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<p>Some sinister ghosts from Japan’s past haunt today’s politics in Tokyo as neo-nationalist causes and personalities, mostly promoted by the reactionary prime minister Junichiro Koizumi, raise disturbing memories of racism and fascism. These were especially evident in his recent new cabinet choices, described by the Seoul newspaper, Dong-a Ilbo, as “hard-line and rightist.” One of them elevated a racial supremacist.</p>
<p>Meanwhile two more events confirm the sorry state of Japan’s official racial and social views. One involves Amnesty International’s condemnation of the “comfort women” scandal — females forced by the Imperial Army into what Amnesty calls “sexual slavery.”</p>
<p>The other is the United Nations’ Commission on Human Rights’ investigator, Doudou Diene’s official complaint about “the insularity of Japan’s peoples” and the nation’s “real racism and xenophobia.” This remark was his preface to a full report he will deliver next year, but it received scant coverage in Japan or none at all — about the same space devoted to the Amnesty report.</p>
<p>Koizumi continues to demonstrate chauvinistic right-wing bias, and indifference to Asian — and world — protests raised over his October prayer visit to the ultra-patriotic Yasukuni war shrine in Tokyo. Even although China and South Korea express repeated concerns over his born-again patriarchal patriotism, he insists on not only accommodating neo-nationalism but encouraging it. But is the man awarded the mantle of “modernist” by the corporate media overseas, only appeasing his more backward political cronies? Or is he one of them?</p>
<p>Consider the details. His choice of the racist Taro Aso as foreign secretary snubs his two closest Asian neighbors’ concerns over the refusal of Japan, unlike Germany, to confront openly its legacy of imperial aggression. As a reactionary rightist of many years standing, Aso is another devout supplicant at Yasukuni, where in the Shinto religion convicted war criminals are worshipped as divine spirits. He last prayed there in mid-April at the beginning of the holy sanctuary’s annual spring festival, and has vigorously supported Koizumi’s five annual visits.</p>
<p>Most extraordinary about his choice of the man to negotiate personally with the modern world, is Aso’s open advocacy of the mythical racist superiority theory that propelled Japan’s 1931-45 military hostilities. (Could he have inherited this from his grandfather, Shigeruo Yoshida? He was a diplomat in Imperial Japan, known for his autocratic and arrogant ways, and prime minister in 1946-7 and 1948-54.)</p>
<p>In a formal speech on October 15 opening a national museum in Kyushu, the southern island where he comes from, Aso, then Interior and Communications Minister, proclaimed Japan as “one nation, one civilization, one language, one culture, and one race, the like of which there is no other on this earth.” This echoed a 1986 statement by a previous right-wing premier, Yasuhiro Nakasone, that caused uproar, and of which Aso, 65, must have been aware.</p>
<p>Not only is there nowhere in the world this unique, but Japan does not measure up either. Aso’s asinine speech ignored the indigenous inhabitants of Japan, the Ainu, who live cooped up in the northern island of Hokkaido. It also ignored the different origins of Okinawa’s people and the various Asian strains from which the Japanese themselves emanate.</p>
<p>Coming from the opposite end of the archipelago, Aso’s apparent ignorance of the Ainu might be excused — if he refrained from his master-race remarks. For his information, the ethnic origins of the Ainu are subject of scholarly dispute, but even a casual observer cannot mistake them for Japanese.</p>
<p>The men never shave and have luxuriant beards, the women tattoo their faces, both sexes are taller and broader than Japanese, their language is different (and was banned during Japan’s 19th century Meiji period), and they do not eat raw fish. They feel strongly enough about their rights to independence in Hokkaido to have fought three wars, in 1457, 1669, and 1789, all of which they lost to main island Japanese.</p>
<p>If Aso is ignorant of the Ainu, he is arrogant about Koreans and Chinese. In an extraordinary interview in August in the Japanese monthly magazine Bungei Shunju, he said: “Whatever China and South Korea say, we should behave as if nothing happened [at Yakusuni shrine]. The most ideal way of resolving the Yasukuni dispute is that it works out peacefully after they realise that it is useless for them to complain any more.”</p>
<p>Aso is also guilty of an offensively racist slur of people referred to by the UN’s Diene as the “descendants of outcasts from Japan’s feudal period,” as one newspaper delicately put it. These are the “burakumin” (village people), who live in communities not even noted on maps. They are Japan’s untouchables, whose ancestors were employed to dispose of human waste, but unlike the Ainu, are Japanese [[itals Japanese]], although many choose to disbelieve this.</p>
<p>Aso’s racist reference came in September 2003 at the ruling conservative Liberal Democratic party’s last meeting attended by Hiromu Nonaka, a Diet (parliament) member for 20 years and a brilliant politician, who some thought had the makings of a prime minister. Nonaka was from burakumin origins, something he never concealed.</p>
<p>At the meeting he confronted Aso with a remark the minister had made that “Burakumin like him cannot be prime minister.” The comment came in Nonaka’s absence, but was confirmed by three witnesses and was something, Nonaka said, that he would “never, never forget.” Aso did not deny the remark but reddened.</p>
<p>This man now represents Japan in its dealing with foreign countries — one of which is North Korea, with whom talks recently resumed after a year’s interruption. Top of Japan’s agenda is the North Korean abduction of at least 13 Japanese citizens in the 1970s and ’80s in order to use them for training spies. The return and survival of these people remains in deadlocked dispute, and whatever the full truth, it was outrageous behavior by Pyongyang.</p>
<p>Yet does it compare with the Japanese invasion of the Korean peninsula in 1910, and its colonial occupation until 1945 (during which it banned the Korean language)? This is not just old history, because although South Korea signed a treaty with Japan in 1965, its reparations concerned only matters known at that time. (Such a treaty has yet to be signed with North Korea.)</p>
<p>One nasty revelation emerging since 1965, is the international scandal of “comfort women.” This is the cruel Japanese euphemism for an estimated 200,000 Asian women, and some Dutch, forced into sexual slavery for Japanese Imperial army soldiers during their 14 years of Asian conquests.</p>
<p>Another cabinet member, who with Aso is one of three favorites to succeed Koizumu to the premiership next year, is Shinzo Abe, 51, now made chief cabinet secretary and therefore its spokesman. He has sought to minimise the comfort women scandal and is another forceful conservative, a Yasukuni ritist, and defender of old Japan — in which his grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi, was an imprisoned wartime criminal and a post-war prime minister (1957-60).</p>
<p>Japan has never fully accepted its responsibilities for the sex slavery and in 2001, when the national broadcast network NHK made a television documentary about the women, Abe, then deputy chief cabinet secretary, pressured the producers to moderate it.</p>
<p>In a painful coincidence, Koizumi’s cabinet appointments came immediatly after the Amnesty report, ‘Still Waiting After 60 Years: Justice for Survivors of Japan’s Military Sexual Slavery System’, about Japan’s failure to compensate the prostituted women. Yet the October 28 report has been almost totally ignored by the Japanese media.</p>
<p>There are more examples of Japan’s reactionary refusal to deal with the aftermath of its wartime aggression, its evasion of honesty or frankness in recalling its cruelties, and its lack of educating its young about that history. Perhaps ghosts are difficult to deal with rationally…</p>
<p>One is the idolatrous homage offered by Japan’s politicians at Yasukuni to 14 notorious Class A war criminals who were enshrined there only in 1978. I dealt with this in detail previously ( <a href="" type="internal">CounterPunch October 19</a>). But other specters waft in.</p>
<p>The most recent example of Japan’s newly flexed nationalism is its arrogance over exiled Peruvian president-dictator Alberto “I-am-not-a-crook” Fujimori, a fugitive from justice in Japan since fleeing Lima in 2000. Fujimori, who presided over death squads, disappearances, and other human rights outrages during his 10-year regime, left Japan in early November for Chile, to attempt a come-back in Peru, but was promptly arrested. He now fights deportation.</p>
<p>Meanwhile Lima has withdrawn its ambassador from Tokyo over its continual refusal to hand over Fujimori because he is a Japanese citizen. But of what kind? He was born in Peru, educated in Peru, the US, and France, hardly spoke any Japanese, and is wanted on grave accusations. But he has a Japanese name — and again Tokyo flouts Amnesty, which in 2003 called for his extradition.</p>
<p>By refusing to do so, Amnesty said, Japan’s action “can only lead to further human rights violations by showing that those responsible are not held to account.” Not holding people, or events, to account, is a Japanese specialty.</p>
<p>Today, it is significant that of Koizumi’s cabinet, no less than six, including himself, are sons and/or grandsons of senior politicians, some ministers, who were active during the war period or immediately thereafter. The Japanese people have been poorly educated in their nation’s former militarism, but Koizumi’s cabinet and the premier himself have no such excuse.</p>
<p>CHRISTOPHER REED is a journalist living in Japan. He can be reached at: <a href="http://[email protected]/" type="external">[email protected]</a>.</p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | The Ghosts of Japan’s Past | true | https://counterpunch.org/2005/11/14/the-ghosts-of-japan-s-past/ | 2005-11-14 | 4left
| The Ghosts of Japan’s Past
<p>Some sinister ghosts from Japan’s past haunt today’s politics in Tokyo as neo-nationalist causes and personalities, mostly promoted by the reactionary prime minister Junichiro Koizumi, raise disturbing memories of racism and fascism. These were especially evident in his recent new cabinet choices, described by the Seoul newspaper, Dong-a Ilbo, as “hard-line and rightist.” One of them elevated a racial supremacist.</p>
<p>Meanwhile two more events confirm the sorry state of Japan’s official racial and social views. One involves Amnesty International’s condemnation of the “comfort women” scandal — females forced by the Imperial Army into what Amnesty calls “sexual slavery.”</p>
<p>The other is the United Nations’ Commission on Human Rights’ investigator, Doudou Diene’s official complaint about “the insularity of Japan’s peoples” and the nation’s “real racism and xenophobia.” This remark was his preface to a full report he will deliver next year, but it received scant coverage in Japan or none at all — about the same space devoted to the Amnesty report.</p>
<p>Koizumi continues to demonstrate chauvinistic right-wing bias, and indifference to Asian — and world — protests raised over his October prayer visit to the ultra-patriotic Yasukuni war shrine in Tokyo. Even although China and South Korea express repeated concerns over his born-again patriarchal patriotism, he insists on not only accommodating neo-nationalism but encouraging it. But is the man awarded the mantle of “modernist” by the corporate media overseas, only appeasing his more backward political cronies? Or is he one of them?</p>
<p>Consider the details. His choice of the racist Taro Aso as foreign secretary snubs his two closest Asian neighbors’ concerns over the refusal of Japan, unlike Germany, to confront openly its legacy of imperial aggression. As a reactionary rightist of many years standing, Aso is another devout supplicant at Yasukuni, where in the Shinto religion convicted war criminals are worshipped as divine spirits. He last prayed there in mid-April at the beginning of the holy sanctuary’s annual spring festival, and has vigorously supported Koizumi’s five annual visits.</p>
<p>Most extraordinary about his choice of the man to negotiate personally with the modern world, is Aso’s open advocacy of the mythical racist superiority theory that propelled Japan’s 1931-45 military hostilities. (Could he have inherited this from his grandfather, Shigeruo Yoshida? He was a diplomat in Imperial Japan, known for his autocratic and arrogant ways, and prime minister in 1946-7 and 1948-54.)</p>
<p>In a formal speech on October 15 opening a national museum in Kyushu, the southern island where he comes from, Aso, then Interior and Communications Minister, proclaimed Japan as “one nation, one civilization, one language, one culture, and one race, the like of which there is no other on this earth.” This echoed a 1986 statement by a previous right-wing premier, Yasuhiro Nakasone, that caused uproar, and of which Aso, 65, must have been aware.</p>
<p>Not only is there nowhere in the world this unique, but Japan does not measure up either. Aso’s asinine speech ignored the indigenous inhabitants of Japan, the Ainu, who live cooped up in the northern island of Hokkaido. It also ignored the different origins of Okinawa’s people and the various Asian strains from which the Japanese themselves emanate.</p>
<p>Coming from the opposite end of the archipelago, Aso’s apparent ignorance of the Ainu might be excused — if he refrained from his master-race remarks. For his information, the ethnic origins of the Ainu are subject of scholarly dispute, but even a casual observer cannot mistake them for Japanese.</p>
<p>The men never shave and have luxuriant beards, the women tattoo their faces, both sexes are taller and broader than Japanese, their language is different (and was banned during Japan’s 19th century Meiji period), and they do not eat raw fish. They feel strongly enough about their rights to independence in Hokkaido to have fought three wars, in 1457, 1669, and 1789, all of which they lost to main island Japanese.</p>
<p>If Aso is ignorant of the Ainu, he is arrogant about Koreans and Chinese. In an extraordinary interview in August in the Japanese monthly magazine Bungei Shunju, he said: “Whatever China and South Korea say, we should behave as if nothing happened [at Yakusuni shrine]. The most ideal way of resolving the Yasukuni dispute is that it works out peacefully after they realise that it is useless for them to complain any more.”</p>
<p>Aso is also guilty of an offensively racist slur of people referred to by the UN’s Diene as the “descendants of outcasts from Japan’s feudal period,” as one newspaper delicately put it. These are the “burakumin” (village people), who live in communities not even noted on maps. They are Japan’s untouchables, whose ancestors were employed to dispose of human waste, but unlike the Ainu, are Japanese [[itals Japanese]], although many choose to disbelieve this.</p>
<p>Aso’s racist reference came in September 2003 at the ruling conservative Liberal Democratic party’s last meeting attended by Hiromu Nonaka, a Diet (parliament) member for 20 years and a brilliant politician, who some thought had the makings of a prime minister. Nonaka was from burakumin origins, something he never concealed.</p>
<p>At the meeting he confronted Aso with a remark the minister had made that “Burakumin like him cannot be prime minister.” The comment came in Nonaka’s absence, but was confirmed by three witnesses and was something, Nonaka said, that he would “never, never forget.” Aso did not deny the remark but reddened.</p>
<p>This man now represents Japan in its dealing with foreign countries — one of which is North Korea, with whom talks recently resumed after a year’s interruption. Top of Japan’s agenda is the North Korean abduction of at least 13 Japanese citizens in the 1970s and ’80s in order to use them for training spies. The return and survival of these people remains in deadlocked dispute, and whatever the full truth, it was outrageous behavior by Pyongyang.</p>
<p>Yet does it compare with the Japanese invasion of the Korean peninsula in 1910, and its colonial occupation until 1945 (during which it banned the Korean language)? This is not just old history, because although South Korea signed a treaty with Japan in 1965, its reparations concerned only matters known at that time. (Such a treaty has yet to be signed with North Korea.)</p>
<p>One nasty revelation emerging since 1965, is the international scandal of “comfort women.” This is the cruel Japanese euphemism for an estimated 200,000 Asian women, and some Dutch, forced into sexual slavery for Japanese Imperial army soldiers during their 14 years of Asian conquests.</p>
<p>Another cabinet member, who with Aso is one of three favorites to succeed Koizumu to the premiership next year, is Shinzo Abe, 51, now made chief cabinet secretary and therefore its spokesman. He has sought to minimise the comfort women scandal and is another forceful conservative, a Yasukuni ritist, and defender of old Japan — in which his grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi, was an imprisoned wartime criminal and a post-war prime minister (1957-60).</p>
<p>Japan has never fully accepted its responsibilities for the sex slavery and in 2001, when the national broadcast network NHK made a television documentary about the women, Abe, then deputy chief cabinet secretary, pressured the producers to moderate it.</p>
<p>In a painful coincidence, Koizumi’s cabinet appointments came immediatly after the Amnesty report, ‘Still Waiting After 60 Years: Justice for Survivors of Japan’s Military Sexual Slavery System’, about Japan’s failure to compensate the prostituted women. Yet the October 28 report has been almost totally ignored by the Japanese media.</p>
<p>There are more examples of Japan’s reactionary refusal to deal with the aftermath of its wartime aggression, its evasion of honesty or frankness in recalling its cruelties, and its lack of educating its young about that history. Perhaps ghosts are difficult to deal with rationally…</p>
<p>One is the idolatrous homage offered by Japan’s politicians at Yasukuni to 14 notorious Class A war criminals who were enshrined there only in 1978. I dealt with this in detail previously ( <a href="" type="internal">CounterPunch October 19</a>). But other specters waft in.</p>
<p>The most recent example of Japan’s newly flexed nationalism is its arrogance over exiled Peruvian president-dictator Alberto “I-am-not-a-crook” Fujimori, a fugitive from justice in Japan since fleeing Lima in 2000. Fujimori, who presided over death squads, disappearances, and other human rights outrages during his 10-year regime, left Japan in early November for Chile, to attempt a come-back in Peru, but was promptly arrested. He now fights deportation.</p>
<p>Meanwhile Lima has withdrawn its ambassador from Tokyo over its continual refusal to hand over Fujimori because he is a Japanese citizen. But of what kind? He was born in Peru, educated in Peru, the US, and France, hardly spoke any Japanese, and is wanted on grave accusations. But he has a Japanese name — and again Tokyo flouts Amnesty, which in 2003 called for his extradition.</p>
<p>By refusing to do so, Amnesty said, Japan’s action “can only lead to further human rights violations by showing that those responsible are not held to account.” Not holding people, or events, to account, is a Japanese specialty.</p>
<p>Today, it is significant that of Koizumi’s cabinet, no less than six, including himself, are sons and/or grandsons of senior politicians, some ministers, who were active during the war period or immediately thereafter. The Japanese people have been poorly educated in their nation’s former militarism, but Koizumi’s cabinet and the premier himself have no such excuse.</p>
<p>CHRISTOPHER REED is a journalist living in Japan. He can be reached at: <a href="http://[email protected]/" type="external">[email protected]</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | 1,800 |
<p>In the clip above from April 1, 2008, “ <a href="http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2014/09/12/the_origins_of_the_dingy_harry_nickname" type="external">Dingy Harry</a>” Reid is being interviewed by Libertarian political journalist and documentarian Jan Helfeld on the question of whether paying income tax in America is a voluntary or forced action.</p>
<p>As movie star Wesley Snipes understands after spending three years in prison for tax evasion: if you don't pay your taxes, men with guns called law enforcement officers will come to your home and transport you to a concrete box with a steel-barred door that locks from the outside where you will be INVOLUNTARILY held until your sentence is complete.</p>
<p>But this concept was too much for the Senator from Nevada to admit.In the interview, Dingy Harry tells an astonished Helfed that, "Our system is a voluntary system."</p>
<p>Reid goes on to explain that "some other countries" take taxes directly out of a person's paycheck, which is what he calls an involuntary system. Helfed corrects Reid that we too have "withholding" in many cases here in the United States.</p>
<p>When pushed further on the reality that if you do not pay your taxes their will be fines and/or imprisonment, and thus it's not a voluntary action, Reid does what all politicians do, he twists his tongue to fill the room with hot air while never truly addressing the issue.</p>
<p>Dingy Harry then idiotically tries to bolster his disingenuous stance by citing the fact that citizens can make deductions to help reduce what they pay in taxes. This of course has nothing to do with if it is a voluntary or forced system.</p>
<p>Sadly, Dingy isn't the only political figure out there with this mental problem. In the clip below, former Republican National Committee chairperson Michael Steele also sits down with Helfed and he too has an embarrassingly difficult time...</p>
<p>Exit thoughts on just how "Dingy" Harry Reid truly is:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/article/314025/how-did-harry-reid-get-rich-betsy-woodruff" type="external">National Review's expose on how "Reid Got So Rich"</a> explains how a guy who entered the Nevada legislature in 1982 worth 1 million dollars ballooned his wealth to 10 million, all while being a "public servant."</p>
<p>And <a href="http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2015/03/corruption-scandals-led-to-harry-reids-abrupt-retirement/" type="external">Judicial Watch's article, "Corruption Scandals Led to Harry Reid’s Abrupt 'Retirement,'"</a> in which they cover many of the former Senate Majority Leader's corrupt dealings, including recently when he "abused his authority to pressure the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to expedite a $115 million foreign investor visa deal critical to his son’s casino client."</p>
<p>As author Peter Schweizer says, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Throw-Them-All-Peter-Schweizer/dp/0547573146" type="external">"Throw Them All Out."</a></p>
<p /> | Flashback: Watch This Slimy Politician Claim That Paying Taxes Is 'Voluntary' | true | https://dailywire.com/news/6403/flashback-watch-slimy-politician-claim-paying-chase-stephens | 2016-06-08 | 0right
| Flashback: Watch This Slimy Politician Claim That Paying Taxes Is 'Voluntary'
<p>In the clip above from April 1, 2008, “ <a href="http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2014/09/12/the_origins_of_the_dingy_harry_nickname" type="external">Dingy Harry</a>” Reid is being interviewed by Libertarian political journalist and documentarian Jan Helfeld on the question of whether paying income tax in America is a voluntary or forced action.</p>
<p>As movie star Wesley Snipes understands after spending three years in prison for tax evasion: if you don't pay your taxes, men with guns called law enforcement officers will come to your home and transport you to a concrete box with a steel-barred door that locks from the outside where you will be INVOLUNTARILY held until your sentence is complete.</p>
<p>But this concept was too much for the Senator from Nevada to admit.In the interview, Dingy Harry tells an astonished Helfed that, "Our system is a voluntary system."</p>
<p>Reid goes on to explain that "some other countries" take taxes directly out of a person's paycheck, which is what he calls an involuntary system. Helfed corrects Reid that we too have "withholding" in many cases here in the United States.</p>
<p>When pushed further on the reality that if you do not pay your taxes their will be fines and/or imprisonment, and thus it's not a voluntary action, Reid does what all politicians do, he twists his tongue to fill the room with hot air while never truly addressing the issue.</p>
<p>Dingy Harry then idiotically tries to bolster his disingenuous stance by citing the fact that citizens can make deductions to help reduce what they pay in taxes. This of course has nothing to do with if it is a voluntary or forced system.</p>
<p>Sadly, Dingy isn't the only political figure out there with this mental problem. In the clip below, former Republican National Committee chairperson Michael Steele also sits down with Helfed and he too has an embarrassingly difficult time...</p>
<p>Exit thoughts on just how "Dingy" Harry Reid truly is:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/article/314025/how-did-harry-reid-get-rich-betsy-woodruff" type="external">National Review's expose on how "Reid Got So Rich"</a> explains how a guy who entered the Nevada legislature in 1982 worth 1 million dollars ballooned his wealth to 10 million, all while being a "public servant."</p>
<p>And <a href="http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2015/03/corruption-scandals-led-to-harry-reids-abrupt-retirement/" type="external">Judicial Watch's article, "Corruption Scandals Led to Harry Reid’s Abrupt 'Retirement,'"</a> in which they cover many of the former Senate Majority Leader's corrupt dealings, including recently when he "abused his authority to pressure the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to expedite a $115 million foreign investor visa deal critical to his son’s casino client."</p>
<p>As author Peter Schweizer says, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Throw-Them-All-Peter-Schweizer/dp/0547573146" type="external">"Throw Them All Out."</a></p>
<p /> | 1,801 |
<p />
<p>Frisky Fidel Castro, that bewhiskered communist leader of Cuba, boasted in the 1970s that he’d survived two dozen assassination attempts. Any national leader has to contend with coup plotters, backstabbers, and other overzealous countrymen, but Castro’s story was unique: He had survived two dozen CIA assassination attempts. <a href="/hellraiser_central/sideshow/castrodocs.html" type="external" /> Twenty-four might be an embellishment — the CIA admitted to only eight — but Castro has some proof. The CIA recently declassified a good portion of its past, which has been catalogued in the State Department’s forthcoming Cuba, 1961-1962.</p>
<p>One revealing <a href="/commentary/columns/1997/07/castrodocs.html" type="external">memo</a> describes the CIA’s vision of assassinations: outsourcing! In August 1960, Langley’s finest contacted the Chicago Mafia and offered them $150,000 to mount a “sensitive operation against Fidel.” The Mob, itching to get back their Havana casinos, not only agreed to the Castro “project” — they agreed to knock him off <a href="/hellraiser_central/sideshow/castrodocs2.html" type="external">for free</a>.</p>
<p>The agency graciously accepted the family discount, then paid the Mob about <a href="/hellraiser_central/sideshow/castrodocs3.html" type="external">$11,000</a> in expenses and equipment, only to withdraw the offer entirely after the Bay of Pigs snafu. Apparently, they had domestic problems to deal with — perhaps the CIA will someday declassify memos on the “Kennedy project.”</p>
<p /> | Castro Must Go, Go, Go! | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/1997/07/castro-must-go-go-go/ | 1997-07-29 | 4left
| Castro Must Go, Go, Go!
<p />
<p>Frisky Fidel Castro, that bewhiskered communist leader of Cuba, boasted in the 1970s that he’d survived two dozen assassination attempts. Any national leader has to contend with coup plotters, backstabbers, and other overzealous countrymen, but Castro’s story was unique: He had survived two dozen CIA assassination attempts. <a href="/hellraiser_central/sideshow/castrodocs.html" type="external" /> Twenty-four might be an embellishment — the CIA admitted to only eight — but Castro has some proof. The CIA recently declassified a good portion of its past, which has been catalogued in the State Department’s forthcoming Cuba, 1961-1962.</p>
<p>One revealing <a href="/commentary/columns/1997/07/castrodocs.html" type="external">memo</a> describes the CIA’s vision of assassinations: outsourcing! In August 1960, Langley’s finest contacted the Chicago Mafia and offered them $150,000 to mount a “sensitive operation against Fidel.” The Mob, itching to get back their Havana casinos, not only agreed to the Castro “project” — they agreed to knock him off <a href="/hellraiser_central/sideshow/castrodocs2.html" type="external">for free</a>.</p>
<p>The agency graciously accepted the family discount, then paid the Mob about <a href="/hellraiser_central/sideshow/castrodocs3.html" type="external">$11,000</a> in expenses and equipment, only to withdraw the offer entirely after the Bay of Pigs snafu. Apparently, they had domestic problems to deal with — perhaps the CIA will someday declassify memos on the “Kennedy project.”</p>
<p /> | 1,802 |
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<p />
<p>The Dearborn, Michigan, automaker said Friday that its 2015 sales in the country were up 3 percent from the previous year.</p>
<p>It also set a new monthly sales record in December, selling 124,768 vehicles. That's up 27 percent from the prior-year period.</p>
<p>Ford Motor Co.?s passenger car joint venture, Changan Ford Automobile, broke its annual and December sales records. For 2015, the joint venture sold 836,425 vehicles. It's a 7 percent rise from 2014. It sold 96,960 vehicles in December, a 49 percent jump from the year-ago period.</p>
<p>Demand for its new Mondeo gave a boost to Changan's annual and December sales performances, the company said.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Annual sales of sport utility vehicles like the Ecosport, Kuga, Edge, Explorer and Everest rose 13 percent to 274,188 vehicles. December sales of SUVs surged 56 percent to 32,290 vehicles.</p>
<p>Jiangling Motors Corp., Ford's commercial vehicle investment in China, reported a 6 percent decline in annual sales and a 12 percent drop in December sales.</p>
<p>On Tuesday when U.S. auto sales were reported, Ford came in as the best-selling individual brand for the sixth straight year, with sales of just over 2.5 million. The company sold 780,354 F-Series trucks in the U.S. in 2015 - more than one every minute - making it the nation's top-selling vehicle.</p>
<p>Ford's stock gained 15 cents to $12.85 before the market open.</p> | Ford sells 1.1M vehicles in China in 2015, sets new record | false | https://abqjournal.com/702863/ford-sells-1-1m-vehicles-in-china-in-2015-sets-new-record.html | 2least
| Ford sells 1.1M vehicles in China in 2015, sets new record
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<p />
<p>The Dearborn, Michigan, automaker said Friday that its 2015 sales in the country were up 3 percent from the previous year.</p>
<p>It also set a new monthly sales record in December, selling 124,768 vehicles. That's up 27 percent from the prior-year period.</p>
<p>Ford Motor Co.?s passenger car joint venture, Changan Ford Automobile, broke its annual and December sales records. For 2015, the joint venture sold 836,425 vehicles. It's a 7 percent rise from 2014. It sold 96,960 vehicles in December, a 49 percent jump from the year-ago period.</p>
<p>Demand for its new Mondeo gave a boost to Changan's annual and December sales performances, the company said.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Annual sales of sport utility vehicles like the Ecosport, Kuga, Edge, Explorer and Everest rose 13 percent to 274,188 vehicles. December sales of SUVs surged 56 percent to 32,290 vehicles.</p>
<p>Jiangling Motors Corp., Ford's commercial vehicle investment in China, reported a 6 percent decline in annual sales and a 12 percent drop in December sales.</p>
<p>On Tuesday when U.S. auto sales were reported, Ford came in as the best-selling individual brand for the sixth straight year, with sales of just over 2.5 million. The company sold 780,354 F-Series trucks in the U.S. in 2015 - more than one every minute - making it the nation's top-selling vehicle.</p>
<p>Ford's stock gained 15 cents to $12.85 before the market open.</p> | 1,803 |
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<p />
<p>Tuesday night, his team sent a message of its own, reminding the rest of the league it isn’t ready to go away quietly just yet.</p>
<p>New Mexico opened a 17-point first-half lead and held on down the stretch to knock off Boise State, 84-75, to grab hold of lone possession of second place in the league standings.</p>
<p>“I thought we beat an excellent basketball team,” said Neal, whose team is 14-4 overall and 5-1 in league play. “I think they’re very dangerous. They have a lot of pieces. …</p>
<p>New Mexico’s Nick Banyard, front, scrambles for a loose ball in front of Boise State’s Jeff Elorriaga during their game in the Pit on Tuesday night. (Greg Sorber/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>“I thought our guys in the last two games have come out with that fire and competitive nature that they’ve always had.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Boise State dropped to 13-6, 3-3.</p>
<p>UNM used an 8-0 scoring run capped by a Hugh Greenwood offensive put-back with 3:58 remaining in the first half to open its largest lead of the game at 32-15, a contrast to last week’s loss to UNLV when UNM came out flat and trailed by as many as 16 points midway through the opening half.</p>
<p>Greenwood, who had his best offensive game of the season with 20 points and a career-high-tying five 3-pointers, said it was a different feel for the team from the pregame warm-ups until the final buzzer. The 6-foot-3 junior guard who missed three games in December with an injured right wrist, said it was a long time coming and he was just happy to help his team win such a big game.</p>
<p>His 12 points at halftime tied with backcourt partner Kendall Williams for a game-high at the break as UNM took a 40-27 lead.</p>
<p>But Boise State methodically chipped away at the Lobo lead in the second half. Boise State leading scorer Anthony Drmic, who was held scoreless in the first half, hit a 3-pointer with 5:51 remaining in the game to cut the lead to 69-64.</p>
<p>UNM’s defense did just enough down the stretch to overcome the Lobos shooting just 9-of-20 from the free-throw line in the final 13:30 of the game.</p>
<p>Alex Kirk, who had 15 points and five blocks in the game, made four consecutive free throws with 1:07 remaining to ice the game.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Broncos center Ryan Watkins did his part to keep the game close with 15 points and 22 rebounds. Derrick Marks led the Broncos with 19 points on 7-of-17 shooting to go along with six turnovers.</p>
<p>The matchup many thought would be key in the game was Cameron Bairstow trying to defend a Boise State guard as the Broncos usually use a four-guard lineup. It never really came to fruition as Broncos head coach Leon Rice started 6-foot-7 freshman Nick Duncan instead. And while he ended up with 16 points and hit five 3-pointers with Bairstow on the defense much of the night, Duncan couldn’t stop his fellow Aussie and UNM’s leading scorer from scoring 17 of his own.</p>
<p>“That’s for all you experts to talk about Cam guarding a guard,” Neal said when asked if he was surprised the Broncos didn’t play their usual four-guard lineup. “I think they figured out that they haven’t beaten us in five attempts and to play us, you have to play big-big because you have to guard us.”</p>
<p>Neal later admitted he was surprised, as was Duncan, apparently after his 32 minutes of court time.</p>
<p>“I talked to him during the game and he said he was exhausted because he’s only been playing like 15 minutes a game,” Bairstow said “… When they do go to the four-guard lineup, you really have to exploit them inside. That’s really the only way they’re going to change it — they’re either going to keep going to it because it definitely has an offensive advantage to it, but it has a defensive disadvantage.”</p>
<p>Williams had 18 points and nine assists and the Lobos shot 57.1 percent on the night, while holding the usually offensively gifted Broncos to 37.5 percent shooting, including 30.8 percent from 3-point range (8-of-26).</p>
<p />
<p>LOBO LINKS: <a href="" type="internal">Geoff Grammer’s blog</a> | <a href="" type="internal">Schedule/Results</a> | <a href="" type="internal">Roster</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>[photoshelter-gallery g_id=”G0000GFiuleGKqHM” g_name=”UNM-vs-Boise-State-men-s-basketball-01-21-2014″ f_show_caption=”t” f_show_slidenum=”t” img_title=”casc” pho_credit=”iptc” f_link=”t” f_enable_embed_btn=”t” f_send_to_friend_btn=”t” f_fullscreen=”t” f_bbar=”t” f_show_watermark=”t” f_htmllinks=”t” f_mtrx=”t” fsvis=”t” width=”620″ height=”465″ f_constrain=”t” bgcolor=”#000000″ btype=”old” bcolor=”#CCCCCC” crop=”t” twoup=”t” trans=”xfade” tbs=”3000″ f_ap=”t” bgtrans=”f” linkdest=”c” f_topbar=”f” f_bbarbig=”” f_smooth=”f” f_up=”f” target=”_self” ]</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>[jpc_lobo_stats slug=”lobo_stats_s-mbbgame_y-1314_d-140121″]</p> | Lobos hold off Boise State | false | https://abqjournal.com/340695/lobos-hold-off-boise-state.html | 2least
| Lobos hold off Boise State
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<p />
<p>Tuesday night, his team sent a message of its own, reminding the rest of the league it isn’t ready to go away quietly just yet.</p>
<p>New Mexico opened a 17-point first-half lead and held on down the stretch to knock off Boise State, 84-75, to grab hold of lone possession of second place in the league standings.</p>
<p>“I thought we beat an excellent basketball team,” said Neal, whose team is 14-4 overall and 5-1 in league play. “I think they’re very dangerous. They have a lot of pieces. …</p>
<p>New Mexico’s Nick Banyard, front, scrambles for a loose ball in front of Boise State’s Jeff Elorriaga during their game in the Pit on Tuesday night. (Greg Sorber/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>“I thought our guys in the last two games have come out with that fire and competitive nature that they’ve always had.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Boise State dropped to 13-6, 3-3.</p>
<p>UNM used an 8-0 scoring run capped by a Hugh Greenwood offensive put-back with 3:58 remaining in the first half to open its largest lead of the game at 32-15, a contrast to last week’s loss to UNLV when UNM came out flat and trailed by as many as 16 points midway through the opening half.</p>
<p>Greenwood, who had his best offensive game of the season with 20 points and a career-high-tying five 3-pointers, said it was a different feel for the team from the pregame warm-ups until the final buzzer. The 6-foot-3 junior guard who missed three games in December with an injured right wrist, said it was a long time coming and he was just happy to help his team win such a big game.</p>
<p>His 12 points at halftime tied with backcourt partner Kendall Williams for a game-high at the break as UNM took a 40-27 lead.</p>
<p>But Boise State methodically chipped away at the Lobo lead in the second half. Boise State leading scorer Anthony Drmic, who was held scoreless in the first half, hit a 3-pointer with 5:51 remaining in the game to cut the lead to 69-64.</p>
<p>UNM’s defense did just enough down the stretch to overcome the Lobos shooting just 9-of-20 from the free-throw line in the final 13:30 of the game.</p>
<p>Alex Kirk, who had 15 points and five blocks in the game, made four consecutive free throws with 1:07 remaining to ice the game.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Broncos center Ryan Watkins did his part to keep the game close with 15 points and 22 rebounds. Derrick Marks led the Broncos with 19 points on 7-of-17 shooting to go along with six turnovers.</p>
<p>The matchup many thought would be key in the game was Cameron Bairstow trying to defend a Boise State guard as the Broncos usually use a four-guard lineup. It never really came to fruition as Broncos head coach Leon Rice started 6-foot-7 freshman Nick Duncan instead. And while he ended up with 16 points and hit five 3-pointers with Bairstow on the defense much of the night, Duncan couldn’t stop his fellow Aussie and UNM’s leading scorer from scoring 17 of his own.</p>
<p>“That’s for all you experts to talk about Cam guarding a guard,” Neal said when asked if he was surprised the Broncos didn’t play their usual four-guard lineup. “I think they figured out that they haven’t beaten us in five attempts and to play us, you have to play big-big because you have to guard us.”</p>
<p>Neal later admitted he was surprised, as was Duncan, apparently after his 32 minutes of court time.</p>
<p>“I talked to him during the game and he said he was exhausted because he’s only been playing like 15 minutes a game,” Bairstow said “… When they do go to the four-guard lineup, you really have to exploit them inside. That’s really the only way they’re going to change it — they’re either going to keep going to it because it definitely has an offensive advantage to it, but it has a defensive disadvantage.”</p>
<p>Williams had 18 points and nine assists and the Lobos shot 57.1 percent on the night, while holding the usually offensively gifted Broncos to 37.5 percent shooting, including 30.8 percent from 3-point range (8-of-26).</p>
<p />
<p>LOBO LINKS: <a href="" type="internal">Geoff Grammer’s blog</a> | <a href="" type="internal">Schedule/Results</a> | <a href="" type="internal">Roster</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>[photoshelter-gallery g_id=”G0000GFiuleGKqHM” g_name=”UNM-vs-Boise-State-men-s-basketball-01-21-2014″ f_show_caption=”t” f_show_slidenum=”t” img_title=”casc” pho_credit=”iptc” f_link=”t” f_enable_embed_btn=”t” f_send_to_friend_btn=”t” f_fullscreen=”t” f_bbar=”t” f_show_watermark=”t” f_htmllinks=”t” f_mtrx=”t” fsvis=”t” width=”620″ height=”465″ f_constrain=”t” bgcolor=”#000000″ btype=”old” bcolor=”#CCCCCC” crop=”t” twoup=”t” trans=”xfade” tbs=”3000″ f_ap=”t” bgtrans=”f” linkdest=”c” f_topbar=”f” f_bbarbig=”” f_smooth=”f” f_up=”f” target=”_self” ]</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>[jpc_lobo_stats slug=”lobo_stats_s-mbbgame_y-1314_d-140121″]</p> | 1,804 |
|
<p />
<p>"Brick and mortar retailers are dying."</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Tell me if you've heard that one over the past five years. As e-commerce grows stronger each year, investors are shunning traditional retailers in droves. Right?</p>
<p>The image many of us have when thinking of big-box retailers. Image source: Getty Images</p>
<p>But don't tell that to Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) or Lowe's (NYSE: LOW), the two stocks facing off in today's battle. Combined, they collected over $25 billion in free cash flow in 2016 and had sales topping a half-trillion dollars.</p>
<p>Between the two, which is the better buy today? That's impossible to answer without a fully functioning crystal ball, but we'll do our best to dig deeper by approaching the question from three different angles.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>There is absolutely nothing more important to investigate than a company's sustainable competitive advantage -- often referred to as a "moat." If I could go back in time and talk to my beginning-investor-self, I would make this simple point abundantly clear.</p>
<p>That's because a moat represents the special something that separates a company from its competition. Over a long enough time frame, it is what separates the winners from the losers, what keeps customers coming back again and again, and what keeps the competition at bay for years.</p>
<p>Wal-Mart's key advantage has always been its scale. No one did a better job at focusing on small, rural communities, buying things in bulk, and lowering overhead costs better than the Walton family. That led to market-thumping returns for decades.</p>
<p>But that moat has been mightily disrupted by Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN). With e-commerce taking more and more of the retail pie every year, the very thing that made Wal-Mart great -- its physical presence throughout the United States and the world -- has become its Achilles' heel. Customers value convenience above all else, and if packages can be delivered right to their front door, then that's what they'll go with.</p>
<p>Lowe's has been able to avoid the Amazon bug by nature of its business. It simply isn't practical to deliver most home-furnishing and construction purchases right to your door. In addition, these purchases are usually so large and long-lasting that customers like to see, touch, and try out the things they're buying before handing over their credit card.</p>
<p>Perhaps the best proxy for these trends is each store's comps -- or how much comparable-store sales increased in any given year.</p>
<p><a href="https://infogr.am/comps_a_5_year_history" type="external">Comps: A 5-Year History Opens a New Window.</a> <a href="https://infogr.am/create/column-chart?utm_source=embed_bottom&amp;utm_medium=seo&amp;utm_campaign=column_chart" type="external">Create column charts Opens a New Window.</a></p>
<p>Data source: Company annual reports</p>
<p>I simply think that Lowe's wins this battle because its business is more difficult to disrupt with e-commerce than Wal-Mart's. The company's solid position as the No. 2 home-furnishing store in America, the power of its brand, and its scale all offer a wider moat -- in my opinion -- than Wal-Mart has.</p>
<p>Winner: Lowe's.</p>
<p>Most investors, especially those who put their faith behind big-box brand names, like seeing cash returned to them. Of course, there's nothing wrong with that, as dividends are a key reason to invest in such names.</p>
<p>But investors should also want their companies to hold on to a hefty stash of cash. That's because every company, no matter what, is going to face difficult economic times. Companies that approach such times with a healthy balance sheet have options: Buy back stock, make splashy acquisitions, or -- most importantly -- outspend rivals to gain market share.</p>
<p>Debt-heavy companies are in the opposite scenario -- forced to narrow their focus to meet the demands of their debtors. Here's how Wal-Mart and Lowe's stack up in terms of financial fortitude, remembering that Wal-Mart is valued at over three times the size of Lowe's.</p>
<p>Data sources: Yahoo! Finance, SEC filings.</p>
<p>Lowe's is by no means a slouch in this respect, but even after adjusting for the relative size of these companies, Wal-Mart comes out ahead. It has more cash, income, and free cash flow than Lowe's. This decision is very easy.</p>
<p>Winner: Wal-Mart.</p>
<p>Finally, we have valuation. While this isn't an exact science, there are some straightforward metrics we can consult to give us an idea of how expensive each stock is.</p>
<p>Data sources: Yahoo! Finance, E*Trade. P/E represents figures from non-GAAP earnings.</p>
<p>This is a much more difficult one to parse. Both companies offer very healthy dividends, but Wal-Mart's is noticeably bigger. Wal-Mart also appears to be cheaper on an earnings and free cash flow basis.</p>
<p>But growth rates are much higher at Lowe's. In fact, according to the PEG ratio, Lowe's trades at an astounding 65% discount to Wal-Mart. That's why I'm calling this one a draw.</p>
<p>Winner: Tie</p>
<p>So there you have it: It's a tie. If investors are more comforted by a strong balance sheet and very impressive cash flows, then Wal-Mart is the way to go. If, however, you want to know that a company is less susceptible to disruption in the form of e-commerce, I think Lowe's is a better bet.</p>
<p>I always use a company's moat as a tiebreaker if the companies end in a draw, so my vote here would be with Lowe's, but I can't deny the strength of Wal-Mart's cash flow.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Lowe'sWhen 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-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=53ec69b4-3f14-472f-b986-0a27c78266a5&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 Lowe's 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-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=53ec69b4-3f14-472f-b986-0a27c78266a5&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 April 3, 2017</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFCheesehead/info.aspx" type="external">Brian Stoffel Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Amazon. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon. 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> | Better Buy: Wal-Mart Stores Inc. vs. Lowe's Companies, Inc. | true | http://foxbusiness.com/investing/2016/09/13/better-buy-wal-mart-stores-inc-vs-lowe-companies-inc.html | 2017-04-13 | 0right
| Better Buy: Wal-Mart Stores Inc. vs. Lowe's Companies, Inc.
<p />
<p>"Brick and mortar retailers are dying."</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Tell me if you've heard that one over the past five years. As e-commerce grows stronger each year, investors are shunning traditional retailers in droves. Right?</p>
<p>The image many of us have when thinking of big-box retailers. Image source: Getty Images</p>
<p>But don't tell that to Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) or Lowe's (NYSE: LOW), the two stocks facing off in today's battle. Combined, they collected over $25 billion in free cash flow in 2016 and had sales topping a half-trillion dollars.</p>
<p>Between the two, which is the better buy today? That's impossible to answer without a fully functioning crystal ball, but we'll do our best to dig deeper by approaching the question from three different angles.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>There is absolutely nothing more important to investigate than a company's sustainable competitive advantage -- often referred to as a "moat." If I could go back in time and talk to my beginning-investor-self, I would make this simple point abundantly clear.</p>
<p>That's because a moat represents the special something that separates a company from its competition. Over a long enough time frame, it is what separates the winners from the losers, what keeps customers coming back again and again, and what keeps the competition at bay for years.</p>
<p>Wal-Mart's key advantage has always been its scale. No one did a better job at focusing on small, rural communities, buying things in bulk, and lowering overhead costs better than the Walton family. That led to market-thumping returns for decades.</p>
<p>But that moat has been mightily disrupted by Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN). With e-commerce taking more and more of the retail pie every year, the very thing that made Wal-Mart great -- its physical presence throughout the United States and the world -- has become its Achilles' heel. Customers value convenience above all else, and if packages can be delivered right to their front door, then that's what they'll go with.</p>
<p>Lowe's has been able to avoid the Amazon bug by nature of its business. It simply isn't practical to deliver most home-furnishing and construction purchases right to your door. In addition, these purchases are usually so large and long-lasting that customers like to see, touch, and try out the things they're buying before handing over their credit card.</p>
<p>Perhaps the best proxy for these trends is each store's comps -- or how much comparable-store sales increased in any given year.</p>
<p><a href="https://infogr.am/comps_a_5_year_history" type="external">Comps: A 5-Year History Opens a New Window.</a> <a href="https://infogr.am/create/column-chart?utm_source=embed_bottom&amp;utm_medium=seo&amp;utm_campaign=column_chart" type="external">Create column charts Opens a New Window.</a></p>
<p>Data source: Company annual reports</p>
<p>I simply think that Lowe's wins this battle because its business is more difficult to disrupt with e-commerce than Wal-Mart's. The company's solid position as the No. 2 home-furnishing store in America, the power of its brand, and its scale all offer a wider moat -- in my opinion -- than Wal-Mart has.</p>
<p>Winner: Lowe's.</p>
<p>Most investors, especially those who put their faith behind big-box brand names, like seeing cash returned to them. Of course, there's nothing wrong with that, as dividends are a key reason to invest in such names.</p>
<p>But investors should also want their companies to hold on to a hefty stash of cash. That's because every company, no matter what, is going to face difficult economic times. Companies that approach such times with a healthy balance sheet have options: Buy back stock, make splashy acquisitions, or -- most importantly -- outspend rivals to gain market share.</p>
<p>Debt-heavy companies are in the opposite scenario -- forced to narrow their focus to meet the demands of their debtors. Here's how Wal-Mart and Lowe's stack up in terms of financial fortitude, remembering that Wal-Mart is valued at over three times the size of Lowe's.</p>
<p>Data sources: Yahoo! Finance, SEC filings.</p>
<p>Lowe's is by no means a slouch in this respect, but even after adjusting for the relative size of these companies, Wal-Mart comes out ahead. It has more cash, income, and free cash flow than Lowe's. This decision is very easy.</p>
<p>Winner: Wal-Mart.</p>
<p>Finally, we have valuation. While this isn't an exact science, there are some straightforward metrics we can consult to give us an idea of how expensive each stock is.</p>
<p>Data sources: Yahoo! Finance, E*Trade. P/E represents figures from non-GAAP earnings.</p>
<p>This is a much more difficult one to parse. Both companies offer very healthy dividends, but Wal-Mart's is noticeably bigger. Wal-Mart also appears to be cheaper on an earnings and free cash flow basis.</p>
<p>But growth rates are much higher at Lowe's. In fact, according to the PEG ratio, Lowe's trades at an astounding 65% discount to Wal-Mart. That's why I'm calling this one a draw.</p>
<p>Winner: Tie</p>
<p>So there you have it: It's a tie. If investors are more comforted by a strong balance sheet and very impressive cash flows, then Wal-Mart is the way to go. If, however, you want to know that a company is less susceptible to disruption in the form of e-commerce, I think Lowe's is a better bet.</p>
<p>I always use a company's moat as a tiebreaker if the companies end in a draw, so my vote here would be with Lowe's, but I can't deny the strength of Wal-Mart's cash flow.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Lowe'sWhen 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-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=53ec69b4-3f14-472f-b986-0a27c78266a5&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 Lowe's 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-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=53ec69b4-3f14-472f-b986-0a27c78266a5&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 April 3, 2017</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFCheesehead/info.aspx" type="external">Brian Stoffel Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Amazon. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon. 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> | 1,805 |
<p />
<p>Millennials often enter the workforce at a disadvantage. Executives of&#160;previous generations sometimes perceive them as entitled or lazy because of their insistence on work/life balance, their penchant for coming at problems in non-traditional ways, or their optimistic expectations about climbing the <a href="https://www.recruiter.com/career-goals.html" type="external">corporate ladder Opens a New Window.</a>. But the fact is millennials are the largest generation in the U.S. workforce, which means the corporate world will need to adapt to the younger generation just as much as the younger generation must adapt to the corporate world.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Millennials make up <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/05/11/millennials-surpass-gen-xers-as-the-largest-generation-in-u-s-labor-force/" type="external">more than one-third of the U.S. workforce Opens a New Window.</a>, and many of these workers will be tomorrow's corporate leaders. Millennials seeking to fast track their way to the top need to possess a particular set of skills to impress existing executives.</p>
<p>A Soft Approach</p>
<p>Whether fresh out of college or a junior executive, any millennial who wants to sit at the boardroom table someday needs to have a number of marketable soft skills.</p>
<p>"Examples of soft skills include strong work ethic, confidence, communication skills, interpersonal skills, adaptability, next-level thinking, and ability to take initiative," says Rae Sanders, principal staffing manager and team leader of the accounting, finance, and administrative division of recruitment firm <a href="https://www.winterwyman.com/" type="external">WinterWyman Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Millennials grew up texting and talking online, and that means some of them don't have the same personal interaction skills that Gen. X-ers and baby boomers&#160;developed. This difference in relationship styles can turn off older decision-makers from hiring millennial candidates.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Candidates should make an effort to showcase their soft skill sets leading up to and during the&#160;interview. Exude confidence without being cocky. Feature communication skills in all modes, whether it be email, phone, or face-to-face conversation. Other soft skills can be more difficult to showcase, but providing references that speak to things like innovation and work ethic can go a long way toward signing on with a company.</p>
<p>The Hard Sell</p>
<p>Of course, being personable and confident only gets one so far. Soft skills will get the attention of a prospective employer, but hard skills are even more important. Most millennials grew up with technology that escapes the understanding of some older executives, so many companies are interested in hiring workers who can carry them into the Digital Age. That also makes competition for jobs fiercer, because generally, most applicants will be tech-savvy and capable.</p>
<p>Millennials who want to stand out from the crowd will need to find ways to get practical experience prior to entering the workforce.</p>
<p>"The training and skills that candidates should seek are dependent on the jobs they are applying to," says Callie Adams, staffing manager for WinterWyman. "However, the hard skills you gain in an internship relevant to the career track you are trying to pursue are what makes you stand out. These could be applied technical skills – different from learned technical skills – or functional skills, such as actually processing accounts payable or arranging travel. Application of the skills you've learned is paramount in today's market. Simply put, internships are the only way to develop a hard skill set to make you stand out amongst your peers."</p>
<p>When hiring managers make a final decision about a hire, it comes down to what experience the candidate brings to the table and what they can bring to the company.</p>
<p>"Experience that exemplifies the soft skill sets aforementioned, would be considered valuable to prospective employers," Sanders says.</p>
<p>For example, Sanders lists the following common experiences as ways millennials can demonstrate their soft skill sets:</p>
<p>Leadership positions in clubs (confidence, ability to take initiative, and communication skills)</p>
<p>Varied extracurricular activities along with a strong academic record (work ethic)</p>
<p>Study abroad programs (adaptability)</p>
<p>Internships/work-study (applied hard skills)</p>
<p>Fraternities/sororities (interpersonal skills)</p>
<p>"These types of activities show you have taken advantage of what college had to offer," Sanders says. "This is what would make you stand out as a potential candidate when the job may initially require a year or two of experience."</p>
<p>To be attractive to a company, younger generations must leverage&#160;their lives beyond work and show hiring managers how their experiences have prepared them to do the job they are applying for. Many applicants will just put their degree on the application and leave it at that. Candidates who find ways to turn&#160;life experiences into work experiences will stand out from the crowd.</p> | What Employers Want From Millennials | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/04/05/what-employers-want-from-millennials.html | 2017-04-09 | 0right
| What Employers Want From Millennials
<p />
<p>Millennials often enter the workforce at a disadvantage. Executives of&#160;previous generations sometimes perceive them as entitled or lazy because of their insistence on work/life balance, their penchant for coming at problems in non-traditional ways, or their optimistic expectations about climbing the <a href="https://www.recruiter.com/career-goals.html" type="external">corporate ladder Opens a New Window.</a>. But the fact is millennials are the largest generation in the U.S. workforce, which means the corporate world will need to adapt to the younger generation just as much as the younger generation must adapt to the corporate world.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Millennials make up <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/05/11/millennials-surpass-gen-xers-as-the-largest-generation-in-u-s-labor-force/" type="external">more than one-third of the U.S. workforce Opens a New Window.</a>, and many of these workers will be tomorrow's corporate leaders. Millennials seeking to fast track their way to the top need to possess a particular set of skills to impress existing executives.</p>
<p>A Soft Approach</p>
<p>Whether fresh out of college or a junior executive, any millennial who wants to sit at the boardroom table someday needs to have a number of marketable soft skills.</p>
<p>"Examples of soft skills include strong work ethic, confidence, communication skills, interpersonal skills, adaptability, next-level thinking, and ability to take initiative," says Rae Sanders, principal staffing manager and team leader of the accounting, finance, and administrative division of recruitment firm <a href="https://www.winterwyman.com/" type="external">WinterWyman Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Millennials grew up texting and talking online, and that means some of them don't have the same personal interaction skills that Gen. X-ers and baby boomers&#160;developed. This difference in relationship styles can turn off older decision-makers from hiring millennial candidates.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Candidates should make an effort to showcase their soft skill sets leading up to and during the&#160;interview. Exude confidence without being cocky. Feature communication skills in all modes, whether it be email, phone, or face-to-face conversation. Other soft skills can be more difficult to showcase, but providing references that speak to things like innovation and work ethic can go a long way toward signing on with a company.</p>
<p>The Hard Sell</p>
<p>Of course, being personable and confident only gets one so far. Soft skills will get the attention of a prospective employer, but hard skills are even more important. Most millennials grew up with technology that escapes the understanding of some older executives, so many companies are interested in hiring workers who can carry them into the Digital Age. That also makes competition for jobs fiercer, because generally, most applicants will be tech-savvy and capable.</p>
<p>Millennials who want to stand out from the crowd will need to find ways to get practical experience prior to entering the workforce.</p>
<p>"The training and skills that candidates should seek are dependent on the jobs they are applying to," says Callie Adams, staffing manager for WinterWyman. "However, the hard skills you gain in an internship relevant to the career track you are trying to pursue are what makes you stand out. These could be applied technical skills – different from learned technical skills – or functional skills, such as actually processing accounts payable or arranging travel. Application of the skills you've learned is paramount in today's market. Simply put, internships are the only way to develop a hard skill set to make you stand out amongst your peers."</p>
<p>When hiring managers make a final decision about a hire, it comes down to what experience the candidate brings to the table and what they can bring to the company.</p>
<p>"Experience that exemplifies the soft skill sets aforementioned, would be considered valuable to prospective employers," Sanders says.</p>
<p>For example, Sanders lists the following common experiences as ways millennials can demonstrate their soft skill sets:</p>
<p>Leadership positions in clubs (confidence, ability to take initiative, and communication skills)</p>
<p>Varied extracurricular activities along with a strong academic record (work ethic)</p>
<p>Study abroad programs (adaptability)</p>
<p>Internships/work-study (applied hard skills)</p>
<p>Fraternities/sororities (interpersonal skills)</p>
<p>"These types of activities show you have taken advantage of what college had to offer," Sanders says. "This is what would make you stand out as a potential candidate when the job may initially require a year or two of experience."</p>
<p>To be attractive to a company, younger generations must leverage&#160;their lives beyond work and show hiring managers how their experiences have prepared them to do the job they are applying for. Many applicants will just put their degree on the application and leave it at that. Candidates who find ways to turn&#160;life experiences into work experiences will stand out from the crowd.</p> | 1,806 |
<p />
<p>It turns out that equality may not be the best policy … at least when it comes to work. That’s because a new study has found that teams with a built-in hierarchy outperformed groups where each person held an equal amount of power.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The study found that groups with an equal distribution of power among all workers experienced more conflict, reduced differentiation in roles and less coordination and integration within the group. This is because, without a hierarchy of power, the researchers found that <a href="http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/2126-powerful-people-bad-decisions.html" type="external">group members jostle for power Opens a New Window.</a> amongst each other.&#160; This occurs thanks to what the researchers called the need for a natural pecking order within groups.</p>
<p>"We found that a clear hierarchy, division of labor and patterns of deference reduce conflict, facilitate coordination and ultimately improve group productivity (in groups with hierarchies)," said Adam Galinsky, professor of ethics and decision in management at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a researcher on the study. "On the other hand, when there are too many leaders or too few followers, group performance suffers."</p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/2024-hate-bosses-bad-listeners.html" type="external">[Employees Reveal Why Their Hate Their Boss] Opens a New Window.</a></p>
<p>More simply put, the researchers, who included Galinsky, Katharine Greenaway of University of Queensland and Eric Anicich and Richard Ronay of Columbia University, said: "When power is distributed, intragroup conflicts decrease while coordination and productivity increase."</p>
<p>With that pecking order in place, groups not only had more well-defined roles, but they were <a href="http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/1468-work-from-home-jobs.html" type="external">more productive Opens a New Window.</a> as well. That productivity was the result of the coordination that groups with well-defined leadership structures and hierarchies had, according to the researchers. For this reason, the researchers recommend that groups associated with everything ranging from business to sports be sure to have a clear hierarchy in place to lead the group.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>"Despite the overt appeal of egalitarian social structures, there remains an enduring implicit preference for hierarchy," Ronay said.</p>
<p>These findings were published online in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The research was based on responses from more than 100 undergraduates.</p>
<p>Reach BusinessNewsDaily staff writer David Mielach at <a href="http://mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected] Opens a New Window.</a>. Follow him on Twitter @D_M89.</p>
<p>Copyright 2012 <a href="http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/" type="external">BusinessNewsDaily Opens a New Window.</a>, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p> | The Big Reason Employees Need Bosses | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2012/06/01/big-reason-employees-need-bosses.html | 2016-03-23 | 0right
| The Big Reason Employees Need Bosses
<p />
<p>It turns out that equality may not be the best policy … at least when it comes to work. That’s because a new study has found that teams with a built-in hierarchy outperformed groups where each person held an equal amount of power.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The study found that groups with an equal distribution of power among all workers experienced more conflict, reduced differentiation in roles and less coordination and integration within the group. This is because, without a hierarchy of power, the researchers found that <a href="http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/2126-powerful-people-bad-decisions.html" type="external">group members jostle for power Opens a New Window.</a> amongst each other.&#160; This occurs thanks to what the researchers called the need for a natural pecking order within groups.</p>
<p>"We found that a clear hierarchy, division of labor and patterns of deference reduce conflict, facilitate coordination and ultimately improve group productivity (in groups with hierarchies)," said Adam Galinsky, professor of ethics and decision in management at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a researcher on the study. "On the other hand, when there are too many leaders or too few followers, group performance suffers."</p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/2024-hate-bosses-bad-listeners.html" type="external">[Employees Reveal Why Their Hate Their Boss] Opens a New Window.</a></p>
<p>More simply put, the researchers, who included Galinsky, Katharine Greenaway of University of Queensland and Eric Anicich and Richard Ronay of Columbia University, said: "When power is distributed, intragroup conflicts decrease while coordination and productivity increase."</p>
<p>With that pecking order in place, groups not only had more well-defined roles, but they were <a href="http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/1468-work-from-home-jobs.html" type="external">more productive Opens a New Window.</a> as well. That productivity was the result of the coordination that groups with well-defined leadership structures and hierarchies had, according to the researchers. For this reason, the researchers recommend that groups associated with everything ranging from business to sports be sure to have a clear hierarchy in place to lead the group.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>"Despite the overt appeal of egalitarian social structures, there remains an enduring implicit preference for hierarchy," Ronay said.</p>
<p>These findings were published online in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The research was based on responses from more than 100 undergraduates.</p>
<p>Reach BusinessNewsDaily staff writer David Mielach at <a href="http://mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected] Opens a New Window.</a>. Follow him on Twitter @D_M89.</p>
<p>Copyright 2012 <a href="http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/" type="external">BusinessNewsDaily Opens a New Window.</a>, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p> | 1,807 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>SANTA FE, N.M. — New Mexico state government employees could face a 15 percent increase in their health insurance premiums next year due to rising health care costs.</p>
<p>Under the most popular insurance plan, the increase would translate into about $133 per year for a single worker making $45,000 and $393 annually for a worker at that salary level with family coverage.</p>
<p>Overall, the dollar amount increase would total $10.1 million — though not all of that would be borne by workers — and would be subject to approval by lawmakers as part of next year’s budget.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The state pays between 60 percent and 80 percent of workers’ health insurance premiums, depending on salary level, and the amount the state pays toward employee health insurance premiums also would go up by 15 percent.</p>
<p>Gov. Susana Martinez’s administration plans to seek legislative approval for the premium increase during the 2013 session. The higher rates, if approved, would take effect in July 2013.</p>
<p>However, the increases could cause financial heartburn for the many state workers who have not received a pay increase since 2008.</p>
<p>General Services Secretary Ed Burckle said the higher cost would largely be offset by an increase in take-home pay due to the expiration of higher mandatory retirement contributions that state workers are scheduled to see starting next July.</p>
<p>“Essentially this is a budgetary necessity to raise premiums,” Burckle told the Journal on Tuesday. “We’ve been very blessed not to have to increase premiums for five consecutive years.”</p>
<p>Without the higher premiums or some other change, Burckle said the state’s health care fund will likely run out of money next year.</p>
<p>Labor union leaders predicted Tuesday that state workers will resist the proposed premium increases, but did not directly criticize Martinez.</p>
<p>“This is a national problem that we have in this country,” said Miles Conway, a political coordinator for the Communications Workers of America union in New Mexico. “This isn’t something we would blame the governor for.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The state currently covers more than 73,000 individuals through various private insurance plans, a number that includes state government workers, their family members and some local government employees.</p>
<p>While premium levels vary, a single employee earning $45,000 per year would pay about $133 per year more under the proposed premium increases.</p>
<p>Such workers currently pay about $34 per bi-weekly pay period under the most popular plan.</p>
<p>For a worker making the same amount with a family insured under the same plan, the increase would cause the premiums to rise annually by about $393.</p>
<p>Legislators reacted to the Martinez administration plan with wariness Tuesday, with Senate Finance Committee Chairman John Arthur Smith, a Deming Democrat, saying the proposal would likely ratchet up pressure for lawmakers to approve a salary hike for state workers in order to absorb the increased premiums.</p>
<p>Sen. Carlos Cisneros, D-Questa, called the proposed 15 percent increase “extraordinary” and said the Legislature would have to closely scrutinize it.</p>
<p>“If we’ve got extra money, we shouldn’t put the burden on state employees,” said Cisneros, the vice chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. “For the last three years, we basically balanced the budget on the backs of state employees.”</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the pending boost in state worker take-home pay due to the expiration of the higher mandatory retirement contributions, which were approved as a budget-balancing measure in 2010, is not a sure thing.</p>
<p>A proposal adopted in June by the Public Employees Retirement Association’s board calls for the current contribution levels to remain in place indefinitely and for taxpayer-funded state contributions to also go up. That would help shore up the retirement system, which is struggling with solvency concerns.</p>
<p>In another possible future expense, the state could be on the hook for as much as $20 million in retroactive pay raises, as well as ongoing pay increases, to about 11,000 state employees covered by union agreements, due to a recent Court of Appeals ruling.</p> | Workers Face Insurance Hike | false | https://abqjournal.com/125757/workers-face-insurance-hike.html | 2012-08-22 | 2least
| Workers Face Insurance Hike
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>SANTA FE, N.M. — New Mexico state government employees could face a 15 percent increase in their health insurance premiums next year due to rising health care costs.</p>
<p>Under the most popular insurance plan, the increase would translate into about $133 per year for a single worker making $45,000 and $393 annually for a worker at that salary level with family coverage.</p>
<p>Overall, the dollar amount increase would total $10.1 million — though not all of that would be borne by workers — and would be subject to approval by lawmakers as part of next year’s budget.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The state pays between 60 percent and 80 percent of workers’ health insurance premiums, depending on salary level, and the amount the state pays toward employee health insurance premiums also would go up by 15 percent.</p>
<p>Gov. Susana Martinez’s administration plans to seek legislative approval for the premium increase during the 2013 session. The higher rates, if approved, would take effect in July 2013.</p>
<p>However, the increases could cause financial heartburn for the many state workers who have not received a pay increase since 2008.</p>
<p>General Services Secretary Ed Burckle said the higher cost would largely be offset by an increase in take-home pay due to the expiration of higher mandatory retirement contributions that state workers are scheduled to see starting next July.</p>
<p>“Essentially this is a budgetary necessity to raise premiums,” Burckle told the Journal on Tuesday. “We’ve been very blessed not to have to increase premiums for five consecutive years.”</p>
<p>Without the higher premiums or some other change, Burckle said the state’s health care fund will likely run out of money next year.</p>
<p>Labor union leaders predicted Tuesday that state workers will resist the proposed premium increases, but did not directly criticize Martinez.</p>
<p>“This is a national problem that we have in this country,” said Miles Conway, a political coordinator for the Communications Workers of America union in New Mexico. “This isn’t something we would blame the governor for.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The state currently covers more than 73,000 individuals through various private insurance plans, a number that includes state government workers, their family members and some local government employees.</p>
<p>While premium levels vary, a single employee earning $45,000 per year would pay about $133 per year more under the proposed premium increases.</p>
<p>Such workers currently pay about $34 per bi-weekly pay period under the most popular plan.</p>
<p>For a worker making the same amount with a family insured under the same plan, the increase would cause the premiums to rise annually by about $393.</p>
<p>Legislators reacted to the Martinez administration plan with wariness Tuesday, with Senate Finance Committee Chairman John Arthur Smith, a Deming Democrat, saying the proposal would likely ratchet up pressure for lawmakers to approve a salary hike for state workers in order to absorb the increased premiums.</p>
<p>Sen. Carlos Cisneros, D-Questa, called the proposed 15 percent increase “extraordinary” and said the Legislature would have to closely scrutinize it.</p>
<p>“If we’ve got extra money, we shouldn’t put the burden on state employees,” said Cisneros, the vice chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. “For the last three years, we basically balanced the budget on the backs of state employees.”</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the pending boost in state worker take-home pay due to the expiration of the higher mandatory retirement contributions, which were approved as a budget-balancing measure in 2010, is not a sure thing.</p>
<p>A proposal adopted in June by the Public Employees Retirement Association’s board calls for the current contribution levels to remain in place indefinitely and for taxpayer-funded state contributions to also go up. That would help shore up the retirement system, which is struggling with solvency concerns.</p>
<p>In another possible future expense, the state could be on the hook for as much as $20 million in retroactive pay raises, as well as ongoing pay increases, to about 11,000 state employees covered by union agreements, due to a recent Court of Appeals ruling.</p> | 1,808 |
<p>The Iraq Study Group has apparently reached a consensus and will recommend a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/30/world/middleeast/30policy.html?hp&amp;ex=1164949200&amp;en=b95eba287d888001&amp;ei=5094&amp;partner=homepage" type="external">gradual pullback of U.S. forces</a> in Iraq, though without a timetable. But after meeting with Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Thursday, President Bush was already <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/30/world/middleeast/30cnd-prexy.html?hp&amp;ex=1164949200&amp;en=c723bbdd129e52af&amp;ei=5094&amp;partner=homepage" type="external">dismissive</a> of the suggestion: “We’re going to stay in Iraq to get the job done as long as the government wants us there.”</p>
<p>Bush also scoffed at the idea of partitioning Iraq and in the past has argued against the panel’s other major suggestion: holding direct talks with Iran and Syria.</p>
<p>Though he may ultimately disagree with the Iraq Study Group’s recommendations, repeating “get the job done” is an alternative military strategy unlikely to carry much weight with the American people.</p>
<p>New York Times:</p>
<p />
<p>“I know there’s a lot of speculation that these reports in Washington mean there’s going to be some kind of graceful exit out of Iraq,” the president said during a joint news conference with Mr. Maliki, referring to the panel’s reports that are expected next week. “We’re going to stay in Iraq to get the job done as long as the government wants us there.”</p>
<p>Mr. Bush also said he and Mr. Maliki would oppose any plan to break up the country, which is riven by sectarian violence. The two appeared together after an hourlong breakfast meeting with aides at the Four Seasons Hotel [in Amman, Jordan] that was followed by a 45-minute one-on-one session.</p>
<p>“The prime minister made clear that splitting his country into parts, as some have suggested, is not what the Iraqi people want, and that any partition in Iraq would only lead to an increase of sectarian violence,” Mr. Bush said, adding, “I agree.”</p>
<p>The two leaders set no timetable for speeding up the training of Iraqi forces, which Mr. Bush described as evolving “from ground zero,” and a senior administration official, who attended the breakfast and was granted anonymity to discuss it, said hurdles remain.</p>
<p>“This is not a simple process of passing the baton,” the official said, adding, “This is not the United States and Iraq struggling for control of the steering wheel. This is the United States wanting Iraq to be firmly with the steering wheel in its hand, and the issue is, how do we get there as quickly as possible.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/30/world/middleeast/30cnd-prexy.html?hp&amp;ex=1164949200&amp;en=c723bbdd129e52af&amp;ei=5094&amp;partner=homepage" type="external">Link</a></p> | Study Group to Call for Iraq Withdrawals; Bush Remains Obstinate | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/study-group-to-call-for-iraq-withdrawals-bush-remains-obstinate/ | 2006-11-30 | 4left
| Study Group to Call for Iraq Withdrawals; Bush Remains Obstinate
<p>The Iraq Study Group has apparently reached a consensus and will recommend a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/30/world/middleeast/30policy.html?hp&amp;ex=1164949200&amp;en=b95eba287d888001&amp;ei=5094&amp;partner=homepage" type="external">gradual pullback of U.S. forces</a> in Iraq, though without a timetable. But after meeting with Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Thursday, President Bush was already <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/30/world/middleeast/30cnd-prexy.html?hp&amp;ex=1164949200&amp;en=c723bbdd129e52af&amp;ei=5094&amp;partner=homepage" type="external">dismissive</a> of the suggestion: “We’re going to stay in Iraq to get the job done as long as the government wants us there.”</p>
<p>Bush also scoffed at the idea of partitioning Iraq and in the past has argued against the panel’s other major suggestion: holding direct talks with Iran and Syria.</p>
<p>Though he may ultimately disagree with the Iraq Study Group’s recommendations, repeating “get the job done” is an alternative military strategy unlikely to carry much weight with the American people.</p>
<p>New York Times:</p>
<p />
<p>“I know there’s a lot of speculation that these reports in Washington mean there’s going to be some kind of graceful exit out of Iraq,” the president said during a joint news conference with Mr. Maliki, referring to the panel’s reports that are expected next week. “We’re going to stay in Iraq to get the job done as long as the government wants us there.”</p>
<p>Mr. Bush also said he and Mr. Maliki would oppose any plan to break up the country, which is riven by sectarian violence. The two appeared together after an hourlong breakfast meeting with aides at the Four Seasons Hotel [in Amman, Jordan] that was followed by a 45-minute one-on-one session.</p>
<p>“The prime minister made clear that splitting his country into parts, as some have suggested, is not what the Iraqi people want, and that any partition in Iraq would only lead to an increase of sectarian violence,” Mr. Bush said, adding, “I agree.”</p>
<p>The two leaders set no timetable for speeding up the training of Iraqi forces, which Mr. Bush described as evolving “from ground zero,” and a senior administration official, who attended the breakfast and was granted anonymity to discuss it, said hurdles remain.</p>
<p>“This is not a simple process of passing the baton,” the official said, adding, “This is not the United States and Iraq struggling for control of the steering wheel. This is the United States wanting Iraq to be firmly with the steering wheel in its hand, and the issue is, how do we get there as quickly as possible.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/30/world/middleeast/30cnd-prexy.html?hp&amp;ex=1164949200&amp;en=c723bbdd129e52af&amp;ei=5094&amp;partner=homepage" type="external">Link</a></p> | 1,809 |
<p />
<p>Major U.S. retailers Sears and Kmart this week removed 31 Trump Home items from their online product offerings to focus on more profitable items, a spokesman said on Saturday.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The decision follows retailer Nordstrom Inc's announcement this week it had decided to stop carrying Ivanka Trump's apparel because of declining sales, prompting President Donald Trump to take to Twitter to defend his daughter. White House spokesman Sean Spicer characterized the Nordstrom move as a "direct attack" on the president's policies.</p>
<p>Neither Sears nor Kmart carried the Trump Home products in their retail stores, a Sears Holdings Corp spokesman said. Kmart is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sears Holdings.</p>
<p>"As part of the company's initiative to optimize its online product assortment, we constantly refine that assortment to focus on our most profitable items," spokesman Brian Hanover said in a statement.</p>
<p>"Amid that streamlining effort, 31 Trump Home items were among the items removed online this week," he said, adding those items can be found through a third-party vendor, without providing additional information about the products.</p>
<p>The Trump Home collection includes lines of furniture, lighting, bedding, mirrors and chandeliers, some from makers who supply the items to Trump hotels, according to the collection's website.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Nordstrom's sales of Ivanka Trump's line of clothing and shoes fell by nearly one-third in the past fiscal year, with sharp drops in sales weeks before her father was elected president on Nov. 8, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. (Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; editing by Grant McCool)</p> | Sears, Kmart Drop 31 Trump Home Items From Their Online Shops | true | http://foxbusiness.com/politics/2017/02/11/sears-kmart-drop-31-trump-home-items-from-their-online-shops.html | 2017-02-11 | 0right
| Sears, Kmart Drop 31 Trump Home Items From Their Online Shops
<p />
<p>Major U.S. retailers Sears and Kmart this week removed 31 Trump Home items from their online product offerings to focus on more profitable items, a spokesman said on Saturday.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The decision follows retailer Nordstrom Inc's announcement this week it had decided to stop carrying Ivanka Trump's apparel because of declining sales, prompting President Donald Trump to take to Twitter to defend his daughter. White House spokesman Sean Spicer characterized the Nordstrom move as a "direct attack" on the president's policies.</p>
<p>Neither Sears nor Kmart carried the Trump Home products in their retail stores, a Sears Holdings Corp spokesman said. Kmart is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sears Holdings.</p>
<p>"As part of the company's initiative to optimize its online product assortment, we constantly refine that assortment to focus on our most profitable items," spokesman Brian Hanover said in a statement.</p>
<p>"Amid that streamlining effort, 31 Trump Home items were among the items removed online this week," he said, adding those items can be found through a third-party vendor, without providing additional information about the products.</p>
<p>The Trump Home collection includes lines of furniture, lighting, bedding, mirrors and chandeliers, some from makers who supply the items to Trump hotels, according to the collection's website.</p>
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<p>Nordstrom's sales of Ivanka Trump's line of clothing and shoes fell by nearly one-third in the past fiscal year, with sharp drops in sales weeks before her father was elected president on Nov. 8, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. (Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; editing by Grant McCool)</p> | 1,810 |
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<p />
<p>Their statement released Monday night to The Associated Press said that they will keep future details of their divorce confidential by using a private judge.</p>
<p>“The parties and their counsel have signed agreements to preserve the privacy rights of their children and family by keeping all court documents confidential and engaging a private judge to make any necessary legal decisions and to facilitate the expeditious resolution of any remaining issues,” their statement read. “The parents are committed to act as a united front to effectuate recovery and reunification.”</p>
<p>The statement is the first joint comment from the actors on their divorce since Jolie Pitt filed to end their marriage in September. At the time, one of her attorneys stated the petition was filed “for the health of the family.”</p>
<p>Authorities investigated allegations that Pitt was abusive toward his 15-year-old son on a private flight, but sources familiar with the cases said the actor was cleared of any wrongdoing.</p>
<p>Private judges are often used in high-profile divorce cases, keeping many details of a breakup out of the public eye while a final judgment is negotiated.</p>
<p>Custody of their six children has been the primary issue in the divorce, with Jolie Pitt initially seeking sole physical custody. California law favors joint custody in divorce cases, although final arrangements are often agreed to by parents and formalized in a written agreement.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Pitt and Jolie were married for two years and together for 12 years after becoming close while filming 2005’s “Mr. &amp; Mrs. Smith.”</p>
<p>Their divorce, and every filing in it, has attracted international attention. Last month, Pitt sought to seal custody records in the case, and a hearing had been scheduled for next week on the issue.</p>
<p>Both actors have kept a relatively low profile since their breakup was announced, although Pitt made an appearance onstage at Sunday’s Golden Globes to spirited applause.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Anthony McCartney can be reached at <a href="http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP" type="external">http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP</a></p> | Jolie Pitt and Brad Pitt reach divorce pact | false | https://abqjournal.com/924556/jolie-pitt-and-brad-pitt-reach-divorce-pact.html | 2017-01-10 | 2least
| Jolie Pitt and Brad Pitt reach divorce pact
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<p />
<p>Their statement released Monday night to The Associated Press said that they will keep future details of their divorce confidential by using a private judge.</p>
<p>“The parties and their counsel have signed agreements to preserve the privacy rights of their children and family by keeping all court documents confidential and engaging a private judge to make any necessary legal decisions and to facilitate the expeditious resolution of any remaining issues,” their statement read. “The parents are committed to act as a united front to effectuate recovery and reunification.”</p>
<p>The statement is the first joint comment from the actors on their divorce since Jolie Pitt filed to end their marriage in September. At the time, one of her attorneys stated the petition was filed “for the health of the family.”</p>
<p>Authorities investigated allegations that Pitt was abusive toward his 15-year-old son on a private flight, but sources familiar with the cases said the actor was cleared of any wrongdoing.</p>
<p>Private judges are often used in high-profile divorce cases, keeping many details of a breakup out of the public eye while a final judgment is negotiated.</p>
<p>Custody of their six children has been the primary issue in the divorce, with Jolie Pitt initially seeking sole physical custody. California law favors joint custody in divorce cases, although final arrangements are often agreed to by parents and formalized in a written agreement.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Pitt and Jolie were married for two years and together for 12 years after becoming close while filming 2005’s “Mr. &amp; Mrs. Smith.”</p>
<p>Their divorce, and every filing in it, has attracted international attention. Last month, Pitt sought to seal custody records in the case, and a hearing had been scheduled for next week on the issue.</p>
<p>Both actors have kept a relatively low profile since their breakup was announced, although Pitt made an appearance onstage at Sunday’s Golden Globes to spirited applause.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Anthony McCartney can be reached at <a href="http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP" type="external">http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP</a></p> | 1,811 |
<p />
<p>I’m ashamed of myself.</p>
<p>Much as I’ve critiqued it, I fell into the easy trap of wailing about anti-black racism while ignoring racism from blacks.</p>
<p>I must have been taking a mental break when <a href="http://content.usatoday.com/communities/religion/post/2009/01/61651854/1" type="external">Rev. Joseph Lowery</a> made his oh-so famous rhyme during his inaugural benediction; I didn’t ‘hear’ it when he said it. But I’ve definitely read it repeatedly in the days since <a href="/mojoblog/archives/2009/01/11875_obama-inauguration.html" type="external">Obama’s inauguration</a> and, while, I did pause over “and when white will embrace right” (that schtick is one of our oldest) I wasn’t bothered for more than a few seconds, certainly not enough to blog about it. That was wrong, especially on such a day. I didn’t bother to reflect on the mean-spirited divisiveness of that line until one of the best undiscovered writers I know (his emails are better than most fancy pants columnists in the MSM) sent out a heartbroken email. Maybe Lowery just wanted to get a laugh. I do a lot of public speaking. I get that. But, had I used the joke, I’d have added (after my laughs, of course) something like, “now, we can drop that last line”—in the spirit of reconciliation and healing, if nothing else.</p>
<p>John Schwade is a prison psychologist (meaning he daily administers to the largely black huddled masses warehoused in our beastly prisons) as well as spouse to a black woman and father to a lovely and brilliant biracial daughter. As he sat weeping Tuesday, watching the beautiful reality unfold before his eyes on TV and contemplating what it meant for his daughter, Lowery came on and—how else to say it—pissed in his face, just because he’s white.</p>
<p>I should have called Lowery out, but I couldn’t be bothered standing up for justice, however miniscule the scale. Though it wasn’t really miniscule, was it, on such a day?</p>
<p>So, I asked John to let me run his email to remind myself that Dr. King was talking to everyone, not just white folks.</p>
<p>Here’s his plea for justice:</p>
<p>I had planned to take my fifteen year old daughter to see Rev. Joseph Lowery at a local MLK service on Sunday. Lowery co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with MLK, and I thought she would benefit from hearing from someone who ‘was there’, as I’ve profited from hearing MLK’s daughter Bernice on two occasions.</p>
<p>But sometimes you get tired of being hated, and you certainly don’t want to expose your children to old prejudices.</p>
<p>Friday afternoon I caught the hate just for being a prison psychologist. After checking on the well-being of an inmate, from behind the safety of a steel door he shouted at me as I walked away, “Yo’ breath smell like a *sshole.”</p>
<p>It’s a prison. You have to have an answer. Mine was, “Why do you know so much about what *ssholes smell like?”</p>
<p>Momentarily stunned, the inmate recovered with, “‘Cause I smelled yo’ breaf!”</p>
<p>A tautology! I thought I’d heard everything in prison, but this was a first.</p>
<p>Saturday I did a modicum of research on Lowery’s recent utterances and decided to stay at home. It was a good call, judging by what he said in his “benediction” yesterday.</p>
<p>The “Rappin’ Rev” was ridiculous. Even Jon Stewart and the merry pranksters at The Daily Show jumped on it. The few black persons allowed to speak in public (yesterday the networks went back to Jesse and Al, as irrelevant as they are) are no longer required to speak in rhymes, if they ever were.</p>
<p>But that’s trivial compared to Lowery’s contradictions of Barack Obama’s inauguration speech and of Lowery’s own benediction.</p>
<p>Obama said, “We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things.” Lowery followed that with, “We go now to walk together as children.”</p>
<p>Perhaps I quibble. Lowery is the man-o’-God, not me. But I can read. And I can find nothing that Jesus said his own self, or that his disciples wrote, justifying the prejudice inherent in this contradiction of his own words. After claiming, “We come in a spirit of unity and solidarity,” Lowery closed his benediction with a divisive rhyme.</p>
<p />
<p>Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around … when yellow will be mellow … when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right. That all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen.</p>
<p>I won’t say “Amen” to that—not once, not twice, not the three times Lowery demanded.</p>
<p>In Lowery’s version of “unity and solidarity” he singled out white people in asking his Lord to help us “embrace what is right.”</p>
<p>In early polls of black voters, Obama was far behind Hillary Clinton until the Iowa caucus, when the poster boys and poster girls of white devilishness—all midwestern, gun-owning, “rural” types—voted for Obama. If voting for Obama was “what is right” (I certainly hope so, for everyone’s sake), it seems whitey has already done that. Political analysts of all stripes acknowledge that Iowa was the turning point for Obama.</p>
<p>Referring to entire groups of people as if they were all alike, and in crude terms, was unseemly. Not every member of each group in his colorful racial taxonomy—the same categories used by the Virginia judge who upheld the miscegenation laws overturned by the US Supreme Court in Loving v. Virginia—is either noble or ignoble.</p>
<p>(By the way, if it is racist to have an NFL team in the nation’s capitol with the name “Redskins,” it’s racist to refer to native Americans as “the red man,” even if it rhymes with “ahead, man.”)</p>
<p>Even in the bad old days, there were always white people who boldly spoke up and acted—gave their lives—to end slavery, Jim Crow, and discrimination.</p>
<p>I have a book, published in 1905, that I found in the musty shelves of a used book store. “The Chief American Poets,” edited by Curtis Hidden Page, is replete with the abolitionist poetry of those now derided as “dead white men.” Their abolitionist poems were written and published at a time when a white person was allowed to sympathize with a black person—a slave—as a fellow human being. (Of course, it’s something I do every day behind the closed door of my prison office. But if I speak of this outside the prison, I’m likely to hear, “You ain’t black.”)</p>
<p>John Greenleaf Whittier, for example, was embracing what is right in 1838 when he published “The Farewell (of a Virginia slave mother to her daughters sold into southern bondage)”. Read it and weep. In “The Christian Slave,” published in 1843, Whittier attacked the religious hypocrisy “in that vile South Sodom,” where, according to his footnote, at “a slave auction at New Orleans… the auctioneer recommended the woman on the stand as ‘A GOOD CHRISTIAN’.”</p>
<p>Another dead white man, Walt Whitman, fought for abolition. He was a medic (called a “Wound Dresser” back then) in the Union Army. If anyone doubts what Whitman was fighting for, they need only read his letters to the next-of-kin of dead Union soldiers.</p>
<p>In “Song of Myself” Whitman recounted “The fall of grenades through the rent roof, the fan-shaped explosion / The whizz of limbs, heads, stone, wood, iron, high in the air.” He knew of the sacrifices made to end slavery.</p>
<p>In that same narrative poem Whitman wrote, “Before I was born out of my mother generations guided me.” These words remind me of what is so offensive about what Lowery said yesterday. It’s disrespectful to the dead, the generations that guided me—and Barack Obama.</p>
<p>I didn’t invent myself. My late father and (78-year-old) mother taught me to “embrace what is right, even though you’re white.” (Well, actually, they didn’t “spit” rhyme.) Of course, my parents didn’t invent themselves either. One relevant lesson that was passed down from the generations that guided my parents and then me was to judge every person as an individual. This isn’t a novel idea. Jesus his own self, in Scripture that Lowery might find an incovenient truth, said we should not judge by appearance.</p>
<p>Being alive and kicking, I can defend myself from the likes of Lowery. I can prove that even if I am a racist, I’m not very good at it.</p>
<p>But the assumption, especially when an old “civil rights icon” speaks, is that even if I can prove myself to be an inept racist, the icon is talking about the old days when, as the story is now told, every white person was in need of Divine intervention to make them do the right thing, and not the white thing. But it wasn’t true for my mother, my father, or those brave, noble dead white men and women (like Barack Obama’s mother) who can no longer speak for themselves.</p>
<p>I have heard Lowery and his ilk dismissed as “just living in the past,” but that doesn’t mitigate the offense. Indeed, my point is that they besmirch the reputations of those righteous white people who shared that past with them. I’ve also heard, “They aren’t talking about all white people,” but there were no qualifiers in Lowery’s benediction.</p>
<p>Lowery’s benediction does not portend an era of “The Big Payback” (James Brown, 1968). If the Obamas are racists, like me, they’re not very good at it. John</p>
<p /> | If This Guy Is a Racist, He Isn’t a Very Good One | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2009/01/if-guy-racist-he-isnt-very-good-one/ | 2009-01-22 | 4left
| If This Guy Is a Racist, He Isn’t a Very Good One
<p />
<p>I’m ashamed of myself.</p>
<p>Much as I’ve critiqued it, I fell into the easy trap of wailing about anti-black racism while ignoring racism from blacks.</p>
<p>I must have been taking a mental break when <a href="http://content.usatoday.com/communities/religion/post/2009/01/61651854/1" type="external">Rev. Joseph Lowery</a> made his oh-so famous rhyme during his inaugural benediction; I didn’t ‘hear’ it when he said it. But I’ve definitely read it repeatedly in the days since <a href="/mojoblog/archives/2009/01/11875_obama-inauguration.html" type="external">Obama’s inauguration</a> and, while, I did pause over “and when white will embrace right” (that schtick is one of our oldest) I wasn’t bothered for more than a few seconds, certainly not enough to blog about it. That was wrong, especially on such a day. I didn’t bother to reflect on the mean-spirited divisiveness of that line until one of the best undiscovered writers I know (his emails are better than most fancy pants columnists in the MSM) sent out a heartbroken email. Maybe Lowery just wanted to get a laugh. I do a lot of public speaking. I get that. But, had I used the joke, I’d have added (after my laughs, of course) something like, “now, we can drop that last line”—in the spirit of reconciliation and healing, if nothing else.</p>
<p>John Schwade is a prison psychologist (meaning he daily administers to the largely black huddled masses warehoused in our beastly prisons) as well as spouse to a black woman and father to a lovely and brilliant biracial daughter. As he sat weeping Tuesday, watching the beautiful reality unfold before his eyes on TV and contemplating what it meant for his daughter, Lowery came on and—how else to say it—pissed in his face, just because he’s white.</p>
<p>I should have called Lowery out, but I couldn’t be bothered standing up for justice, however miniscule the scale. Though it wasn’t really miniscule, was it, on such a day?</p>
<p>So, I asked John to let me run his email to remind myself that Dr. King was talking to everyone, not just white folks.</p>
<p>Here’s his plea for justice:</p>
<p>I had planned to take my fifteen year old daughter to see Rev. Joseph Lowery at a local MLK service on Sunday. Lowery co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with MLK, and I thought she would benefit from hearing from someone who ‘was there’, as I’ve profited from hearing MLK’s daughter Bernice on two occasions.</p>
<p>But sometimes you get tired of being hated, and you certainly don’t want to expose your children to old prejudices.</p>
<p>Friday afternoon I caught the hate just for being a prison psychologist. After checking on the well-being of an inmate, from behind the safety of a steel door he shouted at me as I walked away, “Yo’ breath smell like a *sshole.”</p>
<p>It’s a prison. You have to have an answer. Mine was, “Why do you know so much about what *ssholes smell like?”</p>
<p>Momentarily stunned, the inmate recovered with, “‘Cause I smelled yo’ breaf!”</p>
<p>A tautology! I thought I’d heard everything in prison, but this was a first.</p>
<p>Saturday I did a modicum of research on Lowery’s recent utterances and decided to stay at home. It was a good call, judging by what he said in his “benediction” yesterday.</p>
<p>The “Rappin’ Rev” was ridiculous. Even Jon Stewart and the merry pranksters at The Daily Show jumped on it. The few black persons allowed to speak in public (yesterday the networks went back to Jesse and Al, as irrelevant as they are) are no longer required to speak in rhymes, if they ever were.</p>
<p>But that’s trivial compared to Lowery’s contradictions of Barack Obama’s inauguration speech and of Lowery’s own benediction.</p>
<p>Obama said, “We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things.” Lowery followed that with, “We go now to walk together as children.”</p>
<p>Perhaps I quibble. Lowery is the man-o’-God, not me. But I can read. And I can find nothing that Jesus said his own self, or that his disciples wrote, justifying the prejudice inherent in this contradiction of his own words. After claiming, “We come in a spirit of unity and solidarity,” Lowery closed his benediction with a divisive rhyme.</p>
<p />
<p>Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around … when yellow will be mellow … when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right. That all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen.</p>
<p>I won’t say “Amen” to that—not once, not twice, not the three times Lowery demanded.</p>
<p>In Lowery’s version of “unity and solidarity” he singled out white people in asking his Lord to help us “embrace what is right.”</p>
<p>In early polls of black voters, Obama was far behind Hillary Clinton until the Iowa caucus, when the poster boys and poster girls of white devilishness—all midwestern, gun-owning, “rural” types—voted for Obama. If voting for Obama was “what is right” (I certainly hope so, for everyone’s sake), it seems whitey has already done that. Political analysts of all stripes acknowledge that Iowa was the turning point for Obama.</p>
<p>Referring to entire groups of people as if they were all alike, and in crude terms, was unseemly. Not every member of each group in his colorful racial taxonomy—the same categories used by the Virginia judge who upheld the miscegenation laws overturned by the US Supreme Court in Loving v. Virginia—is either noble or ignoble.</p>
<p>(By the way, if it is racist to have an NFL team in the nation’s capitol with the name “Redskins,” it’s racist to refer to native Americans as “the red man,” even if it rhymes with “ahead, man.”)</p>
<p>Even in the bad old days, there were always white people who boldly spoke up and acted—gave their lives—to end slavery, Jim Crow, and discrimination.</p>
<p>I have a book, published in 1905, that I found in the musty shelves of a used book store. “The Chief American Poets,” edited by Curtis Hidden Page, is replete with the abolitionist poetry of those now derided as “dead white men.” Their abolitionist poems were written and published at a time when a white person was allowed to sympathize with a black person—a slave—as a fellow human being. (Of course, it’s something I do every day behind the closed door of my prison office. But if I speak of this outside the prison, I’m likely to hear, “You ain’t black.”)</p>
<p>John Greenleaf Whittier, for example, was embracing what is right in 1838 when he published “The Farewell (of a Virginia slave mother to her daughters sold into southern bondage)”. Read it and weep. In “The Christian Slave,” published in 1843, Whittier attacked the religious hypocrisy “in that vile South Sodom,” where, according to his footnote, at “a slave auction at New Orleans… the auctioneer recommended the woman on the stand as ‘A GOOD CHRISTIAN’.”</p>
<p>Another dead white man, Walt Whitman, fought for abolition. He was a medic (called a “Wound Dresser” back then) in the Union Army. If anyone doubts what Whitman was fighting for, they need only read his letters to the next-of-kin of dead Union soldiers.</p>
<p>In “Song of Myself” Whitman recounted “The fall of grenades through the rent roof, the fan-shaped explosion / The whizz of limbs, heads, stone, wood, iron, high in the air.” He knew of the sacrifices made to end slavery.</p>
<p>In that same narrative poem Whitman wrote, “Before I was born out of my mother generations guided me.” These words remind me of what is so offensive about what Lowery said yesterday. It’s disrespectful to the dead, the generations that guided me—and Barack Obama.</p>
<p>I didn’t invent myself. My late father and (78-year-old) mother taught me to “embrace what is right, even though you’re white.” (Well, actually, they didn’t “spit” rhyme.) Of course, my parents didn’t invent themselves either. One relevant lesson that was passed down from the generations that guided my parents and then me was to judge every person as an individual. This isn’t a novel idea. Jesus his own self, in Scripture that Lowery might find an incovenient truth, said we should not judge by appearance.</p>
<p>Being alive and kicking, I can defend myself from the likes of Lowery. I can prove that even if I am a racist, I’m not very good at it.</p>
<p>But the assumption, especially when an old “civil rights icon” speaks, is that even if I can prove myself to be an inept racist, the icon is talking about the old days when, as the story is now told, every white person was in need of Divine intervention to make them do the right thing, and not the white thing. But it wasn’t true for my mother, my father, or those brave, noble dead white men and women (like Barack Obama’s mother) who can no longer speak for themselves.</p>
<p>I have heard Lowery and his ilk dismissed as “just living in the past,” but that doesn’t mitigate the offense. Indeed, my point is that they besmirch the reputations of those righteous white people who shared that past with them. I’ve also heard, “They aren’t talking about all white people,” but there were no qualifiers in Lowery’s benediction.</p>
<p>Lowery’s benediction does not portend an era of “The Big Payback” (James Brown, 1968). If the Obamas are racists, like me, they’re not very good at it. John</p>
<p /> | 1,812 |
<p>NAIROBI — When Somali pirates hijacked the 17,000-ton Maersk Alabama container ship yesterday it marked the first time in centuries that a U.S.-flagged ship was attacked by pirates.</p>
<p>The crew didn't give in: The 20 American crew members on board fought back and forced the four armed men from the ship. But the pirates kidnapped the ship’s captain.</p>
<p>By Thursday morning the U.S.S. Bainbridge — a 510-foot destroyer armed with tomahawk missiles&#160;— had caught up, and sat alongside the Maersk Alabama off the coast of Africa as a tense stand-off ensued.</p>
<p>This was the sixth successful pirate attack in as many days, despite the deployment of dozens of ships from the U.S., the European Union, China, India, Japan, Russia and elsewhere as part of a multinational navy force aiming to protect one of the world’s busiest shipping routes.</p>
<p>An attack on a U.S. ship with an American crew will surely get the attention of U.S. President Barack Obama's administration. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed her concern, saying, “We think the world must come together to end the scourge of piracy.”</p>
<p>To a large extent, the world already has come together, as evidenced by cooperation between nations on anti-piracy control. But piracy nonetheless continues — last year it resulted in more than $30 million in ransom payments.</p>
<p>According to experts from the <a href="http://www.un.org/sc/committees/751/mongroup.shtml" type="external">United Nations Monitoring Group on Somalia</a>, which tracks violations of the international arms embargo, “piracy attacks have become the most lucrative economic activity in Somalia.”</p>
<p>Somalia (see map below) &#160;is the world’s most spectacularly failed state, a deadly maelstrom into which few foreign journalists, aid workers or analysts dare step. Information is hard to come by and harder still to verify. Reporters who venture into Somalia rarely emerge unscathed: Many have been killed; others narrowly escaped death; some have been kidnapped and ransomed; others are still being held.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, 18 years of civil war has left an estimated 2.5 million people facing starvation, armed militias and government forces.</p>
<p>Analysts say the headline-grabbing piracy on the high seas is a symptom of this land-based catastrophe. “The naval taskforce is incapable of stopping piracy,” said Rashid Abdi, Somalia analyst at the <a href="http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=1232&amp;l=1" type="external">International Crisis Group</a> in Nairobi. “Unless you make Somalia work you cannot tackle piracy. The focus should be on a political solution to the Somali crisis.”</p>
<p>Today the pirate groups are well organized and disciplined. But it wasn't always so.</p>
<p>The pirates emerged out of coastal fishing communities, which watched for years as illegal foreign trawlers plundered Somalia’s fish-stocked waters and foreign ships dumped toxic waste where no one would stop them. The early pirate attacks were aimed at exacting an ad hoc tax from the illegal trawlers. Later, the pirates discovered the more lucrative business of kidnapping.</p>
<p>The pirates are clan-based militias with fluid memberships backed by onshore financiers, often clan leaders and government officials. Many of these leaders come from Puntland, the northern Somali region that abuts the Gulf of Aden and has become the epicenter of piracy.</p>
<p>The financiers front the money for salaries, speedboats, engines, fuel, guns, ammunition, satellite phones, handheld global positioning systems, portable radar equipment, binoculars, grappling hooks and ladders. Teams of between four and eight pirates then set off.</p>
<p>Every year, 20,000 ships in route to and from the Suez Canal sail through a channel only 200 miles across at its widest point. They are within easy reach of the pirate networks based in the towns of Bosaaso, Eyl, Hobyo, Harardheere and Mogadishu.</p>
<p>Eyewitnesses describe the transformation of dusty, sleepy fishing villages into pirate havens, where expensive Land Cruisers ply the unpaved roads, beachside villas replace tin-roofed shacks and successful pirates celebrate by taking new wives in lavish ceremonies.</p>
<p>Attacks are launched either from these towns or, increasingly, from “mother ships” — often stolen trawlers — allowing the pirates to extend their range ever further into the Indian Ocean. The Maersk Alabama, for example, was attacked 340 miles out to sea.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.icc-ccs.org/index.php?option=com_fabrik&amp;view=visualization&amp;controller=visualization.googlemap&amp;Itemid=219" type="external">International Maritime Bureau’s Piracy Reporting Center (see live piracy map)&#160;</a>says there have been 41 attempted attacks off the Somali coast so far in 2009, one in seven of which succeeded. The huge naval presence may be helping: Last year, one in three of 111 reported attacks was successful.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, IMB Director Pottengal Mukundan warned, “This recent surge of activity is worrying … principally because attacks have taken place many hundreds of miles off the country’s coastline. The problem of Somali piracy has now spilled over to neighboring countries.”</p>
<p>Invariably ship owners pay the ransom, usually around $1 million. According to sources in the pirate town of Eyl, half of this money goes to the financiers and sponsors of the mission. The pirates themselves then share about $300,000, and the rest is distributed among land-based gunmen and the local community.</p>
<p>It is said that the first pirate to board a ship is rewarded for his bravery with a double share, or a vehicle, and that compensation is paid to the family of a pirate who dies.</p>
<p>Pirates are estimated to have earned tens of millions of dollars in the last year alone. But these sums are dwarfed by legitimate remittances sent home from the Somali diaspora, estimated at about $1 billion a year. Abdi describes as “hogwash” the idea that pirates are exporting their cash to Somali communities abroad.</p>
<p>A debate is raging over whether pirate cash might help fund Islamic extremists, known as al-Shabaab, who control large parts of Somalia and have links to Al Qaeda. But so far pirates have shown more interest in money than ideology.</p>
<p>The fact that Somali imams have forbidden piracy and that attacks plummeted during the brief reign of the Islamic Courts Union in 2006 suggests that far from funding Islamists, the Islamists might be the answer to stopping piracy.</p>
<p>Read more about Somalia and piracy:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/africa/090311/there-solution-somalia" type="external">Is there a solution for Somalia?</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/ghana/090114/democracy-wins-ghana" type="external">Democracy wins in Ghana</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&amp;source=embed&amp;hl=en&amp;geocode=&amp;q=somalia&amp;sll=37.0625,-95.677068&amp;sspn=57.510723,82.705078&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;t=h&amp;ll=5.134715,46.186523&amp;spn=15.274072,25.488281&amp;z=5" type="external">View Larger Map</a></p> | Somalia's pirates | false | https://pri.org/stories/2009-04-09/somalias-pirates | 2009-04-09 | 3left-center
| Somalia's pirates
<p>NAIROBI — When Somali pirates hijacked the 17,000-ton Maersk Alabama container ship yesterday it marked the first time in centuries that a U.S.-flagged ship was attacked by pirates.</p>
<p>The crew didn't give in: The 20 American crew members on board fought back and forced the four armed men from the ship. But the pirates kidnapped the ship’s captain.</p>
<p>By Thursday morning the U.S.S. Bainbridge — a 510-foot destroyer armed with tomahawk missiles&#160;— had caught up, and sat alongside the Maersk Alabama off the coast of Africa as a tense stand-off ensued.</p>
<p>This was the sixth successful pirate attack in as many days, despite the deployment of dozens of ships from the U.S., the European Union, China, India, Japan, Russia and elsewhere as part of a multinational navy force aiming to protect one of the world’s busiest shipping routes.</p>
<p>An attack on a U.S. ship with an American crew will surely get the attention of U.S. President Barack Obama's administration. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed her concern, saying, “We think the world must come together to end the scourge of piracy.”</p>
<p>To a large extent, the world already has come together, as evidenced by cooperation between nations on anti-piracy control. But piracy nonetheless continues — last year it resulted in more than $30 million in ransom payments.</p>
<p>According to experts from the <a href="http://www.un.org/sc/committees/751/mongroup.shtml" type="external">United Nations Monitoring Group on Somalia</a>, which tracks violations of the international arms embargo, “piracy attacks have become the most lucrative economic activity in Somalia.”</p>
<p>Somalia (see map below) &#160;is the world’s most spectacularly failed state, a deadly maelstrom into which few foreign journalists, aid workers or analysts dare step. Information is hard to come by and harder still to verify. Reporters who venture into Somalia rarely emerge unscathed: Many have been killed; others narrowly escaped death; some have been kidnapped and ransomed; others are still being held.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, 18 years of civil war has left an estimated 2.5 million people facing starvation, armed militias and government forces.</p>
<p>Analysts say the headline-grabbing piracy on the high seas is a symptom of this land-based catastrophe. “The naval taskforce is incapable of stopping piracy,” said Rashid Abdi, Somalia analyst at the <a href="http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=1232&amp;l=1" type="external">International Crisis Group</a> in Nairobi. “Unless you make Somalia work you cannot tackle piracy. The focus should be on a political solution to the Somali crisis.”</p>
<p>Today the pirate groups are well organized and disciplined. But it wasn't always so.</p>
<p>The pirates emerged out of coastal fishing communities, which watched for years as illegal foreign trawlers plundered Somalia’s fish-stocked waters and foreign ships dumped toxic waste where no one would stop them. The early pirate attacks were aimed at exacting an ad hoc tax from the illegal trawlers. Later, the pirates discovered the more lucrative business of kidnapping.</p>
<p>The pirates are clan-based militias with fluid memberships backed by onshore financiers, often clan leaders and government officials. Many of these leaders come from Puntland, the northern Somali region that abuts the Gulf of Aden and has become the epicenter of piracy.</p>
<p>The financiers front the money for salaries, speedboats, engines, fuel, guns, ammunition, satellite phones, handheld global positioning systems, portable radar equipment, binoculars, grappling hooks and ladders. Teams of between four and eight pirates then set off.</p>
<p>Every year, 20,000 ships in route to and from the Suez Canal sail through a channel only 200 miles across at its widest point. They are within easy reach of the pirate networks based in the towns of Bosaaso, Eyl, Hobyo, Harardheere and Mogadishu.</p>
<p>Eyewitnesses describe the transformation of dusty, sleepy fishing villages into pirate havens, where expensive Land Cruisers ply the unpaved roads, beachside villas replace tin-roofed shacks and successful pirates celebrate by taking new wives in lavish ceremonies.</p>
<p>Attacks are launched either from these towns or, increasingly, from “mother ships” — often stolen trawlers — allowing the pirates to extend their range ever further into the Indian Ocean. The Maersk Alabama, for example, was attacked 340 miles out to sea.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.icc-ccs.org/index.php?option=com_fabrik&amp;view=visualization&amp;controller=visualization.googlemap&amp;Itemid=219" type="external">International Maritime Bureau’s Piracy Reporting Center (see live piracy map)&#160;</a>says there have been 41 attempted attacks off the Somali coast so far in 2009, one in seven of which succeeded. The huge naval presence may be helping: Last year, one in three of 111 reported attacks was successful.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, IMB Director Pottengal Mukundan warned, “This recent surge of activity is worrying … principally because attacks have taken place many hundreds of miles off the country’s coastline. The problem of Somali piracy has now spilled over to neighboring countries.”</p>
<p>Invariably ship owners pay the ransom, usually around $1 million. According to sources in the pirate town of Eyl, half of this money goes to the financiers and sponsors of the mission. The pirates themselves then share about $300,000, and the rest is distributed among land-based gunmen and the local community.</p>
<p>It is said that the first pirate to board a ship is rewarded for his bravery with a double share, or a vehicle, and that compensation is paid to the family of a pirate who dies.</p>
<p>Pirates are estimated to have earned tens of millions of dollars in the last year alone. But these sums are dwarfed by legitimate remittances sent home from the Somali diaspora, estimated at about $1 billion a year. Abdi describes as “hogwash” the idea that pirates are exporting their cash to Somali communities abroad.</p>
<p>A debate is raging over whether pirate cash might help fund Islamic extremists, known as al-Shabaab, who control large parts of Somalia and have links to Al Qaeda. But so far pirates have shown more interest in money than ideology.</p>
<p>The fact that Somali imams have forbidden piracy and that attacks plummeted during the brief reign of the Islamic Courts Union in 2006 suggests that far from funding Islamists, the Islamists might be the answer to stopping piracy.</p>
<p>Read more about Somalia and piracy:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/africa/090311/there-solution-somalia" type="external">Is there a solution for Somalia?</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/ghana/090114/democracy-wins-ghana" type="external">Democracy wins in Ghana</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&amp;source=embed&amp;hl=en&amp;geocode=&amp;q=somalia&amp;sll=37.0625,-95.677068&amp;sspn=57.510723,82.705078&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;t=h&amp;ll=5.134715,46.186523&amp;spn=15.274072,25.488281&amp;z=5" type="external">View Larger Map</a></p> | 1,813 |
<p>Shares of oil and gas companies fell as traders feared that rising gasoline inventories would stall demand for U.S. oil for a second straight year. While oil inventories declined in the Energy Information Administration's latest report, gasoline stockpiles unexpectedly rose by 1.5 million barrels. Last year, a glut of gasoline caused refiners to go on a diet, cutting their purchases of crude and sending oil prices lower. Exxon Mobil has applied to the Treasury Department for a waiver from U.S. sanctions on Russia in a bid to resume its joint venture with state oil giant Rosneft, The Wall Street Journal reported.</p>
<p>-Rob Curran, [email protected]</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>April 19, 2017 16:12 ET (20:12 GMT)</p> | Energy Down After Inventory Report - Energy Roundup | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/04/19/energy-down-after-inventory-report-energy-roundup.html | 2017-04-19 | 0right
| Energy Down After Inventory Report - Energy Roundup
<p>Shares of oil and gas companies fell as traders feared that rising gasoline inventories would stall demand for U.S. oil for a second straight year. While oil inventories declined in the Energy Information Administration's latest report, gasoline stockpiles unexpectedly rose by 1.5 million barrels. Last year, a glut of gasoline caused refiners to go on a diet, cutting their purchases of crude and sending oil prices lower. Exxon Mobil has applied to the Treasury Department for a waiver from U.S. sanctions on Russia in a bid to resume its joint venture with state oil giant Rosneft, The Wall Street Journal reported.</p>
<p>-Rob Curran, [email protected]</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>April 19, 2017 16:12 ET (20:12 GMT)</p> | 1,814 |
<p />
<p>It was overshadowed by a press-intrusion scandal back at home, when pictures of Kate sunbathing topless were published by the French magazine Closer, but Will and Kate's tour of the South Pacific was still packed with memorable moments. Here are some of the best.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Kate waves farewell as she and Will leave the Solomon Islands from Honiara on Sept. 18. The royal couple were on a nine-day tour marking Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Kate prepares to dance with the ladies at the Vaiku Falekaupule for an entertainment program on Sept. 18 in Tuvalu.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>William and Catherine drink coconut milk from a tree planted by the queen in 1982 in Tuvalu.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>William visited the resort island of Tavanipupu on Sept. 18 in Tuvalu.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>William and Kate depart from Marapa Island on their way to Tavanipupu in a traditional war canoe on Sept. 17. Their lawyers were simultaneously lodging a criminal complaint in France over topless photos of her.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Personalized necklaces were presented to William and Catherine as they visited Prime Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo and his cabinet on day 7 of their Diamond Jubilee Tour, on Sept. 17, in Honiara, Solomon Islands.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Catherine and William wear the personalized necklaces given them during their visit with Gordon Darcy Lilo, prime minister of the Solomon Islands.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>William and Kate clapped hands as they watched traditional dancers during a visit to a cultural village in Honiara, Solomon Islands, on Sept. 17.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Oh, the irony. Young girls in traditional dress presented Prince William with a garland as the royal couple arrived in Honiara on their way to Tavanipupu on their Diamond Jubilee Tour, in Marau, Guadacanal Province, Solomon Islands.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Wiliam and Kate are given a traditional greeting by villagers beating the water as they visit Tavanipupu Island.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>&#160;Kate smiles to locals through a car window as she departs the Cultural Village in Honiara, Solomon Islands.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>William and Kate ride past local Solomon Islanders aboard a truck decorated as a canoe in Honiara.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Wiliam and Kate in their special boat/truck.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge walk through the rainforest at the Danum Valley Research Center in Danum Valley, Sabab, Malaysia, on Sept. 15.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Catherine and William pose in traditional island clothing as they visit the Governor General's house on Sept. 16 in Honiara, Guadalcanal Island.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Onlookers take photographs as Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, attend a cultural event in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>The day the topless pictures were published, Kate visited a mosque.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge take their shoes off before entering a mosque in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Sept. 14.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Catherine talks to Sultanah Tuanku Haminah binti Hamidun, the Raja Permaisuri Agong of Malaysia, during a dinner hosted by Malaysia's head of state, Sultan Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah of Kedah.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>WilKat arrives at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Sept. 13.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>William and Kate look at the headstones of war dead as they visit the Kranji Memorial Cemetery in Singapore.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Kate writes a birthday message for leukemia sufferer Zakwan Anuar, 15, at Hospis Malaysia.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Pregnancy speculation went into overdrive when&#160; William and Kate made the royal toast with water.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>William and Kate visited Gardens by the Bay on Sept. 12 in Singapore.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Prince William shook hands with Paralympic medalists (from left) Jouin Tan, Theresa Goh, and Laurentia Tan at the Eden Hall in Singapore on Sept. 12.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Fans pose for a photograph.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>&#160;Kate greets fans during her visit to Gardens by the Bay in Singapore.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>&#160;William talks to fans who had waited for him and his wife, Catherine,&#160; at Gardens by the Bay during his visit in Singapore.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, smiles at members of public in the crowd as she walks alongside Prince William, Duke of Cambridge.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Catherine interacts with students and their teacher at an art therapy session, part of the Rainbow Centre's special-education program, at the Margaret Drive School in Singapore on Sept. 12.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Catherine toasts Mary Tan, the president of Singapore's wife, at a dinner.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>Prince William stops to talk to an honor guard member during the welcome ceremony at the Istana.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Kate and William smile as they look at an orchid named in honor of Princess Diana at Singapore Botanical Gardens.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Prince William watches Kate receive flowers upon arrival at the VIP terminal of Changi International Airport on Sept. 11 in Singapore.&#160;</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Catherine and William leave Singapore Botanical Gardens.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>This combination of pictures shows outfits worn by Kate during the nine-daySoutheast Asian and Pacific tour marking Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee.</p>
<p /> | The Best of Prince William & Kate's Jubilee South Pacific Visit (Photos) | true | https://thedailybeast.com/the-best-of-prince-william-and-kates-jubilee-south-pacific-visit-photos | 2018-10-03 | 4left
| The Best of Prince William & Kate's Jubilee South Pacific Visit (Photos)
<p />
<p>It was overshadowed by a press-intrusion scandal back at home, when pictures of Kate sunbathing topless were published by the French magazine Closer, but Will and Kate's tour of the South Pacific was still packed with memorable moments. Here are some of the best.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Kate waves farewell as she and Will leave the Solomon Islands from Honiara on Sept. 18. The royal couple were on a nine-day tour marking Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Kate prepares to dance with the ladies at the Vaiku Falekaupule for an entertainment program on Sept. 18 in Tuvalu.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>William and Catherine drink coconut milk from a tree planted by the queen in 1982 in Tuvalu.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>William visited the resort island of Tavanipupu on Sept. 18 in Tuvalu.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>William and Kate depart from Marapa Island on their way to Tavanipupu in a traditional war canoe on Sept. 17. Their lawyers were simultaneously lodging a criminal complaint in France over topless photos of her.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Personalized necklaces were presented to William and Catherine as they visited Prime Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo and his cabinet on day 7 of their Diamond Jubilee Tour, on Sept. 17, in Honiara, Solomon Islands.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Catherine and William wear the personalized necklaces given them during their visit with Gordon Darcy Lilo, prime minister of the Solomon Islands.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>William and Kate clapped hands as they watched traditional dancers during a visit to a cultural village in Honiara, Solomon Islands, on Sept. 17.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Oh, the irony. Young girls in traditional dress presented Prince William with a garland as the royal couple arrived in Honiara on their way to Tavanipupu on their Diamond Jubilee Tour, in Marau, Guadacanal Province, Solomon Islands.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Wiliam and Kate are given a traditional greeting by villagers beating the water as they visit Tavanipupu Island.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>&#160;Kate smiles to locals through a car window as she departs the Cultural Village in Honiara, Solomon Islands.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>William and Kate ride past local Solomon Islanders aboard a truck decorated as a canoe in Honiara.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Wiliam and Kate in their special boat/truck.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge walk through the rainforest at the Danum Valley Research Center in Danum Valley, Sabab, Malaysia, on Sept. 15.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Catherine and William pose in traditional island clothing as they visit the Governor General's house on Sept. 16 in Honiara, Guadalcanal Island.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Onlookers take photographs as Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, attend a cultural event in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>The day the topless pictures were published, Kate visited a mosque.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge take their shoes off before entering a mosque in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Sept. 14.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Catherine talks to Sultanah Tuanku Haminah binti Hamidun, the Raja Permaisuri Agong of Malaysia, during a dinner hosted by Malaysia's head of state, Sultan Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah of Kedah.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>WilKat arrives at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Sept. 13.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>William and Kate look at the headstones of war dead as they visit the Kranji Memorial Cemetery in Singapore.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Kate writes a birthday message for leukemia sufferer Zakwan Anuar, 15, at Hospis Malaysia.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Pregnancy speculation went into overdrive when&#160; William and Kate made the royal toast with water.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>William and Kate visited Gardens by the Bay on Sept. 12 in Singapore.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Prince William shook hands with Paralympic medalists (from left) Jouin Tan, Theresa Goh, and Laurentia Tan at the Eden Hall in Singapore on Sept. 12.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Fans pose for a photograph.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>&#160;Kate greets fans during her visit to Gardens by the Bay in Singapore.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>&#160;William talks to fans who had waited for him and his wife, Catherine,&#160; at Gardens by the Bay during his visit in Singapore.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, smiles at members of public in the crowd as she walks alongside Prince William, Duke of Cambridge.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Catherine interacts with students and their teacher at an art therapy session, part of the Rainbow Centre's special-education program, at the Margaret Drive School in Singapore on Sept. 12.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Catherine toasts Mary Tan, the president of Singapore's wife, at a dinner.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>Prince William stops to talk to an honor guard member during the welcome ceremony at the Istana.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Kate and William smile as they look at an orchid named in honor of Princess Diana at Singapore Botanical Gardens.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Prince William watches Kate receive flowers upon arrival at the VIP terminal of Changi International Airport on Sept. 11 in Singapore.&#160;</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Catherine and William leave Singapore Botanical Gardens.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>This combination of pictures shows outfits worn by Kate during the nine-daySoutheast Asian and Pacific tour marking Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee.</p>
<p /> | 1,815 |
<p />
<p>Photo by Veni | <a href="" type="internal">CC BY 2.0</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p />
<p>Donald Trump has stated that, on advice of his lawyer, he will not release his tax returns until his audit is concluded.1</p>
<p>By contrast, Hillary Clinton has released her federal 1040&#160; <a href="https://www.hillaryclinton.com/page/tax-returns/" type="external">returns</a>, (but not her state or possible other returns).&#160; Language on her&#160; <a href="https://www.hillaryclinton.com/page/tax-returns/" type="external">campaign</a>&#160;website asserts that she and her running mate “continue to set the standard for financial transparency.”</p>
<p>The Clinton returns reveal much information, but they reflect a standard short of full financial transparency. More significantly, the tax reductions the Clintons receive when donating to their foundation and the lower rate of self-employment taxes they paid compared to those who make much less reflect some of what is wrong with the U.S. tax system.</p>
<p>For years 2010-2015, the table below shows the Clintons’ reported gross income, total federal taxes paid, charitable contributions, and the amount of the latter going to the Clinton Foundation.</p>
<p>Gross income is the gross receipts minus their business expenses and $3,000 of a carried forward capital loss that started in 2008.2 Total federal taxes is their income taxes minus foreign tax credits (for them, only years 2011-13)* plus self-employment taxes and additional taxes due to the Affordable Care Act (higher medicare taxes and taxes on investment income starting in 2013) * For the Clintons, the foreign tax credit came to $160,000 or less each year from 2011-13 and arose from work done abroad.</p>
<p>What follows mainly focuses on the Clintons’ 2014 tax return.</p>
<p>Self-employment Income</p>
<p>Almost all of the Clintons’ gross income after deducting expenses ($28,020,811) was derived from self-employment: with the biggest amounts for making speeches (slightly more than $8.7 million made by Hillary and $8.4 million by Bill), consulting ($6.1 million made by Bill,) and writing ($4.6 million made by Hillary.)</p>
<p>All of their speaking income is paid by The Harry Walker Agency.&#160; However, under IRS rules, who paid the agency or to whom they spoke is not disclosed.</p>
<p>The tax return indicates that $2.125 million of Bill’s consulting income, before deducting expenses, was paid by Gems Education.&#160; A <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GEMS_Education" type="external">Wikipedia</a> article describes Gems Education as “the largest operator of private kindergarten-to-grade-12 schools in the world, [that] as of 2015 has over 70 schools in over a dozen countries…”</p>
<p>In 2010, Bill Clinton “named GEMS Education a strategic partner of the&#160; <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinton_Global_Initiative" type="external">Clinton Global Initiative</a>.” According to the tax returns, in 2011, for the first time, GEMS Education paid Bill– $500,000 raising its payment each year thereafter.</p>
<p>Laureate Education paid Bill $4,292,475.&#160; It is <a href="" type="internal">described</a>&#160; in the New York Times as “a network of&#160; <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/f/forprofit_schools/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" type="external">for-profit schools</a>.”</p>
<p>In 2010, Laureate hired Bill as its new honorary chancellor.&#160; As disclosed on the tax returns, it paid him over $17.5 million from 2010-2015.&#160; Bill’s visits to Laureate’s campuses were described to have “inspired” students.3 The nature of the advice Clinton provided is not part of the tax return.</p>
<p>Business Deductions</p>
<p>Both Clintons took deductions against their self-employment income.&#160; These deductions are supposed to be ordinary and necessary meaning they are common and appropriate. Their expenses deducted for airfare, transportation, and hotels came to several times what most people earn at their jobs.</p>
<p>In 2014, Bill claimed travel expenses of $375,793 for his speaking business, an amount considerably less than the $2,018,050 spent on travel for that business in 2013.&#160; By contrast, his total travel expenses for his consulting business for 2013 and 2014 together came to less than $600.</p>
<p>Hillary’s travel expenses for making speeches in 2014 came to $813,842.&#160; Another $288,504 was spent on travel for her writing business in 2014.</p>
<p>Under IRS rules, specific details such as where they went and stayed, and for how long, are not provided.</p>
<p>Self-employment tax</p>
<p>Self-employment income is subject to self-employment taxes: social security and medicare taxes paid by the self-employed.&#160;&#160; In 2014, social security taxes were paid on only the first $117,000 of net income at a rate of 12.4% resulting in a maximum tax of $14,508.&#160;&#160; The medicare portion which is 2.9% of all net income had no income limits.</p>
<p>If one adds the Clintons’ 2014 self-employment tax to their additional medicare tax under the Affordable Care Act, the total comes to $1,010,090 or 3.6% of their total net self-employment income.</p>
<p>The Clinton returns show the gross unfairness of the self-employment tax that leaves those with high incomes paying a rate that is much lower than those with significantly less income.</p>
<p>For example, a person making $30,000 of self-employment income after deducting expenses would pay a self-employment tax of $4,239 which is over 14% of their self-employment income, or more than 3 times the rate paid by the Clintons.</p>
<p>Clintons’ Unearned Income&#160;</p>
<p>From 2011-2014, the Clintons reported no dividend income from stock holdings, only interest income.&#160; In 2014, it came to only $25,171.&#160; All but $464 was paid by JP Morgan Chase Bank.&#160; How their money is invested with the bank is, as allowed by the IRS, not made clear– probably in the form of CDs or bonds.</p>
<p>By contrast, in 2007, the Clintons made over $1 million in interest income and over $90,000 in dividends.&#160; All of the latter is reported as coming from trusts.</p>
<p>In 2007, they also reported over $15 million on the sale of stock held by their trusts.&#160; Most sales were for less than $100,000 with only one for slightly more the $250,000.&#160; Most sales occurred on or before May 11 reflecting very good timing since this was shortly before the financial meltdown.</p>
<p>Their stock holdings were diverse.&#160; They consisted of holdings in major corporations including Bank of America, Wal-mart, Chevron, Exxon, General Electric, Honeywell, and Lehman Brothers prior to its bankruptcy.</p>
<p>At first glance, one might see the Clintons as acting upon information that the economy would soon crash, but they may have decided to rid themselves of holdings that might be used against Hillary in her run for the presidency in 2008.</p>
<p>Reporting no dividends from 2011-2014 probably indicates no re-entry into the stock market after the meltdown, or that they only purchased stocks that paid no dividends.</p>
<p>There is a huge difference between their total interest and dividend income in 2007 of $1,159,836 with their 2014 interest income of $25,171 and no dividend income.&#160; Despite the low interest rates, how could their dividend and interest income have plummeted so much?</p>
<p>Given the size of their total income all these years, one has to wonder if they have been spending it all or investing it in ways that do not show up on their tax returns.4</p>
<p>This raises other questions.&#160; Have they been making large gifts/political donations or paying large personal legal bills?&#160; Have they set up an entity that handles investments and pays taxes on the income generated instead of passing it through to them individually to report on their tax return?</p>
<p>Charitable Contributions&#160;</p>
<p>Those who usually receive the biggest reduction in their taxes per dollar donated are those with the highest income because they are in a higher tax bracket.&#160; Many charitable donors receive no tax reduction because they do not itemize their deductions.&#160; In 2014, the Clinton donation to their foundation of $3 million reduced their taxes $1,188,000 –39.6% of the money donated, not including a probable savings of state taxes.&#160; This level of savings can be viewed as a government subsidy/giveaway to the rich since it reduces the government’s revenue and allows the money donated to be used to support and finance the policies of their own foundation.</p>
<p>In 2014, all but $200 of their remaining charitable contributions, $22,500, went to two churches.&#160; From 2010-2015, 2014 was the only year specified contributions went to religious organizations.</p>
<p>Comparison to Romney 2010 Return</p>
<p>In 2010, the Romneys reported on their <a href="" type="internal">tax return</a> gross income of $21,661,344.&#160; Despite a gross income that was $8 million more than the Clintons that year, their total federal tax came to less than 14% of their gross income, $3,009,766– over $1,000,000 less than the amount of federal taxes paid by the Clintons.</p>
<p>The main reason for the Romneys’ lower taxes was because most of their income came from investments which were taxed at a lower rate (a policy that began when Bill Clinton was president) while the bulk of the Clinton income was “earned” income which is taxed at a higher rate.</p>
<p>Like the Clintons, the Romneys saved on their taxes by making donations. &#160;$1.525 million went to their church and over $1.45 million of stock was donated to their own foundation.&#160; It in turn made donations to entities including Brigham Young University, The George W. Bush Library, and the Harvard Business School. 4</p>
<p>Why All of the Above Smells Foul</p>
<p>The rich are said to be different than most people.&#160; One difference is that three of the last four major party candidates for the presidency had their own foundation.&#160; This suggests that having a foundation could be a future requirement for being taken seriously as a candidate.</p>
<p>By releasing their returns, the Clintons have acted with more transparency than Trump.</p>
<p>Trump may be hiding something, but the Clinton returns raise many questions whose answers&#160; should be of concern to voters.</p>
<p>The Clinton’s gross income declined sharply in 2015 from over $28 million in 2014 to $10,745,378.&#160; Nevertheless, this “lower” income could arouse disgust given the levels of poverty in the world and unmet basic needs of millions.</p>
<p>The low level of taxes the rich pay under the IRS rules allow for the massing of fortunes which normally go untaxed during their lifetimes, except for whatever property taxes they pay on the real estate they own.</p>
<p>Footnotes</p>
<p>1.By signing his Form 1040 return, Trump indicated, as stated above one’s signature that</p>
<p>“Under penalties of perjury, I declare that I have examined this return and accompanying schedules and statements, and to the best of my knowledge and belief, they are true, correct, and complete.”</p>
<p>If what he submitted is “true, correct and complete,” shouldn’t he be willing to share his returns with the public even if many lawyers think otherwise.&#160; See various views held by some lawyers &#160;on this issue at:</p>
<p><a href="http://lawnewz.com/politics/legal-experts-side-with-trump-it-would-be-totally-stupid-to-release-his-taxes-during-audit/" type="external">http://lawnewz.com/politics/legal-experts-side-with-trump-it-would-be-totally-stupid-to-release-his-taxes-during-audit/</a></p>
<p>2. The capital loss started in 2008 when the Clintons disposed of a holding they acquired in 2003 of Yucaipa Partnerships showing a loss of $726,761.&#160; For some details about it and their relationship to it, see this Wall Street Journal article at:&#160; <a href="" type="internal">http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB123716092427335513</a></p>
<p>The Clinton ties to Yucaipa weren’t all costly.&#160; According to the 2007 tax return, Yucaipa Global Holdings paid the Clintons over $2.75 million.&#160; (The relationship between Yucaipa Global Holdings and the disposed Yucaipa Parnerships is not clear to me.)&#160; There was no income from Yucaipa during subsequent years reported on a Schedule E where one reports partnership income as had been reported in 2007.</p>
<p>A Wikipedia article indicates that:</p>
<p>“Former U.S. President&#160; <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Clinton" type="external">Bill Clinton</a>, a close friend of founder Ron Burkle, was an advisor to Yucaipa.&#160;From 2003 to 2006, Bill and Hillary Clintons’&#160; <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_return_(United_States)" type="external">tax returns</a>&#160;show total Yucaipa partnership income of $12.5 million.”</p>
<p>See&#160; &#160; <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yucaipa_Companies" type="external">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yucaipa_Companies</a></p>
<p>3.&#160; <a href="" type="internal">http://money.cnn.com/2016/08/23/news/clinton-laureate-university/</a></p>
<p>4. There are no indications on the tax returns that the Clintons invested in real estate.&#160; From 2007 through 2015, their property taxes remained around $100,000.&#160; The only exception is 2013 when it jumped to $128,098, but then went back down to $104,303 the following year.</p>
<p>5.&#160; <a href="" type="internal">http://www.forbes.com/sites/edwindurgy/2012/05/17/an-inside-look-at-the-millions-mitt-romney-has-given-away/#1b79c55b3e44</a></p>
<p>For more details, see &#160; <a href="" type="internal">http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/02/mitt-romney-charity-philanthropy-lds</a></p> | Clintons’ Tax Returns Raise Many Questions | true | https://counterpunch.org/2016/10/31/clintons-tax-returns-raise-many-questions/ | 2016-10-31 | 4left
| Clintons’ Tax Returns Raise Many Questions
<p />
<p>Photo by Veni | <a href="" type="internal">CC BY 2.0</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p />
<p>Donald Trump has stated that, on advice of his lawyer, he will not release his tax returns until his audit is concluded.1</p>
<p>By contrast, Hillary Clinton has released her federal 1040&#160; <a href="https://www.hillaryclinton.com/page/tax-returns/" type="external">returns</a>, (but not her state or possible other returns).&#160; Language on her&#160; <a href="https://www.hillaryclinton.com/page/tax-returns/" type="external">campaign</a>&#160;website asserts that she and her running mate “continue to set the standard for financial transparency.”</p>
<p>The Clinton returns reveal much information, but they reflect a standard short of full financial transparency. More significantly, the tax reductions the Clintons receive when donating to their foundation and the lower rate of self-employment taxes they paid compared to those who make much less reflect some of what is wrong with the U.S. tax system.</p>
<p>For years 2010-2015, the table below shows the Clintons’ reported gross income, total federal taxes paid, charitable contributions, and the amount of the latter going to the Clinton Foundation.</p>
<p>Gross income is the gross receipts minus their business expenses and $3,000 of a carried forward capital loss that started in 2008.2 Total federal taxes is their income taxes minus foreign tax credits (for them, only years 2011-13)* plus self-employment taxes and additional taxes due to the Affordable Care Act (higher medicare taxes and taxes on investment income starting in 2013) * For the Clintons, the foreign tax credit came to $160,000 or less each year from 2011-13 and arose from work done abroad.</p>
<p>What follows mainly focuses on the Clintons’ 2014 tax return.</p>
<p>Self-employment Income</p>
<p>Almost all of the Clintons’ gross income after deducting expenses ($28,020,811) was derived from self-employment: with the biggest amounts for making speeches (slightly more than $8.7 million made by Hillary and $8.4 million by Bill), consulting ($6.1 million made by Bill,) and writing ($4.6 million made by Hillary.)</p>
<p>All of their speaking income is paid by The Harry Walker Agency.&#160; However, under IRS rules, who paid the agency or to whom they spoke is not disclosed.</p>
<p>The tax return indicates that $2.125 million of Bill’s consulting income, before deducting expenses, was paid by Gems Education.&#160; A <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GEMS_Education" type="external">Wikipedia</a> article describes Gems Education as “the largest operator of private kindergarten-to-grade-12 schools in the world, [that] as of 2015 has over 70 schools in over a dozen countries…”</p>
<p>In 2010, Bill Clinton “named GEMS Education a strategic partner of the&#160; <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinton_Global_Initiative" type="external">Clinton Global Initiative</a>.” According to the tax returns, in 2011, for the first time, GEMS Education paid Bill– $500,000 raising its payment each year thereafter.</p>
<p>Laureate Education paid Bill $4,292,475.&#160; It is <a href="" type="internal">described</a>&#160; in the New York Times as “a network of&#160; <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/f/forprofit_schools/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" type="external">for-profit schools</a>.”</p>
<p>In 2010, Laureate hired Bill as its new honorary chancellor.&#160; As disclosed on the tax returns, it paid him over $17.5 million from 2010-2015.&#160; Bill’s visits to Laureate’s campuses were described to have “inspired” students.3 The nature of the advice Clinton provided is not part of the tax return.</p>
<p>Business Deductions</p>
<p>Both Clintons took deductions against their self-employment income.&#160; These deductions are supposed to be ordinary and necessary meaning they are common and appropriate. Their expenses deducted for airfare, transportation, and hotels came to several times what most people earn at their jobs.</p>
<p>In 2014, Bill claimed travel expenses of $375,793 for his speaking business, an amount considerably less than the $2,018,050 spent on travel for that business in 2013.&#160; By contrast, his total travel expenses for his consulting business for 2013 and 2014 together came to less than $600.</p>
<p>Hillary’s travel expenses for making speeches in 2014 came to $813,842.&#160; Another $288,504 was spent on travel for her writing business in 2014.</p>
<p>Under IRS rules, specific details such as where they went and stayed, and for how long, are not provided.</p>
<p>Self-employment tax</p>
<p>Self-employment income is subject to self-employment taxes: social security and medicare taxes paid by the self-employed.&#160;&#160; In 2014, social security taxes were paid on only the first $117,000 of net income at a rate of 12.4% resulting in a maximum tax of $14,508.&#160;&#160; The medicare portion which is 2.9% of all net income had no income limits.</p>
<p>If one adds the Clintons’ 2014 self-employment tax to their additional medicare tax under the Affordable Care Act, the total comes to $1,010,090 or 3.6% of their total net self-employment income.</p>
<p>The Clinton returns show the gross unfairness of the self-employment tax that leaves those with high incomes paying a rate that is much lower than those with significantly less income.</p>
<p>For example, a person making $30,000 of self-employment income after deducting expenses would pay a self-employment tax of $4,239 which is over 14% of their self-employment income, or more than 3 times the rate paid by the Clintons.</p>
<p>Clintons’ Unearned Income&#160;</p>
<p>From 2011-2014, the Clintons reported no dividend income from stock holdings, only interest income.&#160; In 2014, it came to only $25,171.&#160; All but $464 was paid by JP Morgan Chase Bank.&#160; How their money is invested with the bank is, as allowed by the IRS, not made clear– probably in the form of CDs or bonds.</p>
<p>By contrast, in 2007, the Clintons made over $1 million in interest income and over $90,000 in dividends.&#160; All of the latter is reported as coming from trusts.</p>
<p>In 2007, they also reported over $15 million on the sale of stock held by their trusts.&#160; Most sales were for less than $100,000 with only one for slightly more the $250,000.&#160; Most sales occurred on or before May 11 reflecting very good timing since this was shortly before the financial meltdown.</p>
<p>Their stock holdings were diverse.&#160; They consisted of holdings in major corporations including Bank of America, Wal-mart, Chevron, Exxon, General Electric, Honeywell, and Lehman Brothers prior to its bankruptcy.</p>
<p>At first glance, one might see the Clintons as acting upon information that the economy would soon crash, but they may have decided to rid themselves of holdings that might be used against Hillary in her run for the presidency in 2008.</p>
<p>Reporting no dividends from 2011-2014 probably indicates no re-entry into the stock market after the meltdown, or that they only purchased stocks that paid no dividends.</p>
<p>There is a huge difference between their total interest and dividend income in 2007 of $1,159,836 with their 2014 interest income of $25,171 and no dividend income.&#160; Despite the low interest rates, how could their dividend and interest income have plummeted so much?</p>
<p>Given the size of their total income all these years, one has to wonder if they have been spending it all or investing it in ways that do not show up on their tax returns.4</p>
<p>This raises other questions.&#160; Have they been making large gifts/political donations or paying large personal legal bills?&#160; Have they set up an entity that handles investments and pays taxes on the income generated instead of passing it through to them individually to report on their tax return?</p>
<p>Charitable Contributions&#160;</p>
<p>Those who usually receive the biggest reduction in their taxes per dollar donated are those with the highest income because they are in a higher tax bracket.&#160; Many charitable donors receive no tax reduction because they do not itemize their deductions.&#160; In 2014, the Clinton donation to their foundation of $3 million reduced their taxes $1,188,000 –39.6% of the money donated, not including a probable savings of state taxes.&#160; This level of savings can be viewed as a government subsidy/giveaway to the rich since it reduces the government’s revenue and allows the money donated to be used to support and finance the policies of their own foundation.</p>
<p>In 2014, all but $200 of their remaining charitable contributions, $22,500, went to two churches.&#160; From 2010-2015, 2014 was the only year specified contributions went to religious organizations.</p>
<p>Comparison to Romney 2010 Return</p>
<p>In 2010, the Romneys reported on their <a href="" type="internal">tax return</a> gross income of $21,661,344.&#160; Despite a gross income that was $8 million more than the Clintons that year, their total federal tax came to less than 14% of their gross income, $3,009,766– over $1,000,000 less than the amount of federal taxes paid by the Clintons.</p>
<p>The main reason for the Romneys’ lower taxes was because most of their income came from investments which were taxed at a lower rate (a policy that began when Bill Clinton was president) while the bulk of the Clinton income was “earned” income which is taxed at a higher rate.</p>
<p>Like the Clintons, the Romneys saved on their taxes by making donations. &#160;$1.525 million went to their church and over $1.45 million of stock was donated to their own foundation.&#160; It in turn made donations to entities including Brigham Young University, The George W. Bush Library, and the Harvard Business School. 4</p>
<p>Why All of the Above Smells Foul</p>
<p>The rich are said to be different than most people.&#160; One difference is that three of the last four major party candidates for the presidency had their own foundation.&#160; This suggests that having a foundation could be a future requirement for being taken seriously as a candidate.</p>
<p>By releasing their returns, the Clintons have acted with more transparency than Trump.</p>
<p>Trump may be hiding something, but the Clinton returns raise many questions whose answers&#160; should be of concern to voters.</p>
<p>The Clinton’s gross income declined sharply in 2015 from over $28 million in 2014 to $10,745,378.&#160; Nevertheless, this “lower” income could arouse disgust given the levels of poverty in the world and unmet basic needs of millions.</p>
<p>The low level of taxes the rich pay under the IRS rules allow for the massing of fortunes which normally go untaxed during their lifetimes, except for whatever property taxes they pay on the real estate they own.</p>
<p>Footnotes</p>
<p>1.By signing his Form 1040 return, Trump indicated, as stated above one’s signature that</p>
<p>“Under penalties of perjury, I declare that I have examined this return and accompanying schedules and statements, and to the best of my knowledge and belief, they are true, correct, and complete.”</p>
<p>If what he submitted is “true, correct and complete,” shouldn’t he be willing to share his returns with the public even if many lawyers think otherwise.&#160; See various views held by some lawyers &#160;on this issue at:</p>
<p><a href="http://lawnewz.com/politics/legal-experts-side-with-trump-it-would-be-totally-stupid-to-release-his-taxes-during-audit/" type="external">http://lawnewz.com/politics/legal-experts-side-with-trump-it-would-be-totally-stupid-to-release-his-taxes-during-audit/</a></p>
<p>2. The capital loss started in 2008 when the Clintons disposed of a holding they acquired in 2003 of Yucaipa Partnerships showing a loss of $726,761.&#160; For some details about it and their relationship to it, see this Wall Street Journal article at:&#160; <a href="" type="internal">http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB123716092427335513</a></p>
<p>The Clinton ties to Yucaipa weren’t all costly.&#160; According to the 2007 tax return, Yucaipa Global Holdings paid the Clintons over $2.75 million.&#160; (The relationship between Yucaipa Global Holdings and the disposed Yucaipa Parnerships is not clear to me.)&#160; There was no income from Yucaipa during subsequent years reported on a Schedule E where one reports partnership income as had been reported in 2007.</p>
<p>A Wikipedia article indicates that:</p>
<p>“Former U.S. President&#160; <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Clinton" type="external">Bill Clinton</a>, a close friend of founder Ron Burkle, was an advisor to Yucaipa.&#160;From 2003 to 2006, Bill and Hillary Clintons’&#160; <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_return_(United_States)" type="external">tax returns</a>&#160;show total Yucaipa partnership income of $12.5 million.”</p>
<p>See&#160; &#160; <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yucaipa_Companies" type="external">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yucaipa_Companies</a></p>
<p>3.&#160; <a href="" type="internal">http://money.cnn.com/2016/08/23/news/clinton-laureate-university/</a></p>
<p>4. There are no indications on the tax returns that the Clintons invested in real estate.&#160; From 2007 through 2015, their property taxes remained around $100,000.&#160; The only exception is 2013 when it jumped to $128,098, but then went back down to $104,303 the following year.</p>
<p>5.&#160; <a href="" type="internal">http://www.forbes.com/sites/edwindurgy/2012/05/17/an-inside-look-at-the-millions-mitt-romney-has-given-away/#1b79c55b3e44</a></p>
<p>For more details, see &#160; <a href="" type="internal">http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/02/mitt-romney-charity-philanthropy-lds</a></p> | 1,816 |
<p />
<p>And if you thought lobbying firms had any shame, we learned that Wexler provides another service called a “Grassroots and Lobbying Education” skit for trade association conventions and corporate conferences. According to the firm, this “new and whimsical approach has proven wildly successful in energizing and educating employees and association members, who in the past would have slept through standard issue government affairs presentations.”</p>
<p>Mother Jones obtained <a href="/news/feature/1998/04/engage6.html" type="external">a script</a> prepared by The Wexler Group for a presentation before last November’s convention of the National Franchise Association (NFA), a group of Burger King franchisees. The script included a video featuring several members of Congress (not named in the memo) talking about the importance of grassroots lobbying. Their remarks were to be “Burger King specific.”</p>
<p>The Wexler Group also proposed a video featuring the lobby shop’s president, former representative and Newt Gingrich confidante Robert Walker, which was to be filmed in front of the Capitol and at a Burger King restaurant. The segment was apparently canceled when the NFA balked at the proposed budget of $1,640 for a three-minute segment. However, Walker did serve as master of ceremonies (greeting the audience with “Welcome to Washington, may I take your order please?”) with lobbyist Joel Malina, among other Wexler employees, being assigned leading roles.</p>
<p>Here are a few outtakes from the performance (you can also <a href="/news/feature/1998/04/engage6.html" type="external">view excerpts from the memo</a>). For most reviewers, “whimsical” would probably not be the first word to spring to mind:</p>
<p>______________________________________ “Have it Your Way”</p>
<p>Hold the pickle, hold the lettuce Special orders don’t upset us All we ask is that you let us serve it your way</p>
<p>Washington can be confusing So we’ll offer you amusing Anecdotes to teach you how to get it your way</p>
<p>Politics is not a cancer Get involved, hey that’s the answer Take the time and lawmakers will you to say, Have it your way! Have it your way! . . . . . .(repeat)</p>
<p />
<p>______________________________________ Song (to the tune of “Officer Krupke” from West Side Story)</p>
<p>Dear Senator Max Baucus I wanted you to know This minimum wage ruckus Is just a lot of blow My workers earn a living wage, it ain’t sub-standard pay Why’s Ted Kennedy ruining my day?</p>
<p>Constituent contact is what we suggest By letter, meeting, fax or phone, (just don’t be a pest) Remember that you have incredible clout You have the vote to throw them out (throw them out!) If you’ve any doubt you can use your vote to throw them out!</p>
<p>Hey Senator Sam Brownback I thought you’d like to have A toy figure from The Hunchback Please take the entire bag! My business is immense I employ hundreds in your state Can’t you help get OSHA off my case?</p>
<p>If you’ve got a problem, don’t sit home and stew You sent them all to Washington to answer to you Just make an appointment, and tell ’em the deal Make a constituent appeal (-ent appeal) Show some zeal, spin your wheels, give your Burger spiel, Make a grand constituent appeal</p>
<p>Yes, congressman from Texas I’m worried, filled with dread That you’ll try to raise my taxes And put me in the red I already pay a bundle and can’t handle more distress Hold the pickle and the IRS!</p>
<p>It isn’t a secret, the answer is clear Once you get on their radar screen you’ve nothing to fear Just making the effort is half of the game No personal contact, no gain!</p>
<p />
<p>______________________________________ Song (to the tune of “Matchmaker, Matchmaker”)</p>
<p>Congressman, senator we’ve formed a PAC Now we can act No need for tact Pooling resources makes very good sense So we formed a little PAC</p>
<p>When NFA’s membership starts to pitch in Growing the fund Access begins Should ever a congressman put up his guard The PAC is our calling card</p>
<p>Together we’ll sit in judgment Rewarding those who have voted our way And who would risk incurring the grudge-ment Of the mighty and powerful NFA!</p>
<p>Any lawmaker ignoring our PAC Risks being fried Like a Big Mac Working together’s the tried and true way to Deliver the facts Give pats on the back Favors attract Enemies sacked Through NFA’s brand new PAC!</p>
<p />
<p>______________________________________ Song (to the tune of “Everything’s Coming Up Roses”)</p>
<p>Listen up! Here’s advice If you want to endear and entice On the Hill, everyday You’ll see congressmen reading their papers</p>
<p>There’s the Times And the Post But the one they’re absorbing the most Is the one from back home Mister, everyone’s reading their papers</p>
<p>Just as Bob said Visit editorial boards Write a drop dead letter or publish an op ed</p>
<p>To make strides Here’s a hint Put your side of the issue in print Nothing else is the same As a lawmaker reading his paper and seeing your name!</p>
<p>(Dance Break—with papers)</p>
<p>To make strides Here’s a hint Put your side of the issue in print Nothing else is the same As a lawmaker reading his paper and seeing your name!</p>
<p />
<p>______________________________________ Song (to the tune of “We Are Family!”) (lyrics on screen for sing-along)</p>
<p>We are Franchisees We make Double Whoppers with Cheese We are Franchisees Get off your broiled patties and sing!</p>
<p>We are Franchisees We make Double Whoppers with Cheese We are Franchisees Get off your broiled patties and sing!</p>
<p>We are Franchisees We make Double Whoppers with Cheese We are Franchisees Get off your broiled patties and sing!</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p /> | Anne Wexler, Burger Queen | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/1998/04/anne-wexler-burger-queen/ | 1998-04-28 | 4left
| Anne Wexler, Burger Queen
<p />
<p>And if you thought lobbying firms had any shame, we learned that Wexler provides another service called a “Grassroots and Lobbying Education” skit for trade association conventions and corporate conferences. According to the firm, this “new and whimsical approach has proven wildly successful in energizing and educating employees and association members, who in the past would have slept through standard issue government affairs presentations.”</p>
<p>Mother Jones obtained <a href="/news/feature/1998/04/engage6.html" type="external">a script</a> prepared by The Wexler Group for a presentation before last November’s convention of the National Franchise Association (NFA), a group of Burger King franchisees. The script included a video featuring several members of Congress (not named in the memo) talking about the importance of grassroots lobbying. Their remarks were to be “Burger King specific.”</p>
<p>The Wexler Group also proposed a video featuring the lobby shop’s president, former representative and Newt Gingrich confidante Robert Walker, which was to be filmed in front of the Capitol and at a Burger King restaurant. The segment was apparently canceled when the NFA balked at the proposed budget of $1,640 for a three-minute segment. However, Walker did serve as master of ceremonies (greeting the audience with “Welcome to Washington, may I take your order please?”) with lobbyist Joel Malina, among other Wexler employees, being assigned leading roles.</p>
<p>Here are a few outtakes from the performance (you can also <a href="/news/feature/1998/04/engage6.html" type="external">view excerpts from the memo</a>). For most reviewers, “whimsical” would probably not be the first word to spring to mind:</p>
<p>______________________________________ “Have it Your Way”</p>
<p>Hold the pickle, hold the lettuce Special orders don’t upset us All we ask is that you let us serve it your way</p>
<p>Washington can be confusing So we’ll offer you amusing Anecdotes to teach you how to get it your way</p>
<p>Politics is not a cancer Get involved, hey that’s the answer Take the time and lawmakers will you to say, Have it your way! Have it your way! . . . . . .(repeat)</p>
<p />
<p>______________________________________ Song (to the tune of “Officer Krupke” from West Side Story)</p>
<p>Dear Senator Max Baucus I wanted you to know This minimum wage ruckus Is just a lot of blow My workers earn a living wage, it ain’t sub-standard pay Why’s Ted Kennedy ruining my day?</p>
<p>Constituent contact is what we suggest By letter, meeting, fax or phone, (just don’t be a pest) Remember that you have incredible clout You have the vote to throw them out (throw them out!) If you’ve any doubt you can use your vote to throw them out!</p>
<p>Hey Senator Sam Brownback I thought you’d like to have A toy figure from The Hunchback Please take the entire bag! My business is immense I employ hundreds in your state Can’t you help get OSHA off my case?</p>
<p>If you’ve got a problem, don’t sit home and stew You sent them all to Washington to answer to you Just make an appointment, and tell ’em the deal Make a constituent appeal (-ent appeal) Show some zeal, spin your wheels, give your Burger spiel, Make a grand constituent appeal</p>
<p>Yes, congressman from Texas I’m worried, filled with dread That you’ll try to raise my taxes And put me in the red I already pay a bundle and can’t handle more distress Hold the pickle and the IRS!</p>
<p>It isn’t a secret, the answer is clear Once you get on their radar screen you’ve nothing to fear Just making the effort is half of the game No personal contact, no gain!</p>
<p />
<p>______________________________________ Song (to the tune of “Matchmaker, Matchmaker”)</p>
<p>Congressman, senator we’ve formed a PAC Now we can act No need for tact Pooling resources makes very good sense So we formed a little PAC</p>
<p>When NFA’s membership starts to pitch in Growing the fund Access begins Should ever a congressman put up his guard The PAC is our calling card</p>
<p>Together we’ll sit in judgment Rewarding those who have voted our way And who would risk incurring the grudge-ment Of the mighty and powerful NFA!</p>
<p>Any lawmaker ignoring our PAC Risks being fried Like a Big Mac Working together’s the tried and true way to Deliver the facts Give pats on the back Favors attract Enemies sacked Through NFA’s brand new PAC!</p>
<p />
<p>______________________________________ Song (to the tune of “Everything’s Coming Up Roses”)</p>
<p>Listen up! Here’s advice If you want to endear and entice On the Hill, everyday You’ll see congressmen reading their papers</p>
<p>There’s the Times And the Post But the one they’re absorbing the most Is the one from back home Mister, everyone’s reading their papers</p>
<p>Just as Bob said Visit editorial boards Write a drop dead letter or publish an op ed</p>
<p>To make strides Here’s a hint Put your side of the issue in print Nothing else is the same As a lawmaker reading his paper and seeing your name!</p>
<p>(Dance Break—with papers)</p>
<p>To make strides Here’s a hint Put your side of the issue in print Nothing else is the same As a lawmaker reading his paper and seeing your name!</p>
<p />
<p>______________________________________ Song (to the tune of “We Are Family!”) (lyrics on screen for sing-along)</p>
<p>We are Franchisees We make Double Whoppers with Cheese We are Franchisees Get off your broiled patties and sing!</p>
<p>We are Franchisees We make Double Whoppers with Cheese We are Franchisees Get off your broiled patties and sing!</p>
<p>We are Franchisees We make Double Whoppers with Cheese We are Franchisees Get off your broiled patties and sing!</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p /> | 1,817 |
<p>In the aftermath of Paris and before San Bernardino, Hillary Clinton articulated the forced catechism of the Left: “Let’s be clear: Islam is not our adversary. Muslims are peaceful and tolerant people and have nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism.”</p>
<p>What happens when a major political party becomes so wedded to political correctness that it feels constrained to deny reality? Clinton could hardly have chosen a less opportune moment to squeeze her eyes shut about the threat of Islamic extremism — a threat that is glaringly, blazingly obvious.</p>
<p>The first part of what Mrs. Clinton said was true. Islam is not our adversary. There are an estimated 1.6 billion Muslims in the world, and if all of them were violent extremists, we’d have a planet drowning in blood. Most Muslims are peaceful. Beyond that, they practice charity, care for the sick, and encourage good works.</p>
<p>But there is a fever sweeping the Muslim world that has infected a significant minority of Muslims — and because Muslims are so numerous, that minority amounts to hundreds of millions. It began in the 1920s with the Muslim Brotherhood. Its Shiite incarnation has captured the government of Iran. Saudi oil money has facilitated its spread to places such as Pakistan and Afghanistan. President Obama, deluded from the get-go that our enemy was not Islamic extremism, but merely “al-Qaeda,” stood by while the Islamic extremists in Iraq and Syria morphed into a new entity called ISIS. Obama never saw it coming because he was determined to believe, with Mrs. Clinton and other Democrats, that terrorism has nothing to do with Islam.</p>
<p>Isn’t it odd, then, that in Nigeria (70 percent Muslim) and Lebanon (54 percent Muslim) large majorities say they are “very worried” about Islamic extremism in their countries? The presence of Boko Haram in Nigeria and Hezbollah in Lebanon has a way of concentrating the mind. People around the world are worried about Islamic radicalism too. Perhaps they are mindful of 9/11, the Fort Hood shooting (2009), the Boston Marathon bombing (2013), the bombings of trains in Madrid (2004), the three-day siege of hotels and a Jewish center in Mumbai (2008), the bombings of a bus and trains in London (2005), the attack on a Jewish school in Toulouse (2012), the slaughter of students at a Kenya university (2015), the attack on high schoolers in Peshawar, Pakistan (2014), the shootings at a Mali hotel (2015), the stabbings in Israel (2015), the Bali bombings (2002), the Jakarta bombing (2009), and so very many more, to say nothing of the treatment of religious minorities, homosexuals, and women in many Muslim societies.</p>
<p>As for whether Muslims are tolerant — there’s no doubt that some are, but as the 2013 Pew Survey of global attitudes found, 88 percent of Egyptian and 62 percent of Pakistani Muslims favor the death penalty for apostates. “This is also the majority view among Muslims in Malaysia, Jordan and the Palestinian territories.”</p>
<p>We Americans congratulate ourselves for our comparatively superior ability to assimilate Muslim immigrants into our society, and perhaps we deserve the pat on the back. Then again, we have nothing like the numbers of Muslim immigrants Europe does, and the percentages matter. Even among American Muslims, 7&#160;percent told Pew in 2011 that “suicide bombing or other violence against civilians” is “sometimes justified to defend Islam against its enemies.” One percent said “often” and five percent said “rarely.” Eighty-one percent said “never.” Those responses were not very different from the views of Turkish and Indonesian Muslims.</p>
<p>Islam is in the throes of a religious war. The primary victims are other Muslims, but thousands of Christians, Jews, Hindus, and others have been bloodied by it as well. “Don’t get on your high horse,” Obama told Christians, referring to the Crusades. Yes, when Christianity was about the age that Islam is now, it too was engulfed in righteous violence. The West is long past it. They’re not. If another civilization had been able to exert influence over Protestants and Catholics in the 1500s and 1600s to quell the violence and encourage the “better angels” of the society, it would have been no bad thing.</p>
<p>As for today, we owe it to ourselves to be alert to the obvious threat that radical Islam poses to the people of the Middle East (primarily), and to the rest of us. Radicalism has had the wind at its back in the Muslim world for nearly a century. It shows no sign of abating just because Mrs. Clinton and company bury their heads in the sand.</p>
<p>— Mona Charen is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. © 2015 Creators.com</p> | ‘Nothing to Do with Islam’ | false | https://eppc.org/publications/nothing-to-do-with-islam/ | 1right-center
| ‘Nothing to Do with Islam’
<p>In the aftermath of Paris and before San Bernardino, Hillary Clinton articulated the forced catechism of the Left: “Let’s be clear: Islam is not our adversary. Muslims are peaceful and tolerant people and have nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism.”</p>
<p>What happens when a major political party becomes so wedded to political correctness that it feels constrained to deny reality? Clinton could hardly have chosen a less opportune moment to squeeze her eyes shut about the threat of Islamic extremism — a threat that is glaringly, blazingly obvious.</p>
<p>The first part of what Mrs. Clinton said was true. Islam is not our adversary. There are an estimated 1.6 billion Muslims in the world, and if all of them were violent extremists, we’d have a planet drowning in blood. Most Muslims are peaceful. Beyond that, they practice charity, care for the sick, and encourage good works.</p>
<p>But there is a fever sweeping the Muslim world that has infected a significant minority of Muslims — and because Muslims are so numerous, that minority amounts to hundreds of millions. It began in the 1920s with the Muslim Brotherhood. Its Shiite incarnation has captured the government of Iran. Saudi oil money has facilitated its spread to places such as Pakistan and Afghanistan. President Obama, deluded from the get-go that our enemy was not Islamic extremism, but merely “al-Qaeda,” stood by while the Islamic extremists in Iraq and Syria morphed into a new entity called ISIS. Obama never saw it coming because he was determined to believe, with Mrs. Clinton and other Democrats, that terrorism has nothing to do with Islam.</p>
<p>Isn’t it odd, then, that in Nigeria (70 percent Muslim) and Lebanon (54 percent Muslim) large majorities say they are “very worried” about Islamic extremism in their countries? The presence of Boko Haram in Nigeria and Hezbollah in Lebanon has a way of concentrating the mind. People around the world are worried about Islamic radicalism too. Perhaps they are mindful of 9/11, the Fort Hood shooting (2009), the Boston Marathon bombing (2013), the bombings of trains in Madrid (2004), the three-day siege of hotels and a Jewish center in Mumbai (2008), the bombings of a bus and trains in London (2005), the attack on a Jewish school in Toulouse (2012), the slaughter of students at a Kenya university (2015), the attack on high schoolers in Peshawar, Pakistan (2014), the shootings at a Mali hotel (2015), the stabbings in Israel (2015), the Bali bombings (2002), the Jakarta bombing (2009), and so very many more, to say nothing of the treatment of religious minorities, homosexuals, and women in many Muslim societies.</p>
<p>As for whether Muslims are tolerant — there’s no doubt that some are, but as the 2013 Pew Survey of global attitudes found, 88 percent of Egyptian and 62 percent of Pakistani Muslims favor the death penalty for apostates. “This is also the majority view among Muslims in Malaysia, Jordan and the Palestinian territories.”</p>
<p>We Americans congratulate ourselves for our comparatively superior ability to assimilate Muslim immigrants into our society, and perhaps we deserve the pat on the back. Then again, we have nothing like the numbers of Muslim immigrants Europe does, and the percentages matter. Even among American Muslims, 7&#160;percent told Pew in 2011 that “suicide bombing or other violence against civilians” is “sometimes justified to defend Islam against its enemies.” One percent said “often” and five percent said “rarely.” Eighty-one percent said “never.” Those responses were not very different from the views of Turkish and Indonesian Muslims.</p>
<p>Islam is in the throes of a religious war. The primary victims are other Muslims, but thousands of Christians, Jews, Hindus, and others have been bloodied by it as well. “Don’t get on your high horse,” Obama told Christians, referring to the Crusades. Yes, when Christianity was about the age that Islam is now, it too was engulfed in righteous violence. The West is long past it. They’re not. If another civilization had been able to exert influence over Protestants and Catholics in the 1500s and 1600s to quell the violence and encourage the “better angels” of the society, it would have been no bad thing.</p>
<p>As for today, we owe it to ourselves to be alert to the obvious threat that radical Islam poses to the people of the Middle East (primarily), and to the rest of us. Radicalism has had the wind at its back in the Muslim world for nearly a century. It shows no sign of abating just because Mrs. Clinton and company bury their heads in the sand.</p>
<p>— Mona Charen is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. © 2015 Creators.com</p> | 1,818 |
|
<p>KFC President Kevin Hochman on the restaurant's new chicken sandwich.</p>
<p>KFC, a unit of Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM), announced Monday that they have spent nearly $80 million to create a new chicken sandwich in order to drum up sales.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>“The Zinger”, the first fried chicken sandwich to be made by hand, daily in-house, has been in the works for years.</p>
<p>“We have been actually working on this for two years, we spent $80 million dollars upgrading our back house equipment and we spent the last six months re-training all of our staff on how to make a fried chicken sandwich fast because ultimately at lunch, we have to win on speed,” Kevin Hochman, president and chief concept officer for KFC U.S., told FOX Business’ Stuart Varney.</p>
<p>Hochman also says the sandwich, which is already sold in more than 120 countries around the world, will debut in the U.S. on April 24th. In addition to that, it will be made with 100% real chicken from U.S. farms without any antibiotics.</p>
<p>KFC recently joined a long-list of other fast-food restaurants in announcing plans last week to stop using antibiotics important to human medicine in its chickens by the end of 2018.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>"We share the public’s concern about...antimicrobial resistance," Hochman said in a statement.</p>
<p>Chipotle (NYSE:CMG), McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD), Burger King, Panera (NASDAQ:PNRA), and Wendy’s (NYSE:WEN) have already made similar pledges in the past. But KFC says they believe they are on the cutting edge in trying to forgo antibiotics when it comes to on-the-bone chicken. The “Zinger” will also be free of added hormones, steroids, and food dyes.</p>
<p>And, even though more Americans are demanding healthier food options, Hochman says he believes people will be interested in this fried sandwich.</p>
<p>“It’s funny. People want real prepared food and the cooks are in back of the house making our chicken on the bone and these new Zinger sandwiches--is totally different than anything out on the market place today,” he said.</p> | Why KFC Spent $80 Million Creating This Sandwich | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/04/17/why-kfc-spent-80-million-creating-this-sandwich.html | 2017-04-18 | 0right
| Why KFC Spent $80 Million Creating This Sandwich
<p>KFC President Kevin Hochman on the restaurant's new chicken sandwich.</p>
<p>KFC, a unit of Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM), announced Monday that they have spent nearly $80 million to create a new chicken sandwich in order to drum up sales.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>“The Zinger”, the first fried chicken sandwich to be made by hand, daily in-house, has been in the works for years.</p>
<p>“We have been actually working on this for two years, we spent $80 million dollars upgrading our back house equipment and we spent the last six months re-training all of our staff on how to make a fried chicken sandwich fast because ultimately at lunch, we have to win on speed,” Kevin Hochman, president and chief concept officer for KFC U.S., told FOX Business’ Stuart Varney.</p>
<p>Hochman also says the sandwich, which is already sold in more than 120 countries around the world, will debut in the U.S. on April 24th. In addition to that, it will be made with 100% real chicken from U.S. farms without any antibiotics.</p>
<p>KFC recently joined a long-list of other fast-food restaurants in announcing plans last week to stop using antibiotics important to human medicine in its chickens by the end of 2018.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>"We share the public’s concern about...antimicrobial resistance," Hochman said in a statement.</p>
<p>Chipotle (NYSE:CMG), McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD), Burger King, Panera (NASDAQ:PNRA), and Wendy’s (NYSE:WEN) have already made similar pledges in the past. But KFC says they believe they are on the cutting edge in trying to forgo antibiotics when it comes to on-the-bone chicken. The “Zinger” will also be free of added hormones, steroids, and food dyes.</p>
<p>And, even though more Americans are demanding healthier food options, Hochman says he believes people will be interested in this fried sandwich.</p>
<p>“It’s funny. People want real prepared food and the cooks are in back of the house making our chicken on the bone and these new Zinger sandwiches--is totally different than anything out on the market place today,” he said.</p> | 1,819 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>SANTA FE, N.M. — The Neighborhood Network, which represents neighborhood associations throughout Santa Fe, will host a series of candidate forums on the first three Mondays in January.</p>
<p>They will be held in the Southwest Conference Room of Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center, 465 St. Michael’s Drive, from 7:30-9:30 p.m. Opening remarks by the candidates will be followed by a question and answer session.</p>
<p>On Jan. 6, the forum will feature Santa Fe mayoral candidates, while City Council candidates from districts 2 and 4 will appear on Jan. 13, and those from districts 1 and 3 on Jan. 20.</p>
<p>The forums are free and open to the public.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Free candidate forums in January | false | https://abqjournal.com/328801/free-candidate-forums-in-january.html | 2least
| Free candidate forums in January
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>SANTA FE, N.M. — The Neighborhood Network, which represents neighborhood associations throughout Santa Fe, will host a series of candidate forums on the first three Mondays in January.</p>
<p>They will be held in the Southwest Conference Room of Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center, 465 St. Michael’s Drive, from 7:30-9:30 p.m. Opening remarks by the candidates will be followed by a question and answer session.</p>
<p>On Jan. 6, the forum will feature Santa Fe mayoral candidates, while City Council candidates from districts 2 and 4 will appear on Jan. 13, and those from districts 1 and 3 on Jan. 20.</p>
<p>The forums are free and open to the public.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | 1,820 |
|
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>RUSH: Holy smokes. This is how they do it. Obama’s executive amnesty has been frozen via a stay by a judge on the appellate court. You remember, this is the judge that discovered the Defense Department lawyers were lying to him in open court, and instead of actually sanctioning them, he demanded that they go to a new ethics course to learn the proper behavior and decorum and the law in court, that you just can’t lie with impunity to a judge.</p>
<p>That was the extent of it. Bill Nelson, the Democrat Senator from Florida, is on CNN right now, and they’re asking him what he thinks about all this, and you ought to hear what he says is gonna happen. He’s looking into that camera and he’s practically crying. He’s saying (paraphrased), “Young Americans, children who only know the United States — born in a foreign country, brought here as infants by their parents illegally — are now going to be sent home to countries they have never, ever seen.</p>
<p>“There are children in America who are going to be separated from their parents ’cause their parents are going to be deported while the children who were born here can stay. We are forgetting the human beings.” Let me ask: Has any of that been going on during this stay? That’s not even what this is about. This is just… This is exactly how they do it. So this gonna show up what Nelson says — and he’s not the only one, obviously.</p>
<p>How they’re characterizing this decision is gonna show up all over social media. And a bunch of ill-educated, uneducated Nimrods are gonna see it, and they’ve totally skewed notion of what this decision means. Let me see what the AP says about this. Let me see. ‘Cause if that’s gonna happen, you would think that’d be right in the front of the story, wouldn’t you? If deportation proceedings begin immediately because of this, you’d think that’d be the story, right? See if it is.</p>
<p>“Obama Immigration Plan Blocked by 4-4 Tie at Supreme Court.” A tie vote. This is AP: “The tie vote in the Supreme Court blocks Obama’s immigration plan that sought to shield millions in the US living illegally from deportation. The justice’s one-sentence opinion on Thursday effectively kills the plan for the rest of [the Regime of Obama]. The outcome underscores that the direction of US immigration policy will be determined, in large part, by the presidential election.”</p>
<p>Right. There’s no firm decision yet. What this means is… It’s what Obama was complaining about. All this is now up to the voters — who, of course, the Democrats do not trust. “People who would have benefited from the programs face no imminent threat of deportation because Congress has provided money to deal with only a small percentage of people who live in the country illegally.</p>
<p>“The president retains ample discretion to decide who…” So even the AP says that there isn’t going to be rampant deportation. They face no imminent threat. “People who would have benefited,” with a correct decision, of course, “face no imminent threat.” Yet here’s Bill Nelson practically crying on TV, talking about families be separated this afternoon, never to see each other again, all because of this ruling.</p>
<p>I don’t know how you deal with it.</p>
<p>BREAK TRANSCRIPT</p>
<p>He doesn’t have the money to run commercials and I launched into a tirade on money in politics. No, I remember. Just remind me at so point. I can’t do it now. I’m dangerously close already to losing control of the content of the program here today, folks. I haven’t gotten to Freddie Gray. I haven’t gotten to the note that my cousin sent me about what he saw on Fakebook. That’s coming up. We haven’t gotten to the sit-in yet. We’re gonna get to all this. But I got Obama here.</p>
<p>I want you to actually hear what Obama said. We got two sound bites of Obama’s little press conference after the Supreme Court did not go his way on his executive amnesty. Here’s the first of two of them.</p>
<p>OBAMA: It is important to understand what today means. The deferred action policy that has been in place for the last four years is not affected by this ruling. Enforcement priorities developed by my administration are not affected by this ruling. This means that the people who might have benefited from the expanded deferred action policies, long-term residents raising children who are Americans or legal residents, they will remain low priorities for enforcement, as long as you have not committed a crime, our limited immigration enforcement resources are not focused on you.</p>
<p>RUSH: Basically as you’ll hear in the two sound bites, he’s essentially assuring illegals, don’t sweat it, I’m not gonna enforce the law, don’t sweat it, everything’s fine. Now, contrast this. Here he just said children who are Americans or legal residents, they will remain low priorities for enforcement — meaning deportation — as long as they’ve not — Contrast that to what Bill Nelson just said, the Florida Senator. He really went on TV and tried to convey that deportation proceedings of children are gonna be starting this afternoon, and it was just sad, just unfortunate, oh, my God, what kind of country are we.</p>
<p>It isn’t the case. No, I’m not weighing in on whether it should or shouldn’t be. This is how this stuff all happens. You know, I was thinking about something last night when I got my cousin’s email about what he thought of Fakebook. Nope. I’m gonna wait on that because if I start jumping into that tangent, I’m gonna lose control of this one. Let me just stick with this and I’ll get to that as one segment whenever we get to it. Here’s the next Obama sound bite.</p>
<p>OBAMA: Now we’ve got a choice about who we’re gonna be as a country, what we want to teach our kids, and how we want to be represented in Congress and in the White House. In November, Americans are gonna have to make a decision about what we care about and who we are. We get these spasms of politics around immigration and fearmongering and then our traditions and our history and our better impulses kick in. That’s how we all ended up here. ‘Cause I guarantee you at some point every one of us has somebody in our background who people didn’t want coming here. And yet here we are.</p>
<p>RUSH: That is so disingenuous. The effort to combine the general population of this country with the current burgeoning numbers of illegal immigrants is outrageous, simply outrageous. For Obama to try to tell people that you and I are no different than the current crop of illegals. Well, the difference is, back then people obeyed the law for the most part. I mean, people always break the law, but for the most part the rule of law triumphed and illegal immigrants were found and deported. The case was not made for them to stay.</p>
<p>But that’s not even the worst of it. The idea that all of us here are no different. We were all illegal at one point and we were all unwanted at one point. Somebody in our family, if not us, was undesirable, and yet here we are. And this moral equivalence that this president makes is part and parcel of his effort to tear down the greatness and the uniqueness of this country. Make no mistake. You know, I still am amazed by the reaction I get from people when I tell them that there was zero immigration in this country from 1924 to 1965. And the reason that people don’t know that, A, they just don’t know it, it’s not reported, it’s never been part of history class, history education.</p>
<p>But it’s also hard to believe, because people alive today, immigration’s been a daily event and a daily topic for their whole lives. They can’t conceive of a period of time where there was no immigration. ‘Cause most people grow up thinking everybody wants to come to America because America is the sweet spot of the planet. America is the greatest place in the world — which it is — and everybody wants to be here.</p>
<p>Stop and think of this. From 1924 to 1965, 41 years, essentially, there was no immigration. Try telling people that in the midst of this debate and they won’t believe you. They’ll think you’re making it up. They’ll think you’re lying about it. And then what you tell ’em is the reason. The reason is that we had had mass immigration from the late 1800s all the way through the early 1900s to the 1920s, and we had to pause the immigration in order to for the new arrivals to assimilate, to become Americans, to learn English, for one thing. The one thing — or not the one; there are many different things.</p>
<p>One of the defining characteristics or difference between today’s illegal immigration and the immigration of old is the immigrants of the late 1800s through the early 1920s came here desiring to become Americans. They wanted to become part of what was a unique and distinct American culture. They were all coming from tyranny of one kind or another. They were all coming from poverty of one kind or another, political prisoners. The human condition for the vast majority of people on this planet for the entire time of what humanity has been here has been bondage and tyranny, dictatorship, pestilence. That’s really what American exceptionalism is, when you get right down to it.</p>
<p>America has become and was the exception to the way most of the people in the world were forced to live, because America was the first formally built, structured country on the premise that the people ran the show based on their liberty, based on their natural God-given rights to pursue happiness. The right to life, the right to freedom and to pursue happiness. No other country in the history of the world had ever been formed or founded on such premises. This one was. That was the exception.</p>
<p>American exceptionalism, in the broad sense, is not a bunch of braggadocious words people say, “Yeah, we’re better people. We have a better country. We are higher class people.” That’s not what it is. America was the exception to the way human beings prior to America, most of which lived. It was not pretty. And liberty and freedom were the primary reason that people wanted to come here. They wanted to escape bondage, slavery, tyranny, poverty, whatever, where they lived. It was America that promised a much better life.</p>
<p>So when they got here, when they successfully emigrated — and not everybody that came through Ellis Island was accepted. If you were sick you were not allowed in. If you had any kind of a disease, we were in the process of trying to wipe out all these diseases. We did that by keeping people who had them out of the country. You might look at it today as, “Wow, that was really mean.” No. It was putting America first. It was putting the American people first, and it was a realization that we can’t take everybody.</p>
<p>Well, that’s not what immigration is today. Immigration, as promoted by the Democrat Party, really is a voter registration drive, pure and simple. It is a desire by the Democrat Party to find another way to remain in perpetual power, by creating as many dependent voters as they can. And the best way to create and bring dependent voters in is to bring people that don’t have much education and therefore do not have many skills and therefore are not as capable as others of providing for themselves. That’s the gold standard in immigration, if you’re a Democrat in 2016, 2002, 2000, as long as this current debate has been raging, that’s their objective.</p>
<p>There are even some radical leftists who look at it as that but then go further and say, “Because we have been so exclusionary and because it’s been so unfair that America has been so rich, it’s so unfair that America has been this one place in the world, it’s not because of us, and we deserve to pay a price.” There are people who want to import the dregs of the world into this country in order to cut this country down to size. Do not doubt me on this. I know it sounds hard to believe. Those people will be found somewhere on the political spectrum, and they vote Democrat.</p>
<p>It is not about promoting a distinct and great American culture because today’s Democrat Party does not believe in one. Today’s Democrat Party believes that distinct American culture is corrupt, biased, racist, sexist, prejudicial, homophobic. There is nothing about it they want to preserve. They would love nothing better than to water it down. You’re asking obvious questions. “Rush, why would they want to ruin the country ’cause they’re gonna continue to live here. Why would they want to ruin the country?” Well, some of them, folks, are really just genuinely stupid and do not have that kind of foresight.</p>
<p>They believe that there’s gonna be mass appreciation and love and everybody’s gonna be getting along. Others, the leaders of these moments know full well they’re never gonna live next to these newly arriving immigrants. They’re gonna live in gated communities. They’re gonna continue to be rich. Washington, DC, right now does not have to live with much of what they produce legislatively for us. Why do we start immigration in 1965? Guess whose idea it was? Ted Kennedy. Ted Kennedy, 1965, we needed to reinstitute the immigration laws. It wasn’t based in humanity, although that’s the way it was sold. It was rooted in registering voters.</p>
<p>“Rush, you’re cheapening so much.” That’s all it is, folks. Just like the sit-in on the floor of the House yesterday was about fundraising. Maybe a couple other ancillary things. But it was not about really — I mean, the legislation had been defeated in the Senate. There was no way that sit-in was gonna accomplish anything legislatively. Well, until they get their own vote in the House, but if they don’t have a corresponding vote in the Senate it’s still gonna become law. So they’re fundraising. Even if they get their own vote in the House, it’s not gonna change anything until they change a vote in the Senate which isn’t gonna happen, so what are they doing? They’re fundraising and they’re campaigning.</p>
<p>No, no, if they could take your again away from you, they’d do it. Don’t misunderstand. They would do it. But for the moment they’re fundraising. Remember these people are patient. They can’t take your gun away from you today, they’ll do it tomorrow. If they can’t do it tomorrow, next week. Next week they can’t do it, they’ll go for next month. They can’t do it next month, they’ll do it next year. If next year doesn’t work, the year after that. It’s the way they look at it.</p>
<p>Obama said as much today talking about immigration. (imitating Obama) “I don’t care what happens today. It is gonna happen. We are going to have comprehensive immigration reform. We’re gonna have amnesty for these 11 or 12 million. It’s gonna happen. You just wait.” And that’s the way they go about it. Defeat is not something that, in their minds, is lasting.</p>
<p>BREAK TRANSCRIPT</p>
<p>RUSH: Here’s Bill Nelson. I don’t have to quote him now. This is him on CNN a half hour ago…</p>
<p>NELSON: Remember the human factor here. This is a great blow to the children that came here as infants. They only know that they’re Americans. They’ve grown up… Many of them, like the ones in Miami, they were valedictorians of their high school classes, and now, because they were born in another country and are here illegally, these DREAMers are going to have to return to a country they don’t know along with their parents. Now, that is what is sad. And additionally, that the children that are born in America, their parents are not gonna be able to remain with the children. So now we are splitting families apart as a result of this decision.</p>
<p>RUSH: It’s just not true, folks, but that’s their talking point. That’s what’s gonna get ballyhooed all over social media. That’s what low-information people are gonna pick up all day. Nelson won’t be the only one saying so. It’s gonna be out there. The media will not challenge it whatsoever because the only thing they’ll focus on is, “What do the Democrats want? What do they want? Will the Democrats get what they want? How well will Nelson’s message play?” Not, “Is he lying?” Not, “Is it factual?” None of that. They won’t fact-check Bill Nelson. They’ll just report this and anybody else who says it.</p>
<p>To the phones. Grand Rapids, Michigan. C. J., great to have you up first today. Welcome to the program.</p>
<p>CALLER: Hey, Rush. I have a question.</p>
<p>RUSH: Yes?</p>
<p>CALLER: I want to know why is it that President Obama is such an advocate of this illegal immigration gauntlet system and not legal immigration.</p>
<p>RUSH: Precisely because legal immigration is a much tougher group of people to stereotype and to identify as potential new Democrat voters. Illegal immigrants, you know who they are. They are people that have very little education. They are mostly people who are very poor. They arrive needing government assistance from the get-go, and the Democrat Party is right there to provide it, while telling them that the Republican Party wants to kick ’em out.</p>
<p>Legal immigration is a process. You learn everything about the people coming in. You find out how many of ’em are prone to vote Republican. You don’t ask ’em this; you just learn. You find out how many of ’em are educated, to what degree. The pool of illegal immigrants is like a qualified bunch of people. You don’t have to do surveys. You don’t have to interview them. You know they are ready-made Democrat voters. Not only that, they are readymade Democrat constituents.</p>
<p>BREAK TRANSCRIPT</p>
<p>RUSH: You know, folks, this is what everybody’s forgetting about Obama and his immigration law and his executive action and his amnesty on it, the Supreme Court decision. Immigration law is settled. We already have immigration law, and it is being violated. Obama’s executive amnesty is not the settled law. Obama’s executive amnesty is outside the law, and that’s why it’s been stayed. A federal appellate circuit looked at what Obama was doing and said he can’t do it. Immigration law is settled.</p>
<p>Now this, to me, is a fundamental point because the Drive-Bys and the Democrats are all trying to say that the Supreme Court and the lower court stopped settled law. They’re trying to portray what Obama was doing as the law and that somebody — some mean partisans — are stopping our wonderful young president from implementing a law, obeying law. Obama is outside the law. Obama’s immigration behavior, executive amnesty, this DREAMer stuff — everything he’s doing — is outside the law.</p>
<p>Immigration law’s already settled. That’s why we have people known as illegal immigrants, because the law is very clear. They’re not being called illegal immigrants because people are biased and prejudiced. It’s because they’re in violation of the law. I think this is a great illustration of just how… I don’t know what. I like to say 180 degrees out of phase we are.</p>
<p>We just totally have abandoned reality here, and the Democrats have created a new reality that is not real whatsoever that people have bought into and accepted, to the point now where the upholding of current law is what’s considered lawless and partisan and political, and Obama attempting to skirt the law and ignore the law is what people think is the law!</p>
<p>BREAK TRANSCRIPT</p>
<p>RUSH: Having more fun than a human being should be allowed to have, doing that which I was born to do, El Rushbo hosting the most listened to radio talk show in America. Happy to have you here.</p>
<p>Nancy in Dayton, Minnesota. It’s great to have you. Hi.</p>
<p>CALLER: Hi, Rush. I’m responding to the Democrat this morning that was questioning and concerned about the children of illegal immigrants.</p>
<p>RUSH: Right. That would be Bill Nelson —</p>
<p>CALLER: Yes.</p>
<p>RUSH: — Democrat Senator from Florida.</p>
<p>CALLER: And I just wish once our Republicans would stand up and say that I, as an American citizen, am not responsible for the destiny of illegal parents, illegal immigrants that bring their children here.</p>
<p>RUSH: Why do you want to see that happen?</p>
<p>CALLER: Because it’s the truth. They are taking their children out of a country, bringing them here and are putting them in jeopardy. And they blame us for what happens to them, what their future is. And I don’t understand why our Republican Party doesn’t say that we are not —</p>
<p>RUSH: Okay, now —</p>
<p>CALLER: — responsible for people breaking our law.</p>
<p>RUSH: Now, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. First of all, you understand that the Republican leadership in the House and Senate is pretty much for amnesty.</p>
<p>CALLER: I do.</p>
<p>RUSH: You understand that? Okay.</p>
<p>CALLER: That’s right. That’s why we need new leadership.</p>
<p>RUSH: But I want you to envision something here.</p>
<p>CALLER: Hm-hm.</p>
<p>RUSH: You are watching TV there in Dayton, Minnesota, and Bill Nelson comes out and says what he says (imitating Nelson), “We’re gonna start deporting people today! We’re gonna separate mothers and sons and daughters from their children and they’re sending ’em home to places they’ve never been. Oh, my God. What are we doing? What kind of people are we?” He goes away, next Republican shows up, “It isn’t my fault, damn it, they shouldn’t have come here in the first place if they didn’t want to encounter a bunch of pain. Don’t try to blame it on me.” What do you think’s gonna happen next on social media?</p>
<p>CALLER: Well, on social media, that’s another issue, but I think the base of the Republican Party feels strongly that we should seal our borders, let those in, and we’re a sovereign country. We don’t have to let anybody in. And we let in people that make our country better. And we —</p>
<p>RUSH: Okay, now, I agree with all that. But I was answering you specifically. You wanted to know why somebody didn’t follow Bill Nelson going out there and saying, “Hey, hey, yeah, they may be suffering. They may be dealing with a lot of pain, but we didn’t bring ’em, it isn’t our responsibility, they broke our laws.” I’m just telling you the juxtaposition of that.</p>
<p>CALLER: No, I get it. And I just feel that more Americans really believe that we cannot keep taking everybody in.</p>
<p>RUSH: I’m not sure of that.</p>
<p>CALLER: Oh, boy, that scares me, then.</p>
<p>RUSH: I’m not sure of that because of the social media. I’m asking myself this every day.</p>
<p>CALLER: What do you think has to happen to the average American before they realize how it’s drastically affecting their well-being?</p>
<p>RUSH: I’ve been asking that for 25 years. Honestly, Nancy, I’ve been asking myself — how can I explain this? Let me do it with today’s news, okay, affirmative action and we’re gonna continue to have racial imbalance based on skin color and so forth. I keep asking myself, at some point, when this finally begins to hurt and actually harm the proponents of this, what is their reaction gonna be? I keep waiting for that, and it hasn’t happened.</p>
<p>CALLER: They’ll probably blame us.</p>
<p>RUSH: Well, they will, but that’s —</p>
<p>CALLER: No, I don’t know. I don’t know how bad it has to get. I don’t know, when they don’t have jobs and —</p>
<p>RUSH: Well, I think you gotta come to —</p>
<p>CALLER: That’s kind of the way it is now, and —</p>
<p>RUSH: I think you have to come to grips with the fact, Nancy, that there are a lot of people — and I’m not talking about elected Democrats — there are a lot of your fellow citizens — you don’t know them, you don’t know where they are — but there’s many more of them than you know and realize, and they revel in all of this. They love the chaos. They love the majority being disturbed, bothered, shaken up by it. They are not in any way, shape, manner — these are not happy people to begin with. They are pretty much unhappy or miserable. They blame everybody their whole lives for it. And to them everything is about getting even.</p>
<p>CALLER: Yep.</p>
<p>RUSH: And so the more pain and suffering you admit to, the happier they are, no matter what effect it has on them.</p>
<p>CALLER: Well, maybe —</p>
<p>RUSH: ‘Cause as far as their lives are concerned, they’re already in the sewer.</p>
<p>CALLER: Maybe we need some new, unique leadership, like Trump, to change the course of the country. Because the old guard just isn’t doing it anymore.</p>
<p>RUSH: We need a lot. There’s a fascinating piece today by a teacher, college professor, an avowed communist Marxist and socialist. He decided to travel the world to see the glories of the things he believed in. And all he saw was misery and suffering and poverty. He was shocked. I’m not making this up. I’ll get to the story in due course. And he’s now abandoned Marxism. He’s abandoned communism.</p>
<p>He traveled, he went to Cuba, he went to over a hundred places in the world trying to find the evidence that the countries that lived as he thought they should were on the way to utopia, and he found the exact opposite. He found misery. Now, it’s amazing to me that a college professor would have to actually go anywhere to know the truth of what Marxism and communism and socialism cause, but he did it, and he’s now writing against all of that.</p>
<p>But my point in bringing it up is that a lot of this starts in the education system of this country, and as early as pre-K, certainly kindergarten and on up. And it just festers and is amplified and grows deeper and deeper in all of these young people year after year after year, to the point that we lose ’em.</p>
<p>BREAK TRANSCRIPT</p>
<p>RUSH: Joanna in Lafayette, Louisiana, you’re next as we head back to the phones. Great to have you with Rush Limbaugh, the EIB Network. Hi.</p>
<p>CALLER: Hi, Rush. I think you’re great. I listen to you all the time. I agree with 99.7% of everything you say —</p>
<p>RUSH: Uh-oh, here comes a “but.”</p>
<p>CALLER: Yeah, but I had to call in because I do believe, I know of cases, it is happening that some of these kids that weren’t born here but they’ve lived here all their lives, they are being deported. And I also know of cases where the kids are born here, they’re American citizens, they’re put in foster homes and their parents are deported, and their parents are begging to get their kids back. That actually is happening.</p>
<p>RUSH: Really?</p>
<p>CALLER: Yeah. Rush, this is what I want to say to all those Americans out there, okay?</p>
<p>RUSH: Hang on just a second. Just a second. All Americans. Stop what you’re doing and listen. Something very, very important coming. I want to make sure they hear you.</p>
<p>CALLER: Yeah. Well, I mean, it’s important. We, as conservatives, believe more than anything in the Constitution of the United States, and we want our laws to be constitutional. Well, because of my own situation with my husband, who is from England and studying the law, I believe there are parts of the Immigration Act of 1996 that are not constitutional, and because of that, American citizens in family relationships with immigrants are losing their constitutional rights.</p>
<p>RUSH: Okay. Let me specify something right here. You are not specifically addressing today’s Supreme Court decision. And you are not specifically addressing the reaction to it. You’re talking about — you just said Immigration Act 1996, your husband is from England. We’re not talking about nearly — because I’ll tell you something, immigration’s continuing. The southern border is being flooded. The Border Patrol agents are being told to stand down.</p>
<p>There is no stopping it, Joanna, and there are deportations going on. Deportations happen every day, but not mass. There’s no denial. But I’m specifically talking about Bill Nelson going out there today after this Supreme Court decision which merely said to Obama stop what you’re doing because it’s against the law. He’s out there saying that today we’re gonna start separating families from their children and start sending people home, and it’s not happening.</p>
<p>CALLER: Well, Rush, I think it’s horrible, all these people are being allowed to immigrate. Of course. I’m a conservative. And imagine how I feel when me and my husband did everything legally, but he gets deported on — I don’t want to go through a long story, he gets deported, and then I’m seeing all these illegals come in, and they want to allow them to stay. Yes, of course, that’s wrong. But, Rush, what —</p>
<p>RUSH: Wait, wait. What do you mean illegals coming in and won’t allow them to stay?</p>
<p>CALLER: No, we are — unfortunately, Obama is allowing them to stay and they’re illegal, and that is wrong. I totally agree with that, but I believe there are situations which we need to show compassion, and I believe one of them is when, of no fault of their own, they grow up in America, they know nothing else but America —</p>
<p>RUSH: Right.</p>
<p>CALLER: — and then they get deported, and that does happen. And also —</p>
<p>RUSH: I want to know where this is happening, if this were happening in great numbers. I will admit to you deportations happen every month, but they are few and far between, and mostly for show. It’s not by any stretch of the imagination official policy. It’s not a deportation number that’s anywhere near dealing with the problem. But if it were happening to the extent that you’re implying, it would be front-page news. There would be pictures of these parentless kids arriving back home in the dusty plains of their home countries with no money and an out-of-date American food stamp all over the nightly news.</p>
<p>CALLER: Rush, you’re right, it’s probably not happening in large numbers, but I think there are small numbers. And of course under Bush it happened more, and there were parents that are in Mexico and places like that that are still begging to get the their kids back. It has happened. You know, it depends on what news you listen to. I speak Spanish fluently, not because — I just learned Spanish in high school and in college. But, I mean, I’m an American —</p>
<p>RUSH: All right.</p>
<p>CALLER: — my father was an Italian, and my mother was scotch Irish, and I go all the way back to the Mayflower, okay?</p>
<p>RUSH: Well, I’m part German and part Irish. In fact, there’s even a town in Germany that was named after my family, Limbach or so forth. And I don’t know. I might even have some Indian blood in there. What difference does it make?</p>
<p>CALLER: What I’m saying is that I believe that the Immigration Act of 1996 needs to make exception in the law for immigrants who are in families with American citizens in order to protect the constitutional rights of the American citizens, because right now that’s not happening.</p>
<p>RUSH: Well, I’ll tell you something. You know, on the surface and speaking from the heart, it would be very, very difficult for somebody to come along and even argue with you about it, because they would immediately be considered heartless and mean-spirited and unfeeling and anti-child. And, of course, that would ruin them. So nobody speaks up. But you have just described one of the greatest tricks in the immigration movement going.</p>
<p>Why do you think, why do you think for the past two — actually it starts in January, February, every year, goes through the summer, why do you think there is a literal flood of children only, teenage and younger, from Central American countries, not Mexico. We’re talking El Salvador and Guatemala and others, why do you think those kids are being put on trains by their own parents, then later to be sold to coyotes and mules and brought into the country, why do you think that’s happening out there? I mean, here we have the opposite of what you’re talking about.</p>
<p>We have the arrival of young children, and the Regime is doing everything it can to relocate them. We are not tagging them G or otherwise. We’re not even medically examining them to great deal. We’re ramrodding them through all these clearance centers.</p>
<p>We’re putting them in various towns all across the fruited plain for one reason: so that someday, not long from now, someday in the near future, somebody like Senator Bill Nelson can go to the nearest camera and microphone and say, “What kind of country are we, to participate in separating mothers and fathers from their children? Right now we have,” and whatever the number is, “800,000 children 15 and under who’ve arrived in our country in the last two years, and where are their parents? We have not let them come in. And we can’t deport them. Why send them back to the hellholes?”</p>
<p>It’s a trick to get their parents here, playing on the compassion of the American people, such as yours. And then let’s not even talking about chain migration, immigration, which is another trick, but all of these things are designed to penetrate the heart exactly is it has yours so that there can be a modification in the law, a moderation of the law here for this instance, and over here for another instance, and there for another.</p>
<p>And then ultimately somebody says, “You know what? Our immigration law sucks, and we need to redo the whole thing, comprehensive immigration reform. And what that’s gonna be is anybody who wants to come and vote Democrat, we’re gonna send ’em a limousine and bring ’em in.</p> | How the Democrats Do It | true | http://rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2016/06/23/how_the_democrats_do_it | 2016-06-23 | 0right
| How the Democrats Do It
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>RUSH: Holy smokes. This is how they do it. Obama’s executive amnesty has been frozen via a stay by a judge on the appellate court. You remember, this is the judge that discovered the Defense Department lawyers were lying to him in open court, and instead of actually sanctioning them, he demanded that they go to a new ethics course to learn the proper behavior and decorum and the law in court, that you just can’t lie with impunity to a judge.</p>
<p>That was the extent of it. Bill Nelson, the Democrat Senator from Florida, is on CNN right now, and they’re asking him what he thinks about all this, and you ought to hear what he says is gonna happen. He’s looking into that camera and he’s practically crying. He’s saying (paraphrased), “Young Americans, children who only know the United States — born in a foreign country, brought here as infants by their parents illegally — are now going to be sent home to countries they have never, ever seen.</p>
<p>“There are children in America who are going to be separated from their parents ’cause their parents are going to be deported while the children who were born here can stay. We are forgetting the human beings.” Let me ask: Has any of that been going on during this stay? That’s not even what this is about. This is just… This is exactly how they do it. So this gonna show up what Nelson says — and he’s not the only one, obviously.</p>
<p>How they’re characterizing this decision is gonna show up all over social media. And a bunch of ill-educated, uneducated Nimrods are gonna see it, and they’ve totally skewed notion of what this decision means. Let me see what the AP says about this. Let me see. ‘Cause if that’s gonna happen, you would think that’d be right in the front of the story, wouldn’t you? If deportation proceedings begin immediately because of this, you’d think that’d be the story, right? See if it is.</p>
<p>“Obama Immigration Plan Blocked by 4-4 Tie at Supreme Court.” A tie vote. This is AP: “The tie vote in the Supreme Court blocks Obama’s immigration plan that sought to shield millions in the US living illegally from deportation. The justice’s one-sentence opinion on Thursday effectively kills the plan for the rest of [the Regime of Obama]. The outcome underscores that the direction of US immigration policy will be determined, in large part, by the presidential election.”</p>
<p>Right. There’s no firm decision yet. What this means is… It’s what Obama was complaining about. All this is now up to the voters — who, of course, the Democrats do not trust. “People who would have benefited from the programs face no imminent threat of deportation because Congress has provided money to deal with only a small percentage of people who live in the country illegally.</p>
<p>“The president retains ample discretion to decide who…” So even the AP says that there isn’t going to be rampant deportation. They face no imminent threat. “People who would have benefited,” with a correct decision, of course, “face no imminent threat.” Yet here’s Bill Nelson practically crying on TV, talking about families be separated this afternoon, never to see each other again, all because of this ruling.</p>
<p>I don’t know how you deal with it.</p>
<p>BREAK TRANSCRIPT</p>
<p>He doesn’t have the money to run commercials and I launched into a tirade on money in politics. No, I remember. Just remind me at so point. I can’t do it now. I’m dangerously close already to losing control of the content of the program here today, folks. I haven’t gotten to Freddie Gray. I haven’t gotten to the note that my cousin sent me about what he saw on Fakebook. That’s coming up. We haven’t gotten to the sit-in yet. We’re gonna get to all this. But I got Obama here.</p>
<p>I want you to actually hear what Obama said. We got two sound bites of Obama’s little press conference after the Supreme Court did not go his way on his executive amnesty. Here’s the first of two of them.</p>
<p>OBAMA: It is important to understand what today means. The deferred action policy that has been in place for the last four years is not affected by this ruling. Enforcement priorities developed by my administration are not affected by this ruling. This means that the people who might have benefited from the expanded deferred action policies, long-term residents raising children who are Americans or legal residents, they will remain low priorities for enforcement, as long as you have not committed a crime, our limited immigration enforcement resources are not focused on you.</p>
<p>RUSH: Basically as you’ll hear in the two sound bites, he’s essentially assuring illegals, don’t sweat it, I’m not gonna enforce the law, don’t sweat it, everything’s fine. Now, contrast this. Here he just said children who are Americans or legal residents, they will remain low priorities for enforcement — meaning deportation — as long as they’ve not — Contrast that to what Bill Nelson just said, the Florida Senator. He really went on TV and tried to convey that deportation proceedings of children are gonna be starting this afternoon, and it was just sad, just unfortunate, oh, my God, what kind of country are we.</p>
<p>It isn’t the case. No, I’m not weighing in on whether it should or shouldn’t be. This is how this stuff all happens. You know, I was thinking about something last night when I got my cousin’s email about what he thought of Fakebook. Nope. I’m gonna wait on that because if I start jumping into that tangent, I’m gonna lose control of this one. Let me just stick with this and I’ll get to that as one segment whenever we get to it. Here’s the next Obama sound bite.</p>
<p>OBAMA: Now we’ve got a choice about who we’re gonna be as a country, what we want to teach our kids, and how we want to be represented in Congress and in the White House. In November, Americans are gonna have to make a decision about what we care about and who we are. We get these spasms of politics around immigration and fearmongering and then our traditions and our history and our better impulses kick in. That’s how we all ended up here. ‘Cause I guarantee you at some point every one of us has somebody in our background who people didn’t want coming here. And yet here we are.</p>
<p>RUSH: That is so disingenuous. The effort to combine the general population of this country with the current burgeoning numbers of illegal immigrants is outrageous, simply outrageous. For Obama to try to tell people that you and I are no different than the current crop of illegals. Well, the difference is, back then people obeyed the law for the most part. I mean, people always break the law, but for the most part the rule of law triumphed and illegal immigrants were found and deported. The case was not made for them to stay.</p>
<p>But that’s not even the worst of it. The idea that all of us here are no different. We were all illegal at one point and we were all unwanted at one point. Somebody in our family, if not us, was undesirable, and yet here we are. And this moral equivalence that this president makes is part and parcel of his effort to tear down the greatness and the uniqueness of this country. Make no mistake. You know, I still am amazed by the reaction I get from people when I tell them that there was zero immigration in this country from 1924 to 1965. And the reason that people don’t know that, A, they just don’t know it, it’s not reported, it’s never been part of history class, history education.</p>
<p>But it’s also hard to believe, because people alive today, immigration’s been a daily event and a daily topic for their whole lives. They can’t conceive of a period of time where there was no immigration. ‘Cause most people grow up thinking everybody wants to come to America because America is the sweet spot of the planet. America is the greatest place in the world — which it is — and everybody wants to be here.</p>
<p>Stop and think of this. From 1924 to 1965, 41 years, essentially, there was no immigration. Try telling people that in the midst of this debate and they won’t believe you. They’ll think you’re making it up. They’ll think you’re lying about it. And then what you tell ’em is the reason. The reason is that we had had mass immigration from the late 1800s all the way through the early 1900s to the 1920s, and we had to pause the immigration in order to for the new arrivals to assimilate, to become Americans, to learn English, for one thing. The one thing — or not the one; there are many different things.</p>
<p>One of the defining characteristics or difference between today’s illegal immigration and the immigration of old is the immigrants of the late 1800s through the early 1920s came here desiring to become Americans. They wanted to become part of what was a unique and distinct American culture. They were all coming from tyranny of one kind or another. They were all coming from poverty of one kind or another, political prisoners. The human condition for the vast majority of people on this planet for the entire time of what humanity has been here has been bondage and tyranny, dictatorship, pestilence. That’s really what American exceptionalism is, when you get right down to it.</p>
<p>America has become and was the exception to the way most of the people in the world were forced to live, because America was the first formally built, structured country on the premise that the people ran the show based on their liberty, based on their natural God-given rights to pursue happiness. The right to life, the right to freedom and to pursue happiness. No other country in the history of the world had ever been formed or founded on such premises. This one was. That was the exception.</p>
<p>American exceptionalism, in the broad sense, is not a bunch of braggadocious words people say, “Yeah, we’re better people. We have a better country. We are higher class people.” That’s not what it is. America was the exception to the way human beings prior to America, most of which lived. It was not pretty. And liberty and freedom were the primary reason that people wanted to come here. They wanted to escape bondage, slavery, tyranny, poverty, whatever, where they lived. It was America that promised a much better life.</p>
<p>So when they got here, when they successfully emigrated — and not everybody that came through Ellis Island was accepted. If you were sick you were not allowed in. If you had any kind of a disease, we were in the process of trying to wipe out all these diseases. We did that by keeping people who had them out of the country. You might look at it today as, “Wow, that was really mean.” No. It was putting America first. It was putting the American people first, and it was a realization that we can’t take everybody.</p>
<p>Well, that’s not what immigration is today. Immigration, as promoted by the Democrat Party, really is a voter registration drive, pure and simple. It is a desire by the Democrat Party to find another way to remain in perpetual power, by creating as many dependent voters as they can. And the best way to create and bring dependent voters in is to bring people that don’t have much education and therefore do not have many skills and therefore are not as capable as others of providing for themselves. That’s the gold standard in immigration, if you’re a Democrat in 2016, 2002, 2000, as long as this current debate has been raging, that’s their objective.</p>
<p>There are even some radical leftists who look at it as that but then go further and say, “Because we have been so exclusionary and because it’s been so unfair that America has been so rich, it’s so unfair that America has been this one place in the world, it’s not because of us, and we deserve to pay a price.” There are people who want to import the dregs of the world into this country in order to cut this country down to size. Do not doubt me on this. I know it sounds hard to believe. Those people will be found somewhere on the political spectrum, and they vote Democrat.</p>
<p>It is not about promoting a distinct and great American culture because today’s Democrat Party does not believe in one. Today’s Democrat Party believes that distinct American culture is corrupt, biased, racist, sexist, prejudicial, homophobic. There is nothing about it they want to preserve. They would love nothing better than to water it down. You’re asking obvious questions. “Rush, why would they want to ruin the country ’cause they’re gonna continue to live here. Why would they want to ruin the country?” Well, some of them, folks, are really just genuinely stupid and do not have that kind of foresight.</p>
<p>They believe that there’s gonna be mass appreciation and love and everybody’s gonna be getting along. Others, the leaders of these moments know full well they’re never gonna live next to these newly arriving immigrants. They’re gonna live in gated communities. They’re gonna continue to be rich. Washington, DC, right now does not have to live with much of what they produce legislatively for us. Why do we start immigration in 1965? Guess whose idea it was? Ted Kennedy. Ted Kennedy, 1965, we needed to reinstitute the immigration laws. It wasn’t based in humanity, although that’s the way it was sold. It was rooted in registering voters.</p>
<p>“Rush, you’re cheapening so much.” That’s all it is, folks. Just like the sit-in on the floor of the House yesterday was about fundraising. Maybe a couple other ancillary things. But it was not about really — I mean, the legislation had been defeated in the Senate. There was no way that sit-in was gonna accomplish anything legislatively. Well, until they get their own vote in the House, but if they don’t have a corresponding vote in the Senate it’s still gonna become law. So they’re fundraising. Even if they get their own vote in the House, it’s not gonna change anything until they change a vote in the Senate which isn’t gonna happen, so what are they doing? They’re fundraising and they’re campaigning.</p>
<p>No, no, if they could take your again away from you, they’d do it. Don’t misunderstand. They would do it. But for the moment they’re fundraising. Remember these people are patient. They can’t take your gun away from you today, they’ll do it tomorrow. If they can’t do it tomorrow, next week. Next week they can’t do it, they’ll go for next month. They can’t do it next month, they’ll do it next year. If next year doesn’t work, the year after that. It’s the way they look at it.</p>
<p>Obama said as much today talking about immigration. (imitating Obama) “I don’t care what happens today. It is gonna happen. We are going to have comprehensive immigration reform. We’re gonna have amnesty for these 11 or 12 million. It’s gonna happen. You just wait.” And that’s the way they go about it. Defeat is not something that, in their minds, is lasting.</p>
<p>BREAK TRANSCRIPT</p>
<p>RUSH: Here’s Bill Nelson. I don’t have to quote him now. This is him on CNN a half hour ago…</p>
<p>NELSON: Remember the human factor here. This is a great blow to the children that came here as infants. They only know that they’re Americans. They’ve grown up… Many of them, like the ones in Miami, they were valedictorians of their high school classes, and now, because they were born in another country and are here illegally, these DREAMers are going to have to return to a country they don’t know along with their parents. Now, that is what is sad. And additionally, that the children that are born in America, their parents are not gonna be able to remain with the children. So now we are splitting families apart as a result of this decision.</p>
<p>RUSH: It’s just not true, folks, but that’s their talking point. That’s what’s gonna get ballyhooed all over social media. That’s what low-information people are gonna pick up all day. Nelson won’t be the only one saying so. It’s gonna be out there. The media will not challenge it whatsoever because the only thing they’ll focus on is, “What do the Democrats want? What do they want? Will the Democrats get what they want? How well will Nelson’s message play?” Not, “Is he lying?” Not, “Is it factual?” None of that. They won’t fact-check Bill Nelson. They’ll just report this and anybody else who says it.</p>
<p>To the phones. Grand Rapids, Michigan. C. J., great to have you up first today. Welcome to the program.</p>
<p>CALLER: Hey, Rush. I have a question.</p>
<p>RUSH: Yes?</p>
<p>CALLER: I want to know why is it that President Obama is such an advocate of this illegal immigration gauntlet system and not legal immigration.</p>
<p>RUSH: Precisely because legal immigration is a much tougher group of people to stereotype and to identify as potential new Democrat voters. Illegal immigrants, you know who they are. They are people that have very little education. They are mostly people who are very poor. They arrive needing government assistance from the get-go, and the Democrat Party is right there to provide it, while telling them that the Republican Party wants to kick ’em out.</p>
<p>Legal immigration is a process. You learn everything about the people coming in. You find out how many of ’em are prone to vote Republican. You don’t ask ’em this; you just learn. You find out how many of ’em are educated, to what degree. The pool of illegal immigrants is like a qualified bunch of people. You don’t have to do surveys. You don’t have to interview them. You know they are ready-made Democrat voters. Not only that, they are readymade Democrat constituents.</p>
<p>BREAK TRANSCRIPT</p>
<p>RUSH: You know, folks, this is what everybody’s forgetting about Obama and his immigration law and his executive action and his amnesty on it, the Supreme Court decision. Immigration law is settled. We already have immigration law, and it is being violated. Obama’s executive amnesty is not the settled law. Obama’s executive amnesty is outside the law, and that’s why it’s been stayed. A federal appellate circuit looked at what Obama was doing and said he can’t do it. Immigration law is settled.</p>
<p>Now this, to me, is a fundamental point because the Drive-Bys and the Democrats are all trying to say that the Supreme Court and the lower court stopped settled law. They’re trying to portray what Obama was doing as the law and that somebody — some mean partisans — are stopping our wonderful young president from implementing a law, obeying law. Obama is outside the law. Obama’s immigration behavior, executive amnesty, this DREAMer stuff — everything he’s doing — is outside the law.</p>
<p>Immigration law’s already settled. That’s why we have people known as illegal immigrants, because the law is very clear. They’re not being called illegal immigrants because people are biased and prejudiced. It’s because they’re in violation of the law. I think this is a great illustration of just how… I don’t know what. I like to say 180 degrees out of phase we are.</p>
<p>We just totally have abandoned reality here, and the Democrats have created a new reality that is not real whatsoever that people have bought into and accepted, to the point now where the upholding of current law is what’s considered lawless and partisan and political, and Obama attempting to skirt the law and ignore the law is what people think is the law!</p>
<p>BREAK TRANSCRIPT</p>
<p>RUSH: Having more fun than a human being should be allowed to have, doing that which I was born to do, El Rushbo hosting the most listened to radio talk show in America. Happy to have you here.</p>
<p>Nancy in Dayton, Minnesota. It’s great to have you. Hi.</p>
<p>CALLER: Hi, Rush. I’m responding to the Democrat this morning that was questioning and concerned about the children of illegal immigrants.</p>
<p>RUSH: Right. That would be Bill Nelson —</p>
<p>CALLER: Yes.</p>
<p>RUSH: — Democrat Senator from Florida.</p>
<p>CALLER: And I just wish once our Republicans would stand up and say that I, as an American citizen, am not responsible for the destiny of illegal parents, illegal immigrants that bring their children here.</p>
<p>RUSH: Why do you want to see that happen?</p>
<p>CALLER: Because it’s the truth. They are taking their children out of a country, bringing them here and are putting them in jeopardy. And they blame us for what happens to them, what their future is. And I don’t understand why our Republican Party doesn’t say that we are not —</p>
<p>RUSH: Okay, now —</p>
<p>CALLER: — responsible for people breaking our law.</p>
<p>RUSH: Now, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. First of all, you understand that the Republican leadership in the House and Senate is pretty much for amnesty.</p>
<p>CALLER: I do.</p>
<p>RUSH: You understand that? Okay.</p>
<p>CALLER: That’s right. That’s why we need new leadership.</p>
<p>RUSH: But I want you to envision something here.</p>
<p>CALLER: Hm-hm.</p>
<p>RUSH: You are watching TV there in Dayton, Minnesota, and Bill Nelson comes out and says what he says (imitating Nelson), “We’re gonna start deporting people today! We’re gonna separate mothers and sons and daughters from their children and they’re sending ’em home to places they’ve never been. Oh, my God. What are we doing? What kind of people are we?” He goes away, next Republican shows up, “It isn’t my fault, damn it, they shouldn’t have come here in the first place if they didn’t want to encounter a bunch of pain. Don’t try to blame it on me.” What do you think’s gonna happen next on social media?</p>
<p>CALLER: Well, on social media, that’s another issue, but I think the base of the Republican Party feels strongly that we should seal our borders, let those in, and we’re a sovereign country. We don’t have to let anybody in. And we let in people that make our country better. And we —</p>
<p>RUSH: Okay, now, I agree with all that. But I was answering you specifically. You wanted to know why somebody didn’t follow Bill Nelson going out there and saying, “Hey, hey, yeah, they may be suffering. They may be dealing with a lot of pain, but we didn’t bring ’em, it isn’t our responsibility, they broke our laws.” I’m just telling you the juxtaposition of that.</p>
<p>CALLER: No, I get it. And I just feel that more Americans really believe that we cannot keep taking everybody in.</p>
<p>RUSH: I’m not sure of that.</p>
<p>CALLER: Oh, boy, that scares me, then.</p>
<p>RUSH: I’m not sure of that because of the social media. I’m asking myself this every day.</p>
<p>CALLER: What do you think has to happen to the average American before they realize how it’s drastically affecting their well-being?</p>
<p>RUSH: I’ve been asking that for 25 years. Honestly, Nancy, I’ve been asking myself — how can I explain this? Let me do it with today’s news, okay, affirmative action and we’re gonna continue to have racial imbalance based on skin color and so forth. I keep asking myself, at some point, when this finally begins to hurt and actually harm the proponents of this, what is their reaction gonna be? I keep waiting for that, and it hasn’t happened.</p>
<p>CALLER: They’ll probably blame us.</p>
<p>RUSH: Well, they will, but that’s —</p>
<p>CALLER: No, I don’t know. I don’t know how bad it has to get. I don’t know, when they don’t have jobs and —</p>
<p>RUSH: Well, I think you gotta come to —</p>
<p>CALLER: That’s kind of the way it is now, and —</p>
<p>RUSH: I think you have to come to grips with the fact, Nancy, that there are a lot of people — and I’m not talking about elected Democrats — there are a lot of your fellow citizens — you don’t know them, you don’t know where they are — but there’s many more of them than you know and realize, and they revel in all of this. They love the chaos. They love the majority being disturbed, bothered, shaken up by it. They are not in any way, shape, manner — these are not happy people to begin with. They are pretty much unhappy or miserable. They blame everybody their whole lives for it. And to them everything is about getting even.</p>
<p>CALLER: Yep.</p>
<p>RUSH: And so the more pain and suffering you admit to, the happier they are, no matter what effect it has on them.</p>
<p>CALLER: Well, maybe —</p>
<p>RUSH: ‘Cause as far as their lives are concerned, they’re already in the sewer.</p>
<p>CALLER: Maybe we need some new, unique leadership, like Trump, to change the course of the country. Because the old guard just isn’t doing it anymore.</p>
<p>RUSH: We need a lot. There’s a fascinating piece today by a teacher, college professor, an avowed communist Marxist and socialist. He decided to travel the world to see the glories of the things he believed in. And all he saw was misery and suffering and poverty. He was shocked. I’m not making this up. I’ll get to the story in due course. And he’s now abandoned Marxism. He’s abandoned communism.</p>
<p>He traveled, he went to Cuba, he went to over a hundred places in the world trying to find the evidence that the countries that lived as he thought they should were on the way to utopia, and he found the exact opposite. He found misery. Now, it’s amazing to me that a college professor would have to actually go anywhere to know the truth of what Marxism and communism and socialism cause, but he did it, and he’s now writing against all of that.</p>
<p>But my point in bringing it up is that a lot of this starts in the education system of this country, and as early as pre-K, certainly kindergarten and on up. And it just festers and is amplified and grows deeper and deeper in all of these young people year after year after year, to the point that we lose ’em.</p>
<p>BREAK TRANSCRIPT</p>
<p>RUSH: Joanna in Lafayette, Louisiana, you’re next as we head back to the phones. Great to have you with Rush Limbaugh, the EIB Network. Hi.</p>
<p>CALLER: Hi, Rush. I think you’re great. I listen to you all the time. I agree with 99.7% of everything you say —</p>
<p>RUSH: Uh-oh, here comes a “but.”</p>
<p>CALLER: Yeah, but I had to call in because I do believe, I know of cases, it is happening that some of these kids that weren’t born here but they’ve lived here all their lives, they are being deported. And I also know of cases where the kids are born here, they’re American citizens, they’re put in foster homes and their parents are deported, and their parents are begging to get their kids back. That actually is happening.</p>
<p>RUSH: Really?</p>
<p>CALLER: Yeah. Rush, this is what I want to say to all those Americans out there, okay?</p>
<p>RUSH: Hang on just a second. Just a second. All Americans. Stop what you’re doing and listen. Something very, very important coming. I want to make sure they hear you.</p>
<p>CALLER: Yeah. Well, I mean, it’s important. We, as conservatives, believe more than anything in the Constitution of the United States, and we want our laws to be constitutional. Well, because of my own situation with my husband, who is from England and studying the law, I believe there are parts of the Immigration Act of 1996 that are not constitutional, and because of that, American citizens in family relationships with immigrants are losing their constitutional rights.</p>
<p>RUSH: Okay. Let me specify something right here. You are not specifically addressing today’s Supreme Court decision. And you are not specifically addressing the reaction to it. You’re talking about — you just said Immigration Act 1996, your husband is from England. We’re not talking about nearly — because I’ll tell you something, immigration’s continuing. The southern border is being flooded. The Border Patrol agents are being told to stand down.</p>
<p>There is no stopping it, Joanna, and there are deportations going on. Deportations happen every day, but not mass. There’s no denial. But I’m specifically talking about Bill Nelson going out there today after this Supreme Court decision which merely said to Obama stop what you’re doing because it’s against the law. He’s out there saying that today we’re gonna start separating families from their children and start sending people home, and it’s not happening.</p>
<p>CALLER: Well, Rush, I think it’s horrible, all these people are being allowed to immigrate. Of course. I’m a conservative. And imagine how I feel when me and my husband did everything legally, but he gets deported on — I don’t want to go through a long story, he gets deported, and then I’m seeing all these illegals come in, and they want to allow them to stay. Yes, of course, that’s wrong. But, Rush, what —</p>
<p>RUSH: Wait, wait. What do you mean illegals coming in and won’t allow them to stay?</p>
<p>CALLER: No, we are — unfortunately, Obama is allowing them to stay and they’re illegal, and that is wrong. I totally agree with that, but I believe there are situations which we need to show compassion, and I believe one of them is when, of no fault of their own, they grow up in America, they know nothing else but America —</p>
<p>RUSH: Right.</p>
<p>CALLER: — and then they get deported, and that does happen. And also —</p>
<p>RUSH: I want to know where this is happening, if this were happening in great numbers. I will admit to you deportations happen every month, but they are few and far between, and mostly for show. It’s not by any stretch of the imagination official policy. It’s not a deportation number that’s anywhere near dealing with the problem. But if it were happening to the extent that you’re implying, it would be front-page news. There would be pictures of these parentless kids arriving back home in the dusty plains of their home countries with no money and an out-of-date American food stamp all over the nightly news.</p>
<p>CALLER: Rush, you’re right, it’s probably not happening in large numbers, but I think there are small numbers. And of course under Bush it happened more, and there were parents that are in Mexico and places like that that are still begging to get the their kids back. It has happened. You know, it depends on what news you listen to. I speak Spanish fluently, not because — I just learned Spanish in high school and in college. But, I mean, I’m an American —</p>
<p>RUSH: All right.</p>
<p>CALLER: — my father was an Italian, and my mother was scotch Irish, and I go all the way back to the Mayflower, okay?</p>
<p>RUSH: Well, I’m part German and part Irish. In fact, there’s even a town in Germany that was named after my family, Limbach or so forth. And I don’t know. I might even have some Indian blood in there. What difference does it make?</p>
<p>CALLER: What I’m saying is that I believe that the Immigration Act of 1996 needs to make exception in the law for immigrants who are in families with American citizens in order to protect the constitutional rights of the American citizens, because right now that’s not happening.</p>
<p>RUSH: Well, I’ll tell you something. You know, on the surface and speaking from the heart, it would be very, very difficult for somebody to come along and even argue with you about it, because they would immediately be considered heartless and mean-spirited and unfeeling and anti-child. And, of course, that would ruin them. So nobody speaks up. But you have just described one of the greatest tricks in the immigration movement going.</p>
<p>Why do you think, why do you think for the past two — actually it starts in January, February, every year, goes through the summer, why do you think there is a literal flood of children only, teenage and younger, from Central American countries, not Mexico. We’re talking El Salvador and Guatemala and others, why do you think those kids are being put on trains by their own parents, then later to be sold to coyotes and mules and brought into the country, why do you think that’s happening out there? I mean, here we have the opposite of what you’re talking about.</p>
<p>We have the arrival of young children, and the Regime is doing everything it can to relocate them. We are not tagging them G or otherwise. We’re not even medically examining them to great deal. We’re ramrodding them through all these clearance centers.</p>
<p>We’re putting them in various towns all across the fruited plain for one reason: so that someday, not long from now, someday in the near future, somebody like Senator Bill Nelson can go to the nearest camera and microphone and say, “What kind of country are we, to participate in separating mothers and fathers from their children? Right now we have,” and whatever the number is, “800,000 children 15 and under who’ve arrived in our country in the last two years, and where are their parents? We have not let them come in. And we can’t deport them. Why send them back to the hellholes?”</p>
<p>It’s a trick to get their parents here, playing on the compassion of the American people, such as yours. And then let’s not even talking about chain migration, immigration, which is another trick, but all of these things are designed to penetrate the heart exactly is it has yours so that there can be a modification in the law, a moderation of the law here for this instance, and over here for another instance, and there for another.</p>
<p>And then ultimately somebody says, “You know what? Our immigration law sucks, and we need to redo the whole thing, comprehensive immigration reform. And what that’s gonna be is anybody who wants to come and vote Democrat, we’re gonna send ’em a limousine and bring ’em in.</p> | 1,821 |
<p />
<p><a href="#one" type="external">Bringing Home the Loot</a> Howard Dean moves out of the little leagues with $7.5 million, but that’s still a drop next to Bush’s cool $34 mil.</p>
<p><a href="#two" type="external">Equal Under What Law?</a> Washington is strong-arming smaller, weaker democracies to keep the international court away from US troops.</p>
<p><a href="#three" type="external">Through Arab Eyes</a> Ariel Sharon and Abu Mazen may be acting like old friends, but what’s backing up the show? Not much, says the Arab world.</p>
<p />
<p><a type="external" href="">Bringing Home the Loot</a> On Tuesday, commentators couldn’t contain their surprise that little ‘ol Howard Dean managed to beat the other Democrats in second quarter fundraising. Grassroots appeal, imagine that! Dean announced that he had raised $7.5 million dollars at the end of the second quarter. Joe Lieberman came up behind Dean for a grand total of $5 million. Of course, add all the Democratic candidates’ funds together and the figure still doesn’t come close to Bush’s $34 million warchest. In just six weeks Bush and his posse have managed to outraise everyone by a long, long shot.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, despite the fact that in electoral politics there can be only one winner, everyone seemed excited to claim some sort of victory after this round. Bush, of course, has got his loot. Dean outraised all the other Dems. Dennis Kucinich is touting the fact that he came in second on the <a href="http://moveon.org/pac/primary/report.html" type="external">Move On primary</a>.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>While Bush has been gallivanting across the country making appearances at $2,000 a plate luncheons, Dean has <a href="http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&amp;u=/ap/20030702/ap_on_el_pr/presidential_money_30" type="external">scored big</a> with the internet donors, raising $3 million online last week.</p>
<p>Although Dean has clearly learned a thing or two about finding Web donors — even Bush only raised $700,000 through his website — The New York Times points out that try as they might, Democrats have a significant the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/01/opinion/01TUE3.html" type="external">disadvantage in fundraising these days</a>.</p>
<p>“For years, the G.O.P. invested more heavily than the Democrats in the direct-mail, small-donor techniques of raising cash. The latest tallies from last year’s Congressional elections show this Republican advantage paying off handsomely, perchance temporarily, now that the era of unlimited ‘soft money’ donations from corporations, unions and individuals has been ended by the McCain-Feingold law. With its superior donor base, the G.O.P. attracted almost 50 percent more contributors than the Democrats and showed a commanding edge among lower-budget donors who gave less than $200 apiece.”</p>
<p>The fact that George Bush simply waltzed into Burlingame, California last week and raised $1.6 million dollars in a single event was so expec ted as to barely warrant attention, it seems. Wednesday the web was flooded with ‘blog entries on Dean’s emergence as a “real” candidate, but hardly any commentators made a peep about the astounding amount of cash that Bush has raised.</p>
<p>For those of us curious about where Bush is getting the bug bucks, we’ll have to count on Bush’s honesty and not US disclosure law. The Washington Post reminds us that despite recent campaign disclosure rulings, crucial information about fundraisers is <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60993-2003Jul1.html" type="external">not required</a>. While the new law puts a $2,000 limit on individual donations, it does not require politicians to name the people who are recruiting donors — the people who really do the heavy lifting. As the Post puts it: “For in a campaign finance system that hinges on disclosure, the glaring omission is the failure to require that a campaign’s true financiers be revealed.” Much of Bush’s fundraising strategy rests on the ability of his “pioneers” and “rangers” — fundraisers who manage to bring in funds in the $100,000 to $200,000 range. Although Bush did publish such lists in 2000, and promises to do so again, the fact that such measures are not required is a big problem, according to the editors of the Post.</p>
<p>“[T]he very information that could be most relevant to the public — the names of individuals to whom a candidate is most beholden — is exactly what’s not called for on the disclosure forms. Campaigns have to detail this Federal Express bill or that catering tab, but not the fact that they wouldn’t have been able to pay those expenses without the help of this oil company executive or that trial lawyer.”</p>
<p>Though the Dems don’t have their own “pioneer” strategy to counter Bush’s wild-west motif, Dean is busy building a neighborhood equivalent. On Tuesday USA Today reported that almost <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2003-07-01-dean-fundraising-usat_x.htm" type="external">50,000 Dean fans</a> planned to hold local meetings throughout the country to write letters to Democrats in Iowa. These meetings are vying to build a strong Iowa Dean contingent when the primary season opens there in January.</p>
<p>Dean’s grassroots strategies will be put to the test, as the next quarter’s fundraisingefforts swing into gear. Maybe when Bush has reached his fundraising goal of $170 million, the pundits will have something to say.</p>
<p />
<p><a type="external" href="">Equal in the Eyes of What Law?</a> In its latest attempt to muscle other countries into submission, Washington has blackballed 35 countries that have refused to behave. Washington wants US troops over seas to have blanket immunity from prosecution by the International Criminal Court. Unless they refuse to prosecute US troops on their soil, countries that have received aid from the US will now be cut-off.</p>
<p>The International Criminal Court was created five years ago to prosecute genocide, war crimes, and other crimes against humanity. But in May of last year, Washington renounced its obligations to the 1998 Rome Statute and opposed the establishment of the ICC — thus the American Servicemembers’ Protection Act was born. The ASPA exempts the US from cooperating with the ICC, bars US military aid to other countries that refuse to safeguard US troops from ICC prosecution, and bans UN peacekeeping operations unless the UN Security council shields Washington’s troops from prosecution — the UN has already agreed to <a href="http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&amp;u=/nm/20030612/wl_nm/un_court_usa_dc_11" type="external">exempt</a> US soldiers for one year.</p>
<p>The Bush Administrations claims that the ICC could be used to further politically-motivated actions against US troops stationed overseas. According to Ari Fleisher, speaking to the Associated Press, Bush and Co. are merely acting to protect their troops from <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62411-2003Jul2.html?nav=hptoc_w" type="external">unfair prosecution</a>:</p>
<p />
<p>“‘These are the people who are able to deliver assistance to the various states around the world, and if delivering aid to those states endangers America’s servicemen and servicewomen, the president’s first priority is with the servicemen and servicewomen,’ he said.”</p>
<p>But in a letter to US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, the Executive Director for the Human Rights Watch Kenneth Roth argues that Washington’s concerns are unfounded and its tactics immoral. First of all, the judges who sit on ICC’s bench are well-respected and qualified jurists from allied countries. Second, Roth holds that the bilateral immunity agreements are outright <a href="http://hrw.org/press/2003/06/usa063003ltr.htm" type="external">unconscionable</a>:</p>
<p />
<p>“Whatever the administration thinks of the International Criminal Court, its tactics in pursuing these bilateral agreements are unconscionable. Other governments can plainly see that punitive measures are being used primarily against poor and relatively weak states with few options other than to give in to the United States. Signing an agreement will put an ICC state party in breach of its legal obligations and at odds with other important national interests. This raw misuse of U.S. power makes the policy all the more objectionable.”</p>
<p>So what does all of this mean to the countries on the receiving end of the US’s power play?</p>
<p>For countries like Bulgaria, the implications could be <a href="http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&amp;storyID=3028107" type="external">negligible</a>. According to Reuters, Bulgaria has shrugged off Bush’s reprimand and said it could do without the $10 million that it will not receive. Colombia may feel more of a pinch. According to the Globe and Mail, only $5 million of Colombia’s aid — most of which goes to funding its drug war — will be at risk this year. But come 2004, $112 million may be in <a href="http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030702.wcour0702/BNStory/International/" type="external">jeopardy</a>.</p>
<p>For some countries, like Croatia, the problem is more complex. In hopes of getting a <a href="http://www.tol.cz/look/BRR/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&amp;IdPublication=9&amp;NrIssue=1&amp;NrSection=1&amp;NrArticle=9955" type="external">better shot</a> at NATO membership, Croatia gave into the European Union and agreed to not sign Washington’s bilateral immunity agreement — even though they will thereby lose $5 million in aid. The Sydney Morning Herald notes the <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/07/01/1056825397892.html" type="external">pointed irony</a> of the situation:</p>
<p>“Croatia has a more complex problem. US authorities have for years been pressing Zagreb to surrender Croatians for war crimes prosecutions at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague. The issue is politically divisive in a country where some political groups believe the matter should be settled at home.</p>
<p>At the same time, the Bush Administration is demanding a written promise — known as an Article 98 agreement — from Croatia that no Americans charged in the future with war crimes or other grave offences would be extradited to the new International Criminal Court.”</p>
<p>Equal in the eyes of the law, it seems, is a principle Bush would like to keep squarely inside US borders.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Amnesty International is arguing that the bilateral immunity agreements are in fact illegal. The Bush Administration’s campaign to <a href="http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/2003/world07012003.html" type="external">subvert</a> the ICC, they argue, is an attempt to take the spotlight off the crimes committed by US troops overseas:</p>
<p />
<p>“In the last year, US Ambassadors around the world have been exerting enormous pressure on governments around the world to enter into immunity agreements which commit them not to surrender any US national accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes to the Court. The agreements are illegal and the USA does not even undertake that it will investigate and prosecute such persons in their national courts. Indeed, in many cases it would be impossible as the US has not defined these crimes as crimes in US law. … Undue attention to the failed US campaign to undermine the Court has obscured the fact that the Court is now up and running and reviewing a wide range of complaints about crimes being committed on a horrific scale.”</p>
<p>Given that the court is in fact functioning, Washington would probably fare better, The Economist points out, by pushing for a tighter system of <a href="http://www.economist.com/agenda/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1892687" type="external">checks and balances</a> within other countries:</p>
<p />
<p>“In all, it might have been better if Mr Bush had stuck to his predecessor’s line of positive engagement with the process of creating the ICC, and pressured the court’s other member countries from within, to strengthen the checks and balances against politically motivated cases. Given Mr Bush’s steadfast refusal to consider this, perhaps the best that can be hoped is that, after a few years, the ICC proves its worth in bringing genuine war criminals to justice, avoids hearing unfounded accusations against democratic leaders and their law-abiding officials, and thereby encourages America eventually to sign up.”</p>
<p />
<p />
<p><a type="external" href="">Through Arab Eyes</a> While the cameras were rolling, Monday’s meeting between Ariel Sharon and Mahmoud Abbas in Jerusalem was all warm smiles, hearty handshakes, and <a href="http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&amp;cid=1312&amp;ncid=1312&amp;e=9&amp;u=/ap/20030701/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_palestinians_excerpts_2" type="external">lofty rhetoric</a>. Once again, Abbas, the newly-installed Palestinian prime minister, spoke of ending the bloodshed. Yet again, Sharon, Israel’s prime minister, referred to the “painful compromises” he was willing to make in pursuit of peace.</p>
<p>For those inclined toward optimism, the latest “ <a href="http://www.un.org/media/main/roadmap122002.html" type="external">road map</a>” discussions show some encouraging signs. Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Fatah’s mainstream fighters have declared a three-month <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3030480.stm" type="external">truce</a>. For its part, the Israeli army has allowed the main Gaza road to reopen, and yesterday began <a href="http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=421140" type="external">redeploying</a> its forces to the outskirts of Bethlehem. Yesterday’s Washington Post editorial, headlined “ <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61006-2003Jul1.html" type="external">Relief at Last</a>,” typified the American media’s reaction to the recent thaw. Right now, in fact, the situation on the ground might be better than at any time in the previous year.</p>
<p />
<p>That, however, is saying very little, and most of the Arab media is taking a “wait-and-see” approach. Israeli security issues, they note, have dominated the discussion so far, and Palestinians are unlikely to see much in the way of tangible improvements anytime soon, regardless of the road map’s success. The editors of Gulf News, for instance, declare that “ <a href="http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/opinion.asp?ArticleID=91565" type="external">All Palestinians must back the truce</a>” — more out of desperation than hope, one suspects.</p>
<p>“With the Palestinians taking control in northern and central parts of the Gaza Strip following a crucial Israeli withdrawal, sceptics wonder how long it will be before Sharon’s mighty military go storming back to reclaim the territory. For nothing can be considered final in these uncertain times. There is still much more road to be travelled, with or without a roadmap, before the ultimate destination is achieved.”</p>
<p>Jihad Al Khazen, writing for the London-based Dar Al Hayat has a similar view. He urges the Palestinians to implement the road map faithfully, if for no other reason than to <a href="http://english.daralhayat.com/column/07-2003/Article-20030701-1f%2063b47d-c0a8-01ed-005a-b8596107220c/story.html" type="external">avoid being blamed for its eventual collapse</a>.</p>
<p />
<p>“I hope Abbas will succeed in his mission, knowing that this is the right time for it and that any failure would be a total disaster for the Palestinians and the entire region. Americans are responsible for supervising the implementation and they shall determine who abided by the Roadmap and who didn’t.</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>Obviously, Sharon accepted the Roadmap hoping the Palestinians would abort it. Hence, the latter should prove how wise they are to disappoint Sharon.”</p>
<p>In Beirut’s Daily Star, meanwhile, Geoffrey Aronson quarrels with the road map itself, rightly pointing out that, like the ill-fated Oslo accords before it, the new peace document <a href="http://www.dailystar.com.lb/opinion/30_06_03_e.asp" type="external">isn’t likely to stem the growth of Israeli settlements</a> in the West Bank and Gaza, which are <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/middle_east/israel_and_the_p%20alestinians/key_documents/1682640.stm" type="external">illegal under international law</a>.</p>
<p />
<p>“During the Oslo years, peace and settlement expansion were not viewed as irreconcilable objectives. Israel recognized the PLO, oversaw Arafat’s return to Palestine and doubled the population of its West Bank and Gaza Strip settlements without cracking a smile. Palestinian villages and landowners, watching their patrimony slip away, however, knew that the joke was on them.</p>
<p>The road map attempts to challenge this basic equation by calling for an effective freeze on settlement expansion and the dismantling of some settlements. Sharon is determined to make this critical feature of the international consensus irrelevant, and there are disturbing signs that the Bush administration is prepared to follow Sharon’s lead.</p>
<p>Palestinians can only marvel at the American and Israeli expectation that continuing Israeli settlement expansion on Palestinian lands will not undermine the credibility of any diplomatic process associated with it. They wonder how they can be expected to build a wall around the militants in their midst while settlement expansion continues.”</p>
<p>Indeed, Sharon’s commitment to the road map’s required settlement freeze is highly suspect. As Jonathan Cook reports in Egypt’s Al Ahram, Sharon is overseeing a <a href="http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/644/re51.htm" type="external">bait-and-switch operation</a> in which a few fake outposts are torn down for public consumption even as settlers continue to solidify their presence at the real ones.</p>
<p />
<p>“These sites are known — even by the settlers — as ‘dummy outposts’: small clusters of tents or dilapidated caravans that are established as bargaining counters in the settlers’ negotiations with the government.</p>
<p>Their destruction can be traded for the licensing of inhabited outposts, and the televised pictures of soldiers manhandling Jewish youths elicit waves of sympathy for the settler movement from other Israelis, most of whom ordinarily want the settlements evacuated.</p>
<p>But the biggest advantage to the settlers is that a sacrificed outpost can be quietly re-established as soon as the army and television cameras have left. The crackdowns, despite appearances, are a win-win game for the settlers.”</p>
<p>Nor has the fate of <a href="http://www.jordantimes.com/Wed/opinion/opinion2.htm" type="external">Palestinian refugees</a> driven from their homes in Israel and the West Bank in 1948 and 1967 been given much thought, Rami Khouri observes in the Jordan Times. Both societies, Khouri writes, need to discuss the “right to return” responsibly and maturely. Instead, fiery, infantile rhetoric prevails on both sides.</p>
<p />
<p>“The steady progress being made on implementing the ‘roadmap’ to Palestinian-Israeli negotiations for peaceful coexistence should be applauded and supported — but it should not deceive us into a romantic world of make-believe visions.</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>The tragedy is that incompetent leaderships on both sides have totally abandoned their moral responsibility to lead their respective peoples to a fair and feasible compromise. Israeli and Palestinian leaders steadfastly refuse to raise the refugee issue with their own people or to force a spirited public debate on the contours of a mutually fair solution.”</p>
<p>So is there reason for optimism in the Holy Land? Yes, but just a little, and even less cause for celebration. As the Independent‘s Justin Huggler reports, Palestinians in Bethlehem are discovering that the much-heralded Israeli pullout <a href="http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=%20421140" type="external">doesn’t mean much on the ground</a>.</p>
<p />
<p>“Sitting on the steps of the town hall in Manger Square, the mayor, Hanna Nasser, looked despondent. Some one walked up to him and offered his congratulations. ‘Congratulations? For what?’ the mayor said. ‘This is all a big bluff by the Israelis. They want to show the world they have made this big withdrawal, when the reality is the checkpoints are still here. What withdrawal? The soldiers weren’t here,’ he pointed at the square. ‘The only change is the police are back in uniform.’</p>
<p>The Israeli soldiers drew back from the streets months ago, and have only been coming in from time to time to arrest suspected militants. Under the withdrawal, the Israeli army has agreed to stop these raids.</p>
<p>From everyone in Bethlehem came the same message: nothing had changed because the city was still surrounded by Israeli checkpoints preventing Palestinians going in or out. On Tuesday, the Israeli army closed two more roads from Bethlehem to nearby villages.”</p>
<p />
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<p /> | Daily MoJo | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2003/07/daily-mojo-15/ | 2003-07-03 | 4left
| Daily MoJo
<p />
<p><a href="#one" type="external">Bringing Home the Loot</a> Howard Dean moves out of the little leagues with $7.5 million, but that’s still a drop next to Bush’s cool $34 mil.</p>
<p><a href="#two" type="external">Equal Under What Law?</a> Washington is strong-arming smaller, weaker democracies to keep the international court away from US troops.</p>
<p><a href="#three" type="external">Through Arab Eyes</a> Ariel Sharon and Abu Mazen may be acting like old friends, but what’s backing up the show? Not much, says the Arab world.</p>
<p />
<p><a type="external" href="">Bringing Home the Loot</a> On Tuesday, commentators couldn’t contain their surprise that little ‘ol Howard Dean managed to beat the other Democrats in second quarter fundraising. Grassroots appeal, imagine that! Dean announced that he had raised $7.5 million dollars at the end of the second quarter. Joe Lieberman came up behind Dean for a grand total of $5 million. Of course, add all the Democratic candidates’ funds together and the figure still doesn’t come close to Bush’s $34 million warchest. In just six weeks Bush and his posse have managed to outraise everyone by a long, long shot.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, despite the fact that in electoral politics there can be only one winner, everyone seemed excited to claim some sort of victory after this round. Bush, of course, has got his loot. Dean outraised all the other Dems. Dennis Kucinich is touting the fact that he came in second on the <a href="http://moveon.org/pac/primary/report.html" type="external">Move On primary</a>.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>While Bush has been gallivanting across the country making appearances at $2,000 a plate luncheons, Dean has <a href="http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&amp;u=/ap/20030702/ap_on_el_pr/presidential_money_30" type="external">scored big</a> with the internet donors, raising $3 million online last week.</p>
<p>Although Dean has clearly learned a thing or two about finding Web donors — even Bush only raised $700,000 through his website — The New York Times points out that try as they might, Democrats have a significant the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/01/opinion/01TUE3.html" type="external">disadvantage in fundraising these days</a>.</p>
<p>“For years, the G.O.P. invested more heavily than the Democrats in the direct-mail, small-donor techniques of raising cash. The latest tallies from last year’s Congressional elections show this Republican advantage paying off handsomely, perchance temporarily, now that the era of unlimited ‘soft money’ donations from corporations, unions and individuals has been ended by the McCain-Feingold law. With its superior donor base, the G.O.P. attracted almost 50 percent more contributors than the Democrats and showed a commanding edge among lower-budget donors who gave less than $200 apiece.”</p>
<p>The fact that George Bush simply waltzed into Burlingame, California last week and raised $1.6 million dollars in a single event was so expec ted as to barely warrant attention, it seems. Wednesday the web was flooded with ‘blog entries on Dean’s emergence as a “real” candidate, but hardly any commentators made a peep about the astounding amount of cash that Bush has raised.</p>
<p>For those of us curious about where Bush is getting the bug bucks, we’ll have to count on Bush’s honesty and not US disclosure law. The Washington Post reminds us that despite recent campaign disclosure rulings, crucial information about fundraisers is <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60993-2003Jul1.html" type="external">not required</a>. While the new law puts a $2,000 limit on individual donations, it does not require politicians to name the people who are recruiting donors — the people who really do the heavy lifting. As the Post puts it: “For in a campaign finance system that hinges on disclosure, the glaring omission is the failure to require that a campaign’s true financiers be revealed.” Much of Bush’s fundraising strategy rests on the ability of his “pioneers” and “rangers” — fundraisers who manage to bring in funds in the $100,000 to $200,000 range. Although Bush did publish such lists in 2000, and promises to do so again, the fact that such measures are not required is a big problem, according to the editors of the Post.</p>
<p>“[T]he very information that could be most relevant to the public — the names of individuals to whom a candidate is most beholden — is exactly what’s not called for on the disclosure forms. Campaigns have to detail this Federal Express bill or that catering tab, but not the fact that they wouldn’t have been able to pay those expenses without the help of this oil company executive or that trial lawyer.”</p>
<p>Though the Dems don’t have their own “pioneer” strategy to counter Bush’s wild-west motif, Dean is busy building a neighborhood equivalent. On Tuesday USA Today reported that almost <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2003-07-01-dean-fundraising-usat_x.htm" type="external">50,000 Dean fans</a> planned to hold local meetings throughout the country to write letters to Democrats in Iowa. These meetings are vying to build a strong Iowa Dean contingent when the primary season opens there in January.</p>
<p>Dean’s grassroots strategies will be put to the test, as the next quarter’s fundraisingefforts swing into gear. Maybe when Bush has reached his fundraising goal of $170 million, the pundits will have something to say.</p>
<p />
<p><a type="external" href="">Equal in the Eyes of What Law?</a> In its latest attempt to muscle other countries into submission, Washington has blackballed 35 countries that have refused to behave. Washington wants US troops over seas to have blanket immunity from prosecution by the International Criminal Court. Unless they refuse to prosecute US troops on their soil, countries that have received aid from the US will now be cut-off.</p>
<p>The International Criminal Court was created five years ago to prosecute genocide, war crimes, and other crimes against humanity. But in May of last year, Washington renounced its obligations to the 1998 Rome Statute and opposed the establishment of the ICC — thus the American Servicemembers’ Protection Act was born. The ASPA exempts the US from cooperating with the ICC, bars US military aid to other countries that refuse to safeguard US troops from ICC prosecution, and bans UN peacekeeping operations unless the UN Security council shields Washington’s troops from prosecution — the UN has already agreed to <a href="http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&amp;u=/nm/20030612/wl_nm/un_court_usa_dc_11" type="external">exempt</a> US soldiers for one year.</p>
<p>The Bush Administrations claims that the ICC could be used to further politically-motivated actions against US troops stationed overseas. According to Ari Fleisher, speaking to the Associated Press, Bush and Co. are merely acting to protect their troops from <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62411-2003Jul2.html?nav=hptoc_w" type="external">unfair prosecution</a>:</p>
<p />
<p>“‘These are the people who are able to deliver assistance to the various states around the world, and if delivering aid to those states endangers America’s servicemen and servicewomen, the president’s first priority is with the servicemen and servicewomen,’ he said.”</p>
<p>But in a letter to US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, the Executive Director for the Human Rights Watch Kenneth Roth argues that Washington’s concerns are unfounded and its tactics immoral. First of all, the judges who sit on ICC’s bench are well-respected and qualified jurists from allied countries. Second, Roth holds that the bilateral immunity agreements are outright <a href="http://hrw.org/press/2003/06/usa063003ltr.htm" type="external">unconscionable</a>:</p>
<p />
<p>“Whatever the administration thinks of the International Criminal Court, its tactics in pursuing these bilateral agreements are unconscionable. Other governments can plainly see that punitive measures are being used primarily against poor and relatively weak states with few options other than to give in to the United States. Signing an agreement will put an ICC state party in breach of its legal obligations and at odds with other important national interests. This raw misuse of U.S. power makes the policy all the more objectionable.”</p>
<p>So what does all of this mean to the countries on the receiving end of the US’s power play?</p>
<p>For countries like Bulgaria, the implications could be <a href="http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&amp;storyID=3028107" type="external">negligible</a>. According to Reuters, Bulgaria has shrugged off Bush’s reprimand and said it could do without the $10 million that it will not receive. Colombia may feel more of a pinch. According to the Globe and Mail, only $5 million of Colombia’s aid — most of which goes to funding its drug war — will be at risk this year. But come 2004, $112 million may be in <a href="http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030702.wcour0702/BNStory/International/" type="external">jeopardy</a>.</p>
<p>For some countries, like Croatia, the problem is more complex. In hopes of getting a <a href="http://www.tol.cz/look/BRR/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&amp;IdPublication=9&amp;NrIssue=1&amp;NrSection=1&amp;NrArticle=9955" type="external">better shot</a> at NATO membership, Croatia gave into the European Union and agreed to not sign Washington’s bilateral immunity agreement — even though they will thereby lose $5 million in aid. The Sydney Morning Herald notes the <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/07/01/1056825397892.html" type="external">pointed irony</a> of the situation:</p>
<p>“Croatia has a more complex problem. US authorities have for years been pressing Zagreb to surrender Croatians for war crimes prosecutions at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague. The issue is politically divisive in a country where some political groups believe the matter should be settled at home.</p>
<p>At the same time, the Bush Administration is demanding a written promise — known as an Article 98 agreement — from Croatia that no Americans charged in the future with war crimes or other grave offences would be extradited to the new International Criminal Court.”</p>
<p>Equal in the eyes of the law, it seems, is a principle Bush would like to keep squarely inside US borders.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Amnesty International is arguing that the bilateral immunity agreements are in fact illegal. The Bush Administration’s campaign to <a href="http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/2003/world07012003.html" type="external">subvert</a> the ICC, they argue, is an attempt to take the spotlight off the crimes committed by US troops overseas:</p>
<p />
<p>“In the last year, US Ambassadors around the world have been exerting enormous pressure on governments around the world to enter into immunity agreements which commit them not to surrender any US national accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes to the Court. The agreements are illegal and the USA does not even undertake that it will investigate and prosecute such persons in their national courts. Indeed, in many cases it would be impossible as the US has not defined these crimes as crimes in US law. … Undue attention to the failed US campaign to undermine the Court has obscured the fact that the Court is now up and running and reviewing a wide range of complaints about crimes being committed on a horrific scale.”</p>
<p>Given that the court is in fact functioning, Washington would probably fare better, The Economist points out, by pushing for a tighter system of <a href="http://www.economist.com/agenda/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1892687" type="external">checks and balances</a> within other countries:</p>
<p />
<p>“In all, it might have been better if Mr Bush had stuck to his predecessor’s line of positive engagement with the process of creating the ICC, and pressured the court’s other member countries from within, to strengthen the checks and balances against politically motivated cases. Given Mr Bush’s steadfast refusal to consider this, perhaps the best that can be hoped is that, after a few years, the ICC proves its worth in bringing genuine war criminals to justice, avoids hearing unfounded accusations against democratic leaders and their law-abiding officials, and thereby encourages America eventually to sign up.”</p>
<p />
<p />
<p><a type="external" href="">Through Arab Eyes</a> While the cameras were rolling, Monday’s meeting between Ariel Sharon and Mahmoud Abbas in Jerusalem was all warm smiles, hearty handshakes, and <a href="http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&amp;cid=1312&amp;ncid=1312&amp;e=9&amp;u=/ap/20030701/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_palestinians_excerpts_2" type="external">lofty rhetoric</a>. Once again, Abbas, the newly-installed Palestinian prime minister, spoke of ending the bloodshed. Yet again, Sharon, Israel’s prime minister, referred to the “painful compromises” he was willing to make in pursuit of peace.</p>
<p>For those inclined toward optimism, the latest “ <a href="http://www.un.org/media/main/roadmap122002.html" type="external">road map</a>” discussions show some encouraging signs. Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Fatah’s mainstream fighters have declared a three-month <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3030480.stm" type="external">truce</a>. For its part, the Israeli army has allowed the main Gaza road to reopen, and yesterday began <a href="http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=421140" type="external">redeploying</a> its forces to the outskirts of Bethlehem. Yesterday’s Washington Post editorial, headlined “ <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61006-2003Jul1.html" type="external">Relief at Last</a>,” typified the American media’s reaction to the recent thaw. Right now, in fact, the situation on the ground might be better than at any time in the previous year.</p>
<p />
<p>That, however, is saying very little, and most of the Arab media is taking a “wait-and-see” approach. Israeli security issues, they note, have dominated the discussion so far, and Palestinians are unlikely to see much in the way of tangible improvements anytime soon, regardless of the road map’s success. The editors of Gulf News, for instance, declare that “ <a href="http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/opinion.asp?ArticleID=91565" type="external">All Palestinians must back the truce</a>” — more out of desperation than hope, one suspects.</p>
<p>“With the Palestinians taking control in northern and central parts of the Gaza Strip following a crucial Israeli withdrawal, sceptics wonder how long it will be before Sharon’s mighty military go storming back to reclaim the territory. For nothing can be considered final in these uncertain times. There is still much more road to be travelled, with or without a roadmap, before the ultimate destination is achieved.”</p>
<p>Jihad Al Khazen, writing for the London-based Dar Al Hayat has a similar view. He urges the Palestinians to implement the road map faithfully, if for no other reason than to <a href="http://english.daralhayat.com/column/07-2003/Article-20030701-1f%2063b47d-c0a8-01ed-005a-b8596107220c/story.html" type="external">avoid being blamed for its eventual collapse</a>.</p>
<p />
<p>“I hope Abbas will succeed in his mission, knowing that this is the right time for it and that any failure would be a total disaster for the Palestinians and the entire region. Americans are responsible for supervising the implementation and they shall determine who abided by the Roadmap and who didn’t.</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>Obviously, Sharon accepted the Roadmap hoping the Palestinians would abort it. Hence, the latter should prove how wise they are to disappoint Sharon.”</p>
<p>In Beirut’s Daily Star, meanwhile, Geoffrey Aronson quarrels with the road map itself, rightly pointing out that, like the ill-fated Oslo accords before it, the new peace document <a href="http://www.dailystar.com.lb/opinion/30_06_03_e.asp" type="external">isn’t likely to stem the growth of Israeli settlements</a> in the West Bank and Gaza, which are <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/middle_east/israel_and_the_p%20alestinians/key_documents/1682640.stm" type="external">illegal under international law</a>.</p>
<p />
<p>“During the Oslo years, peace and settlement expansion were not viewed as irreconcilable objectives. Israel recognized the PLO, oversaw Arafat’s return to Palestine and doubled the population of its West Bank and Gaza Strip settlements without cracking a smile. Palestinian villages and landowners, watching their patrimony slip away, however, knew that the joke was on them.</p>
<p>The road map attempts to challenge this basic equation by calling for an effective freeze on settlement expansion and the dismantling of some settlements. Sharon is determined to make this critical feature of the international consensus irrelevant, and there are disturbing signs that the Bush administration is prepared to follow Sharon’s lead.</p>
<p>Palestinians can only marvel at the American and Israeli expectation that continuing Israeli settlement expansion on Palestinian lands will not undermine the credibility of any diplomatic process associated with it. They wonder how they can be expected to build a wall around the militants in their midst while settlement expansion continues.”</p>
<p>Indeed, Sharon’s commitment to the road map’s required settlement freeze is highly suspect. As Jonathan Cook reports in Egypt’s Al Ahram, Sharon is overseeing a <a href="http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/644/re51.htm" type="external">bait-and-switch operation</a> in which a few fake outposts are torn down for public consumption even as settlers continue to solidify their presence at the real ones.</p>
<p />
<p>“These sites are known — even by the settlers — as ‘dummy outposts’: small clusters of tents or dilapidated caravans that are established as bargaining counters in the settlers’ negotiations with the government.</p>
<p>Their destruction can be traded for the licensing of inhabited outposts, and the televised pictures of soldiers manhandling Jewish youths elicit waves of sympathy for the settler movement from other Israelis, most of whom ordinarily want the settlements evacuated.</p>
<p>But the biggest advantage to the settlers is that a sacrificed outpost can be quietly re-established as soon as the army and television cameras have left. The crackdowns, despite appearances, are a win-win game for the settlers.”</p>
<p>Nor has the fate of <a href="http://www.jordantimes.com/Wed/opinion/opinion2.htm" type="external">Palestinian refugees</a> driven from their homes in Israel and the West Bank in 1948 and 1967 been given much thought, Rami Khouri observes in the Jordan Times. Both societies, Khouri writes, need to discuss the “right to return” responsibly and maturely. Instead, fiery, infantile rhetoric prevails on both sides.</p>
<p />
<p>“The steady progress being made on implementing the ‘roadmap’ to Palestinian-Israeli negotiations for peaceful coexistence should be applauded and supported — but it should not deceive us into a romantic world of make-believe visions.</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>The tragedy is that incompetent leaderships on both sides have totally abandoned their moral responsibility to lead their respective peoples to a fair and feasible compromise. Israeli and Palestinian leaders steadfastly refuse to raise the refugee issue with their own people or to force a spirited public debate on the contours of a mutually fair solution.”</p>
<p>So is there reason for optimism in the Holy Land? Yes, but just a little, and even less cause for celebration. As the Independent‘s Justin Huggler reports, Palestinians in Bethlehem are discovering that the much-heralded Israeli pullout <a href="http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=%20421140" type="external">doesn’t mean much on the ground</a>.</p>
<p />
<p>“Sitting on the steps of the town hall in Manger Square, the mayor, Hanna Nasser, looked despondent. Some one walked up to him and offered his congratulations. ‘Congratulations? For what?’ the mayor said. ‘This is all a big bluff by the Israelis. They want to show the world they have made this big withdrawal, when the reality is the checkpoints are still here. What withdrawal? The soldiers weren’t here,’ he pointed at the square. ‘The only change is the police are back in uniform.’</p>
<p>The Israeli soldiers drew back from the streets months ago, and have only been coming in from time to time to arrest suspected militants. Under the withdrawal, the Israeli army has agreed to stop these raids.</p>
<p>From everyone in Bethlehem came the same message: nothing had changed because the city was still surrounded by Israeli checkpoints preventing Palestinians going in or out. On Tuesday, the Israeli army closed two more roads from Bethlehem to nearby villages.”</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p /> | 1,822 |
<p />
<p>Walt Disney reported <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/02/10/walt-disney-co-q1-earnings-soar-on-star-wars-but-c.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">results Opens a New Window.</a>for its fiscal 2016first quarter last week. The diversified entertainment giant posted strong year-over-year results with revenue increasing 14% and adjusted earnings per share jumping 28%. The results were driven by the phenomenally successfulStar Wars: The Force Awakens, which opened in domestic theaters in mid-December and smashed many box office records.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Despite posting strong headline numbers that beat analysts' expectations, shares of Disney dropped about 4% following the release. This was due to decreased profitability in the media networks segment, feeding into market concerns around "cord-cutting" and "cord-slimming." The fear is that subscribers cancelling or trimming their large cable bundles will negatively affect the future profitability of Disney's cable networks, particularly sports juggernaut ESPN.</p>
<p>The market has driven Disney stock down over 20% since it notched an all-time high about six months ago over this concern, which first surfaced when Disney reported its third-quarter 2015 results last August. Here are seven important takeaways that Disney CEO Bob Iger shared on the company's conference call.</p>
<p>Source: Josh Hallett/ <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/hyku/5503964820" type="external">Flickr Opens a New Window.</a></p>
<p>1. ESPN had a recent uptick in subscribersFrom Iger's opening remarks, "In the last couple of months, we have actually seen an uptick in ESPN subs[cribers] which is encouraging."</p>
<p>Granted, "uptick" wasn't defined, and this could be just a seasonal blip. Nonetheless, it's still good news -- or, at the least, not bad news. For background, Disney released its ESPN subscriber numbers in an SEC filing the day before Thanksgiving, revealing a downward trend from 99 million at the end of fiscal 2013 to 92 million at the end of fiscal 2015. That's an annual subscriber loss of about 3.6%.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>In response to an analyst's question about the reason for the uptick, Iger said, "[W]e believe that we've benefited from the growth of certain light packages that ESPN has been part of, particularly [Sling TV's] Dish."</p>
<p>2. Nielsen lowered its estimate of losses of multi-channel householdsThe market's ballyhooing about cord-cutting was largely set off by Nielsen statistics reflecting the drop in ESPN subscribers through 2015. From Iger's opening remarks:</p>
<p>3. ESPN subscriber count drop is due largely to cord-slimmingThis is a key point and one many investors may not know, since it represents a change from what Iger said last August. From Iger's response to a question about this change of opinion:</p>
<p>4. Disney is in talks to have ESPN included in light bundlesDisney is taking action to halt ESPN subscriber losses. From Iger's opening remarks:</p>
<p>5. Disney's media properties are tailor-made for over-the-top productsWhile Iger believes the large cable bundle will remain the dominant media product for some time, he made it clear that Disney plans to successfully adapt to a changing marketplace:</p>
<p>6. The American love affair with ESPNFrom Iger's opening remarks:</p>
<p>7. ESPN ad sales significantly outpaced the marketThe bulk of revenue Disney generates from ESPN is from cable affiliate fees that it receives from distributors based upon subscriber households. However, ad sales are also an important part of the revenue stream. From Iger's opening remarks:</p>
<p>Wrap-upWhile cord-cutting and cord-slimming fears are legitimate, especially as the media networks segment contributes the largest portion of operating income to the company, the issue is overblown. The market is underestimating Disney's ability to overcome this challenge and/or compensate for it.</p>
<p>The House of Mouse has been masterful at profitably adapting to changing markets since it was founded in 1923. The company is second to none when it comes to leveraging its assets across its businesses to generate revenue that's stronger than many industry followers project, and/or to generate new sources of revenue that few could see coming. These are precisely the reasons that the acquisition prices of Lucasfilm, Marvel, and Pixar are now looking like bargains, and why the company's quarterly earnings results regularly surpass analysts' expectations.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/02/21/walt-disney-co-7-key-things-ceo-bob-iger-said-last.aspx" type="external">Walt Disney Co.: 7 Key Things CEO Bob Iger Said Last Week About ESPN, Cord-Cutting, and a Changing Market Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFMcKenna/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Beth McKenna Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned, though is weak for Pixar films. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Walt Disney. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" 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://wiki.fool.com/Motley?source=eptfxblnk0000004" 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?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/help/index.htm?display=about02" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | Walt Disney Co.: 7 Key Things CEO Bob Iger Said Last Week About ESPN, Cord-Cutting, and a Changing M | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/02/21/walt-disney-co-7-key-things-ceo-bob-iger-said-last-week-about-espn-cord-cutting.html | 2016-03-27 | 0right
| Walt Disney Co.: 7 Key Things CEO Bob Iger Said Last Week About ESPN, Cord-Cutting, and a Changing M
<p />
<p>Walt Disney reported <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/02/10/walt-disney-co-q1-earnings-soar-on-star-wars-but-c.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">results Opens a New Window.</a>for its fiscal 2016first quarter last week. The diversified entertainment giant posted strong year-over-year results with revenue increasing 14% and adjusted earnings per share jumping 28%. The results were driven by the phenomenally successfulStar Wars: The Force Awakens, which opened in domestic theaters in mid-December and smashed many box office records.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Despite posting strong headline numbers that beat analysts' expectations, shares of Disney dropped about 4% following the release. This was due to decreased profitability in the media networks segment, feeding into market concerns around "cord-cutting" and "cord-slimming." The fear is that subscribers cancelling or trimming their large cable bundles will negatively affect the future profitability of Disney's cable networks, particularly sports juggernaut ESPN.</p>
<p>The market has driven Disney stock down over 20% since it notched an all-time high about six months ago over this concern, which first surfaced when Disney reported its third-quarter 2015 results last August. Here are seven important takeaways that Disney CEO Bob Iger shared on the company's conference call.</p>
<p>Source: Josh Hallett/ <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/hyku/5503964820" type="external">Flickr Opens a New Window.</a></p>
<p>1. ESPN had a recent uptick in subscribersFrom Iger's opening remarks, "In the last couple of months, we have actually seen an uptick in ESPN subs[cribers] which is encouraging."</p>
<p>Granted, "uptick" wasn't defined, and this could be just a seasonal blip. Nonetheless, it's still good news -- or, at the least, not bad news. For background, Disney released its ESPN subscriber numbers in an SEC filing the day before Thanksgiving, revealing a downward trend from 99 million at the end of fiscal 2013 to 92 million at the end of fiscal 2015. That's an annual subscriber loss of about 3.6%.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>In response to an analyst's question about the reason for the uptick, Iger said, "[W]e believe that we've benefited from the growth of certain light packages that ESPN has been part of, particularly [Sling TV's] Dish."</p>
<p>2. Nielsen lowered its estimate of losses of multi-channel householdsThe market's ballyhooing about cord-cutting was largely set off by Nielsen statistics reflecting the drop in ESPN subscribers through 2015. From Iger's opening remarks:</p>
<p>3. ESPN subscriber count drop is due largely to cord-slimmingThis is a key point and one many investors may not know, since it represents a change from what Iger said last August. From Iger's response to a question about this change of opinion:</p>
<p>4. Disney is in talks to have ESPN included in light bundlesDisney is taking action to halt ESPN subscriber losses. From Iger's opening remarks:</p>
<p>5. Disney's media properties are tailor-made for over-the-top productsWhile Iger believes the large cable bundle will remain the dominant media product for some time, he made it clear that Disney plans to successfully adapt to a changing marketplace:</p>
<p>6. The American love affair with ESPNFrom Iger's opening remarks:</p>
<p>7. ESPN ad sales significantly outpaced the marketThe bulk of revenue Disney generates from ESPN is from cable affiliate fees that it receives from distributors based upon subscriber households. However, ad sales are also an important part of the revenue stream. From Iger's opening remarks:</p>
<p>Wrap-upWhile cord-cutting and cord-slimming fears are legitimate, especially as the media networks segment contributes the largest portion of operating income to the company, the issue is overblown. The market is underestimating Disney's ability to overcome this challenge and/or compensate for it.</p>
<p>The House of Mouse has been masterful at profitably adapting to changing markets since it was founded in 1923. The company is second to none when it comes to leveraging its assets across its businesses to generate revenue that's stronger than many industry followers project, and/or to generate new sources of revenue that few could see coming. These are precisely the reasons that the acquisition prices of Lucasfilm, Marvel, and Pixar are now looking like bargains, and why the company's quarterly earnings results regularly surpass analysts' expectations.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/02/21/walt-disney-co-7-key-things-ceo-bob-iger-said-last.aspx" type="external">Walt Disney Co.: 7 Key Things CEO Bob Iger Said Last Week About ESPN, Cord-Cutting, and a Changing Market Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFMcKenna/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Beth McKenna Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned, though is weak for Pixar films. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Walt Disney. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" 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://wiki.fool.com/Motley?source=eptfxblnk0000004" 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?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/help/index.htm?display=about02" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | 1,823 |
<p>It's not surprising - another <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/us-government-sues-over-south-carolina-immigration-law-230033084.html%20" type="external">lawsuit by the federal government - targeting South Carolina's new immigration law.</a> Not surprising, but certainly misplaced. South Carolina, like many other states, are facing the reality that they must now protect their citizens and borders because of the federal government's massive failure in this area.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHs5ovYpAm8&amp;feature=player_embedded#!" type="external">I told Bill Hemmer of America's Newsroom</a> on FOX that <a href="" type="internal">as a grandson of immigrants, I support immigration - legal immigration.</a> But what's happening is clear: there is a failure of the federal government to exercise its authority to protect our citizens. So states have a right to protect their citizens - and laws like the new one in South Carolina - clearly fall within the police power of the state.</p>
<p>South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, a daughter of immigrants, signed the law in June. It takes effect in January. <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/us-government-sues-over-south-carolina-immigration-law-230033084.html%20" type="external">Her spokesperson summed up her position:</a> "As the daughter of immigrants who came to this country legally, Governor Haley understands that no American value is more sacred than the rule of law. That's what this is about, 'nothing more, nothing less.' If the Feds were doing their job, we wouldn't have had to address illegal immigration reform at the state level. But, until they do, we're going to keep fighting in South Carolina to be able to enforce our laws."</p>
<p>There's absolutely nothing wrong or unconstitutional for states to step in because the federal government isn't doing its job.</p>
<p>As I told FOX, the fact is that if you're in Europe and you're asked to produce your passport to establish your citizenship, and you don't show it, you end up in jail.</p>
<p>You can watch my FOX interview on this topic <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHs5ovYpAm8&amp;feature=player_embedded#!" type="external">here</a>. What I also told Bill Hemmer is that this issue ultimately will be decided by the Supreme Court of the United States. All of these challenges will end up there. In fact, Arizona's case is currently pending before the high court.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">In September</a>,&#160;we filed an amicus brief representing 59 members of Congress, along with nearly 60,000 Americans who signed on to our Committee to Protect America's Border, backing a request for the Justices to take the Arizona case.</p>
<p>It's critical that the high court take the case and overturn a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Our position is very clear: Arizona's S.B. 1070 is constitutional because it mirrors federal immigration law and incorporates federal standards. Our brief is posted <a href="http://c0391070.cdn2.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/pdf/immigration-Arizona-v-US-supreme-court-amicus-brief.pdf" type="external">here</a>.</p>
<p>We are also urging the high court to take this Arizona case because many states - South Carolina being the most recent - are enacting laws like Arizona's and that most of these mirror federal immigration provisions. <a href="http://c0391070.cdn2.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/pdf/immigration-Arizona-v-US-supreme-court-amicus-brief.pdf" type="external">Our brief contends:</a> "The legitimacy of state efforts to promote national policy as embodied in federal statutes is an important issue that requires this Court's resolution." It is our position that the appeals court decision "treads upon federalism by stripping the states of all sovereignty over problems that Congress and our federalist system have committed to the states."</p>
<p>Whether it's Arizona, South Carolina, or Alabama, this is an issue that needs to be addressed and clarified by the Supreme Court.</p> | Don't Blame States for Federal Government's Failure to Protect Citizens | true | http://aclj.org/immigration/don-t-blame-states-for-federal-government-s-failure-to-protect-citizens | 2011-11-02 | 0right
| Don't Blame States for Federal Government's Failure to Protect Citizens
<p>It's not surprising - another <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/us-government-sues-over-south-carolina-immigration-law-230033084.html%20" type="external">lawsuit by the federal government - targeting South Carolina's new immigration law.</a> Not surprising, but certainly misplaced. South Carolina, like many other states, are facing the reality that they must now protect their citizens and borders because of the federal government's massive failure in this area.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHs5ovYpAm8&amp;feature=player_embedded#!" type="external">I told Bill Hemmer of America's Newsroom</a> on FOX that <a href="" type="internal">as a grandson of immigrants, I support immigration - legal immigration.</a> But what's happening is clear: there is a failure of the federal government to exercise its authority to protect our citizens. So states have a right to protect their citizens - and laws like the new one in South Carolina - clearly fall within the police power of the state.</p>
<p>South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, a daughter of immigrants, signed the law in June. It takes effect in January. <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/us-government-sues-over-south-carolina-immigration-law-230033084.html%20" type="external">Her spokesperson summed up her position:</a> "As the daughter of immigrants who came to this country legally, Governor Haley understands that no American value is more sacred than the rule of law. That's what this is about, 'nothing more, nothing less.' If the Feds were doing their job, we wouldn't have had to address illegal immigration reform at the state level. But, until they do, we're going to keep fighting in South Carolina to be able to enforce our laws."</p>
<p>There's absolutely nothing wrong or unconstitutional for states to step in because the federal government isn't doing its job.</p>
<p>As I told FOX, the fact is that if you're in Europe and you're asked to produce your passport to establish your citizenship, and you don't show it, you end up in jail.</p>
<p>You can watch my FOX interview on this topic <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHs5ovYpAm8&amp;feature=player_embedded#!" type="external">here</a>. What I also told Bill Hemmer is that this issue ultimately will be decided by the Supreme Court of the United States. All of these challenges will end up there. In fact, Arizona's case is currently pending before the high court.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">In September</a>,&#160;we filed an amicus brief representing 59 members of Congress, along with nearly 60,000 Americans who signed on to our Committee to Protect America's Border, backing a request for the Justices to take the Arizona case.</p>
<p>It's critical that the high court take the case and overturn a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Our position is very clear: Arizona's S.B. 1070 is constitutional because it mirrors federal immigration law and incorporates federal standards. Our brief is posted <a href="http://c0391070.cdn2.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/pdf/immigration-Arizona-v-US-supreme-court-amicus-brief.pdf" type="external">here</a>.</p>
<p>We are also urging the high court to take this Arizona case because many states - South Carolina being the most recent - are enacting laws like Arizona's and that most of these mirror federal immigration provisions. <a href="http://c0391070.cdn2.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/pdf/immigration-Arizona-v-US-supreme-court-amicus-brief.pdf" type="external">Our brief contends:</a> "The legitimacy of state efforts to promote national policy as embodied in federal statutes is an important issue that requires this Court's resolution." It is our position that the appeals court decision "treads upon federalism by stripping the states of all sovereignty over problems that Congress and our federalist system have committed to the states."</p>
<p>Whether it's Arizona, South Carolina, or Alabama, this is an issue that needs to be addressed and clarified by the Supreme Court.</p> | 1,824 |
<p>SAO PAULO (AP) - Environmentalists in Brazil say they are trying to figure out why more than 80 gray dolphins have died in less than a month on the coast of Rio de Janeiro state.</p>
<p>A statement from the Gray Dolphin Institute says the dolphins died over past 17 days in the Bay of Sepetiba, a coastal district about 70 kilometers (45 miles) west of the city of Rio de Janeiro. The institute is an NGO that monitors and strives to protect the dolphins.</p>
<p>The institute says it has retrieved five dead dolphins a day from the bay but what has caused their deaths is still unknown. Lab tests are being conducted and the results are expected by the end of the month.</p>
<p>SAO PAULO (AP) - Environmentalists in Brazil say they are trying to figure out why more than 80 gray dolphins have died in less than a month on the coast of Rio de Janeiro state.</p>
<p>A statement from the Gray Dolphin Institute says the dolphins died over past 17 days in the Bay of Sepetiba, a coastal district about 70 kilometers (45 miles) west of the city of Rio de Janeiro. The institute is an NGO that monitors and strives to protect the dolphins.</p>
<p>The institute says it has retrieved five dead dolphins a day from the bay but what has caused their deaths is still unknown. Lab tests are being conducted and the results are expected by the end of the month.</p> | Brazilian environmentalists studying deaths of dolphins | false | https://apnews.com/a990918ae02f4a769a3ec58eb4a8ac8f | 2018-01-03 | 2least
| Brazilian environmentalists studying deaths of dolphins
<p>SAO PAULO (AP) - Environmentalists in Brazil say they are trying to figure out why more than 80 gray dolphins have died in less than a month on the coast of Rio de Janeiro state.</p>
<p>A statement from the Gray Dolphin Institute says the dolphins died over past 17 days in the Bay of Sepetiba, a coastal district about 70 kilometers (45 miles) west of the city of Rio de Janeiro. The institute is an NGO that monitors and strives to protect the dolphins.</p>
<p>The institute says it has retrieved five dead dolphins a day from the bay but what has caused their deaths is still unknown. Lab tests are being conducted and the results are expected by the end of the month.</p>
<p>SAO PAULO (AP) - Environmentalists in Brazil say they are trying to figure out why more than 80 gray dolphins have died in less than a month on the coast of Rio de Janeiro state.</p>
<p>A statement from the Gray Dolphin Institute says the dolphins died over past 17 days in the Bay of Sepetiba, a coastal district about 70 kilometers (45 miles) west of the city of Rio de Janeiro. The institute is an NGO that monitors and strives to protect the dolphins.</p>
<p>The institute says it has retrieved five dead dolphins a day from the bay but what has caused their deaths is still unknown. Lab tests are being conducted and the results are expected by the end of the month.</p> | 1,825 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>There are far too many of them: political labels like Democrat, Republican, tea party and libertarian; ethnic, religious, physical and all sorts of other labels that become the main description of a person.</p>
<p>We're convinced these labels get in the way of developing relationships.</p>
<p>Let's just forget labels and deal with the individuals.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>We shouldn't let labels become more important than each person's individual traits - their values, their thinking, their unique way of doing things. We should not let labels replace relationships.</p>
<p>This matters greatly on a local level, especially if we're dealing with politics. Local governing bodies are supposed to be non-partisan.</p>
<p>We are not supposed to elect Republicans and Democrats; we are supposed to elect individuals. It's time we deal with them as people serving our city, not as part of some national group.</p>
<p>Albuquerque is facing some serious adjustments in its police department. It doesn't matter what political party the mayor or councilors are affiliated with; it matters whether their judgments and decisions will serve and protect the people of Albuquerque.</p>
<p>And the residents who are evaluating the decisions of those in charge must look at the decisions and actions based on the merits, not on labels attached to the leaders.</p>
<p>Also, we all want to find out what has gone wrong that allowed too many local children to suffer so grievously at the hands of parents or caregivers. Figuring out the problem and determining a solution cannot be delayed because it came from someone whose label we don't agree with.</p>
<p>That can't happen. Let's lose the labels; the children are more important.</p>
<p>Rio Rancho now knows who will represent them on the governing body for the next two years and who will be their mayor. We shouldn't care - nor should the elected officials - what anyone's party affiliation is.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>National parties have little to do with the inner workings of a city in New Mexico. We expect our governing body to make decisions for the good of Rio Rancho, and we should support them, or oppose them, based on how the decisions affect our city, not how they line up on some national scale.</p>
<p>We hope the old clich?, politics makes strange bedfellows, is true - at least figuratively. We believe Rio Rancho will be better served if the alliances are based on the needs of the city, not on national affiliations.</p>
<p>The only way the city will move forward is if we put the labels aside and make new teams that serve the community.</p>
<p>We congratulate Mayor-elect Greg Hull and Councilor-elect Shelby Smith, and we commend Mike Williams and Tom Buckner for their willingness to serve our city.</p>
<p>And whether we live in Rio Rancho, Albuquerque, Corrales or Bernalillo, let's vow to look at each other and our elected officials as individual people, taking advantage of varying strengths and differing points of view before we use labels to judge them.</p>
<p>Most of the time our values are similar; it's just our solutions that are different. Acknowledging the common ground should help us reach a solution.</p>
<p>Now, if our politicians in Washington would quit campaigning and governing using labels, maybe they could get something done.</p>
<p />
<p /> | Look past labels to see people | false | https://abqjournal.com/386469/look-past-labels-to-see-people.html | 2least
| Look past labels to see people
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>There are far too many of them: political labels like Democrat, Republican, tea party and libertarian; ethnic, religious, physical and all sorts of other labels that become the main description of a person.</p>
<p>We're convinced these labels get in the way of developing relationships.</p>
<p>Let's just forget labels and deal with the individuals.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>We shouldn't let labels become more important than each person's individual traits - their values, their thinking, their unique way of doing things. We should not let labels replace relationships.</p>
<p>This matters greatly on a local level, especially if we're dealing with politics. Local governing bodies are supposed to be non-partisan.</p>
<p>We are not supposed to elect Republicans and Democrats; we are supposed to elect individuals. It's time we deal with them as people serving our city, not as part of some national group.</p>
<p>Albuquerque is facing some serious adjustments in its police department. It doesn't matter what political party the mayor or councilors are affiliated with; it matters whether their judgments and decisions will serve and protect the people of Albuquerque.</p>
<p>And the residents who are evaluating the decisions of those in charge must look at the decisions and actions based on the merits, not on labels attached to the leaders.</p>
<p>Also, we all want to find out what has gone wrong that allowed too many local children to suffer so grievously at the hands of parents or caregivers. Figuring out the problem and determining a solution cannot be delayed because it came from someone whose label we don't agree with.</p>
<p>That can't happen. Let's lose the labels; the children are more important.</p>
<p>Rio Rancho now knows who will represent them on the governing body for the next two years and who will be their mayor. We shouldn't care - nor should the elected officials - what anyone's party affiliation is.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>National parties have little to do with the inner workings of a city in New Mexico. We expect our governing body to make decisions for the good of Rio Rancho, and we should support them, or oppose them, based on how the decisions affect our city, not how they line up on some national scale.</p>
<p>We hope the old clich?, politics makes strange bedfellows, is true - at least figuratively. We believe Rio Rancho will be better served if the alliances are based on the needs of the city, not on national affiliations.</p>
<p>The only way the city will move forward is if we put the labels aside and make new teams that serve the community.</p>
<p>We congratulate Mayor-elect Greg Hull and Councilor-elect Shelby Smith, and we commend Mike Williams and Tom Buckner for their willingness to serve our city.</p>
<p>And whether we live in Rio Rancho, Albuquerque, Corrales or Bernalillo, let's vow to look at each other and our elected officials as individual people, taking advantage of varying strengths and differing points of view before we use labels to judge them.</p>
<p>Most of the time our values are similar; it's just our solutions that are different. Acknowledging the common ground should help us reach a solution.</p>
<p>Now, if our politicians in Washington would quit campaigning and governing using labels, maybe they could get something done.</p>
<p />
<p /> | 1,826 |
|
<p>In the never-ending male Republican march to dictate to women how to manage their bodies and their lives, GOP presidential candidate <a href="" type="internal">Rick Santorum</a> Friday told CNN’s Piers Morgan that rape victims must “make the best out of a bad situation.” Santorum has a strong history of advocating for making&#160;contraception&#160;and all abortion illegal — even in the cases of rape and incest, even when the mother’s health is in danger. But now, Santorum tells women, they should have no choice in the matter, although somehow he adds, strangely, that it’s not a religious issue for him.</p>
<p>READ:&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Rick Santorum, The New President Of Jesus</a></p>
<p><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/01/23/409242/santorum-to-rape-victims-make-the-best-out-of-a-bad-situation/" type="external">Think Progress</a> explains, and offers this video:</p>
<p>Last Friday, CNN’s Piers Morgan asked Santorum to clarify his reasoning behind such a callous position. Insisting that “it’s not a matter of religious values,” Santorum explained that sexual assault victims should “accept this horribly created” pregnancy because it is “nevertheless a gift in a very broken way” and that, when it comes down to it, a victim just has “to make the&#160; <a href="http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1201/20/pmt.01.html" type="external">best out of a bad situation</a>“:</p>
<p>SANTORUM: Well, you can make the argument that if she doesn’t have this baby, if she kills her child, that that, too, could ruin her life. And this is not an easy choice. I understand that.&#160;As horrible as the way that that son or daughter and son was created, it still is her child. And whether she has that child or doesn’t, it will always be her child. And she will always know that.&#160;And so to embrace her and to love her and to support her and get her through this very difficult time, I’ve always, you know, I believe and I think&#160;the right approach is to accept this horribly created — in the sense of rape — but nevertheless a gift in a very broken way, the gift of human life, and accept what God has given to you.&#160;As you know, we have to, in lots of different aspects of our life.&#160;We have horrible things happen. I can’t think of anything more horrible. But, nevertheless, we have to make the best out of a bad situation.</p>
<p>Again the so-called party of small government is first and quick to impose their values and rules on the rest of society.</p>
<p>Think Progress’ Tanya Somander adds,</p>
<p>The problem with Santorum’s sense of humanity is that it doesn’t seem to extend to the victim. The emotional and physical trauma endured during and after a sexual assault often leaves a woman feeling robbed of any control over her own body and welfare. Robbing a woman of the choice to decide what to do with such “horribly created” consequences only contributes to the victim’s trauma.</p>
<p>What’s more, Santorum’s argument forces a woman in these circumstances to share his religious beliefs and “accept what God has given to [her.]” A woman may very well share his belief and decide to carry the pregnancy to the term, but the fundamental point is that that should be her choice — not the government’s, and certainly not Santorum’s.</p>
<p>Of course, we should not expect any apologies from the Santorum campaign.</p>
<p />
<p>Tagged as: <a href="" type="internal">academic bill of rights</a>, <a href="" type="internal">bad</a>, <a href="" type="internal">dictating</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Ethics</a>, <a href="" type="internal">GOP</a>, <a href="" type="internal">knights of malta</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Pennsylvania</a>, <a href="" type="internal">politics of the united states</a>, <a href="" type="internal">presidential candidate</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Rape</a>, <a href="" type="internal">rape victims</a>, <a href="" type="internal">raping</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Rick Santorum</a>, <a href="" type="internal">santorum</a>, <a href="" type="internal">savage love</a>, <a href="" type="internal">situations</a>, <a href="" type="internal">social issues</a>, <a href="" type="internal">the best</a>, <a href="" type="internal">victims</a>, <a href="" type="internal">women</a></p>
<p>Friends:</p>
<p>We invite you to <a href="http://visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/manage/optin?v=001whLQo73KzGhEjdskYG07rHNy_XoDDkSBBO4INZHx6oD9kfp2yeeQAJeMQUu9oTviZa0VEl5k0rNiLifxlZsOFScMz8rVGmIaN-FFOO3GTKc%3D" type="external">sign up for our new mailing list</a>, and&#160; <a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=TheNewCivilRightsMovement&amp;amp;loc=en_US" type="external">subscribe to The New Civil Rights Movement via email</a> or <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/thenewcivilrightsmovement" type="external">RSS</a>.</p>
<p>Also, please&#160; <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-New-Civil-Rights-Movement/358168880614" type="external">like us on Facebook</a>, and <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/gaycivilrights" type="external">follow us on Twitter</a>!</p> | Santorum: Rape Victims Must “Make The Best Out Of A Bad Situation” | true | http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/santorum-rape-victims-must-make-the-best-out-of-a-bad-situation/politics/2012/01/23/33560 | 2012-01-23 | 4left
| Santorum: Rape Victims Must “Make The Best Out Of A Bad Situation”
<p>In the never-ending male Republican march to dictate to women how to manage their bodies and their lives, GOP presidential candidate <a href="" type="internal">Rick Santorum</a> Friday told CNN’s Piers Morgan that rape victims must “make the best out of a bad situation.” Santorum has a strong history of advocating for making&#160;contraception&#160;and all abortion illegal — even in the cases of rape and incest, even when the mother’s health is in danger. But now, Santorum tells women, they should have no choice in the matter, although somehow he adds, strangely, that it’s not a religious issue for him.</p>
<p>READ:&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Rick Santorum, The New President Of Jesus</a></p>
<p><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/01/23/409242/santorum-to-rape-victims-make-the-best-out-of-a-bad-situation/" type="external">Think Progress</a> explains, and offers this video:</p>
<p>Last Friday, CNN’s Piers Morgan asked Santorum to clarify his reasoning behind such a callous position. Insisting that “it’s not a matter of religious values,” Santorum explained that sexual assault victims should “accept this horribly created” pregnancy because it is “nevertheless a gift in a very broken way” and that, when it comes down to it, a victim just has “to make the&#160; <a href="http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1201/20/pmt.01.html" type="external">best out of a bad situation</a>“:</p>
<p>SANTORUM: Well, you can make the argument that if she doesn’t have this baby, if she kills her child, that that, too, could ruin her life. And this is not an easy choice. I understand that.&#160;As horrible as the way that that son or daughter and son was created, it still is her child. And whether she has that child or doesn’t, it will always be her child. And she will always know that.&#160;And so to embrace her and to love her and to support her and get her through this very difficult time, I’ve always, you know, I believe and I think&#160;the right approach is to accept this horribly created — in the sense of rape — but nevertheless a gift in a very broken way, the gift of human life, and accept what God has given to you.&#160;As you know, we have to, in lots of different aspects of our life.&#160;We have horrible things happen. I can’t think of anything more horrible. But, nevertheless, we have to make the best out of a bad situation.</p>
<p>Again the so-called party of small government is first and quick to impose their values and rules on the rest of society.</p>
<p>Think Progress’ Tanya Somander adds,</p>
<p>The problem with Santorum’s sense of humanity is that it doesn’t seem to extend to the victim. The emotional and physical trauma endured during and after a sexual assault often leaves a woman feeling robbed of any control over her own body and welfare. Robbing a woman of the choice to decide what to do with such “horribly created” consequences only contributes to the victim’s trauma.</p>
<p>What’s more, Santorum’s argument forces a woman in these circumstances to share his religious beliefs and “accept what God has given to [her.]” A woman may very well share his belief and decide to carry the pregnancy to the term, but the fundamental point is that that should be her choice — not the government’s, and certainly not Santorum’s.</p>
<p>Of course, we should not expect any apologies from the Santorum campaign.</p>
<p />
<p>Tagged as: <a href="" type="internal">academic bill of rights</a>, <a href="" type="internal">bad</a>, <a href="" type="internal">dictating</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Ethics</a>, <a href="" type="internal">GOP</a>, <a href="" type="internal">knights of malta</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Pennsylvania</a>, <a href="" type="internal">politics of the united states</a>, <a href="" type="internal">presidential candidate</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Rape</a>, <a href="" type="internal">rape victims</a>, <a href="" type="internal">raping</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Rick Santorum</a>, <a href="" type="internal">santorum</a>, <a href="" type="internal">savage love</a>, <a href="" type="internal">situations</a>, <a href="" type="internal">social issues</a>, <a href="" type="internal">the best</a>, <a href="" type="internal">victims</a>, <a href="" type="internal">women</a></p>
<p>Friends:</p>
<p>We invite you to <a href="http://visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/manage/optin?v=001whLQo73KzGhEjdskYG07rHNy_XoDDkSBBO4INZHx6oD9kfp2yeeQAJeMQUu9oTviZa0VEl5k0rNiLifxlZsOFScMz8rVGmIaN-FFOO3GTKc%3D" type="external">sign up for our new mailing list</a>, and&#160; <a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=TheNewCivilRightsMovement&amp;amp;loc=en_US" type="external">subscribe to The New Civil Rights Movement via email</a> or <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/thenewcivilrightsmovement" type="external">RSS</a>.</p>
<p>Also, please&#160; <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-New-Civil-Rights-Movement/358168880614" type="external">like us on Facebook</a>, and <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/gaycivilrights" type="external">follow us on Twitter</a>!</p> | 1,827 |
<p>Senate Democrats aren't doing their friends in organized labor any favors. Lawmakers have decided to strip out the basic reform in the proposed Employee Free Choice Act that would make creating unions much easier - the whole point of the bill. But all may not be lost.</p>
<p>Andy Stern, president of the SEIU - a smart, growing and politically savvy union - <a href="http://www.seiu.org/2009/07/statement-by-seiu-president-andy-stern-on-the-employee-free-choice-act.php" type="external">says he expects</a> "a vote on a majority sign-up provision in the final bill or by amendment in both houses of Congress."</p>
<p>New York Times:</p>
<p>The so-called card-check provision - which senators decided to scrap to help secure a filibuster-proof 60 votes - would have required employers to recognize a union as soon as a majority of workers signed cards saying they wanted a union. Currently, employers can insist on a secret-ballot election, a higher hurdle for unions.</p>
<p />
<p>The abandonment of card check was another example of the power of moderate Democrats to constrain their party's more liberal legislative efforts. Though the Democrats have a 60-40 vote advantage in the Senate, and President Obama supports the measure, several moderate Democrats opposed the card-check provision as undemocratic.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/business/17union.html?_r=2&amp;hp" type="external">Read more</a></p> | Democrats Gut Union Bill | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/democrats-gut-union-bill/ | 2009-07-18 | 4left
| Democrats Gut Union Bill
<p>Senate Democrats aren't doing their friends in organized labor any favors. Lawmakers have decided to strip out the basic reform in the proposed Employee Free Choice Act that would make creating unions much easier - the whole point of the bill. But all may not be lost.</p>
<p>Andy Stern, president of the SEIU - a smart, growing and politically savvy union - <a href="http://www.seiu.org/2009/07/statement-by-seiu-president-andy-stern-on-the-employee-free-choice-act.php" type="external">says he expects</a> "a vote on a majority sign-up provision in the final bill or by amendment in both houses of Congress."</p>
<p>New York Times:</p>
<p>The so-called card-check provision - which senators decided to scrap to help secure a filibuster-proof 60 votes - would have required employers to recognize a union as soon as a majority of workers signed cards saying they wanted a union. Currently, employers can insist on a secret-ballot election, a higher hurdle for unions.</p>
<p />
<p>The abandonment of card check was another example of the power of moderate Democrats to constrain their party's more liberal legislative efforts. Though the Democrats have a 60-40 vote advantage in the Senate, and President Obama supports the measure, several moderate Democrats opposed the card-check provision as undemocratic.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/business/17union.html?_r=2&amp;hp" type="external">Read more</a></p> | 1,828 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>Rock band Blues Traveler will perform as part of the “Under the Sun Tour,” which features ’90s-era bands.</p>
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Ben Wilson was able to get in a round of golf before his show in New Jersey. Boy, did it feel great.</p>
<p>“There’s nothing like taking a break from the rigors of touring,” he says during a recent phone interview. “We’ve been on the road for about a month and it’s been a good show.”</p>
<p>Wilson and his bandmates in rock band Blues Traveler have been touring as part of the Under the Sun Tour. The tour also features ’90s artists Sugar Ray and Smash Mouth. It was organized by Sugar Ray frontman Mark McGrath.</p>
<p>“Mark’s dream was getting a bunch of bands with hits together and performing on tour,” he says. “It’s been great because people are showing up early and staying late and rocking out. It’s nothing but hits on this tour.”</p>
<p>Blues Traveler rose to mainstream fame with its 1994 album, “Four,” which spawned the hits “Run-Around” and “Hook.” Wilson notes this year marks the album’s 20th anniversary.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“We never thought that these songs would have a place in music history,” he says. “It’s great to be out on tour and hear the stories about how the songs affected people’s lives.”</p>
<p>Wilson says Blues Traveler will have new music out later this fall when its upcoming album will be released. While not many details are being released, Wilson says the band holed up with other artists for an album full of collaborations.</p>
<p>“It was really fun to get in sync with other musicians,” he says. “It was very different from what we had ever done.”</p>
<p>Wilson says the Under the Sun Tour is a completely co-headlining tour and the line-up switches every night, though Sugar Ray never closes the night.</p>
<p>“It’s a good time to have a bunch of hits played by some amazing bands that all came up at the same time,” he says.</p>
<p /> | Under the Sun: This tour features bands with hits from the ’90s | false | https://abqjournal.com/438759/albuquerque-rock-58.html | 2least
| Under the Sun: This tour features bands with hits from the ’90s
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>Rock band Blues Traveler will perform as part of the “Under the Sun Tour,” which features ’90s-era bands.</p>
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Ben Wilson was able to get in a round of golf before his show in New Jersey. Boy, did it feel great.</p>
<p>“There’s nothing like taking a break from the rigors of touring,” he says during a recent phone interview. “We’ve been on the road for about a month and it’s been a good show.”</p>
<p>Wilson and his bandmates in rock band Blues Traveler have been touring as part of the Under the Sun Tour. The tour also features ’90s artists Sugar Ray and Smash Mouth. It was organized by Sugar Ray frontman Mark McGrath.</p>
<p>“Mark’s dream was getting a bunch of bands with hits together and performing on tour,” he says. “It’s been great because people are showing up early and staying late and rocking out. It’s nothing but hits on this tour.”</p>
<p>Blues Traveler rose to mainstream fame with its 1994 album, “Four,” which spawned the hits “Run-Around” and “Hook.” Wilson notes this year marks the album’s 20th anniversary.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“We never thought that these songs would have a place in music history,” he says. “It’s great to be out on tour and hear the stories about how the songs affected people’s lives.”</p>
<p>Wilson says Blues Traveler will have new music out later this fall when its upcoming album will be released. While not many details are being released, Wilson says the band holed up with other artists for an album full of collaborations.</p>
<p>“It was really fun to get in sync with other musicians,” he says. “It was very different from what we had ever done.”</p>
<p>Wilson says the Under the Sun Tour is a completely co-headlining tour and the line-up switches every night, though Sugar Ray never closes the night.</p>
<p>“It’s a good time to have a bunch of hits played by some amazing bands that all came up at the same time,” he says.</p>
<p /> | 1,829 |
|
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>During the days of the Nixon Watergate scandal investigation, reporter Bob Woodword was famously advised by his mysterious source, Deep Throat, to “follow the money” as a way of cracking the story.</p>
<p>Well, there is a lot of money to follow in the current scandal that can be best described as the Bush/Cheney administration, and so far, nobody’s doing it.</p>
<p>My bet for the place that needs the most following is the more than $9 billion that has gone missing without a trace in Iraq–as well as $12 billion in cash that the Pentagon flew into Iraq straight from Federal Reserve vaults via military transports, and for which there has been little or no accounting.</p>
<p>When word of the missing money first surfaced in 2004, Congress passed legislation creating an office of Special Inspector General, assuming that this new agency would root out the problem and figure why all that taxpayer money had disappeared, and why only minimal reconstruction was going on in destroyed Iraq, instead of a massive rebuilding program as intended.</p>
<p>The new inspector general, an affable attorney named Stuart Bowen, went to work and came up with a report in early 2006 that sounded scathing enough. Bowen found cases of double billing by contractors, of payments for work that was never done, and other scandals. But he never came up with more than $1 billion or so worth of problems.</p>
<p>Now we know why.</p>
<p>It turns out that Bowen was never really looking very hard.</p>
<p>When the Boston Globe, this past April, broke the story that President Bush has been quietly setting aside over 750 acts passed by Congress, claiming he has the authority as “unitary executive” and as commander in chief to ignore such laws, it turned out that one of the laws the president chose to ignore was the one establishing the special inspector general post for Iraq. What the president did was write a so-called “signing statement” on the side (unpublicized of course), saying that the new inspector general would have no authority to investigate any contracts or corruption issues involving the Pentagon.</p>
<p>Well, since most of the missing money has been going to the military in Iraq, that pretty much meant nothing of consequence would be discovered by the inspector general.</p>
<p>You might think that the inspector general himself would have complained about such a restriction on his authority to do the job that Congress had intended, but Bush took care of that. In his role as Chief Executive, he appointed Bowen to the post, a man who has a long history of working as a loyal manservant to the president. Bowen was a deputy general counsel for Governor Bush (meaning he was an assistant to the ever solicitous solicitor Alberto Gonzales). He did yeoman service to Bush as a member of the term that handled the famous vote count atrocity in Florida in the November 2000 election, and then worked under Gonzales again in the White House during Bush’s first term, before returning briefly to private practice.</p>
<p>Bowen simply never mentioned to anyone that, courtesy of a secretive and unconstitutional order from the president, he was not doing the job that Congress had intended.</p>
<p>The deception was far-reaching. When Thomas Gimble, the acting inspector general of the Pentagon, was asked in 2005 during a congressional hearing by Christopher Shays (R-CT), chair of the House government reform subcommittee, why the Pentagon had no audit team in Iraq to look for fraud, Gimble facilely replied that such a team was “not needed” because Congress had set up the special inspector general unit to do that. He didn’t mention that the president had barred the special inspector general from investigating Pentagon scandals.</p>
<p>This would all be pretty funny except for two things.</p>
<p>First of all, Americans and Iraqis are dying in droves because of the chaos that the U.S. invasion and occupation have created in Iraq-a problem that that $9 billion in missing Congressionally-allocated funds, and the bales of US dollars, were supposed to have solved.</p>
<p>Second, and I admit this is pretty speculative on my part, money being like water, it tends to flow to the lowest level, which, from a moral and ethical standpoint, would be the Bush/Cheney administration and the Republican Party machine that put them, and the do-nothing Congress that covers up for them, into office.</p>
<p>My guess is that a fair piece of those many billions of dollars is sloshing around back in the U.S. paying for things like Republican Party electoral dirty tricks, vote theft, bribing of Democratic members of Congress, and god knows what else.</p>
<p>If this seems far-fetched to anyone, remember that this administration has included a number of people who were linked to the Reagan-era Iran-Contra scandal, when the creative-and criminal-idea was conceived of secretly selling Pentagon stocks of shoulder-fired Stinger anti-aircraft missiles to Iran, and using the proceeds to secretly fund the U.S.-trained and organized Contra fighters who were fighting to topple the Sandinista government in Nicaragua (Congress had inconveniently banned any U.S. aid to the Contras).</p>
<p>It seems to me inconceivable that this corrupt and obsessively power-mad administration would have passed up an opportunity to get its hands on some of the easy money flowing into Iraq over the course of the last three years.</p>
<p>Given all this, it seems almost unfathomable that Democratic Party leaders would be insisting, as have Rep. Nancy Pelosi (R-CA) and Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), Democratic leaders of the House and Senate, that there would be no impeachment hearings in Congress if Democrats were to succeed in winning back Congress this November.</p>
<p>What better way to follow that money than an impeachment hearing into why the president unconstitutionally subverted the intent of Congress in establishing an office of special inspector general for corruption in Iraq?</p>
<p>DAVE LINDORFF is the author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1567512283/counterpunchmaga" type="external">Killing Time: an Investigation into the Death Row Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal</a>. His new book of CounterPunch columns titled “ <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1567512984/counterpunchmaga" type="external">This Can’t be Happening!</a>” is published by Common Courage Press. Lindorff’s new book is “ <a href="" type="internal">The Case for Impeachment</a>“, co-authored by Barbara Olshansky.</p>
<p>He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Who’s Following the Iraq Money? | true | https://counterpunch.org/2006/06/07/who-s-following-the-iraq-money/ | 2006-06-07 | 4left
| Who’s Following the Iraq Money?
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>During the days of the Nixon Watergate scandal investigation, reporter Bob Woodword was famously advised by his mysterious source, Deep Throat, to “follow the money” as a way of cracking the story.</p>
<p>Well, there is a lot of money to follow in the current scandal that can be best described as the Bush/Cheney administration, and so far, nobody’s doing it.</p>
<p>My bet for the place that needs the most following is the more than $9 billion that has gone missing without a trace in Iraq–as well as $12 billion in cash that the Pentagon flew into Iraq straight from Federal Reserve vaults via military transports, and for which there has been little or no accounting.</p>
<p>When word of the missing money first surfaced in 2004, Congress passed legislation creating an office of Special Inspector General, assuming that this new agency would root out the problem and figure why all that taxpayer money had disappeared, and why only minimal reconstruction was going on in destroyed Iraq, instead of a massive rebuilding program as intended.</p>
<p>The new inspector general, an affable attorney named Stuart Bowen, went to work and came up with a report in early 2006 that sounded scathing enough. Bowen found cases of double billing by contractors, of payments for work that was never done, and other scandals. But he never came up with more than $1 billion or so worth of problems.</p>
<p>Now we know why.</p>
<p>It turns out that Bowen was never really looking very hard.</p>
<p>When the Boston Globe, this past April, broke the story that President Bush has been quietly setting aside over 750 acts passed by Congress, claiming he has the authority as “unitary executive” and as commander in chief to ignore such laws, it turned out that one of the laws the president chose to ignore was the one establishing the special inspector general post for Iraq. What the president did was write a so-called “signing statement” on the side (unpublicized of course), saying that the new inspector general would have no authority to investigate any contracts or corruption issues involving the Pentagon.</p>
<p>Well, since most of the missing money has been going to the military in Iraq, that pretty much meant nothing of consequence would be discovered by the inspector general.</p>
<p>You might think that the inspector general himself would have complained about such a restriction on his authority to do the job that Congress had intended, but Bush took care of that. In his role as Chief Executive, he appointed Bowen to the post, a man who has a long history of working as a loyal manservant to the president. Bowen was a deputy general counsel for Governor Bush (meaning he was an assistant to the ever solicitous solicitor Alberto Gonzales). He did yeoman service to Bush as a member of the term that handled the famous vote count atrocity in Florida in the November 2000 election, and then worked under Gonzales again in the White House during Bush’s first term, before returning briefly to private practice.</p>
<p>Bowen simply never mentioned to anyone that, courtesy of a secretive and unconstitutional order from the president, he was not doing the job that Congress had intended.</p>
<p>The deception was far-reaching. When Thomas Gimble, the acting inspector general of the Pentagon, was asked in 2005 during a congressional hearing by Christopher Shays (R-CT), chair of the House government reform subcommittee, why the Pentagon had no audit team in Iraq to look for fraud, Gimble facilely replied that such a team was “not needed” because Congress had set up the special inspector general unit to do that. He didn’t mention that the president had barred the special inspector general from investigating Pentagon scandals.</p>
<p>This would all be pretty funny except for two things.</p>
<p>First of all, Americans and Iraqis are dying in droves because of the chaos that the U.S. invasion and occupation have created in Iraq-a problem that that $9 billion in missing Congressionally-allocated funds, and the bales of US dollars, were supposed to have solved.</p>
<p>Second, and I admit this is pretty speculative on my part, money being like water, it tends to flow to the lowest level, which, from a moral and ethical standpoint, would be the Bush/Cheney administration and the Republican Party machine that put them, and the do-nothing Congress that covers up for them, into office.</p>
<p>My guess is that a fair piece of those many billions of dollars is sloshing around back in the U.S. paying for things like Republican Party electoral dirty tricks, vote theft, bribing of Democratic members of Congress, and god knows what else.</p>
<p>If this seems far-fetched to anyone, remember that this administration has included a number of people who were linked to the Reagan-era Iran-Contra scandal, when the creative-and criminal-idea was conceived of secretly selling Pentagon stocks of shoulder-fired Stinger anti-aircraft missiles to Iran, and using the proceeds to secretly fund the U.S.-trained and organized Contra fighters who were fighting to topple the Sandinista government in Nicaragua (Congress had inconveniently banned any U.S. aid to the Contras).</p>
<p>It seems to me inconceivable that this corrupt and obsessively power-mad administration would have passed up an opportunity to get its hands on some of the easy money flowing into Iraq over the course of the last three years.</p>
<p>Given all this, it seems almost unfathomable that Democratic Party leaders would be insisting, as have Rep. Nancy Pelosi (R-CA) and Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), Democratic leaders of the House and Senate, that there would be no impeachment hearings in Congress if Democrats were to succeed in winning back Congress this November.</p>
<p>What better way to follow that money than an impeachment hearing into why the president unconstitutionally subverted the intent of Congress in establishing an office of special inspector general for corruption in Iraq?</p>
<p>DAVE LINDORFF is the author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1567512283/counterpunchmaga" type="external">Killing Time: an Investigation into the Death Row Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal</a>. His new book of CounterPunch columns titled “ <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1567512984/counterpunchmaga" type="external">This Can’t be Happening!</a>” is published by Common Courage Press. Lindorff’s new book is “ <a href="" type="internal">The Case for Impeachment</a>“, co-authored by Barbara Olshansky.</p>
<p>He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
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<p>Sunland Inc. is a major sponsor of this weekend’s Peanut Valley Festival in Portales. In addition to live entertainment, arts and crafts, the two-day event features the “Peanut Olympics” and recipe contests. (all photos greg sorber/journal)</p>
<p>PORTALES – The annual Peanut Valley Festival will go on here, just as it has for the past 38 years. Kids will compete in the shelling contests, tosses and races known as the “Peanut Olympics.” Judges will vote who makes the tastiest peanut-butter cookies and peanut pie.</p>
<p>But the two-day event that begins today isn’t the only thing on people’s minds in this community of about 17,000.</p>
<p>Peanuts are unloaded at Sunland Inc., outside of Portales. The company still accepts harvest, but it has shut down its production in the wake of a salmonella outbreak.</p>
<p>Chatter, worries and widespread support in this high plains community also involve the fate of the festival’s major sponsor, Sunland Inc., a peanut-butter factory and peanut processing facility that is one of the area’s biggest employers.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Federal authorities have linked a Sunland-produced peanut butter to a salmonella outbreak that has sickened 35 people in 19 states.</p>
<p>On Friday, the New Mexico Health Department added a related infection in a 5-year-old girl from Roosevelt County, who has since recovered.</p>
<p>Sunland has halted all production at its 67-acre facility just outside Portales and announced several waves of recalls, stretching to more than 300 products in the last month.</p>
<p>A Peanut Valley Festival organizer said there’s been no talk of canceling the event, although there will be an emphasis placed on making sure all food is safe.</p>
<p>Sunland’s story has generated national headlines.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“It’s big,” W.E. Dever, a 76-year-old retired truck driver, said over chips and salsa during a midweek lunch at El Rancho Restaurant about a mile from the Sunland plant. “We were talking (about the situation) this morning at the doughnut shop.”</p>
<p>Retired truck driver W.E. Dever said he has faith that Sunland Inc. can overcome the salmonella outbreak tied to a peanut butter it produces.</p>
<p>Portales residents say they’re shocked and saddened by what’s going on at Sunland. There’s also a sense of fear about the company’s future.</p>
<p>” … People are concerned and worried,” said Doug Redmond, executive director of the Roosevelt County Community Development Corp. “They are one of our largest employers and a very good corporate citizen.”</p>
<p>From behind the counter at his Western wear shop in downtown Portales, San D. Skinner said the problem seems to have snowballed. Dozens of other companies that used Sunland products in their own foods have issued related recalls, a list that includes some Albertson’s-brand ice creams and a type of General Mills granola bars.</p>
<p>“It just keeps getting worse and worse,” Skinner said. “… I hope they can take care of it.”</p>
<p>There’s also a sense of optimism that Sunland will get through it.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“They have professional people in charge, and it’s a professional organization. I think the problem will be taken care of and everything will improve,” said Danny Woodward, a local jewelry store owner.</p>
<p>Sunland vice president Katalin Coburn said the company has hired a specialty company to do a thorough clean-up process, and the goal is to resume peanut processing within a week’s time and peanut-butter production in six to eight weeks.</p>
<p>Sunland employs 125 full-time workers and hasn’t laid anyone off as a result of the outbreak – the employees have been helping clean the plant.</p>
<p>“I think everyone is exhausted beyond anything that they have experienced before, but we do have an extraordinary group of people here,” Coburn said. “All of us know that what we do and how we do it has been excellent so, yes, we’re tired, but the mood continues to be, ‘All right. Forward.’ ”</p>
<p>At El Rancho Restaurant, where co-owners Ruben Garcia and his son Joe often serve customers from the nearby Sunland plant, there is also a sense of hope.</p>
<p>“I know for sure the community is pulling around them,” Joe Garcia said. “We’re pretty optimistic things will come out better in the end.”</p>
<p>Danny Woodward, owner of Woody’s Jewelry in Portales, said the area is known for its Valencia peanuts. (greg sorber/journal)</p>
<p>Sunland is not just a job provider, it is held in high regard for community presence. That means support of community events, local sports teams and nearby Eastern New Mexico University. Sunland CEO Jimmie Shearer is active with multiple boards and organizations.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“Everyone knows them. They’re good people,” Portales salon owner Sylvia Lucero said this week as she trimmed Scott Tweedy’s hair. “They help a lot.”</p>
<p>Founded by a group of farmers in 1988, Sunland has been churning out peanut butter under its own label and for mega-retailers such as Target and Sprouts. Federal officials believe the outbreak is tied to a peanut butter Sunland made for Trader Joe’s.</p>
<p>The media attention has been an eye-opener for many residents, who were unaware how far Sunland’s reach had spread.</p>
<p>“I didn’t realize they were making as much peanut butter as they were,” said state Senate Minority Leader Stuart Ingle, R-Portales, who has represented the area for the last 28 years. “Trader Joe’s is not exactly Ma and Pa’s grocery store.”</p>
<p>The Portales area is home to three peanut processing plants, but Sunland has the biggest, with Coburn estimating that Sunland processes over 90 percent of the Valencia peanut crop that thrives in the sandy soil of eastern New Mexico and West Texas.</p>
<p>San Skinner said the news from Sunland Inc. seems “worse and worse,” but he thinks the company is handling the situation well. (greg sorber/journal)</p>
<p>People who grow up or spend time in this part of New Mexico certainly know their peanuts.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Those tasty, snack-friendly legumes – don’t call them nuts! – are a big deal here, particularly the naturally sweet, red-skinned Valencia variety.</p>
<p>“We’re famous for peanuts,” said Joe Garcia.</p>
<p>Woodward, a Portales native, said he was schooled young on what distinguishes the Valencia from other varieties.</p>
<p>“That’s what we’re known for,” Woodward said, recalling how he once saw local peanuts for sale while visiting the deep South. “I’ve actually gone into a feed store (in Alabama) with a cousin and seen a 50-pound bag of peanuts. I grabbed the tag and, sure enough, it was from here.”</p>
<p>Ingle, himself a farmer, said he grows wheat but outsiders generally assume he grows peanuts. In reality, peanut farming in the immediate Portales area has diminished greatly in recent years, but the community’s reputation – enforced by all the local peanut processing – lingers.</p>
<p>“I’ve been in the Senate 28 years, and I bring peanuts every year to the session,” Ingle said. “… and I always take peanut butter. Hopefully, we’ll be remanufacturing all the peanut butter that’s manufactured here and I’ll be taking some back (to the next session).”</p>
<p>[photoshelter-gallery g_id=’G0000WHH1_N_u7EA’ g_name=’Sunland-Inc-Peanut-Plant’ width=’600′ f_fullscreen=’t’ bgtrans=’t’ pho_credit=’iptc’ twoup=’f’ f_bbar=’t’ f_bbarbig=’f’ fsvis=’f’ f_show_caption=’t’ crop=’f’ f_enable_embed_btn=’t’ f_htmllinks=’t’ f_l=’t’ f_send_to_friend_btn=’f’ f_show_slidenum=’t’ f_topbar=’f’ f_show_watermark=’t’ img_title=’casc’ linkdest=’c’ trans=’xfade’ target=’_self’ tbs=’5000′ f_link=’t’ f_smooth=’f’ f_mtrx=’t’ f_ap=’t’ f_up=’f’ height=’400′ btype=’old’ bcolor=’#CCCCCC’ ] Click on a photo to buy reprints online or call our library at 505-823-3490.</p>
<p>— This article appeared on page A1 of the Albuquerque Journal</p> | Peanut Country | false | https://abqjournal.com/140150/peanut-country-2.html | 2012-10-20 | 2least
| Peanut Country
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<p>Sunland Inc. is a major sponsor of this weekend’s Peanut Valley Festival in Portales. In addition to live entertainment, arts and crafts, the two-day event features the “Peanut Olympics” and recipe contests. (all photos greg sorber/journal)</p>
<p>PORTALES – The annual Peanut Valley Festival will go on here, just as it has for the past 38 years. Kids will compete in the shelling contests, tosses and races known as the “Peanut Olympics.” Judges will vote who makes the tastiest peanut-butter cookies and peanut pie.</p>
<p>But the two-day event that begins today isn’t the only thing on people’s minds in this community of about 17,000.</p>
<p>Peanuts are unloaded at Sunland Inc., outside of Portales. The company still accepts harvest, but it has shut down its production in the wake of a salmonella outbreak.</p>
<p>Chatter, worries and widespread support in this high plains community also involve the fate of the festival’s major sponsor, Sunland Inc., a peanut-butter factory and peanut processing facility that is one of the area’s biggest employers.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Federal authorities have linked a Sunland-produced peanut butter to a salmonella outbreak that has sickened 35 people in 19 states.</p>
<p>On Friday, the New Mexico Health Department added a related infection in a 5-year-old girl from Roosevelt County, who has since recovered.</p>
<p>Sunland has halted all production at its 67-acre facility just outside Portales and announced several waves of recalls, stretching to more than 300 products in the last month.</p>
<p>A Peanut Valley Festival organizer said there’s been no talk of canceling the event, although there will be an emphasis placed on making sure all food is safe.</p>
<p>Sunland’s story has generated national headlines.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“It’s big,” W.E. Dever, a 76-year-old retired truck driver, said over chips and salsa during a midweek lunch at El Rancho Restaurant about a mile from the Sunland plant. “We were talking (about the situation) this morning at the doughnut shop.”</p>
<p>Retired truck driver W.E. Dever said he has faith that Sunland Inc. can overcome the salmonella outbreak tied to a peanut butter it produces.</p>
<p>Portales residents say they’re shocked and saddened by what’s going on at Sunland. There’s also a sense of fear about the company’s future.</p>
<p>” … People are concerned and worried,” said Doug Redmond, executive director of the Roosevelt County Community Development Corp. “They are one of our largest employers and a very good corporate citizen.”</p>
<p>From behind the counter at his Western wear shop in downtown Portales, San D. Skinner said the problem seems to have snowballed. Dozens of other companies that used Sunland products in their own foods have issued related recalls, a list that includes some Albertson’s-brand ice creams and a type of General Mills granola bars.</p>
<p>“It just keeps getting worse and worse,” Skinner said. “… I hope they can take care of it.”</p>
<p>There’s also a sense of optimism that Sunland will get through it.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“They have professional people in charge, and it’s a professional organization. I think the problem will be taken care of and everything will improve,” said Danny Woodward, a local jewelry store owner.</p>
<p>Sunland vice president Katalin Coburn said the company has hired a specialty company to do a thorough clean-up process, and the goal is to resume peanut processing within a week’s time and peanut-butter production in six to eight weeks.</p>
<p>Sunland employs 125 full-time workers and hasn’t laid anyone off as a result of the outbreak – the employees have been helping clean the plant.</p>
<p>“I think everyone is exhausted beyond anything that they have experienced before, but we do have an extraordinary group of people here,” Coburn said. “All of us know that what we do and how we do it has been excellent so, yes, we’re tired, but the mood continues to be, ‘All right. Forward.’ ”</p>
<p>At El Rancho Restaurant, where co-owners Ruben Garcia and his son Joe often serve customers from the nearby Sunland plant, there is also a sense of hope.</p>
<p>“I know for sure the community is pulling around them,” Joe Garcia said. “We’re pretty optimistic things will come out better in the end.”</p>
<p>Danny Woodward, owner of Woody’s Jewelry in Portales, said the area is known for its Valencia peanuts. (greg sorber/journal)</p>
<p>Sunland is not just a job provider, it is held in high regard for community presence. That means support of community events, local sports teams and nearby Eastern New Mexico University. Sunland CEO Jimmie Shearer is active with multiple boards and organizations.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“Everyone knows them. They’re good people,” Portales salon owner Sylvia Lucero said this week as she trimmed Scott Tweedy’s hair. “They help a lot.”</p>
<p>Founded by a group of farmers in 1988, Sunland has been churning out peanut butter under its own label and for mega-retailers such as Target and Sprouts. Federal officials believe the outbreak is tied to a peanut butter Sunland made for Trader Joe’s.</p>
<p>The media attention has been an eye-opener for many residents, who were unaware how far Sunland’s reach had spread.</p>
<p>“I didn’t realize they were making as much peanut butter as they were,” said state Senate Minority Leader Stuart Ingle, R-Portales, who has represented the area for the last 28 years. “Trader Joe’s is not exactly Ma and Pa’s grocery store.”</p>
<p>The Portales area is home to three peanut processing plants, but Sunland has the biggest, with Coburn estimating that Sunland processes over 90 percent of the Valencia peanut crop that thrives in the sandy soil of eastern New Mexico and West Texas.</p>
<p>San Skinner said the news from Sunland Inc. seems “worse and worse,” but he thinks the company is handling the situation well. (greg sorber/journal)</p>
<p>People who grow up or spend time in this part of New Mexico certainly know their peanuts.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Those tasty, snack-friendly legumes – don’t call them nuts! – are a big deal here, particularly the naturally sweet, red-skinned Valencia variety.</p>
<p>“We’re famous for peanuts,” said Joe Garcia.</p>
<p>Woodward, a Portales native, said he was schooled young on what distinguishes the Valencia from other varieties.</p>
<p>“That’s what we’re known for,” Woodward said, recalling how he once saw local peanuts for sale while visiting the deep South. “I’ve actually gone into a feed store (in Alabama) with a cousin and seen a 50-pound bag of peanuts. I grabbed the tag and, sure enough, it was from here.”</p>
<p>Ingle, himself a farmer, said he grows wheat but outsiders generally assume he grows peanuts. In reality, peanut farming in the immediate Portales area has diminished greatly in recent years, but the community’s reputation – enforced by all the local peanut processing – lingers.</p>
<p>“I’ve been in the Senate 28 years, and I bring peanuts every year to the session,” Ingle said. “… and I always take peanut butter. Hopefully, we’ll be remanufacturing all the peanut butter that’s manufactured here and I’ll be taking some back (to the next session).”</p>
<p>[photoshelter-gallery g_id=’G0000WHH1_N_u7EA’ g_name=’Sunland-Inc-Peanut-Plant’ width=’600′ f_fullscreen=’t’ bgtrans=’t’ pho_credit=’iptc’ twoup=’f’ f_bbar=’t’ f_bbarbig=’f’ fsvis=’f’ f_show_caption=’t’ crop=’f’ f_enable_embed_btn=’t’ f_htmllinks=’t’ f_l=’t’ f_send_to_friend_btn=’f’ f_show_slidenum=’t’ f_topbar=’f’ f_show_watermark=’t’ img_title=’casc’ linkdest=’c’ trans=’xfade’ target=’_self’ tbs=’5000′ f_link=’t’ f_smooth=’f’ f_mtrx=’t’ f_ap=’t’ f_up=’f’ height=’400′ btype=’old’ bcolor=’#CCCCCC’ ] Click on a photo to buy reprints online or call our library at 505-823-3490.</p>
<p>— This article appeared on page A1 of the Albuquerque Journal</p> | 1,831 |
<p />
<p>Executive orders, Paris and Andy Cohen; here's what's On Our Radar today:</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Trump is set to sign three documents tackling financial regulations today. He is calling for a review of all tax regulations to see if they impose excessive burdens on U.S. taxpayers. The orders will also spark an investigation into tax inversion -- when companies take an overseas address to avoid taxes -- as well as the 2010 Dodd-Frank law.</p>
<p>Tune in to the Intelligence Report at 2 p.m. EST to watch Trump’s signing.</p>
<p>Last night, a gunman opened fire on police on Paris' Champs-Elysees boulevard, killing one officer and wounding two people before the police shot and killed him. An Islamic group claimed responsibility. This all comes just three days before a tense presidential election between candidates including far-right Marine Le Pen and her rival, Emmanuel Macron. Will the recent attack swing the election one way or another?</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Neil Cavuto looks at it from all sides at 12 p.m. EST.</p>
<p>The White House and the GOP are scrambling to avoid a government shutdown next week. Negotiations are underway with Democrats, who are demanding that the stopgap funding legislation also include money for insurance companies, while the White House wants money for defense and the border wall. Failure to extend funding would trigger a partial shutdown on April 29, Trump’s 100th day in office.</p>
<p>So what’s the latest from the Washington? Varney and Co. at 9 a.m. EST has the latest!</p>
<p>He’s a best-selling author, executive producer and late night TV show superstar. Bravo’s Andy Cohen sat down with FOX Business to talk about his work with <a href="http://www.purinaone.com/MakeONEDifference" type="external">Purina One Opens a New Window.</a>, the future of media as well as some interesting things about President Trump. Watch below!</p> | What's On Our Radar, April 21, 2017 | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/04/21/whats-on-our-radar-april-21-2017.html | 2017-04-21 | 0right
| What's On Our Radar, April 21, 2017
<p />
<p>Executive orders, Paris and Andy Cohen; here's what's On Our Radar today:</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Trump is set to sign three documents tackling financial regulations today. He is calling for a review of all tax regulations to see if they impose excessive burdens on U.S. taxpayers. The orders will also spark an investigation into tax inversion -- when companies take an overseas address to avoid taxes -- as well as the 2010 Dodd-Frank law.</p>
<p>Tune in to the Intelligence Report at 2 p.m. EST to watch Trump’s signing.</p>
<p>Last night, a gunman opened fire on police on Paris' Champs-Elysees boulevard, killing one officer and wounding two people before the police shot and killed him. An Islamic group claimed responsibility. This all comes just three days before a tense presidential election between candidates including far-right Marine Le Pen and her rival, Emmanuel Macron. Will the recent attack swing the election one way or another?</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Neil Cavuto looks at it from all sides at 12 p.m. EST.</p>
<p>The White House and the GOP are scrambling to avoid a government shutdown next week. Negotiations are underway with Democrats, who are demanding that the stopgap funding legislation also include money for insurance companies, while the White House wants money for defense and the border wall. Failure to extend funding would trigger a partial shutdown on April 29, Trump’s 100th day in office.</p>
<p>So what’s the latest from the Washington? Varney and Co. at 9 a.m. EST has the latest!</p>
<p>He’s a best-selling author, executive producer and late night TV show superstar. Bravo’s Andy Cohen sat down with FOX Business to talk about his work with <a href="http://www.purinaone.com/MakeONEDifference" type="external">Purina One Opens a New Window.</a>, the future of media as well as some interesting things about President Trump. Watch below!</p> | 1,832 |
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<p />
<p>It was November 2014, and Hutchinson, 28, had set out in his 45-foot lobster boat, a fiberglass craft called No Limits.</p>
<p>He wanted to check on 15 traps in Eleven Mile Ridge, a popular lobstering area. Two crewmen manned the boat with him – Tomas Hammond, 26, and Tyler Sawyer, 15.</p>
<p>They arrived at dawn on a Saturday morning and began pulling up traps, but the weather worsened.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Hutchinson told the Portland Press Herald that he checked the conditions around 10 a.m. and found the wind blowing at a barely manageable 22 knots.</p>
<p>The men called off the expedition and began to head for shore – but it was too late.</p>
<p>“We got hit by one large wave, and that pushed us into another. The windows to the wheelhouse blew out, and we began taking on water quickly,” Hutchinson told the Bangor Daily News.</p>
<p>Court documents say a nearby weather buoy reported winds of 40 knots, and waves 14 feet high.</p>
<p>The large lobster boat flipped. Hammond and Sawyer were nowhere to be found.</p>
<p>“I’m not 100 percent sure what happened next, but the next thing I recall is being in the wheelhouse and the boat is upside down in the water,” Hutchinson told the newspaper.</p>
<p>The captain said he survived by clinging to pipes at the bottom of his boat. When he saw a life raft pop up 15 feet away, he swam to it.</p>
<p>The crewmen, on the other hand, were gone.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“I kept screaming for Tom and Tyler, but I didn’t hear or see them again.”</p>
<p>The Coast Guard found Hutchinson floating in the raft just after 4 p.m. He was alone.</p>
<p>After a search, officials declared Hammond and Sawyer lost at sea.</p>
<p>“I’ve never seen the wind and seas pick up so fast,” Hutchinson told the Press Herald.</p>
<p>But prosecutors say Hutchinson’s story of death and survival omitted important details – ones that point to his guilt.</p>
<p>Hutchinson is charged with two counts of seaman’s manslaughter, a law from the 1800s that applies when a ship officer’s negligence leads to a crewman’s death.</p>
<p>He made his first court appearance Monday and could spend three years in prison for each death. His attorney did not respond to a message from The Washington Post seeking comment.</p>
<p>After Hutchinson was rescued and flown to a hospital, doctors took a sample of his blood, according to an indictment filed last week. They found Oxycodone in his system and THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. Prosecutors say he drank alcohol and consumed the drugs the night before he pulled the boat out of Tenants Harbor for the last time.</p>
<p>Catastrophically, prosecutors say, he also ignored weather warnings.</p>
<p>“Prior to the No Limits departure, the National Weather Service was predicting and warning of adverse and dangerous marine weather and sea conditions in the area,” the indictment says. “Marine weather forecasts, watches and warnings [were] continuously broadcast on radio.”</p>
<p>Prosecutors claim Hutchinson was also negligent in employing a 15-year-old boy, a complicated and sensitive issue among people who make their living catching lobsters.</p>
<p>Commercial lobstering is a lucrative business in Maine – it’s also one of the state’s most dangerous jobs.</p>
<p>Lobstermen caught nearly half a billion dollars worth of lobster last year in Maine, according to the state, which produced 90 percent of the nation’s lobster.</p>
<p>According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “commercial fishing is one of the most hazardous occupations in the United States with a fatality rate 39 times higher than the national average.”</p>
<p>Lobstermen routinely handle weighted traps that are up to 100 pounds apiece, connected by ropes that whiz across a ship’s deck, pulled by a power hydraulic hauler, said Patrice McCarron, the executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association.</p>
<p>“God forbid you get entangled in that rope and go overboard,” she said. ” ‘Man overboard’ is the most dangerous situation for lobstermen.”</p>
<p>For men on the boat, even safety equipment can be hazardous, especially if it gets entangled in a rope or a Lobster trap.</p>
<p>“Many lobstermen will carry a knife in their overalls upside down, so if they fall overboard, you can pull this knife out and cut yourself free,” McCarron said. “But you can bang your head. You can go overboard unconscious.”</p>
<p>And those dangers can be amplified by bad weather and a dynamic sea.</p>
<p>Still, having children and teens on a boat is not uncommon or frowned upon. Children can get sponsored for a student or apprentice license when they are just 8 years old, McCarron said. The apprenticeship programs, which are often used by small family operations, help lobstermen pass on the caveats of a centuries-old tradition.</p>
<p>It’s not unusual to see children and teens working on boats during the summer months or on school vacations to earn extra cash.</p>
<p>McCarron said she didn’t know many of the details of Hutchinson’s incident in November 2014.</p>
<p>“I know that was a loss that hit the industry really, really hard,” she said. “We lost a 15-year-old, and the other crewman had a small child.”</p>
<p>Last year, the families of the dead men settled with Hutchinson and his crew for $310,000, according to the Rockland Courier-Gazette.</p>
<p>The story says the men who died weren’t wearing safety equipment when the wave broke through the wheelhouse window and washed over the deck.</p>
<p>lobster-boat</p> | A lobster boat captain said a freak storm killed his crew. Then doctors found drugs in his system. | false | https://abqjournal.com/912572/a-lobster-boat-captain-said-a-freak-storm-killed-his-crew-then-doctors-found-drugs-in-his-system.html | 2least
| A lobster boat captain said a freak storm killed his crew. Then doctors found drugs in his system.
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<p />
<p>It was November 2014, and Hutchinson, 28, had set out in his 45-foot lobster boat, a fiberglass craft called No Limits.</p>
<p>He wanted to check on 15 traps in Eleven Mile Ridge, a popular lobstering area. Two crewmen manned the boat with him – Tomas Hammond, 26, and Tyler Sawyer, 15.</p>
<p>They arrived at dawn on a Saturday morning and began pulling up traps, but the weather worsened.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Hutchinson told the Portland Press Herald that he checked the conditions around 10 a.m. and found the wind blowing at a barely manageable 22 knots.</p>
<p>The men called off the expedition and began to head for shore – but it was too late.</p>
<p>“We got hit by one large wave, and that pushed us into another. The windows to the wheelhouse blew out, and we began taking on water quickly,” Hutchinson told the Bangor Daily News.</p>
<p>Court documents say a nearby weather buoy reported winds of 40 knots, and waves 14 feet high.</p>
<p>The large lobster boat flipped. Hammond and Sawyer were nowhere to be found.</p>
<p>“I’m not 100 percent sure what happened next, but the next thing I recall is being in the wheelhouse and the boat is upside down in the water,” Hutchinson told the newspaper.</p>
<p>The captain said he survived by clinging to pipes at the bottom of his boat. When he saw a life raft pop up 15 feet away, he swam to it.</p>
<p>The crewmen, on the other hand, were gone.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“I kept screaming for Tom and Tyler, but I didn’t hear or see them again.”</p>
<p>The Coast Guard found Hutchinson floating in the raft just after 4 p.m. He was alone.</p>
<p>After a search, officials declared Hammond and Sawyer lost at sea.</p>
<p>“I’ve never seen the wind and seas pick up so fast,” Hutchinson told the Press Herald.</p>
<p>But prosecutors say Hutchinson’s story of death and survival omitted important details – ones that point to his guilt.</p>
<p>Hutchinson is charged with two counts of seaman’s manslaughter, a law from the 1800s that applies when a ship officer’s negligence leads to a crewman’s death.</p>
<p>He made his first court appearance Monday and could spend three years in prison for each death. His attorney did not respond to a message from The Washington Post seeking comment.</p>
<p>After Hutchinson was rescued and flown to a hospital, doctors took a sample of his blood, according to an indictment filed last week. They found Oxycodone in his system and THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. Prosecutors say he drank alcohol and consumed the drugs the night before he pulled the boat out of Tenants Harbor for the last time.</p>
<p>Catastrophically, prosecutors say, he also ignored weather warnings.</p>
<p>“Prior to the No Limits departure, the National Weather Service was predicting and warning of adverse and dangerous marine weather and sea conditions in the area,” the indictment says. “Marine weather forecasts, watches and warnings [were] continuously broadcast on radio.”</p>
<p>Prosecutors claim Hutchinson was also negligent in employing a 15-year-old boy, a complicated and sensitive issue among people who make their living catching lobsters.</p>
<p>Commercial lobstering is a lucrative business in Maine – it’s also one of the state’s most dangerous jobs.</p>
<p>Lobstermen caught nearly half a billion dollars worth of lobster last year in Maine, according to the state, which produced 90 percent of the nation’s lobster.</p>
<p>According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “commercial fishing is one of the most hazardous occupations in the United States with a fatality rate 39 times higher than the national average.”</p>
<p>Lobstermen routinely handle weighted traps that are up to 100 pounds apiece, connected by ropes that whiz across a ship’s deck, pulled by a power hydraulic hauler, said Patrice McCarron, the executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association.</p>
<p>“God forbid you get entangled in that rope and go overboard,” she said. ” ‘Man overboard’ is the most dangerous situation for lobstermen.”</p>
<p>For men on the boat, even safety equipment can be hazardous, especially if it gets entangled in a rope or a Lobster trap.</p>
<p>“Many lobstermen will carry a knife in their overalls upside down, so if they fall overboard, you can pull this knife out and cut yourself free,” McCarron said. “But you can bang your head. You can go overboard unconscious.”</p>
<p>And those dangers can be amplified by bad weather and a dynamic sea.</p>
<p>Still, having children and teens on a boat is not uncommon or frowned upon. Children can get sponsored for a student or apprentice license when they are just 8 years old, McCarron said. The apprenticeship programs, which are often used by small family operations, help lobstermen pass on the caveats of a centuries-old tradition.</p>
<p>It’s not unusual to see children and teens working on boats during the summer months or on school vacations to earn extra cash.</p>
<p>McCarron said she didn’t know many of the details of Hutchinson’s incident in November 2014.</p>
<p>“I know that was a loss that hit the industry really, really hard,” she said. “We lost a 15-year-old, and the other crewman had a small child.”</p>
<p>Last year, the families of the dead men settled with Hutchinson and his crew for $310,000, according to the Rockland Courier-Gazette.</p>
<p>The story says the men who died weren’t wearing safety equipment when the wave broke through the wheelhouse window and washed over the deck.</p>
<p>lobster-boat</p> | 1,833 |
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<p>Need to know: Dozens of people have been killed, more than 100 injured and six arrested after <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/china/121002/hong-kong-ferry-boat-collision-death-toll-video" type="external">two passenger boats collided off Hong Kong</a>.</p>
<p>The crash took place last night near Lamma Island, when a ferry hit a pleasure boat. That boat, which was carrying more than 120 utility company employees and their families on to watch a firework display for China's National Day, sank almost entirely within minutes. The ferry returned safely to port.</p>
<p>Three crew members from each vessel are <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-19797588" type="external">under investigation</a> for allegedly endangering lives at sea.</p>
<p>At least 37 bodies had been recovered by this morning, including five children. The search for survivors, and victims, continues.</p>
<p>Want to know: Georgia's ruling party has admitted defeat in the country's <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/politics/elections/120928/Georgia-elections-Saakashvili-Ivanishvili-Russia" type="external">landmark parliamentary elections</a>.</p>
<p>President Mikheil Saakashvili <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19798323" type="external">conceded</a> that his United National Movement lost its majority to the opposition coalition Georgian Dream, headed by billionaire businessman Bidzina Ivanishvili. Saakashvili said he would respect the people's decision and lead his party into opposition.</p>
<p>The result marks the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union that Georgia has <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/110526/georgia-demonstration-police-violence" type="external">changed governments</a> by a democratic vote, not a revolution.</p>
<p>Dull but important: New York's Attorney General is <a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/10/02/uk-jpmorgan-lawsuit-idUKBRE89101X20121002" type="external">suing JPMorgan Chase</a> over mortgage-backed securities sold by Bear Stearns.</p>
<p>The civil fraud suit is the first strike by the task force formed by President Barack Obama earlier this year to punish wrongdoing that contributed to the financial crisis.</p>
<p>It accuses Bear Stearns, which JPMorgan bought in 2008, of peddling securities tied to risky mortgage loans - having either failed to check for defects or ignored them, in order to make as many sales as possible. When the securities later turned into bad debt, investors were left more than $20 billion out of pocket.</p>
<p>JPMorgan says it will contest the allegations.</p>
<p>Just because: Venezuela votes in its <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/venezuela/120930/opposition-shootings-cast-shadow-venezuela-election" type="external">presidential election</a> this Sunday, and incumbent Hugo Chavez is widely expected to win - even despite a soaring murder rate, inflation and alleged abuses of power.</p>
<p>But Chavez is not an exception. Rather, he's the best known of <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/121001/latin-america-authoritarian-strongmen-elections" type="external">a new breed of Latin American strongmen</a> who - under a veneer of constitutionality - concentrate power in their own hands, marginalize opponents and use public resources to stack electoral races in their favor.</p>
<p>GlobalPost examines why, some three decades after the fall of the military dictatorships that once terrorized Latin America, democracy in the region is once again <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/121001/latin-america-authoritarian-strongmen-elections" type="external">under attack</a>.</p>
<p>Strange but true: First, the pig farmers cried pork shortage. " <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/weird-wide-web/porkpocalypse-world-bacon-pork-shortages-expected-2012" type="external">Porkpocalypse!</a>" the hog-guzzling world wailed back, wiping the curdled residue of last night's bacon sundae from its maw.</p>
<p>Then: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/weird-wide-web/oregon-farmer-eaten-hogs-body-found-pieces" type="external">this happens</a>. An Oregon hog farmer went to feed his herd and never came back. All they found of him were his dentures and other, unspecified "remains."</p>
<p>This disturbing development leaves the world with two choices, as we see it: swear off swine and switch to seitan chops instead; or eat them, eat them all. Before it's <a href="http://www.sirenvisual.com.au/media/media/img/shortdescription/animalfarm1.shortdescription.jpg" type="external">too late</a>.</p> | Chatter: Dozens drowned in Hong Kong boat crash | false | https://pri.org/stories/2012-10-02/chatter-dozens-drowned-hong-kong-boat-crash | 2012-10-02 | 3left-center
| Chatter: Dozens drowned in Hong Kong boat crash
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<p>&#160;&#160;&#160;</p>
<p>Need to know: Dozens of people have been killed, more than 100 injured and six arrested after <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/china/121002/hong-kong-ferry-boat-collision-death-toll-video" type="external">two passenger boats collided off Hong Kong</a>.</p>
<p>The crash took place last night near Lamma Island, when a ferry hit a pleasure boat. That boat, which was carrying more than 120 utility company employees and their families on to watch a firework display for China's National Day, sank almost entirely within minutes. The ferry returned safely to port.</p>
<p>Three crew members from each vessel are <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-19797588" type="external">under investigation</a> for allegedly endangering lives at sea.</p>
<p>At least 37 bodies had been recovered by this morning, including five children. The search for survivors, and victims, continues.</p>
<p>Want to know: Georgia's ruling party has admitted defeat in the country's <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/politics/elections/120928/Georgia-elections-Saakashvili-Ivanishvili-Russia" type="external">landmark parliamentary elections</a>.</p>
<p>President Mikheil Saakashvili <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19798323" type="external">conceded</a> that his United National Movement lost its majority to the opposition coalition Georgian Dream, headed by billionaire businessman Bidzina Ivanishvili. Saakashvili said he would respect the people's decision and lead his party into opposition.</p>
<p>The result marks the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union that Georgia has <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/110526/georgia-demonstration-police-violence" type="external">changed governments</a> by a democratic vote, not a revolution.</p>
<p>Dull but important: New York's Attorney General is <a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/10/02/uk-jpmorgan-lawsuit-idUKBRE89101X20121002" type="external">suing JPMorgan Chase</a> over mortgage-backed securities sold by Bear Stearns.</p>
<p>The civil fraud suit is the first strike by the task force formed by President Barack Obama earlier this year to punish wrongdoing that contributed to the financial crisis.</p>
<p>It accuses Bear Stearns, which JPMorgan bought in 2008, of peddling securities tied to risky mortgage loans - having either failed to check for defects or ignored them, in order to make as many sales as possible. When the securities later turned into bad debt, investors were left more than $20 billion out of pocket.</p>
<p>JPMorgan says it will contest the allegations.</p>
<p>Just because: Venezuela votes in its <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/venezuela/120930/opposition-shootings-cast-shadow-venezuela-election" type="external">presidential election</a> this Sunday, and incumbent Hugo Chavez is widely expected to win - even despite a soaring murder rate, inflation and alleged abuses of power.</p>
<p>But Chavez is not an exception. Rather, he's the best known of <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/121001/latin-america-authoritarian-strongmen-elections" type="external">a new breed of Latin American strongmen</a> who - under a veneer of constitutionality - concentrate power in their own hands, marginalize opponents and use public resources to stack electoral races in their favor.</p>
<p>GlobalPost examines why, some three decades after the fall of the military dictatorships that once terrorized Latin America, democracy in the region is once again <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/121001/latin-america-authoritarian-strongmen-elections" type="external">under attack</a>.</p>
<p>Strange but true: First, the pig farmers cried pork shortage. " <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/weird-wide-web/porkpocalypse-world-bacon-pork-shortages-expected-2012" type="external">Porkpocalypse!</a>" the hog-guzzling world wailed back, wiping the curdled residue of last night's bacon sundae from its maw.</p>
<p>Then: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/weird-wide-web/oregon-farmer-eaten-hogs-body-found-pieces" type="external">this happens</a>. An Oregon hog farmer went to feed his herd and never came back. All they found of him were his dentures and other, unspecified "remains."</p>
<p>This disturbing development leaves the world with two choices, as we see it: swear off swine and switch to seitan chops instead; or eat them, eat them all. Before it's <a href="http://www.sirenvisual.com.au/media/media/img/shortdescription/animalfarm1.shortdescription.jpg" type="external">too late</a>.</p> | 1,834 |
<p>By Gabriela Baczynska</p>
<p>TALLINN (Reuters) – European Union states will this month debate increasing pressure on Poland to uphold the rule of law, sources said, as the next stage in a process that could see its government formally denounced as anti-democratic.</p>
<p>The nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) government in Warsaw has pushed through reforms to the judiciary and media that critics within the EU say have weakened the democratic order.</p>
<p>PiS rejects the criticism, accuses Brussels of overstepping its mandate and says it has broad backing for its reforms within Poland, a country of 38 million and formerly communist eastern Europe’s dominant economy.</p>
<p>After more than a year of growing pressure from the European Commission, the executive on Wednesday asked the bloc’s 28 EU affairs ministers to discuss its concerns on Sept. 25, the day after national elections in Germany.</p>
<p>The Commission’s deputy head Frans Timmermans will brief the ministers on his so far futile efforts to persuade Warsaw to shift its position, the sources said.</p>
<p>German Chancellor Angela Merkel has joined the growing chorus of those calling for firmer action on Poland and discussed the matter with the Commission’s chief, Jean-Claude Juncker.</p>
<p>Should Warsaw remain adamant, it eventually risks losing generous EU handouts if it continues to upset its wealthier peers that chip in for the funds, a debate gradually heating up in the bloc.</p>
<p>For now, the EU has limited firepower at its disposal.</p>
<p>But it could trigger Article 7 proceedings under which it would ask the other 27 EU states to formally state that the rule of law was under threat in Poland – an action unprecedented in EU history.</p>
<p>Timmermans has set a clear red line by saying that Article 7 would be opened should Warsaw start to fire the country’s Supreme Court judges under the judicial overhaul.</p>
<p>The dispute highlights Warsaw’s growing isolation in the EU since the eurosceptic PiS won power there in 2015, but also a growing east-west divide within the bloc.</p>
<p>Launching Article 7 would be a major embarrassment for Poland, but its regional ally Hungary – whose leader Viktor Orban also has a track record of crossing swords with Brussels – has made clear it would block any sanctions against it under the punitive procedure.</p>
<p>In the west, increasingly frustrated with multiplying feuds with Warsaw that also touch on migration and environmental issues, some express renewed doubts about the 2004 EU enlargement that added eight ex-communist countries to the bloc.</p>
<p>In Poland, opposition parties sound alarm that PiS is reneging on fundamental EU values and could eventually risk sabotaging Poland’s EU membership, which gave the country billions of euros and anchored it in the western world after decades of the Moscow-imposed communism after World War Two.</p>
<p>But PiS has largely been successful in rallying its supporters around what it presents as standing up for Poland’s national interests against the EU dictate, just as Orban has portrayed his own feuds with the bloc to his voters.</p>
<p>The more immediate effect is that Warsaw is hemorrhaging political influence in the EU and has less capacity to shape the bloc’s policies despite being the sixth largest state by population, and the fifth one after Britain leaves.</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> | EU to raise pressure on Poland over democracy concerns: sources | false | https://newsline.com/eu-to-raise-pressure-on-poland-over-democracy-concerns-sources/ | 2017-09-06 | 1right-center
| EU to raise pressure on Poland over democracy concerns: sources
<p>By Gabriela Baczynska</p>
<p>TALLINN (Reuters) – European Union states will this month debate increasing pressure on Poland to uphold the rule of law, sources said, as the next stage in a process that could see its government formally denounced as anti-democratic.</p>
<p>The nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) government in Warsaw has pushed through reforms to the judiciary and media that critics within the EU say have weakened the democratic order.</p>
<p>PiS rejects the criticism, accuses Brussels of overstepping its mandate and says it has broad backing for its reforms within Poland, a country of 38 million and formerly communist eastern Europe’s dominant economy.</p>
<p>After more than a year of growing pressure from the European Commission, the executive on Wednesday asked the bloc’s 28 EU affairs ministers to discuss its concerns on Sept. 25, the day after national elections in Germany.</p>
<p>The Commission’s deputy head Frans Timmermans will brief the ministers on his so far futile efforts to persuade Warsaw to shift its position, the sources said.</p>
<p>German Chancellor Angela Merkel has joined the growing chorus of those calling for firmer action on Poland and discussed the matter with the Commission’s chief, Jean-Claude Juncker.</p>
<p>Should Warsaw remain adamant, it eventually risks losing generous EU handouts if it continues to upset its wealthier peers that chip in for the funds, a debate gradually heating up in the bloc.</p>
<p>For now, the EU has limited firepower at its disposal.</p>
<p>But it could trigger Article 7 proceedings under which it would ask the other 27 EU states to formally state that the rule of law was under threat in Poland – an action unprecedented in EU history.</p>
<p>Timmermans has set a clear red line by saying that Article 7 would be opened should Warsaw start to fire the country’s Supreme Court judges under the judicial overhaul.</p>
<p>The dispute highlights Warsaw’s growing isolation in the EU since the eurosceptic PiS won power there in 2015, but also a growing east-west divide within the bloc.</p>
<p>Launching Article 7 would be a major embarrassment for Poland, but its regional ally Hungary – whose leader Viktor Orban also has a track record of crossing swords with Brussels – has made clear it would block any sanctions against it under the punitive procedure.</p>
<p>In the west, increasingly frustrated with multiplying feuds with Warsaw that also touch on migration and environmental issues, some express renewed doubts about the 2004 EU enlargement that added eight ex-communist countries to the bloc.</p>
<p>In Poland, opposition parties sound alarm that PiS is reneging on fundamental EU values and could eventually risk sabotaging Poland’s EU membership, which gave the country billions of euros and anchored it in the western world after decades of the Moscow-imposed communism after World War Two.</p>
<p>But PiS has largely been successful in rallying its supporters around what it presents as standing up for Poland’s national interests against the EU dictate, just as Orban has portrayed his own feuds with the bloc to his voters.</p>
<p>The more immediate effect is that Warsaw is hemorrhaging political influence in the EU and has less capacity to shape the bloc’s policies despite being the sixth largest state by population, and the fifth one after Britain leaves.</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> | 1,835 |
<p />
<p />
<p>Taking up its classic role as a peace mediator, Swiss President Doris Leuthard declared on Monday at a news conference in the Swiss city of Bern that her government would be ready to offer a peaceful solution and place were the parties of the current US - North Korea tensions could have a talk.</p>
<p>At a news conference this morning, she said: "We are ready to offer our role for good services as a mediator. I think in the upcoming weeks a lot will depend on how the U.S. and China can have an influence in this crisis. That's why I think Switzerland (and Sweden) can have a role behind the curtain. It is really time now to sit down at a table. Big powers have a responsibility."</p>
<p>The famous Swiss neutrality is the key principle to its foreign policy. It dictates that Switzerland is never to be involved in any armed conflicts between other states and was implement since 1815. Switzerland remained neutral in both world wars and European powers have always respected this. Because of its longstanding neutral stance towards any conflict, the Swiss government has an impeccable relation as to hosting peace talks. The Iran - US nuclear deal of last year was handled in Lausanne, Switzerland as well.</p>
<p>Switzerland proposed to hold ministerial talks as a first step, inviting both parties to send delegates to either Lausanne, Zurich or Geneva.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, as both South Korea and the North are readying further weapons to be tested, the UN Security Council will meet later this Monday to discuss new sanctions against the isolated regime. The only hope for this rests with China, which controls most of the remaining trade with North Korea.</p>
<p>The Swiss president said about the imposing of sanctions that these "did not change many things" when it came to convincing Pyongyang (the North Korean capital) to abandon its weapons programs.</p>
<p>"I think it really is time for dialogue," President Leuthard said.</p>
<p>We await a reaction from the White House.</p>
<p>Source:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/switzerland-mediate-north-korea-crisis-1.4274409" type="external">cbc.ca/news/world/switzerland-mediate-north-korea-crisis-1.4274409</a></p> | Switzerland Jumps into the Fire: NK Mediation | true | http://thegoldwater.com/news/7578-Switzerland-Jumps-into-the-Fire-NK-Mediation | 2017-09-04 | 0right
| Switzerland Jumps into the Fire: NK Mediation
<p />
<p />
<p>Taking up its classic role as a peace mediator, Swiss President Doris Leuthard declared on Monday at a news conference in the Swiss city of Bern that her government would be ready to offer a peaceful solution and place were the parties of the current US - North Korea tensions could have a talk.</p>
<p>At a news conference this morning, she said: "We are ready to offer our role for good services as a mediator. I think in the upcoming weeks a lot will depend on how the U.S. and China can have an influence in this crisis. That's why I think Switzerland (and Sweden) can have a role behind the curtain. It is really time now to sit down at a table. Big powers have a responsibility."</p>
<p>The famous Swiss neutrality is the key principle to its foreign policy. It dictates that Switzerland is never to be involved in any armed conflicts between other states and was implement since 1815. Switzerland remained neutral in both world wars and European powers have always respected this. Because of its longstanding neutral stance towards any conflict, the Swiss government has an impeccable relation as to hosting peace talks. The Iran - US nuclear deal of last year was handled in Lausanne, Switzerland as well.</p>
<p>Switzerland proposed to hold ministerial talks as a first step, inviting both parties to send delegates to either Lausanne, Zurich or Geneva.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, as both South Korea and the North are readying further weapons to be tested, the UN Security Council will meet later this Monday to discuss new sanctions against the isolated regime. The only hope for this rests with China, which controls most of the remaining trade with North Korea.</p>
<p>The Swiss president said about the imposing of sanctions that these "did not change many things" when it came to convincing Pyongyang (the North Korean capital) to abandon its weapons programs.</p>
<p>"I think it really is time for dialogue," President Leuthard said.</p>
<p>We await a reaction from the White House.</p>
<p>Source:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/switzerland-mediate-north-korea-crisis-1.4274409" type="external">cbc.ca/news/world/switzerland-mediate-north-korea-crisis-1.4274409</a></p> | 1,836 |
<p>Toyota is recalling about 5.8 million vehicles in Japan, Europe, China and other countries to replace potentially deadly Takata air bag inflators.</p>
<p>The company says it knows of one person injured in a crash involving one of the vehicles, but a spokesman didn't know where the crash happened. Toyota says it hasn't determined if the injury was caused by a ruptured inflator.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The vehicles have inflators that can rupture and spew shrapnel. U.S. vehicles with the same inflators are already under recall.</p>
<p>Toyota says the recall brings to 23.1 million the total number of vehicles it has recalled worldwide to fix inflators.</p>
<p>Authorities say as many as 16 deaths worldwide have been linked to Takata. Seventeen automakers are recalling about 69 million inflators in the U.S. and 100 million worldwide.</p> | Toyota adds 5.8M vehicles to global Takata recall total | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/10/26/toyota-adds-58m-vehicles-to-global-takata-recall-total.html | 2016-10-26 | 0right
| Toyota adds 5.8M vehicles to global Takata recall total
<p>Toyota is recalling about 5.8 million vehicles in Japan, Europe, China and other countries to replace potentially deadly Takata air bag inflators.</p>
<p>The company says it knows of one person injured in a crash involving one of the vehicles, but a spokesman didn't know where the crash happened. Toyota says it hasn't determined if the injury was caused by a ruptured inflator.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The vehicles have inflators that can rupture and spew shrapnel. U.S. vehicles with the same inflators are already under recall.</p>
<p>Toyota says the recall brings to 23.1 million the total number of vehicles it has recalled worldwide to fix inflators.</p>
<p>Authorities say as many as 16 deaths worldwide have been linked to Takata. Seventeen automakers are recalling about 69 million inflators in the U.S. and 100 million worldwide.</p> | 1,837 |
<p>Locals say angels quietly protect the dead buried beneath the live oak trees of Sacred Heart Burial Park in Falfurrias, Texas. Since the oil bust decimated the fracking economy in recent years, Falfurrias and other towns dotting the coastal plains of southeast Texas have taken on a ghostly quiet, a quiet so encompassing you can hear at a distance the hissing and flapping of big white owls.</p>
<p>Juan Manuel Villarreal, a 66-year-old groundskeeper, tends the oaks and other flora in the cemetery. And he sometimes also tends to the dead.</p>
<p>“Look,” he says in Spanish, pointing to a gravesite. “Those are truck tire marks. Someone just drove over these graves.” The graves are one of Sacred Heart’s many unmarked mass graves dug over the course of more than a decade. In addition to the families buried here since the founding of Falfurrias in the early 20th century, Sacred Heart also has corners and holes reserved for its newest group:&#160; <a href="http://www.caller.com/news/local/mass-graves-of-migrants-found-in-falfurrias--video-ep-459273104.html" type="external">immigrants found dead</a> <a href="http://www.caller.com/news/local/mass-graves-of-migrants-found-in-falfurrias--video-ep-459273104.html" type="external">on the giant ranches farther south</a>.</p>
<p>Villareal looks over at the graves, victims of the odyssey from Central America to the border. “The saddest thing is seeing the mothers and children, especially the skulls of bebitos,” he says. “There are many [immigrants] still in the mass graves ... and the season is getting hot again, and many more will die.”</p>
<p>Buried alongside them are some victims or relatives of victims of La Matanza, or The Massacre, when Texas rangers shot, hanged&#160;and killed as many as several thousand Tejanos and Mexicans throughout south Texas between 1910 and 1920, at the height of the Progressive Era.</p>
<p>Back then, when Mexicans and Tejanos were trying to hold onto what land remained after the Mexican-American War, land-owning progressives like Falfurrias’ founder, Edward Cunningham Lasater, invited state rangers to undertake what we would today call the “militarization of the border.”</p>
<p>Some of these white progressives are buried right next to Sacred Heart, where, Villareal says, they were once more clearly separated from the Mexicans by a long fence, a border of the dead that he says he played near as a boy. “There’s still mostly whites buried here on this side,” Villareal says, “but now there are some Tejanos here too.”</p>
<p />
<p>Juan Manuel Villareal points to where a fence once divided the white dead from the Tejano dead.&#160;</p>
<p>Roberto Lovato</p>
<p>Villareal’s great grandparents arrived in Falfurrias during that time — back when the border was only a word. They witnessed the birth of the Progressive Era and the progressive politics that focused on reforming education, social welfare&#160;and the workplace, some of the same ideas that inform today’s progressive movement. Though today and yesterday’s progressives share a belief in the often destructive idea of “progress,” which leaves stolen land, mass exploitation, and even death in its path, today’s progressives are different in terms of issues like labor, women's suffrage&#160;and the environment, issues that have evolved or emerged since the early 1920s.</p>
<p>But ask Latinos whether they feel included today, and many will say, “No.” Just look at the boards and staff rosters of most leading US progressive organizations for the environment, women, labor&#160;or media. Many Latinos believe that in order to look beyond what still separates us, we have to also look backward at what separated us early on.</p>
<p>Today’s progressives in Texas have little to no idea about La Matanza and how it began to expand the barriers between Latinos and whites. Without looking at the history and the borders between them, Latinos and progressives will simply continue the decades-long dance that has resulted in Latino exclusion from leadership positions in progressive institutions and, some would argue, from involvement in the movement as a whole. The exclusion of Latinos leaves the progressive movement without the vital force of <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/06/25/u-s-hispanic-population-growth-surge-cools/" type="external">55 million people</a>. In order to undertake this necessary national, regional&#160;and local dialogue, the progressive movement will have to question what defines them, to the point where they question the term “progressive” and its etymological parent “progress” too.</p>
<p>Like in south Texas, Latinos throughout the United States have viewed and continue to view progress and progressivism skeptically. Some Latinos identify as “progressives,” but many more of us feel that, like the graves of Sacred Heart, we’ve been bordered off from a progressivism that has not really embraced us or our issues.</p>
<p>Progressives today are more evolved than Lasater and other elders of US&#160;progressivism, but remnants of the racial and political borders found in Falfurrias in the 19th and 20th centuries remain. Just look at the comments of any article on immigration in any progressive publication, and you will see the ghosts of south Texas. You will hear the voices of Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. Many Latinos feel progressives don’t understand why Latinos are disillusioned with President Barack Obama’s immigration policies that&#160; <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/10/02/u-s-deportations-of-immigrants-reach-record-high-in-2013/" type="external">deport millions</a>, <a href="https://www.ice.gov/removal-statistics" type="external">jail hundreds of thousands</a>, and result in the deaths of many — as shown by a <a href="http://www.latinodecisions.com/blog/2013/06/11/latino-voters-oppose-excessive-enforcement-and-punitive-measures-in-immigration-reform/" type="external">2013 poll released by Presente.org</a>, a Latino advocacy organization I co-founded.</p>
<p>Latinos are creating super majorities like those in south Texas’ Lower Rio Grande Valley, where the population is <a href="http://greatertexasfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/South-Texas-Short-Research-Loop-FINAL.pdf" type="external">about 90 percent Latino</a>. The rise of the Latino population is becoming a unique force in its own right with its own history and destiny — not as a Spanish-speaking junior partner to the black community, which includes many Afro-Latinos who identify as both. If our political imagination does not expand beyond the black-white binary that began and still defines US culture and politics, including progressive politics, then the future of progressivism and left-Latino politics will look a lot like the cemeteries of Falfurrias: old and segregated. Such a political imagination would transcend the wreckage that progress leaves in places like south Texas.</p>
<p>In this sense, Latinos have much to offer whatever politic of the future replaces progressivism. “Latinos” and “Latin Americans” — two hybrid peoples born of the arrival and birth and perpetual crisis of capitalism during the discovery of the New World in the 15th and 16th centuries — remain a people who know crisis and how to face it. We know that the global forces destroying trees and land, displacing and killing migrants, and controlling ever greater amounts of space, governments&#160;and political imagination will require uniting with others within and beyond our borders.</p>
<p>Latinos are uniquely positioned for such struggles of the borderless world. Bigots, haters&#160;and even the well-meaning are threatened by how Latino identity and politics challenge sacrosanct ideas about borders or sovereignty. Many unique Latino characteristics — a population of 55 million connected by a contiguous border; a presence in the Southwest that predates the United States itself; a language reinforced daily, hourly by multi-billion dollar industries and the likes of Univision and Telemundo — connect Latinos to the rest of the planet and continent in powerful ways that scare some progressives.</p>
<p>Progressives who engage in global fights against issues like free trade and climate change are the exception in a body that uncritically accepts the bordering off of people as an “American” given. And the many of us who look at the debris of “progress” — impoverishment of the majority, greater wealth gaps, disintegration of the family — also see the urgent need to move beyond its borders.</p>
<p>In Falfurrias and across the United States, progressivism has ceded the Latino segment of the political system to the Democratic Party in much the same way that it has ceded considerable political space among working-class whites to the forces behind Trump and Cruz. The lack of investment in building a progressive infrastructure in these working-class communities is a problem for the progressive movement and its institutions.</p>
<p>The inability to link working-class Latino interests with those of the black and white working classes constitutes one of the greatest political failures of our time. Such a situation demands we do everything we can to expand the political imagination, including letting go of our long-held notions of “progress” and “progressivism.”</p>
<p>Though it’s clear that we’ve exhausted the limits of the two-party system, a sensibility fueling the passionate support for Bernie Sanders, we have yet to expand our conception of politics to include what is obvious to many: We need political parties tied to social movements. Those of us from or with roots in Latin America, where political parties are often tied to social movements, see the need to make “America,” the country, look more like América, the sometimes insurgent continent.</p>
<p>The unprecedented immigrant rights marches of 2006, when more than 200 cities and towns mobilized millions, were fueled, in part, by Latinos who have experience organizing in Latin America. Many Latino leaders from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, the Caribbean&#160;and South America first learned to fight against US-backed regimes.</p>
<p>We in the United States can, instead of moving forward with the march of progress, look backward. We can do the urgent and necessary work of altering “America” to include Latinos in the national conversation — not just when it comes to immigration and the Hispanic vote.</p>
<p>In Texas, excavations of mass graves and stories of matanzas of Manifest Destinies past will help the United States better understand the unacknowledged results of that past: Latin Americans made desperate by US economic and military policies migrating northward to the origin of the problem.</p>
<p>Latinos living in the United States already know the problem. We know it much like José Martí, the Cuban revolutionary poet who described our lived experience as living in the “belly of the beast.” The question is will we own that problem in a manner that acknowledges the limits of progress and progressivism that excludes Latinos?</p>
<p>Given the challenges facing progressives, Latinos, and the entire planet, those of us committed to keeping the beast healthy have no choice but to move beyond the limits of progress and progressivism that have failed to connect history with the outcomes of today.</p>
<p>This&#160; <a href="http://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/progressive-politics-dont-feel-so-inclusive-when-youre-latino-20160418" type="external">story</a>&#160;was originally published by&#160; <a href="http://www.yesmagazine.org/" type="external">YES! Magazine</a>, a nonprofit publication that supports people’s active engagement in solving today’s social, political&#160;and environmental challenges.</p> | Progressive politics don’t feel so inclusive when you’re Latino | false | https://pri.org/stories/2016-04-23/progressive-politics-don-t-feel-so-inclusive-when-you-re-latino | 2016-04-23 | 3left-center
| Progressive politics don’t feel so inclusive when you’re Latino
<p>Locals say angels quietly protect the dead buried beneath the live oak trees of Sacred Heart Burial Park in Falfurrias, Texas. Since the oil bust decimated the fracking economy in recent years, Falfurrias and other towns dotting the coastal plains of southeast Texas have taken on a ghostly quiet, a quiet so encompassing you can hear at a distance the hissing and flapping of big white owls.</p>
<p>Juan Manuel Villarreal, a 66-year-old groundskeeper, tends the oaks and other flora in the cemetery. And he sometimes also tends to the dead.</p>
<p>“Look,” he says in Spanish, pointing to a gravesite. “Those are truck tire marks. Someone just drove over these graves.” The graves are one of Sacred Heart’s many unmarked mass graves dug over the course of more than a decade. In addition to the families buried here since the founding of Falfurrias in the early 20th century, Sacred Heart also has corners and holes reserved for its newest group:&#160; <a href="http://www.caller.com/news/local/mass-graves-of-migrants-found-in-falfurrias--video-ep-459273104.html" type="external">immigrants found dead</a> <a href="http://www.caller.com/news/local/mass-graves-of-migrants-found-in-falfurrias--video-ep-459273104.html" type="external">on the giant ranches farther south</a>.</p>
<p>Villareal looks over at the graves, victims of the odyssey from Central America to the border. “The saddest thing is seeing the mothers and children, especially the skulls of bebitos,” he says. “There are many [immigrants] still in the mass graves ... and the season is getting hot again, and many more will die.”</p>
<p>Buried alongside them are some victims or relatives of victims of La Matanza, or The Massacre, when Texas rangers shot, hanged&#160;and killed as many as several thousand Tejanos and Mexicans throughout south Texas between 1910 and 1920, at the height of the Progressive Era.</p>
<p>Back then, when Mexicans and Tejanos were trying to hold onto what land remained after the Mexican-American War, land-owning progressives like Falfurrias’ founder, Edward Cunningham Lasater, invited state rangers to undertake what we would today call the “militarization of the border.”</p>
<p>Some of these white progressives are buried right next to Sacred Heart, where, Villareal says, they were once more clearly separated from the Mexicans by a long fence, a border of the dead that he says he played near as a boy. “There’s still mostly whites buried here on this side,” Villareal says, “but now there are some Tejanos here too.”</p>
<p />
<p>Juan Manuel Villareal points to where a fence once divided the white dead from the Tejano dead.&#160;</p>
<p>Roberto Lovato</p>
<p>Villareal’s great grandparents arrived in Falfurrias during that time — back when the border was only a word. They witnessed the birth of the Progressive Era and the progressive politics that focused on reforming education, social welfare&#160;and the workplace, some of the same ideas that inform today’s progressive movement. Though today and yesterday’s progressives share a belief in the often destructive idea of “progress,” which leaves stolen land, mass exploitation, and even death in its path, today’s progressives are different in terms of issues like labor, women's suffrage&#160;and the environment, issues that have evolved or emerged since the early 1920s.</p>
<p>But ask Latinos whether they feel included today, and many will say, “No.” Just look at the boards and staff rosters of most leading US progressive organizations for the environment, women, labor&#160;or media. Many Latinos believe that in order to look beyond what still separates us, we have to also look backward at what separated us early on.</p>
<p>Today’s progressives in Texas have little to no idea about La Matanza and how it began to expand the barriers between Latinos and whites. Without looking at the history and the borders between them, Latinos and progressives will simply continue the decades-long dance that has resulted in Latino exclusion from leadership positions in progressive institutions and, some would argue, from involvement in the movement as a whole. The exclusion of Latinos leaves the progressive movement without the vital force of <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/06/25/u-s-hispanic-population-growth-surge-cools/" type="external">55 million people</a>. In order to undertake this necessary national, regional&#160;and local dialogue, the progressive movement will have to question what defines them, to the point where they question the term “progressive” and its etymological parent “progress” too.</p>
<p>Like in south Texas, Latinos throughout the United States have viewed and continue to view progress and progressivism skeptically. Some Latinos identify as “progressives,” but many more of us feel that, like the graves of Sacred Heart, we’ve been bordered off from a progressivism that has not really embraced us or our issues.</p>
<p>Progressives today are more evolved than Lasater and other elders of US&#160;progressivism, but remnants of the racial and political borders found in Falfurrias in the 19th and 20th centuries remain. Just look at the comments of any article on immigration in any progressive publication, and you will see the ghosts of south Texas. You will hear the voices of Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. Many Latinos feel progressives don’t understand why Latinos are disillusioned with President Barack Obama’s immigration policies that&#160; <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/10/02/u-s-deportations-of-immigrants-reach-record-high-in-2013/" type="external">deport millions</a>, <a href="https://www.ice.gov/removal-statistics" type="external">jail hundreds of thousands</a>, and result in the deaths of many — as shown by a <a href="http://www.latinodecisions.com/blog/2013/06/11/latino-voters-oppose-excessive-enforcement-and-punitive-measures-in-immigration-reform/" type="external">2013 poll released by Presente.org</a>, a Latino advocacy organization I co-founded.</p>
<p>Latinos are creating super majorities like those in south Texas’ Lower Rio Grande Valley, where the population is <a href="http://greatertexasfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/South-Texas-Short-Research-Loop-FINAL.pdf" type="external">about 90 percent Latino</a>. The rise of the Latino population is becoming a unique force in its own right with its own history and destiny — not as a Spanish-speaking junior partner to the black community, which includes many Afro-Latinos who identify as both. If our political imagination does not expand beyond the black-white binary that began and still defines US culture and politics, including progressive politics, then the future of progressivism and left-Latino politics will look a lot like the cemeteries of Falfurrias: old and segregated. Such a political imagination would transcend the wreckage that progress leaves in places like south Texas.</p>
<p>In this sense, Latinos have much to offer whatever politic of the future replaces progressivism. “Latinos” and “Latin Americans” — two hybrid peoples born of the arrival and birth and perpetual crisis of capitalism during the discovery of the New World in the 15th and 16th centuries — remain a people who know crisis and how to face it. We know that the global forces destroying trees and land, displacing and killing migrants, and controlling ever greater amounts of space, governments&#160;and political imagination will require uniting with others within and beyond our borders.</p>
<p>Latinos are uniquely positioned for such struggles of the borderless world. Bigots, haters&#160;and even the well-meaning are threatened by how Latino identity and politics challenge sacrosanct ideas about borders or sovereignty. Many unique Latino characteristics — a population of 55 million connected by a contiguous border; a presence in the Southwest that predates the United States itself; a language reinforced daily, hourly by multi-billion dollar industries and the likes of Univision and Telemundo — connect Latinos to the rest of the planet and continent in powerful ways that scare some progressives.</p>
<p>Progressives who engage in global fights against issues like free trade and climate change are the exception in a body that uncritically accepts the bordering off of people as an “American” given. And the many of us who look at the debris of “progress” — impoverishment of the majority, greater wealth gaps, disintegration of the family — also see the urgent need to move beyond its borders.</p>
<p>In Falfurrias and across the United States, progressivism has ceded the Latino segment of the political system to the Democratic Party in much the same way that it has ceded considerable political space among working-class whites to the forces behind Trump and Cruz. The lack of investment in building a progressive infrastructure in these working-class communities is a problem for the progressive movement and its institutions.</p>
<p>The inability to link working-class Latino interests with those of the black and white working classes constitutes one of the greatest political failures of our time. Such a situation demands we do everything we can to expand the political imagination, including letting go of our long-held notions of “progress” and “progressivism.”</p>
<p>Though it’s clear that we’ve exhausted the limits of the two-party system, a sensibility fueling the passionate support for Bernie Sanders, we have yet to expand our conception of politics to include what is obvious to many: We need political parties tied to social movements. Those of us from or with roots in Latin America, where political parties are often tied to social movements, see the need to make “America,” the country, look more like América, the sometimes insurgent continent.</p>
<p>The unprecedented immigrant rights marches of 2006, when more than 200 cities and towns mobilized millions, were fueled, in part, by Latinos who have experience organizing in Latin America. Many Latino leaders from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, the Caribbean&#160;and South America first learned to fight against US-backed regimes.</p>
<p>We in the United States can, instead of moving forward with the march of progress, look backward. We can do the urgent and necessary work of altering “America” to include Latinos in the national conversation — not just when it comes to immigration and the Hispanic vote.</p>
<p>In Texas, excavations of mass graves and stories of matanzas of Manifest Destinies past will help the United States better understand the unacknowledged results of that past: Latin Americans made desperate by US economic and military policies migrating northward to the origin of the problem.</p>
<p>Latinos living in the United States already know the problem. We know it much like José Martí, the Cuban revolutionary poet who described our lived experience as living in the “belly of the beast.” The question is will we own that problem in a manner that acknowledges the limits of progress and progressivism that excludes Latinos?</p>
<p>Given the challenges facing progressives, Latinos, and the entire planet, those of us committed to keeping the beast healthy have no choice but to move beyond the limits of progress and progressivism that have failed to connect history with the outcomes of today.</p>
<p>This&#160; <a href="http://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/progressive-politics-dont-feel-so-inclusive-when-youre-latino-20160418" type="external">story</a>&#160;was originally published by&#160; <a href="http://www.yesmagazine.org/" type="external">YES! Magazine</a>, a nonprofit publication that supports people’s active engagement in solving today’s social, political&#160;and environmental challenges.</p> | 1,838 |
<p>HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Friday afternoon's drawing of the Pennsylvania Lottery's "Pick 3 Day" game were:</p>
<p>8-5-9, Wild: 6</p>
<p>(eight, five, nine; Wild: six)</p>
<p>HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Friday afternoon's drawing of the Pennsylvania Lottery's "Pick 3 Day" game were:</p>
<p>8-5-9, Wild: 6</p>
<p>(eight, five, nine; Wild: six)</p> | Winning numbers drawn in 'Pick 3 Day' game | false | https://apnews.com/amp/ae1f91dd33b1433fbfa6eb830b5d226b | 2018-01-12 | 2least
| Winning numbers drawn in 'Pick 3 Day' game
<p>HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Friday afternoon's drawing of the Pennsylvania Lottery's "Pick 3 Day" game were:</p>
<p>8-5-9, Wild: 6</p>
<p>(eight, five, nine; Wild: six)</p>
<p>HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Friday afternoon's drawing of the Pennsylvania Lottery's "Pick 3 Day" game were:</p>
<p>8-5-9, Wild: 6</p>
<p>(eight, five, nine; Wild: six)</p> | 1,839 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Successive governors have scrambled to attribute the reductions to their own DWI prevention programs, but the evidence is against claims that recent state anti-DWI efforts had much role in this. There was an even greater decline in crash deaths that did not involve alcohol, which fell 18 percent for 2013, to their lowest in 20 years.</p>
<p>There are many factors that reduce deaths in crashes of all kinds, whether or not they involve DWI.</p>
<p>When the economy suffers, people drive less, facing less risk. They drive on higher-speed rural highways less, facing less risk of high-speed crashes. They do recreational driving less, lowering risks.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Vehicles today are designed to collapse more safely in crashes, and airbags reduce injury in collisions, lowering death risk. Highways have better designs, to reduce likelihood of crashes and the severity of crashes when they do occur. Safety belt usage is high, reducing risk of death and severe injury.</p>
<p>Programs to reduce drunken driving can reduce DWI crashes even more.</p>
<p>The good news is that national and international research shows some very specific strategies that can dramatically change the behavior of many of the high-risk drivers most likely to consider drinking and driving. The bad news is that, recently, New Mexico is not using those strategies well. If New Mexico's anti-DWI strategies were working, alcohol-related crash deaths would decline more than other types, and the percentage of alcohol-related would drop accordingly. Has it dropped? Yes - early in the last decade, but not since.</p>
<p>We should not expect New Mexico's current statewide anti-DWI strategies to succeed, since they are not targeted and are weak. DWI patrols have dropped, producing the lowest DWI arrest counts in 25 years even as the population has climbed. New Mexico State Police DWI arrests have dropped by over 50 percent in three years.</p>
<p>Strong and highly visible enforcement can dramatically reduce crash deaths; for example, New South Wales in Australia achieved a 25 percent drop in DWI death and injury sustained across years with their strong programs. New Mexico needs to do the same.</p>
<p>Although most drunken driving trips don't result in arrests, for those hardest-core drunken drivers who do get arrested there are some strategies that can help stop them from doing that again. New Mexico does poorly at those, too.</p>
<p>State studies show very poor court compliance with the statutory mandate that every drunken driver receive alcoholism screening and appropriate treatment. After conviction, offenders often don't comply with sentences, since we lack the intensive DWI probation strategies that reduce recidivism. Ignition interlock programs have poor compliance, poor oversight, and no evaluation. Chronic offenders often don't receive even the moderate sentences the law mandates. There is very little state tracking, oversight or evaluation of the criminal justice system's actions re DWI.</p>
<p>Can New Mexico do better? We must. Our death rate per capita for DWI for 2011 is one third higher than Colorado's and Arizona's, meaning we had 49 more deaths that year compared to what we would have had if we matched Colorado's rate.</p>
<p>Funds to achieve these goals are already available in the state traffic safety budgets, just by re-targeting their use toward efforts that directly reduce death and injury.</p>
<p>New Mexico's next governor can save 200 lives from DWI in four years by improving efforts along these lines. New Mexico's citizens deserve nothing less, and we must demand that our governor deliver. It will mean the world to those 200 people.</p>
<p /> | NM can do so much more to fight DWI | false | https://abqjournal.com/378173/nm-can-do-so-much-more-to-fight-dwi.html | 2least
| NM can do so much more to fight DWI
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Successive governors have scrambled to attribute the reductions to their own DWI prevention programs, but the evidence is against claims that recent state anti-DWI efforts had much role in this. There was an even greater decline in crash deaths that did not involve alcohol, which fell 18 percent for 2013, to their lowest in 20 years.</p>
<p>There are many factors that reduce deaths in crashes of all kinds, whether or not they involve DWI.</p>
<p>When the economy suffers, people drive less, facing less risk. They drive on higher-speed rural highways less, facing less risk of high-speed crashes. They do recreational driving less, lowering risks.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Vehicles today are designed to collapse more safely in crashes, and airbags reduce injury in collisions, lowering death risk. Highways have better designs, to reduce likelihood of crashes and the severity of crashes when they do occur. Safety belt usage is high, reducing risk of death and severe injury.</p>
<p>Programs to reduce drunken driving can reduce DWI crashes even more.</p>
<p>The good news is that national and international research shows some very specific strategies that can dramatically change the behavior of many of the high-risk drivers most likely to consider drinking and driving. The bad news is that, recently, New Mexico is not using those strategies well. If New Mexico's anti-DWI strategies were working, alcohol-related crash deaths would decline more than other types, and the percentage of alcohol-related would drop accordingly. Has it dropped? Yes - early in the last decade, but not since.</p>
<p>We should not expect New Mexico's current statewide anti-DWI strategies to succeed, since they are not targeted and are weak. DWI patrols have dropped, producing the lowest DWI arrest counts in 25 years even as the population has climbed. New Mexico State Police DWI arrests have dropped by over 50 percent in three years.</p>
<p>Strong and highly visible enforcement can dramatically reduce crash deaths; for example, New South Wales in Australia achieved a 25 percent drop in DWI death and injury sustained across years with their strong programs. New Mexico needs to do the same.</p>
<p>Although most drunken driving trips don't result in arrests, for those hardest-core drunken drivers who do get arrested there are some strategies that can help stop them from doing that again. New Mexico does poorly at those, too.</p>
<p>State studies show very poor court compliance with the statutory mandate that every drunken driver receive alcoholism screening and appropriate treatment. After conviction, offenders often don't comply with sentences, since we lack the intensive DWI probation strategies that reduce recidivism. Ignition interlock programs have poor compliance, poor oversight, and no evaluation. Chronic offenders often don't receive even the moderate sentences the law mandates. There is very little state tracking, oversight or evaluation of the criminal justice system's actions re DWI.</p>
<p>Can New Mexico do better? We must. Our death rate per capita for DWI for 2011 is one third higher than Colorado's and Arizona's, meaning we had 49 more deaths that year compared to what we would have had if we matched Colorado's rate.</p>
<p>Funds to achieve these goals are already available in the state traffic safety budgets, just by re-targeting their use toward efforts that directly reduce death and injury.</p>
<p>New Mexico's next governor can save 200 lives from DWI in four years by improving efforts along these lines. New Mexico's citizens deserve nothing less, and we must demand that our governor deliver. It will mean the world to those 200 people.</p>
<p /> | 1,840 |
|
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Mission: Graduate, an initiative of United Way of Central New Mexico, is a cradle-to-career partnership of educators, local employers, government leaders and citizens in Bernalillo, Sandoval, Torrance and Valencia counties. Their goal is to have 60,000 additional graduates with college degrees or certificates by 2020, and have them placed into jobs in New Mexico.</p>
<p>The latest numbers available are from 2015.</p>
<p>Angelo Gonzales, the organization’s executive director, was among those who presented the latest report during a Tuesday meeting in Albuquerque with a couple of hundred partners.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“A key finding is that we’re only about a quarter of the way toward our goal, even though we’re halfway into this 10-year period of data reporting,” he said.</p>
<p>The increase in the number of college degrees and certificates occurred despite two trends that could affect the Mission: Graduate goal. The first one Gonzales pointed to was the continuing decline in college enrollment numbers, particularly among adults over the age of 25 and among part-time students.</p>
<p>In the four-county area, there were 9,277 fewer full- and part-time undergraduates enrolled in fall 2015 than in the fall of&#160; 2011.</p>
<p>The second factor, he said, is that even though the percentage of high school students who graduate within four years is up by 3.1 percent, the number of those graduates who enroll in post-secondary education within 16 months of graduation is down by 0.8 percent.</p>
<p>On the positive side, 67.6 percent of high school seniors graduated during the 2015-16 school year, which is up from the 64.5 percent of seniors who graduated in 2010-11 school year, although well below the current national average of 84 percent, Gonzales said.</p>
<p>Another “bright spot” is that even as enrollment has declined, college completions — the number of degrees and certificates awarded by postsecondary institutions in central New Mexico — climbed to 16,757 in 2014-15, an increase of 3,296 over the 13,491 completions in 2010-11.</p>
<p>“The challenge before us as a community is how can we come together to improve the traditional pipeline of students who graduate from high school and go directly to college, as well as the many nontraditional pathways that can support individuals for whom the traditional path is no longer an option,” Gonzales said.</p>
<p>Toward that end, and with an eye to the overall goal of 60,000 additional graduates by 2020, Mission: Graduate today will announce a new initiative, “Graduate! ABQ,” intended to direct more people into those non-traditional pathways to college. Gonzales noted that there are currently 80,000 people ages 18-44 in central New Mexico who have only a high school diploma, and another 101,000 adults ages 18 to 44 who started college but never finished.</p>
<p>For many of them, “it boils down to time and money,” he said. “They want to further their education but don’t know how or don’t think it’s possible.” The new initiative will lay out options to this population, including information about financial assistance.</p> | College graduates continue to increase | false | https://abqjournal.com/1032196/college-graduation-initiative-one-quarter-of-way-to-60000-goal.html | 2017-07-12 | 2least
| College graduates continue to increase
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<p />
<p>Mission: Graduate, an initiative of United Way of Central New Mexico, is a cradle-to-career partnership of educators, local employers, government leaders and citizens in Bernalillo, Sandoval, Torrance and Valencia counties. Their goal is to have 60,000 additional graduates with college degrees or certificates by 2020, and have them placed into jobs in New Mexico.</p>
<p>The latest numbers available are from 2015.</p>
<p>Angelo Gonzales, the organization’s executive director, was among those who presented the latest report during a Tuesday meeting in Albuquerque with a couple of hundred partners.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“A key finding is that we’re only about a quarter of the way toward our goal, even though we’re halfway into this 10-year period of data reporting,” he said.</p>
<p>The increase in the number of college degrees and certificates occurred despite two trends that could affect the Mission: Graduate goal. The first one Gonzales pointed to was the continuing decline in college enrollment numbers, particularly among adults over the age of 25 and among part-time students.</p>
<p>In the four-county area, there were 9,277 fewer full- and part-time undergraduates enrolled in fall 2015 than in the fall of&#160; 2011.</p>
<p>The second factor, he said, is that even though the percentage of high school students who graduate within four years is up by 3.1 percent, the number of those graduates who enroll in post-secondary education within 16 months of graduation is down by 0.8 percent.</p>
<p>On the positive side, 67.6 percent of high school seniors graduated during the 2015-16 school year, which is up from the 64.5 percent of seniors who graduated in 2010-11 school year, although well below the current national average of 84 percent, Gonzales said.</p>
<p>Another “bright spot” is that even as enrollment has declined, college completions — the number of degrees and certificates awarded by postsecondary institutions in central New Mexico — climbed to 16,757 in 2014-15, an increase of 3,296 over the 13,491 completions in 2010-11.</p>
<p>“The challenge before us as a community is how can we come together to improve the traditional pipeline of students who graduate from high school and go directly to college, as well as the many nontraditional pathways that can support individuals for whom the traditional path is no longer an option,” Gonzales said.</p>
<p>Toward that end, and with an eye to the overall goal of 60,000 additional graduates by 2020, Mission: Graduate today will announce a new initiative, “Graduate! ABQ,” intended to direct more people into those non-traditional pathways to college. Gonzales noted that there are currently 80,000 people ages 18-44 in central New Mexico who have only a high school diploma, and another 101,000 adults ages 18 to 44 who started college but never finished.</p>
<p>For many of them, “it boils down to time and money,” he said. “They want to further their education but don’t know how or don’t think it’s possible.” The new initiative will lay out options to this population, including information about financial assistance.</p> | 1,841 |
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<p>WASHINGTON — Former Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson defended his experience and credentials Thursday to serve as the nation’s new housing secretary, turning to his life story to show that he understands the needs of the country’s most vulnerable.</p>
<p>President-elect Donald Trump wants Carson, a former White House rival, to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development, a sprawling agency with 8,300 employees and a budget of about $48 billion.</p>
<p>At his confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking, House and Urban Affairs Committee, the famed neurosurgeon talked about growing up in inner-city Detroit with a single mother who had a third-grade education and worked numerous jobs to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“I have actually in my life understood what housing insecurity was,” he told lawmakers.</p>
<p>Democrats in the GOP-run Senate questioned his experience. Carson said one of the things he’s learned in private life as part of various boards is how to find a good CEO. He said a good CEO doesn’t necessarily know everything about running a particular business, but he knows how to select people and use their talents.</p>
<p>Carson said HUD’s rental assistance programs are “essential” to millions of Americans. The department, he said, has a lot of good programs, but “the progress perhaps has not been as great as one would like to see.”</p>
<p>He added: “We don’t want it to be way of life. … We want it to be a Band-Aid and a springboard to move forward.”</p>
<p>Ranking Committee Democrat Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., pressed Carson about whether he could guarantee that no HUD money would benefit Trump or his family, which has made its fortune in real estate.</p>
<p>“I will not play favorites for anyone. … I will manage things in a way that benefits the American people,” Carson said.</p>
<p>Carson displayed a softer approach toward the role of the federal government than he sometimes did on the presidential campaign trail. When reminded that he had called for across-the-board agency spending cuts of 10 percent during the campaign, Carson noted that he later modified that amount to 1 percent.</p>
<p>Carson talked about a more “holistic approach” to helping people and developing “the whole person.” For example, he said, HUD could work with other agencies such as the Education and Labor Departments on better access to a quality education and apprenticeship programs to train workers.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Several former HUD secretaries, Democrats and Republicans, wrote the committee in support of Carson. The letter was signed by Henry Cisneros, secretary under President Bill Clinton, and Mel Martinez, Alphonso Jackson and Steven Preston, who worked for President George W. Bush.</p>
<p>The soft-spoken Carson, the only black major-party candidate in the 2016 presidential race, grew up poor. He attended Yale University and the University of Michigan Medical School, and was the first African-American named as head of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore.</p>
<p>In 1987, Carson pioneered surgery to separate twins joined at the back of the head. In 2013, he entered the national political spotlight when, during the National Prayer Breakfast, he railed against the modern welfare state. President Barack Obama was sitting just feet away.</p>
<p>Before Thursday’s hearing, Carson had said little publicly about federal housing issues. In a 2015 opinion piece, he criticized an Obama administration fair housing rule as government overreach. At his hearing Thursday, he told lawmakers he would work with local HUD officials to “make sure that fairness is carried out.”</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Associated Press writer Kevin Freking contributed to this report.</p> | Carson questioned about housing views, experience | false | https://abqjournal.com/926296/dems-question-carsons-qualifications-to-be-housing-chief.html | 2017-01-12 | 2least
| Carson questioned about housing views, experience
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<p>WASHINGTON — Former Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson defended his experience and credentials Thursday to serve as the nation’s new housing secretary, turning to his life story to show that he understands the needs of the country’s most vulnerable.</p>
<p>President-elect Donald Trump wants Carson, a former White House rival, to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development, a sprawling agency with 8,300 employees and a budget of about $48 billion.</p>
<p>At his confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking, House and Urban Affairs Committee, the famed neurosurgeon talked about growing up in inner-city Detroit with a single mother who had a third-grade education and worked numerous jobs to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“I have actually in my life understood what housing insecurity was,” he told lawmakers.</p>
<p>Democrats in the GOP-run Senate questioned his experience. Carson said one of the things he’s learned in private life as part of various boards is how to find a good CEO. He said a good CEO doesn’t necessarily know everything about running a particular business, but he knows how to select people and use their talents.</p>
<p>Carson said HUD’s rental assistance programs are “essential” to millions of Americans. The department, he said, has a lot of good programs, but “the progress perhaps has not been as great as one would like to see.”</p>
<p>He added: “We don’t want it to be way of life. … We want it to be a Band-Aid and a springboard to move forward.”</p>
<p>Ranking Committee Democrat Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., pressed Carson about whether he could guarantee that no HUD money would benefit Trump or his family, which has made its fortune in real estate.</p>
<p>“I will not play favorites for anyone. … I will manage things in a way that benefits the American people,” Carson said.</p>
<p>Carson displayed a softer approach toward the role of the federal government than he sometimes did on the presidential campaign trail. When reminded that he had called for across-the-board agency spending cuts of 10 percent during the campaign, Carson noted that he later modified that amount to 1 percent.</p>
<p>Carson talked about a more “holistic approach” to helping people and developing “the whole person.” For example, he said, HUD could work with other agencies such as the Education and Labor Departments on better access to a quality education and apprenticeship programs to train workers.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Several former HUD secretaries, Democrats and Republicans, wrote the committee in support of Carson. The letter was signed by Henry Cisneros, secretary under President Bill Clinton, and Mel Martinez, Alphonso Jackson and Steven Preston, who worked for President George W. Bush.</p>
<p>The soft-spoken Carson, the only black major-party candidate in the 2016 presidential race, grew up poor. He attended Yale University and the University of Michigan Medical School, and was the first African-American named as head of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore.</p>
<p>In 1987, Carson pioneered surgery to separate twins joined at the back of the head. In 2013, he entered the national political spotlight when, during the National Prayer Breakfast, he railed against the modern welfare state. President Barack Obama was sitting just feet away.</p>
<p>Before Thursday’s hearing, Carson had said little publicly about federal housing issues. In a 2015 opinion piece, he criticized an Obama administration fair housing rule as government overreach. At his hearing Thursday, he told lawmakers he would work with local HUD officials to “make sure that fairness is carried out.”</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Associated Press writer Kevin Freking contributed to this report.</p> | 1,842 |
<p />
<p>Imagine if President Barack Obama hit the podium one day and griped, “My critics are tougher on me because I’m a black man.” Ka-booomb! We’d have the mother of all-about-race political-media circuses. TV pundits would explode. Limbaugh and Beck would fly into higher orbits of outraged craziness. Editorial pages would be crammed with reax. The nation would go nuts.</p>
<p>GOP leader Michael Steele said essentially the same thing on Monday about himself, but it’s unlikely that he’ll detonate such a nuclear daisy chain—because so many people already expect him to make dumb remarks.</p>
<p>On Good Morning America, Steele had this exchange with host George Stephanopoulos:&#160;</p>
<p>STEPHANOPOULOS: As an African American, do you have a slimmer margin for error than another chairman would?</p>
<p>STEELE: The honest answer is: Yes.</p>
<p>STEPHANOPOULOS: Why is that?</p>
<p>STEELE: It just is. Barack Obama has a slimmer margin. We all — a lot of folks do. I mean, it’s a different role for me to play and others to play. And that’s just the reality of it. But you take that as part of the nature of it….My view of politics is much more grassroots-oriented. It’s not old-boy-network-oriented. And so I tend to come at it a little bit stronger, a little bit more streetwise, if you will. That’s rubbed some feathers the wrong way.</p>
<p>Though Steele has bumbled much as GOP chieftain, he says his precarious position there is partly due to the color of his skin. Whatever happened to the Republican obsession with race-blind performance?&#160;And it may well be that if a white guy had pulled the same boneheaded moves as Steele, he’d be out by now. In any event, Steele is using race as a shield against the growing criticism targeting him. Fortunately, he doesn’t have the standing—or seriousness—to trigger a nationwide over-reaction.</p>
<p /> | Michael Steele Plays That Race Card | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2010/04/michael-steele-plays-race-card/ | 2010-04-05 | 4left
| Michael Steele Plays That Race Card
<p />
<p>Imagine if President Barack Obama hit the podium one day and griped, “My critics are tougher on me because I’m a black man.” Ka-booomb! We’d have the mother of all-about-race political-media circuses. TV pundits would explode. Limbaugh and Beck would fly into higher orbits of outraged craziness. Editorial pages would be crammed with reax. The nation would go nuts.</p>
<p>GOP leader Michael Steele said essentially the same thing on Monday about himself, but it’s unlikely that he’ll detonate such a nuclear daisy chain—because so many people already expect him to make dumb remarks.</p>
<p>On Good Morning America, Steele had this exchange with host George Stephanopoulos:&#160;</p>
<p>STEPHANOPOULOS: As an African American, do you have a slimmer margin for error than another chairman would?</p>
<p>STEELE: The honest answer is: Yes.</p>
<p>STEPHANOPOULOS: Why is that?</p>
<p>STEELE: It just is. Barack Obama has a slimmer margin. We all — a lot of folks do. I mean, it’s a different role for me to play and others to play. And that’s just the reality of it. But you take that as part of the nature of it….My view of politics is much more grassroots-oriented. It’s not old-boy-network-oriented. And so I tend to come at it a little bit stronger, a little bit more streetwise, if you will. That’s rubbed some feathers the wrong way.</p>
<p>Though Steele has bumbled much as GOP chieftain, he says his precarious position there is partly due to the color of his skin. Whatever happened to the Republican obsession with race-blind performance?&#160;And it may well be that if a white guy had pulled the same boneheaded moves as Steele, he’d be out by now. In any event, Steele is using race as a shield against the growing criticism targeting him. Fortunately, he doesn’t have the standing—or seriousness—to trigger a nationwide over-reaction.</p>
<p /> | 1,843 |
<p>I don't know Dr. Gu, but he seems like a thoughtful, decent man.&#160; In fact, imma go out on a limb and say that all of the people I have seen across social media today declaring that the Republicans now "own" this fiasco are probably thoughtful.&#160;</p>
<p>And decent.&#160;</p>
<p>And wrong.</p>
<p>Because if there is one thing at which the Republican Party (and their enablers in the media) excel at above everything else it is blowing shit up and then not owning it.&#160; In fact, the last 40 year of American politics has been one, long, escalating cycle of Republican lying, cheating, plundering the government and killing everything they touch, and then being promptly and completely excused from taking any responsibility for any of it by their stooges, PR flacks and eager enablers in the press.</p>
<p>It is the foundation on which the entire <a href="http://driftglass.blogspot.com/2017/07/both-siderism-is-corporate-policy.html" type="external">High and Holy Church of Both Siderism</a> was built, and I see no sign that any of the fundamentals of this toxic codependency have changed.&#160; Believe me, I wish I could report little green shoots of Independence growing up between the cracks on the old media institutions, but I see no such thing.&#160; For example. the corporations who own our media are now aggressively using the Rise of Trump not as an object lesson in the dangers of letting Republicans anywhere near the levers of power, but as an opportunity to give every unreconstructed Bush Regime Dead-Ender who is willing to say mean things about Il Douche a quick tuck-and-roll credibility rehab.</p>
<p>Even in the face of President Stupid's daily, public molestation of the basic norms of democracy and civilization our corporate media has used brute economic for to refused to permit our national public political dialogue to expand to create a genuine debate between the creators of the GOP Pretty Hate Machine that manifested Donald Trump, and those who have been warning about the trajectory the Republican Party has been taking for decades.&#160; &#160;Instead, our corporate media has constricted the spectrum to A) Republicans Who Get Paid To Defend Trump and, B) Republicans Who Get Paid To Say Mean Things About Trump But Would Be Defending Marco Rubio If He Were Enacting The Same Depraved Policies But Without The Tweets.</p>
<p>As was true during the Age of Clinton, the Age of Bush and the Age of Obama, our corporate media has no place for those who were right all along, but always has plenty of room for, say, the latest tome by the author of such searing works of political truth as&#160;</p>
<p />
<p>and&#160;</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>I understand the opening is quite riveting</p>
<p>Call me Pishmael. Some years ago - let's all agree to forget how long precisely or what I was doing - having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me in Canada, I thought I would come to the United States and work very hard to get the worst people in the world elected to high political office...</p>
<p /> | Will Trump Now 'Own' Healthcare? Not If Both Siders Have Their Way | true | http://crooksandliars.com/2017/10/will-trump-now-own-healthcare-not-if-both | 2017-10-13 | 4left
| Will Trump Now 'Own' Healthcare? Not If Both Siders Have Their Way
<p>I don't know Dr. Gu, but he seems like a thoughtful, decent man.&#160; In fact, imma go out on a limb and say that all of the people I have seen across social media today declaring that the Republicans now "own" this fiasco are probably thoughtful.&#160;</p>
<p>And decent.&#160;</p>
<p>And wrong.</p>
<p>Because if there is one thing at which the Republican Party (and their enablers in the media) excel at above everything else it is blowing shit up and then not owning it.&#160; In fact, the last 40 year of American politics has been one, long, escalating cycle of Republican lying, cheating, plundering the government and killing everything they touch, and then being promptly and completely excused from taking any responsibility for any of it by their stooges, PR flacks and eager enablers in the press.</p>
<p>It is the foundation on which the entire <a href="http://driftglass.blogspot.com/2017/07/both-siderism-is-corporate-policy.html" type="external">High and Holy Church of Both Siderism</a> was built, and I see no sign that any of the fundamentals of this toxic codependency have changed.&#160; Believe me, I wish I could report little green shoots of Independence growing up between the cracks on the old media institutions, but I see no such thing.&#160; For example. the corporations who own our media are now aggressively using the Rise of Trump not as an object lesson in the dangers of letting Republicans anywhere near the levers of power, but as an opportunity to give every unreconstructed Bush Regime Dead-Ender who is willing to say mean things about Il Douche a quick tuck-and-roll credibility rehab.</p>
<p>Even in the face of President Stupid's daily, public molestation of the basic norms of democracy and civilization our corporate media has used brute economic for to refused to permit our national public political dialogue to expand to create a genuine debate between the creators of the GOP Pretty Hate Machine that manifested Donald Trump, and those who have been warning about the trajectory the Republican Party has been taking for decades.&#160; &#160;Instead, our corporate media has constricted the spectrum to A) Republicans Who Get Paid To Defend Trump and, B) Republicans Who Get Paid To Say Mean Things About Trump But Would Be Defending Marco Rubio If He Were Enacting The Same Depraved Policies But Without The Tweets.</p>
<p>As was true during the Age of Clinton, the Age of Bush and the Age of Obama, our corporate media has no place for those who were right all along, but always has plenty of room for, say, the latest tome by the author of such searing works of political truth as&#160;</p>
<p />
<p>and&#160;</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>I understand the opening is quite riveting</p>
<p>Call me Pishmael. Some years ago - let's all agree to forget how long precisely or what I was doing - having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me in Canada, I thought I would come to the United States and work very hard to get the worst people in the world elected to high political office...</p>
<p /> | 1,844 |
<p>Published time: 2 Dec, 2017 17:30Edited time: 2 Dec, 2017 17:36</p>
<p>A 70-year-old Vermont woman has been arrested by the FBI after concocting the deadly poison ricin and testing it on residents at the retirement community where she lived.</p>
<p>Betty Miller, who lives in Wake Robin retirement community in Shelburne, was arrested by FBI agents on Thursday on suspicion that she was stockpiling the highly toxic substance which is produced in the seeds of the castor oil plant.</p>
<p>The poison kills the cells in a person’s body by preventing them from making the proteins they need. Mild doses can cause difficulty breathing, fever, cough, nausea, and tightness in the chest. Larger doses can result in vomiting, bloody diarrhea, severe dehydration, and death.</p>
<p>Court documents reveal that Miller told health care providers she attempted to poison other residents by putting the ricin on food or in drinks during the past several weeks, Vermont news station <a href="http://www.wcax.com/content/news/FBI-makes-arrest-in-Wake-Robin-ricin-investigtion-461282083.html" type="external">WCAX report</a>.</p>
<p>When agents raided her home they found bottles labeled “Ricin” and “Castor beans” among other paraphernalia needed to make the poison. Investigators also said that Miller had printed instructions, entitled “How to make ricin,” which she had gotten from the internet.</p>
<p>The documents reveal that Miller’s goal was to poison herself but first she wanted to test the effectiveness of the substance on others.</p>
<p>“Miller stated that she had an interest in plant-based poisons and had conducted internet research on how to make them,” the FBI said in a statement <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/12/02/70-year-old-us-woman-tested-ricin-neighbours-fbi/" type="external">according</a> to AFP. “She stated that she manufactured ricin in the kitchen of her Wake Robin residence and, to test its potency, placed the ricin in the food or beverages of other residents.”</p>
<p>Prosecutors said the 70-year-old should be a detained “because there are no conditions of release which will reasonable assure the safety of the community,” a prosecutor wrote in an affidavit. “Miller’s crime was carefully planned.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/news/408359-pakistan-wife-poison-in-laws/" type="external">READ MORE: Pakistani woman plots to kill husband, poisons 15 in-laws by mistake</a></p>
<p>The retiree remains in custody and will return to court on Wednesday for a probable cause and detention hearing.</p> | FBI arrests 70yo who made ricin & tested it on her neighbors | false | https://newsline.com/fbi-arrests-70yo-who-made-ricin-tested-it-on-her-neighbors/ | 2017-12-02 | 1right-center
| FBI arrests 70yo who made ricin & tested it on her neighbors
<p>Published time: 2 Dec, 2017 17:30Edited time: 2 Dec, 2017 17:36</p>
<p>A 70-year-old Vermont woman has been arrested by the FBI after concocting the deadly poison ricin and testing it on residents at the retirement community where she lived.</p>
<p>Betty Miller, who lives in Wake Robin retirement community in Shelburne, was arrested by FBI agents on Thursday on suspicion that she was stockpiling the highly toxic substance which is produced in the seeds of the castor oil plant.</p>
<p>The poison kills the cells in a person’s body by preventing them from making the proteins they need. Mild doses can cause difficulty breathing, fever, cough, nausea, and tightness in the chest. Larger doses can result in vomiting, bloody diarrhea, severe dehydration, and death.</p>
<p>Court documents reveal that Miller told health care providers she attempted to poison other residents by putting the ricin on food or in drinks during the past several weeks, Vermont news station <a href="http://www.wcax.com/content/news/FBI-makes-arrest-in-Wake-Robin-ricin-investigtion-461282083.html" type="external">WCAX report</a>.</p>
<p>When agents raided her home they found bottles labeled “Ricin” and “Castor beans” among other paraphernalia needed to make the poison. Investigators also said that Miller had printed instructions, entitled “How to make ricin,” which she had gotten from the internet.</p>
<p>The documents reveal that Miller’s goal was to poison herself but first she wanted to test the effectiveness of the substance on others.</p>
<p>“Miller stated that she had an interest in plant-based poisons and had conducted internet research on how to make them,” the FBI said in a statement <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/12/02/70-year-old-us-woman-tested-ricin-neighbours-fbi/" type="external">according</a> to AFP. “She stated that she manufactured ricin in the kitchen of her Wake Robin residence and, to test its potency, placed the ricin in the food or beverages of other residents.”</p>
<p>Prosecutors said the 70-year-old should be a detained “because there are no conditions of release which will reasonable assure the safety of the community,” a prosecutor wrote in an affidavit. “Miller’s crime was carefully planned.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/news/408359-pakistan-wife-poison-in-laws/" type="external">READ MORE: Pakistani woman plots to kill husband, poisons 15 in-laws by mistake</a></p>
<p>The retiree remains in custody and will return to court on Wednesday for a probable cause and detention hearing.</p> | 1,845 |
<p>“Ms. Davis didn’t cause this problem. The Supreme Court did. When the court ruled in June that same-sex marriage is a constitutional right, it redefined marriage for the nation, in a way that I and many others do not believe was constitutionally justified. And it redefined Ms. Davis’s job. Had same-sex marriage come to Kentucky through the Legislature, lawmakers could have simultaneously created religious liberty protections and reasonable accommodations for civil servants. But the Supreme Court decided this issue itself — and, as predicted by the dissenting justices, primed the nation for conflict. Because each marriage license issued by the clerk’s office bore her name and title, Ms. Davis concluded that her religious beliefs meant she could not have her office issue licenses to same-sex couples. So she had the office stop issuing them entirely. Ms. Davis felt she had to follow her conscience. And whether or not we share her Christian faith, and its particular positions about issuing civil marriage licenses, is beside the point.” – Hate group spokesman <a href="" type="external">Ryan T. Anderson</a>, writing for the New York Times.</p> | Ryan T. Anderson: Blame SCOTUS For Kim Davis | true | http://joemygod.com/2015/09/07/ryan-t-anderson-blame-scotus-for-kim-davis/ | 2015-09-07 | 4left
| Ryan T. Anderson: Blame SCOTUS For Kim Davis
<p>“Ms. Davis didn’t cause this problem. The Supreme Court did. When the court ruled in June that same-sex marriage is a constitutional right, it redefined marriage for the nation, in a way that I and many others do not believe was constitutionally justified. And it redefined Ms. Davis’s job. Had same-sex marriage come to Kentucky through the Legislature, lawmakers could have simultaneously created religious liberty protections and reasonable accommodations for civil servants. But the Supreme Court decided this issue itself — and, as predicted by the dissenting justices, primed the nation for conflict. Because each marriage license issued by the clerk’s office bore her name and title, Ms. Davis concluded that her religious beliefs meant she could not have her office issue licenses to same-sex couples. So she had the office stop issuing them entirely. Ms. Davis felt she had to follow her conscience. And whether or not we share her Christian faith, and its particular positions about issuing civil marriage licenses, is beside the point.” – Hate group spokesman <a href="" type="external">Ryan T. Anderson</a>, writing for the New York Times.</p> | 1,846 |
<p>When Doug Low walks into the dark gym inside the former Leland Elementary School in Austin, he imagines young people filling it, playing in a Friday night basketball league. In the classrooms, where insulation hangs through holes in the ceiling, he envisions a computer lab and activity spaces to give youth a safe haven from the tough neighborhood outside.</p>
<p>Low’s vision is taking shape as the empty 1970s-era building is transformed into a new home for his nonprofit, Kidz Express. The group will also provide new services for adults, including free WiFi and help with applications for jobs and public benefits.</p>
<p>“We’re trying to turn this into a total community effort in one of most difficult neighborhoods in Chicago,” Low said. “One of the biggest mistakes in closing neighborhood schools is it takes an anchor away from the neighborhood.” <a type="external" href="" /></p>
<p>Leland’s transformation is a rare success story: Austin and other black communities that bore the brunt of school closings in 2013 are stuck with the lion’s share of still-vacant buildings, adding another burden to neighborhoods already struggling with a legacy of disinvestment and segregation.</p>
<p>The Chicago Reporter created <a href="" type="internal">this interactive map</a> showing the stark contrast in socioeconomic conditions in neighborhoods with still-vacant buildings and in neighborhoods where buildings have sold.</p>
<p>Citywide, only 14 of the 43 buildings left vacant after the closures have been sold or otherwise reused. Seven are up for sale.</p>
<p>A Pew Charitable Trusts <a href="http://www.pewtrusts.org/~/media/assets/2013/02/11/philadelphia_school_closings_report.pdf?la=en" type="external">report</a> foreshadowed the problem in its study of school closures nationwide, which have disproportionately hit poor communities of color.</p>
<p>Pew found that among the hundreds of schools closed in 12 urban districts between 2005 and 2012, fewer than half had been sold, leased or repurposed.</p>
<p>Faced with widespread criticism that his administration wasn’t listening to the concerns of residents and parents about the long-term impact of the closures, Mayor Rahm Emanuel created an advisory committee on repurposing. Among the recommendations in the committee’s <a href="http://cps.edu/SiteCollectionDocuments/CommitteeReport.pdf" type="external">2014 report</a>: Set aside some of the money from sales of buildings to help with repurposing of schools in more challenging real estate markets. The fund would have provided initial capital to some buyers.</p>
<p>Low’s group, in fact, had to rely on help from a suburban River Forest church to buy the former Leland building. The church, Grace Lutheran, had for years sent volunteer tutors to Kidz Express and decided to target some of its tithing income to help the non-profit get a mortgage, said Logan Kruck, who oversees youth volunteers at Grace Lutheran.</p>
<p>CPS officials admit that none of the $24 million raised through sales of schools thus far has been set aside for such a fund. Instead, the money was folded into the district’s overall capital budget, which pays for new construction and repair projects in existing schools across the city.</p>
<p>Jim Capraro, a committee member and former long-time head of the Greater Southwest Development Corporation, said that the group’s recommendations have not been implemented the way the committee envisioned.</p>
<p>As for the failure to create the repurposing fund, “the school system’s main mission is to educate children, so putting money back into classrooms to make sure it’s not raining on children, that’s good,” Capraro said. “But then, the buildings that aren’t schools anymore tend to languish.”</p>
<p>Overall, he said, CPS hasn’t moved the repurposing process along quickly enough, leaving communities frustrated. By now, the mayoral committee envisioned, schools without a plan for reuse would be slated for demolition. But in several communities, the process, which was left in the hands of aldermen, remains stalled.</p>
<p>The long-term consequences—including higher rates of crime near vacant properties, reduced home values in the surrounding area, and a reduced likelihood of future investment—can be devastating, according to Courtney Anderson, an assistant professor of law at Georgia State University.</p>
<p>Anderson studied closures in Atlanta and Chicago (her former home) and detailed their impact in an <a href="http://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1659&amp;context=jgspl" type="external">article</a> in the Journal of Gender, Social Policy &amp; the Law.</p>
<p>The consequences can “create a self-perpetuating cycle of population decline and diminished property tax revenue,” that can lead to more closures, Anderson wrote. The constant presence of an empty building can also take a psychological toll, she believes.</p>
<p>“The mental health aspect, especially for children, is probably the most unique and most troubling,” Anderson said.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Story by Kalyn Belsha.&#160; Interactive map produced by Matt Kiefer.</p> | Interactive map: Closed schools still burden distressed Chicago neighborhoods | false | http://chicagoreporter.com/interactive-map-closed-schools-still-burden-distressed-chicago-neighborhoods/ | 2016-09-14 | 3left-center
| Interactive map: Closed schools still burden distressed Chicago neighborhoods
<p>When Doug Low walks into the dark gym inside the former Leland Elementary School in Austin, he imagines young people filling it, playing in a Friday night basketball league. In the classrooms, where insulation hangs through holes in the ceiling, he envisions a computer lab and activity spaces to give youth a safe haven from the tough neighborhood outside.</p>
<p>Low’s vision is taking shape as the empty 1970s-era building is transformed into a new home for his nonprofit, Kidz Express. The group will also provide new services for adults, including free WiFi and help with applications for jobs and public benefits.</p>
<p>“We’re trying to turn this into a total community effort in one of most difficult neighborhoods in Chicago,” Low said. “One of the biggest mistakes in closing neighborhood schools is it takes an anchor away from the neighborhood.” <a type="external" href="" /></p>
<p>Leland’s transformation is a rare success story: Austin and other black communities that bore the brunt of school closings in 2013 are stuck with the lion’s share of still-vacant buildings, adding another burden to neighborhoods already struggling with a legacy of disinvestment and segregation.</p>
<p>The Chicago Reporter created <a href="" type="internal">this interactive map</a> showing the stark contrast in socioeconomic conditions in neighborhoods with still-vacant buildings and in neighborhoods where buildings have sold.</p>
<p>Citywide, only 14 of the 43 buildings left vacant after the closures have been sold or otherwise reused. Seven are up for sale.</p>
<p>A Pew Charitable Trusts <a href="http://www.pewtrusts.org/~/media/assets/2013/02/11/philadelphia_school_closings_report.pdf?la=en" type="external">report</a> foreshadowed the problem in its study of school closures nationwide, which have disproportionately hit poor communities of color.</p>
<p>Pew found that among the hundreds of schools closed in 12 urban districts between 2005 and 2012, fewer than half had been sold, leased or repurposed.</p>
<p>Faced with widespread criticism that his administration wasn’t listening to the concerns of residents and parents about the long-term impact of the closures, Mayor Rahm Emanuel created an advisory committee on repurposing. Among the recommendations in the committee’s <a href="http://cps.edu/SiteCollectionDocuments/CommitteeReport.pdf" type="external">2014 report</a>: Set aside some of the money from sales of buildings to help with repurposing of schools in more challenging real estate markets. The fund would have provided initial capital to some buyers.</p>
<p>Low’s group, in fact, had to rely on help from a suburban River Forest church to buy the former Leland building. The church, Grace Lutheran, had for years sent volunteer tutors to Kidz Express and decided to target some of its tithing income to help the non-profit get a mortgage, said Logan Kruck, who oversees youth volunteers at Grace Lutheran.</p>
<p>CPS officials admit that none of the $24 million raised through sales of schools thus far has been set aside for such a fund. Instead, the money was folded into the district’s overall capital budget, which pays for new construction and repair projects in existing schools across the city.</p>
<p>Jim Capraro, a committee member and former long-time head of the Greater Southwest Development Corporation, said that the group’s recommendations have not been implemented the way the committee envisioned.</p>
<p>As for the failure to create the repurposing fund, “the school system’s main mission is to educate children, so putting money back into classrooms to make sure it’s not raining on children, that’s good,” Capraro said. “But then, the buildings that aren’t schools anymore tend to languish.”</p>
<p>Overall, he said, CPS hasn’t moved the repurposing process along quickly enough, leaving communities frustrated. By now, the mayoral committee envisioned, schools without a plan for reuse would be slated for demolition. But in several communities, the process, which was left in the hands of aldermen, remains stalled.</p>
<p>The long-term consequences—including higher rates of crime near vacant properties, reduced home values in the surrounding area, and a reduced likelihood of future investment—can be devastating, according to Courtney Anderson, an assistant professor of law at Georgia State University.</p>
<p>Anderson studied closures in Atlanta and Chicago (her former home) and detailed their impact in an <a href="http://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1659&amp;context=jgspl" type="external">article</a> in the Journal of Gender, Social Policy &amp; the Law.</p>
<p>The consequences can “create a self-perpetuating cycle of population decline and diminished property tax revenue,” that can lead to more closures, Anderson wrote. The constant presence of an empty building can also take a psychological toll, she believes.</p>
<p>“The mental health aspect, especially for children, is probably the most unique and most troubling,” Anderson said.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Story by Kalyn Belsha.&#160; Interactive map produced by Matt Kiefer.</p> | 1,847 |
<p>Attention workers who voted for Trump, either eagerly or as a vote against the hawkish, Wall Street favorite, Hillary Clinton: Donald Trump, less than a month after the election, has already begun to betray you.</p>
<p>You can often see where a president-elect is going by his nominations to high positions in his forthcoming administration. Across over a dozen crucial posts, Mr. Trump has chosen war hawks, Wall Streeters (with a former Goldman Sachs partner, Steven Mnuchin, as his pick for Treasury Secretary) and clenched teeth corporatists determined to jettison life-saving, injury and disease preventing regulations and leave bigger holes in your consumer pocketbooks.</p>
<p>In addition to lacking a mandate from the people (he lost the popular vote), the president-elect continues to believe that mere showboating will distract from his breathtaking flip-flops in his campaign rhetoric. Remember his last big TV ad where he blasted “a global power structure” responsible “for robbing the working class” with images of Goldman Sachs flashing across the screen?</p>
<p>Fast forward several weeks and he has selected cabinet secretaries who want to dismantle the public school system with your taxes going to private schools, reduce regulation of banks, cut consumer protections and weaken labor laws and job safety standards. Other appointees say they want to privatize Medicare, which has led health insurance company stocks to soar, and some want to transfer Medicaid to even more hostile state manipulations.</p>
<p>Regarding national security, his White House advisors are advocates of imperial intervention and bombing Iran. Trump wants to renege on the Iran nuclear agreements the U.S. made with a dozen leading nations and risk escalation of hostilities. Granted, Trump did talk about the Iran deal, with little knowledge of its careful safeguards and ongoing implementation. He also told voters that he didn’t believe in the U.S. policing the world with costly military might.</p>
<p>Perhaps the best sign of where Trump is heading comes from the major surge in the stock markets, the booming bank stocks anticipating looser regulations so they can speculate more readily with “other peoples’ money” and industries looking forward to more easily emitting pollutants into your air, water, and soil.</p>
<p>As an accomplished sleight-of-hand specialist – a failed gambling czar who always jumped ship with his gold and left his workers, creditors and shareholders stranded – Trump recently traveled to Indiana to brag about the decision by Carrier to keep intact 800 of the 2000 jobs it plans to ship to Mexico. You’ll recall Trump made Carrier, a subsidiary of giant United Technology (UT), his poster-child for showing how the U.S. is losing jobs under NAFTA.</p>
<p>Well Trump’s boast, for starters, will cost Indiana taxpayers $7 million for Carrier to agree, with presumably, additional goodies for United Technologies coming later. Already, UT and Carrier have long been loaded up with tax and other “incentives,” subsidies and all the complex corporate welfare that defense companies receive from the Pentagon.</p>
<p>Being a long-time recipient himself of crony capitalism, Trump hopes that his working class supporters will never catch on to this kind of back room “deal-making” when he is in the White House. Big corporations are drooling at the prospect of further tax cuts, weaker law and order (e.g. deregulation) and the many sub-visible freebies of the corporate welfare state.</p>
<p>Guess who gets left holding the bag? Why, you, of course, the workers and small taxpayers. Stay tuned, for more corporatists, Wall Streeters and militarists are on their way to Trump’s Washington.</p>
<p>A French writer once said, “the more things change, the more they remain the same.” Then there is Trump’s highly bruiseable and dangerous ego, as he gets up at 3am to tweet his mad impulses and false assertions.</p>
<p>Trump doesn’t like to be accused of disloyalty by workers who supported him. Therein lies some leverage. Laborers, who were crucial to the Boaster’s Electoral College victory, will have many opportunities to laser-focus on Trump’s betrayals in very personal ways. They should take them.</p> | Trump and His Betraying Makeover | true | https://counterpunch.org/2016/12/02/trump-and-his-betraying-makeover/ | 2016-12-02 | 4left
| Trump and His Betraying Makeover
<p>Attention workers who voted for Trump, either eagerly or as a vote against the hawkish, Wall Street favorite, Hillary Clinton: Donald Trump, less than a month after the election, has already begun to betray you.</p>
<p>You can often see where a president-elect is going by his nominations to high positions in his forthcoming administration. Across over a dozen crucial posts, Mr. Trump has chosen war hawks, Wall Streeters (with a former Goldman Sachs partner, Steven Mnuchin, as his pick for Treasury Secretary) and clenched teeth corporatists determined to jettison life-saving, injury and disease preventing regulations and leave bigger holes in your consumer pocketbooks.</p>
<p>In addition to lacking a mandate from the people (he lost the popular vote), the president-elect continues to believe that mere showboating will distract from his breathtaking flip-flops in his campaign rhetoric. Remember his last big TV ad where he blasted “a global power structure” responsible “for robbing the working class” with images of Goldman Sachs flashing across the screen?</p>
<p>Fast forward several weeks and he has selected cabinet secretaries who want to dismantle the public school system with your taxes going to private schools, reduce regulation of banks, cut consumer protections and weaken labor laws and job safety standards. Other appointees say they want to privatize Medicare, which has led health insurance company stocks to soar, and some want to transfer Medicaid to even more hostile state manipulations.</p>
<p>Regarding national security, his White House advisors are advocates of imperial intervention and bombing Iran. Trump wants to renege on the Iran nuclear agreements the U.S. made with a dozen leading nations and risk escalation of hostilities. Granted, Trump did talk about the Iran deal, with little knowledge of its careful safeguards and ongoing implementation. He also told voters that he didn’t believe in the U.S. policing the world with costly military might.</p>
<p>Perhaps the best sign of where Trump is heading comes from the major surge in the stock markets, the booming bank stocks anticipating looser regulations so they can speculate more readily with “other peoples’ money” and industries looking forward to more easily emitting pollutants into your air, water, and soil.</p>
<p>As an accomplished sleight-of-hand specialist – a failed gambling czar who always jumped ship with his gold and left his workers, creditors and shareholders stranded – Trump recently traveled to Indiana to brag about the decision by Carrier to keep intact 800 of the 2000 jobs it plans to ship to Mexico. You’ll recall Trump made Carrier, a subsidiary of giant United Technology (UT), his poster-child for showing how the U.S. is losing jobs under NAFTA.</p>
<p>Well Trump’s boast, for starters, will cost Indiana taxpayers $7 million for Carrier to agree, with presumably, additional goodies for United Technologies coming later. Already, UT and Carrier have long been loaded up with tax and other “incentives,” subsidies and all the complex corporate welfare that defense companies receive from the Pentagon.</p>
<p>Being a long-time recipient himself of crony capitalism, Trump hopes that his working class supporters will never catch on to this kind of back room “deal-making” when he is in the White House. Big corporations are drooling at the prospect of further tax cuts, weaker law and order (e.g. deregulation) and the many sub-visible freebies of the corporate welfare state.</p>
<p>Guess who gets left holding the bag? Why, you, of course, the workers and small taxpayers. Stay tuned, for more corporatists, Wall Streeters and militarists are on their way to Trump’s Washington.</p>
<p>A French writer once said, “the more things change, the more they remain the same.” Then there is Trump’s highly bruiseable and dangerous ego, as he gets up at 3am to tweet his mad impulses and false assertions.</p>
<p>Trump doesn’t like to be accused of disloyalty by workers who supported him. Therein lies some leverage. Laborers, who were crucial to the Boaster’s Electoral College victory, will have many opportunities to laser-focus on Trump’s betrayals in very personal ways. They should take them.</p> | 1,848 |
<p>Aug. 30 (UPI) — After devastating parts of southeast Texas, Tropical Storm Harvey arrived in Louisiana Wednesday — and is expected to cause additional life-threatening conditions there.</p>
<p>The National Hurricane Center said in <a href="http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCPAT4+shtml/300542.shtml" type="external">its 4 a.m. update</a> that Harvey made landfall near Cameron, La., overnight with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph. The storm, which is expected to weaken to a depression Wednesday night, is moving north-northeast at 7 mph.</p>
<p>The storm hit Texas Friday as a Category 4 hurricane and has slowly moved in a northeast direction since. It’s expected to move across the Lower Mississippi Valley and Tennessee Valley through Thursday.</p>
<p>Forecasters say Harvey will produce 3-6 inches of rain from southwestern Louisiana and the southeastern edge of its border with Texas, with isolated amounts of rainfall up to 10 inches. Western Kentucky will see similar rainfall amounts.</p>
<p>The expected heavy rains spreading northeastward from Louisiana into western Kentucky may also lead to flash flooding and increased river and small stream flooding, the NHC said.</p>
<p>“While the threat of heavy rains has ended <a href="https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2017/08/29/Trump-calls-for-Harvey-recovery-better-than-ever-before-during-briefing-in-Texas/3471504004328/?utm_source=fp&amp;utm_campaign=ls&amp;utm_medium=1" type="external">in the Houston/Galveston area</a>, catastrophic and life threatening flooding will continue in and around Houston eastward into southwest Louisiana for the rest of the week,” the NHC said.</p>
<p>Texas continues to deal with damage from Harvey — both human and structural. Several people have died as a result of the storm.</p>
<p>Meteorologists also warned that tornadoes are possible Wednesday over parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, southern Alabama and southeast Arkansas.</p>
<p>Harvey <a href="http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/E23.html" type="external">was the first major hurricane</a> to make landfall in the continental United States since <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Hurricane_Wilma/" type="external">Hurricane Wilma</a> in 2005. It was also the first hurricane to hit Texas <a href="https://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/09/15/Pelosi-pledges-aid-for-Ike-victims/83861221507646/" type="external">since Ike in 2008</a>.</p> | After battering Texas, Tropical Storm Harvey arrives in Louisiana | false | https://newsline.com/after-battering-texas-tropical-storm-harvey-arrives-in-louisiana/ | 2017-08-30 | 1right-center
| After battering Texas, Tropical Storm Harvey arrives in Louisiana
<p>Aug. 30 (UPI) — After devastating parts of southeast Texas, Tropical Storm Harvey arrived in Louisiana Wednesday — and is expected to cause additional life-threatening conditions there.</p>
<p>The National Hurricane Center said in <a href="http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCPAT4+shtml/300542.shtml" type="external">its 4 a.m. update</a> that Harvey made landfall near Cameron, La., overnight with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph. The storm, which is expected to weaken to a depression Wednesday night, is moving north-northeast at 7 mph.</p>
<p>The storm hit Texas Friday as a Category 4 hurricane and has slowly moved in a northeast direction since. It’s expected to move across the Lower Mississippi Valley and Tennessee Valley through Thursday.</p>
<p>Forecasters say Harvey will produce 3-6 inches of rain from southwestern Louisiana and the southeastern edge of its border with Texas, with isolated amounts of rainfall up to 10 inches. Western Kentucky will see similar rainfall amounts.</p>
<p>The expected heavy rains spreading northeastward from Louisiana into western Kentucky may also lead to flash flooding and increased river and small stream flooding, the NHC said.</p>
<p>“While the threat of heavy rains has ended <a href="https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2017/08/29/Trump-calls-for-Harvey-recovery-better-than-ever-before-during-briefing-in-Texas/3471504004328/?utm_source=fp&amp;utm_campaign=ls&amp;utm_medium=1" type="external">in the Houston/Galveston area</a>, catastrophic and life threatening flooding will continue in and around Houston eastward into southwest Louisiana for the rest of the week,” the NHC said.</p>
<p>Texas continues to deal with damage from Harvey — both human and structural. Several people have died as a result of the storm.</p>
<p>Meteorologists also warned that tornadoes are possible Wednesday over parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, southern Alabama and southeast Arkansas.</p>
<p>Harvey <a href="http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/E23.html" type="external">was the first major hurricane</a> to make landfall in the continental United States since <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Hurricane_Wilma/" type="external">Hurricane Wilma</a> in 2005. It was also the first hurricane to hit Texas <a href="https://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/09/15/Pelosi-pledges-aid-for-Ike-victims/83861221507646/" type="external">since Ike in 2008</a>.</p> | 1,849 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Logo for GreenSky, which is scouting Albuquerque for a potential call center site.</p>
<p>Atlanta-based GreenSky, a consumer finance company, is scouting the Albuquerque metro area for space to house a potential call center that could eventually employ up to 500 people.</p>
<p>“Albuquerque is one of the locations we’ve been studying,” said company vice chairman Gerry Benjamin told the Journal on Friday. “It’s all about finding an appropriate space close to a qualified work force.”</p>
<p>GreenSky is looking for about 45,000 square feet that could be occupied in phases. The company thought it had found an appropriate space, but the deal fell through, Benjamin said. The company is represented in its search by Allen Sigmon Real Estate Group of Albuquerque.</p>
<p>Specializing in home improvement and retail credit, GreenSky works with bank partners to provide and service loans to consumers through a national network of contractors and merchants, according to the company website.</p>
<p>It offers unsecured installment loans to a credit limit of $55,000.</p>
<p>Albuquerque has seen a flurry of call center launches in the last two years, mostly in connection with health insurance systems arising from the Affordable Care Act. In addition, Canon Information Technology Services Inc. and Comcast Cable are ramping up customer service call centers.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Finance firm considering an ABQ call center | false | https://abqjournal.com/515028/finance-firm-considering-an-abq-call-center.html | 2014-12-19 | 2least
| Finance firm considering an ABQ call center
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Logo for GreenSky, which is scouting Albuquerque for a potential call center site.</p>
<p>Atlanta-based GreenSky, a consumer finance company, is scouting the Albuquerque metro area for space to house a potential call center that could eventually employ up to 500 people.</p>
<p>“Albuquerque is one of the locations we’ve been studying,” said company vice chairman Gerry Benjamin told the Journal on Friday. “It’s all about finding an appropriate space close to a qualified work force.”</p>
<p>GreenSky is looking for about 45,000 square feet that could be occupied in phases. The company thought it had found an appropriate space, but the deal fell through, Benjamin said. The company is represented in its search by Allen Sigmon Real Estate Group of Albuquerque.</p>
<p>Specializing in home improvement and retail credit, GreenSky works with bank partners to provide and service loans to consumers through a national network of contractors and merchants, according to the company website.</p>
<p>It offers unsecured installment loans to a credit limit of $55,000.</p>
<p>Albuquerque has seen a flurry of call center launches in the last two years, mostly in connection with health insurance systems arising from the Affordable Care Act. In addition, Canon Information Technology Services Inc. and Comcast Cable are ramping up customer service call centers.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | 1,850 |
<p>BY: <a href="" type="internal">Bill McMorris</a> October 15, 2013 12:25 pm</p>
<p>A federal workers union is demanding that President Barack Obama declare the shutdown a national emergency and force businesses, hospitals, and schools to forgive workers’ bill payments until a deal is reached.</p>
<p>American Federation of Government Employees President J. David Cox sent a letter to Obama on Friday lamenting that the lengthy shutdown would hurt government workers. He proposed that the White House intervene to declare the shutdown a federal emergency, which would allow workers to collect zero-interest loans from FEMA and force businesses to extend lines of credit to employees.</p>
<p>"Mr. President, we ask that you … call upon the financial and business community to provide arrangements for skip mortgage payments, skip rent payments, skip car loan payments, skip education and other loan payments until this is all over [sic]," the <a href="http://www.afge.org/?documentID=3741" type="external">letter</a> states.</p>
<p>Cox also asks that federal workers receive free healthcare, gasoline, public transportation, and utilities until "their paychecks have been restored."</p>
<p>Federal workers collected half-paychecks for their last pay period and will not be paid again until after the shutdown ends. House Republicans <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57606174/house-approves-back-pay-for-furloughed-workers-as-shutdown-continues/" type="external">passed legislation</a> that would allow workers to receive retroactive pay, which would provide workers with lump sum checks at the end of the shutdown.</p>
<p>Federal workers have turned to unemployment insurance to make up for the delayed income: <a href="http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-10-07/local/42781413_1_federal-workers-unemployment-benefits-government-shutdown" type="external">26,000 new claims</a> have been filed in Maryland and D.C. in the past few weeks. The workers will have to pay back those benefits once their checks are restored under the GOP proposal.</p>
<p>Cox adds that the lump sums are not enough, asking the president to treat the shutdown as paid-time-off in which employees collect full paychecks without coming to work.</p>
<p>The administration, Cox writes, should "immediately advise agency managers to stop coercing and compelling employees to come to work without a paycheck."</p>
<p>"Government employees cannot tolerate further cuts. Enough is enough," Cox writes. "Other Americans, particularly the wealthy and large corporations, have not been asked to contribute their fair share."</p>
<p>AFGE represents more than 700,000 federal and District of Columbia workers and is also a member of the politically powerful AFL-CIO. AFGE’s Political Action Committee spent more than <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.php?strID=C00009936&amp;cycle=2012" type="external">$1.1 million</a> in the 2012 election cycle with nearly all of that money going to boost Democrats.</p>
<p>The government has been shut down for two weeks, as the White House has refused to negotiate with Congressional Republicans who have attempted to defund or delay Obamacare. Senate Republicans and Democrats are negotiating a plan to reopen the government and raise the debt ceiling.</p> | Union Asks for Shutdown to Be Deemed an Emergency | true | http://freebeacon.com/unions-asks-for-shutdown-to-be-deemed-an-emergency/ | 2013-10-15 | 0right
| Union Asks for Shutdown to Be Deemed an Emergency
<p>BY: <a href="" type="internal">Bill McMorris</a> October 15, 2013 12:25 pm</p>
<p>A federal workers union is demanding that President Barack Obama declare the shutdown a national emergency and force businesses, hospitals, and schools to forgive workers’ bill payments until a deal is reached.</p>
<p>American Federation of Government Employees President J. David Cox sent a letter to Obama on Friday lamenting that the lengthy shutdown would hurt government workers. He proposed that the White House intervene to declare the shutdown a federal emergency, which would allow workers to collect zero-interest loans from FEMA and force businesses to extend lines of credit to employees.</p>
<p>"Mr. President, we ask that you … call upon the financial and business community to provide arrangements for skip mortgage payments, skip rent payments, skip car loan payments, skip education and other loan payments until this is all over [sic]," the <a href="http://www.afge.org/?documentID=3741" type="external">letter</a> states.</p>
<p>Cox also asks that federal workers receive free healthcare, gasoline, public transportation, and utilities until "their paychecks have been restored."</p>
<p>Federal workers collected half-paychecks for their last pay period and will not be paid again until after the shutdown ends. House Republicans <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57606174/house-approves-back-pay-for-furloughed-workers-as-shutdown-continues/" type="external">passed legislation</a> that would allow workers to receive retroactive pay, which would provide workers with lump sum checks at the end of the shutdown.</p>
<p>Federal workers have turned to unemployment insurance to make up for the delayed income: <a href="http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-10-07/local/42781413_1_federal-workers-unemployment-benefits-government-shutdown" type="external">26,000 new claims</a> have been filed in Maryland and D.C. in the past few weeks. The workers will have to pay back those benefits once their checks are restored under the GOP proposal.</p>
<p>Cox adds that the lump sums are not enough, asking the president to treat the shutdown as paid-time-off in which employees collect full paychecks without coming to work.</p>
<p>The administration, Cox writes, should "immediately advise agency managers to stop coercing and compelling employees to come to work without a paycheck."</p>
<p>"Government employees cannot tolerate further cuts. Enough is enough," Cox writes. "Other Americans, particularly the wealthy and large corporations, have not been asked to contribute their fair share."</p>
<p>AFGE represents more than 700,000 federal and District of Columbia workers and is also a member of the politically powerful AFL-CIO. AFGE’s Political Action Committee spent more than <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.php?strID=C00009936&amp;cycle=2012" type="external">$1.1 million</a> in the 2012 election cycle with nearly all of that money going to boost Democrats.</p>
<p>The government has been shut down for two weeks, as the White House has refused to negotiate with Congressional Republicans who have attempted to defund or delay Obamacare. Senate Republicans and Democrats are negotiating a plan to reopen the government and raise the debt ceiling.</p> | 1,851 |
<p />
<p>Mention forming a progressive political party and even hard-core lefties roll their eyes: The historical landscape is littered with failed third-party movements and independent presidential bids. Nevertheless, after only two years of organizing (see MoJo’s “Who’s on third?” July/Aug. 1992), the New Party has harnessed enough optimism among veteran activists and ordinary citizens to form chapters and run candidates in 10 states.</p>
<p>Pilfering from the playbook of the Christian right, the New Party is targeting local races for school board, city council, and state legislature. Wary of alienating itself from the liberal mainstream, the party occasionally endorses progressive Democrats or runs its own candidates as Democrats. “We want to build the organization strong enough to have real clout inside the Democratic party, but also have a credible threat of exit,” says Field Director Suzanne Wall. Thus far, 30 of the 45 candidates endorsed by local chapters have won; the highest New Party officeholder sits in the Wisconsin state legislature.</p>
<p>The New Party contrasts its bottom-up strategy with Ross Perot’s top-down politics of personality. Current party activists who were involved in Jesse Jackson’s presidential forays learned that even a high level of progressive energy dissipates quickly without a durable base capable of picking up where a defeated candidate leaves off.</p>
<p>Along with targeting a host of races in the fall, New Party chapters in Missouri, Montana, and Washington, D.C., are working with other organizations to pass campaign finance reform initiatives, one of many “tools of democracy” it considers essential to its success.</p>
<p /> | Pilfering the right’s playbook | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/1994/05/pilfering-rights-playbook/ | 2018-05-01 | 4left
| Pilfering the right’s playbook
<p />
<p>Mention forming a progressive political party and even hard-core lefties roll their eyes: The historical landscape is littered with failed third-party movements and independent presidential bids. Nevertheless, after only two years of organizing (see MoJo’s “Who’s on third?” July/Aug. 1992), the New Party has harnessed enough optimism among veteran activists and ordinary citizens to form chapters and run candidates in 10 states.</p>
<p>Pilfering from the playbook of the Christian right, the New Party is targeting local races for school board, city council, and state legislature. Wary of alienating itself from the liberal mainstream, the party occasionally endorses progressive Democrats or runs its own candidates as Democrats. “We want to build the organization strong enough to have real clout inside the Democratic party, but also have a credible threat of exit,” says Field Director Suzanne Wall. Thus far, 30 of the 45 candidates endorsed by local chapters have won; the highest New Party officeholder sits in the Wisconsin state legislature.</p>
<p>The New Party contrasts its bottom-up strategy with Ross Perot’s top-down politics of personality. Current party activists who were involved in Jesse Jackson’s presidential forays learned that even a high level of progressive energy dissipates quickly without a durable base capable of picking up where a defeated candidate leaves off.</p>
<p>Along with targeting a host of races in the fall, New Party chapters in Missouri, Montana, and Washington, D.C., are working with other organizations to pass campaign finance reform initiatives, one of many “tools of democracy” it considers essential to its success.</p>
<p /> | 1,852 |
<p>On this 51st anniversary of the attack on the Moncada fortress on July 26, 1953 I shall address a sinister character that keeps threatening, insulting and slandering us. This is not a whim or an agreeable option; it is a necessity and a duty.</p>
<p>On June 21, at the Anti-imperialist Forum I read Epistle Number Two to the president of the United States, responding to an infamous State Department report on trafficking in human beings, one of those reports the government of that country usually issues, as if it were the supreme moral judge of the world. In that document Cuba is accused of being one of the countries that promotes sexual tourism and child pornography.</p>
<p>Hardly two weeks went by, and instead of keeping a decent silence about the irrefutable truth contained in the Epistle, the wire services brought news of an election speech by Bush in Tampa, Florida containing new, more perfidious accusations and insults, the clearly aimed at slandering Cuba and justifying the threats of aggression and the brutal measures that they had just taken against our people.</p>
<p>The French press agency AFP reported the following from Tampa on July 16:</p>
<p>“President George Bush launched a harsh attack on Cuba when he defined it as ‘a major destination for sex tourism’ and said that the United States has a special duty to lead a world struggle against human trafficking for forced labour or sexual purposes.”</p>
<p>“Cuba is one of the 10 countries cited by the State Department in a report issued in June in which it lists the governments which tolerate human trafficking or fail to fight this crime.”</p>
<p>“The regime of FIDEL CASTRO has turned Cuba into a major destination for sex tourism replacing Southeast Asia as a destination for pedophiles and sex tourists from the United Sates and Canada,” Bush claimed.</p>
<p>“At a conference in Tampa, Florida, the president pointed to Cuba as one of the worst offenders in this area.”</p>
<p>“Sex tourism is a vital source of hard currency to keep his corrupt government afloat,” he claimed.</p>
<p>“Bush said that putting an end to human trafficking will be an essential part of his foreign policy.”</p>
<p>“The traffic in human beings brings shame and suffering to our country and we shall lead the fight against it,” he promised.</p>
<p>“You are in a fight against evil, and the American people are grateful for your dedication and service,” he told those at the conference.</p>
<p>“Human life is the gift of our Creator and it should never be for sale.”</p>
<p>A dispatch from the Spanish press agency EFE indicated:</p>
<p>“We also face a problem only 90 miles off our shores, Bush said in Florida.”</p>
<p>“He quoted a study which found that Cuba has “replaced Southeast Asia as a destination for pedophiles and sex tourists.”</p>
<p>“As restrictions on travel to Cuba were eased during the 1990s, the study found an influx of American and Canadian tourists contributed to a sharp increase in child prostitution in Cuba.”</p>
<p>“My administration is working toward a comprehensive solution of this problem: The rapid, peaceful transition to democracy in Cuba.”</p>
<p>“We have put a strategy in place to hasten the day when no Cuban child is exploited to finance a failed revolution and every Cuban citizen will live in freedom.”</p>
<p>“Bush said that ‘Human life is the gift of our Creator and it should never be for sale.”</p>
<p>“It takes a special kind of depravity to exploit and hurt the most vulnerable members of society. Human traffickers rob children of their innocence; they expose them to the worst of life before they have seen much of life. Traffickers tear families apart. They treat their victims as nothing more than goods and commodities for sale to the highest bidder.”</p>
<p>And to top off this odd news, the same press dispatch added some words spoken by John Ashcroft in his speech introducing Bush to the National Training Conference on Human Trafficking:</p>
<p>“In the 19th Century President Abraham Lincoln held firm to a vision of freedom for all and was rightly called the great emancipator.”</p>
<p>“In the 21st Century we have a great leader who has made us see that liberty is not a gift from the United States to the world but a gift to humanity from the Almighty.”</p>
<p>Another wire report from the English news agency Reuters read:</p>
<p>“Friday, the US president accused the Cuban president of having turned his Caribbean island into a sex tourism destination and of contributing to the world problem of human trafficking”.</p>
<p>The Italian press agency ANSA reported:</p>
<p>“The regime in Havana is adding to its crimes: it welcomes sex tourism”, said Bush who even repeated a supposed quote by Castro, ‘Cuba has the cleanest and most educated prostitutes in the world.'”</p>
<p>Later, wire services have reported that the quotation of something I supposedly said on this subject, which the US President used in the Tampa speech I just mentioned to back up his serious accusations, was taken from a paper on Cuba written by Charles Turnbull a law student from Vanderbilt University in the United States who has emphatically stated that Bush’s speech misconstrued the real meaning of a sentence included in his work, and clarified this and other matters in the following way:</p>
<p>“Prostitution boomed in the Caribbean nation after the collapse of the Soviet Union…”</p>
<p>“Castro, who had outlawed prostitution when he took power in 1959, initially had few resources to combat it. But beginning in 1996, Cuban authorities began to crack down on the practice.”</p>
<p>“Although it still exists, it is far less visible and it would be inaccurate to say the government promotes it”.</p>
<p>On Monday, July 19, Bush administration officials admitted they had no other source for the quote except the paper written by the aforementioned student.</p>
<p>Given the fact that it was shown that the US President had launched an extremely grave accusation based on a sentence found in a paper written by an American student, who himself refuted the deliberate way Bush misconstrued it, it’s hard to imagine a more bizarre response than that given by a Whitehouse spokesperson when told about this refutation.</p>
<p>According to the news agency report, the spokesperson simply, “…defended the inclusion [of the sentence] arguing that it expressed an essential truth about Cuba”, in other words, for the White House “the essential truth about Cuba” is anything that the president conjures up in his mind whether it has anything to do with reality or not.</p>
<p>This is exactly the kind of fundamentalist approach that the President constantly resorts to when there are more than enough data, arguments, truth, reasons, and facts on a particular subject but the only determining factor is the idea he has in his mind or the idea that suits him: anything becomes the absolute and irrefutable truth simply because Mr. Bush imagines it to be so.</p>
<p>Many people in the world who know very little about the Cuban Revolution might fall victim to the lies and tricks the US government spreads through the huge media available to it.</p>
<p>But there are many others, especially in poor countries who are aware of what the Cuban revolution is about, of its marked dedication, from the very beginning, to provide education and healthcare services to all its children and the whole population; its spirit of solidarity that has led it to cooperate selflessly with dozens of Third World countries; its strict adherence to the highest moral values, its ethical principles, its lofty concept of the dignity and honour of its homeland and its people for which Cuban revolutionaries have always been willing to give up their lives. There is no doubt that these many friends, all over the world, will be wondering how it is possible that such unspeakable, foul slander is hurled against Cuba.</p>
<p>This obliges me to give a most serious and honest explanation of the causes, which in my view, give rise to these inconceivable, irresponsible statements by the President of the most powerful nation on the planet, the same who is threatening to wipe the Cuban revolution from the face of the Earth.</p>
<p>I shall do this as objectively as possible, making no arbitrary statements or shamelessly misconstruing other people’s words, sentences and concepts. I shall avoid any petty sentiment of vengeance or personal dislike.</p>
<p>A theme that has been widely documented in several books by outstanding American scientific authors and other personalities is the current US President’s alcoholism which lasted two decades when he was between 20 and 40 years old. This feature has been rigorously and impressively dealt with, from a psychiatric point of view and using scientific criteria, by Dr. Justin A. Frank in a now famous book called “ <a href="" type="internal">Bush on the Couch</a>“.</p>
<p>Dr. Frank begins by saying that it is important to scientifically define whether Bush was an alcoholic, or if he still is one. He has literally said:</p>
<p>“… the more pressing question involves the influence his years of heavy drinking and subsequent abstinence still have on him and those around him”. (p.39)</p>
<p>He goes on to explain and I quote verbatim:</p>
<p>“Alcoholism is a potentially fatal, lifelong disease that is notoriously difficult to arrest permanently” (p. 40)</p>
<p>Later, referring to the man who is now President of the United States, he says:</p>
<p>“Bush has said publicly that he quit drinking without the help of AA (an organization dedicated to helping alcoholics) or any substance abuse programme, claiming that he stopped forever with the assistance of such spiritual tools as bible study and conversations with the evangelist Billy Graham”.</p>
<p>On page 40 of the book he recounts that, according to ex-presidential speech writer David Frum, when Bush took over the Oval office he summoned a group of religious leaders, asked for their prayers and told them:</p>
<p>“There is only one reason that I am in the Oval Office and not a bar… I found faith, I found God. I am here because of the power of prayer”.</p>
<p>Dr. Frank thinks that this statement might be true and goes on to say the following:</p>
<p>“…surely all Americans would like to believe that the president no longer drinks, even if we have no way of knowing for certain. If so, he fits the profile of a former drinker whose alcoholism has been arrested but not treated”.</p>
<p>He then adds:</p>
<p>” Former drinkers who abstain without the benefit of the AA program are often referred to as “dry drunks”, a label that has been bandied about on the Internet and elsewhere in reference to Bush. “Dry drunk” isn’t a medical term, and not one I use in a clinical setting. But even without labelling Bush as such, it’s hard to ignore the many troubling elements of his character among the traits that the recovery literature associates with the condition, including grandiosity, judgmentalism, intolerance, detachment, denial of responsibility, a tendency toward over-reaction and an aversion to introspection.” (p. 41)</p>
<p>Dr. Frank insists that he personally has treated alcoholics who held their addiction in check without proper treatment but that they are generally not very successful in learning to control the anxiety that they once tried to suppress by drinking and he explains that:</p>
<p>“Their rigid attempts to manage anxiety make any psychological insight hard-won. Some can’t even face the anxiety of admitting their alcoholism.</p>
<p>Dr. Frank then goes on to say:</p>
<p>“Without that admission, I have found, even former drinkers cannot truly change, or learn from their own experience”.</p>
<p>And then referring to Bush specifically he argues the following:</p>
<p>“The pattern of blame and denial, which recovering alcoholics work so hard to break, seems to be ingrained in the alcoholic personality; it’s rarely limited to his or her drinking. The habit of placing blame and denying responsibility is so prevalent in George W. Bush’s personal history that it is apparently triggered by even the mildest threat”</p>
<p>“… The rigidity of Bush’s behaviour is perhaps most readily apparent in his well-documented reliance on his daily routines–the famously short meetings, sacrosanct exercise schedule, daily Bible readings, and limited office hours. A healthy person is able to alter his routine; a rigid one cannot”. (p.43)</p>
<p>“Of course”–the eminent US doctor goes on, and I quote–“we all need rest and relaxation, time to regroup, but Bush appears to need it more than most. And this is hardly a surprise–among other reasons, because the anxiety of being president might pose a real risk of leading him back to drinking.” (p. 43)</p>
<p>“Along with rigid routines go rigid thought processes–another hallmark of the Bush presidency. We see it in the stubborn, almost obsessive way in which he holds on to ideas and plans after they have been discredited, from his image of himself as a “uniter, not a divider” to his conviction that Iraq held weapons of mass destruction (or, in absence of such weapons, that somehow “America did the right thing in Iraq” nevertheless). Such rigidity of thought is not motivated by simple stubbornness; the untreated alcoholic, consumed with the task of managing the anxieties that might make him reach for a drink, simply can’t tolerate any threat to his status quo”.</p>
<p>And Dr. Frank adds that such intolerance generally leads to responses that are out of proportion to the magnitude of the actual threat.</p>
<p>“This may help to explain the dramatic contrast between George W’s response to Saddam Hussein and that of his father, who carefully built a coalition, took action only after Kuwait had been invaded, and then proceeded with prudence and caution once the fighting was underway– the behaviour of a seasoned leader who knew he was responsible for countless others’ lives, not an alcoholic accustomed to taking dramatic measures to protect his own.”</p>
<p>Continuing his analysis, Dr. Frank indicates:</p>
<p>“Two questions that the press seems particularly determined to ignore have hung silently in the air since before Bush took office: Is he still drinking? And if not, is he impaired by all the years he did spend drinking? Both questions need to be addressed in any serious assessment of his psychological state”. (p.48)</p>
<p>With regard to the first question, he points out the possibility that Bush is managing his anxiety with medication to keep him off alcohol and he makes special reference to his strange behaviour at press conferences. On this point he says:</p>
<p>“In writing about Bush’s halting appearance in a press conference just before the start of the Iraq War, Washington Post media critic Tom Shales speculated that “the president may have been ever so slightly medicated”.</p>
<p>“More troubling though, are the appearances that arouse suspicion not because of how he talks but what he says. He has repeatedly engaged in confabulation, filling in gaps in his memory with what he believes are facts–most notably on July 14, 2003, when he stood next to Kofi Annan and made up the idea that America had given Saddam “a chance to allow the inspectors in, and he wouldn’t let them in”. (As the Washington Post noted, “Hussein had, in fact, admitted the inspectors and Bush had opposed extending their work because he did not believe them effective”. Confabulation is a common phenomenon among drinkers, as is perseveration, which is evident in Bush’s tendency to repeat key words and phrases, as if the repetition helps him remain calm and stay on track.” (p. 49)</p>
<p>And Dr. Frank concludes his analysis of these two questions with the following words:</p>
<p>“Even if we assume, moreover, that George W. Bush’s drinking days are behind him, the question remains how much lasting damage may have been done before he stopped–beyond the considerable impact on his personality that we can trace to his untreated abstinence. Any comprehensive psychological or psychoanalytical study of President Bush would have to explore how much the brain and its functions are changed by more than twenty years of heavy drinking. In a recent study out of the University of California/San Francisco Medical Centre, researchers found that heavy drinkers who do not call themselves alcoholics reveal that “their level of drinking constitutes a problem that warrants treatment”. The study found that the heavy drinkers in its sample were “significantly impaired” on measures of working memory, processing speed, attention, executive function and balance. Serious research about long-term recovery from alcohol abuse is still underway. Science has established that alcohol itself is toxic to the brain, both to its anatomy (as the brain gets smaller and fissures between and around the hemisphere get larger) and to its neurophysiology. But recovery does occur with continued sobriety, extending over a five-year period for many alcoholics. Bush claims to have been sober for more that fifteen years, and very well may have improved to pre-alcohol levels. However, even chronic alcoholics who recover their compromised mental functions often suffer lingering damage to their ability to process new information. Important neuropsychological functions are impaired: The new information is essentially put into a file that is lost in the brain.</p>
<p>“Former heavy drinkers often have trouble distinguishing between relevant and inconsequential information. They also may lose some of their ability to maintain concentration. All one has to do to observe Bush’s inattention is watch him listening to a speech given by someone else, watch his behaviour at times on the campaign trail, or consider the obviously desperate effort he makes to retain focus in every speech he gives.” (p.50)</p>
<p>Finally, Dr. Frank points out that Bush would reduce the fear of many Americans by submitting himself to psychological tests that could scientifically measure the effects of alcoholism on his brain function and warns:</p>
<p>“Otherwise, we are left to suspect–with reason–that our president may be impaired in his ability to make sense of complex ideas and briefings” (p. 51)</p>
<p>And he ends up by saying:</p>
<p>“We all may be a little afraid to find out: after all, he has already held office for three years and has led our nation into war. But if we fail to do so, the consequences may indict every one of us”. (p. 51)</p>
<p>Another aspect discussed in depth and in detail by Dr. Justin A. Frank in this book, “Bush on the Couch”, is that of President Bush’s religious fundamentalism.</p>
<p>Dr. Frank explains how, in trying to find relief from the internal chaos that drink sometimes appeased but eventually intensified, Bush may have found in religion a source of peace, not totally different from that given by alcohol, as well as a set of rules which help him to manage both the external world and his inner spiritual world.</p>
<p>He suggests that an analysis of the role of fundamentalism in Bush’s life would show that one of the many ways that Bush employs religion as a defence mechanism is by using it as a substitute for illegal substances and says that Bush uses religion to simplify and even replace thought so that, to a certain extent, he does not even need to think. He adds that Bush, by putting himself on the side of good–on God’s side–places himself above mundane discussion and debate. Religion serves as a shield to protect him from challenges, including those that he himself would otherwise create.</p>
<p>Dr. Frank wonders how Bush reached this point and then explains that, the Bush family tradition has long been fuelled by faith, by the belief in a God linked closely to moral rectitude but he makes this distinction:</p>
<p>“Yet President Bush’s religious orientation represents an important departure from his family. Though certain aspects of the family tradition have been maintained–notably the formality of religious participation–his mid-life conversion to a more fundamentalist approach stands in dramatic contrast to the spiritual life of his father…” (p.56)</p>
<p>“And a review of the events leading up to Bush’s conscious embrace of fundamentalism shows that it clearly occurred at a moment when he was reaching for solutions, in a time of almost desperate need.”</p>
<p>Dr Frank goes on to explain that fundamentalist religions narrow the universe of opportunities and divide the world into good and bad, in absolute terms that leave no space for questioning and on this point he argues:</p>
<p>“The view of the self is similarly simplified. Just as fundamentalist creationist teachings deny history, the fundamentalist notion of conversion or rebirth encourages the believer to see himself as disconnected from history. George W. Bush’s evasive, self-serving defence of his life before he was born again displays just this tendency. “It doesn’t do any good to inventory the mistakes I made when I was young”, he has insisted. “I think the way … to answer questions about specific behaviour is to remind people that when I was young and irresponsible, I was young and irresponsible. I changed…” To the believer, the power of spiritual absolution not only erases the sins of the past, but divorces the current self from the historical sinner”. (p.60)</p>
<p>Dr. Frank makes it clear that there is nothing inherently unnatural in the fact that Bush seeks protection from his faith and that, even when this makes him stronger, the rigidity of his thought and speech patterns and of his agenda point to a considerable fragility. He explains that Bush’s fear of everything–from disagreement to terrorist attacks–are sometimes painfully visible, even (or especially) through his denials and that he is a man desperately seeking protection. Dr. Frank wonders: “But what is George W. Bush so eager to protect himself against?” and he answers the question with the following analysis:</p>
<p>“His tightly held belief system shields him from challenges to his ideas–from critics and opponents, but, more important, from himself. Just beneath the surface, it’s hard not to believe that he suffers from an innate fear of falling apart, a fear too terrifying for him to confront.” (p.64)</p>
<p>“For someone so desperate not to lose his way, clinging to a belief (or even a few key phrases), and sticking to them, is yet another way to protect against falling apart. President Bush’s press conferences have offered disturbing evidence of this ongoing anxiety–evidence so unmistakable that it’s little wonder that the White House has proven so hesitant to schedule such events at all. After one particularly disastrous performance in July 2003, the Slate political columnist Timothy Noah noted that: “Bush seemed jangled”; in a damning editorial the following day, the New York Times noted that the president’s answers were “vague and sometimes nearly incoherent”–suggesting, perceptively, that Bush was “bedazzled by his administration’s own mythmaking”</p>
<p>He gives some examples of phrases Bush used repeatedly during that press conference:</p>
<p>“And so we’re making progress. It’s slowly but surely making progress of bringing the–those who terrorize their fellow citizens to justice, and making progress about convincing the Iraqi people that freedom is real. And as they become more convinced that freedom is real, they’ll begin to assume more responsibilities that are required in a free society…</p>
<p>“And the threat is a real threat. It’s a threat that where–we obviously don’t have specific data, we don’t know when, where, what. But we do know a couple of things…obviously, we’re talking to foreign governments and foreign airlines to indicate to them the reality of the threat…</p>
<p>“I don’t know how close we are to getting Saddam Hussein. You know–it’s closer that we were yesterday, I guess. All I know is we’re on the hunt. It’s like if you had asked me right before we got his sons how close we were to get his sons, I’d say, I don’t know, but we’re on the hunt.</p>
<p>“Well first of all, the war on terror goes on, as I continually remind people… The threat that you asked about, Steve, reminds us that we need to be on the hunt, because the war on terror goes on…</p>
<p>“I just described to you that there is a threat to the United States. There is no doubt in my mind, Campbell, that Saddam Hussein was a threat to the United States’ security, and a threat to peace in the region…</p>
<p>“Saddam Hussein was a threat. The United Nations viewed him as a threat. That’s why they passed twelve resolutions. Predecessors of mine viewed him as a threat. We gathered a lot of intelligence. That intelligence was good, sound intelligence on which I made a decision… (pp. 65-66)</p>
<p>And Dr. Frank goes on to say:</p>
<p>“So powerful are his fears that he can’t even face them. His infamous early advice to Americans less than two weeks after 9/11–when he told Americans to continue to shop and travel as before, in apparent denial of the radical measures he was at the same time taking in response to the nation’s newfound vulnerability–suggests just how simplistically he viewed the situation, closing himself off to worry and anxiety. Compare his response to that of New York’s mayor, Rudolph Giuliani, who faced his fears, rolled up his sleeves and got to work–making people feel far safer than Bush’s stilted denial ever did.</p>
<p>“Bush has continued to cite divine instruction to explain his actions since assuming office. As reported in Israel’s Haaretz News, Bush said, “God told me to strike at al Qaida and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did”.</p>
<p>Finally, Dr. Frank offers these thoughts:</p>
<p>“The Biblical struggle of good and evil has resonated throughout his discourse since 9/11, from his repeated use of the term “crusade” to his characterisation of the terrorists as “evildoers” and grouping of Iraq, Iran and North Korea as the “Axis of Evil”. At the same time, he presents the United States as nothing more that a nation of wholly innocent victims.</p>
<p>“In externalizing evil in this way, while absolving America of responsibility, Bush has transformed his unintegrated infantile worldview into a starkly combative (and primitive) foreign policy.</p>
<p>“Bush’s rhetoric”–Dr. Frank concludes–“highlights how he identifies the concepts of himself as president with both God and America: for him these three appear to have become somewhat interchangeable. Unable to mourn the dead of 9/11 enough to allow for a full investigation of how it happened–and what responsibility we might have had–he blindly attacks the “enemy” he perceives to be everywhere, a terrorist suddenly hiding under rock”.</p>
<p>In his book “Stupid White Men”, Michael Moore points out that Bush exhibits obvious symptoms of not being able to read at an adult level and writes the following as part of an open letter to Bush:</p>
<p>“1. George, are you able to read and write on an adult level?</p>
<p>“It appears to me and many others that, sadly, you may be a functional illiterate. This is nothing to be ashamed of… Millions of Americans cannot read and write above a fourth grade level.</p>
<p>“But let me ask you this: if you have trouble comprehending the complex position papers you are handed as the Leader of the Mostly-Free World, how can we entrust something like our nuclear secrets to you?</p>
<p>“All the signs of illiteracy area there–and apparently no one has challenged you about them. The first clue was what you named as your favourite childhood book, “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”, you said.</p>
<p>“Unfortunately, that book wasn’t even published until a year after you graduated from college.”</p>
<p>“One thing is clear to everyone–you can’t speak the English language in sentences we can comprehend.</p>
<p>“If you are going to be Commander-in-Chief, you have to be able to communicate your orders. What if these little slip-ups keep happening? Do you know how easy it would be to turn a little faux pas into a national-security nightmare?</p>
<p>“Your aides say that you don’t (can’t?) read the briefing papers they give you, and that you ask them to read them for you or to you.”</p>
<p>“Please , don’t take any of this personally. Perhaps it’s a learning disability. Some sixty million Americans have learning disabilities”.</p>
<p>In his book “Against All Enemies”, Richard Clarke writes that when Bush got to the White House, “Early on we were told that the president is not a big reader”.</p>
<p>Bob Woodward’s book “Bush at War” tells that, in a National Security Council meeting during the Afghanistan war, Bush said: “I don’t read the editorial pages. I don’t –the hyperventilation that tends to take place around those cables, every expert and every former colonel and all that, is just background noise”.</p>
<p>Thus far I have given a very brief summary of what has been said on some points by outstanding Americans, things which help to explain the strange behaviour and aggressiveness of the US President.</p>
<p>I do not want to elaborate now on more sensitive issues like those whose exposure cost his life to J.H. Hatfield, author of the book “Fortunate Son”, and others of great interest analyzed by truly brilliant, brave, eminent authors.</p>
<p>Mr. Bush’s lies and slanders and those of his closest advisors were fabricated in a hurry to justify the atrocious measures taken against Cuban-born people living in the United States who have close family ties in Cuba.</p>
<p>This outrage, as we warned on June 21, might have adverse political consequences in Florida which could play a decisive role in this year’s elections. The idea of a punishment vote is gaining ground among thousands of Cuban-Americans, many of whom would normally have voted for Bush.</p>
<p>Hatred and blindness have lead this administration to take a stupid, immoral action under pressure from the terrorist mob which gave Bush a fraudulent victory when he had a million votes less than his rival nationwide, and a narrow majority of 537 votes in Florida where thousands of black Americans were prevented from exercising their right to vote whereas many dead people ‘exercised’ theirs. Fifteen or twenty thousand voters could sink his hopes of re-election. These brutal measures have also been criticized all over the country.</p>
<p>The overwhelming majority of those who are members of or run that terrorist mob–which decided no less a thing than the election of the President of the United States–are former Batista supporters and their descendents; or they are groups who for years have been involved in the terrorist actions, pirate attacks, assassination plots against Cuban revolutionary leaders and all kinds of armed aggressions against our country; or they were big landowners and relatives of the upper middle classes who were affected by revolutionary laws and who previously had all kinds of privileges and many of whom have amassed huge fortunes and have gained influence in important power circles in the US governments.</p>
<p>Over 90 percent of those who have emigrated from Cuba since the triumph of the revolution have done so through normal channels and for economic reasons, their leaving authorized by the Revolution that placed no obstacles. But Cuban immigrants were forced to go under the Caudine Forks of that powerful mafia whose influence they could not easily ignore.</p>
<p>Unlike many millions of Latin Americans, including Haitians and other Caribbeans, that emigrate legally and illegally to the United States and are called immigrants, Cubans, with no exception whatsoever, are called exiles.</p>
<p>On the other hand, the absurd Cuban Adjustment Act has caused the loss of countless Cuban lives by rewarding and encouraging illegal emigration and giving Cubans extraordinary privileges that are not granted to citizens of any other country in the world.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, years ago, even before the collapse of the Soviet Union and the special period that ensued, and despite the risk of espionage and terrorist plans originating in the United States which the measures entailed, Cuba gave permits to emigres so they could visit their relatives and their country of origin, whereas the Bush administration is abruptly closing the doors because of its fanatical obsession of bringing Cuba to its knees through economic suffocation.</p>
<p>And, to that same end of depriving our country of any income whatsoever, he labels the tourist industry in Cuba sex tourism and calls those who visit our country coming from the United States “paedophiles” and “pleasure seekers”.</p>
<p>Mr Bush does not hesitate either in tarring Canadian tourists with the same brush when everybody knows that the overwhelming majority of them are pensioners and senior citizens who, in the company of their relatives, come to enjoy the exceptional safety and calm, the politeness, culture and hospitality that they find in our country.</p>
<p>What would Mr. Bush call the tens of millions of tourists who visit the United States every year where casinos, gambling dens, areas of male and female prostitution and many other activities related to pornography and sex abound, none of which exist in Cuba and all of which are alien to the revolutionary culture of our people?</p>
<p>What would he call the tens of millions of Europeans who visit Spain every year where many pages in the papers are used to advertising the names, addresses, the physical, cultural and intellectual characteristics and the specialities and individual gifts to suit all tastes of those who exercise the age-old profession of prostitution? Would he call the US and Spanish tourist industries sex tourism?</p>
<p>None of the aforementioned activities take place in Cuba. However, in the fevered and fundamentalist mind of the all-powerful gentleman in the White House and in those of his most intimate advisors, Cuba must now be “saved” not only from “tyranny”, Cuban children must now be “saved from sexual exploitation and trafficking in persons” “the world must be freed from this dreadful problem which takes place 90 miles away from the United States”.</p>
<p>Has no one told him that in Cuba before the triumph of the revolution in 1959 about 100,000 women were directly or indirectly involved in prostitution for reasons of poverty, discrimination and lack of work and that the Revolution educated these women and found them jobs, and outlawed the so-called “tolerance zones” which existed in the pseudo-republic and the neo-colony installed by the United States?</p>
<p>Has no one told him that the Cuban children, whose physical, mental and moral health is the number one priority of the Revolution, are protected by more severe laws than those of the United States and that they all attend school, including more than 50,000 who suffer from mental or physical disabilities and that, without exceptions, receive specialized care in special education centres?</p>
<p>Has no one told him that infant mortality is lower in Cuba than it is in the United States and that it continues to decrease?</p>
<p>Has no one dared to whisper in his ear that Cuba occupies an outstanding and internationally recognized place in education; that health and education services are free and extend to the whole population; that today programs are underway in education, health and culture that will place Cuba far above all the other countries in the world?</p>
<p>The historic session of the National Assembly of People’s Power held on July 1 and 2, exposed them and showed how ridiculous is the grotesque over 400-page-long-report which gives an ample account and full details of the neo-colonial and annexationist programs the fascist group which begot this disgusting project propose to implement to the detriment of the Cuban people and their sovereignty. This report has done nothing if not unite our people even more and give a boost to their fighting spirit.</p>
<p>They must be absolutely mad to talk of such things as implementing literacy and vaccination programs in Cuba where illiteracy was eradicated a long time ago, where minimum school attendance is up to grade nine and where children are vaccinated against 13 diseases. Actually, such programs should be applied to tens of millions of Americans who are left out, who do not enjoy the benefits of social security and who have not been to school or are completely illiterate or functionally illiterate.</p>
<p>The US administration has not even dared to say a single word about the generous offer that our country made of saving, in a short 5 year period, a life for every life lost in the Twin Towers, by providing free health care to 3000 US citizens who have no access to healthcare services that are indispensable for preserving life. Neither have they replied to the question of whether or not those who may decide to come to Cuba to take advantage of this opportunity would be punished.</p>
<p>It is really revealing that on the very same day that Mr. Bush spouted such outrageous slanders and threats, a prestigious American scientific institution from California signed an agreement with the Cuban Molecular Immunology Centre for transferring technology developed in our country for the clinical trials and later manufacture of three promising vaccines in the battle against cancer, which, as you know, kills more than half a million Americans every year.</p>
<p>It is only fair to acknowledge that in this case the US authorities did not set any obstacle.</p>
<p>This fact shows how the fruits of everything I have talked about before are beginning to sprout all over our country, despite 45 years of a harsh blockade and of aggressions by US governments.</p>
<p>And these are not biological weapons, nor chemical weapons, nor nuclear weapons; these are scientific discoveries which could help all humanity.</p>
<p>Let’s hope that, in Cuba’s case, God does not ‘instruct’ Mr. Bush to attack our country but that he rather inspires him to avoid this colossal mistake! He had better check on any divine belligerent order by consulting the Pope and other prestigious dignitaries and theologians from the Christian churches, asking them for their opinion</p>
<p>Excuse me, Mr. President of the United States of America, for not writing a third epistle to you this time but it would have been difficult to analyze this subject in that way. It might have been taken for a personal insult and I rather adhere to common courtesy.</p>
<p>Hail, Caesar! I say, but this time I add: Those who are willing to die have no fear of your enormous power, of your unbridled rage, nor of your dangerous and cowardly threats against Cuba!</p>
<p>Long live the truth!</p>
<p>Long live human dignity!</p>
<p>Speech made by FIDEL CASTRO, President of the Republic of Cuba, at the ceremony for the 51st anniversary of the attack on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Cespedes fortresses. Ernesto Che Guevara Square, Santa Clara, July 26, 2004.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | The Pathology of George Bush | true | https://counterpunch.org/2004/07/30/the-pathology-of-george-bush/ | 2004-07-30 | 4left
| The Pathology of George Bush
<p>On this 51st anniversary of the attack on the Moncada fortress on July 26, 1953 I shall address a sinister character that keeps threatening, insulting and slandering us. This is not a whim or an agreeable option; it is a necessity and a duty.</p>
<p>On June 21, at the Anti-imperialist Forum I read Epistle Number Two to the president of the United States, responding to an infamous State Department report on trafficking in human beings, one of those reports the government of that country usually issues, as if it were the supreme moral judge of the world. In that document Cuba is accused of being one of the countries that promotes sexual tourism and child pornography.</p>
<p>Hardly two weeks went by, and instead of keeping a decent silence about the irrefutable truth contained in the Epistle, the wire services brought news of an election speech by Bush in Tampa, Florida containing new, more perfidious accusations and insults, the clearly aimed at slandering Cuba and justifying the threats of aggression and the brutal measures that they had just taken against our people.</p>
<p>The French press agency AFP reported the following from Tampa on July 16:</p>
<p>“President George Bush launched a harsh attack on Cuba when he defined it as ‘a major destination for sex tourism’ and said that the United States has a special duty to lead a world struggle against human trafficking for forced labour or sexual purposes.”</p>
<p>“Cuba is one of the 10 countries cited by the State Department in a report issued in June in which it lists the governments which tolerate human trafficking or fail to fight this crime.”</p>
<p>“The regime of FIDEL CASTRO has turned Cuba into a major destination for sex tourism replacing Southeast Asia as a destination for pedophiles and sex tourists from the United Sates and Canada,” Bush claimed.</p>
<p>“At a conference in Tampa, Florida, the president pointed to Cuba as one of the worst offenders in this area.”</p>
<p>“Sex tourism is a vital source of hard currency to keep his corrupt government afloat,” he claimed.</p>
<p>“Bush said that putting an end to human trafficking will be an essential part of his foreign policy.”</p>
<p>“The traffic in human beings brings shame and suffering to our country and we shall lead the fight against it,” he promised.</p>
<p>“You are in a fight against evil, and the American people are grateful for your dedication and service,” he told those at the conference.</p>
<p>“Human life is the gift of our Creator and it should never be for sale.”</p>
<p>A dispatch from the Spanish press agency EFE indicated:</p>
<p>“We also face a problem only 90 miles off our shores, Bush said in Florida.”</p>
<p>“He quoted a study which found that Cuba has “replaced Southeast Asia as a destination for pedophiles and sex tourists.”</p>
<p>“As restrictions on travel to Cuba were eased during the 1990s, the study found an influx of American and Canadian tourists contributed to a sharp increase in child prostitution in Cuba.”</p>
<p>“My administration is working toward a comprehensive solution of this problem: The rapid, peaceful transition to democracy in Cuba.”</p>
<p>“We have put a strategy in place to hasten the day when no Cuban child is exploited to finance a failed revolution and every Cuban citizen will live in freedom.”</p>
<p>“Bush said that ‘Human life is the gift of our Creator and it should never be for sale.”</p>
<p>“It takes a special kind of depravity to exploit and hurt the most vulnerable members of society. Human traffickers rob children of their innocence; they expose them to the worst of life before they have seen much of life. Traffickers tear families apart. They treat their victims as nothing more than goods and commodities for sale to the highest bidder.”</p>
<p>And to top off this odd news, the same press dispatch added some words spoken by John Ashcroft in his speech introducing Bush to the National Training Conference on Human Trafficking:</p>
<p>“In the 19th Century President Abraham Lincoln held firm to a vision of freedom for all and was rightly called the great emancipator.”</p>
<p>“In the 21st Century we have a great leader who has made us see that liberty is not a gift from the United States to the world but a gift to humanity from the Almighty.”</p>
<p>Another wire report from the English news agency Reuters read:</p>
<p>“Friday, the US president accused the Cuban president of having turned his Caribbean island into a sex tourism destination and of contributing to the world problem of human trafficking”.</p>
<p>The Italian press agency ANSA reported:</p>
<p>“The regime in Havana is adding to its crimes: it welcomes sex tourism”, said Bush who even repeated a supposed quote by Castro, ‘Cuba has the cleanest and most educated prostitutes in the world.'”</p>
<p>Later, wire services have reported that the quotation of something I supposedly said on this subject, which the US President used in the Tampa speech I just mentioned to back up his serious accusations, was taken from a paper on Cuba written by Charles Turnbull a law student from Vanderbilt University in the United States who has emphatically stated that Bush’s speech misconstrued the real meaning of a sentence included in his work, and clarified this and other matters in the following way:</p>
<p>“Prostitution boomed in the Caribbean nation after the collapse of the Soviet Union…”</p>
<p>“Castro, who had outlawed prostitution when he took power in 1959, initially had few resources to combat it. But beginning in 1996, Cuban authorities began to crack down on the practice.”</p>
<p>“Although it still exists, it is far less visible and it would be inaccurate to say the government promotes it”.</p>
<p>On Monday, July 19, Bush administration officials admitted they had no other source for the quote except the paper written by the aforementioned student.</p>
<p>Given the fact that it was shown that the US President had launched an extremely grave accusation based on a sentence found in a paper written by an American student, who himself refuted the deliberate way Bush misconstrued it, it’s hard to imagine a more bizarre response than that given by a Whitehouse spokesperson when told about this refutation.</p>
<p>According to the news agency report, the spokesperson simply, “…defended the inclusion [of the sentence] arguing that it expressed an essential truth about Cuba”, in other words, for the White House “the essential truth about Cuba” is anything that the president conjures up in his mind whether it has anything to do with reality or not.</p>
<p>This is exactly the kind of fundamentalist approach that the President constantly resorts to when there are more than enough data, arguments, truth, reasons, and facts on a particular subject but the only determining factor is the idea he has in his mind or the idea that suits him: anything becomes the absolute and irrefutable truth simply because Mr. Bush imagines it to be so.</p>
<p>Many people in the world who know very little about the Cuban Revolution might fall victim to the lies and tricks the US government spreads through the huge media available to it.</p>
<p>But there are many others, especially in poor countries who are aware of what the Cuban revolution is about, of its marked dedication, from the very beginning, to provide education and healthcare services to all its children and the whole population; its spirit of solidarity that has led it to cooperate selflessly with dozens of Third World countries; its strict adherence to the highest moral values, its ethical principles, its lofty concept of the dignity and honour of its homeland and its people for which Cuban revolutionaries have always been willing to give up their lives. There is no doubt that these many friends, all over the world, will be wondering how it is possible that such unspeakable, foul slander is hurled against Cuba.</p>
<p>This obliges me to give a most serious and honest explanation of the causes, which in my view, give rise to these inconceivable, irresponsible statements by the President of the most powerful nation on the planet, the same who is threatening to wipe the Cuban revolution from the face of the Earth.</p>
<p>I shall do this as objectively as possible, making no arbitrary statements or shamelessly misconstruing other people’s words, sentences and concepts. I shall avoid any petty sentiment of vengeance or personal dislike.</p>
<p>A theme that has been widely documented in several books by outstanding American scientific authors and other personalities is the current US President’s alcoholism which lasted two decades when he was between 20 and 40 years old. This feature has been rigorously and impressively dealt with, from a psychiatric point of view and using scientific criteria, by Dr. Justin A. Frank in a now famous book called “ <a href="" type="internal">Bush on the Couch</a>“.</p>
<p>Dr. Frank begins by saying that it is important to scientifically define whether Bush was an alcoholic, or if he still is one. He has literally said:</p>
<p>“… the more pressing question involves the influence his years of heavy drinking and subsequent abstinence still have on him and those around him”. (p.39)</p>
<p>He goes on to explain and I quote verbatim:</p>
<p>“Alcoholism is a potentially fatal, lifelong disease that is notoriously difficult to arrest permanently” (p. 40)</p>
<p>Later, referring to the man who is now President of the United States, he says:</p>
<p>“Bush has said publicly that he quit drinking without the help of AA (an organization dedicated to helping alcoholics) or any substance abuse programme, claiming that he stopped forever with the assistance of such spiritual tools as bible study and conversations with the evangelist Billy Graham”.</p>
<p>On page 40 of the book he recounts that, according to ex-presidential speech writer David Frum, when Bush took over the Oval office he summoned a group of religious leaders, asked for their prayers and told them:</p>
<p>“There is only one reason that I am in the Oval Office and not a bar… I found faith, I found God. I am here because of the power of prayer”.</p>
<p>Dr. Frank thinks that this statement might be true and goes on to say the following:</p>
<p>“…surely all Americans would like to believe that the president no longer drinks, even if we have no way of knowing for certain. If so, he fits the profile of a former drinker whose alcoholism has been arrested but not treated”.</p>
<p>He then adds:</p>
<p>” Former drinkers who abstain without the benefit of the AA program are often referred to as “dry drunks”, a label that has been bandied about on the Internet and elsewhere in reference to Bush. “Dry drunk” isn’t a medical term, and not one I use in a clinical setting. But even without labelling Bush as such, it’s hard to ignore the many troubling elements of his character among the traits that the recovery literature associates with the condition, including grandiosity, judgmentalism, intolerance, detachment, denial of responsibility, a tendency toward over-reaction and an aversion to introspection.” (p. 41)</p>
<p>Dr. Frank insists that he personally has treated alcoholics who held their addiction in check without proper treatment but that they are generally not very successful in learning to control the anxiety that they once tried to suppress by drinking and he explains that:</p>
<p>“Their rigid attempts to manage anxiety make any psychological insight hard-won. Some can’t even face the anxiety of admitting their alcoholism.</p>
<p>Dr. Frank then goes on to say:</p>
<p>“Without that admission, I have found, even former drinkers cannot truly change, or learn from their own experience”.</p>
<p>And then referring to Bush specifically he argues the following:</p>
<p>“The pattern of blame and denial, which recovering alcoholics work so hard to break, seems to be ingrained in the alcoholic personality; it’s rarely limited to his or her drinking. The habit of placing blame and denying responsibility is so prevalent in George W. Bush’s personal history that it is apparently triggered by even the mildest threat”</p>
<p>“… The rigidity of Bush’s behaviour is perhaps most readily apparent in his well-documented reliance on his daily routines–the famously short meetings, sacrosanct exercise schedule, daily Bible readings, and limited office hours. A healthy person is able to alter his routine; a rigid one cannot”. (p.43)</p>
<p>“Of course”–the eminent US doctor goes on, and I quote–“we all need rest and relaxation, time to regroup, but Bush appears to need it more than most. And this is hardly a surprise–among other reasons, because the anxiety of being president might pose a real risk of leading him back to drinking.” (p. 43)</p>
<p>“Along with rigid routines go rigid thought processes–another hallmark of the Bush presidency. We see it in the stubborn, almost obsessive way in which he holds on to ideas and plans after they have been discredited, from his image of himself as a “uniter, not a divider” to his conviction that Iraq held weapons of mass destruction (or, in absence of such weapons, that somehow “America did the right thing in Iraq” nevertheless). Such rigidity of thought is not motivated by simple stubbornness; the untreated alcoholic, consumed with the task of managing the anxieties that might make him reach for a drink, simply can’t tolerate any threat to his status quo”.</p>
<p>And Dr. Frank adds that such intolerance generally leads to responses that are out of proportion to the magnitude of the actual threat.</p>
<p>“This may help to explain the dramatic contrast between George W’s response to Saddam Hussein and that of his father, who carefully built a coalition, took action only after Kuwait had been invaded, and then proceeded with prudence and caution once the fighting was underway– the behaviour of a seasoned leader who knew he was responsible for countless others’ lives, not an alcoholic accustomed to taking dramatic measures to protect his own.”</p>
<p>Continuing his analysis, Dr. Frank indicates:</p>
<p>“Two questions that the press seems particularly determined to ignore have hung silently in the air since before Bush took office: Is he still drinking? And if not, is he impaired by all the years he did spend drinking? Both questions need to be addressed in any serious assessment of his psychological state”. (p.48)</p>
<p>With regard to the first question, he points out the possibility that Bush is managing his anxiety with medication to keep him off alcohol and he makes special reference to his strange behaviour at press conferences. On this point he says:</p>
<p>“In writing about Bush’s halting appearance in a press conference just before the start of the Iraq War, Washington Post media critic Tom Shales speculated that “the president may have been ever so slightly medicated”.</p>
<p>“More troubling though, are the appearances that arouse suspicion not because of how he talks but what he says. He has repeatedly engaged in confabulation, filling in gaps in his memory with what he believes are facts–most notably on July 14, 2003, when he stood next to Kofi Annan and made up the idea that America had given Saddam “a chance to allow the inspectors in, and he wouldn’t let them in”. (As the Washington Post noted, “Hussein had, in fact, admitted the inspectors and Bush had opposed extending their work because he did not believe them effective”. Confabulation is a common phenomenon among drinkers, as is perseveration, which is evident in Bush’s tendency to repeat key words and phrases, as if the repetition helps him remain calm and stay on track.” (p. 49)</p>
<p>And Dr. Frank concludes his analysis of these two questions with the following words:</p>
<p>“Even if we assume, moreover, that George W. Bush’s drinking days are behind him, the question remains how much lasting damage may have been done before he stopped–beyond the considerable impact on his personality that we can trace to his untreated abstinence. Any comprehensive psychological or psychoanalytical study of President Bush would have to explore how much the brain and its functions are changed by more than twenty years of heavy drinking. In a recent study out of the University of California/San Francisco Medical Centre, researchers found that heavy drinkers who do not call themselves alcoholics reveal that “their level of drinking constitutes a problem that warrants treatment”. The study found that the heavy drinkers in its sample were “significantly impaired” on measures of working memory, processing speed, attention, executive function and balance. Serious research about long-term recovery from alcohol abuse is still underway. Science has established that alcohol itself is toxic to the brain, both to its anatomy (as the brain gets smaller and fissures between and around the hemisphere get larger) and to its neurophysiology. But recovery does occur with continued sobriety, extending over a five-year period for many alcoholics. Bush claims to have been sober for more that fifteen years, and very well may have improved to pre-alcohol levels. However, even chronic alcoholics who recover their compromised mental functions often suffer lingering damage to their ability to process new information. Important neuropsychological functions are impaired: The new information is essentially put into a file that is lost in the brain.</p>
<p>“Former heavy drinkers often have trouble distinguishing between relevant and inconsequential information. They also may lose some of their ability to maintain concentration. All one has to do to observe Bush’s inattention is watch him listening to a speech given by someone else, watch his behaviour at times on the campaign trail, or consider the obviously desperate effort he makes to retain focus in every speech he gives.” (p.50)</p>
<p>Finally, Dr. Frank points out that Bush would reduce the fear of many Americans by submitting himself to psychological tests that could scientifically measure the effects of alcoholism on his brain function and warns:</p>
<p>“Otherwise, we are left to suspect–with reason–that our president may be impaired in his ability to make sense of complex ideas and briefings” (p. 51)</p>
<p>And he ends up by saying:</p>
<p>“We all may be a little afraid to find out: after all, he has already held office for three years and has led our nation into war. But if we fail to do so, the consequences may indict every one of us”. (p. 51)</p>
<p>Another aspect discussed in depth and in detail by Dr. Justin A. Frank in this book, “Bush on the Couch”, is that of President Bush’s religious fundamentalism.</p>
<p>Dr. Frank explains how, in trying to find relief from the internal chaos that drink sometimes appeased but eventually intensified, Bush may have found in religion a source of peace, not totally different from that given by alcohol, as well as a set of rules which help him to manage both the external world and his inner spiritual world.</p>
<p>He suggests that an analysis of the role of fundamentalism in Bush’s life would show that one of the many ways that Bush employs religion as a defence mechanism is by using it as a substitute for illegal substances and says that Bush uses religion to simplify and even replace thought so that, to a certain extent, he does not even need to think. He adds that Bush, by putting himself on the side of good–on God’s side–places himself above mundane discussion and debate. Religion serves as a shield to protect him from challenges, including those that he himself would otherwise create.</p>
<p>Dr. Frank wonders how Bush reached this point and then explains that, the Bush family tradition has long been fuelled by faith, by the belief in a God linked closely to moral rectitude but he makes this distinction:</p>
<p>“Yet President Bush’s religious orientation represents an important departure from his family. Though certain aspects of the family tradition have been maintained–notably the formality of religious participation–his mid-life conversion to a more fundamentalist approach stands in dramatic contrast to the spiritual life of his father…” (p.56)</p>
<p>“And a review of the events leading up to Bush’s conscious embrace of fundamentalism shows that it clearly occurred at a moment when he was reaching for solutions, in a time of almost desperate need.”</p>
<p>Dr Frank goes on to explain that fundamentalist religions narrow the universe of opportunities and divide the world into good and bad, in absolute terms that leave no space for questioning and on this point he argues:</p>
<p>“The view of the self is similarly simplified. Just as fundamentalist creationist teachings deny history, the fundamentalist notion of conversion or rebirth encourages the believer to see himself as disconnected from history. George W. Bush’s evasive, self-serving defence of his life before he was born again displays just this tendency. “It doesn’t do any good to inventory the mistakes I made when I was young”, he has insisted. “I think the way … to answer questions about specific behaviour is to remind people that when I was young and irresponsible, I was young and irresponsible. I changed…” To the believer, the power of spiritual absolution not only erases the sins of the past, but divorces the current self from the historical sinner”. (p.60)</p>
<p>Dr. Frank makes it clear that there is nothing inherently unnatural in the fact that Bush seeks protection from his faith and that, even when this makes him stronger, the rigidity of his thought and speech patterns and of his agenda point to a considerable fragility. He explains that Bush’s fear of everything–from disagreement to terrorist attacks–are sometimes painfully visible, even (or especially) through his denials and that he is a man desperately seeking protection. Dr. Frank wonders: “But what is George W. Bush so eager to protect himself against?” and he answers the question with the following analysis:</p>
<p>“His tightly held belief system shields him from challenges to his ideas–from critics and opponents, but, more important, from himself. Just beneath the surface, it’s hard not to believe that he suffers from an innate fear of falling apart, a fear too terrifying for him to confront.” (p.64)</p>
<p>“For someone so desperate not to lose his way, clinging to a belief (or even a few key phrases), and sticking to them, is yet another way to protect against falling apart. President Bush’s press conferences have offered disturbing evidence of this ongoing anxiety–evidence so unmistakable that it’s little wonder that the White House has proven so hesitant to schedule such events at all. After one particularly disastrous performance in July 2003, the Slate political columnist Timothy Noah noted that: “Bush seemed jangled”; in a damning editorial the following day, the New York Times noted that the president’s answers were “vague and sometimes nearly incoherent”–suggesting, perceptively, that Bush was “bedazzled by his administration’s own mythmaking”</p>
<p>He gives some examples of phrases Bush used repeatedly during that press conference:</p>
<p>“And so we’re making progress. It’s slowly but surely making progress of bringing the–those who terrorize their fellow citizens to justice, and making progress about convincing the Iraqi people that freedom is real. And as they become more convinced that freedom is real, they’ll begin to assume more responsibilities that are required in a free society…</p>
<p>“And the threat is a real threat. It’s a threat that where–we obviously don’t have specific data, we don’t know when, where, what. But we do know a couple of things…obviously, we’re talking to foreign governments and foreign airlines to indicate to them the reality of the threat…</p>
<p>“I don’t know how close we are to getting Saddam Hussein. You know–it’s closer that we were yesterday, I guess. All I know is we’re on the hunt. It’s like if you had asked me right before we got his sons how close we were to get his sons, I’d say, I don’t know, but we’re on the hunt.</p>
<p>“Well first of all, the war on terror goes on, as I continually remind people… The threat that you asked about, Steve, reminds us that we need to be on the hunt, because the war on terror goes on…</p>
<p>“I just described to you that there is a threat to the United States. There is no doubt in my mind, Campbell, that Saddam Hussein was a threat to the United States’ security, and a threat to peace in the region…</p>
<p>“Saddam Hussein was a threat. The United Nations viewed him as a threat. That’s why they passed twelve resolutions. Predecessors of mine viewed him as a threat. We gathered a lot of intelligence. That intelligence was good, sound intelligence on which I made a decision… (pp. 65-66)</p>
<p>And Dr. Frank goes on to say:</p>
<p>“So powerful are his fears that he can’t even face them. His infamous early advice to Americans less than two weeks after 9/11–when he told Americans to continue to shop and travel as before, in apparent denial of the radical measures he was at the same time taking in response to the nation’s newfound vulnerability–suggests just how simplistically he viewed the situation, closing himself off to worry and anxiety. Compare his response to that of New York’s mayor, Rudolph Giuliani, who faced his fears, rolled up his sleeves and got to work–making people feel far safer than Bush’s stilted denial ever did.</p>
<p>“Bush has continued to cite divine instruction to explain his actions since assuming office. As reported in Israel’s Haaretz News, Bush said, “God told me to strike at al Qaida and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did”.</p>
<p>Finally, Dr. Frank offers these thoughts:</p>
<p>“The Biblical struggle of good and evil has resonated throughout his discourse since 9/11, from his repeated use of the term “crusade” to his characterisation of the terrorists as “evildoers” and grouping of Iraq, Iran and North Korea as the “Axis of Evil”. At the same time, he presents the United States as nothing more that a nation of wholly innocent victims.</p>
<p>“In externalizing evil in this way, while absolving America of responsibility, Bush has transformed his unintegrated infantile worldview into a starkly combative (and primitive) foreign policy.</p>
<p>“Bush’s rhetoric”–Dr. Frank concludes–“highlights how he identifies the concepts of himself as president with both God and America: for him these three appear to have become somewhat interchangeable. Unable to mourn the dead of 9/11 enough to allow for a full investigation of how it happened–and what responsibility we might have had–he blindly attacks the “enemy” he perceives to be everywhere, a terrorist suddenly hiding under rock”.</p>
<p>In his book “Stupid White Men”, Michael Moore points out that Bush exhibits obvious symptoms of not being able to read at an adult level and writes the following as part of an open letter to Bush:</p>
<p>“1. George, are you able to read and write on an adult level?</p>
<p>“It appears to me and many others that, sadly, you may be a functional illiterate. This is nothing to be ashamed of… Millions of Americans cannot read and write above a fourth grade level.</p>
<p>“But let me ask you this: if you have trouble comprehending the complex position papers you are handed as the Leader of the Mostly-Free World, how can we entrust something like our nuclear secrets to you?</p>
<p>“All the signs of illiteracy area there–and apparently no one has challenged you about them. The first clue was what you named as your favourite childhood book, “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”, you said.</p>
<p>“Unfortunately, that book wasn’t even published until a year after you graduated from college.”</p>
<p>“One thing is clear to everyone–you can’t speak the English language in sentences we can comprehend.</p>
<p>“If you are going to be Commander-in-Chief, you have to be able to communicate your orders. What if these little slip-ups keep happening? Do you know how easy it would be to turn a little faux pas into a national-security nightmare?</p>
<p>“Your aides say that you don’t (can’t?) read the briefing papers they give you, and that you ask them to read them for you or to you.”</p>
<p>“Please , don’t take any of this personally. Perhaps it’s a learning disability. Some sixty million Americans have learning disabilities”.</p>
<p>In his book “Against All Enemies”, Richard Clarke writes that when Bush got to the White House, “Early on we were told that the president is not a big reader”.</p>
<p>Bob Woodward’s book “Bush at War” tells that, in a National Security Council meeting during the Afghanistan war, Bush said: “I don’t read the editorial pages. I don’t –the hyperventilation that tends to take place around those cables, every expert and every former colonel and all that, is just background noise”.</p>
<p>Thus far I have given a very brief summary of what has been said on some points by outstanding Americans, things which help to explain the strange behaviour and aggressiveness of the US President.</p>
<p>I do not want to elaborate now on more sensitive issues like those whose exposure cost his life to J.H. Hatfield, author of the book “Fortunate Son”, and others of great interest analyzed by truly brilliant, brave, eminent authors.</p>
<p>Mr. Bush’s lies and slanders and those of his closest advisors were fabricated in a hurry to justify the atrocious measures taken against Cuban-born people living in the United States who have close family ties in Cuba.</p>
<p>This outrage, as we warned on June 21, might have adverse political consequences in Florida which could play a decisive role in this year’s elections. The idea of a punishment vote is gaining ground among thousands of Cuban-Americans, many of whom would normally have voted for Bush.</p>
<p>Hatred and blindness have lead this administration to take a stupid, immoral action under pressure from the terrorist mob which gave Bush a fraudulent victory when he had a million votes less than his rival nationwide, and a narrow majority of 537 votes in Florida where thousands of black Americans were prevented from exercising their right to vote whereas many dead people ‘exercised’ theirs. Fifteen or twenty thousand voters could sink his hopes of re-election. These brutal measures have also been criticized all over the country.</p>
<p>The overwhelming majority of those who are members of or run that terrorist mob–which decided no less a thing than the election of the President of the United States–are former Batista supporters and their descendents; or they are groups who for years have been involved in the terrorist actions, pirate attacks, assassination plots against Cuban revolutionary leaders and all kinds of armed aggressions against our country; or they were big landowners and relatives of the upper middle classes who were affected by revolutionary laws and who previously had all kinds of privileges and many of whom have amassed huge fortunes and have gained influence in important power circles in the US governments.</p>
<p>Over 90 percent of those who have emigrated from Cuba since the triumph of the revolution have done so through normal channels and for economic reasons, their leaving authorized by the Revolution that placed no obstacles. But Cuban immigrants were forced to go under the Caudine Forks of that powerful mafia whose influence they could not easily ignore.</p>
<p>Unlike many millions of Latin Americans, including Haitians and other Caribbeans, that emigrate legally and illegally to the United States and are called immigrants, Cubans, with no exception whatsoever, are called exiles.</p>
<p>On the other hand, the absurd Cuban Adjustment Act has caused the loss of countless Cuban lives by rewarding and encouraging illegal emigration and giving Cubans extraordinary privileges that are not granted to citizens of any other country in the world.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, years ago, even before the collapse of the Soviet Union and the special period that ensued, and despite the risk of espionage and terrorist plans originating in the United States which the measures entailed, Cuba gave permits to emigres so they could visit their relatives and their country of origin, whereas the Bush administration is abruptly closing the doors because of its fanatical obsession of bringing Cuba to its knees through economic suffocation.</p>
<p>And, to that same end of depriving our country of any income whatsoever, he labels the tourist industry in Cuba sex tourism and calls those who visit our country coming from the United States “paedophiles” and “pleasure seekers”.</p>
<p>Mr Bush does not hesitate either in tarring Canadian tourists with the same brush when everybody knows that the overwhelming majority of them are pensioners and senior citizens who, in the company of their relatives, come to enjoy the exceptional safety and calm, the politeness, culture and hospitality that they find in our country.</p>
<p>What would Mr. Bush call the tens of millions of tourists who visit the United States every year where casinos, gambling dens, areas of male and female prostitution and many other activities related to pornography and sex abound, none of which exist in Cuba and all of which are alien to the revolutionary culture of our people?</p>
<p>What would he call the tens of millions of Europeans who visit Spain every year where many pages in the papers are used to advertising the names, addresses, the physical, cultural and intellectual characteristics and the specialities and individual gifts to suit all tastes of those who exercise the age-old profession of prostitution? Would he call the US and Spanish tourist industries sex tourism?</p>
<p>None of the aforementioned activities take place in Cuba. However, in the fevered and fundamentalist mind of the all-powerful gentleman in the White House and in those of his most intimate advisors, Cuba must now be “saved” not only from “tyranny”, Cuban children must now be “saved from sexual exploitation and trafficking in persons” “the world must be freed from this dreadful problem which takes place 90 miles away from the United States”.</p>
<p>Has no one told him that in Cuba before the triumph of the revolution in 1959 about 100,000 women were directly or indirectly involved in prostitution for reasons of poverty, discrimination and lack of work and that the Revolution educated these women and found them jobs, and outlawed the so-called “tolerance zones” which existed in the pseudo-republic and the neo-colony installed by the United States?</p>
<p>Has no one told him that the Cuban children, whose physical, mental and moral health is the number one priority of the Revolution, are protected by more severe laws than those of the United States and that they all attend school, including more than 50,000 who suffer from mental or physical disabilities and that, without exceptions, receive specialized care in special education centres?</p>
<p>Has no one told him that infant mortality is lower in Cuba than it is in the United States and that it continues to decrease?</p>
<p>Has no one dared to whisper in his ear that Cuba occupies an outstanding and internationally recognized place in education; that health and education services are free and extend to the whole population; that today programs are underway in education, health and culture that will place Cuba far above all the other countries in the world?</p>
<p>The historic session of the National Assembly of People’s Power held on July 1 and 2, exposed them and showed how ridiculous is the grotesque over 400-page-long-report which gives an ample account and full details of the neo-colonial and annexationist programs the fascist group which begot this disgusting project propose to implement to the detriment of the Cuban people and their sovereignty. This report has done nothing if not unite our people even more and give a boost to their fighting spirit.</p>
<p>They must be absolutely mad to talk of such things as implementing literacy and vaccination programs in Cuba where illiteracy was eradicated a long time ago, where minimum school attendance is up to grade nine and where children are vaccinated against 13 diseases. Actually, such programs should be applied to tens of millions of Americans who are left out, who do not enjoy the benefits of social security and who have not been to school or are completely illiterate or functionally illiterate.</p>
<p>The US administration has not even dared to say a single word about the generous offer that our country made of saving, in a short 5 year period, a life for every life lost in the Twin Towers, by providing free health care to 3000 US citizens who have no access to healthcare services that are indispensable for preserving life. Neither have they replied to the question of whether or not those who may decide to come to Cuba to take advantage of this opportunity would be punished.</p>
<p>It is really revealing that on the very same day that Mr. Bush spouted such outrageous slanders and threats, a prestigious American scientific institution from California signed an agreement with the Cuban Molecular Immunology Centre for transferring technology developed in our country for the clinical trials and later manufacture of three promising vaccines in the battle against cancer, which, as you know, kills more than half a million Americans every year.</p>
<p>It is only fair to acknowledge that in this case the US authorities did not set any obstacle.</p>
<p>This fact shows how the fruits of everything I have talked about before are beginning to sprout all over our country, despite 45 years of a harsh blockade and of aggressions by US governments.</p>
<p>And these are not biological weapons, nor chemical weapons, nor nuclear weapons; these are scientific discoveries which could help all humanity.</p>
<p>Let’s hope that, in Cuba’s case, God does not ‘instruct’ Mr. Bush to attack our country but that he rather inspires him to avoid this colossal mistake! He had better check on any divine belligerent order by consulting the Pope and other prestigious dignitaries and theologians from the Christian churches, asking them for their opinion</p>
<p>Excuse me, Mr. President of the United States of America, for not writing a third epistle to you this time but it would have been difficult to analyze this subject in that way. It might have been taken for a personal insult and I rather adhere to common courtesy.</p>
<p>Hail, Caesar! I say, but this time I add: Those who are willing to die have no fear of your enormous power, of your unbridled rage, nor of your dangerous and cowardly threats against Cuba!</p>
<p>Long live the truth!</p>
<p>Long live human dignity!</p>
<p>Speech made by FIDEL CASTRO, President of the Republic of Cuba, at the ceremony for the 51st anniversary of the attack on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Cespedes fortresses. Ernesto Che Guevara Square, Santa Clara, July 26, 2004.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | 1,853 |
<p>Presidential debates are nerve-wracking enough when they take place in a moderator-controlled bubble. The town hall debate is a whole different animal. Here, candidates must contend with angry constituents, overenthusiastic kids, and questions that sound like they were composed after chugging three bottles of NyQuil. In honor of tonight’s town hall debate between President Obama and Mitt Romney, here are some of the most cringe-worthy presidential town hall moments…ever.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Setting: 1992, town hall debate among Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, and Ross Perot</p>
<p>Town-Haller (start time: 19:57): The focus of my work is domestic mediator, meeting the needs of the children that I work with by ways of their parents, and not the wants of their parents. I ask the three of you how can we as symbolically the children of the future president expect the two of you, the three of you, to meet our needs. The needs in housing, in crime, you name it, as opposed to the wants of your political spin doctors…can we focus on the issues and not the personalities and the mud?</p>
<p>Bill Clinton: I agree with him!</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Setting: 2008, John McCain town hall meeting in Minnesota</p>
<p>Town-Haller (00:00): He’s not—he’s not—He’s a, he’s an Arab.</p>
<p>John McCain: No ma’am. He’s a decent family man citizen who I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues, and that’s what this campaign is all about.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Setting: 1992, town hall debate among Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, and Ross Perot</p>
<p>Town-Haller (0:28): On a personal basis how has [the national debt] affected you.</p>
<p>George H.W. Bush: I’m sure it has, I love my grandchildren…</p>
<p>Town-Haller: How?</p>
<p>Town-Haller (1:05): …[Clarifying question] I have personal problems with national debt. But how has it affected you? If you have no experience in it, how can you help us, if you don’t know what we’re feeling?</p>
<p>George H.W. Bush: Well, listen, you ought to be in the White House for a day and hear what I hear, and see what I see, and read the mail I read, and touch the people that I touch from time to time.</p>
<p>Setting: April 2012, a town hall debate in Wisconsin with Mitt Romney</p>
<p>Town-Haller (00:00): Your Mormon faith might not be a concern in the election, but I think it might be as well, as I found these verses in the Mormon book, Moses 7:8 says…</p>
<p>Mitt Romney: Why don’t you give me a question?</p>
<p>Town-Haller: In the Mormon book it says [a] blackness came upon all the children of Canaan, that they were despised.</p>
<p>Mitt Romney: I’m sorry, we’re just not going to have a discussion about religion in my view, but if you have a question, I’ll be happy to answer your question.</p>
<p>Town-Haller: My question is do you believe it’s a sin for a white man to marry and procreate with a black woman?</p>
<p>Mitt Romney: No. Next question.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>Setting: Obama town hall in Ft. Myers, Florida</p>
<p>Town-Haller: (00:07) OH IT’S SUCH A BLESSING TO SEE YOU MR. PRESIDENT THANK YOU FOR TAKING TIME OUT OF YOUR DAY OH GRACIOUS GOD THANK YOU SO MUCH [GASPS]…</p>
<p>President Obama: …Young people like Julio who have that much enthusiasm and that much energy, we’ve got to make sure we are giving them a pathway so that they can educate themselves and go as far as their dreams take them.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Setting: 2004, <a href="http://I%20have%20made%20a%20lot%20of%20decisions,%20and%20some%20of%20them%20little,%20like%20appointments%20to%20boards%20you%20never%20heard%20of,%20and%20some%20of%20them%20big.%20And%20in%20a%20war,%20there's%20a%20lot%20of%20--%20there's%20a%20lot%20of%20tactical%20decisions%20that%20historians%20will%20look%20back%20and%20say:%20He%20shouldn't%20have%20done%20that.%20He%20shouldn't%20have%20made%20that%20decision.%20And%20I'll%20take%20responsibility%20for%20them.%20I'm%20human." type="external">town hall debate</a> between George W. Bush and John Kerry in St. Louis, Missouri [And keep watching for bonus awkward debate moment with Al Gore]</p>
<p>Town-Haller (00:23) Please give three instances in which you came to realize you had made a wrong decision and what you did to correct it.</p>
<p>George W. Bush: I have made a lot of decisions, and some of them little, like appointments to boards you never heard of, and some of them big…they’re trying to say, “Did you make a mistake going into Iraq?” And the answer is, “Absolutely not.”</p> | VIDEO: The Most Cringe-Worthy Town Hall Debate Moments…of All Time | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2012/10/most-cringe-worthy-town-hall-debate-questions-of-all-time/ | 2012-10-16 | 4left
| VIDEO: The Most Cringe-Worthy Town Hall Debate Moments…of All Time
<p>Presidential debates are nerve-wracking enough when they take place in a moderator-controlled bubble. The town hall debate is a whole different animal. Here, candidates must contend with angry constituents, overenthusiastic kids, and questions that sound like they were composed after chugging three bottles of NyQuil. In honor of tonight’s town hall debate between President Obama and Mitt Romney, here are some of the most cringe-worthy presidential town hall moments…ever.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Setting: 1992, town hall debate among Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, and Ross Perot</p>
<p>Town-Haller (start time: 19:57): The focus of my work is domestic mediator, meeting the needs of the children that I work with by ways of their parents, and not the wants of their parents. I ask the three of you how can we as symbolically the children of the future president expect the two of you, the three of you, to meet our needs. The needs in housing, in crime, you name it, as opposed to the wants of your political spin doctors…can we focus on the issues and not the personalities and the mud?</p>
<p>Bill Clinton: I agree with him!</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Setting: 2008, John McCain town hall meeting in Minnesota</p>
<p>Town-Haller (00:00): He’s not—he’s not—He’s a, he’s an Arab.</p>
<p>John McCain: No ma’am. He’s a decent family man citizen who I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues, and that’s what this campaign is all about.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Setting: 1992, town hall debate among Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, and Ross Perot</p>
<p>Town-Haller (0:28): On a personal basis how has [the national debt] affected you.</p>
<p>George H.W. Bush: I’m sure it has, I love my grandchildren…</p>
<p>Town-Haller: How?</p>
<p>Town-Haller (1:05): …[Clarifying question] I have personal problems with national debt. But how has it affected you? If you have no experience in it, how can you help us, if you don’t know what we’re feeling?</p>
<p>George H.W. Bush: Well, listen, you ought to be in the White House for a day and hear what I hear, and see what I see, and read the mail I read, and touch the people that I touch from time to time.</p>
<p>Setting: April 2012, a town hall debate in Wisconsin with Mitt Romney</p>
<p>Town-Haller (00:00): Your Mormon faith might not be a concern in the election, but I think it might be as well, as I found these verses in the Mormon book, Moses 7:8 says…</p>
<p>Mitt Romney: Why don’t you give me a question?</p>
<p>Town-Haller: In the Mormon book it says [a] blackness came upon all the children of Canaan, that they were despised.</p>
<p>Mitt Romney: I’m sorry, we’re just not going to have a discussion about religion in my view, but if you have a question, I’ll be happy to answer your question.</p>
<p>Town-Haller: My question is do you believe it’s a sin for a white man to marry and procreate with a black woman?</p>
<p>Mitt Romney: No. Next question.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>Setting: Obama town hall in Ft. Myers, Florida</p>
<p>Town-Haller: (00:07) OH IT’S SUCH A BLESSING TO SEE YOU MR. PRESIDENT THANK YOU FOR TAKING TIME OUT OF YOUR DAY OH GRACIOUS GOD THANK YOU SO MUCH [GASPS]…</p>
<p>President Obama: …Young people like Julio who have that much enthusiasm and that much energy, we’ve got to make sure we are giving them a pathway so that they can educate themselves and go as far as their dreams take them.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Setting: 2004, <a href="http://I%20have%20made%20a%20lot%20of%20decisions,%20and%20some%20of%20them%20little,%20like%20appointments%20to%20boards%20you%20never%20heard%20of,%20and%20some%20of%20them%20big.%20And%20in%20a%20war,%20there's%20a%20lot%20of%20--%20there's%20a%20lot%20of%20tactical%20decisions%20that%20historians%20will%20look%20back%20and%20say:%20He%20shouldn't%20have%20done%20that.%20He%20shouldn't%20have%20made%20that%20decision.%20And%20I'll%20take%20responsibility%20for%20them.%20I'm%20human." type="external">town hall debate</a> between George W. Bush and John Kerry in St. Louis, Missouri [And keep watching for bonus awkward debate moment with Al Gore]</p>
<p>Town-Haller (00:23) Please give three instances in which you came to realize you had made a wrong decision and what you did to correct it.</p>
<p>George W. Bush: I have made a lot of decisions, and some of them little, like appointments to boards you never heard of, and some of them big…they’re trying to say, “Did you make a mistake going into Iraq?” And the answer is, “Absolutely not.”</p> | 1,854 |
<p><a href="" type="internal" />Every day, some kid in a U.S.&#160;public&#160;government indoctrination school is punished for wholly harmless behavior that some Left-brainwashed teacher sees as "encouraging" gun violence, such as drawing a picture of a gun, or biting a Pop Tart into the shape of a gun, or the child making a gun hand-sign (Bang, bang!).</p>
<p>Last February,&#160; <a href="http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/2013/02/01/kindergartener-busted-for-bringing-toy-gun-to-school/" type="external">Naomi McKinney</a>, a 6-year-old kindergarten student, was expelled from the Alice Drive Elementary School in Sumter, SC,&#160; for having a broken, clear plastic toy gun in her backpack.</p>
<p>The POS is the most prominent proponent for gun control in America and, therefore, is indirectly responsible for whipping up this frenzy of "gun" phobia.</p>
<p>That's why it is the height of hypocrisy for him not only to have played with a huge toy assault gun with his daughters on Father's Day, but to have his minions in the White House&#160; <a href="http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2013/06/17/white-house-tweets-picture-of-obama-with-a-scary-gun-for-fathers-day-n1621429" type="external">tweet this picture</a>&#160;of him wielding the gun (above right).</p>
<p>Typical Left-wing double-standard hypocrisy: "Do what I say, not what I do."</p>
<p>~Eowyn</p>
<p>Dr. Eowyn is the Editor of <a href="http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/" type="external">Fellowship of the Minds</a> and a regular contributor to The D.C. Clothesline.</p>
<p />
<p /> | Definition of Hypocrisy: Obama plays with toy gun | true | http://dcclothesline.com/2013/06/18/definition-of-hypocrisy-obama-plays-with-toy-gun/?fb_source%3Dpubv1 | 2013-06-18 | 0right
| Definition of Hypocrisy: Obama plays with toy gun
<p><a href="" type="internal" />Every day, some kid in a U.S.&#160;public&#160;government indoctrination school is punished for wholly harmless behavior that some Left-brainwashed teacher sees as "encouraging" gun violence, such as drawing a picture of a gun, or biting a Pop Tart into the shape of a gun, or the child making a gun hand-sign (Bang, bang!).</p>
<p>Last February,&#160; <a href="http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/2013/02/01/kindergartener-busted-for-bringing-toy-gun-to-school/" type="external">Naomi McKinney</a>, a 6-year-old kindergarten student, was expelled from the Alice Drive Elementary School in Sumter, SC,&#160; for having a broken, clear plastic toy gun in her backpack.</p>
<p>The POS is the most prominent proponent for gun control in America and, therefore, is indirectly responsible for whipping up this frenzy of "gun" phobia.</p>
<p>That's why it is the height of hypocrisy for him not only to have played with a huge toy assault gun with his daughters on Father's Day, but to have his minions in the White House&#160; <a href="http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2013/06/17/white-house-tweets-picture-of-obama-with-a-scary-gun-for-fathers-day-n1621429" type="external">tweet this picture</a>&#160;of him wielding the gun (above right).</p>
<p>Typical Left-wing double-standard hypocrisy: "Do what I say, not what I do."</p>
<p>~Eowyn</p>
<p>Dr. Eowyn is the Editor of <a href="http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/" type="external">Fellowship of the Minds</a> and a regular contributor to The D.C. Clothesline.</p>
<p />
<p /> | 1,855 |
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<p>SANTA FE - A free trout fishing derby for children is planned this weekend near downtown Santa Fe.</p>
<p>The city and the state Department of Game and Fish are sponsoring the event Saturday on the Santa Fe River for children ages 11 and under.</p>
<p>Prizes will be awarded to the kids who catch the first 10 tagged fish.</p>
<p>The department is stocking the river with 500 rainbow trout.</p>
<p>The derby is from 7 a.m. until noon. Fishing will be allowed on a section of the river between Don Gaspar Avenue near the state Supreme Court building to Old Santa Fe Trail near the State Land Office building.</p>
<p>After the derby ends at noon, anyone 12 or older with a valid fishing license can fish for remaining trout in the river.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Trout fishing derby for kids in Santa Fe | false | https://abqjournal.com/278602/trout-fishing-derby-for-kids-in-santa-fe.html | 2013-10-10 | 2least
| Trout fishing derby for kids in Santa Fe
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>SANTA FE - A free trout fishing derby for children is planned this weekend near downtown Santa Fe.</p>
<p>The city and the state Department of Game and Fish are sponsoring the event Saturday on the Santa Fe River for children ages 11 and under.</p>
<p>Prizes will be awarded to the kids who catch the first 10 tagged fish.</p>
<p>The department is stocking the river with 500 rainbow trout.</p>
<p>The derby is from 7 a.m. until noon. Fishing will be allowed on a section of the river between Don Gaspar Avenue near the state Supreme Court building to Old Santa Fe Trail near the State Land Office building.</p>
<p>After the derby ends at noon, anyone 12 or older with a valid fishing license can fish for remaining trout in the river.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | 1,856 |
<p>ROME (AP) - As Italy's political parties scrambled to solidify coalitions and find candidates for the March 4 parliamentary election, the 5-Star Movement announced Thursday that one would-be lawmaker is the coast guard commander who famously cursed out the captain of the shipwrecked Costa Concordia.</p>
<p>The 5-Stars confirmed Thursday that Gregorio De Falco had nominated himself as a possible candidate. De Falco became a hero in Italy after recordings from the Jan. 13, 2012 Concordia disaster off Tuscany showed that he used colorful expletives to order Capt. Francesco Schettino to return to the doomed cruise ship to make sure all its passengers and crew had evacuated.</p>
<p>Schettino was later convicted of abandoning ship and other crimes related to the deaths of 32 people.</p>
<p>The 5-Stars are the largest opposition party in parliament but have ruled out forming coalitions.</p>
<p>Recent polls give Italy's center-right coalition the lead going into the election, with around 40 percent support. Ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi and the head of the anti-immigrant Northern League, Matteo Salvini, discussed strategy and platforms Wednesday ahead of a meeting next week.</p>
<p>Smaller parties, though, were still cobbling together alliances to put forward parliamentary candidates by the Jan. 29 deadline. Italy's new voting system seeks to encourage stability and coalition-building through the creation of colleges that field candidates, but it has posed problems for niche parties trying to go it alone.</p>
<p>On Thursday, longtime radical leader Emma Bonino announced an alliance of her own after denouncing as undemocratic the new law's requirement that new or small parties outside parliament get thousands of signatures before being allowed to field candidates. Bonino's new +Europe party found an ally in the small center-left Democratic Center party, and can skip the signature-gathering effort.</p>
<p>The deal salvaged the longtime alliance between the radicals and the ruling Democratic Party, which has seen factions splinter off in the year since former Premier Matteo Renzi lost a political gamble with a failed referendum. The infighting has contributed to the center-left's decreasing popularity in recent polls.</p>
<p>The 5-Stars, meanwhile, were having problems of their own after their online self-candidacy platform crashed. The 5-Star candidate for premier, Luigi Di Maio, said Thursday the greater-than-expected digital turnout was proof that the movement, which prides itself on its social media outreach, is the answer to political apathy in Italy.</p>
<p>He announced De Falco's candidacy with pride, adding that De Falco was joined by thousands of journalists, professors and celebrities who nominated themselves as potential 5-Star candidates. They will be now considered by the movement's leadership and then put to a vote by its members, part of the "direct democracy" the 5-Star Movement claims as its hallmark.</p>
<p>ROME (AP) - As Italy's political parties scrambled to solidify coalitions and find candidates for the March 4 parliamentary election, the 5-Star Movement announced Thursday that one would-be lawmaker is the coast guard commander who famously cursed out the captain of the shipwrecked Costa Concordia.</p>
<p>The 5-Stars confirmed Thursday that Gregorio De Falco had nominated himself as a possible candidate. De Falco became a hero in Italy after recordings from the Jan. 13, 2012 Concordia disaster off Tuscany showed that he used colorful expletives to order Capt. Francesco Schettino to return to the doomed cruise ship to make sure all its passengers and crew had evacuated.</p>
<p>Schettino was later convicted of abandoning ship and other crimes related to the deaths of 32 people.</p>
<p>The 5-Stars are the largest opposition party in parliament but have ruled out forming coalitions.</p>
<p>Recent polls give Italy's center-right coalition the lead going into the election, with around 40 percent support. Ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi and the head of the anti-immigrant Northern League, Matteo Salvini, discussed strategy and platforms Wednesday ahead of a meeting next week.</p>
<p>Smaller parties, though, were still cobbling together alliances to put forward parliamentary candidates by the Jan. 29 deadline. Italy's new voting system seeks to encourage stability and coalition-building through the creation of colleges that field candidates, but it has posed problems for niche parties trying to go it alone.</p>
<p>On Thursday, longtime radical leader Emma Bonino announced an alliance of her own after denouncing as undemocratic the new law's requirement that new or small parties outside parliament get thousands of signatures before being allowed to field candidates. Bonino's new +Europe party found an ally in the small center-left Democratic Center party, and can skip the signature-gathering effort.</p>
<p>The deal salvaged the longtime alliance between the radicals and the ruling Democratic Party, which has seen factions splinter off in the year since former Premier Matteo Renzi lost a political gamble with a failed referendum. The infighting has contributed to the center-left's decreasing popularity in recent polls.</p>
<p>The 5-Stars, meanwhile, were having problems of their own after their online self-candidacy platform crashed. The 5-Star candidate for premier, Luigi Di Maio, said Thursday the greater-than-expected digital turnout was proof that the movement, which prides itself on its social media outreach, is the answer to political apathy in Italy.</p>
<p>He announced De Falco's candidacy with pride, adding that De Falco was joined by thousands of journalists, professors and celebrities who nominated themselves as potential 5-Star candidates. They will be now considered by the movement's leadership and then put to a vote by its members, part of the "direct democracy" the 5-Star Movement claims as its hallmark.</p> | Italy's famous cursing commander wants to be 5-Star lawmaker | false | https://apnews.com/amp/63ca3981e70b4de5bb0d191ce114c80f | 2018-01-04 | 2least
| Italy's famous cursing commander wants to be 5-Star lawmaker
<p>ROME (AP) - As Italy's political parties scrambled to solidify coalitions and find candidates for the March 4 parliamentary election, the 5-Star Movement announced Thursday that one would-be lawmaker is the coast guard commander who famously cursed out the captain of the shipwrecked Costa Concordia.</p>
<p>The 5-Stars confirmed Thursday that Gregorio De Falco had nominated himself as a possible candidate. De Falco became a hero in Italy after recordings from the Jan. 13, 2012 Concordia disaster off Tuscany showed that he used colorful expletives to order Capt. Francesco Schettino to return to the doomed cruise ship to make sure all its passengers and crew had evacuated.</p>
<p>Schettino was later convicted of abandoning ship and other crimes related to the deaths of 32 people.</p>
<p>The 5-Stars are the largest opposition party in parliament but have ruled out forming coalitions.</p>
<p>Recent polls give Italy's center-right coalition the lead going into the election, with around 40 percent support. Ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi and the head of the anti-immigrant Northern League, Matteo Salvini, discussed strategy and platforms Wednesday ahead of a meeting next week.</p>
<p>Smaller parties, though, were still cobbling together alliances to put forward parliamentary candidates by the Jan. 29 deadline. Italy's new voting system seeks to encourage stability and coalition-building through the creation of colleges that field candidates, but it has posed problems for niche parties trying to go it alone.</p>
<p>On Thursday, longtime radical leader Emma Bonino announced an alliance of her own after denouncing as undemocratic the new law's requirement that new or small parties outside parliament get thousands of signatures before being allowed to field candidates. Bonino's new +Europe party found an ally in the small center-left Democratic Center party, and can skip the signature-gathering effort.</p>
<p>The deal salvaged the longtime alliance between the radicals and the ruling Democratic Party, which has seen factions splinter off in the year since former Premier Matteo Renzi lost a political gamble with a failed referendum. The infighting has contributed to the center-left's decreasing popularity in recent polls.</p>
<p>The 5-Stars, meanwhile, were having problems of their own after their online self-candidacy platform crashed. The 5-Star candidate for premier, Luigi Di Maio, said Thursday the greater-than-expected digital turnout was proof that the movement, which prides itself on its social media outreach, is the answer to political apathy in Italy.</p>
<p>He announced De Falco's candidacy with pride, adding that De Falco was joined by thousands of journalists, professors and celebrities who nominated themselves as potential 5-Star candidates. They will be now considered by the movement's leadership and then put to a vote by its members, part of the "direct democracy" the 5-Star Movement claims as its hallmark.</p>
<p>ROME (AP) - As Italy's political parties scrambled to solidify coalitions and find candidates for the March 4 parliamentary election, the 5-Star Movement announced Thursday that one would-be lawmaker is the coast guard commander who famously cursed out the captain of the shipwrecked Costa Concordia.</p>
<p>The 5-Stars confirmed Thursday that Gregorio De Falco had nominated himself as a possible candidate. De Falco became a hero in Italy after recordings from the Jan. 13, 2012 Concordia disaster off Tuscany showed that he used colorful expletives to order Capt. Francesco Schettino to return to the doomed cruise ship to make sure all its passengers and crew had evacuated.</p>
<p>Schettino was later convicted of abandoning ship and other crimes related to the deaths of 32 people.</p>
<p>The 5-Stars are the largest opposition party in parliament but have ruled out forming coalitions.</p>
<p>Recent polls give Italy's center-right coalition the lead going into the election, with around 40 percent support. Ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi and the head of the anti-immigrant Northern League, Matteo Salvini, discussed strategy and platforms Wednesday ahead of a meeting next week.</p>
<p>Smaller parties, though, were still cobbling together alliances to put forward parliamentary candidates by the Jan. 29 deadline. Italy's new voting system seeks to encourage stability and coalition-building through the creation of colleges that field candidates, but it has posed problems for niche parties trying to go it alone.</p>
<p>On Thursday, longtime radical leader Emma Bonino announced an alliance of her own after denouncing as undemocratic the new law's requirement that new or small parties outside parliament get thousands of signatures before being allowed to field candidates. Bonino's new +Europe party found an ally in the small center-left Democratic Center party, and can skip the signature-gathering effort.</p>
<p>The deal salvaged the longtime alliance between the radicals and the ruling Democratic Party, which has seen factions splinter off in the year since former Premier Matteo Renzi lost a political gamble with a failed referendum. The infighting has contributed to the center-left's decreasing popularity in recent polls.</p>
<p>The 5-Stars, meanwhile, were having problems of their own after their online self-candidacy platform crashed. The 5-Star candidate for premier, Luigi Di Maio, said Thursday the greater-than-expected digital turnout was proof that the movement, which prides itself on its social media outreach, is the answer to political apathy in Italy.</p>
<p>He announced De Falco's candidacy with pride, adding that De Falco was joined by thousands of journalists, professors and celebrities who nominated themselves as potential 5-Star candidates. They will be now considered by the movement's leadership and then put to a vote by its members, part of the "direct democracy" the 5-Star Movement claims as its hallmark.</p> | 1,857 |
<p />
<p>JPMorgan Chase &amp; Co Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said his company has lost up to $10 billion as a result of the government asking him to buy teetering Wall Street firm Bear Stearns during the financial crisis.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>"I'm going to say we've lost $5 billion to $10 billion on various things related to Bear Stearns now. And yes, I put it in the unfair category," Dimon said, speaking at a Council on Foreign Relations event.</p>
<p>Dimon said the losses come from litigation and writedowns, among other expenses. JPMorgan reports third-quarter earnings on Friday.</p>
<p>Last week, JPMorgan was hit with a fresh civil lawsuit from the New York's attorney general, seeking to hold the bank accountable for allegations that Bear Stearns deceived investors buying mortgage-backed securities.</p>
<p>In response to a question on Wednesday about the lawsuit, Dimon said he needed to set the record straight and emphatically said JPMorgan did the Federal Reserve "a favor" by buying Bear Stearns in early 2008.</p>
<p>He told a senior regulator at the time of the deal, "Please take into consideration when you want to come after us down the road for something that Bear Stearns did, that JPMorgan was asked to do this by the federal government," Dimon said.</p>
<p>Dimon said it is a "real close" call about whether he would do the deal again. And, the government's appetite to go after JPMorgan for Bear Stearns' activity could have a chilling effect, he said.</p>
<p>"I'm a big boy. I'll survive...But I think the government should think twice before they punish business every single time things go wrong."</p>
<p>During the wide-ranging discussion, Dimon also touched on financial reforms and the firm's recent multibillion-dollar trading loss.</p>
<p>JPMorgan could see more than $1 billion in annual overhead costs from new international and domestic financial regulations, including the Basel III capital standards, he said</p>
<p>Dimon criticized regulators for pushing out contradictory and overlapping regulations.</p>
<p>He also assigned himself personal responsibility for not realizing that a risky hedging strategy in the firm's London office could warp into a trading loss that has reached at least $5.8 billion.</p>
<p>"I should have caught it...I didn't."</p>
<p>He said the trading loss was "really intensely stupid" and "it's kind of embarassing personally."</p>
<p>Advertisement</p> | Dimon: J.P. Morgan Lost $10B on Bear Stearns | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2012/10/10/dimon-jp-morgan-lost-10b-on-bear-stearns.html | 2016-01-26 | 0right
| Dimon: J.P. Morgan Lost $10B on Bear Stearns
<p />
<p>JPMorgan Chase &amp; Co Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said his company has lost up to $10 billion as a result of the government asking him to buy teetering Wall Street firm Bear Stearns during the financial crisis.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>"I'm going to say we've lost $5 billion to $10 billion on various things related to Bear Stearns now. And yes, I put it in the unfair category," Dimon said, speaking at a Council on Foreign Relations event.</p>
<p>Dimon said the losses come from litigation and writedowns, among other expenses. JPMorgan reports third-quarter earnings on Friday.</p>
<p>Last week, JPMorgan was hit with a fresh civil lawsuit from the New York's attorney general, seeking to hold the bank accountable for allegations that Bear Stearns deceived investors buying mortgage-backed securities.</p>
<p>In response to a question on Wednesday about the lawsuit, Dimon said he needed to set the record straight and emphatically said JPMorgan did the Federal Reserve "a favor" by buying Bear Stearns in early 2008.</p>
<p>He told a senior regulator at the time of the deal, "Please take into consideration when you want to come after us down the road for something that Bear Stearns did, that JPMorgan was asked to do this by the federal government," Dimon said.</p>
<p>Dimon said it is a "real close" call about whether he would do the deal again. And, the government's appetite to go after JPMorgan for Bear Stearns' activity could have a chilling effect, he said.</p>
<p>"I'm a big boy. I'll survive...But I think the government should think twice before they punish business every single time things go wrong."</p>
<p>During the wide-ranging discussion, Dimon also touched on financial reforms and the firm's recent multibillion-dollar trading loss.</p>
<p>JPMorgan could see more than $1 billion in annual overhead costs from new international and domestic financial regulations, including the Basel III capital standards, he said</p>
<p>Dimon criticized regulators for pushing out contradictory and overlapping regulations.</p>
<p>He also assigned himself personal responsibility for not realizing that a risky hedging strategy in the firm's London office could warp into a trading loss that has reached at least $5.8 billion.</p>
<p>"I should have caught it...I didn't."</p>
<p>He said the trading loss was "really intensely stupid" and "it's kind of embarassing personally."</p>
<p>Advertisement</p> | 1,858 |
<p>A list allegedly showing the contact details of members of the English Defense League (EDL) was posted online Wednesday by hackers claiming to be part of Anonymous.</p>
<p>Names, addresses and cellphone numbers of <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22698510" type="external">more than 200 people from all over the country</a> are on the list. A group calling itself Anonymous UK claims those on the list are all senior members of the EDL.</p>
<p>The post said the EDL "should have expected this" and warned it to "expect more."</p>
<p>Prior to the list's publication, an audio message recorded with a computerized voice <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uG-01A_Yfdg" type="external">from Anonymous UK to the EDL was published on YouTube</a>, accusing the far-right group of taking "advantage of moments of fear and terror to spread hatred and animosity."</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost:&#160; <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/united-kingdom/130523/english-defence-league-explained-0" type="external">What is the English Defence League?</a></p>
<p>It compared the EDL to a "pack of raving ignoramuses" and said the group's "constant belligerence" would further "only bigotry and segregation."</p>
<p>"You have angered us considerably, and summoned our wrath irrevocably," the message continued.</p>
<p>The group behind the recent publications also <a href="http://www.channel4.com/news/edl-hackers-publish-member-details-woolwich" type="external">condemned the EDL for using the death of Lee Rigby</a>, who was stabbed to death in Woolwich, as "another excuse to further spread your campaign of hate, bigotry, and misinformation."</p>
<p>Fear of an increase in anti-Muslim rage across the UK has intensified since&#160; <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/may/28/woolwich-murder-200-islamophobic-incidences" type="external">almost 200 Islamophobic incidents have been reported</a>&#160;following Rigby's murder last week.</p>
<p>Among those incidents were attacks on 10 mosques, as well as several protests by far-right groups over the weekend. The largest demonstration saw hundreds of EDL supporters protest outside Downing Street, where bottles were thrown and 13 were arrested.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost:&#160; <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/united-kingdom/130528/woolwich-attack-london-rage-against-muslims" type="external">After London attack, UK grapples with anti-Muslim rage</a></p>
<p />
<p /> | Hackers post English Defense League members' contact details online (VIDEO) | false | https://pri.org/stories/2013-05-29/hackers-post-english-defense-league-members-contact-details-online-video | 2013-05-29 | 3left-center
| Hackers post English Defense League members' contact details online (VIDEO)
<p>A list allegedly showing the contact details of members of the English Defense League (EDL) was posted online Wednesday by hackers claiming to be part of Anonymous.</p>
<p>Names, addresses and cellphone numbers of <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22698510" type="external">more than 200 people from all over the country</a> are on the list. A group calling itself Anonymous UK claims those on the list are all senior members of the EDL.</p>
<p>The post said the EDL "should have expected this" and warned it to "expect more."</p>
<p>Prior to the list's publication, an audio message recorded with a computerized voice <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uG-01A_Yfdg" type="external">from Anonymous UK to the EDL was published on YouTube</a>, accusing the far-right group of taking "advantage of moments of fear and terror to spread hatred and animosity."</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost:&#160; <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/united-kingdom/130523/english-defence-league-explained-0" type="external">What is the English Defence League?</a></p>
<p>It compared the EDL to a "pack of raving ignoramuses" and said the group's "constant belligerence" would further "only bigotry and segregation."</p>
<p>"You have angered us considerably, and summoned our wrath irrevocably," the message continued.</p>
<p>The group behind the recent publications also <a href="http://www.channel4.com/news/edl-hackers-publish-member-details-woolwich" type="external">condemned the EDL for using the death of Lee Rigby</a>, who was stabbed to death in Woolwich, as "another excuse to further spread your campaign of hate, bigotry, and misinformation."</p>
<p>Fear of an increase in anti-Muslim rage across the UK has intensified since&#160; <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/may/28/woolwich-murder-200-islamophobic-incidences" type="external">almost 200 Islamophobic incidents have been reported</a>&#160;following Rigby's murder last week.</p>
<p>Among those incidents were attacks on 10 mosques, as well as several protests by far-right groups over the weekend. The largest demonstration saw hundreds of EDL supporters protest outside Downing Street, where bottles were thrown and 13 were arrested.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost:&#160; <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/united-kingdom/130528/woolwich-attack-london-rage-against-muslims" type="external">After London attack, UK grapples with anti-Muslim rage</a></p>
<p />
<p /> | 1,859 |
<p />
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Your credit report and credit score can open doors you may never have imagined they could.</p>
<p>As most people know, an excellent credit report and a high credit score will afford you ample choices when you're shopping for a home loan at an attractive interest rate. But they can do so much more, too. Your credit report could also help you nab the job of your dreams, or get auto or home insurance at a lower premium than the average American. A pristine credit report could also mean little or no deposit when opening an account with a utility company.</p>
<p>However, the flip side of this is also true. If you don't take the time to manage your credit wisely, then doors of opportunity can be closed. Prospective employers could deny your application based on the impression that you're not a responsible individual, and lenders could deny you for home loans. Rental applications may be denied due to your poor credit history, or you may be required to put down an exceptionally high deposit with utility companies prior to commencing service.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>I'd venture to guess that most Americans are somewhat familiar with the basic factors that can impact their credit scores. For instance, if you pay your bills on time, your credit score will probably climb. Conversely, if you're late with your payments or have collections on your credit report, then your score is going to take a hit.</p>
<p>But there are other shocking ways that your credit score can be harmed through seemingly benign activities. Here are seven ways you could be hurting your credit score without even realizing it.</p>
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>One of the easiest ways to hurt your credit score without realizing it is to close credit accounts that you rarely use. You may be thinking that closing unused accounts could earn you brownie points with creditors by demonstrating that you're being responsible. However, closing unused credit accounts actually hurts your credit score in two ways.</p>
<p>First, closing long-standing accounts may reduce the average length of time that your credit accounts have been open. The longer your average account has been open, the higher your credit score, generally speaking. If you wind up closing long-tenured, good-standing accounts because you're not using them much, you're wiping out the benefit of having that account open and in good standing for a long period of time.</p>
<p>Secondly, closing an account means reducing your available aggregate credit amount. Reducing your available credit causes your credit utilization ratio to rise. Anything above 30% aggregate usage could lower your credit score.</p>
<p>According to a Google Consumer Survey conducted by TransUnion in 2013, 33% of Americans admitted to never checking their credit reports or credit scores. Ignorance is unfortunately not bliss in this instance, because it's quite possible for errors to appear on your credit report from one or more of the three major credit reporting bureaus (Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax). Not checking your credit report annually could allow these errors to remain on your report without your knowledge, dragging down your credit score in the process.</p>
<p>Here's the good news: You can check your credit report from all three credit bureaus once annually for free. That's right, I did just say free. To check your credit report for free, head to <a href="https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action" type="external">AnnualCreditReport.com Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Even if you're responsible and pay your bills on time each month, you could be negatively impacting your credit score if you're using too much of your available credit. Industry pundits suggest that you never use more than 30% of your available credit. Using more could be construed by creditors as irresponsible, and it may lower your credit score.</p>
<p>Even if you pay your bills in full each month, it's still possible (and I can speak firsthand on this) to hurt your credit score by going over the 30% credit utilization threshold. The good news is that the dip in your credit score is probably temporary if you're paying your bill in full and on time each month, or at least getting your net balance owed below 30% of your aggregate available credit. However, the timing of when a credit report is run could certainly have some bearing on whether your credit score takes a hit or not.</p>
<p>Chances are that if you receive a traffic citation or parking ticket near your home city, you're going to take care of it. That may not always be the case if you're vacationing 2,000 miles away and receive a parking ticket. If you ignore traffic or parking citations, they could be turned over to a collection agency, where they could pop up on your credit report and remain there for a period of between three and seven years.</p>
<p>Ignorance to a citation won't excuse you, either. If the government agency mails your citation to an old address and you fail to pay, the fault remains with you. Make sure the U.S. Post Office has your most recent address on file and your driver's license is up to date.</p>
<p>Utility bills, such as an electric bill or water bill, can be something of a double-edged sword for consumers. On one hand, it's highly unlikely that utility companies will report timely payments to credit bureaus that'll determine your credit score.</p>
<p>On the flip side, if you're habitually late with your payment, or you have unpaid utility bills, then the utility may not hesitate to turn your account over to a collection agency. Having an account sent to a collection agency can show up on your credit report for years, and it can adversely impact your credit score.</p>
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Believe it or not, tax disagreements between you and Uncle Sam could come back to haunt you in the credit column. If you have unpaid federal income taxes, the government, after enough time and effort to collect what's due, could place a lien on your property or wages to collect what you owe.</p>
<p>Federal tax liens can show up on your credit report for a mind-numbing 15 years, meaning they could wind up wreaking havoc on your ability to open new credit accounts for more than a decade to come. Even paid federal tax liens remain on your credit report for a period of seven years from the file date.</p>
<p>While this may be a bit of a stretch, and I'll admit it sounds almost comical, checking out books from the library and failing to return them on time could wind up negatively impacting your credit score. If you rack up late fees at the library and fail to pay those fees, it's possible -- unlikely, but possible -- that the library could turn your late fee over to a collection agency.</p>
<p>For example, in 1996, the Queens Library system in New York hired a professional collection agency to collect the daily late fines, as well as the missing materials that consumers didn't return. Having a library fine sent to collections could result in an almost laughably low fine, but it could have an impact on your credit report and/or credit score for years.</p>
<p>The $15,834 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook If you're like most Americans, you're a few years (or more) behind on your retirement savings. But a handful of little-known "Social Security secrets" could help ensure a boost in your retirement income. For example: one easy trick could pay you as much as $15,834 more... each year! Once you learn how to maximize your Social Security benefits, we think you could retire confidently with the peace of mind we're all after. <a href="http://www.fool.com/mms/mark/ecap-foolcom-social-security?aid=8727&amp;source=irreditxt0000002&amp;ftm_cam=ryr-ss-intro-report&amp;ftm_pit=3186&amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Simply click here to discover how to learn more about these strategies Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFUltraLong/info.aspx" type="external">Sean Williams Opens a New Window.</a>has no material interest in any companies mentioned in this article. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen name <a href="http://caps.fool.com/player/tmfultralong.aspx" type="external">TMFUltraLong Opens a New Window.</a>, and check him out on Twitter, where he goes by the handle <a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/TMFUltraLong" type="external">@TMFUltraLong Opens a New Window.</a>.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;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | 7 Shocking Ways You Could Be Hurting Your Credit Score Without Realizing It | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/01/14/7-shocking-ways-could-be-hurting-your-credit-score-without-realizing-it.html | 2017-01-14 | 0right
| 7 Shocking Ways You Could Be Hurting Your Credit Score Without Realizing It
<p />
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Your credit report and credit score can open doors you may never have imagined they could.</p>
<p>As most people know, an excellent credit report and a high credit score will afford you ample choices when you're shopping for a home loan at an attractive interest rate. But they can do so much more, too. Your credit report could also help you nab the job of your dreams, or get auto or home insurance at a lower premium than the average American. A pristine credit report could also mean little or no deposit when opening an account with a utility company.</p>
<p>However, the flip side of this is also true. If you don't take the time to manage your credit wisely, then doors of opportunity can be closed. Prospective employers could deny your application based on the impression that you're not a responsible individual, and lenders could deny you for home loans. Rental applications may be denied due to your poor credit history, or you may be required to put down an exceptionally high deposit with utility companies prior to commencing service.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>I'd venture to guess that most Americans are somewhat familiar with the basic factors that can impact their credit scores. For instance, if you pay your bills on time, your credit score will probably climb. Conversely, if you're late with your payments or have collections on your credit report, then your score is going to take a hit.</p>
<p>But there are other shocking ways that your credit score can be harmed through seemingly benign activities. Here are seven ways you could be hurting your credit score without even realizing it.</p>
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>One of the easiest ways to hurt your credit score without realizing it is to close credit accounts that you rarely use. You may be thinking that closing unused accounts could earn you brownie points with creditors by demonstrating that you're being responsible. However, closing unused credit accounts actually hurts your credit score in two ways.</p>
<p>First, closing long-standing accounts may reduce the average length of time that your credit accounts have been open. The longer your average account has been open, the higher your credit score, generally speaking. If you wind up closing long-tenured, good-standing accounts because you're not using them much, you're wiping out the benefit of having that account open and in good standing for a long period of time.</p>
<p>Secondly, closing an account means reducing your available aggregate credit amount. Reducing your available credit causes your credit utilization ratio to rise. Anything above 30% aggregate usage could lower your credit score.</p>
<p>According to a Google Consumer Survey conducted by TransUnion in 2013, 33% of Americans admitted to never checking their credit reports or credit scores. Ignorance is unfortunately not bliss in this instance, because it's quite possible for errors to appear on your credit report from one or more of the three major credit reporting bureaus (Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax). Not checking your credit report annually could allow these errors to remain on your report without your knowledge, dragging down your credit score in the process.</p>
<p>Here's the good news: You can check your credit report from all three credit bureaus once annually for free. That's right, I did just say free. To check your credit report for free, head to <a href="https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action" type="external">AnnualCreditReport.com Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Even if you're responsible and pay your bills on time each month, you could be negatively impacting your credit score if you're using too much of your available credit. Industry pundits suggest that you never use more than 30% of your available credit. Using more could be construed by creditors as irresponsible, and it may lower your credit score.</p>
<p>Even if you pay your bills in full each month, it's still possible (and I can speak firsthand on this) to hurt your credit score by going over the 30% credit utilization threshold. The good news is that the dip in your credit score is probably temporary if you're paying your bill in full and on time each month, or at least getting your net balance owed below 30% of your aggregate available credit. However, the timing of when a credit report is run could certainly have some bearing on whether your credit score takes a hit or not.</p>
<p>Chances are that if you receive a traffic citation or parking ticket near your home city, you're going to take care of it. That may not always be the case if you're vacationing 2,000 miles away and receive a parking ticket. If you ignore traffic or parking citations, they could be turned over to a collection agency, where they could pop up on your credit report and remain there for a period of between three and seven years.</p>
<p>Ignorance to a citation won't excuse you, either. If the government agency mails your citation to an old address and you fail to pay, the fault remains with you. Make sure the U.S. Post Office has your most recent address on file and your driver's license is up to date.</p>
<p>Utility bills, such as an electric bill or water bill, can be something of a double-edged sword for consumers. On one hand, it's highly unlikely that utility companies will report timely payments to credit bureaus that'll determine your credit score.</p>
<p>On the flip side, if you're habitually late with your payment, or you have unpaid utility bills, then the utility may not hesitate to turn your account over to a collection agency. Having an account sent to a collection agency can show up on your credit report for years, and it can adversely impact your credit score.</p>
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Believe it or not, tax disagreements between you and Uncle Sam could come back to haunt you in the credit column. If you have unpaid federal income taxes, the government, after enough time and effort to collect what's due, could place a lien on your property or wages to collect what you owe.</p>
<p>Federal tax liens can show up on your credit report for a mind-numbing 15 years, meaning they could wind up wreaking havoc on your ability to open new credit accounts for more than a decade to come. Even paid federal tax liens remain on your credit report for a period of seven years from the file date.</p>
<p>While this may be a bit of a stretch, and I'll admit it sounds almost comical, checking out books from the library and failing to return them on time could wind up negatively impacting your credit score. If you rack up late fees at the library and fail to pay those fees, it's possible -- unlikely, but possible -- that the library could turn your late fee over to a collection agency.</p>
<p>For example, in 1996, the Queens Library system in New York hired a professional collection agency to collect the daily late fines, as well as the missing materials that consumers didn't return. Having a library fine sent to collections could result in an almost laughably low fine, but it could have an impact on your credit report and/or credit score for years.</p>
<p>The $15,834 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook If you're like most Americans, you're a few years (or more) behind on your retirement savings. But a handful of little-known "Social Security secrets" could help ensure a boost in your retirement income. For example: one easy trick could pay you as much as $15,834 more... each year! Once you learn how to maximize your Social Security benefits, we think you could retire confidently with the peace of mind we're all after. <a href="http://www.fool.com/mms/mark/ecap-foolcom-social-security?aid=8727&amp;source=irreditxt0000002&amp;ftm_cam=ryr-ss-intro-report&amp;ftm_pit=3186&amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Simply click here to discover how to learn more about these strategies Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFUltraLong/info.aspx" type="external">Sean Williams Opens a New Window.</a>has no material interest in any companies mentioned in this article. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen name <a href="http://caps.fool.com/player/tmfultralong.aspx" type="external">TMFUltraLong Opens a New Window.</a>, and check him out on Twitter, where he goes by the handle <a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/TMFUltraLong" type="external">@TMFUltraLong Opens a New Window.</a>.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;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | 1,860 |
<p>FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — German automaker Volkswagen had record sales of 10.74 million vehicles last year, but its bid to remain the world’s largest carmaker was disputed by rival Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi.</p>
<p>Volkswagen’s sales rose 4.3 percent from 10.30 million in 2016, when the company passed Japan’s Toyota to become the globe’s largest auto producer for that year.</p>
<p>The figures show the Wolfsburg-based company continuing its effort to move past a scandal that broke in September 2015 over cars it had rigged to cheat on diesel emissions tests. Sales last year were boosted by a strong December, when sales rose 8.5 percent. For the year, the company saw big jumps in Russia and Brazil, and significant gains in China and the United States.</p>
<p>“We are thankful for the trust of our customers,” CEO Matthias Mueller said in a statement.</p>
<p>Carlos Ghosn, chairman and CEO of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, told a committee of the French National Assembly that his group was the world’s biggest with 10.6 million vehicles last year, the French business publication Les Echos reported. Ghosn said that 200,000 of Volkswagen’s vehicles were trucks that should not count.</p>
<p>Toyota estimated in December that it sold 10.35 million vehicles last year. Final figures are expected around the end of January or the beginning of February.</p>
<p>None of the companies sets as a goal to be the world’s largest auto maker, though Ghosn was quoted as saying it was “a satisfaction.”</p>
<p>FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — German automaker Volkswagen had record sales of 10.74 million vehicles last year, but its bid to remain the world’s largest carmaker was disputed by rival Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi.</p>
<p>Volkswagen’s sales rose 4.3 percent from 10.30 million in 2016, when the company passed Japan’s Toyota to become the globe’s largest auto producer for that year.</p>
<p>The figures show the Wolfsburg-based company continuing its effort to move past a scandal that broke in September 2015 over cars it had rigged to cheat on diesel emissions tests. Sales last year were boosted by a strong December, when sales rose 8.5 percent. For the year, the company saw big jumps in Russia and Brazil, and significant gains in China and the United States.</p>
<p>“We are thankful for the trust of our customers,” CEO Matthias Mueller said in a statement.</p>
<p>Carlos Ghosn, chairman and CEO of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, told a committee of the French National Assembly that his group was the world’s biggest with 10.6 million vehicles last year, the French business publication Les Echos reported. Ghosn said that 200,000 of Volkswagen’s vehicles were trucks that should not count.</p>
<p>Toyota estimated in December that it sold 10.35 million vehicles last year. Final figures are expected around the end of January or the beginning of February.</p>
<p>None of the companies sets as a goal to be the world’s largest auto maker, though Ghosn was quoted as saying it was “a satisfaction.”</p> | Volkswagen sells record 10.74 million vehicles in 2017 | false | https://apnews.com/1046532e41da4dfdbe5c5aece0b2d33d | 2018-01-17 | 2least
| Volkswagen sells record 10.74 million vehicles in 2017
<p>FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — German automaker Volkswagen had record sales of 10.74 million vehicles last year, but its bid to remain the world’s largest carmaker was disputed by rival Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi.</p>
<p>Volkswagen’s sales rose 4.3 percent from 10.30 million in 2016, when the company passed Japan’s Toyota to become the globe’s largest auto producer for that year.</p>
<p>The figures show the Wolfsburg-based company continuing its effort to move past a scandal that broke in September 2015 over cars it had rigged to cheat on diesel emissions tests. Sales last year were boosted by a strong December, when sales rose 8.5 percent. For the year, the company saw big jumps in Russia and Brazil, and significant gains in China and the United States.</p>
<p>“We are thankful for the trust of our customers,” CEO Matthias Mueller said in a statement.</p>
<p>Carlos Ghosn, chairman and CEO of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, told a committee of the French National Assembly that his group was the world’s biggest with 10.6 million vehicles last year, the French business publication Les Echos reported. Ghosn said that 200,000 of Volkswagen’s vehicles were trucks that should not count.</p>
<p>Toyota estimated in December that it sold 10.35 million vehicles last year. Final figures are expected around the end of January or the beginning of February.</p>
<p>None of the companies sets as a goal to be the world’s largest auto maker, though Ghosn was quoted as saying it was “a satisfaction.”</p>
<p>FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — German automaker Volkswagen had record sales of 10.74 million vehicles last year, but its bid to remain the world’s largest carmaker was disputed by rival Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi.</p>
<p>Volkswagen’s sales rose 4.3 percent from 10.30 million in 2016, when the company passed Japan’s Toyota to become the globe’s largest auto producer for that year.</p>
<p>The figures show the Wolfsburg-based company continuing its effort to move past a scandal that broke in September 2015 over cars it had rigged to cheat on diesel emissions tests. Sales last year were boosted by a strong December, when sales rose 8.5 percent. For the year, the company saw big jumps in Russia and Brazil, and significant gains in China and the United States.</p>
<p>“We are thankful for the trust of our customers,” CEO Matthias Mueller said in a statement.</p>
<p>Carlos Ghosn, chairman and CEO of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, told a committee of the French National Assembly that his group was the world’s biggest with 10.6 million vehicles last year, the French business publication Les Echos reported. Ghosn said that 200,000 of Volkswagen’s vehicles were trucks that should not count.</p>
<p>Toyota estimated in December that it sold 10.35 million vehicles last year. Final figures are expected around the end of January or the beginning of February.</p>
<p>None of the companies sets as a goal to be the world’s largest auto maker, though Ghosn was quoted as saying it was “a satisfaction.”</p> | 1,861 |
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<p />
<p>Less than an hour later, he shot and killed Abraham Lincoln.</p>
<p>Booth's desire for fame and recognition is a common theme among assassins. In researching a book on presidential killers and would-be killers, I found that they tended to share certain personality traits.</p>
<p>While some had been treated for mental illness, an even more predominant characteristic is that many of them were disillusioned with and resentful of American society after a lifetime of failure. And most of them also had a burning desire for notoriety.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Killing an American president, most would-be assassins believed, would win them a place in history, making a "somebody" out of a "nobody."</p>
<p>Four American presidents - Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley and John F. Kennedy - have been assassinated. One other - Ronald Reagan - was wounded in an assassination attempt. There have also been at least 10 other attempts in which armed presidential stalkers have been prevented from carrying out their plans, as well as numerous plots that were either foiled by law enforcement or abandoned by the would-be assassins.</p>
<p>By my estimate, there have been at least 32 definite and well-planned but never-executed plots against presidents that were judged to be serious by the Secret Service.</p>
<p>So, who were these plotters?</p>
<p>Garfield's assassin, Charles Guiteau, was an erratic lawyer and itinerant preacher who had failed at everything he tried, including trying to get a job in the Garfield administration. McKinley's assassin, Leon Czolgosz, had suffered a mental breakdown and despaired of his lowly position in life. He sometimes used the alias Fred C. Nieman - literally "Fred Nobody."</p>
<p>Both JFK's assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, and Robert Kennedy's assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, (who wanted to kill President Lyndon Johnson) had held jobs they considered beneath them.</p>
<p>Oswald's wife, Marina, said her husband believed himself to be "an outstanding man" and resented not being recognized as such. Sirhan was resentful of the wealthy and successful, and embittered over U.S. support for Israel.</p>
<p>Samuel Byck, who killed a pilot as he attempted to hijack a Delta Air Lines jetliner, intended to crash the plane into the White House to kill President Nixon. He was a social and business failure who blamed the government for not giving him a small-business loan.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Disgruntled busboy Arthur Bremer stalked Nixon before he shot and paralyzed presidential candidate George Wallace. "Life has been only an enemy to me," he wrote in his diary.</p>
<p>One reason it's so hard to prevent assassination plots is that, to the people who hatch them, the infamy they achieve is worth whatever price they might have to pay. As Sirhan put it: "They can gas me, but I am famous. I have achieved in one day what it took Robert Kennedy all his life to do."</p>
<p>Giuseppe Zangara, would-be assassin of President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt (he shot and killed Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak in the attack), went stoically to the electric chair after he was convicted, losing his composure only when he discovered there were no photographers present to witness his execution.</p>
<p>In the days leading up to his assassinating Garfield, Guiteau was excited about the prospect of the attention he would receive. As he explained it in a jailhouse interview with the district attorney, later published in the New York Herald, "I thought - what a tremendous excitement it would create, and I kept thinking about it all the week."</p>
<p>Lincoln was the first American president to be assassinated. But the motivations that drove his assassin were unfortunately not unique.</p>
<p>Understanding the nature of those who want to kill a president goes considerably further toward explaining assassinations than looking to fanciful conspiracy theories.</p>
<p /> | Men who want to kill a president | false | https://abqjournal.com/389252/men-who-want-to-kill-a-president.html | 2least
| Men who want to kill a president
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Less than an hour later, he shot and killed Abraham Lincoln.</p>
<p>Booth's desire for fame and recognition is a common theme among assassins. In researching a book on presidential killers and would-be killers, I found that they tended to share certain personality traits.</p>
<p>While some had been treated for mental illness, an even more predominant characteristic is that many of them were disillusioned with and resentful of American society after a lifetime of failure. And most of them also had a burning desire for notoriety.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Killing an American president, most would-be assassins believed, would win them a place in history, making a "somebody" out of a "nobody."</p>
<p>Four American presidents - Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley and John F. Kennedy - have been assassinated. One other - Ronald Reagan - was wounded in an assassination attempt. There have also been at least 10 other attempts in which armed presidential stalkers have been prevented from carrying out their plans, as well as numerous plots that were either foiled by law enforcement or abandoned by the would-be assassins.</p>
<p>By my estimate, there have been at least 32 definite and well-planned but never-executed plots against presidents that were judged to be serious by the Secret Service.</p>
<p>So, who were these plotters?</p>
<p>Garfield's assassin, Charles Guiteau, was an erratic lawyer and itinerant preacher who had failed at everything he tried, including trying to get a job in the Garfield administration. McKinley's assassin, Leon Czolgosz, had suffered a mental breakdown and despaired of his lowly position in life. He sometimes used the alias Fred C. Nieman - literally "Fred Nobody."</p>
<p>Both JFK's assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, and Robert Kennedy's assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, (who wanted to kill President Lyndon Johnson) had held jobs they considered beneath them.</p>
<p>Oswald's wife, Marina, said her husband believed himself to be "an outstanding man" and resented not being recognized as such. Sirhan was resentful of the wealthy and successful, and embittered over U.S. support for Israel.</p>
<p>Samuel Byck, who killed a pilot as he attempted to hijack a Delta Air Lines jetliner, intended to crash the plane into the White House to kill President Nixon. He was a social and business failure who blamed the government for not giving him a small-business loan.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Disgruntled busboy Arthur Bremer stalked Nixon before he shot and paralyzed presidential candidate George Wallace. "Life has been only an enemy to me," he wrote in his diary.</p>
<p>One reason it's so hard to prevent assassination plots is that, to the people who hatch them, the infamy they achieve is worth whatever price they might have to pay. As Sirhan put it: "They can gas me, but I am famous. I have achieved in one day what it took Robert Kennedy all his life to do."</p>
<p>Giuseppe Zangara, would-be assassin of President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt (he shot and killed Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak in the attack), went stoically to the electric chair after he was convicted, losing his composure only when he discovered there were no photographers present to witness his execution.</p>
<p>In the days leading up to his assassinating Garfield, Guiteau was excited about the prospect of the attention he would receive. As he explained it in a jailhouse interview with the district attorney, later published in the New York Herald, "I thought - what a tremendous excitement it would create, and I kept thinking about it all the week."</p>
<p>Lincoln was the first American president to be assassinated. But the motivations that drove his assassin were unfortunately not unique.</p>
<p>Understanding the nature of those who want to kill a president goes considerably further toward explaining assassinations than looking to fanciful conspiracy theories.</p>
<p /> | 1,862 |
|
<p>Freddie Mercury (Photo by Carl Lender; courtesy Wikimedia Commons)</p>
<p>Former Queen frontman Freddie Mercury was&#160;honored with his own asteroid by&#160;the International Astronomical Union and the Minor Planet Center on Sept. 5, what would have been the singer’s 70th birthday.</p>
<p>Bandmate and astrophysicist Brian May made the announcement in a video uploaded to YouTube on Sunday.</p>
<p>Asteroid 17473 Freddiemercury&#160;is located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The asteroid was discovered by Belgian astronomer Henri Debehogne in 1991, the year of Mercury’s death. It reflects only about 30 percent of light making it difficult to see without a powerful telescope. The asteroid is three-and-a-half kilometers (about two miles).</p>
<p>According to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/sep/05/rock-star-asteroid-named-after-freddie-mercury-to-celebrate-singers-70th-birthday-queen" type="external">The Guardian</a>, the asteroid orbits around the sun at 20 kilometers per second and won’t come closer than 350 million kilometers to Earth.</p>
<p>“It’s just a dot of light, but it’s a very special dot of light,” May says in the video.</p>
<p>Other famous names to receive their own asteroid include Bruce Springsteen, Jimi Hendrix and David Bowie.</p>
<p>Check out&#160;Asteroid 17473 Freddiemercury’s&#160;orbit diagram <a href="http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2017473;old=0;orb=1;cov=0;log=0;cad=0#orb" type="external">here.&#160;</a></p>
<p />
<p><a href="" type="internal">Asteroid 17473 Freddiemercury</a> <a href="" type="internal">Brian May</a> <a href="" type="internal">Freddie Mercury</a> <a href="" type="internal">Queen</a> <a href="" type="internal">The Guardian</a></p> | Asteroid named after Freddie Mercury for his 70th birthday | false | http://washingtonblade.com/2016/09/06/asteroid-named-freddie-mercury-70th-birthday/ | 3left-center
| Asteroid named after Freddie Mercury for his 70th birthday
<p>Freddie Mercury (Photo by Carl Lender; courtesy Wikimedia Commons)</p>
<p>Former Queen frontman Freddie Mercury was&#160;honored with his own asteroid by&#160;the International Astronomical Union and the Minor Planet Center on Sept. 5, what would have been the singer’s 70th birthday.</p>
<p>Bandmate and astrophysicist Brian May made the announcement in a video uploaded to YouTube on Sunday.</p>
<p>Asteroid 17473 Freddiemercury&#160;is located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The asteroid was discovered by Belgian astronomer Henri Debehogne in 1991, the year of Mercury’s death. It reflects only about 30 percent of light making it difficult to see without a powerful telescope. The asteroid is three-and-a-half kilometers (about two miles).</p>
<p>According to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/sep/05/rock-star-asteroid-named-after-freddie-mercury-to-celebrate-singers-70th-birthday-queen" type="external">The Guardian</a>, the asteroid orbits around the sun at 20 kilometers per second and won’t come closer than 350 million kilometers to Earth.</p>
<p>“It’s just a dot of light, but it’s a very special dot of light,” May says in the video.</p>
<p>Other famous names to receive their own asteroid include Bruce Springsteen, Jimi Hendrix and David Bowie.</p>
<p>Check out&#160;Asteroid 17473 Freddiemercury’s&#160;orbit diagram <a href="http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2017473;old=0;orb=1;cov=0;log=0;cad=0#orb" type="external">here.&#160;</a></p>
<p />
<p><a href="" type="internal">Asteroid 17473 Freddiemercury</a> <a href="" type="internal">Brian May</a> <a href="" type="internal">Freddie Mercury</a> <a href="" type="internal">Queen</a> <a href="" type="internal">The Guardian</a></p> | 1,863 |
|
<p>BERLIN (AP) — Global warming will increase the risk of river flooding over the coming decades, endangering millions more people around the world, according to a study published Thursday.</p>
<p>Using computer simulations, researchers in Germany examined the impact of changing rainfall patterns by region and found that flood defenses will need to be improved particularly in the United States, parts of India and Africa, Indonesia and Central Europe.</p>
<p>River floods are already one of the most widespread and damaging forms of natural disasters worldwide. Additional protective measures include enhancing dykes, better river management, improving building standards and even moving settlements, according to the study <a href="http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/1/eaao1914" type="external">published</a> in the journal Science Advances.</p>
<p>The number of people affected by the worst 10 percent of river flooding will double from 76 million to 156 million in Asia alone by 2040, said the authors at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. In North America the number of people at risk could increase tenfold, from 100,000 to a million.</p>
<p>“The real numbers might be even higher in the future as population growth and further urbanization is not taken into account,” they said.</p>
<p>Researchers said even in developed countries with good infrastructure the need for adaptation is big. They also warned that the risk of rivers flooding will rise regardless of current efforts to curb climate change because of greenhouse gases already emitted in past decades.</p>
<p>Still, a failure to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius (3.7 Fahrenheit) may result in changes to river flooding patterns that populations can’t adapt to, the authors said.</p>
<p>“The time has come where mitigating future climate change must be accompanied by adapting to the climate change that we already caused,” said Anders Levermann, one of the study’s authors.</p>
<p>BERLIN (AP) — Global warming will increase the risk of river flooding over the coming decades, endangering millions more people around the world, according to a study published Thursday.</p>
<p>Using computer simulations, researchers in Germany examined the impact of changing rainfall patterns by region and found that flood defenses will need to be improved particularly in the United States, parts of India and Africa, Indonesia and Central Europe.</p>
<p>River floods are already one of the most widespread and damaging forms of natural disasters worldwide. Additional protective measures include enhancing dykes, better river management, improving building standards and even moving settlements, according to the study <a href="http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/1/eaao1914" type="external">published</a> in the journal Science Advances.</p>
<p>The number of people affected by the worst 10 percent of river flooding will double from 76 million to 156 million in Asia alone by 2040, said the authors at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. In North America the number of people at risk could increase tenfold, from 100,000 to a million.</p>
<p>“The real numbers might be even higher in the future as population growth and further urbanization is not taken into account,” they said.</p>
<p>Researchers said even in developed countries with good infrastructure the need for adaptation is big. They also warned that the risk of rivers flooding will rise regardless of current efforts to curb climate change because of greenhouse gases already emitted in past decades.</p>
<p>Still, a failure to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius (3.7 Fahrenheit) may result in changes to river flooding patterns that populations can’t adapt to, the authors said.</p>
<p>“The time has come where mitigating future climate change must be accompanied by adapting to the climate change that we already caused,” said Anders Levermann, one of the study’s authors.</p> | Study: Warming puts millions more at risk from river floods | false | https://apnews.com/1b23c6129c5446c1b33667acfd4346b8 | 2018-01-11 | 2least
| Study: Warming puts millions more at risk from river floods
<p>BERLIN (AP) — Global warming will increase the risk of river flooding over the coming decades, endangering millions more people around the world, according to a study published Thursday.</p>
<p>Using computer simulations, researchers in Germany examined the impact of changing rainfall patterns by region and found that flood defenses will need to be improved particularly in the United States, parts of India and Africa, Indonesia and Central Europe.</p>
<p>River floods are already one of the most widespread and damaging forms of natural disasters worldwide. Additional protective measures include enhancing dykes, better river management, improving building standards and even moving settlements, according to the study <a href="http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/1/eaao1914" type="external">published</a> in the journal Science Advances.</p>
<p>The number of people affected by the worst 10 percent of river flooding will double from 76 million to 156 million in Asia alone by 2040, said the authors at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. In North America the number of people at risk could increase tenfold, from 100,000 to a million.</p>
<p>“The real numbers might be even higher in the future as population growth and further urbanization is not taken into account,” they said.</p>
<p>Researchers said even in developed countries with good infrastructure the need for adaptation is big. They also warned that the risk of rivers flooding will rise regardless of current efforts to curb climate change because of greenhouse gases already emitted in past decades.</p>
<p>Still, a failure to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius (3.7 Fahrenheit) may result in changes to river flooding patterns that populations can’t adapt to, the authors said.</p>
<p>“The time has come where mitigating future climate change must be accompanied by adapting to the climate change that we already caused,” said Anders Levermann, one of the study’s authors.</p>
<p>BERLIN (AP) — Global warming will increase the risk of river flooding over the coming decades, endangering millions more people around the world, according to a study published Thursday.</p>
<p>Using computer simulations, researchers in Germany examined the impact of changing rainfall patterns by region and found that flood defenses will need to be improved particularly in the United States, parts of India and Africa, Indonesia and Central Europe.</p>
<p>River floods are already one of the most widespread and damaging forms of natural disasters worldwide. Additional protective measures include enhancing dykes, better river management, improving building standards and even moving settlements, according to the study <a href="http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/1/eaao1914" type="external">published</a> in the journal Science Advances.</p>
<p>The number of people affected by the worst 10 percent of river flooding will double from 76 million to 156 million in Asia alone by 2040, said the authors at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. In North America the number of people at risk could increase tenfold, from 100,000 to a million.</p>
<p>“The real numbers might be even higher in the future as population growth and further urbanization is not taken into account,” they said.</p>
<p>Researchers said even in developed countries with good infrastructure the need for adaptation is big. They also warned that the risk of rivers flooding will rise regardless of current efforts to curb climate change because of greenhouse gases already emitted in past decades.</p>
<p>Still, a failure to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius (3.7 Fahrenheit) may result in changes to river flooding patterns that populations can’t adapt to, the authors said.</p>
<p>“The time has come where mitigating future climate change must be accompanied by adapting to the climate change that we already caused,” said Anders Levermann, one of the study’s authors.</p> | 1,864 |
<p><a href="//videos/37/62476" type="external" /></p>
<p>RUSH: I was just asked to mention this again, so I will. We just announced yesterday the pre-order availability for the next Rush Revere incredible Adventures with Exceptional Americans series, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Rush-Revere-American-Revolution-Time-Travel/dp/1476789878/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;sr=&amp;qi" type="external">Rush Revere and the American Revolution</a>. It’s already up at number two on Amazon, number three at Barnes &amp; Noble. Pre-orders! Folks, you people are great. I don’t know how to keep thanking you. You are just incredible.</p>
<p>It drops on October 28th. We have a small team of people that work on these books, and they are a labor of love. I would love to tell you that I do the whole thing, but I can’t in any way, shape, manner or form. I wouldn’t even joke about it because it’s not believable. The books contain too much. The historical research, the artistry, the graphics, the illustrations.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>It’s a small team working exceptionally diligently and hard throughout the year in crafting and writing the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Rush-Revere-American-Revolution-Time-Travel/dp/1476789878/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;sr=&amp;qi" type="external">Adventures of Rush Revere</a> series, and we’ve been so excited about this one. We couldn’t wait. I’ve been as excited for this one as I am for the arrival of a new iPhone, and, you know, I love sharing my passions with people anyway. This one, we did for the military. It’s a must read.</p>
<p>It doesn’t require that you’ve read the first two but it certainly would help. The books are stand alone, but there’s a context to them. There is a mission involved in them. There are some themes that carry throughout, and that is the truth of the American founding, the love for country, the respect for the traditions and institutions and the reverence for the people who did it.</p>
<p>That’s what we’re trying to teach to our target audience here of 10 to 13 years of age. However, we have found that adults claim they’re learning things they didn’t know. That’s always gratifying to hear that as well. So our mission is to tell the story of the United States of America and its founding in a relatable way so that our target reader, 10 to 13 years old, can really get to know the people that founded this country.</p>
<p>They paved the way for all of us. With the time-traveling horse, it’s a very creative vehicle to take students right back to these events, these important events, and put them there, where the people that shaped and built this country talk about it. All of that’s historically accurate, and written for 10- to 13-year-old consumption as well. This one, as I say, was a special dedication to the men and women of our Armed Forces.</p>
<p>Like I said yesterday, I don’t want to give too much of this away, but just a little bit about this. One of the characters of the book is Cam. He’s one of the time-traveling students taught by the substitute teacher, Rush Revere, at Manchester Middle School, and his father is deployed to Afghanistan. He doesn’t understand why his dad’s gotta be gone so long. He has a real problem with it.</p>
<p>For you military families, I have to be honest: That was a revelation to me.</p>
<p>I just assumed that military families knew what Dad did. But even knowing what Dad does doesn’t make it easier when Dad’s gone — or Mom. Either one. The kids still question it, and would prefer their parents be around, obviously, but the parents had made this commitment. So that’s one of the stories in the book, Cam and the relationship he has with his dad, who has been deployed to Afghanistan.</p>
<p>Cam struggles with the separation and how long it is, and as the story develops, <a href="http://www.rushrevere.com/index.php" type="external">Rush Revere and Liberty</a> — the talking, time-traveling horse — and the crew travel to Lexington, Concord and Bunker Hill. Cam has an awakening during the course of the book, and it’s just great the way it turns out. It’s a great tribute to the military. It’s timed for Veterans Day. The book comes out on October 28th.</p>
<p>You see Cam start to mature right before your very eyes as the young man. He learns the why’s and the how’s of what his father does as a member of the Armed Forces. So we’ve combined that with the other mission of the book, which is the historical teaching accuracy of the founding of the country. Again, it’s Rush Revere and the American Revolution. Rush Revere has his own website now.</p>
<p>He’s grown up. It’s <a href="http://www.rushrevere.com/index.php" type="external">RushRevere.com</a>. That website’s fabulous. It’s made for the readers, kid readers, children readers. And we’ve got a great trailer, a video trailer for this book that you have to see. You’ll see it as you go to <a href="http://www.rushrevere.com/index.php" type="external">RushRevere.com</a>. It’s now up for pre-order and it’ll drop — it will be in your hands — on the 28th of October. That’s when it goes on sale, nationwide and worldwide.</p>
<p />
<p /> | Rush Revere and the American Revolution, Dedicated to the Men and Women of the US Military | true | http://rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2014/10/09/rush_revere_and_the_american_revolution_dedicated_to_the_men_and_women_of_the_us_military | 2014-10-09 | 0right
| Rush Revere and the American Revolution, Dedicated to the Men and Women of the US Military
<p><a href="//videos/37/62476" type="external" /></p>
<p>RUSH: I was just asked to mention this again, so I will. We just announced yesterday the pre-order availability for the next Rush Revere incredible Adventures with Exceptional Americans series, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Rush-Revere-American-Revolution-Time-Travel/dp/1476789878/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;sr=&amp;qi" type="external">Rush Revere and the American Revolution</a>. It’s already up at number two on Amazon, number three at Barnes &amp; Noble. Pre-orders! Folks, you people are great. I don’t know how to keep thanking you. You are just incredible.</p>
<p>It drops on October 28th. We have a small team of people that work on these books, and they are a labor of love. I would love to tell you that I do the whole thing, but I can’t in any way, shape, manner or form. I wouldn’t even joke about it because it’s not believable. The books contain too much. The historical research, the artistry, the graphics, the illustrations.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>It’s a small team working exceptionally diligently and hard throughout the year in crafting and writing the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Rush-Revere-American-Revolution-Time-Travel/dp/1476789878/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;sr=&amp;qi" type="external">Adventures of Rush Revere</a> series, and we’ve been so excited about this one. We couldn’t wait. I’ve been as excited for this one as I am for the arrival of a new iPhone, and, you know, I love sharing my passions with people anyway. This one, we did for the military. It’s a must read.</p>
<p>It doesn’t require that you’ve read the first two but it certainly would help. The books are stand alone, but there’s a context to them. There is a mission involved in them. There are some themes that carry throughout, and that is the truth of the American founding, the love for country, the respect for the traditions and institutions and the reverence for the people who did it.</p>
<p>That’s what we’re trying to teach to our target audience here of 10 to 13 years of age. However, we have found that adults claim they’re learning things they didn’t know. That’s always gratifying to hear that as well. So our mission is to tell the story of the United States of America and its founding in a relatable way so that our target reader, 10 to 13 years old, can really get to know the people that founded this country.</p>
<p>They paved the way for all of us. With the time-traveling horse, it’s a very creative vehicle to take students right back to these events, these important events, and put them there, where the people that shaped and built this country talk about it. All of that’s historically accurate, and written for 10- to 13-year-old consumption as well. This one, as I say, was a special dedication to the men and women of our Armed Forces.</p>
<p>Like I said yesterday, I don’t want to give too much of this away, but just a little bit about this. One of the characters of the book is Cam. He’s one of the time-traveling students taught by the substitute teacher, Rush Revere, at Manchester Middle School, and his father is deployed to Afghanistan. He doesn’t understand why his dad’s gotta be gone so long. He has a real problem with it.</p>
<p>For you military families, I have to be honest: That was a revelation to me.</p>
<p>I just assumed that military families knew what Dad did. But even knowing what Dad does doesn’t make it easier when Dad’s gone — or Mom. Either one. The kids still question it, and would prefer their parents be around, obviously, but the parents had made this commitment. So that’s one of the stories in the book, Cam and the relationship he has with his dad, who has been deployed to Afghanistan.</p>
<p>Cam struggles with the separation and how long it is, and as the story develops, <a href="http://www.rushrevere.com/index.php" type="external">Rush Revere and Liberty</a> — the talking, time-traveling horse — and the crew travel to Lexington, Concord and Bunker Hill. Cam has an awakening during the course of the book, and it’s just great the way it turns out. It’s a great tribute to the military. It’s timed for Veterans Day. The book comes out on October 28th.</p>
<p>You see Cam start to mature right before your very eyes as the young man. He learns the why’s and the how’s of what his father does as a member of the Armed Forces. So we’ve combined that with the other mission of the book, which is the historical teaching accuracy of the founding of the country. Again, it’s Rush Revere and the American Revolution. Rush Revere has his own website now.</p>
<p>He’s grown up. It’s <a href="http://www.rushrevere.com/index.php" type="external">RushRevere.com</a>. That website’s fabulous. It’s made for the readers, kid readers, children readers. And we’ve got a great trailer, a video trailer for this book that you have to see. You’ll see it as you go to <a href="http://www.rushrevere.com/index.php" type="external">RushRevere.com</a>. It’s now up for pre-order and it’ll drop — it will be in your hands — on the 28th of October. That’s when it goes on sale, nationwide and worldwide.</p>
<p />
<p /> | 1,865 |
<p>3M Co. on Tuesday said it raised its full-year profit outlook as first-quarter results beat Wall Street expectations, boosted by growth in its core industrial unit and a resurgent electronics business.</p>
<p>The St. Paul, Minn., company said it now expects earnings on a per-share basis between $8.70 and $9.05, up from a prior forecast of $8.45 to $8.80.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The company also projected local-currency sales growth to be between 2% and 5%, up from a previous range of 1% to 3%.</p>
<p>Shares of the company rose 2.2% premarket to $198.40.</p>
<p>The maker of consumer and industrial products such as Post-it Notes and Scotch tape and industrial adhesives said sales in its industrial segment, the company's largest by revenue, increased 4.2% to $2.71 billion.</p>
<p>Sales in its previously struggling electronics and energy segment, which makes components for everything from smartphone screens to components for wind and solar power generation, climbed 11% during the quarter.</p>
<p>Chief Executive Inge Thulin said during a conference call that a shift into faster growing businesses in the segment has started to pay off.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>"We've done a lot of work with that business over the last couple of years," he said, crediting data centers, automotive electronics, energy grids and communication infrastructure as some of the areas spurring growth in the segment.</p>
<p>Over all for the quarter, 3M reported a profit of $1.32 billion, or $2.16 a share, up from $1.28 billion, or $2.05, a year earlier. Revenue rose 3.7% to $7.69 billion.</p>
<p>Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had forecast earnings of $2.06 on $7.47 billion in revenue.</p>
<p>Write to Ezequiel Minaya at [email protected]</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>April 25, 2017 10:32 ET (14:32 GMT)</p> | 3M Boosts Annual Outlook Following Strong First Quarter -- Update | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/04/25/3m-boosts-annual-outlook-following-strong-first-quarter-update.html | 2017-04-25 | 0right
| 3M Boosts Annual Outlook Following Strong First Quarter -- Update
<p>3M Co. on Tuesday said it raised its full-year profit outlook as first-quarter results beat Wall Street expectations, boosted by growth in its core industrial unit and a resurgent electronics business.</p>
<p>The St. Paul, Minn., company said it now expects earnings on a per-share basis between $8.70 and $9.05, up from a prior forecast of $8.45 to $8.80.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The company also projected local-currency sales growth to be between 2% and 5%, up from a previous range of 1% to 3%.</p>
<p>Shares of the company rose 2.2% premarket to $198.40.</p>
<p>The maker of consumer and industrial products such as Post-it Notes and Scotch tape and industrial adhesives said sales in its industrial segment, the company's largest by revenue, increased 4.2% to $2.71 billion.</p>
<p>Sales in its previously struggling electronics and energy segment, which makes components for everything from smartphone screens to components for wind and solar power generation, climbed 11% during the quarter.</p>
<p>Chief Executive Inge Thulin said during a conference call that a shift into faster growing businesses in the segment has started to pay off.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>"We've done a lot of work with that business over the last couple of years," he said, crediting data centers, automotive electronics, energy grids and communication infrastructure as some of the areas spurring growth in the segment.</p>
<p>Over all for the quarter, 3M reported a profit of $1.32 billion, or $2.16 a share, up from $1.28 billion, or $2.05, a year earlier. Revenue rose 3.7% to $7.69 billion.</p>
<p>Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had forecast earnings of $2.06 on $7.47 billion in revenue.</p>
<p>Write to Ezequiel Minaya at [email protected]</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>April 25, 2017 10:32 ET (14:32 GMT)</p> | 1,866 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Those included four reports of gang rapes, the Journal reported in a story posted to its website Friday.</p>
<p>The investigation by the Pepper Hamilton law firm in Philadelphia found some players were alleged to have participated in what one regent called a “horrifying and painful” series of assaults over several years. The regents said then-Baylor football coach Art Briles knew of at least one reported incident but didn’t inform police or school officials.</p>
<p>Baylor previously had said the review found that the football program operated as if it were above the rules. However, the university had released few details from the Pepper Hamilton report. That led to increasing public demand, especially among alumni and Baylor critics, for transparency.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“There was a cultural issue there that was putting winning football games above everything else, including our values,” said J. Cary Gray, a lawyer and regent of the Southern Baptist university. More generally, “we did not have a caring community when it came to these women who reported they were assaulted, and that is not OK,” Gray told the Journal.</p>
<p>Briles and Baylor’s athletic director were fired earlier this year. President Ken Starr was removed from his post by regents and he later resigned as chancellor.</p>
<p>Two days before his firing, Briles was called before the regents to discuss the scandal, Gray said. “Art said, ‘I delegated down, and I know I shouldn’t have. And I had a system where I was the last to know (of the assault allegations), and I should have been the first to know,'” Gray told the newspaper.</p>
<p>Briles’ attorney, Ernest Cannon of Stephenville, Texas, said his client never discouraged any victims from filing complaints against players. He also said Baylor’s regents appeared to be violating a non-disparagement clause that was part of the settlement agreement his client signed with the university.</p>
<p>Cannon also accused the regents of scapegoating Briles for Baylor’s overall failure to maintain a strict Title IX program to guard against sexual discrimination. Numerous lawsuits alleging violations of the federal Title IX laws allege such an overall failure.</p>
<p>“They are pulling their own house down to justify the mistakes they made. He’s the football coach” with no responsibility to enforce Title IX requirements, Cannon said.</p>
<p>“That’s their job,” he added, referring to university administrators.</p>
<p>Earlier this month, Patty Crawford, Baylor’s former Title IX coordinator, resigned and said top campus leaders undermined her efforts to investigate sexual assault claims and were more concerned with protecting the Baylor “brand” than the students.</p>
<p>She also noted the sexual violence problem was a campus-wide issue not limited to football. The university has said football players were involved in just over 10 percent of all alleged Title IX violations in the four years ending with the 2014-15 school year.</p>
<p>In response, Gray said, “Football is a fraction, but it is a bad fraction.”</p>
<p>The regents’ statements failed to impress Crawford’s attorney, Rogge Dunn of Dallas, who argued they continue to try to shape the narrative surrounding the scandal and protect the Baylor image. He told The Associated Press that the full story will not come until those concerned are placed under oath.</p>
<p>“Baylor’s never going to get past this until it has full transparency,” Dunn told the AP Friday night.</p> | Baylor regents: 17 women reported assaults by 19 players | false | https://abqjournal.com/877639/baylor-regents-17-women-reported-assaults-by-19-players.html | 2016-10-28 | 2least
| Baylor regents: 17 women reported assaults by 19 players
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Those included four reports of gang rapes, the Journal reported in a story posted to its website Friday.</p>
<p>The investigation by the Pepper Hamilton law firm in Philadelphia found some players were alleged to have participated in what one regent called a “horrifying and painful” series of assaults over several years. The regents said then-Baylor football coach Art Briles knew of at least one reported incident but didn’t inform police or school officials.</p>
<p>Baylor previously had said the review found that the football program operated as if it were above the rules. However, the university had released few details from the Pepper Hamilton report. That led to increasing public demand, especially among alumni and Baylor critics, for transparency.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“There was a cultural issue there that was putting winning football games above everything else, including our values,” said J. Cary Gray, a lawyer and regent of the Southern Baptist university. More generally, “we did not have a caring community when it came to these women who reported they were assaulted, and that is not OK,” Gray told the Journal.</p>
<p>Briles and Baylor’s athletic director were fired earlier this year. President Ken Starr was removed from his post by regents and he later resigned as chancellor.</p>
<p>Two days before his firing, Briles was called before the regents to discuss the scandal, Gray said. “Art said, ‘I delegated down, and I know I shouldn’t have. And I had a system where I was the last to know (of the assault allegations), and I should have been the first to know,'” Gray told the newspaper.</p>
<p>Briles’ attorney, Ernest Cannon of Stephenville, Texas, said his client never discouraged any victims from filing complaints against players. He also said Baylor’s regents appeared to be violating a non-disparagement clause that was part of the settlement agreement his client signed with the university.</p>
<p>Cannon also accused the regents of scapegoating Briles for Baylor’s overall failure to maintain a strict Title IX program to guard against sexual discrimination. Numerous lawsuits alleging violations of the federal Title IX laws allege such an overall failure.</p>
<p>“They are pulling their own house down to justify the mistakes they made. He’s the football coach” with no responsibility to enforce Title IX requirements, Cannon said.</p>
<p>“That’s their job,” he added, referring to university administrators.</p>
<p>Earlier this month, Patty Crawford, Baylor’s former Title IX coordinator, resigned and said top campus leaders undermined her efforts to investigate sexual assault claims and were more concerned with protecting the Baylor “brand” than the students.</p>
<p>She also noted the sexual violence problem was a campus-wide issue not limited to football. The university has said football players were involved in just over 10 percent of all alleged Title IX violations in the four years ending with the 2014-15 school year.</p>
<p>In response, Gray said, “Football is a fraction, but it is a bad fraction.”</p>
<p>The regents’ statements failed to impress Crawford’s attorney, Rogge Dunn of Dallas, who argued they continue to try to shape the narrative surrounding the scandal and protect the Baylor image. He told The Associated Press that the full story will not come until those concerned are placed under oath.</p>
<p>“Baylor’s never going to get past this until it has full transparency,” Dunn told the AP Friday night.</p> | 1,867 |
<p>Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy secretary of defense under President George W. Bush, said in an interview published Friday that he may vote for Hillary Clinton, citing Donald Trump’s “disturbing” comments regarding foreign policy.</p>
<p>“I wish there were somebody I could be comfortable voting for. I might have to vote for Hillary Clinton, even though I have big reservations about her,” <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-clinton-wolfowitz-idUSKCN1111XS?utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&amp;utm_content=57c084cd04d3010fbeedf637&amp;utm_medium=trueAnthem&amp;utm_source=twitter" type="external">he told German magazine Der Spiegel</a>.</p>
<p />
<p>Wolfowitz said he agreed with the 50 Republican national security experts who <a href="" type="internal">wrote in a letter</a> that Trump is a security risk.</p>
<p>“He says he admires Putin, that Saddam Hussein was killing terrorists, that the Chinese were impressive because they were tough on Tiananmen Square. That is pretty disturbing,” he told Der Spiegel.</p>
<p>“Putin is behaving in a very dangerous way. And Trump sounds as though he would simply sit back and allow that to go on. I worry about where that would end up,” Wolfowitz later added.</p>
<p>He said that the way Trump regards the United States’ allies is “dangerous.”</p>
<p>“The only way you can be comfortable about Trump’s foreign policy, is to think he doesn’t really mean anything he says. That’s a pretty uncomfortable place to be in. Our security depends on having good relationships with our allies. Trump mainly shows contempt for them,” Wolfowitz said. “And he seems to be unconcerned about the Russian aggression in Ukraine. By doing this he tells them that they can go ahead and do what they are doing. That is dangerous.”</p> | Former Bush Admin. Official Says He May Vote For Clinton: Trump Is ‘Dangerous’ | true | http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/paul-wolfowitz-may-vote-clinton | 4left
| Former Bush Admin. Official Says He May Vote For Clinton: Trump Is ‘Dangerous’
<p>Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy secretary of defense under President George W. Bush, said in an interview published Friday that he may vote for Hillary Clinton, citing Donald Trump’s “disturbing” comments regarding foreign policy.</p>
<p>“I wish there were somebody I could be comfortable voting for. I might have to vote for Hillary Clinton, even though I have big reservations about her,” <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-clinton-wolfowitz-idUSKCN1111XS?utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&amp;utm_content=57c084cd04d3010fbeedf637&amp;utm_medium=trueAnthem&amp;utm_source=twitter" type="external">he told German magazine Der Spiegel</a>.</p>
<p />
<p>Wolfowitz said he agreed with the 50 Republican national security experts who <a href="" type="internal">wrote in a letter</a> that Trump is a security risk.</p>
<p>“He says he admires Putin, that Saddam Hussein was killing terrorists, that the Chinese were impressive because they were tough on Tiananmen Square. That is pretty disturbing,” he told Der Spiegel.</p>
<p>“Putin is behaving in a very dangerous way. And Trump sounds as though he would simply sit back and allow that to go on. I worry about where that would end up,” Wolfowitz later added.</p>
<p>He said that the way Trump regards the United States’ allies is “dangerous.”</p>
<p>“The only way you can be comfortable about Trump’s foreign policy, is to think he doesn’t really mean anything he says. That’s a pretty uncomfortable place to be in. Our security depends on having good relationships with our allies. Trump mainly shows contempt for them,” Wolfowitz said. “And he seems to be unconcerned about the Russian aggression in Ukraine. By doing this he tells them that they can go ahead and do what they are doing. That is dangerous.”</p> | 1,868 |
|
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.millerlite.com/" type="external">MILLER LITE</a></p>
<p>“[Miller Lite’s ‘ <a href="http://www.millerlite.com/intro1.html" type="external">Dick the ad man’</a> campaign] looks like a very funny, hip spoof of <a href="http://homer.cs.pvt.k12.id.us/home_pages/alevin/sucka.html" type="external">blaxploitation movies</a>, but when you boil it all down, it’s a postmodern minstrel show.”</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://pathfinder.com/Corp/" type="external">TIME WARNER</a></p>
<p>“Here is Time Warner celebrating the sad fact that we can’t <a href="http://pathfinder.com/Corp/itsus/welcome.html" type="external">get away from them</a> — that Time Warner, and its products, are embedded in our minds. Not too long ago, this would have been the premise for a horror film — now it’s the corporation’s boast in these appalling ads.”</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.johnsonandjohnson.com/credo/credohst.htm" type="external">JOHNSON &amp; JOHNSON</a></p>
<p>Though Johnson &amp; Johnson promotes its HIV detection kit in the gay media, it chose not to advertise on the “coming out” episode of “Ellen.” Not your run-of the-mill act of cowardice, “Johnson &amp; Johnson deserves the Hype-ocrisy Award for its inability to commit common human decency on prime time. And we’ll share with them a slogan we just heard on Capitol Hill: ‘A spine is a terrible thing to waste.'”</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.haagen-dazs.com/7/indextop.html" type="external">HÄAGEN-DAZS</a> and KIBON ICE CREAM</p>
<p>“As thinness has become the equivalent of virginity, food in ads is increasingly sexualized. An ad featuring spermlike spoons swimming into a perfect egg-shaped scoop of ice cream is one bold example.”</p>
<p>Kilbourne also noted that the ubiquitous “milk mustache” ads from the National Fluid Milk Processor Promotion Board have “mainstreamed the <a href="http://www.whymilk.com/famous/banks2.html" type="external">cum shot</a>.”</p>
<p />
<p>NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF NEWS DIRECTORS</p>
<p>“[The award] goes to America’s TV news directors for annually airing as ‘news’ thousands of ‘video news releases.’ VNRs are biased and deceptive propaganda disguised as TV journalism and provided free by PR agencies.”</p>
<p />
<p>SIR BENNI MILLES CLOTHING</p>
<p><a href="http://www.salonmagazine.com/may97/media/mediacircus.html" type="external">Salon</a> magazine reports that Themba will be sending the company “a free breakfast at Denny’s and a complimentary copy of Mandingo.”</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.mcworld.mcdonalds.com/" type="external">McDONALDS</a> and <a href="http://www.budweiser.com" type="external">BUDWEISER</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.thehut.com/" type="external">PIZZA HUT</a></p>
<p>For an ad where striking workers are delivered a pizza — courtesy of their smiling boss.</p>
<p />
<p>TEN PRINT ADS from the <a href="http://www.womweb.com/msnet.html" type="external">Ms.</a> magazine “‘No Comment’ Hall of Fame”</p>
<p>“Feminism has done a lot to improve the portrayal of women in advertising, but as ‘No Comment’ has eloquently been demonstrating for 25 years, the many anti-woman themes persist.”</p>
<p>One of the winners: a camera ad that urged readers to “Take Your Mother-in-Law Out and Shoot Her.”</p>
<p />
<p>PHIL KNIGHT, CEO OF NIKE</p>
<p>“In 1996, <a href="http://www.nike.com" type="external">Nike</a> had no trouble finding $1.8 million a day for advertising — lauding the strength of women who only need a chance — yet in the real world Nike can only find 20 to 30 cents an hour, true starvation wages, for the more than 200,000 young women making Nike sneakers in sweatshops in Indonesia, Vietnam and China.”</p>
<p />
<p />
<p /> | Counter-Clio (“Schmio”) Winners | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/1997/05/counter-clio-schmio-winners/ | 1997-05-15 | 4left
| Counter-Clio (“Schmio”) Winners
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.millerlite.com/" type="external">MILLER LITE</a></p>
<p>“[Miller Lite’s ‘ <a href="http://www.millerlite.com/intro1.html" type="external">Dick the ad man’</a> campaign] looks like a very funny, hip spoof of <a href="http://homer.cs.pvt.k12.id.us/home_pages/alevin/sucka.html" type="external">blaxploitation movies</a>, but when you boil it all down, it’s a postmodern minstrel show.”</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://pathfinder.com/Corp/" type="external">TIME WARNER</a></p>
<p>“Here is Time Warner celebrating the sad fact that we can’t <a href="http://pathfinder.com/Corp/itsus/welcome.html" type="external">get away from them</a> — that Time Warner, and its products, are embedded in our minds. Not too long ago, this would have been the premise for a horror film — now it’s the corporation’s boast in these appalling ads.”</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.johnsonandjohnson.com/credo/credohst.htm" type="external">JOHNSON &amp; JOHNSON</a></p>
<p>Though Johnson &amp; Johnson promotes its HIV detection kit in the gay media, it chose not to advertise on the “coming out” episode of “Ellen.” Not your run-of the-mill act of cowardice, “Johnson &amp; Johnson deserves the Hype-ocrisy Award for its inability to commit common human decency on prime time. And we’ll share with them a slogan we just heard on Capitol Hill: ‘A spine is a terrible thing to waste.'”</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.haagen-dazs.com/7/indextop.html" type="external">HÄAGEN-DAZS</a> and KIBON ICE CREAM</p>
<p>“As thinness has become the equivalent of virginity, food in ads is increasingly sexualized. An ad featuring spermlike spoons swimming into a perfect egg-shaped scoop of ice cream is one bold example.”</p>
<p>Kilbourne also noted that the ubiquitous “milk mustache” ads from the National Fluid Milk Processor Promotion Board have “mainstreamed the <a href="http://www.whymilk.com/famous/banks2.html" type="external">cum shot</a>.”</p>
<p />
<p>NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF NEWS DIRECTORS</p>
<p>“[The award] goes to America’s TV news directors for annually airing as ‘news’ thousands of ‘video news releases.’ VNRs are biased and deceptive propaganda disguised as TV journalism and provided free by PR agencies.”</p>
<p />
<p>SIR BENNI MILLES CLOTHING</p>
<p><a href="http://www.salonmagazine.com/may97/media/mediacircus.html" type="external">Salon</a> magazine reports that Themba will be sending the company “a free breakfast at Denny’s and a complimentary copy of Mandingo.”</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.mcworld.mcdonalds.com/" type="external">McDONALDS</a> and <a href="http://www.budweiser.com" type="external">BUDWEISER</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.thehut.com/" type="external">PIZZA HUT</a></p>
<p>For an ad where striking workers are delivered a pizza — courtesy of their smiling boss.</p>
<p />
<p>TEN PRINT ADS from the <a href="http://www.womweb.com/msnet.html" type="external">Ms.</a> magazine “‘No Comment’ Hall of Fame”</p>
<p>“Feminism has done a lot to improve the portrayal of women in advertising, but as ‘No Comment’ has eloquently been demonstrating for 25 years, the many anti-woman themes persist.”</p>
<p>One of the winners: a camera ad that urged readers to “Take Your Mother-in-Law Out and Shoot Her.”</p>
<p />
<p>PHIL KNIGHT, CEO OF NIKE</p>
<p>“In 1996, <a href="http://www.nike.com" type="external">Nike</a> had no trouble finding $1.8 million a day for advertising — lauding the strength of women who only need a chance — yet in the real world Nike can only find 20 to 30 cents an hour, true starvation wages, for the more than 200,000 young women making Nike sneakers in sweatshops in Indonesia, Vietnam and China.”</p>
<p />
<p />
<p /> | 1,869 |
<p>Charged with distributing restricted drugs - including methamphetamine, acid, and marijuana - in prohibited zones nears school and government-subsidized housing projects, a delegate from Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (D-VT) coalition in Minnesota has pulled out of his former role.</p>
<p>John Dillon Wood Neitge, the aforementioned delegate, <a href="https://mss.blueearthcountymn.gov/criminal%20complaints/uploads/5659fb42-ac2e-466e-a262-987984a1e967.pdf" type="external">has been charged</a> with counts of both possession and trafficking of the above-mentioned drugs. He was caught in a sting operation with a police informant.</p>
<p>Neitge is 22-years-old.</p>
<p>Sanders <a href="http://feelthebern.org/bernie-sanders-on-drug-policy/" type="external">supports</a>federal decriminalization of "recreational marijuana." Declaring that he "has inhaled," Sanders's website quotes its candidate, "Because I coughed a lot, I don’t know. I smoked marijuana twice, didn’t quite work for me… It’s not my thing, but it is the thing of a whole lot of people."</p>
<p>Opposing incarceration of those convicted of "nonviolent" drug offenses, Sanders proposes government-administered rehabilitation programs for such persons.</p>
<p>H/T Chris White at <a href="http://lawnewz.com/high-profile/sanders-delegate-asked-to-resign-after-he-was-charged-with-nine-drug-related-offenses/" type="external">LawNewz</a>.</p>
<p>Follow Robert Kraychik on <a href="https://twitter.com/kr3ch3k" type="external">Twitter</a>.</p> | 22-Year-Old Sanders Delegate Pinched For Drug Trafficking | true | https://dailywire.com/news/6373/22-year-old-sanders-delegate-pinched-drug-robert-kraychik | 2016-06-07 | 0right
| 22-Year-Old Sanders Delegate Pinched For Drug Trafficking
<p>Charged with distributing restricted drugs - including methamphetamine, acid, and marijuana - in prohibited zones nears school and government-subsidized housing projects, a delegate from Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (D-VT) coalition in Minnesota has pulled out of his former role.</p>
<p>John Dillon Wood Neitge, the aforementioned delegate, <a href="https://mss.blueearthcountymn.gov/criminal%20complaints/uploads/5659fb42-ac2e-466e-a262-987984a1e967.pdf" type="external">has been charged</a> with counts of both possession and trafficking of the above-mentioned drugs. He was caught in a sting operation with a police informant.</p>
<p>Neitge is 22-years-old.</p>
<p>Sanders <a href="http://feelthebern.org/bernie-sanders-on-drug-policy/" type="external">supports</a>federal decriminalization of "recreational marijuana." Declaring that he "has inhaled," Sanders's website quotes its candidate, "Because I coughed a lot, I don’t know. I smoked marijuana twice, didn’t quite work for me… It’s not my thing, but it is the thing of a whole lot of people."</p>
<p>Opposing incarceration of those convicted of "nonviolent" drug offenses, Sanders proposes government-administered rehabilitation programs for such persons.</p>
<p>H/T Chris White at <a href="http://lawnewz.com/high-profile/sanders-delegate-asked-to-resign-after-he-was-charged-with-nine-drug-related-offenses/" type="external">LawNewz</a>.</p>
<p>Follow Robert Kraychik on <a href="https://twitter.com/kr3ch3k" type="external">Twitter</a>.</p> | 1,870 |
<p>The best way to deter violence in schools is to develop relationships with kids, says Tio Hardiman of the Chicago Project on Violence Prevention at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Hardiman, who spoke candidly of running away from home as a teenager and eventually moving to another side of town to avoid gangs, advocates using former gang members to work with kids. He talked with Senior Editor Elizabeth Duffrin.</p>
<p>How can schools prevent gang violence?</p>
<p>I’ll tell you, that’s hard. The schools need to allow programs that are more unconventional, that are tailor-made for what [kids] are going through right now. My message is pretty much [to] enter their world and then bring them into my world. We talk about how hard it is for a kid to get up in the morning and have no food in the refrigerator, then he gets to school and somebody tries to bully him and he knocks the guy out because he’s starving and really he just wants to get in the classroom and eat. We talk about [times] when guys didn’t sleep all night because the father was beating up the mother and the guys have no way to express their anger. We talk about how one guy had his father beat up, and how the other guy didn’t respect his mother because she might be getting high on drugs.</p>
<p>Is there a lack of counseling in schools?</p>
<p>You need effective counselors. … The Chicago Public Schools are going to have to get people in there that understand those dynamics that have such an impact on these young men. [They’re thinking], “You’re telling me to come to school today and learn when I’m 16 or 15 and I’ve just gone through this traumatic experience at home just last night, and on top of that I haven’t eaten anything, and on top of that I got four or five guys up in my face telling me to join the street organization?” If you can’t deal with that, you can’t teach that [kid].</p>
<p>So it’s about building relationships?</p>
<p>It’s about building relationships. When I tell my [life story], I don’t spend a lot of time on it because what I’m trying to do is talk about mobility. I talk about how I traveled, how I met so many different people. I talk about becoming a real citizen. A lot of people don’t talk to them about this stuff, and they need to actually believe they can do it. Some of these young kids don’t even go off their block.</p>
<p />
<p>Are schools doing enough to counteract all the temptations kids have?</p>
<p>Schools are doing the best they can, but like I said, the missing link that’s out there is the community. [Kids] get out of school every day and they have nothing to do. That’s not the school’s responsibility, that’s the community’s responsibility. Schools do have to be open-minded. A lot of people that have been thrown [out of] the system have felonies in their background and can’t really work in the schools. [But] these are some of the guys and women that can get through to these guys potentially. We may have to hire a guy who has a [gang] background, but who is no longer active. We might have to begin to say “Look, put this guy on your security.”</p>
<p>What support have you received from the district?</p>
<p>Arne Duncan has told us that we’re going to get a list of schools to work in. We’re going to expedite that as soon as we can.</p>
<p>What’s the plan?</p>
<p>To do group sessions with students to talk to them about the issues [and] to identify the activities that will be most beneficial. For example, keep the school open from 6:00 to 9:00 or 10 p.m., and don’t just have basketball. Mix it up. But the most important part is getting former gang members to give them a lecture that they’re not used to hearing. You got these guys who these young people look up to, we need them. We can’t get around it.</p> | Q&A with Tio Hardiman | false | http://chicagoreporter.com/qa-tio-hardiman/ | 2006-04-18 | 3left-center
| Q&A with Tio Hardiman
<p>The best way to deter violence in schools is to develop relationships with kids, says Tio Hardiman of the Chicago Project on Violence Prevention at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Hardiman, who spoke candidly of running away from home as a teenager and eventually moving to another side of town to avoid gangs, advocates using former gang members to work with kids. He talked with Senior Editor Elizabeth Duffrin.</p>
<p>How can schools prevent gang violence?</p>
<p>I’ll tell you, that’s hard. The schools need to allow programs that are more unconventional, that are tailor-made for what [kids] are going through right now. My message is pretty much [to] enter their world and then bring them into my world. We talk about how hard it is for a kid to get up in the morning and have no food in the refrigerator, then he gets to school and somebody tries to bully him and he knocks the guy out because he’s starving and really he just wants to get in the classroom and eat. We talk about [times] when guys didn’t sleep all night because the father was beating up the mother and the guys have no way to express their anger. We talk about how one guy had his father beat up, and how the other guy didn’t respect his mother because she might be getting high on drugs.</p>
<p>Is there a lack of counseling in schools?</p>
<p>You need effective counselors. … The Chicago Public Schools are going to have to get people in there that understand those dynamics that have such an impact on these young men. [They’re thinking], “You’re telling me to come to school today and learn when I’m 16 or 15 and I’ve just gone through this traumatic experience at home just last night, and on top of that I haven’t eaten anything, and on top of that I got four or five guys up in my face telling me to join the street organization?” If you can’t deal with that, you can’t teach that [kid].</p>
<p>So it’s about building relationships?</p>
<p>It’s about building relationships. When I tell my [life story], I don’t spend a lot of time on it because what I’m trying to do is talk about mobility. I talk about how I traveled, how I met so many different people. I talk about becoming a real citizen. A lot of people don’t talk to them about this stuff, and they need to actually believe they can do it. Some of these young kids don’t even go off their block.</p>
<p />
<p>Are schools doing enough to counteract all the temptations kids have?</p>
<p>Schools are doing the best they can, but like I said, the missing link that’s out there is the community. [Kids] get out of school every day and they have nothing to do. That’s not the school’s responsibility, that’s the community’s responsibility. Schools do have to be open-minded. A lot of people that have been thrown [out of] the system have felonies in their background and can’t really work in the schools. [But] these are some of the guys and women that can get through to these guys potentially. We may have to hire a guy who has a [gang] background, but who is no longer active. We might have to begin to say “Look, put this guy on your security.”</p>
<p>What support have you received from the district?</p>
<p>Arne Duncan has told us that we’re going to get a list of schools to work in. We’re going to expedite that as soon as we can.</p>
<p>What’s the plan?</p>
<p>To do group sessions with students to talk to them about the issues [and] to identify the activities that will be most beneficial. For example, keep the school open from 6:00 to 9:00 or 10 p.m., and don’t just have basketball. Mix it up. But the most important part is getting former gang members to give them a lecture that they’re not used to hearing. You got these guys who these young people look up to, we need them. We can’t get around it.</p> | 1,871 |
<p>BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s automotive market, the world’s largest, is likely to see growth slow to around 3 percent next year, the official China Central Television (CCTV) reported on Thursday, citing the country’s automotive manufacturers association.</p>
<p>The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) also predicted 3.5 percent growth this year, down from an earlier target of 5 percent growth, after the body flagged weak car sales growth ahead earlier this month.</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> | China auto body says market to slow to 3 percent growth in 2018: CCTV | false | https://newsline.com/china-auto-body-says-market-to-slow-to-3-percent-growth-in-2018-cctv/ | 2017-12-13 | 1right-center
| China auto body says market to slow to 3 percent growth in 2018: CCTV
<p>BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s automotive market, the world’s largest, is likely to see growth slow to around 3 percent next year, the official China Central Television (CCTV) reported on Thursday, citing the country’s automotive manufacturers association.</p>
<p>The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) also predicted 3.5 percent growth this year, down from an earlier target of 5 percent growth, after the body flagged weak car sales growth ahead earlier this month.</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> | 1,872 |
<p>BRAINTREE, Mass. (AP) _ These Massachusetts lotteries were drawn Wednesday:</p>
<p>MassCash</p>
<p>02-03-16-18-34</p>
<p>(two, three, sixteen, eighteen, thirty-four)</p>
<p>Mega Millions</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $45 million</p>
<p>Megabucks Doubler</p>
<p>15-18-25-36-38-39</p>
<p>(fifteen, eighteen, twenty-five, thirty-six, thirty-eight, thirty-nine)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $8.3 million</p>
<p>Numbers Evening</p>
<p>0-3-7-1</p>
<p>(zero, three, seven, one)</p>
<p>Numbers Midday</p>
<p>8-9-0-3</p>
<p>(eight, nine, zero, three)</p>
<p>Powerball</p>
<p>07-24-33-49-50, Powerball: 4, Power Play: 5</p>
<p>(seven, twenty-four, thirty-three, forty-nine, fifty; Powerball: four; Power Play: five)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $40 million</p>
<p>BRAINTREE, Mass. (AP) _ These Massachusetts lotteries were drawn Wednesday:</p>
<p>MassCash</p>
<p>02-03-16-18-34</p>
<p>(two, three, sixteen, eighteen, thirty-four)</p>
<p>Mega Millions</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $45 million</p>
<p>Megabucks Doubler</p>
<p>15-18-25-36-38-39</p>
<p>(fifteen, eighteen, twenty-five, thirty-six, thirty-eight, thirty-nine)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $8.3 million</p>
<p>Numbers Evening</p>
<p>0-3-7-1</p>
<p>(zero, three, seven, one)</p>
<p>Numbers Midday</p>
<p>8-9-0-3</p>
<p>(eight, nine, zero, three)</p>
<p>Powerball</p>
<p>07-24-33-49-50, Powerball: 4, Power Play: 5</p>
<p>(seven, twenty-four, thirty-three, forty-nine, fifty; Powerball: four; Power Play: five)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $40 million</p> | MA Lottery | false | https://apnews.com/amp/9e2fd76227e94c529d1f7dc51d738024 | 2018-01-11 | 2least
| MA Lottery
<p>BRAINTREE, Mass. (AP) _ These Massachusetts lotteries were drawn Wednesday:</p>
<p>MassCash</p>
<p>02-03-16-18-34</p>
<p>(two, three, sixteen, eighteen, thirty-four)</p>
<p>Mega Millions</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $45 million</p>
<p>Megabucks Doubler</p>
<p>15-18-25-36-38-39</p>
<p>(fifteen, eighteen, twenty-five, thirty-six, thirty-eight, thirty-nine)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $8.3 million</p>
<p>Numbers Evening</p>
<p>0-3-7-1</p>
<p>(zero, three, seven, one)</p>
<p>Numbers Midday</p>
<p>8-9-0-3</p>
<p>(eight, nine, zero, three)</p>
<p>Powerball</p>
<p>07-24-33-49-50, Powerball: 4, Power Play: 5</p>
<p>(seven, twenty-four, thirty-three, forty-nine, fifty; Powerball: four; Power Play: five)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $40 million</p>
<p>BRAINTREE, Mass. (AP) _ These Massachusetts lotteries were drawn Wednesday:</p>
<p>MassCash</p>
<p>02-03-16-18-34</p>
<p>(two, three, sixteen, eighteen, thirty-four)</p>
<p>Mega Millions</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $45 million</p>
<p>Megabucks Doubler</p>
<p>15-18-25-36-38-39</p>
<p>(fifteen, eighteen, twenty-five, thirty-six, thirty-eight, thirty-nine)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $8.3 million</p>
<p>Numbers Evening</p>
<p>0-3-7-1</p>
<p>(zero, three, seven, one)</p>
<p>Numbers Midday</p>
<p>8-9-0-3</p>
<p>(eight, nine, zero, three)</p>
<p>Powerball</p>
<p>07-24-33-49-50, Powerball: 4, Power Play: 5</p>
<p>(seven, twenty-four, thirty-three, forty-nine, fifty; Powerball: four; Power Play: five)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $40 million</p> | 1,873 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>DENVER - The latest on a man imprisoned for decades on rape charge he denies (all times local):</p>
<p>9:55 a.m.</p>
<p>A judge is allowing a man who has served 28 years behind bars for a rape he says he didn't commit to be released from custody after he posts bond.</p>
<p>A Denver judge set Clarence Moses-EL's bond at $50,000. Moses-EL was convicted in 1988 after the victim said his face came to her in a dream, but he has maintained his innocence.</p>
<p>A judge recently voided his conviction after another inmate confessed to having sex with the woman the night of the attack.</p>
<p>He could be released from custody Tuesday morning. His supporters say they have raised the $50,000.</p>
<p>The Denver District Attorney's office has not decided whether to retry Moses-EL.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | The Latest: Judge OKs bond for man imprisoned 28 years | false | https://abqjournal.com/695035/the-latest-judge-oks-bond-for-man-imprisoned-28-years.html | 2least
| The Latest: Judge OKs bond for man imprisoned 28 years
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>DENVER - The latest on a man imprisoned for decades on rape charge he denies (all times local):</p>
<p>9:55 a.m.</p>
<p>A judge is allowing a man who has served 28 years behind bars for a rape he says he didn't commit to be released from custody after he posts bond.</p>
<p>A Denver judge set Clarence Moses-EL's bond at $50,000. Moses-EL was convicted in 1988 after the victim said his face came to her in a dream, but he has maintained his innocence.</p>
<p>A judge recently voided his conviction after another inmate confessed to having sex with the woman the night of the attack.</p>
<p>He could be released from custody Tuesday morning. His supporters say they have raised the $50,000.</p>
<p>The Denver District Attorney's office has not decided whether to retry Moses-EL.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | 1,874 |
|
<p>The more I think about the explosive exchange between Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Donald Trump about “New York values,” the less I think it will hurt Cruz, and the more cynical and gross both Trump and the media seem.</p>
<p>Here’s the text of the relevant portion of the exchange:</p>
<p>BARTIROMO: Senator Cruz, you suggested Mr. Trump, quote, “embodies New York values.” Could you explain what you mean by that?</p>
<p>CRUZ: You know, I think most people know exactly what New York values are.</p>
<p>BARTIROMO: I am from New York. I don’t.</p>
<p>CRUZ: What — what — you’re from New York? So you might not. But I promise you, in the state of South Carolina, they do. And listen, there are many, many wonderful, wonderful working men and women in the state of New York. But everyone understands that the values in New York City are socially liberal or pro-abortion or pro- gay-marriage, focus around money and the media….Not a lot of conservatives come out of Manhattan. I’m just saying.</p>
<p>BARTIROMO: Are you sure about that?</p>
<p>CAVUTO: Maria...</p>
<p>TRUMP: So conservatives actually do come out of Manhattan, including William F. Buckley and others, just so you understand. And just so — if I could, because he insulted a lot of people. I’ve had more calls on that statement that Ted made — New York is a great place. It’s got great people, it’s got loving people, wonderful people. When the World Trade Center came down, I saw something that no place on Earth could have handled more beautifully, more humanely than New York. You had two one hundred...you had two 110-story buildings come crashing down. I saw them come down. Thousands of people killed, and the cleanup started the next day, and it was the most horrific cleanup, probably in the history of doing this, and in construction. I was down there, and I’ve never seen anything like it. And the people in New York fought and fought and fought, and we saw more death, and even the smell of death — nobody understood it. And it was with us for months, the smell, the air. And we rebuilt downtown Manhattan, and everybody in the world watched and everybody in the world loved New York and loved New Yorkers. And I have to tell you, that was a very insulting statement that Ted made.</p>
<p>A few initial points. First off, Trump’s play here is incredibly manipulative and nasty. Obviously, Cruz didn’t mean to suggest that the behavior of New Yorkers on 9/11 was anything less than exemplary. Cruz insults DC values constantly, but nobody suggests that he’s insulting the behavior of people from DC in their response to an attack on the Pentagon on 9/11. This is politically correct nonsense from The Donald. It isn’t truth, it isn’t brash, and it isn’t honest.</p>
<p>The media know this, but they hate Cruz, so they’ll play along. Remember this: when former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani ran for president in 2008, the media scoffed every time he mentioned 9/11. Now Donald Trump does it to benefit himself politically, and they’re drooling.</p>
<p>In fact, the media attention to the Cruz/Trump “New York values” spat demonstrates more than anything else just how insular and self-centered New York media are. Their response to Cruz’s comments actually reinforces Cruz’s argument, as this insane cover from today’s New York Daily News shows:</p>
<p />
<p>But no, there are no New York values.</p>
<p>Bartiromo’s foolish suggestion that she didn’t know what “New York values” means is ridiculous. Everyone knows what it means, including New Yorkers. New York values, in one image, from The New Yorker circa 1979:</p>
<p />
<p>The media of New York City playing dumb on “New York values” while they look down their noses at the rest of the country is the height of ridiculousness.</p>
<p>Mark Twain knew what New York values were: “All men in New York insult you--there seem to be no exceptions. There are exceptions of course--have been--but they are probably dead. I am speaking of all persons there who are clothed in a little brief authority.” That was in 1885. Nothing has changed.</p>
<p>New Yorkers are famous for being rude, socially liberal, in favor of big government, in favor of social leftism – and most of all, convinced of their own superiority. This is why everyone hates Yankees fans.</p>
<p>There are wonderful things about New Yorkers, too. But when people say that someone is “New York” outside New York, everybody knows what they mean, just as if they say that someone is “Texas” outside Texas, everybody knows what they mean.</p>
<p>Similarly, New York conservatives complaining about Cruz’s comment that not a lot of conservatives come out of Manhattan should have their heads examined. This is the state that elected Robert Kennedy and Hillary Clinton, a state whose current governor, Andrew Cuomo, said back in 2010 that all the people who are pro-traditional marriage, pro-life, or pro-gun “have no place in the state of New York.”</p>
<p>And conservatives all over the country have a problem with New York Republicanism. As they should. New York Republicanism is the Republicanism of John Lindsey and Nelson Rockefeller. Even the William F. Buckley crowd name-checked by Trump is considered “establishment” by no less than Donald Trump.</p>
<p>And New Yorkers have an outsized impact on the Republican nomination process. New York hasn’t voted for a Republican since 1984, but as David Wasserman of FiveThirtyEight.com recently pointed out:</p>
<p>According to the RNC’s allotment rules, three delegates are at stake in each district, regardless of the partisan lopsidedness of the seat. This creates a “ <a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rotten%20borough" type="external">rotten boroughs</a>” phenomenon in which Blue Zone Republicans’ votes can be disproportionately valuable. For example, three delegates are up for grabs in New York’s heavily Latino, Bronx-based 15th District, which cast just 5,315 votes for Romney in 2012. But there are also three delegates at stake in Alabama’s 6th District, which covers Birmingham’s whitest suburbs and gave Romney 233,803 votes. In other words, a GOP primary vote cast in the bluest part of the Bronx could be worth 43 times more than a vote cast in the reddest part of Alabama.</p>
<p>So yes, “New York values” means something. And it means more to those outside New York than those inside New York, who live in their own bubble and to whom the rest of the country is “flyover” territory.</p> | No, Cruz's 'New York Values' Slam Won't Hurt Him. Because He's Right, And Even New Yorkers Know It. | true | https://dailywire.com/news/2643/no-cruzs-new-york-values-slam-wont-hurt-him-ben-shapiro | 2016-01-15 | 0right
| No, Cruz's 'New York Values' Slam Won't Hurt Him. Because He's Right, And Even New Yorkers Know It.
<p>The more I think about the explosive exchange between Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Donald Trump about “New York values,” the less I think it will hurt Cruz, and the more cynical and gross both Trump and the media seem.</p>
<p>Here’s the text of the relevant portion of the exchange:</p>
<p>BARTIROMO: Senator Cruz, you suggested Mr. Trump, quote, “embodies New York values.” Could you explain what you mean by that?</p>
<p>CRUZ: You know, I think most people know exactly what New York values are.</p>
<p>BARTIROMO: I am from New York. I don’t.</p>
<p>CRUZ: What — what — you’re from New York? So you might not. But I promise you, in the state of South Carolina, they do. And listen, there are many, many wonderful, wonderful working men and women in the state of New York. But everyone understands that the values in New York City are socially liberal or pro-abortion or pro- gay-marriage, focus around money and the media….Not a lot of conservatives come out of Manhattan. I’m just saying.</p>
<p>BARTIROMO: Are you sure about that?</p>
<p>CAVUTO: Maria...</p>
<p>TRUMP: So conservatives actually do come out of Manhattan, including William F. Buckley and others, just so you understand. And just so — if I could, because he insulted a lot of people. I’ve had more calls on that statement that Ted made — New York is a great place. It’s got great people, it’s got loving people, wonderful people. When the World Trade Center came down, I saw something that no place on Earth could have handled more beautifully, more humanely than New York. You had two one hundred...you had two 110-story buildings come crashing down. I saw them come down. Thousands of people killed, and the cleanup started the next day, and it was the most horrific cleanup, probably in the history of doing this, and in construction. I was down there, and I’ve never seen anything like it. And the people in New York fought and fought and fought, and we saw more death, and even the smell of death — nobody understood it. And it was with us for months, the smell, the air. And we rebuilt downtown Manhattan, and everybody in the world watched and everybody in the world loved New York and loved New Yorkers. And I have to tell you, that was a very insulting statement that Ted made.</p>
<p>A few initial points. First off, Trump’s play here is incredibly manipulative and nasty. Obviously, Cruz didn’t mean to suggest that the behavior of New Yorkers on 9/11 was anything less than exemplary. Cruz insults DC values constantly, but nobody suggests that he’s insulting the behavior of people from DC in their response to an attack on the Pentagon on 9/11. This is politically correct nonsense from The Donald. It isn’t truth, it isn’t brash, and it isn’t honest.</p>
<p>The media know this, but they hate Cruz, so they’ll play along. Remember this: when former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani ran for president in 2008, the media scoffed every time he mentioned 9/11. Now Donald Trump does it to benefit himself politically, and they’re drooling.</p>
<p>In fact, the media attention to the Cruz/Trump “New York values” spat demonstrates more than anything else just how insular and self-centered New York media are. Their response to Cruz’s comments actually reinforces Cruz’s argument, as this insane cover from today’s New York Daily News shows:</p>
<p />
<p>But no, there are no New York values.</p>
<p>Bartiromo’s foolish suggestion that she didn’t know what “New York values” means is ridiculous. Everyone knows what it means, including New Yorkers. New York values, in one image, from The New Yorker circa 1979:</p>
<p />
<p>The media of New York City playing dumb on “New York values” while they look down their noses at the rest of the country is the height of ridiculousness.</p>
<p>Mark Twain knew what New York values were: “All men in New York insult you--there seem to be no exceptions. There are exceptions of course--have been--but they are probably dead. I am speaking of all persons there who are clothed in a little brief authority.” That was in 1885. Nothing has changed.</p>
<p>New Yorkers are famous for being rude, socially liberal, in favor of big government, in favor of social leftism – and most of all, convinced of their own superiority. This is why everyone hates Yankees fans.</p>
<p>There are wonderful things about New Yorkers, too. But when people say that someone is “New York” outside New York, everybody knows what they mean, just as if they say that someone is “Texas” outside Texas, everybody knows what they mean.</p>
<p>Similarly, New York conservatives complaining about Cruz’s comment that not a lot of conservatives come out of Manhattan should have their heads examined. This is the state that elected Robert Kennedy and Hillary Clinton, a state whose current governor, Andrew Cuomo, said back in 2010 that all the people who are pro-traditional marriage, pro-life, or pro-gun “have no place in the state of New York.”</p>
<p>And conservatives all over the country have a problem with New York Republicanism. As they should. New York Republicanism is the Republicanism of John Lindsey and Nelson Rockefeller. Even the William F. Buckley crowd name-checked by Trump is considered “establishment” by no less than Donald Trump.</p>
<p>And New Yorkers have an outsized impact on the Republican nomination process. New York hasn’t voted for a Republican since 1984, but as David Wasserman of FiveThirtyEight.com recently pointed out:</p>
<p>According to the RNC’s allotment rules, three delegates are at stake in each district, regardless of the partisan lopsidedness of the seat. This creates a “ <a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rotten%20borough" type="external">rotten boroughs</a>” phenomenon in which Blue Zone Republicans’ votes can be disproportionately valuable. For example, three delegates are up for grabs in New York’s heavily Latino, Bronx-based 15th District, which cast just 5,315 votes for Romney in 2012. But there are also three delegates at stake in Alabama’s 6th District, which covers Birmingham’s whitest suburbs and gave Romney 233,803 votes. In other words, a GOP primary vote cast in the bluest part of the Bronx could be worth 43 times more than a vote cast in the reddest part of Alabama.</p>
<p>So yes, “New York values” means something. And it means more to those outside New York than those inside New York, who live in their own bubble and to whom the rest of the country is “flyover” territory.</p> | 1,875 |
<p>Little Kate Summersgill certainly didn’t look like a child with Down syndrome — no upward slanting eyes or telltale flat facial features.</p>
<p>Devon and Mike Summersgill had believed baby Kate was all but certain to be born with the intellect-stunting disorder because of a blood test Devon’s doctor recommended during her 2014 pregnancy. Even after the birth, when their baby looked fine, their genetic counselor, Laura Limone, insisted that the result of the test was not a mistake, Devon&#160;says.</p>
<p>Only after the New Jersey couple&#160;agonized over Kate’s future and spent almost $2,000 more on another test were they satisfied that Limone was wrong — their baby was fine. And when they learned that Limone had a financial relationship with the company that makes the test, called MaterniT21 PLUS, they wondered whether money had influenced the counselor’s&#160;advice.</p>
<p>“My first reaction was just utter confusion followed by anger,” said Devon Summersgill, 33, a special education&#160;teacher.</p>
<p>Parents are starting to question the independence of the fast-growing field of genetic counseling as more and more counselors are paid by the companies that make the tests. About 14 percent of the nation’s 4,000 genetic counselors worked directly for testing labs in 2014, up from 9 percent just two years earlier, according to the latest count by their professional society. The balance tend to work for hospitals or doctors’ practices.</p>
<p>“It’s a mass exodus to labs,” where pay tends to be higher and the perks are better, said Cori Feist, a genetic counselor with Oregon Health &amp; Science University.</p>
<p />
<p>Eighteen states, Massachusetts among them, license genetic counselors, but none of them require disclosure to patients if a counselor is paid by a&#160;lab.</p>
<p>Limone, the counselor in the Summersgill case, does not work directly for a lab. She disclosed in a medical journal last year that she is a member of the “speaker’s bureau” for Sequenom Inc., maker of MaterniT21, and has been paid to speak about its test. Sequenom confirmed it has paid&#160;her.</p>
<p>Limone said that she does not order tests for any financial gain, and offers patients tests made by multiple companies. She said that she did not order the Sequenom test for Summersgill, but otherwise declined to comment on the&#160;case.</p>
<p>“I have no difficulty making decisions based on sound science,” Limone said by&#160;email.</p>
<p>But the insurance industry and some state regulators are beginning to crack down on the ties between genetic counselors and the testing companies. As of this year, some health plans offered by insurer UnitedHealthcare no longer cover certain genetic tests ordered by counselors that work for labs. Cigna Corp. already has a similar&#160;policy.</p>
<p>Concerns are also growing that counselors working in close proximity to patients in doctors’ offices may be over-promoting tests. Pennsylvania and Florida have prohibited lab personnel, including genetic counselors, from working at health-care providers’&#160;sites.</p>
<p>George J. Annas, a bioethicist at Boston University’s School of Public Health, said counselors have an incentive to favor companies that pay them, and that may color what they tell patients, including what to say about a test’s limitations. Whenever a “highly competitive commercial business” gets involved in medical choices, “you’ve got problems,” he&#160;said.</p>
<p>Officials at Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings, which sells a broad array of tests, says the 140 genetic counselors they employ always put the patient first. F. Samuel Eberts III, the company’s chief legal officer, said having counselors based in doctors’ practices — fewer than half of the company’s total — is convenient for patients. “There is no potential or real conflict of interest,” he said in an email. The counselors aren’t salespeople and can offer tests from other companies, he&#160;wrote.</p>
<p>There’s little question that genetic counselors are operating in a more free-wheeling environment than other health care professionals. The Food and Drug Administration doesn’t regulate the majority of the estimated 13,000 genetic tests offered by U.S. labs, according to a federal database. Companies don’t have to prove to regulators that their tests are accurate to be able to sell&#160;them.</p>
<p>Most medical companies must report how much they pay doctors for research, royalties, travel and speaking fees, but the federal law doesn’t cover payments to genetic counselors. As a result, patients often have no easy way to know whether their counselor has a possible conflict of interest.</p>
<p />
<p>Jessica Daviso, whose baby is due in April, says a genetic counselor employed by a lab did not tell her a prenatal test result she received was probably wrong.</p>
<p>Shawn Musgrave/NECIR</p>
<p>All prenatal screening tests have limitations, but counselors don’t always explain them clearly, something Jessica Daviso of Andover, Massachusetts, learned in an alarming way. Daviso said her lab-employed counselor never told her “that my test result was probably wrong.”</p>
<p>Daviso, 33, received a prenatal test result from California-based Counsyl Inc., a lab company, in October that indicated a high likelihood her fetus had Turner syndrome, a condition marked by short stature and infertility in girls, according to emails between her and a Counsyl genetic counselor, Kristen&#160;Rauch.</p>
<p>Rauch told Daviso that a recent study showed the “false positive” rate for Turner and similar syndromes was about 1 percent, the emails show, and recommended a second test that would confirm the condition.</p>
<p>Daviso and her husband Eugenio then sought out experts at Tufts Medical Center, where a genetic counselor looked at the test and other factors, including her age and other personal data, and estimated there was only about a 14 percent chance that her fetus had Turner’s – not the near certainty that Daviso said she was led to&#160;believe.</p>
<p>That’s because the false positive rate is only one factor in measuring a test’s accuracy. In pregnancy, it represents the percentage of times that women carrying healthy fetuses are given false&#160;alarms.</p>
<p>But a pregnant woman who receives a positive result needs to know something more: among the much smaller group of women who test positive, how often is the test right? Many prenatal genetic-test companies do not prominently advertise this rate, known as the positive predictive value, the New England Center for Investigative Reporting has&#160;found.</p>
<p>After the Tufts input and ultrasounds that have not indicated a problem, Daviso declined to have the more-definitive test, which carries a risk of miscarriage. She is due in April and says she and her husband believe there’s little chance the baby will have&#160;Turner.</p>
<p>“The accuracy of these tests comes directly from the labs that analyze the results and seek to profit most from [their] administration,” said Daviso. “The companies are promoting an inaccurate&#160;test.”</p>
<p>Rauch declined to comment, but the company’s chief science officer, Eric Evans, said Counsyl helps patients understand that the test Daviso had only reports the chance of a problem. If someone tests positive, he said, a diagnostic test is needed for confirmation. The company has reported numbers on the likelihood that a positive test result is correct for several genetic conditions, but not for Turner syndrome, Evans wrote. He said the company was working toward “incorporating these into future reports.”</p>
<p>The genetic counseling field is exploding — with 29 percent job growth forecast over the next decade — in large measure because labs offer non-invasive prenatal tests, or NIPTs, which require only a simple blood&#160;sample.</p>
<p />
<p>Other prenatal tests, such as amniocentesis, require fluid extraction from areas close to the fetus, bringing a risk of miscarriage.</p>
<p>The tests usually retail between $700 and $3,000 and are expanding rapidly. One market research firm estimated the global market at $563 million in 2014, and predicted 18 percent annual growth through&#160;2020.</p>
<p>Several studies have found that non-invasive test results indicating a fetus is at high risk for some genetic problems can be wrong more than 50 percent of the&#160;time.</p>
<p>Some women appear to have terminated pregnancies based on the screening test alone, according to scientists and an industry-funded study. Officials at Stanford University in California said in 2014 that there have been at least three cases of women aborting healthy fetuses relying on results of a genetic screening&#160;test.</p>
<p>“Women are not getting complete information,” said Dr. John Williams III, director of Reproductive Genetics at Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles. “We have seen several cases in which the NIPT test results were false positives.”</p>
<p>But commercial labs say genetic counselors understand the science behind the tests and that they play a vital role presenting accurate information to both doctors and patients.</p>
<p>Physicians who can’t keep up with the fast-changing science “value the testing but don’t always feel equipped to fully use it,” said Rachel Klein, a genetic-counseling manager for New Jersey-based BioReference Laboratories, which offers a broad range of genetic tests including prenatal diagnostics. The company employs 130 genetic counselors, whose roles include post-test counseling and accompanying sales teams to physicians’&#160;offices.</p>
<p>Still, some commercial labs such as BioReference and Quest Diagnostics Inc. that place a limited number of counselors in doctors’ offices, say they are phasing out the practice.</p>
<p>Devon Summersgill said it was her obstetrician, Dr. Neil Russo, who suggested she give a blood sample for Sequenom’s MaterniT21.</p>
<p>After the positive test result, Summersgill said Russo told her the screening test was 99 percent accurate and referred the couple to New Jersey Perinatal Associates, a high-risk pregnancy practice where Limone works. Limone said she is not paid by Sequenom for New Jersey Perinatal test&#160;orders.</p>
<p>Summersgill said Limone told her the test was almost certainly accurate. Limone said that the false positive rate for the test was tiny — 0.2 percent, according to medical records the Summersgills shared with NECIR. The Summersgills say Limone told them an amniocentesis would have to be done to confirm the&#160;finding.</p>
<p>Dr. Leon G. Smith, Jr., of New Jersey Perinatal, wrote to Summersgill’s obstetrician, saying she was “counseled” about “the definitive nature of NIPT studies” and said that there was a “very high likelihood that this baby has fetal Down syndrome.”</p>
<p>As a teacher, Summersgill had dealt with children with Down syndrome, and she and her husband had already decided abortion wasn’t an option because “we felt she could live a happy and fulfilling life.” They chose not to risk a confirmatory amniocentesis. The test result, and Limone’s comments felt “pretty definitive,” Summersgill&#160;said.</p>
<p>They began telling family and friends, that their daughter was almost certainly going to have the condition.</p>
<p>After Kate’s 2014 birth, another genetic test the couple sought from a hospital seemed to rule out Down, and they began to breathe easier. Then came a follow-up call from the obstetrician, Russo, who ordered the original test. The doctor insisted that he had never heard of a MaterniT21 test being wrong, according to Summersgill, and suggested another call to&#160;Limone.</p>
<p>Russo declined to&#160;comment.</p>
<p>Dr. Wayne LaMorte, who teaches medical-test interpretation in a course at Boston University, calculated that a positive Down screen from Sequenom was correct for someone of Summersgill’s age only about half the&#160;time.</p>
<p>The Summersgills said Limone never told them the test could be wrong so often for someone of her age group and did not disclose her association with Sequenom when she counseled them on the test results. They say the experience has left them concerned that women may terminate pregnancies based on test results that are shakier than portrayed.</p>
<p>“We squeezed a life time of worry into six months of pregnancy,” Mike Summersgill&#160;said.</p>
<p>This report was produced in partnership with the&#160; <a href="http://www.mcgrawcenter.org/" type="external">McGraw Center for Business Journalism</a>&#160;at the&#160; <a href="http://www.journalism.cuny.edu/" type="external">CUNY Graduate School of Journalism</a>&#160;with support from the&#160; <a href="http://www.nihcm.org/" type="external">National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation</a>. Shawn Musgrave,&#160;Caitlin Bawn and Ellen Cranley contributed to this report.</p>
<p>The&#160; <a href="http://necir.org/" type="external">New England Center for Investigative Reporting</a>&#160;is a nonprofit newsroom based at Boston University and WGBH.&#160;Beth Daley can be reached at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a>.&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Questionable calls? Genetic counselors seen as downplaying false alarms | false | https://pri.org/stories/2016-03-09/questionable-calls-genetic-counselors-seen-downplaying-false-alarms | 2016-03-09 | 3left-center
| Questionable calls? Genetic counselors seen as downplaying false alarms
<p>Little Kate Summersgill certainly didn’t look like a child with Down syndrome — no upward slanting eyes or telltale flat facial features.</p>
<p>Devon and Mike Summersgill had believed baby Kate was all but certain to be born with the intellect-stunting disorder because of a blood test Devon’s doctor recommended during her 2014 pregnancy. Even after the birth, when their baby looked fine, their genetic counselor, Laura Limone, insisted that the result of the test was not a mistake, Devon&#160;says.</p>
<p>Only after the New Jersey couple&#160;agonized over Kate’s future and spent almost $2,000 more on another test were they satisfied that Limone was wrong — their baby was fine. And when they learned that Limone had a financial relationship with the company that makes the test, called MaterniT21 PLUS, they wondered whether money had influenced the counselor’s&#160;advice.</p>
<p>“My first reaction was just utter confusion followed by anger,” said Devon Summersgill, 33, a special education&#160;teacher.</p>
<p>Parents are starting to question the independence of the fast-growing field of genetic counseling as more and more counselors are paid by the companies that make the tests. About 14 percent of the nation’s 4,000 genetic counselors worked directly for testing labs in 2014, up from 9 percent just two years earlier, according to the latest count by their professional society. The balance tend to work for hospitals or doctors’ practices.</p>
<p>“It’s a mass exodus to labs,” where pay tends to be higher and the perks are better, said Cori Feist, a genetic counselor with Oregon Health &amp; Science University.</p>
<p />
<p>Eighteen states, Massachusetts among them, license genetic counselors, but none of them require disclosure to patients if a counselor is paid by a&#160;lab.</p>
<p>Limone, the counselor in the Summersgill case, does not work directly for a lab. She disclosed in a medical journal last year that she is a member of the “speaker’s bureau” for Sequenom Inc., maker of MaterniT21, and has been paid to speak about its test. Sequenom confirmed it has paid&#160;her.</p>
<p>Limone said that she does not order tests for any financial gain, and offers patients tests made by multiple companies. She said that she did not order the Sequenom test for Summersgill, but otherwise declined to comment on the&#160;case.</p>
<p>“I have no difficulty making decisions based on sound science,” Limone said by&#160;email.</p>
<p>But the insurance industry and some state regulators are beginning to crack down on the ties between genetic counselors and the testing companies. As of this year, some health plans offered by insurer UnitedHealthcare no longer cover certain genetic tests ordered by counselors that work for labs. Cigna Corp. already has a similar&#160;policy.</p>
<p>Concerns are also growing that counselors working in close proximity to patients in doctors’ offices may be over-promoting tests. Pennsylvania and Florida have prohibited lab personnel, including genetic counselors, from working at health-care providers’&#160;sites.</p>
<p>George J. Annas, a bioethicist at Boston University’s School of Public Health, said counselors have an incentive to favor companies that pay them, and that may color what they tell patients, including what to say about a test’s limitations. Whenever a “highly competitive commercial business” gets involved in medical choices, “you’ve got problems,” he&#160;said.</p>
<p>Officials at Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings, which sells a broad array of tests, says the 140 genetic counselors they employ always put the patient first. F. Samuel Eberts III, the company’s chief legal officer, said having counselors based in doctors’ practices — fewer than half of the company’s total — is convenient for patients. “There is no potential or real conflict of interest,” he said in an email. The counselors aren’t salespeople and can offer tests from other companies, he&#160;wrote.</p>
<p>There’s little question that genetic counselors are operating in a more free-wheeling environment than other health care professionals. The Food and Drug Administration doesn’t regulate the majority of the estimated 13,000 genetic tests offered by U.S. labs, according to a federal database. Companies don’t have to prove to regulators that their tests are accurate to be able to sell&#160;them.</p>
<p>Most medical companies must report how much they pay doctors for research, royalties, travel and speaking fees, but the federal law doesn’t cover payments to genetic counselors. As a result, patients often have no easy way to know whether their counselor has a possible conflict of interest.</p>
<p />
<p>Jessica Daviso, whose baby is due in April, says a genetic counselor employed by a lab did not tell her a prenatal test result she received was probably wrong.</p>
<p>Shawn Musgrave/NECIR</p>
<p>All prenatal screening tests have limitations, but counselors don’t always explain them clearly, something Jessica Daviso of Andover, Massachusetts, learned in an alarming way. Daviso said her lab-employed counselor never told her “that my test result was probably wrong.”</p>
<p>Daviso, 33, received a prenatal test result from California-based Counsyl Inc., a lab company, in October that indicated a high likelihood her fetus had Turner syndrome, a condition marked by short stature and infertility in girls, according to emails between her and a Counsyl genetic counselor, Kristen&#160;Rauch.</p>
<p>Rauch told Daviso that a recent study showed the “false positive” rate for Turner and similar syndromes was about 1 percent, the emails show, and recommended a second test that would confirm the condition.</p>
<p>Daviso and her husband Eugenio then sought out experts at Tufts Medical Center, where a genetic counselor looked at the test and other factors, including her age and other personal data, and estimated there was only about a 14 percent chance that her fetus had Turner’s – not the near certainty that Daviso said she was led to&#160;believe.</p>
<p>That’s because the false positive rate is only one factor in measuring a test’s accuracy. In pregnancy, it represents the percentage of times that women carrying healthy fetuses are given false&#160;alarms.</p>
<p>But a pregnant woman who receives a positive result needs to know something more: among the much smaller group of women who test positive, how often is the test right? Many prenatal genetic-test companies do not prominently advertise this rate, known as the positive predictive value, the New England Center for Investigative Reporting has&#160;found.</p>
<p>After the Tufts input and ultrasounds that have not indicated a problem, Daviso declined to have the more-definitive test, which carries a risk of miscarriage. She is due in April and says she and her husband believe there’s little chance the baby will have&#160;Turner.</p>
<p>“The accuracy of these tests comes directly from the labs that analyze the results and seek to profit most from [their] administration,” said Daviso. “The companies are promoting an inaccurate&#160;test.”</p>
<p>Rauch declined to comment, but the company’s chief science officer, Eric Evans, said Counsyl helps patients understand that the test Daviso had only reports the chance of a problem. If someone tests positive, he said, a diagnostic test is needed for confirmation. The company has reported numbers on the likelihood that a positive test result is correct for several genetic conditions, but not for Turner syndrome, Evans wrote. He said the company was working toward “incorporating these into future reports.”</p>
<p>The genetic counseling field is exploding — with 29 percent job growth forecast over the next decade — in large measure because labs offer non-invasive prenatal tests, or NIPTs, which require only a simple blood&#160;sample.</p>
<p />
<p>Other prenatal tests, such as amniocentesis, require fluid extraction from areas close to the fetus, bringing a risk of miscarriage.</p>
<p>The tests usually retail between $700 and $3,000 and are expanding rapidly. One market research firm estimated the global market at $563 million in 2014, and predicted 18 percent annual growth through&#160;2020.</p>
<p>Several studies have found that non-invasive test results indicating a fetus is at high risk for some genetic problems can be wrong more than 50 percent of the&#160;time.</p>
<p>Some women appear to have terminated pregnancies based on the screening test alone, according to scientists and an industry-funded study. Officials at Stanford University in California said in 2014 that there have been at least three cases of women aborting healthy fetuses relying on results of a genetic screening&#160;test.</p>
<p>“Women are not getting complete information,” said Dr. John Williams III, director of Reproductive Genetics at Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles. “We have seen several cases in which the NIPT test results were false positives.”</p>
<p>But commercial labs say genetic counselors understand the science behind the tests and that they play a vital role presenting accurate information to both doctors and patients.</p>
<p>Physicians who can’t keep up with the fast-changing science “value the testing but don’t always feel equipped to fully use it,” said Rachel Klein, a genetic-counseling manager for New Jersey-based BioReference Laboratories, which offers a broad range of genetic tests including prenatal diagnostics. The company employs 130 genetic counselors, whose roles include post-test counseling and accompanying sales teams to physicians’&#160;offices.</p>
<p>Still, some commercial labs such as BioReference and Quest Diagnostics Inc. that place a limited number of counselors in doctors’ offices, say they are phasing out the practice.</p>
<p>Devon Summersgill said it was her obstetrician, Dr. Neil Russo, who suggested she give a blood sample for Sequenom’s MaterniT21.</p>
<p>After the positive test result, Summersgill said Russo told her the screening test was 99 percent accurate and referred the couple to New Jersey Perinatal Associates, a high-risk pregnancy practice where Limone works. Limone said she is not paid by Sequenom for New Jersey Perinatal test&#160;orders.</p>
<p>Summersgill said Limone told her the test was almost certainly accurate. Limone said that the false positive rate for the test was tiny — 0.2 percent, according to medical records the Summersgills shared with NECIR. The Summersgills say Limone told them an amniocentesis would have to be done to confirm the&#160;finding.</p>
<p>Dr. Leon G. Smith, Jr., of New Jersey Perinatal, wrote to Summersgill’s obstetrician, saying she was “counseled” about “the definitive nature of NIPT studies” and said that there was a “very high likelihood that this baby has fetal Down syndrome.”</p>
<p>As a teacher, Summersgill had dealt with children with Down syndrome, and she and her husband had already decided abortion wasn’t an option because “we felt she could live a happy and fulfilling life.” They chose not to risk a confirmatory amniocentesis. The test result, and Limone’s comments felt “pretty definitive,” Summersgill&#160;said.</p>
<p>They began telling family and friends, that their daughter was almost certainly going to have the condition.</p>
<p>After Kate’s 2014 birth, another genetic test the couple sought from a hospital seemed to rule out Down, and they began to breathe easier. Then came a follow-up call from the obstetrician, Russo, who ordered the original test. The doctor insisted that he had never heard of a MaterniT21 test being wrong, according to Summersgill, and suggested another call to&#160;Limone.</p>
<p>Russo declined to&#160;comment.</p>
<p>Dr. Wayne LaMorte, who teaches medical-test interpretation in a course at Boston University, calculated that a positive Down screen from Sequenom was correct for someone of Summersgill’s age only about half the&#160;time.</p>
<p>The Summersgills said Limone never told them the test could be wrong so often for someone of her age group and did not disclose her association with Sequenom when she counseled them on the test results. They say the experience has left them concerned that women may terminate pregnancies based on test results that are shakier than portrayed.</p>
<p>“We squeezed a life time of worry into six months of pregnancy,” Mike Summersgill&#160;said.</p>
<p>This report was produced in partnership with the&#160; <a href="http://www.mcgrawcenter.org/" type="external">McGraw Center for Business Journalism</a>&#160;at the&#160; <a href="http://www.journalism.cuny.edu/" type="external">CUNY Graduate School of Journalism</a>&#160;with support from the&#160; <a href="http://www.nihcm.org/" type="external">National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation</a>. Shawn Musgrave,&#160;Caitlin Bawn and Ellen Cranley contributed to this report.</p>
<p>The&#160; <a href="http://necir.org/" type="external">New England Center for Investigative Reporting</a>&#160;is a nonprofit newsroom based at Boston University and WGBH.&#160;Beth Daley can be reached at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a>.&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | 1,876 |
<p>SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Latest on Tiger Woods' opening round Thursday at the Farmers Insurance Open (all times EST):</p>
<p>2:30 p.m.</p>
<p>Tiger Woods is 1-over in his first three holes in the opening round of the Farmers Classic at Torrey Pines and already showing his frustration.</p>
<p>He opened with bogey, par, par on the South Course. His tee shot on No. 1 went way left and his second shot landed in a greenside bunker. On No. 2, he overshot the green and grimaced. On the par-3 third hole, his birdie putt rolled to the right of the hole and he squatted down in frustration.</p>
<p>Woods is starting his season at a course that has been good to him over the years. He's won this tournament seven times, and this course is where he had his dramatic U.S. Open win in 2008 and a Junior World Championship as a teenager.</p>
<p>He is returning after fusion surgery on his lower back last April, his fourth back operation in three years. When he tried to return after a 16-month break last year at Torrey Pines, he missed the 36-hole cut.</p>
<p>Woods said he no longer has pain in his back.</p>
<p>This will be only his second PGA Tour event since August 2015.</p>
<p>— Bernie Wilson reporting in San Diego.</p>
<p>SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Latest on Tiger Woods' opening round Thursday at the Farmers Insurance Open (all times EST):</p>
<p>2:30 p.m.</p>
<p>Tiger Woods is 1-over in his first three holes in the opening round of the Farmers Classic at Torrey Pines and already showing his frustration.</p>
<p>He opened with bogey, par, par on the South Course. His tee shot on No. 1 went way left and his second shot landed in a greenside bunker. On No. 2, he overshot the green and grimaced. On the par-3 third hole, his birdie putt rolled to the right of the hole and he squatted down in frustration.</p>
<p>Woods is starting his season at a course that has been good to him over the years. He's won this tournament seven times, and this course is where he had his dramatic U.S. Open win in 2008 and a Junior World Championship as a teenager.</p>
<p>He is returning after fusion surgery on his lower back last April, his fourth back operation in three years. When he tried to return after a 16-month break last year at Torrey Pines, he missed the 36-hole cut.</p>
<p>Woods said he no longer has pain in his back.</p>
<p>This will be only his second PGA Tour event since August 2015.</p>
<p>— Bernie Wilson reporting in San Diego.</p> | The Latest: Woods 1-over after 3 holes at Farmers Insurance | false | https://apnews.com/amp/05e1fcd3a0e64135888f240373a9b29e | 2018-01-25 | 2least
| The Latest: Woods 1-over after 3 holes at Farmers Insurance
<p>SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Latest on Tiger Woods' opening round Thursday at the Farmers Insurance Open (all times EST):</p>
<p>2:30 p.m.</p>
<p>Tiger Woods is 1-over in his first three holes in the opening round of the Farmers Classic at Torrey Pines and already showing his frustration.</p>
<p>He opened with bogey, par, par on the South Course. His tee shot on No. 1 went way left and his second shot landed in a greenside bunker. On No. 2, he overshot the green and grimaced. On the par-3 third hole, his birdie putt rolled to the right of the hole and he squatted down in frustration.</p>
<p>Woods is starting his season at a course that has been good to him over the years. He's won this tournament seven times, and this course is where he had his dramatic U.S. Open win in 2008 and a Junior World Championship as a teenager.</p>
<p>He is returning after fusion surgery on his lower back last April, his fourth back operation in three years. When he tried to return after a 16-month break last year at Torrey Pines, he missed the 36-hole cut.</p>
<p>Woods said he no longer has pain in his back.</p>
<p>This will be only his second PGA Tour event since August 2015.</p>
<p>— Bernie Wilson reporting in San Diego.</p>
<p>SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Latest on Tiger Woods' opening round Thursday at the Farmers Insurance Open (all times EST):</p>
<p>2:30 p.m.</p>
<p>Tiger Woods is 1-over in his first three holes in the opening round of the Farmers Classic at Torrey Pines and already showing his frustration.</p>
<p>He opened with bogey, par, par on the South Course. His tee shot on No. 1 went way left and his second shot landed in a greenside bunker. On No. 2, he overshot the green and grimaced. On the par-3 third hole, his birdie putt rolled to the right of the hole and he squatted down in frustration.</p>
<p>Woods is starting his season at a course that has been good to him over the years. He's won this tournament seven times, and this course is where he had his dramatic U.S. Open win in 2008 and a Junior World Championship as a teenager.</p>
<p>He is returning after fusion surgery on his lower back last April, his fourth back operation in three years. When he tried to return after a 16-month break last year at Torrey Pines, he missed the 36-hole cut.</p>
<p>Woods said he no longer has pain in his back.</p>
<p>This will be only his second PGA Tour event since August 2015.</p>
<p>— Bernie Wilson reporting in San Diego.</p> | 1,877 |
<p>A friend of mine received an e-mail from Global Associated News, complete with a professional-looking logo of the globe. Their “Breaking News” was about the death of Jeff Goldblum. She forwarded it on to others, including a reporter. Later, when she learned that it was an untrue report, she felt dismayed and guilty about her inadvertent role in helping to spread such a falsehood.</p>
<p>Incidentally, my computer’s spellcheck informs me that “Goldblum” is “Not in dictionary,” suggesting that I use instead: Globule, Godbout, Glabellum or Hoodlum. Furthermore, “spellcheck” itself is not in their dictionary, and I’m advised to use spell-check or spell check.</p>
<p>Anyway, I googled (also not in dictionary) Global Associated News, and there it was, with a notation in red, “This Story Is Still Developing,” preceding the account:</p>
<p>“Actor Jeff Goldblum died while filming a movie in New Zealand early this morning—June 26, 2009. Preliminary reports from New Zealand Police officials indicate that the actor fell more than 60 feet to his death on the Kauri Cliffs while on-set. Specific details are not yet available. The accident occurred at approximately 4:30 a.m. Additional details and information will be forthcoming. New Zealand in recent years has grown in popularity as a backdrop for Hollywood producers because of it’s [sic] scenic and rugged landscape. Recent movies filmed in New Zealand include The Lord of the Rings, King Kong and The Chronicles of Narnia.”</p>
<p>I scrolled down to the bottom, where this admonition appeared:</p>
<p>“This story was dynamically generated using a generic ‘template’ and is not factual. Any reference to specific individuals has been 100% fabricated by web site visitors who have created fake stories by entering a name into a blank ‘non-specific’ template for the purpose of entertainment. For sub-domain and additional use restrictions: FakeAWish.com.”</p>
<p>The logo for “Fake a Wish—Celeb Fake News Generator” is a solid red circle with the warning, “Bullshit.” I’m instructed to “Enter a celebrity name to see a list of fake news items about them. I type “Jeff Goldblum,” only to find out there are three other ways he died: “Actor Jeff Goldblum hospitalized after traffic altercation.” “Luxury yacht sinks off coast of Tropez, France. Jeff Goldblum reported missing.” “Jeff Goldblum presumed dead in private plane crash.”</p>
<p>Plus there’s a link to “Back By Popular Demand! Jeff Goldblum is new Masturbation World Champion!” The link leads to this:</p>
<p>Jeff Goldblum Shatters Masturbation World Record!</p>
<p>“It’s official, Jeff Goldblum is the new king of masturbation. In a stunning feat of endurance and determination, Jeff Goldblum achieved 36 orgasms in a 24 hour period! Sleeping intermittently during the 24 hour marathon, Jeff Goldblum remained focused and aroused by his impressive library of pornographic films. With over 400 films in his library and 3 televisions playing movies at all times, he had a continuous stream of footage to aid him in his quest. It is apparent by the massive development of the muscles in his forearm that Jeff Goldblum is not your average masturbator.</p>
<p>“In an interview with UJ [‘Useless Junk’] reporters after the record setting event, Jeff Goldblum was quoted as saying, ‘Masturbation for me is a way of life. I’ve been training for this day since I was 13 years old and I’m happy with my performance today.’ This record was formerly held by German Student Hans Blickstein who achieved 27 orgasms in a 24 hour period. Mr. Blickstein was not available for comment. When asked what his next world record achievement would be, Jeff Goldblum said, My immediate goal is to get a bag of ice and some lotion on my penis to soothe the burning.’”</p>
<p>I contacted Rich Hoover, the man behind the electronic curtain.</p>
<p>“The whole network started in 1998 with UselessJunk.com,” he told me. “Fake a Wish kind of spawned off after that uploading content, gag things, something to spark water cooler conversations. Information didn’t travel as quickly as it does today. It’s incredible how fast these rumors have gone viral. Mind boggling. I started with a cubicle environment in mind, me being in a cubicle myself. Just type a name into the generator and then tap your neighbor on the shoulder to come look at your PC, and everybody could laugh about a fake story. A lot of these fake stories originally started with non-celebrities. The arrested ones—car crash, possible DUI—hurt their reputation, and the non-celebrities freaked out, so I focused more on celebrity templates.”</p>
<p>The roster of fake death reports that have gone megaviral includes Tom Hanks (2006) and Tom Cruise (2008); both fell to their death in New Zealand. Hoover has never been threatened with a libel suit, except for one “cease and desist” request, from Michael Vick for a report about his coming out of the closet. Vick even went on live TV in Atlanta to deny rumors that he’s gay, claiming defamation of character. That kind of homophobia, coming from a man who was convicted of organizing vicious dog fights, is mighty ludicrous.</p>
<p>I decided to type in the name Miley Cyrus on FakeAWish.com, and this is what I found:</p>
<p>“Actor Miley Cyrus hospitalized after traffic altercation.”</p>
<p>“Luxury yacht sinks off coast of St. Tropaz, France. Miley Cyrus reported missing.”</p>
<p>“Miley Cyrus dies after falling from cliff in New Zealand.”</p>
<p>“Miley Cyrus Presumed dead in Private Plane Crash.”</p>
<p>“Back By Popular Demand! Miley Cyrus is new Masturbation Champion!”</p>
<p>I clicked on that icon, and it linked me to the same exact story as Jeff Goldblum, with Miley’s name at every point where Goldblum’s was, but—due to a template limited by its own sexist programming–the pronouns remain masculine. The final sentence reads, “When asked what his next world record achievement would be, Miley Cyrus said, ‘My immediate goal is to get a bag of ice and some lotion on my penis to soothe the burning.’” Good luck, Miley!</p>
<p>Goldblum had made a cameo appearance each night that week on Comedy Central’s Colbert Report. A staffer tipped me off that one of Stephen Colbert’s writers had been assigned to instigate the fake news item in the hope that it would Facebook-and-Twitter its way into viral status, just so that Goldblum could then personally insist on the show that he was still alive. At 2:30 a.m. last night, I checked the Goldblum site, which now reads, “Actor Jeff Goldblum died while filming a movie in New Zealand early this morning—July 7, 2009.” How could he have denied on TV a story about his death that had not yet been published? But the site is automatically refreshed so that the date changes every midnight. This was just like Groundhog Day, with Goldblum dying in the same way again and again, every morning at approximately 4:30 a.m.</p>
<p>I told Hoover how the prank was perpetrated, but he insisted it was merely “a coincidence that went viral. There’s no way that the show’s producers would have found FakeAWish.com and been able to successfully send it viral with any level of confidence it would actually be a hit. Thousands of celebrity names hit the site, but very few of them ever gain traction.” Had I, a professional prankster, been the “victim” of a hoax myself? In my recent interview on Larry King Live, we discussed the ethics of fake news. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/CityLightsBooks" type="external">Here’s a clip from that show</a>.</p>
<p>PAUL KRASSNER edited Pot Stories For Soul, available at <a href="http://paulkrassner.com" type="external">paulkrassner.com</a>.</p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | How Jeff Goldblum Didn’t Die | true | https://counterpunch.org/2009/07/09/how-jeff-goldblum-didn-t-die/ | 2009-07-09 | 4left
| How Jeff Goldblum Didn’t Die
<p>A friend of mine received an e-mail from Global Associated News, complete with a professional-looking logo of the globe. Their “Breaking News” was about the death of Jeff Goldblum. She forwarded it on to others, including a reporter. Later, when she learned that it was an untrue report, she felt dismayed and guilty about her inadvertent role in helping to spread such a falsehood.</p>
<p>Incidentally, my computer’s spellcheck informs me that “Goldblum” is “Not in dictionary,” suggesting that I use instead: Globule, Godbout, Glabellum or Hoodlum. Furthermore, “spellcheck” itself is not in their dictionary, and I’m advised to use spell-check or spell check.</p>
<p>Anyway, I googled (also not in dictionary) Global Associated News, and there it was, with a notation in red, “This Story Is Still Developing,” preceding the account:</p>
<p>“Actor Jeff Goldblum died while filming a movie in New Zealand early this morning—June 26, 2009. Preliminary reports from New Zealand Police officials indicate that the actor fell more than 60 feet to his death on the Kauri Cliffs while on-set. Specific details are not yet available. The accident occurred at approximately 4:30 a.m. Additional details and information will be forthcoming. New Zealand in recent years has grown in popularity as a backdrop for Hollywood producers because of it’s [sic] scenic and rugged landscape. Recent movies filmed in New Zealand include The Lord of the Rings, King Kong and The Chronicles of Narnia.”</p>
<p>I scrolled down to the bottom, where this admonition appeared:</p>
<p>“This story was dynamically generated using a generic ‘template’ and is not factual. Any reference to specific individuals has been 100% fabricated by web site visitors who have created fake stories by entering a name into a blank ‘non-specific’ template for the purpose of entertainment. For sub-domain and additional use restrictions: FakeAWish.com.”</p>
<p>The logo for “Fake a Wish—Celeb Fake News Generator” is a solid red circle with the warning, “Bullshit.” I’m instructed to “Enter a celebrity name to see a list of fake news items about them. I type “Jeff Goldblum,” only to find out there are three other ways he died: “Actor Jeff Goldblum hospitalized after traffic altercation.” “Luxury yacht sinks off coast of Tropez, France. Jeff Goldblum reported missing.” “Jeff Goldblum presumed dead in private plane crash.”</p>
<p>Plus there’s a link to “Back By Popular Demand! Jeff Goldblum is new Masturbation World Champion!” The link leads to this:</p>
<p>Jeff Goldblum Shatters Masturbation World Record!</p>
<p>“It’s official, Jeff Goldblum is the new king of masturbation. In a stunning feat of endurance and determination, Jeff Goldblum achieved 36 orgasms in a 24 hour period! Sleeping intermittently during the 24 hour marathon, Jeff Goldblum remained focused and aroused by his impressive library of pornographic films. With over 400 films in his library and 3 televisions playing movies at all times, he had a continuous stream of footage to aid him in his quest. It is apparent by the massive development of the muscles in his forearm that Jeff Goldblum is not your average masturbator.</p>
<p>“In an interview with UJ [‘Useless Junk’] reporters after the record setting event, Jeff Goldblum was quoted as saying, ‘Masturbation for me is a way of life. I’ve been training for this day since I was 13 years old and I’m happy with my performance today.’ This record was formerly held by German Student Hans Blickstein who achieved 27 orgasms in a 24 hour period. Mr. Blickstein was not available for comment. When asked what his next world record achievement would be, Jeff Goldblum said, My immediate goal is to get a bag of ice and some lotion on my penis to soothe the burning.’”</p>
<p>I contacted Rich Hoover, the man behind the electronic curtain.</p>
<p>“The whole network started in 1998 with UselessJunk.com,” he told me. “Fake a Wish kind of spawned off after that uploading content, gag things, something to spark water cooler conversations. Information didn’t travel as quickly as it does today. It’s incredible how fast these rumors have gone viral. Mind boggling. I started with a cubicle environment in mind, me being in a cubicle myself. Just type a name into the generator and then tap your neighbor on the shoulder to come look at your PC, and everybody could laugh about a fake story. A lot of these fake stories originally started with non-celebrities. The arrested ones—car crash, possible DUI—hurt their reputation, and the non-celebrities freaked out, so I focused more on celebrity templates.”</p>
<p>The roster of fake death reports that have gone megaviral includes Tom Hanks (2006) and Tom Cruise (2008); both fell to their death in New Zealand. Hoover has never been threatened with a libel suit, except for one “cease and desist” request, from Michael Vick for a report about his coming out of the closet. Vick even went on live TV in Atlanta to deny rumors that he’s gay, claiming defamation of character. That kind of homophobia, coming from a man who was convicted of organizing vicious dog fights, is mighty ludicrous.</p>
<p>I decided to type in the name Miley Cyrus on FakeAWish.com, and this is what I found:</p>
<p>“Actor Miley Cyrus hospitalized after traffic altercation.”</p>
<p>“Luxury yacht sinks off coast of St. Tropaz, France. Miley Cyrus reported missing.”</p>
<p>“Miley Cyrus dies after falling from cliff in New Zealand.”</p>
<p>“Miley Cyrus Presumed dead in Private Plane Crash.”</p>
<p>“Back By Popular Demand! Miley Cyrus is new Masturbation Champion!”</p>
<p>I clicked on that icon, and it linked me to the same exact story as Jeff Goldblum, with Miley’s name at every point where Goldblum’s was, but—due to a template limited by its own sexist programming–the pronouns remain masculine. The final sentence reads, “When asked what his next world record achievement would be, Miley Cyrus said, ‘My immediate goal is to get a bag of ice and some lotion on my penis to soothe the burning.’” Good luck, Miley!</p>
<p>Goldblum had made a cameo appearance each night that week on Comedy Central’s Colbert Report. A staffer tipped me off that one of Stephen Colbert’s writers had been assigned to instigate the fake news item in the hope that it would Facebook-and-Twitter its way into viral status, just so that Goldblum could then personally insist on the show that he was still alive. At 2:30 a.m. last night, I checked the Goldblum site, which now reads, “Actor Jeff Goldblum died while filming a movie in New Zealand early this morning—July 7, 2009.” How could he have denied on TV a story about his death that had not yet been published? But the site is automatically refreshed so that the date changes every midnight. This was just like Groundhog Day, with Goldblum dying in the same way again and again, every morning at approximately 4:30 a.m.</p>
<p>I told Hoover how the prank was perpetrated, but he insisted it was merely “a coincidence that went viral. There’s no way that the show’s producers would have found FakeAWish.com and been able to successfully send it viral with any level of confidence it would actually be a hit. Thousands of celebrity names hit the site, but very few of them ever gain traction.” Had I, a professional prankster, been the “victim” of a hoax myself? In my recent interview on Larry King Live, we discussed the ethics of fake news. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/CityLightsBooks" type="external">Here’s a clip from that show</a>.</p>
<p>PAUL KRASSNER edited Pot Stories For Soul, available at <a href="http://paulkrassner.com" type="external">paulkrassner.com</a>.</p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | 1,878 |
<p>Investing.com – Poland stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the , and sectors led shares higher.</p>
<p>At the close in Warsaw, the rose 0.40% to hit a new all time high.</p>
<p>The best performers of the session on the were CCC SA (WA:), which rose 3.36% or 8.80 points to trade at 271.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Asseco Poland SA (WA:) added 3.09% or 1.40 points to end at 46.70 and Energa SA (WA:) was up 3.01% or 0.41 points to 14.05 in late trade.</p>
<p>The worst performers of the session were Bank Millennium SA (WA:), which fell 2.95% or 0.22 points to trade at 7.23 at the close. mBank SA (WA:) declined 1.79% or 7.85 points to end at 430.15 and Cyfrowy Polsat SA (WA:) was down 1.49% or 0.40 points to 26.40.</p>
<p>Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Warsaw Stock Exchange by 282 to 217 and 166 ended unchanged.</p>
<p>Shares in CCC SA (WA:) rose to all time highs; up 3.36% or 8.80 to 271.00.</p>
<p>Crude oil for October delivery was down 0.42% or 0.20 to $47.03 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in November fell 0.49% or 0.26 to hit $52.60 a barrel, while the December Gold Futures contract rose 0.54% or 7.19 to trade at $1329.39 a troy ounce.</p>
<p>EUR/PLN was up 0.10% to 4.2517, while USD/PLN rose 0.36% to 3.5791.</p>
<p>The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.09% at 92.67.</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> | Poland stocks higher at close of trade; WIG30 up 0.40% | false | https://newsline.com/poland-stocks-higher-at-close-of-trade-wig30-up-0-40/ | 2017-09-01 | 1right-center
| Poland stocks higher at close of trade; WIG30 up 0.40%
<p>Investing.com – Poland stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the , and sectors led shares higher.</p>
<p>At the close in Warsaw, the rose 0.40% to hit a new all time high.</p>
<p>The best performers of the session on the were CCC SA (WA:), which rose 3.36% or 8.80 points to trade at 271.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Asseco Poland SA (WA:) added 3.09% or 1.40 points to end at 46.70 and Energa SA (WA:) was up 3.01% or 0.41 points to 14.05 in late trade.</p>
<p>The worst performers of the session were Bank Millennium SA (WA:), which fell 2.95% or 0.22 points to trade at 7.23 at the close. mBank SA (WA:) declined 1.79% or 7.85 points to end at 430.15 and Cyfrowy Polsat SA (WA:) was down 1.49% or 0.40 points to 26.40.</p>
<p>Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Warsaw Stock Exchange by 282 to 217 and 166 ended unchanged.</p>
<p>Shares in CCC SA (WA:) rose to all time highs; up 3.36% or 8.80 to 271.00.</p>
<p>Crude oil for October delivery was down 0.42% or 0.20 to $47.03 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in November fell 0.49% or 0.26 to hit $52.60 a barrel, while the December Gold Futures contract rose 0.54% or 7.19 to trade at $1329.39 a troy ounce.</p>
<p>EUR/PLN was up 0.10% to 4.2517, while USD/PLN rose 0.36% to 3.5791.</p>
<p>The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.09% at 92.67.</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> | 1,879 |
<p>YourNikonMan/iStock</p>
<p />
<p>A nationwide <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/aug/09/injectable-estrogen-shortage-transgender-healthcare" type="external">shortage</a> of injectable estrogen has left thousands of transgender women without a medication that helps them physically transition—and that health experts <a href="http://callen-lorde.org/par-perrigo-pharmaceuticals-urged-address-remedy-national-shortage-injectable-estrogen/" type="external">have described</a> as lifesaving.</p>
<p>Injecting estrogen is one of the most popular methods for trans women to appear more feminine. The medication is crucial, health experts say, because a mismatch between a masculine body and a female gender identity can cause trans women to experience a medical condition called gender dysphoria—extreme distress that sometimes leads to attempts at self-mutilation and suicide. Manufacturers previously suggested the drug would be back on pharmacy shelves in October, but last week the Food and Drug Administration <a href="http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/drugshortages/dsp_ActiveIngredientDetails.cfm?AI=Estradiol%20Valerate%20Injection,%20USP&amp;st=c&amp;tab=tabs-1" type="external">announced</a> a delay, saying the drug would not be available for at least another month.</p>
<p>Doctors have blamed the injectable-estrogen shortage on the FDA and manufacturers. The brand-name version of the drug ran out because its manufacturer, Par Pharmaceuticals, suddenly lost the supplier for its main active ingredient. The company has since contracted with a new supplier and is waiting for approval from the FDA. “The FDA recognizes this is an important drug, and is working with the drug manufacturers so that the drug may return to the market as quickly as possible,” Andrea Fischer, a spokeswoman for the agency, <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/azeenghorayshi/estrogen-shortage?utm_term=.wwvXKpANO#.yuzeEjvJ1" type="external">told BuzzFeed</a>. Perrigo, a company that makes the generic version, did not respond to BuzzFeed‘s request for comment.</p>
<p>The shortage has left thousands of transgender women in a tough situation. “The drive and desire to be authentic, to live in the correct body, it’s so strong,” Gina Bingham, a trans woman in California, told BuzzFeed. “Something like this can throw people to a bad place.”</p>
<p>There are alternatives to injectable estrogen—doctors can prescribe the hormone in pill or patch form—but many trans women say these aren’t as effective. And they’re also less convenient: The patches can be prohibitively expensive. The pills must be taken daily and can affect the liver, since they’re processed through the digestive system.</p>
<p>Injectable estrogen isn’t just for transgender women: It comes in three doses (40mg, 20mg, 10mg) and the smallest one is often prescribed for post-menopausal women. But only the two larger doses—the ones transgender women use—have been affected by the shortage, though doctors aren’t sure why. <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/azeenghorayshi/estrogen-shortage?utm_term=.axXKY51zD#.fukqAWGax" type="external">Some say</a> it would be extremely painful to give trans patients four injections of the smallest dose, since that would mean injecting four times as much liquid.</p>
<p>The shortage “speaks to the disparity of how we as a community understand the importance of hormones for trans people,”&#160;Anthony Vavasis, the director of an LGBT health center in New York, <a href="http://www.out.com/out-exclusives/2016/8/04/exclusive-theres-injectable-estrogen-shortage-thats-leaving-trans-women" type="external">told Out magazine</a>. “What if tomorrow we announced, ‘There’s no more insulin available for diabetics?’ How would that play?”</p>
<p /> | Trans Women Are Dealing With a Pharma Nightmare | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2016/10/united-states-shortage-injectable-estrogen-transgender-women/ | 2016-10-11 | 4left
| Trans Women Are Dealing With a Pharma Nightmare
<p>YourNikonMan/iStock</p>
<p />
<p>A nationwide <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/aug/09/injectable-estrogen-shortage-transgender-healthcare" type="external">shortage</a> of injectable estrogen has left thousands of transgender women without a medication that helps them physically transition—and that health experts <a href="http://callen-lorde.org/par-perrigo-pharmaceuticals-urged-address-remedy-national-shortage-injectable-estrogen/" type="external">have described</a> as lifesaving.</p>
<p>Injecting estrogen is one of the most popular methods for trans women to appear more feminine. The medication is crucial, health experts say, because a mismatch between a masculine body and a female gender identity can cause trans women to experience a medical condition called gender dysphoria—extreme distress that sometimes leads to attempts at self-mutilation and suicide. Manufacturers previously suggested the drug would be back on pharmacy shelves in October, but last week the Food and Drug Administration <a href="http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/drugshortages/dsp_ActiveIngredientDetails.cfm?AI=Estradiol%20Valerate%20Injection,%20USP&amp;st=c&amp;tab=tabs-1" type="external">announced</a> a delay, saying the drug would not be available for at least another month.</p>
<p>Doctors have blamed the injectable-estrogen shortage on the FDA and manufacturers. The brand-name version of the drug ran out because its manufacturer, Par Pharmaceuticals, suddenly lost the supplier for its main active ingredient. The company has since contracted with a new supplier and is waiting for approval from the FDA. “The FDA recognizes this is an important drug, and is working with the drug manufacturers so that the drug may return to the market as quickly as possible,” Andrea Fischer, a spokeswoman for the agency, <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/azeenghorayshi/estrogen-shortage?utm_term=.wwvXKpANO#.yuzeEjvJ1" type="external">told BuzzFeed</a>. Perrigo, a company that makes the generic version, did not respond to BuzzFeed‘s request for comment.</p>
<p>The shortage has left thousands of transgender women in a tough situation. “The drive and desire to be authentic, to live in the correct body, it’s so strong,” Gina Bingham, a trans woman in California, told BuzzFeed. “Something like this can throw people to a bad place.”</p>
<p>There are alternatives to injectable estrogen—doctors can prescribe the hormone in pill or patch form—but many trans women say these aren’t as effective. And they’re also less convenient: The patches can be prohibitively expensive. The pills must be taken daily and can affect the liver, since they’re processed through the digestive system.</p>
<p>Injectable estrogen isn’t just for transgender women: It comes in three doses (40mg, 20mg, 10mg) and the smallest one is often prescribed for post-menopausal women. But only the two larger doses—the ones transgender women use—have been affected by the shortage, though doctors aren’t sure why. <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/azeenghorayshi/estrogen-shortage?utm_term=.axXKY51zD#.fukqAWGax" type="external">Some say</a> it would be extremely painful to give trans patients four injections of the smallest dose, since that would mean injecting four times as much liquid.</p>
<p>The shortage “speaks to the disparity of how we as a community understand the importance of hormones for trans people,”&#160;Anthony Vavasis, the director of an LGBT health center in New York, <a href="http://www.out.com/out-exclusives/2016/8/04/exclusive-theres-injectable-estrogen-shortage-thats-leaving-trans-women" type="external">told Out magazine</a>. “What if tomorrow we announced, ‘There’s no more insulin available for diabetics?’ How would that play?”</p>
<p /> | 1,880 |
<p>I was wearing both my taxpayer hat and my business owner hat when I attended the presentation of Gov. LePage’s budget at Kennebunk Town Hall last week. By the end of the evening, I had concluded that no matter which hat I’m wearing, his budget is more about politics than it is about policy. In short, it is a bad deal for Maine.</p>
<p>The Governor’s budget is largely based on the discredited principles of “trickle-down,” Voodoo Economics that have caused Americans so much financial misery over the last 35 years. It would deliver 50 percent of income tax cuts to the top 10 percent of earners. For example, a household earning $40,000 per year would see a reduction of $145, while someone earning $400,000 would get a break of $10,679. Why is the person who makes 10 times as much money getting a tax break 74 times larger than that of their less-affluent neighbor?</p>
<p>The LePage administration tells us that lowering the income tax rate for high earners will encourage businesses to relocate to Maine and stimulate business owners to invest in their businesses. The idea that owners decide where to locate their businesses based on the state income tax rate is preposterous. If that were the case, there would be a stampede of businesses moving to low- or no-tax states like Kansas and Louisiana, and those states would be booming economic miracles. Instead, those states have found that these policies have brought them to the brink of bankruptcy.</p>
<p>The notion that lowering income tax leads owners to invest is also ridiculous. As a business owner I can tell you that I don’t put money into my business because I’m in a jolly mood. I invest and hire workers for one reason only: to meet demand. What Maine small businesses need is increased demand, and the best way to stimulate demand is to put more money in the pockets of those who will spend it, not those who will sock it away in foreign banks and financial schemes.</p>
<p>So how is the governor going to pay for these income tax cuts? First, he would increase the sales tax, which has the largest impact on lower and middle income Mainers because we must spend most of the money we earn. Second, he wants to eliminate municipal revenue sharing, the tax money that comes back from the state to cities and towns to help keep our property taxes down. Lastly, the governor’s budget pays for these cuts with wishful thinking. It leaves a $300 million hole that it assumes will be paid for by growth of the economy. That’s a big assumption in these volatile economic times, especially given that his ideas about what causes business growth are not reality-based.</p>
<p>Gov. LePage’s budget won’t deliver prosperity to anyone other than the already-prosperous. I would encourage my fellow citizens to contact their legislators and ask them to get a better deal for Maine.</p>
<p>John Costin Veneer Service Unlimited, Kennebunk</p> | Gov. LePage’s budget is a bad deal for me and other small business owners | false | http://mainebeacon.com/gov-lepages-budget-is-a-bad-deal-for-me-and-other-small-business-owners/ | 2015-05-22 | 3left-center
| Gov. LePage’s budget is a bad deal for me and other small business owners
<p>I was wearing both my taxpayer hat and my business owner hat when I attended the presentation of Gov. LePage’s budget at Kennebunk Town Hall last week. By the end of the evening, I had concluded that no matter which hat I’m wearing, his budget is more about politics than it is about policy. In short, it is a bad deal for Maine.</p>
<p>The Governor’s budget is largely based on the discredited principles of “trickle-down,” Voodoo Economics that have caused Americans so much financial misery over the last 35 years. It would deliver 50 percent of income tax cuts to the top 10 percent of earners. For example, a household earning $40,000 per year would see a reduction of $145, while someone earning $400,000 would get a break of $10,679. Why is the person who makes 10 times as much money getting a tax break 74 times larger than that of their less-affluent neighbor?</p>
<p>The LePage administration tells us that lowering the income tax rate for high earners will encourage businesses to relocate to Maine and stimulate business owners to invest in their businesses. The idea that owners decide where to locate their businesses based on the state income tax rate is preposterous. If that were the case, there would be a stampede of businesses moving to low- or no-tax states like Kansas and Louisiana, and those states would be booming economic miracles. Instead, those states have found that these policies have brought them to the brink of bankruptcy.</p>
<p>The notion that lowering income tax leads owners to invest is also ridiculous. As a business owner I can tell you that I don’t put money into my business because I’m in a jolly mood. I invest and hire workers for one reason only: to meet demand. What Maine small businesses need is increased demand, and the best way to stimulate demand is to put more money in the pockets of those who will spend it, not those who will sock it away in foreign banks and financial schemes.</p>
<p>So how is the governor going to pay for these income tax cuts? First, he would increase the sales tax, which has the largest impact on lower and middle income Mainers because we must spend most of the money we earn. Second, he wants to eliminate municipal revenue sharing, the tax money that comes back from the state to cities and towns to help keep our property taxes down. Lastly, the governor’s budget pays for these cuts with wishful thinking. It leaves a $300 million hole that it assumes will be paid for by growth of the economy. That’s a big assumption in these volatile economic times, especially given that his ideas about what causes business growth are not reality-based.</p>
<p>Gov. LePage’s budget won’t deliver prosperity to anyone other than the already-prosperous. I would encourage my fellow citizens to contact their legislators and ask them to get a better deal for Maine.</p>
<p>John Costin Veneer Service Unlimited, Kennebunk</p> | 1,881 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>The new 150-megawatt, or million-watt, Mesquite 3 solar array is located in Arizona, but the electricity it generates will be sent to California’s electric grid and will power roughly one-third of the electricity needs of 14 naval installations in the state, including San Diego’s naval base and the Marines’ Twentynine Palms and Camp Pendleton.</p>
<p>“Today we’re going to throw a switch and start getting those electrons flowing to our 14 bases,” said Dennis McGinn, the assistant secretary of the Navy for energy, installations and environment, who spoke from Arizona where he was on site for the opening ceremony for the plant.</p>
<p>“It’s going to be reliable, it’s going to be cheaper than what we’re paying for brown power, and it just diversifies our energy sources for these bases,” McGinn continued.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The deal will let the Navy buy solar power at a fixed price for 25 years from the array, which is owned by Sempra Energy. “To me, the essence of solar power is, you know what the price of the fuel is going to be for the next 25 years, or more,” McGinn said. “It’s predictable, it provides financial planning and energy planning stability to our calculation, and it’s part of our diversified energy portfolio.”</p>
<p>The Navy has distinguished itself as a leader in the clean energy space of late, also experimenting with biofuels for planes, ships and vehicles and even trying to subtly change officers’ behavior to make them more energy conscious, based on the idea that using less energy provides a tactical advantage – in some cases, it literally means the ability to fight for longer if you have to.</p>
<p>The move is being celebrated not only by the Navy, but also the Energy Department, which contends that the dramatic growth of large-scale solar plants in the Southwest is a direct result of major investments made by its Loan Programs Office as part of the stimulus legislation passed in the wake of the financial collapse in 2008-2009.</p>
<p>In 2010, the United States didn’t have a single utility scale solar photovoltaic farm, a new analysis from the Loan Programs Office notes. But $4.6 billion in loans from the Energy Department led to the installation of five such plants, capable of generating 1.5 gigawatts, or billion watts, of electricity capacity. One of them was the 170-megawatt Mesquite 1 solar plant, the predecessor to Mesquite 3.</p>
<p>“Before 2009, utilities had a total of just about 20 megawatts of PV, total,” Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said in an interview Friday. “So then came this couple of years when the loan program kick-started, as you can see, with 1.5 gigawatts.”</p>
<p>That was the end of the federal program – but today, there are 45 more such large-scale projects, adding another roughly eight gigawatts of capacity, mostly in the Southwest still but also in states ranging from Minnesota to Georgia.</p>
<p>When the private sector took over. Moniz contends that was in part possible because the Energy Department program had been able to drive down prices. “That’s kind of a virtuous cycle of deployment plus innovation keep combining to drive cost down,” Moniz said. “So obviously, when there was no deployment, there was no benefit of going down the curve.”</p>
<p>The over 10 gigawatts of installed utility scale solar photovoltaic capacity in the United States today is just one part of the tremendous solar boom the country has seen. None of this takes into account more medium-sized arrays or individual rooftop solar installations. The Energy Department has also given loans for a different type of large-scale solar array, called concentrated solar power, many of which also have been built.</p>
<p>According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, there are 31.6 total gigawatts of solar photovoltaic capacity installed in the United States, capable of providing enough electricity for 6.2 million homes.</p>
<p>Moniz said that solar still only provides about 1 percent of total U.S. electricity capacity. In the future, he noted, as the grid adds more and more variable wind and solar assets, “you have to start balancing in the grid, and that can be through storage. It can also be by, let’s say, integration with fast-ramping natural gas.” But for now, he said, “the grid has plenty of capacity to absorb these variable inputs.”</p>
<p>And the fact that the Navy will now be powered by them in California pretty much cements an increasingly common argument: If climate change is a national security threat, clean energy is part of the answer.</p>
<p>energy</p> | US government just made its biggest clean energy purchase ever. It was for the Navy. | false | https://abqjournal.com/867710/us-government-just-made-its-biggest-clean-energy-purchase-ever-it-was-for-the-navy.html | 2least
| US government just made its biggest clean energy purchase ever. It was for the Navy.
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>The new 150-megawatt, or million-watt, Mesquite 3 solar array is located in Arizona, but the electricity it generates will be sent to California’s electric grid and will power roughly one-third of the electricity needs of 14 naval installations in the state, including San Diego’s naval base and the Marines’ Twentynine Palms and Camp Pendleton.</p>
<p>“Today we’re going to throw a switch and start getting those electrons flowing to our 14 bases,” said Dennis McGinn, the assistant secretary of the Navy for energy, installations and environment, who spoke from Arizona where he was on site for the opening ceremony for the plant.</p>
<p>“It’s going to be reliable, it’s going to be cheaper than what we’re paying for brown power, and it just diversifies our energy sources for these bases,” McGinn continued.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The deal will let the Navy buy solar power at a fixed price for 25 years from the array, which is owned by Sempra Energy. “To me, the essence of solar power is, you know what the price of the fuel is going to be for the next 25 years, or more,” McGinn said. “It’s predictable, it provides financial planning and energy planning stability to our calculation, and it’s part of our diversified energy portfolio.”</p>
<p>The Navy has distinguished itself as a leader in the clean energy space of late, also experimenting with biofuels for planes, ships and vehicles and even trying to subtly change officers’ behavior to make them more energy conscious, based on the idea that using less energy provides a tactical advantage – in some cases, it literally means the ability to fight for longer if you have to.</p>
<p>The move is being celebrated not only by the Navy, but also the Energy Department, which contends that the dramatic growth of large-scale solar plants in the Southwest is a direct result of major investments made by its Loan Programs Office as part of the stimulus legislation passed in the wake of the financial collapse in 2008-2009.</p>
<p>In 2010, the United States didn’t have a single utility scale solar photovoltaic farm, a new analysis from the Loan Programs Office notes. But $4.6 billion in loans from the Energy Department led to the installation of five such plants, capable of generating 1.5 gigawatts, or billion watts, of electricity capacity. One of them was the 170-megawatt Mesquite 1 solar plant, the predecessor to Mesquite 3.</p>
<p>“Before 2009, utilities had a total of just about 20 megawatts of PV, total,” Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said in an interview Friday. “So then came this couple of years when the loan program kick-started, as you can see, with 1.5 gigawatts.”</p>
<p>That was the end of the federal program – but today, there are 45 more such large-scale projects, adding another roughly eight gigawatts of capacity, mostly in the Southwest still but also in states ranging from Minnesota to Georgia.</p>
<p>When the private sector took over. Moniz contends that was in part possible because the Energy Department program had been able to drive down prices. “That’s kind of a virtuous cycle of deployment plus innovation keep combining to drive cost down,” Moniz said. “So obviously, when there was no deployment, there was no benefit of going down the curve.”</p>
<p>The over 10 gigawatts of installed utility scale solar photovoltaic capacity in the United States today is just one part of the tremendous solar boom the country has seen. None of this takes into account more medium-sized arrays or individual rooftop solar installations. The Energy Department has also given loans for a different type of large-scale solar array, called concentrated solar power, many of which also have been built.</p>
<p>According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, there are 31.6 total gigawatts of solar photovoltaic capacity installed in the United States, capable of providing enough electricity for 6.2 million homes.</p>
<p>Moniz said that solar still only provides about 1 percent of total U.S. electricity capacity. In the future, he noted, as the grid adds more and more variable wind and solar assets, “you have to start balancing in the grid, and that can be through storage. It can also be by, let’s say, integration with fast-ramping natural gas.” But for now, he said, “the grid has plenty of capacity to absorb these variable inputs.”</p>
<p>And the fact that the Navy will now be powered by them in California pretty much cements an increasingly common argument: If climate change is a national security threat, clean energy is part of the answer.</p>
<p>energy</p> | 1,882 |
|
<p>For those of us who are alarmed by Google Maps’ satellite-generated views of our homes and favorite stomping grounds, a recent decision made by Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell ought to stand some hairs on end.</p>
<p>Wall Street Journal:</p>
<p>The U.S.’s top intelligence official has greatly expanded the range of federal and local authorities who can get access to information from the nation’s vast network of spy satellites in the U.S.</p>
<p>The decision, made three months ago by Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell, places for the first time some of the U.S.’s most powerful intelligence-gathering tools at the disposal of domestic security officials. The move was authorized in a May 25 memo sent to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff asking his department to facilitate access to the spy network on behalf of civilian agencies and law enforcement.</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB118714764716998275.html?mod=blog" type="external">Read more</a></p> | Intel Chief Expands Spy Satellite Access | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/intel-chief-expands-spy-satellite-access/ | 2007-08-16 | 4left
| Intel Chief Expands Spy Satellite Access
<p>For those of us who are alarmed by Google Maps’ satellite-generated views of our homes and favorite stomping grounds, a recent decision made by Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell ought to stand some hairs on end.</p>
<p>Wall Street Journal:</p>
<p>The U.S.’s top intelligence official has greatly expanded the range of federal and local authorities who can get access to information from the nation’s vast network of spy satellites in the U.S.</p>
<p>The decision, made three months ago by Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell, places for the first time some of the U.S.’s most powerful intelligence-gathering tools at the disposal of domestic security officials. The move was authorized in a May 25 memo sent to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff asking his department to facilitate access to the spy network on behalf of civilian agencies and law enforcement.</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB118714764716998275.html?mod=blog" type="external">Read more</a></p> | 1,883 |
<p>When Congress passed the&#160;Voting Rights Act in 1965, non-white voters across the country faced&#160;a wide range of obstacles in getting to the polls. But has the “extraordinary problem” of voter discrimination really disappeared?&#160;</p>
<p>“Nearly 50 years later, things have changed dramatically,” argued&#160; <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/12-96" type="external">Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts</a>in the 2013 Shelby County v. Holder decision, which struck down the heart of the Voting Rights Act. Yet new political science research suggests that our voting system has simply traded one form of racial discrimination for another.&#160;</p>
<p>Ariel White&#160;and&#160;Noah Nathan, two co-authors of&#160; <a href="http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&amp;aid=9462412&amp;fulltextType=RA&amp;fileId=S0003055414000562" type="external">the first political science experiment</a>&#160;to test implicit bias in the voting system in the modern era, concluded&#160;local election officials exhibit racial bias in how they implement election regulations and distribute key information&#160;to voters.</p>
<p>The study was prompted by a spate of&#160;new voter ID laws passed before the&#160;2012 presidential election.&#160;“We have a lot of relatively confusing laws being passed, often relatively near to the election or being implemented at the last minute,” White says.&#160;“That’s where we worry that people who contact their local election officials may have a hard time getting information about these laws, and may then go on to not fully know how to go vote.”</p>
<p>The study doesn’t establish that voters are actively being suppressed, but it does show that election&#160;officials across the country&#160;discriminate against voters based on ethnicity.</p>
<p>“Different types of voters have different types of hurdles to overcome to get accurate information about what’s actually going to be required,” Nathan says. "Just because a law might in theory apply equally to everyone, in practice, when people interact with the bureaucrats implementing election laws, they might have very different experiences, and that might trickle down into whether or not they have the right information they need when they go to the polls.”</p>
<p>Electoral discrimination brings to mind Ava DuVernay’s recent film "Selma,"&#160; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YRUUFYeOPI" type="external">which opens with</a>&#160;a sneering white registrar denying civil rights activist&#160;Annie Lee Cooper&#160;— played by&#160;Oprah Winfrey — her&#160;voter registration on the basis of a twisted civics quiz. Such tests were later outlawed by&#160;Voting Rights Act.</p>
<p>That law&#160;effectively prevented this kind of bald-faced discrimination in some areas, giving particular scrutiny to the South. But White and Nathan's&#160;study uncovers implicit bias throughout the entire electoral system.</p>
<p>"What we’re actually finding is a much more subtle and implicit bias that is similar to bias that’s been found in all sorts of other experiments similar to ours in other fields — with loan officers, HR workers, doctors, real estate agents," Nathan says. "When people make discretionary decisions about others, they can be implicitly biased against minorities in how helpful they’re going to be — even if they don’t actually intend ill to those people.”</p>
<p>White, Nathan, and their co-author Julie Faller,&#160;all&#160;PhD candidates in government at Harvard,&#160;sent e-mails to over 7,000&#160;local election officials in 48 states asking for basic information about voter registration and whether identification was needed on Election Day. They sent identical e-mails from names that sounded ostensibly white, and names that sounded ostensibly Latino.</p>
<p>While some officials did send correct information to both white and Latino voters, a disturbing pattern began to emerge.</p>
<p>“When we sent those e-mails — the same text of the same e-mail — from a Latino-sounding name,&#160;we got fewer responses overall," White says. "We more often heard radio silence. And we got slightly less thorough responses."</p>
<p>With the patchwork of new voter ID laws in 31 states, this kind of unconscious bias shifts discrimination from the&#160;poll site on Election Day to the weeks and months leading up to an election, when voters get the majority of their information on voting requirements.</p>
<p>“With an experiment like this, you can’t explain this bias away based on anything else," Nathan says. "These are exactly the same e-mails sent to thousands of people. Everything about them is the same. The ethnicity of the person sending them is the really only thing that could plausibly be causing these differences.”</p>
<p>Surprisingly, the mostly Southern and urban areas covered by the Voting Rights Act actually treated voters more fairly than other areas of the country.</p>
<p>“In these areas the officials didn’t discriminate in their responsiveness or in the accuracy of their responses to our questions,” Nathan says. “It’s suggestive evidence that when you have people looking over your shoulder and making sure that you aren’t biased, you aren’t biased.”</p>
<p>But White cautions that her study doesn't&#160;settle these&#160;issues. She wants more research into how implicit bias impacts voter behavior and election outcomes:&#160;“We do need a critical mass of social science research that can address this question,” White says.</p>
<p>This story is based on <a href="http://www.thetakeaway.org/story/how-our-voting-system-unconsciously-discriminates-based-race/" type="external">an interview</a> from PRI's <a href="http://www.thetakeaway.org" type="external">The Takeaway</a>, a public radio program that invites you to be part&#160;of the American conversation.</p> | Think our voting system is colorblind? Think again | false | https://pri.org/stories/2015-02-28/think-our-voting-system-colorblind-think-again | 2015-02-28 | 3left-center
| Think our voting system is colorblind? Think again
<p>When Congress passed the&#160;Voting Rights Act in 1965, non-white voters across the country faced&#160;a wide range of obstacles in getting to the polls. But has the “extraordinary problem” of voter discrimination really disappeared?&#160;</p>
<p>“Nearly 50 years later, things have changed dramatically,” argued&#160; <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/12-96" type="external">Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts</a>in the 2013 Shelby County v. Holder decision, which struck down the heart of the Voting Rights Act. Yet new political science research suggests that our voting system has simply traded one form of racial discrimination for another.&#160;</p>
<p>Ariel White&#160;and&#160;Noah Nathan, two co-authors of&#160; <a href="http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&amp;aid=9462412&amp;fulltextType=RA&amp;fileId=S0003055414000562" type="external">the first political science experiment</a>&#160;to test implicit bias in the voting system in the modern era, concluded&#160;local election officials exhibit racial bias in how they implement election regulations and distribute key information&#160;to voters.</p>
<p>The study was prompted by a spate of&#160;new voter ID laws passed before the&#160;2012 presidential election.&#160;“We have a lot of relatively confusing laws being passed, often relatively near to the election or being implemented at the last minute,” White says.&#160;“That’s where we worry that people who contact their local election officials may have a hard time getting information about these laws, and may then go on to not fully know how to go vote.”</p>
<p>The study doesn’t establish that voters are actively being suppressed, but it does show that election&#160;officials across the country&#160;discriminate against voters based on ethnicity.</p>
<p>“Different types of voters have different types of hurdles to overcome to get accurate information about what’s actually going to be required,” Nathan says. "Just because a law might in theory apply equally to everyone, in practice, when people interact with the bureaucrats implementing election laws, they might have very different experiences, and that might trickle down into whether or not they have the right information they need when they go to the polls.”</p>
<p>Electoral discrimination brings to mind Ava DuVernay’s recent film "Selma,"&#160; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YRUUFYeOPI" type="external">which opens with</a>&#160;a sneering white registrar denying civil rights activist&#160;Annie Lee Cooper&#160;— played by&#160;Oprah Winfrey — her&#160;voter registration on the basis of a twisted civics quiz. Such tests were later outlawed by&#160;Voting Rights Act.</p>
<p>That law&#160;effectively prevented this kind of bald-faced discrimination in some areas, giving particular scrutiny to the South. But White and Nathan's&#160;study uncovers implicit bias throughout the entire electoral system.</p>
<p>"What we’re actually finding is a much more subtle and implicit bias that is similar to bias that’s been found in all sorts of other experiments similar to ours in other fields — with loan officers, HR workers, doctors, real estate agents," Nathan says. "When people make discretionary decisions about others, they can be implicitly biased against minorities in how helpful they’re going to be — even if they don’t actually intend ill to those people.”</p>
<p>White, Nathan, and their co-author Julie Faller,&#160;all&#160;PhD candidates in government at Harvard,&#160;sent e-mails to over 7,000&#160;local election officials in 48 states asking for basic information about voter registration and whether identification was needed on Election Day. They sent identical e-mails from names that sounded ostensibly white, and names that sounded ostensibly Latino.</p>
<p>While some officials did send correct information to both white and Latino voters, a disturbing pattern began to emerge.</p>
<p>“When we sent those e-mails — the same text of the same e-mail — from a Latino-sounding name,&#160;we got fewer responses overall," White says. "We more often heard radio silence. And we got slightly less thorough responses."</p>
<p>With the patchwork of new voter ID laws in 31 states, this kind of unconscious bias shifts discrimination from the&#160;poll site on Election Day to the weeks and months leading up to an election, when voters get the majority of their information on voting requirements.</p>
<p>“With an experiment like this, you can’t explain this bias away based on anything else," Nathan says. "These are exactly the same e-mails sent to thousands of people. Everything about them is the same. The ethnicity of the person sending them is the really only thing that could plausibly be causing these differences.”</p>
<p>Surprisingly, the mostly Southern and urban areas covered by the Voting Rights Act actually treated voters more fairly than other areas of the country.</p>
<p>“In these areas the officials didn’t discriminate in their responsiveness or in the accuracy of their responses to our questions,” Nathan says. “It’s suggestive evidence that when you have people looking over your shoulder and making sure that you aren’t biased, you aren’t biased.”</p>
<p>But White cautions that her study doesn't&#160;settle these&#160;issues. She wants more research into how implicit bias impacts voter behavior and election outcomes:&#160;“We do need a critical mass of social science research that can address this question,” White says.</p>
<p>This story is based on <a href="http://www.thetakeaway.org/story/how-our-voting-system-unconsciously-discriminates-based-race/" type="external">an interview</a> from PRI's <a href="http://www.thetakeaway.org" type="external">The Takeaway</a>, a public radio program that invites you to be part&#160;of the American conversation.</p> | 1,884 |
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<p>PHOENIX — A Phoenix man who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the 2014 stabbing death of his roommate has been sentenced to 25 years in prison.</p>
<p>Maricopa County Superior Court officials say Mykel Cooper also was sentenced Wednesday to five years of supervised probation.</p>
<p>The 25-year-old Cooper also pleaded guilty to burglary last month in the case.</p>
<p>He originally had been charged with first-degree murder in the December 2014 killing of 29-year-old Steven Horkovy.</p>
<p>The victim’s body was found in his room in their apartment after Cooper told staff at a behavioral health facility that he’d done something bad to his roommate.</p>
<p>Police had taken Cooper to the facility after they were called to a restaurant where Cooper said he didn’t have any money to pay for his meal.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Phoenix man gets 25 years in prison for killing his roommate | false | https://abqjournal.com/885798/phoenix-man-gets-25-years-in-prison-for-killing-his-roommate.html | 2least
| Phoenix man gets 25 years in prison for killing his roommate
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<p>PHOENIX — A Phoenix man who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the 2014 stabbing death of his roommate has been sentenced to 25 years in prison.</p>
<p>Maricopa County Superior Court officials say Mykel Cooper also was sentenced Wednesday to five years of supervised probation.</p>
<p>The 25-year-old Cooper also pleaded guilty to burglary last month in the case.</p>
<p>He originally had been charged with first-degree murder in the December 2014 killing of 29-year-old Steven Horkovy.</p>
<p>The victim’s body was found in his room in their apartment after Cooper told staff at a behavioral health facility that he’d done something bad to his roommate.</p>
<p>Police had taken Cooper to the facility after they were called to a restaurant where Cooper said he didn’t have any money to pay for his meal.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | 1,885 |
|
<p>On Wednesday night, two-time failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton compared herself to Wonder Woman while <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/rambling-reporter/wonder-woman-is-talk-town-at-crystal-lucy-awards-1013550" type="external">appearing</a> in a surprise video for actress and Hillary-sycophant Elizabeth Banks at the Crystal + Lucy Awards.</p>
<p>"Now I haven't seen Wonder Woman yet, but I'm going to, in part because it's directed by the fabulous Patty Jenkins," <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/rambling-reporter/wonder-woman-is-talk-town-at-crystal-lucy-awards-1013550" type="external">screeched</a> Hillary. "But something tells me that a movie about a strong, powerful woman fighting to save the world from a massive international disaster is right up my alley."</p>
<p>WATCH:</p>
<p>Now, I haven't seen the new Wonder Woman movie yet either, but is Gal Gadot's character a power-hungry serial liar who ends up wandering the Chappaqua woods taking selfies with passersby, too?</p>
<p>The former secretary of state went on to heap praise on Banks, who took home the Crystal Award for Excellence in Film.</p>
<p>"She is such a special person, again, on screen and off," Hillary gushed. "You're not only a creative force in front of the camera and behind it, you are a passionate advocate for women's equality and opportunity; I can vouch for that."</p>
<p>But the feminist love-fest wasn't over yet. Former First Lady Michelle Obama also appeared in a surprise video, where she showered praise on actress Tracee Ellis Ross.</p>
<p>"You are hilarious," Michelle said of Ross, who was awarded the Lucy Award for Excellence in Television. "You are one of the most talented actors I know, and your character on Black-ish, Bow, is an inspiration to folks all across this country. The work you're doing off-screen is just as remarkable. From empowering our girls to educating people on the importance of voting, thank you. Thank you for using your voice to change so many lives."</p>
<p>WATCH:</p> | Hillary: I'm A Lot Like Wonder Woman | true | https://dailywire.com/news/17556/hillary-im-lot-wonder-woman-amanda-prestigiacomo | 2017-06-15 | 0right
| Hillary: I'm A Lot Like Wonder Woman
<p>On Wednesday night, two-time failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton compared herself to Wonder Woman while <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/rambling-reporter/wonder-woman-is-talk-town-at-crystal-lucy-awards-1013550" type="external">appearing</a> in a surprise video for actress and Hillary-sycophant Elizabeth Banks at the Crystal + Lucy Awards.</p>
<p>"Now I haven't seen Wonder Woman yet, but I'm going to, in part because it's directed by the fabulous Patty Jenkins," <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/rambling-reporter/wonder-woman-is-talk-town-at-crystal-lucy-awards-1013550" type="external">screeched</a> Hillary. "But something tells me that a movie about a strong, powerful woman fighting to save the world from a massive international disaster is right up my alley."</p>
<p>WATCH:</p>
<p>Now, I haven't seen the new Wonder Woman movie yet either, but is Gal Gadot's character a power-hungry serial liar who ends up wandering the Chappaqua woods taking selfies with passersby, too?</p>
<p>The former secretary of state went on to heap praise on Banks, who took home the Crystal Award for Excellence in Film.</p>
<p>"She is such a special person, again, on screen and off," Hillary gushed. "You're not only a creative force in front of the camera and behind it, you are a passionate advocate for women's equality and opportunity; I can vouch for that."</p>
<p>But the feminist love-fest wasn't over yet. Former First Lady Michelle Obama also appeared in a surprise video, where she showered praise on actress Tracee Ellis Ross.</p>
<p>"You are hilarious," Michelle said of Ross, who was awarded the Lucy Award for Excellence in Television. "You are one of the most talented actors I know, and your character on Black-ish, Bow, is an inspiration to folks all across this country. The work you're doing off-screen is just as remarkable. From empowering our girls to educating people on the importance of voting, thank you. Thank you for using your voice to change so many lives."</p>
<p>WATCH:</p> | 1,886 |
<p>Well, well, our friend <a href="" type="internal">Richard Berman</a> is back in the news, this time for offending one of the oil industry executives he was pitching enough that the man recorded his talk and sent it over to the New York Times for publication.</p>
<p>Berman was full of his usual <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/31/us/politics/pr-executives-western-energy-alliance-speech-taped.html" type="external">hate and vinegar</a>, too, but he may have given out just a little too much information.</p>
<p>Mr. Berman repeatedly boasted about how he could take checks from the oil and gas industry executives — he said he had already collected six-figure contributions from some of the executives in the room — and then hide their role in funding his campaigns.</p>
<p>“People always ask me one question all the time: ‘How do I know that I won’t be found out as a supporter of what you’re doing?’ " Mr. Berman told the crowd. “We run all of this stuff through nonprofit organizations that are insulated from having to disclose donors. There is total anonymity. People don’t know who supports us.”</p>
<p>So much for all that altruistic talk about how 501c4 organizations are just patriotic, free-speech machines, eh?</p>
<p>Berman also hates unions more than Satan himself.</p>
<p>“I get up every morning and I try to figure out how to screw with the labor unions — that’s my offense,” Mr. Berman said in his speech to the Western Energy Alliance. “I am just trying to figure out how I am going to reduce their brand.”</p>
<p>Mr. Berman offered several pointers from his playbook.</p>
<p>“If you want a video to go viral, have kids or animals,” he said, and then he showed a spot his company had prepared using schoolchildren as participants in a mock union election — to suggest that union bosses do not have real elections.</p>
<p>Our friends over at Eclectablog <a href="http://www.eclectablog.com/2014/10/corporatist-profiteer-richard-berman-attacks-aft-president-randi-weingarten-in-detroit-news-op-ed.html" type="external">had a few words to say</a> about Berman's recent efforts to smear AFT President Randi Weingarten in a Detroit op-ed:</p>
<p>So, why is Berman, a guy who doesn’t even live in Michigan, exploiting the horrible situation in Detroit schools as a way of attacking Weingarten, AFT, and teachers unions, in general? Because that is what he does. Berman is a professional shill, a corporatist profiteer who has made a lucrative career out of going on the attack to protect corporate interests.</p>
<p>Are suggestions that pregnant women eat a limited amount of fish due to mercury contamination hurting sales of your fish? Berman is there with <a href="http://www.fishscam.com/" type="external">www.fishscam.com</a> to convince the public that mercury in fish poisoning the fetuses of pregnant women is no problem.</p>
<p>Are taxes on alcohol cutting into your company’s sales? Berman is there with <a href="http://nodrinktax.com/" type="external">www.nodrinktax.com</a> to fight to eliminate taxes on alcohol.</p>
<p>In fact, there seems to be no limit to how low Berman will go to make a buck from corporations trying to increase profits and deflect any sort of criticism. At the end of The Detroit News piece, Berman is described as “executive director at the Center for Union Facts”. But the Center for Union Facts is just one of dozens of groups that Berman has created for the sole purpose of shilling for corporate interests. Here is a partial list of the groups that Berman has headed up, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Center_for_Union_Facts" type="external">courtesy of the Center for Media and Democracy</a>:</p>
<p>It's not the <a href="" type="internal">first time he's gone</a> after Weingarten, either. In 2012 he teamed up with billionaires to paint her as someone who 'protects bad teachers', a theme we've heard from Campbell Brown and the billionaires who litigated the Vergara case here in California. Because if you're a teacher, you shouldn't get due process or something.</p>
<p>In the transcript of <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/10/31/us/politics/31lobbyist-docs.html" type="external">his speech</a>, Berman described what he does as 'reframing' with this goal:</p>
<p>You get in people's mind a tie. They don't know who is right. And you get all ties because a tie basically insures the status quo.</p>
<p>People are not prepared to get aggressive and in moving one way or another. I'll take a tie any day if I'm trying to preserve the status quo.</p>
<p>That was said right after he discussed how he used his "reframing techniques" to try and kill the Affordable Care Act. Had people not been ready for change, we would still have the status quo.</p>
<p>My bottom line here is that he can play Goebbels and use his mind control techniques on us, but he damn well ought to be forced to disclose who is paying for it. The most galling part of that whole speech was the part where he bragged about burying donors under layers of taxpayer-funded nonprofits.</p>
<p>We all deserve better than that.</p> | Hear Corporate PR Scum Richard Berman Make Slimy Pitch To Energy Companies | true | http://crooksandliars.com/2014/10/richard-bermans-pitch-energy-companies-his | 2014-10-31 | 4left
| Hear Corporate PR Scum Richard Berman Make Slimy Pitch To Energy Companies
<p>Well, well, our friend <a href="" type="internal">Richard Berman</a> is back in the news, this time for offending one of the oil industry executives he was pitching enough that the man recorded his talk and sent it over to the New York Times for publication.</p>
<p>Berman was full of his usual <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/31/us/politics/pr-executives-western-energy-alliance-speech-taped.html" type="external">hate and vinegar</a>, too, but he may have given out just a little too much information.</p>
<p>Mr. Berman repeatedly boasted about how he could take checks from the oil and gas industry executives — he said he had already collected six-figure contributions from some of the executives in the room — and then hide their role in funding his campaigns.</p>
<p>“People always ask me one question all the time: ‘How do I know that I won’t be found out as a supporter of what you’re doing?’ " Mr. Berman told the crowd. “We run all of this stuff through nonprofit organizations that are insulated from having to disclose donors. There is total anonymity. People don’t know who supports us.”</p>
<p>So much for all that altruistic talk about how 501c4 organizations are just patriotic, free-speech machines, eh?</p>
<p>Berman also hates unions more than Satan himself.</p>
<p>“I get up every morning and I try to figure out how to screw with the labor unions — that’s my offense,” Mr. Berman said in his speech to the Western Energy Alliance. “I am just trying to figure out how I am going to reduce their brand.”</p>
<p>Mr. Berman offered several pointers from his playbook.</p>
<p>“If you want a video to go viral, have kids or animals,” he said, and then he showed a spot his company had prepared using schoolchildren as participants in a mock union election — to suggest that union bosses do not have real elections.</p>
<p>Our friends over at Eclectablog <a href="http://www.eclectablog.com/2014/10/corporatist-profiteer-richard-berman-attacks-aft-president-randi-weingarten-in-detroit-news-op-ed.html" type="external">had a few words to say</a> about Berman's recent efforts to smear AFT President Randi Weingarten in a Detroit op-ed:</p>
<p>So, why is Berman, a guy who doesn’t even live in Michigan, exploiting the horrible situation in Detroit schools as a way of attacking Weingarten, AFT, and teachers unions, in general? Because that is what he does. Berman is a professional shill, a corporatist profiteer who has made a lucrative career out of going on the attack to protect corporate interests.</p>
<p>Are suggestions that pregnant women eat a limited amount of fish due to mercury contamination hurting sales of your fish? Berman is there with <a href="http://www.fishscam.com/" type="external">www.fishscam.com</a> to convince the public that mercury in fish poisoning the fetuses of pregnant women is no problem.</p>
<p>Are taxes on alcohol cutting into your company’s sales? Berman is there with <a href="http://nodrinktax.com/" type="external">www.nodrinktax.com</a> to fight to eliminate taxes on alcohol.</p>
<p>In fact, there seems to be no limit to how low Berman will go to make a buck from corporations trying to increase profits and deflect any sort of criticism. At the end of The Detroit News piece, Berman is described as “executive director at the Center for Union Facts”. But the Center for Union Facts is just one of dozens of groups that Berman has created for the sole purpose of shilling for corporate interests. Here is a partial list of the groups that Berman has headed up, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Center_for_Union_Facts" type="external">courtesy of the Center for Media and Democracy</a>:</p>
<p>It's not the <a href="" type="internal">first time he's gone</a> after Weingarten, either. In 2012 he teamed up with billionaires to paint her as someone who 'protects bad teachers', a theme we've heard from Campbell Brown and the billionaires who litigated the Vergara case here in California. Because if you're a teacher, you shouldn't get due process or something.</p>
<p>In the transcript of <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/10/31/us/politics/31lobbyist-docs.html" type="external">his speech</a>, Berman described what he does as 'reframing' with this goal:</p>
<p>You get in people's mind a tie. They don't know who is right. And you get all ties because a tie basically insures the status quo.</p>
<p>People are not prepared to get aggressive and in moving one way or another. I'll take a tie any day if I'm trying to preserve the status quo.</p>
<p>That was said right after he discussed how he used his "reframing techniques" to try and kill the Affordable Care Act. Had people not been ready for change, we would still have the status quo.</p>
<p>My bottom line here is that he can play Goebbels and use his mind control techniques on us, but he damn well ought to be forced to disclose who is paying for it. The most galling part of that whole speech was the part where he bragged about burying donors under layers of taxpayer-funded nonprofits.</p>
<p>We all deserve better than that.</p> | 1,887 |
<p />
<p>Bermuda (Photo by Mike Oropeza; via Wikimedia Commons)</p>
<p />
<p>The Royal Gazette newspaper <a href="http://www.royalgazette.com/news/article/20160624/voters-roundly-reject-same-sex-marriage" type="external">reported</a> that 69 percent of voters opposed marriage rights for gays and lesbians. Sixty-three percent of Bermuda voters also rejected civil unions for same-sex couples.</p>
<p>The referendum is non-binding because voter turnout was under 50 percent.</p>
<p>The Rainbow Alliance of Bermuda, an LGBT advocacy group in the British island territory, in <a href="http://rainbowbermuda.org/2016/06/rainbow-alliance-bermuda-response-to-referendum-results/" type="external">a statement</a> said a referendum on marriage and civil unions for same-sex couples “is not the appropriate vehicle for this kind of human rights issue.”</p>
<p>“The failure to get enough of a voter turnout proved this exercise to be a colossal waste of taxpayer funds,” it said.</p>
<p>Premier Michael Dunkley told <a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/754c3137745a432aa0e360b94f1a2009/bermuda-voters-reject-same-sex-marriage-non-binding-vote" type="external">the Associated Press</a> on Friday that his government was evaluating the referendum’s results. He said he expects supporters of marriage rights for same-sex couples in the British island territory will likely go to court.</p>
<p>“This has been and will continue to be a highly sensitive matter,” Dunkley told <a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/754c3137745a432aa0e360b94f1a2009/bermuda-voters-reject-same-sex-marriage-non-binding-vote" type="external">the Associated Press.</a> “Despite our differences we must progress forward. And my hope is that as we move forward as a country, we move ahead with greater tolerance, understanding and respect and appreciation for one another.”</p>
<p>Bermuda decriminalized consensual same-sex sexual relations in 1994.</p>
<p>Lawmakers in the British island territory in 2013 approved a bill that bans discrimination based on sexual orientation. The measure that amended Bermuda’s Human Rights Act did not include gender identity.</p>
<p>Ayo Kimathi, a D.C. man, said during an appearance at a local theater last September that homosexuality, interracial marriage and other forms of “sexual deviance” came from white Europeans. Home Minister Michael Fahy used the Bermuda Immigration and Protection Act of 1956 <a href="" type="internal">to ban him traveling to the British island territory again.</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Bermuda</a> <a href="" type="internal">bisexual</a> <a href="" type="internal">civil unions</a> <a href="" type="internal">gay</a> <a href="" type="internal">lesbian</a> <a href="" type="internal">Michael Dunkley</a> <a href="" type="internal">Rainbow Alliance of Bermuda</a> <a href="" type="internal">same-sex marriage</a> <a href="" type="internal">transgender</a></p> | Bermuda voters reject marriage, civil unions for same-sex couples | false | http://washingtonblade.com/2016/06/24/bermuda-voters-reject-marriage-civil-unions-sex-couples/ | 3left-center
| Bermuda voters reject marriage, civil unions for same-sex couples
<p />
<p>Bermuda (Photo by Mike Oropeza; via Wikimedia Commons)</p>
<p />
<p>The Royal Gazette newspaper <a href="http://www.royalgazette.com/news/article/20160624/voters-roundly-reject-same-sex-marriage" type="external">reported</a> that 69 percent of voters opposed marriage rights for gays and lesbians. Sixty-three percent of Bermuda voters also rejected civil unions for same-sex couples.</p>
<p>The referendum is non-binding because voter turnout was under 50 percent.</p>
<p>The Rainbow Alliance of Bermuda, an LGBT advocacy group in the British island territory, in <a href="http://rainbowbermuda.org/2016/06/rainbow-alliance-bermuda-response-to-referendum-results/" type="external">a statement</a> said a referendum on marriage and civil unions for same-sex couples “is not the appropriate vehicle for this kind of human rights issue.”</p>
<p>“The failure to get enough of a voter turnout proved this exercise to be a colossal waste of taxpayer funds,” it said.</p>
<p>Premier Michael Dunkley told <a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/754c3137745a432aa0e360b94f1a2009/bermuda-voters-reject-same-sex-marriage-non-binding-vote" type="external">the Associated Press</a> on Friday that his government was evaluating the referendum’s results. He said he expects supporters of marriage rights for same-sex couples in the British island territory will likely go to court.</p>
<p>“This has been and will continue to be a highly sensitive matter,” Dunkley told <a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/754c3137745a432aa0e360b94f1a2009/bermuda-voters-reject-same-sex-marriage-non-binding-vote" type="external">the Associated Press.</a> “Despite our differences we must progress forward. And my hope is that as we move forward as a country, we move ahead with greater tolerance, understanding and respect and appreciation for one another.”</p>
<p>Bermuda decriminalized consensual same-sex sexual relations in 1994.</p>
<p>Lawmakers in the British island territory in 2013 approved a bill that bans discrimination based on sexual orientation. The measure that amended Bermuda’s Human Rights Act did not include gender identity.</p>
<p>Ayo Kimathi, a D.C. man, said during an appearance at a local theater last September that homosexuality, interracial marriage and other forms of “sexual deviance” came from white Europeans. Home Minister Michael Fahy used the Bermuda Immigration and Protection Act of 1956 <a href="" type="internal">to ban him traveling to the British island territory again.</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Bermuda</a> <a href="" type="internal">bisexual</a> <a href="" type="internal">civil unions</a> <a href="" type="internal">gay</a> <a href="" type="internal">lesbian</a> <a href="" type="internal">Michael Dunkley</a> <a href="" type="internal">Rainbow Alliance of Bermuda</a> <a href="" type="internal">same-sex marriage</a> <a href="" type="internal">transgender</a></p> | 1,888 |
|
<p>Representative Emmanuel Cleaver doesn't tell his father when he's going to be on C-Span.</p>
<p>He doesn't want his dad to know the terrible slander people in Congress commit against people who live in public housing.</p>
<p>Cleaver's family, two parents and four children, lived in the dilapidated two-room window-less shack for seven years until they found public housing. His dad worked three jobs to eventually buy the home where he lives now.</p>
<p>Cleaver knows a lot of families just like his. Hard-working, but needing help with housing temporarily.</p>
<p>And then Ben Carson decides his testimony before Cleaver's committee <a href="https://www.rawstory.com/2017/10/poverty-is-a-state-of-mind-ben-carson-victim-blames-poor-and-says-a-savior-is-the-solution/" type="external">will include this:</a></p>
<p>“Sometimes I get a little bit tired of people ascribing to me things that people have said that I believe,” Carson complained. “When I say that poverty is largely a state of mind, what I’m saying is that the way that people approach things has a lot to do with what happens to them.”</p>
<p>“If your mindset is one that, ‘I’m a victim and that everybody else is in control of my life and I just need to sit here and wait for something,’ you’re going to approach my theory differently than somebody who says, ‘I am going to take this issue into my own hands,'” the HUD secretary opined.</p>
<p>Carson noted that his mother married a bigamist at the age of 13 and worked three jobs, “but the one thing about my mother, she was never a victim.”</p>
<p>Representative Cleaver takes housing very seriously, and very personally. Transcript via CSpan.</p>
<p>REP. EMANUEL CLEAVER: I don't want to be melodramatic, but when I was elected I said I don't want to be Speaker, Assistant Speaker, I don't want to be the person in charge of trash, whatever. All I wanted was to be on the Subcommittee on Housing, the only thing -- that was my biggest aspiration coming through Congress.</p>
<p>And it was because of my background and what I had seen and what has hurt me personally and many other people over the years which is when people make disparaging comments about people living in public housing. You and I grew up very similar so you know that's not something that can give you great joy.</p>
<p>My father living in his home today, my goal is to never let him know ahead of time that he can watch us on C-Span, because I don't want him having done all the work he did to get four kids out, to hear some of the things that people unintentionally say. Because this is the house I lived in for seven years. Six people, my mother, my father, and my three sisters. Seven years. My father worked three jobs like a lot of the other people in our community, three jobs. Willie Taylor, Tommy Nelson, Katie Boston, Percy Cleveland, Leroy Kleiner, classmates of mine, their parents were doing the same thing.</p>
<p>I never hear people today say, "I can hardly wait to get my own public housing unit."</p>
<p>This is a serious thing to me, my family and a lot of other people. My goal is to do something before I leave here more than I've done and hopefully can inspire others to want to do something, to do some major overhauls of some of our policies. We were able to do 3700 together. I want to ask you a question about that. But I want it to be known that helping one family will not change the world, but it will change the world for that one family. And people want help and they need it from time to time.</p>
<p>If you look at [Chapter] 17 in Genesis -- Genesis, when Abraham left going to the land of promise, he stopped at a place that many theologians call the halfway house.</p>
<p>Public housing is this.</p>
<p>A lot of people stay there until they can get someplace else. My father -- my father sent my mother to college when I was almost in the seventh grade. [Breaks down.] I yield back the balance of my time.</p> | Rep Cleaver Drops A 'House' On Ben Carson's 'Poverty Is A Mindset' Nonsense | true | http://crooksandliars.com/2017/10/rep-cleaver-drops-house-ben-carsons | 2017-10-12 | 4left
| Rep Cleaver Drops A 'House' On Ben Carson's 'Poverty Is A Mindset' Nonsense
<p>Representative Emmanuel Cleaver doesn't tell his father when he's going to be on C-Span.</p>
<p>He doesn't want his dad to know the terrible slander people in Congress commit against people who live in public housing.</p>
<p>Cleaver's family, two parents and four children, lived in the dilapidated two-room window-less shack for seven years until they found public housing. His dad worked three jobs to eventually buy the home where he lives now.</p>
<p>Cleaver knows a lot of families just like his. Hard-working, but needing help with housing temporarily.</p>
<p>And then Ben Carson decides his testimony before Cleaver's committee <a href="https://www.rawstory.com/2017/10/poverty-is-a-state-of-mind-ben-carson-victim-blames-poor-and-says-a-savior-is-the-solution/" type="external">will include this:</a></p>
<p>“Sometimes I get a little bit tired of people ascribing to me things that people have said that I believe,” Carson complained. “When I say that poverty is largely a state of mind, what I’m saying is that the way that people approach things has a lot to do with what happens to them.”</p>
<p>“If your mindset is one that, ‘I’m a victim and that everybody else is in control of my life and I just need to sit here and wait for something,’ you’re going to approach my theory differently than somebody who says, ‘I am going to take this issue into my own hands,'” the HUD secretary opined.</p>
<p>Carson noted that his mother married a bigamist at the age of 13 and worked three jobs, “but the one thing about my mother, she was never a victim.”</p>
<p>Representative Cleaver takes housing very seriously, and very personally. Transcript via CSpan.</p>
<p>REP. EMANUEL CLEAVER: I don't want to be melodramatic, but when I was elected I said I don't want to be Speaker, Assistant Speaker, I don't want to be the person in charge of trash, whatever. All I wanted was to be on the Subcommittee on Housing, the only thing -- that was my biggest aspiration coming through Congress.</p>
<p>And it was because of my background and what I had seen and what has hurt me personally and many other people over the years which is when people make disparaging comments about people living in public housing. You and I grew up very similar so you know that's not something that can give you great joy.</p>
<p>My father living in his home today, my goal is to never let him know ahead of time that he can watch us on C-Span, because I don't want him having done all the work he did to get four kids out, to hear some of the things that people unintentionally say. Because this is the house I lived in for seven years. Six people, my mother, my father, and my three sisters. Seven years. My father worked three jobs like a lot of the other people in our community, three jobs. Willie Taylor, Tommy Nelson, Katie Boston, Percy Cleveland, Leroy Kleiner, classmates of mine, their parents were doing the same thing.</p>
<p>I never hear people today say, "I can hardly wait to get my own public housing unit."</p>
<p>This is a serious thing to me, my family and a lot of other people. My goal is to do something before I leave here more than I've done and hopefully can inspire others to want to do something, to do some major overhauls of some of our policies. We were able to do 3700 together. I want to ask you a question about that. But I want it to be known that helping one family will not change the world, but it will change the world for that one family. And people want help and they need it from time to time.</p>
<p>If you look at [Chapter] 17 in Genesis -- Genesis, when Abraham left going to the land of promise, he stopped at a place that many theologians call the halfway house.</p>
<p>Public housing is this.</p>
<p>A lot of people stay there until they can get someplace else. My father -- my father sent my mother to college when I was almost in the seventh grade. [Breaks down.] I yield back the balance of my time.</p> | 1,889 |
<p>One of the members of the House Freedom Caucus on Tuesday called on all candidates for speaker to oppose the, in his words, “monstrosity of a budget deal” that would stave off a government shutdown.</p>
<p>Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) blasted the bipartisan deal that was being pushed by outgoing House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH).</p>
<p>“Leadership’s determination to ram through this legislation days before we reach the debt limit, with zero input from rank and file Members of Congress, demonstrates precisely what is wrong with Washington, D.C.,” Meadows said in a statement.</p>
<p />
<p>The deal, which was reached late Monday on the Hill, will take a government shutdown off the table until after the 2016 election and suspend the current debt limit through March 2017, the <a href="" type="internal">AP</a> reported.</p>
<p>The deal is heralded as <a href="" type="internal">a gift from Boehner</a>, who is expected to hand the speaker’s gavel to Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) later this week.</p>
<p>A majority of the Freedom Caucus said last week they planned to vote for Ryan for speaker, although he fell short of the 80 percent vote he needed for the group’s formal endorsement.</p>
<p>Here is Meadows’ full statement:</p>
<p>For weeks, behind closed doors the outgoing Speaker of the House has partnered with Democrats and Senate Leadership to craft a monstrosity of a budget deal that includes a clean $1.5 trillion debt ceiling increase, more nondefense spending, and a host of policy provisions that no one except President Obama, Harry Reid, Mitch McConnell and John Boehner have had a chance to offer input into.</p>
<p>Leadership’s determination to ram through this legislation days before we reach the debt limit, with zero input from rank and file Members of Congress, demonstrates precisely what is wrong with Washington, D.C. As I laid out when I introduced the Motion to Vacate the Chair ( <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-resolution/385/text" type="external">H.Res 385</a>), the Speaker must not use the legislative calendar to “create crises for the American people, in order to compel Members to vote for legislation.” Nor should the Speaker of the House push through extremely consequential legislation that every American has a stake in without allowing lawmakers a minimum of 72 hours to review it before voting.</p>
<p>Anyone who supports this legislation is complicit in supporting “the way things are” in Washington. We are at an important crossroads in the House of Representatives. We have an opportunity to bring about real reform and fundamentally change the broken system in place on Capitol Hill. Therefore I call on all candidates running for Speaker of the House to oppose this legislation and go on record showing they do not support this approach to governing. Now is the time to demonstrate real leadership by committing to ending the culture of governing by crises and to no longer allow the few to make the decisions for the many. The American people demand better from their elected officials.</p> | Freedom Caucus Member Demands Speaker Candidates Oppose Budget Deal | true | http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/mark-meadows-speaker-budget-deal | 4left
| Freedom Caucus Member Demands Speaker Candidates Oppose Budget Deal
<p>One of the members of the House Freedom Caucus on Tuesday called on all candidates for speaker to oppose the, in his words, “monstrosity of a budget deal” that would stave off a government shutdown.</p>
<p>Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) blasted the bipartisan deal that was being pushed by outgoing House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH).</p>
<p>“Leadership’s determination to ram through this legislation days before we reach the debt limit, with zero input from rank and file Members of Congress, demonstrates precisely what is wrong with Washington, D.C.,” Meadows said in a statement.</p>
<p />
<p>The deal, which was reached late Monday on the Hill, will take a government shutdown off the table until after the 2016 election and suspend the current debt limit through March 2017, the <a href="" type="internal">AP</a> reported.</p>
<p>The deal is heralded as <a href="" type="internal">a gift from Boehner</a>, who is expected to hand the speaker’s gavel to Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) later this week.</p>
<p>A majority of the Freedom Caucus said last week they planned to vote for Ryan for speaker, although he fell short of the 80 percent vote he needed for the group’s formal endorsement.</p>
<p>Here is Meadows’ full statement:</p>
<p>For weeks, behind closed doors the outgoing Speaker of the House has partnered with Democrats and Senate Leadership to craft a monstrosity of a budget deal that includes a clean $1.5 trillion debt ceiling increase, more nondefense spending, and a host of policy provisions that no one except President Obama, Harry Reid, Mitch McConnell and John Boehner have had a chance to offer input into.</p>
<p>Leadership’s determination to ram through this legislation days before we reach the debt limit, with zero input from rank and file Members of Congress, demonstrates precisely what is wrong with Washington, D.C. As I laid out when I introduced the Motion to Vacate the Chair ( <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-resolution/385/text" type="external">H.Res 385</a>), the Speaker must not use the legislative calendar to “create crises for the American people, in order to compel Members to vote for legislation.” Nor should the Speaker of the House push through extremely consequential legislation that every American has a stake in without allowing lawmakers a minimum of 72 hours to review it before voting.</p>
<p>Anyone who supports this legislation is complicit in supporting “the way things are” in Washington. We are at an important crossroads in the House of Representatives. We have an opportunity to bring about real reform and fundamentally change the broken system in place on Capitol Hill. Therefore I call on all candidates running for Speaker of the House to oppose this legislation and go on record showing they do not support this approach to governing. Now is the time to demonstrate real leadership by committing to ending the culture of governing by crises and to no longer allow the few to make the decisions for the many. The American people demand better from their elected officials.</p> | 1,890 |
|
<p />
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Shares of NXP Semiconductors (NASDAQ: NXPI) rose as much as 19.3% in Thursday's early-afternoon trading session. This jump was triggered by a <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/qualcomm-in-talks-to-acquire-nxp-semiconductors-1475170033" type="external">Wall Street Journal report Opens a New Window.</a> that sector peer Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) is working up a buyout bid for NXP.</p>
<p>The Journal's usual unnamed insider sources say that a merger could be announced within the next two to three months, and valued at $30 billion or more. To put that suggested price tag into perspective, NXP's enterprise value is sitting at $28.3 billion today -- including the Qualcomm report's substantial share-price boost.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>For what it's worth, Qualcomm investors also embraced the NXP rumor with some enthusiasm. That stock rose as much as 8.3% on the WSJ report.</p>
<p>This is still just a rumor, and far from a finalized deal. Even the WSJ admits that the talks may fizzle before the last John Hancock is added. For example, Qualcomm could find a smaller and more affordable target for its acquisitive thirst; the planned financing framework might fall apart; or regulatory hurdles could materialize in the U.S., Europe, or China.</p>
<p>Picking up NXP would give Qualcomm's annual revenue an instant 34% boost. The target company generates robust profits and free cash flows on its own, and would give Qualcomm's profits an upgrade from day one. And let's not forget that NXP serves hundreds of clients far beyond Qualcomm's tightly focused mobile-communications market, adding important sectors like automotive computing and a larger Internet of Things presence.</p>
<p>That being said, an NXP deal would also go far beyond Qualcomm's cash reserves. An already-meaty $11.8 billion debt balance would probably double or triple overnight.</p>
<p>In short, Qualcomm buying NXP would indeed make sense, but it would also be an enormously complex deal with plenty of opportunities to fail spectacularly. It's an interesting rumor, but don't hold your breath while waiting for an official offer from Qualcomm.</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=2668&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/TMFZahrim/info.aspx" type="external">Anders Bylund Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends NXP Semiconductors and Qualcomm. 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>.</p>
<p>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 NXP Semiconductors, NV Soared Today | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/09/29/why-nxp-semiconductors-nv-soared-today.html | 2016-09-29 | 0right
| Why NXP Semiconductors, NV Soared Today
<p />
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Shares of NXP Semiconductors (NASDAQ: NXPI) rose as much as 19.3% in Thursday's early-afternoon trading session. This jump was triggered by a <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/qualcomm-in-talks-to-acquire-nxp-semiconductors-1475170033" type="external">Wall Street Journal report Opens a New Window.</a> that sector peer Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) is working up a buyout bid for NXP.</p>
<p>The Journal's usual unnamed insider sources say that a merger could be announced within the next two to three months, and valued at $30 billion or more. To put that suggested price tag into perspective, NXP's enterprise value is sitting at $28.3 billion today -- including the Qualcomm report's substantial share-price boost.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>For what it's worth, Qualcomm investors also embraced the NXP rumor with some enthusiasm. That stock rose as much as 8.3% on the WSJ report.</p>
<p>This is still just a rumor, and far from a finalized deal. Even the WSJ admits that the talks may fizzle before the last John Hancock is added. For example, Qualcomm could find a smaller and more affordable target for its acquisitive thirst; the planned financing framework might fall apart; or regulatory hurdles could materialize in the U.S., Europe, or China.</p>
<p>Picking up NXP would give Qualcomm's annual revenue an instant 34% boost. The target company generates robust profits and free cash flows on its own, and would give Qualcomm's profits an upgrade from day one. And let's not forget that NXP serves hundreds of clients far beyond Qualcomm's tightly focused mobile-communications market, adding important sectors like automotive computing and a larger Internet of Things presence.</p>
<p>That being said, an NXP deal would also go far beyond Qualcomm's cash reserves. An already-meaty $11.8 billion debt balance would probably double or triple overnight.</p>
<p>In short, Qualcomm buying NXP would indeed make sense, but it would also be an enormously complex deal with plenty of opportunities to fail spectacularly. It's an interesting rumor, but don't hold your breath while waiting for an official offer from Qualcomm.</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=2668&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/TMFZahrim/info.aspx" type="external">Anders Bylund Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends NXP Semiconductors and Qualcomm. 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>.</p>
<p>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> | 1,891 |
<p>Photo by Donna Cleveland | <a href="" type="internal">CC BY 2.0</a></p>
<p>Political reporters have <a href="" type="internal">a saying</a>: There’s always a tweet.</p>
<p>That is, for nearly every political moment or presidential decree, there’s an uncannily on-point comment buried somewhere in the presidential Twitter feed. Often it features the president expressing a past view that’s diametrically opposed to whatever he’s doing now.</p>
<p>Here’s an example from 2013: “All former Bush administration officials should have zero standing on Syria,” <a href="" type="internal">Donald J. Trump tweeted</a>. “Iraq was a waste of blood &amp; treasure.”</p>
<p>I agree.</p>
<p>According to Brown University and the Institute for Policy Studies, Americans <a href="http://otherwords.org/15-years-after-the-iraq-invasion-what-are-the-costs/" type="external">spend $32 million every single hour</a> on wars started in the Bush era. Thousands of U.S. troops are dead, while credible estimates put the number of dead in the Middle East at upwards of a million. Byproducts included a shocking torture scandal that eviscerated U.S. standing abroad.</p>
<p>Fast forward to 2018 — year two of “making America great again” after all that — and what do we find?</p>
<p>Trump has tapped <a href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/bolton_john" type="external">John Bolton</a>, perhaps the most ferocious war hawk from the Bush years, to be his National Security Adviser. There he’ll enjoy top standing on Syria, along with Iran, Iraq, North Korea, and any other part of the planet he elects to immiserate.</p>
<p>Trump most likely knows Bolton from Fox News, where the mustachioed chicken hawk appears regularly to drop rhetorical bombs in support of dropping literal bombs. Lately Bolton has been a loud advocate of pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal, scuttling talks with North Korea, and then bombing both countries.</p>
<p>In the George W. Bush administration, Bolton did a lot more than talk.</p>
<p>He twisted arms at the UN trying to oust arms control diplomats like <a href="" type="internal">Jose Bustani</a> and <a href="" type="internal">Mohamed elBaradei</a>, who (correctly) cast doubt on the administration’s false claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.</p>
<p>Bolton also persuaded the White House to walk away from a deal that had frozen North Korea’s nuclear program for eight years. “It was,” a New York Times editorial <a href="" type="internal">put it delicately</a>, “the sort of simplistic and wrongheaded position he takes on most policies.”</p>
<p>Back in the White House, Bolton could reprise both roles.</p>
<p>He’ll almost certainly lean on Trump to cancel the hard-won Iran deal, just as he bulldozed diplomatic impediments to the Iraq War. And he’ll arrive on the cusp of a historic possible meeting between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jung Un — bad news for anyone who hopes those talks lower tensions.</p>
<p>“Boy, that formula really worked well the last time the United States tried it, didn’t it?” <a href="" type="internal">quipped</a>Harvard international relations expert Steve Walt. “No wonder a sophisticated foreign-policy expert like Trump wants to try it again.”</p>
<p>Trump is also elevating torture enthusiast Mike Pompeo to lead the State Department. And he’s picked Gina Haspel, <a href="" type="internal">who ran a CIA torture chamber in Thailand and then destroyed the evidence</a>, to head the CIA.</p>
<p>Once upon a time, Trump seemed to issue a blanket ban on the Bush legacy. Now he’s brought back the architects of its darkest moments.</p>
<p>Moments for which you and I shelled out $32 million in the time it took me to write this piece — while countless others cowered under bombs.</p>
<p>Ideally, Congress will reassert its powers over war and peace before more “blood and treasure” are shed. If not, the only check left on Trump’s worst impulses will be his own old tweets.</p> | Bringing Back the Bush Era | true | https://counterpunch.org/2018/03/30/bringing-back-the-bush-era/ | 2018-03-30 | 4left
| Bringing Back the Bush Era
<p>Photo by Donna Cleveland | <a href="" type="internal">CC BY 2.0</a></p>
<p>Political reporters have <a href="" type="internal">a saying</a>: There’s always a tweet.</p>
<p>That is, for nearly every political moment or presidential decree, there’s an uncannily on-point comment buried somewhere in the presidential Twitter feed. Often it features the president expressing a past view that’s diametrically opposed to whatever he’s doing now.</p>
<p>Here’s an example from 2013: “All former Bush administration officials should have zero standing on Syria,” <a href="" type="internal">Donald J. Trump tweeted</a>. “Iraq was a waste of blood &amp; treasure.”</p>
<p>I agree.</p>
<p>According to Brown University and the Institute for Policy Studies, Americans <a href="http://otherwords.org/15-years-after-the-iraq-invasion-what-are-the-costs/" type="external">spend $32 million every single hour</a> on wars started in the Bush era. Thousands of U.S. troops are dead, while credible estimates put the number of dead in the Middle East at upwards of a million. Byproducts included a shocking torture scandal that eviscerated U.S. standing abroad.</p>
<p>Fast forward to 2018 — year two of “making America great again” after all that — and what do we find?</p>
<p>Trump has tapped <a href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/bolton_john" type="external">John Bolton</a>, perhaps the most ferocious war hawk from the Bush years, to be his National Security Adviser. There he’ll enjoy top standing on Syria, along with Iran, Iraq, North Korea, and any other part of the planet he elects to immiserate.</p>
<p>Trump most likely knows Bolton from Fox News, where the mustachioed chicken hawk appears regularly to drop rhetorical bombs in support of dropping literal bombs. Lately Bolton has been a loud advocate of pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal, scuttling talks with North Korea, and then bombing both countries.</p>
<p>In the George W. Bush administration, Bolton did a lot more than talk.</p>
<p>He twisted arms at the UN trying to oust arms control diplomats like <a href="" type="internal">Jose Bustani</a> and <a href="" type="internal">Mohamed elBaradei</a>, who (correctly) cast doubt on the administration’s false claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.</p>
<p>Bolton also persuaded the White House to walk away from a deal that had frozen North Korea’s nuclear program for eight years. “It was,” a New York Times editorial <a href="" type="internal">put it delicately</a>, “the sort of simplistic and wrongheaded position he takes on most policies.”</p>
<p>Back in the White House, Bolton could reprise both roles.</p>
<p>He’ll almost certainly lean on Trump to cancel the hard-won Iran deal, just as he bulldozed diplomatic impediments to the Iraq War. And he’ll arrive on the cusp of a historic possible meeting between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jung Un — bad news for anyone who hopes those talks lower tensions.</p>
<p>“Boy, that formula really worked well the last time the United States tried it, didn’t it?” <a href="" type="internal">quipped</a>Harvard international relations expert Steve Walt. “No wonder a sophisticated foreign-policy expert like Trump wants to try it again.”</p>
<p>Trump is also elevating torture enthusiast Mike Pompeo to lead the State Department. And he’s picked Gina Haspel, <a href="" type="internal">who ran a CIA torture chamber in Thailand and then destroyed the evidence</a>, to head the CIA.</p>
<p>Once upon a time, Trump seemed to issue a blanket ban on the Bush legacy. Now he’s brought back the architects of its darkest moments.</p>
<p>Moments for which you and I shelled out $32 million in the time it took me to write this piece — while countless others cowered under bombs.</p>
<p>Ideally, Congress will reassert its powers over war and peace before more “blood and treasure” are shed. If not, the only check left on Trump’s worst impulses will be his own old tweets.</p> | 1,892 |
<p />
<p>Even if you are working hard to get the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables, you might be surprised of what exactly you’re putting in your mouth.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Despite strict restrictions on the chemicals that can be used on produce, some fruits and vegetables repeatedly test having a high concentration of pesticides each year, according to the Environmental Working Group (EWG).</p>
<p>For the ninth consecutive year, the group has compiled its Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce list, which ranks pesticide contamination on 48 popular fruits and vegetables. The group bases their list on an analysis of more than 28,000 samples tested by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration. Scientists from the two agencies wash or peel samples before they are tested, reflecting the amount of pesticides consumed when people clean their food before eating.</p>
<p>“The food is remarkably similar every year,” says Sonya Lunder, a EWG senior analyst. “Fifty-seven percent of foods that are analyzed have pesticide residues on them.”</p>
<p>So which fruits and vegetables are the biggest offenders? According to the group, &#160;apples top the list of most pesticide-contaminated produce, followed by strawberries, grapes and celery. Other fruits and vegetables to round out the Dirty Dozen include peaches, spinach, sweet bell peppers, imported nectarines, cucumbers, potatoes, cherry tomatoes and hot peppers.</p>
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<p>For the second year in a row, EWG expanded the list to include two crops, domestically-grown summer squash and leafy greens, specifically kale and collards, to the Plus category. While these crops didn’t meet the traditional Dirty Dozen criteria, they were often contaminated with pesticides, which the group says is “exceptionally toxic to the nervous system.”</p>
<p>Eating pesticide-contaminated apples, strawberries and peaches is concerning regardless of the consumer’s age, it’s extremely worrisome because they tend to be children’s favorites, says Lunder. “It’s a concern for us because kids eat a lot of these, sometimes daily. She says even some baby foods have high levels of pesticides: green beans canned for baby food tested positive for five pesticides while canned pears tested positive for 11 pesticides including iprodione, which she says is deemed to be a probable carcinogen and not registered to be used on pears. &#160;The testing was done on foods purchased in U.S. stores in 2011.</p>
<p>But not all of the fruits and vegetables have high levels of pesticides. According to the EWG’s finding, those that make its Clean Fifteen list with the least amount of pesticides, include corn, onions, pineapples, avocados, cabbage, frozen sweet peas, papayas, mangoes, asparagus, eggplant, kiwi, grapefruit, cantaloupe, sweet potatoes and mushrooms.</p>
<p>One of the best ways to avoid pesticides in your produce is to buy organic.&#160; "When given a choice, more consumers are choosing organic fruits and vegetables," says Lunder. "They want to eat a diet rich in fruits and vegetables without eating too many pesticides. And they want to support local farms and agriculture that is better for the environment."</p>
<p>Buying organic for some people may not be affordable for consumers on a budget. &#160;Another option, according to Lunder, is to swap the fruits and vegetables on the dirty dozen list for those on the clean list.</p>
<p>“We know people have varying amounts of money and some places you can’t buy organic. If you can’t buy organic and don’t want to swap your produce consumption habits, &#160;Lunder says at the very least make sure to wash the produce before eating it, even if the tests represented well washed fruits and vegetables. “People don’t do that. It can reduce the pesticides. Not washing it is far worse.”</p> | Dirty Dozen: Produce With the Highest Concentration of Pesticides | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2013/05/14/dirty-dozen-produce-with-highest-concentration-pesticides.html | 2016-03-05 | 0right
| Dirty Dozen: Produce With the Highest Concentration of Pesticides
<p />
<p>Even if you are working hard to get the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables, you might be surprised of what exactly you’re putting in your mouth.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Despite strict restrictions on the chemicals that can be used on produce, some fruits and vegetables repeatedly test having a high concentration of pesticides each year, according to the Environmental Working Group (EWG).</p>
<p>For the ninth consecutive year, the group has compiled its Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce list, which ranks pesticide contamination on 48 popular fruits and vegetables. The group bases their list on an analysis of more than 28,000 samples tested by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration. Scientists from the two agencies wash or peel samples before they are tested, reflecting the amount of pesticides consumed when people clean their food before eating.</p>
<p>“The food is remarkably similar every year,” says Sonya Lunder, a EWG senior analyst. “Fifty-seven percent of foods that are analyzed have pesticide residues on them.”</p>
<p>So which fruits and vegetables are the biggest offenders? According to the group, &#160;apples top the list of most pesticide-contaminated produce, followed by strawberries, grapes and celery. Other fruits and vegetables to round out the Dirty Dozen include peaches, spinach, sweet bell peppers, imported nectarines, cucumbers, potatoes, cherry tomatoes and hot peppers.</p>
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<p>For the second year in a row, EWG expanded the list to include two crops, domestically-grown summer squash and leafy greens, specifically kale and collards, to the Plus category. While these crops didn’t meet the traditional Dirty Dozen criteria, they were often contaminated with pesticides, which the group says is “exceptionally toxic to the nervous system.”</p>
<p>Eating pesticide-contaminated apples, strawberries and peaches is concerning regardless of the consumer’s age, it’s extremely worrisome because they tend to be children’s favorites, says Lunder. “It’s a concern for us because kids eat a lot of these, sometimes daily. She says even some baby foods have high levels of pesticides: green beans canned for baby food tested positive for five pesticides while canned pears tested positive for 11 pesticides including iprodione, which she says is deemed to be a probable carcinogen and not registered to be used on pears. &#160;The testing was done on foods purchased in U.S. stores in 2011.</p>
<p>But not all of the fruits and vegetables have high levels of pesticides. According to the EWG’s finding, those that make its Clean Fifteen list with the least amount of pesticides, include corn, onions, pineapples, avocados, cabbage, frozen sweet peas, papayas, mangoes, asparagus, eggplant, kiwi, grapefruit, cantaloupe, sweet potatoes and mushrooms.</p>
<p>One of the best ways to avoid pesticides in your produce is to buy organic.&#160; "When given a choice, more consumers are choosing organic fruits and vegetables," says Lunder. "They want to eat a diet rich in fruits and vegetables without eating too many pesticides. And they want to support local farms and agriculture that is better for the environment."</p>
<p>Buying organic for some people may not be affordable for consumers on a budget. &#160;Another option, according to Lunder, is to swap the fruits and vegetables on the dirty dozen list for those on the clean list.</p>
<p>“We know people have varying amounts of money and some places you can’t buy organic. If you can’t buy organic and don’t want to swap your produce consumption habits, &#160;Lunder says at the very least make sure to wash the produce before eating it, even if the tests represented well washed fruits and vegetables. “People don’t do that. It can reduce the pesticides. Not washing it is far worse.”</p> | 1,893 |
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<p>WASHINGTON — Fourteen million Americans would lose coverage next year under House Republican legislation remaking the nation’s health care system, and that number would balloon to 24 million by 2026, Congress’ budget analysts projected Monday. Their report deals a stiff blow to a GOP drive already under fire from both parties and large segments of the medical industry.</p>
<p>The Congressional Budget Office report undercuts a central argument President Donald Trump and Republicans have cited for swiftly rolling back the 2010 health care overhaul: that the insurance markets created under that statute are “a disaster” and about to implode. The congressional experts said the market for individual policies “would probably be stable in most areas under either current law or the (GOP) legislation.”</p>
<p>The report also flies in the face of Trump’s talk of “insurance for everybody,” which he stated in January. He has since embraced a less expansive goal — to “increase access” — advanced by House Speaker Paul Ryan and other Republicans.</p>
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<p>Health secretary Tom Price told reporters at the White House the report was “simply wrong” and he disagreed “strenuously,” saying it omitted the impact of additional GOP legislation and regulatory changes the Trump administration plans.</p>
<p>In a signal of trouble, Rep. Mark Walker, R-N.C., leader of a large group of House conservatives, said the report “does little to alleviate” concerns about the bill including tax credits considered too costly.</p>
<p>The budget office’s estimates provide a detailed, credible appraisal of the Republican effort to unravel former President Barack Obama’s 2010 overhaul. The office has a four-decade history of even-handedness and is currently headed by an appointee recommended by Price when he was a congressman. Trump has repeatedly attacked the agency’s credibility, citing its significant underestimate of the number of people who would buy insurance on state and federal exchanges under “Obamacare.”</p>
<p><a href="https://d3el53au0d7w62.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/13/gophealth.jpg" type="external" />On the plus side for Republicans, the budget office said the GOP measure would reduce federal deficits by $337 billion over the coming decade. That’s largely because it would cut the federal-state Medicaid program for low-income Americans and eliminate subsidies that Obama’s law provides to millions of people who buy coverage.</p>
<p>The report also said that while the legislation would push premiums upward before 2020 compared to current law, premiums would fall after that by an average 10 percent by 2026.</p>
<p>The GOP bill would obliterate the tax penalties Obama’s law imposes on people who don’t buy coverage, and eliminate the federal subsidies millions receive based on income and premium costs. It would instead provide tax credits largely reflecting recipients’ ages, let insurers charge more for older people and boost premiums for those who let coverage lapse.</p>
<p>It would phase out Obama’s expansion of Medicaid to 11 million additional low earners, cap federal spending for the entire program, repeal taxes the statute imposes and halt federal payments to Planned Parenthood for a year.</p>
<p>Administration officials took strong issue with the budget office’s projections.</p>
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<p>“We believe that our plan will cover more individuals and at a lower cost and give them the choices that they want,” Price said.</p>
<p>Ryan, R-Wis., said the GOP legislation “is not about forcing people to buy expensive, one-size-fits-all coverage. It is about giving people more choices and better access to a plan they want and can afford.” In fact, he said on Fox News Channel that the CBO report “exceeded my expectations.”</p>
<p>Not in a good way, Democrats said. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said the projections show “just how empty the president’s promises, that everyone will be covered and costs will go down, have been.”</p>
<p>“I hope they would pull the bill. It’s really the only decent thing to do,” said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California.</p>
<p>The American Medical Association, which has opposed the Republican bill because it would reduce coverage, said the report shows the legislation would cause “unacceptable consequences.”</p>
<p>Two House committees have approved the legislation and Ryan wants to bring it to the full House next week. Though many Republicans back the bill, conservatives say it doesn’t go far enough in repealing Obama’s law, while moderates whose states expanded Medicaid don’t want people losing coverage.</p>
<p>GOP leaders hope the Senate will consider the measure before breaking for an early April recess. Opposition from both ends of the Republican spectrum suggests senators might demand significant changes.</p>
<p>The budget office attributed projected increases in uninsured Americans to the GOP bill’s elimination of tax penalties for people who don’t buy insurance, reduced federal subsidies for many people who buy policies and the Medicaid reductions.</p>
<p>By 2026, the office estimated, a total of 52 million people would lack insurance, including 28 million who would have been expected to lack coverage under Obama’s statute. People with lower incomes age 50 to 64, generally too young for Medicare, would represent a disproportionately large share of the uninsured, and growing numbers of people would lose coverage from jobs.</p>
<p>Though Republican tax credits would be less generous than Obama’s, the combination of those credits and other changes to lower premiums would attract enough healthy people to stabilize markets under the new plan, the report said.</p>
<p>The budget office sees federal spending on Medicaid declining by $880 billion over the coming decade, about 25 percent lower than current projections. That would push about 14 million low-income people off the program.</p>
<p>Average premiums are ultimately expected to fall, but that would vary for people of different ages because contrary to Obama’s law, Republicans would let older people be charged more.</p>
<p>The report estimates that individuals’ out-of-pocket costs under the GOP bill “would tend to be higher than those anticipated under current law.” That runs counter to another Trump claim — that his plan would offer “much lower deductibles.”</p>
<p>CBO had predicted 23 million people would enroll in online marketplaces when Obama’s law was enacted but the actual number was 12 million, largely because it overestimated how the individual mandate would prompt people to buy coverage.</p>
<p>More from ABQJournal.com</p>
<p>Udall fears many New Mexicans will lose the insurance they gained from expansion of Medicaid… continue reading »</p>
<p>More from ABQJournal.com</p>
<p>WASHINGTON — The Republican bill to replace major portions of Barack Obama's health care law would leave 24 million additional… continue reading »</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>AP reporters Julie Pace, Ken Thomas, Erica Werner and Matthew Daly contributed to this report.</p> | Congress’ analyst: Millions to lose coverage under GOP bill | false | https://abqjournal.com/967695/republicans-set-low-expectations-for-health-bill-cost-study.html | 2017-03-13 | 2least
| Congress’ analyst: Millions to lose coverage under GOP bill
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<p>WASHINGTON — Fourteen million Americans would lose coverage next year under House Republican legislation remaking the nation’s health care system, and that number would balloon to 24 million by 2026, Congress’ budget analysts projected Monday. Their report deals a stiff blow to a GOP drive already under fire from both parties and large segments of the medical industry.</p>
<p>The Congressional Budget Office report undercuts a central argument President Donald Trump and Republicans have cited for swiftly rolling back the 2010 health care overhaul: that the insurance markets created under that statute are “a disaster” and about to implode. The congressional experts said the market for individual policies “would probably be stable in most areas under either current law or the (GOP) legislation.”</p>
<p>The report also flies in the face of Trump’s talk of “insurance for everybody,” which he stated in January. He has since embraced a less expansive goal — to “increase access” — advanced by House Speaker Paul Ryan and other Republicans.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Health secretary Tom Price told reporters at the White House the report was “simply wrong” and he disagreed “strenuously,” saying it omitted the impact of additional GOP legislation and regulatory changes the Trump administration plans.</p>
<p>In a signal of trouble, Rep. Mark Walker, R-N.C., leader of a large group of House conservatives, said the report “does little to alleviate” concerns about the bill including tax credits considered too costly.</p>
<p>The budget office’s estimates provide a detailed, credible appraisal of the Republican effort to unravel former President Barack Obama’s 2010 overhaul. The office has a four-decade history of even-handedness and is currently headed by an appointee recommended by Price when he was a congressman. Trump has repeatedly attacked the agency’s credibility, citing its significant underestimate of the number of people who would buy insurance on state and federal exchanges under “Obamacare.”</p>
<p><a href="https://d3el53au0d7w62.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/13/gophealth.jpg" type="external" />On the plus side for Republicans, the budget office said the GOP measure would reduce federal deficits by $337 billion over the coming decade. That’s largely because it would cut the federal-state Medicaid program for low-income Americans and eliminate subsidies that Obama’s law provides to millions of people who buy coverage.</p>
<p>The report also said that while the legislation would push premiums upward before 2020 compared to current law, premiums would fall after that by an average 10 percent by 2026.</p>
<p>The GOP bill would obliterate the tax penalties Obama’s law imposes on people who don’t buy coverage, and eliminate the federal subsidies millions receive based on income and premium costs. It would instead provide tax credits largely reflecting recipients’ ages, let insurers charge more for older people and boost premiums for those who let coverage lapse.</p>
<p>It would phase out Obama’s expansion of Medicaid to 11 million additional low earners, cap federal spending for the entire program, repeal taxes the statute imposes and halt federal payments to Planned Parenthood for a year.</p>
<p>Administration officials took strong issue with the budget office’s projections.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“We believe that our plan will cover more individuals and at a lower cost and give them the choices that they want,” Price said.</p>
<p>Ryan, R-Wis., said the GOP legislation “is not about forcing people to buy expensive, one-size-fits-all coverage. It is about giving people more choices and better access to a plan they want and can afford.” In fact, he said on Fox News Channel that the CBO report “exceeded my expectations.”</p>
<p>Not in a good way, Democrats said. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said the projections show “just how empty the president’s promises, that everyone will be covered and costs will go down, have been.”</p>
<p>“I hope they would pull the bill. It’s really the only decent thing to do,” said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California.</p>
<p>The American Medical Association, which has opposed the Republican bill because it would reduce coverage, said the report shows the legislation would cause “unacceptable consequences.”</p>
<p>Two House committees have approved the legislation and Ryan wants to bring it to the full House next week. Though many Republicans back the bill, conservatives say it doesn’t go far enough in repealing Obama’s law, while moderates whose states expanded Medicaid don’t want people losing coverage.</p>
<p>GOP leaders hope the Senate will consider the measure before breaking for an early April recess. Opposition from both ends of the Republican spectrum suggests senators might demand significant changes.</p>
<p>The budget office attributed projected increases in uninsured Americans to the GOP bill’s elimination of tax penalties for people who don’t buy insurance, reduced federal subsidies for many people who buy policies and the Medicaid reductions.</p>
<p>By 2026, the office estimated, a total of 52 million people would lack insurance, including 28 million who would have been expected to lack coverage under Obama’s statute. People with lower incomes age 50 to 64, generally too young for Medicare, would represent a disproportionately large share of the uninsured, and growing numbers of people would lose coverage from jobs.</p>
<p>Though Republican tax credits would be less generous than Obama’s, the combination of those credits and other changes to lower premiums would attract enough healthy people to stabilize markets under the new plan, the report said.</p>
<p>The budget office sees federal spending on Medicaid declining by $880 billion over the coming decade, about 25 percent lower than current projections. That would push about 14 million low-income people off the program.</p>
<p>Average premiums are ultimately expected to fall, but that would vary for people of different ages because contrary to Obama’s law, Republicans would let older people be charged more.</p>
<p>The report estimates that individuals’ out-of-pocket costs under the GOP bill “would tend to be higher than those anticipated under current law.” That runs counter to another Trump claim — that his plan would offer “much lower deductibles.”</p>
<p>CBO had predicted 23 million people would enroll in online marketplaces when Obama’s law was enacted but the actual number was 12 million, largely because it overestimated how the individual mandate would prompt people to buy coverage.</p>
<p>More from ABQJournal.com</p>
<p>Udall fears many New Mexicans will lose the insurance they gained from expansion of Medicaid… continue reading »</p>
<p>More from ABQJournal.com</p>
<p>WASHINGTON — The Republican bill to replace major portions of Barack Obama's health care law would leave 24 million additional… continue reading »</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>AP reporters Julie Pace, Ken Thomas, Erica Werner and Matthew Daly contributed to this report.</p> | 1,894 |
<p>Last year, the city of Alexandria, Virginia, a suburb of D.C., voted to change the name of Jefferson Davis Highway, a strip of state highway that runs through the town's borders.</p>
<p>Now that the nation is in the grip of Confederate statue fervor, however, <a href="https://jalopnik.com/virginia-is-renaming-jefferson-davis-highway-and-asking-1798075806?utm_campaign=socialflow_jalopnik_twitter&amp;utm_source=jalopnik_twitter&amp;utm_medium=socialflow" type="external">town officials are looking to speed up the renaming process</a>, and they've turned to the internet for suggestions on what to call the strip of road that leads through Reagan Airport and Arlington National Cemetery, straight to the Pentagon.</p>
<p>Interested parties can <a href="https://survey.alexandriava.gov/s3/Jefferson-Davis-Highway-Renaming" type="external">click over to the proposal page on the Arlington town website</a> and enter their three top choices. The Arlington City Manager will be taking suggestions through October 5, and then will probably let the internet vote on some of the top choices — though they don't seem to have decided on the final stage of deliberation just yet.</p>
<p>The effort presents a unique opportunity: the vote to rename came in 2016, well before Antifa had made it their mission to fell every statue and monument to a Confederate general from sea to shining sea, and it came after serious deliberation. The name has a mixed history, as well: the highway was named after the President of the Confederacy as part of a campaign by the Daughters of the Confederacy, in response to another national campaign, asking states and towns to name roads after President Abraham Lincoln, who led the Union to victory in the Civil War.</p>
<p>To stick it to Lincoln, in other words, roads and bridges across the south bear Davis' name.</p>
<p>There's one flaw in the city's logic, though. The internet doesn't always make the best choices when it comes to naming things like boats and zoo animals, or finding a venue for pop concerts. The RMS Queen Elizabeth was re-christened "Boaty McBoatface" after an online campaign went awry, and when the internet was asked where Justin Bieber should kick off his next tour, social media helpfully decided on North Korea (Boaty is still afloat, but <a href="http://www.mtv.com/news/1643113/justin-bieber-is-not-going-to-north-korea-rep-confirms/" type="external">the Beebs stayed put on U.S. soil</a>).</p>
<p>Some of Twitter's suggestions for Jefferson Davis Highway are just as creative.</p> | Highway McHighwayface: Virginia Asks Internet For Suggestions On What To Rename Jefferson Davis Highway | true | https://dailywire.com/news/20012/highway-mchighwayface-virginia-asks-internet-emily-zanotti | 2017-08-21 | 0right
| Highway McHighwayface: Virginia Asks Internet For Suggestions On What To Rename Jefferson Davis Highway
<p>Last year, the city of Alexandria, Virginia, a suburb of D.C., voted to change the name of Jefferson Davis Highway, a strip of state highway that runs through the town's borders.</p>
<p>Now that the nation is in the grip of Confederate statue fervor, however, <a href="https://jalopnik.com/virginia-is-renaming-jefferson-davis-highway-and-asking-1798075806?utm_campaign=socialflow_jalopnik_twitter&amp;utm_source=jalopnik_twitter&amp;utm_medium=socialflow" type="external">town officials are looking to speed up the renaming process</a>, and they've turned to the internet for suggestions on what to call the strip of road that leads through Reagan Airport and Arlington National Cemetery, straight to the Pentagon.</p>
<p>Interested parties can <a href="https://survey.alexandriava.gov/s3/Jefferson-Davis-Highway-Renaming" type="external">click over to the proposal page on the Arlington town website</a> and enter their three top choices. The Arlington City Manager will be taking suggestions through October 5, and then will probably let the internet vote on some of the top choices — though they don't seem to have decided on the final stage of deliberation just yet.</p>
<p>The effort presents a unique opportunity: the vote to rename came in 2016, well before Antifa had made it their mission to fell every statue and monument to a Confederate general from sea to shining sea, and it came after serious deliberation. The name has a mixed history, as well: the highway was named after the President of the Confederacy as part of a campaign by the Daughters of the Confederacy, in response to another national campaign, asking states and towns to name roads after President Abraham Lincoln, who led the Union to victory in the Civil War.</p>
<p>To stick it to Lincoln, in other words, roads and bridges across the south bear Davis' name.</p>
<p>There's one flaw in the city's logic, though. The internet doesn't always make the best choices when it comes to naming things like boats and zoo animals, or finding a venue for pop concerts. The RMS Queen Elizabeth was re-christened "Boaty McBoatface" after an online campaign went awry, and when the internet was asked where Justin Bieber should kick off his next tour, social media helpfully decided on North Korea (Boaty is still afloat, but <a href="http://www.mtv.com/news/1643113/justin-bieber-is-not-going-to-north-korea-rep-confirms/" type="external">the Beebs stayed put on U.S. soil</a>).</p>
<p>Some of Twitter's suggestions for Jefferson Davis Highway are just as creative.</p> | 1,895 |
<p>I’m not sure on whom this reflects more poorly, Alcee Hastings (D-FL, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcee_Hastings#Judicial_career_.281979-1989.29" type="external">ex-Judge</a>, 1 of 8 fed officials ever successfully impeached, now sometimes spokesman for your Democratic Party), or HuffPo for actually reporting this nonsense.</p>
<p>But it’s out there, and has been picked up many places, so here you go from HuffPo’s Jennifer Bendery, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/07/allen-west-chick-fil-a_n_1752172.html?1344361128" type="external">Allen West Sends Chick-Fil-A To Black Caucus Meeting And Offends Everyone, Says Dem Rep</a>&#160;(h/t CassandraLite):</p>
<p>A Democratic lawmaker says Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) offended the entire Congressional Black Caucus by delivering Chick-fil-A chicken and biscuits to their weekly meeting — and then walking out — when it was his turn to provide the group with a formal lunch.</p>
<p>This was just recently after the Chick-fil-A controversy broke, right?&#160; No, it happened six months ago, HuffPo just decided to run the story anyway:</p>
<p>Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.) told The Huffington Post that the incident happened about six months ago but is now fresh in his mind given West’s <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/30/allen-west-chick-fil-a-chicago_n_1721198.html" type="external">recent comments</a> in support of the fast food chain, which is run by a well-known Christian and backer of anti-gay religious organizations. Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy last week sparked a nationwide response from gay rights activists after publicly denouncing marriage equality.</p>
<p>And the problem was? Read the HuffPo article, it’s pretty clear that the CBC did not consider chicken and biscuits sufficiently sumptuous:</p>
<p>“We have a rotation in the Congressional Black Caucus where every member provides the lunch one of the weeks when we meet,” Hastings said in a Monday interview. The lunches, he said, are often quite delicious.</p>
<p>“We have fried chicken. And we have catfish and BBQ. We do not have watermelon, although sometimes people will have fruit. We serve a full course meal with collard greens. We have Jamaican beans and rice,” Hastings said. But West “sent Chick-fil-A with biscuits. Ok?”</p>
<p>“That was an ‘in your face.’ Every member of the Congressional Black Caucus that was there was offended,” he said.</p>
<p>But HuffPo, being the keen investigative journal that it is, didn’t accept “not sufficiently sumptuous” for an answer, it probed:</p>
<p>Asked more specifically why lawmakers were insulted, Hastings said it was because they saw West’s actions as making a statement in support of the conservative views held by Chick-fil-A leaders. West is the only Republican member of the caucus.</p>
<p>“He did it deliberately,” Hastings said, explaining that he saw West’s message as, “You know, ‘That’s what I think of you all.'”</p>
<p>Believe it or not (I do), this story has received a fair <a href="http://www.memeorandum.com/120807/p95#a120807p95" type="external">amount of play</a>, including at <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/08/rep-allen-wests-chick-fil-a-treat-gnaws-at-black-caucus/" type="external">ABC News</a>&#160;and <a href="http://thegrio.com/2012/08/07/allen-west-sent-chick-fil-a-to-black-caucus-meeting/" type="external">NBC News</a>.</p>
<p>To quote Hastings, “He did it deliberately [to say] ‘You know, That’s what I think of you.'”</p>
<p>You can donate to West’s <a href="http://www.allenwestforcongress.com/" type="external">CBC Chick-fil-A fund here</a>.</p> | Allen West serves Chick-fil-A to Cong. Black Caucus, impeached fed judge (D-FL) upset | true | http://legalinsurrection.com/2012/08/allen-west-serves-chick-fil-a-to-cong-black-caucus-impeached-fed-judge-d-fl-upset/ | 2012-08-08 | 0right
| Allen West serves Chick-fil-A to Cong. Black Caucus, impeached fed judge (D-FL) upset
<p>I’m not sure on whom this reflects more poorly, Alcee Hastings (D-FL, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcee_Hastings#Judicial_career_.281979-1989.29" type="external">ex-Judge</a>, 1 of 8 fed officials ever successfully impeached, now sometimes spokesman for your Democratic Party), or HuffPo for actually reporting this nonsense.</p>
<p>But it’s out there, and has been picked up many places, so here you go from HuffPo’s Jennifer Bendery, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/07/allen-west-chick-fil-a_n_1752172.html?1344361128" type="external">Allen West Sends Chick-Fil-A To Black Caucus Meeting And Offends Everyone, Says Dem Rep</a>&#160;(h/t CassandraLite):</p>
<p>A Democratic lawmaker says Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) offended the entire Congressional Black Caucus by delivering Chick-fil-A chicken and biscuits to their weekly meeting — and then walking out — when it was his turn to provide the group with a formal lunch.</p>
<p>This was just recently after the Chick-fil-A controversy broke, right?&#160; No, it happened six months ago, HuffPo just decided to run the story anyway:</p>
<p>Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.) told The Huffington Post that the incident happened about six months ago but is now fresh in his mind given West’s <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/30/allen-west-chick-fil-a-chicago_n_1721198.html" type="external">recent comments</a> in support of the fast food chain, which is run by a well-known Christian and backer of anti-gay religious organizations. Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy last week sparked a nationwide response from gay rights activists after publicly denouncing marriage equality.</p>
<p>And the problem was? Read the HuffPo article, it’s pretty clear that the CBC did not consider chicken and biscuits sufficiently sumptuous:</p>
<p>“We have a rotation in the Congressional Black Caucus where every member provides the lunch one of the weeks when we meet,” Hastings said in a Monday interview. The lunches, he said, are often quite delicious.</p>
<p>“We have fried chicken. And we have catfish and BBQ. We do not have watermelon, although sometimes people will have fruit. We serve a full course meal with collard greens. We have Jamaican beans and rice,” Hastings said. But West “sent Chick-fil-A with biscuits. Ok?”</p>
<p>“That was an ‘in your face.’ Every member of the Congressional Black Caucus that was there was offended,” he said.</p>
<p>But HuffPo, being the keen investigative journal that it is, didn’t accept “not sufficiently sumptuous” for an answer, it probed:</p>
<p>Asked more specifically why lawmakers were insulted, Hastings said it was because they saw West’s actions as making a statement in support of the conservative views held by Chick-fil-A leaders. West is the only Republican member of the caucus.</p>
<p>“He did it deliberately,” Hastings said, explaining that he saw West’s message as, “You know, ‘That’s what I think of you all.'”</p>
<p>Believe it or not (I do), this story has received a fair <a href="http://www.memeorandum.com/120807/p95#a120807p95" type="external">amount of play</a>, including at <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/08/rep-allen-wests-chick-fil-a-treat-gnaws-at-black-caucus/" type="external">ABC News</a>&#160;and <a href="http://thegrio.com/2012/08/07/allen-west-sent-chick-fil-a-to-black-caucus-meeting/" type="external">NBC News</a>.</p>
<p>To quote Hastings, “He did it deliberately [to say] ‘You know, That’s what I think of you.'”</p>
<p>You can donate to West’s <a href="http://www.allenwestforcongress.com/" type="external">CBC Chick-fil-A fund here</a>.</p> | 1,896 |
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<p />
<p>Obama somberly said he took full responsibility for the January CIA strikes and regretted the deaths of hostages Warren Weinstein of Rockville, Maryland, and Giovanni Lo Porto, an Italian aid worker. The president cast the incident as a tragic consequence of the special difficulties of the fight against terrorists.</p>
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<p>The incident is likely to spark fresh scrutiny of Obama's frequent use of drones to target terrorists and his pledge to strike only when there is "near certainty" that no civilians will be harmed.</p>
<p>Weinstein, nearing the end of a contract assignment with the U.S. Agency for International Development, and Lo Porto were killed during a drone strike against an al-Qaida compound in Pakistan, near the Afghan border. U.S. officials said the compound was targeted because intelligence showed it was frequented by al-Qaida leaders. That same intelligence offered no indication the hostages were there, the officials said.</p>
<p>Ahmed Farouq, a dual U.S.-Pakistani national who was an al-Qaida operations leader in Pakistan, was killed in the strike, along with a small number of members of the terror organization, the officials said. Adam Gadahn, an American who served as an al-Qaida spokesman, was killed in a separate strike on a second compound.</p>
<p>"It is a cruel and bitter truth that in the fog of war generally and our fight against terrorists specifically, mistakes - sometimes deadly mistakes - can occur," Obama said at the White House.</p>
<p>U.S. officials said Farouq and Gadahn were not specifically targeted in the operations and there was no evidence they were at either compound. The officials said had they reviewed hundreds of hours of surveillance of the compounds, including continuous monitoring of the facility where Farouq was killed in the days leading up to the strike.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>"We believed that this was an al-Qaida compound, that no civilians were present and that capturing these terrorists was not possible," Obama said. "And we do believe that the operation did take out dangerous members of al-Qaida."</p>
<p>The president said he had ordered a review of the incidents to help identify any changes that might be made to prevent similar deaths in the future.</p>
<p>The CIA drone program has killed al-Qaida leaders, Pakistani Taliban fighters and other militants hiding in tribal regions, sparking anger across Pakistan over allegations of widespread civilian casualties. Since 2004, the U.S. has carried out some 400 suspected drone strikes in Pakistan, according to the New America Foundation's International Security Program, which tracks the American campaign.</p>
<p>White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Obama did not personally sign off on the two drone strikes but believes they fell within the guidelines he has set for counterterror missions. Earnest also said the president did not regret the deaths of Farouq and Gadahn.</p>
<p>Officials said it became evident in the weeks after the strikes that Weinstein, the American hostage, might have been killed. A final assessment was reached in recent days and administration officials started briefing members of Congress.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, welcomed Obama's review of the incident, calling it "entirely appropriate." And California Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said it would be crucial to examine the operation "to make sure that the high standards that have been set were, in fact, met."</p>
<p>On Wednesday, Obama spoke with Weinstein's wife, Elaine, as well as Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.</p>
<p>In a statement, Elaine Weinstein said the assistance her family received from the U.S. government was "inconsistent and disappointing."</p>
<p>"We hope that my husband's death and the others who have faced similar tragedies in recent months will finally prompt the U.S. government to take its responsibilities seriously and establish a coordinated and consistent approach to supporting hostages and their families," she said.</p>
<p>The White House said compensation would be paid to the Weinstein and Lo Porto families.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Weinstein, a 73-year-old development worker, was abducted in August 2011. His capture came just four days before his seven-year stint with the U.S. Agency for International Development was to end.</p>
<p>Lo Porto was working for the German aid group Welthungerhilfe when he was captured in Pakistan in January 2012. He was kidnapped together with German Bernd Muehlenbeck, who was freed last year.</p>
<p>Renzi expressed his "profound pain" over Lo Porto's death, saying the aid worker had "dedicated his life to the service of others."</p>
<p>The two American al-Qaida operatives killed in the strikes had assumed senior roles in the terror organization, though U.S. officials said they were not considered high-value targets.</p>
<p>Farouq was deputy emir of al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent, a relatively new offshoot of the terror group. AQIS claimed responsibility for a failed attempt in September 2014 to hijack Pakistani naval vessels and use them to attack American warships. The U.S. believes Farouq was involved in that plot.</p>
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<p>In April, AQIS said Farouq had been killed in a U.S. drone strike earlier in the year. However, it was unclear at the time that he had dual American citizenship.</p>
<p>Gadahn used the name "Azzam the American" and appeared in numerous al-Qaida videos. He denounced U.S. moves in Afghanistan and elsewhere, and threatened attacks on Western interests.</p>
<p>In 2006, U.S. authorities filed treason charges against Gadhan and offered a $1 million reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction. Gadahn was the only American charged with treason since the World War II era.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Associated Press writers Robert Burns, Matthew Lee, Nedra Pickler and Jim Kuhnhenn in Washington, Nicole Winfield in Rome, and Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this report.</p> | Hostages killed in US drone strikes targeting al-Qaida | false | https://abqjournal.com/573807/white-house-americans-held-by-working-with-al-qaida-killed.html | 2least
| Hostages killed in US drone strikes targeting al-Qaida
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<p />
<p>Obama somberly said he took full responsibility for the January CIA strikes and regretted the deaths of hostages Warren Weinstein of Rockville, Maryland, and Giovanni Lo Porto, an Italian aid worker. The president cast the incident as a tragic consequence of the special difficulties of the fight against terrorists.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The incident is likely to spark fresh scrutiny of Obama's frequent use of drones to target terrorists and his pledge to strike only when there is "near certainty" that no civilians will be harmed.</p>
<p>Weinstein, nearing the end of a contract assignment with the U.S. Agency for International Development, and Lo Porto were killed during a drone strike against an al-Qaida compound in Pakistan, near the Afghan border. U.S. officials said the compound was targeted because intelligence showed it was frequented by al-Qaida leaders. That same intelligence offered no indication the hostages were there, the officials said.</p>
<p>Ahmed Farouq, a dual U.S.-Pakistani national who was an al-Qaida operations leader in Pakistan, was killed in the strike, along with a small number of members of the terror organization, the officials said. Adam Gadahn, an American who served as an al-Qaida spokesman, was killed in a separate strike on a second compound.</p>
<p>"It is a cruel and bitter truth that in the fog of war generally and our fight against terrorists specifically, mistakes - sometimes deadly mistakes - can occur," Obama said at the White House.</p>
<p>U.S. officials said Farouq and Gadahn were not specifically targeted in the operations and there was no evidence they were at either compound. The officials said had they reviewed hundreds of hours of surveillance of the compounds, including continuous monitoring of the facility where Farouq was killed in the days leading up to the strike.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>"We believed that this was an al-Qaida compound, that no civilians were present and that capturing these terrorists was not possible," Obama said. "And we do believe that the operation did take out dangerous members of al-Qaida."</p>
<p>The president said he had ordered a review of the incidents to help identify any changes that might be made to prevent similar deaths in the future.</p>
<p>The CIA drone program has killed al-Qaida leaders, Pakistani Taliban fighters and other militants hiding in tribal regions, sparking anger across Pakistan over allegations of widespread civilian casualties. Since 2004, the U.S. has carried out some 400 suspected drone strikes in Pakistan, according to the New America Foundation's International Security Program, which tracks the American campaign.</p>
<p>White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Obama did not personally sign off on the two drone strikes but believes they fell within the guidelines he has set for counterterror missions. Earnest also said the president did not regret the deaths of Farouq and Gadahn.</p>
<p>Officials said it became evident in the weeks after the strikes that Weinstein, the American hostage, might have been killed. A final assessment was reached in recent days and administration officials started briefing members of Congress.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, welcomed Obama's review of the incident, calling it "entirely appropriate." And California Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said it would be crucial to examine the operation "to make sure that the high standards that have been set were, in fact, met."</p>
<p>On Wednesday, Obama spoke with Weinstein's wife, Elaine, as well as Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.</p>
<p>In a statement, Elaine Weinstein said the assistance her family received from the U.S. government was "inconsistent and disappointing."</p>
<p>"We hope that my husband's death and the others who have faced similar tragedies in recent months will finally prompt the U.S. government to take its responsibilities seriously and establish a coordinated and consistent approach to supporting hostages and their families," she said.</p>
<p>The White House said compensation would be paid to the Weinstein and Lo Porto families.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Weinstein, a 73-year-old development worker, was abducted in August 2011. His capture came just four days before his seven-year stint with the U.S. Agency for International Development was to end.</p>
<p>Lo Porto was working for the German aid group Welthungerhilfe when he was captured in Pakistan in January 2012. He was kidnapped together with German Bernd Muehlenbeck, who was freed last year.</p>
<p>Renzi expressed his "profound pain" over Lo Porto's death, saying the aid worker had "dedicated his life to the service of others."</p>
<p>The two American al-Qaida operatives killed in the strikes had assumed senior roles in the terror organization, though U.S. officials said they were not considered high-value targets.</p>
<p>Farouq was deputy emir of al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent, a relatively new offshoot of the terror group. AQIS claimed responsibility for a failed attempt in September 2014 to hijack Pakistani naval vessels and use them to attack American warships. The U.S. believes Farouq was involved in that plot.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>In April, AQIS said Farouq had been killed in a U.S. drone strike earlier in the year. However, it was unclear at the time that he had dual American citizenship.</p>
<p>Gadahn used the name "Azzam the American" and appeared in numerous al-Qaida videos. He denounced U.S. moves in Afghanistan and elsewhere, and threatened attacks on Western interests.</p>
<p>In 2006, U.S. authorities filed treason charges against Gadhan and offered a $1 million reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction. Gadahn was the only American charged with treason since the World War II era.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Associated Press writers Robert Burns, Matthew Lee, Nedra Pickler and Jim Kuhnhenn in Washington, Nicole Winfield in Rome, and Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this report.</p> | 1,897 |
|
<p>Photo Credit: Chameleon's Eye/Shutterstock.com</p>
<p>BOSTON (CN) - A rape victim sued Massachusetts to stop it from subjecting her to "a court-ordered 16-year unwanted relationship with her attacker" by giving him paternity rights over the child born from the rape.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;H.T., of Norwood, Mass., sued the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in Federal Court.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;"The plaintiff, a rape victim in a state criminal matter, became pregnant in 2009 at age 14 as a result of the crime and gave birth to her attacker's child," the lawsuit states.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;"The defendant in the state criminal proceeding, age 20 at the time of the impregnation, was convicted of rape in 2011 and was sentenced to 16 years probation. Conditions of probation include an order that he initiate proceedings in family court and comply with that court's orders until the child reaches adulthood. The plaintiff here seeks to enjoin enforcement of so much of the state court's order as violates her federal rights by binding her to an unwanted 16-year legal relationship with her rapist."&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;H.T., who recently graduated from high school, says the order forces her to participate in unwanted court proceedings for 16 years with the man who raped her, and to spend money on legal fees.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;"The plaintiff will suffer irreparable harm without relief from this court because she cannot choose not to participate in said family court proceedings without risking serious consequences, including the loss of custody of her child," the complaint states.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;"Even if the family court ruled in the plaintiff's favor on issues currently in dispute, such as whether the criminal defendant should be granted visitation rights to the plaintiff's child, the plaintiff will suffer harm from the constant threat of new issues arising in family court until her child reaches adulthood, including, for example, efforts by the criminal defendant to seek to modify child support orders and enforce his parental rights at the trial court level and on appeal."&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;H.T. was 14 when 20-year-old Jamie Melendez raped her in the fall of 2009, making her pregnant, according to the complaint.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;H.T. says she lived with her mother, who had to quit her job to care for the baby.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;"The plaintiff and her mother repeatedly informed state officials that they wanted no contact with Melendez for any purpose and that they did not want the child born of the crime to have a relationship with Melendez," the complaint states.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;"Melendez pleaded guilty to rape in September, 2011 (Norfolk Criminal Docket No . CR200900499) and was sentenced to probation for 16 years. As a condition of probation, Melendez was ordered to initiate proceedings in family court, declare paternity as to the child born of his crime, (paternity had already been determined in the criminal case, via DNA testing), and comply with the family court's orders throughout the probationary period. The plaintiff and her mother were adamantly opposed to participation in family court proceedings and repeatedly expressed this sentiment to state officials." (Parentheses in complaint).&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;In June 2012, H.T. found out that Melendez was seeking visitation rights with the child.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;After a family court judge ordered Melendez to pay $110 a week in child support, he Melendez asked for visitation rights, and offered to withdraw his request in exchange for not having to pay child support, according to the lawsuit.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;"Melendez had no prior contact with the child and had expressed no interest in the child, but no Massachusetts law forbids the enforcement of visitation rights by a biological father who causes a child's birth through the crime of rape," the complaint states.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;The sentencing judge in the state criminal court denied H.T.'s request to order Melendez to pay criminal restitution instead of child support, and release her from any legal proceedings involving him.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;H.T. asked the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to review the decision, but the single justice of the court found that she lacked standing to challenge the order. The justice agreed with the state court that H.T. could appeal any adverse rulings in family court.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;H.T. appealed the ruling, but the full court affirmed the single justice's decision in June, according to the complaint.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;H.T. says she never asserted an interest in the prosecution of Melendez. On the contrary, she seeks to be released from having any authority over his probationary conditions, according to the complaint.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;"Through this action, the plaintiff requests that she be liberated from a state court order that not only imposes unlawfully on her liberty for 16 years, but also obligates her with the unwanted and inappropriate responsibility for ensuring Melendez's compliance with the conditions of his probation; an obligation that should rest exclusively with state officials," the complaint states.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;H.T. claims the order subjects her to an unwanted legal relationship with her attacker, and violates due process and other constitutional rights.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;"An estimated 35,000 babies are born from rape every year," the complaint states. "No state court has ever issued an order such as the one at issue here. Granting the plaintiff's requested relief will inhibit state court judges in Massachusetts and elsewhere from similarly depriving rape victims of their liberty, personal autonomy and due process."&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;H.T. seeks an injunction and annulment of the order.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;She is represented by Wendy Murphy, co-director of New England Law School's Women's and Children's Advocacy Project.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;A spokeswoman for Attorney General Martha Coakley declined to comment on the lawsuit, saying the state had not yet reviewed the filing. &#160;</p> | Raped and Impregnated at 14, Girl Must Now Share Parental Rights with Her Attacker | true | http://alternet.org/news-amp-politics/raped-and-impregnated-14-girl-must-now-share-parental-rights-her-attacker | 2013-08-21 | 4left
| Raped and Impregnated at 14, Girl Must Now Share Parental Rights with Her Attacker
<p>Photo Credit: Chameleon's Eye/Shutterstock.com</p>
<p>BOSTON (CN) - A rape victim sued Massachusetts to stop it from subjecting her to "a court-ordered 16-year unwanted relationship with her attacker" by giving him paternity rights over the child born from the rape.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;H.T., of Norwood, Mass., sued the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in Federal Court.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;"The plaintiff, a rape victim in a state criminal matter, became pregnant in 2009 at age 14 as a result of the crime and gave birth to her attacker's child," the lawsuit states.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;"The defendant in the state criminal proceeding, age 20 at the time of the impregnation, was convicted of rape in 2011 and was sentenced to 16 years probation. Conditions of probation include an order that he initiate proceedings in family court and comply with that court's orders until the child reaches adulthood. The plaintiff here seeks to enjoin enforcement of so much of the state court's order as violates her federal rights by binding her to an unwanted 16-year legal relationship with her rapist."&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;H.T., who recently graduated from high school, says the order forces her to participate in unwanted court proceedings for 16 years with the man who raped her, and to spend money on legal fees.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;"The plaintiff will suffer irreparable harm without relief from this court because she cannot choose not to participate in said family court proceedings without risking serious consequences, including the loss of custody of her child," the complaint states.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;"Even if the family court ruled in the plaintiff's favor on issues currently in dispute, such as whether the criminal defendant should be granted visitation rights to the plaintiff's child, the plaintiff will suffer harm from the constant threat of new issues arising in family court until her child reaches adulthood, including, for example, efforts by the criminal defendant to seek to modify child support orders and enforce his parental rights at the trial court level and on appeal."&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;H.T. was 14 when 20-year-old Jamie Melendez raped her in the fall of 2009, making her pregnant, according to the complaint.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;H.T. says she lived with her mother, who had to quit her job to care for the baby.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;"The plaintiff and her mother repeatedly informed state officials that they wanted no contact with Melendez for any purpose and that they did not want the child born of the crime to have a relationship with Melendez," the complaint states.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;"Melendez pleaded guilty to rape in September, 2011 (Norfolk Criminal Docket No . CR200900499) and was sentenced to probation for 16 years. As a condition of probation, Melendez was ordered to initiate proceedings in family court, declare paternity as to the child born of his crime, (paternity had already been determined in the criminal case, via DNA testing), and comply with the family court's orders throughout the probationary period. The plaintiff and her mother were adamantly opposed to participation in family court proceedings and repeatedly expressed this sentiment to state officials." (Parentheses in complaint).&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;In June 2012, H.T. found out that Melendez was seeking visitation rights with the child.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;After a family court judge ordered Melendez to pay $110 a week in child support, he Melendez asked for visitation rights, and offered to withdraw his request in exchange for not having to pay child support, according to the lawsuit.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;"Melendez had no prior contact with the child and had expressed no interest in the child, but no Massachusetts law forbids the enforcement of visitation rights by a biological father who causes a child's birth through the crime of rape," the complaint states.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;The sentencing judge in the state criminal court denied H.T.'s request to order Melendez to pay criminal restitution instead of child support, and release her from any legal proceedings involving him.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;H.T. asked the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to review the decision, but the single justice of the court found that she lacked standing to challenge the order. The justice agreed with the state court that H.T. could appeal any adverse rulings in family court.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;H.T. appealed the ruling, but the full court affirmed the single justice's decision in June, according to the complaint.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;H.T. says she never asserted an interest in the prosecution of Melendez. On the contrary, she seeks to be released from having any authority over his probationary conditions, according to the complaint.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;"Through this action, the plaintiff requests that she be liberated from a state court order that not only imposes unlawfully on her liberty for 16 years, but also obligates her with the unwanted and inappropriate responsibility for ensuring Melendez's compliance with the conditions of his probation; an obligation that should rest exclusively with state officials," the complaint states.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;H.T. claims the order subjects her to an unwanted legal relationship with her attacker, and violates due process and other constitutional rights.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;"An estimated 35,000 babies are born from rape every year," the complaint states. "No state court has ever issued an order such as the one at issue here. Granting the plaintiff's requested relief will inhibit state court judges in Massachusetts and elsewhere from similarly depriving rape victims of their liberty, personal autonomy and due process."&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;H.T. seeks an injunction and annulment of the order.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;She is represented by Wendy Murphy, co-director of New England Law School's Women's and Children's Advocacy Project.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;A spokeswoman for Attorney General Martha Coakley declined to comment on the lawsuit, saying the state had not yet reviewed the filing. &#160;</p> | 1,898 |
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<p>FARMINGTON, N.M. — Sheriff’s deputies in San Juan County say a 16-year-old girl who stole a police pickup has been critically injured after crashing the truck.</p>
<p>The sheriff’s office says in a news release that the girl’s mother flagged down a deputy in Farmington Monday evening because her daughter was intoxicated. The deputy found the teen lying in the roadway and put her in the back seat of his pickup.</p>
<p>The deputy was talking to the mother when the teen kicked out the back window and jumped into the driver’s seat. She drove away, eventually crashing into three vehicles and then wrecking the pickup. A witness found her badly injured and holding a sheriff’s shotgun.</p>
<p>The girl was taken to a local hospital and faces auto theft, DWI and other charges.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Farmington teen hurt after crashing stolen police truck | false | https://abqjournal.com/1108619/farmington-teen-hurt-after-crashing-stolen-police-truck.html | 2least
| Farmington teen hurt after crashing stolen police truck
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<p>FARMINGTON, N.M. — Sheriff’s deputies in San Juan County say a 16-year-old girl who stole a police pickup has been critically injured after crashing the truck.</p>
<p>The sheriff’s office says in a news release that the girl’s mother flagged down a deputy in Farmington Monday evening because her daughter was intoxicated. The deputy found the teen lying in the roadway and put her in the back seat of his pickup.</p>
<p>The deputy was talking to the mother when the teen kicked out the back window and jumped into the driver’s seat. She drove away, eventually crashing into three vehicles and then wrecking the pickup. A witness found her badly injured and holding a sheriff’s shotgun.</p>
<p>The girl was taken to a local hospital and faces auto theft, DWI and other charges.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | 1,899 |
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