting the dust, pointing to what we already know: Inconsistency is the only constant in this White House.</p>
<p>The Tariffs</p>
<p>When Trump added imported steel and aluminum to his list of already announced tariffs for <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/01/22/trump-imposes-tariffs-on-solar-panels-and-washing-machines-in-first-major-trade-action/?utm_term=.abf75982fbf1" type="external">solar panels and washing machines</a>, members of his own party joined the world in expressing their disapproval. Many business sectors reliant on raw steel expressed fears that the tariffs would ultimately lead to major job losses, not gains, throughout that U.S. economy. Though the action invoked Section 232 of the 1962 Trade Expansion Act, the rest of the world knows that imported steel costs don’t represent security risks, whereas the alienation of allies actually does.</p>
<p>As European Commission President <a href="https://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/united-states-america/40647/european-commission-responds-us-restrictions-steel-and-aluminium-affecting-eu_en" type="external">Jean-Claude Juncker said:</a> “We strongly regret this step, which appears to represent a blatant intervention to protect U.S. domestic industry and not to be based on any national security justification.” He vowed that Europe would retaliate.</p>
<p>There were three sets of tariffs proposed by the Commerce Department, run by billionaire Wilbur Ross, and the latest, a 25 percent tariff on steel and 10 percent tariff on aluminum imports, are the harshest so far. For the president to circumvent Congress on tariffs, it must allegedly alleviate what would otherwise be a national security risk. That’s just the loophole Trump used to ostensibly deliver on his campaign promises to American steelworkers. The problem is that the tariffs could wind up hurting those and other workers, as well as American consumers, instead. It would also add fuel to the fire in an already existing trade war.</p>
<p>Why is it already existing? Because Trump’s entire isolationist posture and dogma have already caused U.S. allies and adversaries to seek tighter relationships with each other, from a currency and trade agreement perspective. The latest tariffs are another element on the path away from diplomacy (which could be better used to create agreements that truly benefit workers on all sides of our borders) and toward the street-yard bullying tactics Trump adheres to.</p>
<p>Reactions from around the world were of anger. <a href="" type="external">China’s foreign ministry</a> called the tariffs “unreasonable and excessive” and, in true trade war style, promised that Beijing “will take necessary measures to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests.”</p>
<p>Our friend to the north, Canada, one of the biggest sources of steel for the U.S., and one of biggest buyers of American steel, was equally incensed. Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum would be “ <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-trump-canada/unhappy-canada-vows-to-retaliate-against-any-u-s-steel-tariffs-idUSKCN1GD67P" type="external">absolutely unacceptable</a>.”</p>
<p>Even if Trump meant well (OK, a really big IF), his lack of diplomacy will ultimately render products the U.S. must import more expensive. As for American steel, any money made on extra tariffs will be lost on a reduced pool of buyers for our exported products. Domestic consumers ranging from home to bridge builders will inevitably face higher raw steel prices as a result.</p>
<p>Tariff Timing and Mexico’s Stance Affecting NAFTA Talks</p>
<p>Before Trump decided to levy the tariffs, conversations between the U.S. and its NAFTA partners, Mexico and Canada, were coming along, not perfectly, but well enough. Then, the subject of the border wall resurfaced during a phone conversation between Trump and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto. That stalemate continues. Peña Nieto reiterated that Mexico won’t pay for the wall. Trump “ <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/01/opinions/steel-aluminum-tariffs-nafta-opinion-andelman/index.html" type="external">insisted that it would</a>.” According to The Washington Post, an involved Mexican official said that the entire conversation sparked Trump’s temper. Surprise, surprise. Trump’s ongoing temper tantrums are a real chip at the wall of international diplomacy.</p>
<p>It was following that heated discourse (after which Peña Nieto canceled his trip to the U.S., the second time he has done so due to the wall dispute), Trump declared he would impose the tariffs.</p>
<p>Whether a negotiation technique, or a campaign promise confirmed to his base, Trump initially implied that the tariffs were aimed at China (from which the U.S. imports less than 6 percent of its steel). But they hurt Canada the most. Canada provides 16 percent of U.S. imported steel. Brazil and South Korea rank second and third. China isn’t even one of America’s top 10 suppliers. Worse for Canada, 75 percent of our northern friend’s total steel exports go to the U.S. The tariff would cripple one of Canada’s leading exports while we are trying to negotiate the “best” NAFTA deal with them.</p>
<p>But that’s exactly what Trump wants. By dangling financial threats and then taking them away, he elevates himself to being more of a dictator, and less of a leader, of the country’s trade agenda. On Monday, he tweeted that he might consider dropping the tariff on Canada and Mexico if they played ball with him on the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/05/politics/trump-tweet-tariffs-nafta/index.html" type="external">new NAFTA agreement</a>. Trump’s notion of reciprocity at that time meant Mexico paying for a wall and Canada “treating our farmers better.” Navarro, director of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House_National_Trade_Council" type="external">White House National Trade Council</a>, had said something different earlier that morning, but the mismatch between Trump’s tweets and people trying to do their jobs in perpetual guess mode as to his decision is par for the course.</p>
<p>All manner of diverse voices called out the tariffs. Goldman Sachs noted that “ <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-06/will-trump-tariffs-help-steel-in-america-s-rust-belt-quicktake" type="external">import tariffs</a> make the U.S. less competitive by raising the prices of raw materials.”</p>
<p>In Hamburg, Juncker responded to Trump’s announcement with: “ <a href="http://www.euronews.com/2018/03/03/juncker-responds-to-trump-s-trade-tariffs-we-can-also-do-stupid-" type="external">We can also do stupid</a>.” He vowed to fight back against Trump’s tariffs, noting, “This is basically a stupid process, the fact that we have to do this. But we have to do it. We will now impose tariffs on motorcycles, Harley Davidson, on blue jeans, Levis, on bourbon. We can also do stupid. We also have to be this stupid.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-threatens-to-tax-european-cars-if-the-eu-retaliates-against-us-tariffs-2018-3" type="external">Trump retorted</a> with an uppercut to the jaw. “If the E.U. wants to further increase their already massive tariffs and barriers on U.S. companies doing business there, we will simply apply a Tax on their Cars which freely pour into the U.S.,” <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/969994273121820672" type="external">he tweeted</a> on Saturday. “They make it impossible for our cars (and more) to sell there. Big trade imbalance!”</p>
<p>Perhaps, just perhaps, competition for stupid isn’t in the interest of the U.S., other countries, or the workers and citizens of the world. Destroying U.S. credibility only reduces the desire of other countries to buy from the U.S., or to negotiate better terms for U.S. consumers or workers, and instead, trade more with each other.</p>
<p>Trade War Casualties</p>
<p>It’s not rocket science. If it costs more to import steel, either that cost will be passed on to the end user of steel-made products and to middlemen that build things using steel, or U.S. steel manufacturers will step up to the demand that comes from less imported steel.</p>
<p>The part of U.S. industry that uses steel is far larger than that which supplies steel. The ratio is more than <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/trumps-tariffs-will-hurt-the-65-million-us-workers-at-steel-consuming-manufacturers-2018-03-02#false" type="external">6.5 million workers</a> to about 140,000 in the steel industry itself. And sure, as billionaire U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross pointed out, if a Campbell’s soup can uses 2.6 cents worth of steel, and if that steel cost rises by 25 percent, it adds only an extra six-tenths of one cent to the can’s price.</p>
<p>But that math doesn’t account for whether American companies can accommodate extra domestic steel demand, or whether they will also now raise steel prices—because they can. The U.S. has been behind in infrastructure surrounding the steel industry, one of the reasons U.S. steel mills have been at over, not under, capacity. Renovating mills would enable domestic steel producers to produce more steel for domestic use than raising tariffs on importing steel would.</p>
<p>When the Bush steel tariff was in effect in 2002, 200,000 Americans in industries requiring steel <a href="https://qz.com/1220847/what-trumps-tariff-trade-war-could-mean-for-you-higher-prices-layoffs-and-economic-nosedives/" type="external">lost their jobs</a> because of higher steel prices, versus 187,500 workers working in the steel industry. The reality is that there needs to be better infrastructure.</p>
<p>The Trade Deficit</p>
<p>Trump’s use of tariffs as a means to control trade deficits comes after his first year in office, during which the overall U.S. <a href="https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/balance-of-trade" type="external">trade deficit</a> widened 12.1 percent to $566 billion, its highest level since the 2008 financial crisis. Exports rose 5.5 percent to $2.33 trillion, while imports climbed 6.7 percent to a record $2.9 trillion. The trade gap with China increased 8.1 percent to a record $375.2 billion, and the gap with Mexico rose to $71.1 billion, the second highest on record.</p>
<p>According to the Department of Commerce’s <a href="" type="external">International Trade Administration</a>, the U.S. is the world’s largest steel importer, with U.S. imports representing about 8 percent of all steel imported globally. Part of the reason for that is not just the price of steel, but the ability of U.S. steel companies to produce it in the U.S. The top eight countries that export steel to the U.S. provide about 1 million metric tons each and make up 75 percent of U.S. steel imports. Canada, Brazil and Mexico send more than a third of their total steel exports to the U.S.</p>
<p>Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin tried <a href="" type="external">to assuage</a> fears of global trade wars at a congressional committee hearing, saying, “We are not looking to get into trade wars.” He added that he was “supportive” of imposing the duties, thereby contradicting himself, taking a page out of Trump’s book of bipolarity and reducing the legitimacy of anything the U.S. government says or does.</p>
<p>House Speaker Paul Ryan has also expressed repeated concerns about a trade war. Yet our internal dramas just serve to alienate us from the world, not obtain better overall “deals,” because we are doing so from a position of increasing weakness and erratic White House behavior.</p>
<p>1920s Isolationism and Tariffs</p>
<p>U.S. history during an equally isolationist and deregulatory period shows that alienating the world doesn’t help the U.S.—or the world. The Emergency Tariff Act, signed in May 1921, increased import taxes on wheat, sugar, meat, wool and other agricultural products.</p>
<p>The Fordney-McCumber Tariff Act, signed in September 1922, raised tariffs and extended them to industrial goods. The tariffs did encourage Americans to buy American goods. However, they did not help U.S. exports. Other countries retaliated by introducing tariffs of their own, so U.S. exports became more expensive and less popular.</p>
<p>In 1930, following the crash of 1929, President Hoover signed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, against, raising already high tariffs on more than 20,000 imported goods to as much as 60 percent. That set off a global trade war, causing more trading partner retaliation, and a 66 percent drop in global trade between 1929 and 1934 that deepened the Great Depression. To lower the <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/tariff.asp" type="external">high tariffs</a>, President Roosevelt passed the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act in 1934.</p>
<p>Why Mexico Matters</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the seventh round of NAFTA talks between Mexico, Canada and the U.S. finished in Mexico City this week, three weeks before Mexico’s’ campaign season begins on March 30. Jared Kushner flew to Mexico City, having lost his security clearance and thus ability to negotiate world peace in the Middle East. Whether he had anything to do with it or not, the next day, Trump did relent, and agree to exempt Mexico and Canada from tariffs. That said, he could easily re-impose them if talk about a wall or other conversation goes against his demands.</p>
<p>A trade war is about more than prices in and prices out. It’s about considering how those prices impact real people and jobs. It’s about considering multiple trade and diplomatic relationships—not just between other countries and the U.S., but among those countries with each other.</p>
<p>Trump’s supporters may believe that drawing a line in the sand against China that impacts Canada is good for American jobs, but the devil is in the details, and details are not Trump’s forte. The reality is that America is losing its position on the world stage as a country that shows consistency in any capacity. These tariffs will inspire better trade relationships among other countries, something Trump’s isolationist stance has already put in motion. They will diminish U.S. credibility, the lack of which is a product Trump has coined as his main export.</p>
<p>In the 1930s, U.S.-initiated trade wars contributed to a global Great Depression, one factor that lead to World War II. This time around, the rest of the world is more likely to work together and less with the U.S., not quake in economic fear of U.S. retaliation. This is clear and evidenced by the <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/in-focus/eu-japan-economic-partnership-agreement/" type="external">recent agreement</a> between Japan and the EU, and the <a href="http://asean.org/?static_post=rcep-regional-comprehensive-economic-partnership" type="external">Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership</a>, in which Japan and China are key participants, their historical differences set aside, in efforts to forge non-U.S. trade relationships.</p>
<p>The U.S. remains in a precarious economic situation, as does the world, and that means Trump’s trade war and nationalism, coupled with bank deregulation, could inflict more risk on depleted economies. That path would be a truly disastrous one for the U.S</p> | 1,642 |
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<p />
<p>The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says that it has received 700 reports of overheating and melting, and 55 reports of property damage from smoke and fire, including $916,000 in fire damage to one home and $750,000 in fire damage to a medical facility.</p>
<p>There were 13 reports of injuries, including smoke inhalation and burns from touching the surge protectors.</p>
<p>The devices plug into outlets and are supposed to protect electronics from power surges. The recalled items were made in China and the Philippines before 2003 and are branded as APC SurgeArrest.</p>
<p>They were sold at Best Buy, Circuit City, CompUSA and other stores from January 1993 to December 2002 and cost between $13 and $50. Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled surge protectors, unplug them and contact Schneider Electric at (888) 437-4007 or <a href="http://www.apc.com" type="external">www.apc.com</a> for a free replacement.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>———</p>
<p>ONLINE:</p>
<p>CPSC recall information: http://1.usa.gov/1a2QZta</p> | Schneider recalls 15M surge protectors after fires | false | https://abqjournal.com/274452/schneider-recalls-15m-surge-protectors-after-fires.html | 2013-10-03 | 2least
| Schneider recalls 15M surge protectors after fires
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<p />
<p>The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says that it has received 700 reports of overheating and melting, and 55 reports of property damage from smoke and fire, including $916,000 in fire damage to one home and $750,000 in fire damage to a medical facility.</p>
<p>There were 13 reports of injuries, including smoke inhalation and burns from touching the surge protectors.</p>
<p>The devices plug into outlets and are supposed to protect electronics from power surges. The recalled items were made in China and the Philippines before 2003 and are branded as APC SurgeArrest.</p>
<p>They were sold at Best Buy, Circuit City, CompUSA and other stores from January 1993 to December 2002 and cost between $13 and $50. Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled surge protectors, unplug them and contact Schneider Electric at (888) 437-4007 or <a href="http://www.apc.com" type="external">www.apc.com</a> for a free replacement.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>———</p>
<p>ONLINE:</p>
<p>CPSC recall information: http://1.usa.gov/1a2QZta</p> | 1,643 |
<p>AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (AP) — The federal government shutdown prompted the Air Force Academy on Saturday to call off sports events and upended plans for military outside the U.S. wanting to follow the NFL's conference playoff games on TV and radio.</p>
<p>Games involving the Army and Navy men's basketball teams were played as scheduled.</p>
<p>Hours after the partial shutdown took effect, the Air Force Academy said both home and away events have been postponed. Among them were the men's and women's basketball games at Fresno State</p>
<p>The American Forces Network, which broadcasts American radio and television programming in Europe and other locations outside the U.S., put a message on its Facebook page that said its services would not be available "due to the government shutdown."</p>
<p>The notice sparked angry reactions from viewers, with several noting the timing couldn't have been worse. The two NFL conference championships are Sunday — Minnesota vs. Philadelphia and Jacksonville vs. New England.</p>
<p>"During NFL PLAYOFFS?!" one post read. "AFN, start a GoFundMe &amp; broadcast these games! Make it happen!"</p>
<p>The Air Force Academy's online sports calendar lists seven competitions that had been set for Saturday. In addition to the basketball, there men's and women's swimming at UNLV, men's hockey against Sacred Heart at the academy and men's gymnastics against Oklahoma at the academy.</p>
<p>The rifle team was scheduled to compete against TCU, the Coast Guard and Ohio State at TCU.</p>
<p>On Sunday, the academy has tennis and wrestling events scheduled.</p>
<p>AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (AP) — The federal government shutdown prompted the Air Force Academy on Saturday to call off sports events and upended plans for military outside the U.S. wanting to follow the NFL's conference playoff games on TV and radio.</p>
<p>Games involving the Army and Navy men's basketball teams were played as scheduled.</p>
<p>Hours after the partial shutdown took effect, the Air Force Academy said both home and away events have been postponed. Among them were the men's and women's basketball games at Fresno State</p>
<p>The American Forces Network, which broadcasts American radio and television programming in Europe and other locations outside the U.S., put a message on its Facebook page that said its services would not be available "due to the government shutdown."</p>
<p>The notice sparked angry reactions from viewers, with several noting the timing couldn't have been worse. The two NFL conference championships are Sunday — Minnesota vs. Philadelphia and Jacksonville vs. New England.</p>
<p>"During NFL PLAYOFFS?!" one post read. "AFN, start a GoFundMe &amp; broadcast these games! Make it happen!"</p>
<p>The Air Force Academy's online sports calendar lists seven competitions that had been set for Saturday. In addition to the basketball, there men's and women's swimming at UNLV, men's hockey against Sacred Heart at the academy and men's gymnastics against Oklahoma at the academy.</p>
<p>The rifle team was scheduled to compete against TCU, the Coast Guard and Ohio State at TCU.</p>
<p>On Sunday, the academy has tennis and wrestling events scheduled.</p> | Shutdown grounds Air Force sports, upends NFL viewing | false | https://apnews.com/amp/b6bfbd99eff64d7faafe8405ad894900 | 2018-01-20 | 2least
| Shutdown grounds Air Force sports, upends NFL viewing
<p>AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (AP) — The federal government shutdown prompted the Air Force Academy on Saturday to call off sports events and upended plans for military outside the U.S. wanting to follow the NFL's conference playoff games on TV and radio.</p>
<p>Games involving the Army and Navy men's basketball teams were played as scheduled.</p>
<p>Hours after the partial shutdown took effect, the Air Force Academy said both home and away events have been postponed. Among them were the men's and women's basketball games at Fresno State</p>
<p>The American Forces Network, which broadcasts American radio and television programming in Europe and other locations outside the U.S., put a message on its Facebook page that said its services would not be available "due to the government shutdown."</p>
<p>The notice sparked angry reactions from viewers, with several noting the timing couldn't have been worse. The two NFL conference championships are Sunday — Minnesota vs. Philadelphia and Jacksonville vs. New England.</p>
<p>"During NFL PLAYOFFS?!" one post read. "AFN, start a GoFundMe &amp; broadcast these games! Make it happen!"</p>
<p>The Air Force Academy's online sports calendar lists seven competitions that had been set for Saturday. In addition to the basketball, there men's and women's swimming at UNLV, men's hockey against Sacred Heart at the academy and men's gymnastics against Oklahoma at the academy.</p>
<p>The rifle team was scheduled to compete against TCU, the Coast Guard and Ohio State at TCU.</p>
<p>On Sunday, the academy has tennis and wrestling events scheduled.</p>
<p>AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (AP) — The federal government shutdown prompted the Air Force Academy on Saturday to call off sports events and upended plans for military outside the U.S. wanting to follow the NFL's conference playoff games on TV and radio.</p>
<p>Games involving the Army and Navy men's basketball teams were played as scheduled.</p>
<p>Hours after the partial shutdown took effect, the Air Force Academy said both home and away events have been postponed. Among them were the men's and women's basketball games at Fresno State</p>
<p>The American Forces Network, which broadcasts American radio and television programming in Europe and other locations outside the U.S., put a message on its Facebook page that said its services would not be available "due to the government shutdown."</p>
<p>The notice sparked angry reactions from viewers, with several noting the timing couldn't have been worse. The two NFL conference championships are Sunday — Minnesota vs. Philadelphia and Jacksonville vs. New England.</p>
<p>"During NFL PLAYOFFS?!" one post read. "AFN, start a GoFundMe &amp; broadcast these games! Make it happen!"</p>
<p>The Air Force Academy's online sports calendar lists seven competitions that had been set for Saturday. In addition to the basketball, there men's and women's swimming at UNLV, men's hockey against Sacred Heart at the academy and men's gymnastics against Oklahoma at the academy.</p>
<p>The rifle team was scheduled to compete against TCU, the Coast Guard and Ohio State at TCU.</p>
<p>On Sunday, the academy has tennis and wrestling events scheduled.</p> | 1,644 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>It is also National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, calling attention to an issue that should give every city resident pause to reflect on its widespread impact.Virtually all of us have known someone or about someone who has been victimized by domestic violence &amp;mdash; it could be a relative, a neighbor or even someone in our own homes.</p>
<p>It goes without saying that physically injuring someone out of anger &amp;mdash; particularly a loved one, and especially a child &amp;mdash; is intolerable. The further tragedy of domestic violence, however, is that the injury can go far beyond bruising and broken bones and extend, with long-lasting emotional consequences, to people other than the direct victim.</p>
<p>How many children suffer silently after watching or hearing a fight between their parents that turns violent, not knowing who, if anyone, to tell, whether out of fear of recrimination or embarrassment? One can’t paint the same picture for every child, but police files are replete with violent offenders who’ve come from abusive homes.</p>
<p>How many parents agonize over how to deal with a son or daughter who is caught up in an abusive relationship, especially when grandchildren are involved and knowing there’s a risk of losing them to the custody of the state or the victimized parent understandably bent on taking them as far away as possible?</p>
<p>What about the colleagues or employers of an abused spouse, who know the obvious but have little idea about what to say or do about it, given the natural tendency to want to mind one’s own business? Or knowing, when events have taken a turn for the worse, that their intervention otherwise might have saved someone from being seriously injured, or even killed?</p>
<p>Let’s not forget abusers themselves. Where can they turn?</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The saying, &amp;quot;It takes a village to raise a child,&amp;quot; has applicability to addressing domestic violence &amp;mdash; everyone should be on board about what it is, what signs to look for and how to best respond to it.</p>
<p>Volunteers from Haven House, the domestic abuse shelter in Rio Rancho, tied purple ribbons to the light poles on NM 528 this month as a sign to honor victims and survivors of domestic abuse.</p>
<p>In addition, Haven House plans two events to remember children victimized by abuse: the Mayor’s Barbecue in Haynes Park on Thursday from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. and the first Children’s Fun Run/Walk/Play at the Rio Rancho High School track and practice field from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. on Saturday.</p>
<p>Organizers suggest a donation of toiletries for the barbecue and $10 a family for Saturday’s event.</p>
<p>Either event affords a good opportunity to support a very worthy cause.</p> | Our view: Domestic violence is a community challenge deserving full attention | false | https://abqjournal.com/287142/domestic-violence-is-a-community-challenge-deserving-full-attention-the-month-of-october-is-full-of-deserving-observances-fire-prevention-month-the-red-ribbon-celebration-to-address-the-perils-of-drug.html | 2013-10-23 | 2least
| Our view: Domestic violence is a community challenge deserving full attention
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<p />
<p>It is also National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, calling attention to an issue that should give every city resident pause to reflect on its widespread impact.Virtually all of us have known someone or about someone who has been victimized by domestic violence &amp;mdash; it could be a relative, a neighbor or even someone in our own homes.</p>
<p>It goes without saying that physically injuring someone out of anger &amp;mdash; particularly a loved one, and especially a child &amp;mdash; is intolerable. The further tragedy of domestic violence, however, is that the injury can go far beyond bruising and broken bones and extend, with long-lasting emotional consequences, to people other than the direct victim.</p>
<p>How many children suffer silently after watching or hearing a fight between their parents that turns violent, not knowing who, if anyone, to tell, whether out of fear of recrimination or embarrassment? One can’t paint the same picture for every child, but police files are replete with violent offenders who’ve come from abusive homes.</p>
<p>How many parents agonize over how to deal with a son or daughter who is caught up in an abusive relationship, especially when grandchildren are involved and knowing there’s a risk of losing them to the custody of the state or the victimized parent understandably bent on taking them as far away as possible?</p>
<p>What about the colleagues or employers of an abused spouse, who know the obvious but have little idea about what to say or do about it, given the natural tendency to want to mind one’s own business? Or knowing, when events have taken a turn for the worse, that their intervention otherwise might have saved someone from being seriously injured, or even killed?</p>
<p>Let’s not forget abusers themselves. Where can they turn?</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The saying, &amp;quot;It takes a village to raise a child,&amp;quot; has applicability to addressing domestic violence &amp;mdash; everyone should be on board about what it is, what signs to look for and how to best respond to it.</p>
<p>Volunteers from Haven House, the domestic abuse shelter in Rio Rancho, tied purple ribbons to the light poles on NM 528 this month as a sign to honor victims and survivors of domestic abuse.</p>
<p>In addition, Haven House plans two events to remember children victimized by abuse: the Mayor’s Barbecue in Haynes Park on Thursday from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. and the first Children’s Fun Run/Walk/Play at the Rio Rancho High School track and practice field from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. on Saturday.</p>
<p>Organizers suggest a donation of toiletries for the barbecue and $10 a family for Saturday’s event.</p>
<p>Either event affords a good opportunity to support a very worthy cause.</p> | 1,645 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>“These people want things that help them to look and feel great,” says Arango. “These things make them feel better.”</p>
<p>No doubt. While professionals from psychologists to economists — and from stylists to retail directors — offer varying opinions on what happens when we spend money making ourselves feel good, they’ll manage to agree on only one thing: it usually works.</p>
<p>But come on.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>If we’re already bummed out and spending money, wouldn’t it be nice if retail therapy would always buy us better feelings? Now, in teasing out the links between human psychology and physical purchases, researchers have found the very specific instances in which this form of healing fails. At the same time, they have uncovered the very shopping circumstances — ones we can ourselves create — in which spending money will most effectively smooth bumps in the road.</p>
<p>“People are inherently adaptive,” says Derek Rucker, professor of marketing at Northwestern University, who put nearly 120 subjects though a series of experiments that threatened either their intelligence or their social skills. “So these retail strategies must work in some circumstances. But there’s a risk.”</p>
<p>The risk, it turns out, is that the item we were hoping will heal our wound could actually wind up reminding us about the incident that caused it in the first place, says Rucker. That will happen when we buy something that falls in the same domain as the failure — say, a briefcase after a botched business meeting — and go home and continue to sulk. In those cases, we’ve wasted our money on an item that will only prolong our pain.</p>
<p>However, if we head to a cocktail hour and get a compliment — or two — on our new brown-leather valise, we’ll identify those kind words with our overall professional identities. And soon we start to feel pretty good about the whole career domain, says Rucker.</p>
<p>“Consumer products serve many purposes beyond their functional utility,” says Rucker. “They have psychological value. In some cases, purchases in the same domain remind you of a failure. But in other cases, they can validate your sense of self.”</p>
<p>What if we buy something outside of the failure’s domain — say, a new bike instead of a briefcase? We’ll get a quick retail rush, says Rucker. But we won’t feel better about the troubling matter.</p>
<p>Like most indulgences — alcohol and dessert, for example — retail therapy in moderation is perfectly fine, says Dr. Frances Berman, a licensed clinical psychologist. But beware of signs that could mean we’re over-shopping, she says. For example, stashing purchases in a closet and never opening them means we feel a sense of shame. That’s not healthy, she says. What’s more, shopping should not cause us to miss important events. And along with our emotional health, we should consider our levels of credit card debt.</p>
<p>“Anytime you abuse something to forget about a problem,” says Dr. Berman, “you end up with two problems.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Ellie Kay, a financial literacy expert and author of “Lean Body, Fat Wallet” offers what she calls a 3-D strategy — determine, distract and delay — to help us avoid unwanted shopping. First we paint a mental picture of ourselves being financially disciplined. Then — if tempted by stores — we steer ourselves toward buying a cup of coffee or making a phone call. Then finally, we delay any potential purchases by giving ourselves permission to return in 24 hours if we’re still longing for the item later.</p>
<p>“You are what you think,” says Kay. “So if you think about yourself sticking to your budget, you will.”</p>
<p>Problem is, online shopping doesn’t give us enough time to think, says Bruce McClary, vice president of public relations for the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. So we shouldn’t store our credit card or shipping information on retail sites, he says, or use features such as single click purchasing. If we see something awesome, let’s add it to a “wish list” before adding it to our carts.</p>
<p>“Retailers have taken a lot of the barriers away from the point you think you want to buy something to the point that it’s sitting in a package in your mail box,” says McClary. “And those barriers are important. Because every time you have to put in extra information gives you time to think about whether you can afford to make the purchase.”</p>
<p>SHOP TIL YOU SMILE</p>
<p>Do you use retail therapy to cure the blues? A study from Ebates.com, which provides cash back and other benefits to a roster of retailers, bets that you do. Some 51.8 percent of adult Americans — 63.9 percent of women and 39.8 percent of men — report shopping to improve their moods. Here’s what they buy.</p>
<p>Women</p>
<p>–Clothes</p>
<p>–Food</p>
<p>–Shoes</p>
<p>–Accessories</p>
<p>–Books / magazines</p>
<p>Men</p>
<p>–Food</p>
<p>–Electronics</p>
<p>–Music/movies</p>
<p>–Accessories</p>
<p>–Games/toys</p>
<p>——</p>
<p>ABOUT THE WRITER</p>
<p>Brett Graff is a former U.S. government economist and the editor of <a href="http://www.thehomeeconomist.com," type="external">www.thehomeeconomist.com,</a> where she reports on the economic forces affecting real people. She writes an occasional column for the Miami Herald. Reach her at [email protected].</p>
<p>——</p>
<p>©2015 Miami Herald</p>
<p>Visit Miami Herald at <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com" type="external">www.miamiherald.com</a></p>
<p>Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC</p>
<p>———-</p>
<p>PHOTO (for help with images, contact 312-222-4194):</p> | The Home Economist: Retail therapy: Does it work? | false | https://abqjournal.com/556278/the-home-economist-retail-therapy-does-it-work.html | 2015-03-16 | 2least
| The Home Economist: Retail therapy: Does it work?
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>“These people want things that help them to look and feel great,” says Arango. “These things make them feel better.”</p>
<p>No doubt. While professionals from psychologists to economists — and from stylists to retail directors — offer varying opinions on what happens when we spend money making ourselves feel good, they’ll manage to agree on only one thing: it usually works.</p>
<p>But come on.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>If we’re already bummed out and spending money, wouldn’t it be nice if retail therapy would always buy us better feelings? Now, in teasing out the links between human psychology and physical purchases, researchers have found the very specific instances in which this form of healing fails. At the same time, they have uncovered the very shopping circumstances — ones we can ourselves create — in which spending money will most effectively smooth bumps in the road.</p>
<p>“People are inherently adaptive,” says Derek Rucker, professor of marketing at Northwestern University, who put nearly 120 subjects though a series of experiments that threatened either their intelligence or their social skills. “So these retail strategies must work in some circumstances. But there’s a risk.”</p>
<p>The risk, it turns out, is that the item we were hoping will heal our wound could actually wind up reminding us about the incident that caused it in the first place, says Rucker. That will happen when we buy something that falls in the same domain as the failure — say, a briefcase after a botched business meeting — and go home and continue to sulk. In those cases, we’ve wasted our money on an item that will only prolong our pain.</p>
<p>However, if we head to a cocktail hour and get a compliment — or two — on our new brown-leather valise, we’ll identify those kind words with our overall professional identities. And soon we start to feel pretty good about the whole career domain, says Rucker.</p>
<p>“Consumer products serve many purposes beyond their functional utility,” says Rucker. “They have psychological value. In some cases, purchases in the same domain remind you of a failure. But in other cases, they can validate your sense of self.”</p>
<p>What if we buy something outside of the failure’s domain — say, a new bike instead of a briefcase? We’ll get a quick retail rush, says Rucker. But we won’t feel better about the troubling matter.</p>
<p>Like most indulgences — alcohol and dessert, for example — retail therapy in moderation is perfectly fine, says Dr. Frances Berman, a licensed clinical psychologist. But beware of signs that could mean we’re over-shopping, she says. For example, stashing purchases in a closet and never opening them means we feel a sense of shame. That’s not healthy, she says. What’s more, shopping should not cause us to miss important events. And along with our emotional health, we should consider our levels of credit card debt.</p>
<p>“Anytime you abuse something to forget about a problem,” says Dr. Berman, “you end up with two problems.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Ellie Kay, a financial literacy expert and author of “Lean Body, Fat Wallet” offers what she calls a 3-D strategy — determine, distract and delay — to help us avoid unwanted shopping. First we paint a mental picture of ourselves being financially disciplined. Then — if tempted by stores — we steer ourselves toward buying a cup of coffee or making a phone call. Then finally, we delay any potential purchases by giving ourselves permission to return in 24 hours if we’re still longing for the item later.</p>
<p>“You are what you think,” says Kay. “So if you think about yourself sticking to your budget, you will.”</p>
<p>Problem is, online shopping doesn’t give us enough time to think, says Bruce McClary, vice president of public relations for the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. So we shouldn’t store our credit card or shipping information on retail sites, he says, or use features such as single click purchasing. If we see something awesome, let’s add it to a “wish list” before adding it to our carts.</p>
<p>“Retailers have taken a lot of the barriers away from the point you think you want to buy something to the point that it’s sitting in a package in your mail box,” says McClary. “And those barriers are important. Because every time you have to put in extra information gives you time to think about whether you can afford to make the purchase.”</p>
<p>SHOP TIL YOU SMILE</p>
<p>Do you use retail therapy to cure the blues? A study from Ebates.com, which provides cash back and other benefits to a roster of retailers, bets that you do. Some 51.8 percent of adult Americans — 63.9 percent of women and 39.8 percent of men — report shopping to improve their moods. Here’s what they buy.</p>
<p>Women</p>
<p>–Clothes</p>
<p>–Food</p>
<p>–Shoes</p>
<p>–Accessories</p>
<p>–Books / magazines</p>
<p>Men</p>
<p>–Food</p>
<p>–Electronics</p>
<p>–Music/movies</p>
<p>–Accessories</p>
<p>–Games/toys</p>
<p>——</p>
<p>ABOUT THE WRITER</p>
<p>Brett Graff is a former U.S. government economist and the editor of <a href="http://www.thehomeeconomist.com," type="external">www.thehomeeconomist.com,</a> where she reports on the economic forces affecting real people. She writes an occasional column for the Miami Herald. Reach her at [email protected].</p>
<p>——</p>
<p>©2015 Miami Herald</p>
<p>Visit Miami Herald at <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com" type="external">www.miamiherald.com</a></p>
<p>Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC</p>
<p>———-</p>
<p>PHOTO (for help with images, contact 312-222-4194):</p> | 1,646 |
<p>LIMA, Peru (AP) — Officials say they've recorded a second death in the magnitude 7.1 earthquake that shook southern Peru.</p>
<p>Arequipa Gov. Yamila Osorio said Tuesday that 32-year-old mine watchman Edu Lancho died from after being hit by falling rocks.</p>
<p>He was transported to a nearby hospital but later pronounced dead.</p>
<p>Authorities say early-morning Sunday quake left a total of 140 people injured and collapsed more than 250 homes. It was centered 25 miles (40 kilometers) from the small town of Acari and could be felt as far away as capital city Lima.</p>
<p>LIMA, Peru (AP) — Officials say they've recorded a second death in the magnitude 7.1 earthquake that shook southern Peru.</p>
<p>Arequipa Gov. Yamila Osorio said Tuesday that 32-year-old mine watchman Edu Lancho died from after being hit by falling rocks.</p>
<p>He was transported to a nearby hospital but later pronounced dead.</p>
<p>Authorities say early-morning Sunday quake left a total of 140 people injured and collapsed more than 250 homes. It was centered 25 miles (40 kilometers) from the small town of Acari and could be felt as far away as capital city Lima.</p> | Mine watchman in Peru is 2nd death in magnitude 7.1 quake | false | https://apnews.com/amp/21a723340cd549ac9c0aea1ee4ae5059 | 2018-01-16 | 2least
| Mine watchman in Peru is 2nd death in magnitude 7.1 quake
<p>LIMA, Peru (AP) — Officials say they've recorded a second death in the magnitude 7.1 earthquake that shook southern Peru.</p>
<p>Arequipa Gov. Yamila Osorio said Tuesday that 32-year-old mine watchman Edu Lancho died from after being hit by falling rocks.</p>
<p>He was transported to a nearby hospital but later pronounced dead.</p>
<p>Authorities say early-morning Sunday quake left a total of 140 people injured and collapsed more than 250 homes. It was centered 25 miles (40 kilometers) from the small town of Acari and could be felt as far away as capital city Lima.</p>
<p>LIMA, Peru (AP) — Officials say they've recorded a second death in the magnitude 7.1 earthquake that shook southern Peru.</p>
<p>Arequipa Gov. Yamila Osorio said Tuesday that 32-year-old mine watchman Edu Lancho died from after being hit by falling rocks.</p>
<p>He was transported to a nearby hospital but later pronounced dead.</p>
<p>Authorities say early-morning Sunday quake left a total of 140 people injured and collapsed more than 250 homes. It was centered 25 miles (40 kilometers) from the small town of Acari and could be felt as far away as capital city Lima.</p> | 1,647 |
<p>I know you've read the headlines. "Bricks and Mortar is Dying." "Malls are Doomed." "Retail is Falling Apart."</p>
<p>Every day, it seems we read about another retailer kicking the bucket. My colleague Dan Kline recently wrote that&#160; <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/08/01/these-5-retailers-may-not-survive-2017.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=ef262c20-b35b-11e7-9bdb-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">nine major retailers went bankrupt Opens a New Window.</a> in the first three months of 2017. That was more than the entire number that went bankrupt the year before.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>We of course know the reasons for this. The unstoppable e-commerce trend continues, with Amazon&#160;(NASDAQ: AMZN) expanding into organic groceries and <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/05/19/could-amazon-steamroller-these-pharmacy-stocks.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=ef262c20-b35b-11e7-9bdb-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">potentially even pharmacies Opens a New Window.</a>. As a percentage of total retail sales, e-commerce overall has risen from 6% in 2013 to 9% today, and it's expected to hit more than 12% by 2020.</p>
<p>The most common investor response to this trend has been to 1) buy Amazon and then 2) run, screaming, away from every other retailer in sight. If you want a terrifying Halloween costume for your kid, have them dress up as a JCPenney store.</p>
<p>The gloomy headlines and numerous bankruptcies have significantly driven down valuation multiples. Retail stocks are now officially sitting in the bargain bin.&#160;But Warren Buffett's "be greedy when others are fearful" advice begs us to ask a Foolish question: Aren't there any Amazon-resistant retailers who are selling for a huge, unwarranted discount right now?</p>
<p>I believe the answer is yes, in a humble retailer called&#160;Tractor Supply&#160;(NASDAQ: TSCO). And unless you're living out in the country, you may have never been to -- or even heard of -- this diamond-in-the-rough investment opportunity.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Tractor Supply is America's largest rural lifestyle retailer. They <a href="https://www.tractorsupply.com/" type="external">sell the necessities Opens a New Window.</a> of the "out here" lifestyle, including wire fencing, farm tools, and pet feed and supplies. Now with 1,630 Tractor Supply stores, they serve customers who may need to "turn off the paved road" to find and shop at their rural locations.</p>
<p>Perhaps unexpectedly, a competitive advantage accompanies Tractor Supply in being the first mover to set up shop in these rural locations. In many ways, it has shielded them from larger competitors.</p>
<p>General retailers like Walmart (NYSE: WMT) and do-it-yourself warehouses like Lowe's&#160;(NYSE: LOW) or Home Depot&#160;(NYSE: HD) have made fortunes appealing to suburban America. But it's harder for them to justify the significant capital expenditures that would be required to open new stores in less densely populated areas. Bound by corporate metrics such as return on investment, rural stores wouldn't generate enough profits to make for a rational financial decision.</p>
<p>And that doesn't even include the marketing expenses. As someone born in rural Iowa, I can attest that scheduled trips to the grocery or hardware store are an enjoyable part of the weekly routine. These stores serve as common places for people to see and chat with their neighbors. Walmart and Lowe's would also need to invest heavily in advertising to try to win over a brand-loyal customer base.</p>
<p>It's just not worth it. Tractor Supply has a first-mover advantage in locations that can't rationally support a second player. This results in diminished competition, which gives them pricing power and a captive customer base.</p>
<p>But let's get back to e-commerce. Even tiny, humble Tractor Supply has an advantage over e-commerce powerhouses like Amazon. Rural locations might be one of the few remaining places where David still beats Goliath.</p>
<p>Amazon has willingly invested in a strong logistics infrastructure so it can ship pretty much anything within two days to its loyal Prime members. They're also continuing to step on the accelerator, vowing to soon use commercial drones to deliver packages even more cost-effectively.</p>
<p>Even so, there is some retail business Amazon just isn't interested in. Many of Tractor Supply's products are commodities, which are generally higher-weight and lower-value. Drones may be great for delivering DVDs or light packages, but they're not so great at flying around 80 pound bags of deer corn. Trucking could be an option, but that would require delivering to rural routes that are far away from Amazon's warehouses.</p>
<p>Amazon, too, has its limits, and it isn't looking to always serve everyone, everywhere.</p>
<p>Tractor Supply's regional monopolies are providing it with a competitive advantage. The isolated nature of its stores, coupled with the recurring nature of its products and its customer base, are generating a solid profit stream that it is using to reward investors.</p>
<p>Next week, I'll write a follow up to this article by taking a closer look at the actual value that Tractor Supply is creating for shareholders. We'll compare the company's&#160;return on invested capital&#160;to its weighted average cost of capital&#160;to demonstrate just how well it's using investors' money to generate excess returns.</p>
<p>I'm impressed with the performance of this little-known and lesser-followed retailer. It might be one of the few bright spots in the ever-worsening landscape of brick-and-mortar retail.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than&#160;Wal-MartWhen investing geniuses David and Tom&#160;Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they&#160;have run for over a decade, the Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom&#160;just revealed what they believe are the&#160; <a href="https://www.fool.com/mms/mark/e-sa-bbn-eg?aid=8867&amp;source=isaeditxt0000476&amp;ftm_cam=sa-bbn-evergreen&amp;ftm_pit=6627&amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=ef262c20-b35b-11e7-9bdb-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">ten best stocks Opens a New Window.</a>&#160;for investors to buy right now… and Wal-Mart wasn't one of them! That's right -- they&#160;think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.fool.com/mms/mark/e-sa-bbn-eg?aid=8867&amp;source=isaeditxt0000476&amp;ftm_cam=sa-bbn-evergreen&amp;ftm_pit=6627&amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=ef262c20-b35b-11e7-9bdb-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a>&#160;to learn about these picks!</p>
<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of&#160;October 9, 2017The author(s) may have a position in any stocks mentioned.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFInnovator/info.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=ef262c20-b35b-11e7-9bdb-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Simon Erickson Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Amazon, Lowe's, and Tractor Supply. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon. The Motley Fool recommends Home Depot, Lowe's, and Tractor Supply. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=ef262c20-b35b-11e7-9bdb-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | How Tractor Supply Is Defying the Train Wreck of Retail | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/10/17/how-tractor-supply-is-defying-train-wreck-retail.html | 2017-10-17 | 0right
| How Tractor Supply Is Defying the Train Wreck of Retail
<p>I know you've read the headlines. "Bricks and Mortar is Dying." "Malls are Doomed." "Retail is Falling Apart."</p>
<p>Every day, it seems we read about another retailer kicking the bucket. My colleague Dan Kline recently wrote that&#160; <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/08/01/these-5-retailers-may-not-survive-2017.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=ef262c20-b35b-11e7-9bdb-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">nine major retailers went bankrupt Opens a New Window.</a> in the first three months of 2017. That was more than the entire number that went bankrupt the year before.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>We of course know the reasons for this. The unstoppable e-commerce trend continues, with Amazon&#160;(NASDAQ: AMZN) expanding into organic groceries and <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/05/19/could-amazon-steamroller-these-pharmacy-stocks.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=ef262c20-b35b-11e7-9bdb-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">potentially even pharmacies Opens a New Window.</a>. As a percentage of total retail sales, e-commerce overall has risen from 6% in 2013 to 9% today, and it's expected to hit more than 12% by 2020.</p>
<p>The most common investor response to this trend has been to 1) buy Amazon and then 2) run, screaming, away from every other retailer in sight. If you want a terrifying Halloween costume for your kid, have them dress up as a JCPenney store.</p>
<p>The gloomy headlines and numerous bankruptcies have significantly driven down valuation multiples. Retail stocks are now officially sitting in the bargain bin.&#160;But Warren Buffett's "be greedy when others are fearful" advice begs us to ask a Foolish question: Aren't there any Amazon-resistant retailers who are selling for a huge, unwarranted discount right now?</p>
<p>I believe the answer is yes, in a humble retailer called&#160;Tractor Supply&#160;(NASDAQ: TSCO). And unless you're living out in the country, you may have never been to -- or even heard of -- this diamond-in-the-rough investment opportunity.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Tractor Supply is America's largest rural lifestyle retailer. They <a href="https://www.tractorsupply.com/" type="external">sell the necessities Opens a New Window.</a> of the "out here" lifestyle, including wire fencing, farm tools, and pet feed and supplies. Now with 1,630 Tractor Supply stores, they serve customers who may need to "turn off the paved road" to find and shop at their rural locations.</p>
<p>Perhaps unexpectedly, a competitive advantage accompanies Tractor Supply in being the first mover to set up shop in these rural locations. In many ways, it has shielded them from larger competitors.</p>
<p>General retailers like Walmart (NYSE: WMT) and do-it-yourself warehouses like Lowe's&#160;(NYSE: LOW) or Home Depot&#160;(NYSE: HD) have made fortunes appealing to suburban America. But it's harder for them to justify the significant capital expenditures that would be required to open new stores in less densely populated areas. Bound by corporate metrics such as return on investment, rural stores wouldn't generate enough profits to make for a rational financial decision.</p>
<p>And that doesn't even include the marketing expenses. As someone born in rural Iowa, I can attest that scheduled trips to the grocery or hardware store are an enjoyable part of the weekly routine. These stores serve as common places for people to see and chat with their neighbors. Walmart and Lowe's would also need to invest heavily in advertising to try to win over a brand-loyal customer base.</p>
<p>It's just not worth it. Tractor Supply has a first-mover advantage in locations that can't rationally support a second player. This results in diminished competition, which gives them pricing power and a captive customer base.</p>
<p>But let's get back to e-commerce. Even tiny, humble Tractor Supply has an advantage over e-commerce powerhouses like Amazon. Rural locations might be one of the few remaining places where David still beats Goliath.</p>
<p>Amazon has willingly invested in a strong logistics infrastructure so it can ship pretty much anything within two days to its loyal Prime members. They're also continuing to step on the accelerator, vowing to soon use commercial drones to deliver packages even more cost-effectively.</p>
<p>Even so, there is some retail business Amazon just isn't interested in. Many of Tractor Supply's products are commodities, which are generally higher-weight and lower-value. Drones may be great for delivering DVDs or light packages, but they're not so great at flying around 80 pound bags of deer corn. Trucking could be an option, but that would require delivering to rural routes that are far away from Amazon's warehouses.</p>
<p>Amazon, too, has its limits, and it isn't looking to always serve everyone, everywhere.</p>
<p>Tractor Supply's regional monopolies are providing it with a competitive advantage. The isolated nature of its stores, coupled with the recurring nature of its products and its customer base, are generating a solid profit stream that it is using to reward investors.</p>
<p>Next week, I'll write a follow up to this article by taking a closer look at the actual value that Tractor Supply is creating for shareholders. We'll compare the company's&#160;return on invested capital&#160;to its weighted average cost of capital&#160;to demonstrate just how well it's using investors' money to generate excess returns.</p>
<p>I'm impressed with the performance of this little-known and lesser-followed retailer. It might be one of the few bright spots in the ever-worsening landscape of brick-and-mortar retail.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than&#160;Wal-MartWhen investing geniuses David and Tom&#160;Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they&#160;have run for over a decade, the Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom&#160;just revealed what they believe are the&#160; <a href="https://www.fool.com/mms/mark/e-sa-bbn-eg?aid=8867&amp;source=isaeditxt0000476&amp;ftm_cam=sa-bbn-evergreen&amp;ftm_pit=6627&amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=ef262c20-b35b-11e7-9bdb-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">ten best stocks Opens a New Window.</a>&#160;for investors to buy right now… and Wal-Mart wasn't one of them! That's right -- they&#160;think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.fool.com/mms/mark/e-sa-bbn-eg?aid=8867&amp;source=isaeditxt0000476&amp;ftm_cam=sa-bbn-evergreen&amp;ftm_pit=6627&amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=ef262c20-b35b-11e7-9bdb-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a>&#160;to learn about these picks!</p>
<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of&#160;October 9, 2017The author(s) may have a position in any stocks mentioned.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFInnovator/info.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=ef262c20-b35b-11e7-9bdb-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Simon Erickson Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Amazon, Lowe's, and Tractor Supply. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon. The Motley Fool recommends Home Depot, Lowe's, and Tractor Supply. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=ef262c20-b35b-11e7-9bdb-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | 1,648 |
<p>The Forward NYT's Frank Rich and others have a problem with National Review's <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/images/schumer.jpg" type="external">caricature</a> of Chuck Schumer with a large nose. "It's an indication that the right may be hoping to gin up a divisive religious fracas any which way it can," says Rich. National Review editor Rich Lowry tells Gabriel Sanders: "To come up with the interpretation [that it's antisemitic], you really have to be straining to find offense."</p> | National Review insists Schumer illlustration isn't antisemitic | false | https://poynter.org/news/national-review-insists-schumer-illlustration-isnt-antisemitic | 2005-08-18 | 2least
| National Review insists Schumer illlustration isn't antisemitic
<p>The Forward NYT's Frank Rich and others have a problem with National Review's <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/images/schumer.jpg" type="external">caricature</a> of Chuck Schumer with a large nose. "It's an indication that the right may be hoping to gin up a divisive religious fracas any which way it can," says Rich. National Review editor Rich Lowry tells Gabriel Sanders: "To come up with the interpretation [that it's antisemitic], you really have to be straining to find offense."</p> | 1,649 |
<p />
<p>The AP <a href="http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CONGRESSMAN_SETTLEMENT?SITE=1010WINS&amp;SECTION=HOME&amp;TEMPLATE=DEFAULT" type="external">reports</a>:</p>
<p>A Republican congressman accused of abusing his ex-mistress agreed to pay her about $500,000 in a settlement last year that contained a powerful incentive for her to keep quiet until after Election Day, a person familiar with the terms of the deal told The Associated Press.</p>
<p>Rep. Don Sherwood is locked in a tight re-election race against a Democratic opponent who has seized on the four-term congressman’s relationship with the woman. While Sherwood acknowledged the woman was his mistress, he denied abusing her and said that he had settled her $5.5 million lawsuit on confidential terms….</p>
<p>According to a police report, Ore called 911 on her cell phone from the bathroom of Sherwood’s Capitol Hill apartment in 2004 and reported that Sherwood had choked her while giving her a back rub. Sherwood admitted having an affair with the woman, but vehemently denied ever hurting her, and criminal charges were never filed. But Ore, now 30, sued for damages.</p>
<p>Whole story after the jump.</p>
<p>Rep. Paying Ex-Mistress About $500K</p>
<p>By MICHAEL RUBINKAM Associated Press Writer</p>
<p>ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A Republican congressman accused of abusing his ex-mistress agreed to pay her about $500,000 in a settlement last year that contained a powerful incentive for her to keep quiet until after Election Day, a person familiar with the terms of the deal told The Associated Press.</p>
<p>Rep. Don Sherwood is locked in a tight re-election race against a Democratic opponent who has seized on the four-term congressman’s relationship with the woman. While Sherwood acknowledged the woman was his mistress, he denied abusing her and said that he had settled her $5.5 million lawsuit on confidential terms.</p>
<p>The settlement, reached in November 2005, called for Cynthia Ore to be paid in installments, according to a person who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal is confidential. She has received less than half the money so far, and will not get the rest until after the Nov. 7 election, the person said Thursday.</p>
<p>A confidentiality clause requires Ore to forfeit some of the money if she talks publicly about the case, according to this person and two other people familiar with elements of the case.</p>
<p>It is common in settlements for payments to be made in installments and for the parties to be held to confidentiality.</p>
<p>Sherwood admitted no wrongdoing, a standard provision in such agreements, this person said.</p>
<p>Sherwood, a 65-year-old married father of three who is considered a family-values conservative, had one of the safest seats in Congress until Ore sued him in June 2005, alleging he physically abused her throughout their five-year affair.</p>
<p>Reached by telephone Wednesday, the congressman and successful car dealer said: “I can neither confirm nor deny because this was a private settlement. If I’d like to talk to you about it, I can’t.”</p>
<p>The Associated Press has been trying for months to find out the terms of the settlement.</p>
<p>According to a police report, Ore called 911 on her cell phone from the bathroom of Sherwood’s Capitol Hill apartment in 2004 and reported that Sherwood had choked her while giving her a back rub. Sherwood admitted having an affair with the woman, but vehemently denied ever hurting her, and criminal charges were never filed. But Ore, now 30, sued for damages.</p>
<p>Sherwood’s challenger, Chris Carney, has hammered the congressman over the affair in TV ads, calling Sherwood a hypocrite who brought “Washington values” to his rural northeastern Pennsylvania district.</p>
<p>Sherwood responded with his own ad, in which he looked directly into the camera and apologized for his conduct. Last month, his wife mailed a letter to voters that accused Carney of “needlessly cruel” campaign tactics.</p>
<p>Although GOP voters greatly outnumber Democrats in his conservative district, many people have said they would not vote for him again because of the affair.</p>
<p>Even before Ore settled, the congressman tried to keep a tight lid on the case. His lawyer asked a judge to prohibit disclosure of materials from the case, warning that Sherwood’s opponents might try to use the information to harm him politically.</p>
<p>The lawyer, Bobby Burchfield, was especially adamant that any videotaped deposition of Sherwood not be released, saying the footage could be used against him in negative political ads.</p>
<p>Ore’s attorney, Ning Ye of New York, declined to say where she is living now or how she can be reached.</p>
<p /> | GOP Rep. Don Sherwood Paid Mistress $500K To Keep Quiet About Abuse Allegations | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2006/11/gop-rep-don-sherwood-paid-mistress-500k-keep-quiet-about-abuse-allegations/ | 2006-11-03 | 4left
| GOP Rep. Don Sherwood Paid Mistress $500K To Keep Quiet About Abuse Allegations
<p />
<p>The AP <a href="http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CONGRESSMAN_SETTLEMENT?SITE=1010WINS&amp;SECTION=HOME&amp;TEMPLATE=DEFAULT" type="external">reports</a>:</p>
<p>A Republican congressman accused of abusing his ex-mistress agreed to pay her about $500,000 in a settlement last year that contained a powerful incentive for her to keep quiet until after Election Day, a person familiar with the terms of the deal told The Associated Press.</p>
<p>Rep. Don Sherwood is locked in a tight re-election race against a Democratic opponent who has seized on the four-term congressman’s relationship with the woman. While Sherwood acknowledged the woman was his mistress, he denied abusing her and said that he had settled her $5.5 million lawsuit on confidential terms….</p>
<p>According to a police report, Ore called 911 on her cell phone from the bathroom of Sherwood’s Capitol Hill apartment in 2004 and reported that Sherwood had choked her while giving her a back rub. Sherwood admitted having an affair with the woman, but vehemently denied ever hurting her, and criminal charges were never filed. But Ore, now 30, sued for damages.</p>
<p>Whole story after the jump.</p>
<p>Rep. Paying Ex-Mistress About $500K</p>
<p>By MICHAEL RUBINKAM Associated Press Writer</p>
<p>ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A Republican congressman accused of abusing his ex-mistress agreed to pay her about $500,000 in a settlement last year that contained a powerful incentive for her to keep quiet until after Election Day, a person familiar with the terms of the deal told The Associated Press.</p>
<p>Rep. Don Sherwood is locked in a tight re-election race against a Democratic opponent who has seized on the four-term congressman’s relationship with the woman. While Sherwood acknowledged the woman was his mistress, he denied abusing her and said that he had settled her $5.5 million lawsuit on confidential terms.</p>
<p>The settlement, reached in November 2005, called for Cynthia Ore to be paid in installments, according to a person who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal is confidential. She has received less than half the money so far, and will not get the rest until after the Nov. 7 election, the person said Thursday.</p>
<p>A confidentiality clause requires Ore to forfeit some of the money if she talks publicly about the case, according to this person and two other people familiar with elements of the case.</p>
<p>It is common in settlements for payments to be made in installments and for the parties to be held to confidentiality.</p>
<p>Sherwood admitted no wrongdoing, a standard provision in such agreements, this person said.</p>
<p>Sherwood, a 65-year-old married father of three who is considered a family-values conservative, had one of the safest seats in Congress until Ore sued him in June 2005, alleging he physically abused her throughout their five-year affair.</p>
<p>Reached by telephone Wednesday, the congressman and successful car dealer said: “I can neither confirm nor deny because this was a private settlement. If I’d like to talk to you about it, I can’t.”</p>
<p>The Associated Press has been trying for months to find out the terms of the settlement.</p>
<p>According to a police report, Ore called 911 on her cell phone from the bathroom of Sherwood’s Capitol Hill apartment in 2004 and reported that Sherwood had choked her while giving her a back rub. Sherwood admitted having an affair with the woman, but vehemently denied ever hurting her, and criminal charges were never filed. But Ore, now 30, sued for damages.</p>
<p>Sherwood’s challenger, Chris Carney, has hammered the congressman over the affair in TV ads, calling Sherwood a hypocrite who brought “Washington values” to his rural northeastern Pennsylvania district.</p>
<p>Sherwood responded with his own ad, in which he looked directly into the camera and apologized for his conduct. Last month, his wife mailed a letter to voters that accused Carney of “needlessly cruel” campaign tactics.</p>
<p>Although GOP voters greatly outnumber Democrats in his conservative district, many people have said they would not vote for him again because of the affair.</p>
<p>Even before Ore settled, the congressman tried to keep a tight lid on the case. His lawyer asked a judge to prohibit disclosure of materials from the case, warning that Sherwood’s opponents might try to use the information to harm him politically.</p>
<p>The lawyer, Bobby Burchfield, was especially adamant that any videotaped deposition of Sherwood not be released, saying the footage could be used against him in negative political ads.</p>
<p>Ore’s attorney, Ning Ye of New York, declined to say where she is living now or how she can be reached.</p>
<p /> | 1,650 |
<p><a href="http://pienews.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Prez.jpg" type="external" />Responding to recent allegations that Barack Obama is president of the&#160;United States, putative White House press secretary Jay Carney stated he was looking into the matter. "We found out about Obama supposedly being president from reports in the media, just&#160;like everyone else." Appearing briefly at today's news conference, Obama [?]</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/379215/breaking-obama-stunned-learn-hes-president-peter-kirsanow" type="external">Click here to view original web page at www.nationalreview.com</a></p>
<p /> | Breaking: Obama Stunned to Learn He's President | true | http://politicalillusionsexposed.com/breaking-obama-stunned-to-learn-hes-president/ | 0right
| Breaking: Obama Stunned to Learn He's President
<p><a href="http://pienews.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Prez.jpg" type="external" />Responding to recent allegations that Barack Obama is president of the&#160;United States, putative White House press secretary Jay Carney stated he was looking into the matter. "We found out about Obama supposedly being president from reports in the media, just&#160;like everyone else." Appearing briefly at today's news conference, Obama [?]</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/379215/breaking-obama-stunned-learn-hes-president-peter-kirsanow" type="external">Click here to view original web page at www.nationalreview.com</a></p>
<p /> | 1,651 |
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<p />
<p />
<p>A <a href="" type="internal">major two-week summit on climate change</a> opened on Monday in Paris, and President Barack Obama was there to urge world leaders to push for a strong international agreement to slow global warming.</p>
<p>In his speech (video above), the president also offered a rebuke to the terrorists behind the November 13 attacks in the French capital that left 130 people dead.</p>
<p>The summit, he said, is “an act of defiance that proves nothing will deter us from building the future we want for our children.”</p>
<p>Obama acknowledged America’s unique responsibility for ensuring success at the talks, which are designed to produce an unprecedented agreement between nearly 200 nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prepare for the impacts of climate change. It’s the first time nations have tried to reach that goal since the last major climate summit, in 2009 in Copenhagen, crumbled over disagreements between the United States, China, and developing nations.</p>
<p>In his second term, Obama has sought to make action on climate change a central part of his legacy; a strong agreement in Paris would be a vital component to that. “I’ve come here personally, as the leader of the world’s largest economy and the second-largest emitter,” Obama said, “to say that the United States of America not only recognizes our role in creating this problem, we embrace our responsibility to do something about it.”</p>
<p>Prior to the speech, Obama met privately with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The two leaders have worked closely over the last year to <a href="" type="internal">advance a joint climate agenda</a>. Xi also gave a speech, in which he said it was “very important for China and the United States to be firmly committed to the right direction of building a new model of major country relations.”</p>
<p>Obama’s remarks come a day after the White House announced a <a href="http://mashable.com/2015/11/29/obama-gates-clean-energy-climate/#YyR8KjKwlPqV" type="external">sweeping initiative</a> to double public-sector investment in clean energy research and development from $5 billion to $10 billion by 2020. That new program, known as <a href="http://www.mission-innovation.net/" type="external">Mission Innovation</a>, also includes more than a dozen major private-sector investors, including Bill Gates, Richard Branson, and Mark Zuckerberg.&#160;</p>
<p>Finance for clean energy and for climate change adaptation is likely to be a major issue at the talks, as vulnerable nations in Africa, Southeast Asia, and elsewhere urge the United States and other major emitters to pony up more cash. At the last major climate summit in Copenhagen, countries agreed to raise $100 billion per year for a UN-administered climate adaptation fund. That goal is only about two-thirds met.</p>
<p /> | Obama Just Called Saving the Planet an “Act of Defiance” Against Terror | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2015/11/obama-paris-climate-talks-speech/ | 2015-11-30 | 4left
| Obama Just Called Saving the Planet an “Act of Defiance” Against Terror
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>A <a href="" type="internal">major two-week summit on climate change</a> opened on Monday in Paris, and President Barack Obama was there to urge world leaders to push for a strong international agreement to slow global warming.</p>
<p>In his speech (video above), the president also offered a rebuke to the terrorists behind the November 13 attacks in the French capital that left 130 people dead.</p>
<p>The summit, he said, is “an act of defiance that proves nothing will deter us from building the future we want for our children.”</p>
<p>Obama acknowledged America’s unique responsibility for ensuring success at the talks, which are designed to produce an unprecedented agreement between nearly 200 nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prepare for the impacts of climate change. It’s the first time nations have tried to reach that goal since the last major climate summit, in 2009 in Copenhagen, crumbled over disagreements between the United States, China, and developing nations.</p>
<p>In his second term, Obama has sought to make action on climate change a central part of his legacy; a strong agreement in Paris would be a vital component to that. “I’ve come here personally, as the leader of the world’s largest economy and the second-largest emitter,” Obama said, “to say that the United States of America not only recognizes our role in creating this problem, we embrace our responsibility to do something about it.”</p>
<p>Prior to the speech, Obama met privately with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The two leaders have worked closely over the last year to <a href="" type="internal">advance a joint climate agenda</a>. Xi also gave a speech, in which he said it was “very important for China and the United States to be firmly committed to the right direction of building a new model of major country relations.”</p>
<p>Obama’s remarks come a day after the White House announced a <a href="http://mashable.com/2015/11/29/obama-gates-clean-energy-climate/#YyR8KjKwlPqV" type="external">sweeping initiative</a> to double public-sector investment in clean energy research and development from $5 billion to $10 billion by 2020. That new program, known as <a href="http://www.mission-innovation.net/" type="external">Mission Innovation</a>, also includes more than a dozen major private-sector investors, including Bill Gates, Richard Branson, and Mark Zuckerberg.&#160;</p>
<p>Finance for clean energy and for climate change adaptation is likely to be a major issue at the talks, as vulnerable nations in Africa, Southeast Asia, and elsewhere urge the United States and other major emitters to pony up more cash. At the last major climate summit in Copenhagen, countries agreed to raise $100 billion per year for a UN-administered climate adaptation fund. That goal is only about two-thirds met.</p>
<p /> | 1,652 |
<p>Is she slimming down to fit into a wedding dress?</p>
<p>Fergie has shed more than two stone in 12 weeks in a health and fitness drive in the Swiss Alps for an American TV show to be screened next year with personal trainer Josh Salzmann.</p>
<p>According to a report <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/lifestyle/dieting/success-stories/sarah-ferguson-weight-loss-duchess-2968341" type="external">in the Daily Mirror</a>, 54-year-old Fergie has been on a "strict diet of blended foods and intensive workouts, including daily running and mountain hikes", developed by Salzmann.At a charity lunch in Los Angeles Fergie told reporters, "I went up to the mountains, and I ran every day. That's how I got fit. I may have lost 30lbs, but I want to help combat global obesity. I want to really get into America and support young children who need to be educated about the future."</p> | Fergie's Latest Dramatic Weight Loss | true | https://thedailybeast.com/fergies-latest-dramatic-weight-loss | 2018-10-04 | 4left
| Fergie's Latest Dramatic Weight Loss
<p>Is she slimming down to fit into a wedding dress?</p>
<p>Fergie has shed more than two stone in 12 weeks in a health and fitness drive in the Swiss Alps for an American TV show to be screened next year with personal trainer Josh Salzmann.</p>
<p>According to a report <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/lifestyle/dieting/success-stories/sarah-ferguson-weight-loss-duchess-2968341" type="external">in the Daily Mirror</a>, 54-year-old Fergie has been on a "strict diet of blended foods and intensive workouts, including daily running and mountain hikes", developed by Salzmann.At a charity lunch in Los Angeles Fergie told reporters, "I went up to the mountains, and I ran every day. That's how I got fit. I may have lost 30lbs, but I want to help combat global obesity. I want to really get into America and support young children who need to be educated about the future."</p> | 1,653 |
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<p>DETROIT (AP) — The U.S. government has come up with window labels that show the gas mileage and pollution of used cars.</p>
<p>The Energy Department and the Environmental Protection Agency say the labels can be downloaded or viewed on the website www.fueleconomy.gov.</p>
<p>Labels are available for all vehicles sold in the U.S. since 1984. They show mileage and carbon dioxide emissions estimates.</p>
<p>The government says the stickers are valid for used cars because mileage changes little over a vehicle’s 15-year life if it’s maintained properly.</p>
<p>Used car sellers and dealers can post the stickers on car windows to advertise mileage. Buyers can search the site for the models they want to buy.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Feds offer gas mileage labels for used cars | false | https://abqjournal.com/261708/feds-offer-gas-mileage-labels-for-used-cars.html | 2013-09-12 | 2least
| Feds offer gas mileage labels for used cars
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>DETROIT (AP) — The U.S. government has come up with window labels that show the gas mileage and pollution of used cars.</p>
<p>The Energy Department and the Environmental Protection Agency say the labels can be downloaded or viewed on the website www.fueleconomy.gov.</p>
<p>Labels are available for all vehicles sold in the U.S. since 1984. They show mileage and carbon dioxide emissions estimates.</p>
<p>The government says the stickers are valid for used cars because mileage changes little over a vehicle’s 15-year life if it’s maintained properly.</p>
<p>Used car sellers and dealers can post the stickers on car windows to advertise mileage. Buyers can search the site for the models they want to buy.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | 1,654 |
<p>President Barack Obama will make a televised national address Tuesday night — and it won't be from the White House.</p>
<p>Obama will appear on TVs across the nation at 7:30 eastern, 6:30 central, in a speech sure to not only hail the beginning of a new relationship with Pakistan, but also to make note of the one-year anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden.</p>
<p>Obama flew to Afghanistan under cover of darkness for meetings with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. U.S troops are set to be out of the country by 2014, but an agreement Obama is expected to sign with Karzai will <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/01/us-afghanistan-obama-idUSBRE8401CJ20120501" type="external">bind the two nations together</a> in some ways for years beyond that. Among them, Afghanistan is expected to be designated a major non-NATO ally, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/01/us-afghanistan-obama-nato-idUSBRE8401DL20120501" type="external">according to Reuters</a>, the first such designation by the Obama administration and a key designation in terms of providing continued funding and military support of the Afghan government.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/02/world/asia/obama-lands-in-kabul-on-unannounced-visit.html?_r=1&amp;hp" type="external">According to the New York Times</a>, Obama's visit and speech as he battles for re-election will give the president a chance to make the case to the American people that he's followed through on his promise to wind down two unpopular wars, in Afghanistan and Iraq.</p>
<p>"The agreement with Kabul, completed after months of fraught negotiations, pledges American aid for Afghanistan for 10 years after the withdrawal of the last American soldiers. More symbolic than substantive, it nevertheless marks a transition for the United States, from the largest foreign military force in Afghanistan to a staunch, if faraway and complicated, ally," the Times wrote.</p>
<p>This will be Obama's first national address in nearly a year.</p>
<p>Obama is set to formally launch his re-election campaign later this week — though in reality he has campaigning for re-election for years, if not basically since his initial election.</p> | Obama set to address the nation from Afghanistan Tuesday night | false | https://pri.org/stories/2012-05-01/obama-set-address-nation-afghanistan-tuesday-night | 2012-05-01 | 3left-center
| Obama set to address the nation from Afghanistan Tuesday night
<p>President Barack Obama will make a televised national address Tuesday night — and it won't be from the White House.</p>
<p>Obama will appear on TVs across the nation at 7:30 eastern, 6:30 central, in a speech sure to not only hail the beginning of a new relationship with Pakistan, but also to make note of the one-year anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden.</p>
<p>Obama flew to Afghanistan under cover of darkness for meetings with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. U.S troops are set to be out of the country by 2014, but an agreement Obama is expected to sign with Karzai will <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/01/us-afghanistan-obama-idUSBRE8401CJ20120501" type="external">bind the two nations together</a> in some ways for years beyond that. Among them, Afghanistan is expected to be designated a major non-NATO ally, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/01/us-afghanistan-obama-nato-idUSBRE8401DL20120501" type="external">according to Reuters</a>, the first such designation by the Obama administration and a key designation in terms of providing continued funding and military support of the Afghan government.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/02/world/asia/obama-lands-in-kabul-on-unannounced-visit.html?_r=1&amp;hp" type="external">According to the New York Times</a>, Obama's visit and speech as he battles for re-election will give the president a chance to make the case to the American people that he's followed through on his promise to wind down two unpopular wars, in Afghanistan and Iraq.</p>
<p>"The agreement with Kabul, completed after months of fraught negotiations, pledges American aid for Afghanistan for 10 years after the withdrawal of the last American soldiers. More symbolic than substantive, it nevertheless marks a transition for the United States, from the largest foreign military force in Afghanistan to a staunch, if faraway and complicated, ally," the Times wrote.</p>
<p>This will be Obama's first national address in nearly a year.</p>
<p>Obama is set to formally launch his re-election campaign later this week — though in reality he has campaigning for re-election for years, if not basically since his initial election.</p> | 1,655 |
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<p />
<p />
<p>Read Mother Jones reporter Shane Bauer’s <a href="" type="internal">firsthand account</a> of his four months spent working as a guard at a corporate-run prison in Louisiana.&#160;</p>
<p>One of the best parts of my job at Mother Jones is teaming up with colleagues to shoot and produce video <a href="" type="internal">for our investigations</a>. In March 2015, I traveled to Louisiana to work with Shane Bauer, a reporter who was in <a href="" type="internal">his fourth month as a guard</a> at Winn Correctional Center, a medium-security private prison operated by the <a href="" type="internal">Corrections Corporation of America (CCA)</a>.</p>
<p>It was Friday the 13th, around 7:45 p.m. The night was warm and overcast when I set out to collect <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-roll" type="external">“B-roll”</a> of the prison, a 20-minute drive from Winnfield, the nearest town. Between the prison and the Kisatchie National Forest was a wide, unfenced field. I didn’t know it at the time, but it was prison property. I walked into this open field with a telephoto lens, intending to get a shot of Winn from about 1,000 feet away.</p>
<p />
<p>Then I stepped deep in mud. I used my iPhone flashlight to check out the muck. About two minutes later I saw searchlights coming from the direction of the prison. I walked back to my rental car parked on the side of the road. A powerful light swept the trees, emanating from a prison patrol vehicle that pulled up about 150 feet behind me. I called out “Hello? Hello?” and waited for an answer. When no one addressed me, I got into my car and drove away.</p>
<p>I wound my SUV back through the dark forest—and straight into several police cars and prison vehicles blocking the road outside Winn. I stepped out of the car and was surrounded by three sheriff’s deputies and five or six men dressed in black from head to toe. I saw their faces as they passed in and out of the light from their headlights and flashers. Shane had told me about them: They were members of the prison’s Special Operations Response Team (SORT), the tactical squad called in to restore order when things got out of hand.</p>
<p>I handed over my Australian driver’s license. In my panic, I told the cops I’d stopped to go to the bathroom beside the road. I quickly realized things were getting serious, and I told them I was a photographer working in the area.</p>
<p>Police body camera footage that I later obtained captured part of my arrest (and gloriously, for a videographer, from two angles). “What kind of pictures you got there?” asked the main arresting officer, Winn Parish deputy Kelly Fannin, a paunchy man with a white mustache.</p>
<p>“They’re my pictures,” I replied. I knew they probably couldn’t look at the images on my cameras or memory cards without a search warrant. I don’t remember acting this defiant at the time, but there it is, on video. Still, I wore a worried grin on my face and I sounded scared.</p>
<p>“Now, wait a minute. Let me explain something: What you took here don’t belong to you,” Fannin said, stabbing the air with his finger. “When you come here in this country, when you get around a prison, you don’t fuck around, okay?”</p>
<p>With my camera gear now strewn on the road by the SORT officers, my profession seemed obvious. But the cops and guards were amped up like I was a big catch. I heard them talking repeatedly about the threat of ISIS and the possibility that I was an actual terrorist. “An Australian with a Texas license plate in Louisiana runs some red flags,” Winn Parish Sheriff Cranford Jordan <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2015/03/18/media/mother-jones-journalist-arrested/" type="external">later joked to CNNMoney</a>.</p>
<p>Fannin demanded my camera’s memory card. His temper was rising: “Let’s have it.”</p>
<p>“No, sir, I’m not going to show you that,” I said.</p>
<p>“I will take everything you’ve got!” he said.</p>
<p>I reached down to grab my camera from the pile of gear, setting off a bout of tussling and yelling. “Whoa, come here!” Fannin grabbed my arm in a stiff grip.</p>
<p>“You can’t take my camera,” I protested. “I know that.” The cops said they would get a search warrant. But, Fannin warned, “If you don’t want to give it to me, I will take it. It’s just that simple.”</p>
<p>“Do you want me to charge you for going on that property?” he continued. “And put you in jail tonight and show you what a jail is?”</p>
<p>“I mean, no sir, I do not want that,” I replied.</p>
<p>Going through my gear, the officers pulled out an aerial drone I’d brought along—a discovery that ratcheted up the tension even more. Never mind that it was broken and I was planning to return it to Amazon.</p>
<p>Deputy Tommy Chandler told me to “go ahead and turn and put your hands behind your back.”</p>
<p>“I’m cooperating,” I said.</p>
<p>“No, you ain’t,” he shot back.</p>
<p>After a Miranda warning, I was put in the back seat of a patrol car next to a police dog in a cage. The door slammed.</p>
<p>The deputies’ body cameras continued to roll after I was taken into custody. “We’ll just book him for trespassing,” one said. “I know what it was: He was out here looking for kangaroos!”</p>
<p>“Apparently they’ve got different laws over there in New South Wales, Australia,” an officer can be heard saying. “Welcome to the Free State of Winn!”</p>
<p>The footage also shows one of the prison’s SORT members scrolling through the contents of my camera, without a warrant, while the deputies looked on. The Winn Parish sheriff later said he was “not aware” of anyone searching my belongings; his office declined to comment further for this article. CCA’s spokesman said that the company was “not aware of the camera footage or what it contains.” Yet months later, Winn’s former assistant chief of security emailed Shane what looked like a photo of a screen showing an image of him. The image’s geolocation data suggested it had been created on the premises of the sheriff’s office. There’s only one place the original image of Shane could have come from: my memory card, which contained a video of him that I’d made shortly before my arrest.</p>
<p>I arrived at the Winnfield jail sometime around 10pm. I was charged with simple criminal trespass, a misdemeanor. (In Louisiana you can be charged with trespassing even if you didn’t know that you were on private land.) The computer system couldn’t compute the address on my Australian drivers’ license, which gave one guy plenty of time to brag about how he once made it with an Aussie girl with hairy armpits.</p>
<p />
<p>“Are kangaroos good for hunting?” the old jailer asked me. “Perhaps we’ll all have to go there when Hillary Clinton becomes president.” After I was made to strip and show my asshole (just to make sure I wasn’t carrying any contraband), I was put in handcuffs and leg shackles and made to wait in a small office surrounded by three or four guards.</p>
<p>I mostly observed my right to remain silent. But I also wanted to be a good cultural ambassador, so I told them kangaroos are eaten for meat and sometimes are regarded <a href="http://www.outsideonline.com/2037071/overrood-behind-scenes-australias-surprising-kangaroo-conflict" type="external">as pests that need to be shot</a>. They seemed to like that.</p>
<p>Maybe it was the stress, or the adrenaline, or the accents, but I understood only every fourth or fifth word the cops and prison orderlies were saying to me. The bewilderment was mutual. I do know that I was threatened with an FBI investigation, immigration detention, and deportation. I asked to speak to a lawyer, but that never happened. I was allowed to call my editor, who started working like hell to get me out.</p>
<p>A couple of hours later, around midnight, my mugshot was snapped and my fingerprints were taken. My arrest records indicate that CCA said that night that it wanted trespassing charges filed against me. The jailer finally led me to a small cell separated from rest of the prisoners. The sheriff had told me earlier that, “They’d whoop you bad.” A 23-year-old named Alex was put in there with me, but he was too out of it to really talk, apart from telling me everything was gonna be okay. My standard-issue orange jumpsuit swam on me. “I wish I could keep it and wear it out in Brooklyn,” I thought.</p>
<p>The next morning, I felt grateful to be protected by prison bars. “Hey girl, hey girl,” someone shouted from the next cell. “You ever slept with a man? Do you want to?” It wasn’t an invitation; it was a threat.</p>
<p>This went on sporadically for hours. “No one’s letting us rape that girl’s hole.” I was scared I might do something to really out myself—I’m gay. I was hoping that just as being an Aussie threw a curve ball at the cops’ ability to identify a real terrorist, it also might scramble their gaydar.</p>
<p>Sheriff Jordan, a big man with a comb-over who liked to make jokes, came by to tell me the judge had denied me bail. It was Saturday, which meant it would be two days before I could get a hearing. Worse, it meant two nights of threats and snoring and unpredictable meals and gawking. I asked if I could call my parents. “Tell them we didn’t shoot you at dawn,” Jordan said.</p>
<p>I tried to start reading the the third volume of Game of Thrones, taken from the jail bookshelf. I wrote a letter. A prisoner sang a <a href="http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/edsheeran/thinkingoutloud.html" type="external">top 40 tune</a>, but in a slow, sad baritone—”So baby now, take me into your loving arms, kiss me under the light of a thousand stars…” The prisoners and guards all began to call me “Australia.”</p>
<p>I started to resign myself to several days in this shithole, even though Jordan told me Mother Jones‘ lawyer had been “hollering” down the phone line, a fact that made him displeased.</p>
<p>Then suddenly, at about 4:30 p.m., I was shackled again and taken to be interrogated by two state police officers, a local deputy, and—you’ve got to be kidding me—a Homeland Security agent. These new guys already knew everything about me, and seemed bored that I was just a journalist. “Write all the exposés about CCA you like,” one told me. After about 45 minutes, I shuffled from the room with promises that the judge would soon set bond.</p>
<p>About five hours later, I heard that I’d made bail—for $10,000. “How cool are drones! I really want one!” said an officer, a professed camera buff, as he took stock of my equipment and processed me out of the jail. “Send me a copy of the article when it’s done.”</p>
<p>The old jailer came down to say good-bye. “I’m so sorry you had to see that,” he said. “Some of these places I wouldn’t put my dog in.” I thought about my cellmate Alex and wondered about the people who would never see the outside of Louisiana’s criminal justice system. I felt good to be walking free, unscathed.</p>
<p>Everyone shook my hand as I left to meet the bail bondsman, who turned out to be the son of the local lawyer hired to kick-start my defense, the fabulously named Bobby Culpepper. (Culpepper <a href="http://www.thenewsstar.com/story/news/local/2015/08/17/jonesboro-attorney-bobby-culpepper-dies/31853081/" type="external">died suddenly several months later at age 74</a>. My case was eventually concluded by a criminal defense lawyer named <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/01/marty-stroud-prosecutor_n_6988752.html" type="external">Marty Stroud</a>.) The bondsman drove me to a gas station at the edge of Winnfield where Shane and his wife Sarah were waiting for me, tired yet relieved. We embraced, then we got the hell out of there.</p>
<p>News of my arrest broke not long after we left town, first in the local paper (the Winn Parish Enterprise <a href="https://www.facebook.com/WinnParishEnterprise/posts/830548233685282" type="external">called me</a> a “renowned international journalist,” which I will treasure forever), then in CNNMoney, the Washington Post, and Gawker. I didn’t comment publicly, but the police account of was over-dramatized: The sheriff claimed I’d run from my vehicle toward the prison’s fence, which never happened. “You don’t go to a prison at night. You don’t violate the law when you’re doing a story,” <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2015/03/18/media/mother-jones-journalist-arrested/" type="external">Sheriff Jordan told</a> <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2015/03/18/media/mother-jones-journalist-arrested/" type="external">CNN</a>Money. CCA issued a statement about Shane and me. It said that trespassing “is a security threat that we take very seriously” and noted that a drone “could be used to transport contraband or provide detailed imagery in a way that could create a security risk.”</p>
<p>Seven months later, I entered a no contest plea on a criminal trespass charge and paid a $500 fine. The alternative was to face down a maximum sentence of 30 days in prison and a trial that could have potentially compromised our investigation. The court then dismissed the conviction under a state law that allowed me to have my criminal record expunged.</p>
<p>I recall one prisoner yelling out to me during my night in orange: “You’re gonna get Winnfield on the news.”</p>
<p>We did. I’m really proud of our work.</p>
<p /> | How I Got Arrested While Reporting on a Private Prison | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2016/06/james-west-journalist-arrest-winn-cca-prison/ | 2016-06-23 | 4left
| How I Got Arrested While Reporting on a Private Prison
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>Read Mother Jones reporter Shane Bauer’s <a href="" type="internal">firsthand account</a> of his four months spent working as a guard at a corporate-run prison in Louisiana.&#160;</p>
<p>One of the best parts of my job at Mother Jones is teaming up with colleagues to shoot and produce video <a href="" type="internal">for our investigations</a>. In March 2015, I traveled to Louisiana to work with Shane Bauer, a reporter who was in <a href="" type="internal">his fourth month as a guard</a> at Winn Correctional Center, a medium-security private prison operated by the <a href="" type="internal">Corrections Corporation of America (CCA)</a>.</p>
<p>It was Friday the 13th, around 7:45 p.m. The night was warm and overcast when I set out to collect <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-roll" type="external">“B-roll”</a> of the prison, a 20-minute drive from Winnfield, the nearest town. Between the prison and the Kisatchie National Forest was a wide, unfenced field. I didn’t know it at the time, but it was prison property. I walked into this open field with a telephoto lens, intending to get a shot of Winn from about 1,000 feet away.</p>
<p />
<p>Then I stepped deep in mud. I used my iPhone flashlight to check out the muck. About two minutes later I saw searchlights coming from the direction of the prison. I walked back to my rental car parked on the side of the road. A powerful light swept the trees, emanating from a prison patrol vehicle that pulled up about 150 feet behind me. I called out “Hello? Hello?” and waited for an answer. When no one addressed me, I got into my car and drove away.</p>
<p>I wound my SUV back through the dark forest—and straight into several police cars and prison vehicles blocking the road outside Winn. I stepped out of the car and was surrounded by three sheriff’s deputies and five or six men dressed in black from head to toe. I saw their faces as they passed in and out of the light from their headlights and flashers. Shane had told me about them: They were members of the prison’s Special Operations Response Team (SORT), the tactical squad called in to restore order when things got out of hand.</p>
<p>I handed over my Australian driver’s license. In my panic, I told the cops I’d stopped to go to the bathroom beside the road. I quickly realized things were getting serious, and I told them I was a photographer working in the area.</p>
<p>Police body camera footage that I later obtained captured part of my arrest (and gloriously, for a videographer, from two angles). “What kind of pictures you got there?” asked the main arresting officer, Winn Parish deputy Kelly Fannin, a paunchy man with a white mustache.</p>
<p>“They’re my pictures,” I replied. I knew they probably couldn’t look at the images on my cameras or memory cards without a search warrant. I don’t remember acting this defiant at the time, but there it is, on video. Still, I wore a worried grin on my face and I sounded scared.</p>
<p>“Now, wait a minute. Let me explain something: What you took here don’t belong to you,” Fannin said, stabbing the air with his finger. “When you come here in this country, when you get around a prison, you don’t fuck around, okay?”</p>
<p>With my camera gear now strewn on the road by the SORT officers, my profession seemed obvious. But the cops and guards were amped up like I was a big catch. I heard them talking repeatedly about the threat of ISIS and the possibility that I was an actual terrorist. “An Australian with a Texas license plate in Louisiana runs some red flags,” Winn Parish Sheriff Cranford Jordan <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2015/03/18/media/mother-jones-journalist-arrested/" type="external">later joked to CNNMoney</a>.</p>
<p>Fannin demanded my camera’s memory card. His temper was rising: “Let’s have it.”</p>
<p>“No, sir, I’m not going to show you that,” I said.</p>
<p>“I will take everything you’ve got!” he said.</p>
<p>I reached down to grab my camera from the pile of gear, setting off a bout of tussling and yelling. “Whoa, come here!” Fannin grabbed my arm in a stiff grip.</p>
<p>“You can’t take my camera,” I protested. “I know that.” The cops said they would get a search warrant. But, Fannin warned, “If you don’t want to give it to me, I will take it. It’s just that simple.”</p>
<p>“Do you want me to charge you for going on that property?” he continued. “And put you in jail tonight and show you what a jail is?”</p>
<p>“I mean, no sir, I do not want that,” I replied.</p>
<p>Going through my gear, the officers pulled out an aerial drone I’d brought along—a discovery that ratcheted up the tension even more. Never mind that it was broken and I was planning to return it to Amazon.</p>
<p>Deputy Tommy Chandler told me to “go ahead and turn and put your hands behind your back.”</p>
<p>“I’m cooperating,” I said.</p>
<p>“No, you ain’t,” he shot back.</p>
<p>After a Miranda warning, I was put in the back seat of a patrol car next to a police dog in a cage. The door slammed.</p>
<p>The deputies’ body cameras continued to roll after I was taken into custody. “We’ll just book him for trespassing,” one said. “I know what it was: He was out here looking for kangaroos!”</p>
<p>“Apparently they’ve got different laws over there in New South Wales, Australia,” an officer can be heard saying. “Welcome to the Free State of Winn!”</p>
<p>The footage also shows one of the prison’s SORT members scrolling through the contents of my camera, without a warrant, while the deputies looked on. The Winn Parish sheriff later said he was “not aware” of anyone searching my belongings; his office declined to comment further for this article. CCA’s spokesman said that the company was “not aware of the camera footage or what it contains.” Yet months later, Winn’s former assistant chief of security emailed Shane what looked like a photo of a screen showing an image of him. The image’s geolocation data suggested it had been created on the premises of the sheriff’s office. There’s only one place the original image of Shane could have come from: my memory card, which contained a video of him that I’d made shortly before my arrest.</p>
<p>I arrived at the Winnfield jail sometime around 10pm. I was charged with simple criminal trespass, a misdemeanor. (In Louisiana you can be charged with trespassing even if you didn’t know that you were on private land.) The computer system couldn’t compute the address on my Australian drivers’ license, which gave one guy plenty of time to brag about how he once made it with an Aussie girl with hairy armpits.</p>
<p />
<p>“Are kangaroos good for hunting?” the old jailer asked me. “Perhaps we’ll all have to go there when Hillary Clinton becomes president.” After I was made to strip and show my asshole (just to make sure I wasn’t carrying any contraband), I was put in handcuffs and leg shackles and made to wait in a small office surrounded by three or four guards.</p>
<p>I mostly observed my right to remain silent. But I also wanted to be a good cultural ambassador, so I told them kangaroos are eaten for meat and sometimes are regarded <a href="http://www.outsideonline.com/2037071/overrood-behind-scenes-australias-surprising-kangaroo-conflict" type="external">as pests that need to be shot</a>. They seemed to like that.</p>
<p>Maybe it was the stress, or the adrenaline, or the accents, but I understood only every fourth or fifth word the cops and prison orderlies were saying to me. The bewilderment was mutual. I do know that I was threatened with an FBI investigation, immigration detention, and deportation. I asked to speak to a lawyer, but that never happened. I was allowed to call my editor, who started working like hell to get me out.</p>
<p>A couple of hours later, around midnight, my mugshot was snapped and my fingerprints were taken. My arrest records indicate that CCA said that night that it wanted trespassing charges filed against me. The jailer finally led me to a small cell separated from rest of the prisoners. The sheriff had told me earlier that, “They’d whoop you bad.” A 23-year-old named Alex was put in there with me, but he was too out of it to really talk, apart from telling me everything was gonna be okay. My standard-issue orange jumpsuit swam on me. “I wish I could keep it and wear it out in Brooklyn,” I thought.</p>
<p>The next morning, I felt grateful to be protected by prison bars. “Hey girl, hey girl,” someone shouted from the next cell. “You ever slept with a man? Do you want to?” It wasn’t an invitation; it was a threat.</p>
<p>This went on sporadically for hours. “No one’s letting us rape that girl’s hole.” I was scared I might do something to really out myself—I’m gay. I was hoping that just as being an Aussie threw a curve ball at the cops’ ability to identify a real terrorist, it also might scramble their gaydar.</p>
<p>Sheriff Jordan, a big man with a comb-over who liked to make jokes, came by to tell me the judge had denied me bail. It was Saturday, which meant it would be two days before I could get a hearing. Worse, it meant two nights of threats and snoring and unpredictable meals and gawking. I asked if I could call my parents. “Tell them we didn’t shoot you at dawn,” Jordan said.</p>
<p>I tried to start reading the the third volume of Game of Thrones, taken from the jail bookshelf. I wrote a letter. A prisoner sang a <a href="http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/edsheeran/thinkingoutloud.html" type="external">top 40 tune</a>, but in a slow, sad baritone—”So baby now, take me into your loving arms, kiss me under the light of a thousand stars…” The prisoners and guards all began to call me “Australia.”</p>
<p>I started to resign myself to several days in this shithole, even though Jordan told me Mother Jones‘ lawyer had been “hollering” down the phone line, a fact that made him displeased.</p>
<p>Then suddenly, at about 4:30 p.m., I was shackled again and taken to be interrogated by two state police officers, a local deputy, and—you’ve got to be kidding me—a Homeland Security agent. These new guys already knew everything about me, and seemed bored that I was just a journalist. “Write all the exposés about CCA you like,” one told me. After about 45 minutes, I shuffled from the room with promises that the judge would soon set bond.</p>
<p>About five hours later, I heard that I’d made bail—for $10,000. “How cool are drones! I really want one!” said an officer, a professed camera buff, as he took stock of my equipment and processed me out of the jail. “Send me a copy of the article when it’s done.”</p>
<p>The old jailer came down to say good-bye. “I’m so sorry you had to see that,” he said. “Some of these places I wouldn’t put my dog in.” I thought about my cellmate Alex and wondered about the people who would never see the outside of Louisiana’s criminal justice system. I felt good to be walking free, unscathed.</p>
<p>Everyone shook my hand as I left to meet the bail bondsman, who turned out to be the son of the local lawyer hired to kick-start my defense, the fabulously named Bobby Culpepper. (Culpepper <a href="http://www.thenewsstar.com/story/news/local/2015/08/17/jonesboro-attorney-bobby-culpepper-dies/31853081/" type="external">died suddenly several months later at age 74</a>. My case was eventually concluded by a criminal defense lawyer named <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/01/marty-stroud-prosecutor_n_6988752.html" type="external">Marty Stroud</a>.) The bondsman drove me to a gas station at the edge of Winnfield where Shane and his wife Sarah were waiting for me, tired yet relieved. We embraced, then we got the hell out of there.</p>
<p>News of my arrest broke not long after we left town, first in the local paper (the Winn Parish Enterprise <a href="https://www.facebook.com/WinnParishEnterprise/posts/830548233685282" type="external">called me</a> a “renowned international journalist,” which I will treasure forever), then in CNNMoney, the Washington Post, and Gawker. I didn’t comment publicly, but the police account of was over-dramatized: The sheriff claimed I’d run from my vehicle toward the prison’s fence, which never happened. “You don’t go to a prison at night. You don’t violate the law when you’re doing a story,” <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2015/03/18/media/mother-jones-journalist-arrested/" type="external">Sheriff Jordan told</a> <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2015/03/18/media/mother-jones-journalist-arrested/" type="external">CNN</a>Money. CCA issued a statement about Shane and me. It said that trespassing “is a security threat that we take very seriously” and noted that a drone “could be used to transport contraband or provide detailed imagery in a way that could create a security risk.”</p>
<p>Seven months later, I entered a no contest plea on a criminal trespass charge and paid a $500 fine. The alternative was to face down a maximum sentence of 30 days in prison and a trial that could have potentially compromised our investigation. The court then dismissed the conviction under a state law that allowed me to have my criminal record expunged.</p>
<p>I recall one prisoner yelling out to me during my night in orange: “You’re gonna get Winnfield on the news.”</p>
<p>We did. I’m really proud of our work.</p>
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<p>Isleta Casino employees Vanessa Chavez, left, Joseph Jojola, center, and Joe Lynam, right, pack boxes containing roughly $20,000 worth of supplies to help homeless students in Albuquerque Public Schools on Tuesday. Adolphe Pierre-Louis/JOURNAL</p>
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Thousands of local students who are struggling with homelessness or housing insecurity will receive free school supplies, clothing and toiletries thanks to a donation from Isleta Resort and Casino.</p>
<p>On Tuesday, the company provided roughly $20,000 worth of items to Albuquerque Public Schools’ Homeless Project, which is part of the federal Title 1 program for low-income children.</p>
<p>“There is such a need,” said Jaci Marx, Isleta Resort and Casino director of marketing. “How these parents survive trying to get everything their kids need – I don’t know how they could.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>During the 2016-17 school year, APS identified nearly 3,700 students in unstable housing situations. Some are living in cars or homeless shelters; others are facing eviction or bouncing between friends’ homes.</p>
<p>Patrick Scott, APS Title 1 Homeless Liaison, said these kids can end up without necessities, such as clean clothes, shampoo, soap, backpacks, pencils and paper.</p>
<p>“They may not have the things they need to feel healthy and secure, and feel like they can go to school and be pretty much like their peers,” Scott said.</p>
<p>Isleta Resort and Casino’s donation will help the district provide more support for homeless families, Scott said.</p>
<p>The items will be stocked in the APS storeroom, where resource teachers and outreach workers can distribute them based on need.</p>
<p>Over the past few years, the number of homeless children in the district has been relatively stable. APS as a whole has many low-income families – roughly 70 percent of the student body is eligible for free or reduced price lunch.</p>
<p>Marx said the resort is happy to help the district and hopes to make the donation an annual event.</p>
<p>The support goes a long way, Scott said.</p>
<p>“We couldn’t do this without the community,” he said. “Our goal is to make school a safe, stable place. We know that education is the key to moving out of homelessness.”</p>
<p />
<p /> | ‘There is such a need’ | false | https://abqjournal.com/1092702/isleta-casino-donates-items-for-aps-homeless-students.html | 2017-11-14 | 2least
| ‘There is such a need’
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<p>Isleta Casino employees Vanessa Chavez, left, Joseph Jojola, center, and Joe Lynam, right, pack boxes containing roughly $20,000 worth of supplies to help homeless students in Albuquerque Public Schools on Tuesday. Adolphe Pierre-Louis/JOURNAL</p>
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Thousands of local students who are struggling with homelessness or housing insecurity will receive free school supplies, clothing and toiletries thanks to a donation from Isleta Resort and Casino.</p>
<p>On Tuesday, the company provided roughly $20,000 worth of items to Albuquerque Public Schools’ Homeless Project, which is part of the federal Title 1 program for low-income children.</p>
<p>“There is such a need,” said Jaci Marx, Isleta Resort and Casino director of marketing. “How these parents survive trying to get everything their kids need – I don’t know how they could.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>During the 2016-17 school year, APS identified nearly 3,700 students in unstable housing situations. Some are living in cars or homeless shelters; others are facing eviction or bouncing between friends’ homes.</p>
<p>Patrick Scott, APS Title 1 Homeless Liaison, said these kids can end up without necessities, such as clean clothes, shampoo, soap, backpacks, pencils and paper.</p>
<p>“They may not have the things they need to feel healthy and secure, and feel like they can go to school and be pretty much like their peers,” Scott said.</p>
<p>Isleta Resort and Casino’s donation will help the district provide more support for homeless families, Scott said.</p>
<p>The items will be stocked in the APS storeroom, where resource teachers and outreach workers can distribute them based on need.</p>
<p>Over the past few years, the number of homeless children in the district has been relatively stable. APS as a whole has many low-income families – roughly 70 percent of the student body is eligible for free or reduced price lunch.</p>
<p>Marx said the resort is happy to help the district and hopes to make the donation an annual event.</p>
<p>The support goes a long way, Scott said.</p>
<p>“We couldn’t do this without the community,” he said. “Our goal is to make school a safe, stable place. We know that education is the key to moving out of homelessness.”</p>
<p />
<p /> | 1,657 |
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<p />
<p>With apologies to presidents Reagan and George W. Bush, Trump may be assembling the most unabashedly pro-drilling Cabinet in American history. Trump’s picks for the Energy and State Departments are a former governor of a state that enjoyed an oil boom under his watch, and the chief executive of the world’s largest publicly traded oil and gas company, respectively. They’re drilling fans, who would likely reinforce the instincts of a president who has promised to open vast swaths of America’s lands and waters to more oil and gas exploration.</p>
<p>A portion of Trump’s promise to speed economic growth and create 25 million new jobs rests on his commitment to leasing more federal lands and offshore areas for drilling. In the campaign, Trump’s advisers estimated that such an expansion would generate nearly $100 billion a year in additional economic growth over the next decade. The source for their projections was a study by a Louisiana State University economist, Joseph Mason, published by the Institute for Energy Research, a group that champions pro-fossil-fuel policies.</p>
<p>Here’s where the laws of supply, demand and politics kick in – and get a little weird. Mason’s study forecasts the amount of drilling and job creation that would occur with the global oil price at $100 a barrel. As he explained in an email earlier this year, that was based on the International Energy Association’s “forecasts at the time of the study.” But oil prices today are substantially lower – just north of $50 a barrel – and the IEA’s most recent forecast sees prices around $80 a barrel come 2020.</p>
<p>The higher the price, the more drilling activity you’re likely to see in the United States. A collapse in prices led the oil and gas sector to shed nearly 30,000 jobs over the last two years. Those jobs paid relatively well, especially for workers without college degrees, a key support group for Trump in the election. If Trump wants to bring those jobs back and then some – and Mason’s study suggests the short-term gain could be a half-million jobs – then he needs oil prices to rise.</p>
<p>“There’s been a lot of rhetoric from Trump about ramping up U.S. oil and gas production, but I think there are relatively few regulatory steps they can take to achieve that,” said Jason Bordoff, a former energy adviser to President Obama who is the founding director of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. “You can open a lot of new areas, and you can scrap a lot of environmental rules, and on the margin that might slightly reduce the cost of drilling a new well. But that has a negligible impact compared to the swings of the global oil market.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The problem compounds if foreign countries approve new drilling projects that would increase global supply, as proposed Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson has pushed for as the head of Exxon-Mobil. Such projects would push down global prices, unless they’re offset by rising oil demand.</p>
<p>Higher prices could reduce global oil demand, and with it, the carbon emissions that drive climate change. But they would bring other economic and political downsides for Trump. Research has found a link between lower oil prices and higher presidential approval ratings. The relatively low gasoline prices recently have spurred some increased consumer spending on other goods and services.</p>
<p>“The low oil prices of the last several years have had a significant positive impact on the economy,” said Joshua Freed, vice president for clean energy at the centrist Democratic think tank Third Way, “but not necessarily the oil and gas industry.”</p>
<p>None of this is Trump’s doing; he will assume the presidency at a time when the hydraulic fracturing boom has made the United States a much larger player in the global oil market. Higher oil prices are still on balance bad for American consumers, but as Bordoff puts it, that’s less true than it used to be. Especially for an administration so invested in drilling as a job-creation strategy.</p>
<p>trump-oil</p> | Donald Trump has an oil price problem | false | https://abqjournal.com/908137/donald-trump-has-an-oil-price-problem.html | 2least
| Donald Trump has an oil price problem
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<p />
<p>With apologies to presidents Reagan and George W. Bush, Trump may be assembling the most unabashedly pro-drilling Cabinet in American history. Trump’s picks for the Energy and State Departments are a former governor of a state that enjoyed an oil boom under his watch, and the chief executive of the world’s largest publicly traded oil and gas company, respectively. They’re drilling fans, who would likely reinforce the instincts of a president who has promised to open vast swaths of America’s lands and waters to more oil and gas exploration.</p>
<p>A portion of Trump’s promise to speed economic growth and create 25 million new jobs rests on his commitment to leasing more federal lands and offshore areas for drilling. In the campaign, Trump’s advisers estimated that such an expansion would generate nearly $100 billion a year in additional economic growth over the next decade. The source for their projections was a study by a Louisiana State University economist, Joseph Mason, published by the Institute for Energy Research, a group that champions pro-fossil-fuel policies.</p>
<p>Here’s where the laws of supply, demand and politics kick in – and get a little weird. Mason’s study forecasts the amount of drilling and job creation that would occur with the global oil price at $100 a barrel. As he explained in an email earlier this year, that was based on the International Energy Association’s “forecasts at the time of the study.” But oil prices today are substantially lower – just north of $50 a barrel – and the IEA’s most recent forecast sees prices around $80 a barrel come 2020.</p>
<p>The higher the price, the more drilling activity you’re likely to see in the United States. A collapse in prices led the oil and gas sector to shed nearly 30,000 jobs over the last two years. Those jobs paid relatively well, especially for workers without college degrees, a key support group for Trump in the election. If Trump wants to bring those jobs back and then some – and Mason’s study suggests the short-term gain could be a half-million jobs – then he needs oil prices to rise.</p>
<p>“There’s been a lot of rhetoric from Trump about ramping up U.S. oil and gas production, but I think there are relatively few regulatory steps they can take to achieve that,” said Jason Bordoff, a former energy adviser to President Obama who is the founding director of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. “You can open a lot of new areas, and you can scrap a lot of environmental rules, and on the margin that might slightly reduce the cost of drilling a new well. But that has a negligible impact compared to the swings of the global oil market.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The problem compounds if foreign countries approve new drilling projects that would increase global supply, as proposed Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson has pushed for as the head of Exxon-Mobil. Such projects would push down global prices, unless they’re offset by rising oil demand.</p>
<p>Higher prices could reduce global oil demand, and with it, the carbon emissions that drive climate change. But they would bring other economic and political downsides for Trump. Research has found a link between lower oil prices and higher presidential approval ratings. The relatively low gasoline prices recently have spurred some increased consumer spending on other goods and services.</p>
<p>“The low oil prices of the last several years have had a significant positive impact on the economy,” said Joshua Freed, vice president for clean energy at the centrist Democratic think tank Third Way, “but not necessarily the oil and gas industry.”</p>
<p>None of this is Trump’s doing; he will assume the presidency at a time when the hydraulic fracturing boom has made the United States a much larger player in the global oil market. Higher oil prices are still on balance bad for American consumers, but as Bordoff puts it, that’s less true than it used to be. Especially for an administration so invested in drilling as a job-creation strategy.</p>
<p>trump-oil</p> | 1,658 |
|
<p>U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions championed a tough-on-crime stance during a speech Wednesday in Las Vegas in which he called for harsher prosecution of criminals and cooperation from local authorities as the federal government cracks down on illegal immigration.</p>
<p>Sessions’ visit follows clashes earlier this year between the Justice Department and local law enforcement agencies, after Clark County was included on a list of so-called sanctuary cities — areas the Trump administration has said will lose federal grant funding for limiting the extent to which local police play a role in enforcing federal immigration policies.</p>
<p>The Justice Department previously signaled it may be willing to reconsider the sanctuary designation for Clark County, and Sessions confirmed that position Wednesday when he said the status was under review following a meeting he had Tuesday with Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo.</p>
<p>Sessions praised Clark County for its participation in a federal program in which police officers act as immigration agents by identifying jail detainees who are in the country unlawfully, and he highlighted federal authorities’ March arrests of 61 foreign nationals in Nevada — 55 of whom had criminal histories. Eighteen of those criminal histories are for DUI offenses, 12 are violent crime convictions, and the rest are convictions for other crimes.</p>
<p>“Removing criminals like these from our streets makes Nevada safer. It would make Los Angeles and San Francisco safer if they were to do it,” Sessions said, in a jab at cities that have battled the Trump administration on the issue of immigration enforcement.</p>
<p>Audience of officers</p>
<p>Sessions gave his morning remarks to dozens of uniformed police officers, who gathered at the downtown office of Acting U.S. Attorney Steven Myhre to listen to the top law enforcement officer in America.</p>
<p>“Local police are not the problem,” Sessions told the members of law enforcement who sat before him. “I know that you want to help. The problem is that politicians have forbidden you to help.”</p>
<p>The attorney general blasted cities the Justice Department identified as “non-cooperative jurisdictions” after President Donald Trump signed an executive order to strip funding from areas that limit local cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security. He mentioned by name cities where, unlike Clark County, local officials fought against the administration’s immigration policies rather than attempting to prove compliance.</p>
<p>“When cities like Philadelphia, Boston or San Francisco advertise that they have these policies, the criminals take notice,” Sessions said. “These jurisdictions are protecting criminals that under the law should be deported.”</p>
<p>In his speech, Sessions mentioned the 2015 death of 32-year-old Kate Steinle, who was shot in San Francisco by an undocumented immigrant. The shooter, who had seven felony convictions, had been deported but later returned to the U.S.</p>
<p>“If we have a wall, it’s not going to be so easy to get back in,” Sessions said, referencing the proposed border wall that was a cornerstone of Trump’s campaign platform.</p>
<p>He called on the U.S. Senate to pass immigration legislation from the U.S. House of Representatives that would codify Trump’s executive order on sanctuary cities and allow victims of crimes by undocumented immigrants to sue those cities.</p>
<p>Sessions also noted that the Justice Department is ramping up its own immigration enforcement efforts, and said he directed federal prosecutors across the country to appoint a border security coordinator in each U.S. attorney’s office.</p>
<p>The attorney general pivoted to the immigration issue after spending several minutes focusing more broadly on the issue of violent crime. He declared that a “disproportionate amount of crime is created by a very small group of criminals,” and said that most of those people should be incarcerated. Harsher punishment and longer prison sentences, Sessions said, would deter future crime.</p>
<p>“It sends a message to young people who may be thinking this is a glamorous lifestyle, but when they see somebody they thought they admired get 20 years in the federal slammer or the state slammer, then it maybe takes the bloom off that rose and they don’t look like they’re so smart,” Sessions said. “Maybe they’ll choose a better lifestyle than the criminal lifestyle.”</p>
<p>Reaction to visit</p>
<p>Immigration reform groups held protests Wednesday outside the Federal Justice Tower where Sessions gave his remarks.</p>
<p>“I worry that some of the steps that Jeff Sessions, supported by (Nevada Attorney General) Adam Laxalt, are taking will lead to Trump’s federal agents just marching into Nevada, violating the Constitution, and just arresting anybody they presume to be foreign-born,” said Laura Martin, a protester who works for the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada.</p>
<p />
<p>Deputy Chief Richard Suey, who oversees the Metropolitan Police Department’s participation in the federal 287(g) program that fosters a partnership between state law enforcement and federal immigration authorities, said “people are believing that Metro is just letting people go after murdering somebody, and the Department of Justice is unfortunately making it seem that way.”</p>
<p>But Suey said he was encouraged by Sessions’ statement that the Justice Department is reviewing the sanctuary city status.</p>
<p>“It brings me hope,” he said. “We’ve been in full compliance.</p>
<p>Contact Jenny Wilson at [email protected] and 702-384-8710. Follow <a href="http://www.twitter.com/jennydwilson" type="external">@jennydwilson</a> on Twitter. Review-Journal staff writer Wesley Juhl contributed to this story.</p> | AG Sessions discusses immigration law enforcement in Las Vegas | false | https://reviewjournal.com/news/politics-and-government/ag-sessions-discusses-immigration-law-enforcement-in-las-vegas/ | 2017-07-12 | 1right-center
| AG Sessions discusses immigration law enforcement in Las Vegas
<p>U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions championed a tough-on-crime stance during a speech Wednesday in Las Vegas in which he called for harsher prosecution of criminals and cooperation from local authorities as the federal government cracks down on illegal immigration.</p>
<p>Sessions’ visit follows clashes earlier this year between the Justice Department and local law enforcement agencies, after Clark County was included on a list of so-called sanctuary cities — areas the Trump administration has said will lose federal grant funding for limiting the extent to which local police play a role in enforcing federal immigration policies.</p>
<p>The Justice Department previously signaled it may be willing to reconsider the sanctuary designation for Clark County, and Sessions confirmed that position Wednesday when he said the status was under review following a meeting he had Tuesday with Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo.</p>
<p>Sessions praised Clark County for its participation in a federal program in which police officers act as immigration agents by identifying jail detainees who are in the country unlawfully, and he highlighted federal authorities’ March arrests of 61 foreign nationals in Nevada — 55 of whom had criminal histories. Eighteen of those criminal histories are for DUI offenses, 12 are violent crime convictions, and the rest are convictions for other crimes.</p>
<p>“Removing criminals like these from our streets makes Nevada safer. It would make Los Angeles and San Francisco safer if they were to do it,” Sessions said, in a jab at cities that have battled the Trump administration on the issue of immigration enforcement.</p>
<p>Audience of officers</p>
<p>Sessions gave his morning remarks to dozens of uniformed police officers, who gathered at the downtown office of Acting U.S. Attorney Steven Myhre to listen to the top law enforcement officer in America.</p>
<p>“Local police are not the problem,” Sessions told the members of law enforcement who sat before him. “I know that you want to help. The problem is that politicians have forbidden you to help.”</p>
<p>The attorney general blasted cities the Justice Department identified as “non-cooperative jurisdictions” after President Donald Trump signed an executive order to strip funding from areas that limit local cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security. He mentioned by name cities where, unlike Clark County, local officials fought against the administration’s immigration policies rather than attempting to prove compliance.</p>
<p>“When cities like Philadelphia, Boston or San Francisco advertise that they have these policies, the criminals take notice,” Sessions said. “These jurisdictions are protecting criminals that under the law should be deported.”</p>
<p>In his speech, Sessions mentioned the 2015 death of 32-year-old Kate Steinle, who was shot in San Francisco by an undocumented immigrant. The shooter, who had seven felony convictions, had been deported but later returned to the U.S.</p>
<p>“If we have a wall, it’s not going to be so easy to get back in,” Sessions said, referencing the proposed border wall that was a cornerstone of Trump’s campaign platform.</p>
<p>He called on the U.S. Senate to pass immigration legislation from the U.S. House of Representatives that would codify Trump’s executive order on sanctuary cities and allow victims of crimes by undocumented immigrants to sue those cities.</p>
<p>Sessions also noted that the Justice Department is ramping up its own immigration enforcement efforts, and said he directed federal prosecutors across the country to appoint a border security coordinator in each U.S. attorney’s office.</p>
<p>The attorney general pivoted to the immigration issue after spending several minutes focusing more broadly on the issue of violent crime. He declared that a “disproportionate amount of crime is created by a very small group of criminals,” and said that most of those people should be incarcerated. Harsher punishment and longer prison sentences, Sessions said, would deter future crime.</p>
<p>“It sends a message to young people who may be thinking this is a glamorous lifestyle, but when they see somebody they thought they admired get 20 years in the federal slammer or the state slammer, then it maybe takes the bloom off that rose and they don’t look like they’re so smart,” Sessions said. “Maybe they’ll choose a better lifestyle than the criminal lifestyle.”</p>
<p>Reaction to visit</p>
<p>Immigration reform groups held protests Wednesday outside the Federal Justice Tower where Sessions gave his remarks.</p>
<p>“I worry that some of the steps that Jeff Sessions, supported by (Nevada Attorney General) Adam Laxalt, are taking will lead to Trump’s federal agents just marching into Nevada, violating the Constitution, and just arresting anybody they presume to be foreign-born,” said Laura Martin, a protester who works for the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada.</p>
<p />
<p>Deputy Chief Richard Suey, who oversees the Metropolitan Police Department’s participation in the federal 287(g) program that fosters a partnership between state law enforcement and federal immigration authorities, said “people are believing that Metro is just letting people go after murdering somebody, and the Department of Justice is unfortunately making it seem that way.”</p>
<p>But Suey said he was encouraged by Sessions’ statement that the Justice Department is reviewing the sanctuary city status.</p>
<p>“It brings me hope,” he said. “We’ve been in full compliance.</p>
<p>Contact Jenny Wilson at [email protected] and 702-384-8710. Follow <a href="http://www.twitter.com/jennydwilson" type="external">@jennydwilson</a> on Twitter. Review-Journal staff writer Wesley Juhl contributed to this story.</p> | 1,659 |
<p>UPDATE: Saint Laurent says that the Haute Couture division of the brand will not be re-launched in the near future.</p>
<p>Saint Laurent May Revive YSL Couture: Saint Laurent creative director <a href="" type="internal">Hedi Slimane</a> told <a href="http://www.vogue.com/magazine/article/hedi-slimane-thrills-and-scandalizes-as-creative-director-of-saint-laurent/#7" type="external">Vogue</a> in a recent interview that there are plans to revive the fashion house's couture division. With a new studio and atelier underway, the brand's return to couture is a major move for the company since the late Yves Saint Laurent closed the operation in 2002. Despite Slimane's new <a href="" type="internal">grunge</a> aesthetic, he said, "What people didn't see in the <a href="" type="internal">grunge</a> was that literally 40 percent of the pieces were handmade in the old atelier." Recreating YSL's couture with Slimane's new aesthetic could be the perfect opportunity to put the Y back in YSL. [ <a href="http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/columns/olivia-bergin/TMG10273010/Is-Saint-Laurent-Haute-Couture-poised-for-a-return.html" type="external">The Telegraph</a>]</p>
<p>Gwyneth Paltrow and Stella McCartney Announce Mysterious Collaboration: Gwyneth Paltrow is teaming up with longtime friend and fashion designer Stella McCartney to create a line for Paltrow's lifestyle brand goop. Although there are no details about what products are in the works, the collaboration will be launching September 2013 according to posts on both <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Goop" type="external">Goop</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/stellamccartney" type="external">McCartney's</a> Facebook pages. In the past, McCartney has created capsule collections for Adidas, Gap Kids, and H&amp;M, while the actress has partnered with brands including Rag &amp; Bone, Warby Parker, Beyond Yoga, and Chinti &amp; Parker on collections for her digital company. [ <a href="http://www.harpersbazaar.co.uk/latest-news/gwyneth-paltrow-stella-mccartney-goop-collaboration" type="external">Harper's Bazaar UK</a>]</p>
<p>Justin Timberlake Surprises Fans With Concert for New Target Ad: The twitter world was abuzz with excitement after Justin Timberlake invited followers to a surprise performance. While fans flooded downtown Hoboken, New Jersey, only 150 lucky JT devotees got to witness the singer perform "Take Back the Night" for a shoot for his new Target ad. [ <a href="http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20729498,00.html" type="external">People</a>]</p>
<p>Style Awards to Hit the Airwaves for First Time: The Style Awards, which honors the fashion and entertainment industries's most notable talent, will be broadcast on CNN for the first time in history. The awards, which began a decade ago, will be hosted by Nicole Richie at Lincoln Center and will kick off Mercedes-Benz New York Fashion Week Wednesday. It will premiere 10 days later on CNN. [ <a href="http://www.wwd.com/media-news/fashion-memopad/style-awards-hit-the-airwaves-7103126?module=media-news-fashion-memopad-page-1" type="external">WWD</a>]</p> | Saint Laurent May Revive YSL Couture; Gwyneth Paltrow and Stella McCartney Announce Mysterious Collaboration | true | https://thedailybeast.com/saint-laurent-may-revive-ysl-couture-gwyneth-paltrow-and-stella-mccartney-announce-mysterious-collaboration | 2018-10-03 | 4left
| Saint Laurent May Revive YSL Couture; Gwyneth Paltrow and Stella McCartney Announce Mysterious Collaboration
<p>UPDATE: Saint Laurent says that the Haute Couture division of the brand will not be re-launched in the near future.</p>
<p>Saint Laurent May Revive YSL Couture: Saint Laurent creative director <a href="" type="internal">Hedi Slimane</a> told <a href="http://www.vogue.com/magazine/article/hedi-slimane-thrills-and-scandalizes-as-creative-director-of-saint-laurent/#7" type="external">Vogue</a> in a recent interview that there are plans to revive the fashion house's couture division. With a new studio and atelier underway, the brand's return to couture is a major move for the company since the late Yves Saint Laurent closed the operation in 2002. Despite Slimane's new <a href="" type="internal">grunge</a> aesthetic, he said, "What people didn't see in the <a href="" type="internal">grunge</a> was that literally 40 percent of the pieces were handmade in the old atelier." Recreating YSL's couture with Slimane's new aesthetic could be the perfect opportunity to put the Y back in YSL. [ <a href="http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/columns/olivia-bergin/TMG10273010/Is-Saint-Laurent-Haute-Couture-poised-for-a-return.html" type="external">The Telegraph</a>]</p>
<p>Gwyneth Paltrow and Stella McCartney Announce Mysterious Collaboration: Gwyneth Paltrow is teaming up with longtime friend and fashion designer Stella McCartney to create a line for Paltrow's lifestyle brand goop. Although there are no details about what products are in the works, the collaboration will be launching September 2013 according to posts on both <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Goop" type="external">Goop</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/stellamccartney" type="external">McCartney's</a> Facebook pages. In the past, McCartney has created capsule collections for Adidas, Gap Kids, and H&amp;M, while the actress has partnered with brands including Rag &amp; Bone, Warby Parker, Beyond Yoga, and Chinti &amp; Parker on collections for her digital company. [ <a href="http://www.harpersbazaar.co.uk/latest-news/gwyneth-paltrow-stella-mccartney-goop-collaboration" type="external">Harper's Bazaar UK</a>]</p>
<p>Justin Timberlake Surprises Fans With Concert for New Target Ad: The twitter world was abuzz with excitement after Justin Timberlake invited followers to a surprise performance. While fans flooded downtown Hoboken, New Jersey, only 150 lucky JT devotees got to witness the singer perform "Take Back the Night" for a shoot for his new Target ad. [ <a href="http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20729498,00.html" type="external">People</a>]</p>
<p>Style Awards to Hit the Airwaves for First Time: The Style Awards, which honors the fashion and entertainment industries's most notable talent, will be broadcast on CNN for the first time in history. The awards, which began a decade ago, will be hosted by Nicole Richie at Lincoln Center and will kick off Mercedes-Benz New York Fashion Week Wednesday. It will premiere 10 days later on CNN. [ <a href="http://www.wwd.com/media-news/fashion-memopad/style-awards-hit-the-airwaves-7103126?module=media-news-fashion-memopad-page-1" type="external">WWD</a>]</p> | 1,660 |
<p>New York TimesFox News has become popular enough to lay claim to its own place in the media establishment, says Jacques Steinberg. Fox News chairman Roger Ailes doesn't seem comfortable with that. "Being in the establishment has nothing to do with numbers," he says. "We'll always be the scrappy kids with the nose up against the glass." NOTED: "The Bush administration has endorsed [Fox News'] approach to the news, however indirectly," writes Steinberg. &gt; <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/life/columnist/mediamix/2004-11-07-media-mix_x.htm" type="external">At Fox News, says analyst, "the rule is,</a> 'We're not afraid to make fun of people if we don't like them.' That's a whole new ball of wax in TV news." (USA Today) &gt; <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/08/business/media/08foxbiz.html" type="external">Fox tells analysts it has plans for a business news channel (NYT)</a></p> | Ailes: Being a media elite has nothing to do with numbers | false | https://poynter.org/news/ailes-being-media-elite-has-nothing-do-numbers | 2004-11-08 | 2least
| Ailes: Being a media elite has nothing to do with numbers
<p>New York TimesFox News has become popular enough to lay claim to its own place in the media establishment, says Jacques Steinberg. Fox News chairman Roger Ailes doesn't seem comfortable with that. "Being in the establishment has nothing to do with numbers," he says. "We'll always be the scrappy kids with the nose up against the glass." NOTED: "The Bush administration has endorsed [Fox News'] approach to the news, however indirectly," writes Steinberg. &gt; <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/life/columnist/mediamix/2004-11-07-media-mix_x.htm" type="external">At Fox News, says analyst, "the rule is,</a> 'We're not afraid to make fun of people if we don't like them.' That's a whole new ball of wax in TV news." (USA Today) &gt; <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/08/business/media/08foxbiz.html" type="external">Fox tells analysts it has plans for a business news channel (NYT)</a></p> | 1,661 |
<p>On Saturday, November 4, Houthi rebels in Yemen launched a long-range Burkan 2-H missile ballistic missile targeting Saudi Arabia's <a href="https://www.riyadh-airport.com/" type="external">King Khalid International Airport Opens a New Window.</a> more than 600 miles away. Saudi Arabian forces confirmed the launch, and reported that a U.S.-built Patriot missile battery shot down the missile before it could reach its target.</p>
<p>So ... crisis averted?</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>For now, perhaps. But a rebel spokesman said&#160;that it considers that "the capital cities of" countries conducting military operations in Yemen "fair military target[s]," and promised they "will be struck by our missiles." Moreover, the BBC reports&#160;that the Houthis are believed to possess "a stockpile of Scud ballistic missiles and home-grown variants" such as the Burkan. In short, if Saudi Arabia hopes to protect its civilian population, it needs a robust missile defense.</p>
<p>Fortunately, Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) and Raytheon (NYSE: RTN) can sell them one.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/08/09/are-15-billion-in-lockheed-martins-patriot-missile.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=4c729bbe-c2b8-11e7-937a-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">The Patriot missile battery Opens a New Window.</a> that shot down Saturday's Scud-variant was built, of course, by Lockheed Martin (which builds the interceptors) and Raytheon&#160;(which builds the Patriot's radar and missile launcher). That combination worked well for Saudi Arabia on Saturday, but as the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) confirmed last month, Saudi Arabia is gearing up to buy a much more powerful missile defense system -- and is ready to pay a very high price to acquire it.</p>
<p>Designed as an anti-aircraft&#160;defense system, Patriot&#160;rose to prominence when used as a stopgap measure to protect American troops, stationed in Saudi Arabia, from Scud missile attacks in the buildup to Desert Storm -- the first time&#160;the missile had been used for this purpose. In contrast, Lockheed Martin's new Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system was purpose-built to defend against ballistic missiles such as the one launched at King Khalid over the weekend.</p>
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<p>As DSCA explained in a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/defensenewsguru/posts/582613198529364" type="external">notification to Congress Opens a New Window.</a> on October 6, the Saudis have requested permission to purchase 44 THAAD launchers and 360 THAAD Interceptor Missiles from Lockheed, with seven Raytheon-built AN/TPY-2 THAAD radars to guide them to their targets. Including other related and necessary equipment, the total value of Saudi Arabia's purchase is estimated at $15 billion.</p>
<p>DSCA noted that the primary threat THAAD is intended to defend against is "Iranian." Indeed, Saudi Arabia apparently first became interested in buying Lockheed's THAAD system <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2010/09/15/biggest-defense-deal-ever.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=4c729bbe-c2b8-11e7-937a-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">back in 2010 Opens a New Window.</a>, not long after Congressional leaders began discussing a plan&#160;to begin bilateral talks with Iran, which would ultimately loosen controls over Iran's missile program.</p>
<p>But "other regional threats" were also cited as justifying the sale, and in particular, "the growing ballistic missile threat in the region" from weapons such as the Houthis' Burkan. Buying THAAD, said DSCA, "will substantially increase Saudi Arabia's capability to defend itself against" such threats -- from Iran, and from the Houthi rebels that Iran supports in Yemen.</p>
<p>The recent attack on Saudi Arabia's second largest airport&#160;adds urgency to the Saudi's request to purchase THAAD. At the same time, it's unlikely that Congress will withhold permission for the sale to proceed. In the entire history of the DSCA, Congress has never refused to approve an arms sale after receiving notification from DSCA. <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2016/12/03/president-obamas-parting-gift-to-boeing-312-billio.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=4c729bbe-c2b8-11e7-937a-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Ever. Opens a New Window.</a></p>
<p>As such, I'd say the likelihood of this sale going through looks pretty high, which is good news for Lockheed Martin. As the biggest beneficiary of the sale, Lockheed Martin stands to reap the bulk of the $15 billion in proceeds from this sale. What's more, these revenues will be funneled through Lockheed's Missiles and Fire Control division, the company's most profitable division, with an operating profit margin of 14.7% according to data from <a href="http://marketintelligence.spglobal.com/" type="external">S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Raytheon's share of the $15 billion sales price will probably be smaller, but that's OK. Raytheon's Integrated Defense Systems division is the one that builds THAAD's AN/TPY-2, and Raytheon IDS earns a 17.3% profit margin on its&#160;revenues -- again, the most profitable division in the company.</p>
<p>Long story short, both Lockheed Martin and Raytheon stand to earn tidy profits from this sale when it likely goes through.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than RaytheonWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=432d3f37-cf5a-4ad3-8c48-3d4c9afc4ec9&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=4c729bbe-c2b8-11e7-937a-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Raytheon wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
<p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=432d3f37-cf5a-4ad3-8c48-3d4c9afc4ec9&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=4c729bbe-c2b8-11e7-937a-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p>
<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of October 9, 2017</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFDitty/info.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=4c729bbe-c2b8-11e7-937a-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Rich Smith Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=4c729bbe-c2b8-11e7-937a-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | Lockheed and Raytheon Line Up to Catch a $15 Billion Windfall | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/11/08/lockheed-and-raytheon-line-up-to-catch-15-billion-windfall.html | 2017-11-08 | 0right
| Lockheed and Raytheon Line Up to Catch a $15 Billion Windfall
<p>On Saturday, November 4, Houthi rebels in Yemen launched a long-range Burkan 2-H missile ballistic missile targeting Saudi Arabia's <a href="https://www.riyadh-airport.com/" type="external">King Khalid International Airport Opens a New Window.</a> more than 600 miles away. Saudi Arabian forces confirmed the launch, and reported that a U.S.-built Patriot missile battery shot down the missile before it could reach its target.</p>
<p>So ... crisis averted?</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>For now, perhaps. But a rebel spokesman said&#160;that it considers that "the capital cities of" countries conducting military operations in Yemen "fair military target[s]," and promised they "will be struck by our missiles." Moreover, the BBC reports&#160;that the Houthis are believed to possess "a stockpile of Scud ballistic missiles and home-grown variants" such as the Burkan. In short, if Saudi Arabia hopes to protect its civilian population, it needs a robust missile defense.</p>
<p>Fortunately, Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) and Raytheon (NYSE: RTN) can sell them one.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/08/09/are-15-billion-in-lockheed-martins-patriot-missile.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=4c729bbe-c2b8-11e7-937a-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">The Patriot missile battery Opens a New Window.</a> that shot down Saturday's Scud-variant was built, of course, by Lockheed Martin (which builds the interceptors) and Raytheon&#160;(which builds the Patriot's radar and missile launcher). That combination worked well for Saudi Arabia on Saturday, but as the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) confirmed last month, Saudi Arabia is gearing up to buy a much more powerful missile defense system -- and is ready to pay a very high price to acquire it.</p>
<p>Designed as an anti-aircraft&#160;defense system, Patriot&#160;rose to prominence when used as a stopgap measure to protect American troops, stationed in Saudi Arabia, from Scud missile attacks in the buildup to Desert Storm -- the first time&#160;the missile had been used for this purpose. In contrast, Lockheed Martin's new Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system was purpose-built to defend against ballistic missiles such as the one launched at King Khalid over the weekend.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>As DSCA explained in a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/defensenewsguru/posts/582613198529364" type="external">notification to Congress Opens a New Window.</a> on October 6, the Saudis have requested permission to purchase 44 THAAD launchers and 360 THAAD Interceptor Missiles from Lockheed, with seven Raytheon-built AN/TPY-2 THAAD radars to guide them to their targets. Including other related and necessary equipment, the total value of Saudi Arabia's purchase is estimated at $15 billion.</p>
<p>DSCA noted that the primary threat THAAD is intended to defend against is "Iranian." Indeed, Saudi Arabia apparently first became interested in buying Lockheed's THAAD system <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2010/09/15/biggest-defense-deal-ever.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=4c729bbe-c2b8-11e7-937a-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">back in 2010 Opens a New Window.</a>, not long after Congressional leaders began discussing a plan&#160;to begin bilateral talks with Iran, which would ultimately loosen controls over Iran's missile program.</p>
<p>But "other regional threats" were also cited as justifying the sale, and in particular, "the growing ballistic missile threat in the region" from weapons such as the Houthis' Burkan. Buying THAAD, said DSCA, "will substantially increase Saudi Arabia's capability to defend itself against" such threats -- from Iran, and from the Houthi rebels that Iran supports in Yemen.</p>
<p>The recent attack on Saudi Arabia's second largest airport&#160;adds urgency to the Saudi's request to purchase THAAD. At the same time, it's unlikely that Congress will withhold permission for the sale to proceed. In the entire history of the DSCA, Congress has never refused to approve an arms sale after receiving notification from DSCA. <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2016/12/03/president-obamas-parting-gift-to-boeing-312-billio.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=4c729bbe-c2b8-11e7-937a-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Ever. Opens a New Window.</a></p>
<p>As such, I'd say the likelihood of this sale going through looks pretty high, which is good news for Lockheed Martin. As the biggest beneficiary of the sale, Lockheed Martin stands to reap the bulk of the $15 billion in proceeds from this sale. What's more, these revenues will be funneled through Lockheed's Missiles and Fire Control division, the company's most profitable division, with an operating profit margin of 14.7% according to data from <a href="http://marketintelligence.spglobal.com/" type="external">S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Raytheon's share of the $15 billion sales price will probably be smaller, but that's OK. Raytheon's Integrated Defense Systems division is the one that builds THAAD's AN/TPY-2, and Raytheon IDS earns a 17.3% profit margin on its&#160;revenues -- again, the most profitable division in the company.</p>
<p>Long story short, both Lockheed Martin and Raytheon stand to earn tidy profits from this sale when it likely goes through.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than RaytheonWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=432d3f37-cf5a-4ad3-8c48-3d4c9afc4ec9&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=4c729bbe-c2b8-11e7-937a-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Raytheon wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
<p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=432d3f37-cf5a-4ad3-8c48-3d4c9afc4ec9&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=4c729bbe-c2b8-11e7-937a-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p>
<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of October 9, 2017</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFDitty/info.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=4c729bbe-c2b8-11e7-937a-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Rich Smith Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=4c729bbe-c2b8-11e7-937a-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | 1,662 |
<p>As several Cabinet heads came under scrutiny for their use of non-commercial planes to attend official events in late September, Energy Secretary Rick Perry took a charter plane to Ohio to visit a&#160;decommissioned uranium enrichment facility, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-perry-flight/energy-secretary-took-charter-flight-day-before-price-resigned-idUSKBN1C934F" type="external">Reuters reported</a> Wednesday evening, citing&#160;PMH Aviation, the company that runs the Portsmouth airport in Ohio.</p>
<p>Perry took the charter plane from&#160;the&#160;Hazleton Regional Airport in Pennsylvania to Ohio on Sept. 28. The next day, Tom Price resigned as health and human services secretary due to his extensive use of private planes to fly up and down the East Coast.</p>
<p>Reuters noted that while commercial flights do not fly to or from the Hazleton airport, commercial airlines serve airports in Pennsylvania about an hour away.</p>
<p>Several members of Trump’s Cabinet have come under scrutiny over the past month for their use of private or government planes, including Price, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Their travel has triggered inspector general probes and an investigation in the House Oversight Committee.</p> | Report: Rick Perry Took Charter Flight To Ohio In September | true | http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/rick-perry-private-plane-ohio-trip | 4left
| Report: Rick Perry Took Charter Flight To Ohio In September
<p>As several Cabinet heads came under scrutiny for their use of non-commercial planes to attend official events in late September, Energy Secretary Rick Perry took a charter plane to Ohio to visit a&#160;decommissioned uranium enrichment facility, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-perry-flight/energy-secretary-took-charter-flight-day-before-price-resigned-idUSKBN1C934F" type="external">Reuters reported</a> Wednesday evening, citing&#160;PMH Aviation, the company that runs the Portsmouth airport in Ohio.</p>
<p>Perry took the charter plane from&#160;the&#160;Hazleton Regional Airport in Pennsylvania to Ohio on Sept. 28. The next day, Tom Price resigned as health and human services secretary due to his extensive use of private planes to fly up and down the East Coast.</p>
<p>Reuters noted that while commercial flights do not fly to or from the Hazleton airport, commercial airlines serve airports in Pennsylvania about an hour away.</p>
<p>Several members of Trump’s Cabinet have come under scrutiny over the past month for their use of private or government planes, including Price, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Their travel has triggered inspector general probes and an investigation in the House Oversight Committee.</p> | 1,663 |
|
<p />
<p>The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits fell last week to near a four-year low, a hopeful sign for a labor market that has shown signs of weakness.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 35,000 to a seasonally adjusted 353,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday.</p>
<p>That was a much sharper drop than economists expected. The prior week's figure was revised slightly higher.</p>
<p>The reading for jobless claims has been volatile this month because of the timing of the annual auto plant shutdowns for retooling. The reading had touched a four-year low in the July 7 week at 352,000. One measure that tries to smooth out this volatility, the four-week moving average for new claims, fell 8,750 to 367,250.</p>
<p>This year, automakers are carrying out fewer temporary plant shutdowns, throwing off the model the department uses to smooth the data for typical seasonal patterns.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>A Labor Department official said they were still experiencing volatility related to the auto layoffs that usually happen at this time of year. Otherwise, the data had few blips. Only figures for Utah were estimated.</p>
<p>The labor market has suffered three months of sub-100,000 job growth as the economy slowed amid a cloud of uncertainty spawned by fears of sharp contraction in fiscal policy and debt problems in Europe.</p>
<p>Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told lawmakers last week that the U.S. central bank, which last month expanded its efforts to spur the economy, would take additional action if officials concluded no progress was being made towards higher levels of employment.</p>
<p>The number of people still receiving benefits under regular state programs after an initial week of aid fell 30,000 to 3.287 million in the week ended July 14.</p> | Jobless Claims Fall More Than Expected | true | http://foxbusiness.com/politics/2012/12/06/weekly-jobless-claims.html | 2016-03-03 | 0right
| Jobless Claims Fall More Than Expected
<p />
<p>The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits fell last week to near a four-year low, a hopeful sign for a labor market that has shown signs of weakness.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 35,000 to a seasonally adjusted 353,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday.</p>
<p>That was a much sharper drop than economists expected. The prior week's figure was revised slightly higher.</p>
<p>The reading for jobless claims has been volatile this month because of the timing of the annual auto plant shutdowns for retooling. The reading had touched a four-year low in the July 7 week at 352,000. One measure that tries to smooth out this volatility, the four-week moving average for new claims, fell 8,750 to 367,250.</p>
<p>This year, automakers are carrying out fewer temporary plant shutdowns, throwing off the model the department uses to smooth the data for typical seasonal patterns.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>A Labor Department official said they were still experiencing volatility related to the auto layoffs that usually happen at this time of year. Otherwise, the data had few blips. Only figures for Utah were estimated.</p>
<p>The labor market has suffered three months of sub-100,000 job growth as the economy slowed amid a cloud of uncertainty spawned by fears of sharp contraction in fiscal policy and debt problems in Europe.</p>
<p>Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told lawmakers last week that the U.S. central bank, which last month expanded its efforts to spur the economy, would take additional action if officials concluded no progress was being made towards higher levels of employment.</p>
<p>The number of people still receiving benefits under regular state programs after an initial week of aid fell 30,000 to 3.287 million in the week ended July 14.</p> | 1,664 |
<p>North Korea says it successfully detonated a hydrogen bomb in its latest nuclear test Sunday. Outside experts haven't been able to verify that claim, but say it's plausible. If true, it would represent a major step forward in North Korea's effort to develop a nuclear weapon capable of reaching the United States.</p>
<p>MORE POWERFUL THAN AN A-BOMB</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>A hydrogen bomb can be far more powerful than the atomic bombs the U.S. dropped on Japan in World War II. The U.S. conducted the first successful tests of hydrogen bombs in the 1950s. Their yields of 10,000 kilotons and more were several hundred times larger than the bombs that leveled Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Experts believe the yield of North Korea's latest test was at least 140 kilotons, which would make it some seven to eight times as powerful as Hiroshima (15 kilotons) and Nagasaki (about 20).</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>USES THE POWER OF THE SUN</p>
<p>Atomic bombs rely on fission, or the splitting of the nucleus of an atom, just as nuclear power plants do. The hydrogen bomb uses both fission and fusion — the fusing together of atomic nuclei — to produce more explosive energy. It's the same process that keeps the sun and other stars burning. H-bombs are also known as thermonuclear bombs, because of the extremely high temperature needed to induce fusion. A typical hydrogen bomb is two-stage: First, an atomic fission bomb detonates, and that in turn starts the fusion of a hydrogen isotope in a second section.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>SMALL ENOUGH TO FIT ON A MISSILE</p>
<p>The atomic bombs that hit Japan were huge and had to be dropped from planes flying overhead. With its higher power, a hydrogen bomb can be made small enough to fit on the head of an intercontinental missile. The hydrogen bomb is the standard for the five nations with the greatest nuclear weapons capability: Russia, the U.S., France, China and the U.K. Other nations may either have it or be working on it, despite a worldwide effort to contain such proliferation.</p> | North Korea crisis: A hydrogen bomb, explained | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/09/06/ap-explains-what-is-hydrogen-bomb.html | 2017-09-06 | 0right
| North Korea crisis: A hydrogen bomb, explained
<p>North Korea says it successfully detonated a hydrogen bomb in its latest nuclear test Sunday. Outside experts haven't been able to verify that claim, but say it's plausible. If true, it would represent a major step forward in North Korea's effort to develop a nuclear weapon capable of reaching the United States.</p>
<p>MORE POWERFUL THAN AN A-BOMB</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>A hydrogen bomb can be far more powerful than the atomic bombs the U.S. dropped on Japan in World War II. The U.S. conducted the first successful tests of hydrogen bombs in the 1950s. Their yields of 10,000 kilotons and more were several hundred times larger than the bombs that leveled Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Experts believe the yield of North Korea's latest test was at least 140 kilotons, which would make it some seven to eight times as powerful as Hiroshima (15 kilotons) and Nagasaki (about 20).</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>USES THE POWER OF THE SUN</p>
<p>Atomic bombs rely on fission, or the splitting of the nucleus of an atom, just as nuclear power plants do. The hydrogen bomb uses both fission and fusion — the fusing together of atomic nuclei — to produce more explosive energy. It's the same process that keeps the sun and other stars burning. H-bombs are also known as thermonuclear bombs, because of the extremely high temperature needed to induce fusion. A typical hydrogen bomb is two-stage: First, an atomic fission bomb detonates, and that in turn starts the fusion of a hydrogen isotope in a second section.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>SMALL ENOUGH TO FIT ON A MISSILE</p>
<p>The atomic bombs that hit Japan were huge and had to be dropped from planes flying overhead. With its higher power, a hydrogen bomb can be made small enough to fit on the head of an intercontinental missile. The hydrogen bomb is the standard for the five nations with the greatest nuclear weapons capability: Russia, the U.S., France, China and the U.K. Other nations may either have it or be working on it, despite a worldwide effort to contain such proliferation.</p> | 1,665 |
<p>The Chinese leg of US President Donald Trump’s grand Asian tour is expected to focus on North Korea and trade imbalances. But observers say a major agreement on rebalancing global power could be on the table as Beijing seeks respect for its growing clout.</p>
<p>During the two-night stay in Beijing, Trump will hold his third meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, following the Mar-a-Lago visit by Xi in April and G20 talks in June. The two men are arguably meeting at a low and a high point of their respective political careers. Trump, with his administration besieged by allegations of Russia collusion, has an approval rating of just 36 percent – the worst for a US president in modern history. In contrast, Xi was last month <a href="https://www.rt.com/newsline/407604-china-xi-communist-constitution/" type="external">elevated</a> to a status akin to that of the PRC’s founding father, Mao Zedong, at a Communist Party congress which approved his second term as its leader.</p>
<p>Read more</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/news/409040-trump-asia-arms-sale/" type="external" /></p>
<p>Trump’s marathon Asian tour is one of the greatest exercises of his personal diplomacy since entering the Oval Office. His previous stops were in Japan and South Korea, and in both countries he rallied the US allies against the threat posed by North Korea, touting multibillion-dollar purchases of US-made military equipment as improving the national security of the buyers and helping fix their trade imbalances with America.</p>
<p>Both issues are prioritized in China as well. The Trump administration has stopped criticizing Beijing for a failure to put pressure on Pyongyang over its controversial drive to obtain nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles, and has instead been praising China’s contribution. The accusations of alleged currency manipulation, restriction of market access and intellectual property theft by China have been subdued as well.</p>
<p>Observers expect Beijing to go on a charm offensive, wooing the attention-sensitive, ego-conscious American leader with what is described as an unprecedented “state visit-plus” by Chinese officials and the media. Beijing’s Forbidden City, the former seat of Chinese imperial power, was <a href="http://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2118954/xi-jinping-and-donald-trump-get-personal-state-visit" type="external">closed</a> to the public to host the American dignitary.</p>
<p>Some China watchers say Xi will use the meeting to promote his vision of a global future, in which waning superpower America and rising force China agree to refrain from conflict and find a way for peaceful transition. Previous administrations rejected such overtures from Beijing, seeing them as an offer to split the world into Cold War-style zones of influence, with the US withdrawing from Asia.</p>
<p>Read more</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/news/407142-xi-interests-military-boost/" type="external" /></p>
<p>One bone of contention could be the South China Sea. Beijing perceives the water mass, which is vital for its maritime trade and may become a major source of hydrocarbons in the future, as rightfully belonging to China. It has been backing the stance with large island reclamation projects, military deployments and other measures. The US has been opposing China while not supporting any other nation with a claim over any part of the sea. The US says the area should belong to no one, remaining legally open for America’s own military patrols. This is perceived as potentially dangerous for China’s strategic interests, which depend on unrestricted foreign trade.</p>
<p>The Trump administration has been sending signals that it will maintain an Asian presence, for instance, boosting the so-called freedom of navigation missions in the South China Sea, which are aimed at undermining China’s claims. Some members of the Trump camp have been strongly advocating opposing China on trade. The White House has recently announced its vision of a “free and open Indo-Pacific,” apparently sending a rallying cry for Australia and India to take a stand against rising Chinese clout.</p>
<p>On the other hand, Trump’s chief-of-staff, John Kelly, in a recent Fox News interview indicated that disagreements with China on trade didn’t “make them an enemy” and suggested that its one-party political system was not an issue for Washington. Trump’s own <a href="https://www.hongkongfp.com/2017/11/07/whos-great-donald-trump-faces-king-china-xi-jinping/" type="external">description</a> of Xi as a “king” of China was perceived by some observers as outright flattery.</p>
<p>There is speculation that Trump may be tempted to “ <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-allies-fear-trump-will-pull-a-nixon-in-china-1510037786?mod=e2tw" type="external">pull a Nixon</a>” – strike a policy-changing bargain with Xi just like President Richard Nixon did with his historic 1972 visit to China – or in other words “explore win-win bilateral ties,” as the Chinese press would <a href="http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1074073.shtml" type="external">prefer</a> to put it.</p> | Trump in China: Will Xi pressure US leader to accept his vision of global future? | false | https://newsline.com/trump-in-china-will-xi-pressure-us-leader-to-accept-his-vision-of-global-future/ | 2017-11-08 | 1right-center
| Trump in China: Will Xi pressure US leader to accept his vision of global future?
<p>The Chinese leg of US President Donald Trump’s grand Asian tour is expected to focus on North Korea and trade imbalances. But observers say a major agreement on rebalancing global power could be on the table as Beijing seeks respect for its growing clout.</p>
<p>During the two-night stay in Beijing, Trump will hold his third meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, following the Mar-a-Lago visit by Xi in April and G20 talks in June. The two men are arguably meeting at a low and a high point of their respective political careers. Trump, with his administration besieged by allegations of Russia collusion, has an approval rating of just 36 percent – the worst for a US president in modern history. In contrast, Xi was last month <a href="https://www.rt.com/newsline/407604-china-xi-communist-constitution/" type="external">elevated</a> to a status akin to that of the PRC’s founding father, Mao Zedong, at a Communist Party congress which approved his second term as its leader.</p>
<p>Read more</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/news/409040-trump-asia-arms-sale/" type="external" /></p>
<p>Trump’s marathon Asian tour is one of the greatest exercises of his personal diplomacy since entering the Oval Office. His previous stops were in Japan and South Korea, and in both countries he rallied the US allies against the threat posed by North Korea, touting multibillion-dollar purchases of US-made military equipment as improving the national security of the buyers and helping fix their trade imbalances with America.</p>
<p>Both issues are prioritized in China as well. The Trump administration has stopped criticizing Beijing for a failure to put pressure on Pyongyang over its controversial drive to obtain nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles, and has instead been praising China’s contribution. The accusations of alleged currency manipulation, restriction of market access and intellectual property theft by China have been subdued as well.</p>
<p>Observers expect Beijing to go on a charm offensive, wooing the attention-sensitive, ego-conscious American leader with what is described as an unprecedented “state visit-plus” by Chinese officials and the media. Beijing’s Forbidden City, the former seat of Chinese imperial power, was <a href="http://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2118954/xi-jinping-and-donald-trump-get-personal-state-visit" type="external">closed</a> to the public to host the American dignitary.</p>
<p>Some China watchers say Xi will use the meeting to promote his vision of a global future, in which waning superpower America and rising force China agree to refrain from conflict and find a way for peaceful transition. Previous administrations rejected such overtures from Beijing, seeing them as an offer to split the world into Cold War-style zones of influence, with the US withdrawing from Asia.</p>
<p>Read more</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/news/407142-xi-interests-military-boost/" type="external" /></p>
<p>One bone of contention could be the South China Sea. Beijing perceives the water mass, which is vital for its maritime trade and may become a major source of hydrocarbons in the future, as rightfully belonging to China. It has been backing the stance with large island reclamation projects, military deployments and other measures. The US has been opposing China while not supporting any other nation with a claim over any part of the sea. The US says the area should belong to no one, remaining legally open for America’s own military patrols. This is perceived as potentially dangerous for China’s strategic interests, which depend on unrestricted foreign trade.</p>
<p>The Trump administration has been sending signals that it will maintain an Asian presence, for instance, boosting the so-called freedom of navigation missions in the South China Sea, which are aimed at undermining China’s claims. Some members of the Trump camp have been strongly advocating opposing China on trade. The White House has recently announced its vision of a “free and open Indo-Pacific,” apparently sending a rallying cry for Australia and India to take a stand against rising Chinese clout.</p>
<p>On the other hand, Trump’s chief-of-staff, John Kelly, in a recent Fox News interview indicated that disagreements with China on trade didn’t “make them an enemy” and suggested that its one-party political system was not an issue for Washington. Trump’s own <a href="https://www.hongkongfp.com/2017/11/07/whos-great-donald-trump-faces-king-china-xi-jinping/" type="external">description</a> of Xi as a “king” of China was perceived by some observers as outright flattery.</p>
<p>There is speculation that Trump may be tempted to “ <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-allies-fear-trump-will-pull-a-nixon-in-china-1510037786?mod=e2tw" type="external">pull a Nixon</a>” – strike a policy-changing bargain with Xi just like President Richard Nixon did with his historic 1972 visit to China – or in other words “explore win-win bilateral ties,” as the Chinese press would <a href="http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1074073.shtml" type="external">prefer</a> to put it.</p> | 1,666 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Cleveland walked home the tying and game-winning runs in the bottom of the seventh inning Friday night as No. 3-ranked Rio Rancho rallied to beat the second-ranked Storm 5-4 in a District 1-6A baseball showdown.</p>
<p>“We put a high priority on this game,” said Rams coach Ron Murphy after his 399th career win with the school. “We felt it was a must win if we wanted to have a shot at the district (title).”</p>
<p>First Tariq Levesque, and then freshman Noah Brewer, drew one-out, bases-loaded walks from reliever Josh Chapman. Ivan Zamora and Gunner Gouldsmith scored the two final, and somewhat anticlimactic, runs in what was otherwise a fantastic matchup before an overflow crowd at Rio Rancho.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Levesque’s walk was the key moment as the Rams faced a 4-3 deficit.</p>
<p>After Garrett Gouldsmith struck out, Levesque got down quickly in the count, 0-2.</p>
<p>But then Chapman lost the plate with four consecutive pitches, Levesque walked and the game was tied.</p>
<p>“I was thinking that he’d throw me a pitch to get a fly ball,” Levesque said. “And I thought he’d try to keep the ball away from me.”</p>
<p>Brewer’s five-pitch walk ended the game moments later and the younger Gouldsmith, also a freshman, came home and slammed his helmet into the artificial turf as he scored the game-winner with his teammates mobbing him at the plate. Levesque and Brewer each had two RBIs in the victory.</p>
<p>Bigger picture, this win further mixed up the already tight 1-6A standings.</p>
<p>Rio Rancho (17-6 overall) is 3-2 in district, same as Cleveland (17-5 overall).</p>
<p>Volcano Vista (11-8, 3-1) is idle from district play this weekend, although the Hawks face Trevor Rogers and Carlsbad this afternoon. The Hawks play Rio Rancho on Tuesday.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Piedra Vista (16-6, 2-2) can make it a three-way tie for second in 1-6A if the Panthers win at Cibola today.</p>
<p>“You know what?” Murphy said. “Any one of (the top four) could still be first or fourth.”</p>
<p>Cleveland started the week leading everyone in 1-6A, at 3-0. But the Storm is reeling a bit after losses this week to Volcano Vista and now the Rams.</p>
<p>“It’s a war with Rio Rancho every time we get them,” Cleveland coach Shane Shallenberger said.</p>
<p>Rio Rancho scored three runs in the third. Garrett Gouldsmith, Levesque and Brewer had RBIs.</p>
<p>Cleveland cut the deficit to 3-1 in the fifth on a sacrifice fly, then scored three in the sixth to take the lead.</p>
<p>Jason Herrera’s RBI triple scored a run, Giacomo Musante scored Herrera with a sac fly, and Jack Murano smoked a double to right-center to plate Robert Healy with two outs.</p>
<p /> | Prep baseball: Storm can’t find the plate, loses crusher | false | https://abqjournal.com/988270/storm-cant-find-the-plate-loses-crusher.html | 2least
| Prep baseball: Storm can’t find the plate, loses crusher
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Cleveland walked home the tying and game-winning runs in the bottom of the seventh inning Friday night as No. 3-ranked Rio Rancho rallied to beat the second-ranked Storm 5-4 in a District 1-6A baseball showdown.</p>
<p>“We put a high priority on this game,” said Rams coach Ron Murphy after his 399th career win with the school. “We felt it was a must win if we wanted to have a shot at the district (title).”</p>
<p>First Tariq Levesque, and then freshman Noah Brewer, drew one-out, bases-loaded walks from reliever Josh Chapman. Ivan Zamora and Gunner Gouldsmith scored the two final, and somewhat anticlimactic, runs in what was otherwise a fantastic matchup before an overflow crowd at Rio Rancho.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Levesque’s walk was the key moment as the Rams faced a 4-3 deficit.</p>
<p>After Garrett Gouldsmith struck out, Levesque got down quickly in the count, 0-2.</p>
<p>But then Chapman lost the plate with four consecutive pitches, Levesque walked and the game was tied.</p>
<p>“I was thinking that he’d throw me a pitch to get a fly ball,” Levesque said. “And I thought he’d try to keep the ball away from me.”</p>
<p>Brewer’s five-pitch walk ended the game moments later and the younger Gouldsmith, also a freshman, came home and slammed his helmet into the artificial turf as he scored the game-winner with his teammates mobbing him at the plate. Levesque and Brewer each had two RBIs in the victory.</p>
<p>Bigger picture, this win further mixed up the already tight 1-6A standings.</p>
<p>Rio Rancho (17-6 overall) is 3-2 in district, same as Cleveland (17-5 overall).</p>
<p>Volcano Vista (11-8, 3-1) is idle from district play this weekend, although the Hawks face Trevor Rogers and Carlsbad this afternoon. The Hawks play Rio Rancho on Tuesday.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Piedra Vista (16-6, 2-2) can make it a three-way tie for second in 1-6A if the Panthers win at Cibola today.</p>
<p>“You know what?” Murphy said. “Any one of (the top four) could still be first or fourth.”</p>
<p>Cleveland started the week leading everyone in 1-6A, at 3-0. But the Storm is reeling a bit after losses this week to Volcano Vista and now the Rams.</p>
<p>“It’s a war with Rio Rancho every time we get them,” Cleveland coach Shane Shallenberger said.</p>
<p>Rio Rancho scored three runs in the third. Garrett Gouldsmith, Levesque and Brewer had RBIs.</p>
<p>Cleveland cut the deficit to 3-1 in the fifth on a sacrifice fly, then scored three in the sixth to take the lead.</p>
<p>Jason Herrera’s RBI triple scored a run, Giacomo Musante scored Herrera with a sac fly, and Jack Murano smoked a double to right-center to plate Robert Healy with two outs.</p>
<p /> | 1,667 |
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<p />
<p>Many of the animals have been forced to live in sweltering heat or maggot-infested filth, sometimes with decomposing carcasses in their cages, officials found over the last two years.</p>
<p>So far no charges or enforcement action has been taken against the Ruby Fur Farm near New Sharon, 65 miles (105 kilometers) southeast of Des Moines. However, animal rights groups are calling for rescue of the animals, revocation of the farm’s federal license and fines for neglect.</p>
<p>U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors documented the most recent problems when they returned to the farm seven times between December and August after finding suffering animals.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>A building housing 290 raccoons reached 100 degrees in July, with many of the animals panting and drooling and 26 in “severe heat distress,” according to a July 21 inspection report.</p>
<p>Reports from 2015 show injured or sick raccoons as well as skunks and ferrets that didn’t receive veterinary treatment. In one cage a skunk was found living with its dead cage-mate.</p>
<p>A December 2016 report noted: “One dead, decomposing, headless juvenile ferret was found incorporated into the fecal material buildup on the wire floor in the corner of the cage,” which also housed a live adult and six juvenile ferrets.</p>
<p>Federal contracts show that even as USDA inspectors were writing up the reports about the farm’s treatment of raccoons, the agency was signing contracts to buy animals from the company for research. It spent nearly $30,000 in June and December of 2015 and in July 2016.</p>
<p>The business since 2007 received more than $67,000 from USDA contracts to provide skunks, raccoons, and foxes. USDA has expansive research enterprises with divisions that focus on food safety, animal health and food production improvements. One of the contracts indicates raccoons were obtained by a USDA lab in Colorado focusing on wildlife diseases, and another noted young foxes would be used as “research models.”</p>
<p>The farm is licensed to Randy Ruby as a registered federal dealer by the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, and it holds state permits as an animal dealer and a pet shop.</p>
<p>Ruby declined to discuss the reports with The Associated Press when reached by telephone. He referred calls to The Cavalry Group, a Missouri-based animal business advocacy organization to which he is a member.</p>
<p>Its president, Mindy Patterson, said some of the USDA inspectors’ claims are exaggerated and when there has been an issue Ruby has addressed them immediately.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“What we witnessed up close and personal this summer was Randy Ruby’s farm being targeted and harassed with hyper-aggressive inspections,” she said. “We have time-tested agriculture practices to ensure the health and safety of both people and animals that are being redefined as inhumane treatment of animals by these groups who have nothing but an emotion-based agenda.”</p>
<p>The farm’s website says it has been in business for more than 65 years and raises “our animals with tender, loving care, and we can ship them anywhere in the world.”</p>
<p>Michael Budkie, executive director of Stop Animal Exploitation Now, an Ohio-based nonprofit that monitors U.S. research and animal holding facilities, has called for the termination of the fur farm’s federal animal dealer’s license and rescue of the animals.</p>
<p>In an Oct. 16 letter to Robert Gibbens, a veterinarian and the USDA’s director of Animal Welfare Operations based in Colorado, Budkie asked the agency to fine Ruby Fur Farm. He said inspection reports clearly demonstrate “a total disregard for the health and well-being of these animals.”</p>
<p>USDA spokesman R. Andre Bell confirmed the agency has discussed the farm with an animal rights group but declined to say whether it was considering enforcement action or terminating the license. He also declined to discuss whether USDA’s purchased of animals from the fur farm had any impact on its enforcement of animal welfare regulations.</p>
<p>The Iowa Department of Agriculture, which has issued state permits for the farm to operate as a pet shop and registered federal dealer, has no enforcement action pending, said spokesman Dustin Vande Hoef. The agency can revoke the permits if it were to find standard of care issues but it has received no complaints, he said.</p>
<p>Any animal neglect charges must come from a law enforcement officer under Iowa law.</p>
<p>Mahaska County Sheriff Russ VanRenterghem said he accompanied a USDA inspection team to the fur farm three or four times in July.</p>
<p>“I don’t see any violations,” he said, describing the farm’s owners as “very reputable, very good people.”</p>
<p>Iowa is ranked the second worst in the nation for animal welfare behind Kentucky, according to the Animal Legal Defense Fund’s annual rankings released in January.</p>
<p>Iowa enforcement is weak because with a few exceptions animal neglect is not considered a felony, and laws defining adequate shelter conditions are unclear, the group said.</p>
<p>“In general if I was picking a state to be an animal in, Iowa would be very far down my list,” said David Rosengard, a staff attorney for the group’s criminal justice program. “I could be neglected. I could be starved. I could be abandoned and the person who did that wouldn’t face the sort of repercussions they would have to deal with in a lot of other states.”</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Sign up for the AP’s weekly newsletter showcasing our best reporting from the Midwest and Texas: <a href="http://apne.ws/2u1RMfv" type="external">http://apne.ws/2u1RMfv</a> .</p> | Animal rights groups demand action against Iowa fur farm | false | https://abqjournal.com/1090864/animal-rights-groups-demand-action-against-iowa-fur-farm.html | 2least
| Animal rights groups demand action against Iowa fur farm
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<p />
<p>Many of the animals have been forced to live in sweltering heat or maggot-infested filth, sometimes with decomposing carcasses in their cages, officials found over the last two years.</p>
<p>So far no charges or enforcement action has been taken against the Ruby Fur Farm near New Sharon, 65 miles (105 kilometers) southeast of Des Moines. However, animal rights groups are calling for rescue of the animals, revocation of the farm’s federal license and fines for neglect.</p>
<p>U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors documented the most recent problems when they returned to the farm seven times between December and August after finding suffering animals.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>A building housing 290 raccoons reached 100 degrees in July, with many of the animals panting and drooling and 26 in “severe heat distress,” according to a July 21 inspection report.</p>
<p>Reports from 2015 show injured or sick raccoons as well as skunks and ferrets that didn’t receive veterinary treatment. In one cage a skunk was found living with its dead cage-mate.</p>
<p>A December 2016 report noted: “One dead, decomposing, headless juvenile ferret was found incorporated into the fecal material buildup on the wire floor in the corner of the cage,” which also housed a live adult and six juvenile ferrets.</p>
<p>Federal contracts show that even as USDA inspectors were writing up the reports about the farm’s treatment of raccoons, the agency was signing contracts to buy animals from the company for research. It spent nearly $30,000 in June and December of 2015 and in July 2016.</p>
<p>The business since 2007 received more than $67,000 from USDA contracts to provide skunks, raccoons, and foxes. USDA has expansive research enterprises with divisions that focus on food safety, animal health and food production improvements. One of the contracts indicates raccoons were obtained by a USDA lab in Colorado focusing on wildlife diseases, and another noted young foxes would be used as “research models.”</p>
<p>The farm is licensed to Randy Ruby as a registered federal dealer by the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, and it holds state permits as an animal dealer and a pet shop.</p>
<p>Ruby declined to discuss the reports with The Associated Press when reached by telephone. He referred calls to The Cavalry Group, a Missouri-based animal business advocacy organization to which he is a member.</p>
<p>Its president, Mindy Patterson, said some of the USDA inspectors’ claims are exaggerated and when there has been an issue Ruby has addressed them immediately.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“What we witnessed up close and personal this summer was Randy Ruby’s farm being targeted and harassed with hyper-aggressive inspections,” she said. “We have time-tested agriculture practices to ensure the health and safety of both people and animals that are being redefined as inhumane treatment of animals by these groups who have nothing but an emotion-based agenda.”</p>
<p>The farm’s website says it has been in business for more than 65 years and raises “our animals with tender, loving care, and we can ship them anywhere in the world.”</p>
<p>Michael Budkie, executive director of Stop Animal Exploitation Now, an Ohio-based nonprofit that monitors U.S. research and animal holding facilities, has called for the termination of the fur farm’s federal animal dealer’s license and rescue of the animals.</p>
<p>In an Oct. 16 letter to Robert Gibbens, a veterinarian and the USDA’s director of Animal Welfare Operations based in Colorado, Budkie asked the agency to fine Ruby Fur Farm. He said inspection reports clearly demonstrate “a total disregard for the health and well-being of these animals.”</p>
<p>USDA spokesman R. Andre Bell confirmed the agency has discussed the farm with an animal rights group but declined to say whether it was considering enforcement action or terminating the license. He also declined to discuss whether USDA’s purchased of animals from the fur farm had any impact on its enforcement of animal welfare regulations.</p>
<p>The Iowa Department of Agriculture, which has issued state permits for the farm to operate as a pet shop and registered federal dealer, has no enforcement action pending, said spokesman Dustin Vande Hoef. The agency can revoke the permits if it were to find standard of care issues but it has received no complaints, he said.</p>
<p>Any animal neglect charges must come from a law enforcement officer under Iowa law.</p>
<p>Mahaska County Sheriff Russ VanRenterghem said he accompanied a USDA inspection team to the fur farm three or four times in July.</p>
<p>“I don’t see any violations,” he said, describing the farm’s owners as “very reputable, very good people.”</p>
<p>Iowa is ranked the second worst in the nation for animal welfare behind Kentucky, according to the Animal Legal Defense Fund’s annual rankings released in January.</p>
<p>Iowa enforcement is weak because with a few exceptions animal neglect is not considered a felony, and laws defining adequate shelter conditions are unclear, the group said.</p>
<p>“In general if I was picking a state to be an animal in, Iowa would be very far down my list,” said David Rosengard, a staff attorney for the group’s criminal justice program. “I could be neglected. I could be starved. I could be abandoned and the person who did that wouldn’t face the sort of repercussions they would have to deal with in a lot of other states.”</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Sign up for the AP’s weekly newsletter showcasing our best reporting from the Midwest and Texas: <a href="http://apne.ws/2u1RMfv" type="external">http://apne.ws/2u1RMfv</a> .</p> | 1,668 |
|
<p>By the end of the year, Brazil will have the world's sixth largest economy.</p>
<p>With a GDP of $2.44 trillion, it will <a href="http://en.mercopress.com/2011/10/31/brazil-becomes-sixth-world-economy-overtaking-uk-by-the-end-of-2011?utm_source=feed&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_content=main&amp;utm_campaign=rss" type="external">outrank the United Kingdom</a> for the first time, according to a&#160;report was published by Folha de Sao Paulo based on data from the IMF, Economist Intelligence Unit and Business Monitor International.</p>
<p>Brazil could overtake all European economies, including Germany's, by 2020, said the report.</p>
<p>"The fact that the Brazilian economy is overtaking that of the developed countries reflects the effects of the access of large segments of the poor population into the middle class and the consumer market", said Robert Wood, a U.S. analyst, according to MercoPress.</p>
<p><a href="http://twitter.com/#!/stephaniegarlow" type="external">Follow Stephanie on Twitter: @stephaniegarlow</a></p> | Brazil to become world's sixth largest economy | false | https://pri.org/stories/2011-10-31/brazil-become-worlds-sixth-largest-economy | 2011-10-31 | 3left-center
| Brazil to become world's sixth largest economy
<p>By the end of the year, Brazil will have the world's sixth largest economy.</p>
<p>With a GDP of $2.44 trillion, it will <a href="http://en.mercopress.com/2011/10/31/brazil-becomes-sixth-world-economy-overtaking-uk-by-the-end-of-2011?utm_source=feed&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_content=main&amp;utm_campaign=rss" type="external">outrank the United Kingdom</a> for the first time, according to a&#160;report was published by Folha de Sao Paulo based on data from the IMF, Economist Intelligence Unit and Business Monitor International.</p>
<p>Brazil could overtake all European economies, including Germany's, by 2020, said the report.</p>
<p>"The fact that the Brazilian economy is overtaking that of the developed countries reflects the effects of the access of large segments of the poor population into the middle class and the consumer market", said Robert Wood, a U.S. analyst, according to MercoPress.</p>
<p><a href="http://twitter.com/#!/stephaniegarlow" type="external">Follow Stephanie on Twitter: @stephaniegarlow</a></p> | 1,669 |
<p />
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Shares ofMerrimack Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: MACK), a commercial-stage oncology company, plunged more than 20% in Augustaccording to data from <a href="http://www.spcapitaliq.com/" type="external">S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence Opens a New Window.</a>. That was much worse than the biotech sector in general as measured by the SPDR S&amp;P Biotech ETF (NYSEMKT: XBI), which, by comparison, dropped by only 3%.</p>
<p><a href="http://ycharts.com/companies/XBI" type="external">XBI</a> data by <a href="http://ycharts.com" type="external">YCharts Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
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<p>Mixed results from thecompany'ssecond quarter appear to be the primary reason shares swooned.</p>
<p>Merrimack's top line came in at a very healthy$33.7 million during the second quarter, which was comfortably ahead of the $26.1 million Wall Street was expecting.The beat was primarily caused by a 71% jump in collaboration revenues received from its partner,Shire (NASDAQ: SHPG), which totaled $19.3 million for the period.</p>
<p>Sales of the company's metastatic pancreatic cancer drug Onivyde rose sharply during the quarter, coming in at $12.9 million. That was up a strong 29% when compared to the first quarter.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, Merrimack struggled to turn the big revenue beat into success on the bottom line. Net loss for the quarter was $50.8 million, or $0.40per share, which was much higher than the $0.33 analysts had projected.However, it's worth pointing out that the company's quarterly loss included a$14.6 million one-time, non-cash loss related to the conversion of convertible notes.</p>
<p>Still, traders look like they remained focused on the higher-than-hoped-for expenses, which looks to be the likely culprit behind the company's share price woes.</p>
<p>Looking a bit beyond the numbers, there are reasons to believe revenue will continue to move higher in the years ahead.</p>
<p>For one, Merrimack recently announced thatthe Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use, or CHMP, issued a positive opinion on Onivyde. That gives it a better-than-average chance of getting the green light from European regulators, and it sounds like the company's international marketing partner Shire is ready to start start selling the drug once a final ruling is in hand.</p>
<p>There's also the chance Onivyde could win label expansion claims in the years ahead. Merrimack is currently in Phase 2 studies researching Onivyde as a front-line treatment for metastatic pancreatic cancer in patients who werepreviously untreated. A data readout is expected in 2017 for this study, which means a second indication could be in hand within the next few years.</p>
<p>That's all good, but investors' eyes are likely to remain trained on the company's cash balance for the next few quarters. Merrimack ended the second quarter with only $82.7 million in cash on hand, which isn't much when compared to the company's quarterly net loss of $50.1 million. Those numbers seem to imply that yet another capital raise could be coming, which isn't great news since the company's stock is down by more than 53% over the past year. In addition, Merrimack's totallong-term debt at quarter end stood at $215 million, so it might beunappetizing to add even more debt to the company's balance sheet at this point.</p>
<p>Taking all of that into consideration, I'm personally contentto pass on Merrimack's stock right now, even at today's depressed prices.</p>
<p>A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early, in-the-know investors! To be one of them, <a href="http://www.fool.com/mms/mark/ecap-foolcom-apple-wearable?aid=6965&amp;source=irbeditxt0000017&amp;ftm_cam=rb-wearable-d&amp;ftm_pit=2518&amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">just click here Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFTypeoh/info.aspx" type="external">Brian Feroldi Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned.Like this article? Follow him onTwitter, where he goes by the handle <a href="https://twitter.com/LongTermMindset" type="external">@Longtermmindset Opens a New Window.</a>,or connect with him on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-feroldi-mba-46370a5" type="external">LinkedIn Opens a New Window.</a> to see more articles like this.</p>
<p>The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=isiedilnk018048&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/motley.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | Why Merrimack Pharmaceuticals Inc Fell 20.3% in August | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/09/12/why-merrimack-pharmaceuticals-inc-fell-203-in-august.html | 2016-09-12 | 0right
| Why Merrimack Pharmaceuticals Inc Fell 20.3% in August
<p />
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Shares ofMerrimack Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: MACK), a commercial-stage oncology company, plunged more than 20% in Augustaccording to data from <a href="http://www.spcapitaliq.com/" type="external">S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence Opens a New Window.</a>. That was much worse than the biotech sector in general as measured by the SPDR S&amp;P Biotech ETF (NYSEMKT: XBI), which, by comparison, dropped by only 3%.</p>
<p><a href="http://ycharts.com/companies/XBI" type="external">XBI</a> data by <a href="http://ycharts.com" type="external">YCharts Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Mixed results from thecompany'ssecond quarter appear to be the primary reason shares swooned.</p>
<p>Merrimack's top line came in at a very healthy$33.7 million during the second quarter, which was comfortably ahead of the $26.1 million Wall Street was expecting.The beat was primarily caused by a 71% jump in collaboration revenues received from its partner,Shire (NASDAQ: SHPG), which totaled $19.3 million for the period.</p>
<p>Sales of the company's metastatic pancreatic cancer drug Onivyde rose sharply during the quarter, coming in at $12.9 million. That was up a strong 29% when compared to the first quarter.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, Merrimack struggled to turn the big revenue beat into success on the bottom line. Net loss for the quarter was $50.8 million, or $0.40per share, which was much higher than the $0.33 analysts had projected.However, it's worth pointing out that the company's quarterly loss included a$14.6 million one-time, non-cash loss related to the conversion of convertible notes.</p>
<p>Still, traders look like they remained focused on the higher-than-hoped-for expenses, which looks to be the likely culprit behind the company's share price woes.</p>
<p>Looking a bit beyond the numbers, there are reasons to believe revenue will continue to move higher in the years ahead.</p>
<p>For one, Merrimack recently announced thatthe Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use, or CHMP, issued a positive opinion on Onivyde. That gives it a better-than-average chance of getting the green light from European regulators, and it sounds like the company's international marketing partner Shire is ready to start start selling the drug once a final ruling is in hand.</p>
<p>There's also the chance Onivyde could win label expansion claims in the years ahead. Merrimack is currently in Phase 2 studies researching Onivyde as a front-line treatment for metastatic pancreatic cancer in patients who werepreviously untreated. A data readout is expected in 2017 for this study, which means a second indication could be in hand within the next few years.</p>
<p>That's all good, but investors' eyes are likely to remain trained on the company's cash balance for the next few quarters. Merrimack ended the second quarter with only $82.7 million in cash on hand, which isn't much when compared to the company's quarterly net loss of $50.1 million. Those numbers seem to imply that yet another capital raise could be coming, which isn't great news since the company's stock is down by more than 53% over the past year. In addition, Merrimack's totallong-term debt at quarter end stood at $215 million, so it might beunappetizing to add even more debt to the company's balance sheet at this point.</p>
<p>Taking all of that into consideration, I'm personally contentto pass on Merrimack's stock right now, even at today's depressed prices.</p>
<p>A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early, in-the-know investors! To be one of them, <a href="http://www.fool.com/mms/mark/ecap-foolcom-apple-wearable?aid=6965&amp;source=irbeditxt0000017&amp;ftm_cam=rb-wearable-d&amp;ftm_pit=2518&amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">just click here Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFTypeoh/info.aspx" type="external">Brian Feroldi Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned.Like this article? Follow him onTwitter, where he goes by the handle <a href="https://twitter.com/LongTermMindset" type="external">@Longtermmindset Opens a New Window.</a>,or connect with him on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-feroldi-mba-46370a5" type="external">LinkedIn Opens a New Window.</a> to see more articles like this.</p>
<p>The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=isiedilnk018048&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/motley.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | 1,670 |
<p>The latest blast of snow to hit New England dumped more than a foot in part of Massachusetts and packed heavy winds that left thousands without power Sunday on Cape Cod.</p>
<p>Snow continued to fall farther north and forecasters said parts of Maine could see additional accumulation before the storm moves out Sunday.</p>
<p>Coastal areas in Maine and south of Boston appeared to get the worst of the storm overnight. In Massachusetts, 15 inches of snow was reported in Sandwich and 10 inches was reported in New Bedford and Plymouth.</p>
<p>In Maine, 17 inches was reported in Hancock, and 16.7 in Eastport, in the easternmost city in the U.S. A winter storm warning remained in effect in northeast Maine through the afternoon, the National Weather Service said.</p>
<p>Wind gusts of more than 50 mph were reported Saturday night on Cape Cod, where electricity provider NStar said about 7,650 customers were without power late Sunday morning.</p>
<p>About 1,700 customers lost power in Hyannis, where wind gusts topped out at 47 mph late Saturday.</p>
<p>In Canada, the city of Toronto has called an extreme cold weather alert as the temperature is expected to drop to minus-5 on Sunday night. The alert, in effect until further notice, was called to trigger additional services for the homeless. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police in parts of Newfoundland were warning residents only to venture out in emergencies because of whiteout driving conditions.</p>
<p>The weekend snowstorm comes on the heels of an earlier storm that blanketed the East Coast with snow and ice, caused at least 25 deaths and left hundreds of thousands without power.</p>
<p>— Associated Press</p>
<p /> | Wicked Winter: New England Hit With Another Snowy Blast | false | http://nbcnews.com/storyline/deep-freeze/wicked-winter-new-england-hit-another-snowy-blast-n31656 | 2014-02-16 | 3left-center
| Wicked Winter: New England Hit With Another Snowy Blast
<p>The latest blast of snow to hit New England dumped more than a foot in part of Massachusetts and packed heavy winds that left thousands without power Sunday on Cape Cod.</p>
<p>Snow continued to fall farther north and forecasters said parts of Maine could see additional accumulation before the storm moves out Sunday.</p>
<p>Coastal areas in Maine and south of Boston appeared to get the worst of the storm overnight. In Massachusetts, 15 inches of snow was reported in Sandwich and 10 inches was reported in New Bedford and Plymouth.</p>
<p>In Maine, 17 inches was reported in Hancock, and 16.7 in Eastport, in the easternmost city in the U.S. A winter storm warning remained in effect in northeast Maine through the afternoon, the National Weather Service said.</p>
<p>Wind gusts of more than 50 mph were reported Saturday night on Cape Cod, where electricity provider NStar said about 7,650 customers were without power late Sunday morning.</p>
<p>About 1,700 customers lost power in Hyannis, where wind gusts topped out at 47 mph late Saturday.</p>
<p>In Canada, the city of Toronto has called an extreme cold weather alert as the temperature is expected to drop to minus-5 on Sunday night. The alert, in effect until further notice, was called to trigger additional services for the homeless. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police in parts of Newfoundland were warning residents only to venture out in emergencies because of whiteout driving conditions.</p>
<p>The weekend snowstorm comes on the heels of an earlier storm that blanketed the East Coast with snow and ice, caused at least 25 deaths and left hundreds of thousands without power.</p>
<p>— Associated Press</p>
<p /> | 1,671 |
<p>MADRID (AP) — It turns out Barcelona had the solution to its problems right at home.</p>
<p>After starting the season surrounded by doubts following failed attempts to bring in a top player to replace Neymar, Barcelona showed it can do just fine regardless.</p>
<p>Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez proved they can get the job done by themselves, leading Barcelona to an impressive first half of the season.</p>
<p>With the talented duo thriving, Barcelona became the runaway leader in the Spanish league and stayed alive in the Champions League and the Copa del Rey.</p>
<p>Messi and Suarez have combined to score 34 goals in the Spanish league, more than the total tally of all but three other teams.</p>
<p>There was concern when Barcelona failed to sign Philippe Coutinho after Neymar left for Paris Saint-Germain in the offseason, but Messi and Suarez made sure the team stayed highly competitive despite not having the extra forward. The Catalan club added young France forward Ousmane Dembele, but the France international got injured and hasn't been able to play much. Coutinho was eventually signed from Liverpool this month, but hasn't debuted yet because of an injury.</p>
<p>Messi has been on a level of his own, leading the league in scoring with 19. He has scored nine times in his last 10 games.</p>
<p>The Argentina forward had a mesmerizing performance in a 5-0 rout at Real Betis on Sunday, scoring twice and being applauded by some of the opposing fans.</p>
<p>"We are lucky to be able to see him play," Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde said. "I suffered when I was on the other side, now I can enjoy it. It's a spectacle to be able to watch him. He is the best who will ever play."</p>
<p>Messi's second goal on Sunday was one to admire, with the playmaker entering the area and going past two defenders before calmly finding the net.</p>
<p>He also impressed late in the game by escaping from three defenders after being pressured near his own area, changing direction several times while coolly controlling the ball. He finished the play by putting the ball through the legs of one of the defenders.</p>
<p>"He does something different in every game," Suarez said of Messi. "He was spectacular again. The fans who came to the stadium were able to enjoy the best player in history."</p>
<p>Suarez has also been impressive.</p>
<p>The Uruguay striker also scored twice against Betis, reaching 100 goals with Barcelona in 114 matches. He is the league's second-best scorer with 15 goals, and has found the net 10 times in his last eight matches.</p>
<p>His first goal on Sunday was a neat volley from inside the area, and the second was a well-placed shot into the top corner after a set up by Messi.</p>
<p>Barcelona had been unbeaten in 29 matches until last week in a 1-0 loss at Espanyol in the Copa del Rey quarterfinals, where Messi failed to convert a penalty kick in a rare miss. Suarez began that game on the bench. The second leg is on Thursday at Camp Nou, where the duo is expected to play from the start.</p>
<p>Messi and Suarez helped Barcelona open an 11-point lead at the start of second half of the Spanish league, its biggest advantage after 20 matches since the 2008-09 season.</p>
<p>Barcelona has a 19-point lead over defending champion Real Madrid, which it beat 3-0 at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium last month with Messi and Suarez — what else? — scoring.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>More AP Spanish soccer coverage: <a href="" type="internal">https://apnews.com/tag/LaLiga</a></p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Tales Azzoni on Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/tazzoni" type="external">http://twitter.com/tazzoni</a></p>
<p>MADRID (AP) — It turns out Barcelona had the solution to its problems right at home.</p>
<p>After starting the season surrounded by doubts following failed attempts to bring in a top player to replace Neymar, Barcelona showed it can do just fine regardless.</p>
<p>Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez proved they can get the job done by themselves, leading Barcelona to an impressive first half of the season.</p>
<p>With the talented duo thriving, Barcelona became the runaway leader in the Spanish league and stayed alive in the Champions League and the Copa del Rey.</p>
<p>Messi and Suarez have combined to score 34 goals in the Spanish league, more than the total tally of all but three other teams.</p>
<p>There was concern when Barcelona failed to sign Philippe Coutinho after Neymar left for Paris Saint-Germain in the offseason, but Messi and Suarez made sure the team stayed highly competitive despite not having the extra forward. The Catalan club added young France forward Ousmane Dembele, but the France international got injured and hasn't been able to play much. Coutinho was eventually signed from Liverpool this month, but hasn't debuted yet because of an injury.</p>
<p>Messi has been on a level of his own, leading the league in scoring with 19. He has scored nine times in his last 10 games.</p>
<p>The Argentina forward had a mesmerizing performance in a 5-0 rout at Real Betis on Sunday, scoring twice and being applauded by some of the opposing fans.</p>
<p>"We are lucky to be able to see him play," Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde said. "I suffered when I was on the other side, now I can enjoy it. It's a spectacle to be able to watch him. He is the best who will ever play."</p>
<p>Messi's second goal on Sunday was one to admire, with the playmaker entering the area and going past two defenders before calmly finding the net.</p>
<p>He also impressed late in the game by escaping from three defenders after being pressured near his own area, changing direction several times while coolly controlling the ball. He finished the play by putting the ball through the legs of one of the defenders.</p>
<p>"He does something different in every game," Suarez said of Messi. "He was spectacular again. The fans who came to the stadium were able to enjoy the best player in history."</p>
<p>Suarez has also been impressive.</p>
<p>The Uruguay striker also scored twice against Betis, reaching 100 goals with Barcelona in 114 matches. He is the league's second-best scorer with 15 goals, and has found the net 10 times in his last eight matches.</p>
<p>His first goal on Sunday was a neat volley from inside the area, and the second was a well-placed shot into the top corner after a set up by Messi.</p>
<p>Barcelona had been unbeaten in 29 matches until last week in a 1-0 loss at Espanyol in the Copa del Rey quarterfinals, where Messi failed to convert a penalty kick in a rare miss. Suarez began that game on the bench. The second leg is on Thursday at Camp Nou, where the duo is expected to play from the start.</p>
<p>Messi and Suarez helped Barcelona open an 11-point lead at the start of second half of the Spanish league, its biggest advantage after 20 matches since the 2008-09 season.</p>
<p>Barcelona has a 19-point lead over defending champion Real Madrid, which it beat 3-0 at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium last month with Messi and Suarez — what else? — scoring.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>More AP Spanish soccer coverage: <a href="" type="internal">https://apnews.com/tag/LaLiga</a></p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Tales Azzoni on Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/tazzoni" type="external">http://twitter.com/tazzoni</a></p> | Without Neymar, Messi and Suarez keep Barcelona thriving | false | https://apnews.com/amp/9193ecda11104158b27831a40a56d933 | 2018-01-23 | 2least
| Without Neymar, Messi and Suarez keep Barcelona thriving
<p>MADRID (AP) — It turns out Barcelona had the solution to its problems right at home.</p>
<p>After starting the season surrounded by doubts following failed attempts to bring in a top player to replace Neymar, Barcelona showed it can do just fine regardless.</p>
<p>Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez proved they can get the job done by themselves, leading Barcelona to an impressive first half of the season.</p>
<p>With the talented duo thriving, Barcelona became the runaway leader in the Spanish league and stayed alive in the Champions League and the Copa del Rey.</p>
<p>Messi and Suarez have combined to score 34 goals in the Spanish league, more than the total tally of all but three other teams.</p>
<p>There was concern when Barcelona failed to sign Philippe Coutinho after Neymar left for Paris Saint-Germain in the offseason, but Messi and Suarez made sure the team stayed highly competitive despite not having the extra forward. The Catalan club added young France forward Ousmane Dembele, but the France international got injured and hasn't been able to play much. Coutinho was eventually signed from Liverpool this month, but hasn't debuted yet because of an injury.</p>
<p>Messi has been on a level of his own, leading the league in scoring with 19. He has scored nine times in his last 10 games.</p>
<p>The Argentina forward had a mesmerizing performance in a 5-0 rout at Real Betis on Sunday, scoring twice and being applauded by some of the opposing fans.</p>
<p>"We are lucky to be able to see him play," Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde said. "I suffered when I was on the other side, now I can enjoy it. It's a spectacle to be able to watch him. He is the best who will ever play."</p>
<p>Messi's second goal on Sunday was one to admire, with the playmaker entering the area and going past two defenders before calmly finding the net.</p>
<p>He also impressed late in the game by escaping from three defenders after being pressured near his own area, changing direction several times while coolly controlling the ball. He finished the play by putting the ball through the legs of one of the defenders.</p>
<p>"He does something different in every game," Suarez said of Messi. "He was spectacular again. The fans who came to the stadium were able to enjoy the best player in history."</p>
<p>Suarez has also been impressive.</p>
<p>The Uruguay striker also scored twice against Betis, reaching 100 goals with Barcelona in 114 matches. He is the league's second-best scorer with 15 goals, and has found the net 10 times in his last eight matches.</p>
<p>His first goal on Sunday was a neat volley from inside the area, and the second was a well-placed shot into the top corner after a set up by Messi.</p>
<p>Barcelona had been unbeaten in 29 matches until last week in a 1-0 loss at Espanyol in the Copa del Rey quarterfinals, where Messi failed to convert a penalty kick in a rare miss. Suarez began that game on the bench. The second leg is on Thursday at Camp Nou, where the duo is expected to play from the start.</p>
<p>Messi and Suarez helped Barcelona open an 11-point lead at the start of second half of the Spanish league, its biggest advantage after 20 matches since the 2008-09 season.</p>
<p>Barcelona has a 19-point lead over defending champion Real Madrid, which it beat 3-0 at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium last month with Messi and Suarez — what else? — scoring.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>More AP Spanish soccer coverage: <a href="" type="internal">https://apnews.com/tag/LaLiga</a></p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Tales Azzoni on Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/tazzoni" type="external">http://twitter.com/tazzoni</a></p>
<p>MADRID (AP) — It turns out Barcelona had the solution to its problems right at home.</p>
<p>After starting the season surrounded by doubts following failed attempts to bring in a top player to replace Neymar, Barcelona showed it can do just fine regardless.</p>
<p>Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez proved they can get the job done by themselves, leading Barcelona to an impressive first half of the season.</p>
<p>With the talented duo thriving, Barcelona became the runaway leader in the Spanish league and stayed alive in the Champions League and the Copa del Rey.</p>
<p>Messi and Suarez have combined to score 34 goals in the Spanish league, more than the total tally of all but three other teams.</p>
<p>There was concern when Barcelona failed to sign Philippe Coutinho after Neymar left for Paris Saint-Germain in the offseason, but Messi and Suarez made sure the team stayed highly competitive despite not having the extra forward. The Catalan club added young France forward Ousmane Dembele, but the France international got injured and hasn't been able to play much. Coutinho was eventually signed from Liverpool this month, but hasn't debuted yet because of an injury.</p>
<p>Messi has been on a level of his own, leading the league in scoring with 19. He has scored nine times in his last 10 games.</p>
<p>The Argentina forward had a mesmerizing performance in a 5-0 rout at Real Betis on Sunday, scoring twice and being applauded by some of the opposing fans.</p>
<p>"We are lucky to be able to see him play," Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde said. "I suffered when I was on the other side, now I can enjoy it. It's a spectacle to be able to watch him. He is the best who will ever play."</p>
<p>Messi's second goal on Sunday was one to admire, with the playmaker entering the area and going past two defenders before calmly finding the net.</p>
<p>He also impressed late in the game by escaping from three defenders after being pressured near his own area, changing direction several times while coolly controlling the ball. He finished the play by putting the ball through the legs of one of the defenders.</p>
<p>"He does something different in every game," Suarez said of Messi. "He was spectacular again. The fans who came to the stadium were able to enjoy the best player in history."</p>
<p>Suarez has also been impressive.</p>
<p>The Uruguay striker also scored twice against Betis, reaching 100 goals with Barcelona in 114 matches. He is the league's second-best scorer with 15 goals, and has found the net 10 times in his last eight matches.</p>
<p>His first goal on Sunday was a neat volley from inside the area, and the second was a well-placed shot into the top corner after a set up by Messi.</p>
<p>Barcelona had been unbeaten in 29 matches until last week in a 1-0 loss at Espanyol in the Copa del Rey quarterfinals, where Messi failed to convert a penalty kick in a rare miss. Suarez began that game on the bench. The second leg is on Thursday at Camp Nou, where the duo is expected to play from the start.</p>
<p>Messi and Suarez helped Barcelona open an 11-point lead at the start of second half of the Spanish league, its biggest advantage after 20 matches since the 2008-09 season.</p>
<p>Barcelona has a 19-point lead over defending champion Real Madrid, which it beat 3-0 at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium last month with Messi and Suarez — what else? — scoring.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>More AP Spanish soccer coverage: <a href="" type="internal">https://apnews.com/tag/LaLiga</a></p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Tales Azzoni on Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/tazzoni" type="external">http://twitter.com/tazzoni</a></p> | 1,672 |
<p>Hillary Clinton / AP</p>
<p>BY: <a href="" type="internal">Alana Goodman</a> May 6, 2016 4:57 am</p>
<p>Romanian hacker Guccifer’s claims that he hacked into Hillary Clinton’s private email server could bolster a potential criminal case against Clinton for mishandling classified information, according to former U.S. prosecutors.</p>
<p>"The question is if a guy like that can [hack into] it, who else did it?" said Joseph diGenova, former U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C.</p>
<p>Matthew Whitaker, former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa, said the hacker’s allegations would "confirm what most people have believed to be true, which was that this email server was not secured like you would expect it to be. That it was opened and had been looked at by at least people who don’t have American interests at heart."</p>
<p>Guccifer, whose real name is Marcel Lehel Lazar, was extradited to the United States in March. He&#160;is charged with breaching the email accounts of a number of political figures, including long-time Clinton advisor Sidney Blumenthal.</p>
<p>Lazar said in a Fox News <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/05/04/romanian-hacker-guccifer-breached-clinton-server-it-was-easy.html" type="external">interview</a> published Wednesday that he also infiltrated Clinton’s email server in early 2013, although his claim has not been confirmed and he has not been charged with doing it.</p>
<p>The FBI has been investigating whether classified and national security information was mishandled over Clinton’s private server.</p>
<p>DiGenova said the timing and circumstances of Lazar’s sudden extradition suggests it was&#160;related to the FBI probe.</p>
<p>"The FBI found him, actually brought him over to the United States, actually quite early. Generally speaking they don’t bring back hackers to the United States, unless there’s been some huge financial crime," diGenova said. "I’m sure he’s there to provide some sort of context for the ongoing investigation."</p>
<p>Lazar, who was first charged by the United States&#160;in 2014, was in the middle of a seven-year prison sentence in Romania at the time of his March extradition.</p>
<p>"Bringing him back before his sentence has expired … is pretty unusual, and clearly it’s related to the Clinton server," diGenova said.</p>
<p>DiGenova noted that Lazar’s case is before the Eastern District Court of Virginia, "which means that the venue for all other cases related to his will be Virginia." He said the court is the most likely venue if Clinton’s email investigation leads to charges.</p>
<p>Whitaker said the FBI would "have a lot of interest [in talking to Lazar about Clinton’s server] based on the little bits provided to explore."</p>
<p>He&#160;said details about the server’s structure would be particularly valuable.</p>
<p>"If some of those basic facts appear to be true, I think the FBI would find him more credible and explore what else he saw," Whitaker said.</p>
<p>It is unclear why Lazar chose to go public with his claim now. He has previously boasted about his high-profile hacking victims in interviews and jailhouse letters but did not mention accessing Clinton’s emails.</p>
<p>A spokesperson for Clinton denied Lazar’s story and noted that the hacker never publicly released emails from Clinton’s server, as he has done with other political figures.</p>
<p>"There is absolutely no basis to believe the claims made by this criminal from his prison cell. In addition to the fact he offers no proof&#160;to support his claims, his descriptions of Secretary Clinton's server&#160;are inaccurate. It is unfathomable that he would have gained access to her emails and not leaked them the way he did to his other victims," the Clinton campaign told Fox News on Wednesday.</p>
<p>Lazar has pleaded not guilty to the federal hacking charges. In his interview with Fox News, he indicated that he would be open to a plea agreement and is willing to cooperate with federal authorities. He also claimed he has a hidden collection of highly-sensitive information that he has not shared with the U.S. government.</p>
<p>The hacker told Fox News that getting access to Clinton’s server was "easy" and he did it multiple times.</p>
<p>"For me, it was easy … easy for me, for everybody," Lazar told Fox News, adding that he did not find the content interesting.</p> | Guccifer Allegations Could be Significant for Clinton FBI Probe, Say Former U.S. Prosecutors | true | http://freebeacon.com/issues/guccifer-allegations-significant-clinton-fbi-probe-say-former-u-s-prosecutors/ | 2016-05-06 | 0right
| Guccifer Allegations Could be Significant for Clinton FBI Probe, Say Former U.S. Prosecutors
<p>Hillary Clinton / AP</p>
<p>BY: <a href="" type="internal">Alana Goodman</a> May 6, 2016 4:57 am</p>
<p>Romanian hacker Guccifer’s claims that he hacked into Hillary Clinton’s private email server could bolster a potential criminal case against Clinton for mishandling classified information, according to former U.S. prosecutors.</p>
<p>"The question is if a guy like that can [hack into] it, who else did it?" said Joseph diGenova, former U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C.</p>
<p>Matthew Whitaker, former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa, said the hacker’s allegations would "confirm what most people have believed to be true, which was that this email server was not secured like you would expect it to be. That it was opened and had been looked at by at least people who don’t have American interests at heart."</p>
<p>Guccifer, whose real name is Marcel Lehel Lazar, was extradited to the United States in March. He&#160;is charged with breaching the email accounts of a number of political figures, including long-time Clinton advisor Sidney Blumenthal.</p>
<p>Lazar said in a Fox News <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/05/04/romanian-hacker-guccifer-breached-clinton-server-it-was-easy.html" type="external">interview</a> published Wednesday that he also infiltrated Clinton’s email server in early 2013, although his claim has not been confirmed and he has not been charged with doing it.</p>
<p>The FBI has been investigating whether classified and national security information was mishandled over Clinton’s private server.</p>
<p>DiGenova said the timing and circumstances of Lazar’s sudden extradition suggests it was&#160;related to the FBI probe.</p>
<p>"The FBI found him, actually brought him over to the United States, actually quite early. Generally speaking they don’t bring back hackers to the United States, unless there’s been some huge financial crime," diGenova said. "I’m sure he’s there to provide some sort of context for the ongoing investigation."</p>
<p>Lazar, who was first charged by the United States&#160;in 2014, was in the middle of a seven-year prison sentence in Romania at the time of his March extradition.</p>
<p>"Bringing him back before his sentence has expired … is pretty unusual, and clearly it’s related to the Clinton server," diGenova said.</p>
<p>DiGenova noted that Lazar’s case is before the Eastern District Court of Virginia, "which means that the venue for all other cases related to his will be Virginia." He said the court is the most likely venue if Clinton’s email investigation leads to charges.</p>
<p>Whitaker said the FBI would "have a lot of interest [in talking to Lazar about Clinton’s server] based on the little bits provided to explore."</p>
<p>He&#160;said details about the server’s structure would be particularly valuable.</p>
<p>"If some of those basic facts appear to be true, I think the FBI would find him more credible and explore what else he saw," Whitaker said.</p>
<p>It is unclear why Lazar chose to go public with his claim now. He has previously boasted about his high-profile hacking victims in interviews and jailhouse letters but did not mention accessing Clinton’s emails.</p>
<p>A spokesperson for Clinton denied Lazar’s story and noted that the hacker never publicly released emails from Clinton’s server, as he has done with other political figures.</p>
<p>"There is absolutely no basis to believe the claims made by this criminal from his prison cell. In addition to the fact he offers no proof&#160;to support his claims, his descriptions of Secretary Clinton's server&#160;are inaccurate. It is unfathomable that he would have gained access to her emails and not leaked them the way he did to his other victims," the Clinton campaign told Fox News on Wednesday.</p>
<p>Lazar has pleaded not guilty to the federal hacking charges. In his interview with Fox News, he indicated that he would be open to a plea agreement and is willing to cooperate with federal authorities. He also claimed he has a hidden collection of highly-sensitive information that he has not shared with the U.S. government.</p>
<p>The hacker told Fox News that getting access to Clinton’s server was "easy" and he did it multiple times.</p>
<p>"For me, it was easy … easy for me, for everybody," Lazar told Fox News, adding that he did not find the content interesting.</p> | 1,673 |
<p>Following Karen Handel’s electoral victory in Georgia’s 6th District special election last night, the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., vented some strange frustrations about the GOP candidate’s victory. Namely, Trump Jr. was upset that the media didn’t capitalize on what he considered an important accomplishment: that Karen Handel will become&#160;the first female GOP member of Congress&#160;to represent the state of Georgia.</p>
<p />
<p>Trump Jr. ignores one very&#160;important fact, however: Handel, while being the first Republican woman elected to Congress from the state of Georgia, isn’t the first woman ever elected to Congress from that state. That <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/women-in-congress-biography-3528696" type="external">distinction belongs to Florence Reville Gibbs</a>, a Democrat who was first elected in the 1940s to serve Georgia in Congress. Many other Democratic women from Georgia have similarly been elected since that time.</p>
<p>Many other observers on Twitter took Trump Jr. to task for his ill-thought out comments.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>Others noted that support for women candidates shouldn’t be automatic, especially if the candidates don’t support causes that help feminism in the long run.</p>
<p />
<p>Trump Jr.’s tweet is wrong for another reason: major media outlets DID note,&#160;both <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/06/20/karen-handel-could-make-history-as-the-first-gop-woman-elected-to-congress-from-georgia/?utm_term=.447d0825f82f" type="external">before</a> and <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/handel-make-georgia-history-gop-congresswoman/story?id=48174248" type="external">after the election</a>,&#160;Handel’s historic place as the first&#160;Republican female representative from Georgia.</p>
<p>Trump Jr.’s&#160;disdain is&#160;probably unwarranted entirely because a glass ceiling that has already been broken cannot be broken twice. Furthermore, that it took the GOP more than 70 years after the Democrats&#160;to put into Congress its own female representative speaks volumes about their own party’s problems, not its accomplishments.</p> | Trump Jr. Just Tried to Congratulate Karen Handel and It Blew Up In His Face | true | http://resistancereport.com/news/trump-jr-just-tried-congratulate-karen-handel-blew-face/ | 2017-06-21 | 4left
| Trump Jr. Just Tried to Congratulate Karen Handel and It Blew Up In His Face
<p>Following Karen Handel’s electoral victory in Georgia’s 6th District special election last night, the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., vented some strange frustrations about the GOP candidate’s victory. Namely, Trump Jr. was upset that the media didn’t capitalize on what he considered an important accomplishment: that Karen Handel will become&#160;the first female GOP member of Congress&#160;to represent the state of Georgia.</p>
<p />
<p>Trump Jr. ignores one very&#160;important fact, however: Handel, while being the first Republican woman elected to Congress from the state of Georgia, isn’t the first woman ever elected to Congress from that state. That <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/women-in-congress-biography-3528696" type="external">distinction belongs to Florence Reville Gibbs</a>, a Democrat who was first elected in the 1940s to serve Georgia in Congress. Many other Democratic women from Georgia have similarly been elected since that time.</p>
<p>Many other observers on Twitter took Trump Jr. to task for his ill-thought out comments.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>Others noted that support for women candidates shouldn’t be automatic, especially if the candidates don’t support causes that help feminism in the long run.</p>
<p />
<p>Trump Jr.’s tweet is wrong for another reason: major media outlets DID note,&#160;both <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/06/20/karen-handel-could-make-history-as-the-first-gop-woman-elected-to-congress-from-georgia/?utm_term=.447d0825f82f" type="external">before</a> and <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/handel-make-georgia-history-gop-congresswoman/story?id=48174248" type="external">after the election</a>,&#160;Handel’s historic place as the first&#160;Republican female representative from Georgia.</p>
<p>Trump Jr.’s&#160;disdain is&#160;probably unwarranted entirely because a glass ceiling that has already been broken cannot be broken twice. Furthermore, that it took the GOP more than 70 years after the Democrats&#160;to put into Congress its own female representative speaks volumes about their own party’s problems, not its accomplishments.</p> | 1,674 |
<p>A chickenhawk, dear readers, is one of two things: either a voting-age pedophile, or a warmonger who has never gone to war. It’s an unattractive word.</p>
<p>I have little to say about the Man/Boy Love crowd, just as I have little to say about the habits of cannibal chimpanzees. But there is much to be said about the other chickenhawks, the kind that can’t wait to send someone else off to fight. Particularly as there’s a bunch of them in Washington hell-bent on starting a war with Iraq, even as we speak.</p>
<p>When a war comes along, the civilian President, who is also Commander-In-Chief of the armed forces, must figuratively lead our nation into battle-whether or not he’s been in combat, or the military, or even worn a garment with epaulettes. Abraham Lincoln, who invented the log, served in the Blackhawk war, long before the Blackhawks started making helicopters. Lincoln never saw a moment’s combat, but did a lot of marching, and gained an appreciation for the price of war- he saw folks without scalps during a time when you were considered naked without a hat. When the Civil War broke out, President Lincoln wanted no part of it. But he listened to his generals, conducted the Northern campaign with diligence, and in a bond which has lasted some six score and eight years cemented our nation back together.</p>
<p>George W. Bush couldn’t cement the handle back on a shaving mug. He served some of a tour of duty defending Alabama from the Viet Cong, but the only scalp he ever saw was firmly affixed to George McGovern’s head. Yet Bush has a hunger for war (or at least Karl Rumsfeld does, which amounts to the same thing, as Rumsfeld rents the basement apartment in Bush’s head). The war in Afghanistan doesn’t count as a chickenhawk action, because we didn’t pick the fight, it picked us. It was a defensive action, like burning a forest down because there’s a beehive in it. But this war on Iraq is a chickenhawk’s war, through-and-through. It’s all about rattling sabers and being a Big Man (forget about the oil- let’s do).</p>
<p>Chickenhawks are all of a type. They have money and privilege, often inherited. They’re white and aging and deeply invested in power. Most of today’s chickenhawks not only haven’t been to war, but studiously avoided it by any means available. The excuses range from the embarrassing (Rush “Anal Cysts” Limbaugh) to the evasive (Dick “I Had Other Priorities In The 60’s Than Military Service” Cheney). Donald Rumsfeld, like Bush, flew fighter jets, but missed both Korea and Vietnam due to poor scheduling. He did some wrestling, but all-torso Greco-Roman is not the same as grenades and bayonets.</p>
<p>What psychological aberration addicts a man to war when he’s never even smoked one? Let’s look at the inward motivations for a chickenhawk to initiate hostilities with Iraq. Power is a big factor, and the opportunity to amass more wealth; war as a distraction from domestic matters is also in play. There are natural resources to be had, and a vast scheme for realigning the Middle East through ‘regime change’ (a bloodless term for a nasty business, as “abattoir” is to “slaughter house”). There is even a small chance that self-defense, in a ‘Minority Report’ kind of way, is at work. All of these points have been cried from the housetops by fierce orators declaiming across the dismal alleys of American discourse, and in my opinion they dignify with statecraft what is ultimately a sordid personal problem: chickenhawks have never entered manhood.</p>
<p>What we’re talking about is an inferiority complex crashing up against megalomania on a global scale.</p>
<p>In aboriginal cultures, there is a ritual ascendancy from child to adult. Ask any Yanomami. You’re 13 years old, minding your own business, and all of a sudden the shaman takes you off behind the shed and subjects you to ritual death, from which you emerge transformed and never really see eye-to-eye with Mom again. You are handed a spear and an obscene-looking wood shaving to affix over your genitals, or in the case of the more serious cultures some portion of your genitals is removed. I own a Maasai circumcision knife, and I assure you anyone who survives an encounter with that thing is more of a man than me. Assuming the wounds heal properly. Then you go off and hunt some dangerous animal, manly fashion.</p>
<p>We don’t have any such ritual in our culture, unless you include the Bar Mitzvah, which can be pretty tough if the band is no good. American males remain like children until their late teens or early twenties; sons of privilege who go to grad school are pushing thirty before they properly leave the nest. George W. Bush was one of these. This late entrance into manhood is one of the reasons our teenagers are such a pain in the toches. In the aboriginal cultures, there are no teenagers. Only very short men with acne and high-pitched voices. Where is the crucible which molds today’s man? When does he become a man, leaving the child behind? And don’t say it’s when he gets his driver’s license. That’s when he leaves his parents behind, in the driveway. But the child remains.</p>
<p>In George W. Bush’s case, maybe the cathartic ascent to manhood came when he stopped drinking at age 40, or when he executed his first Texan, Clifton Russell Jr., in 1995. Bush was 49 then. Maybe it was when he graduated from Harvard in 1975 (age 29), or when he was arrested for DUI in 1976 (age 14). Actually I don’t think he ever became a man. I suspect he’s still waiting for that moment to come, and I think all the chickenhawks suffer from this, whether like Rumsfeld they just missed the chance to go on that first hunt or like Richard Perle they chickened out and hid in the palmettos. So they’re eager to fight war, if not personally. They want to be men at last. War is manly stuff. Genghis Khan, the Mongol conqueror who made “Look, mommy, a pony!” the most frightening cry of the 12th Century, remarked:</p>
<p>“The greatest joy you can know is to vanquish your enemies and drive them before you, to ride their horses and seize their possessions, to see the faces of those who were dear to them bedewed with tears, and to clasp their wives and daughters in your arms.”</p>
<p>Nobody called old Genghis “Pooty-Poot”, I guarantee you that. He may have been a little rough on Central Europe, but Genghis at least knew what he was talking about: he rode his own horse into battle, and they were rinsing the bloodstains out of his hat well into the 13th Century. He was no chickenhawk. He also said, “violence never settles anything,” which is a sentiment pretty typical of war veterans throughout history. Men who have never been to war lack the perspective which only comes with experience. Like grandma said, there’s nothing like wading through a quagmire of blood and guts to get your head screwed on straight. The problem with today’s chickenhawks is that they’re so used to having everything done for them, they think by sending other people off to war, they will make themselves into men by proxy.</p>
<p>If this seems like a tenuous idea, consider how much your own childhood shaped who you are. These men were boys once, and for a lot longer than most of us. George W. Bush’s Daddy, George Senior, was 20 years old when he flew a raid on Chichi Jima during WWII. You want to talk about catharsis, this guy’s plane was crippled but he kept on fighting and crashed in the sea in as heroic a manner as can be imagined. After a distinguished public career, same Daddy became President the old-fashioned way, by getting elected. That’s a tough act to follow, and it may explain George Junior’s obsession with defeating Saddam Hussein better than all of the geopolitical rationales in the world. Because as tough a warrior as he was, George Sr. never caught Saddam. This is Junior’s big chance to show up his Pops. He’s had all of life’s rewards handed to him: wealth, power, baseball teams, the Presidency: just this once he wants to win one for himself. I get the feeling the same can be said for all the chickenhawks, at some level. They’re a bunch of insecure, angry children, sliding inexorably into old age without having tasted real manhood for themselves. No matter what they achieve, no matter what rewards, it is all consumed by the tapeworm of self-doubt. It’s the rest of us who have to suffer and die while their endless initiation ceremony grinds on.</p>
<p>So here’s my suggestion. Let’s get all of them together one night on a small tropical island, light a bonfire, break out the jug liquor and get a little noisy. Beat on some drums, dance around in masks, you know the effect I’m going for. Get them good and scared. Then the ceremony begins, with George Junior and Cheney and Perle and Rumsfeld and DeLay and Limbaugh and Kemp and Lott and all the rest dressed up in school uniforms, forming a writhing conga line, maybe with pacifiers in their mouths so they can channel their bottled-up boyhoods. They dance and weep as the drums throb toward an urgent crescendo, the fire leaping like an angry god–the moment is here: these old boys will at last become men! And then we run like hell for the boats while a battalion of the other variety of chickenhawk, released from prison for this purpose, descends upon the circle of ancient children.</p>
<p>C’est la guerre.</p>
<p>BEN TRIPP is a screenwriter. He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Chickenhawk a la Mode | true | https://counterpunch.org/2002/10/15/chickenhawk-a-la-mode/ | 2002-10-15 | 4left
| Chickenhawk a la Mode
<p>A chickenhawk, dear readers, is one of two things: either a voting-age pedophile, or a warmonger who has never gone to war. It’s an unattractive word.</p>
<p>I have little to say about the Man/Boy Love crowd, just as I have little to say about the habits of cannibal chimpanzees. But there is much to be said about the other chickenhawks, the kind that can’t wait to send someone else off to fight. Particularly as there’s a bunch of them in Washington hell-bent on starting a war with Iraq, even as we speak.</p>
<p>When a war comes along, the civilian President, who is also Commander-In-Chief of the armed forces, must figuratively lead our nation into battle-whether or not he’s been in combat, or the military, or even worn a garment with epaulettes. Abraham Lincoln, who invented the log, served in the Blackhawk war, long before the Blackhawks started making helicopters. Lincoln never saw a moment’s combat, but did a lot of marching, and gained an appreciation for the price of war- he saw folks without scalps during a time when you were considered naked without a hat. When the Civil War broke out, President Lincoln wanted no part of it. But he listened to his generals, conducted the Northern campaign with diligence, and in a bond which has lasted some six score and eight years cemented our nation back together.</p>
<p>George W. Bush couldn’t cement the handle back on a shaving mug. He served some of a tour of duty defending Alabama from the Viet Cong, but the only scalp he ever saw was firmly affixed to George McGovern’s head. Yet Bush has a hunger for war (or at least Karl Rumsfeld does, which amounts to the same thing, as Rumsfeld rents the basement apartment in Bush’s head). The war in Afghanistan doesn’t count as a chickenhawk action, because we didn’t pick the fight, it picked us. It was a defensive action, like burning a forest down because there’s a beehive in it. But this war on Iraq is a chickenhawk’s war, through-and-through. It’s all about rattling sabers and being a Big Man (forget about the oil- let’s do).</p>
<p>Chickenhawks are all of a type. They have money and privilege, often inherited. They’re white and aging and deeply invested in power. Most of today’s chickenhawks not only haven’t been to war, but studiously avoided it by any means available. The excuses range from the embarrassing (Rush “Anal Cysts” Limbaugh) to the evasive (Dick “I Had Other Priorities In The 60’s Than Military Service” Cheney). Donald Rumsfeld, like Bush, flew fighter jets, but missed both Korea and Vietnam due to poor scheduling. He did some wrestling, but all-torso Greco-Roman is not the same as grenades and bayonets.</p>
<p>What psychological aberration addicts a man to war when he’s never even smoked one? Let’s look at the inward motivations for a chickenhawk to initiate hostilities with Iraq. Power is a big factor, and the opportunity to amass more wealth; war as a distraction from domestic matters is also in play. There are natural resources to be had, and a vast scheme for realigning the Middle East through ‘regime change’ (a bloodless term for a nasty business, as “abattoir” is to “slaughter house”). There is even a small chance that self-defense, in a ‘Minority Report’ kind of way, is at work. All of these points have been cried from the housetops by fierce orators declaiming across the dismal alleys of American discourse, and in my opinion they dignify with statecraft what is ultimately a sordid personal problem: chickenhawks have never entered manhood.</p>
<p>What we’re talking about is an inferiority complex crashing up against megalomania on a global scale.</p>
<p>In aboriginal cultures, there is a ritual ascendancy from child to adult. Ask any Yanomami. You’re 13 years old, minding your own business, and all of a sudden the shaman takes you off behind the shed and subjects you to ritual death, from which you emerge transformed and never really see eye-to-eye with Mom again. You are handed a spear and an obscene-looking wood shaving to affix over your genitals, or in the case of the more serious cultures some portion of your genitals is removed. I own a Maasai circumcision knife, and I assure you anyone who survives an encounter with that thing is more of a man than me. Assuming the wounds heal properly. Then you go off and hunt some dangerous animal, manly fashion.</p>
<p>We don’t have any such ritual in our culture, unless you include the Bar Mitzvah, which can be pretty tough if the band is no good. American males remain like children until their late teens or early twenties; sons of privilege who go to grad school are pushing thirty before they properly leave the nest. George W. Bush was one of these. This late entrance into manhood is one of the reasons our teenagers are such a pain in the toches. In the aboriginal cultures, there are no teenagers. Only very short men with acne and high-pitched voices. Where is the crucible which molds today’s man? When does he become a man, leaving the child behind? And don’t say it’s when he gets his driver’s license. That’s when he leaves his parents behind, in the driveway. But the child remains.</p>
<p>In George W. Bush’s case, maybe the cathartic ascent to manhood came when he stopped drinking at age 40, or when he executed his first Texan, Clifton Russell Jr., in 1995. Bush was 49 then. Maybe it was when he graduated from Harvard in 1975 (age 29), or when he was arrested for DUI in 1976 (age 14). Actually I don’t think he ever became a man. I suspect he’s still waiting for that moment to come, and I think all the chickenhawks suffer from this, whether like Rumsfeld they just missed the chance to go on that first hunt or like Richard Perle they chickened out and hid in the palmettos. So they’re eager to fight war, if not personally. They want to be men at last. War is manly stuff. Genghis Khan, the Mongol conqueror who made “Look, mommy, a pony!” the most frightening cry of the 12th Century, remarked:</p>
<p>“The greatest joy you can know is to vanquish your enemies and drive them before you, to ride their horses and seize their possessions, to see the faces of those who were dear to them bedewed with tears, and to clasp their wives and daughters in your arms.”</p>
<p>Nobody called old Genghis “Pooty-Poot”, I guarantee you that. He may have been a little rough on Central Europe, but Genghis at least knew what he was talking about: he rode his own horse into battle, and they were rinsing the bloodstains out of his hat well into the 13th Century. He was no chickenhawk. He also said, “violence never settles anything,” which is a sentiment pretty typical of war veterans throughout history. Men who have never been to war lack the perspective which only comes with experience. Like grandma said, there’s nothing like wading through a quagmire of blood and guts to get your head screwed on straight. The problem with today’s chickenhawks is that they’re so used to having everything done for them, they think by sending other people off to war, they will make themselves into men by proxy.</p>
<p>If this seems like a tenuous idea, consider how much your own childhood shaped who you are. These men were boys once, and for a lot longer than most of us. George W. Bush’s Daddy, George Senior, was 20 years old when he flew a raid on Chichi Jima during WWII. You want to talk about catharsis, this guy’s plane was crippled but he kept on fighting and crashed in the sea in as heroic a manner as can be imagined. After a distinguished public career, same Daddy became President the old-fashioned way, by getting elected. That’s a tough act to follow, and it may explain George Junior’s obsession with defeating Saddam Hussein better than all of the geopolitical rationales in the world. Because as tough a warrior as he was, George Sr. never caught Saddam. This is Junior’s big chance to show up his Pops. He’s had all of life’s rewards handed to him: wealth, power, baseball teams, the Presidency: just this once he wants to win one for himself. I get the feeling the same can be said for all the chickenhawks, at some level. They’re a bunch of insecure, angry children, sliding inexorably into old age without having tasted real manhood for themselves. No matter what they achieve, no matter what rewards, it is all consumed by the tapeworm of self-doubt. It’s the rest of us who have to suffer and die while their endless initiation ceremony grinds on.</p>
<p>So here’s my suggestion. Let’s get all of them together one night on a small tropical island, light a bonfire, break out the jug liquor and get a little noisy. Beat on some drums, dance around in masks, you know the effect I’m going for. Get them good and scared. Then the ceremony begins, with George Junior and Cheney and Perle and Rumsfeld and DeLay and Limbaugh and Kemp and Lott and all the rest dressed up in school uniforms, forming a writhing conga line, maybe with pacifiers in their mouths so they can channel their bottled-up boyhoods. They dance and weep as the drums throb toward an urgent crescendo, the fire leaping like an angry god–the moment is here: these old boys will at last become men! And then we run like hell for the boats while a battalion of the other variety of chickenhawk, released from prison for this purpose, descends upon the circle of ancient children.</p>
<p>C’est la guerre.</p>
<p>BEN TRIPP is a screenwriter. He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p> | 1,675 |
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<p><a href="http://sage.abqjournalfit.com/2014/01/18/headline-276/experts-gross-books/" type="external" />Is your house cluttered with books? Read on to learn how to limit your books to the ones you read.</p>
<p>Nikki and Elizabeth, her professional organizer, have to empty the bookcase in the family room to make room for other things. Letting go of books is very difficult for Nikki. For many of us, the books on our shelves hold our history, aspirations, dreams and even our self-image. We want to be seen as “well-educated people who read” with the bookcases to prove it. Nikki is no different.</p>
<p>Elizabeth asks Nikki questions to help with purging her books. Will you read this again? How long ago did you read it, and have you read it again since then? If you could only take 20 books to a desert island, would this one make the cut? If not, pass it on.</p>
<p>If you haven’t read it, how long have you been meaning to read it? Will you ever really read it? Is it something you were interested in once but not now? Elizabeth asks Nikki if she is keeping books she will probably never read just because they are classics that “every educated person should have read.” She asks her what would be more embarrassing – not having “War and Peace” on your shelf, or being asked what you thought of it and admitting you haven’t read it?</p>
<p>Books that Nikki plans to read are assigned a specific shelf that holds only unread books. They put today’s date on each one. Nikki decides if she hasn’t read the book in a year, she probably won’t. As Nikki gets new books, they will be dated and added to the shelf.</p>
<p>Elizabeth tells Nikki the secret to keeping the collection from growing out of bounds again is to limit the unread books to one shelf. This method creates an automatic “one in, one out” system. If the shelf is full, Nikki will have to let go of a book to make room to add a new one. Nikki will only keep books on the shelf that she really plans to read in a reasonable time frame.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Elizabeth suggests that Nikki donate the books that are in good condition to <a href="http://www.friendsforthelibrary.org/" type="external">Friends of the Library</a> &#160;help the library spread the love of reading.</p>
<p>Learn along with Nikki as she and Elizabeth, the professional organizer, get the house organized room by room. Start the series <a href="http://sage.abqjournalfit.com/2012/09/08/nikki-works-with-elizabeth-the-professional-organizer-from-ask-the-experts/" type="external">here</a>.</p>
<p>Copyright© 2014 Elizabeth Tawney Gross, Organizing For Everyday, LLC</p>
<p>Ask the Experts panelist Elizabeth Tawney Gross is the owner of Organizing for Everyday and a certified professional organizer in chronic disorganization. Send her a question at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a>. Find out more about her at <a href="http://org4everyday.com" type="external">org4everyday.com</a>.</p>
<p>To ask Elizabeth a question, type in the comments field below. Or ask a question by emailing <a href="" type="internal">[email protected].</a></p> | Book Clutter: How to Let Go, from Elizabeth Tawney Gross | false | https://abqjournal.com/510996/headline-276-2.html | 2least
| Book Clutter: How to Let Go, from Elizabeth Tawney Gross
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p><a href="http://sage.abqjournalfit.com/2014/01/18/headline-276/experts-gross-books/" type="external" />Is your house cluttered with books? Read on to learn how to limit your books to the ones you read.</p>
<p>Nikki and Elizabeth, her professional organizer, have to empty the bookcase in the family room to make room for other things. Letting go of books is very difficult for Nikki. For many of us, the books on our shelves hold our history, aspirations, dreams and even our self-image. We want to be seen as “well-educated people who read” with the bookcases to prove it. Nikki is no different.</p>
<p>Elizabeth asks Nikki questions to help with purging her books. Will you read this again? How long ago did you read it, and have you read it again since then? If you could only take 20 books to a desert island, would this one make the cut? If not, pass it on.</p>
<p>If you haven’t read it, how long have you been meaning to read it? Will you ever really read it? Is it something you were interested in once but not now? Elizabeth asks Nikki if she is keeping books she will probably never read just because they are classics that “every educated person should have read.” She asks her what would be more embarrassing – not having “War and Peace” on your shelf, or being asked what you thought of it and admitting you haven’t read it?</p>
<p>Books that Nikki plans to read are assigned a specific shelf that holds only unread books. They put today’s date on each one. Nikki decides if she hasn’t read the book in a year, she probably won’t. As Nikki gets new books, they will be dated and added to the shelf.</p>
<p>Elizabeth tells Nikki the secret to keeping the collection from growing out of bounds again is to limit the unread books to one shelf. This method creates an automatic “one in, one out” system. If the shelf is full, Nikki will have to let go of a book to make room to add a new one. Nikki will only keep books on the shelf that she really plans to read in a reasonable time frame.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Elizabeth suggests that Nikki donate the books that are in good condition to <a href="http://www.friendsforthelibrary.org/" type="external">Friends of the Library</a> &#160;help the library spread the love of reading.</p>
<p>Learn along with Nikki as she and Elizabeth, the professional organizer, get the house organized room by room. Start the series <a href="http://sage.abqjournalfit.com/2012/09/08/nikki-works-with-elizabeth-the-professional-organizer-from-ask-the-experts/" type="external">here</a>.</p>
<p>Copyright© 2014 Elizabeth Tawney Gross, Organizing For Everyday, LLC</p>
<p>Ask the Experts panelist Elizabeth Tawney Gross is the owner of Organizing for Everyday and a certified professional organizer in chronic disorganization. Send her a question at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a>. Find out more about her at <a href="http://org4everyday.com" type="external">org4everyday.com</a>.</p>
<p>To ask Elizabeth a question, type in the comments field below. Or ask a question by emailing <a href="" type="internal">[email protected].</a></p> | 1,676 |
|
<p>Photo: Naomi Harris</p>
<p />
<p>Tom Fitzpatrick, 22, and Amalia Ellison, 24, are driving to The Quest, a Minneapolis club where D12, a band best known for collaborating with Eminem, is playing. Ellison is wearing a skull-and-crossbones black T-shirt and tiny barbells through the cartilage of each ear. She is sturdy and curvy with a pert upturned nose and shiny brown pigtails. Fitzpatrick is wearing khakis and a T-shirt. His hair is gelled into little spikes.</p>
<p>“You want to go?” he asks Ellison as they turn onto the freeway.</p>
<p>“Yeah,” she says. She shifts in her seat and takes on a slightly awkward formality: “Hi, how are you today? My name is Amalia. I am with America Votes. We are trying to get young people to pledge to vote in the next election.” She pauses. “Is that okay to say?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, it’s okay,” Fitzpatrick replies. “Want to do it again?”</p>
<p>“Hi, I am Amalia,” Ellison says brightly.</p>
<p>“I’m on my way out right now,” Fitzpatrick role-plays. “I’m going to catch dinner.”</p>
<p>“Are you willing to sign a pledge to vote in the next election?”</p>
<p>“Well, I’m just gonna give you my email. You’re not going to call me a lot or anything, right?”</p>
<p>“Only like 20 times!” Ellison giggles jubilantly, briefly breaking character. “Are you interested in volunteering?”</p>
<p>“No, I’m really busy,” Fitzpatrick says.</p>
<p>After Ellison accepts this response, Fitzpatrick scolds her to “push harder!”</p>
<p>For the last week, Ellison and Fitzpatrick have been working in Minnesota for the Young Voter Project, a subset of one of the 32 progressive voter-outreach efforts that are operating under the America Votes coalition. It is late June, and the Young Voter Project (YVP) is still experimenting with the best way to acquire the names, addresses, instant message names, email addresses, and voting proclivities of 18- to 34-year-olds, one of a few demographics that for Democrats hold the elusive appeal of a rarely sighted bird.</p>
<p>The information they gather will be used to identify which young people are undecided or leaning toward Kerry, and what issues they care about. As the election draws near, YVP organizers will engage them on these issues—face-to-face, by email, and on the phone—register them, and make sure they turn out to the polls. YVP estimates that a 3 percent increase in the turnout of young Minnesotans is part of the equation Kerry needs to win the state.</p>
<p>Toward that end, organizers like Ellison and Fitzpatrick are stalking bars and restaurants and combing city listings for events that might yield flocks of young people. The approach is still being refined; the day before, the script they work from, which is vetted by lawyers and tested on trial audiences, was slightly altered. Ellison still needed to practice the new pitch.</p>
<p>Past elections wouldn’t have found newly minted graduates like Ellison (University of Minnesota) and Fitzpatrick (College of William and Mary) pounding the pavement in Minnesota five months before November 2. For one thing, Minnesota had not previously been a swing state; its progressive votes could be counted on to deliver the state to the Democrats. No longer. The booming exurbs have been trending conservative. That, and the Nader factor, meant that Al Gore only narrowly won Minnesota in 2000.</p>
<p>With the bulk of likely voters deeply polarized, and most states safely red or blue, Minnesota is now one of 17-odd battleground states seen by each party as the key to victory. It’s not just deep-think strategists who look on swing states with great anxiety—2000 reminded us all that the Electoral College, not the popular vote, wins the day, and that the choice of the next president can come down to a few hundred votes in Florida, New Mexico, or maybe Minnesota.</p>
<p>Not since Nixon has enmity toward a president provoked a sense of urgency on the left that can draw organizers from all over the country to, say, a club in Minneapolis. “There are lots of things I’d like to do,” Ellison told me earnestly, “but I thought if I let this election go by, I would never forgive myself.” Fitzpatrick put his plans to become a diplomat on hold because this election “is the most important one in my lifetime.”</p>
<p>Such aggressive outreach this early in the election cycle is also a result of a peculiar type of nonprofit that has flourished under McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform.</p>
<p>Those reforms banned the unlimited “soft money” that donors could previously give to parties. Democrats were more reliant on soft money than the hard money (capped donations made directly to candidates) that Republicans excel at raising, so it wasn’t long before a group of Democratic insiders, including former AFL-CIO political strategist Steve Rosenthal, figured out a loophole: soft money could still be given to nonparty political organizations. They founded two groups, America Coming Together (ACT), which is by far the biggest and best-known ground operation under the America Votes coalition, and the Media Fund, which advertises in swing states. These groups are called 527s, for the section of the tax code that permits them; they are legal as long as they are not explicitly affiliated with a party or candidate.</p>
<p>So liberal 527s advocate for “issues” and use euphemisms like “change” with a wink and a nod to mean “Kerry.” As Adam Ebbin, the press director of 21st Century Democrats, which oversees YVP, explains, “We are not formally affiliated with the Democratic Party, but we are a democratic organization that supports Democrats.”</p>
<p>Once at The Quest, Ellison and Fitzpatrick hook up with four other organizers and waste no time descending on the line of smoking, fidgety teens and twentysomethings waiting to gain admission to the D12 show. SUVs from radio stations are parked nearby, sub-woofer speakers blaring. At 101.3 KDWB’s truck, three U. of M. student interns nod their ponytails to the beat and hand out drink cozies emblazoned with the station’s name. One of them, 20-year-old Jenny Barter, says of the YVP organizers that she’s glad “someone is taking advantage of these crowds other than radio stations.”</p>
<p>At the end of the line, Nicole Switzer Barnum, 20, wearing a pink tank top over a black bra, moseys over to the organizers and inquires about what is going on, motivated, she says, by the fact that “we got to wait in line for a long-ass time.” Presented with the YVP pitch, she responds gamely. “Sure, I’ll vote. Who’s running?”</p>
<p>“There are two guys,” an organizer explains. “One is named Bush and one is Kerry.” Barnum blows out a mouthful of smoke and reviews the list. “Bush. And what’s that other guy you said? Jerry?”</p>
<p>The crowd gets significantly less receptive when the line starts moving. Kids scramble for their tickets and IDs, and the organizers begin to get a lot of brush-offs: “I never vote,” a boy says emphatically; “I’m not voting. I don’t feel like it,” another says firmly. A blond girl done up in a goth outfit with ticket poised in a black-nailed hand icily offers,”I think at the end of the line people will be more interested in what you have to say.”</p>
<p>“I just personally want to know who you’re voting for,” I hear one YVP volunteer pleading. “I don’t think my parents let me vote,” says an 18-year-old woman who’s wearing a pink porkpie hat, a pink tube top, copious amounts of glitter, and a miniskirt with knee-high boots. If they did let her, she’d vote for Bush.</p>
<p>The Young Voter Project canvassers thank her and move on.</p>
<p>Earlier this year, the Republican National Committee and the Bush-Cheney campaign filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission saying 527s are effectively operations of the Democratic National Committee. Senators McCain and Feingold testified angrily at an FEC hearing against the 527s, but the commission voted to delay a decision for 90 days, and any ruling they make will not affect this election. That prompted the Republicans—who have been funneling soft money to less transparent 501(c) nonprofits, which often produce “issue ads”—to belatedly jump on the 527 bandwagon by activating their own, like the Progress for America Voter Fund.</p>
<p>This legal skirmish correlates with a larger tactical shift. With the unions behind them, Democrats historically have been better at getting out the vote. But the success of Karl Rove’s “72-hour plan” of precinct-by-precinct organizing in the 2002 congressional elections has thrown the two parties into something of a grassroots arms race.</p>
<p>The Bush-Cheney campaign has reached out to at least 1,600 “friendly congregations,” and it is encouraging volunteers to set up their own “precincts” of friends and family across the country, to which they then email registration and absentee voting information. “That’s how they do ground organizing and reach into places parties and candidates can’t get into,” explains Robert Richman, the ACT director in Minnesota.</p>
<p>By law, 527s are prohibited from coordinating with the national parties. Nor can 527s simply give their databases to the DNC or RNC, though they can sell their lists, or trade them for something of equal value—such as other lists.</p>
<p>So for the time being, 527s are more or less writing their own playbooks. “The thing about all those 527s is they are kind of mysterious,” says Steve Schier, a political science professor at Minnesota’s Carleton College. “They’re obviously having an effect on the election, but can’t be held accountable the way a party could be. There’s no way to cast a public verdict about these groups, and it makes politics more complicated and hard to figure out.”</p>
<p>While the effectiveness and long-term legality of working on behalf of candidates without coordinating directly with campaigns is a great unknown, for Democrats the 527s’ non-campaign status dovetails nicely with the emotional energy driving many liberals, which is less inspired by Kerry than by a desire to bring down Bush.</p>
<p>Swing-state organizing efforts draw on some of the same energy and technology that powered Howard Dean’s “Perfect Storm.” Websites like Driving Votes and Swing the State organize groups of volunteers who live in “safe states” to go to battleground states, and provide them with a network of organizations like ACT that they can hook up with once they arrive. And, in a program called SEIU Heroes, the Service Employees International Union is paying members to take time off to canvass for ACT—Minnesota has 18 “Heroes” from places like Atlanta and New York City.</p>
<p>But while Deaniacs hit Iowa cold and alienated many locals, these volunteers are plugged into an operation modeled on Rosenthal’s successful efforts in getting the AFL-CIO to turn out the vote for Democrats in a big way. The campaign ACT is running is built on trusting the messenger, just as union get-out-the-vote efforts are. It uses young people to reach out to young people, steel workers to canvass the Iron Range, and Somali and Hmong organizers to speak to those communities.</p>
<p>Using Palm Pilots to download information into massive data- bases, the 527s move fast and think small, figuring out how much time elapses between when concertgoers line up at The Quest and the doors open, or keeping tabs on community papers like the Hmong Times and the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, or returning to ring the same broken buzzer a dozen times.</p>
<p>This is partly because the increasingly segmented media market makes it harder to reach the broader public with a single message. “There’s a growing consensus among people who do this work that face-to-face is the best level of communication,” says ACT’s Richman. In some ways, he adds, it’s a return to the organizing tactics of the old Democratic political machines.</p>
<p>So meet the new boss. Quincy Gamble, 28, has been in Minnesota only six weeks when I meet him in June, but he’s already greeting barbers at the All Nations Barbershop by name. A leader of the SEIU Heroes, Gamble’s been driving around the Twin Cities in a rented Trailblazer with his grandfather’s Bible on the dashboard, meeting people in the African American community, evaluating their needs and how they can help ACT.</p>
<p>A debonair 6 feet 6 inches in his tan double-breasted suit, lavender shirt, and square-tipped shoes, Gamble explains that he goes to church twice on Sunday not out of piety (he goes once out of piety), but as an organizing tactic. He encourages his team to attend church as well. “It’s an opportunity to get people involved, establish credibility with pastors, and get an audience with folks. If they get something [spiritual] out of it, great!” he says cheerfully. “I see myself as on the clock 24 hours a day. Everything is an opportunity.”</p>
<p>Gamble is taking a year off law school because he wants desperately to affect the election. He worked for Dean’s South Carolina operation, and when that ended, ACT seemed like the next logical choice.</p>
<p>Batting his hand on the stick shift to a gospel CD, Gamble makes his rounds of YWCAs, churches, and sorry strip malls. In the Midway neighborhood, he enters an Applebee’s looking for Jemika Hayes, 29, whom Gamble had seen MCing a slam poetry night at the Soul City Supper Club. “There were about 200 people there. The poems were mad political,” he says, “and I bet half those folks weren’t registered.” Gamble hopes to convince Hayes to co-sponsor a poetry event with ACT. As we get out of the car, he says, “We haven’t broached this with them. I’m hoping this will go well. There’s going to be some salesmanship happening.”</p>
<p>Gamble settles into Applebee’s with a chicken alfredo, extra sauce, and promptly puts away five 16-ounce refills of iced tea as we wait for Hayes to finish his shift as a server. When Hayes comes over with his own lunch, Gamble tells him he saw the poetry reading and thought it was “hot” and “tight.” Hayes smiles shyly.</p>
<p>“We can turn out the media for you, and it would be a big thing for our credibility with certain groups,” Gamble says. “Tell me what you need to make it happen.”</p>
<p>Gamble’s next meeting is with Winfred Payne, an ex-convict who runs an after-school program in a North Minneapolis church. Payne’s office is in a room lined with karate trophies. Jeopardy hums on an ancient Zenith and a few kids hunt and peck on the program’s computers.</p>
<p>Gamble makes his pitch, and Payne seems interested but has a bottom line—he wants 50 canvassing jobs in the community. Unlike a real ward boss, Gamble doesn’t have those to offer.</p>
<p>In June, the Republicans made much hay of the fact that ACT had used ex-convicts to canvass in some states. Their calls for letter-writing campaigns about “crooks for Kerry” smacked of demagoguery, revealing some of the political difficulties of peer-to-peer organizing—in neighborhoods like North Minneapolis, it may mean engaging people with criminal records, if not hiring them directly.</p>
<p>“You can’t ask someone starving on the corner, selling dope, to do what you get paid to do for free,” Payne tells Gamble.</p>
<p>Gamble talks about ACT organizing unregistered Somalis who live in the Cedar- Riverside high-rises, and the need for black representation.</p>
<p>Payne doesn’t budge.”They’re selling dope out there to eat. They’re not out there dressed in top gear, they’re hustling for food,” he says.</p>
<p>“That’s the environment I come from all my life,” Gamble retorts.</p>
<p>“We can’t keep giving away our labor and not being paid for it and not see the results for 20 years,” Payne fires back. “That’s the slave mentality.”</p>
<p>The back-and-forth goes on for well over an hour. In the course of making his case, Payne cites a children’s play called The Black Fairy and mentions the trouble he has writing grants. Gamble offers to help write grants and suggests that ACT could produce the play Payne likes so much. By the end of the meeting, the two are going through pictures of Payne’s buddies.</p>
<p>Gamble is pleased with the meeting. “He knows so many people that I’m confident I’ll be able to turn knowing him into something. On this level of organizing, it’s a success if you get their story. I got it. I know that guy is going to spend time in the office to help us do the job we need.”</p>
<p>On the way out of the neighborhood, which is full of “Chicago-style” chicken joints and police vans, Gamble eyes, with great interest, the Shiloh Temple Church, which is setting up for a barbecue. I ask if he thinks it’d be good for organizing or if he’s just hungry again.</p>
<p>“Both,” he grins.</p>
<p /> | The New Ward Heelers | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2004/09/new-ward-heelers/ | 2018-09-01 | 4left
| The New Ward Heelers
<p>Photo: Naomi Harris</p>
<p />
<p>Tom Fitzpatrick, 22, and Amalia Ellison, 24, are driving to The Quest, a Minneapolis club where D12, a band best known for collaborating with Eminem, is playing. Ellison is wearing a skull-and-crossbones black T-shirt and tiny barbells through the cartilage of each ear. She is sturdy and curvy with a pert upturned nose and shiny brown pigtails. Fitzpatrick is wearing khakis and a T-shirt. His hair is gelled into little spikes.</p>
<p>“You want to go?” he asks Ellison as they turn onto the freeway.</p>
<p>“Yeah,” she says. She shifts in her seat and takes on a slightly awkward formality: “Hi, how are you today? My name is Amalia. I am with America Votes. We are trying to get young people to pledge to vote in the next election.” She pauses. “Is that okay to say?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, it’s okay,” Fitzpatrick replies. “Want to do it again?”</p>
<p>“Hi, I am Amalia,” Ellison says brightly.</p>
<p>“I’m on my way out right now,” Fitzpatrick role-plays. “I’m going to catch dinner.”</p>
<p>“Are you willing to sign a pledge to vote in the next election?”</p>
<p>“Well, I’m just gonna give you my email. You’re not going to call me a lot or anything, right?”</p>
<p>“Only like 20 times!” Ellison giggles jubilantly, briefly breaking character. “Are you interested in volunteering?”</p>
<p>“No, I’m really busy,” Fitzpatrick says.</p>
<p>After Ellison accepts this response, Fitzpatrick scolds her to “push harder!”</p>
<p>For the last week, Ellison and Fitzpatrick have been working in Minnesota for the Young Voter Project, a subset of one of the 32 progressive voter-outreach efforts that are operating under the America Votes coalition. It is late June, and the Young Voter Project (YVP) is still experimenting with the best way to acquire the names, addresses, instant message names, email addresses, and voting proclivities of 18- to 34-year-olds, one of a few demographics that for Democrats hold the elusive appeal of a rarely sighted bird.</p>
<p>The information they gather will be used to identify which young people are undecided or leaning toward Kerry, and what issues they care about. As the election draws near, YVP organizers will engage them on these issues—face-to-face, by email, and on the phone—register them, and make sure they turn out to the polls. YVP estimates that a 3 percent increase in the turnout of young Minnesotans is part of the equation Kerry needs to win the state.</p>
<p>Toward that end, organizers like Ellison and Fitzpatrick are stalking bars and restaurants and combing city listings for events that might yield flocks of young people. The approach is still being refined; the day before, the script they work from, which is vetted by lawyers and tested on trial audiences, was slightly altered. Ellison still needed to practice the new pitch.</p>
<p>Past elections wouldn’t have found newly minted graduates like Ellison (University of Minnesota) and Fitzpatrick (College of William and Mary) pounding the pavement in Minnesota five months before November 2. For one thing, Minnesota had not previously been a swing state; its progressive votes could be counted on to deliver the state to the Democrats. No longer. The booming exurbs have been trending conservative. That, and the Nader factor, meant that Al Gore only narrowly won Minnesota in 2000.</p>
<p>With the bulk of likely voters deeply polarized, and most states safely red or blue, Minnesota is now one of 17-odd battleground states seen by each party as the key to victory. It’s not just deep-think strategists who look on swing states with great anxiety—2000 reminded us all that the Electoral College, not the popular vote, wins the day, and that the choice of the next president can come down to a few hundred votes in Florida, New Mexico, or maybe Minnesota.</p>
<p>Not since Nixon has enmity toward a president provoked a sense of urgency on the left that can draw organizers from all over the country to, say, a club in Minneapolis. “There are lots of things I’d like to do,” Ellison told me earnestly, “but I thought if I let this election go by, I would never forgive myself.” Fitzpatrick put his plans to become a diplomat on hold because this election “is the most important one in my lifetime.”</p>
<p>Such aggressive outreach this early in the election cycle is also a result of a peculiar type of nonprofit that has flourished under McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform.</p>
<p>Those reforms banned the unlimited “soft money” that donors could previously give to parties. Democrats were more reliant on soft money than the hard money (capped donations made directly to candidates) that Republicans excel at raising, so it wasn’t long before a group of Democratic insiders, including former AFL-CIO political strategist Steve Rosenthal, figured out a loophole: soft money could still be given to nonparty political organizations. They founded two groups, America Coming Together (ACT), which is by far the biggest and best-known ground operation under the America Votes coalition, and the Media Fund, which advertises in swing states. These groups are called 527s, for the section of the tax code that permits them; they are legal as long as they are not explicitly affiliated with a party or candidate.</p>
<p>So liberal 527s advocate for “issues” and use euphemisms like “change” with a wink and a nod to mean “Kerry.” As Adam Ebbin, the press director of 21st Century Democrats, which oversees YVP, explains, “We are not formally affiliated with the Democratic Party, but we are a democratic organization that supports Democrats.”</p>
<p>Once at The Quest, Ellison and Fitzpatrick hook up with four other organizers and waste no time descending on the line of smoking, fidgety teens and twentysomethings waiting to gain admission to the D12 show. SUVs from radio stations are parked nearby, sub-woofer speakers blaring. At 101.3 KDWB’s truck, three U. of M. student interns nod their ponytails to the beat and hand out drink cozies emblazoned with the station’s name. One of them, 20-year-old Jenny Barter, says of the YVP organizers that she’s glad “someone is taking advantage of these crowds other than radio stations.”</p>
<p>At the end of the line, Nicole Switzer Barnum, 20, wearing a pink tank top over a black bra, moseys over to the organizers and inquires about what is going on, motivated, she says, by the fact that “we got to wait in line for a long-ass time.” Presented with the YVP pitch, she responds gamely. “Sure, I’ll vote. Who’s running?”</p>
<p>“There are two guys,” an organizer explains. “One is named Bush and one is Kerry.” Barnum blows out a mouthful of smoke and reviews the list. “Bush. And what’s that other guy you said? Jerry?”</p>
<p>The crowd gets significantly less receptive when the line starts moving. Kids scramble for their tickets and IDs, and the organizers begin to get a lot of brush-offs: “I never vote,” a boy says emphatically; “I’m not voting. I don’t feel like it,” another says firmly. A blond girl done up in a goth outfit with ticket poised in a black-nailed hand icily offers,”I think at the end of the line people will be more interested in what you have to say.”</p>
<p>“I just personally want to know who you’re voting for,” I hear one YVP volunteer pleading. “I don’t think my parents let me vote,” says an 18-year-old woman who’s wearing a pink porkpie hat, a pink tube top, copious amounts of glitter, and a miniskirt with knee-high boots. If they did let her, she’d vote for Bush.</p>
<p>The Young Voter Project canvassers thank her and move on.</p>
<p>Earlier this year, the Republican National Committee and the Bush-Cheney campaign filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission saying 527s are effectively operations of the Democratic National Committee. Senators McCain and Feingold testified angrily at an FEC hearing against the 527s, but the commission voted to delay a decision for 90 days, and any ruling they make will not affect this election. That prompted the Republicans—who have been funneling soft money to less transparent 501(c) nonprofits, which often produce “issue ads”—to belatedly jump on the 527 bandwagon by activating their own, like the Progress for America Voter Fund.</p>
<p>This legal skirmish correlates with a larger tactical shift. With the unions behind them, Democrats historically have been better at getting out the vote. But the success of Karl Rove’s “72-hour plan” of precinct-by-precinct organizing in the 2002 congressional elections has thrown the two parties into something of a grassroots arms race.</p>
<p>The Bush-Cheney campaign has reached out to at least 1,600 “friendly congregations,” and it is encouraging volunteers to set up their own “precincts” of friends and family across the country, to which they then email registration and absentee voting information. “That’s how they do ground organizing and reach into places parties and candidates can’t get into,” explains Robert Richman, the ACT director in Minnesota.</p>
<p>By law, 527s are prohibited from coordinating with the national parties. Nor can 527s simply give their databases to the DNC or RNC, though they can sell their lists, or trade them for something of equal value—such as other lists.</p>
<p>So for the time being, 527s are more or less writing their own playbooks. “The thing about all those 527s is they are kind of mysterious,” says Steve Schier, a political science professor at Minnesota’s Carleton College. “They’re obviously having an effect on the election, but can’t be held accountable the way a party could be. There’s no way to cast a public verdict about these groups, and it makes politics more complicated and hard to figure out.”</p>
<p>While the effectiveness and long-term legality of working on behalf of candidates without coordinating directly with campaigns is a great unknown, for Democrats the 527s’ non-campaign status dovetails nicely with the emotional energy driving many liberals, which is less inspired by Kerry than by a desire to bring down Bush.</p>
<p>Swing-state organizing efforts draw on some of the same energy and technology that powered Howard Dean’s “Perfect Storm.” Websites like Driving Votes and Swing the State organize groups of volunteers who live in “safe states” to go to battleground states, and provide them with a network of organizations like ACT that they can hook up with once they arrive. And, in a program called SEIU Heroes, the Service Employees International Union is paying members to take time off to canvass for ACT—Minnesota has 18 “Heroes” from places like Atlanta and New York City.</p>
<p>But while Deaniacs hit Iowa cold and alienated many locals, these volunteers are plugged into an operation modeled on Rosenthal’s successful efforts in getting the AFL-CIO to turn out the vote for Democrats in a big way. The campaign ACT is running is built on trusting the messenger, just as union get-out-the-vote efforts are. It uses young people to reach out to young people, steel workers to canvass the Iron Range, and Somali and Hmong organizers to speak to those communities.</p>
<p>Using Palm Pilots to download information into massive data- bases, the 527s move fast and think small, figuring out how much time elapses between when concertgoers line up at The Quest and the doors open, or keeping tabs on community papers like the Hmong Times and the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, or returning to ring the same broken buzzer a dozen times.</p>
<p>This is partly because the increasingly segmented media market makes it harder to reach the broader public with a single message. “There’s a growing consensus among people who do this work that face-to-face is the best level of communication,” says ACT’s Richman. In some ways, he adds, it’s a return to the organizing tactics of the old Democratic political machines.</p>
<p>So meet the new boss. Quincy Gamble, 28, has been in Minnesota only six weeks when I meet him in June, but he’s already greeting barbers at the All Nations Barbershop by name. A leader of the SEIU Heroes, Gamble’s been driving around the Twin Cities in a rented Trailblazer with his grandfather’s Bible on the dashboard, meeting people in the African American community, evaluating their needs and how they can help ACT.</p>
<p>A debonair 6 feet 6 inches in his tan double-breasted suit, lavender shirt, and square-tipped shoes, Gamble explains that he goes to church twice on Sunday not out of piety (he goes once out of piety), but as an organizing tactic. He encourages his team to attend church as well. “It’s an opportunity to get people involved, establish credibility with pastors, and get an audience with folks. If they get something [spiritual] out of it, great!” he says cheerfully. “I see myself as on the clock 24 hours a day. Everything is an opportunity.”</p>
<p>Gamble is taking a year off law school because he wants desperately to affect the election. He worked for Dean’s South Carolina operation, and when that ended, ACT seemed like the next logical choice.</p>
<p>Batting his hand on the stick shift to a gospel CD, Gamble makes his rounds of YWCAs, churches, and sorry strip malls. In the Midway neighborhood, he enters an Applebee’s looking for Jemika Hayes, 29, whom Gamble had seen MCing a slam poetry night at the Soul City Supper Club. “There were about 200 people there. The poems were mad political,” he says, “and I bet half those folks weren’t registered.” Gamble hopes to convince Hayes to co-sponsor a poetry event with ACT. As we get out of the car, he says, “We haven’t broached this with them. I’m hoping this will go well. There’s going to be some salesmanship happening.”</p>
<p>Gamble settles into Applebee’s with a chicken alfredo, extra sauce, and promptly puts away five 16-ounce refills of iced tea as we wait for Hayes to finish his shift as a server. When Hayes comes over with his own lunch, Gamble tells him he saw the poetry reading and thought it was “hot” and “tight.” Hayes smiles shyly.</p>
<p>“We can turn out the media for you, and it would be a big thing for our credibility with certain groups,” Gamble says. “Tell me what you need to make it happen.”</p>
<p>Gamble’s next meeting is with Winfred Payne, an ex-convict who runs an after-school program in a North Minneapolis church. Payne’s office is in a room lined with karate trophies. Jeopardy hums on an ancient Zenith and a few kids hunt and peck on the program’s computers.</p>
<p>Gamble makes his pitch, and Payne seems interested but has a bottom line—he wants 50 canvassing jobs in the community. Unlike a real ward boss, Gamble doesn’t have those to offer.</p>
<p>In June, the Republicans made much hay of the fact that ACT had used ex-convicts to canvass in some states. Their calls for letter-writing campaigns about “crooks for Kerry” smacked of demagoguery, revealing some of the political difficulties of peer-to-peer organizing—in neighborhoods like North Minneapolis, it may mean engaging people with criminal records, if not hiring them directly.</p>
<p>“You can’t ask someone starving on the corner, selling dope, to do what you get paid to do for free,” Payne tells Gamble.</p>
<p>Gamble talks about ACT organizing unregistered Somalis who live in the Cedar- Riverside high-rises, and the need for black representation.</p>
<p>Payne doesn’t budge.”They’re selling dope out there to eat. They’re not out there dressed in top gear, they’re hustling for food,” he says.</p>
<p>“That’s the environment I come from all my life,” Gamble retorts.</p>
<p>“We can’t keep giving away our labor and not being paid for it and not see the results for 20 years,” Payne fires back. “That’s the slave mentality.”</p>
<p>The back-and-forth goes on for well over an hour. In the course of making his case, Payne cites a children’s play called The Black Fairy and mentions the trouble he has writing grants. Gamble offers to help write grants and suggests that ACT could produce the play Payne likes so much. By the end of the meeting, the two are going through pictures of Payne’s buddies.</p>
<p>Gamble is pleased with the meeting. “He knows so many people that I’m confident I’ll be able to turn knowing him into something. On this level of organizing, it’s a success if you get their story. I got it. I know that guy is going to spend time in the office to help us do the job we need.”</p>
<p>On the way out of the neighborhood, which is full of “Chicago-style” chicken joints and police vans, Gamble eyes, with great interest, the Shiloh Temple Church, which is setting up for a barbecue. I ask if he thinks it’d be good for organizing or if he’s just hungry again.</p>
<p>“Both,” he grins.</p>
<p /> | 1,677 |
<p />
<p>The Latest on the proposed four-state, $3.8 billion Dakota Access oil pipeline (all times local):</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>4 p.m.</p>
<p>Law enforcement have evicted about 40 Dakota Access pipeline opponents from a camp the protesters set up on higher ground near their flood-prone main camp in southern North Dakota.</p>
<p>The Morton County Sheriff's Office says the camp was on private property owned by the pipeline developer. Protesters in Facebook posts described what they called the "Last Child" camp as "peaceful assembly."</p>
<p>Sheriff's spokesman Rob Keller says there were two initial arrests and no reports of injuries.</p>
<p>The main camp once housed thousands but is now down to about 300 people. The tribe has told those in camp to leave, and the camp is being cleaned up in advance of spring flooding season.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Protest spokesman Chase Iron Eyes couldn't be reached for comment because his cellphone wasn't accepting messages.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>10:15 a.m.</p>
<p>A spokesman says the U.S. Army has begun its review of an easement that is necessary to complete the proposed Dakota Access oil pipeline.</p>
<p>Maj. Gen. Malcolm Frost says the Army is following the steps outlined in President Donald Trump's order earlier this month for a fast review of requests to approve the pipeline.</p>
<p>Frost cautions that the steps don't mean the easement has been approved.</p>
<p>The easement is necessary for the pipeline developer, Energy Transfer Partners, to complete the last unfinished section of the pipeline under North Dakota's Lake Oahe (oh-AH'-hee).</p>
<p>The pipeline has been the target of months of protests from the Standing Rock Sioux, whose reservation lies near the route, and thousands of supporters from around the country who argue it's a threat to water supply.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>12:15 p.m.</p>
<p>North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven says the Acting Secretary of the Army has directed the Army Corps of Engineers to proceed with an easement necessary to complete the Dakota Access pipeline.</p>
<p>Hoeven issued a statement Tuesday after he says Acting Army Secretary Robert Speer informed him of the decision. Hoeven spokesman Don Canton added the easement "isn't quite issued yet, but they plan to approve it" within days.</p>
<p>Construction of the $3.8 billion project is finished except for a section under the Missouri River at Lake Oahe in North Dakota. The pipeline has been the target of protests for months.</p>
<p>After Hoeven's statement, Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Dave Archambault renewed the tribe's vow to go to court if the easement is granted.</p>
<p>A spokesman for the U.S. Army did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday night.</p> | The Latest: Pipeline protesters evicted from private land | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/02/01/latest-pipeline-protesters-evicted-from-private-land.html | 2017-02-02 | 0right
| The Latest: Pipeline protesters evicted from private land
<p />
<p>The Latest on the proposed four-state, $3.8 billion Dakota Access oil pipeline (all times local):</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>4 p.m.</p>
<p>Law enforcement have evicted about 40 Dakota Access pipeline opponents from a camp the protesters set up on higher ground near their flood-prone main camp in southern North Dakota.</p>
<p>The Morton County Sheriff's Office says the camp was on private property owned by the pipeline developer. Protesters in Facebook posts described what they called the "Last Child" camp as "peaceful assembly."</p>
<p>Sheriff's spokesman Rob Keller says there were two initial arrests and no reports of injuries.</p>
<p>The main camp once housed thousands but is now down to about 300 people. The tribe has told those in camp to leave, and the camp is being cleaned up in advance of spring flooding season.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Protest spokesman Chase Iron Eyes couldn't be reached for comment because his cellphone wasn't accepting messages.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>10:15 a.m.</p>
<p>A spokesman says the U.S. Army has begun its review of an easement that is necessary to complete the proposed Dakota Access oil pipeline.</p>
<p>Maj. Gen. Malcolm Frost says the Army is following the steps outlined in President Donald Trump's order earlier this month for a fast review of requests to approve the pipeline.</p>
<p>Frost cautions that the steps don't mean the easement has been approved.</p>
<p>The easement is necessary for the pipeline developer, Energy Transfer Partners, to complete the last unfinished section of the pipeline under North Dakota's Lake Oahe (oh-AH'-hee).</p>
<p>The pipeline has been the target of months of protests from the Standing Rock Sioux, whose reservation lies near the route, and thousands of supporters from around the country who argue it's a threat to water supply.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>12:15 p.m.</p>
<p>North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven says the Acting Secretary of the Army has directed the Army Corps of Engineers to proceed with an easement necessary to complete the Dakota Access pipeline.</p>
<p>Hoeven issued a statement Tuesday after he says Acting Army Secretary Robert Speer informed him of the decision. Hoeven spokesman Don Canton added the easement "isn't quite issued yet, but they plan to approve it" within days.</p>
<p>Construction of the $3.8 billion project is finished except for a section under the Missouri River at Lake Oahe in North Dakota. The pipeline has been the target of protests for months.</p>
<p>After Hoeven's statement, Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Dave Archambault renewed the tribe's vow to go to court if the easement is granted.</p>
<p>A spokesman for the U.S. Army did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday night.</p> | 1,678 |
<p>Published time: 21 Aug, 2017 19:17Edited time: 21 Aug, 2017 19:23</p>
<p>A man captured while trying to blow up a Confederate monument in Houston, Texas on Saturday has been charged with a federal crime. Andrew Cecil Schneck tried to drink the liquid explosives when he was approached by officers, the police said.</p>
<p>Schneck, 25, was spotted “among the bushes” near the statue of Confederate officer Richard Dowling in Houston’s Hermann Park on Saturday evening, after protesters demanding the removal of the statue clashed with those who wanted to see it remain.</p>
<p>A park ranger saw Schneck holding several boxes, including what appeared to be duct tape and wires, according to court documents cited by the Houston Press. Schneck tried to drink from a plastic bottle he was carrying. The liquid turned out to be nitroglycerin, Abe Martinez, US Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, said Monday.</p>
<p>A white powder found inside one of the boxes was identified as Hexamethylene triperoxide diamine, a chemical used in detonators.</p>
<p>Schneck was charged with “attempting to maliciously damage or destroy property receiving federal financial assistance.”</p>
<p>Read more</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/usa/400287-dallas-anti-racism-protest/" type="external" /></p>
<p>Houston police and the FBI raided the home owned by Schneck’s parents on Sunday and continued the search into Monday afternoon, local media reported. Neighbors were asked to evacuate for safety reasons, as the search turned up hazardous materials. According to Martinez, Schneck had been conducting “chemistry experiments” inside the house.</p>
<p>“Some very hazardous materials were found” inside the house, said Larry Satterwhite, assistant chief of homeland security for the Houston Police Department, without going into details.</p>
<p>This was the second time federal authorities raided Schneck’s home. He pleaded guilty in 2014 to federal charges of knowingly storing explosives, and was sentenced to five years’ probation. Schneck was granted early release in 2016, after his attorney argued he had “matured” and no longer engaged in high-risk activities.</p>
<p>Schneck had also paid $159,000 to the FBI and local agencies, to reimburse the cost of the investigation, and obtained a bachelor’s degree in classics and chemistry from Austin College.</p>
<p>One of the refugees from Ireland’s potato famine, Richard “Dick” Dowling arrived in Houston in 1846. He fought in the American Civil War on the side of the Confederacy and ended up with the rank of major.</p>
<p>His greatest achievement was the September, 1863 Battle of Sabine Pass, in which his unit of 47 men turned back the Union force attempting to land in Texas – capturing two gunboats, 350 prisoners and a large quantity of supplies in the process.</p>
<p>A plaque dedicated to Dowling in his birthplace of Tuam in 1998 is also the only Confederate monument in Ireland.</p> | Texas man charged with trying to bomb Houston Confederate statue | false | https://newsline.com/texas-man-charged-with-trying-to-bomb-houston-confederate-statue/ | 2017-08-21 | 1right-center
| Texas man charged with trying to bomb Houston Confederate statue
<p>Published time: 21 Aug, 2017 19:17Edited time: 21 Aug, 2017 19:23</p>
<p>A man captured while trying to blow up a Confederate monument in Houston, Texas on Saturday has been charged with a federal crime. Andrew Cecil Schneck tried to drink the liquid explosives when he was approached by officers, the police said.</p>
<p>Schneck, 25, was spotted “among the bushes” near the statue of Confederate officer Richard Dowling in Houston’s Hermann Park on Saturday evening, after protesters demanding the removal of the statue clashed with those who wanted to see it remain.</p>
<p>A park ranger saw Schneck holding several boxes, including what appeared to be duct tape and wires, according to court documents cited by the Houston Press. Schneck tried to drink from a plastic bottle he was carrying. The liquid turned out to be nitroglycerin, Abe Martinez, US Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, said Monday.</p>
<p>A white powder found inside one of the boxes was identified as Hexamethylene triperoxide diamine, a chemical used in detonators.</p>
<p>Schneck was charged with “attempting to maliciously damage or destroy property receiving federal financial assistance.”</p>
<p>Read more</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/usa/400287-dallas-anti-racism-protest/" type="external" /></p>
<p>Houston police and the FBI raided the home owned by Schneck’s parents on Sunday and continued the search into Monday afternoon, local media reported. Neighbors were asked to evacuate for safety reasons, as the search turned up hazardous materials. According to Martinez, Schneck had been conducting “chemistry experiments” inside the house.</p>
<p>“Some very hazardous materials were found” inside the house, said Larry Satterwhite, assistant chief of homeland security for the Houston Police Department, without going into details.</p>
<p>This was the second time federal authorities raided Schneck’s home. He pleaded guilty in 2014 to federal charges of knowingly storing explosives, and was sentenced to five years’ probation. Schneck was granted early release in 2016, after his attorney argued he had “matured” and no longer engaged in high-risk activities.</p>
<p>Schneck had also paid $159,000 to the FBI and local agencies, to reimburse the cost of the investigation, and obtained a bachelor’s degree in classics and chemistry from Austin College.</p>
<p>One of the refugees from Ireland’s potato famine, Richard “Dick” Dowling arrived in Houston in 1846. He fought in the American Civil War on the side of the Confederacy and ended up with the rank of major.</p>
<p>His greatest achievement was the September, 1863 Battle of Sabine Pass, in which his unit of 47 men turned back the Union force attempting to land in Texas – capturing two gunboats, 350 prisoners and a large quantity of supplies in the process.</p>
<p>A plaque dedicated to Dowling in his birthplace of Tuam in 1998 is also the only Confederate monument in Ireland.</p> | 1,679 |
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<p />
<p>Doing something about it requires that Washington neither continue its flaccid appeasement nor retreat toward economic nationalism. Instead, the United States should adopt a strategy of constructive, alliance-backed confrontation. Only by leading an international coalition of market-based, rule-of-law economies will it be able to prevail on China’s leaders to start competing fairly.</p>
<p>For such a strategy to work, however, Washington’s pro-trade establishment first must come to grips with the reality that China is a conspicuous outlier – and that its unremitting mercantilist behavior represents a threat not only to the U.S. economy but also to the very soul of the global trading system.</p>
<p>Xi has unabashedly trumpeted a goal of making China the master of its own technologies, by which he means Chinese firms should produce most of the technological goods and services that China consumes while also having free rein to dominate global markets. To achieve this, Xi has promulgated policies such as the “Made in China 2025” strategy, which calls for using at least 70 percent locally produced code, content and components in an array of advanced-manufacturing products, as well as a cybersecurity strategy aimed at mastering core technologies such as operating systems, integrated circuits, big data, cloud computing and the Internet of Things. Indeed, from computing to biotech to aerospace, almost no advanced U.S. industry is immune. Losing in these industries would mean fewer good U.S. jobs, a weaker dollar and severe vulnerabilities in the nation’s defense-industrial base.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>It would be one thing if China were just another middle-of-the-pack nation following international norms to reach ambitious industrial goals. But when the world’s second-largest economy makes by-hook-or-crook mercantilism the animating force of its economic and trade policies, that is a whole different kettle of fish. In addition to stealing intellectual property, forcing competitors to hand over their technologies and thumbing the scales on behalf of its state-owned enterprises, China’s unfair policies include a pattern of flatly denying some foreign firms access to its markets; weaponizing its antitrust laws to extort concessions; and underwriting acquisitions of foreign technology firms. These policies are especially damaging in the absence of a true rule of law or an independent judiciary to constrain Chinese officials.</p>
<p>The previous three U.S. administrations sought dialogue with Chinese leaders in the hope that they would have an epiphany and embrace the one true path of Western, market-based economics. But it should be clear by now that approach has failed miserably. Indeed, rather than reform, China has been doubling down.</p>
<p>Trump is right that China is flouting global trade rules to the detriment of the United States, but adopting a policy of economic nationalism – simply slapping tariffs on foreign goods, for example – will not solve the problem. In fact, it would simultaneously crimp U.S. prospects for growth, leave the global playing field wide open for China to dominate, and alienate allies who would have no choice but to cut flawed deals with the world’s new economic hegemon. But neither is it a viable option to blithely accept Chinese domination of advanced industries.</p>
<p>So what should the Trump administration do? One step would be to resurrect a new and improved version of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement. Much of the opposition to the TPP was based on a combination of ideology and misinformation, but it is true that the agreement could have been better. Trump should make it his own by adding new protections, such as strong curbs on currency manipulation, and then claim victory. Another step would be to more vigorously prosecute trade cases against China. But doing this would only chip away at the core problem. Neither approach represents a direct challenge to China’s systematic pattern of abuse.</p>
<p>To fundamentally change Chinese government behavior, Trump needs to assemble an alliance of nations that collectively raise the stakes. China won’t willingly abandon its mercantilist policies unless it is compelled to do so by outside pressure that goes beyond the narrow, legalistic limits of the World Trade Organization. This fight will be won or lost not in the tribunals of Geneva, but in the court of global opinion where countries are held accountable for delivering tangible results. That means the Trump administration needs to enlist the international community to pressure China to show by its actions that it can be a responsible player in the global trading system.</p>
<p>The first step in enacting this new doctrine should be to build an ironclad prosecutor’s case that catalogues all of the unfair, mercantilist practices China engages in and explains how they harm the entire world economy, rich and poor nations alike. Next, Trump should have top administration officials fan out around the world to line up allies, including in Europe, the British commonwealth nations, Japan and South Korea, to develop a coordinated response. This could even include orchestrating a Group of 19 meeting that excludes China – for the express purpose of formulating an agenda for how market-based, rule-of-law economies can respond both in unison and individually to Chinese mercantilism.</p>
<p>Isolation is not a formula for economic greatness; leading the defense of the global trading system is. Other countries lack the heft to push back against China’s mercantilism on their own for the (very real) fear of retaliation. But the United States can and should lead this effort. “America First” should mean standing in the vanguard and pointing the way forward.</p>
<p>—</p>
<p>Atkinson is president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation.</p>
<p>Sign up for the Today’s WorldView Newsletter The Washington Post.</p> | How Trump can stop China from eating our lunch | false | https://abqjournal.com/983654/how-trump-can-stop-china-from-eating-our-lunch.html | 2least
| How Trump can stop China from eating our lunch
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Doing something about it requires that Washington neither continue its flaccid appeasement nor retreat toward economic nationalism. Instead, the United States should adopt a strategy of constructive, alliance-backed confrontation. Only by leading an international coalition of market-based, rule-of-law economies will it be able to prevail on China’s leaders to start competing fairly.</p>
<p>For such a strategy to work, however, Washington’s pro-trade establishment first must come to grips with the reality that China is a conspicuous outlier – and that its unremitting mercantilist behavior represents a threat not only to the U.S. economy but also to the very soul of the global trading system.</p>
<p>Xi has unabashedly trumpeted a goal of making China the master of its own technologies, by which he means Chinese firms should produce most of the technological goods and services that China consumes while also having free rein to dominate global markets. To achieve this, Xi has promulgated policies such as the “Made in China 2025” strategy, which calls for using at least 70 percent locally produced code, content and components in an array of advanced-manufacturing products, as well as a cybersecurity strategy aimed at mastering core technologies such as operating systems, integrated circuits, big data, cloud computing and the Internet of Things. Indeed, from computing to biotech to aerospace, almost no advanced U.S. industry is immune. Losing in these industries would mean fewer good U.S. jobs, a weaker dollar and severe vulnerabilities in the nation’s defense-industrial base.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>It would be one thing if China were just another middle-of-the-pack nation following international norms to reach ambitious industrial goals. But when the world’s second-largest economy makes by-hook-or-crook mercantilism the animating force of its economic and trade policies, that is a whole different kettle of fish. In addition to stealing intellectual property, forcing competitors to hand over their technologies and thumbing the scales on behalf of its state-owned enterprises, China’s unfair policies include a pattern of flatly denying some foreign firms access to its markets; weaponizing its antitrust laws to extort concessions; and underwriting acquisitions of foreign technology firms. These policies are especially damaging in the absence of a true rule of law or an independent judiciary to constrain Chinese officials.</p>
<p>The previous three U.S. administrations sought dialogue with Chinese leaders in the hope that they would have an epiphany and embrace the one true path of Western, market-based economics. But it should be clear by now that approach has failed miserably. Indeed, rather than reform, China has been doubling down.</p>
<p>Trump is right that China is flouting global trade rules to the detriment of the United States, but adopting a policy of economic nationalism – simply slapping tariffs on foreign goods, for example – will not solve the problem. In fact, it would simultaneously crimp U.S. prospects for growth, leave the global playing field wide open for China to dominate, and alienate allies who would have no choice but to cut flawed deals with the world’s new economic hegemon. But neither is it a viable option to blithely accept Chinese domination of advanced industries.</p>
<p>So what should the Trump administration do? One step would be to resurrect a new and improved version of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement. Much of the opposition to the TPP was based on a combination of ideology and misinformation, but it is true that the agreement could have been better. Trump should make it his own by adding new protections, such as strong curbs on currency manipulation, and then claim victory. Another step would be to more vigorously prosecute trade cases against China. But doing this would only chip away at the core problem. Neither approach represents a direct challenge to China’s systematic pattern of abuse.</p>
<p>To fundamentally change Chinese government behavior, Trump needs to assemble an alliance of nations that collectively raise the stakes. China won’t willingly abandon its mercantilist policies unless it is compelled to do so by outside pressure that goes beyond the narrow, legalistic limits of the World Trade Organization. This fight will be won or lost not in the tribunals of Geneva, but in the court of global opinion where countries are held accountable for delivering tangible results. That means the Trump administration needs to enlist the international community to pressure China to show by its actions that it can be a responsible player in the global trading system.</p>
<p>The first step in enacting this new doctrine should be to build an ironclad prosecutor’s case that catalogues all of the unfair, mercantilist practices China engages in and explains how they harm the entire world economy, rich and poor nations alike. Next, Trump should have top administration officials fan out around the world to line up allies, including in Europe, the British commonwealth nations, Japan and South Korea, to develop a coordinated response. This could even include orchestrating a Group of 19 meeting that excludes China – for the express purpose of formulating an agenda for how market-based, rule-of-law economies can respond both in unison and individually to Chinese mercantilism.</p>
<p>Isolation is not a formula for economic greatness; leading the defense of the global trading system is. Other countries lack the heft to push back against China’s mercantilism on their own for the (very real) fear of retaliation. But the United States can and should lead this effort. “America First” should mean standing in the vanguard and pointing the way forward.</p>
<p>—</p>
<p>Atkinson is president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation.</p>
<p>Sign up for the Today’s WorldView Newsletter The Washington Post.</p> | 1,680 |
|
<p>The Republican effort to pass a $1.5 trillion tax cut and deliver President Donald Trump his first major legislative win entered a critical period Thursday, with the House and the Senate operating on parallel tracks to clear legislation over a series of hurdles.</p>
<p>Passage of legislation through the House Ways and Means Committee, followed by the unveiling of a Senate alternative, will move the debate beyond fights between the GOP and Democrats and into an arena marked by differences between Republicans in each chamber.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Senate Republicans were set to release a plan that diverges from the House version, which cuts individual- and corporate-tax rates and repeals the estate tax. High-income households would get the biggest boost under the House plan, garnering 20.6% of the cut next year and almost half in 2027, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.</p>
<p>The cuts would be paid for in part by the elimination of various household deductions.</p>
<p>Senate Republicans were leaning toward preserving medical-expense deduction and the estate tax, which the House plan eliminates, and toward striking the deduction for property taxes, which the House plan cuts to $10,000 annually. Senate Republicans may eliminate the property tax deduction altogether along with other state and local tax deductions.</p>
<p>"You go down the path of trying to repeal the entire state and local tax in the Senate, then that is just not going to work," said Rep. Tom Reed (R., N.Y.), who fought to preserve the property-tax deduction in the House plan, in a preview of the intraparty battles.</p>
<p>The House picks up where it left off Wednesday, facing the problem of how to fill a $74 billion hole in the budget -- and beyond that, the emerging hesitation of more Republicans.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>A Wall Street Journal tally has identified at least nine House Republicans who are either against the House GOP plan or undecided. House Republicans can lose only 22 GOP votes during a floor vote planned for next week if they are to pass the legislation given that no Democrats are expected to support it.</p>
<p>On the Senate side, White House economic adviser Gary Cohn huddled into the evening with Senate Republican aides and Sen. Rob Portman (R., Ohio) to finish the plan. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R., Utah) left the meeting saying the tax package wasn't completed.</p>
<p>"We've resolved a lot of problems -- we still have a lot more to do," Mr. Hatch told reporters.</p>
<p>Said Mr. Cohn: "Everything is never always resolved. We're in good shape, though."</p>
<p>WASHINGTON -- The Senate has devised a tax plan that would cut the corporate-tax rate to 20% starting in 2019, according to two Senate Republican aides and multiple GOP senators, one year later than proposed by the House and later than the Trump administration had hoped.</p>
<p>The plan also includes a full repeal of deductions for state and local taxes and sticks with seven tax brackets -- compared with the four brackets proposed by the House -- according to Republican senators leaving a closed-door briefing. The top tax rate would be 38.5% and would apply to individuals making $500,000 a year or households making $1 million, according to Sen. John Hoeven (R., N.D.)</p>
<p>The mortgage-interest deduction would be preserved for home loans of up to $1 million, the same as under current law and a departure from a House plan that had lowered that amount to $500,000.</p>
<p>Senate Republicans also declined to repeal the mandate that individuals buy health insurance or pay a penalty, under the Affordable Care Act, a step that would have raised hundreds of millions of dollars for tax cuts but that would generate controversy.</p>
<p>The details are starting to trickle out as the Republican effort to pass a $1.5 trillion tax cut and deliver President Donald Trump his first major legislative win entered a critical period. The House and the Senate are operating on parallel tracks to clear legislation over a series of hurdles.</p>
<p>GOP senators said Thursday that they expected the corporate tax rate cut to be delayed by one year, but that could change depending on how the official estimates of the bill's cost come in.</p>
<p>"It may be delayed one year, but immediate expensing is included up front, which is a huge deal," Sen. Mike Rounds (R., S.D.) told reporters of the corporate tax rate cut.</p>
<p>Passage of legislation through the House Ways and Means Committee, followed by the unveiling of a Senate alternative, will move the debate beyond fights between the GOP and Democrats and into an arena marked by differences between Republicans in each chamber.</p>
<p>Senate Republicans were set to release a plan that diverges from the House version, which cuts individual- and corporate-tax rates and repeals the estate tax.</p>
<p>High-income households would get the biggest boost under the House plan, with the top 1% garnering 20.6% of the cut next year and almost half in 2027, according to the Tax Policy Center.</p>
<p>The cuts would be paid for in part by the elimination of various household deductions.</p>
<p>But Senate Republicans preserved the medical-expense deduction, which the House plan eliminates, and an adoption-tax credit that the House plan had originally eliminated.</p>
<p>The House picked up where it left off Wednesday, facing the problem of how to fill a $74 billion hole in the budget -- and beyond that, the emerging hesitation of more Republicans.</p>
<p>The House panel was preparing to vote on that measure and on its tax package later Thursday.</p>
<p>A Wall Street Journal tally has identified at least nine House Republicans who are either against the House GOP plan or undecided. House Republicans can lose only 22 GOP votes during a floor vote planned for next week if they are to pass the legislation given that no Democrats are expected to support it.</p>
<p>Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R., Texas) told reporters the Senate tax bill would likely come up for a floor vote the week after Thanksgiving.</p>
<p>Write to Siobhan Hughes at [email protected], Richard Rubin at [email protected] and Kristina Peterson at [email protected]</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>November 09, 2017 18:01 ET (23:01 GMT)</p> | GOP Tax-Cut Effort Enters Critical Phase in House, Senate | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/11/09/gop-tax-cut-effort-enters-critical-phase-in-house-senate1.html | 2017-11-09 | 0right
| GOP Tax-Cut Effort Enters Critical Phase in House, Senate
<p>The Republican effort to pass a $1.5 trillion tax cut and deliver President Donald Trump his first major legislative win entered a critical period Thursday, with the House and the Senate operating on parallel tracks to clear legislation over a series of hurdles.</p>
<p>Passage of legislation through the House Ways and Means Committee, followed by the unveiling of a Senate alternative, will move the debate beyond fights between the GOP and Democrats and into an arena marked by differences between Republicans in each chamber.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Senate Republicans were set to release a plan that diverges from the House version, which cuts individual- and corporate-tax rates and repeals the estate tax. High-income households would get the biggest boost under the House plan, garnering 20.6% of the cut next year and almost half in 2027, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.</p>
<p>The cuts would be paid for in part by the elimination of various household deductions.</p>
<p>Senate Republicans were leaning toward preserving medical-expense deduction and the estate tax, which the House plan eliminates, and toward striking the deduction for property taxes, which the House plan cuts to $10,000 annually. Senate Republicans may eliminate the property tax deduction altogether along with other state and local tax deductions.</p>
<p>"You go down the path of trying to repeal the entire state and local tax in the Senate, then that is just not going to work," said Rep. Tom Reed (R., N.Y.), who fought to preserve the property-tax deduction in the House plan, in a preview of the intraparty battles.</p>
<p>The House picks up where it left off Wednesday, facing the problem of how to fill a $74 billion hole in the budget -- and beyond that, the emerging hesitation of more Republicans.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>A Wall Street Journal tally has identified at least nine House Republicans who are either against the House GOP plan or undecided. House Republicans can lose only 22 GOP votes during a floor vote planned for next week if they are to pass the legislation given that no Democrats are expected to support it.</p>
<p>On the Senate side, White House economic adviser Gary Cohn huddled into the evening with Senate Republican aides and Sen. Rob Portman (R., Ohio) to finish the plan. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R., Utah) left the meeting saying the tax package wasn't completed.</p>
<p>"We've resolved a lot of problems -- we still have a lot more to do," Mr. Hatch told reporters.</p>
<p>Said Mr. Cohn: "Everything is never always resolved. We're in good shape, though."</p>
<p>WASHINGTON -- The Senate has devised a tax plan that would cut the corporate-tax rate to 20% starting in 2019, according to two Senate Republican aides and multiple GOP senators, one year later than proposed by the House and later than the Trump administration had hoped.</p>
<p>The plan also includes a full repeal of deductions for state and local taxes and sticks with seven tax brackets -- compared with the four brackets proposed by the House -- according to Republican senators leaving a closed-door briefing. The top tax rate would be 38.5% and would apply to individuals making $500,000 a year or households making $1 million, according to Sen. John Hoeven (R., N.D.)</p>
<p>The mortgage-interest deduction would be preserved for home loans of up to $1 million, the same as under current law and a departure from a House plan that had lowered that amount to $500,000.</p>
<p>Senate Republicans also declined to repeal the mandate that individuals buy health insurance or pay a penalty, under the Affordable Care Act, a step that would have raised hundreds of millions of dollars for tax cuts but that would generate controversy.</p>
<p>The details are starting to trickle out as the Republican effort to pass a $1.5 trillion tax cut and deliver President Donald Trump his first major legislative win entered a critical period. The House and the Senate are operating on parallel tracks to clear legislation over a series of hurdles.</p>
<p>GOP senators said Thursday that they expected the corporate tax rate cut to be delayed by one year, but that could change depending on how the official estimates of the bill's cost come in.</p>
<p>"It may be delayed one year, but immediate expensing is included up front, which is a huge deal," Sen. Mike Rounds (R., S.D.) told reporters of the corporate tax rate cut.</p>
<p>Passage of legislation through the House Ways and Means Committee, followed by the unveiling of a Senate alternative, will move the debate beyond fights between the GOP and Democrats and into an arena marked by differences between Republicans in each chamber.</p>
<p>Senate Republicans were set to release a plan that diverges from the House version, which cuts individual- and corporate-tax rates and repeals the estate tax.</p>
<p>High-income households would get the biggest boost under the House plan, with the top 1% garnering 20.6% of the cut next year and almost half in 2027, according to the Tax Policy Center.</p>
<p>The cuts would be paid for in part by the elimination of various household deductions.</p>
<p>But Senate Republicans preserved the medical-expense deduction, which the House plan eliminates, and an adoption-tax credit that the House plan had originally eliminated.</p>
<p>The House picked up where it left off Wednesday, facing the problem of how to fill a $74 billion hole in the budget -- and beyond that, the emerging hesitation of more Republicans.</p>
<p>The House panel was preparing to vote on that measure and on its tax package later Thursday.</p>
<p>A Wall Street Journal tally has identified at least nine House Republicans who are either against the House GOP plan or undecided. House Republicans can lose only 22 GOP votes during a floor vote planned for next week if they are to pass the legislation given that no Democrats are expected to support it.</p>
<p>Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R., Texas) told reporters the Senate tax bill would likely come up for a floor vote the week after Thanksgiving.</p>
<p>Write to Siobhan Hughes at [email protected], Richard Rubin at [email protected] and Kristina Peterson at [email protected]</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>November 09, 2017 18:01 ET (23:01 GMT)</p> | 1,681 |
<p />
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Today was a good day to be invested in oil and gas services companies as stocks across the industry are up double digits as of 11:45 a.m. EST after OPEC announced that it had agreed to a production cut of 1.2 million barrels per day. Here's a quick list of some of the oil services companies that have seen their stock prices move more than 10% as a result of the news:</p>
<p>The most direct connection between the share-price jump and the movement in these stocks is that an OPEC cut should bring about higher prices for the commodity, which in turn should spur increased drilling activity and higher demand for the services these companies provide.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>This is especially true for companies that have more exposure to North American shale. The quick development time for this kind of production suggests it will be the first part of the industry to see an uptick. This is why Halliburton, despite being a $45 billion company, and Newpark are up double digits. Of the three largest oil services providers out there, Halliburton has the most exposure to North American shale. And Newpark's drilling fluids and industrial protective mats are heavily connected to North American shale.</p>
<p>The other three companies don't have as much exposure to North American shale, but what they lack in North American exposure, they make up for in an absolute need for more business in general. Weatherford has been going through cut after cut of its workforce to reduce costs and start to generate cash from operations and pay down debt, but the declines in the market have kept it from achieving this goal. Similarly, Superior Energy Services and Helix Energy Solutions have been posting heavy losses as they try to rightsize their businesses. Their stocks have been in the doldrums for a while, so today's news comes as a well-needed sign that the worst of this energy downturn may finally be over.</p>
<p>Before investors jump into any of these stocks, they need to keep in mind that each plays a different part in the life cycle of oil and gas development. The companies more tied to shale, such as Halliburton and Newpark, will likely see results much sooner than the likes of Helix, which is more connected to offshore work. In any case, today's news -- assuming that the production cut lasts for a while -- is a good thing for the industry as a whole, indicating that we should finally start to see some improvements on the income side of things.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Halliburton When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=bce0f543-c695-4446-a518-d561abf74db1&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Halliburton wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
<p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=bce0f543-c695-4446-a518-d561abf74db1&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p>
<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of November 7, 2016</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFDirtyBird/info.aspx" type="external">Tyler Crowe Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned.You can follow him at Fool.comor on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/TylerCroweFool" type="external">@TylerCroweFool Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>The Motley Fool owns shares of Halliburton. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=isiedilnk018048&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/motley.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | Shares of Oil Services Providers Big and Small Got a Big OPEC Bump Today | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/11/30/shares-oil-services-providers-big-and-small-got-big-opec-bump-today.html | 2016-11-30 | 0right
| Shares of Oil Services Providers Big and Small Got a Big OPEC Bump Today
<p />
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Today was a good day to be invested in oil and gas services companies as stocks across the industry are up double digits as of 11:45 a.m. EST after OPEC announced that it had agreed to a production cut of 1.2 million barrels per day. Here's a quick list of some of the oil services companies that have seen their stock prices move more than 10% as a result of the news:</p>
<p>The most direct connection between the share-price jump and the movement in these stocks is that an OPEC cut should bring about higher prices for the commodity, which in turn should spur increased drilling activity and higher demand for the services these companies provide.</p>
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<p>This is especially true for companies that have more exposure to North American shale. The quick development time for this kind of production suggests it will be the first part of the industry to see an uptick. This is why Halliburton, despite being a $45 billion company, and Newpark are up double digits. Of the three largest oil services providers out there, Halliburton has the most exposure to North American shale. And Newpark's drilling fluids and industrial protective mats are heavily connected to North American shale.</p>
<p>The other three companies don't have as much exposure to North American shale, but what they lack in North American exposure, they make up for in an absolute need for more business in general. Weatherford has been going through cut after cut of its workforce to reduce costs and start to generate cash from operations and pay down debt, but the declines in the market have kept it from achieving this goal. Similarly, Superior Energy Services and Helix Energy Solutions have been posting heavy losses as they try to rightsize their businesses. Their stocks have been in the doldrums for a while, so today's news comes as a well-needed sign that the worst of this energy downturn may finally be over.</p>
<p>Before investors jump into any of these stocks, they need to keep in mind that each plays a different part in the life cycle of oil and gas development. The companies more tied to shale, such as Halliburton and Newpark, will likely see results much sooner than the likes of Helix, which is more connected to offshore work. In any case, today's news -- assuming that the production cut lasts for a while -- is a good thing for the industry as a whole, indicating that we should finally start to see some improvements on the income side of things.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Halliburton When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=bce0f543-c695-4446-a518-d561abf74db1&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Halliburton wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
<p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=bce0f543-c695-4446-a518-d561abf74db1&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p>
<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of November 7, 2016</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFDirtyBird/info.aspx" type="external">Tyler Crowe Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned.You can follow him at Fool.comor on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/TylerCroweFool" type="external">@TylerCroweFool Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>The Motley Fool owns shares of Halliburton. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=isiedilnk018048&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/motley.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | 1,682 |
<p>The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency requested $27 million in 2015 for <a href="http://www.space.com/24639-united-states-military-space-plane-xs1.html" type="external">XS-1, a concept for a reusable space plane</a> that could ultimately fly 10 times in 10 days and boost payloads into low-Earth orbit for less than $5 million per launch. The program received $10 million in 2014.</p>
<p>The agency expects to spend some $800 million on space programs from 2015 through 2018, an increase of $130 million over what was projected at this time last year, Defense Department budget documents show.</p>
<p>"Technologies derived from the <a href="http://www.spacenews.com/article/military-space/38138darpa%E2%80%99s-xs-1-experimental-spaceplane-call-for-proposals-eyes-a-2018" type="external">XS-1 program</a> will enable routine space launch capabilities with aircraft-like cost, operability and reliability," a DARPA announcement from November 2013 reads. "The long-term intent is for XS-1 technologies to be transitioned to support not only next-generation launch for government and commercial customers, but also global reach hypersonic and space access aircraft."</p>
<p>The agency hopes to select a single vendor next year for the final design and development of the vehicle, which could make its initial test flight in 2018.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.spacenews.com/article/military-space/38939darpa-solicits-ideas-for-tracking-objects-in-low-earth-orbit-blind-spot" type="external">DARPA</a> sees the program potentially transitioning to the Air Force, the Navy or a commercial operator, the budget documents said.</p>
<p>The budget request also includes $55 million for the Airborne Launch Assist Space Access (ALASA) program, which is intended to field a system to launch satellites weighing up to 100 lbs (45 kilograms) for $1 million each. The agency requested $42 million for the program in fiscal year 2014.</p>
<p>DARPA awarded ALASA system concept studies contracts last year to Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Virgin Galactic, and technology-development contracts to three other companies.</p>
<p>The program is aiming for a demonstration launch in fiscal year 2015.</p>
<p>The request discontinues funding for two programs: an experimental solar electric propulsion vehicle and system F6, a planned formation-flying satellite demonstration that was canceled last year.</p>
<p>- Mike Gruss, Space.com</p>
<p>This is a condensed version of a story that appeared in Space.com. Read the entire article <a href="http://www.spacenews.com/" type="external">here</a>. Follow Mike Gruss on Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/Gruss_SN" type="external">@Gruss_SN</a>.</p>
<p>Copyright 2014 <a href="http://www.space.com/" type="external">SPACE.com</a>, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p> | XS-1 Space Plane Could Make Orbit Much Cheaper | false | http://nbcnews.com/science/space/xs-1-space-plane-could-make-orbit-much-cheaper-n63106 | 2014-03-26 | 3left-center
| XS-1 Space Plane Could Make Orbit Much Cheaper
<p>The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency requested $27 million in 2015 for <a href="http://www.space.com/24639-united-states-military-space-plane-xs1.html" type="external">XS-1, a concept for a reusable space plane</a> that could ultimately fly 10 times in 10 days and boost payloads into low-Earth orbit for less than $5 million per launch. The program received $10 million in 2014.</p>
<p>The agency expects to spend some $800 million on space programs from 2015 through 2018, an increase of $130 million over what was projected at this time last year, Defense Department budget documents show.</p>
<p>"Technologies derived from the <a href="http://www.spacenews.com/article/military-space/38138darpa%E2%80%99s-xs-1-experimental-spaceplane-call-for-proposals-eyes-a-2018" type="external">XS-1 program</a> will enable routine space launch capabilities with aircraft-like cost, operability and reliability," a DARPA announcement from November 2013 reads. "The long-term intent is for XS-1 technologies to be transitioned to support not only next-generation launch for government and commercial customers, but also global reach hypersonic and space access aircraft."</p>
<p>The agency hopes to select a single vendor next year for the final design and development of the vehicle, which could make its initial test flight in 2018.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.spacenews.com/article/military-space/38939darpa-solicits-ideas-for-tracking-objects-in-low-earth-orbit-blind-spot" type="external">DARPA</a> sees the program potentially transitioning to the Air Force, the Navy or a commercial operator, the budget documents said.</p>
<p>The budget request also includes $55 million for the Airborne Launch Assist Space Access (ALASA) program, which is intended to field a system to launch satellites weighing up to 100 lbs (45 kilograms) for $1 million each. The agency requested $42 million for the program in fiscal year 2014.</p>
<p>DARPA awarded ALASA system concept studies contracts last year to Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Virgin Galactic, and technology-development contracts to three other companies.</p>
<p>The program is aiming for a demonstration launch in fiscal year 2015.</p>
<p>The request discontinues funding for two programs: an experimental solar electric propulsion vehicle and system F6, a planned formation-flying satellite demonstration that was canceled last year.</p>
<p>- Mike Gruss, Space.com</p>
<p>This is a condensed version of a story that appeared in Space.com. Read the entire article <a href="http://www.spacenews.com/" type="external">here</a>. Follow Mike Gruss on Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/Gruss_SN" type="external">@Gruss_SN</a>.</p>
<p>Copyright 2014 <a href="http://www.space.com/" type="external">SPACE.com</a>, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p> | 1,683 |
<p>ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Contacts between Turkey’s Halkbank and U.S. authorities are continuing in a “healthy way”, the bank’s chief executive said on Wednesday, adding the lender conforms to U.S. sanctions on Iran.</p>
<p>Osman Arslan, in an interview with broadcaster Bloomberg HT, also said the bank had established contacts with U.S. authorities regarding the Iran sanctions case that has involved one of its executives.</p>
<p>A U.S. jury found Halkbank executive Mehmet Hakan Atilla guilty of helping Iran evade U.S. sanctions, convicting him on five counts, including bank fraud and conspiracy this month, in a case which haS strained ties between Ankara and Washington.</p>
<p>Reporting by Ezgi Erkoyun and Ebru Tuncay; Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Daren Butler</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrat Conor Lamb said on Wednesday his Republican opponent in a U.S. House of Representatives special election on March 13 in Pennsylvania had conceded the race.</p> U.S. Democratic congressional candidate Conor Lamb is greeted by supporters during his election night rally in Pennsylvania's 18th U.S. Congressional district special election against Republican candidate and State Rep. Rick Saccone, in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, March 13, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
<p>Lamb made the statement on Twitter about Rick Saccone, cementing a stunning Democratic upset in a long-time Republican area that President Donald Trump won handily in 2016.</p>
<p>“Just got off the phone with my opponent, @RickSaccone4PA, who congratulated me &amp; graciously conceded last Tuesday’s election,” the tweet said in part.</p>
<p>Reporting by Eric Walsh; editing by Grant McCool</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>PFLUGERVILLE, Texas (Reuters) - The Texas man who carried out a three-week bombing spree made a 25-minute video “confession” on his phone, which was recovered after he blew himself up on Wednesday as police were closing in to make an arrest, police said.</p>
<p>Officials identified the bomber as Mark Conditt, 23, an unemployed man from the Austin suburb of Pflugerville, who had been charged on Tuesday night with unlawful possession and transfer of a destructive device.</p>
<p>“He does not at all mention anything about terrorism, nor does he mention anything about hate, but instead it is the outcry of a very challenged young man, talking about challenges in his personal life,” Austin Police Chief Brian Manley told reporters.</p>
<p>Experts also removed explosive device components on Wednesday from Conditt’s home.</p>
<p>Hours earlier, police had tracked Conditt to a hotel about 20 miles (32 km) north of Austin. They were following his vehicle when he pulled to the side of the road and detonated a device, killing himself, Manley told reporters near the scene.</p> Texas blast suspect Mark Anthony Conditt is seen in this undated handout photo released by Austin Community College in Austin, Texas, U.S. March 21, 2018. Austin Community College/Handout via REUTERS
<p>Police cautioned that he may have planted or mailed other bombs, asking the public to remain vigilant, but his death came as a relief to Austin, a fast-growing city of 1 million people. In addition to killing two people in the area, the bombings that had begun on March 2 injured at least five others.</p>
<p>Experts from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) discovered bomb parts similar to those used in the attacks at Conditt’s home.</p> Slideshow (28 Images)
<p>“I wouldn’t call it a bomb-making factory, but there’s definitely components consistent with what we’ve seen in all these other devices,” Fred Milanowski, special agent in charge of the ATF’s Houston field division, told reporters.</p>
<p>Investigators detained two of Conditt’s roommates who lived at the home, the Austin Police Department said. One was questioned and released and the other was still being questioned. Police said their names would not be released because they were not under arrest.</p> Related Coverage
<a href="/article/us-texas-blast-fbi/fbi-asks-delivery-companies-to-be-more-careful-handling-suspicious-packages-idUSKBN1GX2XB" type="external">FBI asks delivery companies to be more careful handling suspicious packages</a>
<a href="/article/us-texas-blast-fedex/fedex-evidence-helped-identify-texas-bombing-suspect-memo-idUSKBN1GX2AR" type="external">FedEx evidence helped identify Texas bombing suspect: memo</a>
<p>During his three-week campaign, the bomber left three parcels on doorsteps, activated another by trip wire, and sent at least two via FedEx, one of which blew up on a conveyer belt in a sorting facility on Tuesday. The other was recovered before it exploded.</p>
<p>FedEx said it had supplied investigators with “extensive evidence,” though officials have yet to publicly detail how or when they identified Conditt as the suspect. The criminal charge and arrest warrant were filed on Tuesday night.</p>
<p>Reporting by Jonathan Herskovitz; Additional reporting by Jim Forsyth in San Antonio, Texas, Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee, Mark Hosenball in Washington, and Jonathan Allen and Gina Cherelus in New York; Writing by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Rosalba O'Brien</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>TEMPE, Ariz. (Reuters) - Police in Arizona on Wednesday released a short video of a fatal collision between an Uber self-driving vehicle and a pedestrian, as investigators probe the accident that has put new focus on the safety of autonomous vehicles.</p> A still frame taken from video released March 21, 2018 shows the exterior view of the self-driving Uber vehicle leading up to the fatal collision in Tempe, Arizona, U.S. on March 18, 2018. Tempe Police Department/Handout via REUTERS
<p>The video, taken from inside the Volvo XC90 sport utility vehicle that Uber has used for testing, shows the vehicle driving along a dark road when an image of a woman walking a bicycle across the road appears in the headlights.</p>
<p>The woman, Elaine Herzberg, 49, later died from her injuries.</p>
<p>Police have released few details about the accident that occurred on Sunday night in Tempe, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix, while the SUV was driving in autonomous mode. Uber suspended its self-driving testing in North America after the incident and federal safety regulators are conducting their own probe.</p>
<p>The video shows the vehicle traveling in the right-hand lane of a divided four-lane roadway. Suddenly, the vehicle’s headlights illuminate a woman directly in front of it who is crossing the SUV’s lane with her bike.</p> A still frame taken from video released March 21, 2018 shows the interior view of an unidentified operator in a self-driving Uber vehicle reacting as she looks through the windshield leading up to a fatal collision in Tempe, Arizona, U.S. on March 18, 2018. Tempe Police Department/Handout via REUTERS
<p>A photo released by safety regulators on Tuesday showed that the impact occurred on the right side of the vehicle.</p>
<p>The video also shows the driver at the wheel, who appears to be looking down throughout most of the video. Just before the video stops, the driver looks up and looks shocked.</p> National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators examine a self-driving Uber vehicle involved in a fatal accident in Tempe, Arizona, U.S., March 20, 2018. A women was struck and killed by the vehicle on March 18, 2018. National Transportation Safety Board/Handout via REUTERS
<p>“The video is disturbing and heartbreaking to watch, and our thoughts continue to be with Elaine’s loved ones,” Uber said in a statement. “Our cars remain grounded, and we’re assisting local, state and federal authorities in any way we can.”</p>
<p>The video is likely to be a key part of investigations of Uber’s self-driving car technology and whether it was ready for testing on public roads.</p>
<p>Although the exact specifics of Uber’s technology are not known, self-driving cars generally use a combination of sensors, including radar and light-based Lidar, to identify objects around the vehicle, including potential obstacles coming into range.</p>
<p>One question on regulators’ minds would be why the sensors did not pick up on the presence of Herzberg, who would ostensibly have already crossed three lanes of traffic before arriving in the path of the Uber vehicle.</p>
<p>Writing by by Alexandria Sage; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien and Peter Cooney</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazilian prosecutors on Wednesday said they had opened an investigation into whether London-based political consultancy Cambridge Analytica acted illegally in Brazil, as controversy over the firm’s data harvesting practices spreads across the globe.</p> The nameplate of political consultancy, Cambridge Analytica, is seen in central London, Britain March 21, 2018. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls
<p>Prosecutors for Brazil’s Federal District, which includes Brasilia, the capital, said in a written statement that they will look into whether the firm, through its partnership with Sao Paulo-based consulting group A Ponte Estratégia Planejamento e Pesquisa LTDA, illegally used the data of millions of Brazilians to create psychographic profiles.</p>
<p>Calls to CA Ponte, as the partnership is called, were not answered.</p>
<p>Prosecutors from a specialized data unit will look into whether there were security breaches that allowed the firm to illegally access personal data.</p>
<p>Regulators and lawmakers in the United States and Europe have demanded an explanation of how the consulting firm, which worked on U.S. President Donald Trump’s election campaign, gained access to data on 50 million Facebook Inc ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=FB.O" type="external">FB.O</a>) users in order to build voter profiles.</p>
<a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=FB.O" type="external">Facebook Inc</a> 169.39 FB.O Nasdaq +1.24 (+0.74%) FB.O
<p>Reports on Monday said that the firm may have improperly gained access to the data, and Cambridge Analytica has since suspended its chief executive Alexander Nix, while Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said his company made mistakes in its handling of user data.</p> Related Video
<p>By many measures, Brazil is Facebook’s third largest market.</p>
<p>Reporting by Ricardo Brito; Writing by Gram Slattery; Editing by Leslie Adler and James Dalgleish</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a> | Turkey's Halbank says talks with U.S. continuing in 'healthy way' - Bloomberg HT Democrat in U.S. House race in Pennsylvania says opponent concedes Texas serial bomber made video confession before blowing himself up Arizona police release video of fatal collision with Uber self-driving SUV Brazil prosecutors open investigation into Cambridge Analytica | false | https://reuters.com/article/usa-turkey-halkbank/turkeys-halkbank-says-talks-with-us-continuing-in-healthy-way-bloomberg-ht-idUSI7N1PD00B | 2018-01-24 | 2least
| Turkey's Halbank says talks with U.S. continuing in 'healthy way' - Bloomberg HT Democrat in U.S. House race in Pennsylvania says opponent concedes Texas serial bomber made video confession before blowing himself up Arizona police release video of fatal collision with Uber self-driving SUV Brazil prosecutors open investigation into Cambridge Analytica
<p>ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Contacts between Turkey’s Halkbank and U.S. authorities are continuing in a “healthy way”, the bank’s chief executive said on Wednesday, adding the lender conforms to U.S. sanctions on Iran.</p>
<p>Osman Arslan, in an interview with broadcaster Bloomberg HT, also said the bank had established contacts with U.S. authorities regarding the Iran sanctions case that has involved one of its executives.</p>
<p>A U.S. jury found Halkbank executive Mehmet Hakan Atilla guilty of helping Iran evade U.S. sanctions, convicting him on five counts, including bank fraud and conspiracy this month, in a case which haS strained ties between Ankara and Washington.</p>
<p>Reporting by Ezgi Erkoyun and Ebru Tuncay; Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Daren Butler</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrat Conor Lamb said on Wednesday his Republican opponent in a U.S. House of Representatives special election on March 13 in Pennsylvania had conceded the race.</p> U.S. Democratic congressional candidate Conor Lamb is greeted by supporters during his election night rally in Pennsylvania's 18th U.S. Congressional district special election against Republican candidate and State Rep. Rick Saccone, in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, March 13, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
<p>Lamb made the statement on Twitter about Rick Saccone, cementing a stunning Democratic upset in a long-time Republican area that President Donald Trump won handily in 2016.</p>
<p>“Just got off the phone with my opponent, @RickSaccone4PA, who congratulated me &amp; graciously conceded last Tuesday’s election,” the tweet said in part.</p>
<p>Reporting by Eric Walsh; editing by Grant McCool</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>PFLUGERVILLE, Texas (Reuters) - The Texas man who carried out a three-week bombing spree made a 25-minute video “confession” on his phone, which was recovered after he blew himself up on Wednesday as police were closing in to make an arrest, police said.</p>
<p>Officials identified the bomber as Mark Conditt, 23, an unemployed man from the Austin suburb of Pflugerville, who had been charged on Tuesday night with unlawful possession and transfer of a destructive device.</p>
<p>“He does not at all mention anything about terrorism, nor does he mention anything about hate, but instead it is the outcry of a very challenged young man, talking about challenges in his personal life,” Austin Police Chief Brian Manley told reporters.</p>
<p>Experts also removed explosive device components on Wednesday from Conditt’s home.</p>
<p>Hours earlier, police had tracked Conditt to a hotel about 20 miles (32 km) north of Austin. They were following his vehicle when he pulled to the side of the road and detonated a device, killing himself, Manley told reporters near the scene.</p> Texas blast suspect Mark Anthony Conditt is seen in this undated handout photo released by Austin Community College in Austin, Texas, U.S. March 21, 2018. Austin Community College/Handout via REUTERS
<p>Police cautioned that he may have planted or mailed other bombs, asking the public to remain vigilant, but his death came as a relief to Austin, a fast-growing city of 1 million people. In addition to killing two people in the area, the bombings that had begun on March 2 injured at least five others.</p>
<p>Experts from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) discovered bomb parts similar to those used in the attacks at Conditt’s home.</p> Slideshow (28 Images)
<p>“I wouldn’t call it a bomb-making factory, but there’s definitely components consistent with what we’ve seen in all these other devices,” Fred Milanowski, special agent in charge of the ATF’s Houston field division, told reporters.</p>
<p>Investigators detained two of Conditt’s roommates who lived at the home, the Austin Police Department said. One was questioned and released and the other was still being questioned. Police said their names would not be released because they were not under arrest.</p> Related Coverage
<a href="/article/us-texas-blast-fbi/fbi-asks-delivery-companies-to-be-more-careful-handling-suspicious-packages-idUSKBN1GX2XB" type="external">FBI asks delivery companies to be more careful handling suspicious packages</a>
<a href="/article/us-texas-blast-fedex/fedex-evidence-helped-identify-texas-bombing-suspect-memo-idUSKBN1GX2AR" type="external">FedEx evidence helped identify Texas bombing suspect: memo</a>
<p>During his three-week campaign, the bomber left three parcels on doorsteps, activated another by trip wire, and sent at least two via FedEx, one of which blew up on a conveyer belt in a sorting facility on Tuesday. The other was recovered before it exploded.</p>
<p>FedEx said it had supplied investigators with “extensive evidence,” though officials have yet to publicly detail how or when they identified Conditt as the suspect. The criminal charge and arrest warrant were filed on Tuesday night.</p>
<p>Reporting by Jonathan Herskovitz; Additional reporting by Jim Forsyth in San Antonio, Texas, Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee, Mark Hosenball in Washington, and Jonathan Allen and Gina Cherelus in New York; Writing by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Rosalba O'Brien</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>TEMPE, Ariz. (Reuters) - Police in Arizona on Wednesday released a short video of a fatal collision between an Uber self-driving vehicle and a pedestrian, as investigators probe the accident that has put new focus on the safety of autonomous vehicles.</p> A still frame taken from video released March 21, 2018 shows the exterior view of the self-driving Uber vehicle leading up to the fatal collision in Tempe, Arizona, U.S. on March 18, 2018. Tempe Police Department/Handout via REUTERS
<p>The video, taken from inside the Volvo XC90 sport utility vehicle that Uber has used for testing, shows the vehicle driving along a dark road when an image of a woman walking a bicycle across the road appears in the headlights.</p>
<p>The woman, Elaine Herzberg, 49, later died from her injuries.</p>
<p>Police have released few details about the accident that occurred on Sunday night in Tempe, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix, while the SUV was driving in autonomous mode. Uber suspended its self-driving testing in North America after the incident and federal safety regulators are conducting their own probe.</p>
<p>The video shows the vehicle traveling in the right-hand lane of a divided four-lane roadway. Suddenly, the vehicle’s headlights illuminate a woman directly in front of it who is crossing the SUV’s lane with her bike.</p> A still frame taken from video released March 21, 2018 shows the interior view of an unidentified operator in a self-driving Uber vehicle reacting as she looks through the windshield leading up to a fatal collision in Tempe, Arizona, U.S. on March 18, 2018. Tempe Police Department/Handout via REUTERS
<p>A photo released by safety regulators on Tuesday showed that the impact occurred on the right side of the vehicle.</p>
<p>The video also shows the driver at the wheel, who appears to be looking down throughout most of the video. Just before the video stops, the driver looks up and looks shocked.</p> National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators examine a self-driving Uber vehicle involved in a fatal accident in Tempe, Arizona, U.S., March 20, 2018. A women was struck and killed by the vehicle on March 18, 2018. National Transportation Safety Board/Handout via REUTERS
<p>“The video is disturbing and heartbreaking to watch, and our thoughts continue to be with Elaine’s loved ones,” Uber said in a statement. “Our cars remain grounded, and we’re assisting local, state and federal authorities in any way we can.”</p>
<p>The video is likely to be a key part of investigations of Uber’s self-driving car technology and whether it was ready for testing on public roads.</p>
<p>Although the exact specifics of Uber’s technology are not known, self-driving cars generally use a combination of sensors, including radar and light-based Lidar, to identify objects around the vehicle, including potential obstacles coming into range.</p>
<p>One question on regulators’ minds would be why the sensors did not pick up on the presence of Herzberg, who would ostensibly have already crossed three lanes of traffic before arriving in the path of the Uber vehicle.</p>
<p>Writing by by Alexandria Sage; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien and Peter Cooney</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazilian prosecutors on Wednesday said they had opened an investigation into whether London-based political consultancy Cambridge Analytica acted illegally in Brazil, as controversy over the firm’s data harvesting practices spreads across the globe.</p> The nameplate of political consultancy, Cambridge Analytica, is seen in central London, Britain March 21, 2018. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls
<p>Prosecutors for Brazil’s Federal District, which includes Brasilia, the capital, said in a written statement that they will look into whether the firm, through its partnership with Sao Paulo-based consulting group A Ponte Estratégia Planejamento e Pesquisa LTDA, illegally used the data of millions of Brazilians to create psychographic profiles.</p>
<p>Calls to CA Ponte, as the partnership is called, were not answered.</p>
<p>Prosecutors from a specialized data unit will look into whether there were security breaches that allowed the firm to illegally access personal data.</p>
<p>Regulators and lawmakers in the United States and Europe have demanded an explanation of how the consulting firm, which worked on U.S. President Donald Trump’s election campaign, gained access to data on 50 million Facebook Inc ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=FB.O" type="external">FB.O</a>) users in order to build voter profiles.</p>
<a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=FB.O" type="external">Facebook Inc</a> 169.39 FB.O Nasdaq +1.24 (+0.74%) FB.O
<p>Reports on Monday said that the firm may have improperly gained access to the data, and Cambridge Analytica has since suspended its chief executive Alexander Nix, while Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said his company made mistakes in its handling of user data.</p> Related Video
<p>By many measures, Brazil is Facebook’s third largest market.</p>
<p>Reporting by Ricardo Brito; Writing by Gram Slattery; Editing by Leslie Adler and James Dalgleish</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a> | 1,684 |
<p>Loved ones of "Jimmy the Greek Taverna" owner Dimitrios Karaloukas gathered to celebrate his life at the Glades Road restaurant he owned and loved Friday, one day after the man was fatally stabbed by an employee police said was angry about a photo.</p>
<p>"He would just hang out, and just sprawl out. Had a nice personality. Just a very nice man — the whole family," one person said. "We all, everywhere, feel terrible."</p>
<p>Tilus Lebrun, 36, was <a href="http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/Florida-Man-Murders-Boss-Because-He-Took-a-Photo-of-Him-Without-Permission-250354441.html" type="external">arrested Thursday evening</a> after deputies say he fatally stabbed Karaloukas in a restaurant because the boss took a photo of him without his permission, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.</p>
<p>He worked at Jimmy The Greek Taverna Restaurant in Boca Raton, where witnesses say he pulled out a knife and stabbed the restaurant’s 61-year-old owner. Officials say the owner was sitting down in the restaurant when he was attacked by Lebrun. He was stabbed three times on his left side and once in his back and later died of his injuries.</p>
<p>An unidentified male who was an employee at the restaurant was also attacked by Lebrun. The victim was stabbed numerous times and is undergoing lifesaving surgery at Delray Medical Center, authorities said.</p>
<p>Deputies found Lebrun near the restaurant outside wearing an apron and holding a large knife. He later told deputies, “I killed him because he took my photograph on March 2nd and posted it on the internet,” according to authorities.</p>
<p>Lebrun has been charged with first degree premeditated murder and murder while engaged in a certain felony offense.</p>
<p>He was being held without bond Friday. It is not known at this time if he has an attorney.</p> | Florida Man Fatally Stabs Boss Over Photo Taken Without Permission | false | http://nbcnews.com/news/crime-courts/florida-man-fatally-stabs-boss-over-photo-taken-without-permission-n53631 | 2014-03-15 | 3left-center
| Florida Man Fatally Stabs Boss Over Photo Taken Without Permission
<p>Loved ones of "Jimmy the Greek Taverna" owner Dimitrios Karaloukas gathered to celebrate his life at the Glades Road restaurant he owned and loved Friday, one day after the man was fatally stabbed by an employee police said was angry about a photo.</p>
<p>"He would just hang out, and just sprawl out. Had a nice personality. Just a very nice man — the whole family," one person said. "We all, everywhere, feel terrible."</p>
<p>Tilus Lebrun, 36, was <a href="http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/Florida-Man-Murders-Boss-Because-He-Took-a-Photo-of-Him-Without-Permission-250354441.html" type="external">arrested Thursday evening</a> after deputies say he fatally stabbed Karaloukas in a restaurant because the boss took a photo of him without his permission, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.</p>
<p>He worked at Jimmy The Greek Taverna Restaurant in Boca Raton, where witnesses say he pulled out a knife and stabbed the restaurant’s 61-year-old owner. Officials say the owner was sitting down in the restaurant when he was attacked by Lebrun. He was stabbed three times on his left side and once in his back and later died of his injuries.</p>
<p>An unidentified male who was an employee at the restaurant was also attacked by Lebrun. The victim was stabbed numerous times and is undergoing lifesaving surgery at Delray Medical Center, authorities said.</p>
<p>Deputies found Lebrun near the restaurant outside wearing an apron and holding a large knife. He later told deputies, “I killed him because he took my photograph on March 2nd and posted it on the internet,” according to authorities.</p>
<p>Lebrun has been charged with first degree premeditated murder and murder while engaged in a certain felony offense.</p>
<p>He was being held without bond Friday. It is not known at this time if he has an attorney.</p> | 1,685 |
<p>I can only imagine that by now you’ve seen Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman’s <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/early-lead/wp/2014/01/19/richard-sherman-goes-on-postgame-rant-with-erin-andrews-video/" type="external">post-game interview</a> from Sunday’s NFC Championship, the one in which he called San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Michael Crabtree “sorry” and proclaimed that he was the best defensive back in football. The interview earned him no shortage of backlash on Twitter, Facebook, and all the other conductors of insta-reaction/outrage, and it earned him plenty of criticism in the sports media too.</p>
<p>Sherman is a “classless” “thug” who forgot for 30 seconds Sunday night that athletes are supposed to stick to language that would make corporate PR executives swoon. That’s the case even for an athlete like Sherman, who had a microphone in his face mere minutes after making the biggest play of his life in the biggest game of his life. There’s a code in sports that says you can’t talk smack about your opponents even if it’s what you believe, because that’s “classless” and “thuggish,” or something like that. It’s a code of dishonesty, but it’s a code Richard Sherman violated. And so Monday, he apologized.</p>
<p>“I apologize for attacking an individual and taking the attention away from the fantastic game by my teammates&#160;… That was not my intent,” Sherman said Monday in a text message to ESPN’s Ed Werder.</p>
<p>Sherman also addressed his postgame comments in an interview Monday with ESPN Radio on the “SVP and Russillo” show.</p>
<p>“Obviously I could have worded things better and could obviously have had a better reaction and done things differently,” he said during the interview. “But it is what it is now, and people’s reactions are what they are.”</p>
<p>We’ve been led to believe that Sherman said something awful, but watch the clip again. He criticizes a wide receiver on a rival team that he’s been battling for 60 minutes and he claims to have a personal history with. He claims he’s the best defensive back in the game. Neither of those seem to be outlandish enough to warrant the outrage they generated, at least not from anyone whose name isn’t Michael Crabtree. And neither of those statements seem to necessitate an apology, at least not to anyone who isn’t Michael Crabtree. So what’s Sherman apologizing for? For becoming a distraction. And that’s even more amazing, because the idea that he was a distraction — that <a href="" type="internal">catch-all term</a> we use to criticize athletes when they step outside the realm of what the sports world deems acceptable — is nonsense that ignores that this turned into a major story for no particularly legitimate reason.</p>
<p>Sherman is probably right that he could have worded his criticism of Crabtree, with whom he claims to have a bitter personal history, in a more artful manner. But it wasn’t Richard Sherman that blew this up by ignoring the context of the fact that this happened minutes after the game ended, in a stadium full of raucous supporting fans after a game he spent matching up with a wide receiver he apparently doesn’t like. It wasn’t Richard Sherman who failed to understand what it takes for men like him to play a game that might actually kill them and that, <a href="http://joeposnanski.com/joeblogs/postgame/" type="external">as Joe Posnanski wrote Monday</a>, it might be a little unfair to expect anything less than raw, honest emotion right after that game is finished, even in the post-game news conference, where Sherman continued to rail on Crabtree. It wasn’t Richard Sherman who decided to make sweeping judgments about a man’s character for reacting emotionally in that situation. And it certainly wasn’t Richard Sherman’s fault that the sports media focused on the shiny object that was his post-game interview instead of the 60 minutes of brilliant football preceding it (just read <a href="http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/sports&amp;id=9400589" type="external">this headline</a> to see the narrative creation at work).</p>
<p>There are reasons why that happened, of course. Sherman didn’t live up to the ideals of “professionalism” and “class” sports fans and the media have set for athletes, and so he had to be blasted for it. Nevermind that those ideals are often contrived and dishonest, particularly in this situation, when they ask athletes who play a game predicated on emotional disconnection to provide empty, platitude-laced answers immediately after that game, even if those responses aren’t remotely true. Nevermind that those ideals depend on an odd expectation that Sherman and Crabtree have to like each other. Nevermind that those ideals — and the outrage at Sherman for failing to uphold them — at times has a lot to do with race. Some of the outrage toward Sherman was no doubt influenced by the fact that he was a large, black, dreadlocked man screaming WWE-style into a microphone held by an attractive, blonde sideline reporter, who many immediately said looked “fearful” even as she handled the interview professionally ( <a href="http://deadspin.com/richard-sherman-and-the-plight-of-the-conquering-negro-1505060117" type="external">Greg Howard</a> and <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/01/richard-shermans-best-behavior/283198/" type="external">Ta-Nehisi Coates</a> both wrote on the racial dynamics of this situation Monday).</p>
<p>Most of all, that desire for “professionalism” at all times ignores that these players are humans with emotions and feelings and opinions and that, at times, those emotions are going to come out, probably never more so than in the type of situation Sherman was in. It seems unreasonable that we’d expect athletes never to react the way he did in that situation. It seems hard to me, as both a journalist and a sports fan, to be outraged that Sherman was honest about his feelings in that moment. It’s absurd that so many want to judge his character through one interview he gave minutes after the biggest moment of his career. This should have been a non-story, a funny moment that we laugh about for years (like Bart Scott’s “ <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJshw2Axsqc" type="external">can’t wait</a>” decree) but that didn’t mean much beyond that. Instead, it’s become some sort of outrage story, and Richard Sherman is apologizing for shifting attention from an excellent football game. To whatever extent it is true that Richard Sherman was a distraction, though, it is only so because the sports world is so easily distracted by faux-controversies like this one.</p> | Why Richard Sherman Shouldn’t Have To Apologize For His Post-Game Interview | true | http://thinkprogress.org/sports/2014/01/21/3184431/richard-sherman-need-apologize-trash-talk/ | 2014-01-21 | 4left
| Why Richard Sherman Shouldn’t Have To Apologize For His Post-Game Interview
<p>I can only imagine that by now you’ve seen Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman’s <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/early-lead/wp/2014/01/19/richard-sherman-goes-on-postgame-rant-with-erin-andrews-video/" type="external">post-game interview</a> from Sunday’s NFC Championship, the one in which he called San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Michael Crabtree “sorry” and proclaimed that he was the best defensive back in football. The interview earned him no shortage of backlash on Twitter, Facebook, and all the other conductors of insta-reaction/outrage, and it earned him plenty of criticism in the sports media too.</p>
<p>Sherman is a “classless” “thug” who forgot for 30 seconds Sunday night that athletes are supposed to stick to language that would make corporate PR executives swoon. That’s the case even for an athlete like Sherman, who had a microphone in his face mere minutes after making the biggest play of his life in the biggest game of his life. There’s a code in sports that says you can’t talk smack about your opponents even if it’s what you believe, because that’s “classless” and “thuggish,” or something like that. It’s a code of dishonesty, but it’s a code Richard Sherman violated. And so Monday, he apologized.</p>
<p>“I apologize for attacking an individual and taking the attention away from the fantastic game by my teammates&#160;… That was not my intent,” Sherman said Monday in a text message to ESPN’s Ed Werder.</p>
<p>Sherman also addressed his postgame comments in an interview Monday with ESPN Radio on the “SVP and Russillo” show.</p>
<p>“Obviously I could have worded things better and could obviously have had a better reaction and done things differently,” he said during the interview. “But it is what it is now, and people’s reactions are what they are.”</p>
<p>We’ve been led to believe that Sherman said something awful, but watch the clip again. He criticizes a wide receiver on a rival team that he’s been battling for 60 minutes and he claims to have a personal history with. He claims he’s the best defensive back in the game. Neither of those seem to be outlandish enough to warrant the outrage they generated, at least not from anyone whose name isn’t Michael Crabtree. And neither of those statements seem to necessitate an apology, at least not to anyone who isn’t Michael Crabtree. So what’s Sherman apologizing for? For becoming a distraction. And that’s even more amazing, because the idea that he was a distraction — that <a href="" type="internal">catch-all term</a> we use to criticize athletes when they step outside the realm of what the sports world deems acceptable — is nonsense that ignores that this turned into a major story for no particularly legitimate reason.</p>
<p>Sherman is probably right that he could have worded his criticism of Crabtree, with whom he claims to have a bitter personal history, in a more artful manner. But it wasn’t Richard Sherman that blew this up by ignoring the context of the fact that this happened minutes after the game ended, in a stadium full of raucous supporting fans after a game he spent matching up with a wide receiver he apparently doesn’t like. It wasn’t Richard Sherman who failed to understand what it takes for men like him to play a game that might actually kill them and that, <a href="http://joeposnanski.com/joeblogs/postgame/" type="external">as Joe Posnanski wrote Monday</a>, it might be a little unfair to expect anything less than raw, honest emotion right after that game is finished, even in the post-game news conference, where Sherman continued to rail on Crabtree. It wasn’t Richard Sherman who decided to make sweeping judgments about a man’s character for reacting emotionally in that situation. And it certainly wasn’t Richard Sherman’s fault that the sports media focused on the shiny object that was his post-game interview instead of the 60 minutes of brilliant football preceding it (just read <a href="http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/sports&amp;id=9400589" type="external">this headline</a> to see the narrative creation at work).</p>
<p>There are reasons why that happened, of course. Sherman didn’t live up to the ideals of “professionalism” and “class” sports fans and the media have set for athletes, and so he had to be blasted for it. Nevermind that those ideals are often contrived and dishonest, particularly in this situation, when they ask athletes who play a game predicated on emotional disconnection to provide empty, platitude-laced answers immediately after that game, even if those responses aren’t remotely true. Nevermind that those ideals depend on an odd expectation that Sherman and Crabtree have to like each other. Nevermind that those ideals — and the outrage at Sherman for failing to uphold them — at times has a lot to do with race. Some of the outrage toward Sherman was no doubt influenced by the fact that he was a large, black, dreadlocked man screaming WWE-style into a microphone held by an attractive, blonde sideline reporter, who many immediately said looked “fearful” even as she handled the interview professionally ( <a href="http://deadspin.com/richard-sherman-and-the-plight-of-the-conquering-negro-1505060117" type="external">Greg Howard</a> and <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/01/richard-shermans-best-behavior/283198/" type="external">Ta-Nehisi Coates</a> both wrote on the racial dynamics of this situation Monday).</p>
<p>Most of all, that desire for “professionalism” at all times ignores that these players are humans with emotions and feelings and opinions and that, at times, those emotions are going to come out, probably never more so than in the type of situation Sherman was in. It seems unreasonable that we’d expect athletes never to react the way he did in that situation. It seems hard to me, as both a journalist and a sports fan, to be outraged that Sherman was honest about his feelings in that moment. It’s absurd that so many want to judge his character through one interview he gave minutes after the biggest moment of his career. This should have been a non-story, a funny moment that we laugh about for years (like Bart Scott’s “ <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJshw2Axsqc" type="external">can’t wait</a>” decree) but that didn’t mean much beyond that. Instead, it’s become some sort of outrage story, and Richard Sherman is apologizing for shifting attention from an excellent football game. To whatever extent it is true that Richard Sherman was a distraction, though, it is only so because the sports world is so easily distracted by faux-controversies like this one.</p> | 1,686 |
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<p>Our daughter was born on Dec. 20. When she was only a few years old, we purchased a 2-foot-tall artificial tree and named it the “birthday tree.” She could decorate it every year however she liked. Any birthday presents went under that tree. That made her day special. When she got married and moved out, her birthday tree went with her. –</p>
<p>BLESSED, TOO, IN INDIANA</p>
<p>DEAR BLESSED, TOO: I enjoyed reading the letters from you and other readers who are Christmas babies or have a family member who is one. Their upbeat, positive experiences made me smile. Read on:</p>
<p>DEAR ABBY: My daughter was born on Christmas Eve. From the time she was 5 and able to recognize that her birthday cards were getting scrambled in with the other holiday cards, we started celebrating on June 24 – her half-birthday. She gets excited every year as it nears. She’ll be 32. Celebrating her half-birthday was the best thing we could have decided to do, and I have no regrets. – MOM OF A CHRISTMAS BABY</p>
<p>DEAR ABBY: I was born in December and I LOVE my birthday! My mother, grandmother, sister-in-law and niece were also born in December. It’s a great time to have a birthday. Everything is decorated for the holidays, and most people are in a good mood. My family never blended the occasions, so that helped.</p>
<p>As to people’s comments, my reply is: “Everyone has a birthday. Mine just happens to be at Christmastime, so please acknowledge that.” The only thing I do wish is, if I receive a birthday gift, I hope it’s wrapped in birthday paper and not Christmas wrap. – HOLLY IN ARKANSAS</p>
<p>DEAR ABBY: I do not recommend celebrating the kid’s half-birthday in June. In June, people are away at camp or on vacation, and there’s no one to invite to the party.</p>
<p>Early December is a perfect time for a birthday party. Sports are over and the holiday parties haven’t started, school is still in session so everyone is still around. Another good time is early January, right after school starts again but the other activities haven’t yet geared up. – BUSY DECEMBER MOM</p>
<p>DEAR ABBY: Fifty-five years ago my husband and I weren’t thinking ahead either. Our son was born on Christmas Day. He still thinks that’s great.</p>
<p>Christmas always lasted until after the presents were opened and the kitchen was cleaned following lunch. Then it was birthday time! It was special because his long-distance grandparents were always there.</p>
<p>When he became old enough for birthday parties, he could choose to have it on any day while school was out for the holiday break – either before or after Christmas. It worked well for our family and it might for others, too. – CAROLYN IN TEXAS</p>
<p>DEAR ABBY: Tell that new mom to cheer up. My mother was born on Christmas Day and she loved it. She said the reason was no one ever forgot it, and everyone got the day off! – SARA IN FLORIDA</p>
<p>Contact Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.</p>
<p />
<p /> | DEAR ABBY: Christmas babies find plenty to celebrate at the holidays | false | https://abqjournal.com/1103487/christmas-babies-find-plenty-to-celebrate-at-the-holidays.html | 2least
| DEAR ABBY: Christmas babies find plenty to celebrate at the holidays
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<p />
<p>Our daughter was born on Dec. 20. When she was only a few years old, we purchased a 2-foot-tall artificial tree and named it the “birthday tree.” She could decorate it every year however she liked. Any birthday presents went under that tree. That made her day special. When she got married and moved out, her birthday tree went with her. –</p>
<p>BLESSED, TOO, IN INDIANA</p>
<p>DEAR BLESSED, TOO: I enjoyed reading the letters from you and other readers who are Christmas babies or have a family member who is one. Their upbeat, positive experiences made me smile. Read on:</p>
<p>DEAR ABBY: My daughter was born on Christmas Eve. From the time she was 5 and able to recognize that her birthday cards were getting scrambled in with the other holiday cards, we started celebrating on June 24 – her half-birthday. She gets excited every year as it nears. She’ll be 32. Celebrating her half-birthday was the best thing we could have decided to do, and I have no regrets. – MOM OF A CHRISTMAS BABY</p>
<p>DEAR ABBY: I was born in December and I LOVE my birthday! My mother, grandmother, sister-in-law and niece were also born in December. It’s a great time to have a birthday. Everything is decorated for the holidays, and most people are in a good mood. My family never blended the occasions, so that helped.</p>
<p>As to people’s comments, my reply is: “Everyone has a birthday. Mine just happens to be at Christmastime, so please acknowledge that.” The only thing I do wish is, if I receive a birthday gift, I hope it’s wrapped in birthday paper and not Christmas wrap. – HOLLY IN ARKANSAS</p>
<p>DEAR ABBY: I do not recommend celebrating the kid’s half-birthday in June. In June, people are away at camp or on vacation, and there’s no one to invite to the party.</p>
<p>Early December is a perfect time for a birthday party. Sports are over and the holiday parties haven’t started, school is still in session so everyone is still around. Another good time is early January, right after school starts again but the other activities haven’t yet geared up. – BUSY DECEMBER MOM</p>
<p>DEAR ABBY: Fifty-five years ago my husband and I weren’t thinking ahead either. Our son was born on Christmas Day. He still thinks that’s great.</p>
<p>Christmas always lasted until after the presents were opened and the kitchen was cleaned following lunch. Then it was birthday time! It was special because his long-distance grandparents were always there.</p>
<p>When he became old enough for birthday parties, he could choose to have it on any day while school was out for the holiday break – either before or after Christmas. It worked well for our family and it might for others, too. – CAROLYN IN TEXAS</p>
<p>DEAR ABBY: Tell that new mom to cheer up. My mother was born on Christmas Day and she loved it. She said the reason was no one ever forgot it, and everyone got the day off! – SARA IN FLORIDA</p>
<p>Contact Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.</p>
<p />
<p /> | 1,687 |
|
<p>AIM is very proud today of our selection last year of Andrew Breitbart for the Reed Irvine Journalism Award. &#160;He did a fantastic job of exposing the agenda of MSNBC, part of which is to make conservatives out to be racists. They frequently do that with the Tea Party and with most conservative journalists and politicians. That is their M.O. &#160;He appeared on MSNBC on Wednesday afternoon on the Martin Bashir show, supposedly to discuss his new book, Righteous Indignation. Instead, Bashir chose to use the opportunity to attempt to smear Breitbart as a racist. Bashir obviously wasn’t interested in the facts, or in whatever Breitbart had to say. He constantly interrupted Breitbart, and when Breitbart fired back at the premise of the questions, or the implications, Bashir would fall back into a subject that he thought he had the smoking gun to prove that Breitbart was a racist. But it was nothing of the sort. In fact it showed quite the contrary. The subject was over how Breitbart’s website had used a video clip of Shirley Sherrod, a then-USDA official, who was forced to resign after the clips were shown.</p>
<p>I’m not going to rehash the dispute at this point. I urge everyone, and particularly anyone interested in hearing the two sides of the story, to watch the 14 minutes of video from this afternoon’s show. Media Matters, which as Breitbart points out, often, and in this case, probably provided the talking points for Bashir, has this interview on their website, and says that “Breitbart Melts Down.” We watched it and say, “Bashir Melts Down,” and was utterly unconvincing to anyone who listened to what the two parties actually said.</p>
<p>Another issue that Bashir brought up was Breitbart’s belief in the theory posited by Jack Cashill, in his new book Deconstructing Obama, that President Obama’s autobiography, Dreams from My Father, was most likely written by the unrepentant terrorist, William Ayers, an early associate of Barack Obama’s in his Chicago years. <a href="../../../../../aim-column/obama-deconstructed-an-interview-with-jack-cashill/" type="external">I recently interviewed Cashill</a> about this, and totally agree with Breitbart that, after reading the detailed case made by Cashill, I agree that it is most likely true.</p>
<p>I urge everyone to watch this video to gain a better understanding of Andrew Breitbart, and MSNBC, today’s Ground Zero of the liberal media.</p>
<p /> | Breitbart Eviscerates Bashir on MSNBC | true | http://aim.org/on-target-blog/breitbart-eviscerates-bashir-on-msnbc/ | 2011-04-20 | 0right
| Breitbart Eviscerates Bashir on MSNBC
<p>AIM is very proud today of our selection last year of Andrew Breitbart for the Reed Irvine Journalism Award. &#160;He did a fantastic job of exposing the agenda of MSNBC, part of which is to make conservatives out to be racists. They frequently do that with the Tea Party and with most conservative journalists and politicians. That is their M.O. &#160;He appeared on MSNBC on Wednesday afternoon on the Martin Bashir show, supposedly to discuss his new book, Righteous Indignation. Instead, Bashir chose to use the opportunity to attempt to smear Breitbart as a racist. Bashir obviously wasn’t interested in the facts, or in whatever Breitbart had to say. He constantly interrupted Breitbart, and when Breitbart fired back at the premise of the questions, or the implications, Bashir would fall back into a subject that he thought he had the smoking gun to prove that Breitbart was a racist. But it was nothing of the sort. In fact it showed quite the contrary. The subject was over how Breitbart’s website had used a video clip of Shirley Sherrod, a then-USDA official, who was forced to resign after the clips were shown.</p>
<p>I’m not going to rehash the dispute at this point. I urge everyone, and particularly anyone interested in hearing the two sides of the story, to watch the 14 minutes of video from this afternoon’s show. Media Matters, which as Breitbart points out, often, and in this case, probably provided the talking points for Bashir, has this interview on their website, and says that “Breitbart Melts Down.” We watched it and say, “Bashir Melts Down,” and was utterly unconvincing to anyone who listened to what the two parties actually said.</p>
<p>Another issue that Bashir brought up was Breitbart’s belief in the theory posited by Jack Cashill, in his new book Deconstructing Obama, that President Obama’s autobiography, Dreams from My Father, was most likely written by the unrepentant terrorist, William Ayers, an early associate of Barack Obama’s in his Chicago years. <a href="../../../../../aim-column/obama-deconstructed-an-interview-with-jack-cashill/" type="external">I recently interviewed Cashill</a> about this, and totally agree with Breitbart that, after reading the detailed case made by Cashill, I agree that it is most likely true.</p>
<p>I urge everyone to watch this video to gain a better understanding of Andrew Breitbart, and MSNBC, today’s Ground Zero of the liberal media.</p>
<p /> | 1,688 |
<p>In addition to discussions on numerous radio talk shows where hosts cited quotes or interviewed MRC representatives, the Best of NQ Awards issue has been highlighted by these outlets:</p>
<p>Welcome to the Media Research Center’s annual awards issue, a compilation of the most outrageous and/or humorous news media quotes from 2014 (December 2013 through November 2014).</p>
<p>To determine this year’s winners, a panel of 40 radio talk show hosts, magazine editors, columnists, editorial writers, and expert media observers each selected their choices for the first, second and third best quote from a slate of five to seven quotes in each category [ <a href="/notable-quotables/year-end-awards-best-notable-quotables-2014?cat=judges" type="external">List of Judges</a>]. First place selections were awarded three points, second place choices two points, with one point for the third place selections. Point totals are listed alongside each quote. Each judge was also asked to choose a “Quote of the Year” denoting the most outrageous quote of 2014.</p>
<p>The MRC’s Kristine Lawrence distributed the ballots and tabulated the results. Senior news analyst Scott Whitlock rounded up the numerous video clips included in the Web-posted version. Rich Noyes and Brent Baker assembled this issue and Brad Ash posted the entire package to the MRC’s Web site: <a href="" type="internal">www.MRC.org</a>.</p>
<p>A printable Adobe Acrobat PDF of the "Best of NQ" awards issue is included here for your convenience.</p>
<p>For the all the text in one document, download the <a href="" type="internal">MS Word</a> or <a href="" type="internal">WordPerfect</a> versions.</p> | true | http://mrc.org/notable-quotables/year-end-awards-best-notable-quotables-2014?cat%3D3%26utm_source%3Dfacebook%26utm_medium%3Dmarketing%26utm_term%3Dfacebook%26utm_content%3Dfacebook%26utm_campaign%3Dblue-state-brigade | 0right
|
<p>In addition to discussions on numerous radio talk shows where hosts cited quotes or interviewed MRC representatives, the Best of NQ Awards issue has been highlighted by these outlets:</p>
<p>Welcome to the Media Research Center’s annual awards issue, a compilation of the most outrageous and/or humorous news media quotes from 2014 (December 2013 through November 2014).</p>
<p>To determine this year’s winners, a panel of 40 radio talk show hosts, magazine editors, columnists, editorial writers, and expert media observers each selected their choices for the first, second and third best quote from a slate of five to seven quotes in each category [ <a href="/notable-quotables/year-end-awards-best-notable-quotables-2014?cat=judges" type="external">List of Judges</a>]. First place selections were awarded three points, second place choices two points, with one point for the third place selections. Point totals are listed alongside each quote. Each judge was also asked to choose a “Quote of the Year” denoting the most outrageous quote of 2014.</p>
<p>The MRC’s Kristine Lawrence distributed the ballots and tabulated the results. Senior news analyst Scott Whitlock rounded up the numerous video clips included in the Web-posted version. Rich Noyes and Brent Baker assembled this issue and Brad Ash posted the entire package to the MRC’s Web site: <a href="" type="internal">www.MRC.org</a>.</p>
<p>A printable Adobe Acrobat PDF of the "Best of NQ" awards issue is included here for your convenience.</p>
<p>For the all the text in one document, download the <a href="" type="internal">MS Word</a> or <a href="" type="internal">WordPerfect</a> versions.</p> | 1,689 |
||
<p>Sept. 19 (UPI) — New research proves cellular proteins identify and communicate with one another using molecular “add-ons.” Scientists liken the protein add-ons to web browser plug-ins.</p>
<p>Slowly, researchers are beginning to understand how proteins develop to perform specific functions. Many proteins work only in tandem with another specific proteins, or must communicate with another protein to carry out their task. But until now, scientists weren’t sure how different proteins find each other inside a cell.</p>
<p>The latest discovery — detailed this week <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2017/09/12/1707335114" type="external">in the journal PNAS</a> — suggests proteins use their add-ons to identify one another.</p>
<p>Researchers discovered the add-ons, bits of molecular materials on the outside of protein molecules, using computer models designed to analyze the evolutionary development of related proteins.</p>
<p>Scientists analyzed proteins among 15,000 bacterial genomes, sorting different proteins into family tree-like groupings based on their genetic sequences. The analysis revealed interface structures present on some proteins but not on others. Researchers realized the so-called add-ons could explain the diversity of protein functionality.</p>
<p>While only about 1,000 basic protein structures have been identified by scientists. Research shows cellular proteins have evolved the ability to perform thousands of specialized tasks.</p>
<p>“Much work has been put into analyzing how proteins interact with each other and what the interfaces look like, how they are constructed, and how they evolved,” Maximilian Plach, a biochemist at the University of Regensburg, <a href="https://news.osu.edu/news/2017/09/19/addons/" type="external">said in a news release</a>. “But the peripheral regions of interfaces have not received as much attention. I think the novelty in our approach was to look at regions that have been, as yet, regarded as less important.”</p>
<p>Researchers manipulated molecular add-ons to see how their absence might affect bacterial colonies. They found the deletion of one particular add-on hampered the growth of Bacillus subtilis.</p>
<p>“We’re really pleased that our native mass spectrometry technology could help identify the role of these interface ‘add-ons’ — a way for a protein to find its critical partner protein even in a crowded cellular environment with similar structures present,” said Vicki Wysocki, a molecular biologist at Ohio State University.</p>
<p>The new findings were made possible by large databases of protein and bacterial genomic data.</p>
<p>“I consider our work to be one important example of how to make use of publicly available data in order to understand fundamental principles in nature, and I think that data mining will become increasingly important in the biomedical field in the future,” said Florian Busch, a postdoctoral researcher in biochemistry at Ohio State.</p> | Study: Proteins have 'add-ons,' just like web browsers | false | https://newsline.com/study-proteins-have-add-ons-just-like-web-browsers/ | 2017-09-19 | 1right-center
| Study: Proteins have 'add-ons,' just like web browsers
<p>Sept. 19 (UPI) — New research proves cellular proteins identify and communicate with one another using molecular “add-ons.” Scientists liken the protein add-ons to web browser plug-ins.</p>
<p>Slowly, researchers are beginning to understand how proteins develop to perform specific functions. Many proteins work only in tandem with another specific proteins, or must communicate with another protein to carry out their task. But until now, scientists weren’t sure how different proteins find each other inside a cell.</p>
<p>The latest discovery — detailed this week <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2017/09/12/1707335114" type="external">in the journal PNAS</a> — suggests proteins use their add-ons to identify one another.</p>
<p>Researchers discovered the add-ons, bits of molecular materials on the outside of protein molecules, using computer models designed to analyze the evolutionary development of related proteins.</p>
<p>Scientists analyzed proteins among 15,000 bacterial genomes, sorting different proteins into family tree-like groupings based on their genetic sequences. The analysis revealed interface structures present on some proteins but not on others. Researchers realized the so-called add-ons could explain the diversity of protein functionality.</p>
<p>While only about 1,000 basic protein structures have been identified by scientists. Research shows cellular proteins have evolved the ability to perform thousands of specialized tasks.</p>
<p>“Much work has been put into analyzing how proteins interact with each other and what the interfaces look like, how they are constructed, and how they evolved,” Maximilian Plach, a biochemist at the University of Regensburg, <a href="https://news.osu.edu/news/2017/09/19/addons/" type="external">said in a news release</a>. “But the peripheral regions of interfaces have not received as much attention. I think the novelty in our approach was to look at regions that have been, as yet, regarded as less important.”</p>
<p>Researchers manipulated molecular add-ons to see how their absence might affect bacterial colonies. They found the deletion of one particular add-on hampered the growth of Bacillus subtilis.</p>
<p>“We’re really pleased that our native mass spectrometry technology could help identify the role of these interface ‘add-ons’ — a way for a protein to find its critical partner protein even in a crowded cellular environment with similar structures present,” said Vicki Wysocki, a molecular biologist at Ohio State University.</p>
<p>The new findings were made possible by large databases of protein and bacterial genomic data.</p>
<p>“I consider our work to be one important example of how to make use of publicly available data in order to understand fundamental principles in nature, and I think that data mining will become increasingly important in the biomedical field in the future,” said Florian Busch, a postdoctoral researcher in biochemistry at Ohio State.</p> | 1,690 |
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<p>The latest on developments in financial markets (All times local):</p>
<p>4 p.m.</p>
<p>Stocks are capping a solid opening week of the year with big gains for technology, materials and energy companies.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Tech stocks, which were the biggest stars of the market last year, continued in that role in the opening week of 2018. Cisco Systems rose 1.4 percent Friday and Apple gained 1.1 percent.</p>
<p>For the week, tech stocks in the Standard &amp; Poor’s 500 index are up 4.2 percent.</p>
<p>The four-day winning streak for the S&amp;P 500 index this week marked the longest string of consecutives gains to start a year since 2010.</p>
<p>On Friday the S&amp;P 500 index rose 19 points, or 0.7 percent, to 2,743.</p>
<p>The Dow Jones industrial average rose 220 points, or 0.9 percent, to 25,295. The Nasdaq composite climbed 58 points, or 0.8 percent, to 7,136.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>11:45 a.m.</p>
<p>Technology companies are climbing as U.S. stocks rise for the fourth day in a row to start 2018.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Cisco Systems rose 1.1 percent in midday trading Friday, and Google’s parent company Alphabet rose 1.4 percent.</p>
<p>Stocks are continuing to push through record highs.</p>
<p>The Dow Jones industrials closed above 25,000 points for the first time Thursday and the Nasdaq breached 7,000 points earlier in the week.</p>
<p>The Dow increased 83 points, or 0.3 percent, to 25,158.</p>
<p>The Standard &amp; Poor’s 500 index rose 9 points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,733.</p>
<p>The Nasdaq composite climbed 49 points, or 0.6 percent, to 7,122.</p>
<p>Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.47 percent.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>9:35 a.m.</p>
<p>Stocks are opening slightly higher on Wall Street, carrying on momentum a day after the Dow Jones industrial average broke through 25,000 points.</p>
<p>Technology and industrial companies were leading the way higher early Friday. Railroad operator Union Pacific gained 2.1 percent and Cisco Systems rose 1.4 percent.</p>
<p>The Dow increased 49 points, or 0.2 percent, to 25,122.</p>
<p>The Standard &amp; Poor’s 500 index rose 5 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,728.</p>
<p>The Nasdaq composite climbed 22 points, or 0.3 percent, to 7,100.</p> | Markets Right Now: Stocks close higher, led by technology | false | https://abqjournal.com/1115155/markets-right-now-stocks-open-higher-on-wall-street-13.html | 2018-01-05 | 2least
| Markets Right Now: Stocks close higher, led by technology
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>The latest on developments in financial markets (All times local):</p>
<p>4 p.m.</p>
<p>Stocks are capping a solid opening week of the year with big gains for technology, materials and energy companies.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Tech stocks, which were the biggest stars of the market last year, continued in that role in the opening week of 2018. Cisco Systems rose 1.4 percent Friday and Apple gained 1.1 percent.</p>
<p>For the week, tech stocks in the Standard &amp; Poor’s 500 index are up 4.2 percent.</p>
<p>The four-day winning streak for the S&amp;P 500 index this week marked the longest string of consecutives gains to start a year since 2010.</p>
<p>On Friday the S&amp;P 500 index rose 19 points, or 0.7 percent, to 2,743.</p>
<p>The Dow Jones industrial average rose 220 points, or 0.9 percent, to 25,295. The Nasdaq composite climbed 58 points, or 0.8 percent, to 7,136.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>11:45 a.m.</p>
<p>Technology companies are climbing as U.S. stocks rise for the fourth day in a row to start 2018.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Cisco Systems rose 1.1 percent in midday trading Friday, and Google’s parent company Alphabet rose 1.4 percent.</p>
<p>Stocks are continuing to push through record highs.</p>
<p>The Dow Jones industrials closed above 25,000 points for the first time Thursday and the Nasdaq breached 7,000 points earlier in the week.</p>
<p>The Dow increased 83 points, or 0.3 percent, to 25,158.</p>
<p>The Standard &amp; Poor’s 500 index rose 9 points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,733.</p>
<p>The Nasdaq composite climbed 49 points, or 0.6 percent, to 7,122.</p>
<p>Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.47 percent.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>9:35 a.m.</p>
<p>Stocks are opening slightly higher on Wall Street, carrying on momentum a day after the Dow Jones industrial average broke through 25,000 points.</p>
<p>Technology and industrial companies were leading the way higher early Friday. Railroad operator Union Pacific gained 2.1 percent and Cisco Systems rose 1.4 percent.</p>
<p>The Dow increased 49 points, or 0.2 percent, to 25,122.</p>
<p>The Standard &amp; Poor’s 500 index rose 5 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,728.</p>
<p>The Nasdaq composite climbed 22 points, or 0.3 percent, to 7,100.</p> | 1,691 |
<p>Last night, while dining out with a friend, I ordered the carrot ginger soup.</p>
<p>No wait, there's more.</p>
<p>It was too salty, and I said so. Out loud to my friend.</p>
<p>Little did I know I could have been sent to jail ...</p>
<p>... if I lived in Taiwan.</p>
<p>On Tuesday, a Taiwanese blogger with the surname Liu, wrote that a restaurant's beef noodles were "too salty." As a result, she was sentenced to 30 days detention and two years of probation.</p>
<p>Harsh.</p>
<p>Adding "salt" to the wound, Liu was also ordered to pay $7,000 (NT$200,000) in compensation to the restaurant for loss of revenues due to her blog post, which also called the restaurant unsanitary.</p>
<p>According to the <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2011/06/23/2003506487" type="external">Taipei Times</a>:</p>
<p>After visiting a Taichung beef noodle restaurant in July 2008, where she had dried noodles and side dishes, Liu wrote that the restaurant served food that was too salty, the place was unsanitary because there were cockroaches and that the owner was a "bully" because he let customers park their cars haphazardly, leading to traffic jams.</p>
<p>While Liu's statement about the cockroaches was taken to be a statement of fact, her criticism of the food was deemed unlawful due to the fact that she only tried one dish.</p>
<p>But I mean. Who orders a second dish when the first one was too salty?</p> | Taiwan food critic jailed for criticizing food | false | https://pri.org/stories/2011-06-23/taiwan-food-critic-jailed-criticizing-food | 2011-06-23 | 3left-center
| Taiwan food critic jailed for criticizing food
<p>Last night, while dining out with a friend, I ordered the carrot ginger soup.</p>
<p>No wait, there's more.</p>
<p>It was too salty, and I said so. Out loud to my friend.</p>
<p>Little did I know I could have been sent to jail ...</p>
<p>... if I lived in Taiwan.</p>
<p>On Tuesday, a Taiwanese blogger with the surname Liu, wrote that a restaurant's beef noodles were "too salty." As a result, she was sentenced to 30 days detention and two years of probation.</p>
<p>Harsh.</p>
<p>Adding "salt" to the wound, Liu was also ordered to pay $7,000 (NT$200,000) in compensation to the restaurant for loss of revenues due to her blog post, which also called the restaurant unsanitary.</p>
<p>According to the <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2011/06/23/2003506487" type="external">Taipei Times</a>:</p>
<p>After visiting a Taichung beef noodle restaurant in July 2008, where she had dried noodles and side dishes, Liu wrote that the restaurant served food that was too salty, the place was unsanitary because there were cockroaches and that the owner was a "bully" because he let customers park their cars haphazardly, leading to traffic jams.</p>
<p>While Liu's statement about the cockroaches was taken to be a statement of fact, her criticism of the food was deemed unlawful due to the fact that she only tried one dish.</p>
<p>But I mean. Who orders a second dish when the first one was too salty?</p> | 1,692 |
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<p />
<p>Nissan Motor Co. reported Monday that January-March profit totaled 114.9 billion yen ($1.1 billion), up from 109.7 billion yen the year before. Quarterly sales rose more than 20 percent to 3.2 trillion yen ($31 billion).</p>
<p>Nissan said its sales growth was outpacing the industry. The Japanese automaker is expecting continued growth for the current fiscal year that began April 1, according to CEO Carlos Ghosn.</p>
<p>Nissan forecast annual net profit of 405 billion yen ($4 billion), up 4 percent from 389 billion yen ($3.8 billion) in the last fiscal year.</p>
<p>Both its quarterly and annual profit results were better than Nissan's own forecasts and the projections by analysts surveyed by FactSet.</p>
<p>A weak yen has been a boon for Japanese exporters such as Nissan, which makes the March subcompact, Infiniti luxury models and the Leaf electric car.</p>
<p>The dollar has strengthened from about 80 yen a year ago to about 102 yen recently.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Nissan sold 5.2 million vehicles around the world in the fiscal year ended March, controlling about 6.2 percent of global auto market. It expects to sell 5.65 million vehicles during the fiscal year through March 2015, which would raise its global market share to 6.7 percent.</p>
<p>Ghosn said the results announced Monday, although "satisfactory," still fall short of Nissan's potential because of its manufacturing capacity, management and competitive standing.</p>
<p>"This means pursuing profitable growth opportunities, focusing relentlessly on quality and enhancing our sales power," he said.</p>
<p>Nissan's sales were better than the industry growth rate in almost all markets. Nissan sales were especially strong in China, where its sales increased 17 percent to 1.27 million vehicles for the fiscal year through March 2014. Its sales grew 13 percent in the U.S. to 1.29 million vehicles.</p>
<p>In Japan, where overall sales grew by 9 percent as consumers tried to beat a sales tax rise kicking in April 1, Nissan's sales rose 11 percent to 719,000 vehicles.</p> | Nissan profit rises as sales outpace industry | false | https://abqjournal.com/398677/nissan-profit-rises-as-sales-outpace-industry.html | 2least
| Nissan profit rises as sales outpace industry
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<p />
<p>Nissan Motor Co. reported Monday that January-March profit totaled 114.9 billion yen ($1.1 billion), up from 109.7 billion yen the year before. Quarterly sales rose more than 20 percent to 3.2 trillion yen ($31 billion).</p>
<p>Nissan said its sales growth was outpacing the industry. The Japanese automaker is expecting continued growth for the current fiscal year that began April 1, according to CEO Carlos Ghosn.</p>
<p>Nissan forecast annual net profit of 405 billion yen ($4 billion), up 4 percent from 389 billion yen ($3.8 billion) in the last fiscal year.</p>
<p>Both its quarterly and annual profit results were better than Nissan's own forecasts and the projections by analysts surveyed by FactSet.</p>
<p>A weak yen has been a boon for Japanese exporters such as Nissan, which makes the March subcompact, Infiniti luxury models and the Leaf electric car.</p>
<p>The dollar has strengthened from about 80 yen a year ago to about 102 yen recently.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Nissan sold 5.2 million vehicles around the world in the fiscal year ended March, controlling about 6.2 percent of global auto market. It expects to sell 5.65 million vehicles during the fiscal year through March 2015, which would raise its global market share to 6.7 percent.</p>
<p>Ghosn said the results announced Monday, although "satisfactory," still fall short of Nissan's potential because of its manufacturing capacity, management and competitive standing.</p>
<p>"This means pursuing profitable growth opportunities, focusing relentlessly on quality and enhancing our sales power," he said.</p>
<p>Nissan's sales were better than the industry growth rate in almost all markets. Nissan sales were especially strong in China, where its sales increased 17 percent to 1.27 million vehicles for the fiscal year through March 2014. Its sales grew 13 percent in the U.S. to 1.29 million vehicles.</p>
<p>In Japan, where overall sales grew by 9 percent as consumers tried to beat a sales tax rise kicking in April 1, Nissan's sales rose 11 percent to 719,000 vehicles.</p> | 1,693 |
|
<p>Lippman &amp; Peterman: A Seinfeld house divided.&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAlinvw2Rb0"&gt;AudiovisualCorner&lt;/a&gt;/YouTube ; &lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSKn8RlD7Is"&gt;WhimOfTheWorld&lt;/a&gt;/YouTube</p>
<p>It’s confirmed: Not all of <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=elaine+benise&amp;ie=utf-8&amp;oe=utf-8&amp;aq=t&amp;rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&amp;client=firefox-a&amp;channel=fflb#hl=en&amp;client=firefox-a&amp;hs=m57&amp;rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&amp;channel=fflb&amp;spell=1&amp;q=elaine+benes&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=vSyTUNuEM-LY2gXe8oGQAw&amp;ved=0CB4QvwUoAA&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.&amp;fp=976c7c880b0a4e63&amp;bpcl=37189454&amp;biw=1280&amp;bih=595" type="external">Elaine Benes</a>‘ bosses vote Republican.</p>
<p>A couple weeks ago, I dug through campaign data and found a bunch of underreported and <a href="" type="internal">surprising celebrity campaign contributions</a> (A-Rod going to bat for Romney, Miami Vice‘s Don Johnson shelling out for Obama, etc.). In the glut of data was actor John O’Hurley, best known for his role as&#160;catalog executive J. Peterman,&#160; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAlinvw2Rb0" type="external">Elaine’s idiosyncratic boss</a> on Seinfeld. (You might also know O’Hurley from his work as a host on Family Feud, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0693057/" type="external">Professor Beltran</a> on Sabrina, The Teenage Witch, or his fundraising for Mark Cuban’s <a href="http://www.fallenpatriotfund.org/7_16_03.html" type="external">Fallen Patriot Fund</a>.) O’Hurley gave <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/overview/celebs_recip.php?cycle=2012&amp;cid=N00000286" type="external">$1,000</a> to Romney’s 2012 campaign.</p>
<p>Shortly after the story ran, Mother Jones received this email from a one Richard Fancy, residing in Southern California:</p>
<p>I played Mr. Lippman, Elaine Benis’ first boss on Seinfeld, and I just want you to know that not ALL of Elaine Benis’ idiosyncratic bosses support Mitt. I’m a proud, nervous Obama supporter.</p>
<p>(We have Seinfeld fans in the DC bureau. <a href="http://robservations.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/happy-cat1.jpg" type="external">You can imagine our immediate reaction to this</a>.)</p>
<p>You might remember <a href="http://seinfeld.wikia.com/wiki/Mr._Lippman" type="external">Mr. Lippman</a>: He was Elaine’s boss at a New York publishing house called Pendant Publishing. He fired George after George had <a href="http://www.seinology.com/scripts/script-29.shtml" type="external">raucous sex with the cleaning lady</a> in an office cubicle. He <a href="http://www.casttv.com/video/d9s02cs/seinfeld-the-opposite-full-episode-part-1-video" type="external">sneezed on his hands</a> in the presence of Japanese businessmen, thus setting off a chain reaction that results in the near-demise of Elaine’s professional life.</p>
<p>Actor Richard Fancy, with his wife Joanna (and under her name), has donated around $650 in total across the board to Democratic candidates, including <a href="" type="internal">Tammy Baldwin</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Elizabeth Warren</a>, and Obama. “Obama doesn’t excite me; he campaigned on ‘hope,’ which is bullshit,” Fancy told Mother Jones&#160;during a subsequent phone conversation. “But Democrats basically believe in giving back some of the money they’ve stolen…My fear is that if Mitt Romney is elected, he won’t have the freedom that a rich white man usually does, and he’ll be controlled by the dominant sect of the Republican Party that’s become crazified.”</p>
<p>Fancy is also noted for his character-actor work on films like Oliver Stone’s Nixon (in which he played Defense Secretary <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melvin_R._Laird" type="external">Melvin Laird</a>), the 1984 miniseries George Washington (he played <a href="http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/27029/" type="external">Samuel Adams</a>), Being John Malkovich, the heartfelt teen sex romp <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0265208/fullcredits#cast" type="external">The Girl Next Door</a>, and the vastly underrated <a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/psycho_beach_party/" type="external">Psycho Beach Party</a>. And he also has a lot of TV credits to his name, including the daytime soap <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056758/" type="external">General Hospital</a>, and a role as Vulcan captain Satelk in the Star Trek <a href="http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Richard_Fancy" type="external">franchise</a>:</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Not the only</a> Vulcan who supports the incumbent this year. Via <a href="http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Richard_Fancy" type="external">Memory Alpha</a> Star Trek&#160;Wiki</p>
<p>This presidential election, you’re either a Mr. Peterman voter or a Mr. Lippman voter. Although <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgvGyvLhE1Q" type="external">Mr. Pitt</a> would probably vote for <a href="" type="internal">Virgil Goode</a>, so there’s always that.</p> | A Tale of Two “Seinfeld” Bosses (…and Campaign Cash) | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2012/11/seinfeld-bosses-richard-fancy-john-ohurley-campaign-donations/ | 2012-11-05 | 4left
| A Tale of Two “Seinfeld” Bosses (…and Campaign Cash)
<p>Lippman &amp; Peterman: A Seinfeld house divided.&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAlinvw2Rb0"&gt;AudiovisualCorner&lt;/a&gt;/YouTube ; &lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSKn8RlD7Is"&gt;WhimOfTheWorld&lt;/a&gt;/YouTube</p>
<p>It’s confirmed: Not all of <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=elaine+benise&amp;ie=utf-8&amp;oe=utf-8&amp;aq=t&amp;rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&amp;client=firefox-a&amp;channel=fflb#hl=en&amp;client=firefox-a&amp;hs=m57&amp;rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&amp;channel=fflb&amp;spell=1&amp;q=elaine+benes&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=vSyTUNuEM-LY2gXe8oGQAw&amp;ved=0CB4QvwUoAA&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.&amp;fp=976c7c880b0a4e63&amp;bpcl=37189454&amp;biw=1280&amp;bih=595" type="external">Elaine Benes</a>‘ bosses vote Republican.</p>
<p>A couple weeks ago, I dug through campaign data and found a bunch of underreported and <a href="" type="internal">surprising celebrity campaign contributions</a> (A-Rod going to bat for Romney, Miami Vice‘s Don Johnson shelling out for Obama, etc.). In the glut of data was actor John O’Hurley, best known for his role as&#160;catalog executive J. Peterman,&#160; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAlinvw2Rb0" type="external">Elaine’s idiosyncratic boss</a> on Seinfeld. (You might also know O’Hurley from his work as a host on Family Feud, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0693057/" type="external">Professor Beltran</a> on Sabrina, The Teenage Witch, or his fundraising for Mark Cuban’s <a href="http://www.fallenpatriotfund.org/7_16_03.html" type="external">Fallen Patriot Fund</a>.) O’Hurley gave <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/overview/celebs_recip.php?cycle=2012&amp;cid=N00000286" type="external">$1,000</a> to Romney’s 2012 campaign.</p>
<p>Shortly after the story ran, Mother Jones received this email from a one Richard Fancy, residing in Southern California:</p>
<p>I played Mr. Lippman, Elaine Benis’ first boss on Seinfeld, and I just want you to know that not ALL of Elaine Benis’ idiosyncratic bosses support Mitt. I’m a proud, nervous Obama supporter.</p>
<p>(We have Seinfeld fans in the DC bureau. <a href="http://robservations.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/happy-cat1.jpg" type="external">You can imagine our immediate reaction to this</a>.)</p>
<p>You might remember <a href="http://seinfeld.wikia.com/wiki/Mr._Lippman" type="external">Mr. Lippman</a>: He was Elaine’s boss at a New York publishing house called Pendant Publishing. He fired George after George had <a href="http://www.seinology.com/scripts/script-29.shtml" type="external">raucous sex with the cleaning lady</a> in an office cubicle. He <a href="http://www.casttv.com/video/d9s02cs/seinfeld-the-opposite-full-episode-part-1-video" type="external">sneezed on his hands</a> in the presence of Japanese businessmen, thus setting off a chain reaction that results in the near-demise of Elaine’s professional life.</p>
<p>Actor Richard Fancy, with his wife Joanna (and under her name), has donated around $650 in total across the board to Democratic candidates, including <a href="" type="internal">Tammy Baldwin</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Elizabeth Warren</a>, and Obama. “Obama doesn’t excite me; he campaigned on ‘hope,’ which is bullshit,” Fancy told Mother Jones&#160;during a subsequent phone conversation. “But Democrats basically believe in giving back some of the money they’ve stolen…My fear is that if Mitt Romney is elected, he won’t have the freedom that a rich white man usually does, and he’ll be controlled by the dominant sect of the Republican Party that’s become crazified.”</p>
<p>Fancy is also noted for his character-actor work on films like Oliver Stone’s Nixon (in which he played Defense Secretary <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melvin_R._Laird" type="external">Melvin Laird</a>), the 1984 miniseries George Washington (he played <a href="http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/27029/" type="external">Samuel Adams</a>), Being John Malkovich, the heartfelt teen sex romp <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0265208/fullcredits#cast" type="external">The Girl Next Door</a>, and the vastly underrated <a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/psycho_beach_party/" type="external">Psycho Beach Party</a>. And he also has a lot of TV credits to his name, including the daytime soap <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056758/" type="external">General Hospital</a>, and a role as Vulcan captain Satelk in the Star Trek <a href="http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Richard_Fancy" type="external">franchise</a>:</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Not the only</a> Vulcan who supports the incumbent this year. Via <a href="http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Richard_Fancy" type="external">Memory Alpha</a> Star Trek&#160;Wiki</p>
<p>This presidential election, you’re either a Mr. Peterman voter or a Mr. Lippman voter. Although <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgvGyvLhE1Q" type="external">Mr. Pitt</a> would probably vote for <a href="" type="internal">Virgil Goode</a>, so there’s always that.</p> | 1,694 |
<p>The undisguised, ultra-rightist biases of Fox News are all too familiar to anyone who is paying attention. Particularly since the election of Donald Trump, who has built the Fox Team into a partisan media border wall that works ferociously to defend him no matter how dishonest or disgusting his behavior. Trump even treats Fox as <a href="" type="internal">his recruiting pool</a> White House personnel.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/NewsCorpse/posts/2076137832401001" type="external" /></p>
<p>However, there is one outpost of semi-sanity on the network that occasionally diverts from the Fox gospel. Afternoon anchor Shepard Smith has been known to propound actual facts in contrast to the deliberate lies and propaganda that infect the rest of Fox’s roster. Notably, he presented a <a href="https://youtu.be/8vCjyWlpmEY" type="external">reality-based summary</a> of the Uranium One issue that many Fox squawking heads twisted into a perverse anti-Hillary Clinton harangue. He has also offered a more <a href="https://youtu.be/rdcppVPa4CQ" type="external">compassionate view</a> of victims of gun violence than is generally exhibited by Fox’s NRA shills. These sort of segments have made Smith the most hated man on Fox News by Fox News viewers.</p>
<p>Predictably, the news that Smith <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/fox-news-signsshepard-smith-new-multiyear-deal-1094727" type="external">just signed</a> a new, multiyear contract with Fox News has landed with a thud among the Fox faithful who have been clamoring for him to fired. And a recent <a href="http://time.com/longform/shepard-smith-fox-news/" type="external">profile</a> of Smith by Time Magazine wherein he expressed some candid opinions about his employer and colleagues isn’t going to make them any happier. Smith differentiated his role as a journalist with that of the “entertainers” who populate Fox’s primetime:</p>
<p>“We serve different masters. We work for different reporting chains, we have different rules. They don’t really have rules on the opinion side. They can say whatever they want. If it’s their opinion. I don’t really watch a lot of opinion programming. I’m busy.” […]</p>
<p>“I get it,” he says, “that some of our opinion programming is there strictly to be entertaining. I get that. I don’t work there. I wouldn’t work there.”</p>
<p>Smith is right. And his characterization of much of Fox’s programming as entertainment is consistent with what Fox News executives have said. News Corpse reported in 2015 a variety of admissions by Fox that they are <a href="" type="internal">not really in the news business</a>. Among them the confession that Fox founder and CEO, the late Roger Ailes, gave to the Hollywood Reporter. He dismissed talk that Fox competed with other news networks, instead insisting that “We’re competing with TNT and USA and ESPN.”</p>
<p>But Smith’s remarks did not go unnoticed by his network-mate, Sean Hannity. As the Fox host most fiercely infatuated with Trump, Hannity took offense at being trivialized as an entertainer. He tweeted this response to Smith:</p>
<p />
<p>Smith never mentioned Hannity in his profile, but Hannity had no reservations making this feud personal. His indignation is hysterical considering that he broke none of the stories he itemized in his tweet. He merely regurgitated them from other sources that were even more fringe than he is (Breitbart, Infowars, Gateway Pundit, etc.). And then he has the gall to sign off with Fox’s brand new slogan, “Real News.” Fox <a href="https://twitter.com/NewsCorpse/status/973287749645082624" type="external">posted a promo</a> for the new tagline that warned “It’s about to get REAL.” Which kind of implies that it’s been bullshit up until now.</p>
<p>Another problem with Hannity trash-talking Smith is that Hannity himself has denied being a journalist. Or maybe this calmly phrased tweet was just misunderstood:</p>
<p />
<p>Inquiring minds want to know: If Hannity is not a “journalist jackass,” then what kind of jackass is he? It’s almost impossible to tell because he keeps contradicting himself. <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/video/2017/08/07/contrary-past-protestation-sean-hannity-announces-im-journalist/217546" type="external">On his radio show</a> last August he insisted that “I’m a journalist but I’m an advocacy journalist.” Apparently Hannity is whatever he says he is at the time he’s saying it. Like most of what comes out of his mouth, it cannot be taken seriously or relied upon to be operative an hour later.</p>
<p>Poor Hannity must be terribly disturbed by how badly he is being <a href="" type="internal">crushed by MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow</a> lately. He was moved by Fox to directly compete with her a few months ago, but they may be regretting that now. All it did was affirm how weak he is as a TV personality. And while there are a lot of Fox viewers who would like to see Smith fired, there are many more American who would prefer that Hannity is sent packing. And you can help by signing on here: <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/fox-news-signsshepard-smith-new-multiyear-deal-1094727" type="external">Stop Hannity</a>.</p>
<p>How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00QSSMOES/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=B00QSSMOES&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=newscorpsecom-20&amp;linkId=TLI6JC2OYE22MUTS" type="external">Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.</a> Available now at Amazon.</p> | Popcorn Time: War Breaks Out at Fox News Between Shepard Smith and Sean Hannity | true | http://newscorpse.com/ncWP/?p%3D30426 | 4left
| Popcorn Time: War Breaks Out at Fox News Between Shepard Smith and Sean Hannity
<p>The undisguised, ultra-rightist biases of Fox News are all too familiar to anyone who is paying attention. Particularly since the election of Donald Trump, who has built the Fox Team into a partisan media border wall that works ferociously to defend him no matter how dishonest or disgusting his behavior. Trump even treats Fox as <a href="" type="internal">his recruiting pool</a> White House personnel.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/NewsCorpse/posts/2076137832401001" type="external" /></p>
<p>However, there is one outpost of semi-sanity on the network that occasionally diverts from the Fox gospel. Afternoon anchor Shepard Smith has been known to propound actual facts in contrast to the deliberate lies and propaganda that infect the rest of Fox’s roster. Notably, he presented a <a href="https://youtu.be/8vCjyWlpmEY" type="external">reality-based summary</a> of the Uranium One issue that many Fox squawking heads twisted into a perverse anti-Hillary Clinton harangue. He has also offered a more <a href="https://youtu.be/rdcppVPa4CQ" type="external">compassionate view</a> of victims of gun violence than is generally exhibited by Fox’s NRA shills. These sort of segments have made Smith the most hated man on Fox News by Fox News viewers.</p>
<p>Predictably, the news that Smith <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/fox-news-signsshepard-smith-new-multiyear-deal-1094727" type="external">just signed</a> a new, multiyear contract with Fox News has landed with a thud among the Fox faithful who have been clamoring for him to fired. And a recent <a href="http://time.com/longform/shepard-smith-fox-news/" type="external">profile</a> of Smith by Time Magazine wherein he expressed some candid opinions about his employer and colleagues isn’t going to make them any happier. Smith differentiated his role as a journalist with that of the “entertainers” who populate Fox’s primetime:</p>
<p>“We serve different masters. We work for different reporting chains, we have different rules. They don’t really have rules on the opinion side. They can say whatever they want. If it’s their opinion. I don’t really watch a lot of opinion programming. I’m busy.” […]</p>
<p>“I get it,” he says, “that some of our opinion programming is there strictly to be entertaining. I get that. I don’t work there. I wouldn’t work there.”</p>
<p>Smith is right. And his characterization of much of Fox’s programming as entertainment is consistent with what Fox News executives have said. News Corpse reported in 2015 a variety of admissions by Fox that they are <a href="" type="internal">not really in the news business</a>. Among them the confession that Fox founder and CEO, the late Roger Ailes, gave to the Hollywood Reporter. He dismissed talk that Fox competed with other news networks, instead insisting that “We’re competing with TNT and USA and ESPN.”</p>
<p>But Smith’s remarks did not go unnoticed by his network-mate, Sean Hannity. As the Fox host most fiercely infatuated with Trump, Hannity took offense at being trivialized as an entertainer. He tweeted this response to Smith:</p>
<p />
<p>Smith never mentioned Hannity in his profile, but Hannity had no reservations making this feud personal. His indignation is hysterical considering that he broke none of the stories he itemized in his tweet. He merely regurgitated them from other sources that were even more fringe than he is (Breitbart, Infowars, Gateway Pundit, etc.). And then he has the gall to sign off with Fox’s brand new slogan, “Real News.” Fox <a href="https://twitter.com/NewsCorpse/status/973287749645082624" type="external">posted a promo</a> for the new tagline that warned “It’s about to get REAL.” Which kind of implies that it’s been bullshit up until now.</p>
<p>Another problem with Hannity trash-talking Smith is that Hannity himself has denied being a journalist. Or maybe this calmly phrased tweet was just misunderstood:</p>
<p />
<p>Inquiring minds want to know: If Hannity is not a “journalist jackass,” then what kind of jackass is he? It’s almost impossible to tell because he keeps contradicting himself. <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/video/2017/08/07/contrary-past-protestation-sean-hannity-announces-im-journalist/217546" type="external">On his radio show</a> last August he insisted that “I’m a journalist but I’m an advocacy journalist.” Apparently Hannity is whatever he says he is at the time he’s saying it. Like most of what comes out of his mouth, it cannot be taken seriously or relied upon to be operative an hour later.</p>
<p>Poor Hannity must be terribly disturbed by how badly he is being <a href="" type="internal">crushed by MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow</a> lately. He was moved by Fox to directly compete with her a few months ago, but they may be regretting that now. All it did was affirm how weak he is as a TV personality. And while there are a lot of Fox viewers who would like to see Smith fired, there are many more American who would prefer that Hannity is sent packing. And you can help by signing on here: <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/fox-news-signsshepard-smith-new-multiyear-deal-1094727" type="external">Stop Hannity</a>.</p>
<p>How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00QSSMOES/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=B00QSSMOES&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=newscorpsecom-20&amp;linkId=TLI6JC2OYE22MUTS" type="external">Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.</a> Available now at Amazon.</p> | 1,695 |
|
<p>BOSTON (MA)Boston Heraldby Tom Mashberg Saturday, April 26, 2003</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>The interim chief of the Archdiocese of Boston insisted yesterday that settlement talks with clergy plaintiffs are ``active'' despite lamentations from accusers' lawyers that efforts are stalled.</p>
<p>``I don't know what those particular attorneys were referring to,'' Bishop Richard G. Lennon said at a Waltham news conference after he launched the church's latest fund drive, Catholic Appeal 2003.</p>
<p>``I cannot address the specifics, but active conversations are ongoing at this time regarding coverage issues by insurance companies.''</p>
<p>In recent days, lawyers for more than 300 alleged victims of priests have told their clients to get ready for civil trials in Suffolk Superior Court on the clergy abuse claims.</p>
<p>Attorney Jeffrey A. Newman of Greenberg Traurig, whose firm represents about 250 alleged victims and who has taken a lead role in the negotiations, said trial is likely because talks are proving fruitless.</p> | Bishop: Talks are still `active' in clergy sexual abuse cases | false | https://poynter.org/news/bishop-talks-are-still-active-clergy-sexual-abuse-cases | 2003-04-26 | 2least
| Bishop: Talks are still `active' in clergy sexual abuse cases
<p>BOSTON (MA)Boston Heraldby Tom Mashberg Saturday, April 26, 2003</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>The interim chief of the Archdiocese of Boston insisted yesterday that settlement talks with clergy plaintiffs are ``active'' despite lamentations from accusers' lawyers that efforts are stalled.</p>
<p>``I don't know what those particular attorneys were referring to,'' Bishop Richard G. Lennon said at a Waltham news conference after he launched the church's latest fund drive, Catholic Appeal 2003.</p>
<p>``I cannot address the specifics, but active conversations are ongoing at this time regarding coverage issues by insurance companies.''</p>
<p>In recent days, lawyers for more than 300 alleged victims of priests have told their clients to get ready for civil trials in Suffolk Superior Court on the clergy abuse claims.</p>
<p>Attorney Jeffrey A. Newman of Greenberg Traurig, whose firm represents about 250 alleged victims and who has taken a lead role in the negotiations, said trial is likely because talks are proving fruitless.</p> | 1,696 |
<p />
<p>CALIFORNIASGVTribune.comBy Ruby Gonzales, Staff Writer</p>
<p>The Alhambra lawyer, the Sierra Madre woman and the former Covina resident reportedly share a common experience.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>As children, they were allegedly molested by someone they were supposed to trust - a priest.</p>
<p>The alleged abuse happened in church basements, rectories, cars and homes in Los Angeles and Orange counties from the 1950s to the 1980s.</p>
<p>"The trust was betrayed. They used our innocence and trust in the Catholic church,' said former Covina resident Mary Grant, who was molested by ex- Orange County priest John Lenihan from 1977 to 1981.</p>
<p>As part of a civil suit settlement, Lenihan admitted to two sexual encounters with her in 1978 when she was 15 and he was 32.</p>
<p>She is among the alleged victims of clergy abuse who have filed 300 claims and lawsuits against the Los Angeles Archdiocese. Under a new state law, alleged victims have until the end of this year to file a civil lawsuit.</p>
<p /> | Church facing abuse lawsuits | false | https://poynter.org/news/church-facing-abuse-lawsuits | 2003-12-30 | 2least
| Church facing abuse lawsuits
<p />
<p>CALIFORNIASGVTribune.comBy Ruby Gonzales, Staff Writer</p>
<p>The Alhambra lawyer, the Sierra Madre woman and the former Covina resident reportedly share a common experience.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>As children, they were allegedly molested by someone they were supposed to trust - a priest.</p>
<p>The alleged abuse happened in church basements, rectories, cars and homes in Los Angeles and Orange counties from the 1950s to the 1980s.</p>
<p>"The trust was betrayed. They used our innocence and trust in the Catholic church,' said former Covina resident Mary Grant, who was molested by ex- Orange County priest John Lenihan from 1977 to 1981.</p>
<p>As part of a civil suit settlement, Lenihan admitted to two sexual encounters with her in 1978 when she was 15 and he was 32.</p>
<p>She is among the alleged victims of clergy abuse who have filed 300 claims and lawsuits against the Los Angeles Archdiocese. Under a new state law, alleged victims have until the end of this year to file a civil lawsuit.</p>
<p /> | 1,697 |
<p>Egypt has sent more than 100 athletes to the London Games – and 36 of them are women. On both counts, that's more than ever before.</p>
<p>Egyptian fans already had a taste of Olympic glory this week. One of the men captured a silver medal in fencing. But the most anticipated event for Egyptians might be weightlifting, and the team of eight lifters competing in these Olympic Games includes three women.</p>
<p>I had a chance to watch 25 year-old Esmat Ahmed Mansour finish up one of her last workouts in Cairo before heading to London. She worked her way up 130 kilograms – or about 286 pounds — in what's called the "clean and jerk." Essentially, the lifter pulls the bar from the floor up to the area of her collar bones in one movement, and then thrusts it up over her head.</p>
<p>As she pulled off the lift, I turned to one of Mansour's coaches, Mahmoud Kamal Mahajoub, a former Olympic weightlifter himself, and asked if he could lift that amount of weight. Not now, he said, letting loose a laugh.</p>
<p>"I used to," he said.</p>
<p>Mahajoub said the first time he saw a woman lifting weights was in 1988 at an international competition in Eastern Europe. He was very skeptical, he said, about women competing in anything other than what he called "smooth" sports.</p>
<p>"At this time, I believed that woman's sports should be gymnastics, swimming," he said. "But weightlifting, this was very strange," he said.</p>
<p>Since then, "this was normal."</p>
<p>Weightlifting is popular in Egypt. Mahajoub said you can go to just about any small village and find lots of young people pumping iron and building their bodies.</p>
<p>Egyptian Olympians have been lifting weights since ancient times, of course, but they've had more modern success too. Mahajoub said Egypt has won six gold medals over all in weightlifting. And theh last one, coincidentally, was back in 1948, in London.</p>
<p>"Now, we're going back to London," Mahajoub said. "I hope we get any kind of medals. I won't say gold, but any kind of medal."</p>
<p>Esmat Ahmed Mansour said the team is ready to compete.</p>
<p>She started getting serious about weightlifting at the age of 9. Nowadays, she spends the whole year traveling, training and competing. Women's weightlifting, she said, is getting a lot more attention now.</p>
<p>Like most of the women on the Egyptian team, Mansour does not wear a headscarf, and she works out right alongside her male teammates at Cairo's main athletic center.</p>
<p>"People in Egypt have gotten used to the idea that a woman's place is in the home," Mansour said. "But women like me want to show that we can compete."</p>
<p>She added that her family fully supports her career. "But some Egyptians give me a hard time. They make ignorant comments. And I don't really care," she said.</p>
<p>"Since I've proven myself in weightlifting, more and more Egyptian girls have been taking up the sport."</p>
<p>Mansour said she's won so many medals at world championships and regional competitions that she's stopped counting. It's the Olympic medal she wants now. But she's going to have to be patient.</p>
<p>Mansour placed ninth this week in London for her weight class. One of her female teammates came in fifth on Friday. Egypt's best chance for another medal in 2012 might be another teammate, Nahla Ramadan Mohamed. She will be competing in the final women's weightlifting event on Sunday.</p> | Egypt Fields Female Weightlifters at the London Olympics | false | https://pri.org/stories/2012-08-03/egypt-fields-female-weightlifters-london-olympics | 2012-08-03 | 3left-center
| Egypt Fields Female Weightlifters at the London Olympics
<p>Egypt has sent more than 100 athletes to the London Games – and 36 of them are women. On both counts, that's more than ever before.</p>
<p>Egyptian fans already had a taste of Olympic glory this week. One of the men captured a silver medal in fencing. But the most anticipated event for Egyptians might be weightlifting, and the team of eight lifters competing in these Olympic Games includes three women.</p>
<p>I had a chance to watch 25 year-old Esmat Ahmed Mansour finish up one of her last workouts in Cairo before heading to London. She worked her way up 130 kilograms – or about 286 pounds — in what's called the "clean and jerk." Essentially, the lifter pulls the bar from the floor up to the area of her collar bones in one movement, and then thrusts it up over her head.</p>
<p>As she pulled off the lift, I turned to one of Mansour's coaches, Mahmoud Kamal Mahajoub, a former Olympic weightlifter himself, and asked if he could lift that amount of weight. Not now, he said, letting loose a laugh.</p>
<p>"I used to," he said.</p>
<p>Mahajoub said the first time he saw a woman lifting weights was in 1988 at an international competition in Eastern Europe. He was very skeptical, he said, about women competing in anything other than what he called "smooth" sports.</p>
<p>"At this time, I believed that woman's sports should be gymnastics, swimming," he said. "But weightlifting, this was very strange," he said.</p>
<p>Since then, "this was normal."</p>
<p>Weightlifting is popular in Egypt. Mahajoub said you can go to just about any small village and find lots of young people pumping iron and building their bodies.</p>
<p>Egyptian Olympians have been lifting weights since ancient times, of course, but they've had more modern success too. Mahajoub said Egypt has won six gold medals over all in weightlifting. And theh last one, coincidentally, was back in 1948, in London.</p>
<p>"Now, we're going back to London," Mahajoub said. "I hope we get any kind of medals. I won't say gold, but any kind of medal."</p>
<p>Esmat Ahmed Mansour said the team is ready to compete.</p>
<p>She started getting serious about weightlifting at the age of 9. Nowadays, she spends the whole year traveling, training and competing. Women's weightlifting, she said, is getting a lot more attention now.</p>
<p>Like most of the women on the Egyptian team, Mansour does not wear a headscarf, and she works out right alongside her male teammates at Cairo's main athletic center.</p>
<p>"People in Egypt have gotten used to the idea that a woman's place is in the home," Mansour said. "But women like me want to show that we can compete."</p>
<p>She added that her family fully supports her career. "But some Egyptians give me a hard time. They make ignorant comments. And I don't really care," she said.</p>
<p>"Since I've proven myself in weightlifting, more and more Egyptian girls have been taking up the sport."</p>
<p>Mansour said she's won so many medals at world championships and regional competitions that she's stopped counting. It's the Olympic medal she wants now. But she's going to have to be patient.</p>
<p>Mansour placed ninth this week in London for her weight class. One of her female teammates came in fifth on Friday. Egypt's best chance for another medal in 2012 might be another teammate, Nahla Ramadan Mohamed. She will be competing in the final women's weightlifting event on Sunday.</p> | 1,698 |
<p>Now that American-British lies and distortions about Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction and al-Qaida links have been thoroughly exposed, Bush administration officials have had to create new rationalizations for the Iraq war.</p>
<p>Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in late July that “military and rehabilitation efforts now under way in Iraq are an essential part of the war on terror. In fact, the battle to secure the peace in Iraq is now the central battle in the war on terror.”</p>
<p>Last Tuesday, George W. Bush told the American Legion, “a democratic Iraq in the heart of the Middle East would be a further defeat for [the terrorist networks’] ideology of terror.”</p>
<p>And in early August, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice compared the U.S. mission in Iraq with the civil rights movement: “[W]e must never, ever indulge in the condescending voices who allege that some people in Africa or in the Middle East are just not interested in freedom … or they just aren’t ready for freedom’s responsibilities. … [That] view was wrong in 1963 in Birmingham, and it is wrong in 2003 in Baghdad.” Rice implied that those opposing the U.S. occupation are the moral equivalent of white supremacists who thought black Americans incapable of citizenship. To critique the Iraq occupation is to stand in the schoolhouse door.</p>
<p>The Bush strategy is clear: If WMD and terrorist links fail as rationalizations for war, don’t worry; let us now praise the liberation of Iraq. It turns out that all along the invasion was about creating democracy in Iraq so that Americans will be more secure.</p>
<p>The brutality of Hussein’s regime had long been known, not least to U.S. planners during the decade the United States supported him through the worst of his atrocities.</p>
<p>But liberation rhetoric is designed to divert people from questioning U.S. intentions. For the sake of discussion, however, let’s take Bush’s claim at face value and ask, How serious is the United States about establishing a meaningful democracy in Iraq? How liberated are Iraqis?</p>
<p>Rebuilding a country devastated by three wars (the eight-year Iran-Iraq War, the 1991 Gulf War, and this year’s invasion) and 13 years of punishing economic sanctions is no small task. But, as Wolfowitz has admitted, U.S. planners gave little thought to those problems. The United States is spending $3.9 billion a month on military operations but has allocated only $2.5 billion over two years for reconstruction.</p>
<p>Liberation, most would assume, also means allowing people to decide their own fate. Yet the crucial decision to privatize as much of the Iraqi economy as possible has been effectively made by American officials to be ratified by a handpicked Iraqi council.</p>
<p>U.S. officials also have eliminated most import tariffs, which has resulted in a flood of goods into the country – and hundreds of factory closings and increased unemployment. Iraqi companies dealing with 13 years of economic crisis and progressive decay under sanctions can’t compete with foreign goods.</p>
<p>One also might assume basic freedoms are part of liberation. Yet the Coalition Provisional Authority chief, Paul Bremer, gave himself the power to squelch Iraqi media engaged in “incitement,” which in practice means clamping down on those who oppose the occupation. Under the headline “Bremer is a Baathist,” one paper editorialized, “We’ve waited a long time to be free. Now you want us to be slaves.”</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the U.S. military has fired on crowds of peaceful demonstrators. The worst instance, which was condemned by Human Rights Watch, was in Falluja in April when 17 were killed. In a botched raid on a Baghdad house in July, troops fired on Iraqi civilians in a crowded street and killed up to 11, including two children. In one night in August, six Iraqi civilians were killed at unannounced U.S. checkpoints. All of this seems to suggest that, in the minds of occupation authorities, Iraqi life is cheap.</p>
<p>Most Iraqis are happy to be free of the regime of Saddam Hussein. But it’s increasingly clear that the well-being of Iraqis was not the reason for regime change.</p>
<p>Officials are quick to deny it had anything to do with increasing U.S. military control over that strategically crucial energy-rich region, or with control of the flow of oil and oil profits — even while they acknowledge plans to create permanent military bases, use their new leverage against other countries in the region, and privatize Iraq’s oil.</p>
<p>We’re supposed to trust them, though all the signs point in the opposite direction. After all, they haven’t led us wrong on Iraq before, have they?</p>
<p>Robert Jensen, a professor of journalism at the University of Texas at Austin, is the author of the forthcoming “Citizens of the Empire: The Struggle to Claim Our Humanity” (City Lights Books). He can be reached at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a>.</p>
<p>Rahul Mahajan is a member of the <a href="http://www.nowarcollective.com/" type="external">Nowar Collective</a>. His newest book, “ <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1583225781/counterpunchmaga" type="external">Full Spectrum Dominance: U.S. Power in Iraq and Beyond</a>” is just out from Seven Stories Press. His articles are collected at <a href="http://www.rahulmahajan.com/" type="external">http://www.rahulmahajan.com</a></p>
<p>He can be reached at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Iraqi Liberation, Bush Style | true | https://counterpunch.org/2003/09/02/iraqi-liberation-bush-style-2/ | 2003-09-02 | 4left
| Iraqi Liberation, Bush Style
<p>Now that American-British lies and distortions about Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction and al-Qaida links have been thoroughly exposed, Bush administration officials have had to create new rationalizations for the Iraq war.</p>
<p>Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in late July that “military and rehabilitation efforts now under way in Iraq are an essential part of the war on terror. In fact, the battle to secure the peace in Iraq is now the central battle in the war on terror.”</p>
<p>Last Tuesday, George W. Bush told the American Legion, “a democratic Iraq in the heart of the Middle East would be a further defeat for [the terrorist networks’] ideology of terror.”</p>
<p>And in early August, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice compared the U.S. mission in Iraq with the civil rights movement: “[W]e must never, ever indulge in the condescending voices who allege that some people in Africa or in the Middle East are just not interested in freedom … or they just aren’t ready for freedom’s responsibilities. … [That] view was wrong in 1963 in Birmingham, and it is wrong in 2003 in Baghdad.” Rice implied that those opposing the U.S. occupation are the moral equivalent of white supremacists who thought black Americans incapable of citizenship. To critique the Iraq occupation is to stand in the schoolhouse door.</p>
<p>The Bush strategy is clear: If WMD and terrorist links fail as rationalizations for war, don’t worry; let us now praise the liberation of Iraq. It turns out that all along the invasion was about creating democracy in Iraq so that Americans will be more secure.</p>
<p>The brutality of Hussein’s regime had long been known, not least to U.S. planners during the decade the United States supported him through the worst of his atrocities.</p>
<p>But liberation rhetoric is designed to divert people from questioning U.S. intentions. For the sake of discussion, however, let’s take Bush’s claim at face value and ask, How serious is the United States about establishing a meaningful democracy in Iraq? How liberated are Iraqis?</p>
<p>Rebuilding a country devastated by three wars (the eight-year Iran-Iraq War, the 1991 Gulf War, and this year’s invasion) and 13 years of punishing economic sanctions is no small task. But, as Wolfowitz has admitted, U.S. planners gave little thought to those problems. The United States is spending $3.9 billion a month on military operations but has allocated only $2.5 billion over two years for reconstruction.</p>
<p>Liberation, most would assume, also means allowing people to decide their own fate. Yet the crucial decision to privatize as much of the Iraqi economy as possible has been effectively made by American officials to be ratified by a handpicked Iraqi council.</p>
<p>U.S. officials also have eliminated most import tariffs, which has resulted in a flood of goods into the country – and hundreds of factory closings and increased unemployment. Iraqi companies dealing with 13 years of economic crisis and progressive decay under sanctions can’t compete with foreign goods.</p>
<p>One also might assume basic freedoms are part of liberation. Yet the Coalition Provisional Authority chief, Paul Bremer, gave himself the power to squelch Iraqi media engaged in “incitement,” which in practice means clamping down on those who oppose the occupation. Under the headline “Bremer is a Baathist,” one paper editorialized, “We’ve waited a long time to be free. Now you want us to be slaves.”</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the U.S. military has fired on crowds of peaceful demonstrators. The worst instance, which was condemned by Human Rights Watch, was in Falluja in April when 17 were killed. In a botched raid on a Baghdad house in July, troops fired on Iraqi civilians in a crowded street and killed up to 11, including two children. In one night in August, six Iraqi civilians were killed at unannounced U.S. checkpoints. All of this seems to suggest that, in the minds of occupation authorities, Iraqi life is cheap.</p>
<p>Most Iraqis are happy to be free of the regime of Saddam Hussein. But it’s increasingly clear that the well-being of Iraqis was not the reason for regime change.</p>
<p>Officials are quick to deny it had anything to do with increasing U.S. military control over that strategically crucial energy-rich region, or with control of the flow of oil and oil profits — even while they acknowledge plans to create permanent military bases, use their new leverage against other countries in the region, and privatize Iraq’s oil.</p>
<p>We’re supposed to trust them, though all the signs point in the opposite direction. After all, they haven’t led us wrong on Iraq before, have they?</p>
<p>Robert Jensen, a professor of journalism at the University of Texas at Austin, is the author of the forthcoming “Citizens of the Empire: The Struggle to Claim Our Humanity” (City Lights Books). He can be reached at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a>.</p>
<p>Rahul Mahajan is a member of the <a href="http://www.nowarcollective.com/" type="external">Nowar Collective</a>. His newest book, “ <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1583225781/counterpunchmaga" type="external">Full Spectrum Dominance: U.S. Power in Iraq and Beyond</a>” is just out from Seven Stories Press. His articles are collected at <a href="http://www.rahulmahajan.com/" type="external">http://www.rahulmahajan.com</a></p>
<p>He can be reached at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p> | 1,699 |
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