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<p>AstraZeneca shares fall after results; Hikma cuts guidance</p>
<p>Blue-chip stocks in the U.K. declined Thursday, as house builders fell following soft industry figures and as Burberry Group PLC shares tumbled the most in more than five years after a disappointing earnings report from the luxury-goods maker.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>What markets are doing: The FTSE 100 index lost 0.6% to close at 7,484.10, setting it on track for a 1% weekly loss.</p>
<p>The pound rose to $1.3133, up from $1.3117 late Wednesday in New York.</p>
<p>Read:Is British leader Theresa May on her way out? Why that's the fear -- and why it matters (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/is-british-leader-theresa-may-on-her-way-out-why-thats-the-fear-and-why-it-matters-2017-11-09)</p>
<p>What's moving markets: A widely watched survey on U.K. house prices showed slowing growth in October compared with September. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said its monthly house price balance dropped 5 points, to plus 1 in October, below a Wall Street Journal consensus estimate of a reading of plus 3.</p>
<p>"The combination of the increased cost of moving, a lack of fresh stock coming to the market, uncertainly over the political climate and now an interest rate hike appears to be taking its toll on activity in the housing market," said Simon Rubinsohn, RICS's chief economist.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Retailers were back in focus, with earnings reports in from Burberry and grocery-chain operator J Sainsbury PLC.</p>
<p>Read:Weak British retail sales flash 'warning sign' for crucial shopping season (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/weak-british-retail-sales-flash-warning-sign-for-crucial-shopping-season-2017-11-07)</p>
<p>Stock movers: Burberry shares (BRBY.LN) (BRBY.LN) sank 10%, the worst drop since September 2012, according to FactSet data, after the company warned that it doesn't expect sales growth until fiscal 2021 (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/burberry-shares-drop-as-it-warns-on-sales-2017-11-09). It also said it will sharpen its focus on the high-end market in part as it aims for high-single digit revenue growth and "meaningful operating margin expansion".</p>
<p>"By re-energizing our product and customer experience to establish our position firmly in luxury, we will play in the most rewarding, enduring segment of the market," said Burberry's Chief Executive Marco Gobbetti.</p>
<p>Shares of home builders were lower after the RICS survey. Persimmon (PSN.LN) flopped down 4%, Barratt Developments PLC (BDEV.LN) dropped 3.6% and Taylor Wimpey PLC (TW.LN) gave up 2.9%.</p>
<p>Shares of Sainsbury (SBRY.LN) (SBRY.LN) ended 1.8% lower after the supermarkets chain cut its dividend (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/sainsburys-pretax-profit-drops-41-cuts-dividend-2017-11-09)after reporting a 41% decrease in pretax profit for the first half of the year.</p>
<p>AstraZeneca PLC (AZN.LN) (AZN.LN) fell 0.6% even as the drugmaker said third-quarter operating profit 12% to $1.15 billion (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/astrazeneca-profit-up-despite-crestor-hit-to-sales-2017-11-09), boosted by a one-off tax benefit. But product sales fell 3% stemming from the loss of the company's exclusivity on Crestor and Seroquel.</p>
<p>Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC (HIK.LN) (HIK.LN) ended 4.1% lower as the company cut its guidance for its generics unit for a third time. (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/hikma-cuts-guidance-on-generics-unit-for-3rd-time-2017-11-09)</p>
<p>(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/hikma-cuts-guidance-on-generics-unit-for-3rd-time-2017-11-09)Shares of Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS.LN)(RRS.LN) fell 0.8% following a ratings downgrade to neutral from buy at UBS. "We did not see any a structural negative from RRS disappointing [third-quarter] results, but we feel less confident that the positive catalysts that we had expected to drive outperformance will materialize," said UBS.</p>
<p>U.K. growth outlook: The European Commission cut its 2017 forecast for U.K. GDP growth, to 1.5% from 1.8%.</p>
<p>"Economic growth in the U.K. has been slowing since the start of the year, as higher consumer prices constrained private consumption growth," the EC said in its autumn economic forecast.</p>
<p>It also expects growth to continue to slow during 2018 and 2019, with that year possibly posting a 1.1% rate of expansion if there are no major disruptions to trade as the U.K. exits the European Union.</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>November 09, 2017 12:10 ET (17:10 GMT)</p> | LONDON MARKETS: FTSE 100 Closes Lower As Burberry Sinks The Most In Five Years | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/11/09/london-markets-ftse-100-closes-lower-as-burberry-sinks-most-in-five-years.html | 2017-11-09 | 0right
| LONDON MARKETS: FTSE 100 Closes Lower As Burberry Sinks The Most In Five Years
<p>AstraZeneca shares fall after results; Hikma cuts guidance</p>
<p>Blue-chip stocks in the U.K. declined Thursday, as house builders fell following soft industry figures and as Burberry Group PLC shares tumbled the most in more than five years after a disappointing earnings report from the luxury-goods maker.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>What markets are doing: The FTSE 100 index lost 0.6% to close at 7,484.10, setting it on track for a 1% weekly loss.</p>
<p>The pound rose to $1.3133, up from $1.3117 late Wednesday in New York.</p>
<p>Read:Is British leader Theresa May on her way out? Why that's the fear -- and why it matters (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/is-british-leader-theresa-may-on-her-way-out-why-thats-the-fear-and-why-it-matters-2017-11-09)</p>
<p>What's moving markets: A widely watched survey on U.K. house prices showed slowing growth in October compared with September. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said its monthly house price balance dropped 5 points, to plus 1 in October, below a Wall Street Journal consensus estimate of a reading of plus 3.</p>
<p>"The combination of the increased cost of moving, a lack of fresh stock coming to the market, uncertainly over the political climate and now an interest rate hike appears to be taking its toll on activity in the housing market," said Simon Rubinsohn, RICS's chief economist.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Retailers were back in focus, with earnings reports in from Burberry and grocery-chain operator J Sainsbury PLC.</p>
<p>Read:Weak British retail sales flash 'warning sign' for crucial shopping season (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/weak-british-retail-sales-flash-warning-sign-for-crucial-shopping-season-2017-11-07)</p>
<p>Stock movers: Burberry shares (BRBY.LN) (BRBY.LN) sank 10%, the worst drop since September 2012, according to FactSet data, after the company warned that it doesn't expect sales growth until fiscal 2021 (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/burberry-shares-drop-as-it-warns-on-sales-2017-11-09). It also said it will sharpen its focus on the high-end market in part as it aims for high-single digit revenue growth and "meaningful operating margin expansion".</p>
<p>"By re-energizing our product and customer experience to establish our position firmly in luxury, we will play in the most rewarding, enduring segment of the market," said Burberry's Chief Executive Marco Gobbetti.</p>
<p>Shares of home builders were lower after the RICS survey. Persimmon (PSN.LN) flopped down 4%, Barratt Developments PLC (BDEV.LN) dropped 3.6% and Taylor Wimpey PLC (TW.LN) gave up 2.9%.</p>
<p>Shares of Sainsbury (SBRY.LN) (SBRY.LN) ended 1.8% lower after the supermarkets chain cut its dividend (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/sainsburys-pretax-profit-drops-41-cuts-dividend-2017-11-09)after reporting a 41% decrease in pretax profit for the first half of the year.</p>
<p>AstraZeneca PLC (AZN.LN) (AZN.LN) fell 0.6% even as the drugmaker said third-quarter operating profit 12% to $1.15 billion (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/astrazeneca-profit-up-despite-crestor-hit-to-sales-2017-11-09), boosted by a one-off tax benefit. But product sales fell 3% stemming from the loss of the company's exclusivity on Crestor and Seroquel.</p>
<p>Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC (HIK.LN) (HIK.LN) ended 4.1% lower as the company cut its guidance for its generics unit for a third time. (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/hikma-cuts-guidance-on-generics-unit-for-3rd-time-2017-11-09)</p>
<p>(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/hikma-cuts-guidance-on-generics-unit-for-3rd-time-2017-11-09)Shares of Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS.LN)(RRS.LN) fell 0.8% following a ratings downgrade to neutral from buy at UBS. "We did not see any a structural negative from RRS disappointing [third-quarter] results, but we feel less confident that the positive catalysts that we had expected to drive outperformance will materialize," said UBS.</p>
<p>U.K. growth outlook: The European Commission cut its 2017 forecast for U.K. GDP growth, to 1.5% from 1.8%.</p>
<p>"Economic growth in the U.K. has been slowing since the start of the year, as higher consumer prices constrained private consumption growth," the EC said in its autumn economic forecast.</p>
<p>It also expects growth to continue to slow during 2018 and 2019, with that year possibly posting a 1.1% rate of expansion if there are no major disruptions to trade as the U.K. exits the European Union.</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>November 09, 2017 12:10 ET (17:10 GMT)</p> | 2,300 |
<p>Chihuahuas are adorable and very portable, but they’re not always&#160;known as what you might call “dogs’ dogs,” or even necessarily people dogs. At the <a href="http://hssvacc.blogspot.com/2014/12/a-full-disclosure-blog-three-reasons.html" type="external">Humane Society of Silicon Valley</a>, they are playing up the faults of one pint-sized pup with a serious Napoleon complex and hoping it results in adoption.</p>
<p>The listing for the little guy begins with:</p> | Hilarious And Brutally Honest Listing May Actually Help This Demon Chihuahua Get Adopted | true | http://addictinginfo.org/2014/12/15/hilarious-and-brutally-honest-listing-may-actually-help-this-demon-chihuahua-get-adopted/ | 2014-12-15 | 4left
| Hilarious And Brutally Honest Listing May Actually Help This Demon Chihuahua Get Adopted
<p>Chihuahuas are adorable and very portable, but they’re not always&#160;known as what you might call “dogs’ dogs,” or even necessarily people dogs. At the <a href="http://hssvacc.blogspot.com/2014/12/a-full-disclosure-blog-three-reasons.html" type="external">Humane Society of Silicon Valley</a>, they are playing up the faults of one pint-sized pup with a serious Napoleon complex and hoping it results in adoption.</p>
<p>The listing for the little guy begins with:</p> | 2,301 |
<p>Are you as frustrated as I am with the state of the debate over media company profits vs. the quality of journalism? For the purposes of this column, I don't really care which side of the debate you're on. But I hope you'll help me figure out how we can get past the impasse.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>When at last one comes to understand that -– of course -- harangues offer no promise in leading a CEO to care as much about his journalism as about his returns, wherein lies the next hope? I had hoped dispassion –- and progress -- lay in a common acknowledgment that as things stand, the CEO has little option BUT to care more about the returns than the journalism. How, then, might "things" be reorganized so that journalism could assume a stronger role? Thus my interest in such issues as whether board members attend to the journalism as well as the profits, and whether executives are rewarded&#160;for journalistic as well as financial success.</p>
<p>But this discussion seems to be no less difficult. Suggest that stock options for editors may not be a good way to nurture journalism, as I did at an Aspen Institute gathering, and you may&#160;receive a storm of scorn. Suggest, as I did to an executive at the Gridiron dinner Saturday, that board members might consider the interests of ALL of a company's stakeholders -- its employees, readers, advertisers and the community at large, as well as its shareholders&#160; -- and prepare for Fiduciary Responsibility 101.</p>
<p>&#160;Common Assumptions Missing</p>
<p>The fact is, there are two&#160;assumptions that often underlie this discussion. One is that journalism often suffers as profits receive more and more emphasis. The other is that media companies are now set up to ensure that profits&#160;receive more and more emphasis. These two factors seem to be things you either believe or you don't.&#160;Which results in those awful "you just don't get it" discussions, with lamentation (or scolding) on one side and disdain (or a mere ignoring) on the other. (Oh, the plight of the lowly nag at the emperor's door!)</p>
<p>Good Journalism=Good Business? Or, Bad Journalism=Public ShameSome people concerned with the plight of journalism believe that hope lies in <a href="" type="internal">research that shows that good journalism is good business</a>. Maybe it will encourage executives to invest in journalism. Maybe. I'm all for it. But research that proves that an overwhelming emphasis on business makes for BAD journalism might be&#160;useful, too. For one thing, it might help interest&#160;the public.&#160;Yet proof that increased quarter-to-quarter profit pressures and related business trends have in fact made the journalism worse is in short supply. People "know" it or they don't. Without research, those who "know" it are easily dismissed as sentimentalists armed only with anecdote.</p>
<p>There are efforts: <a href="http://www.ajr.org/state/index.html" type="external">AJR's "State of the American Newspaper" project</a>, for example (currently being redesigned at the AJR site, but available in book form) looked&#160;at declining numbers of statehouse reporters. But the substantial impact of a traditional media that decreasingly fulfills its responsibility to the public and thereby weakens democracy: Has it really been documented? You <a href="http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/entertainment/columnists/brian_lambert/5369670.htm" type="external">read</a> about Av Westin saying "TV news is in a death spiral" and that "Everywhere you look, the bottom line has trumped [quality journalism]." But if you don't believe it, will that convince you? Some executives&#160;seem resolutely determined not to believe it, and understandably so. Who wants an uncomfortable conscience? These guys have plenty of pressure on them already.</p>
<p>Research -– turning the charge and counter-charge into cool-headed analysis –- could&#160;change the tone. Under the headline: "Are corporate scandals just greed, or a predictable result of a theory?" a New York Times piece last month <a href="http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30D15FB3F590C738EDDAB0894DB404482" type="external">ventured</a>into this territory.&#160;Having looked at a number of economic theories "about how to create incentives to govern a business," author Jeff Madrick concludes, "We now know stock prices cannot be relied on to keep companies honest. To the contrary, they often reward dishonesty. We also know that making managers into shareholders, though useful, is far from a panacea for corporate ills."&#160;Says Madrick, "an overhaul of corporate governance is also in order."</p>
<p>Some possibilities for progressHow do we get the discussion starting from the same text? Some promise comes from the growing number of media CEOs –- witness Dean Singleton and John Curley -- who themselves say ever-increasing profit pressures endanger journalism. Other help could come, as noted above,&#160;from research that substantiates what so many are saying about an imperiled journalism. Or, indeed, from a failure to be able to substantiate it.&#160;And finally, we ought to do a better job of spotlighting just how powerfully the existing incentives are set up to drive the profitability and not the journalism.</p>
<p>What are the incentives today?&#160;Tony Ridder is an overused Exhibit A for effective wielding of corporate profit-driving tools. He's got lots of company. Turn to The New York Times for an <a href="http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&amp;storyID=2324007" type="external">example</a>. The company recently "awarded annual bonuses of $1.5 million each to its chairman and chief executive officer in 2002 because earnings of the newspaper publisher 'substantially exceeded' targets."&#160;&#160;(These bonuses, incidentally would appear to be proportionately much larger than Ridder's). A Reuters story notes that executives had "not received bonuses the&#160;previous year because financial targets were not met.&#160;&#160;</p>
<p>"'Annual bonuses are paid only if financial targets are achieved,' the newspaper publisher said in its annual report to shareholders."</p>
<p>Thus, in&#160;2001, the year the newspaper did the phenomenal work that would win it a record&#160;seven Pulitzers, the executives didn't get any bonuses. Surely the company was well aware of the&#160;work, and didn't need the Pultizer board to tell them it was good. In any case, the 2002 bonuses are awarded strictly on the basis of earnings; the&#160;Pulitzers go&#160;unmentioned.</p>
<p>The good news of course is that Times executives funded&#160;the costly journalism despite its significant&#160;impact on profitability (a verifiably rare phenomenon among media companies these days). Still, an unmistakable fact emerges from this tale of two years in the life of a company: The incentives are set up to reward the earnings, not the journalism.&#160;&#160;One step to takeThis fact deserves more scrutiny than it gets. The public should understand how powerfully profitability drives the companies they rely upon to tell them what they need to know.&#160;For starters -- and out of simple journalistic ethics -- media companies should&#160;report the salaries and bonuses&#160;of their top corporate officers -- just as they do for&#160;many other businesses in their communities. And&#160;journalists should do all they can to&#160;be sure that all&#160;information publicly reported by media companies, including their own, receives a good airing&#160;-- however delicate this may be. Wall Street knows plenty about all this.&#160;Doesn't the public have just as much at stake?</p> | Getting Past the Impasse | false | https://poynter.org/news/getting-past-impasse | 2003-03-13 | 2least
| Getting Past the Impasse
<p>Are you as frustrated as I am with the state of the debate over media company profits vs. the quality of journalism? For the purposes of this column, I don't really care which side of the debate you're on. But I hope you'll help me figure out how we can get past the impasse.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>When at last one comes to understand that -– of course -- harangues offer no promise in leading a CEO to care as much about his journalism as about his returns, wherein lies the next hope? I had hoped dispassion –- and progress -- lay in a common acknowledgment that as things stand, the CEO has little option BUT to care more about the returns than the journalism. How, then, might "things" be reorganized so that journalism could assume a stronger role? Thus my interest in such issues as whether board members attend to the journalism as well as the profits, and whether executives are rewarded&#160;for journalistic as well as financial success.</p>
<p>But this discussion seems to be no less difficult. Suggest that stock options for editors may not be a good way to nurture journalism, as I did at an Aspen Institute gathering, and you may&#160;receive a storm of scorn. Suggest, as I did to an executive at the Gridiron dinner Saturday, that board members might consider the interests of ALL of a company's stakeholders -- its employees, readers, advertisers and the community at large, as well as its shareholders&#160; -- and prepare for Fiduciary Responsibility 101.</p>
<p>&#160;Common Assumptions Missing</p>
<p>The fact is, there are two&#160;assumptions that often underlie this discussion. One is that journalism often suffers as profits receive more and more emphasis. The other is that media companies are now set up to ensure that profits&#160;receive more and more emphasis. These two factors seem to be things you either believe or you don't.&#160;Which results in those awful "you just don't get it" discussions, with lamentation (or scolding) on one side and disdain (or a mere ignoring) on the other. (Oh, the plight of the lowly nag at the emperor's door!)</p>
<p>Good Journalism=Good Business? Or, Bad Journalism=Public ShameSome people concerned with the plight of journalism believe that hope lies in <a href="" type="internal">research that shows that good journalism is good business</a>. Maybe it will encourage executives to invest in journalism. Maybe. I'm all for it. But research that proves that an overwhelming emphasis on business makes for BAD journalism might be&#160;useful, too. For one thing, it might help interest&#160;the public.&#160;Yet proof that increased quarter-to-quarter profit pressures and related business trends have in fact made the journalism worse is in short supply. People "know" it or they don't. Without research, those who "know" it are easily dismissed as sentimentalists armed only with anecdote.</p>
<p>There are efforts: <a href="http://www.ajr.org/state/index.html" type="external">AJR's "State of the American Newspaper" project</a>, for example (currently being redesigned at the AJR site, but available in book form) looked&#160;at declining numbers of statehouse reporters. But the substantial impact of a traditional media that decreasingly fulfills its responsibility to the public and thereby weakens democracy: Has it really been documented? You <a href="http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/entertainment/columnists/brian_lambert/5369670.htm" type="external">read</a> about Av Westin saying "TV news is in a death spiral" and that "Everywhere you look, the bottom line has trumped [quality journalism]." But if you don't believe it, will that convince you? Some executives&#160;seem resolutely determined not to believe it, and understandably so. Who wants an uncomfortable conscience? These guys have plenty of pressure on them already.</p>
<p>Research -– turning the charge and counter-charge into cool-headed analysis –- could&#160;change the tone. Under the headline: "Are corporate scandals just greed, or a predictable result of a theory?" a New York Times piece last month <a href="http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30D15FB3F590C738EDDAB0894DB404482" type="external">ventured</a>into this territory.&#160;Having looked at a number of economic theories "about how to create incentives to govern a business," author Jeff Madrick concludes, "We now know stock prices cannot be relied on to keep companies honest. To the contrary, they often reward dishonesty. We also know that making managers into shareholders, though useful, is far from a panacea for corporate ills."&#160;Says Madrick, "an overhaul of corporate governance is also in order."</p>
<p>Some possibilities for progressHow do we get the discussion starting from the same text? Some promise comes from the growing number of media CEOs –- witness Dean Singleton and John Curley -- who themselves say ever-increasing profit pressures endanger journalism. Other help could come, as noted above,&#160;from research that substantiates what so many are saying about an imperiled journalism. Or, indeed, from a failure to be able to substantiate it.&#160;And finally, we ought to do a better job of spotlighting just how powerfully the existing incentives are set up to drive the profitability and not the journalism.</p>
<p>What are the incentives today?&#160;Tony Ridder is an overused Exhibit A for effective wielding of corporate profit-driving tools. He's got lots of company. Turn to The New York Times for an <a href="http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&amp;storyID=2324007" type="external">example</a>. The company recently "awarded annual bonuses of $1.5 million each to its chairman and chief executive officer in 2002 because earnings of the newspaper publisher 'substantially exceeded' targets."&#160;&#160;(These bonuses, incidentally would appear to be proportionately much larger than Ridder's). A Reuters story notes that executives had "not received bonuses the&#160;previous year because financial targets were not met.&#160;&#160;</p>
<p>"'Annual bonuses are paid only if financial targets are achieved,' the newspaper publisher said in its annual report to shareholders."</p>
<p>Thus, in&#160;2001, the year the newspaper did the phenomenal work that would win it a record&#160;seven Pulitzers, the executives didn't get any bonuses. Surely the company was well aware of the&#160;work, and didn't need the Pultizer board to tell them it was good. In any case, the 2002 bonuses are awarded strictly on the basis of earnings; the&#160;Pulitzers go&#160;unmentioned.</p>
<p>The good news of course is that Times executives funded&#160;the costly journalism despite its significant&#160;impact on profitability (a verifiably rare phenomenon among media companies these days). Still, an unmistakable fact emerges from this tale of two years in the life of a company: The incentives are set up to reward the earnings, not the journalism.&#160;&#160;One step to takeThis fact deserves more scrutiny than it gets. The public should understand how powerfully profitability drives the companies they rely upon to tell them what they need to know.&#160;For starters -- and out of simple journalistic ethics -- media companies should&#160;report the salaries and bonuses&#160;of their top corporate officers -- just as they do for&#160;many other businesses in their communities. And&#160;journalists should do all they can to&#160;be sure that all&#160;information publicly reported by media companies, including their own, receives a good airing&#160;-- however delicate this may be. Wall Street knows plenty about all this.&#160;Doesn't the public have just as much at stake?</p> | 2,302 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
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<p>The incentive program began in 2011 and was designed to address disparities in Medicare reimbursements between primary care physicians and specialists. It distributed $664 million in bonuses in 2012, the most recent year that figures are available, to roughly 170,000 primary care practitioners, awarding each an average of $3,938, according to a 2014 report by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission.</p>
<p>Although that may sound like a small adjustment, it can be important to a primary care practice, says Dr. Wanda Filer, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians. "It's not so much about the salary as it's about the practice expense," she explains. "Family medicine runs on very small margins, and sometimes on negative margins if they're paying for electronic health records, for example. Every few thousand makes a difference."</p>
<p>Doctors who specialize in family medicine, internal medicine and geriatrics are eligible for the bonuses, as are nurse practitioners and physician assistants.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Medicare generally pays lower fees for primary care visits to evaluate and coordinate patients' care than for procedures that specialists perform. The difference is reflected in physician salaries. Half of primary care physicians made less than $241,000 in 2014, while for specialists the halfway mark was $412,000, according to the Medical Group Management Association's annual provider compensation survey.</p>
<p>The impact of the bonus program is larger on practices with a substantial number of Medicare patients. Dr. Andy Lazris estimates 90 percent of the patients that his five-practitioner practice in Columbia, Md., treats are on Medicare.</p>
<p>"When the bonus payments started, it was a pretty big deal for us," Lazris says. The extra $85,000 they received annually allowed them to hire two people to deal with the administrative requirements for being part of an accountable care organization and to help the practice incorporate two new Medicare programs related to managing patients' chronic diseases or overseeing their moves from a medical facility to home.</p>
<p>Next year, if they can't make up the lost bonus money by providing more services, it'll mean a pay cut of $17,000 per practitioner, Lazris says.</p>
<p>Although in some practices, doctors try to see more patients to make up for cuts in reimbursements, that is harder for a group focusing on the elderly. "Part of what we do in geriatrics is spend a lot of time with our patients," he says. "We have to, when someone has five conditions and takes five minutes to get into the room. The basic office visit is 30 minutes."</p>
<p>The incentive program was an effort to address shortcomings in Medicare's system of paying providers mostly a la carte for services, which tends to undervalue primary care providers' ongoing role in coordinating patients' care. Earlier this year, Medpac proposed that Congress replace the expiring primary care incentive program with a per-beneficiary payment to primary care physicians that would be paid for by reducing payments for non-primary care services. That proposal hasn't made any headway. Meanwhile, physician trade groups have lobbied unsuccessfully for an extension of the Medicare bonus program.</p>
<p>The expiration of the Medicare incentive program is particularly painful because it comes on the heels of a similar bonus program for Medicaid primary care services that ended in 2014, says Dr. Wayne J. Riley, president of the American College of Physicians, a professional organization for internists.</p>
<p>"There will be some physicians who say they can't take any more Medicare patients," Riley predicts.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>An attorney for an advocacy group for Medicare beneficiaries says they support the bonus payments and hope physicians won't shut them out.</p>
<p>"We don't have any evidence to show that primary care docs will stop seeing Medicare beneficiaries without the payment bump," says David Lipschutz, a senior policy attorney at the Center for Medicare Advocacy.</p>
<p>The vast majority of non-pediatrician primary care doctors accept patients who are covered by Medicare, according to a national survey of primary care providers by the Commonwealth Fund and the Kaiser Family Foundation. But while 93 percent take Medicare, a smaller percentage, 72 percent, accept new Medicare patients. [Kaiser Health News is an editorially independent program of the Foundation.]</p>
<p>Not all primary care practitioners will miss the incentive program, according to the Commonwealth/KFF survey. Only 25 percent of those surveyed said they received a bonus payment; half didn't know the program existed.</p>
<p>Of physicians who were aware of and received Medicare bonus payments, 37 percent said it made a small difference in their ability to serve their Medicare patients, and 5 percent said it made a big difference. However, nearly half - 48 percent - said it made no difference at all.</p>
<p />
<p /> | Primary care doctors lose 10% Medicare bonus | false | https://abqjournal.com/694655/primary-care-doctors-lose-10-medicare-bonus.html | 2least
| Primary care doctors lose 10% Medicare bonus
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>The incentive program began in 2011 and was designed to address disparities in Medicare reimbursements between primary care physicians and specialists. It distributed $664 million in bonuses in 2012, the most recent year that figures are available, to roughly 170,000 primary care practitioners, awarding each an average of $3,938, according to a 2014 report by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission.</p>
<p>Although that may sound like a small adjustment, it can be important to a primary care practice, says Dr. Wanda Filer, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians. "It's not so much about the salary as it's about the practice expense," she explains. "Family medicine runs on very small margins, and sometimes on negative margins if they're paying for electronic health records, for example. Every few thousand makes a difference."</p>
<p>Doctors who specialize in family medicine, internal medicine and geriatrics are eligible for the bonuses, as are nurse practitioners and physician assistants.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Medicare generally pays lower fees for primary care visits to evaluate and coordinate patients' care than for procedures that specialists perform. The difference is reflected in physician salaries. Half of primary care physicians made less than $241,000 in 2014, while for specialists the halfway mark was $412,000, according to the Medical Group Management Association's annual provider compensation survey.</p>
<p>The impact of the bonus program is larger on practices with a substantial number of Medicare patients. Dr. Andy Lazris estimates 90 percent of the patients that his five-practitioner practice in Columbia, Md., treats are on Medicare.</p>
<p>"When the bonus payments started, it was a pretty big deal for us," Lazris says. The extra $85,000 they received annually allowed them to hire two people to deal with the administrative requirements for being part of an accountable care organization and to help the practice incorporate two new Medicare programs related to managing patients' chronic diseases or overseeing their moves from a medical facility to home.</p>
<p>Next year, if they can't make up the lost bonus money by providing more services, it'll mean a pay cut of $17,000 per practitioner, Lazris says.</p>
<p>Although in some practices, doctors try to see more patients to make up for cuts in reimbursements, that is harder for a group focusing on the elderly. "Part of what we do in geriatrics is spend a lot of time with our patients," he says. "We have to, when someone has five conditions and takes five minutes to get into the room. The basic office visit is 30 minutes."</p>
<p>The incentive program was an effort to address shortcomings in Medicare's system of paying providers mostly a la carte for services, which tends to undervalue primary care providers' ongoing role in coordinating patients' care. Earlier this year, Medpac proposed that Congress replace the expiring primary care incentive program with a per-beneficiary payment to primary care physicians that would be paid for by reducing payments for non-primary care services. That proposal hasn't made any headway. Meanwhile, physician trade groups have lobbied unsuccessfully for an extension of the Medicare bonus program.</p>
<p>The expiration of the Medicare incentive program is particularly painful because it comes on the heels of a similar bonus program for Medicaid primary care services that ended in 2014, says Dr. Wayne J. Riley, president of the American College of Physicians, a professional organization for internists.</p>
<p>"There will be some physicians who say they can't take any more Medicare patients," Riley predicts.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>An attorney for an advocacy group for Medicare beneficiaries says they support the bonus payments and hope physicians won't shut them out.</p>
<p>"We don't have any evidence to show that primary care docs will stop seeing Medicare beneficiaries without the payment bump," says David Lipschutz, a senior policy attorney at the Center for Medicare Advocacy.</p>
<p>The vast majority of non-pediatrician primary care doctors accept patients who are covered by Medicare, according to a national survey of primary care providers by the Commonwealth Fund and the Kaiser Family Foundation. But while 93 percent take Medicare, a smaller percentage, 72 percent, accept new Medicare patients. [Kaiser Health News is an editorially independent program of the Foundation.]</p>
<p>Not all primary care practitioners will miss the incentive program, according to the Commonwealth/KFF survey. Only 25 percent of those surveyed said they received a bonus payment; half didn't know the program existed.</p>
<p>Of physicians who were aware of and received Medicare bonus payments, 37 percent said it made a small difference in their ability to serve their Medicare patients, and 5 percent said it made a big difference. However, nearly half - 48 percent - said it made no difference at all.</p>
<p />
<p /> | 2,303 |
|
<p>The comment piece below was published in Pakistan’s&#160;Daily Times&#160;over two years ago, on September 17, 2009. It was critical of the foreign armies’ system of training the Afghan army.&#160;&#160;Alas, since then, almost nothing has changed. There is now a joint international command headquarters,&#160;&#160;certainly, but it is purely nominal in effect.&#160;&#160;Units of U.S. special forces continue to operate without reference to anyone — not even their own in-country national headquarters — and the training system is notable only for the fact that increasing numbers of trainees are killing their foreign trainers: some 75 foreign “mentors” have been murdered by Afghan soldiers since 2007. &#160;&#160;&#160;</p>
<p>In Kabul last week [in September 2009], “an American service member and an Afghan police officer got into an argument because the American was drinking water in front of the Afghan police, who are not eating or drinking…because of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan…[The policeman] shot the American and seriously wounded him, while other American troops responded and seriously wounded the [policeman].”</p>
<p>This depressing cameo encapsulates the problem for foreign troops in Afghanistan. And it shows the problems that Afghans have with ignorant foreigners whose boorish insensitivity would be laughable were it not so dangerous.</p>
<p>A perceptive American military officer told the Washington Post that “Having US troops enforcing martial law where they don’t understand the people or speak the language — this is a recipe for disaster.” Quite so. (Although his use of the phrase “martial law” is a trifle disconcerting.) And the same applies to the training of the Afghan army and police force.</p>
<p>The training and “mentoring” of Afghan troops and policemen by foreign advisers (shades of Vietnam era condescension) are inadequate.</p>
<p>First, the training is conducted by different nations, none of which have similar instructional methods. Indeed the foreign armies in Afghanistan don’t even have compatible rules of engagement, communications systems, logistics arrangements, equipment, command structures or domestic political imperatives. NATO and the “International Security Assistance Force” have some 65,000 troops in Afghanistan. About half are American, but more than 30,000 other US troops operate under entirely national command. [Two and a half years later there are some 130,000 foreign troops in country, 99,000 of them Americans.]</p>
<p>To state that this arrangement is a cockamamie nonsense is to put it mildly. Here are the lordly superior nations of the West, intent on bringing law and order to Afghanistan, and they do not have a single distinct headquarters that is responsible for commanding all military operations.</p>
<p>If a young captain at any military college in the world came up with such a structure, when told to design a configuration for the most effective use of military power by a group of supposedly allied armies engaged in a counter insurgency war in a foreign country, he would be laughed at.</p>
<p>There is no overall Mission Statement for the foreign troops in Afghanistan. As the war intensifies it is likely that national contingents now operating in comparatively safe areas will be subjected to action by warlords, Taliban, drug barons and other criminal thugs. If this happens, there will be even more chaos.</p>
<p>It is stated that training of soldiers is the responsibility of the Afghan army with assistance from others, which is true, so far as it goes. But at least six nations are involved in such training — a recipe for confusion. So last April [2009], realising that the training process had failed, NATO announced that it would create a Training Mission with “a single commander for both the US-led Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan and the NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan.”</p>
<p>And the best of luck. But it won’t work. Because what is needed is a stand-alone training system that could be designed in detail by a competent major in about a week.</p>
<p>When I returned to Australia from serving in Vietnam, I was made responsible for the basic training of hundreds of soldiers, a task I much enjoyed in spite of rising at 0530 every day for the morning run. It wasn’t easy to train youngsters straight from civil life, but it was worthwhile, and at passing-out parades proud and happy parents who flew from the other side of the continent would tell me they never thought that anyone could persuade their sons to make their own beds.</p>
<p>Terrific.</p>
<p>But I had many advantages: all recruits were literate and spoke the same language; the dedication and ingenuity of my staff of instructors never ceased to amaze me; and the logistics system was staggeringly efficient. (One recruit had size 16 feet, so the quartermaster phoned the boot supplier and we had two pairs next day. And we won the inter-company swimming, too, because Bigfoot went like a motorboat.)</p>
<p>The course of instruction took 12 weeks of enormous effort by everyone. At the end of it the recruits were able to begin to serve in their units. But their training was far from complete, because they had a great deal more to learn about soldiering. I won’t go into boring detail, but it takes at least a year to produce a reasonably efficient soldier — and that’s with an almost perfect system. It would be criminal to commit a soldier to hazarding his life before he was competent.</p>
<p>In Afghanistan the training course is ten weeks&#160;[it has now been reduced to 8 weeks], and 90 percent of recruits are illiterate and language-incompatible with their peers, let alone with foreigners. Afghan instructors are keen but barely effective and the logistics system is a tattered joke. Some foreign instructors may be good, but most are depressingly ignorant of language, culture and customs.</p>
<p>It is reported that “As part of the Obama administration’s surge, the 4th Brigade of the 82nd Airborne is being deployed to serve as trainers. This brigade is a regular Army brigade not specifically structured for the advisory mission.” My case rests.</p>
<p>What a farce.</p>
<p>So the foreigners’ training system in Afghanistan won’t work — and nor will the absurdly complex new command arrangements supposed to be in place on 12 October [2009]. There is going to be a “new ISAF Upper Command Structure, [which] will consist of a higher operational Headquarters, ISAF HQ commanded by a 4-star General, and a subordinate 3-star HQ called ISAF Joint Command (IJC) HQ. Both will be located in Kabul . . .”&#160;&#160;&#160;And so on.</p>
<p>In a marvellous piece of gobbledygook milspeak, “COMICJ [which acronym is not explained by the authors of this twaddle] will be exclusively a NATO Commander, as opposed to COMNTM-A who will be double-hatted as NATO/ISAF Commander and Commander of the US-led Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan (CSTC-A).”</p>
<p>COMICJ - You couldn’t make it up. But it’s real, if barely believable.</p>
<p>Heaven help Afghanistan.</p>
<p>*****</p>
<p>The commentary above was written over two years ago. And now we are told by Obama’s White House that it is “pursuing a well-resourced and integrated military-civilian strategy intended to pave the way for a gradual transition to Afghan leadership” by the end of 2014. This is garbage, not only because so many foreign training instructors have been killed by their Afghan trainees, but because the Afghan army isn’t even remotely competent, after so many years of wasted effort.&#160;&#160;Countless millions of dollars have been squandered in trying to train the Afghan army.&#160;&#160;The entire system was ill-constructed and is ineffective as well as costly beyond belief.&#160;&#160;There was no examination of Afghan tribal culture before the foreign armies leapt into inept and wasteful action in trying to train recruits.</p>
<p>Dereliction of Duty, the superb paper about the war in Afghanistan written by U.S. army Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Davis, notes that in October 2011 the US head of the Training Mission, a Disney character called Lieutenant General&#160;&#160;William B Caldwell, declared that “Two years of intense education and training have turned members of the Afghan army and police into a national security force that is learning to protect and serve and that is producing a new breed of leaders,”&#160;&#160;which was a inane untruth.&#160;&#160;It showed that Caldwell was either a liar, a fool, ignorant of facts, or (probably) a combination of all the above.&#160;On March 8&#160;I went to the site&#160;&#160; <a href="http://www.isaf.nato.int/en/about-isaf/leadership/lieutenant-general-william-b.-caldwell.html" type="external">http://www.isaf.nato.int/en/about-isaf/leadership/lieutenant-general-william-b.-caldwell.html</a>&#160;to find out more about Caldwell and saw the message :</p>
<p>This page is not available</p>
<p>about which no comment is necessary.</p>
<p>Recent events and evaluations have shown beyond doubt that the foreign training “system” is a failure.&#160;&#160;The “coalition forces” in Afghanistan will continue down the road to disaster and defeat. The commanding generals will prosper, and their staff officers will be promoted.&#160;&#160;Fighting soldiers and officers will continue to die in the cause of nothing — and Afghanistan will collapse once more into regional regimes of savagery.</p>
<p>Brian Cloughley’s&#160;website is&#160; <a href="http://www.beecluff.com/" type="external">www.beecluff.com</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Training the Afghan Army | true | https://counterpunch.org/2012/03/09/training-the-afghan-army/ | 2012-03-09 | 4left
| Training the Afghan Army
<p>The comment piece below was published in Pakistan’s&#160;Daily Times&#160;over two years ago, on September 17, 2009. It was critical of the foreign armies’ system of training the Afghan army.&#160;&#160;Alas, since then, almost nothing has changed. There is now a joint international command headquarters,&#160;&#160;certainly, but it is purely nominal in effect.&#160;&#160;Units of U.S. special forces continue to operate without reference to anyone — not even their own in-country national headquarters — and the training system is notable only for the fact that increasing numbers of trainees are killing their foreign trainers: some 75 foreign “mentors” have been murdered by Afghan soldiers since 2007. &#160;&#160;&#160;</p>
<p>In Kabul last week [in September 2009], “an American service member and an Afghan police officer got into an argument because the American was drinking water in front of the Afghan police, who are not eating or drinking…because of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan…[The policeman] shot the American and seriously wounded him, while other American troops responded and seriously wounded the [policeman].”</p>
<p>This depressing cameo encapsulates the problem for foreign troops in Afghanistan. And it shows the problems that Afghans have with ignorant foreigners whose boorish insensitivity would be laughable were it not so dangerous.</p>
<p>A perceptive American military officer told the Washington Post that “Having US troops enforcing martial law where they don’t understand the people or speak the language — this is a recipe for disaster.” Quite so. (Although his use of the phrase “martial law” is a trifle disconcerting.) And the same applies to the training of the Afghan army and police force.</p>
<p>The training and “mentoring” of Afghan troops and policemen by foreign advisers (shades of Vietnam era condescension) are inadequate.</p>
<p>First, the training is conducted by different nations, none of which have similar instructional methods. Indeed the foreign armies in Afghanistan don’t even have compatible rules of engagement, communications systems, logistics arrangements, equipment, command structures or domestic political imperatives. NATO and the “International Security Assistance Force” have some 65,000 troops in Afghanistan. About half are American, but more than 30,000 other US troops operate under entirely national command. [Two and a half years later there are some 130,000 foreign troops in country, 99,000 of them Americans.]</p>
<p>To state that this arrangement is a cockamamie nonsense is to put it mildly. Here are the lordly superior nations of the West, intent on bringing law and order to Afghanistan, and they do not have a single distinct headquarters that is responsible for commanding all military operations.</p>
<p>If a young captain at any military college in the world came up with such a structure, when told to design a configuration for the most effective use of military power by a group of supposedly allied armies engaged in a counter insurgency war in a foreign country, he would be laughed at.</p>
<p>There is no overall Mission Statement for the foreign troops in Afghanistan. As the war intensifies it is likely that national contingents now operating in comparatively safe areas will be subjected to action by warlords, Taliban, drug barons and other criminal thugs. If this happens, there will be even more chaos.</p>
<p>It is stated that training of soldiers is the responsibility of the Afghan army with assistance from others, which is true, so far as it goes. But at least six nations are involved in such training — a recipe for confusion. So last April [2009], realising that the training process had failed, NATO announced that it would create a Training Mission with “a single commander for both the US-led Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan and the NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan.”</p>
<p>And the best of luck. But it won’t work. Because what is needed is a stand-alone training system that could be designed in detail by a competent major in about a week.</p>
<p>When I returned to Australia from serving in Vietnam, I was made responsible for the basic training of hundreds of soldiers, a task I much enjoyed in spite of rising at 0530 every day for the morning run. It wasn’t easy to train youngsters straight from civil life, but it was worthwhile, and at passing-out parades proud and happy parents who flew from the other side of the continent would tell me they never thought that anyone could persuade their sons to make their own beds.</p>
<p>Terrific.</p>
<p>But I had many advantages: all recruits were literate and spoke the same language; the dedication and ingenuity of my staff of instructors never ceased to amaze me; and the logistics system was staggeringly efficient. (One recruit had size 16 feet, so the quartermaster phoned the boot supplier and we had two pairs next day. And we won the inter-company swimming, too, because Bigfoot went like a motorboat.)</p>
<p>The course of instruction took 12 weeks of enormous effort by everyone. At the end of it the recruits were able to begin to serve in their units. But their training was far from complete, because they had a great deal more to learn about soldiering. I won’t go into boring detail, but it takes at least a year to produce a reasonably efficient soldier — and that’s with an almost perfect system. It would be criminal to commit a soldier to hazarding his life before he was competent.</p>
<p>In Afghanistan the training course is ten weeks&#160;[it has now been reduced to 8 weeks], and 90 percent of recruits are illiterate and language-incompatible with their peers, let alone with foreigners. Afghan instructors are keen but barely effective and the logistics system is a tattered joke. Some foreign instructors may be good, but most are depressingly ignorant of language, culture and customs.</p>
<p>It is reported that “As part of the Obama administration’s surge, the 4th Brigade of the 82nd Airborne is being deployed to serve as trainers. This brigade is a regular Army brigade not specifically structured for the advisory mission.” My case rests.</p>
<p>What a farce.</p>
<p>So the foreigners’ training system in Afghanistan won’t work — and nor will the absurdly complex new command arrangements supposed to be in place on 12 October [2009]. There is going to be a “new ISAF Upper Command Structure, [which] will consist of a higher operational Headquarters, ISAF HQ commanded by a 4-star General, and a subordinate 3-star HQ called ISAF Joint Command (IJC) HQ. Both will be located in Kabul . . .”&#160;&#160;&#160;And so on.</p>
<p>In a marvellous piece of gobbledygook milspeak, “COMICJ [which acronym is not explained by the authors of this twaddle] will be exclusively a NATO Commander, as opposed to COMNTM-A who will be double-hatted as NATO/ISAF Commander and Commander of the US-led Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan (CSTC-A).”</p>
<p>COMICJ - You couldn’t make it up. But it’s real, if barely believable.</p>
<p>Heaven help Afghanistan.</p>
<p>*****</p>
<p>The commentary above was written over two years ago. And now we are told by Obama’s White House that it is “pursuing a well-resourced and integrated military-civilian strategy intended to pave the way for a gradual transition to Afghan leadership” by the end of 2014. This is garbage, not only because so many foreign training instructors have been killed by their Afghan trainees, but because the Afghan army isn’t even remotely competent, after so many years of wasted effort.&#160;&#160;Countless millions of dollars have been squandered in trying to train the Afghan army.&#160;&#160;The entire system was ill-constructed and is ineffective as well as costly beyond belief.&#160;&#160;There was no examination of Afghan tribal culture before the foreign armies leapt into inept and wasteful action in trying to train recruits.</p>
<p>Dereliction of Duty, the superb paper about the war in Afghanistan written by U.S. army Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Davis, notes that in October 2011 the US head of the Training Mission, a Disney character called Lieutenant General&#160;&#160;William B Caldwell, declared that “Two years of intense education and training have turned members of the Afghan army and police into a national security force that is learning to protect and serve and that is producing a new breed of leaders,”&#160;&#160;which was a inane untruth.&#160;&#160;It showed that Caldwell was either a liar, a fool, ignorant of facts, or (probably) a combination of all the above.&#160;On March 8&#160;I went to the site&#160;&#160; <a href="http://www.isaf.nato.int/en/about-isaf/leadership/lieutenant-general-william-b.-caldwell.html" type="external">http://www.isaf.nato.int/en/about-isaf/leadership/lieutenant-general-william-b.-caldwell.html</a>&#160;to find out more about Caldwell and saw the message :</p>
<p>This page is not available</p>
<p>about which no comment is necessary.</p>
<p>Recent events and evaluations have shown beyond doubt that the foreign training “system” is a failure.&#160;&#160;The “coalition forces” in Afghanistan will continue down the road to disaster and defeat. The commanding generals will prosper, and their staff officers will be promoted.&#160;&#160;Fighting soldiers and officers will continue to die in the cause of nothing — and Afghanistan will collapse once more into regional regimes of savagery.</p>
<p>Brian Cloughley’s&#160;website is&#160; <a href="http://www.beecluff.com/" type="external">www.beecluff.com</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p> | 2,304 |
<p>STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – A Swedish court on Monday sentenced a Syrian asylum seeker to eight months in prison after he posed for photos with dead bodies during the conflict in his home country.</p>
<p>The man admitted to posing with dead or severely injured people while fighting for the Syrian army in 2014 and that he knew the pictures would be used for propaganda, the district court said.</p>
<p>He denied wrongdoing, however, saying he was following orders.</p>
<p>“The man has by his actions exposed the five persons, all of whom were protected under international humanitarian law in armed conflicts, for humiliating or degrading treatment aimed at seriously violating their personal dignity,” the court said.</p>
<p>The man sought asylum in Sweden in 2015 and was detained this year after a member of the public sent the photo to the police.</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> | Swedish court sentences Syrian asylum seeker to prison for posing with war dead | false | https://newsline.com/swedish-court-sentences-syrian-asylum-seeker-to-prison-for-posing-with-war-dead/ | 2017-09-25 | 1right-center
| Swedish court sentences Syrian asylum seeker to prison for posing with war dead
<p>STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – A Swedish court on Monday sentenced a Syrian asylum seeker to eight months in prison after he posed for photos with dead bodies during the conflict in his home country.</p>
<p>The man admitted to posing with dead or severely injured people while fighting for the Syrian army in 2014 and that he knew the pictures would be used for propaganda, the district court said.</p>
<p>He denied wrongdoing, however, saying he was following orders.</p>
<p>“The man has by his actions exposed the five persons, all of whom were protected under international humanitarian law in armed conflicts, for humiliating or degrading treatment aimed at seriously violating their personal dignity,” the court said.</p>
<p>The man sought asylum in Sweden in 2015 and was detained this year after a member of the public sent the photo to the police.</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> | 2,305 |
<p>Apparently the NY Times is reeling from its abysmal, over-the-top, foaming-at-the-mouth anti-Trump “news” coverage.</p>
<p>Mark Halperin of Bloomberg News and Joe Scarborough&#160; <a href="" type="internal">noted the bias</a>&#160;regarding election results coverage:</p>
<p>MARK HALPERIN: Look at the headline of this story. [Featured Image] Look at the headline of this story. This is the day after a surprising underdog sweeping victory and their headline is not “disaffected Americans have a champion going to the White House” or “the country votes for fundamental change.” The headline is about how disappointed the friends of the people who run the New York Times are about what’s happened. It’s amazing. It’s amazing to me that this is the headline of the New York Times.</p>
<p>JOE SCARBOROUGH: Look at this. Look at this. This is staggering. It really is, Mark. I’m glad you brought this up.</p>
<p />
<p>HALPERIN: It’s The Onion.</p>
<p>JOE: This shows that the editors of the New York Times–I have the greatest respect for. They don’t get it.</p>
<p />
<p>Michael Goodwin at <a href="http://nypost.com/2016/11/11/new-york-times-we-blew-it-on-trump/" type="external">The NY Post</a> reports on how the Times is reacting:</p>
<p>The Gray Lady feels the agony of political defeat — in her reputation and in her wallet.</p>
<p>After taking a beating almost as brutal as Hillary Clinton’s, the New York Times on Friday made an extraordinary appeal to its readers to stand by her. The publisher’s letter to subscribers was part apology and part defense of its campaign coverage, but the key takeaway was a pledge to do better….</p>
<p>Now the bill is coming due. <a href="http://nypost.com/2016/11/09/the-world-wakes-up-to-president-elect-trump/" type="external">Shocked by Trump’s victory</a> and mocked even by liberals for its bias, the paper is also apparently bleeding readers — and money.</p>
<p>I’ve gotten letters from people who say they cancelled their Times subscriptions and, to judge from a cryptic line in a Thursday article, the problem is more than anecdotal.</p>
<p>Citing reader anger over election coverage, [NY Times reporter Jim&#160; <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/10/business/media/news-outlets-wonder-where-the-predictions-went-wrong.html?rref=collection%2Fbyline%2Fjim-rutenberg&amp;action=click&amp;contentCollection=undefined&amp;region=stream&amp;module=stream_unit&amp;version=latest&amp;contentPlacement=1&amp;pgtype=collection" type="external">Rutenberg wrote that</a>, “Most ominously, it came in the form of canceled subscriptions.”</p>
<p>So the publisher and executive&#160;editor issued a statement which probably is as close as the Times can come to an apology:</p>
<p>To our readers,</p>
<p>When the biggest political story of the year reached a dramatic and unexpected climax late Tuesday night, our newsroom turned on a dime and did what it has done for nearly two years — cover the 2016 election with agility and creativity.</p>
<p>After such an erratic and unpredictable election there are inevitable questions: Did Donald Trump’s sheer unconventionality lead us and other news outlets to underestimate his support among American voters? What forces and strains in America drove this divisive election and outcome? Most important, how will a president who remains a largely enigmatic figure actually govern when he takes office?</p>
<p>As we reflect on this week’s momentous result, and the months of reporting and polling that preceded it, we aim to rededicate ourselves to the fundamental mission of Times journalism. That is to report America and the world honestly, without fear or favor, striving always to understand and reflect all political perspectives and life experiences in the stories that we bring to you. It is also to hold power to account, impartially and unflinchingly. We believe we reported on both candidates fairly during the presidential campaign. You can rely on The New York Times to bring the same fairness, the same level of scrutiny, the same independence to our coverage of the new president and his team.</p>
<p>We cannot deliver the independent, original journalism for which we are known without the loyalty of our subscribers. We want to take this opportunity, on behalf of all Times journalists, to thank you for that loyalty.</p>
<p>Sincerely,</p>
<p>Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr. Publisher</p>
<p>Dean Baquet Executive Editor</p>
<p>In an <a href="http://www.poynter.org/2016/new-york-times-publisher-we-will-cover-trump-fairly/438886/" type="external">internal staff memo</a>, the Times also promised to be fair to President Trump:</p>
<p>Dear Colleagues,</p>
<p>As we close one of the most momentous weeks in our nation’s recent history, let’s pause for a moment on those famous instructions that Adolph S. Ochs left for us: to cover the news without fear or favor.</p>
<p>As Donald Trump begins preparing for his new administration, those words have rarely felt more important.</p>
<p>The Times is certainly not afraid — our investigative report has demonstrated our courage many times over. That fearless, hard-fought journalism will always stand as the backbone of The Times, no matter the President.</p>
<p>But we also approach the incoming Trump administration without bias. We will cover his policies and his agenda fairly. We will bring expert analysis and thoughtful commentary to the changes we see in government, and to their ramifications on the ground.</p>
<p>We will look within and beyond Washington to explore the roots of the anger that has roiled red and blue America. If many Americans no longer seem to understand each other, let’s make it our job to interpret and explain.</p>
<p>Our predecessors founded our singular newspaper for just this moment — to serve as a watchdog to the powerful; and to hold mighty institutions accountable, without fear or favor. We are more than ready to fulfill that promise.</p>
<p>Together, we have built the world’s best digital newsroom and it, too, was made for just this moment. We will chronicle the new administration with a lightning-fast report that features stories told in every medium and on every platform.</p>
<p>Here is what we have all dedicated our careers to: Going after the biggest stories in the world, and telling them as ambitiously as possible.</p>
<p>Get some rest this weekend. We have lots to do.</p>
<p>Arthur</p>
<p>How would I assess all of that?</p>
<p>Sorry not sorry.</p> | NY Times: Sorry not sorry for biased reporting | true | http://legalinsurrection.com/2016/11/ny-times-sorry-not-sorry-for-biased-reporting/ | 2016-11-12 | 0right
| NY Times: Sorry not sorry for biased reporting
<p>Apparently the NY Times is reeling from its abysmal, over-the-top, foaming-at-the-mouth anti-Trump “news” coverage.</p>
<p>Mark Halperin of Bloomberg News and Joe Scarborough&#160; <a href="" type="internal">noted the bias</a>&#160;regarding election results coverage:</p>
<p>MARK HALPERIN: Look at the headline of this story. [Featured Image] Look at the headline of this story. This is the day after a surprising underdog sweeping victory and their headline is not “disaffected Americans have a champion going to the White House” or “the country votes for fundamental change.” The headline is about how disappointed the friends of the people who run the New York Times are about what’s happened. It’s amazing. It’s amazing to me that this is the headline of the New York Times.</p>
<p>JOE SCARBOROUGH: Look at this. Look at this. This is staggering. It really is, Mark. I’m glad you brought this up.</p>
<p />
<p>HALPERIN: It’s The Onion.</p>
<p>JOE: This shows that the editors of the New York Times–I have the greatest respect for. They don’t get it.</p>
<p />
<p>Michael Goodwin at <a href="http://nypost.com/2016/11/11/new-york-times-we-blew-it-on-trump/" type="external">The NY Post</a> reports on how the Times is reacting:</p>
<p>The Gray Lady feels the agony of political defeat — in her reputation and in her wallet.</p>
<p>After taking a beating almost as brutal as Hillary Clinton’s, the New York Times on Friday made an extraordinary appeal to its readers to stand by her. The publisher’s letter to subscribers was part apology and part defense of its campaign coverage, but the key takeaway was a pledge to do better….</p>
<p>Now the bill is coming due. <a href="http://nypost.com/2016/11/09/the-world-wakes-up-to-president-elect-trump/" type="external">Shocked by Trump’s victory</a> and mocked even by liberals for its bias, the paper is also apparently bleeding readers — and money.</p>
<p>I’ve gotten letters from people who say they cancelled their Times subscriptions and, to judge from a cryptic line in a Thursday article, the problem is more than anecdotal.</p>
<p>Citing reader anger over election coverage, [NY Times reporter Jim&#160; <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/10/business/media/news-outlets-wonder-where-the-predictions-went-wrong.html?rref=collection%2Fbyline%2Fjim-rutenberg&amp;action=click&amp;contentCollection=undefined&amp;region=stream&amp;module=stream_unit&amp;version=latest&amp;contentPlacement=1&amp;pgtype=collection" type="external">Rutenberg wrote that</a>, “Most ominously, it came in the form of canceled subscriptions.”</p>
<p>So the publisher and executive&#160;editor issued a statement which probably is as close as the Times can come to an apology:</p>
<p>To our readers,</p>
<p>When the biggest political story of the year reached a dramatic and unexpected climax late Tuesday night, our newsroom turned on a dime and did what it has done for nearly two years — cover the 2016 election with agility and creativity.</p>
<p>After such an erratic and unpredictable election there are inevitable questions: Did Donald Trump’s sheer unconventionality lead us and other news outlets to underestimate his support among American voters? What forces and strains in America drove this divisive election and outcome? Most important, how will a president who remains a largely enigmatic figure actually govern when he takes office?</p>
<p>As we reflect on this week’s momentous result, and the months of reporting and polling that preceded it, we aim to rededicate ourselves to the fundamental mission of Times journalism. That is to report America and the world honestly, without fear or favor, striving always to understand and reflect all political perspectives and life experiences in the stories that we bring to you. It is also to hold power to account, impartially and unflinchingly. We believe we reported on both candidates fairly during the presidential campaign. You can rely on The New York Times to bring the same fairness, the same level of scrutiny, the same independence to our coverage of the new president and his team.</p>
<p>We cannot deliver the independent, original journalism for which we are known without the loyalty of our subscribers. We want to take this opportunity, on behalf of all Times journalists, to thank you for that loyalty.</p>
<p>Sincerely,</p>
<p>Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr. Publisher</p>
<p>Dean Baquet Executive Editor</p>
<p>In an <a href="http://www.poynter.org/2016/new-york-times-publisher-we-will-cover-trump-fairly/438886/" type="external">internal staff memo</a>, the Times also promised to be fair to President Trump:</p>
<p>Dear Colleagues,</p>
<p>As we close one of the most momentous weeks in our nation’s recent history, let’s pause for a moment on those famous instructions that Adolph S. Ochs left for us: to cover the news without fear or favor.</p>
<p>As Donald Trump begins preparing for his new administration, those words have rarely felt more important.</p>
<p>The Times is certainly not afraid — our investigative report has demonstrated our courage many times over. That fearless, hard-fought journalism will always stand as the backbone of The Times, no matter the President.</p>
<p>But we also approach the incoming Trump administration without bias. We will cover his policies and his agenda fairly. We will bring expert analysis and thoughtful commentary to the changes we see in government, and to their ramifications on the ground.</p>
<p>We will look within and beyond Washington to explore the roots of the anger that has roiled red and blue America. If many Americans no longer seem to understand each other, let’s make it our job to interpret and explain.</p>
<p>Our predecessors founded our singular newspaper for just this moment — to serve as a watchdog to the powerful; and to hold mighty institutions accountable, without fear or favor. We are more than ready to fulfill that promise.</p>
<p>Together, we have built the world’s best digital newsroom and it, too, was made for just this moment. We will chronicle the new administration with a lightning-fast report that features stories told in every medium and on every platform.</p>
<p>Here is what we have all dedicated our careers to: Going after the biggest stories in the world, and telling them as ambitiously as possible.</p>
<p>Get some rest this weekend. We have lots to do.</p>
<p>Arthur</p>
<p>How would I assess all of that?</p>
<p>Sorry not sorry.</p> | 2,306 |
<p>From the August 18 edition of NBC's Nightly News:</p>
<p><a type="external" href="" /> <a type="external" href="" />COSTELLO: Congress had considered raising taxes on the health care benefits that many Americans already get from their employers tax-free, but already that proposal is virtually dead on arrival at the White House.</p>
<p>PRESIDENT OBAMA [video clip]: When I was campaigning, I made a promise that I would not raise your taxes if you made $250,000 a year or less.</p>
<p><a type="external" href="" /> <a type="external" href="" />COSTELLO: So the president has proposed raising income taxes on the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans, all to pay for health care. On families or businesses with a taxable income of more than $350,000, that could mean a tax surcharge of up to $7,000. On families or businesses earning $500,000, a $15,000 tax surcharge. And on families with incomes of more than a million dollars, it could mean a $54,000 increase.</p>
<p>But Republicans, and some Democrats, don't like that idea, saying it unfairly targets wealthier families and could force some small businesses to lay off employees. So now the House is considering raising taxes only on families making more than a million dollars.</p>
<p />
<p>From the House tri-committee health care reform <a href="http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&amp;docid=f:h3200ih.txt.pdf#page=197" type="external">bill</a>:</p>
<p>''SEC. 59C. SURCHARGE ON HIGH INCOME INDIVIDUALS.</p>
<p>''(a) GENERAL RULE.-In the case of a taxpayer other than a corporation, there is hereby imposed (in addition to any other tax imposed by this subtitle) a tax equal to-</p>
<p>''(1) 1 percent of so much of the modified adjusted gross income of the taxpayer as exceeds $350,000 but does not exceed $500,000,</p>
<p>''(2) 1.5 percent of so much of the modified adjusted gross income of the taxpayer as exceeds $500,000 but does not exceed $1,000,000, and</p>
<p>''(3) 5.4 percent of so much of the modified adjusted gross income of the taxpayer as exceeds $1,000,000.</p>
<p>''(b) TAXPAYERS NOT MAKING A JOINT RETURN.-In the case of any taxpayer other than a taxpayer making a joint return under section 6013 or a surviving spouse (as defined in section 2(a)), subsection (a) shall be applied by substituting for each of the dollar amounts therein (after any increase determined under subsection (e)) a dollar amount equal to-</p>
<p>''(1) 50 percent of the dollar amount so in effect in the case of a married individual filing a separate return, and</p>
<p>''(2) 80 percent of the dollar amount so in effect in any other case.</p>
<p>From the House Ways and Means Committee's <a href="http://waysandmeans.house.gov/media/pdf/111/htsw.pdf" type="external">description</a> of "How the Health Care Surcharge Works":</p>
<p />
<p>NYT report explains how surcharge works. The New York Times reported that under the proposal, "Starting in 2011, a family making $500,000 would have to pay $1,500 in additional income tax to help subsidize coverage for the uninsured. A family making $1 million would have to pay $9,000. ... The surtax would apply to any adjusted gross income exceeding $280,000 a year for an individual and $350,000 for a couple filing a joint return. The tax rates would range from 1 percent to 5.4 percent." [New York Times, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/15/health/policy/15health.html" type="external">7/14/09</a>]</p>
<p>Bill includes surcharge rate increase or decrease depending on level of savings from reform. From the Joint Committee on Taxation's <a href="http://www.jct.gov/publications.html?func=startdown&amp;id=3569" type="external">description</a> of the <a href="http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&amp;docid=f:h3200ih.txt.pdf#page=198" type="external">proposal</a>:</p>
<p>The proposal directs the Director of the Office of Management and Budget ("OMB") to determine before December 1, 2012 whether the Federal health reform savings under division B of this act for the period beginning October 1, 2009 and ending before October 1, 2019, exceed the savings estimated by the Congressional Budget Office ("CBO"). If these savings do not exceed $150 billion dollars, then the 1 percent and 1.5 percent rates will become 2 percent and 3 percent, respectively, for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2012. If the Director of OMB determines these savings exceed the CBO estimate by more than $150 billion dollars for the period, then the 1 percent and 1.5 percent rates shall not increase after December 31, 2012. If Director of OMB determines these savings exceed the CBO estimate by more than $175 billion dollars for the period, then neither the 1 percent nor 1.5 percent rates shall apply after December 31, 2012."</p>
<p>Assuming a rate increase, households making $500,000 would pay a maximum surcharge of $3,000. Contrary to Costello's claim that households "earning $500,000" would pay a "$15,000 tax surcharge," they would pay no more than $1,500 under the standard rate and no more than $3,000 if the rate increased in 2013. Households making $1 million would pay no more than $18,000 if the rate increased in 2013.</p> | NBC's Costello butchers health care bill's tax on wealthy | true | http://mediamatters.org/research/200908190007 | 2009-08-19 | 4left
| NBC's Costello butchers health care bill's tax on wealthy
<p>From the August 18 edition of NBC's Nightly News:</p>
<p><a type="external" href="" /> <a type="external" href="" />COSTELLO: Congress had considered raising taxes on the health care benefits that many Americans already get from their employers tax-free, but already that proposal is virtually dead on arrival at the White House.</p>
<p>PRESIDENT OBAMA [video clip]: When I was campaigning, I made a promise that I would not raise your taxes if you made $250,000 a year or less.</p>
<p><a type="external" href="" /> <a type="external" href="" />COSTELLO: So the president has proposed raising income taxes on the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans, all to pay for health care. On families or businesses with a taxable income of more than $350,000, that could mean a tax surcharge of up to $7,000. On families or businesses earning $500,000, a $15,000 tax surcharge. And on families with incomes of more than a million dollars, it could mean a $54,000 increase.</p>
<p>But Republicans, and some Democrats, don't like that idea, saying it unfairly targets wealthier families and could force some small businesses to lay off employees. So now the House is considering raising taxes only on families making more than a million dollars.</p>
<p />
<p>From the House tri-committee health care reform <a href="http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&amp;docid=f:h3200ih.txt.pdf#page=197" type="external">bill</a>:</p>
<p>''SEC. 59C. SURCHARGE ON HIGH INCOME INDIVIDUALS.</p>
<p>''(a) GENERAL RULE.-In the case of a taxpayer other than a corporation, there is hereby imposed (in addition to any other tax imposed by this subtitle) a tax equal to-</p>
<p>''(1) 1 percent of so much of the modified adjusted gross income of the taxpayer as exceeds $350,000 but does not exceed $500,000,</p>
<p>''(2) 1.5 percent of so much of the modified adjusted gross income of the taxpayer as exceeds $500,000 but does not exceed $1,000,000, and</p>
<p>''(3) 5.4 percent of so much of the modified adjusted gross income of the taxpayer as exceeds $1,000,000.</p>
<p>''(b) TAXPAYERS NOT MAKING A JOINT RETURN.-In the case of any taxpayer other than a taxpayer making a joint return under section 6013 or a surviving spouse (as defined in section 2(a)), subsection (a) shall be applied by substituting for each of the dollar amounts therein (after any increase determined under subsection (e)) a dollar amount equal to-</p>
<p>''(1) 50 percent of the dollar amount so in effect in the case of a married individual filing a separate return, and</p>
<p>''(2) 80 percent of the dollar amount so in effect in any other case.</p>
<p>From the House Ways and Means Committee's <a href="http://waysandmeans.house.gov/media/pdf/111/htsw.pdf" type="external">description</a> of "How the Health Care Surcharge Works":</p>
<p />
<p>NYT report explains how surcharge works. The New York Times reported that under the proposal, "Starting in 2011, a family making $500,000 would have to pay $1,500 in additional income tax to help subsidize coverage for the uninsured. A family making $1 million would have to pay $9,000. ... The surtax would apply to any adjusted gross income exceeding $280,000 a year for an individual and $350,000 for a couple filing a joint return. The tax rates would range from 1 percent to 5.4 percent." [New York Times, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/15/health/policy/15health.html" type="external">7/14/09</a>]</p>
<p>Bill includes surcharge rate increase or decrease depending on level of savings from reform. From the Joint Committee on Taxation's <a href="http://www.jct.gov/publications.html?func=startdown&amp;id=3569" type="external">description</a> of the <a href="http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&amp;docid=f:h3200ih.txt.pdf#page=198" type="external">proposal</a>:</p>
<p>The proposal directs the Director of the Office of Management and Budget ("OMB") to determine before December 1, 2012 whether the Federal health reform savings under division B of this act for the period beginning October 1, 2009 and ending before October 1, 2019, exceed the savings estimated by the Congressional Budget Office ("CBO"). If these savings do not exceed $150 billion dollars, then the 1 percent and 1.5 percent rates will become 2 percent and 3 percent, respectively, for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2012. If the Director of OMB determines these savings exceed the CBO estimate by more than $150 billion dollars for the period, then the 1 percent and 1.5 percent rates shall not increase after December 31, 2012. If Director of OMB determines these savings exceed the CBO estimate by more than $175 billion dollars for the period, then neither the 1 percent nor 1.5 percent rates shall apply after December 31, 2012."</p>
<p>Assuming a rate increase, households making $500,000 would pay a maximum surcharge of $3,000. Contrary to Costello's claim that households "earning $500,000" would pay a "$15,000 tax surcharge," they would pay no more than $1,500 under the standard rate and no more than $3,000 if the rate increased in 2013. Households making $1 million would pay no more than $18,000 if the rate increased in 2013.</p> | 2,307 |
<p>Donald Trump has an odd set of admirers.</p>
<p>A poll from the <a href="http://nation.foxnews.com/2016/03/04/cair-poll-more-muslims-support-trump-all-other-gop-candidates-combined" type="external">terror-friendly Council on American Islamic Relations</a> shows that Trump has more support among American Muslims than all the other Republican candidates combined. He clocks in at 11 percent of Muslim support nationally, more than 4 percent for Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) or 2 percent for Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), and just below 47 percent for Hillary Clinton and 25 percent for Senator Bernie Sanders (Socialist-Loonbaggia). Nation of Islam Leader Louis Farrakhan has praised Trump for supposedly <a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/03/01/nation-of-islams-louis-farrakhan-praises-trump-for-standing-up-to-jews/" type="external">standing up to the Jews</a>.</p>
<p>Trump’s support among the soft white supremacists of the so-called alternative right is obvious; former KKK leader David Duke has been meme-ing me personally for failing to support the Dear Leader.</p>
<p>This is what they allow to represent White America on a national, mainstream level? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GiveMeSpecialPrivileges?src=hash" type="external">#GiveMeSpecialPrivileges</a> <a href="https://t.co/5s2pnxnUYo" type="external">pic.twitter.com/5s2pnxnUYo</a></p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/2015/PPP_Release_SC_21616.pdf" type="external">Public Policy Poll</a> from South Carolina in mid-February showed that 16 percent of Trump supporters believed “whites are a superior race,” significantly higher than the support base for any other Republican candidate. (The same poll showed that 33 percent of “very liberal” voters said that “whites are a superior race” as opposed to just 7 percent of “very conservative” voters.)</p>
<p>Trump told John Dickerson of CBS yesterday, “I don’t like a group of hate, hate groups are not for me.”</p>
<p>So, what should all of this tell us?</p>
<p>It shouldn't tell us that Trump is Hitler. He's not. Hitler was both intelligent and ideologically-driven. Trump isn't either. Hitler had an actual fascist philosophy, an actual philosophy of anti-Semitism and racism; Trump is merely personally authoritarian and ego-driven. Trump is a parody strongman, not an actual dictatorial tyrant.</p>
<p>But Trump's allies should tell us something.</p>
<p>Muslim support for Trump certainly isn’t predicated on Trump’s willingness to ban Muslim immigration; it’s likely predicated on Trump’s perceived coldness toward Jews and Israel. White supremacist support for Trump isn’t predicated on Trump’s white supremacy (there’s no evidence he’s a white supremacist); it’s likely predicated on Trump’s ideology-free nationalism, a nationalism which suggests that birth in the United States confers special merit, rather than adherence to a traditionally American philosophy.</p>
<p>There is a reason Muslims back Hillary Clinton, and it’s the same reason they back Donald Trump. There is a reason Louis Farrakhan liked Barack Obama, and it’s the same reason he likes Trump. There is a reason white supremacists are fond of Pat Buchanan, and there is a reason they’re fond of Trump.</p>
<p>Leaders aren’t responsible for the individuals who support them – public figures regularly have backers they find reprehensible and distasteful. But there are trends to Trump’s support that should be troubling.</p> | Why Do Muslims, White Supremacists Support Trump In Outsized Numbers? | true | https://dailywire.com/news/3926/why-do-muslims-white-supremacists-support-trump-ben-shapiro | 2016-03-07 | 0right
| Why Do Muslims, White Supremacists Support Trump In Outsized Numbers?
<p>Donald Trump has an odd set of admirers.</p>
<p>A poll from the <a href="http://nation.foxnews.com/2016/03/04/cair-poll-more-muslims-support-trump-all-other-gop-candidates-combined" type="external">terror-friendly Council on American Islamic Relations</a> shows that Trump has more support among American Muslims than all the other Republican candidates combined. He clocks in at 11 percent of Muslim support nationally, more than 4 percent for Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) or 2 percent for Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), and just below 47 percent for Hillary Clinton and 25 percent for Senator Bernie Sanders (Socialist-Loonbaggia). Nation of Islam Leader Louis Farrakhan has praised Trump for supposedly <a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/03/01/nation-of-islams-louis-farrakhan-praises-trump-for-standing-up-to-jews/" type="external">standing up to the Jews</a>.</p>
<p>Trump’s support among the soft white supremacists of the so-called alternative right is obvious; former KKK leader David Duke has been meme-ing me personally for failing to support the Dear Leader.</p>
<p>This is what they allow to represent White America on a national, mainstream level? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GiveMeSpecialPrivileges?src=hash" type="external">#GiveMeSpecialPrivileges</a> <a href="https://t.co/5s2pnxnUYo" type="external">pic.twitter.com/5s2pnxnUYo</a></p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/2015/PPP_Release_SC_21616.pdf" type="external">Public Policy Poll</a> from South Carolina in mid-February showed that 16 percent of Trump supporters believed “whites are a superior race,” significantly higher than the support base for any other Republican candidate. (The same poll showed that 33 percent of “very liberal” voters said that “whites are a superior race” as opposed to just 7 percent of “very conservative” voters.)</p>
<p>Trump told John Dickerson of CBS yesterday, “I don’t like a group of hate, hate groups are not for me.”</p>
<p>So, what should all of this tell us?</p>
<p>It shouldn't tell us that Trump is Hitler. He's not. Hitler was both intelligent and ideologically-driven. Trump isn't either. Hitler had an actual fascist philosophy, an actual philosophy of anti-Semitism and racism; Trump is merely personally authoritarian and ego-driven. Trump is a parody strongman, not an actual dictatorial tyrant.</p>
<p>But Trump's allies should tell us something.</p>
<p>Muslim support for Trump certainly isn’t predicated on Trump’s willingness to ban Muslim immigration; it’s likely predicated on Trump’s perceived coldness toward Jews and Israel. White supremacist support for Trump isn’t predicated on Trump’s white supremacy (there’s no evidence he’s a white supremacist); it’s likely predicated on Trump’s ideology-free nationalism, a nationalism which suggests that birth in the United States confers special merit, rather than adherence to a traditionally American philosophy.</p>
<p>There is a reason Muslims back Hillary Clinton, and it’s the same reason they back Donald Trump. There is a reason Louis Farrakhan liked Barack Obama, and it’s the same reason he likes Trump. There is a reason white supremacists are fond of Pat Buchanan, and there is a reason they’re fond of Trump.</p>
<p>Leaders aren’t responsible for the individuals who support them – public figures regularly have backers they find reprehensible and distasteful. But there are trends to Trump’s support that should be troubling.</p> | 2,308 |
<p>All the self-serving, racist noise purporting to justify ridiculously high bail bonds primarily for black people together with all the surreal political nonsense about “locking people up and throwing away the key” gave me reason to take another look at Alabama’s criminal justice system. Here is just some of the sickening, racist crap I fully expected and quickly found. Lord, please help us!</p>
<p>In 2006, Alabama has 19 appeal court judges, all white, not a single one is black. This state is 28% black, but white voters routinely refused to elect even one African-American to a statewide office. One wonders about some of our black callers who worry that we don’t only want blacks in public offices. On the contrary, whites only elect blacks when they can’t elect a white. Alabama has 42 prosecutors or District Attorneys elected from districts and only one is black. He is Michael Jackson, just elected and headquartered here in Selma. Michael must feel mighty welcome among his white prosecuting colleagues as the only elected black prosecutor in a state whose prison population is 63% black. Lord, please help us!</p>
<p>Now listen to this.</p>
<p>80% of all the people sentenced to death in Alabama were convicted of killing a white person, although 65% of the murder victims in Alabama are black. (Repeat) How racist can one state get? Well, maybe the answer can be found in the fact that in November of 2005, more than a century after Brown v. Board of Education, 51% of Alabama’s white voters refused to remove outrageous language from the state constitution requiring unenforceable racial segregation in the public schools. That is about as low as a state can sink!</p>
<p>And as black people might expect, Alabama, per capita, has a larger number of people sentenced to death than any other state in the Union and that includes the death states of both Texas and Mississippi. 41 white prosecutors in Alabama achieved that racist result by systematically striking black jurors off the jury list. The prosecutors are helped by uninformed black jurors who dream up excuses to keep from serving in the jury box.</p>
<p>In Houston County (Dothan) several death sentences were reversed because of rank discrimination against black jurors. I will provide one quick example. Jerome Smith, young, black and mentally retarded was sentenced to death after the white prosecutor systematically excluded or struck 23 of the 24 blacks summoned for jury duty in the case, that is 96% of all the blacks on the list. Even an Alabama Appeal court couldn’t swallow that sort of overt racism in a death case and reversed Smith’s conviction.</p>
<p>Alabama has a larger percentage of juveniles on death row than any other state. In March 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court declared executing juveniles unconstitutional. Alabama courts are now slowly removing juveniles from death row and by the end of last week 13 children had been removed from death row and placed in the general prison population. I believe that some of Alabama’s elected prosecutors and legislators should be on death row.</p>
<p>In this state we have one of the harshest and most backward habitual offender laws in the country. Believe it or not, this stupid law makes no distinction whatsoever between violent and nonviolent offenders. Thus, thousands of young men convicted of committing nonviolent property crimes or drug offenses are serving long life sentences and some are even serving life sentences without the possibility of parole. How backwards, how racist can one state be?</p>
<p>Five years ago, some officials began belatedly to listen to a few of us because a crisis loomed in the prison system by reason of both a rapidly growing elderly population and the fact that every prison in the system was severely overcrowded. The backward Alabama legislature, however, would do no more than amend the habitual offender law to the effect that nonviolent offenders serving a life sentence without parole would be now eligible for parole. I wondered if things could get any worse.</p>
<p>I was soon to learn the answer.</p>
<p>Enforcement of the new law was blocked for three long years by Alabama’s inexperienced, know-nothing young Attorney General. This officious young man declared the new law unconstitutional. Lord, please help us! All of this in a state that was still jailing people for being poor. In black Birmingham, the black city court was sentencing black people to jail because there were too poor to pay fines. They had to be told that there is no way to reconcile fair and equal justice with jailing people because they are too poor to pay a fine. How about that from a black court?</p>
<p>Racism covers all kinds of injustices in our suspect judicial system. Third-rate professional plea bargainers masquerade as lawyers, along with imposing ridiculously high bail bonds on poor black people are just a few examples. That is why I left the mess almost 20 years ago. It is also the reason I may have to return to the fight.</p>
<p>J.L. CHESTNUT, Jr. is a civil rights attorney in Selma, Alabama. He is the founder of Chestnut, Sanders and Sanders which is the largest black law firm in Alabama. Born in Selma and, after graduating from Howard University Law School, he began practicing law in Selma in 1958. He started as the only black lawyer in the town and has been challenging the establishment since then. His law firm now owns two radio stations in Selma and Mr. Chestnut hosts a radio talk show three days a week touted as the most popular radio show in south and central Alabama. He is the author of “ <a href="" type="internal">Black in Selma</a>” with Julia Cass (1989 Farrar, Straus and Giroux), and writes a weekly column called the “Hard Cold Truth”. 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> | Racism and Injustice in Alabama’s Courts | true | https://counterpunch.org/2006/01/07/racism-and-injustice-in-alabama-s-courts/ | 2006-01-07 | 4left
| Racism and Injustice in Alabama’s Courts
<p>All the self-serving, racist noise purporting to justify ridiculously high bail bonds primarily for black people together with all the surreal political nonsense about “locking people up and throwing away the key” gave me reason to take another look at Alabama’s criminal justice system. Here is just some of the sickening, racist crap I fully expected and quickly found. Lord, please help us!</p>
<p>In 2006, Alabama has 19 appeal court judges, all white, not a single one is black. This state is 28% black, but white voters routinely refused to elect even one African-American to a statewide office. One wonders about some of our black callers who worry that we don’t only want blacks in public offices. On the contrary, whites only elect blacks when they can’t elect a white. Alabama has 42 prosecutors or District Attorneys elected from districts and only one is black. He is Michael Jackson, just elected and headquartered here in Selma. Michael must feel mighty welcome among his white prosecuting colleagues as the only elected black prosecutor in a state whose prison population is 63% black. Lord, please help us!</p>
<p>Now listen to this.</p>
<p>80% of all the people sentenced to death in Alabama were convicted of killing a white person, although 65% of the murder victims in Alabama are black. (Repeat) How racist can one state get? Well, maybe the answer can be found in the fact that in November of 2005, more than a century after Brown v. Board of Education, 51% of Alabama’s white voters refused to remove outrageous language from the state constitution requiring unenforceable racial segregation in the public schools. That is about as low as a state can sink!</p>
<p>And as black people might expect, Alabama, per capita, has a larger number of people sentenced to death than any other state in the Union and that includes the death states of both Texas and Mississippi. 41 white prosecutors in Alabama achieved that racist result by systematically striking black jurors off the jury list. The prosecutors are helped by uninformed black jurors who dream up excuses to keep from serving in the jury box.</p>
<p>In Houston County (Dothan) several death sentences were reversed because of rank discrimination against black jurors. I will provide one quick example. Jerome Smith, young, black and mentally retarded was sentenced to death after the white prosecutor systematically excluded or struck 23 of the 24 blacks summoned for jury duty in the case, that is 96% of all the blacks on the list. Even an Alabama Appeal court couldn’t swallow that sort of overt racism in a death case and reversed Smith’s conviction.</p>
<p>Alabama has a larger percentage of juveniles on death row than any other state. In March 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court declared executing juveniles unconstitutional. Alabama courts are now slowly removing juveniles from death row and by the end of last week 13 children had been removed from death row and placed in the general prison population. I believe that some of Alabama’s elected prosecutors and legislators should be on death row.</p>
<p>In this state we have one of the harshest and most backward habitual offender laws in the country. Believe it or not, this stupid law makes no distinction whatsoever between violent and nonviolent offenders. Thus, thousands of young men convicted of committing nonviolent property crimes or drug offenses are serving long life sentences and some are even serving life sentences without the possibility of parole. How backwards, how racist can one state be?</p>
<p>Five years ago, some officials began belatedly to listen to a few of us because a crisis loomed in the prison system by reason of both a rapidly growing elderly population and the fact that every prison in the system was severely overcrowded. The backward Alabama legislature, however, would do no more than amend the habitual offender law to the effect that nonviolent offenders serving a life sentence without parole would be now eligible for parole. I wondered if things could get any worse.</p>
<p>I was soon to learn the answer.</p>
<p>Enforcement of the new law was blocked for three long years by Alabama’s inexperienced, know-nothing young Attorney General. This officious young man declared the new law unconstitutional. Lord, please help us! All of this in a state that was still jailing people for being poor. In black Birmingham, the black city court was sentencing black people to jail because there were too poor to pay fines. They had to be told that there is no way to reconcile fair and equal justice with jailing people because they are too poor to pay a fine. How about that from a black court?</p>
<p>Racism covers all kinds of injustices in our suspect judicial system. Third-rate professional plea bargainers masquerade as lawyers, along with imposing ridiculously high bail bonds on poor black people are just a few examples. That is why I left the mess almost 20 years ago. It is also the reason I may have to return to the fight.</p>
<p>J.L. CHESTNUT, Jr. is a civil rights attorney in Selma, Alabama. He is the founder of Chestnut, Sanders and Sanders which is the largest black law firm in Alabama. Born in Selma and, after graduating from Howard University Law School, he began practicing law in Selma in 1958. He started as the only black lawyer in the town and has been challenging the establishment since then. His law firm now owns two radio stations in Selma and Mr. Chestnut hosts a radio talk show three days a week touted as the most popular radio show in south and central Alabama. He is the author of “ <a href="" type="internal">Black in Selma</a>” with Julia Cass (1989 Farrar, Straus and Giroux), and writes a weekly column called the “Hard Cold Truth”. He can be reached at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a>.</p>
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<p>HAVANA (AP) — The wife of a Cuban intelligence agent imprisoned in the United States for 10 years has written an unusual public complaint that her husband wasn't chosen as a member of the country's parliament.</p>
<p>The open letter posted on Facebook by Olga Salanueva, the wife of Rene Gonzalez, is a rare example of open dissatisfaction with Cuban political decisions expressed from within the ranks of the socialist system's most loyal defenders.</p>
<p>Gonzalez and four other intelligence agents are considered national heroes for their operations against Cuban exile groups in the U.S. and their 1998 arrests and long prison terms. They are treated as celebrities on the streets of Havana, besieged by well-wishers who shake their hands and ask them to pose for photos.</p>
<p>Two of the ex-agents — Fernando Gonzalez and Gerardo Hernandez — were listed this week as candidates for the upcoming assembly while Rene Gonzalez, Ramon Labanino and Antonio Guerrero were not.</p>
<p>"Three of the five were left out," Salanueva wrote. "This represents, in my opinion, a great injustice against the five heroes of the Republic of Cuba."</p>
<p>"I see no reason for which they can't be deputies," she continued. "They deserve it, they're tried and true, and Cuba also needs them."</p>
<p>Hernandez, Labanino and Guerrero were released as part of the U.S.-Cuban deal that led to the 2015 reestablishment of diplomatic relations. The men work in government-affiliated institutions and made a series of trips abroad after their release but have maintained relatively low official profiles in recent months. Salanueva was publicly lauded in Cuba for her years of work campaigning for the men's release.</p>
<p>The 605 candidates for the National Assembly are selected in a complex process largely controlled by commissions made up of members of government-affiliated groups like neighborhood watch committees, the national small farmers' association and university and women's groups. The candidates then go to a popular 'yes' or 'no' vote.</p>
<p>The official candidates unfailingly pass that vote and are seated in the assembly. The assembly has been the scene of occasionally vociferous debate about the direction of the country, but almost always votes unanimously and its critics charge that it serves as a rubber stamp for proposals handed down by President Raul Castro and his inner circle.</p>
<p>The assembly seated this year will vote in April for Castro's replacement as president, widely expected to be First Vice President Miguel Diaz Canel.</p>
<p>Salanueva confirmed the authenticity of her letter but declined further comment.</p>
<p>HAVANA (AP) — The wife of a Cuban intelligence agent imprisoned in the United States for 10 years has written an unusual public complaint that her husband wasn't chosen as a member of the country's parliament.</p>
<p>The open letter posted on Facebook by Olga Salanueva, the wife of Rene Gonzalez, is a rare example of open dissatisfaction with Cuban political decisions expressed from within the ranks of the socialist system's most loyal defenders.</p>
<p>Gonzalez and four other intelligence agents are considered national heroes for their operations against Cuban exile groups in the U.S. and their 1998 arrests and long prison terms. They are treated as celebrities on the streets of Havana, besieged by well-wishers who shake their hands and ask them to pose for photos.</p>
<p>Two of the ex-agents — Fernando Gonzalez and Gerardo Hernandez — were listed this week as candidates for the upcoming assembly while Rene Gonzalez, Ramon Labanino and Antonio Guerrero were not.</p>
<p>"Three of the five were left out," Salanueva wrote. "This represents, in my opinion, a great injustice against the five heroes of the Republic of Cuba."</p>
<p>"I see no reason for which they can't be deputies," she continued. "They deserve it, they're tried and true, and Cuba also needs them."</p>
<p>Hernandez, Labanino and Guerrero were released as part of the U.S.-Cuban deal that led to the 2015 reestablishment of diplomatic relations. The men work in government-affiliated institutions and made a series of trips abroad after their release but have maintained relatively low official profiles in recent months. Salanueva was publicly lauded in Cuba for her years of work campaigning for the men's release.</p>
<p>The 605 candidates for the National Assembly are selected in a complex process largely controlled by commissions made up of members of government-affiliated groups like neighborhood watch committees, the national small farmers' association and university and women's groups. The candidates then go to a popular 'yes' or 'no' vote.</p>
<p>The official candidates unfailingly pass that vote and are seated in the assembly. The assembly has been the scene of occasionally vociferous debate about the direction of the country, but almost always votes unanimously and its critics charge that it serves as a rubber stamp for proposals handed down by President Raul Castro and his inner circle.</p>
<p>The assembly seated this year will vote in April for Castro's replacement as president, widely expected to be First Vice President Miguel Diaz Canel.</p>
<p>Salanueva confirmed the authenticity of her letter but declined further comment.</p> | Former US inmate's wife decries exclusion from Cuba congress | false | https://apnews.com/amp/867dba64ad8443f9b093fd9a93f05fcc | 2018-01-25 | 2least
| Former US inmate's wife decries exclusion from Cuba congress
<p>HAVANA (AP) — The wife of a Cuban intelligence agent imprisoned in the United States for 10 years has written an unusual public complaint that her husband wasn't chosen as a member of the country's parliament.</p>
<p>The open letter posted on Facebook by Olga Salanueva, the wife of Rene Gonzalez, is a rare example of open dissatisfaction with Cuban political decisions expressed from within the ranks of the socialist system's most loyal defenders.</p>
<p>Gonzalez and four other intelligence agents are considered national heroes for their operations against Cuban exile groups in the U.S. and their 1998 arrests and long prison terms. They are treated as celebrities on the streets of Havana, besieged by well-wishers who shake their hands and ask them to pose for photos.</p>
<p>Two of the ex-agents — Fernando Gonzalez and Gerardo Hernandez — were listed this week as candidates for the upcoming assembly while Rene Gonzalez, Ramon Labanino and Antonio Guerrero were not.</p>
<p>"Three of the five were left out," Salanueva wrote. "This represents, in my opinion, a great injustice against the five heroes of the Republic of Cuba."</p>
<p>"I see no reason for which they can't be deputies," she continued. "They deserve it, they're tried and true, and Cuba also needs them."</p>
<p>Hernandez, Labanino and Guerrero were released as part of the U.S.-Cuban deal that led to the 2015 reestablishment of diplomatic relations. The men work in government-affiliated institutions and made a series of trips abroad after their release but have maintained relatively low official profiles in recent months. Salanueva was publicly lauded in Cuba for her years of work campaigning for the men's release.</p>
<p>The 605 candidates for the National Assembly are selected in a complex process largely controlled by commissions made up of members of government-affiliated groups like neighborhood watch committees, the national small farmers' association and university and women's groups. The candidates then go to a popular 'yes' or 'no' vote.</p>
<p>The official candidates unfailingly pass that vote and are seated in the assembly. The assembly has been the scene of occasionally vociferous debate about the direction of the country, but almost always votes unanimously and its critics charge that it serves as a rubber stamp for proposals handed down by President Raul Castro and his inner circle.</p>
<p>The assembly seated this year will vote in April for Castro's replacement as president, widely expected to be First Vice President Miguel Diaz Canel.</p>
<p>Salanueva confirmed the authenticity of her letter but declined further comment.</p>
<p>HAVANA (AP) — The wife of a Cuban intelligence agent imprisoned in the United States for 10 years has written an unusual public complaint that her husband wasn't chosen as a member of the country's parliament.</p>
<p>The open letter posted on Facebook by Olga Salanueva, the wife of Rene Gonzalez, is a rare example of open dissatisfaction with Cuban political decisions expressed from within the ranks of the socialist system's most loyal defenders.</p>
<p>Gonzalez and four other intelligence agents are considered national heroes for their operations against Cuban exile groups in the U.S. and their 1998 arrests and long prison terms. They are treated as celebrities on the streets of Havana, besieged by well-wishers who shake their hands and ask them to pose for photos.</p>
<p>Two of the ex-agents — Fernando Gonzalez and Gerardo Hernandez — were listed this week as candidates for the upcoming assembly while Rene Gonzalez, Ramon Labanino and Antonio Guerrero were not.</p>
<p>"Three of the five were left out," Salanueva wrote. "This represents, in my opinion, a great injustice against the five heroes of the Republic of Cuba."</p>
<p>"I see no reason for which they can't be deputies," she continued. "They deserve it, they're tried and true, and Cuba also needs them."</p>
<p>Hernandez, Labanino and Guerrero were released as part of the U.S.-Cuban deal that led to the 2015 reestablishment of diplomatic relations. The men work in government-affiliated institutions and made a series of trips abroad after their release but have maintained relatively low official profiles in recent months. Salanueva was publicly lauded in Cuba for her years of work campaigning for the men's release.</p>
<p>The 605 candidates for the National Assembly are selected in a complex process largely controlled by commissions made up of members of government-affiliated groups like neighborhood watch committees, the national small farmers' association and university and women's groups. The candidates then go to a popular 'yes' or 'no' vote.</p>
<p>The official candidates unfailingly pass that vote and are seated in the assembly. The assembly has been the scene of occasionally vociferous debate about the direction of the country, but almost always votes unanimously and its critics charge that it serves as a rubber stamp for proposals handed down by President Raul Castro and his inner circle.</p>
<p>The assembly seated this year will vote in April for Castro's replacement as president, widely expected to be First Vice President Miguel Diaz Canel.</p>
<p>Salanueva confirmed the authenticity of her letter but declined further comment.</p> | 2,310 |
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<p>Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was an America Spanish who was born back in the year 1926 on the 13th of August, he was known as Fidel Castro. The late Fidel Castro was a revolutionary and a Cuban Politician who governed as Prime Minister in the Republic of Cuba from the year 1959 to 1976. Fidel proceeded and became President from 1976 to 2008; the late Fidel Castro was a Cuban nationalist and Marxist-Leninist. He also happened to be the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba. Cuba became a one-party communist state under his administration.</p>
<p />
<p>Fidel Castro was born as the son of a wealthy farmer in Biran. Fidel adopted leftist anti-imperialist politics while he was in University of Havana. The late Fidel was part of rebellions against right-wing governments in Colombia and Dominican Republic where he planned to overthrow President Fulgencio Batista but his first attempt in the year 1953 was unsuccessful.</p>
<p />
<p>Fidel played a key role in the Cuban Revolution since he led the guerrilla war; he defeated the Batista forces and assumed political and military power as Cuba's Prime Minister.</p>
<p />
<p>The late Fidel was contentious and divisive world leader who was decorated with international awards; some praised him for being anti-imperialism, humanitarianism, and champion of socialism.</p>
<p>The former leader of the Communist revolution and president has died at the age of 90 years as announced by the state TV.</p>
<p>Fidel ruled Cuba for almost half a century as a one-party state before his brother Raul took over back in 2008.</p> | Fidel Castro died at age 90 | true | http://thegoldwater.com/news/594-Fidel-Castro-died-at-age-90 | 2016-11-26 | 0right
| Fidel Castro died at age 90
<p />
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<p>Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was an America Spanish who was born back in the year 1926 on the 13th of August, he was known as Fidel Castro. The late Fidel Castro was a revolutionary and a Cuban Politician who governed as Prime Minister in the Republic of Cuba from the year 1959 to 1976. Fidel proceeded and became President from 1976 to 2008; the late Fidel Castro was a Cuban nationalist and Marxist-Leninist. He also happened to be the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba. Cuba became a one-party communist state under his administration.</p>
<p />
<p>Fidel Castro was born as the son of a wealthy farmer in Biran. Fidel adopted leftist anti-imperialist politics while he was in University of Havana. The late Fidel was part of rebellions against right-wing governments in Colombia and Dominican Republic where he planned to overthrow President Fulgencio Batista but his first attempt in the year 1953 was unsuccessful.</p>
<p />
<p>Fidel played a key role in the Cuban Revolution since he led the guerrilla war; he defeated the Batista forces and assumed political and military power as Cuba's Prime Minister.</p>
<p />
<p>The late Fidel was contentious and divisive world leader who was decorated with international awards; some praised him for being anti-imperialism, humanitarianism, and champion of socialism.</p>
<p>The former leader of the Communist revolution and president has died at the age of 90 years as announced by the state TV.</p>
<p>Fidel ruled Cuba for almost half a century as a one-party state before his brother Raul took over back in 2008.</p> | 2,311 |
<p>Let’s hear it for Pittsburgh, which Tuesday made dirty air not just California’s problem.</p>
<p>The Pennsylvania city topped the <a href="http://www.stateoftheair.org/2008/key-findings/" type="external">American Lung Association’s annual list</a> for the worst short-term air pollution from particles and was barely second to Los Angeles for year-round levels.</p>
<p>It’s the first time in 10 years that a city outside California has headed any list in the yearly State of the Air report, the lung association says.</p>
<p>Otherwise, the news was not good for California cities that historically have had no problem making the worst of the worse lists.</p>
<p>Seeing a rush to Salinas and Redding? That could be because they’re rated among the 10 least-polluted cities.</p>
<p>The end result nationally, according to the lung association, is that one in six Americans live in areas with unhealthy smog levels.</p>
<p>If that doesn’t give President Obama’s cap-and-trade proposal an extra push, nothing will.</p>
<p>And cap-and-trade — a program that forces companies to pay for spewing excess pollution into the air – might be the only hope. Cleaning dirty power plants is at the top of the lung association’s to-do list for curbing pollution, and cap-and-trade would strike at the heart of that problem.</p>
<p>The cap-and-trade program, which focuses on big industrial polluters, could actually help smog-choked Eastern cities more than it will aid California. Electric utilities, oil companies, large industrial plants and other such entities make up 85 percent of the nation’s emissions, <a href="https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/house-energy-bill-draft-cap-and-trade-included-5975.html" type="external">GreenTech Media reports</a>.</p>
<p>In an attempt to win support from coal-fired industries, though, draft legislation also proposes national auto emission standards that are more closely align to the restrictions California has tried to implement <a href="/article/issues/2009/3/9/california-and-trade-and-cap" type="external">for almost a decade</a>.</p>
<p>The state needs those standards. A big chunk of California’s problem is due to “mobile sources” – vehicles.</p>
<p>Hearings already have begun on cap-and-trade – the House Energy Committee chaired by Californian Henry Waxman <a href="http://www.ogj.com/display_article/360558/7/ONART/none/GenIn/1/Compromises-likely-as-cap-and-trade-proposal-moves-through-House/" type="external">plans a markup May 11</a>. Republicans already are girding for a fight, though <a href="/article/non-partisan-primary/2009/3/22/why-open-primaries-will-help-us-avoid-east-coast-problems" type="external">Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter’s decision</a> to revert to the Democratic Party leaves the GOP largely toothless in that chamber.</p>
<p>“This is the largest assault on democracy and freedom in this country that I have ever experienced,” Illinois Rep. John Shimkus said at an Energy and Commerce Committee hearing last week. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2009/04/28/28climatewire-gop-on-offense-in-fight-against-dems-global-10712.html" type="external">The New York Times</a> reported that Shimkus said he feared cap-and-trade proposal more than the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and 9-11.</p>
<p>Rhetoric like that practically makes party leaders look like moderates.</p>
<p>“When you look at the final touches that are being put on this cap-and-trade policy — or, as I like to call it, cap-and-tax — this is going to raise costs for every consumer in America and risk millions of American jobs,” House Minority Leader John Boehner <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124093222723963917.html?mod=googlenews_wsj" type="external">told The Wall Street Journal recently</a>.</p>
<p>Boehner seems to be overlooking the fact that that the proposal includes help businesses and consumers, through aid to consumers hit by higher energy costs and assistance affected industries, according to the <a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/01/capandtrade101.html" type="external">Center for American Progress</a>.</p>
<p>He also seems to be overlooking the fact that the status quo risks the lives and health of the 186.1 million living in areas where the air is rated F. Children, the elderly, people with chronic respiratory and cardiovascular disease. In other words, virtually all of us at some point in our lives.</p> | A Need for Cap-and-Trade | false | https://ivn.us/2009/04/30/need-cap-and-trade/ | 2009-04-30 | 2least
| A Need for Cap-and-Trade
<p>Let’s hear it for Pittsburgh, which Tuesday made dirty air not just California’s problem.</p>
<p>The Pennsylvania city topped the <a href="http://www.stateoftheair.org/2008/key-findings/" type="external">American Lung Association’s annual list</a> for the worst short-term air pollution from particles and was barely second to Los Angeles for year-round levels.</p>
<p>It’s the first time in 10 years that a city outside California has headed any list in the yearly State of the Air report, the lung association says.</p>
<p>Otherwise, the news was not good for California cities that historically have had no problem making the worst of the worse lists.</p>
<p>Seeing a rush to Salinas and Redding? That could be because they’re rated among the 10 least-polluted cities.</p>
<p>The end result nationally, according to the lung association, is that one in six Americans live in areas with unhealthy smog levels.</p>
<p>If that doesn’t give President Obama’s cap-and-trade proposal an extra push, nothing will.</p>
<p>And cap-and-trade — a program that forces companies to pay for spewing excess pollution into the air – might be the only hope. Cleaning dirty power plants is at the top of the lung association’s to-do list for curbing pollution, and cap-and-trade would strike at the heart of that problem.</p>
<p>The cap-and-trade program, which focuses on big industrial polluters, could actually help smog-choked Eastern cities more than it will aid California. Electric utilities, oil companies, large industrial plants and other such entities make up 85 percent of the nation’s emissions, <a href="https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/house-energy-bill-draft-cap-and-trade-included-5975.html" type="external">GreenTech Media reports</a>.</p>
<p>In an attempt to win support from coal-fired industries, though, draft legislation also proposes national auto emission standards that are more closely align to the restrictions California has tried to implement <a href="/article/issues/2009/3/9/california-and-trade-and-cap" type="external">for almost a decade</a>.</p>
<p>The state needs those standards. A big chunk of California’s problem is due to “mobile sources” – vehicles.</p>
<p>Hearings already have begun on cap-and-trade – the House Energy Committee chaired by Californian Henry Waxman <a href="http://www.ogj.com/display_article/360558/7/ONART/none/GenIn/1/Compromises-likely-as-cap-and-trade-proposal-moves-through-House/" type="external">plans a markup May 11</a>. Republicans already are girding for a fight, though <a href="/article/non-partisan-primary/2009/3/22/why-open-primaries-will-help-us-avoid-east-coast-problems" type="external">Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter’s decision</a> to revert to the Democratic Party leaves the GOP largely toothless in that chamber.</p>
<p>“This is the largest assault on democracy and freedom in this country that I have ever experienced,” Illinois Rep. John Shimkus said at an Energy and Commerce Committee hearing last week. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2009/04/28/28climatewire-gop-on-offense-in-fight-against-dems-global-10712.html" type="external">The New York Times</a> reported that Shimkus said he feared cap-and-trade proposal more than the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and 9-11.</p>
<p>Rhetoric like that practically makes party leaders look like moderates.</p>
<p>“When you look at the final touches that are being put on this cap-and-trade policy — or, as I like to call it, cap-and-tax — this is going to raise costs for every consumer in America and risk millions of American jobs,” House Minority Leader John Boehner <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124093222723963917.html?mod=googlenews_wsj" type="external">told The Wall Street Journal recently</a>.</p>
<p>Boehner seems to be overlooking the fact that that the proposal includes help businesses and consumers, through aid to consumers hit by higher energy costs and assistance affected industries, according to the <a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/01/capandtrade101.html" type="external">Center for American Progress</a>.</p>
<p>He also seems to be overlooking the fact that the status quo risks the lives and health of the 186.1 million living in areas where the air is rated F. Children, the elderly, people with chronic respiratory and cardiovascular disease. In other words, virtually all of us at some point in our lives.</p> | 2,312 |
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<p>TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s oil minister says President Donald Trump should allow American oil firms to do business in the Islamic Republic.</p>
<p>Bijan Zanganeh’s comments on Tuesday come as Americans and U.S. companies are still barred from directly doing business with Iran. That’s even with the 2015 nuclear deal being in place.</p>
<p>Zanganeh was quoted as saying: “If they want to, we are ready to negotiate American companies about development of oil and gas resources.”</p>
<p>His remarks were reported by Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency.</p>
<p>He added: “We have not closed doors” to American companies.</p>
<p>Trump last week refused to re-certify Iran’s compliance with the nuclear deal with world powers, and criticized Europeans for their participation in Iran’s energy projects. French oil giant Total SA has entered the Iranian market following the deal.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Oil minister says Trump should let US oil firms into Iran | false | https://abqjournal.com/1079009/oil-minister-says-trump-should-let-us-oil-firms-into-iran.html | 2least
| Oil minister says Trump should let US oil firms into Iran
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<p>TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s oil minister says President Donald Trump should allow American oil firms to do business in the Islamic Republic.</p>
<p>Bijan Zanganeh’s comments on Tuesday come as Americans and U.S. companies are still barred from directly doing business with Iran. That’s even with the 2015 nuclear deal being in place.</p>
<p>Zanganeh was quoted as saying: “If they want to, we are ready to negotiate American companies about development of oil and gas resources.”</p>
<p>His remarks were reported by Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency.</p>
<p>He added: “We have not closed doors” to American companies.</p>
<p>Trump last week refused to re-certify Iran’s compliance with the nuclear deal with world powers, and criticized Europeans for their participation in Iran’s energy projects. French oil giant Total SA has entered the Iranian market following the deal.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | 2,313 |
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<p>Two prominent Western journalists have been killed in the Syrian city of Homs in the latest violence in the besieged city which left 60 people dead.</p>
<p>Sunday Times reporter Marie Colvin, an American, and award-winning French photographer Remi Ochlik died when a shell hit a makeshift media center in the Baba Amr district.</p>
<p>Troops have been shelling opposition-held areas of Homs, besieged for weeks. Thousands have died in unrest against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad.</p>
<p>More than 40 people died on Tuesday alone, including Rami al-Sayed, a man who broadcast a live video stream from Homs used by world media.</p>
<p>The Red Cross has called on the government and rebels to agree to a daily ceasefire, to allow medical supplies to reach the worst affected areas and get civilians out, but there is no sign yet of this being agreed.</p>
<p>Colvin and Ochlik were reportedly staying in a house in Baba Amr that was being used by activists as a media center when it was hit by a shell on Wednesday morning.</p>
<p>More from Syria on Wednesday: Syrian Citizen-Journalist Rami al-Sayyed Dies During Homs Shelling</p> | Journalists Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik Die in Homs | false | https://pri.org/stories/2012-02-22/journalists-marie-colvin-and-remi-ochlik-die-homs | 2012-02-22 | 3left-center
| Journalists Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik Die in Homs
<p>Two prominent Western journalists have been killed in the Syrian city of Homs in the latest violence in the besieged city which left 60 people dead.</p>
<p>Sunday Times reporter Marie Colvin, an American, and award-winning French photographer Remi Ochlik died when a shell hit a makeshift media center in the Baba Amr district.</p>
<p>Troops have been shelling opposition-held areas of Homs, besieged for weeks. Thousands have died in unrest against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad.</p>
<p>More than 40 people died on Tuesday alone, including Rami al-Sayed, a man who broadcast a live video stream from Homs used by world media.</p>
<p>The Red Cross has called on the government and rebels to agree to a daily ceasefire, to allow medical supplies to reach the worst affected areas and get civilians out, but there is no sign yet of this being agreed.</p>
<p>Colvin and Ochlik were reportedly staying in a house in Baba Amr that was being used by activists as a media center when it was hit by a shell on Wednesday morning.</p>
<p>More from Syria on Wednesday: Syrian Citizen-Journalist Rami al-Sayyed Dies During Homs Shelling</p> | 2,314 |
<p>Women worldwide are joining an online campaign to boycott Twitter over the company’s treatment of actress Rose McGowan, according to <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2017/10/13/technology/women-boycott-twitter-rose-mcgowan/index.html?sr=twCNN101317women-boycott-twitter-rose-mcgowan1115AMStory" type="external">CNN Tech</a>.</p>
<p>CNN Tech on Friday reported that the hashtag #WomenBoycottTwitter has become the No. 1 global trend on the social media platform as of that morning.</p>
<p>McGowan joined the protest late Thursday, urging her roughly 834,000 Twitter followers to “RISE” at midnight Friday.</p>
<p>Other female celebrities including actress Alyssa Milano, model Chrissy Teigen and comedian Kathy Griffin have since voiced support for the movement.</p>
<p>Male stars such as actor Mark Ruffalo and comic Michael Ian Black have also vowed to participate in the boycott.</p>
<p>Twitter on Thursday explained it had temporarily limited some of its services for McGowan amid her sexual harassment allegations against Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein.</p>
<p>“We want to explain that her account was temporarily locked because one of her Tweets included a private phone number, which violates our Terms of Service,” the company tweeted.</p>
<p>“The Tweet was removed and her account has been unlocked,” Twitter added. “We will be clearer about these policies and decisions in the future.”</p>
<p>McGowan earlier Thursday wrote on Instagram that Twitter had notified her she had “violated” its rules and temporarily lost some of her account privileges.</p>
<p>“TWITTER HAS SUSPENDED ME,” she wrote. “THERE ARE POWERFUL FORCES AT WORK. BE MY VOICE. #ROSEARMY.”</p>
<p>McGowan was one of several women named in an explosive expose published by The New York Times last week detailing decades of alleged sexual harassment from Weinstein.</p>
<p>Weinstein has denied the accusations against him, but the mounting claims resulted in his firing from the company he co-founded after their emergence.</p>
<p /> | A #WomenBoycottTwitter protest erupted over Rose McGowan’s suspension | false | https://circa.com/story/2017/10/13/hollywood/rose-mcgowan-twitter-suspension-sparks-womenboycotttwitter-protest | 2017-10-13 | 1right-center
| A #WomenBoycottTwitter protest erupted over Rose McGowan’s suspension
<p>Women worldwide are joining an online campaign to boycott Twitter over the company’s treatment of actress Rose McGowan, according to <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2017/10/13/technology/women-boycott-twitter-rose-mcgowan/index.html?sr=twCNN101317women-boycott-twitter-rose-mcgowan1115AMStory" type="external">CNN Tech</a>.</p>
<p>CNN Tech on Friday reported that the hashtag #WomenBoycottTwitter has become the No. 1 global trend on the social media platform as of that morning.</p>
<p>McGowan joined the protest late Thursday, urging her roughly 834,000 Twitter followers to “RISE” at midnight Friday.</p>
<p>Other female celebrities including actress Alyssa Milano, model Chrissy Teigen and comedian Kathy Griffin have since voiced support for the movement.</p>
<p>Male stars such as actor Mark Ruffalo and comic Michael Ian Black have also vowed to participate in the boycott.</p>
<p>Twitter on Thursday explained it had temporarily limited some of its services for McGowan amid her sexual harassment allegations against Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein.</p>
<p>“We want to explain that her account was temporarily locked because one of her Tweets included a private phone number, which violates our Terms of Service,” the company tweeted.</p>
<p>“The Tweet was removed and her account has been unlocked,” Twitter added. “We will be clearer about these policies and decisions in the future.”</p>
<p>McGowan earlier Thursday wrote on Instagram that Twitter had notified her she had “violated” its rules and temporarily lost some of her account privileges.</p>
<p>“TWITTER HAS SUSPENDED ME,” she wrote. “THERE ARE POWERFUL FORCES AT WORK. BE MY VOICE. #ROSEARMY.”</p>
<p>McGowan was one of several women named in an explosive expose published by The New York Times last week detailing decades of alleged sexual harassment from Weinstein.</p>
<p>Weinstein has denied the accusations against him, but the mounting claims resulted in his firing from the company he co-founded after their emergence.</p>
<p /> | 2,315 |
<p>The unrest in Iran has moved online, as Iranians attempt to get around government censorship of media coverage. Social networking sites like Twitter and and Facebook have become the new source for information for Iranians both at home and abroad.</p>
<p>"The World" anchor Marco Werman talked to correspondent Laura Lynch who's just returned from Tehran, and Azadeh Moaveni -- author of "Honeymoon in Tehran" and also "Lipstick Jihad, A Memoir of Growing up Iranian in America, and American in Iran" -- she's been following the protests in Iran via online social networking sites.</p>
<p>Lynch describes how she accessed information in Iran: "From my part, over the ten days that I was there, it became increasingly difficult to get information over the web. They were blocking websites. They began blocking television networks and, of course, I can't go onto the social networking sites myself because I don't speak Farsi. So you were trying to rely on others as time went by to get you that kind of information. And there was one young woman staying in the hotel where most of the journalists were staying who spent her days trolling all of these websites and finding information that no one else was able to get. She knew her way around and she was telling all of us in whispered tones what she was finding about what people were saying, what the government was doing or reportedly doing.</p>
<p>"Now, listen there was a lot of rumor going around as well, but it wasn't just the high tech way. There was also very old fashioned ways of getting information. It's just gold old fashioned journalism getting out on the street, talking to people and there were a couple times when I would be walking down the street and someone would come by me and in whispered tones almost akin to when you're walking down the street and a drug dealer sidles up to you. In this, there were people saying to you in such and such square at 5 o'clock, demonstration and then whishing away."</p>
<p>Moaveni, who is in Cambridge, England, says she relied on social networking sites over mainstream media to get information: "Well, it very quickly became apparent that mainstream media was lagging far behind. So I promptly stopped watching the news really and spent most of my time online, on Facebook and Twitter. And I think it's really striking the kind of citizen journalism that has emerged in Iran throughout all of this. And so, in that way I think it's admirable.</p>
<p>"It's interesting to see how despite the government's very fierce crackdown on the press and the controls that it's placed on journalists, how ordinary Iranians are stepping into the gap. And I would say I think that the ease with which they've done this, and I think the world has been very impressed by how quickly this is all emerging on Twitter. Iranians have a lot of practice for this. The government has been filtrating the Internet very aggressively in the past several years and so organizing despite the filters and the blocked sites is something that Iranians have become very savvy about."</p>
<p>Moaveni says that, while not all the information online is completely credible, it's still a good guide: "A lot of it you have to take with a grain of salt and wonder where it's coming from, but a lot of it is just footage and it's pretty clear that it's authentic. So I think even if you were to rely only on that kind of information, it would be a good guide to what's going on."</p>
<p>Lynch: "That's a really interesting point because when we were told that we could no longer go out on the streets yesterday and anyone caught with a camera would be arrested on the spot, it became much more apparent that we would have to rely on state television for one, but all of these other sources of footage that are coming out now. And I don't think the government knows how to deal with that. The government can control the foreign media, yes. It can get rid of us, it can lock us in our hotels and our offices, but it can't stop the people in the streets with their cell phones, with their cameras, and they are everywhere. I saw them at every demonstration."</p>
<p>The Web makes it possible for communication to happen quickly, and some believe that this facilitates the speed at which social change can happen. However, Moaveni thinks the situation in Iran is too complex and, "I think that that's perhaps too grand of an expectation especially in places like Iran where the situation is very fragile, and the government one moment can filter the Internet so aggressively and cancel text messaging and even calling out of Iran is so difficult. And so, I think the idea that speed can somehow facilitate such a complex process is perhaps a bit of wishful thinking, and the speed with which things will unfold will likely more reflect the sort of authentic momentum, and how much people are willing to sacrifice day in and day out at these kind of protests."</p>
<p>Lynch: "I think that's really key now because it seems to me that there seems to be some division within the clerical establishment itself about what is the right way to respond to this? And that came through because of the seemingly inconsistent ways that they are treating these demonstrations, letting some go ahead without intervening and then cracking down immediately on others and telling them not to gather and threatening them with, in some cases, lethal force."</p>
<p>As for whether Ahmadinejad really did win the vote, Moaveni has doubts: "I can't think of any situation where a president could preside over such a widely acknowledged four years of failure, drive the economy into the ground. I mean, in Tehran alone real estate prices have gone up by 150, 200%. I can't imagine a record of failure so wide, discontent so broad and then an election won by the margins that have been reported. It's simply inconceivable. And I think that we shouldn't be shy about saying that."</p>
<p>Whether on the streets in Tehran or online, images from the protests in Iran have stuck with both Lynch and Moaveni:</p>
<p>Lynch: "How could I forget Monday. It's one of those times in your life as a journalist that you are there and you're thinking that this is history in the making, being on the streets with those tens of thousands of people who had come out in spite of warnings not to, streaming along for miles along this boulevard, mostly in silence. Their way of saying that we are not going to be violent, we are just going to move forward with our message, which is that they feel that they want their votes counted and their hands up in the air, and feeling so incredibly deflated. It's an image that you just never forget."</p>
<p>Moaveni: "I think the image that has stuck with me is this one clip that keeps being passed around on Facebook of a young woman attacking a police officer. She goes after him with these karate chops, and her legs flying high in the air. She kicks him and the crowd around her is cheering her on, and the policeman cowers. These images are such a reversible of the Iran that we've come to know and the Iran that I've lived in where women and where I've walked the street constantly nervous of these police forces. And it's so empowering to see image after image of young people being so extraordinarily brave."</p>
<p>PRI's "The World" is a one-hour, weekday radio news magazine offering a mix of news, features, interviews, and music from around the globe. "The World" is a co-production of the BBC World Service, PRI and WGBH Boston.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">More "The World."</a></p> | Iran's unrest moves online | false | https://pri.org/stories/2009-06-18/irans-unrest-moves-online | 2009-06-18 | 3left-center
| Iran's unrest moves online
<p>The unrest in Iran has moved online, as Iranians attempt to get around government censorship of media coverage. Social networking sites like Twitter and and Facebook have become the new source for information for Iranians both at home and abroad.</p>
<p>"The World" anchor Marco Werman talked to correspondent Laura Lynch who's just returned from Tehran, and Azadeh Moaveni -- author of "Honeymoon in Tehran" and also "Lipstick Jihad, A Memoir of Growing up Iranian in America, and American in Iran" -- she's been following the protests in Iran via online social networking sites.</p>
<p>Lynch describes how she accessed information in Iran: "From my part, over the ten days that I was there, it became increasingly difficult to get information over the web. They were blocking websites. They began blocking television networks and, of course, I can't go onto the social networking sites myself because I don't speak Farsi. So you were trying to rely on others as time went by to get you that kind of information. And there was one young woman staying in the hotel where most of the journalists were staying who spent her days trolling all of these websites and finding information that no one else was able to get. She knew her way around and she was telling all of us in whispered tones what she was finding about what people were saying, what the government was doing or reportedly doing.</p>
<p>"Now, listen there was a lot of rumor going around as well, but it wasn't just the high tech way. There was also very old fashioned ways of getting information. It's just gold old fashioned journalism getting out on the street, talking to people and there were a couple times when I would be walking down the street and someone would come by me and in whispered tones almost akin to when you're walking down the street and a drug dealer sidles up to you. In this, there were people saying to you in such and such square at 5 o'clock, demonstration and then whishing away."</p>
<p>Moaveni, who is in Cambridge, England, says she relied on social networking sites over mainstream media to get information: "Well, it very quickly became apparent that mainstream media was lagging far behind. So I promptly stopped watching the news really and spent most of my time online, on Facebook and Twitter. And I think it's really striking the kind of citizen journalism that has emerged in Iran throughout all of this. And so, in that way I think it's admirable.</p>
<p>"It's interesting to see how despite the government's very fierce crackdown on the press and the controls that it's placed on journalists, how ordinary Iranians are stepping into the gap. And I would say I think that the ease with which they've done this, and I think the world has been very impressed by how quickly this is all emerging on Twitter. Iranians have a lot of practice for this. The government has been filtrating the Internet very aggressively in the past several years and so organizing despite the filters and the blocked sites is something that Iranians have become very savvy about."</p>
<p>Moaveni says that, while not all the information online is completely credible, it's still a good guide: "A lot of it you have to take with a grain of salt and wonder where it's coming from, but a lot of it is just footage and it's pretty clear that it's authentic. So I think even if you were to rely only on that kind of information, it would be a good guide to what's going on."</p>
<p>Lynch: "That's a really interesting point because when we were told that we could no longer go out on the streets yesterday and anyone caught with a camera would be arrested on the spot, it became much more apparent that we would have to rely on state television for one, but all of these other sources of footage that are coming out now. And I don't think the government knows how to deal with that. The government can control the foreign media, yes. It can get rid of us, it can lock us in our hotels and our offices, but it can't stop the people in the streets with their cell phones, with their cameras, and they are everywhere. I saw them at every demonstration."</p>
<p>The Web makes it possible for communication to happen quickly, and some believe that this facilitates the speed at which social change can happen. However, Moaveni thinks the situation in Iran is too complex and, "I think that that's perhaps too grand of an expectation especially in places like Iran where the situation is very fragile, and the government one moment can filter the Internet so aggressively and cancel text messaging and even calling out of Iran is so difficult. And so, I think the idea that speed can somehow facilitate such a complex process is perhaps a bit of wishful thinking, and the speed with which things will unfold will likely more reflect the sort of authentic momentum, and how much people are willing to sacrifice day in and day out at these kind of protests."</p>
<p>Lynch: "I think that's really key now because it seems to me that there seems to be some division within the clerical establishment itself about what is the right way to respond to this? And that came through because of the seemingly inconsistent ways that they are treating these demonstrations, letting some go ahead without intervening and then cracking down immediately on others and telling them not to gather and threatening them with, in some cases, lethal force."</p>
<p>As for whether Ahmadinejad really did win the vote, Moaveni has doubts: "I can't think of any situation where a president could preside over such a widely acknowledged four years of failure, drive the economy into the ground. I mean, in Tehran alone real estate prices have gone up by 150, 200%. I can't imagine a record of failure so wide, discontent so broad and then an election won by the margins that have been reported. It's simply inconceivable. And I think that we shouldn't be shy about saying that."</p>
<p>Whether on the streets in Tehran or online, images from the protests in Iran have stuck with both Lynch and Moaveni:</p>
<p>Lynch: "How could I forget Monday. It's one of those times in your life as a journalist that you are there and you're thinking that this is history in the making, being on the streets with those tens of thousands of people who had come out in spite of warnings not to, streaming along for miles along this boulevard, mostly in silence. Their way of saying that we are not going to be violent, we are just going to move forward with our message, which is that they feel that they want their votes counted and their hands up in the air, and feeling so incredibly deflated. It's an image that you just never forget."</p>
<p>Moaveni: "I think the image that has stuck with me is this one clip that keeps being passed around on Facebook of a young woman attacking a police officer. She goes after him with these karate chops, and her legs flying high in the air. She kicks him and the crowd around her is cheering her on, and the policeman cowers. These images are such a reversible of the Iran that we've come to know and the Iran that I've lived in where women and where I've walked the street constantly nervous of these police forces. And it's so empowering to see image after image of young people being so extraordinarily brave."</p>
<p>PRI's "The World" is a one-hour, weekday radio news magazine offering a mix of news, features, interviews, and music from around the globe. "The World" is a co-production of the BBC World Service, PRI and WGBH Boston.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">More "The World."</a></p> | 2,316 |
<p>Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has “zero credibility” when it comes to investigating leaks from the White House following his comments about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her testimony before Congress last year, former Rep. Jason Chaffetz said Monday.</p>
<p>“When I asked him if he looked at Hillary Clinton whether she told the truth under oath, he said he needed a request from Congress,” the former Utah lawmaker, now a Fox News commentator, said on the <a href="http://video.foxnews.com/v/5534155238001/?playlist_id=903354961001#sp=show-clips" type="external">“America’s Newsroom”</a> program.</p>
<p>He said that both he, as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and the Judiciary Committee asked about Clinton, their question was never answered.</p>
<p>“Let’s start with Hillary Clinton and whether she lied under oath, and go back to the State Department, who had an open investigation,” said Chaffetz, noting it was reopened on July 7, 2016.</p>
<p>“Nearly 300 people who are dealing in classified information in a non-secure setting, why didn’t they ever close that investigation?” said Chaffetz. “They need to answer those questions. Start with that. They come with zero credibility on this issue.”</p>
<p>On Sunday, <a href="http://www.newsmax.com/TheWire/rosenstein-leaks-white-house-congress/2017/08/07/id/806206/" type="external">Rosenstein</a>&#160;said the Department of Justice will go after anyone who breaks the law, including White House officials or members of Congress, during its investigation into a series of damaging leaks to the media.</p>
<p>Chaffetz said that there comes a point where questions on investigations must be answered, not just leaked out in dribbles to the press.</p>
<p>“Until you have people in handcuffs over this classified information, it’s against the law to just leak it out and give it to whoever you want,” said Chaffetz. “You can’t do that.”</p>
<p>Chaffetz said he has no doubt that there are holdovers in the Justice Department from the Obama administration who may not be excited about further investigations into Clinton.</p>
<p>“Now that you have the deputy attorney general coming to the microphone saying we’ll hold everybody accountable no matter who they are, prove it,” he said. “People are documented by the inspector general’s office, not members of Congress who pointed these people out specifically, and they should be held accountable by the Department of Justice.”</p> | Chaffetz: Rosenstein Has 'Zero Credibility' on Leaks Probe | false | https://newsline.com/chaffetz-rosenstein-has-zero-credibility-on-leaks-probe/ | 2017-08-07 | 1right-center
| Chaffetz: Rosenstein Has 'Zero Credibility' on Leaks Probe
<p>Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has “zero credibility” when it comes to investigating leaks from the White House following his comments about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her testimony before Congress last year, former Rep. Jason Chaffetz said Monday.</p>
<p>“When I asked him if he looked at Hillary Clinton whether she told the truth under oath, he said he needed a request from Congress,” the former Utah lawmaker, now a Fox News commentator, said on the <a href="http://video.foxnews.com/v/5534155238001/?playlist_id=903354961001#sp=show-clips" type="external">“America’s Newsroom”</a> program.</p>
<p>He said that both he, as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and the Judiciary Committee asked about Clinton, their question was never answered.</p>
<p>“Let’s start with Hillary Clinton and whether she lied under oath, and go back to the State Department, who had an open investigation,” said Chaffetz, noting it was reopened on July 7, 2016.</p>
<p>“Nearly 300 people who are dealing in classified information in a non-secure setting, why didn’t they ever close that investigation?” said Chaffetz. “They need to answer those questions. Start with that. They come with zero credibility on this issue.”</p>
<p>On Sunday, <a href="http://www.newsmax.com/TheWire/rosenstein-leaks-white-house-congress/2017/08/07/id/806206/" type="external">Rosenstein</a>&#160;said the Department of Justice will go after anyone who breaks the law, including White House officials or members of Congress, during its investigation into a series of damaging leaks to the media.</p>
<p>Chaffetz said that there comes a point where questions on investigations must be answered, not just leaked out in dribbles to the press.</p>
<p>“Until you have people in handcuffs over this classified information, it’s against the law to just leak it out and give it to whoever you want,” said Chaffetz. “You can’t do that.”</p>
<p>Chaffetz said he has no doubt that there are holdovers in the Justice Department from the Obama administration who may not be excited about further investigations into Clinton.</p>
<p>“Now that you have the deputy attorney general coming to the microphone saying we’ll hold everybody accountable no matter who they are, prove it,” he said. “People are documented by the inspector general’s office, not members of Congress who pointed these people out specifically, and they should be held accountable by the Department of Justice.”</p> | 2,317 |
<p><a href="" type="internal" />The British National Archives (BNA) is an executive agency of the government of the United Kingdom. Based in Kew in southwest London, the BNA is the UK government’s official archive, containing 1,000 years of history from&#160; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domesday_Book" type="external">Domesday Book</a>&#160;to the present, with records from parchment and paper scrolls to digital files and archived websites, including Foreign Office and Colonial Office correspondence and files. The collections held by the BNA can be searched using their&#160; <a href="http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/" type="external">online catalogue</a>. Entrance to the Archives is free.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/blog/2012/apr/18/national-archives-release-colonial-papers-live-blog" type="external">On April 18, 2012</a>, the BNA released the first batch of thousands of “lost” colonial-era files believed to have been destroyed, including files on Britain’s former colony of Kenya.&#160; <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/blog/2012/apr/18/national-archives-release-colonial-papers-live-blog" type="external">Reporters at the UK’s&#160;The Guardian</a>&#160;were among the first who looked at some of the newly released colonial files. They found that&#160; <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/apr/18/barack-obama-father-colonial-list" type="external">the name of Barack Obama</a>&#160;(henceforth, Obama Sr.), the father of the POS in the White House, is on the top of a list of names revealed in a hitherto secret British colonial file of Kenyans studying in the United States.</p>
<p>But it’s not just UK journalists who can access the British National Archives; anyone can. In May 2012, someone conducted a search of the Archives using the search term “Obama” and found that&#160;an unnamed son of Obama Sr. was born in Kenya in 1961.&#160;Since the POS in the White House is the only known son of Obama Sr. born after 1960 and before 1963 when Kenya became officially independent from the UK, it is reasonable for us to conclude that the POS is that unnamed son of Obama Sr. born in Kenya in 1961. And in fact, the claimed birth date of the POS is August 4, 1961.</p>
<p><a href="http://fellowshipofminds.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/barack-sr-dunham.jpg" type="external" />Barack Hussein Obama Sr. (l); Stanley Ann Dunham (r).</p>
<p>Evidence discovered shows British Protectorate of East Africa recorded Obama’s birth records before 1963 and sent returns of those events to Britain’s Public Records Office and the Kew branch of British National Archives. […]</p>
<p>It now appears the worst fears of the U.S. Constitution’s framers were well founded as investigators working on behalf of the ongoing investigation into the Constitutional eligibility of Barack Obama have found yet another lead in a growing mountain of evidence within the public records section of the British National Archives indicating the occurrence of at least four vital events registered to the name of Barack Obama, taking place in the British Protectorate of East Africa (Kenya) between 1953 and 1963, including the birth of two sons before 1963.</p>
<p>Recall, investigative journalists working for Breitbart.com have already discovered biographical information published by Barack Obama’s literary agent in which he claimed he was born in Kenya.&#160; Prior to Obama’s ensconcement to the White House, many international stories also stated that Obama was Kenyan-born as did members of Kenya’s legislative assembly.&#160; Since then information on Obama’s ties has been curtailed by government officials asthe Obama administration has coincidentally paid nearly $4 billion dollars for capital projects in Kenya.</p>
<p>Also,&#160;the presence of Obama’s mother, Ann Dunham, cannot be accounted for from February, 1961, the alleged month of her marriage to Obama,&#160;until three weeks after the birth of Obama II in August, 1961&#160;when she allegedly applied for college courses at the University&#160;of Washington.&#160; Theories about her whereabouts have&#160;included that&#160;she participated in the&#160;Air Lift America project as an exchange student and traveled to Nairobi as one of many recent high school graduates (see AASF Report 1959-1961).</p>
<p>The record of birth of a second son prior to Kenyan independence is significant because biographical information about Obama’s family indicates Obama Sr. fathered only one other son prior to Obama II’s birth.</p>
<p>The books containing hand written line records of vital events attributed to Obama [Sr.] are contained in&#160;Series RG36 of the Family Records section in the Kew branch of the BNA.&#160; The hand written line records first discovered in 2009, indicate several events were registered to the name Barack Obama (appears to be handwritten and spelled “Burack” and “Biraq”) beginning in 1953 and include two births recorded in 1958 and 1960, a marriage license registration in 1954 and&#160;a birth in 1961.&#160; Barack Obama [Sr.] is said to have died in 1982 and had married at least once more in Kenya and had at least one more child in 1968, but no record of these were found in the BNA because, according to the Archives’ desk reference, the events occurred after Kenya achieved independence from British colonial rule in 1963.</p>
<p>To date, Barack Obama II is the only known alleged son of Obama Sr. born after 1960 and before the independence of Kenya became official in 1963.</p>
<p>A request for information from the BNA on the specification of birth information contained in the series of thousands of logs indicates that only vital events registered in Kenya’s Ministry of Health offices were recorded in the registration returns and were placed in the National Archives care before they reached 30 years old (the law was amended to 20 years after creation in 2010).</p>
<p>The line records do not specify the identity or names of the children, only gender.&#160;&#160;However, the line records are associated with index numbers of actual microfilm copies of certificates, licenses and registration applications filed in the archives.&#160; According to researchers, Obama [Sr.]’s line records were discovered in Series RG36, reference books.&#160; Not surprisingly,&#160;when researchers specifically requested access to the relevant microfilm for the Obama [Sr.] birth registrations, they were told that the records were currently held under an outdated “privileged access” status, meaning researchers were denied access under Chapter 52, Sections 3 and 5 of the British Public Records Act of 1958.</p>
<p>However, evidence shows these records were available for public access before August of 2009, the approximate date of arrival of Hillary Clinton in Great Britain during her trip to Africa that year. <a href="http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/information-management/access-to-public-records.pdf" type="external">http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/information-management/access-to-public-records.pdf</a></p>
<p>Several sources show that Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton made a sudden visit to the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the British agency which oversees Public Records Archives&#160;from colonial protectorates, to speak with the Chief Executive of the Archives in early August of 2009.&#160; African news agency expressed surprise at&#160;Clinton’s arrival&#160;since she did not announce her intentions of stopping in Great Britain before embarking on her two week trip to Africa.</p>
<p>For someone who wanted to remain in America, it’s difficult to imagine any reason why Barack Obama’s alleged father, Barack the elder, would omit the birth of an “anchor baby” son on an application to extend his visa, just days after the birth occurred, unless…</p>
<p>The American people were told by Barack Obama, unequivocally, that his father was a former goat herder from Kenya. However, INS documents filed in the very same month after Obama’s birth suggest the goat herding elder Obama didn’t “get the memo” that he was a daddy.</p>
<p>On August 31st, 1961, just weeks after Obama’s birth was allegedly registered in a regional office of the Hawaiian Health Department, Obama the elder neglected to name his newborn son on an application for extension of his temporary visa to stay in the U.S.</p>
<p>Obama’s omission of the birth is astonishing and illogical given the fact that the acknowledgement of the birth would have fortified Obama’s application for an extension. The INS has long been more willing to extend the visa of a foreign parent of children born in the U.S., especially when the other parent is an American citizen.</p>
<p>Despite the recent release of a documentary film “Dreams From My Real Father” presenting evidence that Barack Hussein Obama is not the biological father of the younger Obama,&#160;the elder Obama&#160;is&#160;the man named as the father on the digital image of Obama’s alleged 1961 “Certificate of Live Birth” which was posted to the internet by the administration in April of 2011. The document image has since been forensically examined by law enforcement investigators and determined to be a digitally fabricated forgery using Adobe software.</p>
<p>[…], in 2011, it was reported by The Daily Pen after an investigation of&#160;the State of Hawaii’s birth statistics collection protocols and vital records history thatbirth certificates are often amended after the birth&#160;while the original paper document is sealed under strict confidentiality rules when the identity of the father is either determined after birth or when the father named on the new version of the certificate has adopted or assumed paternal responsibility for the child.</p>
<p>In the latter case, the original birth record may not contain the biological father’s name because the mother does not provide it, or it may list paternity as “unknown”, but this version is kept confidential under HRS 571. […] Therefore, the paternity of the child at the actual time of the birth is not disclosed while the new amended certificate is upheld as the original version displaying the name of the newly identified or adoptive father as indistinguishable if different from the biological father. This law is meant to protect the child from stigmas resulting from illegitimacy, rape, incest or adultery.&#160;Under these circumstances it is not possible to know the paternal status of a child at birth unless the original birth record is made accessible by authorized persons under Hawaiian law.</p>
<p>[…] If Obama [Sr.] is not the biological father, or if paternal information is listed on the original certificate as “unknown”,&#160;the state of Hawaii keeps this information secret until a court orders the documents to be released for discovery purposes in determining Obama’s eligibility.&#160;Thus far, courts have lacked courage to uphold the Constitution thereby propagating the greatest political fraud in American history. Judges are simply washing their hands of the issue by refusing to even consider actual evidence against Obama, denying citizens of justice and their Constitutional right to a redress of grievances, because they simply do not have the courage to face the legal crisis such a revelation would cause.</p>
<p>[…] Despite evidence indicating that Obama was simultaneously married to a woman in Kenya, it is suspected that he claimed to be married to Dunham in order to use the marriage as leverage to remain in the U.S.&#160;There is no evidence or testimony that Obama [Sr.] ever loved Dunham or that the two had ever been engaged. The two did not live together before or after being married and there were no letters, no ring, no announcement or, most importantly, no legal marriage registration with the State of Hawaii.</p>
<p>Despite a complete void of documented proof of the marriage, it appears Dunham was granted a statutory divorce from Obama in 1964. However, images posted of the court documents from the decree contain no original documented proof of a marriage or legal documents showing that Obama was the father of Dunham’s child.&#160; A review of the court documents shows that at least one document, perhaps an original birth certificate for baby Obama, was missing from the numbering sequence.</p>
<p>Being legitimately married to a U.S. citizen would be a benefit toward allowing a foreign spouse to remain the U.S. However, no marriage license application or public announcement has ever been found to indicate that Obama and Dunham were ever married or that Obama [Sr.] had even divorced his Kenyan wife prior to an alleged wedding with Dunham.&#160;This fact supports the contents of memos from college and INS officials who expressed doubts about the legitimacy of Obama’s relationship with Dunham, even questioning the motive of such a union between a teenage woman and a foreign student facing visa expiration just days after the birth of her child.</p>
<p>[…]&#160;Government officials in Hawaii, including Governor Neil Abercrombie, Lt. Governor Brian Schatz and former Hawaiian elections official, Tim Adams have all indicated that they could find no original record of Obama’s alleged birth in any hospital in Hawaiiin the course of their duties to verify his eligibility. The absence of verifiable birth documentation was so apparent that&#160;Schatz, serving as the chairman of the Democrat Party of Hawaii in 2008, refused to certify that Obama was indeed constitutionally eligible to hold the office of presidentwhen he submitted the Official Certification of Nomination of Obama. Schatz deferred the responsibility to Nancy Pelosi and DNC, and then Chair of the Hawaiian Elections Commission, Kevin Cronin. Cronin resigned suddenly after controversy surrounding his decision began to strain his relationship with the commission.</p>
<p>[…] Liars and abettors in media and government, drudging on behalf of the Obama administration, have anchored their Alinsky-style ridicule of those questioning Obama’s eligibility in a delusion that he must be legitimate because his birth was announced in two Hawaiian newspapers.</p>
<p>[…]&#160;Hawaii has a long history of allocating foreign births to the mother’s claimed Hawaiian residence regardless of the actual location of the birth,&#160;which was in compliance with guidelines established by the National Center for Health Statistics in order to accurately attribute data from births with decadal Census figures. […] The impact of population figures on the Hawaii’s economy and agency resources was very significant in 1961.&#160; The accuracy of the Census takes precedence over the accuracy and veracity of vital statistics in the U.S. […]</p>
<p><a href="http://thedailypen.blogspot.com/2012/07/obamas-kenyan-birth-records-discovered.html" type="external">According to Dan Crosby</a>, the specific sources of information pertaining to births of Kenyan nationals under British jurisdiction can be researched in the following BNA files (Courtesy: British National Archives):</p>
<p>H/t&#160; <a href="http://obamareleaseyourrecords.blogspot.com/2012/07/shock-claim-obamas-kenyan-birth-records.html" type="external">Obama Release Your Records</a></p>
<p>~Eowyn</p>
<p>Dr. Eowyn is a regular contributor to The D.C. Clothesline and the Editor of <a href="http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/" type="external">Fellowship of the Minds</a>. This article originally appeared on FOTM in August of 2012 but I thought our readers may appreciate it. -Dean Garrison</p>
<p />
<p /> | British National Archives show a son was born to Obama Sr. in 1961 in Kenya | true | http://dcclothesline.com/2013/06/20/british-national-archives-show-a-son-was-born-to-obama-sr-in-1961-in-kenya/ | 2013-06-20 | 0right
| British National Archives show a son was born to Obama Sr. in 1961 in Kenya
<p><a href="" type="internal" />The British National Archives (BNA) is an executive agency of the government of the United Kingdom. Based in Kew in southwest London, the BNA is the UK government’s official archive, containing 1,000 years of history from&#160; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domesday_Book" type="external">Domesday Book</a>&#160;to the present, with records from parchment and paper scrolls to digital files and archived websites, including Foreign Office and Colonial Office correspondence and files. The collections held by the BNA can be searched using their&#160; <a href="http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/" type="external">online catalogue</a>. Entrance to the Archives is free.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/blog/2012/apr/18/national-archives-release-colonial-papers-live-blog" type="external">On April 18, 2012</a>, the BNA released the first batch of thousands of “lost” colonial-era files believed to have been destroyed, including files on Britain’s former colony of Kenya.&#160; <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/blog/2012/apr/18/national-archives-release-colonial-papers-live-blog" type="external">Reporters at the UK’s&#160;The Guardian</a>&#160;were among the first who looked at some of the newly released colonial files. They found that&#160; <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/apr/18/barack-obama-father-colonial-list" type="external">the name of Barack Obama</a>&#160;(henceforth, Obama Sr.), the father of the POS in the White House, is on the top of a list of names revealed in a hitherto secret British colonial file of Kenyans studying in the United States.</p>
<p>But it’s not just UK journalists who can access the British National Archives; anyone can. In May 2012, someone conducted a search of the Archives using the search term “Obama” and found that&#160;an unnamed son of Obama Sr. was born in Kenya in 1961.&#160;Since the POS in the White House is the only known son of Obama Sr. born after 1960 and before 1963 when Kenya became officially independent from the UK, it is reasonable for us to conclude that the POS is that unnamed son of Obama Sr. born in Kenya in 1961. And in fact, the claimed birth date of the POS is August 4, 1961.</p>
<p><a href="http://fellowshipofminds.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/barack-sr-dunham.jpg" type="external" />Barack Hussein Obama Sr. (l); Stanley Ann Dunham (r).</p>
<p>Evidence discovered shows British Protectorate of East Africa recorded Obama’s birth records before 1963 and sent returns of those events to Britain’s Public Records Office and the Kew branch of British National Archives. […]</p>
<p>It now appears the worst fears of the U.S. Constitution’s framers were well founded as investigators working on behalf of the ongoing investigation into the Constitutional eligibility of Barack Obama have found yet another lead in a growing mountain of evidence within the public records section of the British National Archives indicating the occurrence of at least four vital events registered to the name of Barack Obama, taking place in the British Protectorate of East Africa (Kenya) between 1953 and 1963, including the birth of two sons before 1963.</p>
<p>Recall, investigative journalists working for Breitbart.com have already discovered biographical information published by Barack Obama’s literary agent in which he claimed he was born in Kenya.&#160; Prior to Obama’s ensconcement to the White House, many international stories also stated that Obama was Kenyan-born as did members of Kenya’s legislative assembly.&#160; Since then information on Obama’s ties has been curtailed by government officials asthe Obama administration has coincidentally paid nearly $4 billion dollars for capital projects in Kenya.</p>
<p>Also,&#160;the presence of Obama’s mother, Ann Dunham, cannot be accounted for from February, 1961, the alleged month of her marriage to Obama,&#160;until three weeks after the birth of Obama II in August, 1961&#160;when she allegedly applied for college courses at the University&#160;of Washington.&#160; Theories about her whereabouts have&#160;included that&#160;she participated in the&#160;Air Lift America project as an exchange student and traveled to Nairobi as one of many recent high school graduates (see AASF Report 1959-1961).</p>
<p>The record of birth of a second son prior to Kenyan independence is significant because biographical information about Obama’s family indicates Obama Sr. fathered only one other son prior to Obama II’s birth.</p>
<p>The books containing hand written line records of vital events attributed to Obama [Sr.] are contained in&#160;Series RG36 of the Family Records section in the Kew branch of the BNA.&#160; The hand written line records first discovered in 2009, indicate several events were registered to the name Barack Obama (appears to be handwritten and spelled “Burack” and “Biraq”) beginning in 1953 and include two births recorded in 1958 and 1960, a marriage license registration in 1954 and&#160;a birth in 1961.&#160; Barack Obama [Sr.] is said to have died in 1982 and had married at least once more in Kenya and had at least one more child in 1968, but no record of these were found in the BNA because, according to the Archives’ desk reference, the events occurred after Kenya achieved independence from British colonial rule in 1963.</p>
<p>To date, Barack Obama II is the only known alleged son of Obama Sr. born after 1960 and before the independence of Kenya became official in 1963.</p>
<p>A request for information from the BNA on the specification of birth information contained in the series of thousands of logs indicates that only vital events registered in Kenya’s Ministry of Health offices were recorded in the registration returns and were placed in the National Archives care before they reached 30 years old (the law was amended to 20 years after creation in 2010).</p>
<p>The line records do not specify the identity or names of the children, only gender.&#160;&#160;However, the line records are associated with index numbers of actual microfilm copies of certificates, licenses and registration applications filed in the archives.&#160; According to researchers, Obama [Sr.]’s line records were discovered in Series RG36, reference books.&#160; Not surprisingly,&#160;when researchers specifically requested access to the relevant microfilm for the Obama [Sr.] birth registrations, they were told that the records were currently held under an outdated “privileged access” status, meaning researchers were denied access under Chapter 52, Sections 3 and 5 of the British Public Records Act of 1958.</p>
<p>However, evidence shows these records were available for public access before August of 2009, the approximate date of arrival of Hillary Clinton in Great Britain during her trip to Africa that year. <a href="http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/information-management/access-to-public-records.pdf" type="external">http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/information-management/access-to-public-records.pdf</a></p>
<p>Several sources show that Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton made a sudden visit to the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the British agency which oversees Public Records Archives&#160;from colonial protectorates, to speak with the Chief Executive of the Archives in early August of 2009.&#160; African news agency expressed surprise at&#160;Clinton’s arrival&#160;since she did not announce her intentions of stopping in Great Britain before embarking on her two week trip to Africa.</p>
<p>For someone who wanted to remain in America, it’s difficult to imagine any reason why Barack Obama’s alleged father, Barack the elder, would omit the birth of an “anchor baby” son on an application to extend his visa, just days after the birth occurred, unless…</p>
<p>The American people were told by Barack Obama, unequivocally, that his father was a former goat herder from Kenya. However, INS documents filed in the very same month after Obama’s birth suggest the goat herding elder Obama didn’t “get the memo” that he was a daddy.</p>
<p>On August 31st, 1961, just weeks after Obama’s birth was allegedly registered in a regional office of the Hawaiian Health Department, Obama the elder neglected to name his newborn son on an application for extension of his temporary visa to stay in the U.S.</p>
<p>Obama’s omission of the birth is astonishing and illogical given the fact that the acknowledgement of the birth would have fortified Obama’s application for an extension. The INS has long been more willing to extend the visa of a foreign parent of children born in the U.S., especially when the other parent is an American citizen.</p>
<p>Despite the recent release of a documentary film “Dreams From My Real Father” presenting evidence that Barack Hussein Obama is not the biological father of the younger Obama,&#160;the elder Obama&#160;is&#160;the man named as the father on the digital image of Obama’s alleged 1961 “Certificate of Live Birth” which was posted to the internet by the administration in April of 2011. The document image has since been forensically examined by law enforcement investigators and determined to be a digitally fabricated forgery using Adobe software.</p>
<p>[…], in 2011, it was reported by The Daily Pen after an investigation of&#160;the State of Hawaii’s birth statistics collection protocols and vital records history thatbirth certificates are often amended after the birth&#160;while the original paper document is sealed under strict confidentiality rules when the identity of the father is either determined after birth or when the father named on the new version of the certificate has adopted or assumed paternal responsibility for the child.</p>
<p>In the latter case, the original birth record may not contain the biological father’s name because the mother does not provide it, or it may list paternity as “unknown”, but this version is kept confidential under HRS 571. […] Therefore, the paternity of the child at the actual time of the birth is not disclosed while the new amended certificate is upheld as the original version displaying the name of the newly identified or adoptive father as indistinguishable if different from the biological father. This law is meant to protect the child from stigmas resulting from illegitimacy, rape, incest or adultery.&#160;Under these circumstances it is not possible to know the paternal status of a child at birth unless the original birth record is made accessible by authorized persons under Hawaiian law.</p>
<p>[…] If Obama [Sr.] is not the biological father, or if paternal information is listed on the original certificate as “unknown”,&#160;the state of Hawaii keeps this information secret until a court orders the documents to be released for discovery purposes in determining Obama’s eligibility.&#160;Thus far, courts have lacked courage to uphold the Constitution thereby propagating the greatest political fraud in American history. Judges are simply washing their hands of the issue by refusing to even consider actual evidence against Obama, denying citizens of justice and their Constitutional right to a redress of grievances, because they simply do not have the courage to face the legal crisis such a revelation would cause.</p>
<p>[…] Despite evidence indicating that Obama was simultaneously married to a woman in Kenya, it is suspected that he claimed to be married to Dunham in order to use the marriage as leverage to remain in the U.S.&#160;There is no evidence or testimony that Obama [Sr.] ever loved Dunham or that the two had ever been engaged. The two did not live together before or after being married and there were no letters, no ring, no announcement or, most importantly, no legal marriage registration with the State of Hawaii.</p>
<p>Despite a complete void of documented proof of the marriage, it appears Dunham was granted a statutory divorce from Obama in 1964. However, images posted of the court documents from the decree contain no original documented proof of a marriage or legal documents showing that Obama was the father of Dunham’s child.&#160; A review of the court documents shows that at least one document, perhaps an original birth certificate for baby Obama, was missing from the numbering sequence.</p>
<p>Being legitimately married to a U.S. citizen would be a benefit toward allowing a foreign spouse to remain the U.S. However, no marriage license application or public announcement has ever been found to indicate that Obama and Dunham were ever married or that Obama [Sr.] had even divorced his Kenyan wife prior to an alleged wedding with Dunham.&#160;This fact supports the contents of memos from college and INS officials who expressed doubts about the legitimacy of Obama’s relationship with Dunham, even questioning the motive of such a union between a teenage woman and a foreign student facing visa expiration just days after the birth of her child.</p>
<p>[…]&#160;Government officials in Hawaii, including Governor Neil Abercrombie, Lt. Governor Brian Schatz and former Hawaiian elections official, Tim Adams have all indicated that they could find no original record of Obama’s alleged birth in any hospital in Hawaiiin the course of their duties to verify his eligibility. The absence of verifiable birth documentation was so apparent that&#160;Schatz, serving as the chairman of the Democrat Party of Hawaii in 2008, refused to certify that Obama was indeed constitutionally eligible to hold the office of presidentwhen he submitted the Official Certification of Nomination of Obama. Schatz deferred the responsibility to Nancy Pelosi and DNC, and then Chair of the Hawaiian Elections Commission, Kevin Cronin. Cronin resigned suddenly after controversy surrounding his decision began to strain his relationship with the commission.</p>
<p>[…] Liars and abettors in media and government, drudging on behalf of the Obama administration, have anchored their Alinsky-style ridicule of those questioning Obama’s eligibility in a delusion that he must be legitimate because his birth was announced in two Hawaiian newspapers.</p>
<p>[…]&#160;Hawaii has a long history of allocating foreign births to the mother’s claimed Hawaiian residence regardless of the actual location of the birth,&#160;which was in compliance with guidelines established by the National Center for Health Statistics in order to accurately attribute data from births with decadal Census figures. […] The impact of population figures on the Hawaii’s economy and agency resources was very significant in 1961.&#160; The accuracy of the Census takes precedence over the accuracy and veracity of vital statistics in the U.S. […]</p>
<p><a href="http://thedailypen.blogspot.com/2012/07/obamas-kenyan-birth-records-discovered.html" type="external">According to Dan Crosby</a>, the specific sources of information pertaining to births of Kenyan nationals under British jurisdiction can be researched in the following BNA files (Courtesy: British National Archives):</p>
<p>H/t&#160; <a href="http://obamareleaseyourrecords.blogspot.com/2012/07/shock-claim-obamas-kenyan-birth-records.html" type="external">Obama Release Your Records</a></p>
<p>~Eowyn</p>
<p>Dr. Eowyn is a regular contributor to The D.C. Clothesline and the Editor of <a href="http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/" type="external">Fellowship of the Minds</a>. This article originally appeared on FOTM in August of 2012 but I thought our readers may appreciate it. -Dean Garrison</p>
<p />
<p /> | 2,318 |
<p>One of the “solutions” we often heard in Guatemala to the growing gang violence there was “social cleansing.” Repeated by officials and common people alike, this literally means what it says: the active and violent removal of alleged gang members, including by murder. In their view, courts and jails are not quick or harsh enough for them. In fact, this has also been true in El Salvador and Honduras. Cases include the vigilante murders of street kids as young as seven years old. Most of the cases, however, involved tattooed teenagers.</p>
<p>In Central America, tattoos for many people represent gang involvement. Of course, those of us in LA know better. When I was involved in gangs in the 1960s and 1970s tattoos were mostly gang affiliated–primarily the Chicano gangs of the time. Not even African American gangs sported tattoos like the Chicanos did, which they had been doing since the Pachuco/Zootsuit days of the 1920s to the 1940s. Chicanos perfected the “fine line” jail-house tattoos that were soon sported by Anglo bikers, prisoners, and even military personnel. In the 1980s and 1990s, Hip Hop artists and sports figures, mostly African American, popularized this style in music videos and movies (as they did other Chicano artistic expressions like lowriding). Well known Chicano street artists like Mr. Cartoon became famous placing ink on people like 50 Cent, Eminem, Cypress Hill, and others.</p>
<p>Now tattoos are used by actors, singers, rich people, jet setters, and coffee house afficionados. It’s not a big thing. Meanwhile, Chicanos and other Latinos, including the Central Americans who came to LA in the 1980s escaping war and poverty, continued the extensive use of tattoos. Gang members in LA (and most of the Southwest) are known for tattooing every part of their body — something that also now includes African Americans, Cambodians, Armenians, Anglos, and others.</p>
<p>“Smile Now, Cry Later,” crosses, chains, spider webs, cholas, area codes (like 213 or 818), gang affiliations, placasos (gang nicknames), Aztec and Mayan motifs, song titles, the Virgin of Guadelupe, LA (Dodger style), and such all became popular among gang youth. Anything and everything.</p>
<p>So when the US deported tens of thousands of alleged gang members to Mexico and Central America beginning in 1992 (after the LA Rebellion) and then going strong in 1996 after the changes in immigration law emphasized the deportation of felons and gang members, tattooed youth flooded these countries that for the most part did not sport tattoos for fashion or otherwise.</p>
<p>In El Salvador and Guatemala, the two countries in Central America I’ve visited since the early 1990s when LA-based gangs like the Mara Salvatrucha (MS) and Eighteen Street (called Mara 18 in El Salvador) were first introduced, I saw heavily tattooed youth (including on their faces, necks, heads, hands, arms, backs, stomachs, and elsewhere) in prisons and in the streets.</p>
<p>You can imagine the impact they’ve had on countries not familiar with this kind of style or substance. But also the impact it would have on the tens of thousands of homeless, abandoned and glue-sniffing kids (most of them orphaned by war and poverty). In time, many of these joined MS or 18 Street (many home-grown gangs have also been absorbed by these two gangs).</p>
<p>Today death squads and other vigilantes, as well as police, have unfairly targeted tattooed and US-raised or influenced kids as gang members. Many youth have showed up in hospitals beaten and tortured. Others are brought into morgues with their hands tied behind their backs. And still many more are warehoused in the overflowing prisons–some of the most stark, inhumane and overcrowded places you’d ever want to see.</p>
<p>For example, in 1993, I visited two prisons in El Salvador that housed many gang youth: Mariona (the main prison in San Salvador) and San Vicente de Gotera (interviewing gang youth and officials). And I did the same thing this past week with Fabian Montes and Pascual Torres of Homeboy Industries. We entered two Guatemalan prisons: Centro Preventivo Para Hombres, Zona 18, Sector 11 (a maximum security men’s prison with over 1,000 inmates) and Centro Preventivo Para Mujeres, Zona 18, Santa Teresa (a maximum security women’s prison with 160 inmates).</p>
<p>In Guatemala there are 19 prisons housing more than 7,000 prisoners. MS and 18 Street are housed in separate facilities. While most of the prisoners in the two places we visited were not in gangs, they did have a cell block solely dedicated to alleged gang members. We were able to go into this cell block, past the locked bars, and hang for a couple of hours with the inmates there.</p>
<p>The gang members were leery of us at first, but as we talked (and I showed them copies of my books in Spanish), they opened up. Fabian, Pascual and I told them about our concerns to bring a new vision and imagination to working with gang youth in Guatemala–including more resources, jobs (getting companies to hire gang members), training, education, and other meaningful &amp; effective means to incorporate these young people, tattooed or not, into the country. Incipient efforts of rehabilitation was being done there–including painting (inmates were working on murals as we talked), religious studies, and silk screen.</p>
<p>In the women’s prison, we went through several barred gates to the deepest sections where the most violent and alleged gang women were being held. We saw women learning theater, dance, and religion (Christian). Others were making bags (from plastic-like thread), amazingly beautiful candles, and household cleaning solutions that had odors of fruit, flowers, and even bubblegum.</p>
<p>We spent all day in the two prisons, including talking to the rehabilitation counselors and arts volunteers.</p>
<p>In the end we were able to meet and talk to intelligent, artistic and articulate young people (including with tattoos all over their faces).</p>
<p>Our message to the country–to say no to “social cleansing” and instead focus on social healing. To help bring real jobs, training, understanding and a human face to the issue of gangs in Guatemala. We left the mud-strewn colonias and open-air jail blocks (as well as the community centers, universities, and other places we talked at) with much clarity on the extremely difficult situation that places like Guatemala are facing today. But we also left with the need to help provide whatever experiences we’ve gained working with gang youth (which I have been doing for 30 years, and Homeboy Industries has done for 20 years).</p>
<p>Note: For those who are up and about, I’m on the air this whole week from 4:20 AM until 6 AM on LA’s KJLH Radio, 102.3 FM. I’ll be guest hosting again (it’s truly an honor to be invited back) with “Front Page” host Dominique DiPrima. Please tune in if you can.</p>
<p>Luis Rodriguez is a co-founder of <a href="http://www.rockamole.com/" type="external">Rock A Mole Productions</a> and a contributing editor at <a href="http://www.rockrap.com/" type="external">Rock &amp; Rap Confidential</a> . He is the author of several books, including <a href="" type="internal">Always Running: Mi Vida Loca–Gang Days in LA</a>, <a href="" type="internal">The Republic of East LA</a> and the novel <a href="" type="internal">Music of the Mill</a> published by Rayo/Harper Collins. For more information about his cultural center in LA, visit <a href="http://www.tiachucha.com/" type="external">tiachucha.com</a>. For more on his writing and activism, visit <a href="http://www.Luisjrodriguez.com/" type="external">Luisjrodriguez.com</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | "Social Cleansing" from Guatemala to LA | true | https://counterpunch.org/2007/10/31/quot-social-cleansing-quot-from-guatemala-to-la/ | 2007-10-31 | 4left
| "Social Cleansing" from Guatemala to LA
<p>One of the “solutions” we often heard in Guatemala to the growing gang violence there was “social cleansing.” Repeated by officials and common people alike, this literally means what it says: the active and violent removal of alleged gang members, including by murder. In their view, courts and jails are not quick or harsh enough for them. In fact, this has also been true in El Salvador and Honduras. Cases include the vigilante murders of street kids as young as seven years old. Most of the cases, however, involved tattooed teenagers.</p>
<p>In Central America, tattoos for many people represent gang involvement. Of course, those of us in LA know better. When I was involved in gangs in the 1960s and 1970s tattoos were mostly gang affiliated–primarily the Chicano gangs of the time. Not even African American gangs sported tattoos like the Chicanos did, which they had been doing since the Pachuco/Zootsuit days of the 1920s to the 1940s. Chicanos perfected the “fine line” jail-house tattoos that were soon sported by Anglo bikers, prisoners, and even military personnel. In the 1980s and 1990s, Hip Hop artists and sports figures, mostly African American, popularized this style in music videos and movies (as they did other Chicano artistic expressions like lowriding). Well known Chicano street artists like Mr. Cartoon became famous placing ink on people like 50 Cent, Eminem, Cypress Hill, and others.</p>
<p>Now tattoos are used by actors, singers, rich people, jet setters, and coffee house afficionados. It’s not a big thing. Meanwhile, Chicanos and other Latinos, including the Central Americans who came to LA in the 1980s escaping war and poverty, continued the extensive use of tattoos. Gang members in LA (and most of the Southwest) are known for tattooing every part of their body — something that also now includes African Americans, Cambodians, Armenians, Anglos, and others.</p>
<p>“Smile Now, Cry Later,” crosses, chains, spider webs, cholas, area codes (like 213 or 818), gang affiliations, placasos (gang nicknames), Aztec and Mayan motifs, song titles, the Virgin of Guadelupe, LA (Dodger style), and such all became popular among gang youth. Anything and everything.</p>
<p>So when the US deported tens of thousands of alleged gang members to Mexico and Central America beginning in 1992 (after the LA Rebellion) and then going strong in 1996 after the changes in immigration law emphasized the deportation of felons and gang members, tattooed youth flooded these countries that for the most part did not sport tattoos for fashion or otherwise.</p>
<p>In El Salvador and Guatemala, the two countries in Central America I’ve visited since the early 1990s when LA-based gangs like the Mara Salvatrucha (MS) and Eighteen Street (called Mara 18 in El Salvador) were first introduced, I saw heavily tattooed youth (including on their faces, necks, heads, hands, arms, backs, stomachs, and elsewhere) in prisons and in the streets.</p>
<p>You can imagine the impact they’ve had on countries not familiar with this kind of style or substance. But also the impact it would have on the tens of thousands of homeless, abandoned and glue-sniffing kids (most of them orphaned by war and poverty). In time, many of these joined MS or 18 Street (many home-grown gangs have also been absorbed by these two gangs).</p>
<p>Today death squads and other vigilantes, as well as police, have unfairly targeted tattooed and US-raised or influenced kids as gang members. Many youth have showed up in hospitals beaten and tortured. Others are brought into morgues with their hands tied behind their backs. And still many more are warehoused in the overflowing prisons–some of the most stark, inhumane and overcrowded places you’d ever want to see.</p>
<p>For example, in 1993, I visited two prisons in El Salvador that housed many gang youth: Mariona (the main prison in San Salvador) and San Vicente de Gotera (interviewing gang youth and officials). And I did the same thing this past week with Fabian Montes and Pascual Torres of Homeboy Industries. We entered two Guatemalan prisons: Centro Preventivo Para Hombres, Zona 18, Sector 11 (a maximum security men’s prison with over 1,000 inmates) and Centro Preventivo Para Mujeres, Zona 18, Santa Teresa (a maximum security women’s prison with 160 inmates).</p>
<p>In Guatemala there are 19 prisons housing more than 7,000 prisoners. MS and 18 Street are housed in separate facilities. While most of the prisoners in the two places we visited were not in gangs, they did have a cell block solely dedicated to alleged gang members. We were able to go into this cell block, past the locked bars, and hang for a couple of hours with the inmates there.</p>
<p>The gang members were leery of us at first, but as we talked (and I showed them copies of my books in Spanish), they opened up. Fabian, Pascual and I told them about our concerns to bring a new vision and imagination to working with gang youth in Guatemala–including more resources, jobs (getting companies to hire gang members), training, education, and other meaningful &amp; effective means to incorporate these young people, tattooed or not, into the country. Incipient efforts of rehabilitation was being done there–including painting (inmates were working on murals as we talked), religious studies, and silk screen.</p>
<p>In the women’s prison, we went through several barred gates to the deepest sections where the most violent and alleged gang women were being held. We saw women learning theater, dance, and religion (Christian). Others were making bags (from plastic-like thread), amazingly beautiful candles, and household cleaning solutions that had odors of fruit, flowers, and even bubblegum.</p>
<p>We spent all day in the two prisons, including talking to the rehabilitation counselors and arts volunteers.</p>
<p>In the end we were able to meet and talk to intelligent, artistic and articulate young people (including with tattoos all over their faces).</p>
<p>Our message to the country–to say no to “social cleansing” and instead focus on social healing. To help bring real jobs, training, understanding and a human face to the issue of gangs in Guatemala. We left the mud-strewn colonias and open-air jail blocks (as well as the community centers, universities, and other places we talked at) with much clarity on the extremely difficult situation that places like Guatemala are facing today. But we also left with the need to help provide whatever experiences we’ve gained working with gang youth (which I have been doing for 30 years, and Homeboy Industries has done for 20 years).</p>
<p>Note: For those who are up and about, I’m on the air this whole week from 4:20 AM until 6 AM on LA’s KJLH Radio, 102.3 FM. I’ll be guest hosting again (it’s truly an honor to be invited back) with “Front Page” host Dominique DiPrima. Please tune in if you can.</p>
<p>Luis Rodriguez is a co-founder of <a href="http://www.rockamole.com/" type="external">Rock A Mole Productions</a> and a contributing editor at <a href="http://www.rockrap.com/" type="external">Rock &amp; Rap Confidential</a> . He is the author of several books, including <a href="" type="internal">Always Running: Mi Vida Loca–Gang Days in LA</a>, <a href="" type="internal">The Republic of East LA</a> and the novel <a href="" type="internal">Music of the Mill</a> published by Rayo/Harper Collins. For more information about his cultural center in LA, visit <a href="http://www.tiachucha.com/" type="external">tiachucha.com</a>. For more on his writing and activism, visit <a href="http://www.Luisjrodriguez.com/" type="external">Luisjrodriguez.com</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | 2,319 |
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<p />
<p>NEW YORK - CEO Jeff Bezos' annual letter to shareholders offers a glimpse into Amazon's internal workings and what it is aiming for in the future, including more grocery services and the much-discussed drone delivery.</p>
<p>In the letter released Thursday, Bezos outlined Amazon's offerings, including its fresh grocery business called Prime Fresh, which it has offered for five years in Seattle and expanded to Los Angeles and San Francisco. For $299 a year members get same-day and early morning delivery on groceries and other items ranging from toys to electronics and household goods. Bezos said the goal is to expand to more cities over time.</p>
<p>After making a hubbub about testing delivery by aerial drones in December, the company said its Prime Air team is testing fifth- and sixth-generation aerial vehicles and in the design phase on generations seven and eight. In December Bezos said Amazon was working on creating unmanned aircraft to deliver packages, but said it would take years to advance the technology and for the Federal Aviation Administration to create the necessary rules and regulations.</p>
<p>In a quirk, Bezos also said Amazon offers employees money to leave the company, a program called Pay to Quit, modeled after a similar program at Zappos. Once a year, the company offers $2,000 to quit, adding $1,000 a year, up to a maximum of $5,000.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>"The goal is to encourage folks to take a moment and think about what they really want," Bezos said. "In the long-run, an employee staying somewhere they don't want to be isn't healthy for the employee or the company."</p>
<p>Amazon.com Inc. has changed the consumer shopping landscape, transforming itself into the largest U.S. online retailer, selling books, gadgets and most everything else, usually at cheaper prices than its competitors. The Seattle company has long focused on spending the money it makes to add business and expand into new areas, from movie streaming to e-readers, grocery delivery and most recently a set-top streaming device called Fire TV.</p>
<p>Investors have largely forgiven thin profit margins and zeroed in on the company's solid revenue growth and long-term prospects. In its most recent quarter, the company said net income and revenue both grew but results fell short of expectations. Amazon's stock is down 17 percent from the beginning of the year.</p>
<p>Shares fell $14.79, or 4.5 percent to close at $317.01 amid a broader market sell-off. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day down 267 points or 1.6 percent.</p> | Amazon's Bezos outlines grocery, drone plans | false | https://abqjournal.com/382091/amazons-bezos-outlines-grocery-drone-plans.html | 2014-04-10 | 2least
| Amazon's Bezos outlines grocery, drone plans
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<p />
<p>NEW YORK - CEO Jeff Bezos' annual letter to shareholders offers a glimpse into Amazon's internal workings and what it is aiming for in the future, including more grocery services and the much-discussed drone delivery.</p>
<p>In the letter released Thursday, Bezos outlined Amazon's offerings, including its fresh grocery business called Prime Fresh, which it has offered for five years in Seattle and expanded to Los Angeles and San Francisco. For $299 a year members get same-day and early morning delivery on groceries and other items ranging from toys to electronics and household goods. Bezos said the goal is to expand to more cities over time.</p>
<p>After making a hubbub about testing delivery by aerial drones in December, the company said its Prime Air team is testing fifth- and sixth-generation aerial vehicles and in the design phase on generations seven and eight. In December Bezos said Amazon was working on creating unmanned aircraft to deliver packages, but said it would take years to advance the technology and for the Federal Aviation Administration to create the necessary rules and regulations.</p>
<p>In a quirk, Bezos also said Amazon offers employees money to leave the company, a program called Pay to Quit, modeled after a similar program at Zappos. Once a year, the company offers $2,000 to quit, adding $1,000 a year, up to a maximum of $5,000.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>"The goal is to encourage folks to take a moment and think about what they really want," Bezos said. "In the long-run, an employee staying somewhere they don't want to be isn't healthy for the employee or the company."</p>
<p>Amazon.com Inc. has changed the consumer shopping landscape, transforming itself into the largest U.S. online retailer, selling books, gadgets and most everything else, usually at cheaper prices than its competitors. The Seattle company has long focused on spending the money it makes to add business and expand into new areas, from movie streaming to e-readers, grocery delivery and most recently a set-top streaming device called Fire TV.</p>
<p>Investors have largely forgiven thin profit margins and zeroed in on the company's solid revenue growth and long-term prospects. In its most recent quarter, the company said net income and revenue both grew but results fell short of expectations. Amazon's stock is down 17 percent from the beginning of the year.</p>
<p>Shares fell $14.79, or 4.5 percent to close at $317.01 amid a broader market sell-off. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day down 267 points or 1.6 percent.</p> | 2,320 |
<p>Kevin Benderman sits in jail. An injustice. He did not want to go. He did not take his stand, break a law and dare the courts to put him in jail with a stiff sentence. Kevin Benderman put his principles on the line and dared to trust that his rights would be respected as the constitution he fought to defend demands.</p>
<p>Kevin Benderman did everything he could to demonstrate to the military, and to the world, that he did not want to go to jail, by consistently performing his required duties without letting the challenge he faced keep him from his responsibilities</p>
<p>Why would anyone want to go to jail? Why would anyone challenge the legal system to put them in jail?</p>
<p>Kevin Benderman followed the rules and filed an application to be recognized as a Conscientious Objector to war. The military command broke the rules. They did not follow their own procedures, and through their failing of the law, Kevin Benderman is the one serving time. The legal system of our country failed and did not uphold our constitution.</p>
<p>Days and nights are spent working diligently on a plan of action for ensuring due process in Kevin’s case. As he sits in abhorrent conditions, knowing in his heart that he has made the right choice and taken his stand with integrity, many good people work hard to find a way to bring his case to public awareness, and to show the world that justice has not been served.</p>
<p>Kevin is not alone. There are many, not all soldiers, who are wrongfully imprisoned for standing for their beliefs with integrity. They did not choose jail, they trusted that their ethical stand would be respected and treated with dignity by the legal system. They followed the rules, did things the right way and were persecuted for it.</p>
<p>For the soldiers still at war, they choose the road they are on. Does that make the war right? No. Does that make any war right? NO. But, the difficult situation they are in is a choice we all are responsible for. If the war is not over, perhaps it is because many still believe in what they are doing, and have not been shown enough evidence of the truth to change their minds. Wouldn’t it be more beneficial to work harder at making the truth evident as a way to stop the war, rather than shouting loudly until someone finally takes us away for a symbolic night in jail?</p>
<p>Those who have gone to jail for declaring their conscientious objection to the war in the legal manner allowed, have been treated with injustice by a legal system in a country that professes to believe in, and honor, ethical, moral behavior. For justice to be served on their behalf, we must demonstrate evidence of the injustice done. Going to jail ourselves isn’t the best way to do that.</p>
<p>If the law says that protestors need a permit to peaceably assemble, then why not show integrity, and respect for the legal system of this country by getting a permit and conducting the protest in an appropriate manner? Wouldn’t the way to demonstrate the difference between the integrity and higher standards of the citizens of this country, and the lack of real ethical courage of many in our government, be to show that integrity in the choice of our actions?</p>
<p>If protestors knowingly break a law, they should be arrested. If they choose to ask the courts to throw the book at them, then that is their choice. Although why anyone would want to do that is not something easily understood. What is demonstrated by breaking a law and going to jail for it – daring the judge to make it a stiff sentence? Who wins? What is the purpose?</p>
<p>The conditions of the prison at the Ft. Lewis Regional Correctional Facility are appalling.</p>
<p>The rights of the inmates in this facility are violated on a daily basis. Is the way to protest the war to put ourselves in jail? Do the people of America really care if someone chooses to sit in jail ­ when they have the freedom to choose to take a stronger, more positive stand – one that demonstrates that they are not willing to become what many in our government appear to already be? Should they care?</p>
<p>We can protest the war, we can protest the illegality, we can publicly speak to the corruption we believe exists. But until there is proof, evidence beyond a shadow of a doubt, we cannot put someone in jail. To consider anything else, would be to lower our standards far below where Kevin Benderman, and others like him were willing to go.</p>
<p>The legal system of this country is failing us if evidence shows that laws are broken and no punishment is given. The legal system is also failing us when 15 commissioned Army officers, sworn to uphold the constitution, use their power and rank to put one soldier in jail for stating the truth and standing by his moral and ethical values, and not one officer of the law dares to stop the process.</p>
<p>As we watch the progress in Iraq, and as the potential indictments come closer to the final day of knowing, time will tell what comes next. If laws were broken, then justice will determine the course of action. People have made significant mistakes, and accountability is necessary. But let’s not become what we are fighting against, just to get results.</p>
<p>Let’s find the moral courage to make our country strong again, to take the right course, and stand on principle. Let’s not allow emotions to force our actions to become reactions. We have one chance to make things right, to build a foundation based on principles and integrity. Step by step, brick by brick we can make our country whole again.</p>
<p>We cannot prosecute someone on assumptions, and we should not allow someone to go to jail for injustice. We cannot fabricate evidence, twist and manipulate papers and tell five different stories under oath, just because a person’s actions challenge our beliefs. All of this is fact in Kevin Benderman’s case. He did not choose jail ­ he chose his right to live as he believes, as this country should allow. His stand ­ to live according to his principles ­ are what threatened his command, and pushed them into a corner, challenging them to face what he was saying or use their position to lock truth away in the confines of a dilapidated jail where justice does not matter, where no one is held accountable for their actions.</p>
<p>Those officers couldn’t find their integrity ­ they ran from it. They were afraid to face what his choice told them about themselves.</p>
<p>What does the choice of willingly breaking a law and then willingly accepting the consequence of jail ­ ASKING for it ­ tell us?</p>
<p>This country needs to move toward positive solutions, toward better choices. This country needs to be led back to the constitution. If you break a law that was created to preserve the rights of all people, then the constitution allows punishment for that. It is not fair to make a travesty of those who suffer as a result of injustice by creating the appearance of injustice, any more than it is fair for our soldiers to die to preserve individual freedoms for people who really don’t care about the soldiers’ sacrifice.</p>
<p>The citizens of this country deserve the right to make their choices, but the citizens of this country deserve to be led by people who stand by their integrity and who walk tall when those who use their power and rank to dole out injustices try to imprison the truth inside a steel cage.</p>
<p>If we want change we have to be the change, and live it in our lives. Whether we are for the war, or against it, we have all suffered, and lost because of it. It is each individual’s choice how they wish to proceed. All those in favor of staying the course ­ are free to take my husband’s place in jail at any time.</p>
<p>To learn more about Sgt. Kevin Benderman’s journey to Conscientious Objection, and to understand the psychological and manipulative tactics he faced from the Military and the chain of command to deter him from his public stance on Conscientious Objection, please visit our website, <a href="http://www.BendermanTimeline.com/" type="external">www.BendermanTimeline.com</a></p>
<p>MONICA BENDERMAN may be reached at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p> | In the Name of Justice | true | https://counterpunch.org/2005/10/28/in-the-name-of-justice/ | 2005-10-28 | 4left
| In the Name of Justice
<p>Kevin Benderman sits in jail. An injustice. He did not want to go. He did not take his stand, break a law and dare the courts to put him in jail with a stiff sentence. Kevin Benderman put his principles on the line and dared to trust that his rights would be respected as the constitution he fought to defend demands.</p>
<p>Kevin Benderman did everything he could to demonstrate to the military, and to the world, that he did not want to go to jail, by consistently performing his required duties without letting the challenge he faced keep him from his responsibilities</p>
<p>Why would anyone want to go to jail? Why would anyone challenge the legal system to put them in jail?</p>
<p>Kevin Benderman followed the rules and filed an application to be recognized as a Conscientious Objector to war. The military command broke the rules. They did not follow their own procedures, and through their failing of the law, Kevin Benderman is the one serving time. The legal system of our country failed and did not uphold our constitution.</p>
<p>Days and nights are spent working diligently on a plan of action for ensuring due process in Kevin’s case. As he sits in abhorrent conditions, knowing in his heart that he has made the right choice and taken his stand with integrity, many good people work hard to find a way to bring his case to public awareness, and to show the world that justice has not been served.</p>
<p>Kevin is not alone. There are many, not all soldiers, who are wrongfully imprisoned for standing for their beliefs with integrity. They did not choose jail, they trusted that their ethical stand would be respected and treated with dignity by the legal system. They followed the rules, did things the right way and were persecuted for it.</p>
<p>For the soldiers still at war, they choose the road they are on. Does that make the war right? No. Does that make any war right? NO. But, the difficult situation they are in is a choice we all are responsible for. If the war is not over, perhaps it is because many still believe in what they are doing, and have not been shown enough evidence of the truth to change their minds. Wouldn’t it be more beneficial to work harder at making the truth evident as a way to stop the war, rather than shouting loudly until someone finally takes us away for a symbolic night in jail?</p>
<p>Those who have gone to jail for declaring their conscientious objection to the war in the legal manner allowed, have been treated with injustice by a legal system in a country that professes to believe in, and honor, ethical, moral behavior. For justice to be served on their behalf, we must demonstrate evidence of the injustice done. Going to jail ourselves isn’t the best way to do that.</p>
<p>If the law says that protestors need a permit to peaceably assemble, then why not show integrity, and respect for the legal system of this country by getting a permit and conducting the protest in an appropriate manner? Wouldn’t the way to demonstrate the difference between the integrity and higher standards of the citizens of this country, and the lack of real ethical courage of many in our government, be to show that integrity in the choice of our actions?</p>
<p>If protestors knowingly break a law, they should be arrested. If they choose to ask the courts to throw the book at them, then that is their choice. Although why anyone would want to do that is not something easily understood. What is demonstrated by breaking a law and going to jail for it – daring the judge to make it a stiff sentence? Who wins? What is the purpose?</p>
<p>The conditions of the prison at the Ft. Lewis Regional Correctional Facility are appalling.</p>
<p>The rights of the inmates in this facility are violated on a daily basis. Is the way to protest the war to put ourselves in jail? Do the people of America really care if someone chooses to sit in jail ­ when they have the freedom to choose to take a stronger, more positive stand – one that demonstrates that they are not willing to become what many in our government appear to already be? Should they care?</p>
<p>We can protest the war, we can protest the illegality, we can publicly speak to the corruption we believe exists. But until there is proof, evidence beyond a shadow of a doubt, we cannot put someone in jail. To consider anything else, would be to lower our standards far below where Kevin Benderman, and others like him were willing to go.</p>
<p>The legal system of this country is failing us if evidence shows that laws are broken and no punishment is given. The legal system is also failing us when 15 commissioned Army officers, sworn to uphold the constitution, use their power and rank to put one soldier in jail for stating the truth and standing by his moral and ethical values, and not one officer of the law dares to stop the process.</p>
<p>As we watch the progress in Iraq, and as the potential indictments come closer to the final day of knowing, time will tell what comes next. If laws were broken, then justice will determine the course of action. People have made significant mistakes, and accountability is necessary. But let’s not become what we are fighting against, just to get results.</p>
<p>Let’s find the moral courage to make our country strong again, to take the right course, and stand on principle. Let’s not allow emotions to force our actions to become reactions. We have one chance to make things right, to build a foundation based on principles and integrity. Step by step, brick by brick we can make our country whole again.</p>
<p>We cannot prosecute someone on assumptions, and we should not allow someone to go to jail for injustice. We cannot fabricate evidence, twist and manipulate papers and tell five different stories under oath, just because a person’s actions challenge our beliefs. All of this is fact in Kevin Benderman’s case. He did not choose jail ­ he chose his right to live as he believes, as this country should allow. His stand ­ to live according to his principles ­ are what threatened his command, and pushed them into a corner, challenging them to face what he was saying or use their position to lock truth away in the confines of a dilapidated jail where justice does not matter, where no one is held accountable for their actions.</p>
<p>Those officers couldn’t find their integrity ­ they ran from it. They were afraid to face what his choice told them about themselves.</p>
<p>What does the choice of willingly breaking a law and then willingly accepting the consequence of jail ­ ASKING for it ­ tell us?</p>
<p>This country needs to move toward positive solutions, toward better choices. This country needs to be led back to the constitution. If you break a law that was created to preserve the rights of all people, then the constitution allows punishment for that. It is not fair to make a travesty of those who suffer as a result of injustice by creating the appearance of injustice, any more than it is fair for our soldiers to die to preserve individual freedoms for people who really don’t care about the soldiers’ sacrifice.</p>
<p>The citizens of this country deserve the right to make their choices, but the citizens of this country deserve to be led by people who stand by their integrity and who walk tall when those who use their power and rank to dole out injustices try to imprison the truth inside a steel cage.</p>
<p>If we want change we have to be the change, and live it in our lives. Whether we are for the war, or against it, we have all suffered, and lost because of it. It is each individual’s choice how they wish to proceed. All those in favor of staying the course ­ are free to take my husband’s place in jail at any time.</p>
<p>To learn more about Sgt. Kevin Benderman’s journey to Conscientious Objection, and to understand the psychological and manipulative tactics he faced from the Military and the chain of command to deter him from his public stance on Conscientious Objection, please visit our website, <a href="http://www.BendermanTimeline.com/" type="external">www.BendermanTimeline.com</a></p>
<p>MONICA BENDERMAN may be reached at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p> | 2,321 |
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<p>Don Bernardo de Bitia, a merchant from Santa Cruz de La Canada, had conceived of building the shrine on a site reputed to have healing powers.</p>
<p>Once the chapel was built, Bitia, who is now known by the surname Abeyta, got permission in 1816 from the bishop in Durango, Mexico, to celebrate the sacraments in the chapel. Bitia often journeyed to Chimayo to trade before he died in 1856. His family buried him under the chapel's altar.</p>
<p>"He is at the very heart of the church," said Felipe R. Mirabal, who by the summer of 2017 expects to publish what he calls the first comprehensive book on the history of the chapel.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>El Santuario de Chimayo each year during Holy Week becomes the destination of pilgrimages by Roman Catholic faithful, some of whom walk for days to reach the bucolic valley in Northern New Mexico. Many pray for relief from ailments. Inside the chapel, some leave pictures of hearts, hands and eyes - images that represent maladies from which they or those they love suffer.</p>
<p>This year, as Good Friday pilgrims approach on foot and in cars, El Santuario de Chimayo enters its 200th year as a place that beckons people from near and far.</p>
<p>On Thursday, some walked alone or in pairs past crumbling hills, some pushing strollers, others moving stiff-legged with canes.</p>
<p>"Nothing has changed," Mirabal said.</p>
<p>People who tend to the chapel spent weeks preparing more than 5,000 small bags of dirt from the site to share with people seeking cures to cancer, infertility and other bodily ills.</p>
<p>This year, though, it's all happening without the Rev. Casimiro Roca, a fixture of the santuario for more than half a century, who died in August. He was known for telling visitors that healing power came not from the dirt, but from their faith, that the dirt was symbolic.</p>
<p>Mirabal said it is a common theme in pilgrimages around the world: People return from religious journeys with relics they hope will heal those who stayed home.</p>
<p>As he walked along U.S. 84/285 on Thursday, David Kufahl, 57, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, prayed for many things, including the victims of Tuesday's terrorist bombings in Belgium that killed at least 31 people. His friend, occupational therapist Cheri Lorenzo, 60, walked by his side as they approached a hotel in Pojoaque where they planned to spend the night. She said she prayed for a 9-year-old boy she treats at a hospital in Colorado Springs.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>"I'm praying that he might have any voluntary control of his hands," she said. "Right now, it's just eye gazes."</p>
<p>The sacrifice they are making - walking more than 30 miles from Santa Fe to Chimayo - is also for their own benefit, they said. It is stronger than a bedside prayer, they said. Kufahl said his feet blistered after they passed Tesuque, "and every time you feel that pain, it reminds you that you're sacrificing."</p>
<p>During most pilgrimages throughout the world, Mirabal said, people are changed before they reach the end.</p>
<p>He made his first Chimayo pilgrimage when he was 3. He said you can feel the change. People laugh and make light of the walk while they're on it, but "at some level it will transform them," he said.</p>
<p>Pilgrimages by Hispanic Catholics date back to A.D. 40, says Steve Martinez, a Santa Fe Community College history professor. Spaniards exploring the New World brought the tradition with them, he said.</p>
<p>After World War II, this symbol of faith and commitment drew Hispanic survivors of the Bataan Death March, he said.</p>
<p>A 1946 article in The New Mexican reported that seven survivors of that tragedy at the hands of Japanese captors planned to make a 31-mile pilgrimage to Chimayo in April of that year.</p>
<p>"Any veteran from any theater is welcome," former Sgt. Jesus M. Silva told a reporter at the time. "It doesn't matter what religion a man is."</p>
<p>Another veteran said, "Maybe we'll dig a foxhole and sleep. I'll bring along my bolo (tie) and cut my way right through that Chimayo jungle."</p>
<p>Martinez said such war veterans helped the pilgrimage evolve into what it is today.</p>
<p>"They survived this march, across the Pacific, basically while they were devoutly, piously Catholic," he said. "Many of them saw this as a way to thank God for surviving. Imagine if you had survived walking across the Philippines. Do you see the symbolism in that?"</p>
<p>Today, all types of people seek change and healing from the chapel.</p>
<p>Carmen Montoya, a 57-year-old IRS employee from Albuquerque, walked 11.5 miles Thursday through the rolling desert with four others and a Yorkie named Bentley.</p>
<p>Her mind traveled during the trek, she said. Her thoughts wandered to her father, who died in 2003, and her mother, who died in 2013. Her thoughts traveled to those she loves. Standing under pink blossoms outside the chapel, friends who had walked with her said the slow pace gave them time to appreciate life and being alive.</p>
<p>"I think you need to slow down sometimes and just stop," Montoya said. "We're always in such a hurry."</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: The Santa Fe New Mexican, <a href="http://www.sfnewmexican.com" type="external">http://www.sfnewmexican.com</a></p> | El Santuario de Chimayo still place of healing, hope | false | https://abqjournal.com/746259/el-santuario-de-chimayo-still-place-of-healing-hope.html | 2least
| El Santuario de Chimayo still place of healing, hope
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<p>Don Bernardo de Bitia, a merchant from Santa Cruz de La Canada, had conceived of building the shrine on a site reputed to have healing powers.</p>
<p>Once the chapel was built, Bitia, who is now known by the surname Abeyta, got permission in 1816 from the bishop in Durango, Mexico, to celebrate the sacraments in the chapel. Bitia often journeyed to Chimayo to trade before he died in 1856. His family buried him under the chapel's altar.</p>
<p>"He is at the very heart of the church," said Felipe R. Mirabal, who by the summer of 2017 expects to publish what he calls the first comprehensive book on the history of the chapel.</p>
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<p>El Santuario de Chimayo each year during Holy Week becomes the destination of pilgrimages by Roman Catholic faithful, some of whom walk for days to reach the bucolic valley in Northern New Mexico. Many pray for relief from ailments. Inside the chapel, some leave pictures of hearts, hands and eyes - images that represent maladies from which they or those they love suffer.</p>
<p>This year, as Good Friday pilgrims approach on foot and in cars, El Santuario de Chimayo enters its 200th year as a place that beckons people from near and far.</p>
<p>On Thursday, some walked alone or in pairs past crumbling hills, some pushing strollers, others moving stiff-legged with canes.</p>
<p>"Nothing has changed," Mirabal said.</p>
<p>People who tend to the chapel spent weeks preparing more than 5,000 small bags of dirt from the site to share with people seeking cures to cancer, infertility and other bodily ills.</p>
<p>This year, though, it's all happening without the Rev. Casimiro Roca, a fixture of the santuario for more than half a century, who died in August. He was known for telling visitors that healing power came not from the dirt, but from their faith, that the dirt was symbolic.</p>
<p>Mirabal said it is a common theme in pilgrimages around the world: People return from religious journeys with relics they hope will heal those who stayed home.</p>
<p>As he walked along U.S. 84/285 on Thursday, David Kufahl, 57, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, prayed for many things, including the victims of Tuesday's terrorist bombings in Belgium that killed at least 31 people. His friend, occupational therapist Cheri Lorenzo, 60, walked by his side as they approached a hotel in Pojoaque where they planned to spend the night. She said she prayed for a 9-year-old boy she treats at a hospital in Colorado Springs.</p>
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<p>"I'm praying that he might have any voluntary control of his hands," she said. "Right now, it's just eye gazes."</p>
<p>The sacrifice they are making - walking more than 30 miles from Santa Fe to Chimayo - is also for their own benefit, they said. It is stronger than a bedside prayer, they said. Kufahl said his feet blistered after they passed Tesuque, "and every time you feel that pain, it reminds you that you're sacrificing."</p>
<p>During most pilgrimages throughout the world, Mirabal said, people are changed before they reach the end.</p>
<p>He made his first Chimayo pilgrimage when he was 3. He said you can feel the change. People laugh and make light of the walk while they're on it, but "at some level it will transform them," he said.</p>
<p>Pilgrimages by Hispanic Catholics date back to A.D. 40, says Steve Martinez, a Santa Fe Community College history professor. Spaniards exploring the New World brought the tradition with them, he said.</p>
<p>After World War II, this symbol of faith and commitment drew Hispanic survivors of the Bataan Death March, he said.</p>
<p>A 1946 article in The New Mexican reported that seven survivors of that tragedy at the hands of Japanese captors planned to make a 31-mile pilgrimage to Chimayo in April of that year.</p>
<p>"Any veteran from any theater is welcome," former Sgt. Jesus M. Silva told a reporter at the time. "It doesn't matter what religion a man is."</p>
<p>Another veteran said, "Maybe we'll dig a foxhole and sleep. I'll bring along my bolo (tie) and cut my way right through that Chimayo jungle."</p>
<p>Martinez said such war veterans helped the pilgrimage evolve into what it is today.</p>
<p>"They survived this march, across the Pacific, basically while they were devoutly, piously Catholic," he said. "Many of them saw this as a way to thank God for surviving. Imagine if you had survived walking across the Philippines. Do you see the symbolism in that?"</p>
<p>Today, all types of people seek change and healing from the chapel.</p>
<p>Carmen Montoya, a 57-year-old IRS employee from Albuquerque, walked 11.5 miles Thursday through the rolling desert with four others and a Yorkie named Bentley.</p>
<p>Her mind traveled during the trek, she said. Her thoughts wandered to her father, who died in 2003, and her mother, who died in 2013. Her thoughts traveled to those she loves. Standing under pink blossoms outside the chapel, friends who had walked with her said the slow pace gave them time to appreciate life and being alive.</p>
<p>"I think you need to slow down sometimes and just stop," Montoya said. "We're always in such a hurry."</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: The Santa Fe New Mexican, <a href="http://www.sfnewmexican.com" type="external">http://www.sfnewmexican.com</a></p> | 2,322 |
|
<p>By Paul Brown, Climate News NetworkThis piece first appeared at <a href="http://www.climatenewsnetwork.net/2013/03/arctic-oil-and-gas-will-exact-high-price/" type="external">Climate News Network</a>.</p>
<p>LONDON - First, there's a new assessment report by <a href="http://www.ey.com/GL/en/Industries/Oil---Gas" type="external">Ernst &amp; Young</a>, the international accountancy firm. It says the high-cost, high-risk resources of oil and gas available inside the Arctic Circle are both commercially exploitable and affordable.</p>
<p>After analysis of the tax and incentive schemes offered by the eight countries with hopes of drilling oil and gas wells in the Arctic, the firm concludes that Russia is a good investment opportunity with massive Arctic gas reserves.</p>
<p>However Alaska is the best bet for oil, with the largest untapped Arctic reserves. Norway, because of the stability of its government, and the opening up of Greenland for exploration also present good business opportunities.</p>
<p />
<p>This assessment contrasts with an influential American view - that international gas prices will fall because of an energy glut, making Russian gas too expensive to sell.</p>
<p>The US <a href="http://www.cfr.org" type="external">Council on Foreign Relations</a> says that countries in Europe, currently dependent on high-priced Russian gas, will be able to exploit cheap shale gas within their own borders. Some will no longer need to import Russian gas at all.</p>
<p>The Ernst and Young report <a href="http://www.ey.com/GL/en/Industries/Oil---Gas/Exploring-Arctic-oil-and-gas---Challenges-to-Arctic-resource-recovery---Overview" type="external">argues</a> that with 20% of the planet's remaining oil and gas reserves lying in the Arctic, and still to be located and exploited, the potential is enormous.</p>
<p>Already 61 large oil and natural gas fields have been discovered within the Arctic Circle - 43 are in Russia, 11 in Canada, six in Alaska and one in Norway.</p>
<p>Expensive and uncertain</p>
<p>However, the report warns: "The quest for Arctic oil and gas resources is not for the faint of heart nor for those with less-than-deep pockets. Rather, Arctic resource development is both high-cost and high-risk."</p>
<p>It says that apart from the harsh climate other challenges are lack of infrastructure, pipelines and ports. Special tankers and icebreakers will be needed, and if there are spills they will be difficult to control and clear up.</p>
<p>There are overlapping sovereignty claims, which lead to uncertainty about the environmental rules in any particular area. The firm also says that environmental campaigners wishing the Arctic to be left alone can be troublesome.</p>
<p>Although the report is generally positive about exploiting the Arctic it does emphasise the long lead times of projects and says only the five or six largest oil and gas companies with the deepest pockets will be able to afford the investment.</p>
<p>"These operations are clearly on the outer limits of both safety and commercial viability for the industry", it says, "and a spill or accident there would be catastrophic. The economics of Arctic development are also looking forward to even higher oil prices which may or may not happen in the near term."</p>
<p>Prohibitive production costs</p>
<p>Ernst and Young's cautious but optimistic approach to the prospects of investment in the Arctic contrasts with the Council on Foreign Relations' assessment of future energy supplies, particularly the Russian prospects.</p>
<p>While it accepts that Russia has vast gas reserves, the expense of extracting and transporting the gas from the far north will make it uncompetitive in world markets, the Council says.</p>
<p>Aviezer Tucker, writing on the website of <a href="http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/138597/aviezer-tucker/the-new-power-map" type="external">Foreign Affairs</a>, published by the Council, says the energy map of the world is being redrawn, and the fall in gas prices in America as a result of vast new discoveries of shale gas is about to be repeated in Europe.</p>
<p>Ukraine and Poland are among the countries currently dependent on Russian gas which have the potential to produce all their own supplies of much cheaper shale gas. If they did, the effect would be an energy glut and falling gas prices severely damaging the Russian economy.</p>
<p>Tucker quotes some estimates that 60% of Russian federal income comes from energy exports. Russia's other potential market for gas, China, is also discovering that it too has large shale gas reserves.</p>
<p>If this assessment is right, then much of the Arctic gas will stay beneath the Earth's crust, just too expensive to exploit.</p>
<p /> | Arctic Oil and Gas Will Exact High Price | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/arctic-oil-and-gas-will-exact-high-price/ | 2013-03-06 | 4left
| Arctic Oil and Gas Will Exact High Price
<p>By Paul Brown, Climate News NetworkThis piece first appeared at <a href="http://www.climatenewsnetwork.net/2013/03/arctic-oil-and-gas-will-exact-high-price/" type="external">Climate News Network</a>.</p>
<p>LONDON - First, there's a new assessment report by <a href="http://www.ey.com/GL/en/Industries/Oil---Gas" type="external">Ernst &amp; Young</a>, the international accountancy firm. It says the high-cost, high-risk resources of oil and gas available inside the Arctic Circle are both commercially exploitable and affordable.</p>
<p>After analysis of the tax and incentive schemes offered by the eight countries with hopes of drilling oil and gas wells in the Arctic, the firm concludes that Russia is a good investment opportunity with massive Arctic gas reserves.</p>
<p>However Alaska is the best bet for oil, with the largest untapped Arctic reserves. Norway, because of the stability of its government, and the opening up of Greenland for exploration also present good business opportunities.</p>
<p />
<p>This assessment contrasts with an influential American view - that international gas prices will fall because of an energy glut, making Russian gas too expensive to sell.</p>
<p>The US <a href="http://www.cfr.org" type="external">Council on Foreign Relations</a> says that countries in Europe, currently dependent on high-priced Russian gas, will be able to exploit cheap shale gas within their own borders. Some will no longer need to import Russian gas at all.</p>
<p>The Ernst and Young report <a href="http://www.ey.com/GL/en/Industries/Oil---Gas/Exploring-Arctic-oil-and-gas---Challenges-to-Arctic-resource-recovery---Overview" type="external">argues</a> that with 20% of the planet's remaining oil and gas reserves lying in the Arctic, and still to be located and exploited, the potential is enormous.</p>
<p>Already 61 large oil and natural gas fields have been discovered within the Arctic Circle - 43 are in Russia, 11 in Canada, six in Alaska and one in Norway.</p>
<p>Expensive and uncertain</p>
<p>However, the report warns: "The quest for Arctic oil and gas resources is not for the faint of heart nor for those with less-than-deep pockets. Rather, Arctic resource development is both high-cost and high-risk."</p>
<p>It says that apart from the harsh climate other challenges are lack of infrastructure, pipelines and ports. Special tankers and icebreakers will be needed, and if there are spills they will be difficult to control and clear up.</p>
<p>There are overlapping sovereignty claims, which lead to uncertainty about the environmental rules in any particular area. The firm also says that environmental campaigners wishing the Arctic to be left alone can be troublesome.</p>
<p>Although the report is generally positive about exploiting the Arctic it does emphasise the long lead times of projects and says only the five or six largest oil and gas companies with the deepest pockets will be able to afford the investment.</p>
<p>"These operations are clearly on the outer limits of both safety and commercial viability for the industry", it says, "and a spill or accident there would be catastrophic. The economics of Arctic development are also looking forward to even higher oil prices which may or may not happen in the near term."</p>
<p>Prohibitive production costs</p>
<p>Ernst and Young's cautious but optimistic approach to the prospects of investment in the Arctic contrasts with the Council on Foreign Relations' assessment of future energy supplies, particularly the Russian prospects.</p>
<p>While it accepts that Russia has vast gas reserves, the expense of extracting and transporting the gas from the far north will make it uncompetitive in world markets, the Council says.</p>
<p>Aviezer Tucker, writing on the website of <a href="http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/138597/aviezer-tucker/the-new-power-map" type="external">Foreign Affairs</a>, published by the Council, says the energy map of the world is being redrawn, and the fall in gas prices in America as a result of vast new discoveries of shale gas is about to be repeated in Europe.</p>
<p>Ukraine and Poland are among the countries currently dependent on Russian gas which have the potential to produce all their own supplies of much cheaper shale gas. If they did, the effect would be an energy glut and falling gas prices severely damaging the Russian economy.</p>
<p>Tucker quotes some estimates that 60% of Russian federal income comes from energy exports. Russia's other potential market for gas, China, is also discovering that it too has large shale gas reserves.</p>
<p>If this assessment is right, then much of the Arctic gas will stay beneath the Earth's crust, just too expensive to exploit.</p>
<p /> | 2,323 |
<p>Every New Yorker knows that if you want really good Greek food, you go to Queens. So on a recent Sunday, I headed to a two-bedroom apartment in the Elmhurst neighborhood to learn the secrets of authentic Greek cooking.</p>
<p>Despina Economou was my instructor for the day. She's a member of the <a href="https://www.leagueofkitchens.com/" type="external">League of Kitchens</a>&#160;— a new cooking school where the teachers are immigrants with serious cooking chops, and the classrooms are their own kitchens. There were four other woman gathered inside&#160;Economou's tiny kitchen that morning — and we're talking New York City here, so think small, and then think even smaller.</p>
<p>On the menu that day: tourlou (baked vegetables), faki (lentil soup), gigantes beans, Greek halva (semonlina cake) and my favorite, tiropita (cheese pie in phyllo dough crust).</p>
<p>“I love to cook. I cook every day,” said Economou.</p>
<p>Economou came to the US in 1972 as a nurse. She only planned to stay here for two years, but she met her husband, another Greek immigrant, and two years turned into 42. And although Economou said she feels very American, her cooking is very Greek.</p>
<p>The idea for the League of Kitchens was thought up by Lisa Gross — a native New Yorker and the daughter of a Korean immigrant.</p>
<p>“My Korean grandmother lived with my family growing up and cooked us amazing Korean food. And whenever I would try to help her, she would say, 'Don't worry about helping, you should go study,'” said Gross.</p>
<p>Lisa never learned to cook any of those Korean dishes she loved so much. And after her grandmother passed away, no matter how closely she followed a recipe from the internet or a Korean cookbook, she could never reproduce her grandmother’s recipes.</p>
<p>“It always felt like there was something subtle, but important missing,” said Gross. “And then I sort of had this fantasy, wouldn't it be amazing to have grandmothers from all over the world who you could learn from, and learn their family recipes and cook with them in their own home kitchens.”</p>
<p>Thus, the League of Kitchens was born.</p>
<p>Lisa spent two years searching for home cooks — interviewing them, tasting their recipes — until she&#160;found six cooks to launch the school. As of now, instructors are from Greece, Afghanistan, South Korea, India, Bangladesh and Lebanon. But Gross is still recruiting more home cooks and more cuisines in the New York area.</p>
<p>“When you think about how many incredible home cooks are out there who are only sharing their knowledge and experience with their own family, it seems like such a ripe opportunity to create greater access to this knowledge,” said Gross.</p>
<p>The access Gross talks about is crucial: being inside Despina’s kitchen, it’s almost like you become instant family, doing the dishes, picking up the telephone and, of course, the kitchen gossip about lazy husbands.</p>
<p>“Oh my God, he doesn't even warm up his food,” said Economou about her husband, whom she called a “typical Greek man” who stays clear of the kitchen.</p>
<p>Of course, the highlight of the afternoon was the food itself. The tiropita came out of the oven golden brown and in perfect little triangles. The cheese was not too salty; the phyllo dough was flaky. And the secret to perfectly cheesy tiropita, we learned from Economou, is that you have to cut it into triangles before putting it in the oven, so it will be easy to cut after it’s baked.</p>
<p>The cooking course culminates in a sit-down dinner. And as we all sat down to the food we just made together, Despina — in typical fashion — stood over us like a proud grandmother.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/209585313/The-League-of-Kitchens-Despina-s-Tiropita-Cheese-Pie" type="external">The League of Kitchens: Despina&amp;#x27;s Tiropita (Cheese Pie)</a></p>
<p /> | Learn authentic ethnic cuisine in an immigrant's kitchen | false | https://pri.org/stories/2014-02-25/authentic-home-cooking-immigrants-kitchen | 2014-02-25 | 3left-center
| Learn authentic ethnic cuisine in an immigrant's kitchen
<p>Every New Yorker knows that if you want really good Greek food, you go to Queens. So on a recent Sunday, I headed to a two-bedroom apartment in the Elmhurst neighborhood to learn the secrets of authentic Greek cooking.</p>
<p>Despina Economou was my instructor for the day. She's a member of the <a href="https://www.leagueofkitchens.com/" type="external">League of Kitchens</a>&#160;— a new cooking school where the teachers are immigrants with serious cooking chops, and the classrooms are their own kitchens. There were four other woman gathered inside&#160;Economou's tiny kitchen that morning — and we're talking New York City here, so think small, and then think even smaller.</p>
<p>On the menu that day: tourlou (baked vegetables), faki (lentil soup), gigantes beans, Greek halva (semonlina cake) and my favorite, tiropita (cheese pie in phyllo dough crust).</p>
<p>“I love to cook. I cook every day,” said Economou.</p>
<p>Economou came to the US in 1972 as a nurse. She only planned to stay here for two years, but she met her husband, another Greek immigrant, and two years turned into 42. And although Economou said she feels very American, her cooking is very Greek.</p>
<p>The idea for the League of Kitchens was thought up by Lisa Gross — a native New Yorker and the daughter of a Korean immigrant.</p>
<p>“My Korean grandmother lived with my family growing up and cooked us amazing Korean food. And whenever I would try to help her, she would say, 'Don't worry about helping, you should go study,'” said Gross.</p>
<p>Lisa never learned to cook any of those Korean dishes she loved so much. And after her grandmother passed away, no matter how closely she followed a recipe from the internet or a Korean cookbook, she could never reproduce her grandmother’s recipes.</p>
<p>“It always felt like there was something subtle, but important missing,” said Gross. “And then I sort of had this fantasy, wouldn't it be amazing to have grandmothers from all over the world who you could learn from, and learn their family recipes and cook with them in their own home kitchens.”</p>
<p>Thus, the League of Kitchens was born.</p>
<p>Lisa spent two years searching for home cooks — interviewing them, tasting their recipes — until she&#160;found six cooks to launch the school. As of now, instructors are from Greece, Afghanistan, South Korea, India, Bangladesh and Lebanon. But Gross is still recruiting more home cooks and more cuisines in the New York area.</p>
<p>“When you think about how many incredible home cooks are out there who are only sharing their knowledge and experience with their own family, it seems like such a ripe opportunity to create greater access to this knowledge,” said Gross.</p>
<p>The access Gross talks about is crucial: being inside Despina’s kitchen, it’s almost like you become instant family, doing the dishes, picking up the telephone and, of course, the kitchen gossip about lazy husbands.</p>
<p>“Oh my God, he doesn't even warm up his food,” said Economou about her husband, whom she called a “typical Greek man” who stays clear of the kitchen.</p>
<p>Of course, the highlight of the afternoon was the food itself. The tiropita came out of the oven golden brown and in perfect little triangles. The cheese was not too salty; the phyllo dough was flaky. And the secret to perfectly cheesy tiropita, we learned from Economou, is that you have to cut it into triangles before putting it in the oven, so it will be easy to cut after it’s baked.</p>
<p>The cooking course culminates in a sit-down dinner. And as we all sat down to the food we just made together, Despina — in typical fashion — stood over us like a proud grandmother.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/209585313/The-League-of-Kitchens-Despina-s-Tiropita-Cheese-Pie" type="external">The League of Kitchens: Despina&amp;#x27;s Tiropita (Cheese Pie)</a></p>
<p /> | 2,324 |
<p>One hot topic at the United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora — yes, there is such a thing, and it was going on Tuesday in Qatar — was the protection of certain species of shark that provide the key ingredient in sharkfin soup. Save the spiny dogfish! –KA</p>
<p>New York Times:</p>
<p>The nations gathered in Doha, Quatar for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora rejected proposals that would have required countries to strictly regulate — but not ban — trade in several species of scalloped hammerhead, oceanic whitetip and spiny dogfish sharks.</p>
<p>The hammerhead and whitetip proposals, introduced by the United States and the tiny Micronesian island of Palau, received majority backing. But the treaty behind the conference, known as CITES, requires that measures be approved by two-thirds of the delegates who are voting. A proposal from European Union and Palau to protect porbeagle sharks squeaked by with a vote of 86-42, with 8 abstentions — a winning margin of one vote. All of the votes were held by secret ballot.</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/24/science/earth/24shark.html" type="external">Read more</a></p> | Shark Protection Proposals Rejected at U.N. Meeting | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/shark-protection-proposals-rejected-at-u-n-meeting/ | 2010-03-24 | 4left
| Shark Protection Proposals Rejected at U.N. Meeting
<p>One hot topic at the United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora — yes, there is such a thing, and it was going on Tuesday in Qatar — was the protection of certain species of shark that provide the key ingredient in sharkfin soup. Save the spiny dogfish! –KA</p>
<p>New York Times:</p>
<p>The nations gathered in Doha, Quatar for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora rejected proposals that would have required countries to strictly regulate — but not ban — trade in several species of scalloped hammerhead, oceanic whitetip and spiny dogfish sharks.</p>
<p>The hammerhead and whitetip proposals, introduced by the United States and the tiny Micronesian island of Palau, received majority backing. But the treaty behind the conference, known as CITES, requires that measures be approved by two-thirds of the delegates who are voting. A proposal from European Union and Palau to protect porbeagle sharks squeaked by with a vote of 86-42, with 8 abstentions — a winning margin of one vote. All of the votes were held by secret ballot.</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/24/science/earth/24shark.html" type="external">Read more</a></p> | 2,325 |
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Well, can’t say we didn’t see this one coming. Trump has hammered CNN as ‘fake news’ since his campaign began and throughout his term as president too. <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/stevenperlberg/cnn-is-considering-skipping-white-house-correspondents-dinne?utm_term=.qu3R3q8BM#.mlzb47Z8X" type="external">Who will miss CNN if they don’t</a> show up to this event?</p>
<p>CNN is considering sitting out of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, according to two people familiar with the matter, as the annual star-studded affair takes on renewed scrutiny from media outlets irked by the White House’s demonization of the press.</p>
<p>CNN is still actively discussing internally whether it will ultimately send staffers to the event, which is scheduled for April 29, according to one of these people.</p>
<p>“We haven’t made a decision on it yet,” a CNN spokesperson said.</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>The chummy dinner has long been criticized as a bizarre spectacle of media and government coziness. Given President Trump’s aggressive, ongoing battle with the media, some in the press are wondering whether glad-handing with the administration this year is especially inappropriate. Sources at various newsrooms say that Trump’s&#160; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/17/business/trump-calls-the-news-media-the-enemy-of-the-people.html" type="external">deleted (then reposted) tweet</a>&#160;calling the press the “enemy of the American people” marked a new escalation. At the annual CPAC event Thursday, top White House adviser Steve Bannon&#160; <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/tariniparti/reince-priebus-and-steve-bannon-take-their-show-on-the-road?utm_term=.vt0mR0l4w#.cenGm8rZa" type="external">repeatedly called the media the “opposition party.”</a>&#160;CNN, in particular, has perhaps been the most frequent target of Trump’s “fake news” jab.</p> | CNN is Protesting Trump, May Refuse to… | true | http://girlsjustwannahaveguns.com/cnn-is-protesting-trump-may-refuse-to/ | 0right
| CNN is Protesting Trump, May Refuse to…
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Well, can’t say we didn’t see this one coming. Trump has hammered CNN as ‘fake news’ since his campaign began and throughout his term as president too. <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/stevenperlberg/cnn-is-considering-skipping-white-house-correspondents-dinne?utm_term=.qu3R3q8BM#.mlzb47Z8X" type="external">Who will miss CNN if they don’t</a> show up to this event?</p>
<p>CNN is considering sitting out of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, according to two people familiar with the matter, as the annual star-studded affair takes on renewed scrutiny from media outlets irked by the White House’s demonization of the press.</p>
<p>CNN is still actively discussing internally whether it will ultimately send staffers to the event, which is scheduled for April 29, according to one of these people.</p>
<p>“We haven’t made a decision on it yet,” a CNN spokesperson said.</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>The chummy dinner has long been criticized as a bizarre spectacle of media and government coziness. Given President Trump’s aggressive, ongoing battle with the media, some in the press are wondering whether glad-handing with the administration this year is especially inappropriate. Sources at various newsrooms say that Trump’s&#160; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/17/business/trump-calls-the-news-media-the-enemy-of-the-people.html" type="external">deleted (then reposted) tweet</a>&#160;calling the press the “enemy of the American people” marked a new escalation. At the annual CPAC event Thursday, top White House adviser Steve Bannon&#160; <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/tariniparti/reince-priebus-and-steve-bannon-take-their-show-on-the-road?utm_term=.vt0mR0l4w#.cenGm8rZa" type="external">repeatedly called the media the “opposition party.”</a>&#160;CNN, in particular, has perhaps been the most frequent target of Trump’s “fake news” jab.</p> | 2,326 |
|
<p>The Congress on Thursday bought itself more time to work out a much-delayed deal to fund the government for the next six months.</p>
<p>The Democratic-controlled Senate amassed enough votes to pass a sixth stopgap bill to keep the government running through April 8.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The measure has already passed the House of Representatives and will head to President <a href="" type="internal">Barack Obama</a> to sign into law when the vote concludes.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p> | Congress Passes Sixth Stopgap Bill to Keep Govt. Running | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2011/03/17/congress-passes-sixth-stopgap-government-running.html | 2016-01-28 | 0right
| Congress Passes Sixth Stopgap Bill to Keep Govt. Running
<p>The Congress on Thursday bought itself more time to work out a much-delayed deal to fund the government for the next six months.</p>
<p>The Democratic-controlled Senate amassed enough votes to pass a sixth stopgap bill to keep the government running through April 8.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The measure has already passed the House of Representatives and will head to President <a href="" type="internal">Barack Obama</a> to sign into law when the vote concludes.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p> | 2,327 |
<p><a href="http://pienews.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Crush.jpg" type="external" />Stock investors, brace yourselves for a nasty correction. The S&amp;P 500 SPX &#160;could fall 15% to 20% this year as the Federal Reserve stops buying bonds,&#160;according to Peter Boockvar,chief market analyst at The Lindsey Group. Related: How to know if the stock market has reached a top The chart [?]</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://blogs.marketwatch.com/thetell/2014/05/29/stocks-could-fall-15-to-20-as-qe-fluff-comes-out-of-the-market/" type="external">Click here to view original web page at blogs.marketwatch.com</a></p>
<p /> | Stocks could fall 20% as 'QE fluff' comes out of the market | true | http://politicalillusionsexposed.com/stocks-could-fall-15-to-20-as-qe-fluff-comes-out-of-the-market/ | 0right
| Stocks could fall 20% as 'QE fluff' comes out of the market
<p><a href="http://pienews.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Crush.jpg" type="external" />Stock investors, brace yourselves for a nasty correction. The S&amp;P 500 SPX &#160;could fall 15% to 20% this year as the Federal Reserve stops buying bonds,&#160;according to Peter Boockvar,chief market analyst at The Lindsey Group. Related: How to know if the stock market has reached a top The chart [?]</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://blogs.marketwatch.com/thetell/2014/05/29/stocks-could-fall-15-to-20-as-qe-fluff-comes-out-of-the-market/" type="external">Click here to view original web page at blogs.marketwatch.com</a></p>
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<p />
<p>Stevens was masterful in leading the Lobos to a 5-0 victory and a three-game series sweep of Air Force at Lobo Field. The right-hander pitched a complete-game one-hitter, did not walk a batter and struck out four.</p>
<p>"Wow," Lobo coach Ray Birmingham said. "We've been needing someone to step up as a weekend starter and Tyler Stevens was unbelievable today. There haven't been many pitching performances like that at the University of New Mexico, not very many at all."</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Stevens' one-hitter was the first at UNM since 1976 when Tom Bepko and Craig Steiner combined to limit Colorado School of Mines to a single hit. The Falcons' lone hit Sunday was Travis Wilkie's line-drive single to right in the third inning, and Lobo right-fielder Aaron Siple cut Wilkie down trying to reach second base.</p>
<p>Only two other Air Force batters reached, both on errors, and one was promptly caught stealing. Stevens (2-3) faced just 28 batters, one over the minimum, and needed just 98 pitches in his first collegiate complete game.</p>
<p>"He got a lot of outs with his changeup," Birmingham said, "and threw his curveball at two different speeds. He only had one or two balls hit hard all day."</p>
<p>Danny Collier and Carl Stajduhar had two hits apiece for the Lobos (19-15, 11-7 Mountain West), who scored the only run Stevens would need on Lane Milligan's first-inning double.</p>
<p>UNM came into the weekend tied with the Falcons (15-19, 8-10), but gained ground on each of the top three teams in the MWC standings.</p>
<p />
<p /> | Stevens' one-hitter propels UNM to sweep of Air Force | false | https://abqjournal.com/568426/stevens-onehitter-propels-unm-to-sweep-of-air-force.html | 2least
| Stevens' one-hitter propels UNM to sweep of Air Force
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Stevens was masterful in leading the Lobos to a 5-0 victory and a three-game series sweep of Air Force at Lobo Field. The right-hander pitched a complete-game one-hitter, did not walk a batter and struck out four.</p>
<p>"Wow," Lobo coach Ray Birmingham said. "We've been needing someone to step up as a weekend starter and Tyler Stevens was unbelievable today. There haven't been many pitching performances like that at the University of New Mexico, not very many at all."</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Stevens' one-hitter was the first at UNM since 1976 when Tom Bepko and Craig Steiner combined to limit Colorado School of Mines to a single hit. The Falcons' lone hit Sunday was Travis Wilkie's line-drive single to right in the third inning, and Lobo right-fielder Aaron Siple cut Wilkie down trying to reach second base.</p>
<p>Only two other Air Force batters reached, both on errors, and one was promptly caught stealing. Stevens (2-3) faced just 28 batters, one over the minimum, and needed just 98 pitches in his first collegiate complete game.</p>
<p>"He got a lot of outs with his changeup," Birmingham said, "and threw his curveball at two different speeds. He only had one or two balls hit hard all day."</p>
<p>Danny Collier and Carl Stajduhar had two hits apiece for the Lobos (19-15, 11-7 Mountain West), who scored the only run Stevens would need on Lane Milligan's first-inning double.</p>
<p>UNM came into the weekend tied with the Falcons (15-19, 8-10), but gained ground on each of the top three teams in the MWC standings.</p>
<p />
<p /> | 2,329 |
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<p>Former Fox News host Glenn Beckface to face/ZumaPress.com</p>
<p />
<p>In a new book, former senior Obama administration official Cass Sunstein compares former Fox News host Glenn Beck’s harsh attacks on his record to George Orwell’s 1984, and blasts what he calls the “the true terribleness of the contemporary confirmation process.”</p>
<p>Sunstein, a former law professor at Harvard and the University of Chicago, was nominated in 2009 to be director of the little-known Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs—a job that quickly took on the sobriquet of “regulatory czar.” His long record of books and speeches quickly became fodder for Beck, who dubbed Sunstein “the most dangerous man in America.” In his soon-to-be-released book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Simpler-Government-Cass-R-Sunstein/dp/1476726590" type="external">Simpler: The Future of Government</a>, Sunstein notes that Beck “developed what appeared to be a kind of obsession with me” and says that the unrelenting criticism from this tea party leader and other conservative pundits triggered more threatening messages:</p>
<p>In Orwell’s 1984, there is a brilliant, powerful, and frightening scene of the “Two Minutes Hate,” in which party members must watch a film depicting national enemies. (As it happens, the leading enemy is named Goldstein.) At times, Beck’s attacks on me, featuring my smiling face, were not entirely unlike those scenes. A new website was created, stopsunstein.com, filled with inflammatory quotations, some taken out of context to suggest that I endorsed views that I rejected and was merely describing.</p>
<p>I began to receive a lot of hate mail, including death threats, at my unlisted home address. One of them stated, “If I were you I would resign immediately. A well-paid individual, who is armed, knows where you live.”</p>
<p>Beck wasn’t the only right-wing leader who had Sunstein in his sights. In 2009, Wayne LaPierre, the National Rifle Association’s executive vice president, <a href="http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2009/may/05/wayne-lapierre/sunstein-has-said-people-ought-be-able-sue-behalf-/" type="external">bashed</a> Sunstein as “a radical animal rights extremist who makes PETA look like cheerleaders with pooper-scoopers,” and he alleged that Sunstein “wants to give legal standing to animals so they can sue you for eating meat.”</p>
<p>In his book, Sunstein’s response to the attacks from hunting and agriculture groups is succinct: “OMG.”</p>
<p>Despite all the conservative opposition to Sunstein, he survived the confirmation process and was approved by the Senate on a 57-40 vote—after having to ensure fence-sitting senators he would not in his new post ban hunting or steal guns. Following the vote, he met with Obama in the Oval Office, and Rahm Emanuel greeted him with a sarcastic exclamation: “Fifty-seven to 40! That’s a landslide!”</p>
<p /> | Former Obama Official Compares Glenn Beck’s Attacks to Orwell’s “Two Minutes Hate” | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2013/03/cass-sunstein-glenn-beck-two-minutes-hates/ | 2013-03-21 | 4left
| Former Obama Official Compares Glenn Beck’s Attacks to Orwell’s “Two Minutes Hate”
<p>Former Fox News host Glenn Beckface to face/ZumaPress.com</p>
<p />
<p>In a new book, former senior Obama administration official Cass Sunstein compares former Fox News host Glenn Beck’s harsh attacks on his record to George Orwell’s 1984, and blasts what he calls the “the true terribleness of the contemporary confirmation process.”</p>
<p>Sunstein, a former law professor at Harvard and the University of Chicago, was nominated in 2009 to be director of the little-known Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs—a job that quickly took on the sobriquet of “regulatory czar.” His long record of books and speeches quickly became fodder for Beck, who dubbed Sunstein “the most dangerous man in America.” In his soon-to-be-released book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Simpler-Government-Cass-R-Sunstein/dp/1476726590" type="external">Simpler: The Future of Government</a>, Sunstein notes that Beck “developed what appeared to be a kind of obsession with me” and says that the unrelenting criticism from this tea party leader and other conservative pundits triggered more threatening messages:</p>
<p>In Orwell’s 1984, there is a brilliant, powerful, and frightening scene of the “Two Minutes Hate,” in which party members must watch a film depicting national enemies. (As it happens, the leading enemy is named Goldstein.) At times, Beck’s attacks on me, featuring my smiling face, were not entirely unlike those scenes. A new website was created, stopsunstein.com, filled with inflammatory quotations, some taken out of context to suggest that I endorsed views that I rejected and was merely describing.</p>
<p>I began to receive a lot of hate mail, including death threats, at my unlisted home address. One of them stated, “If I were you I would resign immediately. A well-paid individual, who is armed, knows where you live.”</p>
<p>Beck wasn’t the only right-wing leader who had Sunstein in his sights. In 2009, Wayne LaPierre, the National Rifle Association’s executive vice president, <a href="http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2009/may/05/wayne-lapierre/sunstein-has-said-people-ought-be-able-sue-behalf-/" type="external">bashed</a> Sunstein as “a radical animal rights extremist who makes PETA look like cheerleaders with pooper-scoopers,” and he alleged that Sunstein “wants to give legal standing to animals so they can sue you for eating meat.”</p>
<p>In his book, Sunstein’s response to the attacks from hunting and agriculture groups is succinct: “OMG.”</p>
<p>Despite all the conservative opposition to Sunstein, he survived the confirmation process and was approved by the Senate on a 57-40 vote—after having to ensure fence-sitting senators he would not in his new post ban hunting or steal guns. Following the vote, he met with Obama in the Oval Office, and Rahm Emanuel greeted him with a sarcastic exclamation: “Fifty-seven to 40! That’s a landslide!”</p>
<p /> | 2,330 |
<p>Donald Trump's signature, an unmistakable if nearly illegible series of bold vertical flourishes, was scrawled on the improper $25,000 check sent from his personal foundation to a political committee supporting Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi.</p>
<p>Charities are barred from engaging in political activities, and the Republican presidential nominee's campaign has contended for weeks that the 2013 check from the Donald J. Trump Foundation was mistakenly issued following a series of clerical errors. Trump had intended to use personal funds to support Bondi's re-election, his campaign said.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>So, why didn't Trump catch the purported goof himself when he signed the foundation check?</p>
<p>Trump lawyer Alan Garten offered new details about the transaction to The Associated Press on Thursday, after a copy of the Sept. 9, 2013, check was released by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.</p>
<p>Garten said the billionaire businessman personally signs hundreds of checks a week, and that he simply didn't catch the error.</p>
<p>"He traditionally signs a lot of checks," said Garten, who serves as in-house counsel for various business interests at Trump Tower in New York City. "It's a way for him to monitor and keep control over what's going on in the company. It's just his way. ... I've personally been in his office numerous times and seen a big stack of checks on his desk for him to sign."</p>
<p>The 2013 donation to Bondi's political group has garnered intense scrutiny because her office was at the time fielding media questions about whether she would follow the lead of Schneiderman, who had then filed a lawsuit against Trump University and Trump Institute. Scores of former students say they were scammed by Trump's namesake get-rich-quick seminars in real estate.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Bondi, whom the AP reported in June personally solicited the $25,000 check from Trump, took no action. Both Bondi and Trump say their conversation had nothing to do with the Trump University litigation, though neither has answered questions about what they did discuss or provided the exact date the conversation occurred.</p>
<p>House Democrats called earlier this week for a federal criminal investigation into the donation, suggesting Trump was trying to bribe Bondi with the charity check. Schneiderman, a Democrat, said he was already investigating to determine whether Trump's charity broke state laws.</p>
<p>Garten said the series of errors began after Trump instructed his staff to cut a $25,000 check to the political committee supporting Bondi, called And Justice for All.</p>
<p>Someone in Trump's accounting department then consulted a master list of charitable organizations maintained by the IRS and saw a Utah charity by the same name that provides legal aid to the poor. According to Garten, that person, whom he declined to identify by name, then independently decided that the check should come from the Trump Foundation account rather than Trump's personal funds.</p>
<p>The check was then printed and returned for Trump's signature. After it was signed, Garten said, Trump's office staff mailed the check to its intended recipient in Florida, rather than to the charity in Utah.</p>
<p>Emails released by Bondi's office show her staff was first contacted at the end of August by a reporter for The Orlando Sentinel asking about the Trump University lawsuit in New York.</p>
<p>Trump's Sept. 9 check is dated four days before the newspaper printed a story quoting Bondi's spokeswoman saying her office was reviewing Schneiderman's suit, but four days before the pro-Bondi political committee reports receiving the check in the mail.</p>
<p>Compounding the confusion, the following year on its 2013 tax forms the Trump Foundation reported making a donation to a Kansas charity called Justice for All. Garten said that was another accounting error, rather than an attempt to obscure the improper donation to the political group.</p>
<p>In March, The Washington Post first revealed that that the donation to the pro-Bondi group had been misreported on the Trump Foundation's 2013 tax forms. The following day, records show Trump signed an IRS form disclosing the error and paying a $2,500 fine.</p>
<p>Bondi has endorsed Trump's presidential bid and has campaigned with him this year.</p>
<p>She has said the timing of Trump's donation was coincidental and that she wasn't personally aware of the consumer complaints her office had received about Trump University and the Trump Institute, a separate Florida business that paid Trump a licensing fee and a cut of the profits to use his name and curriculum.</p>
<p>Neither company was still offering seminars by the time Bondi took office in 2011, though dissatisfied former customers were still seeking promised refunds.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Associated Press writer Michael Biesecker at http://twitter.com/mbieseck</p> | Trump lawyer says Trump missed foundation payment mistake | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/09/16/trump-lawyer-says-trump-missed-foundation-payment-mistake.html | 2016-09-16 | 0right
| Trump lawyer says Trump missed foundation payment mistake
<p>Donald Trump's signature, an unmistakable if nearly illegible series of bold vertical flourishes, was scrawled on the improper $25,000 check sent from his personal foundation to a political committee supporting Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi.</p>
<p>Charities are barred from engaging in political activities, and the Republican presidential nominee's campaign has contended for weeks that the 2013 check from the Donald J. Trump Foundation was mistakenly issued following a series of clerical errors. Trump had intended to use personal funds to support Bondi's re-election, his campaign said.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>So, why didn't Trump catch the purported goof himself when he signed the foundation check?</p>
<p>Trump lawyer Alan Garten offered new details about the transaction to The Associated Press on Thursday, after a copy of the Sept. 9, 2013, check was released by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.</p>
<p>Garten said the billionaire businessman personally signs hundreds of checks a week, and that he simply didn't catch the error.</p>
<p>"He traditionally signs a lot of checks," said Garten, who serves as in-house counsel for various business interests at Trump Tower in New York City. "It's a way for him to monitor and keep control over what's going on in the company. It's just his way. ... I've personally been in his office numerous times and seen a big stack of checks on his desk for him to sign."</p>
<p>The 2013 donation to Bondi's political group has garnered intense scrutiny because her office was at the time fielding media questions about whether she would follow the lead of Schneiderman, who had then filed a lawsuit against Trump University and Trump Institute. Scores of former students say they were scammed by Trump's namesake get-rich-quick seminars in real estate.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Bondi, whom the AP reported in June personally solicited the $25,000 check from Trump, took no action. Both Bondi and Trump say their conversation had nothing to do with the Trump University litigation, though neither has answered questions about what they did discuss or provided the exact date the conversation occurred.</p>
<p>House Democrats called earlier this week for a federal criminal investigation into the donation, suggesting Trump was trying to bribe Bondi with the charity check. Schneiderman, a Democrat, said he was already investigating to determine whether Trump's charity broke state laws.</p>
<p>Garten said the series of errors began after Trump instructed his staff to cut a $25,000 check to the political committee supporting Bondi, called And Justice for All.</p>
<p>Someone in Trump's accounting department then consulted a master list of charitable organizations maintained by the IRS and saw a Utah charity by the same name that provides legal aid to the poor. According to Garten, that person, whom he declined to identify by name, then independently decided that the check should come from the Trump Foundation account rather than Trump's personal funds.</p>
<p>The check was then printed and returned for Trump's signature. After it was signed, Garten said, Trump's office staff mailed the check to its intended recipient in Florida, rather than to the charity in Utah.</p>
<p>Emails released by Bondi's office show her staff was first contacted at the end of August by a reporter for The Orlando Sentinel asking about the Trump University lawsuit in New York.</p>
<p>Trump's Sept. 9 check is dated four days before the newspaper printed a story quoting Bondi's spokeswoman saying her office was reviewing Schneiderman's suit, but four days before the pro-Bondi political committee reports receiving the check in the mail.</p>
<p>Compounding the confusion, the following year on its 2013 tax forms the Trump Foundation reported making a donation to a Kansas charity called Justice for All. Garten said that was another accounting error, rather than an attempt to obscure the improper donation to the political group.</p>
<p>In March, The Washington Post first revealed that that the donation to the pro-Bondi group had been misreported on the Trump Foundation's 2013 tax forms. The following day, records show Trump signed an IRS form disclosing the error and paying a $2,500 fine.</p>
<p>Bondi has endorsed Trump's presidential bid and has campaigned with him this year.</p>
<p>She has said the timing of Trump's donation was coincidental and that she wasn't personally aware of the consumer complaints her office had received about Trump University and the Trump Institute, a separate Florida business that paid Trump a licensing fee and a cut of the profits to use his name and curriculum.</p>
<p>Neither company was still offering seminars by the time Bondi took office in 2011, though dissatisfied former customers were still seeking promised refunds.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Associated Press writer Michael Biesecker at http://twitter.com/mbieseck</p> | 2,331 |
<p>The huge superstorm Sandy has left a path of destruction across the eastern seaboard and everyone's wondering - was this insanely intense storm that some are calling a once a century event related to climate change?</p>
<p>Some researchers will say yes, it's likely that the two are related. Their theory goes that warmer waters inject more energy into tropical storms - so climate change could very well be to blame for the increasing incidence of large and dangerous storms. These warmer waters could also be making the hurricanes form faster, recent studies have suggested.</p>
<p>The evidence that this link is real is mounting. A study&#160; <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/10/10/1209542109" type="external">published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Oct. 15</a>&#160;used tide records dating back to 1923 to show that the severity of hurricanes is increasing. Specifically warmer years are associated with&#160; <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-evidence-is-mounting-that-warmer-years-mean-more-and-stronger-hurricanes-2012-10" type="external">greater numbers of storms and stronger storms</a>. They are also associated with bigger storm surges, one of the biggest issues that brought New York City and New Jersey down. Sandy's storm surge in lower Manhattan reached almost 14 feet, the largest ever recorded in the area.</p>
<p>An earlier study, published in&#160; <a href="http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2012/2012GL051700.shtml" type="external">Geophysical Research Letters in May,</a>&#160;also suggested the rising ocean temperatures are increasing the intensity of storms. The researchers, led by Dev Niyogi of Purdue University, used satellite data from the last 25 years to see if these tropical cyclones are changing over time. They found that the storms are&#160; <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/a-warming-world-makes-strong-hurricanes-form-faster-2012-9" type="external">tending to intensify quicker</a>, and they end up being higher category storms.</p>
<p>A third study, led by James Elsner, of Florida State University, looked at hurricane data from across the world between 1981 and 2006.&#160; <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v455/n7209/abs/nature07234.html" type="external">They published their data in the journal Nature in 2008</a>. They found a 31 percent increase in strong storms (those in the top fifth in a ranking of storms by their intensities), from 13 to 17 strong cyclones for a 1.8? F rise in ocean temperature.</p>
<p>This could be one reason why this year's hurricane season has been so bad - with 19 named storms. We are even running out of names and still have a whole month left in which more storms can form. This year we've also set thousands of high temperature records, and it has been named&#160; <a href="http://www.livescience.com/21952-record-temperatures-heat.html" type="external">"the hottest year on record" in the United States</a>.</p>
<p>This doesn't mean that warm water is the only thing that makes hurricanes strong, but it's one factor that may be influencing the trend toward stronger and larger storms. Sandy, for instance, was also impacted by the full moon, which increased high tides - though there's no doubt this was an incredibly large, dangerous storm even without the moon.</p>
<p>This was partially because of the presence of a snow storm coming from the West that has had a big effect on how the storm progresses. It's currently parked on the East coast, sending feet of snow down in Western Virginia. Hopefully the storm will head North soon.</p>
<p>As we&#160; <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/when-will-the-next-nightmare-hurricane-hit-the-us-2012-8" type="external">predicted when Hurricane Issac made landfall</a>&#160;earlier this year, these extreme weather events will continue getting stronger and more severe.&#160;</p>
<p>As I wrote in August: "If hurricanes get bigger, stronger and more frequent, one nightmare scenario may just become a reality: Thousands of lives could be lost and billions of dollars of damage done if a large, strong hurricane made landfall in New York City, the way Hurricane Irene did in 2011."</p>
<p>Those words seem sadly prophetic, now that that's what Sandy has become. Let's hope these monster East coast storms don't become a frequent event, though the melting Arctic sea ice could increase sea temperatures even higher, influencing our weather here.</p>
<p>This year, the Arctic sea ice reached its lowest levels on record. This melt is just going to get worse, researchers predict.</p>
<p>If we end up having a summer in which all the sea ice in the Arctic melts, it could have a major impact on storms and the&#160; <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/arctic-sea-ice-melt-means-a-bad-winter-2012-9" type="external">strength of our winters</a>. Some researchers have suggested that this could even happen&#160; <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/that-arctic-sea-ice-will-dissappear-within-years-2012-9" type="external">within the next decade</a>. The sea ice, when it's there, cools down the waters because it reflects sunlight away from the oceans. If the ice is gone, the dark waters will absorb more sunlight, and the ocean will get even warmer.&#160;</p>
<p>This spiral of warming could mean more spiraling tropical cyclones in the future.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/" type="external" /></p>
<p>More from our partner, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com" type="external">Business Insider</a>:</p>
<p>Business Insider: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-sells-out-of-ipad-4-2012-10" type="external">Apple Can't Keep Up With Demand For The Fourth-Generation iPad</a></p>
<p>Business Insider: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-mcdonalds-makes-its-fries-2012-10" type="external">A Step-By-Step Look At How McDonald's Makes Its Fries</a></p>
<p>Business Insider: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/demo-of-philips-hue-light-bulbs-2012-10" type="external">Apple Stores Will Sell Lightbulbs You Can Control With Your iPad</a></p>
<p>Business Insider: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/4-things-hurricane-sandy-survivors-can-get-for-free-2012-10" type="external">4 Things Hurricane Sandy Survivors Can Get For Free</a></p>
<p>Business Insider: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/baristas-reveal-impossible-orders-2012-10" type="external">Starbucks Baristas Reveal Customers' Most Impossible Orders</a></p> | Here's the mountain of evidence linking climate change to bigger storms | false | https://pri.org/stories/2012-10-30/heres-mountain-evidence-linking-climate-change-bigger-storms | 2012-10-30 | 3left-center
| Here's the mountain of evidence linking climate change to bigger storms
<p>The huge superstorm Sandy has left a path of destruction across the eastern seaboard and everyone's wondering - was this insanely intense storm that some are calling a once a century event related to climate change?</p>
<p>Some researchers will say yes, it's likely that the two are related. Their theory goes that warmer waters inject more energy into tropical storms - so climate change could very well be to blame for the increasing incidence of large and dangerous storms. These warmer waters could also be making the hurricanes form faster, recent studies have suggested.</p>
<p>The evidence that this link is real is mounting. A study&#160; <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/10/10/1209542109" type="external">published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Oct. 15</a>&#160;used tide records dating back to 1923 to show that the severity of hurricanes is increasing. Specifically warmer years are associated with&#160; <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-evidence-is-mounting-that-warmer-years-mean-more-and-stronger-hurricanes-2012-10" type="external">greater numbers of storms and stronger storms</a>. They are also associated with bigger storm surges, one of the biggest issues that brought New York City and New Jersey down. Sandy's storm surge in lower Manhattan reached almost 14 feet, the largest ever recorded in the area.</p>
<p>An earlier study, published in&#160; <a href="http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2012/2012GL051700.shtml" type="external">Geophysical Research Letters in May,</a>&#160;also suggested the rising ocean temperatures are increasing the intensity of storms. The researchers, led by Dev Niyogi of Purdue University, used satellite data from the last 25 years to see if these tropical cyclones are changing over time. They found that the storms are&#160; <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/a-warming-world-makes-strong-hurricanes-form-faster-2012-9" type="external">tending to intensify quicker</a>, and they end up being higher category storms.</p>
<p>A third study, led by James Elsner, of Florida State University, looked at hurricane data from across the world between 1981 and 2006.&#160; <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v455/n7209/abs/nature07234.html" type="external">They published their data in the journal Nature in 2008</a>. They found a 31 percent increase in strong storms (those in the top fifth in a ranking of storms by their intensities), from 13 to 17 strong cyclones for a 1.8? F rise in ocean temperature.</p>
<p>This could be one reason why this year's hurricane season has been so bad - with 19 named storms. We are even running out of names and still have a whole month left in which more storms can form. This year we've also set thousands of high temperature records, and it has been named&#160; <a href="http://www.livescience.com/21952-record-temperatures-heat.html" type="external">"the hottest year on record" in the United States</a>.</p>
<p>This doesn't mean that warm water is the only thing that makes hurricanes strong, but it's one factor that may be influencing the trend toward stronger and larger storms. Sandy, for instance, was also impacted by the full moon, which increased high tides - though there's no doubt this was an incredibly large, dangerous storm even without the moon.</p>
<p>This was partially because of the presence of a snow storm coming from the West that has had a big effect on how the storm progresses. It's currently parked on the East coast, sending feet of snow down in Western Virginia. Hopefully the storm will head North soon.</p>
<p>As we&#160; <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/when-will-the-next-nightmare-hurricane-hit-the-us-2012-8" type="external">predicted when Hurricane Issac made landfall</a>&#160;earlier this year, these extreme weather events will continue getting stronger and more severe.&#160;</p>
<p>As I wrote in August: "If hurricanes get bigger, stronger and more frequent, one nightmare scenario may just become a reality: Thousands of lives could be lost and billions of dollars of damage done if a large, strong hurricane made landfall in New York City, the way Hurricane Irene did in 2011."</p>
<p>Those words seem sadly prophetic, now that that's what Sandy has become. Let's hope these monster East coast storms don't become a frequent event, though the melting Arctic sea ice could increase sea temperatures even higher, influencing our weather here.</p>
<p>This year, the Arctic sea ice reached its lowest levels on record. This melt is just going to get worse, researchers predict.</p>
<p>If we end up having a summer in which all the sea ice in the Arctic melts, it could have a major impact on storms and the&#160; <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/arctic-sea-ice-melt-means-a-bad-winter-2012-9" type="external">strength of our winters</a>. Some researchers have suggested that this could even happen&#160; <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/that-arctic-sea-ice-will-dissappear-within-years-2012-9" type="external">within the next decade</a>. The sea ice, when it's there, cools down the waters because it reflects sunlight away from the oceans. If the ice is gone, the dark waters will absorb more sunlight, and the ocean will get even warmer.&#160;</p>
<p>This spiral of warming could mean more spiraling tropical cyclones in the future.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/" type="external" /></p>
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<p />
<p>Jason Burle, a Missouri bar owner, has recently come under fire for taping down “Lynch” and “Kaepernick” NFL jerseys next to one another, for his customers to use as a doormat. “We pulled them out of the box, taped them down. There was no intent,” Burle said.</p>
<p>The “Lynch” jersey, of course, is a Marshawn “BeastMode” Lynch jersey, the Oakland Raiders running back who became a superstar with the Seattle Seahawks. He also happens to be, arguably, one of the most well-known players to lead the protests. He has knelt during the anthem for some time.</p>
<p>Some argue that the use of a Lynch jersey was meant to send a not-so-subtle signal about Colin Kaepernick. Burle denies it, and says it is an unfortunate coincidence.</p>
<p>“If someone thinks that I mean personal harm to someone, they don’t know me,” he added. Burle owns the S.N.A.F.U. bar in Lake Ozark, which caters specifically to veterans. He says that he thought his customers would get a kick out of the display, as many of them loathe Kaepernick for protesting the national anthem.</p>
<p>“A lot of us military folks take that personal to heart,” he said. Others, however, don’t feel the same way. One Missouri resident has gotten into a heated Facebook exchange over the doormats, claiming that the doormats clearly show racial intent.</p>
<p>“I thought I needed to document it,” Taylor Sloan, the passerby responsible for the pictures said. “You are expressing hate, violence, and continuing American racism under the faux guise of patriotism,” Sloan posted to the bar’s Facebook page. Burle responded with some remarks of his own.</p>
<p />
<p>“It’s funny to me that someone would look that far deeply into it just to find a racist link.” Burle told <a href="http://www.komu.com/news/lake-ozark-bar-criticized-for-nfl-jersey-doormat-seen-as-racist" type="external">KOMU News</a>, an NBC affiliated agency, that putting down the doormat is about expressing his views, and standing up for his first amendment rights. He also added that he wishes to stand up for his family, and his veteran-dominated customer base.</p>
<p>Burle told KOMU the doormat is about standing up for himself and his family, many of whom served in the military. Burle spent six years in the Air Force. Seeing NFL players kneel during the national anthem didn’t sit well with him.</p>
<p>“A lot of us military folks take that personal to heart,” Burle&#160;said.</p>
<p>Burle&#160;started the S.N.A.F.U Bar to honor military veterans.</p>
<p>“It was kind of our way to give back, I guess,” he said. “We give discounts to veterans, we have a hall of heroes inside. We have flags that have flown overseas mounted inside.”</p>
<p>Burle&#160;said the “hall of heroes” includes pictures of customers or relatives of customers.&#160;</p>
<p>“We have some people’s fathers, grandfathers, uncles, aunts,” he said.</p>
<p>But Sloan&#160;doesn’t remember the bar for the pictures of veterans. Instead, he remembers the doormat he saw as racist.</p>
<p>“I thought I needed to document it,” Sloan&#160;said.</p>
<p>Burle said, “If he came in and actually told me at that moment or my manager, it would’ve been taken care of that moment exactly.”</p>
<p>Sloan said in his online conversation with Burle, he didn’t think Burle saw the problem with placing “Lynch” and “Kaepernick” back-to-back.</p>
<p>“If he honestly didn’t see that, he should change it,” Sloan said.</p>
<p>Burle has since reversed the order of the jerseys, to read “Kaepernick” and “Lynch” but many are upset that he’s caving into political correctness and social pressure. He ended with a poignant comment on our rights, saying that while he supports players’ right to protest, that’s also the same right that allows him to protest them.</p>
<p />
<p>Here is video from The New York Daily News of the jerseys.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>“I commend them for what they’re doing, as far as the right goes. I fought for that right,” Burle said. “The same thing that gives them that right gives me the right to place these out here.”</p>
<p>Save</p>
<p>Save</p>
<p>Save</p> | WATCH: Sports Bar Uses Kaepernick Jersey As DOORMAT – Liberals Have Complete MELTDOWN (Video) | true | http://silenceisconsent.net/watch-american-bar-uses-kaepernick-jersey-doormat-liberals-complete-meltdown-video/ | 2018-05-07 | 0right
| WATCH: Sports Bar Uses Kaepernick Jersey As DOORMAT – Liberals Have Complete MELTDOWN (Video)
<p />
<p>Jason Burle, a Missouri bar owner, has recently come under fire for taping down “Lynch” and “Kaepernick” NFL jerseys next to one another, for his customers to use as a doormat. “We pulled them out of the box, taped them down. There was no intent,” Burle said.</p>
<p>The “Lynch” jersey, of course, is a Marshawn “BeastMode” Lynch jersey, the Oakland Raiders running back who became a superstar with the Seattle Seahawks. He also happens to be, arguably, one of the most well-known players to lead the protests. He has knelt during the anthem for some time.</p>
<p>Some argue that the use of a Lynch jersey was meant to send a not-so-subtle signal about Colin Kaepernick. Burle denies it, and says it is an unfortunate coincidence.</p>
<p>“If someone thinks that I mean personal harm to someone, they don’t know me,” he added. Burle owns the S.N.A.F.U. bar in Lake Ozark, which caters specifically to veterans. He says that he thought his customers would get a kick out of the display, as many of them loathe Kaepernick for protesting the national anthem.</p>
<p>“A lot of us military folks take that personal to heart,” he said. Others, however, don’t feel the same way. One Missouri resident has gotten into a heated Facebook exchange over the doormats, claiming that the doormats clearly show racial intent.</p>
<p>“I thought I needed to document it,” Taylor Sloan, the passerby responsible for the pictures said. “You are expressing hate, violence, and continuing American racism under the faux guise of patriotism,” Sloan posted to the bar’s Facebook page. Burle responded with some remarks of his own.</p>
<p />
<p>“It’s funny to me that someone would look that far deeply into it just to find a racist link.” Burle told <a href="http://www.komu.com/news/lake-ozark-bar-criticized-for-nfl-jersey-doormat-seen-as-racist" type="external">KOMU News</a>, an NBC affiliated agency, that putting down the doormat is about expressing his views, and standing up for his first amendment rights. He also added that he wishes to stand up for his family, and his veteran-dominated customer base.</p>
<p>Burle told KOMU the doormat is about standing up for himself and his family, many of whom served in the military. Burle spent six years in the Air Force. Seeing NFL players kneel during the national anthem didn’t sit well with him.</p>
<p>“A lot of us military folks take that personal to heart,” Burle&#160;said.</p>
<p>Burle&#160;started the S.N.A.F.U Bar to honor military veterans.</p>
<p>“It was kind of our way to give back, I guess,” he said. “We give discounts to veterans, we have a hall of heroes inside. We have flags that have flown overseas mounted inside.”</p>
<p>Burle&#160;said the “hall of heroes” includes pictures of customers or relatives of customers.&#160;</p>
<p>“We have some people’s fathers, grandfathers, uncles, aunts,” he said.</p>
<p>But Sloan&#160;doesn’t remember the bar for the pictures of veterans. Instead, he remembers the doormat he saw as racist.</p>
<p>“I thought I needed to document it,” Sloan&#160;said.</p>
<p>Burle said, “If he came in and actually told me at that moment or my manager, it would’ve been taken care of that moment exactly.”</p>
<p>Sloan said in his online conversation with Burle, he didn’t think Burle saw the problem with placing “Lynch” and “Kaepernick” back-to-back.</p>
<p>“If he honestly didn’t see that, he should change it,” Sloan said.</p>
<p>Burle has since reversed the order of the jerseys, to read “Kaepernick” and “Lynch” but many are upset that he’s caving into political correctness and social pressure. He ended with a poignant comment on our rights, saying that while he supports players’ right to protest, that’s also the same right that allows him to protest them.</p>
<p />
<p>Here is video from The New York Daily News of the jerseys.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>“I commend them for what they’re doing, as far as the right goes. I fought for that right,” Burle said. “The same thing that gives them that right gives me the right to place these out here.”</p>
<p>Save</p>
<p>Save</p>
<p>Save</p> | 2,333 |
<p>April Sprinkles by&#160; SAMEER BHAT</p>
<p>On human rights violations in Kashmir</p>
<p>Rain — cold small beads come slanting down on Zero Bridge, upon old waters that flow beneath</p>
<p>Wet almond blossom in night-long showers scattered in bolshie gardens by the Dal stamped upon by everyday ghosts</p>
<p>Bloodshot glower in black skies Men in sand-bags with sad, cold eyes Spring showers upon ugly bayonets early rain on parched souls</p>
<p>Moist, hidden graves in deep, distant woods under damp raspberry trees Dead sleep in rain-swept dark the undead roll in stone homes</p>
<p>Rain spatter on familiar roofs Rainy sounds like idle words Rain-color puddles on the boulevard No rain songs to live it up</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>To My Old Bed by&#160; SAMEER BHAT</p>
<p>I smell wild wood trees possessed by buccaneers and bulbuls criss-crossing each other along heaving paths I see bee-eaters, their iridescent wings like violin bows upon the track fringed with tall pines like sharp arcs into blue Eden I hear sounds being chargrilled in the timberland, so green surrounded with dug-outs as deep as war sorrows I walk into my vale self-same over the years cacophonous and comforting if only to fall happily into my old bed&#160;</p>
<p>One More by&#160; SAMEER BHAT</p>
<p>One more smokestack is smokeless tonight one more child put six feet under One more mother is wringing her hands one more son is inhumed tonight One more joy is trampled upon one more lad is overhung tonight One more bullet to the heart one more woeful home tonight One more sombre evening one more starless sky tonight</p>
<p>Sameer Bhat&#160;is a journalist and lives in Dubai.&#160; One of Kashmir’s most widely read bloggers, his short stories and satirical writings have appeared in leading English dailies.&#160; Sameer’s recent contributions include an anthology&#160;Until My Freedom Has Come – The New Intifada in Kashmir(published by Penguin Books India).&#160; An avid blogger, Sameer has been keeping a popular blog ‘Kashur Kot’ [Kashmiri lad] for the last 10 years and regularly comments on the Kashmir conflict from a satirist’s perspective.&#160; www.sameerbhat.blogspot.com is mostly liberal and laidback with a dash of sarcasm.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Editorial Note:&#160;(Please Read Closely Before Submitting) To submit to Poets’ Basement, send an e-mail to&#160;CounterPunch’s poetry editor, Marc Beaudin at&#160; <a href="" type="internal">[email protected]</a>&#160;with your name, the titles being submitted, and your website url or e-mail address (if you’d like this to appear with your work).&#160; Also indicate whether or not your poems have been previously published and where.&#160; For translations, include poem in original language and documentation of granted reprint/translation rights.&#160; Attach up to 5 poems&#160;and&#160;a short bio, written in 3rd person, as a single Word Document&#160;(.doc or .rtf attachments only; no .docx).&#160; Expect a response within one month (occasionally longer during periods of heavy submissions).</p>
<p>Poems accepted for online publication will be considered for possible inclusion of an upcoming print anthology.</p>
<p>For more details, tips and suggestions, visit&#160; <a href="http://crowvoicejournal.blogspot.com/" type="external">CrowVoiceJournal.blogspot.com</a>and check the links on the top right. Thanks!</p> | Poets’ Basement | true | https://counterpunch.org/2011/08/12/poets-basement-3/ | 2011-08-12 | 4left
| Poets’ Basement
<p>April Sprinkles by&#160; SAMEER BHAT</p>
<p>On human rights violations in Kashmir</p>
<p>Rain — cold small beads come slanting down on Zero Bridge, upon old waters that flow beneath</p>
<p>Wet almond blossom in night-long showers scattered in bolshie gardens by the Dal stamped upon by everyday ghosts</p>
<p>Bloodshot glower in black skies Men in sand-bags with sad, cold eyes Spring showers upon ugly bayonets early rain on parched souls</p>
<p>Moist, hidden graves in deep, distant woods under damp raspberry trees Dead sleep in rain-swept dark the undead roll in stone homes</p>
<p>Rain spatter on familiar roofs Rainy sounds like idle words Rain-color puddles on the boulevard No rain songs to live it up</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>To My Old Bed by&#160; SAMEER BHAT</p>
<p>I smell wild wood trees possessed by buccaneers and bulbuls criss-crossing each other along heaving paths I see bee-eaters, their iridescent wings like violin bows upon the track fringed with tall pines like sharp arcs into blue Eden I hear sounds being chargrilled in the timberland, so green surrounded with dug-outs as deep as war sorrows I walk into my vale self-same over the years cacophonous and comforting if only to fall happily into my old bed&#160;</p>
<p>One More by&#160; SAMEER BHAT</p>
<p>One more smokestack is smokeless tonight one more child put six feet under One more mother is wringing her hands one more son is inhumed tonight One more joy is trampled upon one more lad is overhung tonight One more bullet to the heart one more woeful home tonight One more sombre evening one more starless sky tonight</p>
<p>Sameer Bhat&#160;is a journalist and lives in Dubai.&#160; One of Kashmir’s most widely read bloggers, his short stories and satirical writings have appeared in leading English dailies.&#160; Sameer’s recent contributions include an anthology&#160;Until My Freedom Has Come – The New Intifada in Kashmir(published by Penguin Books India).&#160; An avid blogger, Sameer has been keeping a popular blog ‘Kashur Kot’ [Kashmiri lad] for the last 10 years and regularly comments on the Kashmir conflict from a satirist’s perspective.&#160; www.sameerbhat.blogspot.com is mostly liberal and laidback with a dash of sarcasm.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Editorial Note:&#160;(Please Read Closely Before Submitting) To submit to Poets’ Basement, send an e-mail to&#160;CounterPunch’s poetry editor, Marc Beaudin at&#160; <a href="" type="internal">[email protected]</a>&#160;with your name, the titles being submitted, and your website url or e-mail address (if you’d like this to appear with your work).&#160; Also indicate whether or not your poems have been previously published and where.&#160; For translations, include poem in original language and documentation of granted reprint/translation rights.&#160; Attach up to 5 poems&#160;and&#160;a short bio, written in 3rd person, as a single Word Document&#160;(.doc or .rtf attachments only; no .docx).&#160; Expect a response within one month (occasionally longer during periods of heavy submissions).</p>
<p>Poems accepted for online publication will be considered for possible inclusion of an upcoming print anthology.</p>
<p>For more details, tips and suggestions, visit&#160; <a href="http://crowvoicejournal.blogspot.com/" type="external">CrowVoiceJournal.blogspot.com</a>and check the links on the top right. Thanks!</p> | 2,334 |
<p>Shares of Pegasystems (NASDAQ: PEGA) took a wild ride on Thursday. The maker of <a href="https://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/what-is-cloud-computing.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=d350b704-7e09-11e7-b6c0-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">cloud-based Opens a New Window.</a> customer-relations management software reported second-quarter results on Wednesday night, and investors didn't quite know what to do with them. Pegasystems shares rose as much as 2.7% early on, but then turned downward for a steady slide throughout the day. At the end of the day, the stock closed 10.8% below Wednesday's closing prices.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Second-quarter sales rose 5% year over year, landing at $198 million. Pegasystems' <a href="https://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/your-guide-to-gaap.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=d350b704-7e09-11e7-b6c0-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">GAAP Opens a New Window.</a> earnings per share more than doubled from $0.06 to $0.14, but adjusted earnings fell from $0.19 to $0.15 per share instead. That disconnect between GAAP and non-GAAP results probably played a large part in Pegasystems' erratic stock chart on Thursday. For what it's worth, analysts were looking for adjusted earnings of $0.17 per share on revenues near $206 million.</p>
<p>The unusual pair of earnings figures in the second quarter of 2016 should not have come as a surprise, because Pegasystems reported them a year ago. There were no large last-minute restatements of the year-ago period's results.</p>
<p>Non-GAAP adjustments to this report's earnings added back $17 million of non-cash costs related to stock-based compensation and amortization of intangible assets, balanced against a $16.2 million income tax benefit. A year ago, the tax effect was a much smaller $6.3 million.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Pegasystems is also knee deep in transition between two different software-sales models. A year ago, 63% of the company's deferred revenues came from sales of perpetual software licenses and only 37% accounted for long-term license deals and renewable cloud-service subscriptions. Today, that balance has nearly reached parity, with 45% subscriptions and 55% one-time license sales.</p>
<p>All things considered, Pegasystems remains an interesting growth stock on a solid financial foundation. Share prices have still nearly doubled year over year,&#160;even after Thursday's sharp drop. At least three analyst firms latched onto this drop to recommend buying shares at any weakness. That's not a bad idea.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than PegasystemsWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=a90f9c51-490b-4d09-b595-3e23ddc8df6e&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=d350b704-7e09-11e7-b6c0-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Pegasystems wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
<p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=a90f9c51-490b-4d09-b595-3e23ddc8df6e&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=d350b704-7e09-11e7-b6c0-0050569d4be0&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 August 1, 2017</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFZahrim/info.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=d350b704-7e09-11e7-b6c0-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Anders Bylund Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Pegasystems. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=d350b704-7e09-11e7-b6c0-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | Why Pegasystems Inc. Stock Fell 11% Today | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/08/11/why-pegasystems-inc-stock-fell-11-today.html | 2017-08-11 | 0right
| Why Pegasystems Inc. Stock Fell 11% Today
<p>Shares of Pegasystems (NASDAQ: PEGA) took a wild ride on Thursday. The maker of <a href="https://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/what-is-cloud-computing.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=d350b704-7e09-11e7-b6c0-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">cloud-based Opens a New Window.</a> customer-relations management software reported second-quarter results on Wednesday night, and investors didn't quite know what to do with them. Pegasystems shares rose as much as 2.7% early on, but then turned downward for a steady slide throughout the day. At the end of the day, the stock closed 10.8% below Wednesday's closing prices.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Second-quarter sales rose 5% year over year, landing at $198 million. Pegasystems' <a href="https://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/your-guide-to-gaap.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=d350b704-7e09-11e7-b6c0-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">GAAP Opens a New Window.</a> earnings per share more than doubled from $0.06 to $0.14, but adjusted earnings fell from $0.19 to $0.15 per share instead. That disconnect between GAAP and non-GAAP results probably played a large part in Pegasystems' erratic stock chart on Thursday. For what it's worth, analysts were looking for adjusted earnings of $0.17 per share on revenues near $206 million.</p>
<p>The unusual pair of earnings figures in the second quarter of 2016 should not have come as a surprise, because Pegasystems reported them a year ago. There were no large last-minute restatements of the year-ago period's results.</p>
<p>Non-GAAP adjustments to this report's earnings added back $17 million of non-cash costs related to stock-based compensation and amortization of intangible assets, balanced against a $16.2 million income tax benefit. A year ago, the tax effect was a much smaller $6.3 million.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Pegasystems is also knee deep in transition between two different software-sales models. A year ago, 63% of the company's deferred revenues came from sales of perpetual software licenses and only 37% accounted for long-term license deals and renewable cloud-service subscriptions. Today, that balance has nearly reached parity, with 45% subscriptions and 55% one-time license sales.</p>
<p>All things considered, Pegasystems remains an interesting growth stock on a solid financial foundation. Share prices have still nearly doubled year over year,&#160;even after Thursday's sharp drop. At least three analyst firms latched onto this drop to recommend buying shares at any weakness. That's not a bad idea.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than PegasystemsWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=a90f9c51-490b-4d09-b595-3e23ddc8df6e&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=d350b704-7e09-11e7-b6c0-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Pegasystems wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
<p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=a90f9c51-490b-4d09-b595-3e23ddc8df6e&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=d350b704-7e09-11e7-b6c0-0050569d4be0&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 August 1, 2017</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFZahrim/info.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=d350b704-7e09-11e7-b6c0-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Anders Bylund Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Pegasystems. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=d350b704-7e09-11e7-b6c0-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | 2,335 |
<p>Image source: Etsy.</p>
<p>What:Shares of the crafty e-commerce businessEtsy Inc.(NASDAQ: ETSY) surged today afterCitigroupinitiated coverage with a "buy" rating and a bullish analyst note. By 12:35 p.m. EDT, the stock had gained 14.1%.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>So what:Weighing in on the struggling e-commerce site, Citi said, "consensus revenue estimates are far too conservative," adding that the company's seller services business presents a particularly promising growth opportunity.</p>
<p>Citi also said the online marketplace has become the clear leader in the artisan segment of e-commerce, with 1.6 million active sellers and 25 million buyers in the last quarter.</p>
<p>Now what:Etsy does have a brand advantage when it comes to unique handcrafted products on the web, but the company has been unable to translate that into meaningful profits. E-commerce has proven to be a brutally competitive industry for competitors big and small due toAmazon.com'saggressive pricing and to the nature of the sector, which has a way of ironing out competitive advantages and differentiation.</p>
<p>Even after today's bounce, Etsy shares are still down more than 60% since its 2015 IPO. While the company has been growing revenue at a solid clip, delivering substantial profit may prove more difficult than investors hope.</p>
<p>Advertisement</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=2667&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/TMFHobo/info.aspx" type="external">Jeremy Bowman Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon.com. The Motley Fool owns shares of Etsy. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=isiedilnk018048" 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" 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" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | Why Etsy Inc. Shares Jumped Today | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/08/01/why-etsy-inc-shares-jumped-today.html | 2016-08-01 | 0right
| Why Etsy Inc. Shares Jumped Today
<p>Image source: Etsy.</p>
<p>What:Shares of the crafty e-commerce businessEtsy Inc.(NASDAQ: ETSY) surged today afterCitigroupinitiated coverage with a "buy" rating and a bullish analyst note. By 12:35 p.m. EDT, the stock had gained 14.1%.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>So what:Weighing in on the struggling e-commerce site, Citi said, "consensus revenue estimates are far too conservative," adding that the company's seller services business presents a particularly promising growth opportunity.</p>
<p>Citi also said the online marketplace has become the clear leader in the artisan segment of e-commerce, with 1.6 million active sellers and 25 million buyers in the last quarter.</p>
<p>Now what:Etsy does have a brand advantage when it comes to unique handcrafted products on the web, but the company has been unable to translate that into meaningful profits. E-commerce has proven to be a brutally competitive industry for competitors big and small due toAmazon.com'saggressive pricing and to the nature of the sector, which has a way of ironing out competitive advantages and differentiation.</p>
<p>Even after today's bounce, Etsy shares are still down more than 60% since its 2015 IPO. While the company has been growing revenue at a solid clip, delivering substantial profit may prove more difficult than investors hope.</p>
<p>Advertisement</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=2667&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/TMFHobo/info.aspx" type="external">Jeremy Bowman Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon.com. The Motley Fool owns shares of Etsy. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=isiedilnk018048" 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" 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" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | 2,336 |
<p>Getting <a href="https://www.fool.com/careers/2017/07/10/want-a-promotion-heres-what-you-need-to-do.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=5697684a-be58-11e7-8db8-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">promoted Opens a New Window.</a> at work is a milestone many of us hope to achieve. But what happens when that suddenly changes the dynamic between you and your colleagues?</p>
<p>It's a scenario that happens fairly often. One day, you and your coworkers are all on the same level, and the next day, you're suddenly in a position where you're going from their friend and confidant to their manager. It can be an uncomfortable situation at best, so here's how to handle the transition.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Being put in a position where you're suddenly managing your former peers can be uncomfortable for everyone involved -- so don't pretend it isn't. If you start acting like a manager without first acknowledging the awkwardness at hand, you may come across as insincere. Instead, admit that you're still adjusting to the change yourself, and ask for suggestions on how to make it smoother for everyone.</p>
<p>Having colleagues to confide in and gripe with at the office can make your workdays much more bearable. But once you become those folks' manager, you can no longer divulge your displeasure and commiserate on the same level. As a boss, you're responsible for not only managing your team members, but motivating them, too, so keep your personal complaining to a minimum.</p>
<p>Furthermore, while it's still OK for you to join those colleagues for lunch or happy hour, you'll need to be a little more guarded with those interactions, and set boundaries so that nobody ends up crossing a line. Here's an example: Say you and your colleagues would occasionally take turns playing hooky from work to attend concerts. If one of them is planning that, make it clear that you don't want to know about it (and avoid sharing similar information if you're the one who's pushing the rules). Figure out how to establish a comfortable level of information-sharing and interaction so that nobody is put in a bad position down the line.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>As a manager, you may be responsible for tasks like assigning project leaders and giving out <a href="https://www.fool.com/careers/2017/05/29/5-tips-for-negotiating-a-raise.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=5697684a-be58-11e7-8db8-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">raises Opens a New Window.</a>. And while you probably know, on a logical level, that those decisions should be based on merit alone, it can be difficult not to favor the people with whom you've established closer friendships. That's why if you come to manage your former peers, you'll need to work hard to put your personal feelings on the back burner, and instead focus on the facts.</p>
<p>Will some folks get offended if passed over for key opportunities? Maybe. But if you send the message that you're approaching your new role fairly, you're more likely to gain their respect.</p>
<p>In an ideal world, you'd be able to transition from colleague to manager with disrupting the social flow of weekend barbecues and trips to the lake. But the moment you <a href="https://www.fool.com/careers/2017/08/25/4-questions-to-ask-before-accepting-a-promotion.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=5697684a-be58-11e7-8db8-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">accept that promotion Opens a New Window.</a>, you'll need to also accept the possibility that your coworkers may come to no longer view you as a friend. After all, you're going to be the one in charge of their workload. It'll be on you to decide whether they can take time off, leave early, or push back deadlines. And while there's no reason you can't maintain a casual relationship with the same people you used to spend your free time with, you should also understand that being in a position of power hardly makes for smooth friendships -- like it or not.</p>
<p>Going from colleague to boss can be challenging for everyone involved. Be mindful of that fact, and be patient as you all work on getting used to your new circumstances. With any luck, it'll be a career move that serves you well while allowing you to maintain a good, albeit different, relationship with the people who used to be your peers.</p>
<p>The $16,122 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 $16,122 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.&#160; <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;referring_guid=5697684a-be58-11e7-8db8-0050569d32b9&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>The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=5697684a-be58-11e7-8db8-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | What to Do When You're Promoted -- and Put in Charge of Your Former Peers | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/11/05/what-to-do-when-youre-promoted-and-put-in-charge-your-former-peers.html | 2017-11-05 | 0right
| What to Do When You're Promoted -- and Put in Charge of Your Former Peers
<p>Getting <a href="https://www.fool.com/careers/2017/07/10/want-a-promotion-heres-what-you-need-to-do.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=5697684a-be58-11e7-8db8-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">promoted Opens a New Window.</a> at work is a milestone many of us hope to achieve. But what happens when that suddenly changes the dynamic between you and your colleagues?</p>
<p>It's a scenario that happens fairly often. One day, you and your coworkers are all on the same level, and the next day, you're suddenly in a position where you're going from their friend and confidant to their manager. It can be an uncomfortable situation at best, so here's how to handle the transition.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Being put in a position where you're suddenly managing your former peers can be uncomfortable for everyone involved -- so don't pretend it isn't. If you start acting like a manager without first acknowledging the awkwardness at hand, you may come across as insincere. Instead, admit that you're still adjusting to the change yourself, and ask for suggestions on how to make it smoother for everyone.</p>
<p>Having colleagues to confide in and gripe with at the office can make your workdays much more bearable. But once you become those folks' manager, you can no longer divulge your displeasure and commiserate on the same level. As a boss, you're responsible for not only managing your team members, but motivating them, too, so keep your personal complaining to a minimum.</p>
<p>Furthermore, while it's still OK for you to join those colleagues for lunch or happy hour, you'll need to be a little more guarded with those interactions, and set boundaries so that nobody ends up crossing a line. Here's an example: Say you and your colleagues would occasionally take turns playing hooky from work to attend concerts. If one of them is planning that, make it clear that you don't want to know about it (and avoid sharing similar information if you're the one who's pushing the rules). Figure out how to establish a comfortable level of information-sharing and interaction so that nobody is put in a bad position down the line.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>As a manager, you may be responsible for tasks like assigning project leaders and giving out <a href="https://www.fool.com/careers/2017/05/29/5-tips-for-negotiating-a-raise.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=5697684a-be58-11e7-8db8-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">raises Opens a New Window.</a>. And while you probably know, on a logical level, that those decisions should be based on merit alone, it can be difficult not to favor the people with whom you've established closer friendships. That's why if you come to manage your former peers, you'll need to work hard to put your personal feelings on the back burner, and instead focus on the facts.</p>
<p>Will some folks get offended if passed over for key opportunities? Maybe. But if you send the message that you're approaching your new role fairly, you're more likely to gain their respect.</p>
<p>In an ideal world, you'd be able to transition from colleague to manager with disrupting the social flow of weekend barbecues and trips to the lake. But the moment you <a href="https://www.fool.com/careers/2017/08/25/4-questions-to-ask-before-accepting-a-promotion.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=5697684a-be58-11e7-8db8-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">accept that promotion Opens a New Window.</a>, you'll need to also accept the possibility that your coworkers may come to no longer view you as a friend. After all, you're going to be the one in charge of their workload. It'll be on you to decide whether they can take time off, leave early, or push back deadlines. And while there's no reason you can't maintain a casual relationship with the same people you used to spend your free time with, you should also understand that being in a position of power hardly makes for smooth friendships -- like it or not.</p>
<p>Going from colleague to boss can be challenging for everyone involved. Be mindful of that fact, and be patient as you all work on getting used to your new circumstances. With any luck, it'll be a career move that serves you well while allowing you to maintain a good, albeit different, relationship with the people who used to be your peers.</p>
<p>The $16,122 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 $16,122 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.&#160; <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;referring_guid=5697684a-be58-11e7-8db8-0050569d32b9&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>The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=5697684a-be58-11e7-8db8-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | 2,337 |
<p>Past denial and anger, we are now in the “acceptance” stage of grief when it comes to the senseless killings that occur in the U.S. far too often. As in, let’s accept this terrible thing that most developed countries don’t experience as an inevitable fact of American life and stop trying to fix it.</p>
<p>At least, that’s what the conservative media, such as Fox News, wants. And why even bother with the pesky task of reporting news such as the recent Isla Vista shootings? Instead, Stewart explains, you can use this (laugh-out-loud funny) kit of generic clips courtesy of “The Daily Show” that does everything the media do now anyway: Deny the incident has anything to do with guns, blame the media or “dubstep” or something, and then move on to more important news such as, you know, Justin Bieber and animals doing cute things.</p>
<p><a href="http://thedailyshow.cc.com/" type="external">The Daily Show</a>Get More: <a href="http://thedailyshow.cc.com/full-episodes/" type="external">Daily Show Full Episodes</a>, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/thedailyshow" type="external">The Daily Show on Facebook</a>, <a href="http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos" type="external">Daily Show Video Archive</a></p>
<p>—Posted by <a href="" type="internal">Natasha Hakimi Zapata</a></p>
<p /> | Jon Stewart: America Has Reached 'Breakthrough' in the Way That We Deal With Mass Shootings | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/jon-stewart-america-has-reached-breakthrough-in-the-way-that-we-deal-with-mass-shootings/ | 2014-06-04 | 4left
| Jon Stewart: America Has Reached 'Breakthrough' in the Way That We Deal With Mass Shootings
<p>Past denial and anger, we are now in the “acceptance” stage of grief when it comes to the senseless killings that occur in the U.S. far too often. As in, let’s accept this terrible thing that most developed countries don’t experience as an inevitable fact of American life and stop trying to fix it.</p>
<p>At least, that’s what the conservative media, such as Fox News, wants. And why even bother with the pesky task of reporting news such as the recent Isla Vista shootings? Instead, Stewart explains, you can use this (laugh-out-loud funny) kit of generic clips courtesy of “The Daily Show” that does everything the media do now anyway: Deny the incident has anything to do with guns, blame the media or “dubstep” or something, and then move on to more important news such as, you know, Justin Bieber and animals doing cute things.</p>
<p><a href="http://thedailyshow.cc.com/" type="external">The Daily Show</a>Get More: <a href="http://thedailyshow.cc.com/full-episodes/" type="external">Daily Show Full Episodes</a>, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/thedailyshow" type="external">The Daily Show on Facebook</a>, <a href="http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos" type="external">Daily Show Video Archive</a></p>
<p>—Posted by <a href="" type="internal">Natasha Hakimi Zapata</a></p>
<p /> | 2,338 |
<p>WASHINGTON, DC — The European Union seems to be going out of its way to shed any pretext of neutrality on the Israel-Palestinian peace process.</p>
<p>The latest affront is new guidelines from the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU. The measure would restrict funding, grants and overall cooperation by the EU with any Israeli institutions that operate in the West Bank and East Jerusalem that are beyond the lines established in the Six-Day War in 1967.</p>
<p>This ban impacts territories that should be discussed at negotiations between the two sides and is an attempt by the EU to pressure Israel to keep the Jewish state within its pre-1967 borders.</p>
<p>Why now? Why would the EU go to such lengths to undermine recent movement in the peace talks?</p>
<p>US Secretary of State John Kerry has been back and forth to the region six times in the last few months trying to restart the stalled process. On July 19, the two sides agreed to meet to talk about the parameters for resuming actual peace talks. Though incremental, the attention greeting this step demonstrates the fundamental element in the entire peace process — two sides sitting down together.</p>
<p>If Kerry’s efforts are to succeed, then prejudging the outcome by the EU can only stiffen the backs of the Palestinians or lead them to believe they can talk to Kerry but always go to what has effectively become an “EU court of appeals” to make their case and change the outcome.</p>
<p>Even if Kerry is able to bring the Palestinians to the actual negotiating table, is the EU capable of an objective role, given its track record?</p>
<p>This EU effort undercuts his work, and leaves Israel out of the conversation entirely. The EU’s guidelines punish Israel and reward the Palestinians. We’ve seen a similar approach at the United Nations, where the international community continually holds Israel up to opprobrium and is not really interested in giving it a say in its future security, borders or other points that should be the subject of negotiation and compromise.</p>
<p>When the Palestinians know others will do the heavy lifting for them, they are much less likely to talk seriously with Israel. The EU and United Nations’ efforts provide a way for the Palestinians to continue to avoid confronting the notion of compromise with Israel. If they feel they can get what they want, without having to negotiate over it, it lessens their commitment to cooperate with Israel.</p>
<p>Seemingly, the EU and the United Nations have become spokesmen for the Palestinians—often representing their cause at the expense of pressing them to negotiate and compromise. This EU involvement raises Palestinian expectations to unreasonable and impossible levels—leaving them to believe that their demands will simply be endorsed in the court of global public opinion.</p>
<p>If the narrative is being laid out by the EU and the Palestinians, where does that leave Israel?</p>
<p>This new ruling defining how the Europeans are favoring the Palestinians will surely lessen Israeli confidence at a time when Israel’s neighborhood is torn by chaos, disarray and uncertainty. This is precisely the wrong impression to leave with Israel, which now faces increasing instability on its borders and is being asked to take ever-greater risks as a result of it.</p>
<p>If the EU is serious about its responsibilities as a member of the Quartet - together with the United States, Russia and the United Nations - it would be encouraging the Palestinians to move to the negotiating table, compromise and reach an agreement, rather than exacerbating the effort to get there.</p>
<p>On July 21, the EU designated the “military wing” of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, but determined that Hezbollah has a separate “political” section. This revelation underscored the unevenness of the EU’s efforts and approach when dealing with the Middle East situation.</p>
<p>Though acknowledging Hezbollah’s terrorist activities is a significant step, any talk of a distinction between Hezbollah’s “military” and “political” sides is contrived. With this dual—and misguided—designation, Hezbollah will continue its terror business as usual. The EU should be willing to do more.</p>
<p>The Venice Declaration of 1980 was an early expression of European preferences in this contentious dispute. Nine European nations concluded they needed to elevate the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)—known for its terrorist activity—as a legitimate entity, while suggesting limits be placed on Israel’s security needs. This declaration took place at the height of the PLO’s central role in the control of a terrorist state-within-a-state in Lebanon.</p>
<p>The new EU guidelines continue in that tradition.</p>
<p>Brussels tips its hand to its true agenda by singling out for boycott specific non-governmental organizations, and also describing Gaza on a list of “territories occupied by Israel since June 1967,” despite the fact that Israel withdrew all presence from Gaza in 2005. These aspects of the document add evidence to the folly that the guidelines are balanced. The EU bias is clear.</p>
<p>A two-state solution can only be achieved when Israel and the Palestinians sit together to negotiate it, without preconditions. This move by the EU effectively eliminates that step and, in the process, annuls Israel’s right to have a say in its own future.</p>
<p>The EU should step back and re-evaluate its approach. It needs to decide whether it wants to be a mouthpiece for one side or a body which supports a peace process that has any chance of succeeding.</p>
<p>Daniel S. Mariaschin is executive vice president of B’nai B’rith International, an organization that is pro-Israeli.</p>
<p>Editor's note: This post has been edited from a previous version. Under international law, Israel's occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem is illegal; Israel disputes this.</p> | EU shedding impartiality before Israel-Palestine peace talks begin | false | https://pri.org/stories/2013-07-26/eu-shedding-impartiality-israel-palestine-peace-talks-begin | 2013-07-26 | 3left-center
| EU shedding impartiality before Israel-Palestine peace talks begin
<p>WASHINGTON, DC — The European Union seems to be going out of its way to shed any pretext of neutrality on the Israel-Palestinian peace process.</p>
<p>The latest affront is new guidelines from the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU. The measure would restrict funding, grants and overall cooperation by the EU with any Israeli institutions that operate in the West Bank and East Jerusalem that are beyond the lines established in the Six-Day War in 1967.</p>
<p>This ban impacts territories that should be discussed at negotiations between the two sides and is an attempt by the EU to pressure Israel to keep the Jewish state within its pre-1967 borders.</p>
<p>Why now? Why would the EU go to such lengths to undermine recent movement in the peace talks?</p>
<p>US Secretary of State John Kerry has been back and forth to the region six times in the last few months trying to restart the stalled process. On July 19, the two sides agreed to meet to talk about the parameters for resuming actual peace talks. Though incremental, the attention greeting this step demonstrates the fundamental element in the entire peace process — two sides sitting down together.</p>
<p>If Kerry’s efforts are to succeed, then prejudging the outcome by the EU can only stiffen the backs of the Palestinians or lead them to believe they can talk to Kerry but always go to what has effectively become an “EU court of appeals” to make their case and change the outcome.</p>
<p>Even if Kerry is able to bring the Palestinians to the actual negotiating table, is the EU capable of an objective role, given its track record?</p>
<p>This EU effort undercuts his work, and leaves Israel out of the conversation entirely. The EU’s guidelines punish Israel and reward the Palestinians. We’ve seen a similar approach at the United Nations, where the international community continually holds Israel up to opprobrium and is not really interested in giving it a say in its future security, borders or other points that should be the subject of negotiation and compromise.</p>
<p>When the Palestinians know others will do the heavy lifting for them, they are much less likely to talk seriously with Israel. The EU and United Nations’ efforts provide a way for the Palestinians to continue to avoid confronting the notion of compromise with Israel. If they feel they can get what they want, without having to negotiate over it, it lessens their commitment to cooperate with Israel.</p>
<p>Seemingly, the EU and the United Nations have become spokesmen for the Palestinians—often representing their cause at the expense of pressing them to negotiate and compromise. This EU involvement raises Palestinian expectations to unreasonable and impossible levels—leaving them to believe that their demands will simply be endorsed in the court of global public opinion.</p>
<p>If the narrative is being laid out by the EU and the Palestinians, where does that leave Israel?</p>
<p>This new ruling defining how the Europeans are favoring the Palestinians will surely lessen Israeli confidence at a time when Israel’s neighborhood is torn by chaos, disarray and uncertainty. This is precisely the wrong impression to leave with Israel, which now faces increasing instability on its borders and is being asked to take ever-greater risks as a result of it.</p>
<p>If the EU is serious about its responsibilities as a member of the Quartet - together with the United States, Russia and the United Nations - it would be encouraging the Palestinians to move to the negotiating table, compromise and reach an agreement, rather than exacerbating the effort to get there.</p>
<p>On July 21, the EU designated the “military wing” of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, but determined that Hezbollah has a separate “political” section. This revelation underscored the unevenness of the EU’s efforts and approach when dealing with the Middle East situation.</p>
<p>Though acknowledging Hezbollah’s terrorist activities is a significant step, any talk of a distinction between Hezbollah’s “military” and “political” sides is contrived. With this dual—and misguided—designation, Hezbollah will continue its terror business as usual. The EU should be willing to do more.</p>
<p>The Venice Declaration of 1980 was an early expression of European preferences in this contentious dispute. Nine European nations concluded they needed to elevate the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)—known for its terrorist activity—as a legitimate entity, while suggesting limits be placed on Israel’s security needs. This declaration took place at the height of the PLO’s central role in the control of a terrorist state-within-a-state in Lebanon.</p>
<p>The new EU guidelines continue in that tradition.</p>
<p>Brussels tips its hand to its true agenda by singling out for boycott specific non-governmental organizations, and also describing Gaza on a list of “territories occupied by Israel since June 1967,” despite the fact that Israel withdrew all presence from Gaza in 2005. These aspects of the document add evidence to the folly that the guidelines are balanced. The EU bias is clear.</p>
<p>A two-state solution can only be achieved when Israel and the Palestinians sit together to negotiate it, without preconditions. This move by the EU effectively eliminates that step and, in the process, annuls Israel’s right to have a say in its own future.</p>
<p>The EU should step back and re-evaluate its approach. It needs to decide whether it wants to be a mouthpiece for one side or a body which supports a peace process that has any chance of succeeding.</p>
<p>Daniel S. Mariaschin is executive vice president of B’nai B’rith International, an organization that is pro-Israeli.</p>
<p>Editor's note: This post has been edited from a previous version. Under international law, Israel's occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem is illegal; Israel disputes this.</p> | 2,339 |
<p>Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman and MSNBC host Joe Scarborough are taking their feud over the country’s massive debt and lackluster economy to television. The two are scheduled to square off on “Charlie Rose” on Monday night.</p>
<p>Talking Points Memo:</p>
<p>Scarborough, a conservative deficit hawk, has been involved in a number of public debates with the liberal Krugman, primarily on topics related to government spending. Last month, Scarborough asserted on air that Krugman is as extreme on the debt as National Rifle Association chief Wayne LaPierre is on issues related to guns.</p>
<p>The episode of “Charlie Rose” will be taped Monday and will air the same day at 11 p.m. ET on WNET in New York City, WETA and WHUT in Washington, D.C., as well as more than 200 other PBS affiliates, according to Politico.</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/krugman-scarborough-to-go-toe-to-toe-on" type="external">Read more</a></p>
<p>The pair clashed last month on Scarborough’s MSNBC program “Morning Joe,” which you can watch below.</p>
<p>— Posted by <a href="" type="internal">Tracy Bloom</a>.</p> | Scarborough, Krugman to Face Off on 'Charlie Rose' | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/scarborough-krugman-to-face-off-on-charlie-rose/ | 2013-03-05 | 4left
| Scarborough, Krugman to Face Off on 'Charlie Rose'
<p>Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman and MSNBC host Joe Scarborough are taking their feud over the country’s massive debt and lackluster economy to television. The two are scheduled to square off on “Charlie Rose” on Monday night.</p>
<p>Talking Points Memo:</p>
<p>Scarborough, a conservative deficit hawk, has been involved in a number of public debates with the liberal Krugman, primarily on topics related to government spending. Last month, Scarborough asserted on air that Krugman is as extreme on the debt as National Rifle Association chief Wayne LaPierre is on issues related to guns.</p>
<p>The episode of “Charlie Rose” will be taped Monday and will air the same day at 11 p.m. ET on WNET in New York City, WETA and WHUT in Washington, D.C., as well as more than 200 other PBS affiliates, according to Politico.</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/krugman-scarborough-to-go-toe-to-toe-on" type="external">Read more</a></p>
<p>The pair clashed last month on Scarborough’s MSNBC program “Morning Joe,” which you can watch below.</p>
<p>— Posted by <a href="" type="internal">Tracy Bloom</a>.</p> | 2,340 |
<p>Xerox Corp. said Friday it had net income of $155 million, or 15 cents a share, in the second quarter, up from $12 million, or 1 cent a share, in the year-earlier period. Excluding one-time charges, EPS came to 30 cents, ahead of the FactSet consensus of 25 cents. Revenue fell 4% to $4.4 billion, matching the FactSet consensus. "Our services segment delivered substantial margin expansion and continued revenue growth in document outsourcing," Chief Executive Ursula Burns said in a statement. "Document technology revenue declines moderated and margin improved driven by cost and productivity initiatives." The company said it is making progress with its plan to separate into two publicly traded companies, and expects the costs of the split to come to $175 million to $200 million pretax, down from earlier estimate of $200 million to $250 million. The company is expecting third=quarter adjusted EPS of 26 cents to 28 cents a share, compared with the current FactSet consensus of 28 cents. Shares were not yet active in premarket trade, but are down 7% in the year so far, while the S&amp;P 500 has gained 6%.</p>
<p>Copyright © 2016 MarketWatch, Inc.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p> | Xerox Profit Tops Estimates, On Track With Plan To Split In Two | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/07/29/xerox-profit-tops-estimates-on-track-with-plan-to-split-in-two.html | 2016-07-29 | 0right
| Xerox Profit Tops Estimates, On Track With Plan To Split In Two
<p>Xerox Corp. said Friday it had net income of $155 million, or 15 cents a share, in the second quarter, up from $12 million, or 1 cent a share, in the year-earlier period. Excluding one-time charges, EPS came to 30 cents, ahead of the FactSet consensus of 25 cents. Revenue fell 4% to $4.4 billion, matching the FactSet consensus. "Our services segment delivered substantial margin expansion and continued revenue growth in document outsourcing," Chief Executive Ursula Burns said in a statement. "Document technology revenue declines moderated and margin improved driven by cost and productivity initiatives." The company said it is making progress with its plan to separate into two publicly traded companies, and expects the costs of the split to come to $175 million to $200 million pretax, down from earlier estimate of $200 million to $250 million. The company is expecting third=quarter adjusted EPS of 26 cents to 28 cents a share, compared with the current FactSet consensus of 28 cents. Shares were not yet active in premarket trade, but are down 7% in the year so far, while the S&amp;P 500 has gained 6%.</p>
<p>Copyright © 2016 MarketWatch, Inc.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p> | 2,341 |
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<p>As the summer wedding season gets underway, there's always the big question on the bride's and groom's minds: who will be footing more of the bill?</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>New research from <a href="https://www.circle.com/en" type="external">Circle Opens a New Window.</a>, a social mobile payments app, shows that over half of millennials expect to pay for their weddings, and not tap into mom and dad's bank. In turn, the majority of millennial parents believe that the wedding responsibility lies on the bride's family.</p>
<p>But contrary to their boomer parents, millennials are three times more likely to feel comfortable with the groom's family pitching in, according to Circle.</p>
<p>Across the country, a quarter of millennials in the northeast believe couples should pay for their weddings, while only 12% of millennials in the southwest believe that this is the case.</p>
<p>And instead of doing boxed gifts, approximately 60% of the millennials surveyed felt it was appropriate to give and request cash gifts for the wedding.</p> | Should the Groom's Family Pay For the Wedding? | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2016/06/17/should-grooms-family-pay-for-wedding.html | 2016-06-17 | 0right
| Should the Groom's Family Pay For the Wedding?
<p />
<p>As the summer wedding season gets underway, there's always the big question on the bride's and groom's minds: who will be footing more of the bill?</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>New research from <a href="https://www.circle.com/en" type="external">Circle Opens a New Window.</a>, a social mobile payments app, shows that over half of millennials expect to pay for their weddings, and not tap into mom and dad's bank. In turn, the majority of millennial parents believe that the wedding responsibility lies on the bride's family.</p>
<p>But contrary to their boomer parents, millennials are three times more likely to feel comfortable with the groom's family pitching in, according to Circle.</p>
<p>Across the country, a quarter of millennials in the northeast believe couples should pay for their weddings, while only 12% of millennials in the southwest believe that this is the case.</p>
<p>And instead of doing boxed gifts, approximately 60% of the millennials surveyed felt it was appropriate to give and request cash gifts for the wedding.</p> | 2,342 |
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<p>PHOENIX - An official appointed by a judge to monitor Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's office in a racial profiling case says the police agency is unacceptability slow in carrying out court-ordered changes aimed at fixing constitutional problems with some its traffic stops.</p>
<p>Court monitor Robert Warshaw says in a report released this week that the agency lags behind in revamping training for its supervisors and setting up an alert system to help spot problematic behavior by officers.</p>
<p>The sheriff's office, which is more than two years into the court-ordered overhaul, was found to be 61 percent in compliance in creating new policies and 38 percent in compliance in carrying out operational changes.</p>
<p>Those are modest increases from the previous quarter.</p>
<p>Messages left for Arpaio attorney John Masterson weren't immediately returned Thursday.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Jacques Billeaud at twitter.com/jacquesbilleaud. His work can be found at <a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/content/jacques-billeaud" type="external">http://bigstory.ap.org/content/jacques-billeaud</a> .</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Report: Arpaio is slow in making changes in profiling case | false | https://abqjournal.com/761156/report-arpaio-is-slow-in-making-changes-in-profiling-case.html | 2least
| Report: Arpaio is slow in making changes in profiling case
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<p>PHOENIX - An official appointed by a judge to monitor Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's office in a racial profiling case says the police agency is unacceptability slow in carrying out court-ordered changes aimed at fixing constitutional problems with some its traffic stops.</p>
<p>Court monitor Robert Warshaw says in a report released this week that the agency lags behind in revamping training for its supervisors and setting up an alert system to help spot problematic behavior by officers.</p>
<p>The sheriff's office, which is more than two years into the court-ordered overhaul, was found to be 61 percent in compliance in creating new policies and 38 percent in compliance in carrying out operational changes.</p>
<p>Those are modest increases from the previous quarter.</p>
<p>Messages left for Arpaio attorney John Masterson weren't immediately returned Thursday.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Jacques Billeaud at twitter.com/jacquesbilleaud. His work can be found at <a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/content/jacques-billeaud" type="external">http://bigstory.ap.org/content/jacques-billeaud</a> .</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | 2,343 |
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<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Heading into 2016, you would have been hard-pressed to find a Chinese stock with more momentum and positive sentiment than Ctrip.com . The country's largest online travel agency (OTA) had finally won out over rivals, benefiting from partnership agreements with its chief rivals, eLongand Qunar .</p>
<p>Not only that, but the company continued to gain market share and prove that it truly was top dog. That helps explain why the stock advanced 170% between December 2014 and late 2015. But when the company gave its initial outlook of revenue growth of 75% to 80% for the first quarter of 2016, it raised eyebrows on Wall Street.</p>
<p>Of course, any company showing that level of growth would consider itself lucky. But Ctrip said it was including the revenue it believed it would gain from its tie-up with Qunar. Analysts estimated that this meant organic growth would be between 30% and 40% -- a far cry from where it had been.</p>
<p>But with the company's earnings release late Wednesday evening, Wall Street can breathe a qualified sigh of relief.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>For the quarter ending March 31, Ctrip saw net revenue of $648 million, well above the midpoint of the guidance that it provided of $620 million. Management broke down all four of the major contributing categories.</p>
<p>Data source: Ctrip.com investor relations. Does not include "other" sources of revenue.</p>
<p>Importantly, while the company's release made it clear that the (essential) acquisition of Qunar helped results, there was also organic growth in all four major categories. That was very important for investors to hear.</p>
<p>During the conference call, management said that two nascent growth drivers performed very well: Train ticketing volume grew more than 300%, while bus ticketing had breakeven profitability for the quarter -- the first time that has happened.</p>
<p>I stated in my preview of earnings that watching gross margins would be key. For a long time, there was a brutal race to the bottom among Chinese OTAs looking to grab market share. Now that consolidation has set in, Ctrip -- the theory goes -- should be able to enjoy better gross margins.</p>
<p>Indeed, that was the case, as gross margins expanded 330 basis points year over year, to 72.8%, from 69.5%. That's also very good news for investors. Management said pricing has become more rational, and the amount of couponing that Ctrip has participated in has lessened significantly.</p>
<p>Heading into the second quarter, management now expects Ctrip to show revenue growth of between 70% and 75%. Again, it's very difficult to tell how much of this is organic versus the acquisition of Qunar -- as both companies share inventory.</p>
<p>James Liang, co-founder, CEO, and chairman of the board, said, "Going forward, we plan to devote more resources to innovation and outbound travel to build a solid foundation for our sustainable long-term growth."</p>
<p>Overall, that means the profitability will take a hit. But over the long run, this is definitely the right move. Ctrip is the undisputed leader among Chinese OTAs. While gross margins continue expanding because of a maturation of the industry, Ctrip needs to leverage both its market position and its $3.2 billion in cash, equivalents, restricted cash, and short-term investments. That will help build a moat around the company that will be very difficult for competitors to match.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/06/17/ctripcom-international-ltd-adr-calms-investors-ner.aspx" type="external">Ctrip.com International, Ltd. (ADR) Calms Investors' Nerves Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFCheesehead/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Brian Stoffel Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Ctrip.com International. The Motley Fool recommends Ctrip.com International. 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> | Ctrip.com International, Ltd. (ADR) Calms Investors' Nerves | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/06/17/ctripcom-international-ltd-adr-calms-investors-nerves.html | 2016-06-17 | 0right
| Ctrip.com International, Ltd. (ADR) Calms Investors' Nerves
<p />
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Heading into 2016, you would have been hard-pressed to find a Chinese stock with more momentum and positive sentiment than Ctrip.com . The country's largest online travel agency (OTA) had finally won out over rivals, benefiting from partnership agreements with its chief rivals, eLongand Qunar .</p>
<p>Not only that, but the company continued to gain market share and prove that it truly was top dog. That helps explain why the stock advanced 170% between December 2014 and late 2015. But when the company gave its initial outlook of revenue growth of 75% to 80% for the first quarter of 2016, it raised eyebrows on Wall Street.</p>
<p>Of course, any company showing that level of growth would consider itself lucky. But Ctrip said it was including the revenue it believed it would gain from its tie-up with Qunar. Analysts estimated that this meant organic growth would be between 30% and 40% -- a far cry from where it had been.</p>
<p>But with the company's earnings release late Wednesday evening, Wall Street can breathe a qualified sigh of relief.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>For the quarter ending March 31, Ctrip saw net revenue of $648 million, well above the midpoint of the guidance that it provided of $620 million. Management broke down all four of the major contributing categories.</p>
<p>Data source: Ctrip.com investor relations. Does not include "other" sources of revenue.</p>
<p>Importantly, while the company's release made it clear that the (essential) acquisition of Qunar helped results, there was also organic growth in all four major categories. That was very important for investors to hear.</p>
<p>During the conference call, management said that two nascent growth drivers performed very well: Train ticketing volume grew more than 300%, while bus ticketing had breakeven profitability for the quarter -- the first time that has happened.</p>
<p>I stated in my preview of earnings that watching gross margins would be key. For a long time, there was a brutal race to the bottom among Chinese OTAs looking to grab market share. Now that consolidation has set in, Ctrip -- the theory goes -- should be able to enjoy better gross margins.</p>
<p>Indeed, that was the case, as gross margins expanded 330 basis points year over year, to 72.8%, from 69.5%. That's also very good news for investors. Management said pricing has become more rational, and the amount of couponing that Ctrip has participated in has lessened significantly.</p>
<p>Heading into the second quarter, management now expects Ctrip to show revenue growth of between 70% and 75%. Again, it's very difficult to tell how much of this is organic versus the acquisition of Qunar -- as both companies share inventory.</p>
<p>James Liang, co-founder, CEO, and chairman of the board, said, "Going forward, we plan to devote more resources to innovation and outbound travel to build a solid foundation for our sustainable long-term growth."</p>
<p>Overall, that means the profitability will take a hit. But over the long run, this is definitely the right move. Ctrip is the undisputed leader among Chinese OTAs. While gross margins continue expanding because of a maturation of the industry, Ctrip needs to leverage both its market position and its $3.2 billion in cash, equivalents, restricted cash, and short-term investments. That will help build a moat around the company that will be very difficult for competitors to match.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/06/17/ctripcom-international-ltd-adr-calms-investors-ner.aspx" type="external">Ctrip.com International, Ltd. (ADR) Calms Investors' Nerves Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFCheesehead/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Brian Stoffel Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Ctrip.com International. The Motley Fool recommends Ctrip.com International. 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> | 2,344 |
<p>“Empire” and “Modern Family” were broadcast’s top offerings Wednesday on a night when many shows saw ratings decline from their season premieres a week earlier.</p>
<p>Fox drama “Empire” suffered the biggest drop-off, down half a ratings point from a week earlier with a 1.9 in the 18-49 demo, according to Nielsen live-plus-same day numbers — down 21%. ABC’s “Modern Family” also drew a 1.9, down two tenths of a point from a week ago. It was the first time original episodes of the two shows have tied to win the night, which “Empire” in its first three seasons routinely won.</p>
<p>No show on broadcast matched or exceeded its performance from last week. “Star” followed “Empire” with a 1.4, down 22%. “The Goldbergs” led off the night for ABC with a 1.6. “Speechless” followed with a 1.3. Elsewhere on the Alphabet, “American Housewife” drew a 1.4 and “Designated Survivor” fell to a series-low 0.9.</p>
<p>“Survivor” on CBS averaged a 1.6 followed by “SEAL Team” with a 1.2. Although the freshman military drama shed a quarter of its lead-in’s demo rating, it was the most watched program of the night with 8.4 million viewers. “Criminal Minds” drew a 1.1 in the demo.</p>
<p>NBC’s “The Blacklist” averaged a 1.0, followed by “Law &amp; Order: SVU” at 1.3 and “Chicago PD” at 1.2.</p>
<p>Fox was the night’s top network with a 1.7 demo rating and 6 share. ABC (1.4/), CBS (1.3/5), and NBC (1.2/5) followed close after. The CW aired reruns.</p>
<p /> | TV Ratings: ‘Empire,’ ‘Modern Family’ Tie to Lead Night | false | https://newsline.com/tv-ratings-empire-modern-family-tie-to-lead-night/ | 2017-10-05 | 1right-center
| TV Ratings: ‘Empire,’ ‘Modern Family’ Tie to Lead Night
<p>“Empire” and “Modern Family” were broadcast’s top offerings Wednesday on a night when many shows saw ratings decline from their season premieres a week earlier.</p>
<p>Fox drama “Empire” suffered the biggest drop-off, down half a ratings point from a week earlier with a 1.9 in the 18-49 demo, according to Nielsen live-plus-same day numbers — down 21%. ABC’s “Modern Family” also drew a 1.9, down two tenths of a point from a week ago. It was the first time original episodes of the two shows have tied to win the night, which “Empire” in its first three seasons routinely won.</p>
<p>No show on broadcast matched or exceeded its performance from last week. “Star” followed “Empire” with a 1.4, down 22%. “The Goldbergs” led off the night for ABC with a 1.6. “Speechless” followed with a 1.3. Elsewhere on the Alphabet, “American Housewife” drew a 1.4 and “Designated Survivor” fell to a series-low 0.9.</p>
<p>“Survivor” on CBS averaged a 1.6 followed by “SEAL Team” with a 1.2. Although the freshman military drama shed a quarter of its lead-in’s demo rating, it was the most watched program of the night with 8.4 million viewers. “Criminal Minds” drew a 1.1 in the demo.</p>
<p>NBC’s “The Blacklist” averaged a 1.0, followed by “Law &amp; Order: SVU” at 1.3 and “Chicago PD” at 1.2.</p>
<p>Fox was the night’s top network with a 1.7 demo rating and 6 share. ABC (1.4/), CBS (1.3/5), and NBC (1.2/5) followed close after. The CW aired reruns.</p>
<p /> | 2,345 |
<p>Fallujah.</p>
<p>In the deadliest single attack on the United States army since it invaded Iraq, guerrillas shot down a Chinook helicopter with a missile yesterday killing 15 and wounding 21 American servicemen. The US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, called the incident a national tragedy for Americans.</p>
<p>The Chinook, which came down in a field near Fallujah, west of Baghdad, was one of two 84-foot long transport helicopters attacked shortly after they took off from Habbaniyah air base at about 9am yesterday on a routine flight. They were ferrying more than 50 soldiers on a rest break from the 82nd Airborne Division to a military base at Baghdad International airport. As the helicopters passed over the village of Buisa, set in rich farmland filled with cattle and crops, guerrillas hidden in a date grove fired two shoulder-launched ground-to-air missiles, probably from a Russian heat-seeking SA-7 known as the Strella. There are many of them in Iraq and they were formerly used by the Iraqi army.</p>
<p>Daoud Suleiman, a farmer working among the date palms said: “I saw two helicopters pass overhead when two missiles were fired at them. One missed and the other hit a helicopter at the rear end and flames starting coming out of it before it crashed into a field. I saw the helicopter try to stay in the air after it was hit but then it got close to the ground and I saw some soldiers jump out.”</p>
<p>He said the helicopter that was not hit fired a flare to divert the missile. Minutes after the attack, American Black Hawk helicopters swarmed over the scene to rush survivors to hospital while soldiers secured the site, ordering journalists to leave and confiscating film.</p>
<p>Villagers and local farmers showed their delight by waving pieces of the smoking wreckage. The bloodiest single incident for American forces since the beginning of the war, and the worst day of casualties since the official end of the combat phase of the war as declared by President George Bush six months ago, eclipsed efforts by the White House to counter the impression that Iraq is becoming a quagmire for America. “Clearly it is a tragic day,” Mr Rumsfeld said.</p>
<p>Yesterday’s attack capped an eight-day surge in violence in which 27 American soldiers have died. Fallujah, a market town on the road to Jordan, is in the Sunni Muslim heartland, an area in which there have been more attacks on troops than anywhere else in Iraq. “Fallujah will always be a cemetery for the Americans,” reads a slogan on a wall in the main street not far from the mayor’s office, part of which was set on fire over the weekend.</p>
<p>In a separate action by guerrillas in Fallujah yesterday, two American civilian contractors died. The remains of their truck, which had been blown up by a rocket or bomb, could be seen near a bridge over the Euphrates. Eye witnesses said that they saw four armed Americans inside being taken away on stretchers. And a soldier was also killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad. Mr Rumsfeld said: “In a long hard war, we are going to have tragic days. But they are necessary. They are part of a war that is difficult and complicated.” He insisted that the US would not be deterred and would win the war in Iraq.</p>
<p>But yesterday’s attack presents the American forces with an immediate security crisis. They are heavily dependent on road transport and helicopters. If Strellas start to be used regularly by guerrillas–and American officials have warned that there are plenty unaccounted for–this will force helicopters to fly higher and thus become less effective. American vehicles have already proved vulnerable to roadside bombs, which have accounted for many of the soldiers killed and wounded. A military helicopter was also brought down by an rocket-propelled grenade near Tikrit last week.</p>
<p>Mr Rumsfeld said that he saw no need to raise the number of troops, now at about 130,000, which has come down from 150,000. But the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Richard Lugar, and Senator Joseph Biden, the panel’s top Democrat, said the number might have to be increased.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | The Bloodiest Day Yet for Americans in Iraq | true | https://counterpunch.org/2003/11/03/the-bloodiest-day-yet-for-americans-in-iraq/ | 2003-11-03 | 4left
| The Bloodiest Day Yet for Americans in Iraq
<p>Fallujah.</p>
<p>In the deadliest single attack on the United States army since it invaded Iraq, guerrillas shot down a Chinook helicopter with a missile yesterday killing 15 and wounding 21 American servicemen. The US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, called the incident a national tragedy for Americans.</p>
<p>The Chinook, which came down in a field near Fallujah, west of Baghdad, was one of two 84-foot long transport helicopters attacked shortly after they took off from Habbaniyah air base at about 9am yesterday on a routine flight. They were ferrying more than 50 soldiers on a rest break from the 82nd Airborne Division to a military base at Baghdad International airport. As the helicopters passed over the village of Buisa, set in rich farmland filled with cattle and crops, guerrillas hidden in a date grove fired two shoulder-launched ground-to-air missiles, probably from a Russian heat-seeking SA-7 known as the Strella. There are many of them in Iraq and they were formerly used by the Iraqi army.</p>
<p>Daoud Suleiman, a farmer working among the date palms said: “I saw two helicopters pass overhead when two missiles were fired at them. One missed and the other hit a helicopter at the rear end and flames starting coming out of it before it crashed into a field. I saw the helicopter try to stay in the air after it was hit but then it got close to the ground and I saw some soldiers jump out.”</p>
<p>He said the helicopter that was not hit fired a flare to divert the missile. Minutes after the attack, American Black Hawk helicopters swarmed over the scene to rush survivors to hospital while soldiers secured the site, ordering journalists to leave and confiscating film.</p>
<p>Villagers and local farmers showed their delight by waving pieces of the smoking wreckage. The bloodiest single incident for American forces since the beginning of the war, and the worst day of casualties since the official end of the combat phase of the war as declared by President George Bush six months ago, eclipsed efforts by the White House to counter the impression that Iraq is becoming a quagmire for America. “Clearly it is a tragic day,” Mr Rumsfeld said.</p>
<p>Yesterday’s attack capped an eight-day surge in violence in which 27 American soldiers have died. Fallujah, a market town on the road to Jordan, is in the Sunni Muslim heartland, an area in which there have been more attacks on troops than anywhere else in Iraq. “Fallujah will always be a cemetery for the Americans,” reads a slogan on a wall in the main street not far from the mayor’s office, part of which was set on fire over the weekend.</p>
<p>In a separate action by guerrillas in Fallujah yesterday, two American civilian contractors died. The remains of their truck, which had been blown up by a rocket or bomb, could be seen near a bridge over the Euphrates. Eye witnesses said that they saw four armed Americans inside being taken away on stretchers. And a soldier was also killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad. Mr Rumsfeld said: “In a long hard war, we are going to have tragic days. But they are necessary. They are part of a war that is difficult and complicated.” He insisted that the US would not be deterred and would win the war in Iraq.</p>
<p>But yesterday’s attack presents the American forces with an immediate security crisis. They are heavily dependent on road transport and helicopters. If Strellas start to be used regularly by guerrillas–and American officials have warned that there are plenty unaccounted for–this will force helicopters to fly higher and thus become less effective. American vehicles have already proved vulnerable to roadside bombs, which have accounted for many of the soldiers killed and wounded. A military helicopter was also brought down by an rocket-propelled grenade near Tikrit last week.</p>
<p>Mr Rumsfeld said that he saw no need to raise the number of troops, now at about 130,000, which has come down from 150,000. But the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Richard Lugar, and Senator Joseph Biden, the panel’s top Democrat, said the number might have to be increased.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | 2,346 |
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<p />
<p>Quality Nut Co. owner Bruce Beard told the Kingman Daily Miner ( <a href="http://bit.ly/1N4fn0N)" type="external">http://bit.ly/1N4fn0N)</a> that he understands water is an issue. He said the 6,000-acre organic farm won't be planted all at once.</p>
<p>Beard said the Arizona Division of Water Resources studied the area's groundwater supply, and Kingman is in good shape.</p>
<p>Mohave County Supervisor Buster Johnson said the fully-planted farm will use nearly 8 billion gallons of water annually.</p>
<p>He said several companies are choosing Arizona as a logical place to move amid drought-related water restrictions in California and other parts of the world.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Johnson said agriculture ventures don't need supervisors' approval.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: Kingman Daily Miner, <a href="http://www.kingmandailyminer.com" type="external">http://www.kingmandailyminer.com</a></p> | California nut farm moving to Arizona raises water concerns | false | https://abqjournal.com/750690/california-nut-farm-moving-to-arizona-raises-water-concerns.html | 2least
| California nut farm moving to Arizona raises water concerns
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<p />
<p>Quality Nut Co. owner Bruce Beard told the Kingman Daily Miner ( <a href="http://bit.ly/1N4fn0N)" type="external">http://bit.ly/1N4fn0N)</a> that he understands water is an issue. He said the 6,000-acre organic farm won't be planted all at once.</p>
<p>Beard said the Arizona Division of Water Resources studied the area's groundwater supply, and Kingman is in good shape.</p>
<p>Mohave County Supervisor Buster Johnson said the fully-planted farm will use nearly 8 billion gallons of water annually.</p>
<p>He said several companies are choosing Arizona as a logical place to move amid drought-related water restrictions in California and other parts of the world.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Johnson said agriculture ventures don't need supervisors' approval.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: Kingman Daily Miner, <a href="http://www.kingmandailyminer.com" type="external">http://www.kingmandailyminer.com</a></p> | 2,347 |
|
<p>Scott Brown / AP</p>
<p>BY: <a href="" type="internal">Alana Goodman</a> June 11, 2013 5:00 am</p>
<p>Former Sen. Scott Brown (R., Mass.) would be within striking distance of Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D., N.H..) if he decides to run in the 2014 New Hampshire senate race, a Washington Free Beacon poll found.</p>
<p>Brown trails Shaheen by just four points, 44 percent to 48 percent, in a June poll of 400 New Hampshire registered voters.</p>
<p>Brown, who has made frequent appearances in New Hampshire recently, has not ruled out running against Shaheen when she is up for reelection in 2014.</p>
<p>"The fact that [Brown] keeps a former governor and well-regarded United States Senator under 50 percent shows that that could be a true contest," said Kellyanne Conway whose firm, <a href="http://pollingcompany.com/" type="external">Polling Company, Inc.</a>, conducted the poll for the Free Beacon.</p>
<p>Conway said a Brown-Shaheen matchup could resurrect the healthcare debate that helped Brown win the Massachusetts Senate race in 2010, noting that the law will go into effect in 2014.</p>
<p>"[Brown] won running against Obamacare in [2008]," Conway said. "Senator Shaheen has never been held to account for her vote for Obamacare. And so that could be a really fascinating matchup."</p>
<p>Andrew Smith, the director of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, was still skeptical about Brown’s chances, noting that he would have to overcome the perception of being an interloper in the state.</p>
<p>"I think that any candidate in any state who is seen as a carpetbagger … I don’t think that you can do a good job running in a neighboring state," Smith said.</p>
<p>Smith said the exceptions were candidates such as Hillary Clinton and Bobby Kennedy, who were able to run successfully in New York because of their celebrity status and the state’s heavily Democratic electorate.</p>
<p>"I don’t really think [Brown’s] seriously considering running in N.H.," Smith said. "I think if anything he’s maybe considering a presidential run or a vice presidential run in 2016 and this is a way to keep his visibility up within the state."</p>
<p>The WFB poll also found that Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R., N.H.) has rebounded from an April dip in her poll numbers that was attributed to her vote against gun control legislation.</p>
<p>Fifty-two percent of voters said they approved of Ayotte’s job performance and 46 percent disapproved. The WFB poll was conducted using the same methodology as an April Public Policy Polling survey that found Ayotte’s approval rating underwater, 44 percent to 46 percent.</p>
<p>Gun control activists launched a coordinated campaign targeting Ayotte over her vote against Senate gun control legislation in April. The group Mayors Against Illegal Guns continues to run ads attacking Ayotte.</p>
<p>"I think Ayotte's improvement in her numbers relative to the PPP poll is a sign that the gun control debate did not have the salience that many on the left believed it would," said the Weekly Standard’s polling expert Jay Cost. "It makes sense that PPP would find such trouble for Ayotte, considering that their poll was taken toward the height of the controversy over the bill (not to mention its strong support in the Northeast). But now that public attention has turned toward other items, we see in this poll her numbers have rebounded."</p>
<p>Smith said he has not seen any indication that Ayotte’s numbers have been impacted at all by her gun control vote.</p>
<p>"I generally don’t think it makes much difference because, frankly, nobody’s paying attention to that sort of stuff now, and voters certainly won’t be paying attention to this until you get to a couple weeks before the election," Smith said.</p>
<p>Smith added that an April poll conducted by his center also found "essentially no difference in favorability ratings for Ayotte," contrary to the conclusions from PPP’s April poll.</p>
<p>New Hampshire voters were aware of their senators’ stances on the gun control legislation introduced by Sens. Pat Toomey (R., Penn.) and Joe Manchin (D., W.V.). Seventy-six percent correctly responded that Ayotte voted against the bill, and 69 percent correctly said that Shaheen voted against the bill.</p>
<p>Forty-five percent of voters said Ayotte’s vote against the gun control bill made them less likely to support her, while 34 percent said it made them more likely to support her and 22 percent said it made no difference. While 38 percent say their opinion of Ayotte has gotten worse over the past couple of months, 29 percent said their opinion has gotten better, and 31 percent said it has stayed the same.</p>
<p>"[Sixty] percent of New Hampshire voters say that their opinion of Kelly Ayotte over the past couple of months has either improved or actually just stayed the same," said Conway. "And Shaheen [has] less movement, 18 percent gotten better, 58 percent stayed the same."</p>
<p>Conway said Shaheen’s numbers likely had less movement because voters have been familiar with her for longer than Ayotte and has kept a lower profile.</p>
<p>"[Shaheen’s] already there, she was governor of the state, people already know her, she hasn’t been the subject of controversy over the gun bill," Conway said. "So I think that Ayotte, frankly, is more than holding her own and treading water—she’s actually overcome."</p>
<p>The WFB poll found New Hampshire voters evenly split on President Barack Obama’s approval rating, with 50 percent approving of his performance and 49 percent disapproving, a drop from his approval rating in PPP’s April poll. According to Cost, this could have contributed to Ayotte’s rising numbers.</p>
<p>"What might be related here is the drop in approval for President Obama, from +6 in PPP's April poll to just +1 in this poll," Cost said. "In other words, as the news mixture has changed over the last month and a half, from stories largely favoring Obama to now disfavoring him, Ayotte may be benefiting indirectly. We've seen a similar shift in his nationwide job approval, per the RealClearPolitics average, and it stands to reason that Republican officeholders nationwide have gained some political space as a consequence."</p>
<p>The party breakdown in the WFB poll was 41 percent self-identified Republican, 38 percent self-identified Democrats and 21 percent self-identified "ticket-splitters." The poll was conducted using interactive voice recording, the same method used by PPP. The margin of error was 4.9 percent, and results were not weighted.</p> | Scott Brown in Striking Distance of Jeanne Shaheen | true | http://freebeacon.com/scott-brown-in-striking-distance-of-jeanne-shaheen/ | 2013-06-11 | 0right
| Scott Brown in Striking Distance of Jeanne Shaheen
<p>Scott Brown / AP</p>
<p>BY: <a href="" type="internal">Alana Goodman</a> June 11, 2013 5:00 am</p>
<p>Former Sen. Scott Brown (R., Mass.) would be within striking distance of Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D., N.H..) if he decides to run in the 2014 New Hampshire senate race, a Washington Free Beacon poll found.</p>
<p>Brown trails Shaheen by just four points, 44 percent to 48 percent, in a June poll of 400 New Hampshire registered voters.</p>
<p>Brown, who has made frequent appearances in New Hampshire recently, has not ruled out running against Shaheen when she is up for reelection in 2014.</p>
<p>"The fact that [Brown] keeps a former governor and well-regarded United States Senator under 50 percent shows that that could be a true contest," said Kellyanne Conway whose firm, <a href="http://pollingcompany.com/" type="external">Polling Company, Inc.</a>, conducted the poll for the Free Beacon.</p>
<p>Conway said a Brown-Shaheen matchup could resurrect the healthcare debate that helped Brown win the Massachusetts Senate race in 2010, noting that the law will go into effect in 2014.</p>
<p>"[Brown] won running against Obamacare in [2008]," Conway said. "Senator Shaheen has never been held to account for her vote for Obamacare. And so that could be a really fascinating matchup."</p>
<p>Andrew Smith, the director of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, was still skeptical about Brown’s chances, noting that he would have to overcome the perception of being an interloper in the state.</p>
<p>"I think that any candidate in any state who is seen as a carpetbagger … I don’t think that you can do a good job running in a neighboring state," Smith said.</p>
<p>Smith said the exceptions were candidates such as Hillary Clinton and Bobby Kennedy, who were able to run successfully in New York because of their celebrity status and the state’s heavily Democratic electorate.</p>
<p>"I don’t really think [Brown’s] seriously considering running in N.H.," Smith said. "I think if anything he’s maybe considering a presidential run or a vice presidential run in 2016 and this is a way to keep his visibility up within the state."</p>
<p>The WFB poll also found that Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R., N.H.) has rebounded from an April dip in her poll numbers that was attributed to her vote against gun control legislation.</p>
<p>Fifty-two percent of voters said they approved of Ayotte’s job performance and 46 percent disapproved. The WFB poll was conducted using the same methodology as an April Public Policy Polling survey that found Ayotte’s approval rating underwater, 44 percent to 46 percent.</p>
<p>Gun control activists launched a coordinated campaign targeting Ayotte over her vote against Senate gun control legislation in April. The group Mayors Against Illegal Guns continues to run ads attacking Ayotte.</p>
<p>"I think Ayotte's improvement in her numbers relative to the PPP poll is a sign that the gun control debate did not have the salience that many on the left believed it would," said the Weekly Standard’s polling expert Jay Cost. "It makes sense that PPP would find such trouble for Ayotte, considering that their poll was taken toward the height of the controversy over the bill (not to mention its strong support in the Northeast). But now that public attention has turned toward other items, we see in this poll her numbers have rebounded."</p>
<p>Smith said he has not seen any indication that Ayotte’s numbers have been impacted at all by her gun control vote.</p>
<p>"I generally don’t think it makes much difference because, frankly, nobody’s paying attention to that sort of stuff now, and voters certainly won’t be paying attention to this until you get to a couple weeks before the election," Smith said.</p>
<p>Smith added that an April poll conducted by his center also found "essentially no difference in favorability ratings for Ayotte," contrary to the conclusions from PPP’s April poll.</p>
<p>New Hampshire voters were aware of their senators’ stances on the gun control legislation introduced by Sens. Pat Toomey (R., Penn.) and Joe Manchin (D., W.V.). Seventy-six percent correctly responded that Ayotte voted against the bill, and 69 percent correctly said that Shaheen voted against the bill.</p>
<p>Forty-five percent of voters said Ayotte’s vote against the gun control bill made them less likely to support her, while 34 percent said it made them more likely to support her and 22 percent said it made no difference. While 38 percent say their opinion of Ayotte has gotten worse over the past couple of months, 29 percent said their opinion has gotten better, and 31 percent said it has stayed the same.</p>
<p>"[Sixty] percent of New Hampshire voters say that their opinion of Kelly Ayotte over the past couple of months has either improved or actually just stayed the same," said Conway. "And Shaheen [has] less movement, 18 percent gotten better, 58 percent stayed the same."</p>
<p>Conway said Shaheen’s numbers likely had less movement because voters have been familiar with her for longer than Ayotte and has kept a lower profile.</p>
<p>"[Shaheen’s] already there, she was governor of the state, people already know her, she hasn’t been the subject of controversy over the gun bill," Conway said. "So I think that Ayotte, frankly, is more than holding her own and treading water—she’s actually overcome."</p>
<p>The WFB poll found New Hampshire voters evenly split on President Barack Obama’s approval rating, with 50 percent approving of his performance and 49 percent disapproving, a drop from his approval rating in PPP’s April poll. According to Cost, this could have contributed to Ayotte’s rising numbers.</p>
<p>"What might be related here is the drop in approval for President Obama, from +6 in PPP's April poll to just +1 in this poll," Cost said. "In other words, as the news mixture has changed over the last month and a half, from stories largely favoring Obama to now disfavoring him, Ayotte may be benefiting indirectly. We've seen a similar shift in his nationwide job approval, per the RealClearPolitics average, and it stands to reason that Republican officeholders nationwide have gained some political space as a consequence."</p>
<p>The party breakdown in the WFB poll was 41 percent self-identified Republican, 38 percent self-identified Democrats and 21 percent self-identified "ticket-splitters." The poll was conducted using interactive voice recording, the same method used by PPP. The margin of error was 4.9 percent, and results were not weighted.</p> | 2,348 |
<p>From Ventura County Star:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.vcstar.com/news/topic/elton-gallegly/" type="external">Rep. Elton Gallegly</a>‘s announcement that he will retire at the end of this term opens the door for other Republicans to now jump into the race for Ventura County’s new 26th Congressional&#160;District.</p>
<p>Republican officials said Saturday it is all but certain that&#160; <a href="http://www.vcstar.com/news/topic/tony-strickland/" type="external">Sen. Tony Strickland</a>&#160;of Moorpark will announce his candidacy next week, but Strickland held off making any formal statement&#160;Saturday.</p>
<p>“Right now, I’d just like to focus on Elton and let him have his day,” Strickland said. “I’ll be making my intentions known&#160;very&#160;soon.”</p>
<p>( <a href="http://www.vcstar.com/news/2012/jan/07/gallegly-exit-opens-opportunities-for-fellow/" type="external">Read Full Article</a>)</p>
<p>Photo courtesy of IceNineJon, flickr</p> | Gallegly exit opens opportunities for fellow Republicans | false | http://capoliticalreview.com/trending/gallegly-to-retire/ | 2012-01-08 | 1right-center
| Gallegly exit opens opportunities for fellow Republicans
<p>From Ventura County Star:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.vcstar.com/news/topic/elton-gallegly/" type="external">Rep. Elton Gallegly</a>‘s announcement that he will retire at the end of this term opens the door for other Republicans to now jump into the race for Ventura County’s new 26th Congressional&#160;District.</p>
<p>Republican officials said Saturday it is all but certain that&#160; <a href="http://www.vcstar.com/news/topic/tony-strickland/" type="external">Sen. Tony Strickland</a>&#160;of Moorpark will announce his candidacy next week, but Strickland held off making any formal statement&#160;Saturday.</p>
<p>“Right now, I’d just like to focus on Elton and let him have his day,” Strickland said. “I’ll be making my intentions known&#160;very&#160;soon.”</p>
<p>( <a href="http://www.vcstar.com/news/2012/jan/07/gallegly-exit-opens-opportunities-for-fellow/" type="external">Read Full Article</a>)</p>
<p>Photo courtesy of IceNineJon, flickr</p> | 2,349 |
<p>The College Board announced new security procedures today that will make it harder to cheat on the SAT or ACT college entrance exams.</p>
<p>Starting this fall, students will be required to upload a photograph of themselves when they register for the SAT or ACT, <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303404704577307601291366574.html" type="external">the Associated Press reported</a>. If they don't have access to a scanner, they must mail a photo to the testing agency, which will scan it in for them. Their photo will be printed on their admission ticket into the testing site and the test site roster and will accompany their scores when they are reported to high schools and colleges.</p>
<p>College Board officials said that test centers will check student IDs more frequently, the AP reported, including when they enter the test site for the first time, whenever they re-enter the test room after breaks, when the answer sheets are collected and during random spot checks.</p>
<p>"We are confident that the security enhancements announced today will help maintain an honest and fair testing environment for the millions of students who take the SAT each year as part of the college admission process," Kathryn Juric, vice president of the College Board for the SAT Program, said today, according to <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/News/BacktoSchool/sat-security-ny-cheating-ring/story?id=16012528#.T3IWyxzj4cM" type="external">ABC News</a>.</p>
<p>In 2011, 138 SAT scores were canceled after the Educational Testing Service, the company that administers the test, discovered that students had cheated on their exams, ABC News reported. That's a small fraction of the scores earned by students who took the SAT last year (more than 2 million students take the test annually, the College Board says).</p>
<p>However, a high-profile cheating scandal in Long Island, New York, last fall drew attention to the weak security measures around the SAT. In the scandal, 20 students were arrested for either impersonating a student and taking the test for them or paying someone to take it for them, ABC News reported.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/united-states/111128/how-cheat-sat-exams-act-exam-great-neck-long-island" type="external">20 New York students arrested in SAT cheating scandal</a></p>
<p>Some of the stand-ins earned as much as $3,500 for their test-taking efforts, the AP reported. The cases against the students are still pending.</p>
<p>"These reforms close a gaping hole in standardized test security that allowed students to cheat and steal admissions offers and scholarship money from kids who play by the rules," Long Island's Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said, according to the AP.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/argentina/120321/fuzzy-math-behind-argentina-growth" type="external">The Argentine economy's fuzzy math problem</a> &#160;</p> | SAT security: new safeguards to prevent cheating announced | false | https://pri.org/stories/2012-03-27/sat-security-new-safeguards-prevent-cheating-announced | 2012-03-27 | 3left-center
| SAT security: new safeguards to prevent cheating announced
<p>The College Board announced new security procedures today that will make it harder to cheat on the SAT or ACT college entrance exams.</p>
<p>Starting this fall, students will be required to upload a photograph of themselves when they register for the SAT or ACT, <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303404704577307601291366574.html" type="external">the Associated Press reported</a>. If they don't have access to a scanner, they must mail a photo to the testing agency, which will scan it in for them. Their photo will be printed on their admission ticket into the testing site and the test site roster and will accompany their scores when they are reported to high schools and colleges.</p>
<p>College Board officials said that test centers will check student IDs more frequently, the AP reported, including when they enter the test site for the first time, whenever they re-enter the test room after breaks, when the answer sheets are collected and during random spot checks.</p>
<p>"We are confident that the security enhancements announced today will help maintain an honest and fair testing environment for the millions of students who take the SAT each year as part of the college admission process," Kathryn Juric, vice president of the College Board for the SAT Program, said today, according to <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/News/BacktoSchool/sat-security-ny-cheating-ring/story?id=16012528#.T3IWyxzj4cM" type="external">ABC News</a>.</p>
<p>In 2011, 138 SAT scores were canceled after the Educational Testing Service, the company that administers the test, discovered that students had cheated on their exams, ABC News reported. That's a small fraction of the scores earned by students who took the SAT last year (more than 2 million students take the test annually, the College Board says).</p>
<p>However, a high-profile cheating scandal in Long Island, New York, last fall drew attention to the weak security measures around the SAT. In the scandal, 20 students were arrested for either impersonating a student and taking the test for them or paying someone to take it for them, ABC News reported.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/united-states/111128/how-cheat-sat-exams-act-exam-great-neck-long-island" type="external">20 New York students arrested in SAT cheating scandal</a></p>
<p>Some of the stand-ins earned as much as $3,500 for their test-taking efforts, the AP reported. The cases against the students are still pending.</p>
<p>"These reforms close a gaping hole in standardized test security that allowed students to cheat and steal admissions offers and scholarship money from kids who play by the rules," Long Island's Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said, according to the AP.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/argentina/120321/fuzzy-math-behind-argentina-growth" type="external">The Argentine economy's fuzzy math problem</a> &#160;</p> | 2,350 |
<p />
<p>Rick Perry, President-elect Donald Trump's pick to run the Energy Department, said during his Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday that he regrets having called for the department's elimination during his failed bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>"After being briefed on so many of the vital functions of the Department of Energy, I regret recommending its elimination," the former Texas governor said in his opening remarks to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.</p>
<p>Perry, 66, was governor of Texas from 2000 to 2015, making him the longest-serving governor of the oil-producing state in its history. He is seen by Trump as a person who can usher in energy jobs.</p>
<p>As energy secretary, he would also lead a vast scientific research operation credited with helping trigger a U.S. drilling boom and advancements in energy efficiency, and would oversee America's nuclear arsenal.</p>
<p>Perry's proposal to get rid of the Energy Department caused what has become known as his "oops" moment during a November, 2011 Republican presidential candidate debate when he could not remember all of the three Cabinet-level departments he wanted to eliminate.</p>
<p>After mentioning the departments of Commerce and Education, he said, "I can't. The third one, I can't. Sorry. Oops." A few minutes later in the debate Perry said with a laugh, "By the way that was the Department of Energy I was reaching for a while ago."</p>
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<p>During Thursday's hearing, Perry is expected to face questioning by senators on how he would create jobs in the industry and bolster U.S. energy security. Trump, who takes office at noon on Friday, has championed increased production of oil, gas and coal.</p>
<p>Perry is also likely to face questions about his stance on climate change. Like several other Trump Cabinet appointees, Perry is a self-professed climate skeptic. Democrats are concerned about the future of climate science research at the department's lab network that sprawls across the country.</p>
<p>A questionnaire the Trump transition team sent to the department in December demanded names and publications of employees who had worked on climate issues. After an uproar by critics who said it amounted to a witch hunt, the team disavowed the survey.</p>
<p>Department leadership under Perry would represent a pivot from being run by learned scientists to a person who is known for close ties to energy interests.</p>
<p>Current Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz is a nuclear physicist who led technical negotiations in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, while the previous head, Steven Chu, is a Nobel Prize-winning physicist with a background in lab work and management.</p>
<p>Perry resigned from the board of directors of Energy Transfer Partners LP, the company building the Dakota Access Pipeline opposed by Native Americans and environmentalists. He has said that, if confirmed, he will divest his interests in two pipeline companies. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Leslie Adler and Alistair Bell)</p> | Trump's Energy Pick Perry Regrets Calling for Department's Elimination | true | http://foxbusiness.com/politics/2017/01/19/trumps-energy-pick-perry-regrets-calling-for-departments-elimination.html | 2017-01-19 | 0right
| Trump's Energy Pick Perry Regrets Calling for Department's Elimination
<p />
<p>Rick Perry, President-elect Donald Trump's pick to run the Energy Department, said during his Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday that he regrets having called for the department's elimination during his failed bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>"After being briefed on so many of the vital functions of the Department of Energy, I regret recommending its elimination," the former Texas governor said in his opening remarks to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.</p>
<p>Perry, 66, was governor of Texas from 2000 to 2015, making him the longest-serving governor of the oil-producing state in its history. He is seen by Trump as a person who can usher in energy jobs.</p>
<p>As energy secretary, he would also lead a vast scientific research operation credited with helping trigger a U.S. drilling boom and advancements in energy efficiency, and would oversee America's nuclear arsenal.</p>
<p>Perry's proposal to get rid of the Energy Department caused what has become known as his "oops" moment during a November, 2011 Republican presidential candidate debate when he could not remember all of the three Cabinet-level departments he wanted to eliminate.</p>
<p>After mentioning the departments of Commerce and Education, he said, "I can't. The third one, I can't. Sorry. Oops." A few minutes later in the debate Perry said with a laugh, "By the way that was the Department of Energy I was reaching for a while ago."</p>
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<p>During Thursday's hearing, Perry is expected to face questioning by senators on how he would create jobs in the industry and bolster U.S. energy security. Trump, who takes office at noon on Friday, has championed increased production of oil, gas and coal.</p>
<p>Perry is also likely to face questions about his stance on climate change. Like several other Trump Cabinet appointees, Perry is a self-professed climate skeptic. Democrats are concerned about the future of climate science research at the department's lab network that sprawls across the country.</p>
<p>A questionnaire the Trump transition team sent to the department in December demanded names and publications of employees who had worked on climate issues. After an uproar by critics who said it amounted to a witch hunt, the team disavowed the survey.</p>
<p>Department leadership under Perry would represent a pivot from being run by learned scientists to a person who is known for close ties to energy interests.</p>
<p>Current Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz is a nuclear physicist who led technical negotiations in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, while the previous head, Steven Chu, is a Nobel Prize-winning physicist with a background in lab work and management.</p>
<p>Perry resigned from the board of directors of Energy Transfer Partners LP, the company building the Dakota Access Pipeline opposed by Native Americans and environmentalists. He has said that, if confirmed, he will divest his interests in two pipeline companies. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Leslie Adler and Alistair Bell)</p> | 2,351 |
<p>Islamic center opponents outnumbered supporters 35 to 11. A Media Matters review of Nexis transcripts of Fox News' evening programming from May 13 to August 12 showed that nearly three times the number of guests who opposed the construction of the center than those who were supportive of such efforts.</p>
<p>Guests who opposed the center were counted as opponents. Guests who expressed support of the plans to build the center in New York City near Ground Zero were counted as supporters. Guests who did not take a position on the issue were counted as neutral. Guests who did not express an opinion about the construction of the center but rather commented on Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf's philosophical beliefs and past statements were not included in the results:</p>
<p />
<p>Below are the names of the guests, the Fox News shows on which they appeared, and their position on building the Islamic center.</p>
<p>Fox News continues to advance misinformation about Islamic center. Fox News has <a href="/video/2010/08/11/fox-continues-to-push-falsehood-that-nyc-islami/169075" type="external">repeatedly</a> <a href="/research/2010/07/20/why-is-fox-pushing-a-falsehood-to-fuel-outrage/167920" type="external">pushed</a> the falsehood that the Islamic cultural center was "plan[ning] to launch" on "9-11." However, Daisy Khan, executive director of one of the organizations leading the project, told Media Matters that the allegation is "absolutely false" and that "the timeline has yet to be determined."</p>
<p>Fox also hosted a GOP candidate to baselessly suggest that "terrorist groups" are funding the center. On the August 2 <a href="/blog/2010/08/02/fox-now-pitting-nyc-mosque-against-completely-u/168602" type="external">edition</a> of Fox News' Fox &amp; Friends, Peter Johnson Jr. hosted George Demos, a Republican candidate in New York's 1st congressional district, to baselessly suggest that "terrorist groups" are funding the Islamic community center.</p>
<p>Fox promoting GOP candidate's petition, i.e. campaign website, against NYC Islamic center. On <a href="/video/2010/08/12/fox-now-promoting-gop-candidates-petition-ie-ca/169126" type="external">August 12</a>, Fox &amp; Friends hosted Republican congressional candidate Randy Altschuler and aired his ad comparing the Islamic center to the "Japanese government" erecting a "shrine to its World War II emperor in Pearl Harbor." Fox &amp; Friends directed viewers to Altschuler's campaign website to sign a petition against building the center.</p>
<p>Media Matters reviewed Nexis transcripts of all original Fox News evening programming from May 13 to August 12 between 5 p.m. and 10:59 p.m. ET. (Fox News airs a repeat of The O'Reilly Factor at the 11 p.m. ET hour.) Transcripts of Fox News' evening program, Fox Report, are not available in Nexis, and therefore, the show was not included in the study.</p>
<p>Media Matters counted all guests who appeared in segments that involved a discussion of the controversy about building the New York City Islamic community center near Ground Zero. Each guest's position on the issue was derived from statements made during that guest's appearance. In some cases, guests expressed personal opposition to the mosque but acknowledged that the organizers had a right to build there. For instance, on the August 8 broadcast of Hannity, Juan Williams said, "I happen to agree with you [Sean Hannity] about the idea that they shouldn't build the mosque," later adding, "But that doesn't mean that we, as Americans, can say to him, 'No, you can't build here.' That's wrong." These few guests were categorized as "against" the mosque because of their personal opposition to its construction.</p> | REPORT: Fox provides megaphone to NYC mosque opponents | true | http://mediamatters.org/research/201008130015 | 2010-08-13 | 4left
| REPORT: Fox provides megaphone to NYC mosque opponents
<p>Islamic center opponents outnumbered supporters 35 to 11. A Media Matters review of Nexis transcripts of Fox News' evening programming from May 13 to August 12 showed that nearly three times the number of guests who opposed the construction of the center than those who were supportive of such efforts.</p>
<p>Guests who opposed the center were counted as opponents. Guests who expressed support of the plans to build the center in New York City near Ground Zero were counted as supporters. Guests who did not take a position on the issue were counted as neutral. Guests who did not express an opinion about the construction of the center but rather commented on Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf's philosophical beliefs and past statements were not included in the results:</p>
<p />
<p>Below are the names of the guests, the Fox News shows on which they appeared, and their position on building the Islamic center.</p>
<p>Fox News continues to advance misinformation about Islamic center. Fox News has <a href="/video/2010/08/11/fox-continues-to-push-falsehood-that-nyc-islami/169075" type="external">repeatedly</a> <a href="/research/2010/07/20/why-is-fox-pushing-a-falsehood-to-fuel-outrage/167920" type="external">pushed</a> the falsehood that the Islamic cultural center was "plan[ning] to launch" on "9-11." However, Daisy Khan, executive director of one of the organizations leading the project, told Media Matters that the allegation is "absolutely false" and that "the timeline has yet to be determined."</p>
<p>Fox also hosted a GOP candidate to baselessly suggest that "terrorist groups" are funding the center. On the August 2 <a href="/blog/2010/08/02/fox-now-pitting-nyc-mosque-against-completely-u/168602" type="external">edition</a> of Fox News' Fox &amp; Friends, Peter Johnson Jr. hosted George Demos, a Republican candidate in New York's 1st congressional district, to baselessly suggest that "terrorist groups" are funding the Islamic community center.</p>
<p>Fox promoting GOP candidate's petition, i.e. campaign website, against NYC Islamic center. On <a href="/video/2010/08/12/fox-now-promoting-gop-candidates-petition-ie-ca/169126" type="external">August 12</a>, Fox &amp; Friends hosted Republican congressional candidate Randy Altschuler and aired his ad comparing the Islamic center to the "Japanese government" erecting a "shrine to its World War II emperor in Pearl Harbor." Fox &amp; Friends directed viewers to Altschuler's campaign website to sign a petition against building the center.</p>
<p>Media Matters reviewed Nexis transcripts of all original Fox News evening programming from May 13 to August 12 between 5 p.m. and 10:59 p.m. ET. (Fox News airs a repeat of The O'Reilly Factor at the 11 p.m. ET hour.) Transcripts of Fox News' evening program, Fox Report, are not available in Nexis, and therefore, the show was not included in the study.</p>
<p>Media Matters counted all guests who appeared in segments that involved a discussion of the controversy about building the New York City Islamic community center near Ground Zero. Each guest's position on the issue was derived from statements made during that guest's appearance. In some cases, guests expressed personal opposition to the mosque but acknowledged that the organizers had a right to build there. For instance, on the August 8 broadcast of Hannity, Juan Williams said, "I happen to agree with you [Sean Hannity] about the idea that they shouldn't build the mosque," later adding, "But that doesn't mean that we, as Americans, can say to him, 'No, you can't build here.' That's wrong." These few guests were categorized as "against" the mosque because of their personal opposition to its construction.</p> | 2,352 |
<p />
<p>If you know anything of substance about <a href="" type="internal">Paul Ryan</a>, it’s that the Republican vice presidential pick knows his numbers.</p>
<p>A Washington Post profile today by Michael Leahy ( <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/ryans-close-colleagues-and-admirers-have-long-seen-him-as-a-leader-in-waiting/2012/08/19/e1a725ee-ea21-11e1-a80b-9f898562d010_print.html" type="external">8/20/12</a>) tells us:</p>
<p>He got his start on Capitol Hill as a 19-year-old intern working in the mailroom of Sen. Bob Kasten (R-Wis.). That led in time to positions on congressional committees and habits he hasn’t broken since, including a staffer’s zeal for voracious research, for charts and PowerPoint presentations, and a facility for budget numbers that he recites with a savant’s glee.</p>
<p>As if that weren’t clear enough, we’re told later that he exhibits “a professorial absorption with fiscal issues.”</p>
<p>The New York Times has been saying the same. In a piece by Michael Barbaro ( <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/19/us/politics/romney-ryan-collaboration-goes-back-years.html?pagewanted=all" type="external">8/19/12</a>) detailing how the GOP ticket mates got to know each other, readers learned:</p>
<p>But in Mr. Ryan, Mr. Romney saw shades of himself: a clean-cut numbers guy who favored the cold-eyed truths of actuarial tables over ideology for its own sake.</p>
<p>That article also described a Ryan/Romney meeting as “a pair of policy mavens out-geeking each other over esoterica.”</p>
<p>And another Times article by <a href="" type="internal">Annie Lowrey</a> ( <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/18/us/politics/ryan-has-ear-of-washingtons-conservative-establishment.html?ref=todayspaper&amp;pagewanted=print" type="external">8/18/12</a>) got the scoop on Ryan’s depth from presumably knowledgeable sources:</p>
<p>The reputation for wonkiness is merited, people close to Mr. Ryan said. He goes home with a stack of white papers. He calls economists when he has questions about their budget projections or ideas.</p>
<p>Consider those assessments, and then read <a href="" type="internal">Paul Krugman</a>‘s column today ( <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/20/opinion/krugman-an-unserious-man.html?ref=todayspaper&amp;pagewanted=print" type="external">8/20/12</a>):&#160; “Mr. Ryan’s true constituency is the commentariat,” he writes. “Ryanomics is and always has been a con game, although to be fair, it has become even more of a con since Mr. Ryan joined the ticket.”</p>
<p>Krugman goes on:</p>
<p>So if we add up Mr. Ryan’s specific proposals, we have $4.3 trillion in tax cuts, partially offset by around $1.7 trillion in spending cuts–with the tax cuts, surprise, disproportionately benefiting the top 1 percent, while the spending cuts would primarily come at the expense of low-income families. Over all, the effect would be to increase the deficit by around two-and-a-half trillion dollars.</p>
<p>Yet Mr. Ryan claims to be a deficit hawk. What’s the basis for that claim?</p>
<p>Well, he says that he would offset his tax cuts by “base broadening,” eliminating enough tax deductions to make up the lost revenue. Which deductions would he eliminate? He refuses to say–and realistically, revenue gain on the scale he claims would be virtually impossible.</p>
<p>At the same time, he asserts that he would make huge further cuts in spending. What would he cut? He refuses to say.</p>
<p>What Mr. Ryan actually offers, then, are specific proposals that would sharply increase the deficit, plus an assertion that he has secret tax and spending plans that he refuses to share with us, but which will turn his overall plan into deficit reduction.</p>
<p>If this sounds like a joke, that’s because it is.</p>
<p>Remember: Reporters are the ones who just give you the facts. People like Krugman have opinions.</p>
<p>This recalls one of my favorite Ryan-in-the-media moments, courtesy of New York‘s Jonathan Chait ( <a href="http://nymag.com/print/?/news/features/paul-ryan-2012-5/" type="external">4/29/12</a>). Ryan was being profiled by ABC News‘ <a href="" type="internal">Jonathan Karl</a>, and as Chait&#160; reported, Ryan</p>
<p>awed a swooning reporter by opening up the budget to a random page and fingered a boondoggle. The item Ryan pointed to was the Obama administration’s reform of the student-loan industry. “Direct loans–this is perfect,” Ryan said. “So direct loans, that’s new spending on autopilot, that had no congressional oversight, and it gave the illusion that they were cutting spending.”</p>
<p>Except that that’s not what that was at all. The item in question was actually a money-saving reform of the student loan program. Instead of acting as a middleman for banks, the federal government would be dealing with loans directly. This was bad news for banks, which were making a tidy profit doing nothing much. As Chait put it:</p>
<p>The banks lobbied fiercely to protect their gravy train. Among the staunchest advocates of those government-subsidized banks was…Paul Ryan, who fought to protect bank subsidies that many of his fellow Republicans deemed too outrageous to defend. In 2009, Obama finally eliminated the guaranteed-lending racket. It could save the government an estimated $62 billion, according to the CBO.</p>
<p>Again: The ABC report that failed to expose Ryan’s non-wonkery followed the rules of neutral, just-the-facts journalism–at least, that’s how the rules are too often interpreted by corporate media.&#160; It is precisely that journalistic approach that tells you, over and over, that Paul Ryan is a wonk.</p> | What if Paul Ryan Isn’t Really a Wonk? Krugman vs. Campaign Reporters | true | http://fair.org/blog/2012/08/20/what-if-paul-ryan-isnt-really-a-wonk-krugman-vs-campaign-reporters/ | 2012-08-20 | 4left
| What if Paul Ryan Isn’t Really a Wonk? Krugman vs. Campaign Reporters
<p />
<p>If you know anything of substance about <a href="" type="internal">Paul Ryan</a>, it’s that the Republican vice presidential pick knows his numbers.</p>
<p>A Washington Post profile today by Michael Leahy ( <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/ryans-close-colleagues-and-admirers-have-long-seen-him-as-a-leader-in-waiting/2012/08/19/e1a725ee-ea21-11e1-a80b-9f898562d010_print.html" type="external">8/20/12</a>) tells us:</p>
<p>He got his start on Capitol Hill as a 19-year-old intern working in the mailroom of Sen. Bob Kasten (R-Wis.). That led in time to positions on congressional committees and habits he hasn’t broken since, including a staffer’s zeal for voracious research, for charts and PowerPoint presentations, and a facility for budget numbers that he recites with a savant’s glee.</p>
<p>As if that weren’t clear enough, we’re told later that he exhibits “a professorial absorption with fiscal issues.”</p>
<p>The New York Times has been saying the same. In a piece by Michael Barbaro ( <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/19/us/politics/romney-ryan-collaboration-goes-back-years.html?pagewanted=all" type="external">8/19/12</a>) detailing how the GOP ticket mates got to know each other, readers learned:</p>
<p>But in Mr. Ryan, Mr. Romney saw shades of himself: a clean-cut numbers guy who favored the cold-eyed truths of actuarial tables over ideology for its own sake.</p>
<p>That article also described a Ryan/Romney meeting as “a pair of policy mavens out-geeking each other over esoterica.”</p>
<p>And another Times article by <a href="" type="internal">Annie Lowrey</a> ( <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/18/us/politics/ryan-has-ear-of-washingtons-conservative-establishment.html?ref=todayspaper&amp;pagewanted=print" type="external">8/18/12</a>) got the scoop on Ryan’s depth from presumably knowledgeable sources:</p>
<p>The reputation for wonkiness is merited, people close to Mr. Ryan said. He goes home with a stack of white papers. He calls economists when he has questions about their budget projections or ideas.</p>
<p>Consider those assessments, and then read <a href="" type="internal">Paul Krugman</a>‘s column today ( <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/20/opinion/krugman-an-unserious-man.html?ref=todayspaper&amp;pagewanted=print" type="external">8/20/12</a>):&#160; “Mr. Ryan’s true constituency is the commentariat,” he writes. “Ryanomics is and always has been a con game, although to be fair, it has become even more of a con since Mr. Ryan joined the ticket.”</p>
<p>Krugman goes on:</p>
<p>So if we add up Mr. Ryan’s specific proposals, we have $4.3 trillion in tax cuts, partially offset by around $1.7 trillion in spending cuts–with the tax cuts, surprise, disproportionately benefiting the top 1 percent, while the spending cuts would primarily come at the expense of low-income families. Over all, the effect would be to increase the deficit by around two-and-a-half trillion dollars.</p>
<p>Yet Mr. Ryan claims to be a deficit hawk. What’s the basis for that claim?</p>
<p>Well, he says that he would offset his tax cuts by “base broadening,” eliminating enough tax deductions to make up the lost revenue. Which deductions would he eliminate? He refuses to say–and realistically, revenue gain on the scale he claims would be virtually impossible.</p>
<p>At the same time, he asserts that he would make huge further cuts in spending. What would he cut? He refuses to say.</p>
<p>What Mr. Ryan actually offers, then, are specific proposals that would sharply increase the deficit, plus an assertion that he has secret tax and spending plans that he refuses to share with us, but which will turn his overall plan into deficit reduction.</p>
<p>If this sounds like a joke, that’s because it is.</p>
<p>Remember: Reporters are the ones who just give you the facts. People like Krugman have opinions.</p>
<p>This recalls one of my favorite Ryan-in-the-media moments, courtesy of New York‘s Jonathan Chait ( <a href="http://nymag.com/print/?/news/features/paul-ryan-2012-5/" type="external">4/29/12</a>). Ryan was being profiled by ABC News‘ <a href="" type="internal">Jonathan Karl</a>, and as Chait&#160; reported, Ryan</p>
<p>awed a swooning reporter by opening up the budget to a random page and fingered a boondoggle. The item Ryan pointed to was the Obama administration’s reform of the student-loan industry. “Direct loans–this is perfect,” Ryan said. “So direct loans, that’s new spending on autopilot, that had no congressional oversight, and it gave the illusion that they were cutting spending.”</p>
<p>Except that that’s not what that was at all. The item in question was actually a money-saving reform of the student loan program. Instead of acting as a middleman for banks, the federal government would be dealing with loans directly. This was bad news for banks, which were making a tidy profit doing nothing much. As Chait put it:</p>
<p>The banks lobbied fiercely to protect their gravy train. Among the staunchest advocates of those government-subsidized banks was…Paul Ryan, who fought to protect bank subsidies that many of his fellow Republicans deemed too outrageous to defend. In 2009, Obama finally eliminated the guaranteed-lending racket. It could save the government an estimated $62 billion, according to the CBO.</p>
<p>Again: The ABC report that failed to expose Ryan’s non-wonkery followed the rules of neutral, just-the-facts journalism–at least, that’s how the rules are too often interpreted by corporate media.&#160; It is precisely that journalistic approach that tells you, over and over, that Paul Ryan is a wonk.</p> | 2,353 |
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<p>NEW YORK — In a scene U.S. authorities had dreamed of for decades, Mexican drug lord and escape artist Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was hauled into an American courtroom Friday and then taken away to an ultra-secure jail that has held some of the world’s most dangerous terrorists and mobsters.</p>
<p>Holding his unshackled hands behind his back, a dazed-looking Guzman entered a not-guilty plea through his lawyers to drug trafficking and other charges at a Brooklyn courthouse ringed by squad cars, officers with assault rifles and bomb-sniffing dogs.</p>
<p>“He’s a man known for a life of crime, violence, death and destruction, and now he’ll have to answer for that,” Robert Capers, the U.S. attorney in Brooklyn, said at a news conference.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The court appearance came hours after Guzman’s Thursday night extradition from Mexico, where he had become something of a folk hero for two brazen prison escapes.</p>
<p>Guzman was ordered held without bail and was expected to be kept in a special Manhattan jail unit where other high-risk inmates — including Mafia boss John Gotti and several close associates of Osama bin Laden — spent their time awaiting trial.</p>
<p>“It is difficult to imagine another person with a greater risk of fleeing prosecution,” prosecutors wrote in court papers.</p>
<p>Prosecutors described Guzman as the murderous overseer of a three-decade campaign of smuggling, brutality and corruption that made his Sinaloa drug cartel a fortune while fueling an epidemic of cocaine abuse and related violence in the U.S. in the 1980s and ’90s.</p>
<p>Guzman, who’s in his 50s, faces the possibility of life in prison if convicted. To get Mexico to hand him over, prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty. They also are demanding he forfeit $14 billion in assets.</p>
<p>Outside court, Guzman defense attorney Michael Schneider said: “I haven’t seen any evidence that indicates to me that Mr. Guzman’s done anything wrong.” He said he would look into whether his client was extradited properly.</p>
<p>The U.S. had been trying to get custody of Guzman since he was first indicted in California in the early 1990s.</p>
<p>American authorities finally got their wish on the eve of Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration, though it was unclear if the timing of the extradition was intended as a sign of respect to the Republican or some kind of slap, perhaps an effort to let outgoing Democratic President Barack Obama take the credit.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>When Guzman got off a plane in New York, “as you looked into his eyes, you could see the surprise, you could see the shock, and to a certain extent, you could see the fear, as the realization kicked in that he’s about to face American justice,” said Angel Melendez, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.</p>
<p>While Guzman faces federal charges in several U.S. states, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn won the jockeying to get the case. The U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn has substantial experience prosecuting international drug cartel cases and was once led by outgoing U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch.</p>
<p>New York also boasts one of the most secure lockups in the United States, the Metropolitan Correctional Center in lower Manhattan. The drab-looking building is protected by steel barricades that can stop up to 7 1/2 tons of speeding truck, and the area is watched by cameras capable of reading a newspaper a block away.</p>
<p>The jail’s inmates have included Ramzi Yousef, who was the architect of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme king Bernard Madoff.</p>
<p>In the special high-security wing for the riskiest inmates, around a dozen prisoners spend 23 hours a day in roughly 20-by-12-foot cells, prohibited from communicating with one another. Meals are eaten in cells, and exercise is in a recreation area specifically for these inmates.</p>
<p>Only a limited number of carefully vetted jailers would be allowed access to an inmate with Guzman’s wealth and potential to corrupt people, said Catherine Linaweaver, a former Metropolitan Correction Center warden who retired in 2014.</p>
<p>The special unit’s strict confinement drew criticism from the human rights group Amnesty International in 2011.</p>
<p>The jail saw an audacious escape attempt in 1982, when two armed people in a hijacked sightseeing helicopter tried to pluck an inmate off a roof. Four years earlier, three prisoners broke out by cutting through window bars.</p>
<p>Guzman, whose nickname means Shorty, presided over a syndicate that funneled tons of cocaine from South America into the U.S. via tunnels, tanker trucks, planes, container ships, speedboats and even submarines, prosecutors said.</p>
<p>Initially arrested in 1993, he broke out of a maximum-security Mexican prison in 2001, apparently in a laundry cart, and became a folk legend among some Mexicans, immortalized in song.</p>
<p>He was caught in 2014 but escaped again, this time through a hole in his prison cell shower. A specially rigged motorcycle on rails whisked him to freedom through a mile-long tunnel. He was recaptured in a January 2016 shootout that killed five associates.</p>
<p>____</p>
<p>Associated Press writers Verena Dobnik, Larry Neumeister and Jake Pearson contributed to this report.</p> | El Chapo is hauled off to US jail that has held terrorists | false | https://abqjournal.com/932069/mexican-drug-kingpin-el-chapo-to-appear-in-us-courtroom.html | 2017-01-19 | 2least
| El Chapo is hauled off to US jail that has held terrorists
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<p>NEW YORK — In a scene U.S. authorities had dreamed of for decades, Mexican drug lord and escape artist Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was hauled into an American courtroom Friday and then taken away to an ultra-secure jail that has held some of the world’s most dangerous terrorists and mobsters.</p>
<p>Holding his unshackled hands behind his back, a dazed-looking Guzman entered a not-guilty plea through his lawyers to drug trafficking and other charges at a Brooklyn courthouse ringed by squad cars, officers with assault rifles and bomb-sniffing dogs.</p>
<p>“He’s a man known for a life of crime, violence, death and destruction, and now he’ll have to answer for that,” Robert Capers, the U.S. attorney in Brooklyn, said at a news conference.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The court appearance came hours after Guzman’s Thursday night extradition from Mexico, where he had become something of a folk hero for two brazen prison escapes.</p>
<p>Guzman was ordered held without bail and was expected to be kept in a special Manhattan jail unit where other high-risk inmates — including Mafia boss John Gotti and several close associates of Osama bin Laden — spent their time awaiting trial.</p>
<p>“It is difficult to imagine another person with a greater risk of fleeing prosecution,” prosecutors wrote in court papers.</p>
<p>Prosecutors described Guzman as the murderous overseer of a three-decade campaign of smuggling, brutality and corruption that made his Sinaloa drug cartel a fortune while fueling an epidemic of cocaine abuse and related violence in the U.S. in the 1980s and ’90s.</p>
<p>Guzman, who’s in his 50s, faces the possibility of life in prison if convicted. To get Mexico to hand him over, prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty. They also are demanding he forfeit $14 billion in assets.</p>
<p>Outside court, Guzman defense attorney Michael Schneider said: “I haven’t seen any evidence that indicates to me that Mr. Guzman’s done anything wrong.” He said he would look into whether his client was extradited properly.</p>
<p>The U.S. had been trying to get custody of Guzman since he was first indicted in California in the early 1990s.</p>
<p>American authorities finally got their wish on the eve of Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration, though it was unclear if the timing of the extradition was intended as a sign of respect to the Republican or some kind of slap, perhaps an effort to let outgoing Democratic President Barack Obama take the credit.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>When Guzman got off a plane in New York, “as you looked into his eyes, you could see the surprise, you could see the shock, and to a certain extent, you could see the fear, as the realization kicked in that he’s about to face American justice,” said Angel Melendez, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.</p>
<p>While Guzman faces federal charges in several U.S. states, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn won the jockeying to get the case. The U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn has substantial experience prosecuting international drug cartel cases and was once led by outgoing U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch.</p>
<p>New York also boasts one of the most secure lockups in the United States, the Metropolitan Correctional Center in lower Manhattan. The drab-looking building is protected by steel barricades that can stop up to 7 1/2 tons of speeding truck, and the area is watched by cameras capable of reading a newspaper a block away.</p>
<p>The jail’s inmates have included Ramzi Yousef, who was the architect of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme king Bernard Madoff.</p>
<p>In the special high-security wing for the riskiest inmates, around a dozen prisoners spend 23 hours a day in roughly 20-by-12-foot cells, prohibited from communicating with one another. Meals are eaten in cells, and exercise is in a recreation area specifically for these inmates.</p>
<p>Only a limited number of carefully vetted jailers would be allowed access to an inmate with Guzman’s wealth and potential to corrupt people, said Catherine Linaweaver, a former Metropolitan Correction Center warden who retired in 2014.</p>
<p>The special unit’s strict confinement drew criticism from the human rights group Amnesty International in 2011.</p>
<p>The jail saw an audacious escape attempt in 1982, when two armed people in a hijacked sightseeing helicopter tried to pluck an inmate off a roof. Four years earlier, three prisoners broke out by cutting through window bars.</p>
<p>Guzman, whose nickname means Shorty, presided over a syndicate that funneled tons of cocaine from South America into the U.S. via tunnels, tanker trucks, planes, container ships, speedboats and even submarines, prosecutors said.</p>
<p>Initially arrested in 1993, he broke out of a maximum-security Mexican prison in 2001, apparently in a laundry cart, and became a folk legend among some Mexicans, immortalized in song.</p>
<p>He was caught in 2014 but escaped again, this time through a hole in his prison cell shower. A specially rigged motorcycle on rails whisked him to freedom through a mile-long tunnel. He was recaptured in a January 2016 shootout that killed five associates.</p>
<p>____</p>
<p>Associated Press writers Verena Dobnik, Larry Neumeister and Jake Pearson contributed to this report.</p> | 2,354 |
<p>Today’s world news round-up. An independent breakdown of notable global developments in a news update.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.foreignpolicy.com/failed_states_index_2012_interactive" type="external">Foreign Policy – The 2012 Failed States Index</a></p>
<p>Interactive map and rankings of the world’s most and least stable countries.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.irinnews.org/Report/95880/AID-POLICY-Hitching-social-media-to-humanitarian-assistance" type="external">IRIN – Africa: Hitching Social Media to Humanitarian Assistance</a></p>
<p>“If everybody can’t access a computer, a majority of people can access a mobile phone. Innovative ideas like transferring messages from platforms like Twitter into people’s phones as SMS text messages and in a language they understand can help in times of disaster,” he said. “During the [2010] Pakistani floods for instance, we were able to track real-time the distribution of food. In humanitarian situations, we are able to ask people what they need in a language they understand and get that information to aid organizations or to the world.”</p>
<p><a href="http://allafrica.com/view/group/main/main/id/00017932.html" type="external">All Africa – HIV Prevention Drug Truvada Offers New Hope</a></p>
<p>A round up of news coverage from Nigeria, Uganda, Zimbabwe and more, on the heels of the announcement of the FDA’s approval of new HIV drug, Truvada. Also see IVN’s coverage: <a href="" type="internal">FDA Approves New Drug To Prevent HIV</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18868526" type="external">BBC News – Syrian crisis: Assessing defector Nawaf Fares’ claims</a></p>
<p>“He accuses his former masters of colluding with al-Qaeda to carry out mass-casualty bombings on its own citizens to discredit the opposition. The Assads, he says, will never give up power through “political interventions”, only if they are forced out. He says the regime, if cornered further, “will not hesitate to use chemical weapons”, and that they may have been “used partially in Homs”.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gpnN8TzE8csefaL7yVsG04EKGPgg?docId=25c4c05ee1b94c3596663077ad8c09be" type="external">Associated Press – Clashes spread to new areas in Syrian capital</a></p>
<p>“Syrian government forces attacked rebels with helicopter gunships in the heart of Damascus on Tuesday, escalating a campaign to crush their opponents as clashes spread to new areas, illustrating the rebels’ growing reach.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2012/0717/Russia-and-the-West-lock-horns-over-Syria" type="external">Christian Science Monitor – Russia and the West lock horns over Syria</a></p>
<p>“From the very start, from the first steps, we supported and continue to support your efforts aimed at restoring civil peace,” Putin told Mr. Annan, according to Russian news agencies.&#160;“We will do everything that depends on us to support your efforts,” he added.”</p>
<p><a href="http://stream.wsj.com/story/markets/SS-2-5/SS-2-33873/" type="external">Wall Street Journal’s Market Pulse – U.S. Regulators, Taken to Task on Libor, Vow Vigilance</a></p>
<p>“Top U.S. regulators raised questions Tuesday about the accuracy and even the future of the key global interest rate known as Libor, while facing lawmakers’ questions about why they didn’t move sooner to halt alleged bank manipulation of the rate.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/united-kingdom/120716/2012-olympic-games-security-london-missile-batteries" type="external">Global Post – London unhappy with Olympic-sized security measures</a></p>
<p>“Are the rooftop missiles really necessary?”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.insightcrime.org/insight-latest-news/item/2900-the-top-3-most-controversial-points-of-venezuelas-judicial-reforms" type="external">In Sight – The Top 3 Most Controversial Points of Venezuela’s Judicial Reforms</a></p>
<p>“Despite the intentions for expedited, efficient proceedings, the reforms have been lambasted by many members of Venezuela’s opposition — criticism the government declared to be politically motivated — and drawn plenty of scorn from Venezuelan legal scholars.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2012/07/195124.htm" type="external">State Department – Preventing a Nuclear-Armed Iran (Secretary Clinton press avail)</a></p>
<p>“Iran’s leaders still have the opportunity to make the right decision. The choice is ultimately Iran’s. Our own choice is clear: We will use all elements of American power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.”</p> | World News Today: July 17, 2012 | false | https://ivn.us/2012/07/17/world-news-today-july-17-2012/ | 2012-07-17 | 2least
| World News Today: July 17, 2012
<p>Today’s world news round-up. An independent breakdown of notable global developments in a news update.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.foreignpolicy.com/failed_states_index_2012_interactive" type="external">Foreign Policy – The 2012 Failed States Index</a></p>
<p>Interactive map and rankings of the world’s most and least stable countries.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.irinnews.org/Report/95880/AID-POLICY-Hitching-social-media-to-humanitarian-assistance" type="external">IRIN – Africa: Hitching Social Media to Humanitarian Assistance</a></p>
<p>“If everybody can’t access a computer, a majority of people can access a mobile phone. Innovative ideas like transferring messages from platforms like Twitter into people’s phones as SMS text messages and in a language they understand can help in times of disaster,” he said. “During the [2010] Pakistani floods for instance, we were able to track real-time the distribution of food. In humanitarian situations, we are able to ask people what they need in a language they understand and get that information to aid organizations or to the world.”</p>
<p><a href="http://allafrica.com/view/group/main/main/id/00017932.html" type="external">All Africa – HIV Prevention Drug Truvada Offers New Hope</a></p>
<p>A round up of news coverage from Nigeria, Uganda, Zimbabwe and more, on the heels of the announcement of the FDA’s approval of new HIV drug, Truvada. Also see IVN’s coverage: <a href="" type="internal">FDA Approves New Drug To Prevent HIV</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18868526" type="external">BBC News – Syrian crisis: Assessing defector Nawaf Fares’ claims</a></p>
<p>“He accuses his former masters of colluding with al-Qaeda to carry out mass-casualty bombings on its own citizens to discredit the opposition. The Assads, he says, will never give up power through “political interventions”, only if they are forced out. He says the regime, if cornered further, “will not hesitate to use chemical weapons”, and that they may have been “used partially in Homs”.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gpnN8TzE8csefaL7yVsG04EKGPgg?docId=25c4c05ee1b94c3596663077ad8c09be" type="external">Associated Press – Clashes spread to new areas in Syrian capital</a></p>
<p>“Syrian government forces attacked rebels with helicopter gunships in the heart of Damascus on Tuesday, escalating a campaign to crush their opponents as clashes spread to new areas, illustrating the rebels’ growing reach.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2012/0717/Russia-and-the-West-lock-horns-over-Syria" type="external">Christian Science Monitor – Russia and the West lock horns over Syria</a></p>
<p>“From the very start, from the first steps, we supported and continue to support your efforts aimed at restoring civil peace,” Putin told Mr. Annan, according to Russian news agencies.&#160;“We will do everything that depends on us to support your efforts,” he added.”</p>
<p><a href="http://stream.wsj.com/story/markets/SS-2-5/SS-2-33873/" type="external">Wall Street Journal’s Market Pulse – U.S. Regulators, Taken to Task on Libor, Vow Vigilance</a></p>
<p>“Top U.S. regulators raised questions Tuesday about the accuracy and even the future of the key global interest rate known as Libor, while facing lawmakers’ questions about why they didn’t move sooner to halt alleged bank manipulation of the rate.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/united-kingdom/120716/2012-olympic-games-security-london-missile-batteries" type="external">Global Post – London unhappy with Olympic-sized security measures</a></p>
<p>“Are the rooftop missiles really necessary?”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.insightcrime.org/insight-latest-news/item/2900-the-top-3-most-controversial-points-of-venezuelas-judicial-reforms" type="external">In Sight – The Top 3 Most Controversial Points of Venezuela’s Judicial Reforms</a></p>
<p>“Despite the intentions for expedited, efficient proceedings, the reforms have been lambasted by many members of Venezuela’s opposition — criticism the government declared to be politically motivated — and drawn plenty of scorn from Venezuelan legal scholars.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2012/07/195124.htm" type="external">State Department – Preventing a Nuclear-Armed Iran (Secretary Clinton press avail)</a></p>
<p>“Iran’s leaders still have the opportunity to make the right decision. The choice is ultimately Iran’s. Our own choice is clear: We will use all elements of American power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.”</p> | 2,355 |
<p>In light of <a href="" type="internal">our article yesterday</a> about false and misleading political claims on Twitter, we found <a href="http://www.mediaite.com/online/supreme-court-nominee-falsely-reported-on-twitter-by-abc-news/" type="external">this story</a> on media mis-tweetment amusing:</p>
<p>Mediaite.com: Just after 9:30 @ABCWorldNews twittered <a href="http://twitter.com/lensmith22/status/13006975242" type="external">this</a>: BREAKING: President Obama will name Elena Kagan his nominee for the Supreme Court, @jaketapper reports. As you will see, he did not, and the tweet has since been deleted.</p>
<p>It was picked up by one <a href="http://twitter.com/lensmith22/status/13006975242" type="external">@lensmith22</a> who RT’d it.</p>
<p>Shortly thereafter Jake Tapper responded… <a href="http://twitter.com/jaketapper" type="external">on Twitter</a>: “@ABCWorldNews no I dont.” And then apparently tried to do damage control: @demdailybrief NO I DONT- false report – please delete. And: @lensmith22 false report – I reported no such thing – pls delete.</p>
<p>For anyone who is dizzied by all the Twitter jargon, here’s the gist:&#160;ABC’s Twitter feed issued a false report of Elena Kagan’s nomination, attributing it to ABC White House correspondent Jake Tapper. Tapper, always the trenchant fact-checker, pointed out that he said no such thing. But by this point, the falsehood had spread rapidly among Twitterers hungry for news but lax about double-checking.</p>
<p>The website Mediaite reported that the mistake was the result of an ABC staffer misunderstanding a "drill" that the news team was conducting, in preparation for coverage of real breaking news. The drill story was reported over an internal loudspeaker, prefaced by, "DRILL DRILL DRILL FOR DRILL PURPOSES THIS IS NOT TRUE," a spokesperson told Mediaite. ABC’s designated Twitterer missed that first part, and the mistake was off and running on the Internet. (The original tweet has since been deleted.)</p>
<p>The moral of this story is threefold. One, Elena Kagan is not President Obama’s nominee for Supreme Court justice, at least not as of right now. Two, don’t believe everything you read on Twitter — but you knew that if you read yesterday’s story. And three, in the age of instantaneous communication, perhaps ABC should consider using less plausible reports for its internal drills. The faster information travels, the faster misinformation travels, too.</p> | Mis-Tweeting in the News | false | https://factcheck.org/2010/04/mis-tweeting-in-the-news/ | 2010-04-29 | 2least
| Mis-Tweeting in the News
<p>In light of <a href="" type="internal">our article yesterday</a> about false and misleading political claims on Twitter, we found <a href="http://www.mediaite.com/online/supreme-court-nominee-falsely-reported-on-twitter-by-abc-news/" type="external">this story</a> on media mis-tweetment amusing:</p>
<p>Mediaite.com: Just after 9:30 @ABCWorldNews twittered <a href="http://twitter.com/lensmith22/status/13006975242" type="external">this</a>: BREAKING: President Obama will name Elena Kagan his nominee for the Supreme Court, @jaketapper reports. As you will see, he did not, and the tweet has since been deleted.</p>
<p>It was picked up by one <a href="http://twitter.com/lensmith22/status/13006975242" type="external">@lensmith22</a> who RT’d it.</p>
<p>Shortly thereafter Jake Tapper responded… <a href="http://twitter.com/jaketapper" type="external">on Twitter</a>: “@ABCWorldNews no I dont.” And then apparently tried to do damage control: @demdailybrief NO I DONT- false report – please delete. And: @lensmith22 false report – I reported no such thing – pls delete.</p>
<p>For anyone who is dizzied by all the Twitter jargon, here’s the gist:&#160;ABC’s Twitter feed issued a false report of Elena Kagan’s nomination, attributing it to ABC White House correspondent Jake Tapper. Tapper, always the trenchant fact-checker, pointed out that he said no such thing. But by this point, the falsehood had spread rapidly among Twitterers hungry for news but lax about double-checking.</p>
<p>The website Mediaite reported that the mistake was the result of an ABC staffer misunderstanding a "drill" that the news team was conducting, in preparation for coverage of real breaking news. The drill story was reported over an internal loudspeaker, prefaced by, "DRILL DRILL DRILL FOR DRILL PURPOSES THIS IS NOT TRUE," a spokesperson told Mediaite. ABC’s designated Twitterer missed that first part, and the mistake was off and running on the Internet. (The original tweet has since been deleted.)</p>
<p>The moral of this story is threefold. One, Elena Kagan is not President Obama’s nominee for Supreme Court justice, at least not as of right now. Two, don’t believe everything you read on Twitter — but you knew that if you read yesterday’s story. And three, in the age of instantaneous communication, perhaps ABC should consider using less plausible reports for its internal drills. The faster information travels, the faster misinformation travels, too.</p> | 2,356 |
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p /> PAUL JAY, SENIOR EDITOR, TRNN: Welcome to The Real News Network. I'm Paul Jay in Washington. In the coming weeks in Washington, Congress is going to have to vote on whether to raise the debt ceiling or not. That's the maximum amount the federal government is allowed to borrow. Right now that number's $14.3 trillion, but the government already has borrowed over $13 trillion. So it's not going to be very long before it hits that ceiling. So what happens if Congress refuses? Well, a meltdown of the global financial system, Treasury bills--no new Treasury bills offered, and not able to service Treasury bills that have already been offered. So on Sunday, Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican from South Carolina, threatened on Meet the Press not to vote for raising the cap. Here's what he had to say.
<p />
<p />~~~
<p />
<p />DAVID GREGORY, PRESENTER, NBC'S MEET THE PRESS: If you talk about the budget, you talk about spending. How will you vote on the debt ceiling? Will you vote to raise it, which is a vote that'll come up in relatively short order?
<p />
<p />SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Right. Well, to not raise the debt ceiling could be a default of the United States on bond and Treasury obligations. That would be very bad for the position of the United States and the world at large. But this is an opportunity to make sure that government is changing its spending ways. I will not vote for the debt ceiling increase until I see a plan in place that will deal with our long-term debt obligations, starting with Social Security: a real bipartisan effort to make sure that Social Security stays solvent, adjusting the age, looking at means tests for benefits. On the spending side, I'm not going to vote for a debt ceiling increase unless we go back to 2008 spending levels, cutting discretionary spending.
<p />
<p />~~~
<p />
<p />JAY: Well, over on ABC, Austan Goolsbee, chairman of the US Council of Economic Advisers, said if Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling, the impact on the economy would be catastrophic. Here's what he had to say.
<p />
<p />~~~
<p />
<p />AUSTAN GOOLSBEE, CHAIR, COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS: I don't see why anybody's talking about playing chicken with the debt ceiling. If we get to the point where you've damaged the full faith and credit of the United States, that would be the first default in history caused purely by insanity.
<p />
<p />~~~
<p />
<p />JAY: Now joining us from Kansas City, an expert on insanity in Washington, William K. Black. Bill Black's associate professor of economics and law at the University of Missouri - Kansas City. He teaches about white collar crime, public finance, antitrust law. And he's the author of the book The Best Way to Rob a Bank Is to Own One. Thanks for joining us, Bill.
<p />
<p />WILLIAM K. BLACK, ASSOC. PROF. OF ECONOMICS AND LAW: Thank you.
<p />
<p />JAY: So what do you make of the latest insanity?
<p />
<p />BLACK: Well, it's right out of the movie Blazing Saddles. And, of course, the famous case is the sheriff is surrounded by the angry townspeople about to lynch him, so he takes out his pistol, points it at his head, and says, don't move or I'll shoot--
<p />
<p />[Blazing Saddles film clip plays]
<p />
<p />BLACK: --which, of course, is spectacularly funny, because that'd be an insane thing to do. But it's precisely the threat that the Republicans use, time after time, and they use it not because they're insane but because it works, because it causes Obama and some other Democrats to suddenly give them things that they want.
<p />
<p />JAY: So do you agree with this assessment? If the lending cap is not raised, it would be catastrophic for the global financial system. Is that a true statement?
<p />
<p />BLACK: There would be a default on the United States debt. Interest rates on US debt would skyrocket. The Dow Jones would probably fall 1,000 points, and most every stock market in the world would fall. And everyone would know that it was Lindsey Graham and the Republican Party's fault for causing the crisis. You may recall when the Republicans killed TARP the first time around that something similar happened and they immediately caved. This would be vastly worse than what happened on the first TARP vote.
<p />
<p />JAY: So then it's kind of a silly bluff, because there's no way that the Republicans, as far as we can understand it, would ever allow such a thing to happen, you--one would think an easy bluff for the Democrats to call.
<p />
<p />BLACK: Well, but it's not silly if you're playing with people that don't understand how to deal with bullies, and it doesn't appear that the Democrats have figured--or at least key Democrats in the White House, have figured out that this is a standard ploy in game theory. And it was of course pulled on President Clinton. Remember, after the Democrats lost control of the House and legislature, the Republicans shut down the federal government, and expecting that Clinton would cave rather than have that happen. Well, instead, Clinton told the American people the Republicans were irresponsible and endangering the nation, and the Republicans lasted exactly one day. And once you call their bluff--then, of course, when they threatened it again, Clinton just smiled, and the Republicans went away and had to play nice.
<p />
<p />JAY: Well, let's talk about the substance of the issue. Graham's saying that long-term debt's going to be out of control or is out of control, and the first way to take it on is reform of Social Security. So they want to raise the eligibility age--the talk now is up to 69--and they want to do various other kinds of means testing, for example. So what do you make of the necessity to deal with Social Security if you want to deal with long-term debt?
<p />
<p />BLACK: None of the things that are the predicate for this make any sense. First, we aren't in a deficit crisis currently. We're in the Great Recession. And in the Great Recession, you need to run deficits to get out of the hole much faster, get people working. And right now, in fact, the deficit is too small, and Lindsey Graham agrees, because Lindsey Graham was part of the majority, substantial majority, that just voted to decrease taxes, to increase the deficit, to try to deal with the recession. And that we are not in trouble historically. In other words, the deficit as a percentage of GDP and wealth is far lower in the United States now than it has been at other times in our history. The key is to reestablish growth, and running a short-term deficit during a great recession is one of the ways you do reestablish that growth. Beyond that, cutting Social Security does nothing to help with the, quote-unquote, "solvency", which is itself a non sequitur in the case of the US deficit. And there in fact isn't a crisis in Social Security. And if you take the age at which you can earn Social Security from 65 to 79, you do substantially reduce the value of the benefits to people. And this is particularly true for people who work through labor. You know, for somebody who is a professor, retiring at 69 instead of 65, you know, that's not such a big deal for me. But if you've been working very hard, you simply cannot--in physical labor, you know, the typical 66-year-old can't do that. So that's a very big deal for poorer people.
<p />
<p />JAY: What are the legal obligations, if any, to people who have been paying in all these years? And if you've been--started working at--when you're 20 and you're now 60 and you've been paying in for 40 years expecting to retire at 65, now all of a sudden the contract gets changed on you and you're told it's 69, I mean, is that legal? Congress can simply pass the law and that's the end of the story.
<p />
<p />BLACK: It's legal. The issue is ethics and how you treat people. And the issue is: does any of this make any sense? And it really doesn't make any sense.
<p />
<p />JAY: The main argument that Graham and his colleagues are making is less about short-term deficit and more about long-term debt. You've seen these graphs where they show within 20, 30 years the debt ratio becomes unsustainable and you--. And so that's why they're going after retirement issues, 'cause in theory it affects long-term debt more while still allowing some short-term stimulus. You see this in Europe as well. They're--the big austerity measures in Europe are mostly focusing on age people receive pensions. What do you make of this long-term debt issue?
<p />
<p />BLACK: This is silly math that doesn't make any sense, to take these curves and extrapolate them. And everybody knows that, by the way.
<p />
<p />JAY: Bill, you say, well, everybody knows this about, you know, the fact that once growth begins, assuming it does, that these numbers start to change. But if everybody knows it, then the Republicans really know it, and not just the Republicans but all the voices preaching for austerity right now. If they don't really believe this issue, why are they going after Social Security? It can't even be that politically favorable for the majority of people that vote for Republicans, even if some of the Tea Party movement might like it.
<p />
<p />BLACK: You're exactly correct. They do know it. You know, there is no question but that [Erskine] Bowles and Alan Simpson know these things. Why? In the case of people like Simpson, what they hate is Social Security. And what they hate about Social Security is that it works so well. Social Security transformed the United States, from a place where to be old was typically to die in poverty, to a place where you have a dignified life as a senior. And Social Security, as a result, is a spectacularly popular program that--you know, majorities in the tune of 80 percent of Americans think it's great. It's also a program that is really efficient, really well run--in contrast, by the way, to private health insurance, which is a total pain in the rear and much more expensive and has far more paperwork. So this is a program that the Democrats created over Republican opposition that has proven immensely popular with virtually all Americans, including Republicans, and the Republican leadership hates it and wants it to be a failure. And like so many other areas, in regulation, for example, financial regulation, the Republicans are creating a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure, that they will huff and they will puff and they will cause deficits and they will cause, you know, even a default on the debt if necessary to prove that Social Security has failed. So what they saw, those people like Simpson and Bowles, was a unique political opportunity to cut back on Social Security. The entire deficit commission, after all, was not even supposed to deal with Social Security. It is those two cochairs that decided that they were going to go well in excess of their appropriate mission and take a slug and try to get people to attack Social Security. They think they have a political avenue to do that right now, given how upset people are about the Great Recession.
<p />
<p />JAY: So this is to a large extent an ideological position, in other words, proof that government can't do things. And even if they wind up not winning on Social Security, they help create an atmosphere in Washington for getting other things that they want.
<p />
<p />BLACK: No, it's more than that. They want to make changes that will make Social Security far less popular with Americans. And the two things they're suggesting will make Social Security far less attractive to the American people. If they means test it in the way they do, they will dramatically reduce the support of middle- and upper-middle-income Americans for Social Security. And if they raise the minimum age from 65 to 69, they'll make it a program that far fewer poorer laboring working-class Americans will even be able to take advantage of before they die, and that will reduce its popularity with that group. So this is actually a pretty clever mechanism to take a second whack at Social Security five years from now once they've dramatically reduced support for the program.
<p />
<p />JAY: Thanks very much for joining us, Bill.
<p />
<p />BLACK: Thank you.
<p />
<p />JAY: And thank you for joining us on The Real News Network.
<p />
<p />End of Transcript
<p />
<p />DISCLAIMER: Please note that transcripts for The Real News Network are typed from a recording of the program. TRNN cannot guarantee their complete accuracy. | Republicans' Deficit Ceiling Bluff an Attack on Social Security | true | http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option%3Dcom_content%26task%3Dview%26id%3D31%26Itemid%3D74%26jumival%3D6061 | 2011-01-04 | 4left
| Republicans' Deficit Ceiling Bluff an Attack on Social Security
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p /> PAUL JAY, SENIOR EDITOR, TRNN: Welcome to The Real News Network. I'm Paul Jay in Washington. In the coming weeks in Washington, Congress is going to have to vote on whether to raise the debt ceiling or not. That's the maximum amount the federal government is allowed to borrow. Right now that number's $14.3 trillion, but the government already has borrowed over $13 trillion. So it's not going to be very long before it hits that ceiling. So what happens if Congress refuses? Well, a meltdown of the global financial system, Treasury bills--no new Treasury bills offered, and not able to service Treasury bills that have already been offered. So on Sunday, Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican from South Carolina, threatened on Meet the Press not to vote for raising the cap. Here's what he had to say.
<p />
<p />~~~
<p />
<p />DAVID GREGORY, PRESENTER, NBC'S MEET THE PRESS: If you talk about the budget, you talk about spending. How will you vote on the debt ceiling? Will you vote to raise it, which is a vote that'll come up in relatively short order?
<p />
<p />SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Right. Well, to not raise the debt ceiling could be a default of the United States on bond and Treasury obligations. That would be very bad for the position of the United States and the world at large. But this is an opportunity to make sure that government is changing its spending ways. I will not vote for the debt ceiling increase until I see a plan in place that will deal with our long-term debt obligations, starting with Social Security: a real bipartisan effort to make sure that Social Security stays solvent, adjusting the age, looking at means tests for benefits. On the spending side, I'm not going to vote for a debt ceiling increase unless we go back to 2008 spending levels, cutting discretionary spending.
<p />
<p />~~~
<p />
<p />JAY: Well, over on ABC, Austan Goolsbee, chairman of the US Council of Economic Advisers, said if Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling, the impact on the economy would be catastrophic. Here's what he had to say.
<p />
<p />~~~
<p />
<p />AUSTAN GOOLSBEE, CHAIR, COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS: I don't see why anybody's talking about playing chicken with the debt ceiling. If we get to the point where you've damaged the full faith and credit of the United States, that would be the first default in history caused purely by insanity.
<p />
<p />~~~
<p />
<p />JAY: Now joining us from Kansas City, an expert on insanity in Washington, William K. Black. Bill Black's associate professor of economics and law at the University of Missouri - Kansas City. He teaches about white collar crime, public finance, antitrust law. And he's the author of the book The Best Way to Rob a Bank Is to Own One. Thanks for joining us, Bill.
<p />
<p />WILLIAM K. BLACK, ASSOC. PROF. OF ECONOMICS AND LAW: Thank you.
<p />
<p />JAY: So what do you make of the latest insanity?
<p />
<p />BLACK: Well, it's right out of the movie Blazing Saddles. And, of course, the famous case is the sheriff is surrounded by the angry townspeople about to lynch him, so he takes out his pistol, points it at his head, and says, don't move or I'll shoot--
<p />
<p />[Blazing Saddles film clip plays]
<p />
<p />BLACK: --which, of course, is spectacularly funny, because that'd be an insane thing to do. But it's precisely the threat that the Republicans use, time after time, and they use it not because they're insane but because it works, because it causes Obama and some other Democrats to suddenly give them things that they want.
<p />
<p />JAY: So do you agree with this assessment? If the lending cap is not raised, it would be catastrophic for the global financial system. Is that a true statement?
<p />
<p />BLACK: There would be a default on the United States debt. Interest rates on US debt would skyrocket. The Dow Jones would probably fall 1,000 points, and most every stock market in the world would fall. And everyone would know that it was Lindsey Graham and the Republican Party's fault for causing the crisis. You may recall when the Republicans killed TARP the first time around that something similar happened and they immediately caved. This would be vastly worse than what happened on the first TARP vote.
<p />
<p />JAY: So then it's kind of a silly bluff, because there's no way that the Republicans, as far as we can understand it, would ever allow such a thing to happen, you--one would think an easy bluff for the Democrats to call.
<p />
<p />BLACK: Well, but it's not silly if you're playing with people that don't understand how to deal with bullies, and it doesn't appear that the Democrats have figured--or at least key Democrats in the White House, have figured out that this is a standard ploy in game theory. And it was of course pulled on President Clinton. Remember, after the Democrats lost control of the House and legislature, the Republicans shut down the federal government, and expecting that Clinton would cave rather than have that happen. Well, instead, Clinton told the American people the Republicans were irresponsible and endangering the nation, and the Republicans lasted exactly one day. And once you call their bluff--then, of course, when they threatened it again, Clinton just smiled, and the Republicans went away and had to play nice.
<p />
<p />JAY: Well, let's talk about the substance of the issue. Graham's saying that long-term debt's going to be out of control or is out of control, and the first way to take it on is reform of Social Security. So they want to raise the eligibility age--the talk now is up to 69--and they want to do various other kinds of means testing, for example. So what do you make of the necessity to deal with Social Security if you want to deal with long-term debt?
<p />
<p />BLACK: None of the things that are the predicate for this make any sense. First, we aren't in a deficit crisis currently. We're in the Great Recession. And in the Great Recession, you need to run deficits to get out of the hole much faster, get people working. And right now, in fact, the deficit is too small, and Lindsey Graham agrees, because Lindsey Graham was part of the majority, substantial majority, that just voted to decrease taxes, to increase the deficit, to try to deal with the recession. And that we are not in trouble historically. In other words, the deficit as a percentage of GDP and wealth is far lower in the United States now than it has been at other times in our history. The key is to reestablish growth, and running a short-term deficit during a great recession is one of the ways you do reestablish that growth. Beyond that, cutting Social Security does nothing to help with the, quote-unquote, "solvency", which is itself a non sequitur in the case of the US deficit. And there in fact isn't a crisis in Social Security. And if you take the age at which you can earn Social Security from 65 to 79, you do substantially reduce the value of the benefits to people. And this is particularly true for people who work through labor. You know, for somebody who is a professor, retiring at 69 instead of 65, you know, that's not such a big deal for me. But if you've been working very hard, you simply cannot--in physical labor, you know, the typical 66-year-old can't do that. So that's a very big deal for poorer people.
<p />
<p />JAY: What are the legal obligations, if any, to people who have been paying in all these years? And if you've been--started working at--when you're 20 and you're now 60 and you've been paying in for 40 years expecting to retire at 65, now all of a sudden the contract gets changed on you and you're told it's 69, I mean, is that legal? Congress can simply pass the law and that's the end of the story.
<p />
<p />BLACK: It's legal. The issue is ethics and how you treat people. And the issue is: does any of this make any sense? And it really doesn't make any sense.
<p />
<p />JAY: The main argument that Graham and his colleagues are making is less about short-term deficit and more about long-term debt. You've seen these graphs where they show within 20, 30 years the debt ratio becomes unsustainable and you--. And so that's why they're going after retirement issues, 'cause in theory it affects long-term debt more while still allowing some short-term stimulus. You see this in Europe as well. They're--the big austerity measures in Europe are mostly focusing on age people receive pensions. What do you make of this long-term debt issue?
<p />
<p />BLACK: This is silly math that doesn't make any sense, to take these curves and extrapolate them. And everybody knows that, by the way.
<p />
<p />JAY: Bill, you say, well, everybody knows this about, you know, the fact that once growth begins, assuming it does, that these numbers start to change. But if everybody knows it, then the Republicans really know it, and not just the Republicans but all the voices preaching for austerity right now. If they don't really believe this issue, why are they going after Social Security? It can't even be that politically favorable for the majority of people that vote for Republicans, even if some of the Tea Party movement might like it.
<p />
<p />BLACK: You're exactly correct. They do know it. You know, there is no question but that [Erskine] Bowles and Alan Simpson know these things. Why? In the case of people like Simpson, what they hate is Social Security. And what they hate about Social Security is that it works so well. Social Security transformed the United States, from a place where to be old was typically to die in poverty, to a place where you have a dignified life as a senior. And Social Security, as a result, is a spectacularly popular program that--you know, majorities in the tune of 80 percent of Americans think it's great. It's also a program that is really efficient, really well run--in contrast, by the way, to private health insurance, which is a total pain in the rear and much more expensive and has far more paperwork. So this is a program that the Democrats created over Republican opposition that has proven immensely popular with virtually all Americans, including Republicans, and the Republican leadership hates it and wants it to be a failure. And like so many other areas, in regulation, for example, financial regulation, the Republicans are creating a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure, that they will huff and they will puff and they will cause deficits and they will cause, you know, even a default on the debt if necessary to prove that Social Security has failed. So what they saw, those people like Simpson and Bowles, was a unique political opportunity to cut back on Social Security. The entire deficit commission, after all, was not even supposed to deal with Social Security. It is those two cochairs that decided that they were going to go well in excess of their appropriate mission and take a slug and try to get people to attack Social Security. They think they have a political avenue to do that right now, given how upset people are about the Great Recession.
<p />
<p />JAY: So this is to a large extent an ideological position, in other words, proof that government can't do things. And even if they wind up not winning on Social Security, they help create an atmosphere in Washington for getting other things that they want.
<p />
<p />BLACK: No, it's more than that. They want to make changes that will make Social Security far less popular with Americans. And the two things they're suggesting will make Social Security far less attractive to the American people. If they means test it in the way they do, they will dramatically reduce the support of middle- and upper-middle-income Americans for Social Security. And if they raise the minimum age from 65 to 69, they'll make it a program that far fewer poorer laboring working-class Americans will even be able to take advantage of before they die, and that will reduce its popularity with that group. So this is actually a pretty clever mechanism to take a second whack at Social Security five years from now once they've dramatically reduced support for the program.
<p />
<p />JAY: Thanks very much for joining us, Bill.
<p />
<p />BLACK: Thank you.
<p />
<p />JAY: And thank you for joining us on The Real News Network.
<p />
<p />End of Transcript
<p />
<p />DISCLAIMER: Please note that transcripts for The Real News Network are typed from a recording of the program. TRNN cannot guarantee their complete accuracy. | 2,357 |
<p>Perhaps we should be referring to William Byron as the fourth. At the age of 19, the North Carolinian has been announced by team owner <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Rick_Hendrick/" type="external">Rick Hendrick</a> as one of his drivers next year in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.</p>
<p>Byron becomes the fourth young driver to join one of the major teams for next season, hence William the Fourth.</p>
<p>It may seem as though Byron is being coronated before ever stepping into a Cup car after winning seven races in the Camping World Truck Series in his first season and three during his current rookie year in the Xfinity Series. Those are impressive stats and unprecedented, so he deserves his opportunity to move to the big leagues. (Joey Logano’s stumble when he arrived at age 18 is still a fresh memory, but Byron will be 20 by the end of this season.)</p>
<p>For all his talent, Byron is part of the broader movement toward younger drivers by the front-line teams. Hendrick previously signed 24-year-old Alex Bowman to replace <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Dale_Earnhardt/" type="external">Dale Earnhardt</a>, Jr.; Team Penske has called in its option on the services of 23-year-old <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Ryan-Blaney/" type="external">Ryan Blaney</a>; and <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Joe_Gibbs/" type="external">Joe Gibbs</a> Racing has done likewise with <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Erik-Jones/" type="external">Erik Jones</a>, who is 21.</p>
<p>Byron presents himself as confident, but not cocky. Don’t expect motor racing’s version of <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Bryce-Harper/" type="external">Bryce Harper</a>.</p>
<p>“It’s definitely surprising,” Byron said of his rapid success. “I didn’t expect it out of myself. I feel like I’ve put the work into it and I’m learning on the job. That’s been the biggest thing for me, to learn from the best people I can have around me.”</p>
<p>The switch to younger drivers is inevitable, but particularly timely when it comes to the current sponsorship landscape. Teams are receiving less money from sponsors as a result of external and internal influences. In the current market, sponsors have a multitude of choices in various racing venues and other sports. And, when they look at NASCAR, they see a series where TV ratings and attendance have declined.</p>
<p>For team owners, the sponsor numbers, when it comes to how many millions are paid, look better with a younger driver in the seat. The younger drivers are inclined to accept more old-fashioned deals, like a percentage of the purse, and forgo the recent trend of retainers priced well into seven figures.</p>
<p>There are no specific figures available from the contract of Byron. But his team owner in the Xfinity Series, Earnhardt Jr., has confirmed the retainers are not what they used to be. As NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver, who has enjoyed taking home a retainer for much of his career, Earnhardt Jr. should know. (It’s all relative. It was Hendrick who started the trend when he signed <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Jeff_Gordon/" type="external">Jeff Gordon</a> and lured him away from Ford with a $750,000 offer in 1992. Byron has probably received a retainer better than that, but not anywhere close to what a driver in a similar circumstance might have been offered five years ago.)</p>
<p>The NASCAR TV numbers are still strong — an average viewership in the millions and nearly half the events on the schedule have decent attendance figures. But perception about future returns is everything in business, so sponsorships are being pegged to current numbers and likely with various options for the future. Future success, meanwhile, now depends more than ever on the fresh, young faces in NASCAR.</p>
<p>The sponsorship problems explain why a high-paid former champion, <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Matt_Kenseth/" type="external">Matt Kenseth</a>, is on the market after being replaced by Jones. There was a time when champion status was golden, a circumstance that describes the career of <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Kurt_Busch/" type="external">Kurt Busch</a>. A lot of pundits thought <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Roger_Penske/" type="external">Roger Penske</a> was making a mistake when he signed former champion Busch to succeed Rusty Wallace, himself a champion. Sponsor Miller Lite wanted a champion and Penske wanted Kenseth, who elected not to leave the team of <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Jack_Roush/" type="external">Jack Roush</a>. So, Penske hired Busch instead.</p>
<p>The hot ticket currently is accomplished youth. It helps that 25-year-old <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Kyle-Larson/" type="external">Kyle Larson</a> has hit his stride and Logano finally came into his own in his mid-20s. Along with Blaney, who scored his maiden victory this year, they prove the young drivers can not only win races, they can become dominant players and championship contenders, which is a sponsor’s dream.</p>
<p>The young drivers obviously offer an opportunity for sponsors to engage a younger fan base, which is money in the bank for marketing programs. But the youngsters are also cost-effective for team owners now living in the charter system. Hendrick looks to be balkanizing his current sponsorship by splitting Axalta between the No. 88 of Bowman and the No. 5 car to be driven by Byron, who will also have backing from Liberty University. It gives the appearance of a smaller budget than this year behind the departing <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Kasey_Kahne/" type="external">Kasey Kahne</a>, whose sponsors are also leaving.</p>
<p>Hendrick will also continue to pay Kahne’s retainer in 2018 during the final year of his contract and looks to be forming an alliance with a team where Kahne will drive and earn his purse percentage.</p>
<p>The owner of Hendrick Automotive Group, Hendrick has on occasion likened his racing team to the car business. “I know the bad times are coming sooner or later,” he once said, “and I want to be ready for them.” Well, the bad times have arrived in terms of sponsorship.</p>
<p>It’s also a problem vexing others, such as Stewart-Haas Racing, <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Richard_Childress_Racing/" type="external">Richard Childress Racing</a> and <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Richard_Petty/" type="external">Richard Petty</a> Motosports. They are all holding out hope that come this fall they’ll be able to announce new sponsors and a full slate of entries. Meanwhile, the careers of veterans Kenseth, Busch and <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Danica_Patrick/" type="external">Danica Patrick</a>, plus new arrivals <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Ty-Dillon/" type="external">Ty Dillon</a> and Darrell “Bubba” Wallace hang in the balance until the sponsorship picture comes into focus for these teams.</p>
<p>After Byron won the Xfinity race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July, Hendrick was asked about the teenager’s future in the Cup.</p>
<p>“We’re not ready to cross that bridge yet,” he replied. But after Kahne won the Brickyard 400 the following day, qualifying him for the playoffs, and Bowman was signed up to represent Nationwide Insurance in the No. 88 Chevy, the timing was right to announce the arrival of Byron.</p>
<p>The driver, who started competing in the online iRacing series before he was old enough for a driver’s license, gives every appearance of living up to the opportunity presented by Hendrick Motorsports, where he will join a relatively young lineup that includes <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Chase-Elliott/" type="external">Chase Elliott</a> and seven-time champion <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Jimmie_Johnson/" type="external">Jimmie Johnson</a>.</p>
<p>“His character is unbelievable,” said Hendrick “Very, very bright. He spends all his time either studying, or iRacing, in a simulator or in a racecar. His rapid rate of success has just blown us all away.”</p> | NASCAR youth movement helps solve sponsor, money issues | false | https://newsline.com/nascar-youth-movement-helps-solve-sponsor-money-issues/ | 2017-08-10 | 1right-center
| NASCAR youth movement helps solve sponsor, money issues
<p>Perhaps we should be referring to William Byron as the fourth. At the age of 19, the North Carolinian has been announced by team owner <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Rick_Hendrick/" type="external">Rick Hendrick</a> as one of his drivers next year in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.</p>
<p>Byron becomes the fourth young driver to join one of the major teams for next season, hence William the Fourth.</p>
<p>It may seem as though Byron is being coronated before ever stepping into a Cup car after winning seven races in the Camping World Truck Series in his first season and three during his current rookie year in the Xfinity Series. Those are impressive stats and unprecedented, so he deserves his opportunity to move to the big leagues. (Joey Logano’s stumble when he arrived at age 18 is still a fresh memory, but Byron will be 20 by the end of this season.)</p>
<p>For all his talent, Byron is part of the broader movement toward younger drivers by the front-line teams. Hendrick previously signed 24-year-old Alex Bowman to replace <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Dale_Earnhardt/" type="external">Dale Earnhardt</a>, Jr.; Team Penske has called in its option on the services of 23-year-old <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Ryan-Blaney/" type="external">Ryan Blaney</a>; and <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Joe_Gibbs/" type="external">Joe Gibbs</a> Racing has done likewise with <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Erik-Jones/" type="external">Erik Jones</a>, who is 21.</p>
<p>Byron presents himself as confident, but not cocky. Don’t expect motor racing’s version of <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Bryce-Harper/" type="external">Bryce Harper</a>.</p>
<p>“It’s definitely surprising,” Byron said of his rapid success. “I didn’t expect it out of myself. I feel like I’ve put the work into it and I’m learning on the job. That’s been the biggest thing for me, to learn from the best people I can have around me.”</p>
<p>The switch to younger drivers is inevitable, but particularly timely when it comes to the current sponsorship landscape. Teams are receiving less money from sponsors as a result of external and internal influences. In the current market, sponsors have a multitude of choices in various racing venues and other sports. And, when they look at NASCAR, they see a series where TV ratings and attendance have declined.</p>
<p>For team owners, the sponsor numbers, when it comes to how many millions are paid, look better with a younger driver in the seat. The younger drivers are inclined to accept more old-fashioned deals, like a percentage of the purse, and forgo the recent trend of retainers priced well into seven figures.</p>
<p>There are no specific figures available from the contract of Byron. But his team owner in the Xfinity Series, Earnhardt Jr., has confirmed the retainers are not what they used to be. As NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver, who has enjoyed taking home a retainer for much of his career, Earnhardt Jr. should know. (It’s all relative. It was Hendrick who started the trend when he signed <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Jeff_Gordon/" type="external">Jeff Gordon</a> and lured him away from Ford with a $750,000 offer in 1992. Byron has probably received a retainer better than that, but not anywhere close to what a driver in a similar circumstance might have been offered five years ago.)</p>
<p>The NASCAR TV numbers are still strong — an average viewership in the millions and nearly half the events on the schedule have decent attendance figures. But perception about future returns is everything in business, so sponsorships are being pegged to current numbers and likely with various options for the future. Future success, meanwhile, now depends more than ever on the fresh, young faces in NASCAR.</p>
<p>The sponsorship problems explain why a high-paid former champion, <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Matt_Kenseth/" type="external">Matt Kenseth</a>, is on the market after being replaced by Jones. There was a time when champion status was golden, a circumstance that describes the career of <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Kurt_Busch/" type="external">Kurt Busch</a>. A lot of pundits thought <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Roger_Penske/" type="external">Roger Penske</a> was making a mistake when he signed former champion Busch to succeed Rusty Wallace, himself a champion. Sponsor Miller Lite wanted a champion and Penske wanted Kenseth, who elected not to leave the team of <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Jack_Roush/" type="external">Jack Roush</a>. So, Penske hired Busch instead.</p>
<p>The hot ticket currently is accomplished youth. It helps that 25-year-old <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Kyle-Larson/" type="external">Kyle Larson</a> has hit his stride and Logano finally came into his own in his mid-20s. Along with Blaney, who scored his maiden victory this year, they prove the young drivers can not only win races, they can become dominant players and championship contenders, which is a sponsor’s dream.</p>
<p>The young drivers obviously offer an opportunity for sponsors to engage a younger fan base, which is money in the bank for marketing programs. But the youngsters are also cost-effective for team owners now living in the charter system. Hendrick looks to be balkanizing his current sponsorship by splitting Axalta between the No. 88 of Bowman and the No. 5 car to be driven by Byron, who will also have backing from Liberty University. It gives the appearance of a smaller budget than this year behind the departing <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Kasey_Kahne/" type="external">Kasey Kahne</a>, whose sponsors are also leaving.</p>
<p>Hendrick will also continue to pay Kahne’s retainer in 2018 during the final year of his contract and looks to be forming an alliance with a team where Kahne will drive and earn his purse percentage.</p>
<p>The owner of Hendrick Automotive Group, Hendrick has on occasion likened his racing team to the car business. “I know the bad times are coming sooner or later,” he once said, “and I want to be ready for them.” Well, the bad times have arrived in terms of sponsorship.</p>
<p>It’s also a problem vexing others, such as Stewart-Haas Racing, <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Richard_Childress_Racing/" type="external">Richard Childress Racing</a> and <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Richard_Petty/" type="external">Richard Petty</a> Motosports. They are all holding out hope that come this fall they’ll be able to announce new sponsors and a full slate of entries. Meanwhile, the careers of veterans Kenseth, Busch and <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Danica_Patrick/" type="external">Danica Patrick</a>, plus new arrivals <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Ty-Dillon/" type="external">Ty Dillon</a> and Darrell “Bubba” Wallace hang in the balance until the sponsorship picture comes into focus for these teams.</p>
<p>After Byron won the Xfinity race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July, Hendrick was asked about the teenager’s future in the Cup.</p>
<p>“We’re not ready to cross that bridge yet,” he replied. But after Kahne won the Brickyard 400 the following day, qualifying him for the playoffs, and Bowman was signed up to represent Nationwide Insurance in the No. 88 Chevy, the timing was right to announce the arrival of Byron.</p>
<p>The driver, who started competing in the online iRacing series before he was old enough for a driver’s license, gives every appearance of living up to the opportunity presented by Hendrick Motorsports, where he will join a relatively young lineup that includes <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Chase-Elliott/" type="external">Chase Elliott</a> and seven-time champion <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Jimmie_Johnson/" type="external">Jimmie Johnson</a>.</p>
<p>“His character is unbelievable,” said Hendrick “Very, very bright. He spends all his time either studying, or iRacing, in a simulator or in a racecar. His rapid rate of success has just blown us all away.”</p> | 2,358 |
<p>Rep. Paul Ryan revises history when he says his Medicare plan is "in keeping with the Bill Clinton bipartisan committee" proposal in 1999. Contrary to the impression left by Ryan, the commission's final report failed largely along partisan lines. Clinton opposed it, and all four of his appointees voted against it.&#160;</p>
<p>It's true, though, that both proposals recommended providing a government subsidy for seniors to buy insurance — that's one of the issues that caused the plan to fail to win final approval.</p>
<p>Not Clinton's Committee</p>
<p>On " <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43093952/ns/meet_the_press-transcripts/t/meet-press-transcript-may/" type="external">Meet the Press</a>," Ryan called his Medicare plan "sensible" and compared it to the work of a "Bill Clinton bipartisan commission" — referring to a 1999 final draft report issued by the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare.</p>
<p>Ryan, May 22: And the way in which we propose reforming for the next generation, it's in keeping with the Bill Clinton bipartisan commission that — to reform Medicare, it's an idea that's been around for a long time called premium support: guaranteed coverage options for Medicare where the government subsidizes the poor and the sick a whole lot more than the wealthy, and people get to choose.</p>
<p>He's right that both plans recommended "premium support payments" — or government subsidies — to help seniors buy insurance. Under Ryan's plan, future beneficiaries (those currently younger than 55) would use the subsidies to buy private insurance. Under the 1999 plan, seniors would have been able to apply the subsidies toward the traditional government-run Medicare program or buy private insurance. So, to that extent, his plan indeed is in keeping with the 1999 proposal.</p>
<p>But any attempt to cast the 1999 report as bipartisan or suggest it was Clinton's commission is misleading.</p>
<p>The commission was <a href="http://www.commonwealthfund.org/usr_doc/altman_bipartisan_353.pdf" type="external">created</a> by Congress as part of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. The New York Times <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1999/03/17/us/medicare-panel-sharply-divided-submits-no-plan.html?pagewanted=2&amp;src=pm" type="external">reported</a> that Clinton appointed just four of the 17 commission members, and all four of them voted against the report. Clinton himself opposed the final draft report. He issued a <a href="http://clinton6.nara.gov/1999/03/1999-03-16-remarks-by-the-president-upon-departure-on-medicare.html" type="external">statement</a> on the day of the vote that criticized the plan for, among other things, potentially increasing premiums for seniors who remain in the traditional government-run Medicare plan. Why? Clinton and other Democrats feared the subsidies would not keep pace with inflation.&#160;</p>
<p>Rep. John Dingell, a Michigan Democrat and commission member, voted against the report and criticized it in words that echo today's partisan criticism of Ryan's plan: "The proposal before us would convert Medicare from a universal guarantee to a Government voucher for private insurance."</p>
<p>The commission <a href="http://thomas.loc.gov/medicare/finalvote.html" type="external">failed</a> to get the 11 votes it needed to approve the final report. All eight Republican appointees and only two centrist Democrats, chairman John Breaux of Louisiana and Sen. Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, voted for it. The report failed by a 10-7 vote.&#160; &#160;</p>
<p>'Mediscare': A True Bipartisan Plan</p>
<p>Ryan is correct, though, when he blames both parties for engaging in what he called "Mediscare" — which we <a href="" type="internal">documented</a> as recently as May 19 in the special House election in New York's 26th congressional district.&#160;</p>
<p>Ryan, May 22: Look, of course people are scared of entitlement reform because every time you put entitlement reform out there, the other party uses it as a political weapon against you. Look, both parties have done this to each other.</p>
<p>He proved his point when he engaged in, well, a bit of Mediscare himself.</p>
<p>Ryan repeated a false claim that the Independent Payment Advisory Board created by the new federal health care law will "ration" Medicare to cut costs.</p>
<p>Ryan, May 22: The alternative to this, David, is a rationing scheme, are the 15 bureaucrats the president's going to appoint next year on his panel to ration Medicare spending.&#160; We don't think we should give the government the power to ration spending to seniors.</p>
<p>As we have <a href="" type="internal">written</a> before, the health care law specifically states that the advisory board “shall not include any recommendation to ration health care.” And the voting board members are doctors, economists and other outside experts, not Washington bureaucrats.</p> | Ryan Revises History on Medicare Reform | false | https://factcheck.org/2011/05/ryan-revises-history-on-medicare-reform/ | 2011-05-23 | 2least
| Ryan Revises History on Medicare Reform
<p>Rep. Paul Ryan revises history when he says his Medicare plan is "in keeping with the Bill Clinton bipartisan committee" proposal in 1999. Contrary to the impression left by Ryan, the commission's final report failed largely along partisan lines. Clinton opposed it, and all four of his appointees voted against it.&#160;</p>
<p>It's true, though, that both proposals recommended providing a government subsidy for seniors to buy insurance — that's one of the issues that caused the plan to fail to win final approval.</p>
<p>Not Clinton's Committee</p>
<p>On " <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43093952/ns/meet_the_press-transcripts/t/meet-press-transcript-may/" type="external">Meet the Press</a>," Ryan called his Medicare plan "sensible" and compared it to the work of a "Bill Clinton bipartisan commission" — referring to a 1999 final draft report issued by the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare.</p>
<p>Ryan, May 22: And the way in which we propose reforming for the next generation, it's in keeping with the Bill Clinton bipartisan commission that — to reform Medicare, it's an idea that's been around for a long time called premium support: guaranteed coverage options for Medicare where the government subsidizes the poor and the sick a whole lot more than the wealthy, and people get to choose.</p>
<p>He's right that both plans recommended "premium support payments" — or government subsidies — to help seniors buy insurance. Under Ryan's plan, future beneficiaries (those currently younger than 55) would use the subsidies to buy private insurance. Under the 1999 plan, seniors would have been able to apply the subsidies toward the traditional government-run Medicare program or buy private insurance. So, to that extent, his plan indeed is in keeping with the 1999 proposal.</p>
<p>But any attempt to cast the 1999 report as bipartisan or suggest it was Clinton's commission is misleading.</p>
<p>The commission was <a href="http://www.commonwealthfund.org/usr_doc/altman_bipartisan_353.pdf" type="external">created</a> by Congress as part of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. The New York Times <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1999/03/17/us/medicare-panel-sharply-divided-submits-no-plan.html?pagewanted=2&amp;src=pm" type="external">reported</a> that Clinton appointed just four of the 17 commission members, and all four of them voted against the report. Clinton himself opposed the final draft report. He issued a <a href="http://clinton6.nara.gov/1999/03/1999-03-16-remarks-by-the-president-upon-departure-on-medicare.html" type="external">statement</a> on the day of the vote that criticized the plan for, among other things, potentially increasing premiums for seniors who remain in the traditional government-run Medicare plan. Why? Clinton and other Democrats feared the subsidies would not keep pace with inflation.&#160;</p>
<p>Rep. John Dingell, a Michigan Democrat and commission member, voted against the report and criticized it in words that echo today's partisan criticism of Ryan's plan: "The proposal before us would convert Medicare from a universal guarantee to a Government voucher for private insurance."</p>
<p>The commission <a href="http://thomas.loc.gov/medicare/finalvote.html" type="external">failed</a> to get the 11 votes it needed to approve the final report. All eight Republican appointees and only two centrist Democrats, chairman John Breaux of Louisiana and Sen. Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, voted for it. The report failed by a 10-7 vote.&#160; &#160;</p>
<p>'Mediscare': A True Bipartisan Plan</p>
<p>Ryan is correct, though, when he blames both parties for engaging in what he called "Mediscare" — which we <a href="" type="internal">documented</a> as recently as May 19 in the special House election in New York's 26th congressional district.&#160;</p>
<p>Ryan, May 22: Look, of course people are scared of entitlement reform because every time you put entitlement reform out there, the other party uses it as a political weapon against you. Look, both parties have done this to each other.</p>
<p>He proved his point when he engaged in, well, a bit of Mediscare himself.</p>
<p>Ryan repeated a false claim that the Independent Payment Advisory Board created by the new federal health care law will "ration" Medicare to cut costs.</p>
<p>Ryan, May 22: The alternative to this, David, is a rationing scheme, are the 15 bureaucrats the president's going to appoint next year on his panel to ration Medicare spending.&#160; We don't think we should give the government the power to ration spending to seniors.</p>
<p>As we have <a href="" type="internal">written</a> before, the health care law specifically states that the advisory board “shall not include any recommendation to ration health care.” And the voting board members are doctors, economists and other outside experts, not Washington bureaucrats.</p> | 2,359 |
<p />
<p>Verizon has recently been dealing with a strike involving two unions, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), which represent around 40,000 wireline workers in the Northeastern United States.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Image source: Pixabay.</p>
<p>The strike started on April 13 after Verizon and the unions failed to reach an agreement regarding a new contract to replace the old one, which expired last August. After ten months of negotiations, the two sides still haven't agreed on various issues, including healthcare, pension plans, and job security.</p>
<p>One major concern was Verizon's plan tomove about 5,000 jobs to other countries, outsource labor to lower-wage contractors, and transfer existing workers to other states. The unions also claim that Verizon intentionally delayed its rollout of its FiOS bundled Internet, telephone, and TV service, and reduced the size of the wireline staff that would install the service in new markets.</p>
<p>Verizon denied those claims, stating that it had already surpassed its initial goal of installing FiOS in 18 million homes, and that healthcare issues should be reconsidered as medical costs for workers and retirees have risen over the past few years. For its part, Verizon has offered employees a 7.5% wage increase over the term ofthe contract, job protection for eligible employees, and "excellent" retirement benefits.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Verizon has prepared itself for a prolonged battle against the unions. The company trained "thousands" of non-union employees to ensure that wireline service and repairs were not disrupted, as well as business partners to handle certain network and customer service functions.</p>
<p>During last quarter's conference call (as transcribed by <a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/news/edited-transcript-vz-earnings-conference-203739413.html" type="external">Thomson Reuters Opens a New Window.</a>), Verizon CFO Fran Shammo stated that the company "had planned" for the strike, and that if it could "come back in mid-year" if the negotiations fell through. Shammo stated that it was "too early" to gauge the financial impact of the strike, but expressed confidence that second quarter earnings wouldn't be affected and that Verizon could still hit its EPS target of $3.99 for the full year -- which would represent flat growth from 2015 (but 3% growth after excluding the impact of assets held for sale).</p>
<p>Verizon's clash with the unions is related to its ongoing efforts to downsize its slow-growth wireline business in favor of its high-growth wireless business and the expansion of its digital video and advertising ecosystem.</p>
<p>Last December, Verizon sold a large portion of its landline phone, Internet, and TV services to Frontier Communications for $10.6 billion. Verizon has reportedly been trying to sell its data centers for $2.5 billion, and it shuttered two of its two public <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/02/17/why-verizon-communications-inc-killed-two-public-c.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">cloud services Opens a New Window.</a> in April.</p>
<p>Last quarter, Verizon's wireline revenues fell 1.9% annually to $9.3 billion. However, the unit's operating margin rose 200 basis points thanks to a 4% decline in operating expenses, which boosted operating income 45% to $589 million.</p>
<p>Prematurely signing an unbalanced contract with the unions could reverse that bottom line growth, which explains Verizon's willingness to fight a prolonged battle. Verizon has survived big strikes before. Back in Aug. 2011, 45,000 of its wireline workers went on strike, but the strike ended two weeks later after Verizon showed a willingness to "bargain seriously." The new contract was inked the following year.</p>
<p>AT&amp;T also recently renegotiated new contracts with the CWA to replace the ones which expired in April, but those negotiations have gone more smoothly. Last year, AT&amp;T and the CWA negotiated new contracts for 17,000 wireline employees in the Midwest and 24,000 employees in the Southeast. It also started negotiations for 16,000 employees in the East and West regions in March, then finalized a deal with 9,400 employees in the Southwest region in April.</p>
<p>However, the negotiations with AT&amp;T didn't cover controversial issues like outsourcing jobs, relocating employees, or replacing employees with contractors. Instead, the AT&amp;T negotiations mainly centered around wages, benefits, pensions, and workplace rules.</p>
<p>Verizon seems to have more trouble with unions than AT&amp;T, but the company has weathered similar storms before with minimal damage. Shammo stated during the conference call that there wouldn't be a financial impact "unless (the strike) drags on for a much longer period of time."</p>
<p>Since Verizon recently returned to the negotiating table, there's a chance that the strike won't "drag on" for that much longer. Therefore, longtime Verizon investors shouldn't consider the wireline strike to be a huge headwind for the company. Instead, they should focus more on Verizon's wireless growth and the expansion of its digital ecosystem.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/05/20/should-investors-worry-about-verizon-communication.aspx" type="external">Should Investors Worry About Verizon Communications Inc's Strike Issues? Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFSunLion/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Leo Sun Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of AT&amp;T and Verizon Communications. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Verizon Communications. 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> | Should Investors Worry About Verizon Communications Inc's Strike Issues? | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/05/20/should-investors-worry-about-verizon-communications-inc-strike-issues.html | 2016-05-20 | 0right
| Should Investors Worry About Verizon Communications Inc's Strike Issues?
<p />
<p>Verizon has recently been dealing with a strike involving two unions, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), which represent around 40,000 wireline workers in the Northeastern United States.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Image source: Pixabay.</p>
<p>The strike started on April 13 after Verizon and the unions failed to reach an agreement regarding a new contract to replace the old one, which expired last August. After ten months of negotiations, the two sides still haven't agreed on various issues, including healthcare, pension plans, and job security.</p>
<p>One major concern was Verizon's plan tomove about 5,000 jobs to other countries, outsource labor to lower-wage contractors, and transfer existing workers to other states. The unions also claim that Verizon intentionally delayed its rollout of its FiOS bundled Internet, telephone, and TV service, and reduced the size of the wireline staff that would install the service in new markets.</p>
<p>Verizon denied those claims, stating that it had already surpassed its initial goal of installing FiOS in 18 million homes, and that healthcare issues should be reconsidered as medical costs for workers and retirees have risen over the past few years. For its part, Verizon has offered employees a 7.5% wage increase over the term ofthe contract, job protection for eligible employees, and "excellent" retirement benefits.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Verizon has prepared itself for a prolonged battle against the unions. The company trained "thousands" of non-union employees to ensure that wireline service and repairs were not disrupted, as well as business partners to handle certain network and customer service functions.</p>
<p>During last quarter's conference call (as transcribed by <a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/news/edited-transcript-vz-earnings-conference-203739413.html" type="external">Thomson Reuters Opens a New Window.</a>), Verizon CFO Fran Shammo stated that the company "had planned" for the strike, and that if it could "come back in mid-year" if the negotiations fell through. Shammo stated that it was "too early" to gauge the financial impact of the strike, but expressed confidence that second quarter earnings wouldn't be affected and that Verizon could still hit its EPS target of $3.99 for the full year -- which would represent flat growth from 2015 (but 3% growth after excluding the impact of assets held for sale).</p>
<p>Verizon's clash with the unions is related to its ongoing efforts to downsize its slow-growth wireline business in favor of its high-growth wireless business and the expansion of its digital video and advertising ecosystem.</p>
<p>Last December, Verizon sold a large portion of its landline phone, Internet, and TV services to Frontier Communications for $10.6 billion. Verizon has reportedly been trying to sell its data centers for $2.5 billion, and it shuttered two of its two public <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/02/17/why-verizon-communications-inc-killed-two-public-c.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">cloud services Opens a New Window.</a> in April.</p>
<p>Last quarter, Verizon's wireline revenues fell 1.9% annually to $9.3 billion. However, the unit's operating margin rose 200 basis points thanks to a 4% decline in operating expenses, which boosted operating income 45% to $589 million.</p>
<p>Prematurely signing an unbalanced contract with the unions could reverse that bottom line growth, which explains Verizon's willingness to fight a prolonged battle. Verizon has survived big strikes before. Back in Aug. 2011, 45,000 of its wireline workers went on strike, but the strike ended two weeks later after Verizon showed a willingness to "bargain seriously." The new contract was inked the following year.</p>
<p>AT&amp;T also recently renegotiated new contracts with the CWA to replace the ones which expired in April, but those negotiations have gone more smoothly. Last year, AT&amp;T and the CWA negotiated new contracts for 17,000 wireline employees in the Midwest and 24,000 employees in the Southeast. It also started negotiations for 16,000 employees in the East and West regions in March, then finalized a deal with 9,400 employees in the Southwest region in April.</p>
<p>However, the negotiations with AT&amp;T didn't cover controversial issues like outsourcing jobs, relocating employees, or replacing employees with contractors. Instead, the AT&amp;T negotiations mainly centered around wages, benefits, pensions, and workplace rules.</p>
<p>Verizon seems to have more trouble with unions than AT&amp;T, but the company has weathered similar storms before with minimal damage. Shammo stated during the conference call that there wouldn't be a financial impact "unless (the strike) drags on for a much longer period of time."</p>
<p>Since Verizon recently returned to the negotiating table, there's a chance that the strike won't "drag on" for that much longer. Therefore, longtime Verizon investors shouldn't consider the wireline strike to be a huge headwind for the company. Instead, they should focus more on Verizon's wireless growth and the expansion of its digital ecosystem.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/05/20/should-investors-worry-about-verizon-communication.aspx" type="external">Should Investors Worry About Verizon Communications Inc's Strike Issues? Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFSunLion/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Leo Sun Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of AT&amp;T and Verizon Communications. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Verizon Communications. 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> | 2,360 |
<p>A top leader in the movement trying to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is in Beijing this week for talks, but China says it's not taking sides in the dispute.</p>
<p>The Ministry of Foreign Affairs <a href="http://www.globaltimes.cn/NEWS/tabid/99/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/662489/Libyan-rebel-leader-visits-Beijing.aspx" type="external">reported</a> that Mahmoud Jibril, chairman of Libya's National Transitional Council, would be in Beijing Tuesday and Wednesday this week. A spokesman for the Chinese ministry said the visit was part of China's effort to help find a solution in Libya. China, which earlier this month hosted Libya's foreign minister, has a big financial stake in the outcome, largely because of oil. Around 35,000 Chinese workers, mainly employed in oil, were reportedly evacuated from Libya when fighting broke out.</p> | Libyan rebel leader in Beijing | false | https://pri.org/stories/2011-06-21/libyan-rebel-leader-beijing | 2011-06-21 | 3left-center
| Libyan rebel leader in Beijing
<p>A top leader in the movement trying to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is in Beijing this week for talks, but China says it's not taking sides in the dispute.</p>
<p>The Ministry of Foreign Affairs <a href="http://www.globaltimes.cn/NEWS/tabid/99/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/662489/Libyan-rebel-leader-visits-Beijing.aspx" type="external">reported</a> that Mahmoud Jibril, chairman of Libya's National Transitional Council, would be in Beijing Tuesday and Wednesday this week. A spokesman for the Chinese ministry said the visit was part of China's effort to help find a solution in Libya. China, which earlier this month hosted Libya's foreign minister, has a big financial stake in the outcome, largely because of oil. Around 35,000 Chinese workers, mainly employed in oil, were reportedly evacuated from Libya when fighting broke out.</p> | 2,361 |
<p />
<p>Chemicals and seeds producer DuPont's quarterly profit was nearly wiped off after the company took charges related to employee severance and asset write-downs.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>DuPont posted net income attributable to shareholders of $2 million, or breakeven per share, in the third quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with $235 million, or 26 cents per share, a year earlier.</p>
<p>The company recorded a net charge of $172 million, including a write-down of some intangible assets.</p>
<p>DuPont's net sales rose marginally to $4.92 billion.</p>
<p>DuPont's $130 billion mega-merger with Dow Chemical Co is being scrutinized by regulators around the world, with EU antitrust regulators resuming their investigation of the merger this month after halting it in early September.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Arathy S Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)</p> | DuPont reports steep drop in quarterly profit | true | http://foxbusiness.com/politics/2016/10/25/dupont-reports-steep-drop-in-quarterly-profit.html | 2016-10-25 | 0right
| DuPont reports steep drop in quarterly profit
<p />
<p>Chemicals and seeds producer DuPont's quarterly profit was nearly wiped off after the company took charges related to employee severance and asset write-downs.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>DuPont posted net income attributable to shareholders of $2 million, or breakeven per share, in the third quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with $235 million, or 26 cents per share, a year earlier.</p>
<p>The company recorded a net charge of $172 million, including a write-down of some intangible assets.</p>
<p>DuPont's net sales rose marginally to $4.92 billion.</p>
<p>DuPont's $130 billion mega-merger with Dow Chemical Co is being scrutinized by regulators around the world, with EU antitrust regulators resuming their investigation of the merger this month after halting it in early September.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Arathy S Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)</p> | 2,362 |
<p />
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>ImmunoGen (NASDAQ: IMGN) is up 19.5% at 12:48 p.m. EST for no obvious reason other than it's a biotech that day traders like to play with.</p>
<p>Rather than being valued on fundamentals, ImmunoGen is trading on sentiment. And day traders seem to have a positive sentiment about the biotech -- at least today.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Last week, the biotech pointed out that data from the phase 1 trial testing KL in patients with ovarian cancer were published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, but that really shouldn't change the valuation much since most of the data had already been previously disclosed.</p>
<p>ImmunoGen used that data to design its currently underway phase 3 clinical trial, FORWARD I, which will ultimately define the biotech's valuation. Moves like today's will have little effect on ImmunoGen's valuation after it releases the phase 3 results in a few years.</p>
<p>Before the phase 3 trial results are announced, investors will get more data on mirvetuximab soravtansine that could actually justify a valuation change. Starting in the middle of this year, ImmunoGen plans to release data from FORWARD II, a phase 1b/2 trial testing mirvetuximab soravtansine in different combinations with other cancer drugs. If the combinations look like they're working, investors will have more confidence that FORWARD I, which is testing the drug as a monotherapy, will be successful, raising the stock price.</p>
<p>Until then, keep in mind that the sentiment of day traders can change on a dime, and long-term shareholders should be prepared to ignore news-less moves in both directions.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than ImmunoGen When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=9d6c9a79-6805-4be3-bb87-3e3d8924f336&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 ImmunoGen wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
<p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=9d6c9a79-6805-4be3-bb87-3e3d8924f336&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 January 4, 2017</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFBiologyFool/info.aspx" type="external">Brian Orelli Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends ImmunoGen. 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 ImmnoGen, Inc. Jumped Higher Today | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/01/04/why-immnogen-inc-jumped-higher-today.html | 2017-01-04 | 0right
| Why ImmnoGen, Inc. Jumped Higher Today
<p />
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>ImmunoGen (NASDAQ: IMGN) is up 19.5% at 12:48 p.m. EST for no obvious reason other than it's a biotech that day traders like to play with.</p>
<p>Rather than being valued on fundamentals, ImmunoGen is trading on sentiment. And day traders seem to have a positive sentiment about the biotech -- at least today.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Last week, the biotech pointed out that data from the phase 1 trial testing KL in patients with ovarian cancer were published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, but that really shouldn't change the valuation much since most of the data had already been previously disclosed.</p>
<p>ImmunoGen used that data to design its currently underway phase 3 clinical trial, FORWARD I, which will ultimately define the biotech's valuation. Moves like today's will have little effect on ImmunoGen's valuation after it releases the phase 3 results in a few years.</p>
<p>Before the phase 3 trial results are announced, investors will get more data on mirvetuximab soravtansine that could actually justify a valuation change. Starting in the middle of this year, ImmunoGen plans to release data from FORWARD II, a phase 1b/2 trial testing mirvetuximab soravtansine in different combinations with other cancer drugs. If the combinations look like they're working, investors will have more confidence that FORWARD I, which is testing the drug as a monotherapy, will be successful, raising the stock price.</p>
<p>Until then, keep in mind that the sentiment of day traders can change on a dime, and long-term shareholders should be prepared to ignore news-less moves in both directions.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than ImmunoGen When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=9d6c9a79-6805-4be3-bb87-3e3d8924f336&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 ImmunoGen wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
<p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=9d6c9a79-6805-4be3-bb87-3e3d8924f336&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 January 4, 2017</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFBiologyFool/info.aspx" type="external">Brian Orelli Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends ImmunoGen. 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> | 2,363 |
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<p>A former New Mexico State Police sergeant was indicted by a Taos County grand jury on charges that he allegedly beat and kicked his wife after a wedding reception in August, <a href="http://www.taosnews.com/articles/2010/12/01/news/doc4ced97d111400575291592.txt" type="external">The Taos News</a> reported.</p>
<p>Adrian Vigil, 57, was charged with aggravated battery on a household member and two counts of bribery, intimidating or retaliating against a witness in connection with the Aug. 8 incident, The News said.</p>
<p>State Police spokesman Lt. Eric Garcia told The News that Vigil, a 15-year State Police veteran who worked out of Taos, had been terminated because of the alleged incident.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Vigil was arrested after allegedly kicking his 54-year-old wife in the stomach, causing her to hit her head when she fell to a concrete floor, according to the <a href="../north/102254196048north08-10-10.htm" type="external">Albuquerque Journal’s report</a> at the time.</p>
<p>Vigil and his wife had just arrived home from attending a wedding reception and started to argue, when the argument turned violent and Vigil allegedly kicked his wife, causing her to fall and hit her head, Taos Police Chief Rick Anglada told the Journal’s Vic Vela.</p>
<p>After losing consciousness for an unknown period of time, Vigil’s wife got up on her own and walked next door to her son’s home, where an ambulance was called and she was taken to Holy Cross Hospital, where she was treated and released the same morning, Anglada said at the time.</p>
<p>Vigil’s wife has since retracted her statements to police, according to The Taos News report.</p>
<p>Phil Sisneros, spokesman for the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office, told The News that the case had been referred to the state office because area prosecutors, including Taos’ Donald Gallegos, had recused themselves because of their working relationships with Vigil over the years.</p>
<p>“We can only take cases if the district attorney refuses the case or if they ask us to handle it because of our expertise,” Sisneros told The News. “If they refuse, we don’t have to prosecute the case. We can put it right back in their lap.”</p>
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<p>5:50pm 8/9/10 — State Cop Arrested On Domestic Violence Charge: Alleged Battery After Wedding Reception.</p>
<p>A State Police sergeant out of Taos was arrested on a domestic violence charge over the weekend after he was accused of kicking his wife in the stomach, causing her to hit her head when she fell to the concrete.Adrian Vigil, 56, was charged with aggravated battery on a household member for the alleged assault on his 54-year-old wife that occurred early Sunday, according to Taos Police Chief Rick Anglada.Vigil is a 15-year State Police veteran and has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the criminal matter and an internal affairs investigation, according to State Police spokesman Lt. Eric Garcia.The alleged assault took place around 2:30 a.m. in the garage of the couple’s Taos home, Anglada said. Vigil and his wife had just arrived home from attending a wedding reception and started to argue. The argument turned violent when Vigil kicked his wife in the abdomen, causing her to fall and hit her head on the concrete floor, according to the chief.The woman lost consciousness for an unknown period of time. When she came to, her husband was “allegedly standing over her and refusing to let her get up,” Anglada said.The wife got up on her own and walked next door to her son’s home, where an ambulance was called. She was taken to Holy Cross Hospital, where she received a single stitch for the wound on her head. She was treated and released that morning, according to Anglada.Vigil was arrested within a few hours, after his wife provided police with a statement of the incident. He was booked into the Taos County jail, where he posted a $5,000 bond and was released Sunday.Anglada said he does not know whether alcohol was a contributing factor in the incident. The chief expressed disappointment over the situation, saying that Vigil is a lifelong Taos resident with close ties to the community.“Any domestic violence situation is a sad thing to deal with,” Anglada said. “However, when it’s another officer, especially of the stature of Sgt. Vigil, it’s just that much more sad. It’s sad all the way around. Not only for his wife, but for law enforcement in general.”</p> | Updated at 8:35am — Taos Grand Jury Indicts Former State Police Sgt. | false | https://abqjournal.com/10467/updated-at-835am-taos-grand-jury-indicts-former-state-police-sgt.html | 2least
| Updated at 8:35am — Taos Grand Jury Indicts Former State Police Sgt.
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<p>A former New Mexico State Police sergeant was indicted by a Taos County grand jury on charges that he allegedly beat and kicked his wife after a wedding reception in August, <a href="http://www.taosnews.com/articles/2010/12/01/news/doc4ced97d111400575291592.txt" type="external">The Taos News</a> reported.</p>
<p>Adrian Vigil, 57, was charged with aggravated battery on a household member and two counts of bribery, intimidating or retaliating against a witness in connection with the Aug. 8 incident, The News said.</p>
<p>State Police spokesman Lt. Eric Garcia told The News that Vigil, a 15-year State Police veteran who worked out of Taos, had been terminated because of the alleged incident.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Vigil was arrested after allegedly kicking his 54-year-old wife in the stomach, causing her to hit her head when she fell to a concrete floor, according to the <a href="../north/102254196048north08-10-10.htm" type="external">Albuquerque Journal’s report</a> at the time.</p>
<p>Vigil and his wife had just arrived home from attending a wedding reception and started to argue, when the argument turned violent and Vigil allegedly kicked his wife, causing her to fall and hit her head, Taos Police Chief Rick Anglada told the Journal’s Vic Vela.</p>
<p>After losing consciousness for an unknown period of time, Vigil’s wife got up on her own and walked next door to her son’s home, where an ambulance was called and she was taken to Holy Cross Hospital, where she was treated and released the same morning, Anglada said at the time.</p>
<p>Vigil’s wife has since retracted her statements to police, according to The Taos News report.</p>
<p>Phil Sisneros, spokesman for the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office, told The News that the case had been referred to the state office because area prosecutors, including Taos’ Donald Gallegos, had recused themselves because of their working relationships with Vigil over the years.</p>
<p>“We can only take cases if the district attorney refuses the case or if they ask us to handle it because of our expertise,” Sisneros told The News. “If they refuse, we don’t have to prosecute the case. We can put it right back in their lap.”</p>
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<p>5:50pm 8/9/10 — State Cop Arrested On Domestic Violence Charge: Alleged Battery After Wedding Reception.</p>
<p>A State Police sergeant out of Taos was arrested on a domestic violence charge over the weekend after he was accused of kicking his wife in the stomach, causing her to hit her head when she fell to the concrete.Adrian Vigil, 56, was charged with aggravated battery on a household member for the alleged assault on his 54-year-old wife that occurred early Sunday, according to Taos Police Chief Rick Anglada.Vigil is a 15-year State Police veteran and has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the criminal matter and an internal affairs investigation, according to State Police spokesman Lt. Eric Garcia.The alleged assault took place around 2:30 a.m. in the garage of the couple’s Taos home, Anglada said. Vigil and his wife had just arrived home from attending a wedding reception and started to argue. The argument turned violent when Vigil kicked his wife in the abdomen, causing her to fall and hit her head on the concrete floor, according to the chief.The woman lost consciousness for an unknown period of time. When she came to, her husband was “allegedly standing over her and refusing to let her get up,” Anglada said.The wife got up on her own and walked next door to her son’s home, where an ambulance was called. She was taken to Holy Cross Hospital, where she received a single stitch for the wound on her head. She was treated and released that morning, according to Anglada.Vigil was arrested within a few hours, after his wife provided police with a statement of the incident. He was booked into the Taos County jail, where he posted a $5,000 bond and was released Sunday.Anglada said he does not know whether alcohol was a contributing factor in the incident. The chief expressed disappointment over the situation, saying that Vigil is a lifelong Taos resident with close ties to the community.“Any domestic violence situation is a sad thing to deal with,” Anglada said. “However, when it’s another officer, especially of the stature of Sgt. Vigil, it’s just that much more sad. It’s sad all the way around. Not only for his wife, but for law enforcement in general.”</p> | 2,364 |
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<p />
<p>That was in 1995, when domestic terrorism seemed to be the nation’s most immediate security threat. Now President Donald Trump sees the greatest risk in potential attackers who sneak into the U.S. from abroad. But Welch and others say the administration can’t ignore threats from home.</p>
<p>“ISIS, to me, is really not a hell of a lot different than the militia movement in the U.S.,” he said, referring to anti-government groups that were provoked by deadly standoffs with federal agents in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, and Waco, Texas — two flashpoints cited by Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.</p>
<p>A list of worldwide attacks recently released by Trump’s administration left off many that were carried out by right-wing extremists and white supremacists. And organizations that track terrorist and hate groups say the government focuses too narrowly on threats from the outside instead of adopting a broader approach.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>In a move that the administration described as an anti-terrorism measure, Trump last month suspended the nation’s refugee program and banned travel from seven predominantly Muslim nations, although a federal court soon halted his executive order.</p>
<p>Welch disagrees with Trump’s order banning travelers from certain countries, particularly when no terrorist attack in the U.S. has been tied to refugees from those places.</p>
<p>“You’ve got to be honest with people and quit making up these stories,” he said. “But that’s the problem nowadays. We let politics get too involved.”</p>
<p>Since the Oklahoma City bombing, the Southern Poverty Law Center has tracked domestic terrorist plots and attacks in the United States. It lists more than 100, including some that shocked the nation: A 2012 shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin that killed six; the slaying of nine black churchgoers during a 2015 prayer meeting in Charleston, South Carolina; and the ambushes last year that killed eight police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge, Louisiana.</p>
<p>Legal scholar William Yeomans said Dylann Roof, convicted in the Charleston attack, is a “classic example of a homegrown domestic terrorist.”</p>
<p>“He certainly was inspired by domestic organizations,” said Yeomans, who is on the faculty at American University and formerly served as a high-ranking official in the Justice Department’s civil rights division. “He spent a lot of time on the internet looking at far right-wing websites.”</p>
<p>Some Republicans have sought to distinguish between attacks carried out by white assailants and those tied to foreign extremist organizations.</p>
<p>Sean Duffy, a GOP congressman from Wisconsin, recently asserted that the Charleston church shooter and a Canadian man accused of gunning down six people last month at a Quebec City mosque did not get support from a network like the Islamic State and other extremist organizations.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“There’s no constant thread that goes through these attacks,” Duffy said on CNN.</p>
<p>The congressman told the USA Today Network-Wisconsin that white extremists are already here and that Trump’s ban was intended to keep IS operatives out. Duffy’s spokesman did not respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press.</p>
<p>Southern Poverty Law Center President Richard Cohen said taking a more balanced look at all terror groups is “a bipartisan failure” — something that President Barack Obama’s administration could have handled better as well.</p>
<p>Cohen said the threat of Islamic extremism should not distract from radical right extremism, which in the U.S. dates back to slavery, the Jim Crow era and groups such as the Ku Klux Klan.</p>
<p>“The congressman talked about there being a difference. I wouldn’t say they’re the same, but oftentimes trying to make a sharp distinction between the two is just the first step in minimizing one or the other.”</p>
<p>The law center released a report Wednesday that the number of anti-Muslim hate groups tripled in 2016 from a year earlier, now at 101. The increase was driven by assaults such as the June attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, by a gunman who killed 49 people and pledged allegiance to IS. But Trump’s rhetoric also played a role, the report said.</p>
<p>Nearly 22 years after it happened, the Oklahoma City bombing remains the deadliest act of domestic terrorism on U.S. soil. It killed 168 people, including 19 children.</p>
<p>Jannie Coverdale, who lost two small grandsons in the bombing, said her greatest anger came when she saw McVeigh “and realized he was an American.”</p>
<p>But Coverdale agrees with the president’s thinking and voted for Trump, even though she usually supports Democrats.</p>
<p>“Now things are different,” she said. We don’t have a lot of homegrown terrorists. They are coming from overseas, and somebody’s got to do something to put a stop to it.”</p> | Critics: Trump should not ignore domestic terrorist threats | false | https://abqjournal.com/952026/critics-trump-should-not-ignore-domestic-terrorist-threats.html | 2017-02-17 | 2least
| Critics: Trump should not ignore domestic terrorist threats
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<p />
<p>That was in 1995, when domestic terrorism seemed to be the nation’s most immediate security threat. Now President Donald Trump sees the greatest risk in potential attackers who sneak into the U.S. from abroad. But Welch and others say the administration can’t ignore threats from home.</p>
<p>“ISIS, to me, is really not a hell of a lot different than the militia movement in the U.S.,” he said, referring to anti-government groups that were provoked by deadly standoffs with federal agents in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, and Waco, Texas — two flashpoints cited by Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.</p>
<p>A list of worldwide attacks recently released by Trump’s administration left off many that were carried out by right-wing extremists and white supremacists. And organizations that track terrorist and hate groups say the government focuses too narrowly on threats from the outside instead of adopting a broader approach.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>In a move that the administration described as an anti-terrorism measure, Trump last month suspended the nation’s refugee program and banned travel from seven predominantly Muslim nations, although a federal court soon halted his executive order.</p>
<p>Welch disagrees with Trump’s order banning travelers from certain countries, particularly when no terrorist attack in the U.S. has been tied to refugees from those places.</p>
<p>“You’ve got to be honest with people and quit making up these stories,” he said. “But that’s the problem nowadays. We let politics get too involved.”</p>
<p>Since the Oklahoma City bombing, the Southern Poverty Law Center has tracked domestic terrorist plots and attacks in the United States. It lists more than 100, including some that shocked the nation: A 2012 shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin that killed six; the slaying of nine black churchgoers during a 2015 prayer meeting in Charleston, South Carolina; and the ambushes last year that killed eight police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge, Louisiana.</p>
<p>Legal scholar William Yeomans said Dylann Roof, convicted in the Charleston attack, is a “classic example of a homegrown domestic terrorist.”</p>
<p>“He certainly was inspired by domestic organizations,” said Yeomans, who is on the faculty at American University and formerly served as a high-ranking official in the Justice Department’s civil rights division. “He spent a lot of time on the internet looking at far right-wing websites.”</p>
<p>Some Republicans have sought to distinguish between attacks carried out by white assailants and those tied to foreign extremist organizations.</p>
<p>Sean Duffy, a GOP congressman from Wisconsin, recently asserted that the Charleston church shooter and a Canadian man accused of gunning down six people last month at a Quebec City mosque did not get support from a network like the Islamic State and other extremist organizations.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“There’s no constant thread that goes through these attacks,” Duffy said on CNN.</p>
<p>The congressman told the USA Today Network-Wisconsin that white extremists are already here and that Trump’s ban was intended to keep IS operatives out. Duffy’s spokesman did not respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press.</p>
<p>Southern Poverty Law Center President Richard Cohen said taking a more balanced look at all terror groups is “a bipartisan failure” — something that President Barack Obama’s administration could have handled better as well.</p>
<p>Cohen said the threat of Islamic extremism should not distract from radical right extremism, which in the U.S. dates back to slavery, the Jim Crow era and groups such as the Ku Klux Klan.</p>
<p>“The congressman talked about there being a difference. I wouldn’t say they’re the same, but oftentimes trying to make a sharp distinction between the two is just the first step in minimizing one or the other.”</p>
<p>The law center released a report Wednesday that the number of anti-Muslim hate groups tripled in 2016 from a year earlier, now at 101. The increase was driven by assaults such as the June attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, by a gunman who killed 49 people and pledged allegiance to IS. But Trump’s rhetoric also played a role, the report said.</p>
<p>Nearly 22 years after it happened, the Oklahoma City bombing remains the deadliest act of domestic terrorism on U.S. soil. It killed 168 people, including 19 children.</p>
<p>Jannie Coverdale, who lost two small grandsons in the bombing, said her greatest anger came when she saw McVeigh “and realized he was an American.”</p>
<p>But Coverdale agrees with the president’s thinking and voted for Trump, even though she usually supports Democrats.</p>
<p>“Now things are different,” she said. We don’t have a lot of homegrown terrorists. They are coming from overseas, and somebody’s got to do something to put a stop to it.”</p> | 2,365 |
<p>Dunkin' is thinking about dumping "Donuts" from its name.</p>
<p>A new location of the chain in Pasadena, California, will be simply called Dunkin', a move that parent company Dunkin' Brands Inc. calls a test. The Canton, Massachusetts-based company said Thursday that a few other stores will get the one-name treatment too.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The chain wants people to think of its stores as a destination for coffee, although it will still sell doughnuts. Dunkin' Donuts said it won't make a decision on whether it will change its name until late next year, when it expects to start redesigning stores.</p>
<p>News of the test was first reported by Nation's Restaurant News.</p> | Dunkin' without the 'Donuts'? Maybe in the name | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/08/03/dunkin-without-donuts-maybe.html | 2017-08-03 | 0right
| Dunkin' without the 'Donuts'? Maybe in the name
<p>Dunkin' is thinking about dumping "Donuts" from its name.</p>
<p>A new location of the chain in Pasadena, California, will be simply called Dunkin', a move that parent company Dunkin' Brands Inc. calls a test. The Canton, Massachusetts-based company said Thursday that a few other stores will get the one-name treatment too.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The chain wants people to think of its stores as a destination for coffee, although it will still sell doughnuts. Dunkin' Donuts said it won't make a decision on whether it will change its name until late next year, when it expects to start redesigning stores.</p>
<p>News of the test was first reported by Nation's Restaurant News.</p> | 2,366 |
<p>&lt;a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/soldiersmediacenter/4985969985/"&gt;The U.S. Army&lt;/a&gt;/Flickr</p>
<p><a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com" type="external" />This <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/archive/175294/" type="external">post</a> first appeared on the <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/" type="external">TomDispatch</a> website.</p>
<p>Yes, it would be funny if it weren’t so grim. After all, when it comes to squandering money and resources in strange and distant places (or even here at home), you can count on the practitioners of American-style war to be wildly over the top.</p>
<p>Oh, those madcap Pentagon bureaucrats and the zany horde of generals and admirals who go with them! Give them credit: no one on Earth knows how to throw a war like they do—and they never go home.</p>
<p>In fact, when it comes to linking “profligate” to “war,” with all the lies, manipulations, and cost overruns that give it that proverbial pizzazz, Americans should stand tall. We are absolutely #1!</p>
<p>Hence, the very first TomDispatch American Way of War Quiz. Admittedly, it covers only the last four weeks of war news you wouldn’t believe if it weren’t in the papers, but we could have done this for any month since October 2001.</p>
<p>Now’s your chance to pit your wits (and your ability to suspend disbelief) against the best the Pentagon has to offer—and we’re talking about all seventeen-and-a-half miles of corridors in that five-sided, five-story edifice that has triple the square footage of the Empire State Building. To weigh your skills on the TomDispatch Scales of War™, take the 11-question pop quiz below, checking your answers against ours (with accompanying explanations), and see if you deserve to be a four-star general, a gun-totin’ mercenary, or a mere private.</p>
<p>1. With President Obama’s Afghan surge of 30,000 US troops complete, an administration review of war policy due in December, and fears rising that new war commander General David Petraeus might then ask for more troops, what did the general do last week?</p>
<p>a. He informed the White House that he now had too many troops for reasonable operations in Afghanistan and proposed that a drawdown begin immediately.</p>
<p>b. He assured the White House that he was satisfied with the massive surge in troops (civilian employees, contractors, and CIA personnel) and would proceed as planned.</p>
<p>c. He asked for more troops now.</p>
<p>Correct answer: c. General Petraeus has already reportedly requested an <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/09/05/afghanistan.troops/index.html?hpt=T2" type="external">extra mini-surge</a> of 2,000 more troops from NATO, and probably from US reserves as well, including more trainers for the Afghan military. In interviews as August ended, he was still <a href="http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/09/with-nato-chiefs-blessing-petraeus-requests-2000-more-troops-for-afghanistan/#more-30348" type="external">insisting</a> that he had “the structures, people, concepts, and resources required to carry out a comprehensive civil-military counterinsurgency campaign.” But that was the summer silly season. This is September, a time for cooler heads and larger demands.</p>
<p>2. With President Obama’s announced July 2011 drawdown of US troops in Afghanistan in mind, the Pentagon has already:</p>
<p>a. Begun organizing an orderly early 2011 withdrawal of troops from combat outposts and forward operating bases to larger facilities to facilitate the president’s plan.</p>
<p>b. Launched a new US base-building binge in Afghanistan, including contracts for three $100 million facilities not to be completed, no less completely occupied, until late 2011.</p>
<p>c. Announced plans to shut down Kandahar Air Base’s covered boardwalk, including a TGI Friday’s, a Kentucky Fried Chicken, and a Mamma Mia’s Pizzeria, and cancelled the opening of a Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs as part of its preparations for an American drawdown.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1844674517/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20" type="external" />Correct answer: b. According to Walter Pincus of the Washington Post, construction is slated to begin on at least three <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/22/AR2010082201670_pf.html" type="external">$100 million air base projects</a>—”a $100 million area at Shindand Air Base for Special Operations helicopters and unmanned intelligence and surveillance aircraft”; another $100 million to expand the airfield at Camp Dwyer, a Marine base in Helmand Province, also to support Special Operations forces; and a final $100 million for expanded air facilities at Mazar-e Sharif in northern Afghanistan. None of these projects are to be completed until well after July 2011. “[R]equests for $1.3 billion in additional fiscal 2011 funds for multiyear construction of military facilities in Afghanistan are pending before Congress.” And fear not, there are <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/07/kandahar-boardwalk-kaf-of_n_706963.html" type="external">no indications</a> that the fast-food joints at Kandahar are going anywhere.</p>
<p>3. The US military has more generals and admirals than:</p>
<p>a. Al-Qaeda members in Yemen.</p>
<p>b. Al-Qaeda members in Afghanistan.</p>
<p>c. Al-Qaeda members in Pakistan.</p>
<p>d. Al-Qaeda members in all three countries.</p>
<p>Correct answer: a, b, c, and d. According to CIA Director Leon Panetta, there are <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/01/world/asia/01qaeda.html" type="external">50 to 100</a> al-Qaeda operatives in Afghanistan, possibly less. Best estimates suggest that there are perhaps <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/03/AR2010010300314.html" type="external">“several hundred”</a> al-Qaeda members in poverty-stricken, desertifying, strife-torn Yemen. There are also an estimated <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175191/tomgram%3A_turse_and_engelhardt,_shooting_gnats_with_a_machine_gun/" type="external">“several hundred”</a> members and leaders of the original al-Qaeda in the Pakistani borderlands. The high-end total for al-Qaeda members in the three countries, then, would be 800, though the actual figure could be significantly smaller. According to Ginger Thompson and Thom Shanker of the New York Times, the US military has <a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2012735296_generals27.html" type="external">963 generals and admirals</a>, approximately 100 more than on September 11, 2001. (The average salary for a general, by the way, is $180,000, which means that the cost of these “stars,” not including pensions, health-care plans, and perks, is approximately $170 million a year.) The US military has <a href="http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2010/08/15/top_brass_on_edge_as_defense_secretary_prepares_to_make_cuts/" type="external">40</a> four-star generals and admirals at the moment, which may represent more star-power than there are al-Qaeda operatives in Afghanistan. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has suggested that, as a belt-tightening measure, he might cut the top-heavy US military by 50 positions—that is, by half the increase since 9/11.</p>
<p>4. With the US military obliged, by agreement with the Iraqi government, to withdraw all US military personnel from Iraq by the end of 2011, the Pentagon has:</p>
<p>a. Decided that, in the interests of Iraqi sovereignty and to save US taxpayers money, all US troops will depart ahead of schedule, leaving Iraq no later than next February.</p>
<p>b. Instituted austerity measures, halted renovations on remaining American bases, and handed over all base construction efforts to the Iraqi government.</p>
<p>c. Continued to sink hundreds of millions of dollars into military base improvements.</p>
<p>Correct answer: c. Jackie Soohen <a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2010/9/1/withdrawal_or_enduring_presence_us_military" type="external">recently toured</a> Balad Air Base in Central Iraq for Democracy Now! That base, described in the past as an <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/03/AR2006020302994_pf.html" type="external">American town</a>, has, she points out, “three large gyms, multiple shopping centers, recreation areas, and a movie theater,” not to speak of multiple bus routes and the usual range of fast-food parlors, PXs, and the like. The base, she reports, is still expanding and “on bases like this one…, the military continues to invest hundred of millions in infrastructure improvements, and it is difficult to imagine them fully abandoning everything they are building here.” They are, in fact, not likely to do so anytime soon. There are still more than <a href="http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2010/08/MONDAYair-force-iraq-5800-airmen-remain-082310w/" type="external">5,800</a> US Air Force personnel in Iraq. Thanks to previous American policies, that country, which once had a large air force, today has only a rudimentary one. The new Iraqi air force is <a href="http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/Iraq-Seeks-F-16-Fighters-05057/" type="external">now eager</a> to purchase its first jet fighters, F-16s from Lockheed Martin, but no agreement has been signed or date set for delivery. The Iraqis will still need further years of pilot training to fly those planes when they do arrive in 2013 or later. In the meantime, the US Air Force is almost guaranteed to be the Iraqi Air Force, and US Air Force personnel will undoubtedly remain at Balad Air Base in significant numbers, “withdrawal” or no.</p>
<p>5. What did the Pentagon recently hand over to Iraq?</p>
<p>a. A check for one trillion dollars to reconstruct a country which the US invasion and occupation plunged into a ruinous civil war that cost millions of Iraqis their homes, their jobs, their economic security, their peace of mind, or their lives.</p>
<p>b. An IOU for two trillion dollars to reconstruct a country which the US invasion and occupation plunged into a ruinous civil war that cost millions of Iraqis their homes, their jobs, their economic security, their peace of mind, or their lives.</p>
<p>c. Some hot air.</p>
<p>Correct answer: c. We’ll bet you didn’t know that, in 2003, the US military occupied not only the land of Iraq, but its air, too. Just recently, <a href="http://www.usf-iraq.com/news/headlines/air-force-transfers-airspace-to-iraqis" type="external">according to</a> a Pentagon press-release-cum-news-story, “the US Air Force handed over the Kirkuk sector of airspace, 15,000 feet and above, to the ICAA [Iraq Civil Aviation Authority] at Baghdad International Airport.” In November, the US plans to hand over even more hot air, this time in the south of the country—but not all of it. Iraq will not control all of its air until some time in <a href="http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2010/08/MONDAYair-force-iraq-5800-airmen-remain-082310w/" type="external">2011</a>. Of course, once they have their air back, the Iraqi Air Force will only need planes and trained pilots to make use of it. (See question 4.)</p>
<p>6. The 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, a “combat-capable brigade-sized unit,” has been deployed three times (according to the US Army) “during Operation Iraqi Freedom—serving successfully in tough areas including Fallujah, Tall Afar, Ramadi, and Baghdad.” Its lead elements were recently sent from Fort Hood, Texas, to where?</p>
<p>a. Afghanistan as the final installment of President Obama’s surge of US troops into that country.</p>
<p>b. Camp Justice, the US military base in Oman, as a warning to insurgents in neighboring Yemen.</p>
<p>c. Camp Darby in Livorno, Italy, because the war there didn’t end all that long ago and, besides, Switzerland sits threateningly to the north.</p>
<p>d. Juarez, Mexico, because Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently declared Mexico’s drug war an “insurgency,” and insurgencies are now an area of US military expertise.</p>
<p>e. Iraq, the country that the “last US combat troops” left less than a month ago.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1608460711/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20" type="external" />Correct answer: e. Of course, the “Brave Rifles,” as the unit is known, are not—we repeat not—combat troops. They’re just, says the <a href="http://www.army.mil/-news/2010/09/08/44837-first-us-advise-and-assist-brigade-arrives-under-new-dawn/" type="external">Army</a>, “combat capable.” Yes, they’re trained for combat. But take our word for it, they’re NOT combat troops. Yes they’re well armed. But NOT for combat. And yes, they’re an “Armored Cavalry” unit. But it’s NOT about combat, OK? They’re in Iraq strictly in an <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129558691" type="external">“advise and assist”</a> capacity. Did we mention that they aren’t a combat unit?</p>
<p>7. With the US military occupation of Iraq due to end in 2011, the American mission there is officially being left to the State Department, representing the civilian side of US foreign policy, which is planning to:</p>
<p>a. Spend about $1.5 billion dollars to set up and run two embassy branch offices and two or more “enduring presence posts” (they used to be called “consulates”), including hiring the necessary armed private contractors.</p>
<p>b. Employ 2,400 people in its (“largest in the world”) embassy, the size of the Vatican (but far better defended) in Baghdad’s Green Zone and at its other posts.</p>
<p>c. More than double its force of private civilian contractors to 6,000-7,000, arm them with cast-off Pentagon heavy weaponry and Apache helicopters, and form them into “quick reaction teams.”</p>
<p>d. Spend another $800 million on a program to train the Iraqi police.</p>
<p>e. Take on more than 1,200 specific tasks previously handled by the US military.</p>
<p>Correct answer: a, b, c, d, and e (and even they don’t cover the subject adequately). Michael Gordon of the New York Times <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/19/world/middleeast/19withdrawal.html?_r=2&amp;pagewanted=print" type="external">supplied</a> most of the numbers above. Who knows what those 1,200 previously military tasks may be, but, reports <a href="http://www.thenation.com/blog/37877/iraq-withdrawal-obama-and-clinton-expanding-us-paramilitary-force-iraq" type="external">the Nation’s</a> Jeremy Scahill, those five “enduring presence posts” are to be set up on what are now US military bases, assumedly so that the Pentagon’s costly base-building won’t go completely to waste. It all represents a unique arrangement, since the civilian State Department’s corps of mercenary warriors will then <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100819/pl_afp/iraqunrestusdiplomacysecurity" type="external">be used</a> to “operate radar to warn of enemy fire, search for roadside bombs, and fly surveillance drones,” among other jobs. Oh, and good news—if you happen to be a private contractor at least—that police-training program will be run by private contractors; and even better, just in case the private contractors don’t act on the up-and-up, there will be people <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/09/01-0" type="external">specially assigned</a> to provide oversight and they will be… private contractors, of course. How can the new diplomats from the remodeled five-sided State Department go wrong, advancing as they are encased in the latest mine-resistant vehicles known as MRAPS and ever prepared to give peace a chance?</p>
<p>8. When private military contractor Blackwater (now known as Xe Services) found itself in hot water after some of its guards slaughtered 17 Iraqi civilians in a Baghdad square in 2007, the company responded by:</p>
<p>a. Admitting error, while begging forgiveness from, and rapidly paying generous compensation to, the families of the dead Iraqi civilians.</p>
<p>b. Vowing to avoid all armed work in the future and to transform the company into a community-services and elderly care operation.</p>
<p>c. Setting up at least 31 shell companies and subsidiaries through which it could still be awarded contracts by the State Department, the CIA, and the US Army without embarrassment to anyone.</p>
<p>Correct answer: c. So James Risen and Mark Mazzetti <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/04/world/middleeast/04blackwater.html?pagewanted=print" type="external">reported</a> earlier this month in the New York Times. The company, which is “facing a string of legal problems, including the indictment in April of five former Blackwater officials on weapons and obstruction charges, and civil suits stemming from the 2007 shootings in Iraq,” hasn’t suffered in pocket-book terms. Just this year, it received <a href="http://www.thenation.com/blog/36599/gen-stanley-mcchrystal-and-blackwater-updated" type="external">contracts</a> for $120 million to provide the State Department with security in Afghanistan, and another <a href="http://blog.washingtonpost.com/spy-talk/2010/06/cia_gives_blackwater_firm_new.html" type="external">$100 million</a> to protect the CIA in Afghanistan and elsewhere. (The Agency has awarded Blackwater and its shell companies $600 million since 2001, according to Risen and Mazzetti.)</p>
<p>9. Recently, Iran unveiled a new armed drone, billed as a long-range unmanned aerial bomber and dubbed the “Ambassador of Death” by the country’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Afterwards, the Pentagon:</p>
<p>a. Cut out drone strikes in Pakistan to send Iran a message that conducting regular attacks on a country with which you are not officially at war is impermissible.</p>
<p>b. Announced plans to rethink the fast-and-loose rules of robotic assassination used in its Terminator wars for the better part of a decade so that Iran could not cite US actions as precedent.</p>
<p>c. Stepped up drone strikes in the Pakistani tribal borderlands, sometimes carrying out more than one a day.</p>
<p>Correct answer: c. In discussing Washington’s desire to export drone technology to allies, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62O5RW20100325" type="external">termed</a> Iranian drones a “concern.” The US has, however, not only continued to pave the way for Iran (and every other nation and non-state actor) to conduct drone attacks with utter impunity, but <a href="http://counterterrorism.newamerica.net/drones" type="external">accelerated</a> the process. For his part, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley recently echoed Gates, <a href="http://www.america.gov/st/texttrans-english/2010/August/20100823192457su0.2848736.html?CP.rss=true#ixzz0z2SzwWBD" type="external">calling</a> Iran’s drones a “concern to us and concern to Iran’s neighbors.” Of the new Iranian drone’s <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38804551/ns/world_news-mideastn_africa" type="external">hyperbolic unofficial moniker</a>, he said with a laugh, “It’s a curious name for a system.” Perhaps he’s unaware that his own government <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175040/tom_engelhardt_the_imperial_unconscious" type="external">has dubbed</a> its two marquee armed drones—with a straight face, mind you—Predator and Reaper (as in “Grim…”) and that those aircraft launch “Hellfire” missiles. The <a href="http://www.voanews.com/english/news/Iran-Shows-Off-Unmanned-Long-Range-Bomber-101251954.html" type="external">official name</a> of the Iranian drone is actually the least inflammatory of the three: “Karrar” or “striker.”</p>
<p>10. Five hundred million dollars is approximately the amount:</p>
<p>a. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pledged in July to development projects for Pakistan to “build broader support for the war against al-Qaeda and the Taliban.”</p>
<p>b. Afghanistan’s troubled Kabul Bank had in cash just weeks ago before its panicked depositors bled it dry.</p>
<p>c. The amount of money the US military will spend on its musical bands this year.</p>
<p>Correct answer: a, b, and c. <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/06/AR2010090603018_pf.html" type="external">According to</a> the Washington Post’s Walter Pincus, the US military may now spend $500 million or more annually on its musical bands—the US Army alone has <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/04/arts/music/04army.html?_r=1&amp;pagewanted=print" type="external">more than 100</a> of them—the same amount used to sway a critically impoverished country of 166 million people in what’s been portrayed as a multigenerational war of paramount importance. At least <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175293/tomgram%3A_nick_turse%2C_afghanistan_on_life_support__/" type="external">Kabul Bank</a> now knows where to go for a loan, assuming that Afghans will accept trombones instead of cash.</p>
<p>Blast-from-the-Past Bonus Question</p>
<p>11. Who said, “I think for us to get American military personnel involved in a civil war inside Iraq would literally be a quagmire”?</p>
<p>a. Bob Dylan, mumbled during a live performance in April 2002.</p>
<p>b. Dick Cheney in 1991 when he was George H.W. Bush’s Secretary of Defense.</p>
<p>c. George Steinbrenner in an interview with the New York Daily News after the Yankees won the 1998 World Series.</p>
<p>Correct answer: b. If only Cheney had listened to himself when he became vice president. “Several years after occupied Iraq had become the quagmire he once warned about,” writes historian John Dower in his striking new book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0393061507/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20" type="external">Cultures of War: Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima, 9-11, Iraq</a>, “Cheney was asked how to reconcile what he argued in 1991 and disregarded later. ‘Well, I stand by what I said in ’91,’ he replied. ‘But look what’s happened since then—we had 9/11.'” Sigh.</p>
<p>And believe it or not, folks, that’s it for the wild and wacky world of American war this month. If you answered at least 10 of the American Way of War Quiz questions correctly, consider yourself a four-star general. If you answered 5 to 9 correctly, you qualify as a gun totin’ mercenary (with all the usual <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/26665.html" type="external">Lord of the Flies</a> perks). If you did worse, you’re a buck private in a US Army <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/04/arts/music/04army.html?_r=1&amp;pagewanted=print" type="external">woodwind ensemble</a> that’s just been dispatched to Camp Dwyer in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.</p>
<p>Tom Engelhardt, co-founder of the <a href="http://www.americanempireproject.com/" type="external">American Empire Project</a>, runs the Nation Institute’s <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/" type="external">TomDispatch.com</a>. His latest book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1608460711/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20" type="external">The American Way of War: How Bush’s Wars Became Obama’s</a> (Haymarket Books), has just been published. You can catch him discussing war American-style and his book in a Timothy MacBain TomCast audio interview by clicking <a href="http://tomdispatch.blogspot.com/2010/09/you-get-general-idea.html" type="external">here</a> or, to download it to your iPod, <a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=j0SS4Al/iVI&amp;subid=&amp;offerid=146261.1&amp;type=10&amp;tmpid=5573&amp;RD_PARM1=http%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.com%2Fus%2Fpodcast%2Ftomcast-from-tomdispatch-com%2Fid357095817" type="external">here</a>.</p>
<p>Nick Turse is the associate editor of TomDispatch.com. An award-winning journalist, his work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, <a href="http://www.thenation.com/article/my-lai-month" type="external">the Nation</a>, and <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175293/tomgram%3A_nick_turse%2C_afghanistan_on_life_support__/" type="external">regularly</a> at TomDispatch. His latest book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1844674517/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20" type="external">The Case for Withdrawal from Afghanistan</a> (Verso Books), has just been published. He discusses why withdrawal hasn’t been on the American agenda in Timothy MacBain’s latest TomCast audio interview, which can be accessed by clicking <a href="http://tomdispatch.blogspot.com/2010/09/deposit-or-withdrawal.html" type="external">here</a> or downloaded to your iPod <a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=j0SS4Al/iVI&amp;subid=&amp;offerid=146261.1&amp;type=10&amp;tmpid=5573&amp;RD_PARM1=http%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.com%2Fus%2Fpodcast%2Ftomcast-from-tomdispatch-com%2Fid357095817" type="external">here</a>. Turse is currently a fellow at Harvard University’s Radcliffe Institute. You can follow him on Twitter @ <a href="http://twitter.com/NickTurse?utm_campaign=newfollow20100823_nobio&amp;utm_content=profile&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=follow" type="external">NickTurse</a>, on <a href="http://nickturse.tumblr.com/" type="external">Tumblr</a>, and on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#%21/nick.turse" type="external">Facebook</a>. His website is NickTurse.com.</p> | The American Way of War Quiz | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2010/09/american-war-quiz/ | 2010-09-14 | 4left
| The American Way of War Quiz
<p>&lt;a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/soldiersmediacenter/4985969985/"&gt;The U.S. Army&lt;/a&gt;/Flickr</p>
<p><a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com" type="external" />This <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/archive/175294/" type="external">post</a> first appeared on the <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/" type="external">TomDispatch</a> website.</p>
<p>Yes, it would be funny if it weren’t so grim. After all, when it comes to squandering money and resources in strange and distant places (or even here at home), you can count on the practitioners of American-style war to be wildly over the top.</p>
<p>Oh, those madcap Pentagon bureaucrats and the zany horde of generals and admirals who go with them! Give them credit: no one on Earth knows how to throw a war like they do—and they never go home.</p>
<p>In fact, when it comes to linking “profligate” to “war,” with all the lies, manipulations, and cost overruns that give it that proverbial pizzazz, Americans should stand tall. We are absolutely #1!</p>
<p>Hence, the very first TomDispatch American Way of War Quiz. Admittedly, it covers only the last four weeks of war news you wouldn’t believe if it weren’t in the papers, but we could have done this for any month since October 2001.</p>
<p>Now’s your chance to pit your wits (and your ability to suspend disbelief) against the best the Pentagon has to offer—and we’re talking about all seventeen-and-a-half miles of corridors in that five-sided, five-story edifice that has triple the square footage of the Empire State Building. To weigh your skills on the TomDispatch Scales of War™, take the 11-question pop quiz below, checking your answers against ours (with accompanying explanations), and see if you deserve to be a four-star general, a gun-totin’ mercenary, or a mere private.</p>
<p>1. With President Obama’s Afghan surge of 30,000 US troops complete, an administration review of war policy due in December, and fears rising that new war commander General David Petraeus might then ask for more troops, what did the general do last week?</p>
<p>a. He informed the White House that he now had too many troops for reasonable operations in Afghanistan and proposed that a drawdown begin immediately.</p>
<p>b. He assured the White House that he was satisfied with the massive surge in troops (civilian employees, contractors, and CIA personnel) and would proceed as planned.</p>
<p>c. He asked for more troops now.</p>
<p>Correct answer: c. General Petraeus has already reportedly requested an <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/09/05/afghanistan.troops/index.html?hpt=T2" type="external">extra mini-surge</a> of 2,000 more troops from NATO, and probably from US reserves as well, including more trainers for the Afghan military. In interviews as August ended, he was still <a href="http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/09/with-nato-chiefs-blessing-petraeus-requests-2000-more-troops-for-afghanistan/#more-30348" type="external">insisting</a> that he had “the structures, people, concepts, and resources required to carry out a comprehensive civil-military counterinsurgency campaign.” But that was the summer silly season. This is September, a time for cooler heads and larger demands.</p>
<p>2. With President Obama’s announced July 2011 drawdown of US troops in Afghanistan in mind, the Pentagon has already:</p>
<p>a. Begun organizing an orderly early 2011 withdrawal of troops from combat outposts and forward operating bases to larger facilities to facilitate the president’s plan.</p>
<p>b. Launched a new US base-building binge in Afghanistan, including contracts for three $100 million facilities not to be completed, no less completely occupied, until late 2011.</p>
<p>c. Announced plans to shut down Kandahar Air Base’s covered boardwalk, including a TGI Friday’s, a Kentucky Fried Chicken, and a Mamma Mia’s Pizzeria, and cancelled the opening of a Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs as part of its preparations for an American drawdown.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1844674517/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20" type="external" />Correct answer: b. According to Walter Pincus of the Washington Post, construction is slated to begin on at least three <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/22/AR2010082201670_pf.html" type="external">$100 million air base projects</a>—”a $100 million area at Shindand Air Base for Special Operations helicopters and unmanned intelligence and surveillance aircraft”; another $100 million to expand the airfield at Camp Dwyer, a Marine base in Helmand Province, also to support Special Operations forces; and a final $100 million for expanded air facilities at Mazar-e Sharif in northern Afghanistan. None of these projects are to be completed until well after July 2011. “[R]equests for $1.3 billion in additional fiscal 2011 funds for multiyear construction of military facilities in Afghanistan are pending before Congress.” And fear not, there are <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/07/kandahar-boardwalk-kaf-of_n_706963.html" type="external">no indications</a> that the fast-food joints at Kandahar are going anywhere.</p>
<p>3. The US military has more generals and admirals than:</p>
<p>a. Al-Qaeda members in Yemen.</p>
<p>b. Al-Qaeda members in Afghanistan.</p>
<p>c. Al-Qaeda members in Pakistan.</p>
<p>d. Al-Qaeda members in all three countries.</p>
<p>Correct answer: a, b, c, and d. According to CIA Director Leon Panetta, there are <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/01/world/asia/01qaeda.html" type="external">50 to 100</a> al-Qaeda operatives in Afghanistan, possibly less. Best estimates suggest that there are perhaps <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/03/AR2010010300314.html" type="external">“several hundred”</a> al-Qaeda members in poverty-stricken, desertifying, strife-torn Yemen. There are also an estimated <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175191/tomgram%3A_turse_and_engelhardt,_shooting_gnats_with_a_machine_gun/" type="external">“several hundred”</a> members and leaders of the original al-Qaeda in the Pakistani borderlands. The high-end total for al-Qaeda members in the three countries, then, would be 800, though the actual figure could be significantly smaller. According to Ginger Thompson and Thom Shanker of the New York Times, the US military has <a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2012735296_generals27.html" type="external">963 generals and admirals</a>, approximately 100 more than on September 11, 2001. (The average salary for a general, by the way, is $180,000, which means that the cost of these “stars,” not including pensions, health-care plans, and perks, is approximately $170 million a year.) The US military has <a href="http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2010/08/15/top_brass_on_edge_as_defense_secretary_prepares_to_make_cuts/" type="external">40</a> four-star generals and admirals at the moment, which may represent more star-power than there are al-Qaeda operatives in Afghanistan. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has suggested that, as a belt-tightening measure, he might cut the top-heavy US military by 50 positions—that is, by half the increase since 9/11.</p>
<p>4. With the US military obliged, by agreement with the Iraqi government, to withdraw all US military personnel from Iraq by the end of 2011, the Pentagon has:</p>
<p>a. Decided that, in the interests of Iraqi sovereignty and to save US taxpayers money, all US troops will depart ahead of schedule, leaving Iraq no later than next February.</p>
<p>b. Instituted austerity measures, halted renovations on remaining American bases, and handed over all base construction efforts to the Iraqi government.</p>
<p>c. Continued to sink hundreds of millions of dollars into military base improvements.</p>
<p>Correct answer: c. Jackie Soohen <a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2010/9/1/withdrawal_or_enduring_presence_us_military" type="external">recently toured</a> Balad Air Base in Central Iraq for Democracy Now! That base, described in the past as an <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/03/AR2006020302994_pf.html" type="external">American town</a>, has, she points out, “three large gyms, multiple shopping centers, recreation areas, and a movie theater,” not to speak of multiple bus routes and the usual range of fast-food parlors, PXs, and the like. The base, she reports, is still expanding and “on bases like this one…, the military continues to invest hundred of millions in infrastructure improvements, and it is difficult to imagine them fully abandoning everything they are building here.” They are, in fact, not likely to do so anytime soon. There are still more than <a href="http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2010/08/MONDAYair-force-iraq-5800-airmen-remain-082310w/" type="external">5,800</a> US Air Force personnel in Iraq. Thanks to previous American policies, that country, which once had a large air force, today has only a rudimentary one. The new Iraqi air force is <a href="http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/Iraq-Seeks-F-16-Fighters-05057/" type="external">now eager</a> to purchase its first jet fighters, F-16s from Lockheed Martin, but no agreement has been signed or date set for delivery. The Iraqis will still need further years of pilot training to fly those planes when they do arrive in 2013 or later. In the meantime, the US Air Force is almost guaranteed to be the Iraqi Air Force, and US Air Force personnel will undoubtedly remain at Balad Air Base in significant numbers, “withdrawal” or no.</p>
<p>5. What did the Pentagon recently hand over to Iraq?</p>
<p>a. A check for one trillion dollars to reconstruct a country which the US invasion and occupation plunged into a ruinous civil war that cost millions of Iraqis their homes, their jobs, their economic security, their peace of mind, or their lives.</p>
<p>b. An IOU for two trillion dollars to reconstruct a country which the US invasion and occupation plunged into a ruinous civil war that cost millions of Iraqis their homes, their jobs, their economic security, their peace of mind, or their lives.</p>
<p>c. Some hot air.</p>
<p>Correct answer: c. We’ll bet you didn’t know that, in 2003, the US military occupied not only the land of Iraq, but its air, too. Just recently, <a href="http://www.usf-iraq.com/news/headlines/air-force-transfers-airspace-to-iraqis" type="external">according to</a> a Pentagon press-release-cum-news-story, “the US Air Force handed over the Kirkuk sector of airspace, 15,000 feet and above, to the ICAA [Iraq Civil Aviation Authority] at Baghdad International Airport.” In November, the US plans to hand over even more hot air, this time in the south of the country—but not all of it. Iraq will not control all of its air until some time in <a href="http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2010/08/MONDAYair-force-iraq-5800-airmen-remain-082310w/" type="external">2011</a>. Of course, once they have their air back, the Iraqi Air Force will only need planes and trained pilots to make use of it. (See question 4.)</p>
<p>6. The 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, a “combat-capable brigade-sized unit,” has been deployed three times (according to the US Army) “during Operation Iraqi Freedom—serving successfully in tough areas including Fallujah, Tall Afar, Ramadi, and Baghdad.” Its lead elements were recently sent from Fort Hood, Texas, to where?</p>
<p>a. Afghanistan as the final installment of President Obama’s surge of US troops into that country.</p>
<p>b. Camp Justice, the US military base in Oman, as a warning to insurgents in neighboring Yemen.</p>
<p>c. Camp Darby in Livorno, Italy, because the war there didn’t end all that long ago and, besides, Switzerland sits threateningly to the north.</p>
<p>d. Juarez, Mexico, because Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently declared Mexico’s drug war an “insurgency,” and insurgencies are now an area of US military expertise.</p>
<p>e. Iraq, the country that the “last US combat troops” left less than a month ago.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1608460711/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20" type="external" />Correct answer: e. Of course, the “Brave Rifles,” as the unit is known, are not—we repeat not—combat troops. They’re just, says the <a href="http://www.army.mil/-news/2010/09/08/44837-first-us-advise-and-assist-brigade-arrives-under-new-dawn/" type="external">Army</a>, “combat capable.” Yes, they’re trained for combat. But take our word for it, they’re NOT combat troops. Yes they’re well armed. But NOT for combat. And yes, they’re an “Armored Cavalry” unit. But it’s NOT about combat, OK? They’re in Iraq strictly in an <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129558691" type="external">“advise and assist”</a> capacity. Did we mention that they aren’t a combat unit?</p>
<p>7. With the US military occupation of Iraq due to end in 2011, the American mission there is officially being left to the State Department, representing the civilian side of US foreign policy, which is planning to:</p>
<p>a. Spend about $1.5 billion dollars to set up and run two embassy branch offices and two or more “enduring presence posts” (they used to be called “consulates”), including hiring the necessary armed private contractors.</p>
<p>b. Employ 2,400 people in its (“largest in the world”) embassy, the size of the Vatican (but far better defended) in Baghdad’s Green Zone and at its other posts.</p>
<p>c. More than double its force of private civilian contractors to 6,000-7,000, arm them with cast-off Pentagon heavy weaponry and Apache helicopters, and form them into “quick reaction teams.”</p>
<p>d. Spend another $800 million on a program to train the Iraqi police.</p>
<p>e. Take on more than 1,200 specific tasks previously handled by the US military.</p>
<p>Correct answer: a, b, c, d, and e (and even they don’t cover the subject adequately). Michael Gordon of the New York Times <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/19/world/middleeast/19withdrawal.html?_r=2&amp;pagewanted=print" type="external">supplied</a> most of the numbers above. Who knows what those 1,200 previously military tasks may be, but, reports <a href="http://www.thenation.com/blog/37877/iraq-withdrawal-obama-and-clinton-expanding-us-paramilitary-force-iraq" type="external">the Nation’s</a> Jeremy Scahill, those five “enduring presence posts” are to be set up on what are now US military bases, assumedly so that the Pentagon’s costly base-building won’t go completely to waste. It all represents a unique arrangement, since the civilian State Department’s corps of mercenary warriors will then <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100819/pl_afp/iraqunrestusdiplomacysecurity" type="external">be used</a> to “operate radar to warn of enemy fire, search for roadside bombs, and fly surveillance drones,” among other jobs. Oh, and good news—if you happen to be a private contractor at least—that police-training program will be run by private contractors; and even better, just in case the private contractors don’t act on the up-and-up, there will be people <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/09/01-0" type="external">specially assigned</a> to provide oversight and they will be… private contractors, of course. How can the new diplomats from the remodeled five-sided State Department go wrong, advancing as they are encased in the latest mine-resistant vehicles known as MRAPS and ever prepared to give peace a chance?</p>
<p>8. When private military contractor Blackwater (now known as Xe Services) found itself in hot water after some of its guards slaughtered 17 Iraqi civilians in a Baghdad square in 2007, the company responded by:</p>
<p>a. Admitting error, while begging forgiveness from, and rapidly paying generous compensation to, the families of the dead Iraqi civilians.</p>
<p>b. Vowing to avoid all armed work in the future and to transform the company into a community-services and elderly care operation.</p>
<p>c. Setting up at least 31 shell companies and subsidiaries through which it could still be awarded contracts by the State Department, the CIA, and the US Army without embarrassment to anyone.</p>
<p>Correct answer: c. So James Risen and Mark Mazzetti <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/04/world/middleeast/04blackwater.html?pagewanted=print" type="external">reported</a> earlier this month in the New York Times. The company, which is “facing a string of legal problems, including the indictment in April of five former Blackwater officials on weapons and obstruction charges, and civil suits stemming from the 2007 shootings in Iraq,” hasn’t suffered in pocket-book terms. Just this year, it received <a href="http://www.thenation.com/blog/36599/gen-stanley-mcchrystal-and-blackwater-updated" type="external">contracts</a> for $120 million to provide the State Department with security in Afghanistan, and another <a href="http://blog.washingtonpost.com/spy-talk/2010/06/cia_gives_blackwater_firm_new.html" type="external">$100 million</a> to protect the CIA in Afghanistan and elsewhere. (The Agency has awarded Blackwater and its shell companies $600 million since 2001, according to Risen and Mazzetti.)</p>
<p>9. Recently, Iran unveiled a new armed drone, billed as a long-range unmanned aerial bomber and dubbed the “Ambassador of Death” by the country’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Afterwards, the Pentagon:</p>
<p>a. Cut out drone strikes in Pakistan to send Iran a message that conducting regular attacks on a country with which you are not officially at war is impermissible.</p>
<p>b. Announced plans to rethink the fast-and-loose rules of robotic assassination used in its Terminator wars for the better part of a decade so that Iran could not cite US actions as precedent.</p>
<p>c. Stepped up drone strikes in the Pakistani tribal borderlands, sometimes carrying out more than one a day.</p>
<p>Correct answer: c. In discussing Washington’s desire to export drone technology to allies, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62O5RW20100325" type="external">termed</a> Iranian drones a “concern.” The US has, however, not only continued to pave the way for Iran (and every other nation and non-state actor) to conduct drone attacks with utter impunity, but <a href="http://counterterrorism.newamerica.net/drones" type="external">accelerated</a> the process. For his part, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley recently echoed Gates, <a href="http://www.america.gov/st/texttrans-english/2010/August/20100823192457su0.2848736.html?CP.rss=true#ixzz0z2SzwWBD" type="external">calling</a> Iran’s drones a “concern to us and concern to Iran’s neighbors.” Of the new Iranian drone’s <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38804551/ns/world_news-mideastn_africa" type="external">hyperbolic unofficial moniker</a>, he said with a laugh, “It’s a curious name for a system.” Perhaps he’s unaware that his own government <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175040/tom_engelhardt_the_imperial_unconscious" type="external">has dubbed</a> its two marquee armed drones—with a straight face, mind you—Predator and Reaper (as in “Grim…”) and that those aircraft launch “Hellfire” missiles. The <a href="http://www.voanews.com/english/news/Iran-Shows-Off-Unmanned-Long-Range-Bomber-101251954.html" type="external">official name</a> of the Iranian drone is actually the least inflammatory of the three: “Karrar” or “striker.”</p>
<p>10. Five hundred million dollars is approximately the amount:</p>
<p>a. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pledged in July to development projects for Pakistan to “build broader support for the war against al-Qaeda and the Taliban.”</p>
<p>b. Afghanistan’s troubled Kabul Bank had in cash just weeks ago before its panicked depositors bled it dry.</p>
<p>c. The amount of money the US military will spend on its musical bands this year.</p>
<p>Correct answer: a, b, and c. <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/06/AR2010090603018_pf.html" type="external">According to</a> the Washington Post’s Walter Pincus, the US military may now spend $500 million or more annually on its musical bands—the US Army alone has <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/04/arts/music/04army.html?_r=1&amp;pagewanted=print" type="external">more than 100</a> of them—the same amount used to sway a critically impoverished country of 166 million people in what’s been portrayed as a multigenerational war of paramount importance. At least <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175293/tomgram%3A_nick_turse%2C_afghanistan_on_life_support__/" type="external">Kabul Bank</a> now knows where to go for a loan, assuming that Afghans will accept trombones instead of cash.</p>
<p>Blast-from-the-Past Bonus Question</p>
<p>11. Who said, “I think for us to get American military personnel involved in a civil war inside Iraq would literally be a quagmire”?</p>
<p>a. Bob Dylan, mumbled during a live performance in April 2002.</p>
<p>b. Dick Cheney in 1991 when he was George H.W. Bush’s Secretary of Defense.</p>
<p>c. George Steinbrenner in an interview with the New York Daily News after the Yankees won the 1998 World Series.</p>
<p>Correct answer: b. If only Cheney had listened to himself when he became vice president. “Several years after occupied Iraq had become the quagmire he once warned about,” writes historian John Dower in his striking new book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0393061507/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20" type="external">Cultures of War: Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima, 9-11, Iraq</a>, “Cheney was asked how to reconcile what he argued in 1991 and disregarded later. ‘Well, I stand by what I said in ’91,’ he replied. ‘But look what’s happened since then—we had 9/11.'” Sigh.</p>
<p>And believe it or not, folks, that’s it for the wild and wacky world of American war this month. If you answered at least 10 of the American Way of War Quiz questions correctly, consider yourself a four-star general. If you answered 5 to 9 correctly, you qualify as a gun totin’ mercenary (with all the usual <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/26665.html" type="external">Lord of the Flies</a> perks). If you did worse, you’re a buck private in a US Army <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/04/arts/music/04army.html?_r=1&amp;pagewanted=print" type="external">woodwind ensemble</a> that’s just been dispatched to Camp Dwyer in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.</p>
<p>Tom Engelhardt, co-founder of the <a href="http://www.americanempireproject.com/" type="external">American Empire Project</a>, runs the Nation Institute’s <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/" type="external">TomDispatch.com</a>. His latest book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1608460711/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20" type="external">The American Way of War: How Bush’s Wars Became Obama’s</a> (Haymarket Books), has just been published. You can catch him discussing war American-style and his book in a Timothy MacBain TomCast audio interview by clicking <a href="http://tomdispatch.blogspot.com/2010/09/you-get-general-idea.html" type="external">here</a> or, to download it to your iPod, <a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=j0SS4Al/iVI&amp;subid=&amp;offerid=146261.1&amp;type=10&amp;tmpid=5573&amp;RD_PARM1=http%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.com%2Fus%2Fpodcast%2Ftomcast-from-tomdispatch-com%2Fid357095817" type="external">here</a>.</p>
<p>Nick Turse is the associate editor of TomDispatch.com. An award-winning journalist, his work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, <a href="http://www.thenation.com/article/my-lai-month" type="external">the Nation</a>, and <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175293/tomgram%3A_nick_turse%2C_afghanistan_on_life_support__/" type="external">regularly</a> at TomDispatch. His latest book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1844674517/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20" type="external">The Case for Withdrawal from Afghanistan</a> (Verso Books), has just been published. He discusses why withdrawal hasn’t been on the American agenda in Timothy MacBain’s latest TomCast audio interview, which can be accessed by clicking <a href="http://tomdispatch.blogspot.com/2010/09/deposit-or-withdrawal.html" type="external">here</a> or downloaded to your iPod <a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=j0SS4Al/iVI&amp;subid=&amp;offerid=146261.1&amp;type=10&amp;tmpid=5573&amp;RD_PARM1=http%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.com%2Fus%2Fpodcast%2Ftomcast-from-tomdispatch-com%2Fid357095817" type="external">here</a>. Turse is currently a fellow at Harvard University’s Radcliffe Institute. You can follow him on Twitter @ <a href="http://twitter.com/NickTurse?utm_campaign=newfollow20100823_nobio&amp;utm_content=profile&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=follow" type="external">NickTurse</a>, on <a href="http://nickturse.tumblr.com/" type="external">Tumblr</a>, and on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#%21/nick.turse" type="external">Facebook</a>. His website is NickTurse.com.</p> | 2,367 |
<p>Samboja is looking for love and, like many of us, she’s trying her luck in the virtual realm. The only difference? Samboja is an 11-year-old orangutan living at the Apenheul Primate Park in the Netherlands.</p>
<p>Biologists at Apenheul have developed a Tinder-like app in the hopes that it will increase the success rate of orangutan mate pairings. Orangutans are an endangered species, and mates frequently have to travel across the world for a chance at an intimate rendezvous. Often, the orangutans don’t hit it off and the zoos face the large expense of trying again.</p>
<p>The app, aptly called “Tinder for Orangutans,” lets Samboja view potential mates on a tablet and indicate her preferences using the touch screen.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2017/01/31/an-orangutan-will-have-a-chance-to-find-her-mate-through-tinder/?utm_term=.ae63093f8fab" type="external">According to</a> Marianne Holtkoetter, an official at a German zoo that has tried a similar experiment,</p>
<p>“For orangutans, appearances appear to be an important factor in choosing a partner. Apparently, many females find the cheeks attractive.”</p>
<p>However, Tinder for Orangutans is hardly fool-proof, according to Orangutan Foundation International president and founder Biruté Mary Galdikas:</p>
<p>“We may not know why she’s pointing at the picture. It could be she couldn’t stand him … or is pointing to the ugliest one.”</p>
<p>One other hitch? Tablets aren’t exactly designed for the intense grip of orangutans, who are about <a href="http://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/s2008/ahrens_just/Interesting%20Facts.htm" type="external">seven times stronger</a> than a human male, and Samboja has already destroyed one iPad during her quest for love.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
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<p>Featured image via Flickr user <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/60975863@N07/7465218656/sizes/z/" type="external">Pandushasi</a>, available under CCA 2.0 generic <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" type="external">license</a></p> | Tinder: Not Just For Humans Anymore (VIDEO) | true | http://offthemainpage.com/2017/02/07/tinder-not-just-for-humans-anymore/ | 2017-02-07 | 4left
| Tinder: Not Just For Humans Anymore (VIDEO)
<p>Samboja is looking for love and, like many of us, she’s trying her luck in the virtual realm. The only difference? Samboja is an 11-year-old orangutan living at the Apenheul Primate Park in the Netherlands.</p>
<p>Biologists at Apenheul have developed a Tinder-like app in the hopes that it will increase the success rate of orangutan mate pairings. Orangutans are an endangered species, and mates frequently have to travel across the world for a chance at an intimate rendezvous. Often, the orangutans don’t hit it off and the zoos face the large expense of trying again.</p>
<p>The app, aptly called “Tinder for Orangutans,” lets Samboja view potential mates on a tablet and indicate her preferences using the touch screen.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2017/01/31/an-orangutan-will-have-a-chance-to-find-her-mate-through-tinder/?utm_term=.ae63093f8fab" type="external">According to</a> Marianne Holtkoetter, an official at a German zoo that has tried a similar experiment,</p>
<p>“For orangutans, appearances appear to be an important factor in choosing a partner. Apparently, many females find the cheeks attractive.”</p>
<p>However, Tinder for Orangutans is hardly fool-proof, according to Orangutan Foundation International president and founder Biruté Mary Galdikas:</p>
<p>“We may not know why she’s pointing at the picture. It could be she couldn’t stand him … or is pointing to the ugliest one.”</p>
<p>One other hitch? Tablets aren’t exactly designed for the intense grip of orangutans, who are about <a href="http://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/s2008/ahrens_just/Interesting%20Facts.htm" type="external">seven times stronger</a> than a human male, and Samboja has already destroyed one iPad during her quest for love.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Featured image via Flickr user <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/60975863@N07/7465218656/sizes/z/" type="external">Pandushasi</a>, available under CCA 2.0 generic <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" type="external">license</a></p> | 2,368 |
<p>MOSCOW (AP) — From a Western perspective, Vladimir Putin's days as president of Russia should be numbered: The ruble has lost more than half its value, the economy is in crisis and his aggression in Ukraine has turned the country into an international pariah.</p>
<p>And yet most Russians see Putin not as the cause, but as the solution.</p>
<p>The situation as seen from a Russian point of view is starkly different from that painted in the West, and it is driven largely by state television's carefully constructed version of reality and the Kremlin's methodical dismantling of every credible political alternative.</p>
<p>An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll released Thursday found that 81 percent of Russians still support him, hours before Putin vowed in a live news conference to fix Russia's economic woes within two years, voiced confidence the plummeting ruble will recover soon and promised to diversify Russia's economy.</p>
<p>But the poll also showed that confidence in the economy is slipping. This is particularly true in Moscow, where people have become accustomed to imported goods and foreign travel, now once again off-limits for many because of the fall of the ruble and Western sanctions over Ukraine.</p>
<p>The poll was conducted between Nov. 22 and Dec. 7, when the ruble was steadily declining. But this week's catastrophic collapse is likely to have a much greater effect on consumer prices and the standard of living.</p>
<p>For Putin, the question is whether he will be able to convince Russians to tighten their belts, and not just for a few months but possibly for years to come.</p>
<p>"The Russian people have a sense that they are under sanctions, they are a fortress under siege," said Maria Lipman, an independent analyst. "This kind of mentality is disseminated consistently and steadily by Russian television: Who else is there to rely on except Putin? Putin is seen as the savior of the nation, and I think he sees himself in this fashion."</p>
<p>Putin addressed his countrymen's concerns over three hours at Thursday's news conference, sending a message that he's in charge and all will be fine.</p>
<p>An advertisement before the news conference showed Putin surrounded by Sochi Olympic athletes, petting a baby tiger and greeting cosmonauts. "We are absolutely capable of doing everything ourselves," he promises the audience.</p>
<p>How Russians view Putin is associated with how they get their news, the poll showed. Those who identified state television as their main source of news are more likely to approve of Putin (84 percent) than those who have other sources (73 percent), while those who tune into the news often also have a more favorable opinion of him.</p>
<p>After becoming president in 2000, Putin benefited from high prices for oil, the mainstay of Russia's economy. In the past decade, Russians saw their living standards rise faster than at any other point in modern history, transforming many average citizens into car owners and globe-trotters for the first time ever.</p>
<p>The suppression of opposition politicians and independent media, widely criticized by outside observers, was tacitly accepted by many as a compromise worth making for economic stability after the roller coaster years of the 1990s.</p>
<p>"I very much support Putin — who else is there to support?" said Valentina Roshupkina, a 79-year-old resident of Gryaz, a town several hours' drive south of Moscow. "The country is moving in the right direction, I believe, because he lifted up the army, he made the government stronger. People started to be a little bit afraid of us."</p>
<p>Poll respondents were asked whether they would be willing to speak with an AP reporter, and Roshupkina was among the many who agreed.</p>
<p>With the Russian economy buffeted by Western sanctions and the fall in oil prices, Putin has relied even more on his image as a tough leader capable of standing up to the West. He appears to be betting that this will help him weather the economic storm.</p>
<p>So far he's been right: The presidency and the military are the country's most trusted institutions, according to the poll, with three out of four Russians saying they trust the presidency and two out of three expressing faith in the military.</p>
<p>"We've revived the army and that's very important," said Ivan Savenko, a 50-year-old driver in the southern city of Stavropol who also took part in the poll. "For us, the most important thing is the army and then everything else. It's important for us that our country is a power. If we are not a power, we do not exist."</p>
<p>Of those surveyed, 81 percent said they strongly or somewhat approve of the way Putin is handling his job, a dramatic increase of more than 20 percentage points from an AP-GfK poll conducted in 2012.</p>
<p>While Russia has become more authoritarian under Putin, the support for him appears genuine. The significant fluctuation in Putin's ratings in recent years also indicates that Russians feel able to respond freely in anonymous surveys about their views on the president. The 81 percent approval rating is only slightly higher statistically than the 74 percent measured during the same time period by the Levada Center, Russia's most respected independent pollster.</p>
<p>Many analysts question, however, whether the high ratings have any significance, given the Kremlin's control over information.</p>
<p>"There is a total, effective, monopolistic propaganda campaign, and if there is an information monopoly, how can you talk about ratings?" said Georgy Satarov, a former Kremlin adviser who heads a research institute that studies corruption.</p>
<p>"The thing you have to pay attention to is not the fact that 80 percent support him, but that despite that information monopoly 15 percent don't support him," he said.</p>
<p>Support for Putin soared after he moved to seize the Russian-speaking Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in March.</p>
<p>"A source of pride for the overwhelming majority of Russians is the victory of World War II, but that was already 70 years ago," Lipman said. "(In Crimea) Putin gave the sense that we are victorious and triumphant and resurgent today."</p>
<p>The Russia-backed separatists who took up arms against government troops in eastern Ukraine also have been portrayed as heroes on state television. Of the Russians polled, 69 percent said that many or some parts of Ukraine rightfully belong to Russia.</p>
<p>But some, like 37-year-old librarian Yelena Shevilyova, said that although she approves of Putin, she believes Russia's involvement in Ukraine may have come at too high a cost.</p>
<p>"I think we lost a lot in our lives because of this," said Shevilyova, another poll participant, referring to Crimea.</p>
<p>"I think that it is right to bring all of these (Russian-speaking regions) back, but we need everything to be good here too. ... You can't have everything at once," she said, speaking from the far northern region of Perm.</p>
<p>Growing worries about a worsening economy and the impact of sanctions are more keenly felt in major cities. In Moscow, more than 6 in 10 said they had been negatively affected by the sanctions and most said their family's finances were worse than three years ago. Less than half felt that way elsewhere.</p>
<p>"I am afraid that Russia isn't going anywhere," said Dmitry Uryupin, 48, a sound director in a small production firm in Moscow who was among those surveyed. "It's unlikely that wages will be raised. In fact, it's quite likely the opposite will happen, unemployment will rise and it will all affect the most economically insecure people as well as us, the creative class."</p>
<p>After Putin was inaugurated for a third term in 2012 after a wave of protests in Moscow driven by the creative class, he clamped down even harder on the opposition and focused on his core electorate: people in the provinces and those more dependent on the state for their income.</p>
<p>The disgruntled in Moscow have proved easy to discredit in the eyes of what is known as the Putin majority: "Look at these poor Muscovites. ... Oh my God, they complain because they cannot go to Italy on vacation and they can no longer afford to buy Parmesan cheese!" Lipman said.</p>
<p>Whether discontent not just with the economy but with Putin's leadership will grow, Lipman said, depends on "how badly this will hurt, and for how long."</p>
<p>The AP-NORC Center poll of Russia was conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago with fieldwork for the in-person survey by GfK Russia from Nov. 22-Dec. 7. It is based on 2,008 in-person interviews with a nationally representative random sample of Russians age 18 and older.</p>
<p>Funding for the survey came from NORC at the University of Chicago.</p>
<p>Results for all adults have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.4 percentage points.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Online:</p>
<p>AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research: <a href="http://www.apnorc.org" type="external">http://www.apnorc.org</a></p>
<p>MOSCOW (AP) — From a Western perspective, Vladimir Putin's days as president of Russia should be numbered: The ruble has lost more than half its value, the economy is in crisis and his aggression in Ukraine has turned the country into an international pariah.</p>
<p>And yet most Russians see Putin not as the cause, but as the solution.</p>
<p>The situation as seen from a Russian point of view is starkly different from that painted in the West, and it is driven largely by state television's carefully constructed version of reality and the Kremlin's methodical dismantling of every credible political alternative.</p>
<p>An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll released Thursday found that 81 percent of Russians still support him, hours before Putin vowed in a live news conference to fix Russia's economic woes within two years, voiced confidence the plummeting ruble will recover soon and promised to diversify Russia's economy.</p>
<p>But the poll also showed that confidence in the economy is slipping. This is particularly true in Moscow, where people have become accustomed to imported goods and foreign travel, now once again off-limits for many because of the fall of the ruble and Western sanctions over Ukraine.</p>
<p>The poll was conducted between Nov. 22 and Dec. 7, when the ruble was steadily declining. But this week's catastrophic collapse is likely to have a much greater effect on consumer prices and the standard of living.</p>
<p>For Putin, the question is whether he will be able to convince Russians to tighten their belts, and not just for a few months but possibly for years to come.</p>
<p>"The Russian people have a sense that they are under sanctions, they are a fortress under siege," said Maria Lipman, an independent analyst. "This kind of mentality is disseminated consistently and steadily by Russian television: Who else is there to rely on except Putin? Putin is seen as the savior of the nation, and I think he sees himself in this fashion."</p>
<p>Putin addressed his countrymen's concerns over three hours at Thursday's news conference, sending a message that he's in charge and all will be fine.</p>
<p>An advertisement before the news conference showed Putin surrounded by Sochi Olympic athletes, petting a baby tiger and greeting cosmonauts. "We are absolutely capable of doing everything ourselves," he promises the audience.</p>
<p>How Russians view Putin is associated with how they get their news, the poll showed. Those who identified state television as their main source of news are more likely to approve of Putin (84 percent) than those who have other sources (73 percent), while those who tune into the news often also have a more favorable opinion of him.</p>
<p>After becoming president in 2000, Putin benefited from high prices for oil, the mainstay of Russia's economy. In the past decade, Russians saw their living standards rise faster than at any other point in modern history, transforming many average citizens into car owners and globe-trotters for the first time ever.</p>
<p>The suppression of opposition politicians and independent media, widely criticized by outside observers, was tacitly accepted by many as a compromise worth making for economic stability after the roller coaster years of the 1990s.</p>
<p>"I very much support Putin — who else is there to support?" said Valentina Roshupkina, a 79-year-old resident of Gryaz, a town several hours' drive south of Moscow. "The country is moving in the right direction, I believe, because he lifted up the army, he made the government stronger. People started to be a little bit afraid of us."</p>
<p>Poll respondents were asked whether they would be willing to speak with an AP reporter, and Roshupkina was among the many who agreed.</p>
<p>With the Russian economy buffeted by Western sanctions and the fall in oil prices, Putin has relied even more on his image as a tough leader capable of standing up to the West. He appears to be betting that this will help him weather the economic storm.</p>
<p>So far he's been right: The presidency and the military are the country's most trusted institutions, according to the poll, with three out of four Russians saying they trust the presidency and two out of three expressing faith in the military.</p>
<p>"We've revived the army and that's very important," said Ivan Savenko, a 50-year-old driver in the southern city of Stavropol who also took part in the poll. "For us, the most important thing is the army and then everything else. It's important for us that our country is a power. If we are not a power, we do not exist."</p>
<p>Of those surveyed, 81 percent said they strongly or somewhat approve of the way Putin is handling his job, a dramatic increase of more than 20 percentage points from an AP-GfK poll conducted in 2012.</p>
<p>While Russia has become more authoritarian under Putin, the support for him appears genuine. The significant fluctuation in Putin's ratings in recent years also indicates that Russians feel able to respond freely in anonymous surveys about their views on the president. The 81 percent approval rating is only slightly higher statistically than the 74 percent measured during the same time period by the Levada Center, Russia's most respected independent pollster.</p>
<p>Many analysts question, however, whether the high ratings have any significance, given the Kremlin's control over information.</p>
<p>"There is a total, effective, monopolistic propaganda campaign, and if there is an information monopoly, how can you talk about ratings?" said Georgy Satarov, a former Kremlin adviser who heads a research institute that studies corruption.</p>
<p>"The thing you have to pay attention to is not the fact that 80 percent support him, but that despite that information monopoly 15 percent don't support him," he said.</p>
<p>Support for Putin soared after he moved to seize the Russian-speaking Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in March.</p>
<p>"A source of pride for the overwhelming majority of Russians is the victory of World War II, but that was already 70 years ago," Lipman said. "(In Crimea) Putin gave the sense that we are victorious and triumphant and resurgent today."</p>
<p>The Russia-backed separatists who took up arms against government troops in eastern Ukraine also have been portrayed as heroes on state television. Of the Russians polled, 69 percent said that many or some parts of Ukraine rightfully belong to Russia.</p>
<p>But some, like 37-year-old librarian Yelena Shevilyova, said that although she approves of Putin, she believes Russia's involvement in Ukraine may have come at too high a cost.</p>
<p>"I think we lost a lot in our lives because of this," said Shevilyova, another poll participant, referring to Crimea.</p>
<p>"I think that it is right to bring all of these (Russian-speaking regions) back, but we need everything to be good here too. ... You can't have everything at once," she said, speaking from the far northern region of Perm.</p>
<p>Growing worries about a worsening economy and the impact of sanctions are more keenly felt in major cities. In Moscow, more than 6 in 10 said they had been negatively affected by the sanctions and most said their family's finances were worse than three years ago. Less than half felt that way elsewhere.</p>
<p>"I am afraid that Russia isn't going anywhere," said Dmitry Uryupin, 48, a sound director in a small production firm in Moscow who was among those surveyed. "It's unlikely that wages will be raised. In fact, it's quite likely the opposite will happen, unemployment will rise and it will all affect the most economically insecure people as well as us, the creative class."</p>
<p>After Putin was inaugurated for a third term in 2012 after a wave of protests in Moscow driven by the creative class, he clamped down even harder on the opposition and focused on his core electorate: people in the provinces and those more dependent on the state for their income.</p>
<p>The disgruntled in Moscow have proved easy to discredit in the eyes of what is known as the Putin majority: "Look at these poor Muscovites. ... Oh my God, they complain because they cannot go to Italy on vacation and they can no longer afford to buy Parmesan cheese!" Lipman said.</p>
<p>Whether discontent not just with the economy but with Putin's leadership will grow, Lipman said, depends on "how badly this will hurt, and for how long."</p>
<p>The AP-NORC Center poll of Russia was conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago with fieldwork for the in-person survey by GfK Russia from Nov. 22-Dec. 7. It is based on 2,008 in-person interviews with a nationally representative random sample of Russians age 18 and older.</p>
<p>Funding for the survey came from NORC at the University of Chicago.</p>
<p>Results for all adults have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.4 percentage points.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Online:</p>
<p>AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research: <a href="http://www.apnorc.org" type="external">http://www.apnorc.org</a></p> | Poll: 81 percent back Putin even as ruble falls | false | https://apnews.com/amp/579bd346e6d54c86953bd046b5439f52 | 2014-12-18 | 2least
| Poll: 81 percent back Putin even as ruble falls
<p>MOSCOW (AP) — From a Western perspective, Vladimir Putin's days as president of Russia should be numbered: The ruble has lost more than half its value, the economy is in crisis and his aggression in Ukraine has turned the country into an international pariah.</p>
<p>And yet most Russians see Putin not as the cause, but as the solution.</p>
<p>The situation as seen from a Russian point of view is starkly different from that painted in the West, and it is driven largely by state television's carefully constructed version of reality and the Kremlin's methodical dismantling of every credible political alternative.</p>
<p>An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll released Thursday found that 81 percent of Russians still support him, hours before Putin vowed in a live news conference to fix Russia's economic woes within two years, voiced confidence the plummeting ruble will recover soon and promised to diversify Russia's economy.</p>
<p>But the poll also showed that confidence in the economy is slipping. This is particularly true in Moscow, where people have become accustomed to imported goods and foreign travel, now once again off-limits for many because of the fall of the ruble and Western sanctions over Ukraine.</p>
<p>The poll was conducted between Nov. 22 and Dec. 7, when the ruble was steadily declining. But this week's catastrophic collapse is likely to have a much greater effect on consumer prices and the standard of living.</p>
<p>For Putin, the question is whether he will be able to convince Russians to tighten their belts, and not just for a few months but possibly for years to come.</p>
<p>"The Russian people have a sense that they are under sanctions, they are a fortress under siege," said Maria Lipman, an independent analyst. "This kind of mentality is disseminated consistently and steadily by Russian television: Who else is there to rely on except Putin? Putin is seen as the savior of the nation, and I think he sees himself in this fashion."</p>
<p>Putin addressed his countrymen's concerns over three hours at Thursday's news conference, sending a message that he's in charge and all will be fine.</p>
<p>An advertisement before the news conference showed Putin surrounded by Sochi Olympic athletes, petting a baby tiger and greeting cosmonauts. "We are absolutely capable of doing everything ourselves," he promises the audience.</p>
<p>How Russians view Putin is associated with how they get their news, the poll showed. Those who identified state television as their main source of news are more likely to approve of Putin (84 percent) than those who have other sources (73 percent), while those who tune into the news often also have a more favorable opinion of him.</p>
<p>After becoming president in 2000, Putin benefited from high prices for oil, the mainstay of Russia's economy. In the past decade, Russians saw their living standards rise faster than at any other point in modern history, transforming many average citizens into car owners and globe-trotters for the first time ever.</p>
<p>The suppression of opposition politicians and independent media, widely criticized by outside observers, was tacitly accepted by many as a compromise worth making for economic stability after the roller coaster years of the 1990s.</p>
<p>"I very much support Putin — who else is there to support?" said Valentina Roshupkina, a 79-year-old resident of Gryaz, a town several hours' drive south of Moscow. "The country is moving in the right direction, I believe, because he lifted up the army, he made the government stronger. People started to be a little bit afraid of us."</p>
<p>Poll respondents were asked whether they would be willing to speak with an AP reporter, and Roshupkina was among the many who agreed.</p>
<p>With the Russian economy buffeted by Western sanctions and the fall in oil prices, Putin has relied even more on his image as a tough leader capable of standing up to the West. He appears to be betting that this will help him weather the economic storm.</p>
<p>So far he's been right: The presidency and the military are the country's most trusted institutions, according to the poll, with three out of four Russians saying they trust the presidency and two out of three expressing faith in the military.</p>
<p>"We've revived the army and that's very important," said Ivan Savenko, a 50-year-old driver in the southern city of Stavropol who also took part in the poll. "For us, the most important thing is the army and then everything else. It's important for us that our country is a power. If we are not a power, we do not exist."</p>
<p>Of those surveyed, 81 percent said they strongly or somewhat approve of the way Putin is handling his job, a dramatic increase of more than 20 percentage points from an AP-GfK poll conducted in 2012.</p>
<p>While Russia has become more authoritarian under Putin, the support for him appears genuine. The significant fluctuation in Putin's ratings in recent years also indicates that Russians feel able to respond freely in anonymous surveys about their views on the president. The 81 percent approval rating is only slightly higher statistically than the 74 percent measured during the same time period by the Levada Center, Russia's most respected independent pollster.</p>
<p>Many analysts question, however, whether the high ratings have any significance, given the Kremlin's control over information.</p>
<p>"There is a total, effective, monopolistic propaganda campaign, and if there is an information monopoly, how can you talk about ratings?" said Georgy Satarov, a former Kremlin adviser who heads a research institute that studies corruption.</p>
<p>"The thing you have to pay attention to is not the fact that 80 percent support him, but that despite that information monopoly 15 percent don't support him," he said.</p>
<p>Support for Putin soared after he moved to seize the Russian-speaking Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in March.</p>
<p>"A source of pride for the overwhelming majority of Russians is the victory of World War II, but that was already 70 years ago," Lipman said. "(In Crimea) Putin gave the sense that we are victorious and triumphant and resurgent today."</p>
<p>The Russia-backed separatists who took up arms against government troops in eastern Ukraine also have been portrayed as heroes on state television. Of the Russians polled, 69 percent said that many or some parts of Ukraine rightfully belong to Russia.</p>
<p>But some, like 37-year-old librarian Yelena Shevilyova, said that although she approves of Putin, she believes Russia's involvement in Ukraine may have come at too high a cost.</p>
<p>"I think we lost a lot in our lives because of this," said Shevilyova, another poll participant, referring to Crimea.</p>
<p>"I think that it is right to bring all of these (Russian-speaking regions) back, but we need everything to be good here too. ... You can't have everything at once," she said, speaking from the far northern region of Perm.</p>
<p>Growing worries about a worsening economy and the impact of sanctions are more keenly felt in major cities. In Moscow, more than 6 in 10 said they had been negatively affected by the sanctions and most said their family's finances were worse than three years ago. Less than half felt that way elsewhere.</p>
<p>"I am afraid that Russia isn't going anywhere," said Dmitry Uryupin, 48, a sound director in a small production firm in Moscow who was among those surveyed. "It's unlikely that wages will be raised. In fact, it's quite likely the opposite will happen, unemployment will rise and it will all affect the most economically insecure people as well as us, the creative class."</p>
<p>After Putin was inaugurated for a third term in 2012 after a wave of protests in Moscow driven by the creative class, he clamped down even harder on the opposition and focused on his core electorate: people in the provinces and those more dependent on the state for their income.</p>
<p>The disgruntled in Moscow have proved easy to discredit in the eyes of what is known as the Putin majority: "Look at these poor Muscovites. ... Oh my God, they complain because they cannot go to Italy on vacation and they can no longer afford to buy Parmesan cheese!" Lipman said.</p>
<p>Whether discontent not just with the economy but with Putin's leadership will grow, Lipman said, depends on "how badly this will hurt, and for how long."</p>
<p>The AP-NORC Center poll of Russia was conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago with fieldwork for the in-person survey by GfK Russia from Nov. 22-Dec. 7. It is based on 2,008 in-person interviews with a nationally representative random sample of Russians age 18 and older.</p>
<p>Funding for the survey came from NORC at the University of Chicago.</p>
<p>Results for all adults have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.4 percentage points.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Online:</p>
<p>AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research: <a href="http://www.apnorc.org" type="external">http://www.apnorc.org</a></p>
<p>MOSCOW (AP) — From a Western perspective, Vladimir Putin's days as president of Russia should be numbered: The ruble has lost more than half its value, the economy is in crisis and his aggression in Ukraine has turned the country into an international pariah.</p>
<p>And yet most Russians see Putin not as the cause, but as the solution.</p>
<p>The situation as seen from a Russian point of view is starkly different from that painted in the West, and it is driven largely by state television's carefully constructed version of reality and the Kremlin's methodical dismantling of every credible political alternative.</p>
<p>An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll released Thursday found that 81 percent of Russians still support him, hours before Putin vowed in a live news conference to fix Russia's economic woes within two years, voiced confidence the plummeting ruble will recover soon and promised to diversify Russia's economy.</p>
<p>But the poll also showed that confidence in the economy is slipping. This is particularly true in Moscow, where people have become accustomed to imported goods and foreign travel, now once again off-limits for many because of the fall of the ruble and Western sanctions over Ukraine.</p>
<p>The poll was conducted between Nov. 22 and Dec. 7, when the ruble was steadily declining. But this week's catastrophic collapse is likely to have a much greater effect on consumer prices and the standard of living.</p>
<p>For Putin, the question is whether he will be able to convince Russians to tighten their belts, and not just for a few months but possibly for years to come.</p>
<p>"The Russian people have a sense that they are under sanctions, they are a fortress under siege," said Maria Lipman, an independent analyst. "This kind of mentality is disseminated consistently and steadily by Russian television: Who else is there to rely on except Putin? Putin is seen as the savior of the nation, and I think he sees himself in this fashion."</p>
<p>Putin addressed his countrymen's concerns over three hours at Thursday's news conference, sending a message that he's in charge and all will be fine.</p>
<p>An advertisement before the news conference showed Putin surrounded by Sochi Olympic athletes, petting a baby tiger and greeting cosmonauts. "We are absolutely capable of doing everything ourselves," he promises the audience.</p>
<p>How Russians view Putin is associated with how they get their news, the poll showed. Those who identified state television as their main source of news are more likely to approve of Putin (84 percent) than those who have other sources (73 percent), while those who tune into the news often also have a more favorable opinion of him.</p>
<p>After becoming president in 2000, Putin benefited from high prices for oil, the mainstay of Russia's economy. In the past decade, Russians saw their living standards rise faster than at any other point in modern history, transforming many average citizens into car owners and globe-trotters for the first time ever.</p>
<p>The suppression of opposition politicians and independent media, widely criticized by outside observers, was tacitly accepted by many as a compromise worth making for economic stability after the roller coaster years of the 1990s.</p>
<p>"I very much support Putin — who else is there to support?" said Valentina Roshupkina, a 79-year-old resident of Gryaz, a town several hours' drive south of Moscow. "The country is moving in the right direction, I believe, because he lifted up the army, he made the government stronger. People started to be a little bit afraid of us."</p>
<p>Poll respondents were asked whether they would be willing to speak with an AP reporter, and Roshupkina was among the many who agreed.</p>
<p>With the Russian economy buffeted by Western sanctions and the fall in oil prices, Putin has relied even more on his image as a tough leader capable of standing up to the West. He appears to be betting that this will help him weather the economic storm.</p>
<p>So far he's been right: The presidency and the military are the country's most trusted institutions, according to the poll, with three out of four Russians saying they trust the presidency and two out of three expressing faith in the military.</p>
<p>"We've revived the army and that's very important," said Ivan Savenko, a 50-year-old driver in the southern city of Stavropol who also took part in the poll. "For us, the most important thing is the army and then everything else. It's important for us that our country is a power. If we are not a power, we do not exist."</p>
<p>Of those surveyed, 81 percent said they strongly or somewhat approve of the way Putin is handling his job, a dramatic increase of more than 20 percentage points from an AP-GfK poll conducted in 2012.</p>
<p>While Russia has become more authoritarian under Putin, the support for him appears genuine. The significant fluctuation in Putin's ratings in recent years also indicates that Russians feel able to respond freely in anonymous surveys about their views on the president. The 81 percent approval rating is only slightly higher statistically than the 74 percent measured during the same time period by the Levada Center, Russia's most respected independent pollster.</p>
<p>Many analysts question, however, whether the high ratings have any significance, given the Kremlin's control over information.</p>
<p>"There is a total, effective, monopolistic propaganda campaign, and if there is an information monopoly, how can you talk about ratings?" said Georgy Satarov, a former Kremlin adviser who heads a research institute that studies corruption.</p>
<p>"The thing you have to pay attention to is not the fact that 80 percent support him, but that despite that information monopoly 15 percent don't support him," he said.</p>
<p>Support for Putin soared after he moved to seize the Russian-speaking Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in March.</p>
<p>"A source of pride for the overwhelming majority of Russians is the victory of World War II, but that was already 70 years ago," Lipman said. "(In Crimea) Putin gave the sense that we are victorious and triumphant and resurgent today."</p>
<p>The Russia-backed separatists who took up arms against government troops in eastern Ukraine also have been portrayed as heroes on state television. Of the Russians polled, 69 percent said that many or some parts of Ukraine rightfully belong to Russia.</p>
<p>But some, like 37-year-old librarian Yelena Shevilyova, said that although she approves of Putin, she believes Russia's involvement in Ukraine may have come at too high a cost.</p>
<p>"I think we lost a lot in our lives because of this," said Shevilyova, another poll participant, referring to Crimea.</p>
<p>"I think that it is right to bring all of these (Russian-speaking regions) back, but we need everything to be good here too. ... You can't have everything at once," she said, speaking from the far northern region of Perm.</p>
<p>Growing worries about a worsening economy and the impact of sanctions are more keenly felt in major cities. In Moscow, more than 6 in 10 said they had been negatively affected by the sanctions and most said their family's finances were worse than three years ago. Less than half felt that way elsewhere.</p>
<p>"I am afraid that Russia isn't going anywhere," said Dmitry Uryupin, 48, a sound director in a small production firm in Moscow who was among those surveyed. "It's unlikely that wages will be raised. In fact, it's quite likely the opposite will happen, unemployment will rise and it will all affect the most economically insecure people as well as us, the creative class."</p>
<p>After Putin was inaugurated for a third term in 2012 after a wave of protests in Moscow driven by the creative class, he clamped down even harder on the opposition and focused on his core electorate: people in the provinces and those more dependent on the state for their income.</p>
<p>The disgruntled in Moscow have proved easy to discredit in the eyes of what is known as the Putin majority: "Look at these poor Muscovites. ... Oh my God, they complain because they cannot go to Italy on vacation and they can no longer afford to buy Parmesan cheese!" Lipman said.</p>
<p>Whether discontent not just with the economy but with Putin's leadership will grow, Lipman said, depends on "how badly this will hurt, and for how long."</p>
<p>The AP-NORC Center poll of Russia was conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago with fieldwork for the in-person survey by GfK Russia from Nov. 22-Dec. 7. It is based on 2,008 in-person interviews with a nationally representative random sample of Russians age 18 and older.</p>
<p>Funding for the survey came from NORC at the University of Chicago.</p>
<p>Results for all adults have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.4 percentage points.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Online:</p>
<p>AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research: <a href="http://www.apnorc.org" type="external">http://www.apnorc.org</a></p> | 2,369 |
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>The pattern of leftist thugs trying to take down a company or person over support for or even affiliation with a cause they don’t like is repeating itself, this time at L.L. Bean, the famed Maine-based company.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/blog/2017/01/10/ll-bean-trump-boycott/" type="external">Boston Magazine</a> reports:</p>
<p>Trump opponents are waging a campaign to boycott L.L. Bean after it came to light that a member of the&#160;family that runs the business, Linda Bean, donated a healthy sum of $60,000 to a Trump-supporting super PAC. A group called <a href="https://grabyourwallet.org/" type="external">Grab Your Wallet</a>, which maintains a list of companies to avoid due to ties to Trump, called for a boycott, and now leadership at the company is&#160;taking those threats seriously,&#160;urging people not to let politics influence their opinions of a 100-year-old brand.</p>
<p />
<p>L.L. Bean board chairman&#160;Shawn Gorman sounded off about the proposed boycott on Facebook, saying he was “deeply troubled” by the implication that the outerwear brand has political leanings.</p>
<p>“We fully acknowledge and respect that some may disagree with the political views of a single member of our 10-person board of directors,” he wrote. “Like most large families, the more than 50 family member-owners of the business hold views and embrace causes across the political spectrum, just as our employees and customers do. And as every member of the family would agree, no individual alone speaks on behalf of the business or represents the values of the company that L.L. built.”</p>
<p>The story was featured on Fox and Friends this morning:</p>
<p />
<p>Donald Trump has joined the battle:</p>
<p />
<p>It will be interesting to see if this backfires on the boycotters, as it did with the young woman singing the national anthem at the Inauguration,&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Jackie Evancho’s Album Hits #1 After Announcing Performance at Trump’s Inauguration</a>.</p> | Leftists attacking L.L. Bean because Board member donated to pro-Trump SuperPAC | true | http://legalinsurrection.com/2017/01/leftists-attacking-l-l-bean-because-board-member-donated-to-pro-trump-superpac/ | 2017-01-12 | 0right
| Leftists attacking L.L. Bean because Board member donated to pro-Trump SuperPAC
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>The pattern of leftist thugs trying to take down a company or person over support for or even affiliation with a cause they don’t like is repeating itself, this time at L.L. Bean, the famed Maine-based company.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/blog/2017/01/10/ll-bean-trump-boycott/" type="external">Boston Magazine</a> reports:</p>
<p>Trump opponents are waging a campaign to boycott L.L. Bean after it came to light that a member of the&#160;family that runs the business, Linda Bean, donated a healthy sum of $60,000 to a Trump-supporting super PAC. A group called <a href="https://grabyourwallet.org/" type="external">Grab Your Wallet</a>, which maintains a list of companies to avoid due to ties to Trump, called for a boycott, and now leadership at the company is&#160;taking those threats seriously,&#160;urging people not to let politics influence their opinions of a 100-year-old brand.</p>
<p />
<p>L.L. Bean board chairman&#160;Shawn Gorman sounded off about the proposed boycott on Facebook, saying he was “deeply troubled” by the implication that the outerwear brand has political leanings.</p>
<p>“We fully acknowledge and respect that some may disagree with the political views of a single member of our 10-person board of directors,” he wrote. “Like most large families, the more than 50 family member-owners of the business hold views and embrace causes across the political spectrum, just as our employees and customers do. And as every member of the family would agree, no individual alone speaks on behalf of the business or represents the values of the company that L.L. built.”</p>
<p>The story was featured on Fox and Friends this morning:</p>
<p />
<p>Donald Trump has joined the battle:</p>
<p />
<p>It will be interesting to see if this backfires on the boycotters, as it did with the young woman singing the national anthem at the Inauguration,&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Jackie Evancho’s Album Hits #1 After Announcing Performance at Trump’s Inauguration</a>.</p> | 2,370 |
<p>BY: <a href="" type="internal">Washington Free Beacon Staff</a>March 13, 2014 9:08 am</p>
<p>MSNBC's Chris Matthews is predicting a discouraging November for Democrats and believes that the Senate majority will be "very hard to hold."</p>
<p>"It's going to be very hard to hold the Senate - I think the Senate goes," he said on Morning Joe on Thursday. "I think we heard from the Ghost of Christmas Future this week, they're going to lose the Senate," he added, referring to Republican David Jolly's victory Tuesday in Florida's special congressional election.</p> | Matthews: Democrats Will Lose Senate in 2014 | true | http://freebeacon.com/matthews-democrats-will-lose-senate-in-2014/ | 2014-03-13 | 0right
| Matthews: Democrats Will Lose Senate in 2014
<p>BY: <a href="" type="internal">Washington Free Beacon Staff</a>March 13, 2014 9:08 am</p>
<p>MSNBC's Chris Matthews is predicting a discouraging November for Democrats and believes that the Senate majority will be "very hard to hold."</p>
<p>"It's going to be very hard to hold the Senate - I think the Senate goes," he said on Morning Joe on Thursday. "I think we heard from the Ghost of Christmas Future this week, they're going to lose the Senate," he added, referring to Republican David Jolly's victory Tuesday in Florida's special congressional election.</p> | 2,371 |
<p><a href="http://www.gettyimages.com/license/522603925" type="external">wlablack/Getty</a></p>
<p>So-called crisis pregnancy centers are well known for trying to convince women not to end their pregnancies. But George Delgado, a physician with a crisis pregnancy center called Culture of Life Family Services clinic in San Diego, California, takes the practice a step further: He claims to have developed a technique to reverse the effects of a pill-induced abortion. “Have you taken the first dose of the ABORTION PILL…Do you regret your decision and wish you could reverse the effects of the abortion pill?” reads the website of the project Delgado started. “We are waiting to help you!” The promotional language suggests that, with some strong and timely doses of the hormone progesterone, women can stop the abortion and carry the pregnancy to term: “IT MAY NOT BE TOO LATE, IF YOU CALL QUICKLY.”</p>
<p>The only problem, according to several doctors I spoke to, is that there is scant medical evidence that the procedure works. Based only on anecdotal accounts from pro-life doctors and a small case study, the abortion pill reversal protocol is experimental at best, they say. But that hasn’t stopped conservative state legislatures from trying to push through laws requiring doctors to tell their patients that, should they regret their abortions, they might be able to undo them.</p>
<p>A medication abortion typically involves two drugs. The first, mifepristone, which is administered in a doctor’s office, ends the pregnancy, and the second, misoprostol, which the woman takes at home, expels it from her body. Since 2000, when the Food and Drug Administration approved mifepristone sales, medication abortions have <a href="https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/induced-abortion-united-states" type="external">soared</a> in popularity for women less than three months into their pregnancy. In 2014, abortion with mifepristone and misoprostol accounted for about a third of all abortions in the United States. It’s also a target of anti-abortion advocates, who call it dangerous (major complications result in <a href="https://www.guttmacher.org/evidence-you-can-use/medication-abortion" type="external">less than</a>&#160;0.4 percent of all cases) and say it contributes to an “abortion on demand” culture.</p>
<p>The abortion pill reversal protocol was born in 2009, when Delgado got a call about a woman in Texas who changed her mind after taking mifepristone. Then the medical director of Culture of Life Family Services, Delgado reasoned that progesterone, a hormone given to pregnant women to prevent miscarriage, might help. He found a Texas physician who agreed to give the woman progesterone injections. According to Delgado, it worked, and the woman carried the pregnancy to term.</p>
<p>After that, says Delgado, more requests started coming in. In 2012, Delgado co-authored a case <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23191936" type="external">study</a> reviewing the experiences of six women who’d contacted him for abortion reversals after taking mifepristone. Each were given doses of progesterone, which latches onto the same hormone receptors as mifepristone, and four of the six carried pregnancies to term. Through the study, Delgado got in touch with a North Carolina doctor, Matthew Harrison, who claims he oversaw the first successful reversal in 2007. Together they created the Abortion Pill Reversal group, which boasts foundational principles such as, “It is reasonable and appropriate to respect a woman’s right to choose to reverse a medical induced abortion.”</p>
<p>Through the group, which runs a hotline and prints <a href="http://abortionpillreversal.com/blog/success/" type="external">testimonials</a> from anonymous women who’ve reversed their abortions—”not following through with the abortion pill has been a tremendous blessing”—Delgado and Harrison say they’ve amassed a network of over 350 doctors and mid-level practitioners across the country willing to try abortion reversal with progesterone. According to Delgado, the group has taken <a href="https://lozierinstitute.org/written-testimony-of-george-delgado-m-d-f-a-a-f-p-in-support-of-colorado-abortion-pill-reversal-bill/" type="external">more than</a> 2,000 calls and “saved” nearly 300 babies. “We are very excited to give women this second chance at choice,” he told me.</p>
<p>Word of Delgado’s technique soon spread to lawmakers. Americans United for Life, the influential anti-abortion advocacy group, wrote model legislation for abortion pill reversal. Testifying in front of an Arizona legislative committee in 2015, Dr. Allan Sawyer opined that women “should not have their babies stolen from them” just because they aren’t getting accurate information about their abortions. That’s why, <a href="http://azleg.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=13&amp;clip_id=15544&amp;meta_id=307735" type="external">said</a> Sawyer, the former president of an anti-abortion OB-GYN group, he wants the state to ensure that doctors “inform women that if a woman changes her mind it may be possible to reverse her medication abortion.”</p>
<p>Less than a month later, Arizona became the first state to pass an abortion-pill reversal law requiring physicians who offer medication abortion to tell their patients that, should they come to regret their decisions, they might be able to undo them. Arkansas <a href="" type="internal">followed suit</a> with a similar law. In 2016, South Dakota <a href="https://rewire.news/legislative-tracker/law/south-dakota-bill-regarding-informed-consent-and-reversing-medication-abortions-hb-1157/" type="external">enacted</a> an abortion reversal law, and this year, four more states introduced similar bills. The measures are similar to many other restrictions on abortion access and care that pro-life groups have pushed—about&#160; <a href="https://www.guttmacher.org/article/2017/01/policy-trends-states-2016#fn0" type="external">350</a> since 2010—and play on the same tropes: Women regret their abortions, according to anti-abortion groups, and so if they’re given information and time to think about what they’re doing, they might change their mind.</p>
<p>But many doctors and medical experts have pointed to a number of problems with the technique. The leading medical association for obstetricians and gynecologists <a href="http://www.acog.org/~/media/departments/state%20legislative%20activities/2015AZFactSheetMedicationAbortionReversalfinal.pdf" type="external">wrote</a> of the 2015 Arizona bill: “claims of medication abortion reversal are not supported by the body of scientific evidence.” In a review of the literature on mifepristone, Dr. Daniel Grossman and others <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26057457" type="external">point out</a> that Delgado’s study did not have approval from an institutional review board, which usually monitors research involving human subjects. Nor does the study actually make the case that the women’s pregnancies continued because of the mifepristone; as Grossman explains, taking mifepristone alone—without misoprostol—can result in a continued pregnancy up to 46 percent of the time, depending on the dosage and the gestational age of the fetus. In other words, doing nothing after taking mifepristone might be as effective as the progesterone doses.</p>
<p>“Everyone I know who provides abortion would try to determine whether or not someone is feeling ambivalent—that’s a critical part of providing good care,” says Karen Meckstroth, an OB-GYN at an abortion clinic in San Francisco. “I don’t think it’s wrong to talk to people about reversal as a theoretical possibility. But it could cause real harm if it’s not true.”</p>
<p>Grossman, Meckstroth, and a third doctor, Matthew Zerden, at Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, all said that passing laws based on a single, and problematic, study leads to bad medicine. Zerden, whose Planned Parenthood affiliate has clinics in North Carolina, says women receiving abortion care are already informed that they have other options, and that women must consult&#160;with a nurse or doctor 72 hours before their abortion appointment because of a waiting period law in the state. “The vast majority of patients don’t change their mind,” he says. “It’s extremely patronizing, what Delgado is insinuating.” Indeed, a 2015 <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0128832" type="external">study</a>of nearly 700 women found that 95 percent of women who got abortions reported that it was the right decision three years later.</p>
<p>Delgado counters that the method makes “biologic sense” and that “further criticism of our work isn’t warranted.” In an interview with Mother Jones, Delgado pointed to what he called the “three pillars” that back up abortion pill reversal: first, the fact that progesterone interacts with the same hormone receptors as mifepristone, thereby, at least theoretically, canceling out the effects of the abortion drug. (Grossman points out that mifepristone is known to bind more tightly to those receptors than progesterone.) Second, Delgado points to a Japanese study involving pregnant rats that were given mifepristone and progesterone and did not abort. The third pillar, Delgado says, are the two new studies his team is publishing this year. One of those studies, which has not yet been submitted for peer review, will look at the hundreds of cases the group has documented since 2012, according to Delgado.</p>
<p>So far, none of the abortion reversal bills introduced this year have become law. And the Arizona measure never took effect and was ultimately struck down in court. After Delgado <a href="https://lozierinstitute.org/written-testimony-of-george-delgado-m-d-f-a-a-f-p-in-support-of-colorado-abortion-pill-reversal-bill/" type="external">testified</a> in support of Colorado’s bill in February, it was <a href="http://www.denverpost.com/2017/02/09/house-rejects-abortion-reversal-pill-bill/" type="external">defeated</a> in committee. Other measures in North Carolina, Indiana, and Georgia have been stalled in committee.</p>
<p>But anti-abortion advocates are not giving up on lobbying lawmakers—and in the meantime Meckstroth fears the procedure could do more harm than good. “It’s very experimental and it’s completely inappropriate to recommend it,” says Meckstroth. “For it to become law or a recommendation with no research is unfair to women.”</p> | This Doctor Says He Can “Reverse” Abortions | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2017/06/medication-abortion-pill-reversal-science-christian/ | 2017-06-09 | 4left
| This Doctor Says He Can “Reverse” Abortions
<p><a href="http://www.gettyimages.com/license/522603925" type="external">wlablack/Getty</a></p>
<p>So-called crisis pregnancy centers are well known for trying to convince women not to end their pregnancies. But George Delgado, a physician with a crisis pregnancy center called Culture of Life Family Services clinic in San Diego, California, takes the practice a step further: He claims to have developed a technique to reverse the effects of a pill-induced abortion. “Have you taken the first dose of the ABORTION PILL…Do you regret your decision and wish you could reverse the effects of the abortion pill?” reads the website of the project Delgado started. “We are waiting to help you!” The promotional language suggests that, with some strong and timely doses of the hormone progesterone, women can stop the abortion and carry the pregnancy to term: “IT MAY NOT BE TOO LATE, IF YOU CALL QUICKLY.”</p>
<p>The only problem, according to several doctors I spoke to, is that there is scant medical evidence that the procedure works. Based only on anecdotal accounts from pro-life doctors and a small case study, the abortion pill reversal protocol is experimental at best, they say. But that hasn’t stopped conservative state legislatures from trying to push through laws requiring doctors to tell their patients that, should they regret their abortions, they might be able to undo them.</p>
<p>A medication abortion typically involves two drugs. The first, mifepristone, which is administered in a doctor’s office, ends the pregnancy, and the second, misoprostol, which the woman takes at home, expels it from her body. Since 2000, when the Food and Drug Administration approved mifepristone sales, medication abortions have <a href="https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/induced-abortion-united-states" type="external">soared</a> in popularity for women less than three months into their pregnancy. In 2014, abortion with mifepristone and misoprostol accounted for about a third of all abortions in the United States. It’s also a target of anti-abortion advocates, who call it dangerous (major complications result in <a href="https://www.guttmacher.org/evidence-you-can-use/medication-abortion" type="external">less than</a>&#160;0.4 percent of all cases) and say it contributes to an “abortion on demand” culture.</p>
<p>The abortion pill reversal protocol was born in 2009, when Delgado got a call about a woman in Texas who changed her mind after taking mifepristone. Then the medical director of Culture of Life Family Services, Delgado reasoned that progesterone, a hormone given to pregnant women to prevent miscarriage, might help. He found a Texas physician who agreed to give the woman progesterone injections. According to Delgado, it worked, and the woman carried the pregnancy to term.</p>
<p>After that, says Delgado, more requests started coming in. In 2012, Delgado co-authored a case <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23191936" type="external">study</a> reviewing the experiences of six women who’d contacted him for abortion reversals after taking mifepristone. Each were given doses of progesterone, which latches onto the same hormone receptors as mifepristone, and four of the six carried pregnancies to term. Through the study, Delgado got in touch with a North Carolina doctor, Matthew Harrison, who claims he oversaw the first successful reversal in 2007. Together they created the Abortion Pill Reversal group, which boasts foundational principles such as, “It is reasonable and appropriate to respect a woman’s right to choose to reverse a medical induced abortion.”</p>
<p>Through the group, which runs a hotline and prints <a href="http://abortionpillreversal.com/blog/success/" type="external">testimonials</a> from anonymous women who’ve reversed their abortions—”not following through with the abortion pill has been a tremendous blessing”—Delgado and Harrison say they’ve amassed a network of over 350 doctors and mid-level practitioners across the country willing to try abortion reversal with progesterone. According to Delgado, the group has taken <a href="https://lozierinstitute.org/written-testimony-of-george-delgado-m-d-f-a-a-f-p-in-support-of-colorado-abortion-pill-reversal-bill/" type="external">more than</a> 2,000 calls and “saved” nearly 300 babies. “We are very excited to give women this second chance at choice,” he told me.</p>
<p>Word of Delgado’s technique soon spread to lawmakers. Americans United for Life, the influential anti-abortion advocacy group, wrote model legislation for abortion pill reversal. Testifying in front of an Arizona legislative committee in 2015, Dr. Allan Sawyer opined that women “should not have their babies stolen from them” just because they aren’t getting accurate information about their abortions. That’s why, <a href="http://azleg.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=13&amp;clip_id=15544&amp;meta_id=307735" type="external">said</a> Sawyer, the former president of an anti-abortion OB-GYN group, he wants the state to ensure that doctors “inform women that if a woman changes her mind it may be possible to reverse her medication abortion.”</p>
<p>Less than a month later, Arizona became the first state to pass an abortion-pill reversal law requiring physicians who offer medication abortion to tell their patients that, should they come to regret their decisions, they might be able to undo them. Arkansas <a href="" type="internal">followed suit</a> with a similar law. In 2016, South Dakota <a href="https://rewire.news/legislative-tracker/law/south-dakota-bill-regarding-informed-consent-and-reversing-medication-abortions-hb-1157/" type="external">enacted</a> an abortion reversal law, and this year, four more states introduced similar bills. The measures are similar to many other restrictions on abortion access and care that pro-life groups have pushed—about&#160; <a href="https://www.guttmacher.org/article/2017/01/policy-trends-states-2016#fn0" type="external">350</a> since 2010—and play on the same tropes: Women regret their abortions, according to anti-abortion groups, and so if they’re given information and time to think about what they’re doing, they might change their mind.</p>
<p>But many doctors and medical experts have pointed to a number of problems with the technique. The leading medical association for obstetricians and gynecologists <a href="http://www.acog.org/~/media/departments/state%20legislative%20activities/2015AZFactSheetMedicationAbortionReversalfinal.pdf" type="external">wrote</a> of the 2015 Arizona bill: “claims of medication abortion reversal are not supported by the body of scientific evidence.” In a review of the literature on mifepristone, Dr. Daniel Grossman and others <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26057457" type="external">point out</a> that Delgado’s study did not have approval from an institutional review board, which usually monitors research involving human subjects. Nor does the study actually make the case that the women’s pregnancies continued because of the mifepristone; as Grossman explains, taking mifepristone alone—without misoprostol—can result in a continued pregnancy up to 46 percent of the time, depending on the dosage and the gestational age of the fetus. In other words, doing nothing after taking mifepristone might be as effective as the progesterone doses.</p>
<p>“Everyone I know who provides abortion would try to determine whether or not someone is feeling ambivalent—that’s a critical part of providing good care,” says Karen Meckstroth, an OB-GYN at an abortion clinic in San Francisco. “I don’t think it’s wrong to talk to people about reversal as a theoretical possibility. But it could cause real harm if it’s not true.”</p>
<p>Grossman, Meckstroth, and a third doctor, Matthew Zerden, at Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, all said that passing laws based on a single, and problematic, study leads to bad medicine. Zerden, whose Planned Parenthood affiliate has clinics in North Carolina, says women receiving abortion care are already informed that they have other options, and that women must consult&#160;with a nurse or doctor 72 hours before their abortion appointment because of a waiting period law in the state. “The vast majority of patients don’t change their mind,” he says. “It’s extremely patronizing, what Delgado is insinuating.” Indeed, a 2015 <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0128832" type="external">study</a>of nearly 700 women found that 95 percent of women who got abortions reported that it was the right decision three years later.</p>
<p>Delgado counters that the method makes “biologic sense” and that “further criticism of our work isn’t warranted.” In an interview with Mother Jones, Delgado pointed to what he called the “three pillars” that back up abortion pill reversal: first, the fact that progesterone interacts with the same hormone receptors as mifepristone, thereby, at least theoretically, canceling out the effects of the abortion drug. (Grossman points out that mifepristone is known to bind more tightly to those receptors than progesterone.) Second, Delgado points to a Japanese study involving pregnant rats that were given mifepristone and progesterone and did not abort. The third pillar, Delgado says, are the two new studies his team is publishing this year. One of those studies, which has not yet been submitted for peer review, will look at the hundreds of cases the group has documented since 2012, according to Delgado.</p>
<p>So far, none of the abortion reversal bills introduced this year have become law. And the Arizona measure never took effect and was ultimately struck down in court. After Delgado <a href="https://lozierinstitute.org/written-testimony-of-george-delgado-m-d-f-a-a-f-p-in-support-of-colorado-abortion-pill-reversal-bill/" type="external">testified</a> in support of Colorado’s bill in February, it was <a href="http://www.denverpost.com/2017/02/09/house-rejects-abortion-reversal-pill-bill/" type="external">defeated</a> in committee. Other measures in North Carolina, Indiana, and Georgia have been stalled in committee.</p>
<p>But anti-abortion advocates are not giving up on lobbying lawmakers—and in the meantime Meckstroth fears the procedure could do more harm than good. “It’s very experimental and it’s completely inappropriate to recommend it,” says Meckstroth. “For it to become law or a recommendation with no research is unfair to women.”</p> | 2,372 |
<p>BEIJING, China – Through 30 years of fits and starts, the United States and China have soared and stumbled into one of the most important bilateral relationships in the world.</p>
<p>It’s now referred to by U.S. officials as “a mature relationship,” that is “broad and deep.” As such, it’s become a little boring. Throughout the tenure of President George W. Bush, U.S.-China ties became more about trade and cash than emotional issues like human rights. Phone calls and meetings between the leaders of the two countries are no longer rare, nor are state visits.</p>
<p>“These two countries are joined at the hip, on many levels,” said David Shambaugh of George Washington University, a long-time scholar of U.S.-China ties.</p>
<p>With President Barack Obama arriving next week for his first visit, experts say it’s about him seeing China firsthand, and China seeing that it can trust him.</p>
<p>What you will see:</p>
<p>The Obama visit is likely to be long on symbolism, throwing the weight of the president behind his team of trade and political negotiators who work in and with China year-round. His presence will reassure China’s top-down government that the points and issues repeatedly brought forward by the administration are coming from the top. Also important symbolically: A weakened America meeting a strong China. The U.S. is no longer in a position to scold.</p>
<p>Of interest will be how Chinese people react to the new American president. Thus far, general reaction has been quite tepid compared to elsewhere in the world. There isn’t a big anti-Obama movement in China, but neither is he adored like a rock star.</p>
<p />
<p>Obama flies into Shanghai from Singapore late on Sunday evening, and is tentatively scheduled to meet with university students there Monday. Questions remain, however, about the format of the discussion and whether Obama will be allowed to speak to the students in a town hall format, without a filter.</p>
<p>He departs for Beijing on Monday evening, where he has meetings with Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao. On Tuesday, Obama and Hu will meet the press in a joint news conference. Also on the schedule — which reportedly has not been finalized — are a state dinner, a tour of the Forbidden City in Beijing and a trip to the Great Wall.</p>
<p>What you won’t see:</p>
<p>The visit, experts say, is not likely to produce any serious breakthroughs or major announcements. The possibility, of course, does exist. But most of the main issues up for discussion — trade tensions, the value of China’s currency, climate change, Tibet and human rights among them — are long-term, ongoing areas of debate and negotiation. None are likely to be solved or inflamed significantly on this visit.</p>
<p>But the expected dearth of big announcements shouldn’t indicate this is not a work trip. To underscore that Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Energy Secretary Steven Chu will also be in China with the delegation, speaking and meeting on their own issues and continuing the ever-growing dialogue between the two nations.</p>
<p>What you might see:</p>
<p>Though the United States and China are more deeply and broadly connected probably than ever before, there is still plenty of room for language and cultural misunderstandings. In the lead-up to Obama’s visit, we’ve seen two:</p>
<p>On Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said that as a “black president,” <a href="http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-11/13/content_8961691.htm" type="external">Obama should understand China’s position</a> on Tibet. One of China’s core positions on Tibet is that it freed Tibetans from serfdom under the Dalai Lama. Nevermind that Obama is not a descendant of American slaves, and that he is biracial.</p>
<p>“He is a black president, and he understands the slavery abolition movement and Lincoln's major significance for that movement," said Qin. “(U.S. President Abraham) Lincoln played an incomparable role in protecting the national unity and territorial integrity of the United States.”</p>
<p>There was a blunder from the U.S. side just two weeks earlier. It was noted by no one, but U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk made a <a href="http://www.commerce.gov/NewsRoom/PressReleases_FactSheets/PROD01_008574" type="external">simple language slip</a> that might raise hackles in China if given wider attention.</p>
<p>During a press conference in Hangzhou following high-level trade talks Oct. 29, Kirk referred to the people of the “Republic of China.” He left out only the word “People’s” in China’s formal name, but that omission is important. The Republic of China is the formal name of Taiwan, which China views as a renegade province. &#160;</p> | Obama in Beijing: What you will see. And won't see. | false | https://pri.org/stories/2009-11-14/obama-beijing-what-you-will-see-and-wont-see | 2009-11-14 | 3left-center
| Obama in Beijing: What you will see. And won't see.
<p>BEIJING, China – Through 30 years of fits and starts, the United States and China have soared and stumbled into one of the most important bilateral relationships in the world.</p>
<p>It’s now referred to by U.S. officials as “a mature relationship,” that is “broad and deep.” As such, it’s become a little boring. Throughout the tenure of President George W. Bush, U.S.-China ties became more about trade and cash than emotional issues like human rights. Phone calls and meetings between the leaders of the two countries are no longer rare, nor are state visits.</p>
<p>“These two countries are joined at the hip, on many levels,” said David Shambaugh of George Washington University, a long-time scholar of U.S.-China ties.</p>
<p>With President Barack Obama arriving next week for his first visit, experts say it’s about him seeing China firsthand, and China seeing that it can trust him.</p>
<p>What you will see:</p>
<p>The Obama visit is likely to be long on symbolism, throwing the weight of the president behind his team of trade and political negotiators who work in and with China year-round. His presence will reassure China’s top-down government that the points and issues repeatedly brought forward by the administration are coming from the top. Also important symbolically: A weakened America meeting a strong China. The U.S. is no longer in a position to scold.</p>
<p>Of interest will be how Chinese people react to the new American president. Thus far, general reaction has been quite tepid compared to elsewhere in the world. There isn’t a big anti-Obama movement in China, but neither is he adored like a rock star.</p>
<p />
<p>Obama flies into Shanghai from Singapore late on Sunday evening, and is tentatively scheduled to meet with university students there Monday. Questions remain, however, about the format of the discussion and whether Obama will be allowed to speak to the students in a town hall format, without a filter.</p>
<p>He departs for Beijing on Monday evening, where he has meetings with Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao. On Tuesday, Obama and Hu will meet the press in a joint news conference. Also on the schedule — which reportedly has not been finalized — are a state dinner, a tour of the Forbidden City in Beijing and a trip to the Great Wall.</p>
<p>What you won’t see:</p>
<p>The visit, experts say, is not likely to produce any serious breakthroughs or major announcements. The possibility, of course, does exist. But most of the main issues up for discussion — trade tensions, the value of China’s currency, climate change, Tibet and human rights among them — are long-term, ongoing areas of debate and negotiation. None are likely to be solved or inflamed significantly on this visit.</p>
<p>But the expected dearth of big announcements shouldn’t indicate this is not a work trip. To underscore that Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Energy Secretary Steven Chu will also be in China with the delegation, speaking and meeting on their own issues and continuing the ever-growing dialogue between the two nations.</p>
<p>What you might see:</p>
<p>Though the United States and China are more deeply and broadly connected probably than ever before, there is still plenty of room for language and cultural misunderstandings. In the lead-up to Obama’s visit, we’ve seen two:</p>
<p>On Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said that as a “black president,” <a href="http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-11/13/content_8961691.htm" type="external">Obama should understand China’s position</a> on Tibet. One of China’s core positions on Tibet is that it freed Tibetans from serfdom under the Dalai Lama. Nevermind that Obama is not a descendant of American slaves, and that he is biracial.</p>
<p>“He is a black president, and he understands the slavery abolition movement and Lincoln's major significance for that movement," said Qin. “(U.S. President Abraham) Lincoln played an incomparable role in protecting the national unity and territorial integrity of the United States.”</p>
<p>There was a blunder from the U.S. side just two weeks earlier. It was noted by no one, but U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk made a <a href="http://www.commerce.gov/NewsRoom/PressReleases_FactSheets/PROD01_008574" type="external">simple language slip</a> that might raise hackles in China if given wider attention.</p>
<p>During a press conference in Hangzhou following high-level trade talks Oct. 29, Kirk referred to the people of the “Republic of China.” He left out only the word “People’s” in China’s formal name, but that omission is important. The Republic of China is the formal name of Taiwan, which China views as a renegade province. &#160;</p> | 2,373 |
<p />
<p>Americans are deeply split along demographic lines, but there aren’t many demographic characteristics that embody America’s cultural divide better than gun ownership.</p>
<p>In the wake of the&#160; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/04/us/las-vegas-shooting.html" type="external">mass shooting</a>&#160;in Las Vegas on Sunday, the polling firm SurveyMonkey&#160; <a href="https://www.surveymonkey.com/elections/map/2016/us?poll=sm-exit-gunowner-cps" type="external">published</a>&#160;a pair of maps from its 2016 presidential election exit polls. It showed the electoral maps for voters who said they had a gun in their home, and for those who said they did not.</p>
<p>In every state but Vermont – perhaps the most liberal state in the country, but one where Democrats, including Bernie Sanders, often support gun rights – voters who reported living in a gun-owning household overwhelmingly backed Donald J. Trump.</p>
<p>The opposite is true for voters who said they did not live in a home with a gun. In all but one state that could be measured, voters overwhelmingly preferred Hillary Clinton. (The exception was West Virginia; not enough data existed for Wyoming.)</p>
<p>Over all, gun-owning households (roughly a third in America) backed Mr. Trump by 63 percent to 31 percent, while households without guns backed Mrs. Clinton, 65 percent to 30 percent, according to SurveyMonkey data.</p>
<p>No other demographic characteristic created such a consistent geographic split.</p>
<p>American politics is deeply divided by race, and the gap between white and nonwhite voters is similar to the gap between households with guns and those without. But Mrs. Clinton won white voters, often by a wide margin, in 10 states and Washington, D.C., worth 139 electoral votes in all. And Mr. Trump may have been competitive among nonwhite voters in a few conservative states, like Oklahoma. (The poll data among nonwhite voters is sparse in several small states and subject to a considerable margin of sampling error.)</p>
<p>The split among white voters without a college degree and the rest of the country is also distinct. But Mr. Trump would have probably won without white working-class voters in several states, particularly in the Great Plains, according to the SurveyMonkey data.</p>
<p>Read the rest at: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/10/05/upshot/gun-ownership-partisan-divide.html?smid=tw-nytimes&amp;smtyp=cur" type="external">Dividing Voters</a></p> | Divide the country by owning a gun! | true | http://therealside.com/2017/10/divide-the-country-by-owning-a-gun/ | 2017-10-07 | 0right
| Divide the country by owning a gun!
<p />
<p>Americans are deeply split along demographic lines, but there aren’t many demographic characteristics that embody America’s cultural divide better than gun ownership.</p>
<p>In the wake of the&#160; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/04/us/las-vegas-shooting.html" type="external">mass shooting</a>&#160;in Las Vegas on Sunday, the polling firm SurveyMonkey&#160; <a href="https://www.surveymonkey.com/elections/map/2016/us?poll=sm-exit-gunowner-cps" type="external">published</a>&#160;a pair of maps from its 2016 presidential election exit polls. It showed the electoral maps for voters who said they had a gun in their home, and for those who said they did not.</p>
<p>In every state but Vermont – perhaps the most liberal state in the country, but one where Democrats, including Bernie Sanders, often support gun rights – voters who reported living in a gun-owning household overwhelmingly backed Donald J. Trump.</p>
<p>The opposite is true for voters who said they did not live in a home with a gun. In all but one state that could be measured, voters overwhelmingly preferred Hillary Clinton. (The exception was West Virginia; not enough data existed for Wyoming.)</p>
<p>Over all, gun-owning households (roughly a third in America) backed Mr. Trump by 63 percent to 31 percent, while households without guns backed Mrs. Clinton, 65 percent to 30 percent, according to SurveyMonkey data.</p>
<p>No other demographic characteristic created such a consistent geographic split.</p>
<p>American politics is deeply divided by race, and the gap between white and nonwhite voters is similar to the gap between households with guns and those without. But Mrs. Clinton won white voters, often by a wide margin, in 10 states and Washington, D.C., worth 139 electoral votes in all. And Mr. Trump may have been competitive among nonwhite voters in a few conservative states, like Oklahoma. (The poll data among nonwhite voters is sparse in several small states and subject to a considerable margin of sampling error.)</p>
<p>The split among white voters without a college degree and the rest of the country is also distinct. But Mr. Trump would have probably won without white working-class voters in several states, particularly in the Great Plains, according to the SurveyMonkey data.</p>
<p>Read the rest at: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/10/05/upshot/gun-ownership-partisan-divide.html?smid=tw-nytimes&amp;smtyp=cur" type="external">Dividing Voters</a></p> | 2,374 |
<p>The news business continues to be in a freefall thanks to a deep recession and changing reader and viewer habits but graduates from the Columbia School of Journaiism are relatively upbeat about their future.</p>
<p>From the <a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/2009-07-28/news/you-just-graduated-from-journalism-school-what-were-you-thinking/" type="external">Village Voice</a></p>
<p>In a down economy, the smart play is to go to school to learn new skills, network, and ride it out. At least, that's the case in a normal industry. But conventional wisdom has it that planning for a future in journalism makes as much sense as signing up for a career as a Pontiac dealer.</p>
<p>That's not how members of the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism's just-graduated class of 2009 see it, though. Despite the tough times, they are excited and hopeful that their freshly minted degrees will help prepare them for the news business's rebirth.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/related/to/Malia+Politzer" type="external">Malia Politzer</a>, who calls her Columbia experience "great," says she "learned a tremendous amount" there. When she was considering applying to Columbia, she adds, she reached out to some alums for advice: "A bunch told me not to go." She had already worked as an intern at <a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/related/to/The+Wall+Street+Journal" type="external">The Wall Street Journal</a> in Hong Kong and had the opportunity to be a freelance writer covering the <a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/related/to/Beijing" type="external">Beijing</a> Olympics, but financial aid and networking possibilities tipped her decision in favor of <a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/related/to/Morningside+Heights" type="external">Morningside Heights</a>. Her concentration was new media and investigative journalism. "I'm a bit of a technophobe," Politzer says, so she was glad to be pushed to learn how to make websites, shoot and edit video, build flash sites, and use multimedia in her reporting.</p>
<p>For now the graduates have managed to land internships or jobs at small papers but in the long run that won't even remotely begin to pay off their student loans and other bills they face going forward.&#160; Hopefully these j-school grads have prepared themselves for a very unpredictable future in the career they have chosen.</p>
<p>FYI: Beginning with this post the comment period will be reduced to 10 days.&#160;</p>
<p>Post #2224</p> | J-School Grads Optimistic | true | http://aim.org/don-irvine-blog/j-school-grads-optimistic/ | 2009-07-31 | 0right
| J-School Grads Optimistic
<p>The news business continues to be in a freefall thanks to a deep recession and changing reader and viewer habits but graduates from the Columbia School of Journaiism are relatively upbeat about their future.</p>
<p>From the <a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/2009-07-28/news/you-just-graduated-from-journalism-school-what-were-you-thinking/" type="external">Village Voice</a></p>
<p>In a down economy, the smart play is to go to school to learn new skills, network, and ride it out. At least, that's the case in a normal industry. But conventional wisdom has it that planning for a future in journalism makes as much sense as signing up for a career as a Pontiac dealer.</p>
<p>That's not how members of the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism's just-graduated class of 2009 see it, though. Despite the tough times, they are excited and hopeful that their freshly minted degrees will help prepare them for the news business's rebirth.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/related/to/Malia+Politzer" type="external">Malia Politzer</a>, who calls her Columbia experience "great," says she "learned a tremendous amount" there. When she was considering applying to Columbia, she adds, she reached out to some alums for advice: "A bunch told me not to go." She had already worked as an intern at <a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/related/to/The+Wall+Street+Journal" type="external">The Wall Street Journal</a> in Hong Kong and had the opportunity to be a freelance writer covering the <a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/related/to/Beijing" type="external">Beijing</a> Olympics, but financial aid and networking possibilities tipped her decision in favor of <a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/related/to/Morningside+Heights" type="external">Morningside Heights</a>. Her concentration was new media and investigative journalism. "I'm a bit of a technophobe," Politzer says, so she was glad to be pushed to learn how to make websites, shoot and edit video, build flash sites, and use multimedia in her reporting.</p>
<p>For now the graduates have managed to land internships or jobs at small papers but in the long run that won't even remotely begin to pay off their student loans and other bills they face going forward.&#160; Hopefully these j-school grads have prepared themselves for a very unpredictable future in the career they have chosen.</p>
<p>FYI: Beginning with this post the comment period will be reduced to 10 days.&#160;</p>
<p>Post #2224</p> | 2,375 |
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<p />
<p>And it wasn’t to the United fans who have jeered him in recent weeks.</p>
<p>Instead, Fellaini zeroed in on the man who has shown faith in him during the tough times. Jose Mourinho was pumping his fists in the technical area when he was met with the full force of a charging Fellaini and his trademark afro.</p>
<p>The United manager tumbled backward before putting his arms around the midfielder as they embraced. Minutes later, Fellaini’s name was being sung around Old Trafford.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“He changed the dynamic and the empathy with the fans,” Mourinho said.</p>
<p>Fellaini’s first goal of the season was important, not just because it sealed a 2-0 win for United against Hull on Tuesday in the first leg of the semifinals. The bear-hug celebration showed the togetherness and improving bond between Mourinho and his players, a factor that cannot have helped but aid United during its current run of nine straight victories in all competitions.</p>
<p>You have to go back nearly four years — before United’s miserable years under David Moyes and Louis van Gaal — to a similar display of emotion, when Robin van Persie ran along the touchline and embraced Alex Ferguson after scoring a match-clinching penalty against Stoke in April 2013 as United closed in on the Premier League title.</p>
<p>There was more of a personal element to Fellaini’s reaction.</p>
<p>A month ago, the Belgium international was booed by sections of Old Trafford — not for the first time — as he warmed up as a substitute late in the second half of United’s win over Tottenham. That was chiefly because a week earlier, he had come on as a late sub against Everton and conceded a penalty that was scored to deny United victory.</p>
<p>Yet there’s also the feeling that United fans just haven’t warmed to a player who is associated, rightly or wrongly, with the most difficult period in the club’s recent history.</p>
<p>Fellaini was one of Moyes’ first signings in the immediate post-Ferguson era and has never appeared a natural fit for United, whose success since the early 1990s was based on fluid, attacking and entertaining football. Getting the best out of Fellaini — a tall midfielder with a strong aerial presence — requires a more direct and pragmatic style, which is why he thrived at former club Everton.</p>
<p>He was nevertheless valued highly by Moyes and Van Gaal, and was therefore a regular starter under them. Under Mourinho, Fellaini has had less game time, especially since November when United has generally gone with a midfield of Michael Carrick, Ander Herrera and Paul Pogba.</p>
<p>Fellaini is now regarded as a Plan B, a player to throw on in the final minutes to cause damage with his height and physicality. His crucial goal against Hull came via that route, with Matteo Darmian floating over a left-wing cross that Fellaini met with a looping header over the goalkeeper.</p>
<p>“I’m here to support the players, especially the players in a difficult situation,” Mourinho said of Fellaini. “But he has a very strong mentality, he coped well with the situation, he was not afraid the next match after Everton to go to the pitch again.</p>
<p>“He is always supported by myself,” Mourinho added. “He knows he is a very important player for me.”</p>
<p>Mourinho likes to have physically imposing players in his team. He had them at Chelsea and immediately after joining United, he signed Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Eric Bailly — all players with a presence.</p>
<p>Given Fellaini’s characteristics, the midfielder could have a vital role to play for United in the second half of the season.</p> | Often derided, Fellaini finally feels some love at United | false | https://abqjournal.com/925381/often-derided-fellaini-finally-feels-some-love-at-united.html | 2017-01-11 | 2least
| Often derided, Fellaini finally feels some love at United
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<p />
<p>And it wasn’t to the United fans who have jeered him in recent weeks.</p>
<p>Instead, Fellaini zeroed in on the man who has shown faith in him during the tough times. Jose Mourinho was pumping his fists in the technical area when he was met with the full force of a charging Fellaini and his trademark afro.</p>
<p>The United manager tumbled backward before putting his arms around the midfielder as they embraced. Minutes later, Fellaini’s name was being sung around Old Trafford.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“He changed the dynamic and the empathy with the fans,” Mourinho said.</p>
<p>Fellaini’s first goal of the season was important, not just because it sealed a 2-0 win for United against Hull on Tuesday in the first leg of the semifinals. The bear-hug celebration showed the togetherness and improving bond between Mourinho and his players, a factor that cannot have helped but aid United during its current run of nine straight victories in all competitions.</p>
<p>You have to go back nearly four years — before United’s miserable years under David Moyes and Louis van Gaal — to a similar display of emotion, when Robin van Persie ran along the touchline and embraced Alex Ferguson after scoring a match-clinching penalty against Stoke in April 2013 as United closed in on the Premier League title.</p>
<p>There was more of a personal element to Fellaini’s reaction.</p>
<p>A month ago, the Belgium international was booed by sections of Old Trafford — not for the first time — as he warmed up as a substitute late in the second half of United’s win over Tottenham. That was chiefly because a week earlier, he had come on as a late sub against Everton and conceded a penalty that was scored to deny United victory.</p>
<p>Yet there’s also the feeling that United fans just haven’t warmed to a player who is associated, rightly or wrongly, with the most difficult period in the club’s recent history.</p>
<p>Fellaini was one of Moyes’ first signings in the immediate post-Ferguson era and has never appeared a natural fit for United, whose success since the early 1990s was based on fluid, attacking and entertaining football. Getting the best out of Fellaini — a tall midfielder with a strong aerial presence — requires a more direct and pragmatic style, which is why he thrived at former club Everton.</p>
<p>He was nevertheless valued highly by Moyes and Van Gaal, and was therefore a regular starter under them. Under Mourinho, Fellaini has had less game time, especially since November when United has generally gone with a midfield of Michael Carrick, Ander Herrera and Paul Pogba.</p>
<p>Fellaini is now regarded as a Plan B, a player to throw on in the final minutes to cause damage with his height and physicality. His crucial goal against Hull came via that route, with Matteo Darmian floating over a left-wing cross that Fellaini met with a looping header over the goalkeeper.</p>
<p>“I’m here to support the players, especially the players in a difficult situation,” Mourinho said of Fellaini. “But he has a very strong mentality, he coped well with the situation, he was not afraid the next match after Everton to go to the pitch again.</p>
<p>“He is always supported by myself,” Mourinho added. “He knows he is a very important player for me.”</p>
<p>Mourinho likes to have physically imposing players in his team. He had them at Chelsea and immediately after joining United, he signed Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Eric Bailly — all players with a presence.</p>
<p>Given Fellaini’s characteristics, the midfielder could have a vital role to play for United in the second half of the season.</p> | 2,376 |
<p>Nevada Assembly Speaker Marilyn Kirkpatrick says it's too early to say whether a huge package of tax breaks and incentives needed to land Tesla Motors Inc.'s lithium battery factory will have smooth sailing at a special legislative session next week.</p>
<p>The Las Vegas Democrat said Friday she and her colleagues need to scrutinize details of the legislation before voting on the incentives that could total $1.3 billion in costs over 20 years.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Some groups already have branded the package as unconstitutional.</p>
<p>Kirkpatrick's comments came a day after Nevada won the race to land Tesla's mega battery factory that promises good jobs and economic benefits.</p>
<p>She says legislative leaders are gearing up to start the special session Wednesday and its length will depend on questions raised by the legislation.</p> | Nevada Assembly speaker: Colleagues to comb through details before voting on Tesla deal | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2014/09/05/nevada-assembly-speaker-colleagues-to-comb-through-details-before-voting-on.html | 2016-04-07 | 0right
| Nevada Assembly speaker: Colleagues to comb through details before voting on Tesla deal
<p>Nevada Assembly Speaker Marilyn Kirkpatrick says it's too early to say whether a huge package of tax breaks and incentives needed to land Tesla Motors Inc.'s lithium battery factory will have smooth sailing at a special legislative session next week.</p>
<p>The Las Vegas Democrat said Friday she and her colleagues need to scrutinize details of the legislation before voting on the incentives that could total $1.3 billion in costs over 20 years.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Some groups already have branded the package as unconstitutional.</p>
<p>Kirkpatrick's comments came a day after Nevada won the race to land Tesla's mega battery factory that promises good jobs and economic benefits.</p>
<p>She says legislative leaders are gearing up to start the special session Wednesday and its length will depend on questions raised by the legislation.</p> | 2,377 |
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<p />
<p>— Tom Jackman, The Washington Post</p>
<p>—</p>
<p>Also, if you have an interest in fairness, justice and preventing wrongful convictions, then the new book “How the Police Generate False Confessions,” by former Washington, D.C., homicide detective James Trainum is an important read. It takes you inside the interrogation room to see how investigators extract admissions from innocent people, and how the justice system can fix this persistent problem, seen in high profile cases such as the Central Park Five, the Norfolk Four and the teenaged suspect from Wisconsin in the Netflix series “Making a Murderer.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>It’s a phenomenon that remains, understandably, incomprehensible to many. Someone “admits” to a crime they did not actually commit, to a police detective of all people, knowing they face a long prison sentence for doing so. Who would do such a thing? In all three of the cases above, young men admitted to committing rape, and in two of them to gruesome murders.</p>
<p>Trainum, 61, spent 17 years in homicide for the Metropolitan Police Department, retiring in 2010. He was the lead detective on the high-profile Starbucks triple murder in Georgetown in 1997, which he eventually helped solve in 1999. But in 1994, Trainum had an eye-opening experience when he obtained his own false confession. After a 16-hour interrogation, a woman told him she and two men had killed a man whose body was found, bound and beaten, near the Anacostia River. She was charged with first-degree murder. But she recanted weeks later, and Trainum found proof that she couldn’t have been where she originally claimed at the time of the slaying. The charges were dismissed.</p>
<p>“What did I do,” Trainum asked himself, “to convince this person to tell me something she didn’t do? How did she get all those details she shouldn’t have known?” He realized that implying that her cooperation would get her better treatment from the prosecutors, and minimizing her role in the case to obtain her testimony against co-defendants, as well as a mistaken handwriting analysis and a bogus “voice stress test,” got her to confess.</p>
<p>Trainum began researching the concept of false confessions, not widely discussed in the 1990s. At that time, five New York teenagers were in prison for allegedly raping a woman in Central Park in 1989. Though DNA later proved an unrelated man had committed the crime, some people still believe the Central Park Five are guilty, including presidential candidate Donald Trump. “It just shows you what the power of a confession is,” Trainum said. “In spite of the overwhelming evidence, physical and otherwise, people still believe a confession trumps everything. No pun intended.”</p>
<p>False confessions are now understood to be a significant contribution to wrongful convictions. According to the National Registry of Exonerations, of 1,900 wrongful convictions in their data base, 234 were caused by false confessions, or about 12 percent.</p>
<p>Trainum said detectives are just following their training, which is often minimal, and which allows for not only unethical tactics but lying by investigators, who can falsely tell a suspect they failed a polygraph, that other people identified him as a suspect and that evidence indicates he committed the crime. Trainum summarizes the approach that most detectives take to a suspect in “the box”:</p>
<p>1. Conclude that the suspect is guilty</p>
<p>2. Tell them that there is no doubt of their guilt</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>3. Block any attempt by the suspect to deny the accusation</p>
<p>4. Suggest psychological or moral justifications for what they did</p>
<p>5. Lie about the strength of the evidence that points to the suspect’s guilt</p>
<p>6. Offer only two explanations for why he committed the crime. Both are admissions, but one is definitely less savory than the other</p>
<p>7. Get them to agree with you that they did it</p>
<p>8. Have them provide details about the crime</p>
<p>Now Trainum repeatedly acknowledges that police often elicit confessions from actually guilty people, sometimes after long or difficult sessions. But he said everyone in the system — detectives, defense attorneys, prosecutors and judges — must be aware of the possibility of false confessions, and be certain to do the legwork which corroborates or disproves such statements.</p>
<p>Trainum writes that suspects often make false confessions because they make a bad cost-benefit analysis. They think that confessing will allow them to go home, or allow them to face lesser charges, or protect other people. In “Making a Murderer,” 16-year-old Brendan Dassey confesses to murder and then asks if he can return to class at his high school. That confession and others were later used against him at trial and he was convicted, though in August of this year the case was overturned after a federal judge ruled the confessions were coerced and involuntary. “Thank God for videotape,” Trainum said of the confession. “Those detectives were not seeking the truth. They’re seeking a confession.”</p>
<p>But Dassey’s multiple confessions, including one in which the detectives tell him how the victim was killed after he repeatedly provides the wrong causes, had held up through trial and appeals court rulings for years. “One of the biggest problems,” Trainum said, “is the judges don’t worry about reliability [of a confession]. They say it’s up to the jury to decide that. They only worry about if it is admissible. There’s kind of a movement to shift the reliability back to the judges.” He noted that judges will hold hearings on the reliability of eyewitnesses or the reliability of jailhouse informants. “They don’t do that with confession evidence. And they really should. Once a confession gets in front of a jury, the defense attorney has an uphill battle. The jurors think, ‘I would never confess to something I didn’t do.'”</p>
<p>The National Registry of Exonerations shows that 15 percent of wrongful convictions occurred with guilty pleas. That was the case with Danial Williams and Joseph Dick, two sailors in the Norfolk Four who falsely confessed and pleaded guilty in the rape and murder of a woman in Norfolk in 1997. Another man’s DNA later linked him to the crime and he said he committed it alone. Williams’ and Dick’s sentences were commuted but not fully pardoned by then-Gov. Tim Kaine (now a vice presidential candidate) in 2009, and in an appeal to have their convictions vacated, U.S. District Court Judge John A. Gibney Jr. ruled last month that, “By any measure, the evidence shows the defendants’ innocence. . .Stated more simply, no sane human being could find them guilty.”</p>
<p>So what to do about false confessions? Trainum has many suggestions, starting with police videotaping all interrogations. Many departments still don’t do it. “Law enforcement doesn’t want you in that interrogation room,” Trainum said. “They don’t want you to see what they’re doing, because some of the stuff they know is not appropriate.”</p>
<p>But the ex-detective also advocates adopting the British method of investigation, in which the questioning is not adversarial and is instead focused on eliciting the truth, as opposed to only a confession. It is known as P.E.A.C.E., for preparation, engagement, accounting, closure and evaluation. It was imposed on British police after a spate of false confessions, and Trainum said it can be used just as effectively as the current American method.</p>
<p>The P.E.A.C.E. model is only starting to make inroads in the U.S., and it would require extensive training and money. He thinks the skill of interviewing is undervalued. “People think talking to people is a natural thing,” Trainum said. “It’s not. That’s why psychiatrists undergo so many years of training. You have to be able to build a rapport without threats or promises. Cops make the worst private investigators. We have too many bad habits.”</p>
<p>Trainum, now a consultant for the Innocence Project, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and various defense lawyers, has not exactly been embraced by his former colleagues, who began calling him “Benedict Trainum” when he was still on the force. He said he is shunned by some older cops, but younger ones are more open to his ideas.</p>
<p>“I hope law enforcement reads my book,” Trainum said. “With my consulting business, I want to be put out of business. I would rather they make good cases that I can’t touch.”</p>
<p>I asked Brandon Garrett, a University of Virginia law professor who has focused on wrongful convictions, about Trainum’s book. “It is such an important new book,” Garrett said. “For decades, we have seen false confession after false confession lead to tragic wrongful convictions of the innocent while serious criminals go undetected. The courts have done little to respond to abuses in the interrogation room; if anything they have eroded constitutional protections, such as the right to remain silent. Trainum explains that for police, there is another way. Overly coercive interrogation techniques not only produce false confessions but they are not good at uncovering good information. In the U.K. and in more agencies in the U.S., police have changed gears, turning from psychologically coercive techniques to information gathering techniques. Trainum and his book are at the forefront of a revolution in police interrogations.”</p>
<p>Now that’s a lot better book review quote than mine.</p>
<p>police</p> | Homicide detective’s book describes ‘How the Police Generate False Confessions’ | false | https://abqjournal.com/871376/homicide-detectives-book-describes-how-the-police-generate-false-confessions.html | 2016-10-20 | 2least
| Homicide detective’s book describes ‘How the Police Generate False Confessions’
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<p />
<p>— Tom Jackman, The Washington Post</p>
<p>—</p>
<p>Also, if you have an interest in fairness, justice and preventing wrongful convictions, then the new book “How the Police Generate False Confessions,” by former Washington, D.C., homicide detective James Trainum is an important read. It takes you inside the interrogation room to see how investigators extract admissions from innocent people, and how the justice system can fix this persistent problem, seen in high profile cases such as the Central Park Five, the Norfolk Four and the teenaged suspect from Wisconsin in the Netflix series “Making a Murderer.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>It’s a phenomenon that remains, understandably, incomprehensible to many. Someone “admits” to a crime they did not actually commit, to a police detective of all people, knowing they face a long prison sentence for doing so. Who would do such a thing? In all three of the cases above, young men admitted to committing rape, and in two of them to gruesome murders.</p>
<p>Trainum, 61, spent 17 years in homicide for the Metropolitan Police Department, retiring in 2010. He was the lead detective on the high-profile Starbucks triple murder in Georgetown in 1997, which he eventually helped solve in 1999. But in 1994, Trainum had an eye-opening experience when he obtained his own false confession. After a 16-hour interrogation, a woman told him she and two men had killed a man whose body was found, bound and beaten, near the Anacostia River. She was charged with first-degree murder. But she recanted weeks later, and Trainum found proof that she couldn’t have been where she originally claimed at the time of the slaying. The charges were dismissed.</p>
<p>“What did I do,” Trainum asked himself, “to convince this person to tell me something she didn’t do? How did she get all those details she shouldn’t have known?” He realized that implying that her cooperation would get her better treatment from the prosecutors, and minimizing her role in the case to obtain her testimony against co-defendants, as well as a mistaken handwriting analysis and a bogus “voice stress test,” got her to confess.</p>
<p>Trainum began researching the concept of false confessions, not widely discussed in the 1990s. At that time, five New York teenagers were in prison for allegedly raping a woman in Central Park in 1989. Though DNA later proved an unrelated man had committed the crime, some people still believe the Central Park Five are guilty, including presidential candidate Donald Trump. “It just shows you what the power of a confession is,” Trainum said. “In spite of the overwhelming evidence, physical and otherwise, people still believe a confession trumps everything. No pun intended.”</p>
<p>False confessions are now understood to be a significant contribution to wrongful convictions. According to the National Registry of Exonerations, of 1,900 wrongful convictions in their data base, 234 were caused by false confessions, or about 12 percent.</p>
<p>Trainum said detectives are just following their training, which is often minimal, and which allows for not only unethical tactics but lying by investigators, who can falsely tell a suspect they failed a polygraph, that other people identified him as a suspect and that evidence indicates he committed the crime. Trainum summarizes the approach that most detectives take to a suspect in “the box”:</p>
<p>1. Conclude that the suspect is guilty</p>
<p>2. Tell them that there is no doubt of their guilt</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>3. Block any attempt by the suspect to deny the accusation</p>
<p>4. Suggest psychological or moral justifications for what they did</p>
<p>5. Lie about the strength of the evidence that points to the suspect’s guilt</p>
<p>6. Offer only two explanations for why he committed the crime. Both are admissions, but one is definitely less savory than the other</p>
<p>7. Get them to agree with you that they did it</p>
<p>8. Have them provide details about the crime</p>
<p>Now Trainum repeatedly acknowledges that police often elicit confessions from actually guilty people, sometimes after long or difficult sessions. But he said everyone in the system — detectives, defense attorneys, prosecutors and judges — must be aware of the possibility of false confessions, and be certain to do the legwork which corroborates or disproves such statements.</p>
<p>Trainum writes that suspects often make false confessions because they make a bad cost-benefit analysis. They think that confessing will allow them to go home, or allow them to face lesser charges, or protect other people. In “Making a Murderer,” 16-year-old Brendan Dassey confesses to murder and then asks if he can return to class at his high school. That confession and others were later used against him at trial and he was convicted, though in August of this year the case was overturned after a federal judge ruled the confessions were coerced and involuntary. “Thank God for videotape,” Trainum said of the confession. “Those detectives were not seeking the truth. They’re seeking a confession.”</p>
<p>But Dassey’s multiple confessions, including one in which the detectives tell him how the victim was killed after he repeatedly provides the wrong causes, had held up through trial and appeals court rulings for years. “One of the biggest problems,” Trainum said, “is the judges don’t worry about reliability [of a confession]. They say it’s up to the jury to decide that. They only worry about if it is admissible. There’s kind of a movement to shift the reliability back to the judges.” He noted that judges will hold hearings on the reliability of eyewitnesses or the reliability of jailhouse informants. “They don’t do that with confession evidence. And they really should. Once a confession gets in front of a jury, the defense attorney has an uphill battle. The jurors think, ‘I would never confess to something I didn’t do.'”</p>
<p>The National Registry of Exonerations shows that 15 percent of wrongful convictions occurred with guilty pleas. That was the case with Danial Williams and Joseph Dick, two sailors in the Norfolk Four who falsely confessed and pleaded guilty in the rape and murder of a woman in Norfolk in 1997. Another man’s DNA later linked him to the crime and he said he committed it alone. Williams’ and Dick’s sentences were commuted but not fully pardoned by then-Gov. Tim Kaine (now a vice presidential candidate) in 2009, and in an appeal to have their convictions vacated, U.S. District Court Judge John A. Gibney Jr. ruled last month that, “By any measure, the evidence shows the defendants’ innocence. . .Stated more simply, no sane human being could find them guilty.”</p>
<p>So what to do about false confessions? Trainum has many suggestions, starting with police videotaping all interrogations. Many departments still don’t do it. “Law enforcement doesn’t want you in that interrogation room,” Trainum said. “They don’t want you to see what they’re doing, because some of the stuff they know is not appropriate.”</p>
<p>But the ex-detective also advocates adopting the British method of investigation, in which the questioning is not adversarial and is instead focused on eliciting the truth, as opposed to only a confession. It is known as P.E.A.C.E., for preparation, engagement, accounting, closure and evaluation. It was imposed on British police after a spate of false confessions, and Trainum said it can be used just as effectively as the current American method.</p>
<p>The P.E.A.C.E. model is only starting to make inroads in the U.S., and it would require extensive training and money. He thinks the skill of interviewing is undervalued. “People think talking to people is a natural thing,” Trainum said. “It’s not. That’s why psychiatrists undergo so many years of training. You have to be able to build a rapport without threats or promises. Cops make the worst private investigators. We have too many bad habits.”</p>
<p>Trainum, now a consultant for the Innocence Project, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and various defense lawyers, has not exactly been embraced by his former colleagues, who began calling him “Benedict Trainum” when he was still on the force. He said he is shunned by some older cops, but younger ones are more open to his ideas.</p>
<p>“I hope law enforcement reads my book,” Trainum said. “With my consulting business, I want to be put out of business. I would rather they make good cases that I can’t touch.”</p>
<p>I asked Brandon Garrett, a University of Virginia law professor who has focused on wrongful convictions, about Trainum’s book. “It is such an important new book,” Garrett said. “For decades, we have seen false confession after false confession lead to tragic wrongful convictions of the innocent while serious criminals go undetected. The courts have done little to respond to abuses in the interrogation room; if anything they have eroded constitutional protections, such as the right to remain silent. Trainum explains that for police, there is another way. Overly coercive interrogation techniques not only produce false confessions but they are not good at uncovering good information. In the U.K. and in more agencies in the U.S., police have changed gears, turning from psychologically coercive techniques to information gathering techniques. Trainum and his book are at the forefront of a revolution in police interrogations.”</p>
<p>Now that’s a lot better book review quote than mine.</p>
<p>police</p> | 2,378 |
<p>The final US Marine to face charges over the killing of unarmed Iraqi civilians in Haditha in 2005 has pleaded guilty to dereliction of duty.</p>
<p>Sgt Frank Wuterich was one of eight Marines originally charged with murder or failure to investigate the killings.</p>
<p>The charges against six of them were dropped or dismissed, and one was acquitted.</p>
<p>Lisa Mullins talks with correspondent Jane Arraf in Baghdad.</p> | Marine Frank Wuterich Pleads Guilty in Haditha Case | false | https://pri.org/stories/2012-01-23/marine-frank-wuterich-pleads-guilty-haditha-case | 2012-01-23 | 3left-center
| Marine Frank Wuterich Pleads Guilty in Haditha Case
<p>The final US Marine to face charges over the killing of unarmed Iraqi civilians in Haditha in 2005 has pleaded guilty to dereliction of duty.</p>
<p>Sgt Frank Wuterich was one of eight Marines originally charged with murder or failure to investigate the killings.</p>
<p>The charges against six of them were dropped or dismissed, and one was acquitted.</p>
<p>Lisa Mullins talks with correspondent Jane Arraf in Baghdad.</p> | 2,379 |
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<p />
<p>District 18 — Gail Chasey</p>
<p>Gail Chasey is running for re-election in House District 18, a seat she has held since 1997.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Chasey, a Democrat and practicing attorney and retired educator, currently is chairwoman of the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee, and a member of the Judiciary and Rules and Order of Business and Courts Corrections and Justice Committees.</p>
<p>Chasey believes school reform is needed and having the best schools would be a huge economic development tool. She helped get a bill passed for pre-kindergarten programs and believes student progress should be a factor in teacher evaluations.</p>
<p>The Journal endorses Gail Chasey for House District 18.</p>
<p>District 19 — Erica J. Landry</p>
<p>Erica Landry says that two decades ago when she moved into this Southeast Heights district that includes the fairgrounds, it fulfilled a longtime dream. But the current crime and lack of redevelopment that now plague the area show it needs new — and real — leadership.</p>
<p>Landry, a Republican and the founder of a business incubator, would work to turn the State Fair into the year-round economic driver it should be. She would partner to bring small businesses, perhaps in construction, to the area to create a synergy like that embodied in the science-technology park. She would support education reforms including an end to social promotion so the school in her area, Highland High, graduates more students ready to join the workforce. Like the incumbent, Landry is African American.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The Journal recommends voters elect Erica Landry to help move House District 19 forward.</p>
<p>District 23 — Paul A. Pacheco</p>
<p>Paul Pacheco, a retired Albuquerque Police Department officer, is strong on crime issues and supports repealing the state law that provides driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. He argues that law enforcement needs to be able to track people, and the fraud rampant in the state program makes that impossible.</p>
<p>He is also strong on economic accountability and competitiveness, arguing the state should ensure it is getting its bang for the industry incentive bucks it hands out, as well as providing a competitive tax structure that encourages entrepreneurship.</p>
<p>Pacheco, a Republican, has lived on Albuquerque’s West Side since the early 1990s.</p>
<p>The Journal recommends voters select Paul Pacheco to represent House District 23.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>District 24 — Conrad D. James</p>
<p>Conrad James has represented his mid-Heights district since 2010. In that time, three of his bills that have been signed into law have had a wide-reaching, positive impact on taxpayers and voters. One provides for the voting centers and ballot-on-demand process now used on Election Day so fewer provisional ballots are required and no ballots are overprinted. Another starts removing the unfair playing field of tax pyramiding from the manufacturing and construction industries. And another protects taxpayers and residents alike by updating the language regarding jail inspections.</p>
<p>James, a research engineer and scientist and a Republican, says he has a lot of work to finish — and his priorities include re-weighting the state’s taxation formula toward sales rather than payroll and property.</p>
<p>The Journal recommends voters keep Conrad James as representative for House District 24.</p>
<p>District 25 — Elisabeth L. Keen</p>
<p>Elisabeth Keen has lived in her mid-Heights district, which includes Winrock and Coronado malls, for 32 years, but her childhood of being raised overseas enriches her approach to education, economics and the law. A retired critical-care nurse and current computer system analyst, Keen says she is “struck by how adamant the status quo is” and how “they think everyone is picking on them” rather than advancing good ideas.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Keen, a Republican, would definitely take on the status quo. She says it is “a no-brainer to not just keep passing students.” That “there has to be a way to get rid of ineffective teachers.” That the law providing driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants has not been repealed shows “how dysfunctional the Legislature is.”</p>
<p>The Journal recommends voters select Elisabeth Keen to represent House District 25.</p>
<p>District 26 — Georgene Louis</p>
<p>Democrat Georgene Louis is a newcomer to politics and is seeking to represent a West Side district that spans a space between Central and the Ladera area and the far West Side bordering on Isleta and Laguna pueblos. Louis is a native New Mexican and a member of the Pueblo of Acoma. She received her law degree from the University of New Mexico in 2004 and works in private practice. She says her experience as a lawyer has trained her to listen to people and conduct research to identify issues and set goals.</p>
<p>Louis says the biggest issue is “jobs, jobs, jobs” and she will work on attracting business while evaluating whether incentives are achieving the expected results.</p>
<p>The Journal recommends voters select Georgene Louis to represent House District 26.</p>
<p>This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.</p> | Editorial: Recommendations For N.M. House Dist. 18, 19, 23, 24, 25, 26 | false | https://abqjournal.com/139350/recommendations-for-new-mexico-house-4.html | 2012-10-18 | 2least
| Editorial: Recommendations For N.M. House Dist. 18, 19, 23, 24, 25, 26
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<p />
<p>District 18 — Gail Chasey</p>
<p>Gail Chasey is running for re-election in House District 18, a seat she has held since 1997.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Chasey, a Democrat and practicing attorney and retired educator, currently is chairwoman of the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee, and a member of the Judiciary and Rules and Order of Business and Courts Corrections and Justice Committees.</p>
<p>Chasey believes school reform is needed and having the best schools would be a huge economic development tool. She helped get a bill passed for pre-kindergarten programs and believes student progress should be a factor in teacher evaluations.</p>
<p>The Journal endorses Gail Chasey for House District 18.</p>
<p>District 19 — Erica J. Landry</p>
<p>Erica Landry says that two decades ago when she moved into this Southeast Heights district that includes the fairgrounds, it fulfilled a longtime dream. But the current crime and lack of redevelopment that now plague the area show it needs new — and real — leadership.</p>
<p>Landry, a Republican and the founder of a business incubator, would work to turn the State Fair into the year-round economic driver it should be. She would partner to bring small businesses, perhaps in construction, to the area to create a synergy like that embodied in the science-technology park. She would support education reforms including an end to social promotion so the school in her area, Highland High, graduates more students ready to join the workforce. Like the incumbent, Landry is African American.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The Journal recommends voters elect Erica Landry to help move House District 19 forward.</p>
<p>District 23 — Paul A. Pacheco</p>
<p>Paul Pacheco, a retired Albuquerque Police Department officer, is strong on crime issues and supports repealing the state law that provides driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. He argues that law enforcement needs to be able to track people, and the fraud rampant in the state program makes that impossible.</p>
<p>He is also strong on economic accountability and competitiveness, arguing the state should ensure it is getting its bang for the industry incentive bucks it hands out, as well as providing a competitive tax structure that encourages entrepreneurship.</p>
<p>Pacheco, a Republican, has lived on Albuquerque’s West Side since the early 1990s.</p>
<p>The Journal recommends voters select Paul Pacheco to represent House District 23.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>District 24 — Conrad D. James</p>
<p>Conrad James has represented his mid-Heights district since 2010. In that time, three of his bills that have been signed into law have had a wide-reaching, positive impact on taxpayers and voters. One provides for the voting centers and ballot-on-demand process now used on Election Day so fewer provisional ballots are required and no ballots are overprinted. Another starts removing the unfair playing field of tax pyramiding from the manufacturing and construction industries. And another protects taxpayers and residents alike by updating the language regarding jail inspections.</p>
<p>James, a research engineer and scientist and a Republican, says he has a lot of work to finish — and his priorities include re-weighting the state’s taxation formula toward sales rather than payroll and property.</p>
<p>The Journal recommends voters keep Conrad James as representative for House District 24.</p>
<p>District 25 — Elisabeth L. Keen</p>
<p>Elisabeth Keen has lived in her mid-Heights district, which includes Winrock and Coronado malls, for 32 years, but her childhood of being raised overseas enriches her approach to education, economics and the law. A retired critical-care nurse and current computer system analyst, Keen says she is “struck by how adamant the status quo is” and how “they think everyone is picking on them” rather than advancing good ideas.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Keen, a Republican, would definitely take on the status quo. She says it is “a no-brainer to not just keep passing students.” That “there has to be a way to get rid of ineffective teachers.” That the law providing driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants has not been repealed shows “how dysfunctional the Legislature is.”</p>
<p>The Journal recommends voters select Elisabeth Keen to represent House District 25.</p>
<p>District 26 — Georgene Louis</p>
<p>Democrat Georgene Louis is a newcomer to politics and is seeking to represent a West Side district that spans a space between Central and the Ladera area and the far West Side bordering on Isleta and Laguna pueblos. Louis is a native New Mexican and a member of the Pueblo of Acoma. She received her law degree from the University of New Mexico in 2004 and works in private practice. She says her experience as a lawyer has trained her to listen to people and conduct research to identify issues and set goals.</p>
<p>Louis says the biggest issue is “jobs, jobs, jobs” and she will work on attracting business while evaluating whether incentives are achieving the expected results.</p>
<p>The Journal recommends voters select Georgene Louis to represent House District 26.</p>
<p>This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.</p> | 2,380 |
<p>UPDATE: Suspect has been identified at Dylann Storm Roof, 21, who has been arrested on trespassing and drug charges in the past.</p>
<p>Yet another mass shooting, and this one certainly appears to be race-motivated. A shooter opened fire on Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Police are still looking for a 21-year old white male, wearing Timberland boots and a gray sweatshirt.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/17/us/charleston-south-carolina-shooting/index.html" type="external">CNN</a>:</p>
<p>Several people were killed in a shooting at an historic African-American church in Charleston, South Carolina, a source close to the investigation told CNN.</p>
<p>The shooter is still at large.</p>
<p>The shooting took place Wednesday evening at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, the oldest AME church in the South.</p>
<p>Police haven't said how many people have been shot. But the source who spoke to CNN said several bodies were in the church that were yet to be identified.</p>
<p>"It's really bad. It's a very bad scene," local pastor Thomas Dixon said.</p>
<p>"Apparently the person just entered the church and opened fire. That part has not been fully articulated on what happened yet ... they are still looking for the suspect."</p>
<p>Search on for suspect Police said the suspect in the shooting is a clean-shaven white man in his 20s, with a slender build. He was wearing a gray sweatshirt, blue jeans and boots.</p>
<p>Soon afterward, news cameras showed officers taking a man matching that description into custody, but police said they were still looking for the shooter.</p>
<p>The department asked anyone with information to call 911 dispatchers</p>
<p>According to Twitter, children are among the dead, but that is as yet unconfirmed.</p>
<p>A live feed is embedded above, <a href="http://www.live5news.com/category/159804/news-local-south-carolina" type="external">via</a> local Charleston station Live5News.</p>
<p>Update:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20150617/PC16/150619408/police-responded-to-reported-shooting-downtown" type="external">Nine people are reportedly dead</a>. South Carolina state senator Clementa Pinckney, who is also the pastor of the church, is reported to be among the dead, but that report is still unconfirmed.</p>
<p>Update 2:</p>
<p>Senator Pinckney has <a href="https://twitter.com/BenjySarlin/status/611395821209276416" type="external">now been confirmed</a> to be among the dead. There are 9 dead. 8 died at the scene and 1 was pronounced dead at the hospital.</p>
<p>Update 3:</p>
<p>At a press conference a few minutes ago, Mayor Joe Riley said he believes it is a hate crime. I think that's a reasonable assumption, given the historic significance of that church, and the fact that the pastor is also a State Senator.</p>
<p>Here are some of the reactions from Twitter:</p>
<p>He went into a place where he KNEW all of his victims would be Black. Don't say we're making it about color. It IS about color. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Charleston?src=hash" type="external">#Charleston</a></p>
<p>— SC: DivaMonroe2u (@DivaMonRoe2uHoE) <a href="https://twitter.com/DivaMonRoe2uHoE/status/611390745711239168" type="external">June 18, 2015</a></p>
<p>(I'm looking at YOU, Chief Justice John Roberts)</p>
<p>(I share that sentiment. If you're not angry, something isn't right.)</p>
<p><a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2015/06/shooting-emanuel-ame-charleston/396209/" type="external">More</a> on the church's history and why an attack there would be viewed as a hate crime:</p>
<p>The gunman’s attack targeted the oldest black church south of Baltimore, and one of the most storied black congregations in the United States. Emanuel A.M.E. Church’s history is deeply intertwined with the history of African American life in Charleston. Among the congregation’s founders was Denmark Vesey, a former slave who was executed in 1822 for attempting to organize a massive slave revolt in antebellum South Carolina. White South Carolinians burned the church to the ground in response to the thwarted uprising; along with other black churches, it was shuttered by the city in 1834. The church reorganized in 1865, and soon acquired a new building designed by Robert Vesey, Denmark’s son; the current building was constructed in 1891. It has continued to play a leading role in the struggle for civil rights.</p>
<p>Update 4: According to reports, the FBI is declaring this an act of domestic terrorism.</p> | Mass Shooting At Historic Charleston, SC Church Leaves 9 Dead (Updated) | true | http://crooksandliars.com/2015/06/mass-shooting-historic-charleston-sc | 2015-06-17 | 4left
| Mass Shooting At Historic Charleston, SC Church Leaves 9 Dead (Updated)
<p>UPDATE: Suspect has been identified at Dylann Storm Roof, 21, who has been arrested on trespassing and drug charges in the past.</p>
<p>Yet another mass shooting, and this one certainly appears to be race-motivated. A shooter opened fire on Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Police are still looking for a 21-year old white male, wearing Timberland boots and a gray sweatshirt.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/17/us/charleston-south-carolina-shooting/index.html" type="external">CNN</a>:</p>
<p>Several people were killed in a shooting at an historic African-American church in Charleston, South Carolina, a source close to the investigation told CNN.</p>
<p>The shooter is still at large.</p>
<p>The shooting took place Wednesday evening at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, the oldest AME church in the South.</p>
<p>Police haven't said how many people have been shot. But the source who spoke to CNN said several bodies were in the church that were yet to be identified.</p>
<p>"It's really bad. It's a very bad scene," local pastor Thomas Dixon said.</p>
<p>"Apparently the person just entered the church and opened fire. That part has not been fully articulated on what happened yet ... they are still looking for the suspect."</p>
<p>Search on for suspect Police said the suspect in the shooting is a clean-shaven white man in his 20s, with a slender build. He was wearing a gray sweatshirt, blue jeans and boots.</p>
<p>Soon afterward, news cameras showed officers taking a man matching that description into custody, but police said they were still looking for the shooter.</p>
<p>The department asked anyone with information to call 911 dispatchers</p>
<p>According to Twitter, children are among the dead, but that is as yet unconfirmed.</p>
<p>A live feed is embedded above, <a href="http://www.live5news.com/category/159804/news-local-south-carolina" type="external">via</a> local Charleston station Live5News.</p>
<p>Update:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20150617/PC16/150619408/police-responded-to-reported-shooting-downtown" type="external">Nine people are reportedly dead</a>. South Carolina state senator Clementa Pinckney, who is also the pastor of the church, is reported to be among the dead, but that report is still unconfirmed.</p>
<p>Update 2:</p>
<p>Senator Pinckney has <a href="https://twitter.com/BenjySarlin/status/611395821209276416" type="external">now been confirmed</a> to be among the dead. There are 9 dead. 8 died at the scene and 1 was pronounced dead at the hospital.</p>
<p>Update 3:</p>
<p>At a press conference a few minutes ago, Mayor Joe Riley said he believes it is a hate crime. I think that's a reasonable assumption, given the historic significance of that church, and the fact that the pastor is also a State Senator.</p>
<p>Here are some of the reactions from Twitter:</p>
<p>He went into a place where he KNEW all of his victims would be Black. Don't say we're making it about color. It IS about color. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Charleston?src=hash" type="external">#Charleston</a></p>
<p>— SC: DivaMonroe2u (@DivaMonRoe2uHoE) <a href="https://twitter.com/DivaMonRoe2uHoE/status/611390745711239168" type="external">June 18, 2015</a></p>
<p>(I'm looking at YOU, Chief Justice John Roberts)</p>
<p>(I share that sentiment. If you're not angry, something isn't right.)</p>
<p><a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2015/06/shooting-emanuel-ame-charleston/396209/" type="external">More</a> on the church's history and why an attack there would be viewed as a hate crime:</p>
<p>The gunman’s attack targeted the oldest black church south of Baltimore, and one of the most storied black congregations in the United States. Emanuel A.M.E. Church’s history is deeply intertwined with the history of African American life in Charleston. Among the congregation’s founders was Denmark Vesey, a former slave who was executed in 1822 for attempting to organize a massive slave revolt in antebellum South Carolina. White South Carolinians burned the church to the ground in response to the thwarted uprising; along with other black churches, it was shuttered by the city in 1834. The church reorganized in 1865, and soon acquired a new building designed by Robert Vesey, Denmark’s son; the current building was constructed in 1891. It has continued to play a leading role in the struggle for civil rights.</p>
<p>Update 4: According to reports, the FBI is declaring this an act of domestic terrorism.</p> | 2,381 |
<p>During the recent GOP debate, Sen.&#160;Marco Rubio <a href="http://www.agriculture.senate.gov/hearings/biotechnology-labeling-solutions-markup" type="external">said</a> the FBI has asked Apple to disable “the auto-erase mode on one phone in the entire world.”&#160;But the FBI, which is seeking access to the&#160;San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone, has asked Apple to write software that could do more than that.</p>
<p>With minor tweaks, this software could also&#160;be applied to other iPhones, either at the request of the government or by hackers, multiple security experts say.</p>
<p>Rubio, Feb. 25: [T]he FBI made this very clear 48 hours ago — the only thing they are asking of Apple is that Apple allow them to use their own systems in the FBI to try to guess the password of the San Bernardino killer. Apple initially came out saying, “We’re being ordered to create a back door to an encryption device.” That is not accurate. The only thing they’re being asked to do … is allow us to disable the self-destruct mode that’s in the Apple phone so that we can try to guess using our own systems what the password of this killer was. … That is all they’re asking them to do is to disable the self-destruct mode or the auto-erase mode on one phone in the entire world.</p>
<p>Rubio is right on one point — in this particular case, the FBI is not asking Apple to create a “back door to an encryption device” in the traditional sense of the term. <a href="https://cs.stanford.edu/people/eroberts/cs181/projects/ethics-of-surveillance/tech_encryptionbackdoors.html" type="external">Back doors</a> are usually thought of as holes inserted purposefully into the design of devices before they’re released. These back doors could then be used by government agencies like the National Security Agency or the FBI during investigations.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb/" type="external">Steven M. Bellovin</a>, a computer science professor at Columbia University and a security specialist, told us by email that what the FBI is asking for is “more like a crowbar to pry open the lock on the existing front door.” Whether it’s access through a back door or a front door, it still potentially leaves the wider public’s data at risk, he and other experts say.</p>
<p>However, Rubio was wrong when he said all the FBI is asking Apple to do is disable the “auto-erase mode on one phone in the entire word.” The FBI is asking Apple to disable other features as well.</p>
<p>Apple programmers also would have to write software&#160;that could be applied to other iPhones — potentially putting the wider public at risk from hackers and criminals and setting a precedent that could assist the federal government in at least four other cases it’s waging against the tech giant.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-san-bernardino-shooting-live-updates-htmlstory.html" type="external">On Dec. 2</a>, Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, killed 14 people and injured 22 others at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California.</p>
<p>On Feb. 16, the U.S. District Court of California <a href="https://regmedia.co.uk/2016/02/17/apple_order.pdf" type="external">issued an order</a> compelling Apple to assist the FBI in unlocking Farook’s iPhone.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" />On the same day, Apple responded in a <a href="http://www.apple.com/customer-letter/" type="external">public message to its customers</a>, stating, among other things, that: “The United States government has demanded that Apple take an unprecedented step which threatens the security of our customers. We oppose this order, which has implications far beyond the legal case at hand.”</p>
<p>On Feb. 19, the Department of Justice filed a “ <a href="http://apps.npr.org/documents/document.html?id=2716063-Apple-iPhone-Access-MOTION-to-COMPEL" type="external">motion to compel</a>” Apple to comply with the court’s order. The motion stated that: “The phone may contain critical communications and data prior to and around the time of the shooting that, thus far: (1) has not been accessed; (2) may reside solely on the phone; and (3) cannot be accessed by any other means known to either the government or Apple.”</p>
<p>The motion to compel also claims: “The Order requires Apple to assist the FBI with respect to this single iPhone used by Farook by providing the FBI with the opportunity to determine the passcode.”</p>
<p>On Feb. 25, Apple responded by filing a “ <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/02/25/468143901/apple-court-filing-calls-iphone-order-dangerous-unconstitutional" type="external">motion to vacate</a>” the order compelling it to assist the FBI that stated: “This is not a case about one isolated iPhone.”</p>
<p>To explain how&#160;Rubio oversimplified the case when he&#160;claimed&#160;that all Apple would have to do is disable the “auto-erase mode on one phone in the entire world,” we’ll walk through the science behind encryption, front doors and back doors that apply to this situation.</p>
<p>Encryption scrambles the data on a device so that only someone with the proper authorized codes can access that data. A <a href="https://cs.stanford.edu/people/eroberts/cs181/projects/ethics-of-surveillance/tech_encryptionbackdoors.html" type="external">back door</a> to encryption is normally thought of as a purposeful hole in the hardware or software of a device, which the manufacturer — Apple in this case — would insert into a product before it’s released. This back door would allow someone without the proper authenticated codes to gain access to the device’s data.</p>
<p>According to multiple sources, including the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/23/nsa-director-defends-backdoors-into-technology-companies" type="external">Guardian</a>, the White House has been “trying to broker a deal with companies such as Apple, Yahoo and Google, to ensure holes in encryption for the government to access mobile data, cloud computing and other data.” These kinds of requests date back to at least 1993, with the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/12/magazine/battle-of-the-clipper-chip.html?pagewanted=all" type="external">Clipper chip</a>, a hardware-based means to a back door.</p>
<p>But in a <a href="http://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/97690/MIT-CSAIL-TR-2015-026.pdf?sequence=8" type="external">2015 report</a>, security experts and computer scientists, including Bellovin and researchers at MIT, investigated “whether it is technically and operationally feasible to meet law enforcement’s call for exceptional access without causing large-scale security vulnerabilities.”</p>
<p>Based on its analysis of a number of case studies, the group found that the U.S. government’s “proposals are unworkable in practice, raise enormous legal and ethical questions, and would undo progress on security at a time when Internet vulnerabilities are causing extreme economic harm.”</p>
<p>The experts also made a point of noting that they “take no issue here with law enforcement’s desire to execute lawful surveillance orders when they meet the requirements of human rights and the rule of law.” Rather, their “strong recommendation is that anyone proposing regulations should first present concrete technical requirements, which industry, academics, and the public can analyze for technical weaknesses and for hidden costs.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/02/21/ex-nsa-chief-backs-apple-iphone-back-doors/80660024/" type="external">According to USA Today</a>, Michael Hayden, the former head of both the&#160;NSA and the CIA,&#160;“opposes proposals to force Apple and other tech companies to install ‘back doors’ in digital devices to help law enforcement.”&#160;But he said&#160;“ ‘the burden of proof is on Apple’ ” to show that writing code to help disable&#160;Farook’s phone would also “open the door to broader privacy invasions.”</p>
<p>How is this case similar to and different from creating a back door? According to Bellovin, the current Apple-FBI battle is more about using so-called “ <a href="http://www.wired.com/2016/02/apple-brief-fbi-response-iphone/" type="external">brute-force</a>” front door access to the shooter’s phone. But it could still put the public at greater risk, he says.</p>
<p>Farook’s iPhone was a model 5C, which has a feature that deletes all of the phone’s data after 10 unsuccessful password attempts. As per the <a href="https://regmedia.co.uk/2016/02/17/apple_order.pdf" type="external">original court order</a>, the FBI wants Apple to write software that would do three things: (1) bypass or disable this auto-erase function; (2) allow the FBI to submit passcodes to the device electronically (i.e., not by hand); and (3) ensure that when the FBI submits passcodes to the phone, Apple’s software prevents any additional delay between passcode attempts.</p>
<p>In this way, Rubio was wrong when he said the only thing the FBI is asking Apple to do is disable “the auto-erase mode on one phone in the entire world.”</p>
<p>The court order also states&#160;the software “will be coded by Apple with a unique identifier of the phone so that the [software] would only load and execute” on Farook’s phone. But Bellovin told us this code “can be tweaked to point to a different [iPhone] in a matter of seconds or minutes.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.wpi.edu/academics/facultydir/sl4.html" type="external">Susan Landau</a>, a cybersecurity policy specialist at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts and coauthor on the aforementioned 2015 report, agrees with Bellovin and adds: “No phone is secure in the same way it was before this piece of software was written.”</p>
<p>There are at least two reasons why the writing of this software goes beyond the scope of Farook’s iPhone.</p>
<p>First, hackers could get hold of this new software&#160;and use it to “unlock any [iPhone] of their choosing,” says Landau. To do so, they would also need Apple’s signing key, which Landau adds is “a highly protected secret as important to Apple as the nuclear codes are to the White House.” Without the new software, however, this particular risk wouldn’t exist.</p>
<p>Second, if the courts side with the FBI on this case, it would set a precedent that could assist the federal government in at least four other similar cases it’s currently waging against the company.</p>
<p>On Feb. 17, Mark Zwillinger, Apple’s attorney, <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2718704-Zwillinger-Chart.html#document/p1" type="external">filed a court brief</a> that outlined 12 other occasions Apple has challenged FBI requests to unlock iPhones— four of which would require Apple to write new code.</p>
<p>For some phones — ones that have operating systems older than iOS 8 — Apple can unlock the phones without writing new code, as <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/23/opinion/seeking-iphone-data-through-the-front-door.html?mtrref=undefined&amp;assetType=opinion&amp;_r=0" type="external">it has in the past</a>. For this reason, there is already a&#160;precedent for Apple&#160;to fulfill some of the FBI’s requests — those that don’t require writing new code.</p>
<p>But from iOS 8 on, Apple designed its products such that new software would have to be written in order to unlock phones. By doing so, Apple made its products less vulnerable to hackers and criminals.</p>
<p>If Apple’s&#160;programmers write software to unlock Farook’s phone, which has iOS 9, it would set a precedent for the FBI to win at least four additional cases and make requests of a similar nature in the future.</p>
<p>At a House hearing on Feb. 25, FBI Director James Comey&#160; <a href="http://www.c-span.org/video/?c4582516/apple1" type="external">insisted</a>&#160;that his agency is asking Apple “to write a piece of software that will work only in that phone” (at about the 2:40 mark). And Comey <a href="https://www.lawfareblog.com/we-could-not-look-survivors-eye-if-we-did-not-follow-lead" type="external">wrote</a> in a Feb. 21 op-ed for Lawfare that the “San Bernardino litigation isn’t about trying to set a precedent.”</p>
<p>However, Comey acknowledged under questioning at <a href="http://www.c-span.org/video/?405054-1/national-security-hearing-world-wide-threats" type="external">another House hearing</a> on Feb. 25&#160;that the outcome of the Apple-FBI battle “potentially … will be instructive for other courts” (at the 37:10 mark).</p>
<p>The legal battle between Apple and the federal government is likely to take weeks, perhaps months, to settle. And we take no position on the merits of the case. But when it comes to the technology, Rubio was wrong when he said all Apple would have to do is disable “the auto-erase mode on one phone in the entire world.” Apple’s programmers would have to write code that does more than that and could be easily used on other iPhones. And as Comey himself admits, the case’s outcome could reach beyond just Farook’s phone to other legal battles.</p>
<p>Editor’s Note: SciCheck is made possible by a grant from the Stanton Foundation.</p> | Rubio Oversimplifies FBI-Apple Battle | false | https://factcheck.org/2016/02/rubio-oversimplifies-fbi-apple-battle/ | 2016-02-29 | 2least
| Rubio Oversimplifies FBI-Apple Battle
<p>During the recent GOP debate, Sen.&#160;Marco Rubio <a href="http://www.agriculture.senate.gov/hearings/biotechnology-labeling-solutions-markup" type="external">said</a> the FBI has asked Apple to disable “the auto-erase mode on one phone in the entire world.”&#160;But the FBI, which is seeking access to the&#160;San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone, has asked Apple to write software that could do more than that.</p>
<p>With minor tweaks, this software could also&#160;be applied to other iPhones, either at the request of the government or by hackers, multiple security experts say.</p>
<p>Rubio, Feb. 25: [T]he FBI made this very clear 48 hours ago — the only thing they are asking of Apple is that Apple allow them to use their own systems in the FBI to try to guess the password of the San Bernardino killer. Apple initially came out saying, “We’re being ordered to create a back door to an encryption device.” That is not accurate. The only thing they’re being asked to do … is allow us to disable the self-destruct mode that’s in the Apple phone so that we can try to guess using our own systems what the password of this killer was. … That is all they’re asking them to do is to disable the self-destruct mode or the auto-erase mode on one phone in the entire world.</p>
<p>Rubio is right on one point — in this particular case, the FBI is not asking Apple to create a “back door to an encryption device” in the traditional sense of the term. <a href="https://cs.stanford.edu/people/eroberts/cs181/projects/ethics-of-surveillance/tech_encryptionbackdoors.html" type="external">Back doors</a> are usually thought of as holes inserted purposefully into the design of devices before they’re released. These back doors could then be used by government agencies like the National Security Agency or the FBI during investigations.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb/" type="external">Steven M. Bellovin</a>, a computer science professor at Columbia University and a security specialist, told us by email that what the FBI is asking for is “more like a crowbar to pry open the lock on the existing front door.” Whether it’s access through a back door or a front door, it still potentially leaves the wider public’s data at risk, he and other experts say.</p>
<p>However, Rubio was wrong when he said all the FBI is asking Apple to do is disable the “auto-erase mode on one phone in the entire word.” The FBI is asking Apple to disable other features as well.</p>
<p>Apple programmers also would have to write software&#160;that could be applied to other iPhones — potentially putting the wider public at risk from hackers and criminals and setting a precedent that could assist the federal government in at least four other cases it’s waging against the tech giant.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-san-bernardino-shooting-live-updates-htmlstory.html" type="external">On Dec. 2</a>, Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, killed 14 people and injured 22 others at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California.</p>
<p>On Feb. 16, the U.S. District Court of California <a href="https://regmedia.co.uk/2016/02/17/apple_order.pdf" type="external">issued an order</a> compelling Apple to assist the FBI in unlocking Farook’s iPhone.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" />On the same day, Apple responded in a <a href="http://www.apple.com/customer-letter/" type="external">public message to its customers</a>, stating, among other things, that: “The United States government has demanded that Apple take an unprecedented step which threatens the security of our customers. We oppose this order, which has implications far beyond the legal case at hand.”</p>
<p>On Feb. 19, the Department of Justice filed a “ <a href="http://apps.npr.org/documents/document.html?id=2716063-Apple-iPhone-Access-MOTION-to-COMPEL" type="external">motion to compel</a>” Apple to comply with the court’s order. The motion stated that: “The phone may contain critical communications and data prior to and around the time of the shooting that, thus far: (1) has not been accessed; (2) may reside solely on the phone; and (3) cannot be accessed by any other means known to either the government or Apple.”</p>
<p>The motion to compel also claims: “The Order requires Apple to assist the FBI with respect to this single iPhone used by Farook by providing the FBI with the opportunity to determine the passcode.”</p>
<p>On Feb. 25, Apple responded by filing a “ <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/02/25/468143901/apple-court-filing-calls-iphone-order-dangerous-unconstitutional" type="external">motion to vacate</a>” the order compelling it to assist the FBI that stated: “This is not a case about one isolated iPhone.”</p>
<p>To explain how&#160;Rubio oversimplified the case when he&#160;claimed&#160;that all Apple would have to do is disable the “auto-erase mode on one phone in the entire world,” we’ll walk through the science behind encryption, front doors and back doors that apply to this situation.</p>
<p>Encryption scrambles the data on a device so that only someone with the proper authorized codes can access that data. A <a href="https://cs.stanford.edu/people/eroberts/cs181/projects/ethics-of-surveillance/tech_encryptionbackdoors.html" type="external">back door</a> to encryption is normally thought of as a purposeful hole in the hardware or software of a device, which the manufacturer — Apple in this case — would insert into a product before it’s released. This back door would allow someone without the proper authenticated codes to gain access to the device’s data.</p>
<p>According to multiple sources, including the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/23/nsa-director-defends-backdoors-into-technology-companies" type="external">Guardian</a>, the White House has been “trying to broker a deal with companies such as Apple, Yahoo and Google, to ensure holes in encryption for the government to access mobile data, cloud computing and other data.” These kinds of requests date back to at least 1993, with the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/12/magazine/battle-of-the-clipper-chip.html?pagewanted=all" type="external">Clipper chip</a>, a hardware-based means to a back door.</p>
<p>But in a <a href="http://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/97690/MIT-CSAIL-TR-2015-026.pdf?sequence=8" type="external">2015 report</a>, security experts and computer scientists, including Bellovin and researchers at MIT, investigated “whether it is technically and operationally feasible to meet law enforcement’s call for exceptional access without causing large-scale security vulnerabilities.”</p>
<p>Based on its analysis of a number of case studies, the group found that the U.S. government’s “proposals are unworkable in practice, raise enormous legal and ethical questions, and would undo progress on security at a time when Internet vulnerabilities are causing extreme economic harm.”</p>
<p>The experts also made a point of noting that they “take no issue here with law enforcement’s desire to execute lawful surveillance orders when they meet the requirements of human rights and the rule of law.” Rather, their “strong recommendation is that anyone proposing regulations should first present concrete technical requirements, which industry, academics, and the public can analyze for technical weaknesses and for hidden costs.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/02/21/ex-nsa-chief-backs-apple-iphone-back-doors/80660024/" type="external">According to USA Today</a>, Michael Hayden, the former head of both the&#160;NSA and the CIA,&#160;“opposes proposals to force Apple and other tech companies to install ‘back doors’ in digital devices to help law enforcement.”&#160;But he said&#160;“ ‘the burden of proof is on Apple’ ” to show that writing code to help disable&#160;Farook’s phone would also “open the door to broader privacy invasions.”</p>
<p>How is this case similar to and different from creating a back door? According to Bellovin, the current Apple-FBI battle is more about using so-called “ <a href="http://www.wired.com/2016/02/apple-brief-fbi-response-iphone/" type="external">brute-force</a>” front door access to the shooter’s phone. But it could still put the public at greater risk, he says.</p>
<p>Farook’s iPhone was a model 5C, which has a feature that deletes all of the phone’s data after 10 unsuccessful password attempts. As per the <a href="https://regmedia.co.uk/2016/02/17/apple_order.pdf" type="external">original court order</a>, the FBI wants Apple to write software that would do three things: (1) bypass or disable this auto-erase function; (2) allow the FBI to submit passcodes to the device electronically (i.e., not by hand); and (3) ensure that when the FBI submits passcodes to the phone, Apple’s software prevents any additional delay between passcode attempts.</p>
<p>In this way, Rubio was wrong when he said the only thing the FBI is asking Apple to do is disable “the auto-erase mode on one phone in the entire world.”</p>
<p>The court order also states&#160;the software “will be coded by Apple with a unique identifier of the phone so that the [software] would only load and execute” on Farook’s phone. But Bellovin told us this code “can be tweaked to point to a different [iPhone] in a matter of seconds or minutes.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.wpi.edu/academics/facultydir/sl4.html" type="external">Susan Landau</a>, a cybersecurity policy specialist at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts and coauthor on the aforementioned 2015 report, agrees with Bellovin and adds: “No phone is secure in the same way it was before this piece of software was written.”</p>
<p>There are at least two reasons why the writing of this software goes beyond the scope of Farook’s iPhone.</p>
<p>First, hackers could get hold of this new software&#160;and use it to “unlock any [iPhone] of their choosing,” says Landau. To do so, they would also need Apple’s signing key, which Landau adds is “a highly protected secret as important to Apple as the nuclear codes are to the White House.” Without the new software, however, this particular risk wouldn’t exist.</p>
<p>Second, if the courts side with the FBI on this case, it would set a precedent that could assist the federal government in at least four other similar cases it’s currently waging against the company.</p>
<p>On Feb. 17, Mark Zwillinger, Apple’s attorney, <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2718704-Zwillinger-Chart.html#document/p1" type="external">filed a court brief</a> that outlined 12 other occasions Apple has challenged FBI requests to unlock iPhones— four of which would require Apple to write new code.</p>
<p>For some phones — ones that have operating systems older than iOS 8 — Apple can unlock the phones without writing new code, as <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/23/opinion/seeking-iphone-data-through-the-front-door.html?mtrref=undefined&amp;assetType=opinion&amp;_r=0" type="external">it has in the past</a>. For this reason, there is already a&#160;precedent for Apple&#160;to fulfill some of the FBI’s requests — those that don’t require writing new code.</p>
<p>But from iOS 8 on, Apple designed its products such that new software would have to be written in order to unlock phones. By doing so, Apple made its products less vulnerable to hackers and criminals.</p>
<p>If Apple’s&#160;programmers write software to unlock Farook’s phone, which has iOS 9, it would set a precedent for the FBI to win at least four additional cases and make requests of a similar nature in the future.</p>
<p>At a House hearing on Feb. 25, FBI Director James Comey&#160; <a href="http://www.c-span.org/video/?c4582516/apple1" type="external">insisted</a>&#160;that his agency is asking Apple “to write a piece of software that will work only in that phone” (at about the 2:40 mark). And Comey <a href="https://www.lawfareblog.com/we-could-not-look-survivors-eye-if-we-did-not-follow-lead" type="external">wrote</a> in a Feb. 21 op-ed for Lawfare that the “San Bernardino litigation isn’t about trying to set a precedent.”</p>
<p>However, Comey acknowledged under questioning at <a href="http://www.c-span.org/video/?405054-1/national-security-hearing-world-wide-threats" type="external">another House hearing</a> on Feb. 25&#160;that the outcome of the Apple-FBI battle “potentially … will be instructive for other courts” (at the 37:10 mark).</p>
<p>The legal battle between Apple and the federal government is likely to take weeks, perhaps months, to settle. And we take no position on the merits of the case. But when it comes to the technology, Rubio was wrong when he said all Apple would have to do is disable “the auto-erase mode on one phone in the entire world.” Apple’s programmers would have to write code that does more than that and could be easily used on other iPhones. And as Comey himself admits, the case’s outcome could reach beyond just Farook’s phone to other legal battles.</p>
<p>Editor’s Note: SciCheck is made possible by a grant from the Stanton Foundation.</p> | 2,382 |
<p />
<p>Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd reported a better-than-expected 59 percent jump in quarterly revenue on Thursday, defying a slowdown in the Chinese economy.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Alibaba's total revenue rose to 32.15 billion yuan, or $4.84 billion, in the quarter ended June 30 from 20.25 billion yuan a year earlier. Analysts on average had expected revenue of 30.17 billion yuan, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.</p>
<p>Mobile revenue from the company's China commerce retail business increased 119.3 percent to 17.51 billion yuan, while monthly mobile active users increased 39 percent.</p>
<p>"We passed an important milestone this quarter in achieving higher monetization of mobile users than non-mobile users for the first time," Chief Financial Officer Maggie Wu said.</p>
<p>The company said its gross merchandise volume (GMV) - the value of transactions carried out by third-party sellers on the company's platforms - rose 24.4 percent to 837 billion yuan.</p>
<p>Alibaba said in June it would in the future only release GMV figures on an annual basis. The change followed the disclosure that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was looking into the company's accounting practices.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>The company, whose shares were up 4.8 percent in premarket trading, said in June that it expected to nearly double its transaction volumes by 2020.</p>
<p>The business is seen as a future growth driver for Alibaba, but contributed just 2 percent of overall revenue in the quarter.</p>
<p>Paying customers in Alibaba's cloud computing business increased to 577,000 from 263,000 a year earlier, boosting revenue by 156 percent.</p>
<p>Net income attributable to shareholders fell to 7.14 billion yuan, or 2.94 yuan per share, from 30.82 billion yuan, or 11.92 yuan per share, in the year-earlier quarter.</p>
<p>Facing the prospect of a saturated online retail market in China, Alibaba has been looking to grow outside its home base.</p>
<p>The company bought Singapore-based online retailer Lazada Group for about $1 billion in April, giving it a greater presence in Southeast Asia.</p>
<p>It has also been investing in a diverse array of other businesses, including cloud services provider Aliyun and driverless vehicles, hoping they can become an eventual source of growth.</p>
<p>Up to Wednesday's close of $87.33, Alibaba's shares had risen 7.46 percent since the start of the year.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Rishika Sadam in Bengaluru; Editing by Ted Kerr)</p> | Alibaba's Revenue Jumps 59% | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/08/11/alibabas-revenue-jumps-59.html | 2016-08-11 | 0right
| Alibaba's Revenue Jumps 59%
<p />
<p>Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd reported a better-than-expected 59 percent jump in quarterly revenue on Thursday, defying a slowdown in the Chinese economy.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Alibaba's total revenue rose to 32.15 billion yuan, or $4.84 billion, in the quarter ended June 30 from 20.25 billion yuan a year earlier. Analysts on average had expected revenue of 30.17 billion yuan, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.</p>
<p>Mobile revenue from the company's China commerce retail business increased 119.3 percent to 17.51 billion yuan, while monthly mobile active users increased 39 percent.</p>
<p>"We passed an important milestone this quarter in achieving higher monetization of mobile users than non-mobile users for the first time," Chief Financial Officer Maggie Wu said.</p>
<p>The company said its gross merchandise volume (GMV) - the value of transactions carried out by third-party sellers on the company's platforms - rose 24.4 percent to 837 billion yuan.</p>
<p>Alibaba said in June it would in the future only release GMV figures on an annual basis. The change followed the disclosure that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was looking into the company's accounting practices.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>The company, whose shares were up 4.8 percent in premarket trading, said in June that it expected to nearly double its transaction volumes by 2020.</p>
<p>The business is seen as a future growth driver for Alibaba, but contributed just 2 percent of overall revenue in the quarter.</p>
<p>Paying customers in Alibaba's cloud computing business increased to 577,000 from 263,000 a year earlier, boosting revenue by 156 percent.</p>
<p>Net income attributable to shareholders fell to 7.14 billion yuan, or 2.94 yuan per share, from 30.82 billion yuan, or 11.92 yuan per share, in the year-earlier quarter.</p>
<p>Facing the prospect of a saturated online retail market in China, Alibaba has been looking to grow outside its home base.</p>
<p>The company bought Singapore-based online retailer Lazada Group for about $1 billion in April, giving it a greater presence in Southeast Asia.</p>
<p>It has also been investing in a diverse array of other businesses, including cloud services provider Aliyun and driverless vehicles, hoping they can become an eventual source of growth.</p>
<p>Up to Wednesday's close of $87.33, Alibaba's shares had risen 7.46 percent since the start of the year.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Rishika Sadam in Bengaluru; Editing by Ted Kerr)</p> | 2,383 |
<p>THREE shows cancelled. From the band’s <a href="https://www.facebook.com/bandboston" type="external">Facebook page</a>:</p>
<p>While the enjoyment of our fans is our central concern, and we have been looking forward to celebrating forty years of history performing for our listeners in North Carolina with spectacular live shows this spring, human rights are more important. It is with deep regret, that I must announce the cancellation of our upcoming shows on May 4, 5 &amp; 6 in Charlotte, Greensboro, and Raleigh in order to raise awareness, and protest in the strongest terms, the recent passage of HB2, the so called “North Carolina bathroom law.”</p>
<p>HB2 has the appearance of an oppressive discriminatory law against a small minority, who already have to deal with a narrow-minded world regarding issues beyond their control which they did nothing to bring upon themselves. Other aspects of the new law arguably encourage bigotry. With thousands of fans in attendance at our shows, it is likely that some members of our audience and/or their loved ones are affected on a daily basis by this ugly expression of intolerance.</p>
<p>My sincere apologies to our fans who have already made arrangements to attend these shows. The removal of the shows from our schedule is a major disappointment. It has always been my wish to inspire people with BOSTON’s music. Hopefully the sacrifices we are all making here will inspire people to do the right thing in the future. We look forward to the day that the state government of North Carolina will come to its senses and treat ALL individuals with equal freedom in their pursuit of happiness here in the United States. ~ Tom Scholz</p>
<p />
<p /> | Rockers Boston Go Springsteen On North Carolina | true | http://joemygod.com/2016/04/18/rockers-boston-go-springsteen-on-north-carolina/ | 2016-04-18 | 4left
| Rockers Boston Go Springsteen On North Carolina
<p>THREE shows cancelled. From the band’s <a href="https://www.facebook.com/bandboston" type="external">Facebook page</a>:</p>
<p>While the enjoyment of our fans is our central concern, and we have been looking forward to celebrating forty years of history performing for our listeners in North Carolina with spectacular live shows this spring, human rights are more important. It is with deep regret, that I must announce the cancellation of our upcoming shows on May 4, 5 &amp; 6 in Charlotte, Greensboro, and Raleigh in order to raise awareness, and protest in the strongest terms, the recent passage of HB2, the so called “North Carolina bathroom law.”</p>
<p>HB2 has the appearance of an oppressive discriminatory law against a small minority, who already have to deal with a narrow-minded world regarding issues beyond their control which they did nothing to bring upon themselves. Other aspects of the new law arguably encourage bigotry. With thousands of fans in attendance at our shows, it is likely that some members of our audience and/or their loved ones are affected on a daily basis by this ugly expression of intolerance.</p>
<p>My sincere apologies to our fans who have already made arrangements to attend these shows. The removal of the shows from our schedule is a major disappointment. It has always been my wish to inspire people with BOSTON’s music. Hopefully the sacrifices we are all making here will inspire people to do the right thing in the future. We look forward to the day that the state government of North Carolina will come to its senses and treat ALL individuals with equal freedom in their pursuit of happiness here in the United States. ~ Tom Scholz</p>
<p />
<p /> | 2,384 |
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<p>NEW YORK — Shares in several major sports chains hit 52-week lows on word that Nike may soon be selling its gear directly on Amazon.com.</p>
<p>Goldman Sachs said Wednesday it believed the deal would give Nike better exposure to Amazon’s huge retail channel and customer base, especially millennials.</p>
<p>Nike goods can already be found on Amazon subsidiary Zappos.com and its shoes and gear can be found through third-party sellers on Amazon.com. Goldman believes the deal would give Nike better control of its brand’s presentation on the site.</p>
<p>But investors saw mostly the gravitational pull of Amazon, sending shares of Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc., Hibbett Sports Inc., Big 5 Sporting Goods Corp., Finish Line Inc., and Foot Locker Inc. plummeting between 5 percent and 7 percent Wednesday.</p>
<p>It’s the third sector in less than a week that has been ravaged over fears that Amazon would soon become a disrupting force.</p>
<p>Amazon said Friday that it would buy Whole Foods for $13.7 billion, pummeling shares of grocers like Kroger Co. Retail clothing companies, already in danger as people increasingly shop online, or just elsewhere, took a dive Tuesday when the online behemoth announced its Amazon Wardrobe program for Prime members.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Wardrobe essentially creates a dressing room at home, allowing customers to order clothes with no money up front, keep them for a week, and send whatever they don’t want back in a re-sealable, postage-paid box.</p>
<p>Deep hurting felt by those to sectors spread to sports chains Wednesday on the Goldman Sachs report.</p>
<p>It doesn’t take much to spook investors in the sporting goods sector, however. The years since the 2008 recession have not been kind.</p>
<p>Sports Authority, MC Sports, Sports Chalet and Eastern Outfitters have all filed for bankruptcy since then. Those that remain are hoping a sector consolidation will ease competition.</p>
<p>The sale of Nike goods on Amazon.com is unlikely to make anything easier for sports retailers.</p> | Is Nike joining the Amazon roster? | false | https://abqjournal.com/1021390/is-nike-joining-the-amazon-roster.html | 2017-06-21 | 2least
| Is Nike joining the Amazon roster?
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<p>NEW YORK — Shares in several major sports chains hit 52-week lows on word that Nike may soon be selling its gear directly on Amazon.com.</p>
<p>Goldman Sachs said Wednesday it believed the deal would give Nike better exposure to Amazon’s huge retail channel and customer base, especially millennials.</p>
<p>Nike goods can already be found on Amazon subsidiary Zappos.com and its shoes and gear can be found through third-party sellers on Amazon.com. Goldman believes the deal would give Nike better control of its brand’s presentation on the site.</p>
<p>But investors saw mostly the gravitational pull of Amazon, sending shares of Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc., Hibbett Sports Inc., Big 5 Sporting Goods Corp., Finish Line Inc., and Foot Locker Inc. plummeting between 5 percent and 7 percent Wednesday.</p>
<p>It’s the third sector in less than a week that has been ravaged over fears that Amazon would soon become a disrupting force.</p>
<p>Amazon said Friday that it would buy Whole Foods for $13.7 billion, pummeling shares of grocers like Kroger Co. Retail clothing companies, already in danger as people increasingly shop online, or just elsewhere, took a dive Tuesday when the online behemoth announced its Amazon Wardrobe program for Prime members.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Wardrobe essentially creates a dressing room at home, allowing customers to order clothes with no money up front, keep them for a week, and send whatever they don’t want back in a re-sealable, postage-paid box.</p>
<p>Deep hurting felt by those to sectors spread to sports chains Wednesday on the Goldman Sachs report.</p>
<p>It doesn’t take much to spook investors in the sporting goods sector, however. The years since the 2008 recession have not been kind.</p>
<p>Sports Authority, MC Sports, Sports Chalet and Eastern Outfitters have all filed for bankruptcy since then. Those that remain are hoping a sector consolidation will ease competition.</p>
<p>The sale of Nike goods on Amazon.com is unlikely to make anything easier for sports retailers.</p> | 2,385 |
<p>Robert De Niro slams Trump, but says nothing about his longtime pal, accused serial rapist Harvey Weinstein. (Photo: Charley Gallay/Getty)</p>
<p>Actor Robert De Niro trashed President Trump at a lavish New York gala where a park bench was dedicated in his honor.</p>
<p>De Niro, who has made slamming Trump his second career, said he won’t allow the president of the United States to sit on his (public) bench. Meanwhile, the actor didn’t ban his longtime friend — accused serial rapist Harvey Weinstein&#160;— from sitting on him.</p>
<p>“One of my pleasures will be keeping people off my bench who don’t deserve a view of the park, like Donald Trump,” he said at the Annual Hudson River Park Gala (via <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/confidential/robert-de-niro-trump-don-sit-bench-article-1.3560907" type="external">NY Daily News</a>).</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Clinton Foundation keeps Harvey Weinstein’s $250,000 in donations: Hillary won’t return dirty money</a></p>
<p>The Oscar winner also tore into the president in a profanity-laced rant:&#160;“F-ck you, Donald Trump! It’s a horror with this motherf–ker.”</p>
<p>Like other celebrities whose careers are in decline, De Niro has recently made headlines for blasting President Trump, whom he called a “low life.”</p>
<p>Oddly, De Niro has remained curiously silent about another “low-life,” his longtime pal, Harvey Weinstein, who has been accused of sexual harassment and abuse by 35 women.</p>
<p>Three of the women said&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Weinstein raped them</a>. More victims are expected to come forward in the days and weeks ahead.</p>
<p>We wonder if De Niro’s silence about Weinstein has anything to do with the fact that he owns the Tribeca Grill restaurant in New York, where Weinstein allegedly groped several women.</p>
<p>Or maybe it has something to do with 1998 news reports that named De Niro as a client of a&#160; <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/the-sex-scandal-that-wouldnt-lie-down-1185127.html" type="external">prostitution ring that trafficked in 15-year-old girls</a>.&#160;He denied the claims.</p>
<p>And don’t forget this tidbit: In September 2017, De Niro begged world leaders at the United Nations to send money to the Caribbean island of Barbuda, which had been devastated by Hurricane Irma. Sounds kindhearted, right?</p>
<p>Except De Niro neglected to mention that <a href="" type="internal">he owns a multi-million-dollar resort</a>&#160;in Barbuda, so he would benefit financially from the international aid. Sounds like Ole Bobby picked up a few tricks about panhandling and grifting from his pal, Hillary Clinton.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, many on Twitter had a blast poking fun at Robert De Niro’s leftist hypocrisy. (Note: Tweets are not vetted news reports.)</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">George Lopez, booed off stage over anti-Trump jokes, slams crowd with insulting ‘apology’</a></p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p /> | Weinstein buddy Robert De Niro throws F-bomb tantrum, bans Trump from his bench | true | http://bizpacreview.com/2017/10/15/weinstein-buddy-robert-de-niro-throws-f-bomb-tantrum-bans-trump-bench-548697 | 2017-10-15 | 0right
| Weinstein buddy Robert De Niro throws F-bomb tantrum, bans Trump from his bench
<p>Robert De Niro slams Trump, but says nothing about his longtime pal, accused serial rapist Harvey Weinstein. (Photo: Charley Gallay/Getty)</p>
<p>Actor Robert De Niro trashed President Trump at a lavish New York gala where a park bench was dedicated in his honor.</p>
<p>De Niro, who has made slamming Trump his second career, said he won’t allow the president of the United States to sit on his (public) bench. Meanwhile, the actor didn’t ban his longtime friend — accused serial rapist Harvey Weinstein&#160;— from sitting on him.</p>
<p>“One of my pleasures will be keeping people off my bench who don’t deserve a view of the park, like Donald Trump,” he said at the Annual Hudson River Park Gala (via <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/confidential/robert-de-niro-trump-don-sit-bench-article-1.3560907" type="external">NY Daily News</a>).</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Clinton Foundation keeps Harvey Weinstein’s $250,000 in donations: Hillary won’t return dirty money</a></p>
<p>The Oscar winner also tore into the president in a profanity-laced rant:&#160;“F-ck you, Donald Trump! It’s a horror with this motherf–ker.”</p>
<p>Like other celebrities whose careers are in decline, De Niro has recently made headlines for blasting President Trump, whom he called a “low life.”</p>
<p>Oddly, De Niro has remained curiously silent about another “low-life,” his longtime pal, Harvey Weinstein, who has been accused of sexual harassment and abuse by 35 women.</p>
<p>Three of the women said&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Weinstein raped them</a>. More victims are expected to come forward in the days and weeks ahead.</p>
<p>We wonder if De Niro’s silence about Weinstein has anything to do with the fact that he owns the Tribeca Grill restaurant in New York, where Weinstein allegedly groped several women.</p>
<p>Or maybe it has something to do with 1998 news reports that named De Niro as a client of a&#160; <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/the-sex-scandal-that-wouldnt-lie-down-1185127.html" type="external">prostitution ring that trafficked in 15-year-old girls</a>.&#160;He denied the claims.</p>
<p>And don’t forget this tidbit: In September 2017, De Niro begged world leaders at the United Nations to send money to the Caribbean island of Barbuda, which had been devastated by Hurricane Irma. Sounds kindhearted, right?</p>
<p>Except De Niro neglected to mention that <a href="" type="internal">he owns a multi-million-dollar resort</a>&#160;in Barbuda, so he would benefit financially from the international aid. Sounds like Ole Bobby picked up a few tricks about panhandling and grifting from his pal, Hillary Clinton.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, many on Twitter had a blast poking fun at Robert De Niro’s leftist hypocrisy. (Note: Tweets are not vetted news reports.)</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">George Lopez, booed off stage over anti-Trump jokes, slams crowd with insulting ‘apology’</a></p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p /> | 2,386 |
<p>Episode #93&#160;of SUNDAY WIRE SHOW resumes this Sunday July 19th, 2015 presented by host Patrick Henningsen&#160;with 3&#160;hours of power-packed talk radio…</p>
<p>LISTEN LIVE ON THIS PAGE AT THE FOLLOWING SCHEDULED SHOW TIMES:</p>
<p>SUNDAY – 5pm-8pm GMT | 12pm-3pm EST | 9am-12pm PST</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" />This week’s edition of THE SUNDAY WIRE is&#160;broadcasting LIVE from the land of freedom and democracy, as host&#160;Patrick Henningsen returns this week to cover the world’s most audacious news and events. In the first hour, we’ll discuss this week’s leading stories, including this week’s installment of 21WIRE’s “The Daily Shooter” featuring Chattanooga’s ‘ISIS-inspired’ shooting, as well as the signing of Iran Nuclear Deal, and the meteoric rise of Donald Trump on the GOP scene and his recent spat with old John McCain. In the second hour, we’re joined by special guest, veteran US&#160;intelligence analyst&#160; <a href="http://www.raymcgovern.com/" type="external">Ray McGovern</a>&#160;to discuss this week’s one year anniversary of the downing of <a href="" type="internal">Malaysian Airlines flight MH17</a>, and why we are no closure to truth and justice one year after the event.&#160;In the third hour we’ll revisit the Chattanooga Shooting to reveal what may be a partially hidden, underlying socio-religious deep state agenda behind all of the recent “Islamic Terror” events.&#160;</p>
<p>Strap yourselves in and lower the blast shield – this is your brave new world…</p>
<p>*NOTE: THIS EPISODE MAY CONTAIN SOME STRONG LANGUAGE AND MATURE THEMES*</p>
<p />
<p />
<p><a href="" type="internal">Sunday Wire Radio Show Archives</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p /> | Episode #93 – SUNDAY WIRE: ‘International Subterfuge 101’ with host Patrick Henningsen, guest Ray McGovern | true | http://21stcenturywire.com/2015/07/19/episode-93-sunday-wire-international-subterfuge-101-with-host-patrick-henningsen-guest-ray-mcgovern/ | 2015-07-19 | 4left
| Episode #93 – SUNDAY WIRE: ‘International Subterfuge 101’ with host Patrick Henningsen, guest Ray McGovern
<p>Episode #93&#160;of SUNDAY WIRE SHOW resumes this Sunday July 19th, 2015 presented by host Patrick Henningsen&#160;with 3&#160;hours of power-packed talk radio…</p>
<p>LISTEN LIVE ON THIS PAGE AT THE FOLLOWING SCHEDULED SHOW TIMES:</p>
<p>SUNDAY – 5pm-8pm GMT | 12pm-3pm EST | 9am-12pm PST</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" />This week’s edition of THE SUNDAY WIRE is&#160;broadcasting LIVE from the land of freedom and democracy, as host&#160;Patrick Henningsen returns this week to cover the world’s most audacious news and events. In the first hour, we’ll discuss this week’s leading stories, including this week’s installment of 21WIRE’s “The Daily Shooter” featuring Chattanooga’s ‘ISIS-inspired’ shooting, as well as the signing of Iran Nuclear Deal, and the meteoric rise of Donald Trump on the GOP scene and his recent spat with old John McCain. In the second hour, we’re joined by special guest, veteran US&#160;intelligence analyst&#160; <a href="http://www.raymcgovern.com/" type="external">Ray McGovern</a>&#160;to discuss this week’s one year anniversary of the downing of <a href="" type="internal">Malaysian Airlines flight MH17</a>, and why we are no closure to truth and justice one year after the event.&#160;In the third hour we’ll revisit the Chattanooga Shooting to reveal what may be a partially hidden, underlying socio-religious deep state agenda behind all of the recent “Islamic Terror” events.&#160;</p>
<p>Strap yourselves in and lower the blast shield – this is your brave new world…</p>
<p>*NOTE: THIS EPISODE MAY CONTAIN SOME STRONG LANGUAGE AND MATURE THEMES*</p>
<p />
<p />
<p><a href="" type="internal">Sunday Wire Radio Show Archives</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p /> | 2,387 |
<p />
<p>The spa room at the Grand Hyatt Lijiang Hotel in China. Image source: Hyatt.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Heading into this week's third-quarter earnings report, investors were unsure whether Hyatt Hotels (NYSE: H) would lower its growth outlook for a second time this year due to weakening industry trends in international markets. The stock had stayed flat since the last quarterly report in early August, reflecting those growth worries.</p>
<p>The hotel chain announced a healthy sales expansion pace on Thursday, though, and executives reiterated the (slightly lower) growth rate that they issued three months ago.</p>
<p>Here's how the latest headline numbers compare against the prior-year period:</p>
<p>YOY = Year over year. Data source: Hyatt's financial filings.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Hyatt's growth pace held steady at a 2.5% improvement in revenue per available room (RevPAR) as the chain continued to aggressively expand its industry presence by adding thousands of rooms to its hospitality footprint.</p>
<p>Key highlights of the quarter include:</p>
<p>"We reported another quarter of solid growth, propelled by the strength of our brands," CEO Mark Hoplamazian said. "Once again, we saw relative strength in the Americas region, driven primarily by group business."</p>
<p>"Looking ahead, we believe we are well positioned to deliver against our growth strategy," Hoplamazian continued. "Given our executed contract base of approximately 61,000 rooms, or more than 35% of our current room base, we believe our portfolio of high-quality brands is poised for meaningful and sustainable growth," executives said. "Our outlook for the overall business for the remainder of 2016 is positive."</p>
<p>Reflecting that encouraging outlook, management reiterated the 2% to 3% full-year RevPAR growth pace that it forecast last quarter, which was just below the 4% gains it had been expecting before conditions worsened in a few international markets. Executives aim to hit steady gains through a focus on the higher-end hotel segments and the large group events that are seeing the most demand right now.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the company's aggressive long-term growth goals appear achievable. Hyatt is on pace to open as many as 60 new locations this year and has contracts in place for almost 300 to be developed over the next few years. Many of these hotels represent entries into entirely new countries, while some just expand in areas where Hyatt believes it is underrepresented. In either case, investors can expect the hotel chain to supplement its modest revenue growth at existing locations with a fast-expanding base.</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=2667&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/TMFSigma/info.aspx" type="external">Demitrios Kalogeropoulos Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Hyatt Hotels. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=isiedilnk018048&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/motley.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | Hyatt Hotels Corporation Boosts Profits With Help From Its High-End Properties | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/11/03/hyatt-hotels-corporation-boosts-profits-with-help-from-its-high-end-properties.html | 2016-11-03 | 0right
| Hyatt Hotels Corporation Boosts Profits With Help From Its High-End Properties
<p />
<p>The spa room at the Grand Hyatt Lijiang Hotel in China. Image source: Hyatt.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Heading into this week's third-quarter earnings report, investors were unsure whether Hyatt Hotels (NYSE: H) would lower its growth outlook for a second time this year due to weakening industry trends in international markets. The stock had stayed flat since the last quarterly report in early August, reflecting those growth worries.</p>
<p>The hotel chain announced a healthy sales expansion pace on Thursday, though, and executives reiterated the (slightly lower) growth rate that they issued three months ago.</p>
<p>Here's how the latest headline numbers compare against the prior-year period:</p>
<p>YOY = Year over year. Data source: Hyatt's financial filings.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Hyatt's growth pace held steady at a 2.5% improvement in revenue per available room (RevPAR) as the chain continued to aggressively expand its industry presence by adding thousands of rooms to its hospitality footprint.</p>
<p>Key highlights of the quarter include:</p>
<p>"We reported another quarter of solid growth, propelled by the strength of our brands," CEO Mark Hoplamazian said. "Once again, we saw relative strength in the Americas region, driven primarily by group business."</p>
<p>"Looking ahead, we believe we are well positioned to deliver against our growth strategy," Hoplamazian continued. "Given our executed contract base of approximately 61,000 rooms, or more than 35% of our current room base, we believe our portfolio of high-quality brands is poised for meaningful and sustainable growth," executives said. "Our outlook for the overall business for the remainder of 2016 is positive."</p>
<p>Reflecting that encouraging outlook, management reiterated the 2% to 3% full-year RevPAR growth pace that it forecast last quarter, which was just below the 4% gains it had been expecting before conditions worsened in a few international markets. Executives aim to hit steady gains through a focus on the higher-end hotel segments and the large group events that are seeing the most demand right now.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the company's aggressive long-term growth goals appear achievable. Hyatt is on pace to open as many as 60 new locations this year and has contracts in place for almost 300 to be developed over the next few years. Many of these hotels represent entries into entirely new countries, while some just expand in areas where Hyatt believes it is underrepresented. In either case, investors can expect the hotel chain to supplement its modest revenue growth at existing locations with a fast-expanding base.</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=2667&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/TMFSigma/info.aspx" type="external">Demitrios Kalogeropoulos Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Hyatt Hotels. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=isiedilnk018048&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/motley.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | 2,388 |
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<p />
<p>Ginsburg is to speak along with Albuquerque lawyer Roberta Cooper Ramo at the Aug. 15 opening of the symposium entitled, “Risk and Reinvention: How Women Are Changing the World.”</p>
<p>There will be panel discussions the next day about women in the arts, sciences, cultural preservation and business. The sessions will be at the Drury Plaza Hotel.</p>
<p>Organizers said there are scholarships available for college students and young people ages 18 to 29 to attend the symposium. College or university students who are studying in New Mexico or come from New Mexico are eligible to apply for the scholarships, which will cover the full cost of the two-day event.</p>
<p>The Women’s International Study Center is located at the Acequia Madre House in Santa Fe. More information about the symposium and scholarships is available at its website: www.wisc-amh.org under the “Programs” category, then clicking on “Symposia.” The scholarships are being funded by the McCune Foundation.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Ginsburg was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1993. She is an opera fan and usually attends performances at the Santa Fe Opera each summer.</p>
<p>——</p>
<p>Online:</p>
<p>Women’s International Study Center: <a href="http://bit.ly/1nuhxit" type="external">http://bit.ly/1nuhxit</a></p> | US Supreme Court justice to speak in New Mexico | false | https://abqjournal.com/419802/us-supreme-court-justice-to-speak-in-new-mexico-2.html | 2014-06-23 | 2least
| US Supreme Court justice to speak in New Mexico
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<p />
<p>Ginsburg is to speak along with Albuquerque lawyer Roberta Cooper Ramo at the Aug. 15 opening of the symposium entitled, “Risk and Reinvention: How Women Are Changing the World.”</p>
<p>There will be panel discussions the next day about women in the arts, sciences, cultural preservation and business. The sessions will be at the Drury Plaza Hotel.</p>
<p>Organizers said there are scholarships available for college students and young people ages 18 to 29 to attend the symposium. College or university students who are studying in New Mexico or come from New Mexico are eligible to apply for the scholarships, which will cover the full cost of the two-day event.</p>
<p>The Women’s International Study Center is located at the Acequia Madre House in Santa Fe. More information about the symposium and scholarships is available at its website: www.wisc-amh.org under the “Programs” category, then clicking on “Symposia.” The scholarships are being funded by the McCune Foundation.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Ginsburg was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1993. She is an opera fan and usually attends performances at the Santa Fe Opera each summer.</p>
<p>——</p>
<p>Online:</p>
<p>Women’s International Study Center: <a href="http://bit.ly/1nuhxit" type="external">http://bit.ly/1nuhxit</a></p> | 2,389 |
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<p>TOKYO — Asian markets mostly fell Thursday as the rally from news of Apple’s strong earnings that spurred record highs for the Dow Jones industrial average faded. Myriad worries over China’s rising debt, weaker commodity prices and possible rising tensions between Beijing and Washington overshadowed regional markets.</p>
<p>KEEPING SCORE: Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 edged down 0.4 percent to 20,004.00 in morning trading. Australia’s S&amp;P/ASX 200 slipped 0.2 percent to 5,730.20. South Korea’s Kospi sank 1.6 percent to 2,389.04. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 0.1 percent at 27,570.83, while the Shanghai Composite was little changed, falling less than 0.1 percent to 3,283.32.</p>
<p>WALL STREET: The Dow average rose 0.2 percent to a record 22,016.24. The Standard &amp; Poor’s 500 index, a much broader market measure used by most professional investors, added less than 0.1 percent to 2,477.57. The Nasdaq composite was flat at 6,362.65. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks shed 1.1 percent to 1,412.90.</p>
<p>THE QUOTE: “A moderation in the momentum of gains for U.S. indices could provide little to inspire Asian markets today,” Jingyi Pan, market strategist at IG in Singapore, said in a commentary. “Asian markets had, as a whole, shown strong momentum since the start of the week built on data surprises. Having had an early rally following Apple Inc.’s surge yesterday, the regional IT sector may find limited room for gains despite the US lead.”</p>
<p>ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude fell 9 cents to $49.50 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It added 43 cents to $49.59 overnight. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 15 cents to $52.21 a barrel in London.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>CURRENCIES: The dollar fell to 110.66 yen from 110.69 yen late Wednesday in Asia. The euro fell to $1.1845 from $1.1856.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Yuri Kageyama on Twitter at https://twitter.com/yurikageyama</p>
<p>Her work can be found at https://www.apnews.com/search/yuri%20kageyama</p> | Asia shares fall as Apple’s glossy earnings effect fades | false | https://abqjournal.com/1042054/apple-takes-dow-over-22000-points-other-stocks-are-mixed.html | 2017-08-02 | 2least
| Asia shares fall as Apple’s glossy earnings effect fades
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>TOKYO — Asian markets mostly fell Thursday as the rally from news of Apple’s strong earnings that spurred record highs for the Dow Jones industrial average faded. Myriad worries over China’s rising debt, weaker commodity prices and possible rising tensions between Beijing and Washington overshadowed regional markets.</p>
<p>KEEPING SCORE: Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 edged down 0.4 percent to 20,004.00 in morning trading. Australia’s S&amp;P/ASX 200 slipped 0.2 percent to 5,730.20. South Korea’s Kospi sank 1.6 percent to 2,389.04. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 0.1 percent at 27,570.83, while the Shanghai Composite was little changed, falling less than 0.1 percent to 3,283.32.</p>
<p>WALL STREET: The Dow average rose 0.2 percent to a record 22,016.24. The Standard &amp; Poor’s 500 index, a much broader market measure used by most professional investors, added less than 0.1 percent to 2,477.57. The Nasdaq composite was flat at 6,362.65. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks shed 1.1 percent to 1,412.90.</p>
<p>THE QUOTE: “A moderation in the momentum of gains for U.S. indices could provide little to inspire Asian markets today,” Jingyi Pan, market strategist at IG in Singapore, said in a commentary. “Asian markets had, as a whole, shown strong momentum since the start of the week built on data surprises. Having had an early rally following Apple Inc.’s surge yesterday, the regional IT sector may find limited room for gains despite the US lead.”</p>
<p>ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude fell 9 cents to $49.50 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It added 43 cents to $49.59 overnight. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 15 cents to $52.21 a barrel in London.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>CURRENCIES: The dollar fell to 110.66 yen from 110.69 yen late Wednesday in Asia. The euro fell to $1.1845 from $1.1856.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Yuri Kageyama on Twitter at https://twitter.com/yurikageyama</p>
<p>Her work can be found at https://www.apnews.com/search/yuri%20kageyama</p> | 2,390 |
<p>PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Workers in Philadelphia are greasing light poles in a bid to prevent fans from climbing up them after the NFC Championship game.</p>
<p>Officials say the grease should make the poles too slippery to climb.</p>
<p>The workers applying the grease are jokingly calling themselves the “Crisco Cops.”</p>
<p>The Philadelphia Eagles are hosting the Minnesota Vikings in the championship game on Sunday night. The winning team will earn a spot in the Super Bowl.</p>
<p>PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Workers in Philadelphia are greasing light poles in a bid to prevent fans from climbing up them after the NFC Championship game.</p>
<p>Officials say the grease should make the poles too slippery to climb.</p>
<p>The workers applying the grease are jokingly calling themselves the “Crisco Cops.”</p>
<p>The Philadelphia Eagles are hosting the Minnesota Vikings in the championship game on Sunday night. The winning team will earn a spot in the Super Bowl.</p> | Philadelphia greasing light poles to stop fans from climbing | false | https://apnews.com/57dc348978a24387a2d8cb40a92da151 | 2018-01-21 | 2least
| Philadelphia greasing light poles to stop fans from climbing
<p>PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Workers in Philadelphia are greasing light poles in a bid to prevent fans from climbing up them after the NFC Championship game.</p>
<p>Officials say the grease should make the poles too slippery to climb.</p>
<p>The workers applying the grease are jokingly calling themselves the “Crisco Cops.”</p>
<p>The Philadelphia Eagles are hosting the Minnesota Vikings in the championship game on Sunday night. The winning team will earn a spot in the Super Bowl.</p>
<p>PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Workers in Philadelphia are greasing light poles in a bid to prevent fans from climbing up them after the NFC Championship game.</p>
<p>Officials say the grease should make the poles too slippery to climb.</p>
<p>The workers applying the grease are jokingly calling themselves the “Crisco Cops.”</p>
<p>The Philadelphia Eagles are hosting the Minnesota Vikings in the championship game on Sunday night. The winning team will earn a spot in the Super Bowl.</p> | 2,391 |
<p />
<p>Image source: Mistras Group.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Making sure equipment and systems work correctly is essential for major companies in the industrial field, and testing specialist Mistras Group aims to provide its clients with the resources they need to monitor and evaluate their productive assets. Yet many industrial companies face their own challenges with sluggish economic conditions worldwide. Still, coming into Wednesday's fiscal third-quarter financial report, Mistras Group investors were optimistic that the company would find a way to boost its profitability, and the results Mistras gave today were even stronger on the bottom line than most had expected.</p>
<p>Let's look more closely at the latest from Mistras Group and what its results say about the company's future.</p>
<p>Mistras Group sends earnings soaring Mistras Group's fiscal third-quarter results were mixed from the perspective of investor expectations. Revenue was disappointing, falling 1.7% to $160.4 million and missing the consensus estimate for about $164 million in sales. However, Mistras made up for lost time on the earnings front. GAAP net income doubled to $3.6 million, and that produced earnings of $0.12 per share. That was far above the nickel per share investors had expected.</p>
<p>As we've seen in past quarters, Mistras' segments performed differently from each other. The services segment did relatively well, enjoying a 1% rise in revenue despite the adverse impact of a weaker Canadian dollar and seeing operating income jump almost 40% from the year-ago quarter. The international segment suffered a 5% revenue decline due largely to the strong U.S. dollar, but the segment reversed a year-earlier loss. The big hit came to products and systems, where revenue fell 20%, and operating income declined by two-thirds.</p>
<p>Still, Mistras Group's overall figures included some encouraging signs. Gross margins rose three full percentage points to 26.7%, largely from an eight-percentage point improvement from the international segment. Operating margins more than doubled to 3.5%, and measures of cash flow and net debt improved.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>CEO Sotirios Vahaviolos was happy with the results, especially given the challenges Mistras faced. "Market conditions have been difficult for the last year," Vahaviolos said, but "we have listened carefully to our customers and tailored our offerings and our cost structure accordingly." The CEO believes efforts to streamline operations should pay off with margin improvement in the future.</p>
<p>What's ahead for Mistras Group? Looking forward, Vahaviolos noted that even though top-line growth hasn't materialized, he's confident that Mistras is gaining market share. "The Mistras value proposition has become even more resonant in these challenging times," Vahaviolos said, and he's confident in his team's ability to keep producing good results going forward.</p>
<p>That optimism showed in Mistras Group's updates to guidance. On the revenue front, Mistras was conservative, narrowing its guidance to a range of $710 million to $715 million. That represents the lower end of the previous wider range, reflecting continued foreign-exchange pressure but with the expectation of low- to mid-single digit organic growth by the fourth quarter. Mistras is more excited about its earnings prospects, setting its adjusted pre-tax operating earnings range upward by $9 million to $12 million to a new range of $84 million to $87 million. That would represent growth of 17% to 21%, further expressing confidence in Mistras' ability to capitalize on its opportunities.</p>
<p>Mistras investors didn't react strongly to the news, leaving shares unchanged within the first half hour following the announcement. With the stock having nearly doubled since late September and climbing back toward all-time highs, that reaction isn't surprising. However, if Mistras Group can keep its profits rising, then further gains for the stock could be inevitable.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/04/06/mistras-group-keeps-passing-the-earnings-growth-te.aspx" type="external">Mistras Group Keeps Passing the Earnings-Growth Test Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFGalagan/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Dan Caplinger Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Mistras Group. 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> | Mistras Group Keeps Passing the Earnings-Growth Test | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/04/06/mistras-group-keeps-passing-earnings-growth-test.html | 2016-04-06 | 0right
| Mistras Group Keeps Passing the Earnings-Growth Test
<p />
<p>Image source: Mistras Group.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Making sure equipment and systems work correctly is essential for major companies in the industrial field, and testing specialist Mistras Group aims to provide its clients with the resources they need to monitor and evaluate their productive assets. Yet many industrial companies face their own challenges with sluggish economic conditions worldwide. Still, coming into Wednesday's fiscal third-quarter financial report, Mistras Group investors were optimistic that the company would find a way to boost its profitability, and the results Mistras gave today were even stronger on the bottom line than most had expected.</p>
<p>Let's look more closely at the latest from Mistras Group and what its results say about the company's future.</p>
<p>Mistras Group sends earnings soaring Mistras Group's fiscal third-quarter results were mixed from the perspective of investor expectations. Revenue was disappointing, falling 1.7% to $160.4 million and missing the consensus estimate for about $164 million in sales. However, Mistras made up for lost time on the earnings front. GAAP net income doubled to $3.6 million, and that produced earnings of $0.12 per share. That was far above the nickel per share investors had expected.</p>
<p>As we've seen in past quarters, Mistras' segments performed differently from each other. The services segment did relatively well, enjoying a 1% rise in revenue despite the adverse impact of a weaker Canadian dollar and seeing operating income jump almost 40% from the year-ago quarter. The international segment suffered a 5% revenue decline due largely to the strong U.S. dollar, but the segment reversed a year-earlier loss. The big hit came to products and systems, where revenue fell 20%, and operating income declined by two-thirds.</p>
<p>Still, Mistras Group's overall figures included some encouraging signs. Gross margins rose three full percentage points to 26.7%, largely from an eight-percentage point improvement from the international segment. Operating margins more than doubled to 3.5%, and measures of cash flow and net debt improved.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>CEO Sotirios Vahaviolos was happy with the results, especially given the challenges Mistras faced. "Market conditions have been difficult for the last year," Vahaviolos said, but "we have listened carefully to our customers and tailored our offerings and our cost structure accordingly." The CEO believes efforts to streamline operations should pay off with margin improvement in the future.</p>
<p>What's ahead for Mistras Group? Looking forward, Vahaviolos noted that even though top-line growth hasn't materialized, he's confident that Mistras is gaining market share. "The Mistras value proposition has become even more resonant in these challenging times," Vahaviolos said, and he's confident in his team's ability to keep producing good results going forward.</p>
<p>That optimism showed in Mistras Group's updates to guidance. On the revenue front, Mistras was conservative, narrowing its guidance to a range of $710 million to $715 million. That represents the lower end of the previous wider range, reflecting continued foreign-exchange pressure but with the expectation of low- to mid-single digit organic growth by the fourth quarter. Mistras is more excited about its earnings prospects, setting its adjusted pre-tax operating earnings range upward by $9 million to $12 million to a new range of $84 million to $87 million. That would represent growth of 17% to 21%, further expressing confidence in Mistras' ability to capitalize on its opportunities.</p>
<p>Mistras investors didn't react strongly to the news, leaving shares unchanged within the first half hour following the announcement. With the stock having nearly doubled since late September and climbing back toward all-time highs, that reaction isn't surprising. However, if Mistras Group can keep its profits rising, then further gains for the stock could be inevitable.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/04/06/mistras-group-keeps-passing-the-earnings-growth-te.aspx" type="external">Mistras Group Keeps Passing the Earnings-Growth Test Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFGalagan/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Dan Caplinger Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Mistras Group. 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> | 2,392 |
<p>I don’t even know what tense to use to write this.</p>
<p>I didn’t know <a href="/content/dailybeast/features/2012/06/remembering-nora-ephron.html" type="external">Nora Ephron</a> well because I was paralyzed by admiration. She’d crossed the divide between journalism and fiction, and then the one between fiction and screenplays, and then the one between screenplays and directing, without ever losing the beat of her own voice. She’d scattered the culture with markers that will forever be hers, “I’ll have what she’s having” among them.</p>
<p>She also had a real life, two early marriages and then one great one, and two sons, one of whom I know and adore. And she cooked.</p>
<p>I admired Nora Ephron’s candor and balls as far back as her <a href="/content/dailybeast/articles/2012/06/26/nora-ephron-dies-at-71-read-the-best-of-her-journalism.html" type="external">pieces in Esquire</a>, was devastated by her Silkwood script, loved her movies, and marveled at the way she plainly stated truths that no one else had seen.</p>
<p>She was confident and she was consistent. Her voice proved that clear logic combined with stark honesty creates the most perfect wit. I think she’ll be an even bigger icon than Mark Twain.</p>
<p>She also turned out to be the best thing that happened to me in New York. One day at one of those Peggy Siegal lunches that you shouldn’t go to because daytime is for writing, not for eating lunch to celebrate a film you haven’t seen, I found myself placed next to Nora. I knew her slightly, but my awe had kept me at a distance. While I dawdled away my life in uncertainties, obligations, and improv classes, Nora never stopped writing books, plays, and screenplays, directing, working. She didn’t mess around. She meant everything she did, and everything she did had a life.</p>
<p>I asked a real question: “How do you manage not to get in your own way?”</p>
<p>The answer was simple, direct, down to earth. I wrote it down so I wouldn’t forget it, and then I lost the notebook.</p>
<p>She must have said something about French Vogue and I must have said something about French being my first language, because a month later she sent me a three-word email that said only: “Can you act?”</p>
<p>“Trained,” I answered, trying for her terse clarity.</p>
<p>She asked me to come in and read for three parts in the film she was preparing, Julie &amp; Julia.</p>
<p>Real actors and actresses sat mumbling to themselves in the waiting room. In another room, Nora sat in the corner, while the casting director wielded a video camera.</p>
<p>Start and finish your day with the top stories from The Daily Beast.</p>
<p>A speedy, smart summary of all the news you need to know (and nothing you don't).</p>
<p>The first part I read, a minor Cordon Bleu instructor, required me to say the words “an egg.”</p>
<p>The second part was the American woman who introduces Julia Child to Louisette Bertholle and Simone Beck at a party. I did her eager and a little slurred; they drank a lot in Paris in 1949.</p>
<p>The third was the bitch, the head of the cooking school. I could see Nora in her chair in the corner and I could feel a kind of glee coming off her, which was great because it matched what I was feeling. I pulled my hair back into a rubber band and let rip with every bit of French nastiness I had inside me.</p>
<p>When I was done, I looked over at Nora and saw a smile. Writing this now I am so glad I caused that smile. It is possibly the smile her vinaigrette saw when she tasted it. It was glee and it was pleasure and it was mischief and it was victory.</p>
<p>“Give her the script, she’s got the part.” said Nora, and added, to me: “You’ve got all three parts if you want them.”</p>
<p>I left with the script. I thought this was how auditions went.</p>
<p>For three days of unremitting bliss, Nora directed me opposite <a href="/content/dailybeast/articles/2009/08/04/how-meryl-streep-nailed-her.html" type="external">Meryl Streep</a>. She must have already been ill. No one knew it.</p>
<p>Nora worked wearing high heels and made it look easy. Once she had what she wanted in the can, she’d say: “Now do one for you.”</p>
<p>I was so overcome with gratitude for the chance to be in Julie &amp; Julia that I became intimidated all over again. I never got to be Nora’s friend.</p>
<p>But I might have been one of her vinaigrettes.</p> | Joan Juliet Buck on Being in Awe of Nora Ephron | true | https://thedailybeast.com/joan-juliet-buck-on-being-in-awe-of-nora-ephron | 2018-10-05 | 4left
| Joan Juliet Buck on Being in Awe of Nora Ephron
<p>I don’t even know what tense to use to write this.</p>
<p>I didn’t know <a href="/content/dailybeast/features/2012/06/remembering-nora-ephron.html" type="external">Nora Ephron</a> well because I was paralyzed by admiration. She’d crossed the divide between journalism and fiction, and then the one between fiction and screenplays, and then the one between screenplays and directing, without ever losing the beat of her own voice. She’d scattered the culture with markers that will forever be hers, “I’ll have what she’s having” among them.</p>
<p>She also had a real life, two early marriages and then one great one, and two sons, one of whom I know and adore. And she cooked.</p>
<p>I admired Nora Ephron’s candor and balls as far back as her <a href="/content/dailybeast/articles/2012/06/26/nora-ephron-dies-at-71-read-the-best-of-her-journalism.html" type="external">pieces in Esquire</a>, was devastated by her Silkwood script, loved her movies, and marveled at the way she plainly stated truths that no one else had seen.</p>
<p>She was confident and she was consistent. Her voice proved that clear logic combined with stark honesty creates the most perfect wit. I think she’ll be an even bigger icon than Mark Twain.</p>
<p>She also turned out to be the best thing that happened to me in New York. One day at one of those Peggy Siegal lunches that you shouldn’t go to because daytime is for writing, not for eating lunch to celebrate a film you haven’t seen, I found myself placed next to Nora. I knew her slightly, but my awe had kept me at a distance. While I dawdled away my life in uncertainties, obligations, and improv classes, Nora never stopped writing books, plays, and screenplays, directing, working. She didn’t mess around. She meant everything she did, and everything she did had a life.</p>
<p>I asked a real question: “How do you manage not to get in your own way?”</p>
<p>The answer was simple, direct, down to earth. I wrote it down so I wouldn’t forget it, and then I lost the notebook.</p>
<p>She must have said something about French Vogue and I must have said something about French being my first language, because a month later she sent me a three-word email that said only: “Can you act?”</p>
<p>“Trained,” I answered, trying for her terse clarity.</p>
<p>She asked me to come in and read for three parts in the film she was preparing, Julie &amp; Julia.</p>
<p>Real actors and actresses sat mumbling to themselves in the waiting room. In another room, Nora sat in the corner, while the casting director wielded a video camera.</p>
<p>Start and finish your day with the top stories from The Daily Beast.</p>
<p>A speedy, smart summary of all the news you need to know (and nothing you don't).</p>
<p>The first part I read, a minor Cordon Bleu instructor, required me to say the words “an egg.”</p>
<p>The second part was the American woman who introduces Julia Child to Louisette Bertholle and Simone Beck at a party. I did her eager and a little slurred; they drank a lot in Paris in 1949.</p>
<p>The third was the bitch, the head of the cooking school. I could see Nora in her chair in the corner and I could feel a kind of glee coming off her, which was great because it matched what I was feeling. I pulled my hair back into a rubber band and let rip with every bit of French nastiness I had inside me.</p>
<p>When I was done, I looked over at Nora and saw a smile. Writing this now I am so glad I caused that smile. It is possibly the smile her vinaigrette saw when she tasted it. It was glee and it was pleasure and it was mischief and it was victory.</p>
<p>“Give her the script, she’s got the part.” said Nora, and added, to me: “You’ve got all three parts if you want them.”</p>
<p>I left with the script. I thought this was how auditions went.</p>
<p>For three days of unremitting bliss, Nora directed me opposite <a href="/content/dailybeast/articles/2009/08/04/how-meryl-streep-nailed-her.html" type="external">Meryl Streep</a>. She must have already been ill. No one knew it.</p>
<p>Nora worked wearing high heels and made it look easy. Once she had what she wanted in the can, she’d say: “Now do one for you.”</p>
<p>I was so overcome with gratitude for the chance to be in Julie &amp; Julia that I became intimidated all over again. I never got to be Nora’s friend.</p>
<p>But I might have been one of her vinaigrettes.</p> | 2,393 |
<p>By Don Babwin The Associated Press Published: 12/05/05 Excerpt:</p>
<p>Terkel is a reminder of something else the city may be losing: its distinctive voice. Of such famed Chicago writers and journalists as Mike Royko, Nelson Algren, Ben Hecht and Ann Landers, only Terkel is still alive. And he's past 90. "Nobody has filled the void," said Roy Peter Clark, a senior scholar at the Poynter Institute. "There is still really terrific journalism going on in the city (but) the national influence has diminished." <a href="http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/top/2_1_AU05_CHICAGO_S1.htm" type="external">More of this article...</a> <a href="http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&amp;ned=us&amp;q=" type="external">Search Google News for more quotes by Roy Peter Clark...</a></p> | Fading Images | false | https://poynter.org/news/fading-images | 2005-12-13 | 2least
| Fading Images
<p>By Don Babwin The Associated Press Published: 12/05/05 Excerpt:</p>
<p>Terkel is a reminder of something else the city may be losing: its distinctive voice. Of such famed Chicago writers and journalists as Mike Royko, Nelson Algren, Ben Hecht and Ann Landers, only Terkel is still alive. And he's past 90. "Nobody has filled the void," said Roy Peter Clark, a senior scholar at the Poynter Institute. "There is still really terrific journalism going on in the city (but) the national influence has diminished." <a href="http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/top/2_1_AU05_CHICAGO_S1.htm" type="external">More of this article...</a> <a href="http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&amp;ned=us&amp;q=" type="external">Search Google News for more quotes by Roy Peter Clark...</a></p> | 2,394 |
<p><a href="http://www.fool.com/retirement/2017/05/13/how-to-create-a-retirement-plan-in-15-minutes.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=8ab7d48c-b388-11e7-bde6-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Planning for retirement Opens a New Window.</a> for two is almost twice as complicated as planning for just one, and it gets especially complex when both spouses are working. Here's how to maximize your retirement savings -- and your returns -- for both yourself and your spouse.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>It's vitally important that both you and your spouse know exactly how much each of you is saving for retirement and how you're handling that money. It would be nice if such joint financial decision-making were a priority for everyone, but unfortunately, that's not the case. A NerdWallet <a href="https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/investing/study-couples-keep-retirement-savings-secrets/" type="external">survey Opens a New Window.</a> found that one in five workers whose spouse was saving for retirement didn't know how much their spouse was saving, and 43% of married workers who were saving for retirement didn't consult with their spouse before making investment decisions in their retirement portfolios.</p>
<p>If you don't know how your spouse is making such basic retirement decisions, then you can't make a meaningful plan for yourself.</p>
<p>That same NerdWallet survey also found that 31% of married workers used a bank savings account to save for retirement. A bank savings account is an extremely bad choice for retirement savings for several reasons. First, you're losing out on the <a href="http://www.fool.com/retirement/2017/07/18/why-smart-people-have-retirement-accounts.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=8ab7d48c-b388-11e7-bde6-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">tax benefits Opens a New Window.</a> that a <a href="https://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/what-is-a-401k.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=8ab7d48c-b388-11e7-bde6-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">401(k)</a> or <a href="https://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/what-is-an-ira.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=8ab7d48c-b388-11e7-bde6-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">IRA Opens a New Window.</a> would give you. Second, you're also losing out on the investment options offered by a retirement savings account. Bank savings accounts may pay interest, but that interest rate is so low that it won't even keep up with inflation; far from growing enough to fund your eventual retirement, that money will lose value. And third, because the money in a savings account is much more accessible than the money in a retirement account, you're far more likely to spend that money early and leave yourself nothing to retire on.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Most workers should be saving at least 10% of their income for retirement; 15% would be preferable. For couples, that's 10% to 15% for each spouse. In a two-income household, it's not enough for just the primary breadwinner to save 10% of their income; either both spouses need to save a minimum of 10%, or the primary earner needs to save at least the equivalent of 10% of the entire household income.</p>
<p>Depending on your situation and preferences, funding one retirement account for both spouses may make more sense than having separate accounts. If one spouse has access to an excellent 401(k) and the other doesn't, then having the fortunate spouse make all the household's retirement contributions into the 401(k) may be the best approach. But if both spouses have 401(k) accounts with company matching, it makes sense to contribute at least enough to max out that free money in each account.</p>
<p>Having a single retirement account for both spouses simplifies retirement planning, as all your retirement savings -- and retirement investments -- are in one place, so you can more easily manage them and keep your portfolio balanced. On the other hand, if you and your spouse part ways, dividing up the money in a single retirement account in a way that's fair for both parties can be extremely difficult. You and your spouse would be wise to sit down with your financial advisor and discuss all of these issues so that you can figure out the best approach.</p>
<p>If you and your spouse independently pick investments in separate retirement accounts, then your portfolios probably won't match up very well. For example, one spouse might be investing more heavily in <a href="http://www.fool.com/retirement/2017/07/11/a-step-by-step-guide-to-asset-allocation-in-retire.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=8ab7d48c-b388-11e7-bde6-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">stocks versus bonds Opens a New Window.</a> than the other spouse, exposing the more conservative spouse to a higher level of risk than he or she is comfortable with. Even if you have separate retirement accounts, it's best to make a mutual decision about which investments to choose so that your portfolios are compatible.</p>
<p>Once you and your spouse have come up with a retirement savings plan, don't assume it's set in stone. It's important to get together at least once a year to assess your accounts, make sure you're on track to save enough, and check your investments to see if they're performing adequately. The family that saves together may not necessarily stay together, but at least you'll both be assured of a comfortable retirement.</p>
<p>The $16,122 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 $16,122 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.&#160; <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;referring_guid=8ab7d48c-b388-11e7-bde6-0050569d4be0&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>The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=8ab7d48c-b388-11e7-bde6-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | 5 Retirement Saving Tips for Couples | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/11/04/5-retirement-saving-tips-for-couples.html | 2017-11-04 | 0right
| 5 Retirement Saving Tips for Couples
<p><a href="http://www.fool.com/retirement/2017/05/13/how-to-create-a-retirement-plan-in-15-minutes.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=8ab7d48c-b388-11e7-bde6-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Planning for retirement Opens a New Window.</a> for two is almost twice as complicated as planning for just one, and it gets especially complex when both spouses are working. Here's how to maximize your retirement savings -- and your returns -- for both yourself and your spouse.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>It's vitally important that both you and your spouse know exactly how much each of you is saving for retirement and how you're handling that money. It would be nice if such joint financial decision-making were a priority for everyone, but unfortunately, that's not the case. A NerdWallet <a href="https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/investing/study-couples-keep-retirement-savings-secrets/" type="external">survey Opens a New Window.</a> found that one in five workers whose spouse was saving for retirement didn't know how much their spouse was saving, and 43% of married workers who were saving for retirement didn't consult with their spouse before making investment decisions in their retirement portfolios.</p>
<p>If you don't know how your spouse is making such basic retirement decisions, then you can't make a meaningful plan for yourself.</p>
<p>That same NerdWallet survey also found that 31% of married workers used a bank savings account to save for retirement. A bank savings account is an extremely bad choice for retirement savings for several reasons. First, you're losing out on the <a href="http://www.fool.com/retirement/2017/07/18/why-smart-people-have-retirement-accounts.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=8ab7d48c-b388-11e7-bde6-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">tax benefits Opens a New Window.</a> that a <a href="https://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/what-is-a-401k.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=8ab7d48c-b388-11e7-bde6-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">401(k)</a> or <a href="https://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/what-is-an-ira.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=8ab7d48c-b388-11e7-bde6-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">IRA Opens a New Window.</a> would give you. Second, you're also losing out on the investment options offered by a retirement savings account. Bank savings accounts may pay interest, but that interest rate is so low that it won't even keep up with inflation; far from growing enough to fund your eventual retirement, that money will lose value. And third, because the money in a savings account is much more accessible than the money in a retirement account, you're far more likely to spend that money early and leave yourself nothing to retire on.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Most workers should be saving at least 10% of their income for retirement; 15% would be preferable. For couples, that's 10% to 15% for each spouse. In a two-income household, it's not enough for just the primary breadwinner to save 10% of their income; either both spouses need to save a minimum of 10%, or the primary earner needs to save at least the equivalent of 10% of the entire household income.</p>
<p>Depending on your situation and preferences, funding one retirement account for both spouses may make more sense than having separate accounts. If one spouse has access to an excellent 401(k) and the other doesn't, then having the fortunate spouse make all the household's retirement contributions into the 401(k) may be the best approach. But if both spouses have 401(k) accounts with company matching, it makes sense to contribute at least enough to max out that free money in each account.</p>
<p>Having a single retirement account for both spouses simplifies retirement planning, as all your retirement savings -- and retirement investments -- are in one place, so you can more easily manage them and keep your portfolio balanced. On the other hand, if you and your spouse part ways, dividing up the money in a single retirement account in a way that's fair for both parties can be extremely difficult. You and your spouse would be wise to sit down with your financial advisor and discuss all of these issues so that you can figure out the best approach.</p>
<p>If you and your spouse independently pick investments in separate retirement accounts, then your portfolios probably won't match up very well. For example, one spouse might be investing more heavily in <a href="http://www.fool.com/retirement/2017/07/11/a-step-by-step-guide-to-asset-allocation-in-retire.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=8ab7d48c-b388-11e7-bde6-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">stocks versus bonds Opens a New Window.</a> than the other spouse, exposing the more conservative spouse to a higher level of risk than he or she is comfortable with. Even if you have separate retirement accounts, it's best to make a mutual decision about which investments to choose so that your portfolios are compatible.</p>
<p>Once you and your spouse have come up with a retirement savings plan, don't assume it's set in stone. It's important to get together at least once a year to assess your accounts, make sure you're on track to save enough, and check your investments to see if they're performing adequately. The family that saves together may not necessarily stay together, but at least you'll both be assured of a comfortable retirement.</p>
<p>The $16,122 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 $16,122 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.&#160; <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;referring_guid=8ab7d48c-b388-11e7-bde6-0050569d4be0&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>The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=8ab7d48c-b388-11e7-bde6-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | 2,395 |
<p>FORT CARSON, Colo. (AP) — The military has released the names of two Colorado-based soldiers who were killed in a helicopter crash in California.</p>
<p>The Army said Monday 1st Lt. Clayton R. Cullen and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Kevin F. Burke died Saturday when an AH64 Apache helicopter crashed during training at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California.</p>
<p>Cullen was from Indiana and Burke from California. The Army didn’t release their hometowns.</p>
<p>The cause of the crash is under investigation.</p>
<p>Cullen and Burke were assigned to the 4th Combat Aviation Brigade of the 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, Colorado.</p>
<p>FORT CARSON, Colo. (AP) — The military has released the names of two Colorado-based soldiers who were killed in a helicopter crash in California.</p>
<p>The Army said Monday 1st Lt. Clayton R. Cullen and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Kevin F. Burke died Saturday when an AH64 Apache helicopter crashed during training at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California.</p>
<p>Cullen was from Indiana and Burke from California. The Army didn’t release their hometowns.</p>
<p>The cause of the crash is under investigation.</p>
<p>Cullen and Burke were assigned to the 4th Combat Aviation Brigade of the 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, Colorado.</p> | 2 Colorado soldiers ID’d as victims of California crash | false | https://apnews.com/66a542393487428cba09b0b7d7b7f1d9 | 2018-01-23 | 2least
| 2 Colorado soldiers ID’d as victims of California crash
<p>FORT CARSON, Colo. (AP) — The military has released the names of two Colorado-based soldiers who were killed in a helicopter crash in California.</p>
<p>The Army said Monday 1st Lt. Clayton R. Cullen and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Kevin F. Burke died Saturday when an AH64 Apache helicopter crashed during training at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California.</p>
<p>Cullen was from Indiana and Burke from California. The Army didn’t release their hometowns.</p>
<p>The cause of the crash is under investigation.</p>
<p>Cullen and Burke were assigned to the 4th Combat Aviation Brigade of the 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, Colorado.</p>
<p>FORT CARSON, Colo. (AP) — The military has released the names of two Colorado-based soldiers who were killed in a helicopter crash in California.</p>
<p>The Army said Monday 1st Lt. Clayton R. Cullen and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Kevin F. Burke died Saturday when an AH64 Apache helicopter crashed during training at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California.</p>
<p>Cullen was from Indiana and Burke from California. The Army didn’t release their hometowns.</p>
<p>The cause of the crash is under investigation.</p>
<p>Cullen and Burke were assigned to the 4th Combat Aviation Brigade of the 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, Colorado.</p> | 2,396 |
<p />
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Realty Income (NYSE: O), like many other REITs, has performed exceptionally well this year, with shares up about 33% year to date, and that's after a recent pullback. Despite the big rise in price, there are some reasons to believe there is still some upside from here. With that in mind, here are three things that could catapult the retail real estate giant's stock to the next level.</p>
<p>Low interest rates help REITs, and high-quality ones like Realty Income in particular, for a couple of important reasons.</p>
<p>First, although Realty Income doesn't like to carry high debt levels, it does use a significant amount of borrowed money to acquire properties. Lower interest rates translate to lower borrowing costs, which typically means better profit margins for REITs. This could especially be a factor if Realty Income's second-half acquisition volume picks up, as the company has said there is an abundance of attractive opportunities in the market right now.</p>
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<p>Next, low interest rates make REITs more attractive to income-seeking investors. In a world where 10-year Treasury bonds pay just 1.5% and investment-grade corporate bonds don't pay much more, REIT dividends of 3% or more can seem extremely attractive. Sure, Realty Income is on the lower end of the dividend spectrum as far as REITs go, but this is made up for by the company's dividend history and overall financial strength.</p>
<p>Comparison of Vanguard REIT Index ETF (NYSE: VNQ) dividend yield with 10-Year Treasuries and AAA-rated U.S. corporate bonds.</p>
<p>The persistent low-interest-rate environment has lasted longer than most experts had expected, which is a big reason for the exceptional performance of REITs this year. If the Federal Reserve decides to hike rates even lower than the market currently expects, it could be the catalyst for the next leg up.</p>
<p>During the first half of the year, Realty Income completed $663 million in acquisitions at record high spreads relative to the cost of capital. In fact, Realty Income is so optimistic about the current investment opportunities in the market that it increased its projections for the full year. As CEO John Case said in the second-quarter earnings release: "We continue to see an ample pipeline of investment opportunities. As a result, we are raising our 2016 acquisitions guidance to approximately $1.25 billion from our prior estimate of $900 million."</p>
<p>In other words, the investment opportunities have been so compelling this year that the company is planning to acquire nearly 40% more new properties than it planned. If the cost of capital stays low -- since Realty Income finances most of its deals through equity, so this means if the stock price stays high -- there's no reason the company can't acquire even more, or that this trend can't continue into 2017.</p>
<p>In a nutshell, larger volumes of acquisitions at high spreads can result in more rental income for shareholders.</p>
<p>Increasing profit is the most obvious reason the stock could rise, but it's certainly worth mentioning. Realty Income has increased its dividend for 76 consecutive quarters, and the company has a history of giving pretty generous increases when financial conditions warrant a higher payout. For example, the recent 1% increase in the dividend represents a 6.1% year-over-year increase for shareholders, well above the company's long-term 4.6% average.</p>
<p>Since higher-than-average dividends are one of the most attractive aspects of REIT investing, dividend increases that are at a greater pace than the market expects could easily serve as a positive catalyst to boost the stock.</p>
<p>Image source: Realty Income investor presentation, Q2 2016.</p>
<p>Obviously, after a 33% gain, Realty Income isn't as great of a buy as it was at the beginning of 2016. Having said that, there is a reason for the outperformance, and there are also several reasons the stock could go even higher.</p>
<p>Regardless of whether the three things here happen and lift the stock price in the short term, Realty Income is a rock-solid dividend powerhouse that has consistently generated incredible returns for its shareholders. In fact, a $10,000 investment in Realty Income's 1994 IPO would be worth about $396,000 today. This stock is a high-growth and low-risk investment that deserves consideration for any long-term investment strategy.</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=2759&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/KWMatt82/info.aspx" type="external">Matthew Frankel Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Realty Income. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=isiedilnk018048&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://wiki.fool.com/Motley" 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> | 3 Reasons Realty Income's Stock Could Rise | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/08/11/3-reasons-realty-income-stock-could-rise.html | 2016-08-11 | 0right
| 3 Reasons Realty Income's Stock Could Rise
<p />
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Realty Income (NYSE: O), like many other REITs, has performed exceptionally well this year, with shares up about 33% year to date, and that's after a recent pullback. Despite the big rise in price, there are some reasons to believe there is still some upside from here. With that in mind, here are three things that could catapult the retail real estate giant's stock to the next level.</p>
<p>Low interest rates help REITs, and high-quality ones like Realty Income in particular, for a couple of important reasons.</p>
<p>First, although Realty Income doesn't like to carry high debt levels, it does use a significant amount of borrowed money to acquire properties. Lower interest rates translate to lower borrowing costs, which typically means better profit margins for REITs. This could especially be a factor if Realty Income's second-half acquisition volume picks up, as the company has said there is an abundance of attractive opportunities in the market right now.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Next, low interest rates make REITs more attractive to income-seeking investors. In a world where 10-year Treasury bonds pay just 1.5% and investment-grade corporate bonds don't pay much more, REIT dividends of 3% or more can seem extremely attractive. Sure, Realty Income is on the lower end of the dividend spectrum as far as REITs go, but this is made up for by the company's dividend history and overall financial strength.</p>
<p>Comparison of Vanguard REIT Index ETF (NYSE: VNQ) dividend yield with 10-Year Treasuries and AAA-rated U.S. corporate bonds.</p>
<p>The persistent low-interest-rate environment has lasted longer than most experts had expected, which is a big reason for the exceptional performance of REITs this year. If the Federal Reserve decides to hike rates even lower than the market currently expects, it could be the catalyst for the next leg up.</p>
<p>During the first half of the year, Realty Income completed $663 million in acquisitions at record high spreads relative to the cost of capital. In fact, Realty Income is so optimistic about the current investment opportunities in the market that it increased its projections for the full year. As CEO John Case said in the second-quarter earnings release: "We continue to see an ample pipeline of investment opportunities. As a result, we are raising our 2016 acquisitions guidance to approximately $1.25 billion from our prior estimate of $900 million."</p>
<p>In other words, the investment opportunities have been so compelling this year that the company is planning to acquire nearly 40% more new properties than it planned. If the cost of capital stays low -- since Realty Income finances most of its deals through equity, so this means if the stock price stays high -- there's no reason the company can't acquire even more, or that this trend can't continue into 2017.</p>
<p>In a nutshell, larger volumes of acquisitions at high spreads can result in more rental income for shareholders.</p>
<p>Increasing profit is the most obvious reason the stock could rise, but it's certainly worth mentioning. Realty Income has increased its dividend for 76 consecutive quarters, and the company has a history of giving pretty generous increases when financial conditions warrant a higher payout. For example, the recent 1% increase in the dividend represents a 6.1% year-over-year increase for shareholders, well above the company's long-term 4.6% average.</p>
<p>Since higher-than-average dividends are one of the most attractive aspects of REIT investing, dividend increases that are at a greater pace than the market expects could easily serve as a positive catalyst to boost the stock.</p>
<p>Image source: Realty Income investor presentation, Q2 2016.</p>
<p>Obviously, after a 33% gain, Realty Income isn't as great of a buy as it was at the beginning of 2016. Having said that, there is a reason for the outperformance, and there are also several reasons the stock could go even higher.</p>
<p>Regardless of whether the three things here happen and lift the stock price in the short term, Realty Income is a rock-solid dividend powerhouse that has consistently generated incredible returns for its shareholders. In fact, a $10,000 investment in Realty Income's 1994 IPO would be worth about $396,000 today. This stock is a high-growth and low-risk investment that deserves consideration for any long-term investment strategy.</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=2759&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/KWMatt82/info.aspx" type="external">Matthew Frankel Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Realty Income. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=isiedilnk018048&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://wiki.fool.com/Motley" 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> | 2,397 |
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<p>FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - Thousands of trout that wildlife officials stocked in a northern Arizona lake have turned up dead.</p>
<p>The Arizona Daily Sun reports ( <a href="http://bit.ly/1QMQR89)" type="external">http://bit.ly/1QMQR89)</a> that the Arizona Game and Fish Department amassed between 1,500 and 2,000 dead fish from Lower Lake Mary on Thursday.</p>
<p>Department spokeswoman Shelly Shepherd says low dissolved oxygen levels in some areas of the water are to blame.</p>
<p>Game and Fish had not tested the lake's dissolved oxygen levels before stocking.</p>
<p>Shepherd called it a rare occurrence.</p>
<p>The agency had filled the lake with nearly 8,000 trout two days earlier.</p>
<p>Shepherd says they will keep monitoring water quality and restock the lake once conditions improve.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Thousands of trout found dead in Flagstaff lake | false | https://abqjournal.com/739498/thousands-of-trout-found-dead-in-flagstaff-lake.html | 2least
| Thousands of trout found dead in Flagstaff lake
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - Thousands of trout that wildlife officials stocked in a northern Arizona lake have turned up dead.</p>
<p>The Arizona Daily Sun reports ( <a href="http://bit.ly/1QMQR89)" type="external">http://bit.ly/1QMQR89)</a> that the Arizona Game and Fish Department amassed between 1,500 and 2,000 dead fish from Lower Lake Mary on Thursday.</p>
<p>Department spokeswoman Shelly Shepherd says low dissolved oxygen levels in some areas of the water are to blame.</p>
<p>Game and Fish had not tested the lake's dissolved oxygen levels before stocking.</p>
<p>Shepherd called it a rare occurrence.</p>
<p>The agency had filled the lake with nearly 8,000 trout two days earlier.</p>
<p>Shepherd says they will keep monitoring water quality and restock the lake once conditions improve.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | 2,398 |
|
<p>FLORENCE, Italy — As Italy's economy was heading off a cliff, police couldn't help but notice that the country's Chinese communities were booming. Luxury cars rolled past Chinese betting parlors and garment factories. Chinese immigrants were buying up Italian coffee bars and real estate. Their prosperity, however, was not reflected in local tax records.</p>
<p>"What do they do with the money?" said Pietro Suchan, then deputy public prosecutor in Florence. "Do they eat it?"</p>
<p>The answer, after a four-year investigation by Italy's financial police, was no. They discovered that more than 4.5 billion euros ($4.9 billion) — the proceeds of counterfeiting, prostitution, labor exploitation and tax evasion — had been smuggled out of Italy to China in less than four years using a money-transfer service. Nearly half that money was funneled through one of China's largest state banks, the Bank of China, which earned more than 758,000 euros in commissions on the transfers, according to Italian investigative documents obtained by The Associated Press.</p>
<p>Beijing, which is seeking Western help in hunting its own economic fugitives, did not cooperate with the investigation, Italian officials said.</p>
<p>Once the money left Italy, it vanished behind China's great legal firewall.</p>
<p>Despite the deep economic ties between China and the West, inconsistent cooperation, incompatible legal systems and China's secrecy laws have allowed criminals to globalize more effectively than law enforcement — and made it harder for Western companies and courts to put them out of business.</p>
<p>"We did not have the possibility, despite many attempts made, to have an official contact with the judicial authorities and police of China," said Suchan, who oversaw the investigation. "We have discovered 50 percent of the truth."</p>
<p>China's foreign ministry said in a faxed statement that Chinese authorities knew nothing of the Italian case. "China is always committed to deepening law enforcement cooperation with other countries, jointly cracking down on transnational crimes and punishing criminals," the ministry wrote.</p>
<p>The AP has traced some of Italy's missing money to an import-export company owned by the Chinese government. The company, Wenzhou Cereals Oils and Foodstuffs Foreign Trade Corporation, has been accused of repeatedly shipping counterfeit goods, some to the United States. But it has also taken shelter behind the firewall, refusing to respond to a U.S. lawsuit brought by Converse Inc., which says the Wenzhou company sent tens of thousands of fake sneakers to the U.S. and Croatia.</p>
<p>Cai Jiliu, Wenzhou Foreign Trade's general manager, declined to comment on the Italian case, saying he didn't work at the company then. He said the fake Converse exports were the result of "management negligence."</p> | Money-Laundering Investigation Stymied by China, Italy Says | false | http://nbcnews.com/news/china/money-laundering-investigation-stymied-china-italy-says-n370341 | 2015-06-05 | 3left-center
| Money-Laundering Investigation Stymied by China, Italy Says
<p>FLORENCE, Italy — As Italy's economy was heading off a cliff, police couldn't help but notice that the country's Chinese communities were booming. Luxury cars rolled past Chinese betting parlors and garment factories. Chinese immigrants were buying up Italian coffee bars and real estate. Their prosperity, however, was not reflected in local tax records.</p>
<p>"What do they do with the money?" said Pietro Suchan, then deputy public prosecutor in Florence. "Do they eat it?"</p>
<p>The answer, after a four-year investigation by Italy's financial police, was no. They discovered that more than 4.5 billion euros ($4.9 billion) — the proceeds of counterfeiting, prostitution, labor exploitation and tax evasion — had been smuggled out of Italy to China in less than four years using a money-transfer service. Nearly half that money was funneled through one of China's largest state banks, the Bank of China, which earned more than 758,000 euros in commissions on the transfers, according to Italian investigative documents obtained by The Associated Press.</p>
<p>Beijing, which is seeking Western help in hunting its own economic fugitives, did not cooperate with the investigation, Italian officials said.</p>
<p>Once the money left Italy, it vanished behind China's great legal firewall.</p>
<p>Despite the deep economic ties between China and the West, inconsistent cooperation, incompatible legal systems and China's secrecy laws have allowed criminals to globalize more effectively than law enforcement — and made it harder for Western companies and courts to put them out of business.</p>
<p>"We did not have the possibility, despite many attempts made, to have an official contact with the judicial authorities and police of China," said Suchan, who oversaw the investigation. "We have discovered 50 percent of the truth."</p>
<p>China's foreign ministry said in a faxed statement that Chinese authorities knew nothing of the Italian case. "China is always committed to deepening law enforcement cooperation with other countries, jointly cracking down on transnational crimes and punishing criminals," the ministry wrote.</p>
<p>The AP has traced some of Italy's missing money to an import-export company owned by the Chinese government. The company, Wenzhou Cereals Oils and Foodstuffs Foreign Trade Corporation, has been accused of repeatedly shipping counterfeit goods, some to the United States. But it has also taken shelter behind the firewall, refusing to respond to a U.S. lawsuit brought by Converse Inc., which says the Wenzhou company sent tens of thousands of fake sneakers to the U.S. and Croatia.</p>
<p>Cai Jiliu, Wenzhou Foreign Trade's general manager, declined to comment on the Italian case, saying he didn't work at the company then. He said the fake Converse exports were the result of "management negligence."</p> | 2,399 |
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