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<p>Paul Joseph Watson &amp; Alex Jones Infowars.com September 22, 2010</p>
<p />
<p>President Obama’s ominous claim that America can “absorb” a terror attack will have many fearing that staging some kind of false flag event will be the only way the government can overturn the massive resistance to big government that has grown exponentially since Obama took office.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/21/AR2010092106706_pf.html" type="external">During an interview with journalist Bob Woodward</a>, the president said, “We can absorb a terrorist attack. We’ll do everything we can to prevent it, but even a 9/11, even the biggest attack ever . . . we absorbed it and we are stronger.”</p>
<p>However, the only thing that was made stronger by 9/11 was the federal government’s power to harass, shake down and spy on the American people, <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/09/intelligence-company-hired-pennsylvania-tracked-activists/" type="external">as was exemplified yet again recently</a> when Pennsylvania’s Office of Homeland Security was caught conducting surveillance on peaceful protest groups with the aid of an Israeli security company who listed Second Amendment groups amongst others as terrorists.</p>
<p>Given how both Bush and Clinton before him exploited terror attacks on U.S. soil to boost their flagging political agendas, we should be wary of Obama and his masters making good use of their own “October surprise” to counter <a href="http://www.prisonplanet.com/american-people-to-congress-shut-up-and-get-the-hell-out-of-office.html" type="external">record low approval figures for Congress</a> on the eve of the midterm elections.</p>
<p>Talk show hosts <a href="" type="internal">such as Michael Savage</a> have long been warning of a “Reichstag fire-like event” would be concocted to reinvigorate support behind Obama and given that his advisors include such ruthless individuals as Rahm Emanuel, <a href="" type="internal">the knife wielding</a> son of a <a href="http://www.prisonplanet.com/obamas-first-appointment-is-son-of-zionist-terrorist.html" type="external">former Israeli terrorist who was involved in bombing hotels</a>, marketplaces as well as massacres, we would be naive to put anything past these people.</p>
<p>Indeed, it was only two months ago that <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/434315b2-8ea6-11df-8a67-00144feab49a.html" type="external">former Clinton advisor Robert Shapiro wrote in the Financial Times</a> that the only thing that could save Obama’s tenuous grip on power was a terror attack on the scale of Oklahoma City or 9/11.</p>
<p>“The bottom line here is that Americans don’t believe in President Obama’s leadership,” said Shapiro, adding, “He has to find some way between now and November of demonstrating that he is a leader who can command confidence and, short of a 9/11 event or an Oklahoma City bombing, I can’t think of how he could do that.”</p>
<p>Shapiro was clearly communicating the necessity for a terror attack to be launched in order to give Obama the opportunity to unite the country around his agenda in the name of fighting terrorists, just as President Bush did in the aftermath of 9/11 <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6038436.stm" type="external">when his approval ratings shot up</a> from around 50% to well above 80%.</p>
<p>Similarly, Bill Clinton was able to extinguish an anti-incumbent rebellion which was brewing in the mid 1990’s by exploiting the OKC bombing to demonize his political enemies as right-wing extremists. <a href="http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&amp;pageId=143865" type="external">As Jack Cashill points out</a>, Clinton “descended on Oklahoma City with an approval rating in the low 40s and left town with a rating well above 50 and the Republican revolution buried in the rubble.”</p>
<p>Only by exploiting a domestic terror attack which can be blamed on right-wing radicals, or by rallying the country round another war in the middle east, can Obama hope to reverse the tide of anti-incumbency candidates that threaten to drastically dilute the power monopoly of establishment candidates from both major political parties in Washington.</p>
<p>Shapiro is by no means the first to point out that terror attacks on U.S. soil and indeed anywhere in the world serve only to benefit those in positions of power.</p>
<p>During the latter years of the Bush presidency, <a href="http://www.prisonplanet.com/cnn-host-calls-deadly-terror-bombings-helpful-to-nwo-agenda.html" type="external">Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld mused with Pentagon top brass</a> that shrinking Capitol Hill support for expanding the war on terror could be corrected with the aid of another terror attack.</p>
<p>Lt.-Col. Doug Delaney, chair of the war studies program at the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario, <a href="http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/july2007/100707moreterror.htm" type="external">told the Toronto Star in July 2007</a> that “The key to bolstering Western resolve is another terrorist attack like 9/11 or the London transit bombings of two years ago.”</p>
<p>The same sentiment was also explicitly expressed in a <a href="http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/november2005/121105newterror.htm" type="external">2005 GOP memo</a>, which yearned for new attacks that would “validate” the President’s war on terror and “restore his image as a leader of the American people.”</p>
<p>In June 2007, the chairman of the Arkansas Republican Party Dennis Milligan <a href="http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/june2007/040607Gop.htm" type="external">said that there needed to be more attacks on American soil</a> for President Bush to regain popular approval.</p>
<p>The Obama administration has proven itself to be alarmingly adept at lying about every issue under the sun, so why should we believe any different when it comes to the terror threat to America?</p>
<p>Using terror or the threat of terror as a political tool has been a routine ploy in recent years, <a href="http://blogs.reuters.com/frontrow/2009/08/20/ridge-says-he-was-pushed-to-raise-terror-alert-before-election/" type="external">and was acknowledged by former Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge</a> when he admitted he was forced to issue fake terror alerts shortly before elections to influence the outcome.</p>
<p>Threatening terror has also been a tactic of some of Obama’s biggest supporters in the Democratic party, people like former Senator Gary Hart, <a href="" type="internal">who in 2007 wrote a thinly veiled threat to Iranian leaders</a> pointing out that the U.S. has been involved in numerous staged provocations over the years to achieve political agendas, mentioning specifically the Gulf of Tonkin incident and the sinking of the Maine.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.efoodsdirect.com//index.html?aid=13&amp;adid=43" type="external">Fresh food that lasts from eFoods Direct (Ad)</a></p>
<p>Given the documented history of staged false flag events being used to manipulate both domestic and geopolitical affairs, added to the numerous threats of such provocations from several highly respected political operatives, it would be foolish to rule out the notion that the Obama administration could turn to such desperate measures in a last gasp effort to salvage power and demonize its growing legions of political adversaries.</p>
<p>—</p>
<p>Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for <a href="http://prisonplanet.com/" type="external">Prison Planet.com</a>. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show. Watson has been interviewed by many publications and radio shows, including Vanity Fair and Coast to Coast AM, America’s most listened to late night talk show.</p> | Will Obama Force America To “Absorb A Terror Attack” To Save His Presidency? | true | http://infowars.com/will-obama-force-america-to-absorb-a-terror-attack-to-save-his-presidency/ | 2010-09-22 | 0right
| Will Obama Force America To “Absorb A Terror Attack” To Save His Presidency?
<p>Paul Joseph Watson &amp; Alex Jones Infowars.com September 22, 2010</p>
<p />
<p>President Obama’s ominous claim that America can “absorb” a terror attack will have many fearing that staging some kind of false flag event will be the only way the government can overturn the massive resistance to big government that has grown exponentially since Obama took office.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/21/AR2010092106706_pf.html" type="external">During an interview with journalist Bob Woodward</a>, the president said, “We can absorb a terrorist attack. We’ll do everything we can to prevent it, but even a 9/11, even the biggest attack ever . . . we absorbed it and we are stronger.”</p>
<p>However, the only thing that was made stronger by 9/11 was the federal government’s power to harass, shake down and spy on the American people, <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/09/intelligence-company-hired-pennsylvania-tracked-activists/" type="external">as was exemplified yet again recently</a> when Pennsylvania’s Office of Homeland Security was caught conducting surveillance on peaceful protest groups with the aid of an Israeli security company who listed Second Amendment groups amongst others as terrorists.</p>
<p>Given how both Bush and Clinton before him exploited terror attacks on U.S. soil to boost their flagging political agendas, we should be wary of Obama and his masters making good use of their own “October surprise” to counter <a href="http://www.prisonplanet.com/american-people-to-congress-shut-up-and-get-the-hell-out-of-office.html" type="external">record low approval figures for Congress</a> on the eve of the midterm elections.</p>
<p>Talk show hosts <a href="" type="internal">such as Michael Savage</a> have long been warning of a “Reichstag fire-like event” would be concocted to reinvigorate support behind Obama and given that his advisors include such ruthless individuals as Rahm Emanuel, <a href="" type="internal">the knife wielding</a> son of a <a href="http://www.prisonplanet.com/obamas-first-appointment-is-son-of-zionist-terrorist.html" type="external">former Israeli terrorist who was involved in bombing hotels</a>, marketplaces as well as massacres, we would be naive to put anything past these people.</p>
<p>Indeed, it was only two months ago that <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/434315b2-8ea6-11df-8a67-00144feab49a.html" type="external">former Clinton advisor Robert Shapiro wrote in the Financial Times</a> that the only thing that could save Obama’s tenuous grip on power was a terror attack on the scale of Oklahoma City or 9/11.</p>
<p>“The bottom line here is that Americans don’t believe in President Obama’s leadership,” said Shapiro, adding, “He has to find some way between now and November of demonstrating that he is a leader who can command confidence and, short of a 9/11 event or an Oklahoma City bombing, I can’t think of how he could do that.”</p>
<p>Shapiro was clearly communicating the necessity for a terror attack to be launched in order to give Obama the opportunity to unite the country around his agenda in the name of fighting terrorists, just as President Bush did in the aftermath of 9/11 <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6038436.stm" type="external">when his approval ratings shot up</a> from around 50% to well above 80%.</p>
<p>Similarly, Bill Clinton was able to extinguish an anti-incumbent rebellion which was brewing in the mid 1990’s by exploiting the OKC bombing to demonize his political enemies as right-wing extremists. <a href="http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&amp;pageId=143865" type="external">As Jack Cashill points out</a>, Clinton “descended on Oklahoma City with an approval rating in the low 40s and left town with a rating well above 50 and the Republican revolution buried in the rubble.”</p>
<p>Only by exploiting a domestic terror attack which can be blamed on right-wing radicals, or by rallying the country round another war in the middle east, can Obama hope to reverse the tide of anti-incumbency candidates that threaten to drastically dilute the power monopoly of establishment candidates from both major political parties in Washington.</p>
<p>Shapiro is by no means the first to point out that terror attacks on U.S. soil and indeed anywhere in the world serve only to benefit those in positions of power.</p>
<p>During the latter years of the Bush presidency, <a href="http://www.prisonplanet.com/cnn-host-calls-deadly-terror-bombings-helpful-to-nwo-agenda.html" type="external">Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld mused with Pentagon top brass</a> that shrinking Capitol Hill support for expanding the war on terror could be corrected with the aid of another terror attack.</p>
<p>Lt.-Col. Doug Delaney, chair of the war studies program at the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario, <a href="http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/july2007/100707moreterror.htm" type="external">told the Toronto Star in July 2007</a> that “The key to bolstering Western resolve is another terrorist attack like 9/11 or the London transit bombings of two years ago.”</p>
<p>The same sentiment was also explicitly expressed in a <a href="http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/november2005/121105newterror.htm" type="external">2005 GOP memo</a>, which yearned for new attacks that would “validate” the President’s war on terror and “restore his image as a leader of the American people.”</p>
<p>In June 2007, the chairman of the Arkansas Republican Party Dennis Milligan <a href="http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/june2007/040607Gop.htm" type="external">said that there needed to be more attacks on American soil</a> for President Bush to regain popular approval.</p>
<p>The Obama administration has proven itself to be alarmingly adept at lying about every issue under the sun, so why should we believe any different when it comes to the terror threat to America?</p>
<p>Using terror or the threat of terror as a political tool has been a routine ploy in recent years, <a href="http://blogs.reuters.com/frontrow/2009/08/20/ridge-says-he-was-pushed-to-raise-terror-alert-before-election/" type="external">and was acknowledged by former Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge</a> when he admitted he was forced to issue fake terror alerts shortly before elections to influence the outcome.</p>
<p>Threatening terror has also been a tactic of some of Obama’s biggest supporters in the Democratic party, people like former Senator Gary Hart, <a href="" type="internal">who in 2007 wrote a thinly veiled threat to Iranian leaders</a> pointing out that the U.S. has been involved in numerous staged provocations over the years to achieve political agendas, mentioning specifically the Gulf of Tonkin incident and the sinking of the Maine.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.efoodsdirect.com//index.html?aid=13&amp;adid=43" type="external">Fresh food that lasts from eFoods Direct (Ad)</a></p>
<p>Given the documented history of staged false flag events being used to manipulate both domestic and geopolitical affairs, added to the numerous threats of such provocations from several highly respected political operatives, it would be foolish to rule out the notion that the Obama administration could turn to such desperate measures in a last gasp effort to salvage power and demonize its growing legions of political adversaries.</p>
<p>—</p>
<p>Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for <a href="http://prisonplanet.com/" type="external">Prison Planet.com</a>. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show. Watson has been interviewed by many publications and radio shows, including Vanity Fair and Coast to Coast AM, America’s most listened to late night talk show.</p> | 3,300 |
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States has withheld $5 million in anti-drug aid to Mexico over concerns about human rights in the country, the State Department said Monday.</p>
<p>It's a small portion of what the U.S. gives Mexico each year but conveys a pointed message to its southern neighbor, which has come under the spotlight for abuses including last year's disappearance of 43 students at the hands of police.</p>
<p>The State Department is obliged by law to hold back 15 percent of some anti-drug aid to Mexico under the Merida Initiative until it delivers a report to Congress on human rights in the country. Spokesman Mark Toner said the department has not sent that report.</p>
<p>"This year the Department was unable to confirm and report to Congress that Mexico fully met all of the criteria in the fiscal year 2014 appropriation legislation, and the 15 percent was redirected away from Mexico," Toner said.</p>
<p>He said that Washington continues to support Mexico's efforts to reform its law enforcement and justice systems, and added that Mexico and the United States "have made significant progress" working to combat organized crime.</p>
<p>In a statement, Mexico's Foreign Relations Department said the country is aware it has challenges and is committed to protecting human rights.</p>
<p>"Nevertheless, it rejects any kind of unilateral practice that judges the human rights situation in a country," the statement said.</p>
<p>Washington sent Mexico $195 million under the Merida Initiative last year, according to State Department figures.</p>
<p>The $5 million in diverted funds will go instead to Peru for efforts to eradicate plantations of coca, the source of the base ingredient for cocaine.</p>
<p>Mexico has been criticized for human rights concerns such as the alleged extrajudicial killings of suspects by security forces and the 2014 disappearance of 43 teachers' college students, who were detained by police in the southern state of Guerrero and have not been heard from since.</p>
<p>Mexican authorities say the students were handed over to a drug gang, killed and incinerated in a garbage dump, though relatives of the victims and international investigators have cast doubt on the official version.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Orsi reported from Mexico City.</p>
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States has withheld $5 million in anti-drug aid to Mexico over concerns about human rights in the country, the State Department said Monday.</p>
<p>It's a small portion of what the U.S. gives Mexico each year but conveys a pointed message to its southern neighbor, which has come under the spotlight for abuses including last year's disappearance of 43 students at the hands of police.</p>
<p>The State Department is obliged by law to hold back 15 percent of some anti-drug aid to Mexico under the Merida Initiative until it delivers a report to Congress on human rights in the country. Spokesman Mark Toner said the department has not sent that report.</p>
<p>"This year the Department was unable to confirm and report to Congress that Mexico fully met all of the criteria in the fiscal year 2014 appropriation legislation, and the 15 percent was redirected away from Mexico," Toner said.</p>
<p>He said that Washington continues to support Mexico's efforts to reform its law enforcement and justice systems, and added that Mexico and the United States "have made significant progress" working to combat organized crime.</p>
<p>In a statement, Mexico's Foreign Relations Department said the country is aware it has challenges and is committed to protecting human rights.</p>
<p>"Nevertheless, it rejects any kind of unilateral practice that judges the human rights situation in a country," the statement said.</p>
<p>Washington sent Mexico $195 million under the Merida Initiative last year, according to State Department figures.</p>
<p>The $5 million in diverted funds will go instead to Peru for efforts to eradicate plantations of coca, the source of the base ingredient for cocaine.</p>
<p>Mexico has been criticized for human rights concerns such as the alleged extrajudicial killings of suspects by security forces and the 2014 disappearance of 43 teachers' college students, who were detained by police in the southern state of Guerrero and have not been heard from since.</p>
<p>Mexican authorities say the students were handed over to a drug gang, killed and incinerated in a garbage dump, though relatives of the victims and international investigators have cast doubt on the official version.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Orsi reported from Mexico City.</p> | In rebuke, US blocks $5M in drug aid for Mexico over rights | false | https://apnews.com/amp/160449eb45bf495489b8a8dd4b34d42f | 2015-10-20 | 2least
| In rebuke, US blocks $5M in drug aid for Mexico over rights
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States has withheld $5 million in anti-drug aid to Mexico over concerns about human rights in the country, the State Department said Monday.</p>
<p>It's a small portion of what the U.S. gives Mexico each year but conveys a pointed message to its southern neighbor, which has come under the spotlight for abuses including last year's disappearance of 43 students at the hands of police.</p>
<p>The State Department is obliged by law to hold back 15 percent of some anti-drug aid to Mexico under the Merida Initiative until it delivers a report to Congress on human rights in the country. Spokesman Mark Toner said the department has not sent that report.</p>
<p>"This year the Department was unable to confirm and report to Congress that Mexico fully met all of the criteria in the fiscal year 2014 appropriation legislation, and the 15 percent was redirected away from Mexico," Toner said.</p>
<p>He said that Washington continues to support Mexico's efforts to reform its law enforcement and justice systems, and added that Mexico and the United States "have made significant progress" working to combat organized crime.</p>
<p>In a statement, Mexico's Foreign Relations Department said the country is aware it has challenges and is committed to protecting human rights.</p>
<p>"Nevertheless, it rejects any kind of unilateral practice that judges the human rights situation in a country," the statement said.</p>
<p>Washington sent Mexico $195 million under the Merida Initiative last year, according to State Department figures.</p>
<p>The $5 million in diverted funds will go instead to Peru for efforts to eradicate plantations of coca, the source of the base ingredient for cocaine.</p>
<p>Mexico has been criticized for human rights concerns such as the alleged extrajudicial killings of suspects by security forces and the 2014 disappearance of 43 teachers' college students, who were detained by police in the southern state of Guerrero and have not been heard from since.</p>
<p>Mexican authorities say the students were handed over to a drug gang, killed and incinerated in a garbage dump, though relatives of the victims and international investigators have cast doubt on the official version.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Orsi reported from Mexico City.</p>
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States has withheld $5 million in anti-drug aid to Mexico over concerns about human rights in the country, the State Department said Monday.</p>
<p>It's a small portion of what the U.S. gives Mexico each year but conveys a pointed message to its southern neighbor, which has come under the spotlight for abuses including last year's disappearance of 43 students at the hands of police.</p>
<p>The State Department is obliged by law to hold back 15 percent of some anti-drug aid to Mexico under the Merida Initiative until it delivers a report to Congress on human rights in the country. Spokesman Mark Toner said the department has not sent that report.</p>
<p>"This year the Department was unable to confirm and report to Congress that Mexico fully met all of the criteria in the fiscal year 2014 appropriation legislation, and the 15 percent was redirected away from Mexico," Toner said.</p>
<p>He said that Washington continues to support Mexico's efforts to reform its law enforcement and justice systems, and added that Mexico and the United States "have made significant progress" working to combat organized crime.</p>
<p>In a statement, Mexico's Foreign Relations Department said the country is aware it has challenges and is committed to protecting human rights.</p>
<p>"Nevertheless, it rejects any kind of unilateral practice that judges the human rights situation in a country," the statement said.</p>
<p>Washington sent Mexico $195 million under the Merida Initiative last year, according to State Department figures.</p>
<p>The $5 million in diverted funds will go instead to Peru for efforts to eradicate plantations of coca, the source of the base ingredient for cocaine.</p>
<p>Mexico has been criticized for human rights concerns such as the alleged extrajudicial killings of suspects by security forces and the 2014 disappearance of 43 teachers' college students, who were detained by police in the southern state of Guerrero and have not been heard from since.</p>
<p>Mexican authorities say the students were handed over to a drug gang, killed and incinerated in a garbage dump, though relatives of the victims and international investigators have cast doubt on the official version.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Orsi reported from Mexico City.</p> | 3,301 |
<p>The executive chairman at Google is urging Congress to increase the number of high-skilled work visas made available to foreigners and to deal with other immigration issues later on.</p>
<p>Eric Schmidt spoke Wednesday at the American Enterprise Institute. He says he believes the United States is better off having more immigrants, not less.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>But Schmidt's particularly focused on allowing more immigrants into the U.S. with specialized technical skills, saying that it doesn't make sense for the country to educate immigrants at its top universities and then not keep them here. He says they go home and create new companies.</p>
<p>Schmidt says that increasing the number of H-1B visas would grow the economy, but some worry that companies will use the visas to replace American workers and reduce expenses.</p> | Google exec urges Congress to increase number of high-skilled immigrant visas | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2015/03/18/google-exec-urges-congress-to-increase-number-high-skilled-immigrant-visas.html | 2016-04-07 | 0right
| Google exec urges Congress to increase number of high-skilled immigrant visas
<p>The executive chairman at Google is urging Congress to increase the number of high-skilled work visas made available to foreigners and to deal with other immigration issues later on.</p>
<p>Eric Schmidt spoke Wednesday at the American Enterprise Institute. He says he believes the United States is better off having more immigrants, not less.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>But Schmidt's particularly focused on allowing more immigrants into the U.S. with specialized technical skills, saying that it doesn't make sense for the country to educate immigrants at its top universities and then not keep them here. He says they go home and create new companies.</p>
<p>Schmidt says that increasing the number of H-1B visas would grow the economy, but some worry that companies will use the visas to replace American workers and reduce expenses.</p> | 3,302 |
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<p />
<p>The KiMo Theatre is launching a new series, Summer Sunday Movie Musicals, beginning at 2 p.m. June 16.</p>
<p>“This is an effort to continue a focus on family programming,” says Larry Parker, KiMo manager. “During the summer, we have a lot of open dates where we can fill in a series like this and this is perfect timing.”</p>
<p>The series will present classic musicals every Sunday through the summer.</p>
<p />
<p>WHERE: KiMo Theatre, 423 W. Central</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>HOW MUCH: $7 general admission, $5 students, seniors at <a href="http://www.kimotickets.com" type="external">www.kimotickets.com</a> or 768-3544</p>
<p>The first musical to be screened is “Top Hat,” which stars Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. The 1935 film has music by the team of Irving Berlin and Max Steiner and features the hit song “Cheek to Cheek.”</p>
<p>Parker says the series came about by talking with a couple friends. They helped pick out some of the films to be shown.</p>
<p>“What came next is that I had to look at who had the distribution rights on the films,” he says. “Once we got that settled, the idea was to present these films in chronological order.”</p>
<p>Parker also says one requirement for the films was that they had to be available digitally because the KiMo shows on digital.</p>
<p>“There are some films that haven’t been converted yet,” he says. “But it’s an opportunity for movie lovers to see classics on the big screen.”</p>
<p>Other films to be shown include:</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>• June 23 – “On the Town,” which is loosely based on the Broadway musical of 1944 of the same name. In the 1949 movie version, most of the original Broadway songs are replaced. Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra star.</p>
<p>n July 7 – “Singin’ in the Rain,” starring Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor and Debbie Reynolds. The 1952 classic was a blockbuster in its day and features a creatively choreographed street scene in a downpour with umbrellas and yellow raincoats.</p>
<p>n July 14 – “West Side Story,” the Oscar-winning musical from 1961 stars Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer and Rita Moreno. The music is by Leonard Bernstein with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.</p>
<p>n July 21 – “Funny Girl,” starring Barbra Streisand and Omar Sharif was released in 1968. Streisand’s career skyrocketed with the singles “Second Hand Rose” and “People” from the film.</p>
<p>n July 28 – “1776,” was released in 1972 and stars Howard Da Silva and Ken Howard. The plot revolves around the days leading up to July 4, 1776 and the writing of the Declaration of Independence.</p>
<p>Parker says this is the first part of the series and more musicals will be presented later.</p>
<p>“This programming is something we want to expand on throughout the year,” he says. “It’s not going to be a one-time event.”</p>
<p>All shows begin at 2 p.m. on the respective Sunday. General admission is $7 for adults, $5 seniors and students. Tickets can be purchased at <a href="http://www.kimotickets.com" type="external">www.kimotickets.com</a> or by calling 768-3544.</p> | KiMo to show classic movie musicals | false | https://abqjournal.com/208427/kimo-to-show-classic-movie-musicals.html | 2013-06-09 | 2least
| KiMo to show classic movie musicals
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>The KiMo Theatre is launching a new series, Summer Sunday Movie Musicals, beginning at 2 p.m. June 16.</p>
<p>“This is an effort to continue a focus on family programming,” says Larry Parker, KiMo manager. “During the summer, we have a lot of open dates where we can fill in a series like this and this is perfect timing.”</p>
<p>The series will present classic musicals every Sunday through the summer.</p>
<p />
<p>WHERE: KiMo Theatre, 423 W. Central</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>HOW MUCH: $7 general admission, $5 students, seniors at <a href="http://www.kimotickets.com" type="external">www.kimotickets.com</a> or 768-3544</p>
<p>The first musical to be screened is “Top Hat,” which stars Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. The 1935 film has music by the team of Irving Berlin and Max Steiner and features the hit song “Cheek to Cheek.”</p>
<p>Parker says the series came about by talking with a couple friends. They helped pick out some of the films to be shown.</p>
<p>“What came next is that I had to look at who had the distribution rights on the films,” he says. “Once we got that settled, the idea was to present these films in chronological order.”</p>
<p>Parker also says one requirement for the films was that they had to be available digitally because the KiMo shows on digital.</p>
<p>“There are some films that haven’t been converted yet,” he says. “But it’s an opportunity for movie lovers to see classics on the big screen.”</p>
<p>Other films to be shown include:</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>• June 23 – “On the Town,” which is loosely based on the Broadway musical of 1944 of the same name. In the 1949 movie version, most of the original Broadway songs are replaced. Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra star.</p>
<p>n July 7 – “Singin’ in the Rain,” starring Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor and Debbie Reynolds. The 1952 classic was a blockbuster in its day and features a creatively choreographed street scene in a downpour with umbrellas and yellow raincoats.</p>
<p>n July 14 – “West Side Story,” the Oscar-winning musical from 1961 stars Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer and Rita Moreno. The music is by Leonard Bernstein with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.</p>
<p>n July 21 – “Funny Girl,” starring Barbra Streisand and Omar Sharif was released in 1968. Streisand’s career skyrocketed with the singles “Second Hand Rose” and “People” from the film.</p>
<p>n July 28 – “1776,” was released in 1972 and stars Howard Da Silva and Ken Howard. The plot revolves around the days leading up to July 4, 1776 and the writing of the Declaration of Independence.</p>
<p>Parker says this is the first part of the series and more musicals will be presented later.</p>
<p>“This programming is something we want to expand on throughout the year,” he says. “It’s not going to be a one-time event.”</p>
<p>All shows begin at 2 p.m. on the respective Sunday. General admission is $7 for adults, $5 seniors and students. Tickets can be purchased at <a href="http://www.kimotickets.com" type="external">www.kimotickets.com</a> or by calling 768-3544.</p> | 3,303 |
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<p>BRUSSELS — The European Union has set up a special committee to look into national tax rules following allegations that Luxembourg had agreed on sweet deals for big multinationals.</p>
<p>The committee of European parliamentarians will examine a cache of leaked documents on Luxembourg’s deals as well as other incidents of tax avoidance and evasion around Europe involving companies from around the world.</p>
<p>The EU legislature approved the creation of the committee on Thursday by a 612-19 margin with 23 abstentions.</p>
<p>The committee will be similar to one set up to probe prisoner rendition allegations against the CIA and will have the power to propose legislation to address any issues it uncovers.</p>
<p>The EU has pledged to crack down on tax rulings favoring big firms.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | EU sets up committee to probe tax deals | false | https://abqjournal.com/540357/eu-sets-up-committee-to-probe-tax-deals.html | 2least
| EU sets up committee to probe tax deals
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<p>BRUSSELS — The European Union has set up a special committee to look into national tax rules following allegations that Luxembourg had agreed on sweet deals for big multinationals.</p>
<p>The committee of European parliamentarians will examine a cache of leaked documents on Luxembourg’s deals as well as other incidents of tax avoidance and evasion around Europe involving companies from around the world.</p>
<p>The EU legislature approved the creation of the committee on Thursday by a 612-19 margin with 23 abstentions.</p>
<p>The committee will be similar to one set up to probe prisoner rendition allegations against the CIA and will have the power to propose legislation to address any issues it uncovers.</p>
<p>The EU has pledged to crack down on tax rulings favoring big firms.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | 3,304 |
|
<p>Oklahoma prosecutors are reviewing the shooting of an unarmed black man by a sheriff's deputy who says he was unintentionally struck with a gun instead of Tasered during the fatal takedown.</p>
<p>Video released Friday shows the dramatic April 2 arrest of Tulsa man Eric Harris, 44, and the moment Reserve Deputy Robert Bates, 73, shoots him.</p>
<p>"Taser! Taser!" Bates is heard shouting, before firing a single round from his regular gun, hitting Harris, who was pinned to the ground by officers.</p>
<p>Bates quickly realized his mistake: "I shot him! I'm sorry!"</p>
<p>As Harris squirms on the ground he screams, “He shot me! He shot me, man. Oh, my God. I’m losing my breath,” he said.</p>
<p>Harris was taken to the hospital, where he died about an hour later.</p>
<p>The incident has gained national attention following the video's release and an awareness over <a href="" type="internal">fatal police shooting's involving unarmed black men</a>. The Tulsa County Sheriff's Office defended Bates' error and said he "did not commit a crime," reported <a href="http://www.kjrh.com/news/local-news/tulsa-county-sheriffs-office-to-discuss-fatal-shooting-involving-reserve-deputy" type="external">NBC affiliate KJRH</a>.</p>
<p>Jim Clark, who is reviewing the case "independently" for the sheriff's department claimed Bates suffered from a phenomenon sometimes called "slip and capture" — in which people unintentionally do the opposite of what they meant to during extreme duress.</p>
<p>The case has been turned over to the Tulsa County district attorney and autopsy results are pending, Tulsa County Sheriff's Maj. Shannon Clark said at a news conference Friday.</p>
<p>Bates, a reserve deputy with the Tulsa County Violent Crimes Task Force, had a pepperball gun in one hand and meant to grab for his Taser with the other hand, but pulled his firearm instead, authorities said.</p>
<p>Bates was not originally supposed to be on the arrest team that day, but was "thrust in to the situation," authorities added.</p>
<p>The video first shows Harris being recorded by a sting operation in which he was allegedly trying to sell a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol and ammunition to an undercover sheriff's task force. But Harris bolted from the car the moment he was about to be arrested, Maj. Clark said.</p>
<p>Harris also has prior convictions for assault and battery on an officer and two other felony arrests, as well as multiple robbery and stolen property charges, KJRH reported.</p>
<p>Maj. Clark said Harris was possibly under the influence of Phencyclidine, PCP, when he was admitted to the hospital. Authorities also said they believed he may have been armed at the time because of the way he was holding his arms near his waistline, although he was arrested without any weapons.</p>
<p>Harris' brother said he was on his way to pick him up the morning he was killed so that they could go to work together. Andre Harris told KJRH that he drove by the scene of the shooting and only realized later it involved his brother when he asked what race the victim was.</p>
<p>"For them to say he was wilding on PCP and fighting, it's not true," Andre Harris said. "And if it is true, they should have tased him."</p> | Oklahoma Man Eric Harris Fatally Shot by Deputy Who Meant to Fire Taser | false | http://nbcnews.com/news/us-news/oklahoma-man-eric-harris-fatally-shot-police-accident-instead-tased-n340116 | 2015-04-12 | 3left-center
| Oklahoma Man Eric Harris Fatally Shot by Deputy Who Meant to Fire Taser
<p>Oklahoma prosecutors are reviewing the shooting of an unarmed black man by a sheriff's deputy who says he was unintentionally struck with a gun instead of Tasered during the fatal takedown.</p>
<p>Video released Friday shows the dramatic April 2 arrest of Tulsa man Eric Harris, 44, and the moment Reserve Deputy Robert Bates, 73, shoots him.</p>
<p>"Taser! Taser!" Bates is heard shouting, before firing a single round from his regular gun, hitting Harris, who was pinned to the ground by officers.</p>
<p>Bates quickly realized his mistake: "I shot him! I'm sorry!"</p>
<p>As Harris squirms on the ground he screams, “He shot me! He shot me, man. Oh, my God. I’m losing my breath,” he said.</p>
<p>Harris was taken to the hospital, where he died about an hour later.</p>
<p>The incident has gained national attention following the video's release and an awareness over <a href="" type="internal">fatal police shooting's involving unarmed black men</a>. The Tulsa County Sheriff's Office defended Bates' error and said he "did not commit a crime," reported <a href="http://www.kjrh.com/news/local-news/tulsa-county-sheriffs-office-to-discuss-fatal-shooting-involving-reserve-deputy" type="external">NBC affiliate KJRH</a>.</p>
<p>Jim Clark, who is reviewing the case "independently" for the sheriff's department claimed Bates suffered from a phenomenon sometimes called "slip and capture" — in which people unintentionally do the opposite of what they meant to during extreme duress.</p>
<p>The case has been turned over to the Tulsa County district attorney and autopsy results are pending, Tulsa County Sheriff's Maj. Shannon Clark said at a news conference Friday.</p>
<p>Bates, a reserve deputy with the Tulsa County Violent Crimes Task Force, had a pepperball gun in one hand and meant to grab for his Taser with the other hand, but pulled his firearm instead, authorities said.</p>
<p>Bates was not originally supposed to be on the arrest team that day, but was "thrust in to the situation," authorities added.</p>
<p>The video first shows Harris being recorded by a sting operation in which he was allegedly trying to sell a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol and ammunition to an undercover sheriff's task force. But Harris bolted from the car the moment he was about to be arrested, Maj. Clark said.</p>
<p>Harris also has prior convictions for assault and battery on an officer and two other felony arrests, as well as multiple robbery and stolen property charges, KJRH reported.</p>
<p>Maj. Clark said Harris was possibly under the influence of Phencyclidine, PCP, when he was admitted to the hospital. Authorities also said they believed he may have been armed at the time because of the way he was holding his arms near his waistline, although he was arrested without any weapons.</p>
<p>Harris' brother said he was on his way to pick him up the morning he was killed so that they could go to work together. Andre Harris told KJRH that he drove by the scene of the shooting and only realized later it involved his brother when he asked what race the victim was.</p>
<p>"For them to say he was wilding on PCP and fighting, it's not true," Andre Harris said. "And if it is true, they should have tased him."</p> | 3,305 |
<p><a href="" type="internal" />Maybe Republicans are on to something about evolution being a myth. &#160;After all, they seem determined to prove that as a species, they're actually getting less intelligent - not more.</p>
<p>I never thought that I would see the day where evolution being put in science books somehow became a political issue. &#160;I never thought I would see the day where people couldn't decipher the difference between&#160;science&#160;and&#160;faith. &#160;</p>
<p>See, faith is an individual's own thoughts and opinions (with no real rules dictating what they believe) concerning their own spiritual or religious beliefs.</p>
<p>In fact, faith is defined as:&#160;firm belief in something for which there is no proof.&#160;</p>
<p>Essentially, faith requires no evidence to support its system of beliefs - because it's faith.</p>
<p>Which brings me to science. &#160;Science is composed of countless steps, theories, processes and provable conclusions.</p>
<p>In fact science is defined as:&#160;knowledge about or study of the natural world based on facts learned through experiments and observation.&#160;</p>
<p>Do you see the difference? &#160;Well, can you please tell that to South Carolina State Senator Mike Fair? &#160; <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/12/mike-fair-evolution-science-standards_n_4774914.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009" type="external">He seems to think that there's absolutely no basis to call evolution a "fact."</a> &#160;Which is why he's blocked evolution from being included in science classes in South Carolina.</p>
<p>Fair said:</p>
<p>"To teach that natural selection is the answer to origins is wrong. &#160;I don't have a problem with teaching theories. I don't think it should be taught as fact. &#160;Natural selection is a direct reference to Darwinism. And the implication of Darwinism is that it is start to finish."</p>
<p>What he wants is the same as what many other conservatives want - for creationism or intelligent design to be taught alongside science in the classroom.</p>
<p>Which would be fine, except - creationism and intelligent design aren't science!</p>
<p>That's faith. &#160;That's religion. &#160;You teach that at home, or in church, not in a science class.</p>
<p>Robert T. Dillon, a professor of biology at the College of Charleston and member of South Carolinians for Science Education, said:</p>
<p>"What frustrates us are when pieces of [the standards] - evolution - are singled out for religious and political reasons. &#160;Mike Fair singles out evolution for special treatment. It is no more scientifically controversial than photosynthesis."</p>
<p>It's absolutely ridiculous that this continues to be an argument. &#160;Look, I'm a Christian, so I obviously believe in Jesus Christ and God. &#160;That being said, neither have a place in a science classroom.</p>
<p>Because&#160;faith is not science.&#160;</p>
<p>As Mr. Dillon said, evolution is as scientifically proven and accepted as photosynthesis. &#160;I can't say I recall many people questioning whether or not photosynthesis should be taught in science classes.</p>
<p>Instances such as these are explicitly why the Founding Fathers didn't want religion and government (public schools are a government entity) being mixed. &#160;Science, math, reading, history - they should be taught in the appropriate classrooms.</p>
<p>Faith, religion and spiritual beliefs should be taught by parents if they so choose at home and their places of worship.</p>
<p>This isn't really complicated.</p>
<p>But stunts such as this (and I call it a stunt because, <a href="" type="internal">like when some in Texas tried to do basically the same thing</a>, it will eventually be overridden and evolution will be put in science classes) are just continued efforts by conservatives to violate our First Amendment rights to "freedom of religion" by interjecting specific faith-based beliefs into the classrooms of public schools.</p>
<p>It's just ridiculous that in 2014 we're still being forced to have this debate.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">The Simple Truth About Creationists: They're Too Stupid to Understand Science</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Texas Officials Renewing Their Push to Teach Creationism in Public Schools</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Bill Nye Embarrasses Creationist Ken Ham in Epic Debate of Science vs. Creationism (VIDEO)</a></p>
<p>0 Facebook comments</p> | South Carolina State Senator Blocks Evolution from Being Taught in Science Classes | true | http://forwardprogressives.com/south-carolina-state-senator-blocks-evolution-taught-science-classes/ | 2014-02-13 | 4left
| South Carolina State Senator Blocks Evolution from Being Taught in Science Classes
<p><a href="" type="internal" />Maybe Republicans are on to something about evolution being a myth. &#160;After all, they seem determined to prove that as a species, they're actually getting less intelligent - not more.</p>
<p>I never thought that I would see the day where evolution being put in science books somehow became a political issue. &#160;I never thought I would see the day where people couldn't decipher the difference between&#160;science&#160;and&#160;faith. &#160;</p>
<p>See, faith is an individual's own thoughts and opinions (with no real rules dictating what they believe) concerning their own spiritual or religious beliefs.</p>
<p>In fact, faith is defined as:&#160;firm belief in something for which there is no proof.&#160;</p>
<p>Essentially, faith requires no evidence to support its system of beliefs - because it's faith.</p>
<p>Which brings me to science. &#160;Science is composed of countless steps, theories, processes and provable conclusions.</p>
<p>In fact science is defined as:&#160;knowledge about or study of the natural world based on facts learned through experiments and observation.&#160;</p>
<p>Do you see the difference? &#160;Well, can you please tell that to South Carolina State Senator Mike Fair? &#160; <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/12/mike-fair-evolution-science-standards_n_4774914.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009" type="external">He seems to think that there's absolutely no basis to call evolution a "fact."</a> &#160;Which is why he's blocked evolution from being included in science classes in South Carolina.</p>
<p>Fair said:</p>
<p>"To teach that natural selection is the answer to origins is wrong. &#160;I don't have a problem with teaching theories. I don't think it should be taught as fact. &#160;Natural selection is a direct reference to Darwinism. And the implication of Darwinism is that it is start to finish."</p>
<p>What he wants is the same as what many other conservatives want - for creationism or intelligent design to be taught alongside science in the classroom.</p>
<p>Which would be fine, except - creationism and intelligent design aren't science!</p>
<p>That's faith. &#160;That's religion. &#160;You teach that at home, or in church, not in a science class.</p>
<p>Robert T. Dillon, a professor of biology at the College of Charleston and member of South Carolinians for Science Education, said:</p>
<p>"What frustrates us are when pieces of [the standards] - evolution - are singled out for religious and political reasons. &#160;Mike Fair singles out evolution for special treatment. It is no more scientifically controversial than photosynthesis."</p>
<p>It's absolutely ridiculous that this continues to be an argument. &#160;Look, I'm a Christian, so I obviously believe in Jesus Christ and God. &#160;That being said, neither have a place in a science classroom.</p>
<p>Because&#160;faith is not science.&#160;</p>
<p>As Mr. Dillon said, evolution is as scientifically proven and accepted as photosynthesis. &#160;I can't say I recall many people questioning whether or not photosynthesis should be taught in science classes.</p>
<p>Instances such as these are explicitly why the Founding Fathers didn't want religion and government (public schools are a government entity) being mixed. &#160;Science, math, reading, history - they should be taught in the appropriate classrooms.</p>
<p>Faith, religion and spiritual beliefs should be taught by parents if they so choose at home and their places of worship.</p>
<p>This isn't really complicated.</p>
<p>But stunts such as this (and I call it a stunt because, <a href="" type="internal">like when some in Texas tried to do basically the same thing</a>, it will eventually be overridden and evolution will be put in science classes) are just continued efforts by conservatives to violate our First Amendment rights to "freedom of religion" by interjecting specific faith-based beliefs into the classrooms of public schools.</p>
<p>It's just ridiculous that in 2014 we're still being forced to have this debate.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">The Simple Truth About Creationists: They're Too Stupid to Understand Science</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Texas Officials Renewing Their Push to Teach Creationism in Public Schools</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Bill Nye Embarrasses Creationist Ken Ham in Epic Debate of Science vs. Creationism (VIDEO)</a></p>
<p>0 Facebook comments</p> | 3,306 |
<p />
<p>Dec. 10 — About 1,6 million Kosovo citizens are being called to turn out for snap parliamentary elections on December 12 2010, which will be a huge test for the country’s – constantly reshaping – party system. The main players seem to be stabilizing their positions and getting themselves embedded into Kosovar society and public life but the possible newcomers might redraw the picture up until a certain extent. More than a decade after the UN intervention democracy and rule of law are put forward in Kosovo and the elections would be another great test to measure how the situation has developed since the last political contest.</p>
<p>The way to snap elections</p>
<p>Kosovo is holding premature elections because of the crisis that ensued from Fatmir Sejdiu having to step down as president because of his dual roles as head of state and leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) party were ruled in September 2010 by the Constitutional Court to be incompatible with the constitution. Sejdiu took his party out of the governing coalition, and PDK leader Hashim Thaci’s government survived only briefly before losing a motion of no confidence in the assembly. Sejdiu was voted out as LDK leader in November, to be replaced by Pristina mayor Isa Mustafa.</p>
<p>Kosovo is formally recognized by 72 United Nations member countries, including 22 European Union member states until now. The International Court of Justice ruled this year that the declaration did not violate international law. The parliamentary elections are organized for the first time in the history of Kosovo since the country proclaimed independence in 2008. Kosovo’s Central Election Commission has certified 29 parties and 1,265 candidates to the run-up of gaining positions into the unicameral Assembly of Kosovo. It is reported that at least 23 thousand persons will monitor the elections on the election day.</p>
<p>A few days before the December 12 elections, an opinion poll by the Foreign Policy Club showed that the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) managed to get the first place, having 30 percent support, a mere two percent ahead of the LDK, with the Vetevendosje (’Self-Determination’) party in third place with 16 percent. According to the poll, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) was fourth with 12 percent, followed by the New Kosovo Alliance (AKR) with seven percent, and FER (’New Spirit’) with six percent. However, with PDK was seen as slightly ahead, Mustafa was said to have a personal popularity that pipped that of Thaci.</p>
<p>Belgrade adamantly rejects Kosovo’s independence and from the Serbian capital, a range of voices – including those of the government and of the Serbian Orthodox Church – have urged ethnic Serbs to shun the Kosovo elections. Notwithstanding the calls from Belgrade, some Serbian parties have registered to take part in the December 12 election. Of the 120 seats in the Kosovo assembly, 10 are reserved for ethnic Serbs and 10 for members of other minorities. The proportion of participating Kosovo Serbs in this year’s parliamentary elections is rather uncertain.</p>
<p>Kosovars’ main options</p>
<p>Turning to the exact party politics and possible scenarios, we should note that Hashim Thaci’s PDK is on the lead and it looks like that no other party will be able to come in front of it. The PDK, considered to be the main leftist party of Kosovo, at first glance is in a favorable situation. It gave the current PM, some groups of Serbs who are planning to take part in the elections announced their support for the leader of the PDK after the elections and the LDK – the main adversary of the PDK – was not able to renew its image despite many efforts. The leader of the party and current PM of Kosovo only two weeks ago promised a 50 percent salary increase for teachers, a 30 percent increase for other civil servants and a 20+20 percent increase – one in next January and one in June – for members of the police. If these decisions will be enacted, they would give at least a further 100 million to the payroll – this would mean seven percent of Kosovo’s total budget for next year. In addition, the PM also promised to remove VAT for university students while private colleges will be freed from income tax. Interestingly, the PDK campaigns with city posters saying ‘no to populism’.</p>
<p>Thaci also advocated the idea of a ‘clean government’, which many Kosovars want to see after the elections. Touching the negotiations with Serbia, he stated in an interview that Kosovo does not want UN officials to mediate the upcoming talks with Serbia, Kosovo is a sovereign state which is capable of negotiating and expressing its own opinion and interests. Thaci also tried to promote the PDK’s Euro-Atlanticist commitment and mentioned one of the key issues which interests many Kosovars and this is the visa liberalisation into the Schengen Area. Kosovo remained the only the country on the Balkans from this December whose citizens still need to obtain a visa if they want to visit a Schengen country for less than 90 days. The party leader promised that if his party will get into the government they will need less than 15 months to get visa-free access into the Schengen Zone, which encompasses mainly EU states. These remarks are quite unusual because usually countries pursuing the policy towards Schengen visa liberalization are invited in a way to join this club and get measured according to their preparedness if they are ready for this, or not.</p>
<p>The LDK, which was not at all a calm coalition partner during the last years, under the leadership of Isa Mustafa is expected to distance itself more from the PDK and try to find its own way to get back to government without the current PM but possibly has lost some of its previous supporters. With Mustafa at the wheel of Kosovo’s main center-right, conservative-liberal political force, the party’s participation in a possible PDK-led government seems less and less sure now. The new leader, first seemed to revitalize the party with new faces but the leadership basically remained the same. A second bad decision was to not keep the son of Ibrahim Rugova, Uke Rugova, in the party. Rugova Junior is seen as a young, charismatic and talented politician in the eyes of many Kosovars and if he had stayed in the LDK the party could have increased its support notably even before the campaign.</p>
<p>Mustafa said in an interview after the start of the campaign that a honest government is needed to govern Kosovo, with stable economic growth. The president of the LDK also focused on EU integration as one of the targets of Kosovo as well as to increase the prestige of Kosovo both in Europe and on the global level. Mustafa did not neglect Thaci’s comments on visa liberalization: he vowed for this issue too and promised an increased fight against organised crime and corruption.</p>
<p>The AKR currently is the third biggest political force in the Assembly of Kosovo. The party’s ideology is centred around liberalism and strong emphasis on free market economy – due to its business connections. Its founder and leader is Behgjet Isa Pacolli managed to gather seven political forces together to form this coalition. The businessman-politician refused to enter into a pre-election coalition with the PDK because the politician is calculating that with distancing itself from the PDK it will have more space to maneuver after the poll. The AKR elected Mimoza Kusari-Lila, a woman – an unusual move in Kosovo – to be the party’s PM candidate.</p>
<p>The party also focuses much on economic growth and new jobs, but it also explicitly addresses the need for better education, health care and there is a huge emphasis on strengthening the rule of law in Kosovo. The leader of the party also stated that the image of Kosovo in Europe and on a global level should be improved and through his party this could be very much achieved.</p>
<p>The AAK is considered to be the second or third biggest centre-right party of Kosovo, with neoliberal tendencies. As the party’s leader, Ramush Haradinaj was abroad, facing a trial and not able to participate in the elections campaign, a relatively new and charismatic face was needed to be drawn into the party leadership to strengthen the party’s support and attract more voters. The choice fell on Uke Rugova, who was already dissatisfied with the current LDK leadership and had longstanding disputes with the previous president of the party, Fatmir Sejdiu. Rugova – and the Rugova family – is still influential in Kosovo where Ibrahim Rugova is the symbol of the peaceful struggle against the Serbs and Kosovo’s self-determination. The ambitious Rugova Junior first established a separate list called LDK-&#160; Ibrahim Rugova claiming that he is still running under the flag of the LDK but due to personal disagreements he will not want to participate in the party’s moves directly. However, in mid-November it was announced that Rugova joined AAK – by integrating LDK-Ibrahim Rugova into Haradinaj’s party. Since that time Rugova Junior is seen as the leader of the unified block. The AAK is considered to be one of the possible surprises of the elections because of Rugova’s appearance, although, his effect as the campaign leader on the AAK’s support is not really measurable.</p>
<p />
<p /> | Pre-election overview from Kosovo, 2010 | false | http://foreignpolicyjournal.com/2010/12/14/pre-election-overview-from-kosovo-2010/ | 2010-12-14 | 1right-center
| Pre-election overview from Kosovo, 2010
<p />
<p>Dec. 10 — About 1,6 million Kosovo citizens are being called to turn out for snap parliamentary elections on December 12 2010, which will be a huge test for the country’s – constantly reshaping – party system. The main players seem to be stabilizing their positions and getting themselves embedded into Kosovar society and public life but the possible newcomers might redraw the picture up until a certain extent. More than a decade after the UN intervention democracy and rule of law are put forward in Kosovo and the elections would be another great test to measure how the situation has developed since the last political contest.</p>
<p>The way to snap elections</p>
<p>Kosovo is holding premature elections because of the crisis that ensued from Fatmir Sejdiu having to step down as president because of his dual roles as head of state and leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) party were ruled in September 2010 by the Constitutional Court to be incompatible with the constitution. Sejdiu took his party out of the governing coalition, and PDK leader Hashim Thaci’s government survived only briefly before losing a motion of no confidence in the assembly. Sejdiu was voted out as LDK leader in November, to be replaced by Pristina mayor Isa Mustafa.</p>
<p>Kosovo is formally recognized by 72 United Nations member countries, including 22 European Union member states until now. The International Court of Justice ruled this year that the declaration did not violate international law. The parliamentary elections are organized for the first time in the history of Kosovo since the country proclaimed independence in 2008. Kosovo’s Central Election Commission has certified 29 parties and 1,265 candidates to the run-up of gaining positions into the unicameral Assembly of Kosovo. It is reported that at least 23 thousand persons will monitor the elections on the election day.</p>
<p>A few days before the December 12 elections, an opinion poll by the Foreign Policy Club showed that the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) managed to get the first place, having 30 percent support, a mere two percent ahead of the LDK, with the Vetevendosje (’Self-Determination’) party in third place with 16 percent. According to the poll, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) was fourth with 12 percent, followed by the New Kosovo Alliance (AKR) with seven percent, and FER (’New Spirit’) with six percent. However, with PDK was seen as slightly ahead, Mustafa was said to have a personal popularity that pipped that of Thaci.</p>
<p>Belgrade adamantly rejects Kosovo’s independence and from the Serbian capital, a range of voices – including those of the government and of the Serbian Orthodox Church – have urged ethnic Serbs to shun the Kosovo elections. Notwithstanding the calls from Belgrade, some Serbian parties have registered to take part in the December 12 election. Of the 120 seats in the Kosovo assembly, 10 are reserved for ethnic Serbs and 10 for members of other minorities. The proportion of participating Kosovo Serbs in this year’s parliamentary elections is rather uncertain.</p>
<p>Kosovars’ main options</p>
<p>Turning to the exact party politics and possible scenarios, we should note that Hashim Thaci’s PDK is on the lead and it looks like that no other party will be able to come in front of it. The PDK, considered to be the main leftist party of Kosovo, at first glance is in a favorable situation. It gave the current PM, some groups of Serbs who are planning to take part in the elections announced their support for the leader of the PDK after the elections and the LDK – the main adversary of the PDK – was not able to renew its image despite many efforts. The leader of the party and current PM of Kosovo only two weeks ago promised a 50 percent salary increase for teachers, a 30 percent increase for other civil servants and a 20+20 percent increase – one in next January and one in June – for members of the police. If these decisions will be enacted, they would give at least a further 100 million to the payroll – this would mean seven percent of Kosovo’s total budget for next year. In addition, the PM also promised to remove VAT for university students while private colleges will be freed from income tax. Interestingly, the PDK campaigns with city posters saying ‘no to populism’.</p>
<p>Thaci also advocated the idea of a ‘clean government’, which many Kosovars want to see after the elections. Touching the negotiations with Serbia, he stated in an interview that Kosovo does not want UN officials to mediate the upcoming talks with Serbia, Kosovo is a sovereign state which is capable of negotiating and expressing its own opinion and interests. Thaci also tried to promote the PDK’s Euro-Atlanticist commitment and mentioned one of the key issues which interests many Kosovars and this is the visa liberalisation into the Schengen Area. Kosovo remained the only the country on the Balkans from this December whose citizens still need to obtain a visa if they want to visit a Schengen country for less than 90 days. The party leader promised that if his party will get into the government they will need less than 15 months to get visa-free access into the Schengen Zone, which encompasses mainly EU states. These remarks are quite unusual because usually countries pursuing the policy towards Schengen visa liberalization are invited in a way to join this club and get measured according to their preparedness if they are ready for this, or not.</p>
<p>The LDK, which was not at all a calm coalition partner during the last years, under the leadership of Isa Mustafa is expected to distance itself more from the PDK and try to find its own way to get back to government without the current PM but possibly has lost some of its previous supporters. With Mustafa at the wheel of Kosovo’s main center-right, conservative-liberal political force, the party’s participation in a possible PDK-led government seems less and less sure now. The new leader, first seemed to revitalize the party with new faces but the leadership basically remained the same. A second bad decision was to not keep the son of Ibrahim Rugova, Uke Rugova, in the party. Rugova Junior is seen as a young, charismatic and talented politician in the eyes of many Kosovars and if he had stayed in the LDK the party could have increased its support notably even before the campaign.</p>
<p>Mustafa said in an interview after the start of the campaign that a honest government is needed to govern Kosovo, with stable economic growth. The president of the LDK also focused on EU integration as one of the targets of Kosovo as well as to increase the prestige of Kosovo both in Europe and on the global level. Mustafa did not neglect Thaci’s comments on visa liberalization: he vowed for this issue too and promised an increased fight against organised crime and corruption.</p>
<p>The AKR currently is the third biggest political force in the Assembly of Kosovo. The party’s ideology is centred around liberalism and strong emphasis on free market economy – due to its business connections. Its founder and leader is Behgjet Isa Pacolli managed to gather seven political forces together to form this coalition. The businessman-politician refused to enter into a pre-election coalition with the PDK because the politician is calculating that with distancing itself from the PDK it will have more space to maneuver after the poll. The AKR elected Mimoza Kusari-Lila, a woman – an unusual move in Kosovo – to be the party’s PM candidate.</p>
<p>The party also focuses much on economic growth and new jobs, but it also explicitly addresses the need for better education, health care and there is a huge emphasis on strengthening the rule of law in Kosovo. The leader of the party also stated that the image of Kosovo in Europe and on a global level should be improved and through his party this could be very much achieved.</p>
<p>The AAK is considered to be the second or third biggest centre-right party of Kosovo, with neoliberal tendencies. As the party’s leader, Ramush Haradinaj was abroad, facing a trial and not able to participate in the elections campaign, a relatively new and charismatic face was needed to be drawn into the party leadership to strengthen the party’s support and attract more voters. The choice fell on Uke Rugova, who was already dissatisfied with the current LDK leadership and had longstanding disputes with the previous president of the party, Fatmir Sejdiu. Rugova – and the Rugova family – is still influential in Kosovo where Ibrahim Rugova is the symbol of the peaceful struggle against the Serbs and Kosovo’s self-determination. The ambitious Rugova Junior first established a separate list called LDK-&#160; Ibrahim Rugova claiming that he is still running under the flag of the LDK but due to personal disagreements he will not want to participate in the party’s moves directly. However, in mid-November it was announced that Rugova joined AAK – by integrating LDK-Ibrahim Rugova into Haradinaj’s party. Since that time Rugova Junior is seen as the leader of the unified block. The AAK is considered to be one of the possible surprises of the elections because of Rugova’s appearance, although, his effect as the campaign leader on the AAK’s support is not really measurable.</p>
<p />
<p /> | 3,307 |
<p>By Lori Fogelman and Jeff Brumley</p>
<p>A Baylor University professor has been&#160; <a href="http://www.baylor.edu/mediacommunications/news.php?action=story&amp;story=150379&amp;_buref=1172-91940" type="external">preaching a message</a> some may consider radical in American society —&#160;even during the holidays: generosity.</p>
<p>It’s also a concept close to the hearts of pastors struggling to convince shrinking memberships to tithe at consistent and increasing levels. Individual giving to either charity or church must become a way of life, not a one-and-done deal, experts on philanthropy and tithing say.</p>
<p>“Tithing should not be seen as a goal Christians seek to live up to and then stop,”&#160; <a href="http://www.thecolumbiapartnership.org/" type="external">George Bullard</a>, a church consultant and president of the Columbia Partnership.</p>
<p />
<p>Tithing is a beginning point for Christian response to the grace of God, Bullard added via e-mail to Baptist News Global.</p>
<p>“Generosity as an act of gratitude really begins to take shape once the foundational concept of tithing has been achieved,” he said.</p>
<p>At Baylor, scholar <a href="http://www.baylor.edu/political_science/index.php?id=84602" type="external">Andy Hogue</a> has focused on philanthropy and generosity —&#160;and he’s been sharing that message with students in his in his “Philanthropy and the Public Good” course.</p>
<p>“One of the things we’ve talked about a lot in the course with 21- and 22-year-olds, who have very limited incomes themselves, is what does generosity mean? What does it mean to be a generous person?” said Hogue, a lecturer in political science and director of Baylor’s Civic Education and Community Service Program.</p>
<p>“Whatever our station, however much money or resources we have, we all have something to share and something to give,” Hogue said. “I like the idea of thinking in terms of a New Year’s resolution, sort of resolving to be more generous and helping people to think in those ways.”</p>
<p>Hogue offers four ways individuals and families can develop a spirit of generosity in the New Year.</p>
<p>•&#160;Generosity starts with gratitude. “That is the very first step, just being grateful for what we have, but also realizing that to those given much, much is expected, and to begin thinking about not possessing things but stewarding things,” Hogue said. “Think of the many things we have that might benefit others, whether that is our time, our talents or our finances. Being able to think in those ways leads us down the path toward generosity and toward sharing.”</p>
<p>•&#160;Generosity is more than just a transaction. “Think of philanthropy, generosity and giving as more than writing a check,” he said. “Think of it as something that can be transformative and realize that there is no such thing as an unhappy generous person.”</p>
<p>•&#160;Generosity is a muscle you have to exercise. “If we can’t give of ourselves when we have limited means, what makes us expect that we would do it when we have more means?” Hogue said. “We all, in some way, are privileged and blessed and have resources that can be put to use for the benefit of someone else.”</p>
<p>•&#160;Generosity can be creative. There are inspired ways to give birthday or Christmas gifts in honor of a family member or friend that bring about a beautiful thing Hogue likes to call the “philanthropy of collaboration.”</p>
<p>“Imagine the many things that come together in this one simple act: you, the giver, are enriched by the series of events you set into motion while the person you honor with the gift appreciates your generosity and imagination. The beneficiary of the gift then takes your offering to enrich the lives of others,” Hogue said.</p>
<p />
<p>&#160;It is, however, important to take cues from the person you honor and give a gift in support of the causes they hold dear.</p>
<p>“You can go the traditional route —&#160;make a donation and give the person a piece of paper (acknowledging the gift) —&#160;or there are amazing web-based resources that can help people make very impactful gifts even with limited amounts,” Hogue said. “You give five dollars and with the magic of the Internet, the gift can go towards fighting disease in Africa, providing books for teacher’s classroom or buying someone in a poor country a goat or a cow or a pig that can be a source of generating income.”</p>
<p>Hogue taught 30 students in&#160; <a href="http://www.baylor.edu/mediacommunications/news.php?action=story&amp;story=150213" type="external">Baylor’s inaugural Philanthropy Lab</a>&#160;course in the fall in which students studied the history and philosophy of giving back while also directing $100,000 in real money to deserving local nonprofit organizations.</p>
<p>The primary goal of&#160;The Philanthropy Lab, a project of the Fort Worth-based Once Upon a Time Foundation, is to ignite students’ interest and participation in philanthropy, encouraging thoughtful giving by providing funds to university philanthropy courses and enabling students to evaluate nonprofit organizations and award grants.</p> | Experts say gratitude generates the generosity needed for sustained giving | false | https://baptistnews.com/article/experts-say-gratitude-generates-the-generosity-for-giving/ | 3left-center
| Experts say gratitude generates the generosity needed for sustained giving
<p>By Lori Fogelman and Jeff Brumley</p>
<p>A Baylor University professor has been&#160; <a href="http://www.baylor.edu/mediacommunications/news.php?action=story&amp;story=150379&amp;_buref=1172-91940" type="external">preaching a message</a> some may consider radical in American society —&#160;even during the holidays: generosity.</p>
<p>It’s also a concept close to the hearts of pastors struggling to convince shrinking memberships to tithe at consistent and increasing levels. Individual giving to either charity or church must become a way of life, not a one-and-done deal, experts on philanthropy and tithing say.</p>
<p>“Tithing should not be seen as a goal Christians seek to live up to and then stop,”&#160; <a href="http://www.thecolumbiapartnership.org/" type="external">George Bullard</a>, a church consultant and president of the Columbia Partnership.</p>
<p />
<p>Tithing is a beginning point for Christian response to the grace of God, Bullard added via e-mail to Baptist News Global.</p>
<p>“Generosity as an act of gratitude really begins to take shape once the foundational concept of tithing has been achieved,” he said.</p>
<p>At Baylor, scholar <a href="http://www.baylor.edu/political_science/index.php?id=84602" type="external">Andy Hogue</a> has focused on philanthropy and generosity —&#160;and he’s been sharing that message with students in his in his “Philanthropy and the Public Good” course.</p>
<p>“One of the things we’ve talked about a lot in the course with 21- and 22-year-olds, who have very limited incomes themselves, is what does generosity mean? What does it mean to be a generous person?” said Hogue, a lecturer in political science and director of Baylor’s Civic Education and Community Service Program.</p>
<p>“Whatever our station, however much money or resources we have, we all have something to share and something to give,” Hogue said. “I like the idea of thinking in terms of a New Year’s resolution, sort of resolving to be more generous and helping people to think in those ways.”</p>
<p>Hogue offers four ways individuals and families can develop a spirit of generosity in the New Year.</p>
<p>•&#160;Generosity starts with gratitude. “That is the very first step, just being grateful for what we have, but also realizing that to those given much, much is expected, and to begin thinking about not possessing things but stewarding things,” Hogue said. “Think of the many things we have that might benefit others, whether that is our time, our talents or our finances. Being able to think in those ways leads us down the path toward generosity and toward sharing.”</p>
<p>•&#160;Generosity is more than just a transaction. “Think of philanthropy, generosity and giving as more than writing a check,” he said. “Think of it as something that can be transformative and realize that there is no such thing as an unhappy generous person.”</p>
<p>•&#160;Generosity is a muscle you have to exercise. “If we can’t give of ourselves when we have limited means, what makes us expect that we would do it when we have more means?” Hogue said. “We all, in some way, are privileged and blessed and have resources that can be put to use for the benefit of someone else.”</p>
<p>•&#160;Generosity can be creative. There are inspired ways to give birthday or Christmas gifts in honor of a family member or friend that bring about a beautiful thing Hogue likes to call the “philanthropy of collaboration.”</p>
<p>“Imagine the many things that come together in this one simple act: you, the giver, are enriched by the series of events you set into motion while the person you honor with the gift appreciates your generosity and imagination. The beneficiary of the gift then takes your offering to enrich the lives of others,” Hogue said.</p>
<p />
<p>&#160;It is, however, important to take cues from the person you honor and give a gift in support of the causes they hold dear.</p>
<p>“You can go the traditional route —&#160;make a donation and give the person a piece of paper (acknowledging the gift) —&#160;or there are amazing web-based resources that can help people make very impactful gifts even with limited amounts,” Hogue said. “You give five dollars and with the magic of the Internet, the gift can go towards fighting disease in Africa, providing books for teacher’s classroom or buying someone in a poor country a goat or a cow or a pig that can be a source of generating income.”</p>
<p>Hogue taught 30 students in&#160; <a href="http://www.baylor.edu/mediacommunications/news.php?action=story&amp;story=150213" type="external">Baylor’s inaugural Philanthropy Lab</a>&#160;course in the fall in which students studied the history and philosophy of giving back while also directing $100,000 in real money to deserving local nonprofit organizations.</p>
<p>The primary goal of&#160;The Philanthropy Lab, a project of the Fort Worth-based Once Upon a Time Foundation, is to ignite students’ interest and participation in philanthropy, encouraging thoughtful giving by providing funds to university philanthropy courses and enabling students to evaluate nonprofit organizations and award grants.</p> | 3,308 |
|
<p />
<p />
<p>The city of Delhi has earned the title of the rape capital of the nation, this is because of the formidable acts that are committed against the young ones.</p>
<p />
<p>In a city where sexual assault and rape against women of all ages appears to be normal, the perpetrators of this acts have decided to step up their efforts. They're now assaulting minor boys.</p>
<p />
<p>The authorities busted two individuals on Sunday from a group of 10 that was accused of inhumanly torturing two Delhi boys aged 13 years and 15 years, they then forced the boys to sexually assault each other while the accused filmed the entire incident in west Delhi.</p>
<p />
<p>Delhi Police Special Commissioner, and Chief PRO Dependra Pathak said that an FIR had been filed against 10 persons under the Indian Penal Code on charges of unnatural sex and other offences, and under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.</p>
<p />
<p>One of the accused, identified as Kanwar Singh, summoned the 13-year-old on October 26, they alleged that the boy had committed theft in Singh's home. Kanwar was in the company of other men with whom they beat up the boy with leather belts and held him hostage. However, they did not admit to theft, the accused called in his 15-year-old friend, and both the boys were forced to strip naked.</p>
<p />
<p>The perpetrators tortured the young boys for more than 5 hours, they applyied petrol and chilli powder to their private parts, burning them with cigarettes and forcing them to perform sexual acts on each other. In the meantime, they were busy filming the entire process, the accused threatened to leak the video if the police were informed of the crime.</p>
<p />
<p>The heinous crime was unveiled on Saturday when the video footage recorded by the accused went viral on social media and the boys' families approached the police. The two boys are friends and live with their families in the Metro Vihar area of Holambi Kalan.</p>
<p />
<p>Source: <a href="http://www.newsworldindia.in/national/shocking-minor-delhi-boys-forced-to-sexually-assault-each-other/279633/" type="external">newsworldindia.in/national/shocking-minor-delhi-boys-forced-to-sexually-assault-each-other/279633</a></p> | Evil: Two Minor Delhi Boys Forced To Sexually Assault Each Other While They're Filmed | true | http://thegoldwater.com/news/11244-Evil-Two-Minor-Delhi-Boys-Forced-To-Sexually-Assault-Each-Other-While-They-re-Filmed | 2017-11-06 | 0right
| Evil: Two Minor Delhi Boys Forced To Sexually Assault Each Other While They're Filmed
<p />
<p />
<p>The city of Delhi has earned the title of the rape capital of the nation, this is because of the formidable acts that are committed against the young ones.</p>
<p />
<p>In a city where sexual assault and rape against women of all ages appears to be normal, the perpetrators of this acts have decided to step up their efforts. They're now assaulting minor boys.</p>
<p />
<p>The authorities busted two individuals on Sunday from a group of 10 that was accused of inhumanly torturing two Delhi boys aged 13 years and 15 years, they then forced the boys to sexually assault each other while the accused filmed the entire incident in west Delhi.</p>
<p />
<p>Delhi Police Special Commissioner, and Chief PRO Dependra Pathak said that an FIR had been filed against 10 persons under the Indian Penal Code on charges of unnatural sex and other offences, and under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.</p>
<p />
<p>One of the accused, identified as Kanwar Singh, summoned the 13-year-old on October 26, they alleged that the boy had committed theft in Singh's home. Kanwar was in the company of other men with whom they beat up the boy with leather belts and held him hostage. However, they did not admit to theft, the accused called in his 15-year-old friend, and both the boys were forced to strip naked.</p>
<p />
<p>The perpetrators tortured the young boys for more than 5 hours, they applyied petrol and chilli powder to their private parts, burning them with cigarettes and forcing them to perform sexual acts on each other. In the meantime, they were busy filming the entire process, the accused threatened to leak the video if the police were informed of the crime.</p>
<p />
<p>The heinous crime was unveiled on Saturday when the video footage recorded by the accused went viral on social media and the boys' families approached the police. The two boys are friends and live with their families in the Metro Vihar area of Holambi Kalan.</p>
<p />
<p>Source: <a href="http://www.newsworldindia.in/national/shocking-minor-delhi-boys-forced-to-sexually-assault-each-other/279633/" type="external">newsworldindia.in/national/shocking-minor-delhi-boys-forced-to-sexually-assault-each-other/279633</a></p> | 3,309 |
<p>Now that the Arab Spring has been turned into a totally owned subsidiary of the Saudi royal family, it is time to honor Prince Bandar bin Sultan as the most effective Machiavellian politician of the modern era. How slick for this head of the Saudi Intelligence Agency to finance the Egyptian military’s crushing of that nation’s first-ever democratic election while being the main source of arms for pro-al-Qaida insurgents in Syria.</p>
<p>Just consider that a mere 12 years ago, this same Bandar was a beleaguered Saudi ambassador in Washington, a post he held from 1983 to 2005, attempting to explain his nation’s connection to 15 Saudi nationals who had somehow secured legal documents to enter the U.S. and succeeded in hijacking planes that blew up the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. How awkward given that the Saudi ambassador had been advocating that U.S. officials go easy on the Taliban government in Afghanistan, where those attacks incubated.</p>
<p>The ties between Saudi Arabia and the alleged al-Qaida terrorist attacks were manifest. The terrorists were followers of the Saudi-financed branch of Wahhabi Islam and their top leader, Osama bin Laden, was a scion of one of the most powerful families in the Saudi kingdom, which, along with the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan, had been the only three nations in the world to recognize the legitimacy of the Taliban government in Afghanistan that provided sanctuary to al-Qaida. Yet Bandar had no difficulty arranging safe passage out of Washington for many Saudis, including members of the bin Laden family that U.S. intelligence agents might have wanted to interrogate instead of escorting them to safety back in the kingdom.</p>
<p>But the U.S. war on terror quickly took a marvelous turn from the point of view of the Saudi monarchy. Instead of focusing on those who attacked us and their religious and financial ties to the Saudi royal family, the U.S. began a mad hunt to destroy those who had absolutely nothing to do with the assaults of 9/11.</p>
<p />
<p>Saddam Hussein in Iraq came quickly to mind, even though he had brutally crushed the al-Qaida efforts in his own country. But Hussein had earlier made the mistake of attacking the oil sheikdom of Kuwait, an acquiescent ally of the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. Suddenly, a second war against Iraq was in order. The result was to vastly increase the power of Iran in Iraq and the region, but mistakes happen.</p>
<p>Now Iran is once again firmly established as the main enemy of freedom, despite the annoying fact that the Shiite leadership had nothing to do with those 9/11 attacks. And even though many of the folks attempting to overthrow the government in Syria are sympathetic to al-Qaida, the Assad government’s connection with Iran trumps that concern for U.S. hawks. The Saudis have the wherewithal to buy our very expensive war toys; need we say more?</p>
<p>It is now time for the Saudi Spring, and as The Wall Street Journal on Sunday detailed the monarchy’s well-financed effort to shape the region’s politics to its liking, “… Saudi Arabia’s efforts in Syria are just one sign of its broader effort to expand its regional influence. The Saudis also have been outspoken supporters of the Egyptian military in its drive to squelch the Muslim Brotherhood, backing that up with big chunks of cash.”</p>
<p>That big chunk of cash, $12 billion from the UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, is not aimed at stopping terrorism, if by that we mean the sort of attacks associated with 9/11 and al-Qaida. As the Journal story reminded, “A generation ago, Prince Bandar, in a role foreshadowing his current one on behalf of Syrian opposition, helped the CIA arm the Afghan rebels who were resisting occupation by Soviet troops.” That’s how the Saudi bin Laden came to be in Afghanistan. Earlier, Bandar had been involved in the CIA’s effort to deliver arms from Iran to the Contras in Nicaragua.</p>
<p>Can you imagine the blowback from the prince’s current efforts to get the United States to once again meddle madly in a region that we don’t care to comprehend? Why not ask Republican Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham who, according to the Journal, met with Bandar in September to urge the Saudis to provide the Syrian rebels with more potent weapons.</p>
<p>Or ask Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the Democratic chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, who was among those courted by Bandar. As the Journal described the Saudi junket by members of the congressional intelligence committees, “They [the Saudis] arranged a trip for committee leaders to Riyadh, where Prince Bandar laid out the Saudi strategy. It was a reunion of sorts, officials said, with Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) warmly scolding Prince Bandar about his smoking.”</p>
<p>How cozy. Perhaps next time they buddy up, the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee can find time to chide the prince about his consistently bad advice to Americans on fighting terrorism.</p> | The Prince: Meet the Man Who Co-Opted Democracy in the Middle East | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/the-prince-meet-the-man-who-co-opted-democracy-in-the-middle-east/ | 2013-08-27 | 4left
| The Prince: Meet the Man Who Co-Opted Democracy in the Middle East
<p>Now that the Arab Spring has been turned into a totally owned subsidiary of the Saudi royal family, it is time to honor Prince Bandar bin Sultan as the most effective Machiavellian politician of the modern era. How slick for this head of the Saudi Intelligence Agency to finance the Egyptian military’s crushing of that nation’s first-ever democratic election while being the main source of arms for pro-al-Qaida insurgents in Syria.</p>
<p>Just consider that a mere 12 years ago, this same Bandar was a beleaguered Saudi ambassador in Washington, a post he held from 1983 to 2005, attempting to explain his nation’s connection to 15 Saudi nationals who had somehow secured legal documents to enter the U.S. and succeeded in hijacking planes that blew up the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. How awkward given that the Saudi ambassador had been advocating that U.S. officials go easy on the Taliban government in Afghanistan, where those attacks incubated.</p>
<p>The ties between Saudi Arabia and the alleged al-Qaida terrorist attacks were manifest. The terrorists were followers of the Saudi-financed branch of Wahhabi Islam and their top leader, Osama bin Laden, was a scion of one of the most powerful families in the Saudi kingdom, which, along with the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan, had been the only three nations in the world to recognize the legitimacy of the Taliban government in Afghanistan that provided sanctuary to al-Qaida. Yet Bandar had no difficulty arranging safe passage out of Washington for many Saudis, including members of the bin Laden family that U.S. intelligence agents might have wanted to interrogate instead of escorting them to safety back in the kingdom.</p>
<p>But the U.S. war on terror quickly took a marvelous turn from the point of view of the Saudi monarchy. Instead of focusing on those who attacked us and their religious and financial ties to the Saudi royal family, the U.S. began a mad hunt to destroy those who had absolutely nothing to do with the assaults of 9/11.</p>
<p />
<p>Saddam Hussein in Iraq came quickly to mind, even though he had brutally crushed the al-Qaida efforts in his own country. But Hussein had earlier made the mistake of attacking the oil sheikdom of Kuwait, an acquiescent ally of the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. Suddenly, a second war against Iraq was in order. The result was to vastly increase the power of Iran in Iraq and the region, but mistakes happen.</p>
<p>Now Iran is once again firmly established as the main enemy of freedom, despite the annoying fact that the Shiite leadership had nothing to do with those 9/11 attacks. And even though many of the folks attempting to overthrow the government in Syria are sympathetic to al-Qaida, the Assad government’s connection with Iran trumps that concern for U.S. hawks. The Saudis have the wherewithal to buy our very expensive war toys; need we say more?</p>
<p>It is now time for the Saudi Spring, and as The Wall Street Journal on Sunday detailed the monarchy’s well-financed effort to shape the region’s politics to its liking, “… Saudi Arabia’s efforts in Syria are just one sign of its broader effort to expand its regional influence. The Saudis also have been outspoken supporters of the Egyptian military in its drive to squelch the Muslim Brotherhood, backing that up with big chunks of cash.”</p>
<p>That big chunk of cash, $12 billion from the UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, is not aimed at stopping terrorism, if by that we mean the sort of attacks associated with 9/11 and al-Qaida. As the Journal story reminded, “A generation ago, Prince Bandar, in a role foreshadowing his current one on behalf of Syrian opposition, helped the CIA arm the Afghan rebels who were resisting occupation by Soviet troops.” That’s how the Saudi bin Laden came to be in Afghanistan. Earlier, Bandar had been involved in the CIA’s effort to deliver arms from Iran to the Contras in Nicaragua.</p>
<p>Can you imagine the blowback from the prince’s current efforts to get the United States to once again meddle madly in a region that we don’t care to comprehend? Why not ask Republican Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham who, according to the Journal, met with Bandar in September to urge the Saudis to provide the Syrian rebels with more potent weapons.</p>
<p>Or ask Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the Democratic chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, who was among those courted by Bandar. As the Journal described the Saudi junket by members of the congressional intelligence committees, “They [the Saudis] arranged a trip for committee leaders to Riyadh, where Prince Bandar laid out the Saudi strategy. It was a reunion of sorts, officials said, with Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) warmly scolding Prince Bandar about his smoking.”</p>
<p>How cozy. Perhaps next time they buddy up, the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee can find time to chide the prince about his consistently bad advice to Americans on fighting terrorism.</p> | 3,310 |
<p>On Tuesday, Shiite militias in Iraq collectively pledged to fight any US soldier that steps foot on the country’s soil. The ideologically-aligned patchwork of paramilitary groups operate as Shiite Iran’s puppets, manufactured and financed on Tehran’s assembly line of proxy holy warriors. Unfortunately, the United States is indirectly allied with these very same Iranian-backed armed groups in its fight against ISIS, providing aerial support and tactical backing to men that want to slaughter American services members.</p>
<p>"We will chase and fight any American force deployed in Iraq," <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/2015/12/01/us-mideast-crisis-usa-iraq-idUSKBN0TK5KQ20151201#IkTIeumX8rmEb2KW.97" type="external">announced</a>Jafaar Hussaini, spokesman for Shiite militia, Kata'ib Hezbollah. “Any such American force will become a primary target for our group. We fought them before and we are ready to resume fighting."</p>
<p>Iran’s elite Quds commanders stationed in Baghdad train and dispatch Shiite forces to fight Sunni-Salafist ISIS, a strategy Barack Obama has been implicitly encouraging since the nuclear deal. ”President Barack Obama’s administration is scrambling to bolster Iraqi forces against the Islamic State and may, grudgingly, embrace Shiite militias at the risk of further inflaming sectarian tensions,” <a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/06/03/u-s-shiite-fighters-in-iraq-are-a-necessary-if-unlikely-ally/" type="external">notes</a> Foreign Policy’s David Kenner.</p>
<p>Obama is hedging his bets on a larger Shiite sphere of influence, condoning Iranian imperialistic expansionism and pulling back US assets in Iraq. While the president claims to be an avid reader, he must not be well versed in the Western canon: selling your soul to the devil is never free.</p>
<p>The White House’s desperation to secure a nuclear deal with Iran has exacerbated intra-religious violence, leading to unimaginable bloodshed. By indirectly allying with Iran in the fight against ISIS, the Obama administration has poured gasoline on the sectarian flames of Baghdad.</p>
<p>“Washington’s response to the Islamic State’s (IS) advance, however, has been disgraceful: The United States is now acting as the <a href="http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-02-03/exclusive-iran-s-militias-are-taking-over-iraq-s-army" type="external">air force</a>, the <a href="http://dsca.mil/tags/iraq" type="external">armory</a>, and the <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/katie-couric--john-kerry-interview-213218299.html" type="external">diplomatic cover</a> for Iraqi militias that are committing some of the worst human rights abuses on the planet,” <a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/02/19/irans-shiite-militias-are-running-amok-in-iraq/" type="external">writes</a> Ali Khedery in Foreign Policy. “These are “allies” that are actually beholden to our strategic foe, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and which often resort to the same vile tactics as the Islamic State itself.”</p>
<p>Shiite saber-rattling comes as the Obama administration plans to send more troops in Iraq. According to Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, this “expeditionary group” of about 50 elite operatives will purportedly advise Iraqi soldiers. Currently, 3,500 US military personnel are stationed in the war-torn country.</p>
<p>While the Obama administration plays word games, using euphemisms like “advisory roles” instead of the self-evident reality of boots on the ground, US armed service members are assigned to work with an ostensibly-hostile and fragmented Iraqi military. By all accounts, the Iraqi government in Baghdad is corrupt; its military suffers the same fate, strung together by nothing more than nepotism and sectarian allegiance. "The Iraqi government is hopelessly sectarian, corrupt, and generally unfit to govern what could be one of the world’s most prosperous nations," asserts Khedery. The post-Bush era, ushered by the messianic tides of Obama’s cult of personality, will be known for its irreparable foreign policy failures.</p>
<p>“Since assuming office in 2009, President Barack Obama and his national security team have turned a blind eye toward the growing crisis in Iraq. They seem to have simply hoped that Bush’s ‘dumb war,’ as Obama once <a href="https://www.google.ae/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=1&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=0CBwQFjAA&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.npr.org%2Ftemplates%2Fstory%2Fstory.php%3FstoryId%3D99591469&amp;ei=GXDYVN2eGuPR7QaRq4CgAg&amp;usg=AFQjCNHst6vlGj3lpKNFpFz_MbU-s51FMg&amp;sig2=NFWXQNhKGbNcI4sVQ2vkwA&amp;bvm=bv.85464276,d.ZGU" type="external">described</a> it, would not distract them from a domestic-driven agenda,” argues Khedery. “Even as the cancer at the heart of the Iraqi government metastasized, senior American officials ignored the countless classified and open sources implicating the Iraqi government in theft, torture, rape, and ethnic cleansing — insisting that the country remained on the right track.”</p>
<p>Despite the growing humanitarian crisis in Iraq, Obama continued to support the Shiite-partisan regime in Baghdad, stoking the fire of sectarian tensions and enabling Shiite-revenge attacks against Sunni tribal sectors. The president double-down on his trust-Iran strategy when he reached out to the powerful Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, obsequiously asking him to intervene on behalf of the United States and placate concerns about a deteriorating civic infrastructure. Notably, al-Sistani is a major power player in Iranian politics. Obama’s conciliatory gesture reinforced the White House’s misguided trust in the ability of Iran to stabilize Iraq.</p>
<p>"We will chase and fight any American force deployed in Iraq ... Any such American force will become a primary target for our group. We fought them before and we are ready to resume fighting."</p>
<p>Jafaar Hussaini, spokesman for Shiite militia, Kata'ib Hezbollah.</p>
<p>The rabbit’s hole goes so deep that the US military and Iranian-backed Shiite armed militias now share a military base in Iraq. “The U.S. military and Iranian-backed Shiite militias are getting closer and closer in Iraq...while Iran uses those militias to expand its influence in Iraq and fight alongside the Bashar al-Assad regime in neighboring Syria,” <a href="http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-06-22/iran-s-forces-and-u-s-share-a-base-in-iraq" type="external">reports</a> Bloomberg. “Two senior administration officials confirmed to us that U.S. soldiers and Shiite militia groups are both using the Taqqadum military base in Anbar, the same Iraqi base where President Obama [sent] an additional 450 U.S. military personnel to help train the local forces fighting against the Islamic State. Some of the Iran-backed Shiite militias at the base have killed American soldiers in the past.”</p>
<p>Whether it’s ignorance, incompetence, or neglect on the part of the Obama administration is unclear, but US soldiers are being placed in harm’s way, forced to work with Iranian-armed commandos for the sake of Obama’s poorly tabulated geopolitical calculus. Quite plainly, Iran is not a stabilizing force; ceding territory to the Shiite powerhouse means seeing murals of Ayatollah Khamenei and Iranian flags drape the streets of Baghdad in the following years.</p>
<p>“The administration’s cumulative mistakes have played a decisive role in advancing Iraq’s implosion, the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/22/syria-iraq-incubators-isis-jihad" type="external">IS’s rise</a>, and Iran’s regional hegemony,” explains Khedery. “From the time that Obama took office until today, violence in Iraq has spiked nearly fourfold from the post-surge lows in 2009 — reaching <a href="https://www.iraqbodycount.org/database/" type="external">levels not seen</a> since the height of the civil war in 2006 and 2007. The Islamic State has conquered more than a third of the country while the Iraqi military imploded, despite a <a href="http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-iraq-army-20141103-story.html" type="external">$25 billion investment</a> in it by American taxpayers.”</p> | Obama Says The Iranians Are Our Friends. Iranian-Backed Militias Now Vow to Kill Americans in Iraq. Oops. | true | https://dailywire.com/news/1542/obama-says-iranians-are-our-friends-iranian-backed-joshua-yasmeh | 2015-12-02 | 0right
| Obama Says The Iranians Are Our Friends. Iranian-Backed Militias Now Vow to Kill Americans in Iraq. Oops.
<p>On Tuesday, Shiite militias in Iraq collectively pledged to fight any US soldier that steps foot on the country’s soil. The ideologically-aligned patchwork of paramilitary groups operate as Shiite Iran’s puppets, manufactured and financed on Tehran’s assembly line of proxy holy warriors. Unfortunately, the United States is indirectly allied with these very same Iranian-backed armed groups in its fight against ISIS, providing aerial support and tactical backing to men that want to slaughter American services members.</p>
<p>"We will chase and fight any American force deployed in Iraq," <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/2015/12/01/us-mideast-crisis-usa-iraq-idUSKBN0TK5KQ20151201#IkTIeumX8rmEb2KW.97" type="external">announced</a>Jafaar Hussaini, spokesman for Shiite militia, Kata'ib Hezbollah. “Any such American force will become a primary target for our group. We fought them before and we are ready to resume fighting."</p>
<p>Iran’s elite Quds commanders stationed in Baghdad train and dispatch Shiite forces to fight Sunni-Salafist ISIS, a strategy Barack Obama has been implicitly encouraging since the nuclear deal. ”President Barack Obama’s administration is scrambling to bolster Iraqi forces against the Islamic State and may, grudgingly, embrace Shiite militias at the risk of further inflaming sectarian tensions,” <a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/06/03/u-s-shiite-fighters-in-iraq-are-a-necessary-if-unlikely-ally/" type="external">notes</a> Foreign Policy’s David Kenner.</p>
<p>Obama is hedging his bets on a larger Shiite sphere of influence, condoning Iranian imperialistic expansionism and pulling back US assets in Iraq. While the president claims to be an avid reader, he must not be well versed in the Western canon: selling your soul to the devil is never free.</p>
<p>The White House’s desperation to secure a nuclear deal with Iran has exacerbated intra-religious violence, leading to unimaginable bloodshed. By indirectly allying with Iran in the fight against ISIS, the Obama administration has poured gasoline on the sectarian flames of Baghdad.</p>
<p>“Washington’s response to the Islamic State’s (IS) advance, however, has been disgraceful: The United States is now acting as the <a href="http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-02-03/exclusive-iran-s-militias-are-taking-over-iraq-s-army" type="external">air force</a>, the <a href="http://dsca.mil/tags/iraq" type="external">armory</a>, and the <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/katie-couric--john-kerry-interview-213218299.html" type="external">diplomatic cover</a> for Iraqi militias that are committing some of the worst human rights abuses on the planet,” <a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/02/19/irans-shiite-militias-are-running-amok-in-iraq/" type="external">writes</a> Ali Khedery in Foreign Policy. “These are “allies” that are actually beholden to our strategic foe, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and which often resort to the same vile tactics as the Islamic State itself.”</p>
<p>Shiite saber-rattling comes as the Obama administration plans to send more troops in Iraq. According to Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, this “expeditionary group” of about 50 elite operatives will purportedly advise Iraqi soldiers. Currently, 3,500 US military personnel are stationed in the war-torn country.</p>
<p>While the Obama administration plays word games, using euphemisms like “advisory roles” instead of the self-evident reality of boots on the ground, US armed service members are assigned to work with an ostensibly-hostile and fragmented Iraqi military. By all accounts, the Iraqi government in Baghdad is corrupt; its military suffers the same fate, strung together by nothing more than nepotism and sectarian allegiance. "The Iraqi government is hopelessly sectarian, corrupt, and generally unfit to govern what could be one of the world’s most prosperous nations," asserts Khedery. The post-Bush era, ushered by the messianic tides of Obama’s cult of personality, will be known for its irreparable foreign policy failures.</p>
<p>“Since assuming office in 2009, President Barack Obama and his national security team have turned a blind eye toward the growing crisis in Iraq. They seem to have simply hoped that Bush’s ‘dumb war,’ as Obama once <a href="https://www.google.ae/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=1&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=0CBwQFjAA&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.npr.org%2Ftemplates%2Fstory%2Fstory.php%3FstoryId%3D99591469&amp;ei=GXDYVN2eGuPR7QaRq4CgAg&amp;usg=AFQjCNHst6vlGj3lpKNFpFz_MbU-s51FMg&amp;sig2=NFWXQNhKGbNcI4sVQ2vkwA&amp;bvm=bv.85464276,d.ZGU" type="external">described</a> it, would not distract them from a domestic-driven agenda,” argues Khedery. “Even as the cancer at the heart of the Iraqi government metastasized, senior American officials ignored the countless classified and open sources implicating the Iraqi government in theft, torture, rape, and ethnic cleansing — insisting that the country remained on the right track.”</p>
<p>Despite the growing humanitarian crisis in Iraq, Obama continued to support the Shiite-partisan regime in Baghdad, stoking the fire of sectarian tensions and enabling Shiite-revenge attacks against Sunni tribal sectors. The president double-down on his trust-Iran strategy when he reached out to the powerful Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, obsequiously asking him to intervene on behalf of the United States and placate concerns about a deteriorating civic infrastructure. Notably, al-Sistani is a major power player in Iranian politics. Obama’s conciliatory gesture reinforced the White House’s misguided trust in the ability of Iran to stabilize Iraq.</p>
<p>"We will chase and fight any American force deployed in Iraq ... Any such American force will become a primary target for our group. We fought them before and we are ready to resume fighting."</p>
<p>Jafaar Hussaini, spokesman for Shiite militia, Kata'ib Hezbollah.</p>
<p>The rabbit’s hole goes so deep that the US military and Iranian-backed Shiite armed militias now share a military base in Iraq. “The U.S. military and Iranian-backed Shiite militias are getting closer and closer in Iraq...while Iran uses those militias to expand its influence in Iraq and fight alongside the Bashar al-Assad regime in neighboring Syria,” <a href="http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-06-22/iran-s-forces-and-u-s-share-a-base-in-iraq" type="external">reports</a> Bloomberg. “Two senior administration officials confirmed to us that U.S. soldiers and Shiite militia groups are both using the Taqqadum military base in Anbar, the same Iraqi base where President Obama [sent] an additional 450 U.S. military personnel to help train the local forces fighting against the Islamic State. Some of the Iran-backed Shiite militias at the base have killed American soldiers in the past.”</p>
<p>Whether it’s ignorance, incompetence, or neglect on the part of the Obama administration is unclear, but US soldiers are being placed in harm’s way, forced to work with Iranian-armed commandos for the sake of Obama’s poorly tabulated geopolitical calculus. Quite plainly, Iran is not a stabilizing force; ceding territory to the Shiite powerhouse means seeing murals of Ayatollah Khamenei and Iranian flags drape the streets of Baghdad in the following years.</p>
<p>“The administration’s cumulative mistakes have played a decisive role in advancing Iraq’s implosion, the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/22/syria-iraq-incubators-isis-jihad" type="external">IS’s rise</a>, and Iran’s regional hegemony,” explains Khedery. “From the time that Obama took office until today, violence in Iraq has spiked nearly fourfold from the post-surge lows in 2009 — reaching <a href="https://www.iraqbodycount.org/database/" type="external">levels not seen</a> since the height of the civil war in 2006 and 2007. The Islamic State has conquered more than a third of the country while the Iraqi military imploded, despite a <a href="http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-iraq-army-20141103-story.html" type="external">$25 billion investment</a> in it by American taxpayers.”</p> | 3,311 |
<p>MELBOURNE, Australia--Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. (FMG.AU) has tapped finance chief Elizabeth Gaines to lead the iron-ore company, taking over from outgoing Chief Executive Nev Power.</p>
<p>Ms. Gaines, a director of the Australian company since 2013, took on the role of chief financial officer in February, about seven months before Mr. Power announced plans to retire early next year after seven years as CEO.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Fortescue has flagged a more aggressive dividend payout for shareholders even as it continues to chip away at debt, although in recent months it has struggled with steeper-than-anticipated discounts for the grades of iron ore it ships to China from its operations in Australia's western Pilbara region.</p>
<p>Ms. Gaines will be the third CEO of Fortescue since it was founded in 2003 by now Chairman Andrew Forrest as a challenger to larger Australian rivals Rio Tinto PLC (RIO.LN) and BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP.AU). In recent years, it has focused on cutting debt built up by developing mines, a rail network and port facilities that have positioned it as the world's fourth-largest exporter of the steel-making ingredient. More recently, the company said it had begun exploring for other resources that could broaden its focus.</p>
<p>In a statement, Ms. Gaines said she was "privileged and humbled" to be chosen as the company's next CEO.</p>
<p>With her appointment, Mr. Forrest said current corporate finance manager Ian Wells would be promoted to chief financial officer. Julie Shuttleworth, general manager of Fortescue's Solomon mining operation, would take on the new role of deputy CEO and director of operations. Greg Lilleyman will become chief operating officer.</p>
<p>"Elizabeth will lead an organization where every person seeks advice from their immediate principal as opposed to industry accepted management method of upwards unilateral authority," Mr. Forrest said, adding that directors would be called on to step in on an occasional and part-time capacity to help drive Fortescue's product diversification and asset development.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Mr. Power earlier this year said he would step down in February, initially to spend more time with his family.</p>
<p>Write to Robb M. Stewart at [email protected]</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>November 29, 2017 20:57 ET (01:57 GMT)</p> | Fortescue Promotes Chief Financial Officer to CEO Role | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/11/29/fortescue-promotes-chief-financial-officer-to-ceo-role.html | 2017-11-29 | 0right
| Fortescue Promotes Chief Financial Officer to CEO Role
<p>MELBOURNE, Australia--Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. (FMG.AU) has tapped finance chief Elizabeth Gaines to lead the iron-ore company, taking over from outgoing Chief Executive Nev Power.</p>
<p>Ms. Gaines, a director of the Australian company since 2013, took on the role of chief financial officer in February, about seven months before Mr. Power announced plans to retire early next year after seven years as CEO.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Fortescue has flagged a more aggressive dividend payout for shareholders even as it continues to chip away at debt, although in recent months it has struggled with steeper-than-anticipated discounts for the grades of iron ore it ships to China from its operations in Australia's western Pilbara region.</p>
<p>Ms. Gaines will be the third CEO of Fortescue since it was founded in 2003 by now Chairman Andrew Forrest as a challenger to larger Australian rivals Rio Tinto PLC (RIO.LN) and BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP.AU). In recent years, it has focused on cutting debt built up by developing mines, a rail network and port facilities that have positioned it as the world's fourth-largest exporter of the steel-making ingredient. More recently, the company said it had begun exploring for other resources that could broaden its focus.</p>
<p>In a statement, Ms. Gaines said she was "privileged and humbled" to be chosen as the company's next CEO.</p>
<p>With her appointment, Mr. Forrest said current corporate finance manager Ian Wells would be promoted to chief financial officer. Julie Shuttleworth, general manager of Fortescue's Solomon mining operation, would take on the new role of deputy CEO and director of operations. Greg Lilleyman will become chief operating officer.</p>
<p>"Elizabeth will lead an organization where every person seeks advice from their immediate principal as opposed to industry accepted management method of upwards unilateral authority," Mr. Forrest said, adding that directors would be called on to step in on an occasional and part-time capacity to help drive Fortescue's product diversification and asset development.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Mr. Power earlier this year said he would step down in February, initially to spend more time with his family.</p>
<p>Write to Robb M. Stewart at [email protected]</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>November 29, 2017 20:57 ET (01:57 GMT)</p> | 3,312 |
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<p>KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Redskins and Chiefs stood for a moment of silence before the national anthem, and flags flew at half-staff over Arrowhead Stadium, to honor victims of the Las Vegas shooting before Monday night’s game between Washington and Kansas City.</p>
<p>Members of the Redskins remained standing on their sideline, arms locked in unity, as the Kansas City Symphony performed the anthem. Everybody on the Chiefs sideline also remained standing except for cornerback Marcus Peters and linebacker Ukeme Eligwe, who sat stoically on the bench.</p>
<p>Chiefs linebacker Justin Houston knelt in prayer before standing for the rest of the rendition.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“Our hearts and prayers go out to the people of Las Vegas,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “That’s a tough deal, kind of overrides the football part of it, but we were thinking about you.”</p>
<p>Dozens of players and teams took to social media earlier in the day to express condolences to those affected by the tragedy. The Chiefs joined in the outpouring, tweeting that “Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and all those affected by the tragedy in Las Vegas.”</p>
<p>The deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history Sunday night left at least 59 concertgoers dead and more than 500 injured. It also caused ESPN, which broadcasts Monday night games, to reverse its plans and show the national anthem on television before the game.</p>
<p>ESPN shows the anthem on rare occasions, such as the season’s first Monday night game, which fell on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But after it aired the anthem before last week’s Cowboys-Cardinals game following league-wide protests among players, spurred on by the critical comments of President Trump, it had planned to skip its broadcast Monday night.</p>
<p>The electricity inside Arrowhead Stadium was evident even during warmups, when the Chiefs’ Terrance Mitchell and Redskins cornerback Josh Norman were among those involved in a brief scuffle at midfield.</p>
<p>Three members of the Army’s special operations parachute demonstration team, the Black Daggers, dropped into the stadium about 30 minutes before kickoff, while All-Star catcher Salvador Perez of the Kansas City Royals banged the ceremonial drum in the end zone a few minutes later.</p>
<p>But it was the moment of silence that brought everything into perspective.</p>
<p>Authorities were still searching for a motive behind the shooting at a country music concert in Las Vegas, where a crowd of 22,000 was watching Jason Aldean perform. The gunman, identified as 64-year-old Stephen Paddock, killed himself before officers stormed his hotel room at the Mandalay Bay.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The big screens at each end of Arrowhead Stadium displayed a black-and-white picture of the Las Vegas skyline, and the simple words: “Pray for Las Vegas.”</p>
<p>“Your heart goes out for these people,” Reid said. “For one crazy person doing what he did, it’s ridiculous. But it happened. And there’s a lot of people that have to deal with this. It’s a sad deal.”</p>
<p>When the anthem played, the Redskins continued their practice of locking arms that they started last week against Oakland. But this time, rather than some taking a knee, they all stood at attention.</p>
<p>The Redskins said in a statement they are “proud of the players, coaches and fans of the Washington Redskins for all that they have done to improve the lives of others in neighborhoods all across our region. We are also grateful for the sacrifices made by the brave men and women of our armed forces that have provided us the freedom to play football.”</p>
<p>Many members of the Chiefs also took a knee before last week’s game against the Chargers, including tight end Travis Kelce and wide receiver Chris Conley, both of whom stood Monday night.</p>
<p>“It’s never really been about the military of veterans,” Conley said this earlier week. “Guys are continuing to have a dialogue and discussion, and that’s the beautiful thing about a locker room, and what we want to take out there, is that people may not agree. They can talk about things. And ultimately we can talk about things as brothers, and we support each other.”</p>
<p>Asked if there was any kind of show planned for Monday night, he replied: “Oh, there’s definitely going to be a show. The Kansas City Chiefs are playing the Washington Redskins.”</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>For more NFL coverage: <a href="http://www.pro32.ap.org" type="external">http://www.pro32.ap.org</a> and <a href="http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL" type="external">http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL</a></p> | Tribute to Vegas shooting victims before Redskins-Chiefs | false | https://abqjournal.com/1072340/tribute-to-vegas-shooting-victims-before-redskins-chiefs.html | 2017-10-02 | 2least
| Tribute to Vegas shooting victims before Redskins-Chiefs
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Redskins and Chiefs stood for a moment of silence before the national anthem, and flags flew at half-staff over Arrowhead Stadium, to honor victims of the Las Vegas shooting before Monday night’s game between Washington and Kansas City.</p>
<p>Members of the Redskins remained standing on their sideline, arms locked in unity, as the Kansas City Symphony performed the anthem. Everybody on the Chiefs sideline also remained standing except for cornerback Marcus Peters and linebacker Ukeme Eligwe, who sat stoically on the bench.</p>
<p>Chiefs linebacker Justin Houston knelt in prayer before standing for the rest of the rendition.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“Our hearts and prayers go out to the people of Las Vegas,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “That’s a tough deal, kind of overrides the football part of it, but we were thinking about you.”</p>
<p>Dozens of players and teams took to social media earlier in the day to express condolences to those affected by the tragedy. The Chiefs joined in the outpouring, tweeting that “Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and all those affected by the tragedy in Las Vegas.”</p>
<p>The deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history Sunday night left at least 59 concertgoers dead and more than 500 injured. It also caused ESPN, which broadcasts Monday night games, to reverse its plans and show the national anthem on television before the game.</p>
<p>ESPN shows the anthem on rare occasions, such as the season’s first Monday night game, which fell on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But after it aired the anthem before last week’s Cowboys-Cardinals game following league-wide protests among players, spurred on by the critical comments of President Trump, it had planned to skip its broadcast Monday night.</p>
<p>The electricity inside Arrowhead Stadium was evident even during warmups, when the Chiefs’ Terrance Mitchell and Redskins cornerback Josh Norman were among those involved in a brief scuffle at midfield.</p>
<p>Three members of the Army’s special operations parachute demonstration team, the Black Daggers, dropped into the stadium about 30 minutes before kickoff, while All-Star catcher Salvador Perez of the Kansas City Royals banged the ceremonial drum in the end zone a few minutes later.</p>
<p>But it was the moment of silence that brought everything into perspective.</p>
<p>Authorities were still searching for a motive behind the shooting at a country music concert in Las Vegas, where a crowd of 22,000 was watching Jason Aldean perform. The gunman, identified as 64-year-old Stephen Paddock, killed himself before officers stormed his hotel room at the Mandalay Bay.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The big screens at each end of Arrowhead Stadium displayed a black-and-white picture of the Las Vegas skyline, and the simple words: “Pray for Las Vegas.”</p>
<p>“Your heart goes out for these people,” Reid said. “For one crazy person doing what he did, it’s ridiculous. But it happened. And there’s a lot of people that have to deal with this. It’s a sad deal.”</p>
<p>When the anthem played, the Redskins continued their practice of locking arms that they started last week against Oakland. But this time, rather than some taking a knee, they all stood at attention.</p>
<p>The Redskins said in a statement they are “proud of the players, coaches and fans of the Washington Redskins for all that they have done to improve the lives of others in neighborhoods all across our region. We are also grateful for the sacrifices made by the brave men and women of our armed forces that have provided us the freedom to play football.”</p>
<p>Many members of the Chiefs also took a knee before last week’s game against the Chargers, including tight end Travis Kelce and wide receiver Chris Conley, both of whom stood Monday night.</p>
<p>“It’s never really been about the military of veterans,” Conley said this earlier week. “Guys are continuing to have a dialogue and discussion, and that’s the beautiful thing about a locker room, and what we want to take out there, is that people may not agree. They can talk about things. And ultimately we can talk about things as brothers, and we support each other.”</p>
<p>Asked if there was any kind of show planned for Monday night, he replied: “Oh, there’s definitely going to be a show. The Kansas City Chiefs are playing the Washington Redskins.”</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>For more NFL coverage: <a href="http://www.pro32.ap.org" type="external">http://www.pro32.ap.org</a> and <a href="http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL" type="external">http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL</a></p> | 3,313 |
<p>SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Asian stock markets were lower on Thursday after Wall Street posted its first loss this year. Reports that China may slow its purchases of U.S. government bonds weighed on investor sentiment.</p>
<p>KEEPING SCORE: Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.3 percent to 23,707.31 and South Korea's Kospi retreated 0.6 percent to 2,485.75. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dipped 0.1 percent to 31,032.51 while China's Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.5 percent to 3,405.93. Australia's S&amp;P/ASX 200 slumped 0.6 percent to 6,057.10. Most stock markets in Southeast Asia were weaker.</p>
<p>CHINA: A report from Bloomberg News said China is considering slowing or halting its purchases of U.S. Treasurys, which helped push yields higher. The report triggered sell-offs of U.S. government bonds and the yield on the 10-year Treasury reached its highest level since March at one point before pulling back.</p>
<p>ANLAYST'S TAKE: "Justifiably, Beijing's biggest worry is that the value of its U.S. bond holdings will be eroded substantially by rising inflation and supply," Mizuho Bank Ltd. said in a daily commentary. "Doubts about (U.S. bonds) allure should not be overblown as threat of imminent dumping."</p>
<p>JAPAN: Bank of Japan unexpectedly cut its purchases of long-dated Japanese government bonds, sending the Japanese yen higher. Bank of America Merrill Lynch said in a report that the market reaction was "a bit excessive" and perhaps more extreme than expected, highlighting the importance of communication going forward.</p>
<p>WALL STREET: U.S. stocks finished lower on Wednesday. The Standard &amp; Poor's 500 index fell 0.1 percent to 2,748.23. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 0.1 percent to 25,369.13 while the Nasdaq composite fell 0.1 percent to 7,153.57. The Russell 2000 index of small-cap stocks slipped 0.30 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 1,559.80.</p>
<p>CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 111.73 Japanese yen from 111.43 yen. The euro was flat at $1.1948.</p>
<p>OIL: Benchmark U.S. crude lost 3 cents to $63.54 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract added 61 cents to settle at $63.57 per barrel on Wednesday. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 10 cents to $69.10 per barrel in London. It gained 38 cents to $69.20 a barrel on Wednesday.</p>
<p>SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Asian stock markets were lower on Thursday after Wall Street posted its first loss this year. Reports that China may slow its purchases of U.S. government bonds weighed on investor sentiment.</p>
<p>KEEPING SCORE: Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.3 percent to 23,707.31 and South Korea's Kospi retreated 0.6 percent to 2,485.75. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dipped 0.1 percent to 31,032.51 while China's Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.5 percent to 3,405.93. Australia's S&amp;P/ASX 200 slumped 0.6 percent to 6,057.10. Most stock markets in Southeast Asia were weaker.</p>
<p>CHINA: A report from Bloomberg News said China is considering slowing or halting its purchases of U.S. Treasurys, which helped push yields higher. The report triggered sell-offs of U.S. government bonds and the yield on the 10-year Treasury reached its highest level since March at one point before pulling back.</p>
<p>ANLAYST'S TAKE: "Justifiably, Beijing's biggest worry is that the value of its U.S. bond holdings will be eroded substantially by rising inflation and supply," Mizuho Bank Ltd. said in a daily commentary. "Doubts about (U.S. bonds) allure should not be overblown as threat of imminent dumping."</p>
<p>JAPAN: Bank of Japan unexpectedly cut its purchases of long-dated Japanese government bonds, sending the Japanese yen higher. Bank of America Merrill Lynch said in a report that the market reaction was "a bit excessive" and perhaps more extreme than expected, highlighting the importance of communication going forward.</p>
<p>WALL STREET: U.S. stocks finished lower on Wednesday. The Standard &amp; Poor's 500 index fell 0.1 percent to 2,748.23. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 0.1 percent to 25,369.13 while the Nasdaq composite fell 0.1 percent to 7,153.57. The Russell 2000 index of small-cap stocks slipped 0.30 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 1,559.80.</p>
<p>CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 111.73 Japanese yen from 111.43 yen. The euro was flat at $1.1948.</p>
<p>OIL: Benchmark U.S. crude lost 3 cents to $63.54 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract added 61 cents to settle at $63.57 per barrel on Wednesday. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 10 cents to $69.10 per barrel in London. It gained 38 cents to $69.20 a barrel on Wednesday.</p> | Asian shares decline after Wall Street rally fizzles | false | https://apnews.com/amp/3bb651df735a448ca577c63579b355f2 | 2018-01-11 | 2least
| Asian shares decline after Wall Street rally fizzles
<p>SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Asian stock markets were lower on Thursday after Wall Street posted its first loss this year. Reports that China may slow its purchases of U.S. government bonds weighed on investor sentiment.</p>
<p>KEEPING SCORE: Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.3 percent to 23,707.31 and South Korea's Kospi retreated 0.6 percent to 2,485.75. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dipped 0.1 percent to 31,032.51 while China's Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.5 percent to 3,405.93. Australia's S&amp;P/ASX 200 slumped 0.6 percent to 6,057.10. Most stock markets in Southeast Asia were weaker.</p>
<p>CHINA: A report from Bloomberg News said China is considering slowing or halting its purchases of U.S. Treasurys, which helped push yields higher. The report triggered sell-offs of U.S. government bonds and the yield on the 10-year Treasury reached its highest level since March at one point before pulling back.</p>
<p>ANLAYST'S TAKE: "Justifiably, Beijing's biggest worry is that the value of its U.S. bond holdings will be eroded substantially by rising inflation and supply," Mizuho Bank Ltd. said in a daily commentary. "Doubts about (U.S. bonds) allure should not be overblown as threat of imminent dumping."</p>
<p>JAPAN: Bank of Japan unexpectedly cut its purchases of long-dated Japanese government bonds, sending the Japanese yen higher. Bank of America Merrill Lynch said in a report that the market reaction was "a bit excessive" and perhaps more extreme than expected, highlighting the importance of communication going forward.</p>
<p>WALL STREET: U.S. stocks finished lower on Wednesday. The Standard &amp; Poor's 500 index fell 0.1 percent to 2,748.23. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 0.1 percent to 25,369.13 while the Nasdaq composite fell 0.1 percent to 7,153.57. The Russell 2000 index of small-cap stocks slipped 0.30 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 1,559.80.</p>
<p>CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 111.73 Japanese yen from 111.43 yen. The euro was flat at $1.1948.</p>
<p>OIL: Benchmark U.S. crude lost 3 cents to $63.54 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract added 61 cents to settle at $63.57 per barrel on Wednesday. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 10 cents to $69.10 per barrel in London. It gained 38 cents to $69.20 a barrel on Wednesday.</p>
<p>SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Asian stock markets were lower on Thursday after Wall Street posted its first loss this year. Reports that China may slow its purchases of U.S. government bonds weighed on investor sentiment.</p>
<p>KEEPING SCORE: Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.3 percent to 23,707.31 and South Korea's Kospi retreated 0.6 percent to 2,485.75. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dipped 0.1 percent to 31,032.51 while China's Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.5 percent to 3,405.93. Australia's S&amp;P/ASX 200 slumped 0.6 percent to 6,057.10. Most stock markets in Southeast Asia were weaker.</p>
<p>CHINA: A report from Bloomberg News said China is considering slowing or halting its purchases of U.S. Treasurys, which helped push yields higher. The report triggered sell-offs of U.S. government bonds and the yield on the 10-year Treasury reached its highest level since March at one point before pulling back.</p>
<p>ANLAYST'S TAKE: "Justifiably, Beijing's biggest worry is that the value of its U.S. bond holdings will be eroded substantially by rising inflation and supply," Mizuho Bank Ltd. said in a daily commentary. "Doubts about (U.S. bonds) allure should not be overblown as threat of imminent dumping."</p>
<p>JAPAN: Bank of Japan unexpectedly cut its purchases of long-dated Japanese government bonds, sending the Japanese yen higher. Bank of America Merrill Lynch said in a report that the market reaction was "a bit excessive" and perhaps more extreme than expected, highlighting the importance of communication going forward.</p>
<p>WALL STREET: U.S. stocks finished lower on Wednesday. The Standard &amp; Poor's 500 index fell 0.1 percent to 2,748.23. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 0.1 percent to 25,369.13 while the Nasdaq composite fell 0.1 percent to 7,153.57. The Russell 2000 index of small-cap stocks slipped 0.30 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 1,559.80.</p>
<p>CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 111.73 Japanese yen from 111.43 yen. The euro was flat at $1.1948.</p>
<p>OIL: Benchmark U.S. crude lost 3 cents to $63.54 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract added 61 cents to settle at $63.57 per barrel on Wednesday. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 10 cents to $69.10 per barrel in London. It gained 38 cents to $69.20 a barrel on Wednesday.</p> | 3,314 |
<p>In her first major public appearance since coming out as transgender, Caitlyn Jenner used her acceptance speech for the ESPY's Arthur Ashe Courage Award to talk about her life as an athlete and a transgendered woman.</p>
<p />
<p>But many transgender athletes have been making waves long before Jenner. Here's a look at five others who've broken down cultural barriers over the years.</p>
<p />
<p>Focus On Sport/ Getty Images</p>
<p>Renee Richards was a tennis player who underwent sex reassignment surgery in 1975. The United States Tennis Association denied her entry into the 1976 US Open, but she fought the ban and in 1977, the NY Supreme Court ruled in her favor. She also coached Martina Navratilova to two Wimbledon victories. In her 2007 autobiography, Richards expressed regret over the type of fame that came with her transsexuality — but did not regret transitioning gender. She was inducted into the National Gay and Lesbian Sports Hall of Fame in 2013.</p>
<p />
<p>Handout</p>
<p>American Samoa soccer player Jaiyah Saeula (born Johnny Saeula) was the world's first transgender national soccer player to compete in a men’s FIFA World Cup qualifying match in 2011. She identifies as Fa'afafine, a person in traditional Samoan culture born biologically male but embodying both masculine and feminine gender traits. In <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2015/06/an-open-letter-from-a-samoan-caitlyn--jaiyah-saelua.php" type="external">an open letter</a> to her Samoan community, Saeula wrote last month about the Fa'afafine and the need to promote understanding and support for transgender people everywhere.</p>
<p>"A million transgender women can be visible in their societies and it truly helps when those women are well-known (ie: Janet Mock, Lavern Cox, Carmen Carrera, Caitlyn Jenner), but change comes from society members who do not understand or tolerate. They are the target," she wrote.</p>
<p />
<p>LET Access Series</p>
<p>Danish golfer Mianne Bagger had gender-reassignment surgery in 1995, and became the second transgender woman ever to be accepted into a professional sporting competition, preceded only by tennis great Renee Richards. In 2004 the Ladies European Tour voted to allow Bagger to compete on the tour, a result of her hard lobbying for gender diversity in sports. Prior to Caitlyn Jenner’s coming out, many saw Bagger as the most prominent transgender athlete in professional sports.</p>
<p />
<p>Paul Rodriguez/ Orange County Register</p>
<p>Chloe Anderson plays women's volleyball at Santa Ana College in California. She began transitioning from male to female at 19 after years of struggling with her life as a gender that never felt right. Hormone treatments wreaked havoc on her body during the first six months. In an interview with The Orange County Register, Anderson addressed the backlash she's received from some female college athletes.</p>
<p>“People who say male-to-female trans athletes have a physical advantage have never taken hormones. It’s one thing to learn about it in biology class but another thing to live it."</p>
<p />
<p>YouTube</p>
<p>In 2013, after a string of successful fights, Fallon Fox was forced to come out publicly after a reporter indicated he knew she was trans. In an <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/feb/16/fallon-fox-trans-mma-athlete-interview" type="external">interview with the Guardian</a> earlier this year, Fox spoke openly about the discrimination she’s faced as a transgender athlete, including allegations from other fighters that she has an undue advantage in the MMA fighting circuit as a male to female transgendered person, <a href="http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2013/05/24/should-a-former-man-be-able-to-fight-women/" type="external">despite doctors assertions</a> to the contrary.</p> | Five trans athletes who made their mark before Caitlyn Jenner | false | https://pri.org/stories/2015-07-17/five-trans-athletes-who-made-their-mark-caitlyn-jenner | 2015-07-17 | 3left-center
| Five trans athletes who made their mark before Caitlyn Jenner
<p>In her first major public appearance since coming out as transgender, Caitlyn Jenner used her acceptance speech for the ESPY's Arthur Ashe Courage Award to talk about her life as an athlete and a transgendered woman.</p>
<p />
<p>But many transgender athletes have been making waves long before Jenner. Here's a look at five others who've broken down cultural barriers over the years.</p>
<p />
<p>Focus On Sport/ Getty Images</p>
<p>Renee Richards was a tennis player who underwent sex reassignment surgery in 1975. The United States Tennis Association denied her entry into the 1976 US Open, but she fought the ban and in 1977, the NY Supreme Court ruled in her favor. She also coached Martina Navratilova to two Wimbledon victories. In her 2007 autobiography, Richards expressed regret over the type of fame that came with her transsexuality — but did not regret transitioning gender. She was inducted into the National Gay and Lesbian Sports Hall of Fame in 2013.</p>
<p />
<p>Handout</p>
<p>American Samoa soccer player Jaiyah Saeula (born Johnny Saeula) was the world's first transgender national soccer player to compete in a men’s FIFA World Cup qualifying match in 2011. She identifies as Fa'afafine, a person in traditional Samoan culture born biologically male but embodying both masculine and feminine gender traits. In <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2015/06/an-open-letter-from-a-samoan-caitlyn--jaiyah-saelua.php" type="external">an open letter</a> to her Samoan community, Saeula wrote last month about the Fa'afafine and the need to promote understanding and support for transgender people everywhere.</p>
<p>"A million transgender women can be visible in their societies and it truly helps when those women are well-known (ie: Janet Mock, Lavern Cox, Carmen Carrera, Caitlyn Jenner), but change comes from society members who do not understand or tolerate. They are the target," she wrote.</p>
<p />
<p>LET Access Series</p>
<p>Danish golfer Mianne Bagger had gender-reassignment surgery in 1995, and became the second transgender woman ever to be accepted into a professional sporting competition, preceded only by tennis great Renee Richards. In 2004 the Ladies European Tour voted to allow Bagger to compete on the tour, a result of her hard lobbying for gender diversity in sports. Prior to Caitlyn Jenner’s coming out, many saw Bagger as the most prominent transgender athlete in professional sports.</p>
<p />
<p>Paul Rodriguez/ Orange County Register</p>
<p>Chloe Anderson plays women's volleyball at Santa Ana College in California. She began transitioning from male to female at 19 after years of struggling with her life as a gender that never felt right. Hormone treatments wreaked havoc on her body during the first six months. In an interview with The Orange County Register, Anderson addressed the backlash she's received from some female college athletes.</p>
<p>“People who say male-to-female trans athletes have a physical advantage have never taken hormones. It’s one thing to learn about it in biology class but another thing to live it."</p>
<p />
<p>YouTube</p>
<p>In 2013, after a string of successful fights, Fallon Fox was forced to come out publicly after a reporter indicated he knew she was trans. In an <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/feb/16/fallon-fox-trans-mma-athlete-interview" type="external">interview with the Guardian</a> earlier this year, Fox spoke openly about the discrimination she’s faced as a transgender athlete, including allegations from other fighters that she has an undue advantage in the MMA fighting circuit as a male to female transgendered person, <a href="http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2013/05/24/should-a-former-man-be-able-to-fight-women/" type="external">despite doctors assertions</a> to the contrary.</p> | 3,315 |
<p>By Tim Radford, Climate News NetworkThis piece first appeared at <a href="http://www.climatenewsnetwork.net/2013/11/deep-oceans-may-be-storing-heat/" type="external">Climate News Network</a>.</p>
<p>LONDON - Far below the surface, the waters of south-east Asia are heating up. A region of the Pacific is now warming at least 15 times faster than at any time in the last 10,000 years. If this finding - so far limited to the depths where the Pacific and Indian Oceans wash into each other - is true for the blue planet as a whole, then the questions of climate change take on a new urgency.</p>
<p>Yair Rosenthal of Rutgers University in New Brunswick and colleagues from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University in New York, and at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, report in the journal Science that deep ocean warming could right now be taking much of the heat that meteorologists had expected to find in the atmosphere.</p>
<p>In the last few years, even though greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere have gone up, the rate of increase in global average temperatures has slowed and there is evidence that much of the expected heat is being absorbed by the oceans and carried beneath the surface.</p>
<p />
<p>Record in shells</p>
<p>But records of ocean temperatures are patchy, and in any case date back only half a century. Rosenthal and his colleagues decided that they could reliably calculate a pattern of temperature changes by looking at a record of deposition through time.</p>
<p>One little single-celled organism called Hyalinea balthica has evolved to live only at depths of 500 to 1,000 metres. H.balthica makes a microscopic shell, and when it dies, this shell falls to the ocean bottom. It takes the ingredients for the shell from the elements dissolved in the water around it, and the chemical mix available varies with temperature: the warmer the water, the greater the ratio of magnesium to calcium - and this difference is then recorded in the surviving shell.</p>
<p>So the marine sediments around Indonesia preserve a thermal record of changes with time. The scientists studied ocean cores to "read" a pattern of climate change over the last 10,000 years, since the end of the Ice Age. The readings from the sediments mirror a series of already-known climate shifts - a very warm spell at the end of the Ice Age, a "medieval warm period" when vineyards flourished in Britain, and a "Little Ice Age" when rivers like the Thames of London routinely froze.</p>
<p>So equipped with a reliable guide to change the scientists were able to make sense of the changes in the last 60 years. And they found that ocean temperatures, at such depths, had warmed 15 times faster in the last 60 years that they did during the natural warming cycles of the last 10,000.</p>
<p>The research is incomplete, and its chief value may be in helping to improve the models used by climate scientists. But the implication is that the heat that should be registered in the atmosphere is now being absorbed by the deep oceans.</p>
<p>No cause for complacency</p>
<p>This does not mean that climate scientists can stop worrying about global warming. "We may have underestimated the efficiency of the oceans as a storehouse for heat and energy," Rosenthal said. "It may buy us some time - how much time I don't really know - to come to terms with climate change. But it's not going to stop climate change."</p>
<p>His colleague Braddock Linsley of Lamont-Doherty said: "Our work showed that the intermediate waters in the Pacific had been cooling steadily from about 10,000 years ago. This places the recent warming of the Pacific intermediate waters in temporal context. The trend has now reversed in a big way and the deep ocean is warming."</p>
<p /> | Deep Oceans May Be Storing Heat | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/deep-oceans-may-be-storing-heat/ | 2013-11-24 | 4left
| Deep Oceans May Be Storing Heat
<p>By Tim Radford, Climate News NetworkThis piece first appeared at <a href="http://www.climatenewsnetwork.net/2013/11/deep-oceans-may-be-storing-heat/" type="external">Climate News Network</a>.</p>
<p>LONDON - Far below the surface, the waters of south-east Asia are heating up. A region of the Pacific is now warming at least 15 times faster than at any time in the last 10,000 years. If this finding - so far limited to the depths where the Pacific and Indian Oceans wash into each other - is true for the blue planet as a whole, then the questions of climate change take on a new urgency.</p>
<p>Yair Rosenthal of Rutgers University in New Brunswick and colleagues from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University in New York, and at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, report in the journal Science that deep ocean warming could right now be taking much of the heat that meteorologists had expected to find in the atmosphere.</p>
<p>In the last few years, even though greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere have gone up, the rate of increase in global average temperatures has slowed and there is evidence that much of the expected heat is being absorbed by the oceans and carried beneath the surface.</p>
<p />
<p>Record in shells</p>
<p>But records of ocean temperatures are patchy, and in any case date back only half a century. Rosenthal and his colleagues decided that they could reliably calculate a pattern of temperature changes by looking at a record of deposition through time.</p>
<p>One little single-celled organism called Hyalinea balthica has evolved to live only at depths of 500 to 1,000 metres. H.balthica makes a microscopic shell, and when it dies, this shell falls to the ocean bottom. It takes the ingredients for the shell from the elements dissolved in the water around it, and the chemical mix available varies with temperature: the warmer the water, the greater the ratio of magnesium to calcium - and this difference is then recorded in the surviving shell.</p>
<p>So the marine sediments around Indonesia preserve a thermal record of changes with time. The scientists studied ocean cores to "read" a pattern of climate change over the last 10,000 years, since the end of the Ice Age. The readings from the sediments mirror a series of already-known climate shifts - a very warm spell at the end of the Ice Age, a "medieval warm period" when vineyards flourished in Britain, and a "Little Ice Age" when rivers like the Thames of London routinely froze.</p>
<p>So equipped with a reliable guide to change the scientists were able to make sense of the changes in the last 60 years. And they found that ocean temperatures, at such depths, had warmed 15 times faster in the last 60 years that they did during the natural warming cycles of the last 10,000.</p>
<p>The research is incomplete, and its chief value may be in helping to improve the models used by climate scientists. But the implication is that the heat that should be registered in the atmosphere is now being absorbed by the deep oceans.</p>
<p>No cause for complacency</p>
<p>This does not mean that climate scientists can stop worrying about global warming. "We may have underestimated the efficiency of the oceans as a storehouse for heat and energy," Rosenthal said. "It may buy us some time - how much time I don't really know - to come to terms with climate change. But it's not going to stop climate change."</p>
<p>His colleague Braddock Linsley of Lamont-Doherty said: "Our work showed that the intermediate waters in the Pacific had been cooling steadily from about 10,000 years ago. This places the recent warming of the Pacific intermediate waters in temporal context. The trend has now reversed in a big way and the deep ocean is warming."</p>
<p /> | 3,316 |
<p />
<p>It’s getting harder and harder to deny the fact that Barack Obama spied on Donald Trump and his campaign.</p>
<p>The latest revelations that former National Security Advisor Susan Rice ordered the unmasking of Trump officials and family members sent shockwaves through the political world.</p>
<p>And the end result could be jail time.</p>
<p>Journalist Mike Cernovich broke the story that Susan Rice was the Obama official behind the unmasking of Trump officials caught up in surveillance.</p>
<p>Normally, Americans are supposed to have their identities concealed when intelligence agencies report the contents of intercepted calls.</p>
<p>But high ranking officials – which would include the National Security Advisor – have the ability to unmask Americans if there is intelligence value.</p>
<p>Now one expert argues Rice may have broken the law.</p>
<p>Writing on LawNewz, Robert Barnes argues Rice could face criminal prosecution for the unmasking of Trump officials.</p>
<p>He writes:</p>
<p>“The law imposes criminal sanctions on government officials who “engage in electronic surveillance under color of law except as authorized” by statutes and governing regulations implementing those statutes. This same criminal law makes a person “guilty of an offense” if she intentionally “discloses or uses information obtained under color of law by electronic surveillance, knowing or having reason to know that the information was obtained” in a manner “not authorized” by law. Notably, the law enforcement defense is limited to “law enforcement or investigative officer” cleared to do so by a search warrant or court order. The crime imposes a term of imprisonment up to sixty months in a federal prison. The point of the law criminalizing rogue agents either intercepting Americans’ conversations illicitly or unmasking they identities illegally is to protect against rogue government agents from abusing the most powerful surveillance means ever developed to invade the free speech, free thought, free expression and intimate privacy rights of all Americans.“</p>
<p>While Rice could order unmasking if the information had possessed foreign intelligence value, was that the case here?</p>
<p>Barnes argues her decision could have been criminal:</p>
<p>“Some defenders of Rice suggests she could label anything she wanted of “foreign intelligence value,” under the implementing regulatory protocols and thereby label it “foreign intelligence information” under the statute. The law is not so broad. Instead, the statute requires “foreign intelligence information” be “necessary to” the “conduct” of “foreign affairs” and to the person’s position, and further employs a more limiting specific definition in the regulations in USSID for warrant-less seizures, as necessary to make it constitutional under the 4th Amendment. That definition is limited to criminal conduct type behavior, or its security equivalent. That is why the regulatory protocols give specific “examples of the type of information that meet this standard” of “foreign intelligence value.” What are those examples? Criminal-type behavior or imminent security risks. Why those restrictions? Because that makes it conform to the First and Fourth Amendment limitations on the intercept of Americans’ private political conversations. The examples are not prohibitive of like conduct being included, but it must be like conduct — e.g., criminal-type behavior or imminent-safety risk.&#160; Why? So it can be constitutional under the 4th Amendment, because the act of unmasking is an act of invading Americans’ privacy, covered by the 4th Amendment, and political speech in private is a right protected by the First Amendment.&#160; This is the biggest mistake the Obama defenders have been making, and reflects their lack of understanding of the law’s Constitutional context and legislative history. Put most simply, neither the 1st Amendment nor the 4th Amendment has a “talking to foreigners” exception.”</p>
<p>Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton agreed.</p>
<p>He said in an interview that she – and anyone who helped her – face serious legal problems.</p>
<p />
<p>This scandal is getting more serious by the day.</p>
<p>With each new revelation, it’s becoming harder for the media to deny that Obama spied on Trump and that his administration illegally leaked the contents of intercepted calls for political gain.</p>
<p>Susan Rice may just be the tip of the iceberg.</p>
<p>We will keep you updated on any new developments in this story.</p> | This Obama Scandal Just Got Way More Serious | true | http://conservativerevival.com/latest-news/this-obama-scandal-just-got-way-more-serious/ | 0right
| This Obama Scandal Just Got Way More Serious
<p />
<p>It’s getting harder and harder to deny the fact that Barack Obama spied on Donald Trump and his campaign.</p>
<p>The latest revelations that former National Security Advisor Susan Rice ordered the unmasking of Trump officials and family members sent shockwaves through the political world.</p>
<p>And the end result could be jail time.</p>
<p>Journalist Mike Cernovich broke the story that Susan Rice was the Obama official behind the unmasking of Trump officials caught up in surveillance.</p>
<p>Normally, Americans are supposed to have their identities concealed when intelligence agencies report the contents of intercepted calls.</p>
<p>But high ranking officials – which would include the National Security Advisor – have the ability to unmask Americans if there is intelligence value.</p>
<p>Now one expert argues Rice may have broken the law.</p>
<p>Writing on LawNewz, Robert Barnes argues Rice could face criminal prosecution for the unmasking of Trump officials.</p>
<p>He writes:</p>
<p>“The law imposes criminal sanctions on government officials who “engage in electronic surveillance under color of law except as authorized” by statutes and governing regulations implementing those statutes. This same criminal law makes a person “guilty of an offense” if she intentionally “discloses or uses information obtained under color of law by electronic surveillance, knowing or having reason to know that the information was obtained” in a manner “not authorized” by law. Notably, the law enforcement defense is limited to “law enforcement or investigative officer” cleared to do so by a search warrant or court order. The crime imposes a term of imprisonment up to sixty months in a federal prison. The point of the law criminalizing rogue agents either intercepting Americans’ conversations illicitly or unmasking they identities illegally is to protect against rogue government agents from abusing the most powerful surveillance means ever developed to invade the free speech, free thought, free expression and intimate privacy rights of all Americans.“</p>
<p>While Rice could order unmasking if the information had possessed foreign intelligence value, was that the case here?</p>
<p>Barnes argues her decision could have been criminal:</p>
<p>“Some defenders of Rice suggests she could label anything she wanted of “foreign intelligence value,” under the implementing regulatory protocols and thereby label it “foreign intelligence information” under the statute. The law is not so broad. Instead, the statute requires “foreign intelligence information” be “necessary to” the “conduct” of “foreign affairs” and to the person’s position, and further employs a more limiting specific definition in the regulations in USSID for warrant-less seizures, as necessary to make it constitutional under the 4th Amendment. That definition is limited to criminal conduct type behavior, or its security equivalent. That is why the regulatory protocols give specific “examples of the type of information that meet this standard” of “foreign intelligence value.” What are those examples? Criminal-type behavior or imminent security risks. Why those restrictions? Because that makes it conform to the First and Fourth Amendment limitations on the intercept of Americans’ private political conversations. The examples are not prohibitive of like conduct being included, but it must be like conduct — e.g., criminal-type behavior or imminent-safety risk.&#160; Why? So it can be constitutional under the 4th Amendment, because the act of unmasking is an act of invading Americans’ privacy, covered by the 4th Amendment, and political speech in private is a right protected by the First Amendment.&#160; This is the biggest mistake the Obama defenders have been making, and reflects their lack of understanding of the law’s Constitutional context and legislative history. Put most simply, neither the 1st Amendment nor the 4th Amendment has a “talking to foreigners” exception.”</p>
<p>Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton agreed.</p>
<p>He said in an interview that she – and anyone who helped her – face serious legal problems.</p>
<p />
<p>This scandal is getting more serious by the day.</p>
<p>With each new revelation, it’s becoming harder for the media to deny that Obama spied on Trump and that his administration illegally leaked the contents of intercepted calls for political gain.</p>
<p>Susan Rice may just be the tip of the iceberg.</p>
<p>We will keep you updated on any new developments in this story.</p> | 3,317 |
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<p />
<p>Today, my company is succeeding, with over 30,000 satisfied customers, six employees and New Mexico’s first manufacturing Certified B Corporation, a new type of business categorization that meets higher standards for social and environmental performance.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, in many ways, my small business is a rare bright spot in an otherwise struggling economy in New Mexico. Our state once ranked among the top 15 states in employment growth over the last 40 years, but as of September of 2014 we ranked 50th, according to the University of New Mexico Bureau of Business and Economic Research.</p>
<p>What’s happening? Money is coursing through the state’s election system, and that system keeps our elected officials continuously focused on raising endless sums of cash for re-election campaigns rather than focused on building a stronger state economy.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Between 2005 and 2012, New Mexico political action committees spent almost $45 million on political campaigns.</p>
<p>In 2013, there were some six lobbyists for every state legislator. All of this money and lobbying contributes to a broken system that makes our elected representatives ever more attentive to a small number of well-connected influencers who have a large enough checkbook to buy special access, and ever less attentive to the many challenges facing everyday New Mexicans.</p>
<p>Legislators are well intentioned, but they’re caught in a bad system. From my experiences in the Roundhouse I know they do listen to constituents, but it’s hard to have an equal voice when corporations fund re-election campaigns, entertain in skyboxes and hire lobbyists to have the legislators’ ear all year round.</p>
<p>As a small-business owner, there is no way I can afford these special services and perks, and most other citizens can’t, either.</p>
<p>Our democracy depends on the founding principle of one person, one vote. But when money calls the shots that foundation is tossed out. Many other New Mexicans agree.</p>
<p>Eighty percent think the impact that large donors have on the outcome of elections is a serious problem.</p>
<p>It’s time we fix this broken system so that legislators can get back to work ensuring a better education system, more high-quality jobs and a booming business environment so more small businesses can thrive. The time is ripe for such fix.</p>
<p>The groundwork has been laid over the past two decades and there is now a real opportunity for reform in New Mexico. That is why I’m supporting the New Mexico Pledge campaign.</p>
<p>A critical part of improving the system is bringing meaningful transparency to elections and to those who influence decisions at the Roundhouse. We can improve disclosure with new technology that makes reporting about election and lobbying activities easier, more transparent and more affordable for the state.</p>
<p>Additionally, the creation of an ethics commission to ensure strict enforcement of ethics and campaign finance laws would give confidence to the public and to those who can help bring jobs to our state that our government isn’t in the business of shady deals.</p>
<p>The longer we wait to bring these common-sense reforms to Santa Fe, the heavier the price everyday New Mexicans will pay for the overwhelming influence of money in politics. And after another quarter of anemic job growth earlier this year we’ve surely paid enough already.</p>
<p>It doesn’t matter if you’re a Democrat, Republican or independent, join me in taking the New Mexico Pledge so we can build a better state government and a better future for our children and grandchildren here in New Mexico.</p>
<p /> | Big money in politics hurts state | false | https://abqjournal.com/482347/big-money-in-politics-hurts-state.html | 2least
| Big money in politics hurts state
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<p />
<p>Today, my company is succeeding, with over 30,000 satisfied customers, six employees and New Mexico’s first manufacturing Certified B Corporation, a new type of business categorization that meets higher standards for social and environmental performance.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, in many ways, my small business is a rare bright spot in an otherwise struggling economy in New Mexico. Our state once ranked among the top 15 states in employment growth over the last 40 years, but as of September of 2014 we ranked 50th, according to the University of New Mexico Bureau of Business and Economic Research.</p>
<p>What’s happening? Money is coursing through the state’s election system, and that system keeps our elected officials continuously focused on raising endless sums of cash for re-election campaigns rather than focused on building a stronger state economy.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Between 2005 and 2012, New Mexico political action committees spent almost $45 million on political campaigns.</p>
<p>In 2013, there were some six lobbyists for every state legislator. All of this money and lobbying contributes to a broken system that makes our elected representatives ever more attentive to a small number of well-connected influencers who have a large enough checkbook to buy special access, and ever less attentive to the many challenges facing everyday New Mexicans.</p>
<p>Legislators are well intentioned, but they’re caught in a bad system. From my experiences in the Roundhouse I know they do listen to constituents, but it’s hard to have an equal voice when corporations fund re-election campaigns, entertain in skyboxes and hire lobbyists to have the legislators’ ear all year round.</p>
<p>As a small-business owner, there is no way I can afford these special services and perks, and most other citizens can’t, either.</p>
<p>Our democracy depends on the founding principle of one person, one vote. But when money calls the shots that foundation is tossed out. Many other New Mexicans agree.</p>
<p>Eighty percent think the impact that large donors have on the outcome of elections is a serious problem.</p>
<p>It’s time we fix this broken system so that legislators can get back to work ensuring a better education system, more high-quality jobs and a booming business environment so more small businesses can thrive. The time is ripe for such fix.</p>
<p>The groundwork has been laid over the past two decades and there is now a real opportunity for reform in New Mexico. That is why I’m supporting the New Mexico Pledge campaign.</p>
<p>A critical part of improving the system is bringing meaningful transparency to elections and to those who influence decisions at the Roundhouse. We can improve disclosure with new technology that makes reporting about election and lobbying activities easier, more transparent and more affordable for the state.</p>
<p>Additionally, the creation of an ethics commission to ensure strict enforcement of ethics and campaign finance laws would give confidence to the public and to those who can help bring jobs to our state that our government isn’t in the business of shady deals.</p>
<p>The longer we wait to bring these common-sense reforms to Santa Fe, the heavier the price everyday New Mexicans will pay for the overwhelming influence of money in politics. And after another quarter of anemic job growth earlier this year we’ve surely paid enough already.</p>
<p>It doesn’t matter if you’re a Democrat, Republican or independent, join me in taking the New Mexico Pledge so we can build a better state government and a better future for our children and grandchildren here in New Mexico.</p>
<p /> | 3,318 |
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<p />
<p>LAS VEGAS, N.M. — A former Robertson High School teacher and coach who was accused of having a sexual relationship with a student has been sentenced to three years of probation.</p>
<p>The Las Vegas Optic reports that Jay Quintana will also have to register as a sex offender for 10 years, a punishment he fought vigorously to avoid.</p>
<p>Quintana had pleaded guilty in June to two counts of criminal sexual penetration by school personnel.</p>
<p>Quintana told the court during his emotional sentencing last week that he took full responsibility for his actions and there was no excuse for his behavior.</p>
<p>Before breaking down, he said he dishonored his family, his profession and his community and he apologized to his victim’s family.</p>
<p>The case became public in 2009 when a 20-year-old woman accused him of having a sexual relationship with her while she was a student.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Last week, the woman said at the sentencing hearing that the relationship began when she was just 14 and a freshman at Robertson, according to the Optic, when Quintana, a golf coach, placed his hand on her thigh.</p>
<p>She said they first had sex on the floor of a storage closet at the school in her sophomore year and that during her junior year, the encounters were happening about once a week. The woman said she ended the relationship in March 2007 when she was 19, after her freshman year in college.</p>
<p>The Optic reported that LeeEtte Quintana, the defendant’s wife, maintained at the hearing that it was the student who pursued her husband. “She was 17, not 14,” Mrs. Quintana said. “She knew what she was doing.”</p>
<p>She added that the student “was trying to steal my husband.”</p>
<p>The victim previously settled civil claims against the Las Vegas City Schools for $375,000.</p> | No Jail For Ex-Teacher In Sex Case | false | https://abqjournal.com/149452/no-jail-for-exteacher-in-sex-case.html | 2012-11-28 | 2least
| No Jail For Ex-Teacher In Sex Case
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<p />
<p>LAS VEGAS, N.M. — A former Robertson High School teacher and coach who was accused of having a sexual relationship with a student has been sentenced to three years of probation.</p>
<p>The Las Vegas Optic reports that Jay Quintana will also have to register as a sex offender for 10 years, a punishment he fought vigorously to avoid.</p>
<p>Quintana had pleaded guilty in June to two counts of criminal sexual penetration by school personnel.</p>
<p>Quintana told the court during his emotional sentencing last week that he took full responsibility for his actions and there was no excuse for his behavior.</p>
<p>Before breaking down, he said he dishonored his family, his profession and his community and he apologized to his victim’s family.</p>
<p>The case became public in 2009 when a 20-year-old woman accused him of having a sexual relationship with her while she was a student.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Last week, the woman said at the sentencing hearing that the relationship began when she was just 14 and a freshman at Robertson, according to the Optic, when Quintana, a golf coach, placed his hand on her thigh.</p>
<p>She said they first had sex on the floor of a storage closet at the school in her sophomore year and that during her junior year, the encounters were happening about once a week. The woman said she ended the relationship in March 2007 when she was 19, after her freshman year in college.</p>
<p>The Optic reported that LeeEtte Quintana, the defendant’s wife, maintained at the hearing that it was the student who pursued her husband. “She was 17, not 14,” Mrs. Quintana said. “She knew what she was doing.”</p>
<p>She added that the student “was trying to steal my husband.”</p>
<p>The victim previously settled civil claims against the Las Vegas City Schools for $375,000.</p> | 3,319 |
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<p />
<p>They say the plan, which was years in the making and is now the subject of more than 20 appeals, is racially biased and threatens their culture and tradition.</p>
<p>Democratic Sen. Phil Griego of San Jose and a handful of residents met Friday with forest officials in Santa Fe to discuss their appeal of the travel management plan.</p>
<p>“This plan is totally unfair to the residents and totally discriminatory,” Griego said. “The plan that they have now put in place, they want to force it down the throats of the people who live there and destroy the cultural tradition of the mesa.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Forest officials denied the claims of discrimination and said the concerns of many groups were considered when crafting the plan, which specifies which roads across the 1.6 million acres of the forest are open to motorcycles, four-wheelers and other vehicles.</p>
<p>The Forest Service held several dozen meetings and received more than 3,000 comments on the plan over the past seven years.</p>
<p>Many of the appeals filed this summer deal with map mistakes, easement issues and environmental concerns.</p>
<p>The appeal filed by Griego and more than a dozen of his constituents argues the forest did not take into account community concerns about safety or effects on ranching, wood gathering and other traditional practices.</p>
<p>On the piñon-and- juniper-dotted mesa southeast of Santa Fe, residents have long complained that irresponsible off-roaders are threatening their livelihood by tearing up the forest they depend on.</p>
<p>Some have photographs of tracks crossing otherwise pristine land. Others have stories about their livestock being chased, fences being cut, earthen stock tanks being used as ramps and windmill piping being disassembled and used for impromptu mud-bog sessions.</p>
<p>In 2008, the state Legislature passed a joint memorial introduced by Griego that requested the Forest Service ensure the protection of rural ways of life while reviewing the travel plan. Griego said he feels as though the Legislature’s wishes were ignored.</p>
<p>Because of the forest’s proximity to New Mexico’s population center, it’s a popular recreation spot.</p>
<p>The four-wheeling community has fought to maintain the decision, arguing that most people use some kind of motor vehicle whether they’re going into the forest to drive ATVs, collect wood, backpack or bird watch.</p>
<p>The plan designates nearly 2,500 miles of trails, roads and areas where vehicles are allowed. On Glorieta Mesa, the plan puts off-limits all illegally created roads but allows all classes of vehicles on the remaining roads.</p>
<p>Mesa residents accuse the Forest Service of turning their community into “a sacrifice zone” for off-roading. They had pushed for only street-legal vehicles to be allowed.</p>
<p>Forest supervisor Maria Garcia said the forest reviewed safety issues as well as natural and cultural resource protection before finalizing the plan. She said it will be up to regional officials to review the appeals.</p>
<p>If the region backs the forest’s decision, Griego vowed to bring it before state lawmakers again, as well as the governor and New Mexico’s congressional delegation.</p> | Forest Plan for Glorieta Mesa Appealed | false | https://abqjournal.com/131043/forest-plan-for-glorieta-mesa-appealed.html | 2012-09-15 | 2least
| Forest Plan for Glorieta Mesa Appealed
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<p />
<p>They say the plan, which was years in the making and is now the subject of more than 20 appeals, is racially biased and threatens their culture and tradition.</p>
<p>Democratic Sen. Phil Griego of San Jose and a handful of residents met Friday with forest officials in Santa Fe to discuss their appeal of the travel management plan.</p>
<p>“This plan is totally unfair to the residents and totally discriminatory,” Griego said. “The plan that they have now put in place, they want to force it down the throats of the people who live there and destroy the cultural tradition of the mesa.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Forest officials denied the claims of discrimination and said the concerns of many groups were considered when crafting the plan, which specifies which roads across the 1.6 million acres of the forest are open to motorcycles, four-wheelers and other vehicles.</p>
<p>The Forest Service held several dozen meetings and received more than 3,000 comments on the plan over the past seven years.</p>
<p>Many of the appeals filed this summer deal with map mistakes, easement issues and environmental concerns.</p>
<p>The appeal filed by Griego and more than a dozen of his constituents argues the forest did not take into account community concerns about safety or effects on ranching, wood gathering and other traditional practices.</p>
<p>On the piñon-and- juniper-dotted mesa southeast of Santa Fe, residents have long complained that irresponsible off-roaders are threatening their livelihood by tearing up the forest they depend on.</p>
<p>Some have photographs of tracks crossing otherwise pristine land. Others have stories about their livestock being chased, fences being cut, earthen stock tanks being used as ramps and windmill piping being disassembled and used for impromptu mud-bog sessions.</p>
<p>In 2008, the state Legislature passed a joint memorial introduced by Griego that requested the Forest Service ensure the protection of rural ways of life while reviewing the travel plan. Griego said he feels as though the Legislature’s wishes were ignored.</p>
<p>Because of the forest’s proximity to New Mexico’s population center, it’s a popular recreation spot.</p>
<p>The four-wheeling community has fought to maintain the decision, arguing that most people use some kind of motor vehicle whether they’re going into the forest to drive ATVs, collect wood, backpack or bird watch.</p>
<p>The plan designates nearly 2,500 miles of trails, roads and areas where vehicles are allowed. On Glorieta Mesa, the plan puts off-limits all illegally created roads but allows all classes of vehicles on the remaining roads.</p>
<p>Mesa residents accuse the Forest Service of turning their community into “a sacrifice zone” for off-roading. They had pushed for only street-legal vehicles to be allowed.</p>
<p>Forest supervisor Maria Garcia said the forest reviewed safety issues as well as natural and cultural resource protection before finalizing the plan. She said it will be up to regional officials to review the appeals.</p>
<p>If the region backs the forest’s decision, Griego vowed to bring it before state lawmakers again, as well as the governor and New Mexico’s congressional delegation.</p> | 3,320 |
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Two of my friends had finally scored. They had been standing outside of the Carter Barron Theater in Washington, DC every evening during that July week in 1975 hoping to find somebody willing to let go of a couple tickets to see Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. It had taken them all week, but they had managed to find tickets to the last show. I had purchased mine weeks earlier after standing in line for most of a night.</p>
<p>Bruce and his band weren’t yet the larger-than-life phenomenon they were to eventually become. Indeed, he could still claim to be the working stiff’s rocker. His lyricswhile always convincingwere still being drawn from the band’s common experiences. These were experiences they shred with their (then) mostly East Coast audiences. The local FM radio station in DC had been playing the single “Born to Run” from the group’s forthcoming album as often as they could all summer. In addition, the station had obtained some acetates of a couple other tunes from the album of the same name and were playing the shit out of them, too. Bruce was about to break loose. He was going national.</p>
<p>That was all unimportant, though. What was important was the music and the words. Springsteen’s lyrics weren’t transcendent or decadent. Unlike the Grateful Dead’s Workingman’s Dead or The Band’s repertoire, his songs weren’t about a land that harkened back to the days of the pioneers. Nor did they tell of an ideal Woodstock Nation like that found in Crosby, Stills, Nash &amp; Young’s Deja Vu and the rest of the Dead’s songbook. They certainly weren’t frivolous like the disco then hustling its way onto the national dance floor nor pseudo-surreal like the progressive rock of Pink Floyd or Yes. No, Bruce sang about lives lived where one knew that when s/he grew up s/he was going to go to work at some shit job just to pay the bills. Either that, or end up in jail trying to avoid such a life.</p>
<p>Still, there was a tinge of hope in the songs on Born To Run. This hope is implicit in the title song. “Baby this town rips the bones from your back,it roars, It’s a death trap, it’s a suicide rap, We gotta get out while we’re young `Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run.” Climb in your car, find a lover, and get on the road. That was the answer. Of course, as the song continues, we discover that “There’s no place left to hide.” This means, of course, that we probably never will get out of the death trap that our destiny has set for us and the best we can do is just run, even if there’s no place to go.</p>
<p>If one recalls, 1975 was the year that the US military lost in Vietnam. The president was Gerald Ford, who was there because he promised to pardon the previous occupier of the White House for all crimes he might have been convicted of. The lie had been exposed for the cheap charade that it was. There was no morality at the top. Even the government’s supporters were admitting what was so obvious to the rest of us. This country was run by a bunch of self-serving crooks that would stop at nothing to keep their power. If this was the case, then what was wrong with running your own hustle, especially if it’s for love? This is exactly the scenario in “Meeting Across the River.” A pair of young wannabe gangsters is hoping to finally make the big score, but only if they don’t screw up like they usually do. Of course, if they screwed up, they would have to answer for it, unlike the guys at the top. Everything on this album is ultimately for love. This is the one true salvation in a world where nothing is as it seems. So jump in.</p>
<p>Such is not the case on Springsteen’s other master work, Born In the USA. Love has run its course by the time this album is through. Desolation and despair are the just as likely results of adolescent hopes and infatuations. Growing older has only made life more desperate. Running has only brought us to an abyss even greater than those we faced back in our years fresh out of high school when the world was falling apart but our lives were still fresh. From the burned-out and bitter Vietnam veteran whose song opens the album to the working class hard luck cases in the songs “Working On the Highway”and “Downbound Train,” running has only brought them closer to the end. There is no hope at the end of the trail, only more running and the back seat of a black-and-white.</p>
<p>Despite the overriding despair, some of the songs still ache for even a trace of hope. Hope in the simple things, like refusing to surrender or something as seemingly silly as changing ones looks. Any hope one finds, however, is based on the slimmest of premises in a world of shadows and liesa world made even more false in the fake morning light of Ronald Reagans presidency. Born In the USA (the album and the song) spell out the shallowness and hypocrisy of 1980s America, whether its in the dead-end life of a veteran of Americas war on the Vietnamese or the dead-end lives of young guys from Manhattan heading to Jersey for the Fourth of July (with one of them ending up handcuffed to the bumper of a state trooper’s Ford.) In an ironic twist, Mr. Reagan actually used the song Born In the USAas a backdrop to a couple of his re-election campaign rallies in New Jersey before Springsteen demanded that he stop. While its not surprising that Reagan’s workers didn’t understand the nuances of the song, the fact of its brief appearance in the Reagan campaign belies that campaign’s very shallowness. (In a similar show of right-wingers not “getting” this song, a group of pro-war students here in Burlington, VT blared the chorus this past winter from their car stereo in a vain attempt to drown out an antiwar rally.)</p>
<p>The last time I saw Springsteen and the E Street band in concert was in September 1985. He was playing a two-night stand in Oakland Coliseum. I had obtained a ticket through pure luck: some friends had found one on the ground as they walked through the Coliseum parking lot from the BART train stop. I happened to cross paths with them and they handed me the ducat. The show rocked from beginning to end. Towards the end of the second set, Springsteen introduced the Woody Guthrie song “This Land Is Your Land” with a request that we leave a couple bucks with the folks in the lobby who were collecting money for the homeless shelters and food banks that were springing up like mushrooms after a rain in Mr. Reagan’s America. Then he told the audience which United States it was that Woody had been writing about when he wrote that tune. In so many words, it wasn’t the America that Mr. Reagan was working for. It is, however, an America that is always there, even in the darkest of times.</p>
<p>RON JACOBS is author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1859841678/counterpunchmaga" type="external">The Way the Wind Blew: a history of the Weather Underground</a>.</p>
<p>He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Springsteen’s America | true | https://counterpunch.org/2003/08/21/springsteen-s-america/ | 2003-08-21 | 4left
| Springsteen’s America
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Two of my friends had finally scored. They had been standing outside of the Carter Barron Theater in Washington, DC every evening during that July week in 1975 hoping to find somebody willing to let go of a couple tickets to see Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. It had taken them all week, but they had managed to find tickets to the last show. I had purchased mine weeks earlier after standing in line for most of a night.</p>
<p>Bruce and his band weren’t yet the larger-than-life phenomenon they were to eventually become. Indeed, he could still claim to be the working stiff’s rocker. His lyricswhile always convincingwere still being drawn from the band’s common experiences. These were experiences they shred with their (then) mostly East Coast audiences. The local FM radio station in DC had been playing the single “Born to Run” from the group’s forthcoming album as often as they could all summer. In addition, the station had obtained some acetates of a couple other tunes from the album of the same name and were playing the shit out of them, too. Bruce was about to break loose. He was going national.</p>
<p>That was all unimportant, though. What was important was the music and the words. Springsteen’s lyrics weren’t transcendent or decadent. Unlike the Grateful Dead’s Workingman’s Dead or The Band’s repertoire, his songs weren’t about a land that harkened back to the days of the pioneers. Nor did they tell of an ideal Woodstock Nation like that found in Crosby, Stills, Nash &amp; Young’s Deja Vu and the rest of the Dead’s songbook. They certainly weren’t frivolous like the disco then hustling its way onto the national dance floor nor pseudo-surreal like the progressive rock of Pink Floyd or Yes. No, Bruce sang about lives lived where one knew that when s/he grew up s/he was going to go to work at some shit job just to pay the bills. Either that, or end up in jail trying to avoid such a life.</p>
<p>Still, there was a tinge of hope in the songs on Born To Run. This hope is implicit in the title song. “Baby this town rips the bones from your back,it roars, It’s a death trap, it’s a suicide rap, We gotta get out while we’re young `Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run.” Climb in your car, find a lover, and get on the road. That was the answer. Of course, as the song continues, we discover that “There’s no place left to hide.” This means, of course, that we probably never will get out of the death trap that our destiny has set for us and the best we can do is just run, even if there’s no place to go.</p>
<p>If one recalls, 1975 was the year that the US military lost in Vietnam. The president was Gerald Ford, who was there because he promised to pardon the previous occupier of the White House for all crimes he might have been convicted of. The lie had been exposed for the cheap charade that it was. There was no morality at the top. Even the government’s supporters were admitting what was so obvious to the rest of us. This country was run by a bunch of self-serving crooks that would stop at nothing to keep their power. If this was the case, then what was wrong with running your own hustle, especially if it’s for love? This is exactly the scenario in “Meeting Across the River.” A pair of young wannabe gangsters is hoping to finally make the big score, but only if they don’t screw up like they usually do. Of course, if they screwed up, they would have to answer for it, unlike the guys at the top. Everything on this album is ultimately for love. This is the one true salvation in a world where nothing is as it seems. So jump in.</p>
<p>Such is not the case on Springsteen’s other master work, Born In the USA. Love has run its course by the time this album is through. Desolation and despair are the just as likely results of adolescent hopes and infatuations. Growing older has only made life more desperate. Running has only brought us to an abyss even greater than those we faced back in our years fresh out of high school when the world was falling apart but our lives were still fresh. From the burned-out and bitter Vietnam veteran whose song opens the album to the working class hard luck cases in the songs “Working On the Highway”and “Downbound Train,” running has only brought them closer to the end. There is no hope at the end of the trail, only more running and the back seat of a black-and-white.</p>
<p>Despite the overriding despair, some of the songs still ache for even a trace of hope. Hope in the simple things, like refusing to surrender or something as seemingly silly as changing ones looks. Any hope one finds, however, is based on the slimmest of premises in a world of shadows and liesa world made even more false in the fake morning light of Ronald Reagans presidency. Born In the USA (the album and the song) spell out the shallowness and hypocrisy of 1980s America, whether its in the dead-end life of a veteran of Americas war on the Vietnamese or the dead-end lives of young guys from Manhattan heading to Jersey for the Fourth of July (with one of them ending up handcuffed to the bumper of a state trooper’s Ford.) In an ironic twist, Mr. Reagan actually used the song Born In the USAas a backdrop to a couple of his re-election campaign rallies in New Jersey before Springsteen demanded that he stop. While its not surprising that Reagan’s workers didn’t understand the nuances of the song, the fact of its brief appearance in the Reagan campaign belies that campaign’s very shallowness. (In a similar show of right-wingers not “getting” this song, a group of pro-war students here in Burlington, VT blared the chorus this past winter from their car stereo in a vain attempt to drown out an antiwar rally.)</p>
<p>The last time I saw Springsteen and the E Street band in concert was in September 1985. He was playing a two-night stand in Oakland Coliseum. I had obtained a ticket through pure luck: some friends had found one on the ground as they walked through the Coliseum parking lot from the BART train stop. I happened to cross paths with them and they handed me the ducat. The show rocked from beginning to end. Towards the end of the second set, Springsteen introduced the Woody Guthrie song “This Land Is Your Land” with a request that we leave a couple bucks with the folks in the lobby who were collecting money for the homeless shelters and food banks that were springing up like mushrooms after a rain in Mr. Reagan’s America. Then he told the audience which United States it was that Woody had been writing about when he wrote that tune. In so many words, it wasn’t the America that Mr. Reagan was working for. It is, however, an America that is always there, even in the darkest of times.</p>
<p>RON JACOBS is author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1859841678/counterpunchmaga" type="external">The Way the Wind Blew: a history of the Weather Underground</a>.</p>
<p>He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p> | 3,321 |
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>For states that have decided to be proactive and work for the wellbeing of all their citizens and small businesses, the Affordable Care Act, <a href="https://www.healthcare.gov/" type="external">Obamacare</a>, is being implemented successfully. There will be bumps but it will be successful where politicians start supporting it as opposed to putting obstacles in its way to attempt to cause it to fail for ideological reasons.</p>
<p>A few weeks ago it was reported that <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2013/05/23/news/economy/california-obamacare-premiums/index.html" type="external">California premiums under Obamacare would be lower than predicted</a>. In Oregon after rates were posted insurance companies in the exchange requested <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/05/10/1208303/-Preview-of-Oregon-exchange-suggests-one-part-of-Obamacare-is-working-as-nbsp-planned" type="external">or said there would be decreases</a> in their own rates.</p>
<p>Today the New York Times is reporting that Health Plan costs for individuals in New York are <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/17/health/health-plan-cost-for-new-yorkers-set-to-fall-50.html?pagewanted=2&amp;_r=0&amp;hp" type="external">decreasing by 50%</a>. It is true that those that are getting employer base health insurance likely will see little change. For the entrepreneur, the stylist, the musician, the sandwich shop owner, this is a financial saving and likely lifesaving. Remember with Obamacare, health screenings are a part of every plan.</p>
<p>This is big for several reasons. For decades innovative individuals were chained to their corporate masters because leaving those chains meant that they likely could not get insurance because of pre-existing conditions or because basic individual insurance plans were simply unaffordable. It is clear that putting the individual on a similar playing field with corporations frees those who want to innovate or go into business for themselves. Obamacare has given them that opportunity, that access to seek success. That is the fear of every Corporation against this program. They will no longer have a monopoly on the innovative ideas of its employees and will either have to pay for their real worth or lose them.</p>
<p />
<p>Obamacare is not a panacea. <a href="https://www.healthcare.gov/" type="external">Obamacare</a> is a good start. It is true that health insurance companies in the short term will benefit from all the taxpayer provided government subsidies afforded to those who must buy health insurance from these private insurance companies (a wealth transfer from the many to the few). However, in a system where every politician is bought and owned my moneyed interests, Obamacare was a middle class coup.</p>
<p>Americans must still ultimately fight for a single payer system, ‘Medicare for all’. This ensures that every able bodied American pay taxes for healthcare and every American is entitled to good healthcare in the country that claims it has the best health care. Only a single payer system can mitigate <a href="" type="internal">the fraud that is our health insurance system</a>. It is the only moral and economically smart solution for the country.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /> LIKE My <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/EgbertoWilliescom/181893712536" type="external">Facebook Page</a> – Visit My Blog: <a href="http://www.EgbertoWillies.com" type="external">EgbertoWillies.com</a></p> | Obamacare Is Working- Believe Republican Naysayers At Your Peril (VIDEO) | true | http://egbertowillies.com/2013/07/17/obamacare-is-workingbelieve-republican-naysayers-at-your-peril/?fb_source%3Dpubv1 | 2013-07-17 | 4left
| Obamacare Is Working- Believe Republican Naysayers At Your Peril (VIDEO)
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>For states that have decided to be proactive and work for the wellbeing of all their citizens and small businesses, the Affordable Care Act, <a href="https://www.healthcare.gov/" type="external">Obamacare</a>, is being implemented successfully. There will be bumps but it will be successful where politicians start supporting it as opposed to putting obstacles in its way to attempt to cause it to fail for ideological reasons.</p>
<p>A few weeks ago it was reported that <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2013/05/23/news/economy/california-obamacare-premiums/index.html" type="external">California premiums under Obamacare would be lower than predicted</a>. In Oregon after rates were posted insurance companies in the exchange requested <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/05/10/1208303/-Preview-of-Oregon-exchange-suggests-one-part-of-Obamacare-is-working-as-nbsp-planned" type="external">or said there would be decreases</a> in their own rates.</p>
<p>Today the New York Times is reporting that Health Plan costs for individuals in New York are <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/17/health/health-plan-cost-for-new-yorkers-set-to-fall-50.html?pagewanted=2&amp;_r=0&amp;hp" type="external">decreasing by 50%</a>. It is true that those that are getting employer base health insurance likely will see little change. For the entrepreneur, the stylist, the musician, the sandwich shop owner, this is a financial saving and likely lifesaving. Remember with Obamacare, health screenings are a part of every plan.</p>
<p>This is big for several reasons. For decades innovative individuals were chained to their corporate masters because leaving those chains meant that they likely could not get insurance because of pre-existing conditions or because basic individual insurance plans were simply unaffordable. It is clear that putting the individual on a similar playing field with corporations frees those who want to innovate or go into business for themselves. Obamacare has given them that opportunity, that access to seek success. That is the fear of every Corporation against this program. They will no longer have a monopoly on the innovative ideas of its employees and will either have to pay for their real worth or lose them.</p>
<p />
<p>Obamacare is not a panacea. <a href="https://www.healthcare.gov/" type="external">Obamacare</a> is a good start. It is true that health insurance companies in the short term will benefit from all the taxpayer provided government subsidies afforded to those who must buy health insurance from these private insurance companies (a wealth transfer from the many to the few). However, in a system where every politician is bought and owned my moneyed interests, Obamacare was a middle class coup.</p>
<p>Americans must still ultimately fight for a single payer system, ‘Medicare for all’. This ensures that every able bodied American pay taxes for healthcare and every American is entitled to good healthcare in the country that claims it has the best health care. Only a single payer system can mitigate <a href="" type="internal">the fraud that is our health insurance system</a>. It is the only moral and economically smart solution for the country.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /> LIKE My <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/EgbertoWilliescom/181893712536" type="external">Facebook Page</a> – Visit My Blog: <a href="http://www.EgbertoWillies.com" type="external">EgbertoWillies.com</a></p> | 3,322 |
<p>LONDON (AP) — Dolores O’Riordan, whose urgent, powerful voice helped make Irish rock band The Cranberries a global success in the 1990s, died suddenly on Monday at a London hotel. She was 46.</p>
<p>The singer-songwriter’s publicist, Lindsey Holmes, confirmed that O’Riordan died in London, where she was recording,</p>
<p>“No further details are available at this time,” Holmes said, adding that O’Riordan’s family was “devastated” by the news.</p>
<p>Her Cranberries bandmates — Noel Hogan, Mike Hogan and Fergus Lawler — tweeted that O’Riordan “was an extraordinary talent and we feel very privileged to have been part of her life.”</p>
<p>London’s Metropolitan Police force said officers were called just after 9 a.m. Monday to a hotel where a woman in her 40s was found dead. The police force said the death was being treated as “unexplained.”</p>
<p>The Hilton hotel in London’s Park Lane confirmed that a guest had died on the premises.</p>
<p>Ireland’s President Michael D. Higgins said O’Riordan and The Cranberries “had an immense influence on rock and pop music in Ireland and internationally.”</p>
<p>O’Riordan was born on Sept. 6, 1971 in Ballybricken, southwest Ireland. In 1990, she answered an ad from a local band in nearby Limerick city — then called The Cranberry Saw Us — that was looking for a lead singer.</p>
<p>A name change and a confluence of factors turned The Cranberries into international stars. Their guitar-based sound had an alternative-rock edge at a time when grunge was storming the music scene.</p>
<p>The band’s songs — on which O’Riordan was chief lyricist and co-songwriter — had a Celtic-infused tunefulness. And in O’Riordan the group had a charismatic lead singer with a distinctively powerful voice.</p>
<p>Heavy play on MTV for their debut single “Dream” and the singles that followed helped bring the group to the attention of a mass audience.</p>
<p>The Cranberries’ 1993 debut album, “Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?“, sold millions of copies and produced the hit single “Linger.”</p>
<p>The follow-up, “No Need to Argue,” sold in even greater numbers and contained “Zombie,” a visceral howl against Northern Ireland’s violent Troubles that topped singles charts in several countries.</p>
<p>Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar tweeted Monday that “for anyone who grew up in Ireland in the 1990s, Dolores O’Riordan was the voice of a generation. As the female lead singer of a hugely successful rock band, she blazed a trail and might just have been Limerick’s greatest ever rock star. RIP.”</p>
<p>The band released three more studio albums before splitting up in 2003. O’Riordan released a solo album, “Are You Listening,” in 2007, and another, “No Baggage,” in 2009.</p>
<p>The Cranberries also reunited that year, resulting in the album “Roses” in 2012.</p>
<p>For a time, O’Riordan was one of Ireland’s richest women, but she struggled with both physical and mental health problems.</p>
<p>The Cranberries released the acoustic album “Something Else” in 2017 and had been due to tour Europe and North America. The tour was cut short because O’Riordan was suffering from back problems.</p>
<p>In 2014, O’Riordan was accused of assaulting three police officers and a flight attendant during a flight from New York to Ireland. She pleaded guilty and was fined 6,000 euros ($6,600.)</p>
<p>Medical records given to the court indicated she was mentally ill at the time of the altercation. After her court hearing O’Riordan urged other people suffering mental illness to seek help.</p>
<p>She told London’s Metro newspaper last year that she had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and she spoke to the Irish News about her battles with depression.</p>
<p>O’Riordan said depression “is one of the worst things to go through,” but that “I’ve also had a lot of joy in my life, especially with my children.”</p>
<p>“You get ups as well as downs. Sure, isn’t that what life’s all about?” she said.</p>
<p>O’Riordan is survived by her ex-husband, the former Duran Duran tour manager Don Burton, and their three children.</p>
<p>LONDON (AP) — Dolores O’Riordan, whose urgent, powerful voice helped make Irish rock band The Cranberries a global success in the 1990s, died suddenly on Monday at a London hotel. She was 46.</p>
<p>The singer-songwriter’s publicist, Lindsey Holmes, confirmed that O’Riordan died in London, where she was recording,</p>
<p>“No further details are available at this time,” Holmes said, adding that O’Riordan’s family was “devastated” by the news.</p>
<p>Her Cranberries bandmates — Noel Hogan, Mike Hogan and Fergus Lawler — tweeted that O’Riordan “was an extraordinary talent and we feel very privileged to have been part of her life.”</p>
<p>London’s Metropolitan Police force said officers were called just after 9 a.m. Monday to a hotel where a woman in her 40s was found dead. The police force said the death was being treated as “unexplained.”</p>
<p>The Hilton hotel in London’s Park Lane confirmed that a guest had died on the premises.</p>
<p>Ireland’s President Michael D. Higgins said O’Riordan and The Cranberries “had an immense influence on rock and pop music in Ireland and internationally.”</p>
<p>O’Riordan was born on Sept. 6, 1971 in Ballybricken, southwest Ireland. In 1990, she answered an ad from a local band in nearby Limerick city — then called The Cranberry Saw Us — that was looking for a lead singer.</p>
<p>A name change and a confluence of factors turned The Cranberries into international stars. Their guitar-based sound had an alternative-rock edge at a time when grunge was storming the music scene.</p>
<p>The band’s songs — on which O’Riordan was chief lyricist and co-songwriter — had a Celtic-infused tunefulness. And in O’Riordan the group had a charismatic lead singer with a distinctively powerful voice.</p>
<p>Heavy play on MTV for their debut single “Dream” and the singles that followed helped bring the group to the attention of a mass audience.</p>
<p>The Cranberries’ 1993 debut album, “Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?“, sold millions of copies and produced the hit single “Linger.”</p>
<p>The follow-up, “No Need to Argue,” sold in even greater numbers and contained “Zombie,” a visceral howl against Northern Ireland’s violent Troubles that topped singles charts in several countries.</p>
<p>Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar tweeted Monday that “for anyone who grew up in Ireland in the 1990s, Dolores O’Riordan was the voice of a generation. As the female lead singer of a hugely successful rock band, she blazed a trail and might just have been Limerick’s greatest ever rock star. RIP.”</p>
<p>The band released three more studio albums before splitting up in 2003. O’Riordan released a solo album, “Are You Listening,” in 2007, and another, “No Baggage,” in 2009.</p>
<p>The Cranberries also reunited that year, resulting in the album “Roses” in 2012.</p>
<p>For a time, O’Riordan was one of Ireland’s richest women, but she struggled with both physical and mental health problems.</p>
<p>The Cranberries released the acoustic album “Something Else” in 2017 and had been due to tour Europe and North America. The tour was cut short because O’Riordan was suffering from back problems.</p>
<p>In 2014, O’Riordan was accused of assaulting three police officers and a flight attendant during a flight from New York to Ireland. She pleaded guilty and was fined 6,000 euros ($6,600.)</p>
<p>Medical records given to the court indicated she was mentally ill at the time of the altercation. After her court hearing O’Riordan urged other people suffering mental illness to seek help.</p>
<p>She told London’s Metro newspaper last year that she had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and she spoke to the Irish News about her battles with depression.</p>
<p>O’Riordan said depression “is one of the worst things to go through,” but that “I’ve also had a lot of joy in my life, especially with my children.”</p>
<p>“You get ups as well as downs. Sure, isn’t that what life’s all about?” she said.</p>
<p>O’Riordan is survived by her ex-husband, the former Duran Duran tour manager Don Burton, and their three children.</p> | Dolores O’Riordan, voice of The Cranberries, dies at 46 | false | https://apnews.com/0d048ce3bfd644479114d2c7090f3c61 | 2018-01-16 | 2least
| Dolores O’Riordan, voice of The Cranberries, dies at 46
<p>LONDON (AP) — Dolores O’Riordan, whose urgent, powerful voice helped make Irish rock band The Cranberries a global success in the 1990s, died suddenly on Monday at a London hotel. She was 46.</p>
<p>The singer-songwriter’s publicist, Lindsey Holmes, confirmed that O’Riordan died in London, where she was recording,</p>
<p>“No further details are available at this time,” Holmes said, adding that O’Riordan’s family was “devastated” by the news.</p>
<p>Her Cranberries bandmates — Noel Hogan, Mike Hogan and Fergus Lawler — tweeted that O’Riordan “was an extraordinary talent and we feel very privileged to have been part of her life.”</p>
<p>London’s Metropolitan Police force said officers were called just after 9 a.m. Monday to a hotel where a woman in her 40s was found dead. The police force said the death was being treated as “unexplained.”</p>
<p>The Hilton hotel in London’s Park Lane confirmed that a guest had died on the premises.</p>
<p>Ireland’s President Michael D. Higgins said O’Riordan and The Cranberries “had an immense influence on rock and pop music in Ireland and internationally.”</p>
<p>O’Riordan was born on Sept. 6, 1971 in Ballybricken, southwest Ireland. In 1990, she answered an ad from a local band in nearby Limerick city — then called The Cranberry Saw Us — that was looking for a lead singer.</p>
<p>A name change and a confluence of factors turned The Cranberries into international stars. Their guitar-based sound had an alternative-rock edge at a time when grunge was storming the music scene.</p>
<p>The band’s songs — on which O’Riordan was chief lyricist and co-songwriter — had a Celtic-infused tunefulness. And in O’Riordan the group had a charismatic lead singer with a distinctively powerful voice.</p>
<p>Heavy play on MTV for their debut single “Dream” and the singles that followed helped bring the group to the attention of a mass audience.</p>
<p>The Cranberries’ 1993 debut album, “Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?“, sold millions of copies and produced the hit single “Linger.”</p>
<p>The follow-up, “No Need to Argue,” sold in even greater numbers and contained “Zombie,” a visceral howl against Northern Ireland’s violent Troubles that topped singles charts in several countries.</p>
<p>Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar tweeted Monday that “for anyone who grew up in Ireland in the 1990s, Dolores O’Riordan was the voice of a generation. As the female lead singer of a hugely successful rock band, she blazed a trail and might just have been Limerick’s greatest ever rock star. RIP.”</p>
<p>The band released three more studio albums before splitting up in 2003. O’Riordan released a solo album, “Are You Listening,” in 2007, and another, “No Baggage,” in 2009.</p>
<p>The Cranberries also reunited that year, resulting in the album “Roses” in 2012.</p>
<p>For a time, O’Riordan was one of Ireland’s richest women, but she struggled with both physical and mental health problems.</p>
<p>The Cranberries released the acoustic album “Something Else” in 2017 and had been due to tour Europe and North America. The tour was cut short because O’Riordan was suffering from back problems.</p>
<p>In 2014, O’Riordan was accused of assaulting three police officers and a flight attendant during a flight from New York to Ireland. She pleaded guilty and was fined 6,000 euros ($6,600.)</p>
<p>Medical records given to the court indicated she was mentally ill at the time of the altercation. After her court hearing O’Riordan urged other people suffering mental illness to seek help.</p>
<p>She told London’s Metro newspaper last year that she had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and she spoke to the Irish News about her battles with depression.</p>
<p>O’Riordan said depression “is one of the worst things to go through,” but that “I’ve also had a lot of joy in my life, especially with my children.”</p>
<p>“You get ups as well as downs. Sure, isn’t that what life’s all about?” she said.</p>
<p>O’Riordan is survived by her ex-husband, the former Duran Duran tour manager Don Burton, and their three children.</p>
<p>LONDON (AP) — Dolores O’Riordan, whose urgent, powerful voice helped make Irish rock band The Cranberries a global success in the 1990s, died suddenly on Monday at a London hotel. She was 46.</p>
<p>The singer-songwriter’s publicist, Lindsey Holmes, confirmed that O’Riordan died in London, where she was recording,</p>
<p>“No further details are available at this time,” Holmes said, adding that O’Riordan’s family was “devastated” by the news.</p>
<p>Her Cranberries bandmates — Noel Hogan, Mike Hogan and Fergus Lawler — tweeted that O’Riordan “was an extraordinary talent and we feel very privileged to have been part of her life.”</p>
<p>London’s Metropolitan Police force said officers were called just after 9 a.m. Monday to a hotel where a woman in her 40s was found dead. The police force said the death was being treated as “unexplained.”</p>
<p>The Hilton hotel in London’s Park Lane confirmed that a guest had died on the premises.</p>
<p>Ireland’s President Michael D. Higgins said O’Riordan and The Cranberries “had an immense influence on rock and pop music in Ireland and internationally.”</p>
<p>O’Riordan was born on Sept. 6, 1971 in Ballybricken, southwest Ireland. In 1990, she answered an ad from a local band in nearby Limerick city — then called The Cranberry Saw Us — that was looking for a lead singer.</p>
<p>A name change and a confluence of factors turned The Cranberries into international stars. Their guitar-based sound had an alternative-rock edge at a time when grunge was storming the music scene.</p>
<p>The band’s songs — on which O’Riordan was chief lyricist and co-songwriter — had a Celtic-infused tunefulness. And in O’Riordan the group had a charismatic lead singer with a distinctively powerful voice.</p>
<p>Heavy play on MTV for their debut single “Dream” and the singles that followed helped bring the group to the attention of a mass audience.</p>
<p>The Cranberries’ 1993 debut album, “Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?“, sold millions of copies and produced the hit single “Linger.”</p>
<p>The follow-up, “No Need to Argue,” sold in even greater numbers and contained “Zombie,” a visceral howl against Northern Ireland’s violent Troubles that topped singles charts in several countries.</p>
<p>Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar tweeted Monday that “for anyone who grew up in Ireland in the 1990s, Dolores O’Riordan was the voice of a generation. As the female lead singer of a hugely successful rock band, she blazed a trail and might just have been Limerick’s greatest ever rock star. RIP.”</p>
<p>The band released three more studio albums before splitting up in 2003. O’Riordan released a solo album, “Are You Listening,” in 2007, and another, “No Baggage,” in 2009.</p>
<p>The Cranberries also reunited that year, resulting in the album “Roses” in 2012.</p>
<p>For a time, O’Riordan was one of Ireland’s richest women, but she struggled with both physical and mental health problems.</p>
<p>The Cranberries released the acoustic album “Something Else” in 2017 and had been due to tour Europe and North America. The tour was cut short because O’Riordan was suffering from back problems.</p>
<p>In 2014, O’Riordan was accused of assaulting three police officers and a flight attendant during a flight from New York to Ireland. She pleaded guilty and was fined 6,000 euros ($6,600.)</p>
<p>Medical records given to the court indicated she was mentally ill at the time of the altercation. After her court hearing O’Riordan urged other people suffering mental illness to seek help.</p>
<p>She told London’s Metro newspaper last year that she had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and she spoke to the Irish News about her battles with depression.</p>
<p>O’Riordan said depression “is one of the worst things to go through,” but that “I’ve also had a lot of joy in my life, especially with my children.”</p>
<p>“You get ups as well as downs. Sure, isn’t that what life’s all about?” she said.</p>
<p>O’Riordan is survived by her ex-husband, the former Duran Duran tour manager Don Burton, and their three children.</p> | 3,323 |
<p>WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — SMU coach Tim Jankovich said his Mustangs would have to be "near perfect" to have a chance against No. 7 Wichita State.</p>
<p>Shake Milton gave Jankovich that and more.</p>
<p>"Might have been better than perfect," Jankovich said.</p>
<p>Milton scored a career-high 33 points on 11-of-14 shooting to lead the Mustangs to an 83-78 victory, snapping the Shockers' 27-game winning streak at Koch Arena on Wednesday night.</p>
<p>"I don't know how you play better than that," Jankovich said. "Shake controlled the game, not just scoring in bunches. He had control of everything."</p>
<p>SMU (13-6, 3-3 American Athletic Conference) had lost three straight, not winning since Dec. 31. It was the Mustangs' first road win against a top-10 team since Jan. 16, s1982 at No. 10 Houston.</p>
<p>Wichita State (15-3, 5-1) had won 67 of 68 at Koch Arena.</p>
<p>"I think we need to be desperate every game right now," said Milton, who was 5 of 6 from beyond the arc. "But knowing it would be an environment like this, that the fans would be crazy, was motivation."</p>
<p>Jahmal McMurray scored 16 points for the Mustangs, who shot 63.8 percent. Ethan Chargois had 12 points, and Ben Emelogu added 10.</p>
<p>Landry Shamet led the Shockers with 20 points and 10 assists, and Shaquille Morris scored 17. Darral Willis scored 12 points off the bench, and Conner Frankamp added 11.</p>
<p>Wichita State rallied after trailing 70-57 with 4:33 remaining to make it a one-possession game twice in the final minute.</p>
<p>Like much of the game, the Mustangs made shots when it mattered.</p>
<p>"In the end, they really had tremendous playmakers that made great plays," Shockers coach Gregg Marshall said. "They kept throwing dagger, dagger, dagger. We would get it down to four or three, and they would hit another big shot."</p>
<p>The Mustangs rarely use a zone defense, but Jankovich had them employ one the entire game. They also had personnel issues to overcome. Jarrey Foster, the Mustangs' second-leading scorer, did not return after getting injured less than six minutes into the game.</p>
<p>By the 10-minute mark of the second half, Emelogu and Chargois each had four fouls.</p>
<p>SMU found a way to hang on with some stellar individual plays. Each team had 30 field goals, but the Mustangs had just 10 assists — 14 fewer than Wichita State.</p>
<p>"I thought our execution was excellent," Jankovich said.</p>
<p>Marshall gave credit to a "better game plan."</p>
<p>"They tried to score early and, if not, they held the ball and ran clock," Marshall said. "And with the zone, they wanted to shorten the game. And it worked."</p>
<p>HOME STATE VIBES</p>
<p>McMurray had not scored in double figures in any of the three January games before reaching that mark by halftime Wednesday. He had 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting in the first half, hitting both of his 3-pointers.</p>
<p>McMurray is from Topeka and also attended Sunrise Christian Academy Prep School in Wichita before playing two seasons at South Florida.</p>
<p>BOUNCE, BOUNCE</p>
<p>In another way to shorten the game, the Mustangs would often let the ball bounce around after Wichita State made shots. That forced a Shocker or a referee to retrieve the ball as the clock ran.</p>
<p>"It felt like we lost two minutes just to that," Marshall said.</p>
<p>BIG PICTURE</p>
<p>SMU: The Mustangs could turn their season on this victory, and it will go down as a signature performance for Milton.</p>
<p>Wichita State: The Shockers suffered their first conference loss with a rare lackluster show from their defense.</p>
<p>UP NEXT</p>
<p>SMU: Hosts Tulane on Saturday.</p>
<p>Wichita State: Plays at Houston on Saturday.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>More AP college basketball: http://collegebasketball.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP_Top25</p>
<p>WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — SMU coach Tim Jankovich said his Mustangs would have to be "near perfect" to have a chance against No. 7 Wichita State.</p>
<p>Shake Milton gave Jankovich that and more.</p>
<p>"Might have been better than perfect," Jankovich said.</p>
<p>Milton scored a career-high 33 points on 11-of-14 shooting to lead the Mustangs to an 83-78 victory, snapping the Shockers' 27-game winning streak at Koch Arena on Wednesday night.</p>
<p>"I don't know how you play better than that," Jankovich said. "Shake controlled the game, not just scoring in bunches. He had control of everything."</p>
<p>SMU (13-6, 3-3 American Athletic Conference) had lost three straight, not winning since Dec. 31. It was the Mustangs' first road win against a top-10 team since Jan. 16, s1982 at No. 10 Houston.</p>
<p>Wichita State (15-3, 5-1) had won 67 of 68 at Koch Arena.</p>
<p>"I think we need to be desperate every game right now," said Milton, who was 5 of 6 from beyond the arc. "But knowing it would be an environment like this, that the fans would be crazy, was motivation."</p>
<p>Jahmal McMurray scored 16 points for the Mustangs, who shot 63.8 percent. Ethan Chargois had 12 points, and Ben Emelogu added 10.</p>
<p>Landry Shamet led the Shockers with 20 points and 10 assists, and Shaquille Morris scored 17. Darral Willis scored 12 points off the bench, and Conner Frankamp added 11.</p>
<p>Wichita State rallied after trailing 70-57 with 4:33 remaining to make it a one-possession game twice in the final minute.</p>
<p>Like much of the game, the Mustangs made shots when it mattered.</p>
<p>"In the end, they really had tremendous playmakers that made great plays," Shockers coach Gregg Marshall said. "They kept throwing dagger, dagger, dagger. We would get it down to four or three, and they would hit another big shot."</p>
<p>The Mustangs rarely use a zone defense, but Jankovich had them employ one the entire game. They also had personnel issues to overcome. Jarrey Foster, the Mustangs' second-leading scorer, did not return after getting injured less than six minutes into the game.</p>
<p>By the 10-minute mark of the second half, Emelogu and Chargois each had four fouls.</p>
<p>SMU found a way to hang on with some stellar individual plays. Each team had 30 field goals, but the Mustangs had just 10 assists — 14 fewer than Wichita State.</p>
<p>"I thought our execution was excellent," Jankovich said.</p>
<p>Marshall gave credit to a "better game plan."</p>
<p>"They tried to score early and, if not, they held the ball and ran clock," Marshall said. "And with the zone, they wanted to shorten the game. And it worked."</p>
<p>HOME STATE VIBES</p>
<p>McMurray had not scored in double figures in any of the three January games before reaching that mark by halftime Wednesday. He had 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting in the first half, hitting both of his 3-pointers.</p>
<p>McMurray is from Topeka and also attended Sunrise Christian Academy Prep School in Wichita before playing two seasons at South Florida.</p>
<p>BOUNCE, BOUNCE</p>
<p>In another way to shorten the game, the Mustangs would often let the ball bounce around after Wichita State made shots. That forced a Shocker or a referee to retrieve the ball as the clock ran.</p>
<p>"It felt like we lost two minutes just to that," Marshall said.</p>
<p>BIG PICTURE</p>
<p>SMU: The Mustangs could turn their season on this victory, and it will go down as a signature performance for Milton.</p>
<p>Wichita State: The Shockers suffered their first conference loss with a rare lackluster show from their defense.</p>
<p>UP NEXT</p>
<p>SMU: Hosts Tulane on Saturday.</p>
<p>Wichita State: Plays at Houston on Saturday.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>More AP college basketball: http://collegebasketball.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP_Top25</p> | Milton scores 33, lifts SMU over No. 7 Wichita State 83-78 | false | https://apnews.com/amp/607508401cba43a1a9eddd5d91ec42ba | 2018-01-18 | 2least
| Milton scores 33, lifts SMU over No. 7 Wichita State 83-78
<p>WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — SMU coach Tim Jankovich said his Mustangs would have to be "near perfect" to have a chance against No. 7 Wichita State.</p>
<p>Shake Milton gave Jankovich that and more.</p>
<p>"Might have been better than perfect," Jankovich said.</p>
<p>Milton scored a career-high 33 points on 11-of-14 shooting to lead the Mustangs to an 83-78 victory, snapping the Shockers' 27-game winning streak at Koch Arena on Wednesday night.</p>
<p>"I don't know how you play better than that," Jankovich said. "Shake controlled the game, not just scoring in bunches. He had control of everything."</p>
<p>SMU (13-6, 3-3 American Athletic Conference) had lost three straight, not winning since Dec. 31. It was the Mustangs' first road win against a top-10 team since Jan. 16, s1982 at No. 10 Houston.</p>
<p>Wichita State (15-3, 5-1) had won 67 of 68 at Koch Arena.</p>
<p>"I think we need to be desperate every game right now," said Milton, who was 5 of 6 from beyond the arc. "But knowing it would be an environment like this, that the fans would be crazy, was motivation."</p>
<p>Jahmal McMurray scored 16 points for the Mustangs, who shot 63.8 percent. Ethan Chargois had 12 points, and Ben Emelogu added 10.</p>
<p>Landry Shamet led the Shockers with 20 points and 10 assists, and Shaquille Morris scored 17. Darral Willis scored 12 points off the bench, and Conner Frankamp added 11.</p>
<p>Wichita State rallied after trailing 70-57 with 4:33 remaining to make it a one-possession game twice in the final minute.</p>
<p>Like much of the game, the Mustangs made shots when it mattered.</p>
<p>"In the end, they really had tremendous playmakers that made great plays," Shockers coach Gregg Marshall said. "They kept throwing dagger, dagger, dagger. We would get it down to four or three, and they would hit another big shot."</p>
<p>The Mustangs rarely use a zone defense, but Jankovich had them employ one the entire game. They also had personnel issues to overcome. Jarrey Foster, the Mustangs' second-leading scorer, did not return after getting injured less than six minutes into the game.</p>
<p>By the 10-minute mark of the second half, Emelogu and Chargois each had four fouls.</p>
<p>SMU found a way to hang on with some stellar individual plays. Each team had 30 field goals, but the Mustangs had just 10 assists — 14 fewer than Wichita State.</p>
<p>"I thought our execution was excellent," Jankovich said.</p>
<p>Marshall gave credit to a "better game plan."</p>
<p>"They tried to score early and, if not, they held the ball and ran clock," Marshall said. "And with the zone, they wanted to shorten the game. And it worked."</p>
<p>HOME STATE VIBES</p>
<p>McMurray had not scored in double figures in any of the three January games before reaching that mark by halftime Wednesday. He had 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting in the first half, hitting both of his 3-pointers.</p>
<p>McMurray is from Topeka and also attended Sunrise Christian Academy Prep School in Wichita before playing two seasons at South Florida.</p>
<p>BOUNCE, BOUNCE</p>
<p>In another way to shorten the game, the Mustangs would often let the ball bounce around after Wichita State made shots. That forced a Shocker or a referee to retrieve the ball as the clock ran.</p>
<p>"It felt like we lost two minutes just to that," Marshall said.</p>
<p>BIG PICTURE</p>
<p>SMU: The Mustangs could turn their season on this victory, and it will go down as a signature performance for Milton.</p>
<p>Wichita State: The Shockers suffered their first conference loss with a rare lackluster show from their defense.</p>
<p>UP NEXT</p>
<p>SMU: Hosts Tulane on Saturday.</p>
<p>Wichita State: Plays at Houston on Saturday.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>More AP college basketball: http://collegebasketball.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP_Top25</p>
<p>WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — SMU coach Tim Jankovich said his Mustangs would have to be "near perfect" to have a chance against No. 7 Wichita State.</p>
<p>Shake Milton gave Jankovich that and more.</p>
<p>"Might have been better than perfect," Jankovich said.</p>
<p>Milton scored a career-high 33 points on 11-of-14 shooting to lead the Mustangs to an 83-78 victory, snapping the Shockers' 27-game winning streak at Koch Arena on Wednesday night.</p>
<p>"I don't know how you play better than that," Jankovich said. "Shake controlled the game, not just scoring in bunches. He had control of everything."</p>
<p>SMU (13-6, 3-3 American Athletic Conference) had lost three straight, not winning since Dec. 31. It was the Mustangs' first road win against a top-10 team since Jan. 16, s1982 at No. 10 Houston.</p>
<p>Wichita State (15-3, 5-1) had won 67 of 68 at Koch Arena.</p>
<p>"I think we need to be desperate every game right now," said Milton, who was 5 of 6 from beyond the arc. "But knowing it would be an environment like this, that the fans would be crazy, was motivation."</p>
<p>Jahmal McMurray scored 16 points for the Mustangs, who shot 63.8 percent. Ethan Chargois had 12 points, and Ben Emelogu added 10.</p>
<p>Landry Shamet led the Shockers with 20 points and 10 assists, and Shaquille Morris scored 17. Darral Willis scored 12 points off the bench, and Conner Frankamp added 11.</p>
<p>Wichita State rallied after trailing 70-57 with 4:33 remaining to make it a one-possession game twice in the final minute.</p>
<p>Like much of the game, the Mustangs made shots when it mattered.</p>
<p>"In the end, they really had tremendous playmakers that made great plays," Shockers coach Gregg Marshall said. "They kept throwing dagger, dagger, dagger. We would get it down to four or three, and they would hit another big shot."</p>
<p>The Mustangs rarely use a zone defense, but Jankovich had them employ one the entire game. They also had personnel issues to overcome. Jarrey Foster, the Mustangs' second-leading scorer, did not return after getting injured less than six minutes into the game.</p>
<p>By the 10-minute mark of the second half, Emelogu and Chargois each had four fouls.</p>
<p>SMU found a way to hang on with some stellar individual plays. Each team had 30 field goals, but the Mustangs had just 10 assists — 14 fewer than Wichita State.</p>
<p>"I thought our execution was excellent," Jankovich said.</p>
<p>Marshall gave credit to a "better game plan."</p>
<p>"They tried to score early and, if not, they held the ball and ran clock," Marshall said. "And with the zone, they wanted to shorten the game. And it worked."</p>
<p>HOME STATE VIBES</p>
<p>McMurray had not scored in double figures in any of the three January games before reaching that mark by halftime Wednesday. He had 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting in the first half, hitting both of his 3-pointers.</p>
<p>McMurray is from Topeka and also attended Sunrise Christian Academy Prep School in Wichita before playing two seasons at South Florida.</p>
<p>BOUNCE, BOUNCE</p>
<p>In another way to shorten the game, the Mustangs would often let the ball bounce around after Wichita State made shots. That forced a Shocker or a referee to retrieve the ball as the clock ran.</p>
<p>"It felt like we lost two minutes just to that," Marshall said.</p>
<p>BIG PICTURE</p>
<p>SMU: The Mustangs could turn their season on this victory, and it will go down as a signature performance for Milton.</p>
<p>Wichita State: The Shockers suffered their first conference loss with a rare lackluster show from their defense.</p>
<p>UP NEXT</p>
<p>SMU: Hosts Tulane on Saturday.</p>
<p>Wichita State: Plays at Houston on Saturday.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>More AP college basketball: http://collegebasketball.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP_Top25</p> | 3,324 |
<p />
<p>After paying $109 million to acquire Frontier Airlines out of bankruptcy in 2009, Republic Airways (NASDAQ:RJET) agreed to sell the discount carrier on Tuesday to a private-equity firm led by William Franke for just $36 million in cash and $109 million in debt.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Indigo Partners envisions fashioning Frontier into low-cost option like Spirit Airlines (NASDAQ:SAVE), where Franke served as chairman.</p>
<p>“This transaction is a direct result of Frontier's successful restructuring, continued cost reduction efforts and laser focus on revenue generation," Republic Airways CEO Bryan Bedford said in a statement. "I am confident that Frontier will enjoy future growth as Indigo continues the process to position the airline as a leading ultra-low-cost carrier in the United States.”</p>
<p>With its main hub at Denver International Airport, Frontier has been operating for 20 years. The airline employs more than 3,900 workers and transports customers to 75 destinations in the U.S., Mexico, Costa Rica, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic.</p>
<p>Indianapolis-based Republic had been scouring the industry for a buyer for more than two years after beating out Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) in 2009 to acquire Frontier.</p>
<p>The transaction is valued at about $145 million, of which $36 million is set to be paid in cash and the balance is indebtedness to be retained by Frontier. Indigo also plans to inject additional cash into Frontier after the deal closes.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>The companies anticipate the transaction will close in December, subject to approval from the Association of Flight Attendants and the Federal Communications Commission for the transfer of Frontier’s radio licenses.</p>
<p>"As airline fares continue to move up, passengers need affordable travel alternatives,” Franke said. “Our goal will be to meet that need in more markets as we invest in the airline to grow its footprint, while maintaining a commitment to quality service, customer choice and satisfaction and continued employment opportunities for the Frontier team."</p>
<p>Shares of Republic jumped 2.59% to $12.20 on the news, leaving them up almost 115% on the year.</p>
<p>Barclays (NYSE:BCS) advised Republic in connection with the transaction.</p> | Frontier Airlines Sold for $109M to Firm Led by Former Spirit Airlines Exec | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2013/10/01/frontier-airlines-sold-for-10m-to-firm-led-by-former-spirit-airlines-exec.html | 2016-03-05 | 0right
| Frontier Airlines Sold for $109M to Firm Led by Former Spirit Airlines Exec
<p />
<p>After paying $109 million to acquire Frontier Airlines out of bankruptcy in 2009, Republic Airways (NASDAQ:RJET) agreed to sell the discount carrier on Tuesday to a private-equity firm led by William Franke for just $36 million in cash and $109 million in debt.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Indigo Partners envisions fashioning Frontier into low-cost option like Spirit Airlines (NASDAQ:SAVE), where Franke served as chairman.</p>
<p>“This transaction is a direct result of Frontier's successful restructuring, continued cost reduction efforts and laser focus on revenue generation," Republic Airways CEO Bryan Bedford said in a statement. "I am confident that Frontier will enjoy future growth as Indigo continues the process to position the airline as a leading ultra-low-cost carrier in the United States.”</p>
<p>With its main hub at Denver International Airport, Frontier has been operating for 20 years. The airline employs more than 3,900 workers and transports customers to 75 destinations in the U.S., Mexico, Costa Rica, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic.</p>
<p>Indianapolis-based Republic had been scouring the industry for a buyer for more than two years after beating out Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) in 2009 to acquire Frontier.</p>
<p>The transaction is valued at about $145 million, of which $36 million is set to be paid in cash and the balance is indebtedness to be retained by Frontier. Indigo also plans to inject additional cash into Frontier after the deal closes.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>The companies anticipate the transaction will close in December, subject to approval from the Association of Flight Attendants and the Federal Communications Commission for the transfer of Frontier’s radio licenses.</p>
<p>"As airline fares continue to move up, passengers need affordable travel alternatives,” Franke said. “Our goal will be to meet that need in more markets as we invest in the airline to grow its footprint, while maintaining a commitment to quality service, customer choice and satisfaction and continued employment opportunities for the Frontier team."</p>
<p>Shares of Republic jumped 2.59% to $12.20 on the news, leaving them up almost 115% on the year.</p>
<p>Barclays (NYSE:BCS) advised Republic in connection with the transaction.</p> | 3,325 |
<p>LONDON (AP) — Twice, Serena Williams stood merely two points from a loss at Wimbledon against a British opponent buoyed by a roaring, flag-waving Centre Court crowd.</p>
<p>Twice, Williams was oh-so-close to the end of her bid for a fourth consecutive major title — and for the third leg of a calendar-year Grand Slam.</p>
<p>And twice, pushed to the precipice, Williams regrouped, resisted and wound up winning, as she so often does.</p>
<p>Stomping her foot after misses, alternately screaming in delight or despair, even wagging her finger at fans who booed her, the No. 1-seeded Williams overcame a surprisingly staunch challenge from 59th-ranked Heather Watson and emerged with a 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 victory in the third round Friday.</p>
<p>“I honestly didn’t think I was going to win,” said Williams, who trailed 3-0 and 5-4 in the final set. “How I pulled through, I really don’t know.”</p>
<p>Her 24th victory in a row at Grand Slam tournaments sets up a showdown Monday against another five-time Wimbledon champion, her older sister Venus.</p>
<p>“We’ve been facing each other a long time,” said the 16th-seeded Venus, who eliminated 82nd-ranked Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia 6-3, 6-2.</p>
<p>This will be the 26th all-Williams matchup, and first at a major since Serena beat Venus in the 2009 Wimbledon final.</p>
<p>“It’s unfortunate that it’s so soon,” Serena said.</p>
<p>Other women’s fourth-rounders Monday: 2004 champion Maria Sharapova vs. Zarina Diyas; Victoria Azarenka vs. Belinda Bencic; and French Open runner-up Lucie Safarova vs. CoCo Vandeweghe of the U.S., who had never been this far at a major.</p>
<p>Men’s matchups: defending champion Novak Djokovic vs. Kevin Anderson; French Open champion Stan Wawrinka vs. David Goffin; Richard Gasquet vs. Nick Kyrgios.</p>
<p>Denis Kudla, an American wild-card entry, reached the second week at a major for the first time and awaits the winner of U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic against American John Isner, whose match was suspended because of darkness at 10-all in the fifth set. It harkened back to Isner’s record 70-68 fifth-set victory spread over three days in 2010, but he and Cilic have a looooong way to go to equal that marathon.</p>
<p>Nothing in that match, or any other Friday, offered up the tension and drama provided by Williams vs. Watson. Especially once Watson — playing steadily, if unspectacularly — appeared on the verge of a significant upset.</p>
<p>“She just did everything so well. I wasn’t able to keep up. You know, sometimes you just don’t have your day,” said Williams, who lost in the third round at Wimbledon last year. “I thought maybe today just wasn’t my day.”</p>
<p>Sure looked that way when Watson took six straight games to go up two breaks in the third set. Then came an epic, 18-point game that began Williams’ comeback. Watson twice was a point from leading 4-0, but she looked a bit tight, shanking a forehand about 5 feet long, then pushing a forehand wide to get broken.</p>
<p>Still, she broke Williams at love for a 5-4 edge, moving within a game of by far the biggest victory of her career.</p>
<p>At the ensuing changeover, Union Jacks of various sizes flapped in the swirling wind while chants of “Heather!” reverberated through the nearly century-old arena. When play resumed, yells came during points, and Williams complained to the chair umpire, drawing jeers.</p>
<p>“It was really intense today,” Williams said. “I’ve never heard boos here.”</p>
<p>At deuce, potentially two points from the end, Williams produced a forehand winner. Moments later, again at deuce, again two points from defeat, Williams conjured up another big forehand.</p>
<p>“When she needs to hit the line or needs to hit a winner, she’ll just do it,” Watson said, “and that’s what she did.”</p>
<p>That began a match-closing run of three consecutive games for Williams, who held at love for a 6-5 lead with four unreturned serves.</p>
<p>“I don’t know where she found this strength today to win it,” said Williams’ coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, “because she was so far mentally at a certain point.”</p>
<p>Williams broke Watson to finish things, yet even that didn’t come easily. Williams needed three match points, cashing in the last with a backhand return that forced a miss by Watson.</p>
<p>There weren’t all that many unforced errors from Watson: She totaled 11; Williams 33.</p>
<p>“She couldn’t play better,” Mouratoglou said about Watson. “She played the perfect match.”</p>
<p>At the moment, even that is apparently not enough to beat Williams.</p>
<p>Now her older sister will give it a try.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at <a href="http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich" type="external" /> <a href="http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich" type="external">http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich</a></p>
<p>LONDON (AP) — Twice, Serena Williams stood merely two points from a loss at Wimbledon against a British opponent buoyed by a roaring, flag-waving Centre Court crowd.</p>
<p>Twice, Williams was oh-so-close to the end of her bid for a fourth consecutive major title — and for the third leg of a calendar-year Grand Slam.</p>
<p>And twice, pushed to the precipice, Williams regrouped, resisted and wound up winning, as she so often does.</p>
<p>Stomping her foot after misses, alternately screaming in delight or despair, even wagging her finger at fans who booed her, the No. 1-seeded Williams overcame a surprisingly staunch challenge from 59th-ranked Heather Watson and emerged with a 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 victory in the third round Friday.</p>
<p>“I honestly didn’t think I was going to win,” said Williams, who trailed 3-0 and 5-4 in the final set. “How I pulled through, I really don’t know.”</p>
<p>Her 24th victory in a row at Grand Slam tournaments sets up a showdown Monday against another five-time Wimbledon champion, her older sister Venus.</p>
<p>“We’ve been facing each other a long time,” said the 16th-seeded Venus, who eliminated 82nd-ranked Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia 6-3, 6-2.</p>
<p>This will be the 26th all-Williams matchup, and first at a major since Serena beat Venus in the 2009 Wimbledon final.</p>
<p>“It’s unfortunate that it’s so soon,” Serena said.</p>
<p>Other women’s fourth-rounders Monday: 2004 champion Maria Sharapova vs. Zarina Diyas; Victoria Azarenka vs. Belinda Bencic; and French Open runner-up Lucie Safarova vs. CoCo Vandeweghe of the U.S., who had never been this far at a major.</p>
<p>Men’s matchups: defending champion Novak Djokovic vs. Kevin Anderson; French Open champion Stan Wawrinka vs. David Goffin; Richard Gasquet vs. Nick Kyrgios.</p>
<p>Denis Kudla, an American wild-card entry, reached the second week at a major for the first time and awaits the winner of U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic against American John Isner, whose match was suspended because of darkness at 10-all in the fifth set. It harkened back to Isner’s record 70-68 fifth-set victory spread over three days in 2010, but he and Cilic have a looooong way to go to equal that marathon.</p>
<p>Nothing in that match, or any other Friday, offered up the tension and drama provided by Williams vs. Watson. Especially once Watson — playing steadily, if unspectacularly — appeared on the verge of a significant upset.</p>
<p>“She just did everything so well. I wasn’t able to keep up. You know, sometimes you just don’t have your day,” said Williams, who lost in the third round at Wimbledon last year. “I thought maybe today just wasn’t my day.”</p>
<p>Sure looked that way when Watson took six straight games to go up two breaks in the third set. Then came an epic, 18-point game that began Williams’ comeback. Watson twice was a point from leading 4-0, but she looked a bit tight, shanking a forehand about 5 feet long, then pushing a forehand wide to get broken.</p>
<p>Still, she broke Williams at love for a 5-4 edge, moving within a game of by far the biggest victory of her career.</p>
<p>At the ensuing changeover, Union Jacks of various sizes flapped in the swirling wind while chants of “Heather!” reverberated through the nearly century-old arena. When play resumed, yells came during points, and Williams complained to the chair umpire, drawing jeers.</p>
<p>“It was really intense today,” Williams said. “I’ve never heard boos here.”</p>
<p>At deuce, potentially two points from the end, Williams produced a forehand winner. Moments later, again at deuce, again two points from defeat, Williams conjured up another big forehand.</p>
<p>“When she needs to hit the line or needs to hit a winner, she’ll just do it,” Watson said, “and that’s what she did.”</p>
<p>That began a match-closing run of three consecutive games for Williams, who held at love for a 6-5 lead with four unreturned serves.</p>
<p>“I don’t know where she found this strength today to win it,” said Williams’ coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, “because she was so far mentally at a certain point.”</p>
<p>Williams broke Watson to finish things, yet even that didn’t come easily. Williams needed three match points, cashing in the last with a backhand return that forced a miss by Watson.</p>
<p>There weren’t all that many unforced errors from Watson: She totaled 11; Williams 33.</p>
<p>“She couldn’t play better,” Mouratoglou said about Watson. “She played the perfect match.”</p>
<p>At the moment, even that is apparently not enough to beat Williams.</p>
<p>Now her older sister will give it a try.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at <a href="http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich" type="external" /> <a href="http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich" type="external">http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich</a></p> | 2 points from loss, Serena wins at Wimbledon; Venus next | false | https://apnews.com/87b4f79dc2174646988080585de8a1a5 | 2015-07-04 | 2least
| 2 points from loss, Serena wins at Wimbledon; Venus next
<p>LONDON (AP) — Twice, Serena Williams stood merely two points from a loss at Wimbledon against a British opponent buoyed by a roaring, flag-waving Centre Court crowd.</p>
<p>Twice, Williams was oh-so-close to the end of her bid for a fourth consecutive major title — and for the third leg of a calendar-year Grand Slam.</p>
<p>And twice, pushed to the precipice, Williams regrouped, resisted and wound up winning, as she so often does.</p>
<p>Stomping her foot after misses, alternately screaming in delight or despair, even wagging her finger at fans who booed her, the No. 1-seeded Williams overcame a surprisingly staunch challenge from 59th-ranked Heather Watson and emerged with a 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 victory in the third round Friday.</p>
<p>“I honestly didn’t think I was going to win,” said Williams, who trailed 3-0 and 5-4 in the final set. “How I pulled through, I really don’t know.”</p>
<p>Her 24th victory in a row at Grand Slam tournaments sets up a showdown Monday against another five-time Wimbledon champion, her older sister Venus.</p>
<p>“We’ve been facing each other a long time,” said the 16th-seeded Venus, who eliminated 82nd-ranked Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia 6-3, 6-2.</p>
<p>This will be the 26th all-Williams matchup, and first at a major since Serena beat Venus in the 2009 Wimbledon final.</p>
<p>“It’s unfortunate that it’s so soon,” Serena said.</p>
<p>Other women’s fourth-rounders Monday: 2004 champion Maria Sharapova vs. Zarina Diyas; Victoria Azarenka vs. Belinda Bencic; and French Open runner-up Lucie Safarova vs. CoCo Vandeweghe of the U.S., who had never been this far at a major.</p>
<p>Men’s matchups: defending champion Novak Djokovic vs. Kevin Anderson; French Open champion Stan Wawrinka vs. David Goffin; Richard Gasquet vs. Nick Kyrgios.</p>
<p>Denis Kudla, an American wild-card entry, reached the second week at a major for the first time and awaits the winner of U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic against American John Isner, whose match was suspended because of darkness at 10-all in the fifth set. It harkened back to Isner’s record 70-68 fifth-set victory spread over three days in 2010, but he and Cilic have a looooong way to go to equal that marathon.</p>
<p>Nothing in that match, or any other Friday, offered up the tension and drama provided by Williams vs. Watson. Especially once Watson — playing steadily, if unspectacularly — appeared on the verge of a significant upset.</p>
<p>“She just did everything so well. I wasn’t able to keep up. You know, sometimes you just don’t have your day,” said Williams, who lost in the third round at Wimbledon last year. “I thought maybe today just wasn’t my day.”</p>
<p>Sure looked that way when Watson took six straight games to go up two breaks in the third set. Then came an epic, 18-point game that began Williams’ comeback. Watson twice was a point from leading 4-0, but she looked a bit tight, shanking a forehand about 5 feet long, then pushing a forehand wide to get broken.</p>
<p>Still, she broke Williams at love for a 5-4 edge, moving within a game of by far the biggest victory of her career.</p>
<p>At the ensuing changeover, Union Jacks of various sizes flapped in the swirling wind while chants of “Heather!” reverberated through the nearly century-old arena. When play resumed, yells came during points, and Williams complained to the chair umpire, drawing jeers.</p>
<p>“It was really intense today,” Williams said. “I’ve never heard boos here.”</p>
<p>At deuce, potentially two points from the end, Williams produced a forehand winner. Moments later, again at deuce, again two points from defeat, Williams conjured up another big forehand.</p>
<p>“When she needs to hit the line or needs to hit a winner, she’ll just do it,” Watson said, “and that’s what she did.”</p>
<p>That began a match-closing run of three consecutive games for Williams, who held at love for a 6-5 lead with four unreturned serves.</p>
<p>“I don’t know where she found this strength today to win it,” said Williams’ coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, “because she was so far mentally at a certain point.”</p>
<p>Williams broke Watson to finish things, yet even that didn’t come easily. Williams needed three match points, cashing in the last with a backhand return that forced a miss by Watson.</p>
<p>There weren’t all that many unforced errors from Watson: She totaled 11; Williams 33.</p>
<p>“She couldn’t play better,” Mouratoglou said about Watson. “She played the perfect match.”</p>
<p>At the moment, even that is apparently not enough to beat Williams.</p>
<p>Now her older sister will give it a try.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at <a href="http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich" type="external" /> <a href="http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich" type="external">http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich</a></p>
<p>LONDON (AP) — Twice, Serena Williams stood merely two points from a loss at Wimbledon against a British opponent buoyed by a roaring, flag-waving Centre Court crowd.</p>
<p>Twice, Williams was oh-so-close to the end of her bid for a fourth consecutive major title — and for the third leg of a calendar-year Grand Slam.</p>
<p>And twice, pushed to the precipice, Williams regrouped, resisted and wound up winning, as she so often does.</p>
<p>Stomping her foot after misses, alternately screaming in delight or despair, even wagging her finger at fans who booed her, the No. 1-seeded Williams overcame a surprisingly staunch challenge from 59th-ranked Heather Watson and emerged with a 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 victory in the third round Friday.</p>
<p>“I honestly didn’t think I was going to win,” said Williams, who trailed 3-0 and 5-4 in the final set. “How I pulled through, I really don’t know.”</p>
<p>Her 24th victory in a row at Grand Slam tournaments sets up a showdown Monday against another five-time Wimbledon champion, her older sister Venus.</p>
<p>“We’ve been facing each other a long time,” said the 16th-seeded Venus, who eliminated 82nd-ranked Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia 6-3, 6-2.</p>
<p>This will be the 26th all-Williams matchup, and first at a major since Serena beat Venus in the 2009 Wimbledon final.</p>
<p>“It’s unfortunate that it’s so soon,” Serena said.</p>
<p>Other women’s fourth-rounders Monday: 2004 champion Maria Sharapova vs. Zarina Diyas; Victoria Azarenka vs. Belinda Bencic; and French Open runner-up Lucie Safarova vs. CoCo Vandeweghe of the U.S., who had never been this far at a major.</p>
<p>Men’s matchups: defending champion Novak Djokovic vs. Kevin Anderson; French Open champion Stan Wawrinka vs. David Goffin; Richard Gasquet vs. Nick Kyrgios.</p>
<p>Denis Kudla, an American wild-card entry, reached the second week at a major for the first time and awaits the winner of U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic against American John Isner, whose match was suspended because of darkness at 10-all in the fifth set. It harkened back to Isner’s record 70-68 fifth-set victory spread over three days in 2010, but he and Cilic have a looooong way to go to equal that marathon.</p>
<p>Nothing in that match, or any other Friday, offered up the tension and drama provided by Williams vs. Watson. Especially once Watson — playing steadily, if unspectacularly — appeared on the verge of a significant upset.</p>
<p>“She just did everything so well. I wasn’t able to keep up. You know, sometimes you just don’t have your day,” said Williams, who lost in the third round at Wimbledon last year. “I thought maybe today just wasn’t my day.”</p>
<p>Sure looked that way when Watson took six straight games to go up two breaks in the third set. Then came an epic, 18-point game that began Williams’ comeback. Watson twice was a point from leading 4-0, but she looked a bit tight, shanking a forehand about 5 feet long, then pushing a forehand wide to get broken.</p>
<p>Still, she broke Williams at love for a 5-4 edge, moving within a game of by far the biggest victory of her career.</p>
<p>At the ensuing changeover, Union Jacks of various sizes flapped in the swirling wind while chants of “Heather!” reverberated through the nearly century-old arena. When play resumed, yells came during points, and Williams complained to the chair umpire, drawing jeers.</p>
<p>“It was really intense today,” Williams said. “I’ve never heard boos here.”</p>
<p>At deuce, potentially two points from the end, Williams produced a forehand winner. Moments later, again at deuce, again two points from defeat, Williams conjured up another big forehand.</p>
<p>“When she needs to hit the line or needs to hit a winner, she’ll just do it,” Watson said, “and that’s what she did.”</p>
<p>That began a match-closing run of three consecutive games for Williams, who held at love for a 6-5 lead with four unreturned serves.</p>
<p>“I don’t know where she found this strength today to win it,” said Williams’ coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, “because she was so far mentally at a certain point.”</p>
<p>Williams broke Watson to finish things, yet even that didn’t come easily. Williams needed three match points, cashing in the last with a backhand return that forced a miss by Watson.</p>
<p>There weren’t all that many unforced errors from Watson: She totaled 11; Williams 33.</p>
<p>“She couldn’t play better,” Mouratoglou said about Watson. “She played the perfect match.”</p>
<p>At the moment, even that is apparently not enough to beat Williams.</p>
<p>Now her older sister will give it a try.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at <a href="http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich" type="external" /> <a href="http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich" type="external">http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich</a></p> | 3,326 |
<p>Natural Gas markets have been volatile but low for the last year and a half. Just four months ago, gas bottomed out at $1.88/mmbtu and closed yesterday at just about 300% of that figure at $5.55 after nearing $6 last week. Of course that comes after prices peaking in July 08 at about $14</p>
<p>Issues concerning hydro fracking are beginning to have traction, at least in upper New York State where much of New York City’s drinking water is said to be at risk, as well as throughout the Marcellus Shale region.</p>
<p>Environmental skeptics point out that the Bush/Cheney era “exemption” from the Clean Water Act places drinking water aquifers at risk wherever fracking is done since fracking often uses hazardous chemicals to fracture the shale, which in turn releases natural gas that is collected for use on the surface.</p>
<p>Clearly, this exemption needs to be lifted and fracking be subject to the safety measure of the Clean Water Act.</p>
<p>Personally, I worry that many of the fracking chemicals which are classified as hazardous, are simply being used in the fracking process as a method of hazardous waste disposal and are not necessary for the process to work. Unfortunately, we are not allowed to know just what chemicals are being used since the fracking companies are not required to report those. It is likely the only way we will find out what chemicals are used is when they manage to escape from their geologic confines to contaminate surface or ground water or the air above the surface, if then.</p>
<p>Are there ways to manage the risk and keep these chemicals from polluting drinking water sources? I would think so but since there are no regulations to force that, then I would also guess that some gas operators will probably do what comes natural in a greedy society and just do whatever it takes to maximize their profits instead of being socially responsible. And, if they are caught they will hire attorneys to delay any sort of clean up, if a clean up is even possible, to extend the life of their profits. If all else fails, they will simply file for bankruptcy and walk away kind of personal or corporate responsibility, unscathed.</p>
<p>Less cynically, I have repeatedly asked to see data proving that fracking is actually contaminating groundwater and to determine if it is on any kind of major scale. So far, I have seen no data and am left wondering what the answer even is.</p>
<p>On a personal level, I am morally conflicted. I want to do everything I can humanly do to stop the advance of coal and also to reduce it current use. Residing in the middle of 15,003 megawatts of old coal fired generating capacity gives me clear motivation to change those things in my eco-region. For years, I have followed the possible use of natural gas as a ‘bridge fuel” as those inside the beltway like to call it, since it is proposed to bridge the gap between old coal and efficiency and renewables.</p>
<p>I remember back in 1998 going to a clean air conference which was touting gas as a replacement for coal in generating electricity.</p>
<p>I asked a simple question of one of the promoters of gas. “Have you studied the ‘price elasticity’ of natural gas to determine such a scenario’s impact on gas prices?” At the time gas prices were beginning to rise after a long period of being relatively cheap. His answer was a simple “Oh, I am confident there is enough to go around.” I took that as a no to my question.</p>
<p>It turned out, of course, when Bush and Cheney took control of our energy pricing that the price and demand for natural gas would rise to new heights.</p>
<p>The use of fracking has changed everything. We are being told that we have at least a century worth of natural gas at a relatively low price and that has given me great ammunition for my coal fights since it makes no sense to use coal when gas is far less polluting and costs less too.</p>
<p>But my moral dilemma must be addressed since I desperately want to change the coal paradigm and protect my own regional health interests but I really do not want to do that by placing another burden on those who have chosen to live in “gas country.”</p>
<p>I am convinced that the mining, processing, burning and waste disposal of coal is considerably more destructive to our collective health and that of our ecosystems than collecting natural gas through hydrofracking. But I do not desire to make a choice between two bad things.</p>
<p>Therefore, I do hope people will send me definitive data that illustrates drinking water contamination or not and I also hope that EPA will lift the exemption and begin to regulate the chemicals used to fracture the shale to free the gas.</p>
<p>That said, I will also respect anyone’s effort to protect their own regions from any environmental assault that results in permanent ecosystem destruction or ill health on their neighbors and family. I would hope others would do the same.</p>
<p>JOHN BLAIR is a Pulitzer Prize winning photographer who serves as president of the environmental health advocacy group Valley Watch in Evansville, IN. He is a contributor to <a href="" type="internal">Red State Rebels: Tales of Grassroots Resistance from the Heartland</a>, edited by Jeffrey St. Clair and Joshua Frank. (AK Press) His email address is <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p> | My Moral Dilemma for Hydrofracking | true | https://counterpunch.org/2009/12/25/my-moral-dilemma-for-hydrofracking/ | 2009-12-25 | 4left
| My Moral Dilemma for Hydrofracking
<p>Natural Gas markets have been volatile but low for the last year and a half. Just four months ago, gas bottomed out at $1.88/mmbtu and closed yesterday at just about 300% of that figure at $5.55 after nearing $6 last week. Of course that comes after prices peaking in July 08 at about $14</p>
<p>Issues concerning hydro fracking are beginning to have traction, at least in upper New York State where much of New York City’s drinking water is said to be at risk, as well as throughout the Marcellus Shale region.</p>
<p>Environmental skeptics point out that the Bush/Cheney era “exemption” from the Clean Water Act places drinking water aquifers at risk wherever fracking is done since fracking often uses hazardous chemicals to fracture the shale, which in turn releases natural gas that is collected for use on the surface.</p>
<p>Clearly, this exemption needs to be lifted and fracking be subject to the safety measure of the Clean Water Act.</p>
<p>Personally, I worry that many of the fracking chemicals which are classified as hazardous, are simply being used in the fracking process as a method of hazardous waste disposal and are not necessary for the process to work. Unfortunately, we are not allowed to know just what chemicals are being used since the fracking companies are not required to report those. It is likely the only way we will find out what chemicals are used is when they manage to escape from their geologic confines to contaminate surface or ground water or the air above the surface, if then.</p>
<p>Are there ways to manage the risk and keep these chemicals from polluting drinking water sources? I would think so but since there are no regulations to force that, then I would also guess that some gas operators will probably do what comes natural in a greedy society and just do whatever it takes to maximize their profits instead of being socially responsible. And, if they are caught they will hire attorneys to delay any sort of clean up, if a clean up is even possible, to extend the life of their profits. If all else fails, they will simply file for bankruptcy and walk away kind of personal or corporate responsibility, unscathed.</p>
<p>Less cynically, I have repeatedly asked to see data proving that fracking is actually contaminating groundwater and to determine if it is on any kind of major scale. So far, I have seen no data and am left wondering what the answer even is.</p>
<p>On a personal level, I am morally conflicted. I want to do everything I can humanly do to stop the advance of coal and also to reduce it current use. Residing in the middle of 15,003 megawatts of old coal fired generating capacity gives me clear motivation to change those things in my eco-region. For years, I have followed the possible use of natural gas as a ‘bridge fuel” as those inside the beltway like to call it, since it is proposed to bridge the gap between old coal and efficiency and renewables.</p>
<p>I remember back in 1998 going to a clean air conference which was touting gas as a replacement for coal in generating electricity.</p>
<p>I asked a simple question of one of the promoters of gas. “Have you studied the ‘price elasticity’ of natural gas to determine such a scenario’s impact on gas prices?” At the time gas prices were beginning to rise after a long period of being relatively cheap. His answer was a simple “Oh, I am confident there is enough to go around.” I took that as a no to my question.</p>
<p>It turned out, of course, when Bush and Cheney took control of our energy pricing that the price and demand for natural gas would rise to new heights.</p>
<p>The use of fracking has changed everything. We are being told that we have at least a century worth of natural gas at a relatively low price and that has given me great ammunition for my coal fights since it makes no sense to use coal when gas is far less polluting and costs less too.</p>
<p>But my moral dilemma must be addressed since I desperately want to change the coal paradigm and protect my own regional health interests but I really do not want to do that by placing another burden on those who have chosen to live in “gas country.”</p>
<p>I am convinced that the mining, processing, burning and waste disposal of coal is considerably more destructive to our collective health and that of our ecosystems than collecting natural gas through hydrofracking. But I do not desire to make a choice between two bad things.</p>
<p>Therefore, I do hope people will send me definitive data that illustrates drinking water contamination or not and I also hope that EPA will lift the exemption and begin to regulate the chemicals used to fracture the shale to free the gas.</p>
<p>That said, I will also respect anyone’s effort to protect their own regions from any environmental assault that results in permanent ecosystem destruction or ill health on their neighbors and family. I would hope others would do the same.</p>
<p>JOHN BLAIR is a Pulitzer Prize winning photographer who serves as president of the environmental health advocacy group Valley Watch in Evansville, IN. He is a contributor to <a href="" type="internal">Red State Rebels: Tales of Grassroots Resistance from the Heartland</a>, edited by Jeffrey St. Clair and Joshua Frank. (AK Press) His email address is <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p> | 3,327 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Drawing huge crowds who braved hot weather and lined the historic landing area at La Fiere, the aerial spectacle re-enacted the drama of the Normandy landings and served to cap commemorations marking the 70th anniversary of D-Day.</p>
<p>Among the planes ferrying paratroopers for the event was a restored C-47 US military transport plane that dropped Allied troops on the village of Sainte-Mere-Eglise – a stone’s throw from La Fiere – on June 6, 1944. And the pilots who originally flew it took the controls again last week, 70 years later, remembering their experiences.</p>
<p>Sunday saw dozens of veterans escorted down a sandy path to a special section to watch the show alongside thousands of spectators – most of whom lined two sides of the field. Others took shelter in the shade as the lack of wind caused the sun to beat down hard.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Planes including the C-47 aircraft flew by loudly overhead several times, with two dozen military paratroopers – from countries including the U.S., Britain, France and Germany – jumping with each passage.</p>
<p>They were scenes reminiscent of the pivotal event, when around 15,000 Allied paratroopers were dropped in and around the village of Sainte-Mere-Eglise on D-Day. It became the first to be liberated by the Allies and remains one of the enduring symbols of the Normandy invasion.</p>
<p>Veteran Julian “Bud” Rice, a C-47 pilot who participated in the airdrops of Normandy on D-Day, watched the show.</p>
<p>“It’s good to see 800 paratroopers jump here today, but the night that we came in, we had 800 airplanes with 10,000 paratroopers that we dropped that night, so it was a little more,” he said.</p>
<p>Rice flew in a C-47 aircraft earlier in the week, similar to the one he flew on D-Day. With him was veteran pilot Bill Prindible, with whom he watched the show.</p>
<p>“Very impressive,” Prindible said. “You just have to imagine there’d be a squadron of 72 aircraft, 36 aircraft going by every time one of those guys went by.”</p>
<p>At the invitation of the French government, this restored Douglas C-47 – known as Whiskey 7 – flew for the festivities and released paratroopers as it did when it dropped troops behind enemy lines under German fire.</p>
<p />
<p /> | 1,000 paratroopers participate in D-Day jump | false | https://abqjournal.com/412755/1000-paratroopers-participate-in-dday-jump.html | 2least
| 1,000 paratroopers participate in D-Day jump
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Drawing huge crowds who braved hot weather and lined the historic landing area at La Fiere, the aerial spectacle re-enacted the drama of the Normandy landings and served to cap commemorations marking the 70th anniversary of D-Day.</p>
<p>Among the planes ferrying paratroopers for the event was a restored C-47 US military transport plane that dropped Allied troops on the village of Sainte-Mere-Eglise – a stone’s throw from La Fiere – on June 6, 1944. And the pilots who originally flew it took the controls again last week, 70 years later, remembering their experiences.</p>
<p>Sunday saw dozens of veterans escorted down a sandy path to a special section to watch the show alongside thousands of spectators – most of whom lined two sides of the field. Others took shelter in the shade as the lack of wind caused the sun to beat down hard.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Planes including the C-47 aircraft flew by loudly overhead several times, with two dozen military paratroopers – from countries including the U.S., Britain, France and Germany – jumping with each passage.</p>
<p>They were scenes reminiscent of the pivotal event, when around 15,000 Allied paratroopers were dropped in and around the village of Sainte-Mere-Eglise on D-Day. It became the first to be liberated by the Allies and remains one of the enduring symbols of the Normandy invasion.</p>
<p>Veteran Julian “Bud” Rice, a C-47 pilot who participated in the airdrops of Normandy on D-Day, watched the show.</p>
<p>“It’s good to see 800 paratroopers jump here today, but the night that we came in, we had 800 airplanes with 10,000 paratroopers that we dropped that night, so it was a little more,” he said.</p>
<p>Rice flew in a C-47 aircraft earlier in the week, similar to the one he flew on D-Day. With him was veteran pilot Bill Prindible, with whom he watched the show.</p>
<p>“Very impressive,” Prindible said. “You just have to imagine there’d be a squadron of 72 aircraft, 36 aircraft going by every time one of those guys went by.”</p>
<p>At the invitation of the French government, this restored Douglas C-47 – known as Whiskey 7 – flew for the festivities and released paratroopers as it did when it dropped troops behind enemy lines under German fire.</p>
<p />
<p /> | 3,328 |
|
<p />
<p>While Joshua Allen’s <a href="http://www.themorningnews.org/archives/oped/two_minutes_and_42_seconds_in_heaven.php" type="external">piece</a> in the Morning News appears to have tongue firmly planted in cheek, there’s something intriguing about its thesis: that there is a “golden mean” of pop songs, and it’s exactly two minutes and 42 seconds. As proof, he presents us with multiple unassailably great songs that clock in right around the two-and-three-quarter-minute mark: The Cure’s “Boys Don’t Cry,” Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man,” The Beach Boys “God Only Knows,” Prince’s “I Would Die 4 U.” Fine tunes all, and, as he puts it, they’re “100 percent fat-free,” with their brief running time forcing them to get right to the point. But does the 3-minute length zone really have a monopoly—or even a plurality—of great pop songs?</p>
<p>While there are lots of toweringly great 10-minute-plus tracks (Sonic Youth’s “The Diamond Sea,” Low’s “Do You Know How to Waltz,”) I’ll concede these don’t exactly fit into the mold of pop songs, with their extended sections of instrumental improvisation and feedback. But even within the accessibility restrictions of “pop,” there are more, shall we say, full-flavored pleasures than the slim-and-trim pop nuggets listed above. Example #1: New Order’s “Blue Monday.” In its original version, this 1983 single runs 7:29, nearly three times the length of our “perfect” song, yet not a moment is wasted: it’s structured so there’s little repetition, and while the instrumental intro lasts over two minutes, new elements are introduced every few seconds, giving the track a sense of drama and majesty. Funny story: a boss at my old radio station once asked me to make a shorter edit for airplay, but I refused, since there’s nothing that can be cut without changing—ruining!—the song’s intricate progression. Yes, I am annoying to work with.</p>
<p>After the jump: sometimes you just gotta have that coda.</p>
<p>Also coming in at about seven and a half minutes are the Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” and its Beatles counterpart, “Hey Jude,” neither of which have an ounce of fat: the Stones track is operatic in scope, but never noodly, while “Jude”‘s four-minute coda is a celebratory incantation, essential to the song’s power.</p>
<p>Speaking of opera, let’s not forget “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which is comparatively brief at only 5:55, but imagine trying to make an edit of it! Blasphemy! As Wayne’s World proved, there are few songs more accessible to the mainstream masses:</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Sure, Mr. Morning News, you’re very important, you’re in a big hurry. I understand. I’ll happily listen along to your playlist of only-2:42 songs like “This Charming Man” and “California Dreaming” and love every brief minute of it. But why not stop and smell the roses; specifically, the Stone Roses, and their awesome “Fools Gold,” 10 minutes of glory, like a sprawling psychedelic cathedral, or Kraftwerk’s “Trans-Europe Express,” which needs every second of its six and a half minutes to impart its sense of grand journeys and technological achievement. You can have your <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blipvert" type="external">blipverts</a> and your 3-minute workouts, but if seven-minute pop songs are wrong, I don’t want to be right.</p>
<p /> | In Defense of Long Songs | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2008/04/defense-long-songs/ | 2008-04-22 | 4left
| In Defense of Long Songs
<p />
<p>While Joshua Allen’s <a href="http://www.themorningnews.org/archives/oped/two_minutes_and_42_seconds_in_heaven.php" type="external">piece</a> in the Morning News appears to have tongue firmly planted in cheek, there’s something intriguing about its thesis: that there is a “golden mean” of pop songs, and it’s exactly two minutes and 42 seconds. As proof, he presents us with multiple unassailably great songs that clock in right around the two-and-three-quarter-minute mark: The Cure’s “Boys Don’t Cry,” Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man,” The Beach Boys “God Only Knows,” Prince’s “I Would Die 4 U.” Fine tunes all, and, as he puts it, they’re “100 percent fat-free,” with their brief running time forcing them to get right to the point. But does the 3-minute length zone really have a monopoly—or even a plurality—of great pop songs?</p>
<p>While there are lots of toweringly great 10-minute-plus tracks (Sonic Youth’s “The Diamond Sea,” Low’s “Do You Know How to Waltz,”) I’ll concede these don’t exactly fit into the mold of pop songs, with their extended sections of instrumental improvisation and feedback. But even within the accessibility restrictions of “pop,” there are more, shall we say, full-flavored pleasures than the slim-and-trim pop nuggets listed above. Example #1: New Order’s “Blue Monday.” In its original version, this 1983 single runs 7:29, nearly three times the length of our “perfect” song, yet not a moment is wasted: it’s structured so there’s little repetition, and while the instrumental intro lasts over two minutes, new elements are introduced every few seconds, giving the track a sense of drama and majesty. Funny story: a boss at my old radio station once asked me to make a shorter edit for airplay, but I refused, since there’s nothing that can be cut without changing—ruining!—the song’s intricate progression. Yes, I am annoying to work with.</p>
<p>After the jump: sometimes you just gotta have that coda.</p>
<p>Also coming in at about seven and a half minutes are the Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” and its Beatles counterpart, “Hey Jude,” neither of which have an ounce of fat: the Stones track is operatic in scope, but never noodly, while “Jude”‘s four-minute coda is a celebratory incantation, essential to the song’s power.</p>
<p>Speaking of opera, let’s not forget “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which is comparatively brief at only 5:55, but imagine trying to make an edit of it! Blasphemy! As Wayne’s World proved, there are few songs more accessible to the mainstream masses:</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Sure, Mr. Morning News, you’re very important, you’re in a big hurry. I understand. I’ll happily listen along to your playlist of only-2:42 songs like “This Charming Man” and “California Dreaming” and love every brief minute of it. But why not stop and smell the roses; specifically, the Stone Roses, and their awesome “Fools Gold,” 10 minutes of glory, like a sprawling psychedelic cathedral, or Kraftwerk’s “Trans-Europe Express,” which needs every second of its six and a half minutes to impart its sense of grand journeys and technological achievement. You can have your <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blipvert" type="external">blipverts</a> and your 3-minute workouts, but if seven-minute pop songs are wrong, I don’t want to be right.</p>
<p /> | 3,329 |
<p>Harold Camping, a Christian radio preacher who predicted the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/harold-camping-radio-evangelist-who-predicted-doomsday-dies-at-92/2012/05/16/gJQAlgpxAp_story.html" type="external">end of world</a> would occur in 2011, died on Dec. 15 at the age of 92, his Oakland, Calif.-based broadcasting company confirmed Tuesday.</p>
<p>Camping attracted <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/harold-camping-radio-evangelist-who-predicted-doomsday-dies-at-92/2012/05/16/gJQAlgpxAp_story.html" type="external">mainstream media attention</a> by spending tens of millions of dollars on thousand of billboards and millions of pamphlets, translated into 61 languages, that urged people to get right with God before Armageddon arrived on May 21, 2011.</p>
<p>The radio show host and former civil engineer said he’d determined the date through complex mathematical calculations and “ <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/harold-camping-radio-evangelist-who-predicted-doomsday-dies-at-92/2012/05/16/gJQAlgpxAp_story.html" type="external">clues sprinkled</a> throughout the Bible.”</p>
<p>Camping calculated the exact <a href="http://www.latimes.com/obituaries/la-me-harold-camping-20131218,0,6431764.story" type="external">date of doomsday</a> at least 12 times starting in 1978, and simply re-crunched the numbers each time he was wrong.</p>
<p>Finally, he told his followers to mark May 21, 2011, on their calendars.</p>
<p>“It is going to happen,” Camping told NPR in early May 2011, according to the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/harold-camping-radio-evangelist-who-predicted-doomsday-dies-at-92/2012/05/16/gJQAlgpxAp_story.html" type="external">Washington Post</a>. “There is no Plan B.”</p>
<p>When the world didn’t end on May 21, his followers, some of whom had <a href="http://www.latimes.com/obituaries/la-me-harold-camping-20131218,0,6431764.story" type="external">quit their jobs</a> because the end was nigh, were sorely disappointed.</p>
<p>Camping tried <a href="http://www.latimes.com/obituaries/la-me-harold-camping-20131218,0,6431764.story" type="external">one more time</a>, announcing that Judgment Day would instead occur on Oct. 21, 2011.</p>
<p>After the sun rose on Oct. 22, the evangelist retired from the prediction business. &#160;</p> | Harold Camping, Christian evangelist who got the date wrong on Armageddon, is dead at 92 | false | https://pri.org/stories/2013-12-17/harold-camping-christian-evangelist-who-got-date-wrong-armageddon-dead-92 | 2013-12-17 | 3left-center
| Harold Camping, Christian evangelist who got the date wrong on Armageddon, is dead at 92
<p>Harold Camping, a Christian radio preacher who predicted the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/harold-camping-radio-evangelist-who-predicted-doomsday-dies-at-92/2012/05/16/gJQAlgpxAp_story.html" type="external">end of world</a> would occur in 2011, died on Dec. 15 at the age of 92, his Oakland, Calif.-based broadcasting company confirmed Tuesday.</p>
<p>Camping attracted <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/harold-camping-radio-evangelist-who-predicted-doomsday-dies-at-92/2012/05/16/gJQAlgpxAp_story.html" type="external">mainstream media attention</a> by spending tens of millions of dollars on thousand of billboards and millions of pamphlets, translated into 61 languages, that urged people to get right with God before Armageddon arrived on May 21, 2011.</p>
<p>The radio show host and former civil engineer said he’d determined the date through complex mathematical calculations and “ <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/harold-camping-radio-evangelist-who-predicted-doomsday-dies-at-92/2012/05/16/gJQAlgpxAp_story.html" type="external">clues sprinkled</a> throughout the Bible.”</p>
<p>Camping calculated the exact <a href="http://www.latimes.com/obituaries/la-me-harold-camping-20131218,0,6431764.story" type="external">date of doomsday</a> at least 12 times starting in 1978, and simply re-crunched the numbers each time he was wrong.</p>
<p>Finally, he told his followers to mark May 21, 2011, on their calendars.</p>
<p>“It is going to happen,” Camping told NPR in early May 2011, according to the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/harold-camping-radio-evangelist-who-predicted-doomsday-dies-at-92/2012/05/16/gJQAlgpxAp_story.html" type="external">Washington Post</a>. “There is no Plan B.”</p>
<p>When the world didn’t end on May 21, his followers, some of whom had <a href="http://www.latimes.com/obituaries/la-me-harold-camping-20131218,0,6431764.story" type="external">quit their jobs</a> because the end was nigh, were sorely disappointed.</p>
<p>Camping tried <a href="http://www.latimes.com/obituaries/la-me-harold-camping-20131218,0,6431764.story" type="external">one more time</a>, announcing that Judgment Day would instead occur on Oct. 21, 2011.</p>
<p>After the sun rose on Oct. 22, the evangelist retired from the prediction business. &#160;</p> | 3,330 |
<p><a href="" type="internal" />Aug. 30, 2012</p>
<p>By Wayne Lusvardi</p>
<p>Despite <a href="http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?pid=279056" type="external">regionalization</a> failing miserably in the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/dec/16/eu-already-failed-deborah-orr" type="external">European Union</a>, California is proposing to adopt it as a tax-sharing policy for distributing state funds to local governments if voters approve Proposition 31 on the November ballot.</p>
<p>Prop. 31 is a combined new law and state constitutional amendment sponsored by the <a href="http://www.cafwd.org/pages/about-us/" type="external">California Forward</a> political action group.&#160; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas_Berggruen" type="external">Nicolas Berggruen</a>, a European billionaire, is the biggest sponsor of California Forward with a $1 million donation to the pro-Prop. 31 Campaign.&#160; Berggruen owns the IEC College of vocation schools in California and is a registered Democrat in Florida.&#160; He founded the <a href="http://www.ftm.nl/upload/content/files/Future-of-Europe-Statement_Brussels_September-5-2011.pdf" type="external">Council for the Future of Europe</a>, which has proposed “fiscal federalism and coordinated economic policy” to rescue the European Union from its debts.</p>
<p>Urbanologist Wendell Cox writes that “regionalism” is an emerging policy of the Obama administration, as described in Stanley Kurtz’s new book, “ <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1595230920/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=1595230920&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=newgeogrcom-20" type="external">Spreading the Wealth: How Obama is Robbing the Suburbs to Pay for the Cities</a>.” Kurtz is a social anthropologist from Harvard.</p>
<p><a href="http://ag.ca.gov/cms_attachments/initiatives/pdfs/i1011_11-0068_%28government_performance%29.pdf" type="external">Prop. 31</a> will not result in new regionalized governments. Rather, it will end up in what Cox calls “fiscal regionalism” run by a committee.&#160; The tax-sharing facets of <a href="http://vig.cdn.sos.ca.gov/2012/general/pdf/complete-vig-v2.pdf" type="external">Prop. 31</a> are:</p>
<p>According to Cox, regionalization strategies are “aimed at transferring tax funding from suburban local governments to larger core area governments.”&#160; The Prop. 31 version of regionalization would not amalgamate city, county, special district and school district governments. Nor would it create new taxes. But it could authorize the state to withhold or divert taxes from local governments unless those governments adopted a “Strategic Action Plan” to distribute the revenues from the suburbs to the large urban cities.</p>
<p>In essence, a Strategic Action Plan, or SAP for short, would sap the wealth out of suburbs. SAPS might also sap the bond ratings from suburban communities.</p>
<p>Probably one of the most controversial provisions of Prop. 31 would grant the governor the power to cut or eliminate any existing program during a “fiscal emergency.”&#160; In essence, the governor could usurp local government decisions on where to spend state funds.</p>
<p>Budgets for local public schools, community colleges or cities could be cut at the whim of the governor and the funds diverted elsewhere.&#160; The governor could conceivably use new emergency powers to divert state funds to his choice of regional Strategic Action Plans.</p>
<p>Public unions have historically been concerned about granting the governor broader emergency powers.&#160; <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Top-Democrats-Accuse-Davis-Of-Usurping-Their-2918695.php" type="external">On July 11, 1999</a>, the Gov. Gray Davis administration called legislative committee chairpersons to inform them that the governor intended to direct the outcomes of selected funding bills without consulting their authors or the legislature.&#160; The leaders of the legislature at that time — Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa, D-Los Angeles and Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, D-San Francisco — called Davis’ actions a “totally improper intrusion into the legislative process.” The concern was that Davis was going to kill a bill sought by labor unions to increase workers’ compensation benefits.</p>
<p>This explains why the Democratic Party is currently opposed to Prop. 31 giving the governor emergency powers over the budget. Also, any consolidation or revenue sharing arrangement of local governments might lead to the heads of local unions losing their jobs if absorbed into a larger union.</p>
<p>Oddly, the <a href="http://www.nbclosangeles.com/blogs/prop-zero/California-Republican-Party-Convention-Prop-31-Budget-State-Reform-Forward-Action-Fund-166179956.html" type="external">California Republican Party</a> supports Prop. 31. This is because Prop. 31 is being misleadingly advertised as a government budgetary efficiency measure.&#160; But a two-year budget and performance budgeting do not need the approval of voters to be implemented.</p>
<p>Budget analyst John Decker in his book, “California in the Balance: Why Budgets Matter,” draws on an example from the Schwarzenegger administration to explain why a voter initiative is not needed for Prop. 31, except for the tax sharing provisions:</p>
<p>“Amid much fanfare the year after his election, Governor Schwarzenegger announced the results of a year long internal effort to find efficiencies in government known as the California Performance Review.&#160; Though most of the recommendations made could be implemented administratively, few were actually taken in the form proposed.”</p>
<p>Local governments can form <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Powers_Authority" type="external">“joint powers authorities”</a> in California without Prop. 31 and make their own decisions about revenue sharing.&#160; In an email to this writer about Prop. 31, Wendell Cox stated: “State law permits Joint Powers Authorities and this is all that is needed.”</p>
<p>The proponents of Prop. 31 may say that the Tea Party and those opposed to fiscal regionalism are over-reacting to its provisions.&#160; But why are the proponents trying so hard to sell Prop. 31 as a budget reform and government performance measure with little mention of its tax-sharing provisions?</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.usanewsfirst.com/2012/08/22/tea-party-opposes-california-proposition-31/" type="external">East Bay Tea Party</a> has more accurately perceived the dangers with Prop. 31 as the creation of a “super” layer of government that cannot be held accountable by local government elections.&#160; Unfortunately, the paranoid Tea Party also fears that Prop. 31 would measure the “performance and accountability” of local governments by United Nations Agenda 21.</p>
<p>No doubt this sort of paranoia reflects the powerlessness and political marginalization of the Tea Party’s members in California. But such paranoia gives the opponents of the Tea Party reasons to discount them as “wing nuts” not to be taken seriously.</p>
<p>California Forward is selling Prop. 31 to the public as “trustworthy, accountable for results, cost-effective, transparent, focused on results, cooperative, closer to the people, supportive of regional job generation, willing to listen, thrifty and prudent.” The touted provisions of Prop. 31 call for a “two-year budget cycle” and for “performance budgeting.” Prop. 31 is officially titled <a href="http://ag.ca.gov/cms_attachments/initiatives/pdfs/i1011_11-0068_%28government_performance%29.pdf" type="external">“The Government Performance and Accountability Act</a>.</p>
<p>California Forward makes no mention in its filing or in its official ballot argument in favor of it that Prop. 31 will socialize state revenue sharing.&#160; And the analysis of the <a href="http://www.lao.ca.gov/ballot/2012/31_11_2012.aspx" type="external">California Legislative Analyst</a> is so neutral and narrowly focused that it is does not help the public understand the importance of the tax-sharing aspects. The <a href="http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/California_Proposition_31,_Two-Year_State_Budget_Cycle_(2012)" type="external">ballot arguments</a> in favor and against Prop. 31 also ignore that it would socialize local government taxes by regions.</p>
<p>It is amazing that California’s journalistic commentariat has, thus far, only been concerned that Prop. 31:</p>
<p>* Is a Trojan horse that would result in <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Against-Prop-31-Reform-is-a-Trojan-horse-3770566.php#ixzz231DOrwQb" type="external">“tweaking”</a> environmental regulations;</p>
<p>* Prescribes an <a href="file://localhost/Read%20more%20here/%20http/::www.sacbee.com:2012:07:30:4672803:dan-walters-california-needs-more.html#storylink=cpy" type="external">“aspirin” instead of “surgery</a>”;</p>
<p>* Is a “ <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/2012/08/17/4733365/peter-schrag-prop-31-a-virtuous.html" type="external">virtuous budget reform package that falls short</a>;” but</p>
<p>* Would “ <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/For-Prop-31-State-can-t-afford-status-quo-3770560.php#ixzz231Lzm6vj" type="external">restore our state to greatness</a>.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.newgeography.com/content/003044-regionalism-spreading-fiscal-irresponsibility" type="external">Wendell Cox</a> is one of the few that has caught the magnitude of the problem of regionalism to our democratic form of government when he wrote, “[D]emocracy is a timeless value. If people lose control of their governments to special interests, then democracy is lost, though the word will still be invoked.”</p>
<p>In an email, Cox further wrote:</p>
<p>“In general, the idea of tax sharing is negative. This breaks the connection between local governments and taxpayers, as tax sharing governments are, by definition, not accountable to the taxpayers of jurisdiction with which they share taxes. Milton Friedman was right in saying something to the effect that people are more careful about with their own money than they are with other people’s money. This would be a very bad step for California, which already is suffering significant ill effects from insufficient fiscal responsibility.”&#160;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Safires-Political-Dictionary-William-Safire/dp/0195340612" type="external">Safires’ Political Dictionary</a> defines “tax sharing” as “collection of revenues by the (state) government, returned directly to the (local) governments without (state) control of expenditures.”&#160; Prop. 31 would go beyond merely returning tax revenues to local governments without controls and conditions attached.&#160; It would be prone to abuse for funding political cronies and political earmarks.</p>
<p>When former <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=c4UoX6-Sv1AC&amp;pg=PA727&amp;lpg=PA727&amp;dq=bill+clinton+revenue+sharing+republicans+blocked&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=V1Ak_qutIs&amp;sig=s2GcAbjxgkBhbtEtt6E4jyNCF34&amp;hl=en#v=onepage&amp;q=bill%20clinton%20revenue%20sharing%20republicans%20blocked&amp;f=false" type="external">President Clinton proposed a form of revenue sharing</a> in an&#160;economic stimulus bill, Republicans described it as political pork and successfully blocked it.&#160; But in the California Legislature, the Republican Party no longer has any blocking power.&#160; Prop. 31 would be prone to abuse because there are few checks and balances anymore in California’s new <a href="" type="internal">“Fusion Party.”</a></p>
<p>History indicates bureaucratic agencies have a way of not ending up as policy makers intended. There is no way of knowing whether Prop. 31 would end up as some form of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/TVA-Grass-Roots-Politics-Organization/dp/161027055X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1346336129&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=tva+and+grass+roots" type="external">“Tennessee Valley Authority”</a> that would usurp local governments and would be self-perpetuating without any sunset provisions.</p>
<p>Voters on both sides of the political spectrum should be concerned about the implications of Prop. 31.</p> | Prop. 31 would regionalize state revenue sharing | false | https://calwatchdog.com/2012/08/30/prop-31-would-regionalize-state-revenue-sharing/ | 2018-08-20 | 3left-center
| Prop. 31 would regionalize state revenue sharing
<p><a href="" type="internal" />Aug. 30, 2012</p>
<p>By Wayne Lusvardi</p>
<p>Despite <a href="http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?pid=279056" type="external">regionalization</a> failing miserably in the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/dec/16/eu-already-failed-deborah-orr" type="external">European Union</a>, California is proposing to adopt it as a tax-sharing policy for distributing state funds to local governments if voters approve Proposition 31 on the November ballot.</p>
<p>Prop. 31 is a combined new law and state constitutional amendment sponsored by the <a href="http://www.cafwd.org/pages/about-us/" type="external">California Forward</a> political action group.&#160; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas_Berggruen" type="external">Nicolas Berggruen</a>, a European billionaire, is the biggest sponsor of California Forward with a $1 million donation to the pro-Prop. 31 Campaign.&#160; Berggruen owns the IEC College of vocation schools in California and is a registered Democrat in Florida.&#160; He founded the <a href="http://www.ftm.nl/upload/content/files/Future-of-Europe-Statement_Brussels_September-5-2011.pdf" type="external">Council for the Future of Europe</a>, which has proposed “fiscal federalism and coordinated economic policy” to rescue the European Union from its debts.</p>
<p>Urbanologist Wendell Cox writes that “regionalism” is an emerging policy of the Obama administration, as described in Stanley Kurtz’s new book, “ <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1595230920/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=1595230920&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=newgeogrcom-20" type="external">Spreading the Wealth: How Obama is Robbing the Suburbs to Pay for the Cities</a>.” Kurtz is a social anthropologist from Harvard.</p>
<p><a href="http://ag.ca.gov/cms_attachments/initiatives/pdfs/i1011_11-0068_%28government_performance%29.pdf" type="external">Prop. 31</a> will not result in new regionalized governments. Rather, it will end up in what Cox calls “fiscal regionalism” run by a committee.&#160; The tax-sharing facets of <a href="http://vig.cdn.sos.ca.gov/2012/general/pdf/complete-vig-v2.pdf" type="external">Prop. 31</a> are:</p>
<p>According to Cox, regionalization strategies are “aimed at transferring tax funding from suburban local governments to larger core area governments.”&#160; The Prop. 31 version of regionalization would not amalgamate city, county, special district and school district governments. Nor would it create new taxes. But it could authorize the state to withhold or divert taxes from local governments unless those governments adopted a “Strategic Action Plan” to distribute the revenues from the suburbs to the large urban cities.</p>
<p>In essence, a Strategic Action Plan, or SAP for short, would sap the wealth out of suburbs. SAPS might also sap the bond ratings from suburban communities.</p>
<p>Probably one of the most controversial provisions of Prop. 31 would grant the governor the power to cut or eliminate any existing program during a “fiscal emergency.”&#160; In essence, the governor could usurp local government decisions on where to spend state funds.</p>
<p>Budgets for local public schools, community colleges or cities could be cut at the whim of the governor and the funds diverted elsewhere.&#160; The governor could conceivably use new emergency powers to divert state funds to his choice of regional Strategic Action Plans.</p>
<p>Public unions have historically been concerned about granting the governor broader emergency powers.&#160; <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Top-Democrats-Accuse-Davis-Of-Usurping-Their-2918695.php" type="external">On July 11, 1999</a>, the Gov. Gray Davis administration called legislative committee chairpersons to inform them that the governor intended to direct the outcomes of selected funding bills without consulting their authors or the legislature.&#160; The leaders of the legislature at that time — Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa, D-Los Angeles and Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, D-San Francisco — called Davis’ actions a “totally improper intrusion into the legislative process.” The concern was that Davis was going to kill a bill sought by labor unions to increase workers’ compensation benefits.</p>
<p>This explains why the Democratic Party is currently opposed to Prop. 31 giving the governor emergency powers over the budget. Also, any consolidation or revenue sharing arrangement of local governments might lead to the heads of local unions losing their jobs if absorbed into a larger union.</p>
<p>Oddly, the <a href="http://www.nbclosangeles.com/blogs/prop-zero/California-Republican-Party-Convention-Prop-31-Budget-State-Reform-Forward-Action-Fund-166179956.html" type="external">California Republican Party</a> supports Prop. 31. This is because Prop. 31 is being misleadingly advertised as a government budgetary efficiency measure.&#160; But a two-year budget and performance budgeting do not need the approval of voters to be implemented.</p>
<p>Budget analyst John Decker in his book, “California in the Balance: Why Budgets Matter,” draws on an example from the Schwarzenegger administration to explain why a voter initiative is not needed for Prop. 31, except for the tax sharing provisions:</p>
<p>“Amid much fanfare the year after his election, Governor Schwarzenegger announced the results of a year long internal effort to find efficiencies in government known as the California Performance Review.&#160; Though most of the recommendations made could be implemented administratively, few were actually taken in the form proposed.”</p>
<p>Local governments can form <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Powers_Authority" type="external">“joint powers authorities”</a> in California without Prop. 31 and make their own decisions about revenue sharing.&#160; In an email to this writer about Prop. 31, Wendell Cox stated: “State law permits Joint Powers Authorities and this is all that is needed.”</p>
<p>The proponents of Prop. 31 may say that the Tea Party and those opposed to fiscal regionalism are over-reacting to its provisions.&#160; But why are the proponents trying so hard to sell Prop. 31 as a budget reform and government performance measure with little mention of its tax-sharing provisions?</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.usanewsfirst.com/2012/08/22/tea-party-opposes-california-proposition-31/" type="external">East Bay Tea Party</a> has more accurately perceived the dangers with Prop. 31 as the creation of a “super” layer of government that cannot be held accountable by local government elections.&#160; Unfortunately, the paranoid Tea Party also fears that Prop. 31 would measure the “performance and accountability” of local governments by United Nations Agenda 21.</p>
<p>No doubt this sort of paranoia reflects the powerlessness and political marginalization of the Tea Party’s members in California. But such paranoia gives the opponents of the Tea Party reasons to discount them as “wing nuts” not to be taken seriously.</p>
<p>California Forward is selling Prop. 31 to the public as “trustworthy, accountable for results, cost-effective, transparent, focused on results, cooperative, closer to the people, supportive of regional job generation, willing to listen, thrifty and prudent.” The touted provisions of Prop. 31 call for a “two-year budget cycle” and for “performance budgeting.” Prop. 31 is officially titled <a href="http://ag.ca.gov/cms_attachments/initiatives/pdfs/i1011_11-0068_%28government_performance%29.pdf" type="external">“The Government Performance and Accountability Act</a>.</p>
<p>California Forward makes no mention in its filing or in its official ballot argument in favor of it that Prop. 31 will socialize state revenue sharing.&#160; And the analysis of the <a href="http://www.lao.ca.gov/ballot/2012/31_11_2012.aspx" type="external">California Legislative Analyst</a> is so neutral and narrowly focused that it is does not help the public understand the importance of the tax-sharing aspects. The <a href="http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/California_Proposition_31,_Two-Year_State_Budget_Cycle_(2012)" type="external">ballot arguments</a> in favor and against Prop. 31 also ignore that it would socialize local government taxes by regions.</p>
<p>It is amazing that California’s journalistic commentariat has, thus far, only been concerned that Prop. 31:</p>
<p>* Is a Trojan horse that would result in <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Against-Prop-31-Reform-is-a-Trojan-horse-3770566.php#ixzz231DOrwQb" type="external">“tweaking”</a> environmental regulations;</p>
<p>* Prescribes an <a href="file://localhost/Read%20more%20here/%20http/::www.sacbee.com:2012:07:30:4672803:dan-walters-california-needs-more.html#storylink=cpy" type="external">“aspirin” instead of “surgery</a>”;</p>
<p>* Is a “ <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/2012/08/17/4733365/peter-schrag-prop-31-a-virtuous.html" type="external">virtuous budget reform package that falls short</a>;” but</p>
<p>* Would “ <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/For-Prop-31-State-can-t-afford-status-quo-3770560.php#ixzz231Lzm6vj" type="external">restore our state to greatness</a>.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.newgeography.com/content/003044-regionalism-spreading-fiscal-irresponsibility" type="external">Wendell Cox</a> is one of the few that has caught the magnitude of the problem of regionalism to our democratic form of government when he wrote, “[D]emocracy is a timeless value. If people lose control of their governments to special interests, then democracy is lost, though the word will still be invoked.”</p>
<p>In an email, Cox further wrote:</p>
<p>“In general, the idea of tax sharing is negative. This breaks the connection between local governments and taxpayers, as tax sharing governments are, by definition, not accountable to the taxpayers of jurisdiction with which they share taxes. Milton Friedman was right in saying something to the effect that people are more careful about with their own money than they are with other people’s money. This would be a very bad step for California, which already is suffering significant ill effects from insufficient fiscal responsibility.”&#160;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Safires-Political-Dictionary-William-Safire/dp/0195340612" type="external">Safires’ Political Dictionary</a> defines “tax sharing” as “collection of revenues by the (state) government, returned directly to the (local) governments without (state) control of expenditures.”&#160; Prop. 31 would go beyond merely returning tax revenues to local governments without controls and conditions attached.&#160; It would be prone to abuse for funding political cronies and political earmarks.</p>
<p>When former <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=c4UoX6-Sv1AC&amp;pg=PA727&amp;lpg=PA727&amp;dq=bill+clinton+revenue+sharing+republicans+blocked&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=V1Ak_qutIs&amp;sig=s2GcAbjxgkBhbtEtt6E4jyNCF34&amp;hl=en#v=onepage&amp;q=bill%20clinton%20revenue%20sharing%20republicans%20blocked&amp;f=false" type="external">President Clinton proposed a form of revenue sharing</a> in an&#160;economic stimulus bill, Republicans described it as political pork and successfully blocked it.&#160; But in the California Legislature, the Republican Party no longer has any blocking power.&#160; Prop. 31 would be prone to abuse because there are few checks and balances anymore in California’s new <a href="" type="internal">“Fusion Party.”</a></p>
<p>History indicates bureaucratic agencies have a way of not ending up as policy makers intended. There is no way of knowing whether Prop. 31 would end up as some form of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/TVA-Grass-Roots-Politics-Organization/dp/161027055X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1346336129&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=tva+and+grass+roots" type="external">“Tennessee Valley Authority”</a> that would usurp local governments and would be self-perpetuating without any sunset provisions.</p>
<p>Voters on both sides of the political spectrum should be concerned about the implications of Prop. 31.</p> | 3,331 |
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<a href="" type="internal">topnews.reuters.com</a> (Reporting by Rahul B in Bengaluru) Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration on Thursday blamed the Russian government for a campaign of cyber attacks stretching back at least two years that targeted the U.S. power grid, marking the first time the United States has publicly accused Moscow of hacking into American energy infrastructure.</p>
<p>Beginning in March 2016, or possibly earlier, Russian government hackers sought to penetrate multiple U.S. critical infrastructure sectors, including energy, nuclear, commercial facilities, water, aviation and manufacturing, according to a U.S. security alert published Thursday.</p>
<p>The Department of Homeland Security and FBI said in the alert that a “multi-stage intrusion campaign by Russian government cyber actors” had targeted the networks of small commercial facilities “where they staged malware, conducted spear phishing, and gained remote access into energy sector networks.” The alert did not name facilities or companies targeted.</p>
<p>The direct condemnation of Moscow represented an escalation in the Trump administration’s attempts to deter Russia’s aggression in cyberspace, after senior U.S. intelligence officials said in recent weeks the Kremlin feels it can launch hacking operations against the West with impunity.</p>
<p>It coincided with a decision Thursday by the U.S. Treasury Department to impose sanctions on 19 Russian people and five groups, including Moscow’s intelligence services, for meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and other malicious cyber attacks.</p>
<p>Russia in the past has denied it has tried to hack into other countries’ infrastructure, and vowed on Thursday to retaliate for the new sanctions.</p> ‘UNPRECEDENTED AND EXTRAORDINARY’
<p>U.S. security officials have long warned that the United States may be vulnerable to debilitating cyber attacks from hostile adversaries. It was not clear what impact the attacks had on the firms that were targeted.</p>
<p>But Thursday’s alert provided a link to an analysis by the U.S. cyber security firm Symantec last fall that said a group it had dubbed Dragonfly had targeted energy companies in the United States and Europe and in some cases broke into the core systems that control the companies’ operations.</p>
<p>Malicious email campaigns dating back to late 2015 were used to gain entry into organizations in the United States, Turkey and Switzerland, and likely other countries, Symantec said at the time, though it did not name Russia as the culprit.</p>
<p>The decision by the United States to publicly attribute hacking attempts of American critical infrastructure was “unprecedented and extraordinary,” said Amit Yoran, a former U.S. official who founded DHS’s Computer Emergency Response Team.</p>
<p>“I have never seen anything like this,” said Yoran, now chief executive of the cyber firm Tenable, said.</p>
<p>A White House National Security Council spokesman did not respond when asked what specifically prompted the public blaming of Russia. U.S. officials have historically been reluctant to call out such activity in part because the United States also spies on infrastructure in other parts of the world.</p>
<p>News of the hacking campaign targeting U.S. power companies first surfaced in June in a confidential alert to industry that described attacks on industrial firms, including nuclear plants, but did not attribute blame.</p>
<p>“People sort of suspected Russia was behind it, but today’s statement from the U.S. government carries a lot of weight,” Read said,” said Ben Read, manager for cyber espionage analysis with cyber security company FireEye Inc.</p> ENGINEERS TARGETED
<p>The campaign targeted engineers and technical staff with access to industrial controls, suggesting the hackers were interested in disrupting operations, though FireEye has seen no evidence that they actually took that step, Read said.</p>
<p>It was not clear what was Russia’s motive was. Many cyber security experts and former U.S. officials say such behavior is generally espionage-oriented with the potential, if needed, for sabotage.</p>
<p>Russia has shown a willingness to leverage access into energy networks for damaging effect in the past. Kremlin-linked hackers were widely blamed for two attacks on the Ukrainian energy grid in 2015 and 2016, that caused temporary blackouts for hundreds of thousands of customers and were considered first-of-their-kind assaults. The attacks included sabotaging power distribution equipment, which complicated attempts to restore power.</p>
<p>Senator Maria Cantwell, the top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, asked the Trump administration earlier this month to provide a threat assessment gauging Russian capabilities to breach the U.S. electric grid.</p>
<p>It was the third time Cantwell and other senators had asked for such a review. The administration has not yet responded, a spokesman for Cantwell’s office said on Thursday.</p>
<p>Last July there were news reports that the Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corp, which operates a nuclear plant in Kansas, had been targeted by hackers from an unknown origin.</p>
<p>Spokeswoman Jenny Hageman declined to say at the time if the plant had been hacked but said that there had been no operational impact to the plant because operational computer systems were separate from the corporate network. Hageman on Thursday said the company does not comment on security matters.</p>
<p>John Keeley, a spokesman for the industry group the Nuclear Energy Institute, said: “There has been no successful cyber attack against any U.S. nuclear facility, including Wolf Creek.”</p>
<p>He said whether the corporate networks of any nuclear plants had been hacked was a question for the U.S. government.</p>
<p>Reporting by Dustin Volz and Timothy Gardner, additional reporting by Jim Finkle; Editing by Tom Brown and Alistair Bell</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States slapped sanctions on Russian individuals and entities for U.S. election meddling and cyber attacks but put off targeting oligarchs and government officials close to President Vladimir Putin, prompting lawmakers in both parties to say President Donald Trump needs to do much more.</p>
<p>With the United States under pressure to act, the steps announced by the U.S. Treasury Department represented the most significant taken against Moscow since Trump assumed office in January 2017.</p>
<p>Along with imposing sanctions on 19 individuals and five entities including Russian intelligence services, Trump’s administration blamed Moscow for a campaign of cyber attacks stretching back at least two years that targeted the U.S. power grid including nuclear facilities.</p>
<p>The United States also joined Britain, Germany and France in demanding that Russia explain a military-grade nerve toxin attack in England on a former Russian double agent, and Trump said “it certainly looks like the Russians were behind” the incident.</p>
<p>But congressional critics called the administration’s action a woefully inadequate retaliation for Russia interference in the 2016 U.S. election and other actions.</p>
<p>“The sanctions today are a grievous disappointment and fall far short of what is needed to respond to that attack on our democracy let alone deter Russia’s escalating aggression, which now includes a chemical weapons attack on the soil of our closest ally,” said Adam Schiff, top Democrat on the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee.</p>
<p>“Today’s action, using authorities provided by Congress, is an important step by the administration. But more must be done,” Republican House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce added.</p>
<p>Trump has faced fierce criticism in the United States for doing too little to punish Russia for the election meddling and other actions, and Special Counsel Robert Mueller is looking into whether Trump’s campaign colluded with the Russians, an allegation the president denies.</p>
<p>Sixteen of the Russian individuals and entities sanctioned were indicted on Feb. 16 as part of Mueller’s criminal investigation.</p>
<p>“They didn’t hit Putin’s power structure and they didn’t team up with Europe,” Brian O’Toole, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank and a former senior adviser at the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, said of the administration’s actions.</p>
<p>A senior administration official told Reuters that Trump, who campaigned on warmer ties with Putin, has grown exasperated with Russian activity. “A classic bully,” the official said of Putin.</p>
<p>White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders, asked if Russia is a friend or foe, told reporters, “Russia is going to have to make that determination. They’re going to have to decide whether they want to be a good actor or a bad actor.”</p>
<p>In Moscow, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Russia was preparing retaliatory measures, as U.S.-Russian relations plunged again.</p>
<p>Thursday’s announcement marked the first time that the U.S. government stated publicly that Russia had attempted to break into the American energy grid, which U.S. security officials have longed warned may be vulnerable to debilitating cyber attacks from hostile adversaries.</p> FILE PHOTO: U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin discusses the Trump administration's tax reform proposal in the White House briefing room in Washington, U.S, April 26, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File photo
<p>The Treasury Department said the sanctions were also meant to counter cyber attacks including the NotPetya attack that cost billions of dollars in damage across Europe, Asia and the United States. The United States and Britain last month blamed Russian military for that attack.</p>
<p>Trump has frequently questioned a January 2017 finding by U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia interfered in the 2016 campaign using hacking and propaganda in an effort eventually aimed at tilting the race in Trump’s favor. Russia denies interfering in the election.</p>
<p>But Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was unequivocal in saying that Thursday’s action by his department “counters Russia’s continuing destabilizing activities, ranging from interference in the 2016 election to conducting destructive cyber-attacks.”</p> ‘GET SMART’
<p>“Putin constantly attacks our friends. So, President Trump, are you going to get smart about the threat Russia poses to the United States and our allies?” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer asked.</p> FILE PHOTO: Voters cast their votes during the U.S. presidential election in Elyria, Ohio, U.S. November 8, 2016. REUTERS/Aaron Josefczyk/File Photo
<p>Mnuchin said there would be additional sanctions against Russian government officials and oligarchs “for their destabilizing activities.” Mnuchin did not give a time frame for those sanctions, which he said would sever the individuals’ access to the U.S. financial system.</p>
<p>Democratic Senator Robert Menendez said he was glad to see the administration act but noted that Democratic former President Barack Obama’s administration had already imposed sanctions on many of the people and entities targeted on Thursday.</p>
<p>Russian government hackers since at least March 2016 “have also targeted U.S. government entities and multiple U.S. critical infrastructure sectors, including the energy, nuclear, commercial facilities, water, aviation, and critical manufacturing sectors,” a Treasury Department statement said.</p>
<p>A senior administration told reporters on a conference call that Russian actors infiltrated parts of the U.S. energy sector.</p>
<p>“We were able to identify where they were located within those business systems and remove them from those business systems,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.</p> Related Coverage
<a href="/article/us-usa-russia-sanctions-whitehouse/white-house-will-remain-tough-on-russia-until-its-behavior-changes-idUSKCN1GR313" type="external">White House: will remain tough on Russia until its behavior changes</a>
<a href="/article/us-usa-russia-sanctions-energygrid/in-a-first-u-s-blames-russia-for-cyber-attacks-on-energy-grid-idUSKCN1GR2G3" type="external">In a first, U.S. blames Russia for cyber attacks on energy grid</a>
<a href="/article/us-usa-russia-sanctions-prigozhin/russian-businessman-prigozhin-dismisses-new-u-s-sanctions-ria-idUSKCN1GR2G7" type="external">Russian businessman Prigozhin dismisses new U.S. sanctions: RIA</a>
<p>Trump told reporters during a White House event with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar that “it certainly looks like the Russians were behind” the use of a nerve agent to attack Sergei Skripal, a former Russian double agent in England. Trump called it “something that should never, ever happen, and we’re taking it very seriously, as I think are many others.”</p>
<p>The new sanctions include Russian intelligence services, the Federal Security Service (FSB) and Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), and six individuals working on behalf of the GRU.</p>
<p>Thursday’s action blocks all property of those targeted that is subject to U.S. jurisdiction and prohibits American citizens from engaging in transactions with them.</p>
<p>Russian businessman Evgeny Prigozhin, one of those indicted by Mueller and hit with sanctions on Thursday, said in comments cited by RIA news agency that he already had been hit with U.S. sanctions “maybe three or four times - I’m tired of counting.”</p>
<p>“I’m not worried by this,” Prigozhin was quoted as saying. “Except that now I will stop going to McDonald’s.”</p>
<p>Reporting by Steve Holland and Doina Chiacu; Additional reporting by Dustin Volz, Timothy Gardner, Lesley Wroughton, Warren Strobel and James Oliphant in Washington, Guy Faulconbridge and Estelle Shirbon in London and Polina Ivanova in Moscow; Editing by Mary Milliken and Will Dunham</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>BEIRUT (Reuters) - The war has cost one man part of his liver and intestines. Another his home and work. A third his homeland and studies.</p>
<p>All three have lost hope.</p>
<p>Abu Farhan, Fouad al-Ghraibi and Abu al-Baraa took the rebels’ side in the violence which began after the government put down street protests that started on March 15, 2011.</p>
<p>Ghraibi, who has a business renting out construction machinery, joined a rebel group and later set up his own fighting unit. Abu al-Baraa, then just 16, joined a militant group, the Nusra Front, and became a jihadist fighter. Abu Farhan, a student and part-time kitchen fitter, joined the first protests in the central Syrian city of Homs and went on to became an opposition activist.</p>
<p>The harrowing tales of the three men — they don’t know each other but all risked their lives by siding against President Bashar al-Assad — help show why the rebellion is failing.</p>
<p>All three quickly became disillusioned with divisions among the rebels and what they saw as various fighting groups’ intolerance of anyone who does not think like them — a trait similar to what they see in Assad.</p>
<p>Two of them have concluded the war is unwinnable, especially as Assad now has heavy military support from Russia and Iran that far outweighs the weapons shipped to rebels by the United States, Gulf Arab states and Turkey.</p>
<p>But hatred of Assad means fighters like Ghraibi battle on. Men such as Abu al-Baraa and Abu Farhan are so disillusioned with both sides that they see no life for them in Syria.</p>
<p>“What happened destroyed my whole future,” Abu al-Baraa, who now lives in exile in Turkey, told Reuters by telephone. He fled across the border after falling out with the Nusra Front, which he says imprisoned and tortured him.</p>
<p>Ghraibi, 37, has recovered from abdomen and hand wounds and lost part of his liver and intestines, and a finger, says he will fight to the death with the rebels but also believes the rebellion’s original ideals are dead.</p>
<p>“We’ll keep fighting to our last breath, even against the whole world,” he said.</p> OPPOSITION ACTIVIST
<p>Abu Farhan shares that sense of despair. Now 30, he was forced out of Homs by the fighting in 2014. Although he has found work and an apartment in Syria’s northern Idlib province, he is deeply disillusioned by what has become of Syria and dreams of leaving to start a new life abroad.</p>
<p>“We didn’t want to destroy our country and create this rift among Syrians,” he said. “If I could go back in time, I wouldn’t have joined the protests.”</p>
<p>He asked to be identified only by his nom de guerre for fear of upsetting rebels in Idlib.</p>
<p>The civil war has killed 511,000 people, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, and forced over 5.4 million to flee the county, according to U.N. data. It has also caused a refugee crisis in neighboring countries and western Europe and inspired fatal attacks from Nice to Los Angeles.</p>
<p>(Years of deadly days in Syria: <a href="http://tmsnrt.rs/2HB9bkG" type="external">tmsnrt.rs/2HB9bkG</a>)</p>
<p>It is a civil war that has laid bare the international community’s inability to resolve conflicts on such a scale, increasing strains between Russia and the West.</p>
<p>Abu Farhan had studied physical education at university in Homs before the war and was working as a kitchen fitter. He threw his lot in with Assad’s opponents when he joined anti-government protesters pouring out of the Khaled bin al-Walid mosque in Homs.</p>
<p>Abu Farhan put aside his studies and his hopes of marriage, and began organizing protests.</p>
<p>His best friend and favorite cousin both disappeared under arrest. Last year he found out that they were killed - a fate which human rights groups say has befallen tens of thousands in Assad’s prisons. The president denies the accusations.</p>
<p>By February 2012, the Syrian army was regularly shelling the district where Abu Farhan lived in the Jouret al Shayyah district of Homs near the Old City. But he chose not to fight.</p>
<p>“I knew that taking up arms would be a curse, not a blessing,” he said.</p>
<p>As fighting intensified and warplanes began bombing city blocks in late 2012, he left his home with his parents and two siblings for al-Waer, a quieter opposition area in another part of the city.</p>
<p>Waer was soon subjected to a siege that lasted until 2017 and food became more scarce. During Ramadan, the Muslim holy month when people traditionally eat delicacies at night after fasting through the daylight hours, he says the family usually had only bulgur wheat to break their fast.</p>
<p>“Sometimes we didn’t even have that,” he said.</p>
<p>Terrified of arrest by Assad’s security forces - which he believed would lead to torture and summary execution - Abu Farhan and his family joined rebels who left for Idlib in a negotiated withdrawal, surrendering Waer to the government.</p>
<p>Idlib will never feel like home for Abu Farhan. “I am a refugee here,” he said.</p>
<p>After leaving Waer, he and his sister both found jobs in Idlib, with Abu Farhan working as a fitness instructor.</p>
<p>Despite overcrowding caused by the flood of refugees from other parts of Syria, they were able to rent an apartment. For now, though, Abu Farhan is unable to get to work in the southern part of Idlib because bombing by pro-Assad forces makes his journey too dangerous.</p> Fouad al-Ghraibi is seen (2ndL) with fighters in this undated photo in Idlib, Syria. REUTERS/Stringer
<p>The bombing, destruction and what he sees as the intolerance of rebel groups running Idlib have convinced him there is no point staying in Syria. He has started learning Turkish and hopes to gain refugee status.</p> JIHADIST AND EXILE
<p>Abu al-Baraa was a schoolboy in Waer when the protests began, but volunteered as a hospital orderly and helped injured demonstrators hide from the police. He briefly became a medical student, while it was still possible to travel into the university in central Homs.</p>
<p>Realising he was now a wanted man because of his actions, he joined the Nusra Front. He said the group seemed to represent his conservative religious views and that he became aware of its true nature and violent militancy only later.</p>
<p>“We didn’t know then that the Nusra Front was affiliated to al Qaeda. We had a religious upbringing, and they lured us in with their religious beliefs,” said Abu al-Baraa.</p>
<p>The Nusra Front’s brutal methods were soon evident to Abu al-Baraa, as was the split between jihadist and nationalist groups that has plagued the uprising.</p>
<p>“They established security apparatuses and prisons just like the (Assad government) regime, where they tortured people,” Abu al-Baraa said. “I know of at least one man who died under torture and was later shown to be innocent.”</p>
<p>After only a few months fighting with the group, he was stripped of his gun and mobile phone for opposing its actions and he started volunteering at a medical center.</p>
<p>His disillusionment with the Nusra Front and other rebels grew and he publicly argued with the group’s local commander, who threw him into prison.</p>
<p>He was held in a dark underground cell infested with rats and was tortured, he said.</p> Slideshow (20 Images)
<p>“They faked 15 accusations against me, including theft and spying for the regime. After 12 days of living hell, I collapsed and confessed to the fake accusations,” he said.</p>
<p>While he wasted in prison the rebellion, undermined by internal wrangling and facing a government strengthened by the arrival of Russian warplanes, was losing ground.</p>
<p>When its enclave in the city of Aleppo fell to Assad in late 2016, it led to a series of surrenders of other small opposition pockets around Syria. Waer was one of them.</p>
<p>Abu al-Baraa was stuck in prison, but he still had friends in the Nusra Front who managed to smuggle him out. He was able to board one of a number of green buses sent by the government to evacuate the rebels, and made it to Idlib.</p>
<p>For Abu al-Baraa, worried he was in danger from the Nusra Front and now using false documents, the misery and poverty of Idlib offered no haven.</p>
<p>“Two or three families shared one small apartment, taking turns to sleep,” he said.</p>
<p>Six weeks after arriving there, he made the dangerous border crossing into Turkey with the help of the same people who had rescued him from prison. It was his seventh attempt.</p>
<p>Mow living in Istanbul with his mother and younger brother, Abu al-Baraa says the trauma of that time, when the sound of jets meant an attack could be imminent, still affects them.</p>
<p>“We live near the airport. Whenever a plane takes off or lands, my brother runs crying to his mother,” he said.</p>
<p>Their father did not make it out of Syria. He died of a stroke in Waer in 2014. Abu al-Baraa still fears his former rebel allies enough to be identified only by his nom de guerre.</p> Related Coverage
<a href="/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-explainer/explainer-foreign-powers-obstruct-more-assad-gains-in-syria-idUSKCN1GR1RR" type="external">Explainer: Foreign powers obstruct more Assad gains in Syria</a> REBEL COMMANDER
<p>When anti-government protests began in the city of Idlib in 2011, Fouad al-Ghraibi quickly joined them.</p>
<p>There was never any question where his allegiances lay. Thirteen of his uncles and cousins, all from the family’s home village of Kafr Oueid in Idlib province, were killed or jailed when government forces crushed a years-long revolt by the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist organization, in 1982.</p>
<p>Ghraibi was shot in the hand and abdomen when Assad cracked down on the protesters and was taken to Turkey for treatment.</p>
<p>Returning to Idlib months later, he gathered friends to join the Free Syrian Army (FSA), an alliance of rebel groups backed by Western and Arab countries.</p>
<p>Disappointed by divisions in the FSA, he later joined Jaish al-Islam, a better organized Islamist coalition backed by Saudi Arabia where he was put in charge of 150 fighters.</p>
<p>Three of his brothers, Mokhlis, Khaled and Mustafa, were killed in combat in the northwest, scene of some of the fiercest fighting of the war. An air strike on his village in June 2015 killed 33 civilians, including his niece.</p>
<p>When an alliance of jihadist groups led by the Nusra Front, which changed its name in 2016, took over much of Idlib last year, Ghraibi returned home to Kafr Oueid.</p>
<p>Once there, he set up a group of 45 local fighters which he hopes will defend the village from both Assad and the Islamist factions, and return the revolution to the ideals he believes it originally espoused.</p>
<p>All it has done so far is contribute yet another small armed faction to a civil war that shows no sign of ending.</p>
<p>Editing by Angus McDowall and Timothy Heritage</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a> | UK Stocks-Factors to watch on Jan 25 In a first, U.S. blames Russia for cyber attacks on energy grid U.S. sanctions Russians for meddling, but not Putin's oligarchs The lives of three men show why Syria’s rebels are losing | false | https://reuters.com/article/britain-stocks-factors/uk-stocks-factors-to-watch-on-jan-25-idUSL4N1PK24L | 2018-01-25 | 2least
| UK Stocks-Factors to watch on Jan 25 In a first, U.S. blames Russia for cyber attacks on energy grid U.S. sanctions Russians for meddling, but not Putin's oligarchs The lives of three men show why Syria’s rebels are losing
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<a href="" type="internal">topnews.reuters.com</a> (Reporting by Rahul B in Bengaluru) Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration on Thursday blamed the Russian government for a campaign of cyber attacks stretching back at least two years that targeted the U.S. power grid, marking the first time the United States has publicly accused Moscow of hacking into American energy infrastructure.</p>
<p>Beginning in March 2016, or possibly earlier, Russian government hackers sought to penetrate multiple U.S. critical infrastructure sectors, including energy, nuclear, commercial facilities, water, aviation and manufacturing, according to a U.S. security alert published Thursday.</p>
<p>The Department of Homeland Security and FBI said in the alert that a “multi-stage intrusion campaign by Russian government cyber actors” had targeted the networks of small commercial facilities “where they staged malware, conducted spear phishing, and gained remote access into energy sector networks.” The alert did not name facilities or companies targeted.</p>
<p>The direct condemnation of Moscow represented an escalation in the Trump administration’s attempts to deter Russia’s aggression in cyberspace, after senior U.S. intelligence officials said in recent weeks the Kremlin feels it can launch hacking operations against the West with impunity.</p>
<p>It coincided with a decision Thursday by the U.S. Treasury Department to impose sanctions on 19 Russian people and five groups, including Moscow’s intelligence services, for meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and other malicious cyber attacks.</p>
<p>Russia in the past has denied it has tried to hack into other countries’ infrastructure, and vowed on Thursday to retaliate for the new sanctions.</p> ‘UNPRECEDENTED AND EXTRAORDINARY’
<p>U.S. security officials have long warned that the United States may be vulnerable to debilitating cyber attacks from hostile adversaries. It was not clear what impact the attacks had on the firms that were targeted.</p>
<p>But Thursday’s alert provided a link to an analysis by the U.S. cyber security firm Symantec last fall that said a group it had dubbed Dragonfly had targeted energy companies in the United States and Europe and in some cases broke into the core systems that control the companies’ operations.</p>
<p>Malicious email campaigns dating back to late 2015 were used to gain entry into organizations in the United States, Turkey and Switzerland, and likely other countries, Symantec said at the time, though it did not name Russia as the culprit.</p>
<p>The decision by the United States to publicly attribute hacking attempts of American critical infrastructure was “unprecedented and extraordinary,” said Amit Yoran, a former U.S. official who founded DHS’s Computer Emergency Response Team.</p>
<p>“I have never seen anything like this,” said Yoran, now chief executive of the cyber firm Tenable, said.</p>
<p>A White House National Security Council spokesman did not respond when asked what specifically prompted the public blaming of Russia. U.S. officials have historically been reluctant to call out such activity in part because the United States also spies on infrastructure in other parts of the world.</p>
<p>News of the hacking campaign targeting U.S. power companies first surfaced in June in a confidential alert to industry that described attacks on industrial firms, including nuclear plants, but did not attribute blame.</p>
<p>“People sort of suspected Russia was behind it, but today’s statement from the U.S. government carries a lot of weight,” Read said,” said Ben Read, manager for cyber espionage analysis with cyber security company FireEye Inc.</p> ENGINEERS TARGETED
<p>The campaign targeted engineers and technical staff with access to industrial controls, suggesting the hackers were interested in disrupting operations, though FireEye has seen no evidence that they actually took that step, Read said.</p>
<p>It was not clear what was Russia’s motive was. Many cyber security experts and former U.S. officials say such behavior is generally espionage-oriented with the potential, if needed, for sabotage.</p>
<p>Russia has shown a willingness to leverage access into energy networks for damaging effect in the past. Kremlin-linked hackers were widely blamed for two attacks on the Ukrainian energy grid in 2015 and 2016, that caused temporary blackouts for hundreds of thousands of customers and were considered first-of-their-kind assaults. The attacks included sabotaging power distribution equipment, which complicated attempts to restore power.</p>
<p>Senator Maria Cantwell, the top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, asked the Trump administration earlier this month to provide a threat assessment gauging Russian capabilities to breach the U.S. electric grid.</p>
<p>It was the third time Cantwell and other senators had asked for such a review. The administration has not yet responded, a spokesman for Cantwell’s office said on Thursday.</p>
<p>Last July there were news reports that the Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corp, which operates a nuclear plant in Kansas, had been targeted by hackers from an unknown origin.</p>
<p>Spokeswoman Jenny Hageman declined to say at the time if the plant had been hacked but said that there had been no operational impact to the plant because operational computer systems were separate from the corporate network. Hageman on Thursday said the company does not comment on security matters.</p>
<p>John Keeley, a spokesman for the industry group the Nuclear Energy Institute, said: “There has been no successful cyber attack against any U.S. nuclear facility, including Wolf Creek.”</p>
<p>He said whether the corporate networks of any nuclear plants had been hacked was a question for the U.S. government.</p>
<p>Reporting by Dustin Volz and Timothy Gardner, additional reporting by Jim Finkle; Editing by Tom Brown and Alistair Bell</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States slapped sanctions on Russian individuals and entities for U.S. election meddling and cyber attacks but put off targeting oligarchs and government officials close to President Vladimir Putin, prompting lawmakers in both parties to say President Donald Trump needs to do much more.</p>
<p>With the United States under pressure to act, the steps announced by the U.S. Treasury Department represented the most significant taken against Moscow since Trump assumed office in January 2017.</p>
<p>Along with imposing sanctions on 19 individuals and five entities including Russian intelligence services, Trump’s administration blamed Moscow for a campaign of cyber attacks stretching back at least two years that targeted the U.S. power grid including nuclear facilities.</p>
<p>The United States also joined Britain, Germany and France in demanding that Russia explain a military-grade nerve toxin attack in England on a former Russian double agent, and Trump said “it certainly looks like the Russians were behind” the incident.</p>
<p>But congressional critics called the administration’s action a woefully inadequate retaliation for Russia interference in the 2016 U.S. election and other actions.</p>
<p>“The sanctions today are a grievous disappointment and fall far short of what is needed to respond to that attack on our democracy let alone deter Russia’s escalating aggression, which now includes a chemical weapons attack on the soil of our closest ally,” said Adam Schiff, top Democrat on the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee.</p>
<p>“Today’s action, using authorities provided by Congress, is an important step by the administration. But more must be done,” Republican House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce added.</p>
<p>Trump has faced fierce criticism in the United States for doing too little to punish Russia for the election meddling and other actions, and Special Counsel Robert Mueller is looking into whether Trump’s campaign colluded with the Russians, an allegation the president denies.</p>
<p>Sixteen of the Russian individuals and entities sanctioned were indicted on Feb. 16 as part of Mueller’s criminal investigation.</p>
<p>“They didn’t hit Putin’s power structure and they didn’t team up with Europe,” Brian O’Toole, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank and a former senior adviser at the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, said of the administration’s actions.</p>
<p>A senior administration official told Reuters that Trump, who campaigned on warmer ties with Putin, has grown exasperated with Russian activity. “A classic bully,” the official said of Putin.</p>
<p>White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders, asked if Russia is a friend or foe, told reporters, “Russia is going to have to make that determination. They’re going to have to decide whether they want to be a good actor or a bad actor.”</p>
<p>In Moscow, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Russia was preparing retaliatory measures, as U.S.-Russian relations plunged again.</p>
<p>Thursday’s announcement marked the first time that the U.S. government stated publicly that Russia had attempted to break into the American energy grid, which U.S. security officials have longed warned may be vulnerable to debilitating cyber attacks from hostile adversaries.</p> FILE PHOTO: U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin discusses the Trump administration's tax reform proposal in the White House briefing room in Washington, U.S, April 26, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File photo
<p>The Treasury Department said the sanctions were also meant to counter cyber attacks including the NotPetya attack that cost billions of dollars in damage across Europe, Asia and the United States. The United States and Britain last month blamed Russian military for that attack.</p>
<p>Trump has frequently questioned a January 2017 finding by U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia interfered in the 2016 campaign using hacking and propaganda in an effort eventually aimed at tilting the race in Trump’s favor. Russia denies interfering in the election.</p>
<p>But Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was unequivocal in saying that Thursday’s action by his department “counters Russia’s continuing destabilizing activities, ranging from interference in the 2016 election to conducting destructive cyber-attacks.”</p> ‘GET SMART’
<p>“Putin constantly attacks our friends. So, President Trump, are you going to get smart about the threat Russia poses to the United States and our allies?” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer asked.</p> FILE PHOTO: Voters cast their votes during the U.S. presidential election in Elyria, Ohio, U.S. November 8, 2016. REUTERS/Aaron Josefczyk/File Photo
<p>Mnuchin said there would be additional sanctions against Russian government officials and oligarchs “for their destabilizing activities.” Mnuchin did not give a time frame for those sanctions, which he said would sever the individuals’ access to the U.S. financial system.</p>
<p>Democratic Senator Robert Menendez said he was glad to see the administration act but noted that Democratic former President Barack Obama’s administration had already imposed sanctions on many of the people and entities targeted on Thursday.</p>
<p>Russian government hackers since at least March 2016 “have also targeted U.S. government entities and multiple U.S. critical infrastructure sectors, including the energy, nuclear, commercial facilities, water, aviation, and critical manufacturing sectors,” a Treasury Department statement said.</p>
<p>A senior administration told reporters on a conference call that Russian actors infiltrated parts of the U.S. energy sector.</p>
<p>“We were able to identify where they were located within those business systems and remove them from those business systems,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.</p> Related Coverage
<a href="/article/us-usa-russia-sanctions-whitehouse/white-house-will-remain-tough-on-russia-until-its-behavior-changes-idUSKCN1GR313" type="external">White House: will remain tough on Russia until its behavior changes</a>
<a href="/article/us-usa-russia-sanctions-energygrid/in-a-first-u-s-blames-russia-for-cyber-attacks-on-energy-grid-idUSKCN1GR2G3" type="external">In a first, U.S. blames Russia for cyber attacks on energy grid</a>
<a href="/article/us-usa-russia-sanctions-prigozhin/russian-businessman-prigozhin-dismisses-new-u-s-sanctions-ria-idUSKCN1GR2G7" type="external">Russian businessman Prigozhin dismisses new U.S. sanctions: RIA</a>
<p>Trump told reporters during a White House event with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar that “it certainly looks like the Russians were behind” the use of a nerve agent to attack Sergei Skripal, a former Russian double agent in England. Trump called it “something that should never, ever happen, and we’re taking it very seriously, as I think are many others.”</p>
<p>The new sanctions include Russian intelligence services, the Federal Security Service (FSB) and Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), and six individuals working on behalf of the GRU.</p>
<p>Thursday’s action blocks all property of those targeted that is subject to U.S. jurisdiction and prohibits American citizens from engaging in transactions with them.</p>
<p>Russian businessman Evgeny Prigozhin, one of those indicted by Mueller and hit with sanctions on Thursday, said in comments cited by RIA news agency that he already had been hit with U.S. sanctions “maybe three or four times - I’m tired of counting.”</p>
<p>“I’m not worried by this,” Prigozhin was quoted as saying. “Except that now I will stop going to McDonald’s.”</p>
<p>Reporting by Steve Holland and Doina Chiacu; Additional reporting by Dustin Volz, Timothy Gardner, Lesley Wroughton, Warren Strobel and James Oliphant in Washington, Guy Faulconbridge and Estelle Shirbon in London and Polina Ivanova in Moscow; Editing by Mary Milliken and Will Dunham</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>BEIRUT (Reuters) - The war has cost one man part of his liver and intestines. Another his home and work. A third his homeland and studies.</p>
<p>All three have lost hope.</p>
<p>Abu Farhan, Fouad al-Ghraibi and Abu al-Baraa took the rebels’ side in the violence which began after the government put down street protests that started on March 15, 2011.</p>
<p>Ghraibi, who has a business renting out construction machinery, joined a rebel group and later set up his own fighting unit. Abu al-Baraa, then just 16, joined a militant group, the Nusra Front, and became a jihadist fighter. Abu Farhan, a student and part-time kitchen fitter, joined the first protests in the central Syrian city of Homs and went on to became an opposition activist.</p>
<p>The harrowing tales of the three men — they don’t know each other but all risked their lives by siding against President Bashar al-Assad — help show why the rebellion is failing.</p>
<p>All three quickly became disillusioned with divisions among the rebels and what they saw as various fighting groups’ intolerance of anyone who does not think like them — a trait similar to what they see in Assad.</p>
<p>Two of them have concluded the war is unwinnable, especially as Assad now has heavy military support from Russia and Iran that far outweighs the weapons shipped to rebels by the United States, Gulf Arab states and Turkey.</p>
<p>But hatred of Assad means fighters like Ghraibi battle on. Men such as Abu al-Baraa and Abu Farhan are so disillusioned with both sides that they see no life for them in Syria.</p>
<p>“What happened destroyed my whole future,” Abu al-Baraa, who now lives in exile in Turkey, told Reuters by telephone. He fled across the border after falling out with the Nusra Front, which he says imprisoned and tortured him.</p>
<p>Ghraibi, 37, has recovered from abdomen and hand wounds and lost part of his liver and intestines, and a finger, says he will fight to the death with the rebels but also believes the rebellion’s original ideals are dead.</p>
<p>“We’ll keep fighting to our last breath, even against the whole world,” he said.</p> OPPOSITION ACTIVIST
<p>Abu Farhan shares that sense of despair. Now 30, he was forced out of Homs by the fighting in 2014. Although he has found work and an apartment in Syria’s northern Idlib province, he is deeply disillusioned by what has become of Syria and dreams of leaving to start a new life abroad.</p>
<p>“We didn’t want to destroy our country and create this rift among Syrians,” he said. “If I could go back in time, I wouldn’t have joined the protests.”</p>
<p>He asked to be identified only by his nom de guerre for fear of upsetting rebels in Idlib.</p>
<p>The civil war has killed 511,000 people, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, and forced over 5.4 million to flee the county, according to U.N. data. It has also caused a refugee crisis in neighboring countries and western Europe and inspired fatal attacks from Nice to Los Angeles.</p>
<p>(Years of deadly days in Syria: <a href="http://tmsnrt.rs/2HB9bkG" type="external">tmsnrt.rs/2HB9bkG</a>)</p>
<p>It is a civil war that has laid bare the international community’s inability to resolve conflicts on such a scale, increasing strains between Russia and the West.</p>
<p>Abu Farhan had studied physical education at university in Homs before the war and was working as a kitchen fitter. He threw his lot in with Assad’s opponents when he joined anti-government protesters pouring out of the Khaled bin al-Walid mosque in Homs.</p>
<p>Abu Farhan put aside his studies and his hopes of marriage, and began organizing protests.</p>
<p>His best friend and favorite cousin both disappeared under arrest. Last year he found out that they were killed - a fate which human rights groups say has befallen tens of thousands in Assad’s prisons. The president denies the accusations.</p>
<p>By February 2012, the Syrian army was regularly shelling the district where Abu Farhan lived in the Jouret al Shayyah district of Homs near the Old City. But he chose not to fight.</p>
<p>“I knew that taking up arms would be a curse, not a blessing,” he said.</p>
<p>As fighting intensified and warplanes began bombing city blocks in late 2012, he left his home with his parents and two siblings for al-Waer, a quieter opposition area in another part of the city.</p>
<p>Waer was soon subjected to a siege that lasted until 2017 and food became more scarce. During Ramadan, the Muslim holy month when people traditionally eat delicacies at night after fasting through the daylight hours, he says the family usually had only bulgur wheat to break their fast.</p>
<p>“Sometimes we didn’t even have that,” he said.</p>
<p>Terrified of arrest by Assad’s security forces - which he believed would lead to torture and summary execution - Abu Farhan and his family joined rebels who left for Idlib in a negotiated withdrawal, surrendering Waer to the government.</p>
<p>Idlib will never feel like home for Abu Farhan. “I am a refugee here,” he said.</p>
<p>After leaving Waer, he and his sister both found jobs in Idlib, with Abu Farhan working as a fitness instructor.</p>
<p>Despite overcrowding caused by the flood of refugees from other parts of Syria, they were able to rent an apartment. For now, though, Abu Farhan is unable to get to work in the southern part of Idlib because bombing by pro-Assad forces makes his journey too dangerous.</p> Fouad al-Ghraibi is seen (2ndL) with fighters in this undated photo in Idlib, Syria. REUTERS/Stringer
<p>The bombing, destruction and what he sees as the intolerance of rebel groups running Idlib have convinced him there is no point staying in Syria. He has started learning Turkish and hopes to gain refugee status.</p> JIHADIST AND EXILE
<p>Abu al-Baraa was a schoolboy in Waer when the protests began, but volunteered as a hospital orderly and helped injured demonstrators hide from the police. He briefly became a medical student, while it was still possible to travel into the university in central Homs.</p>
<p>Realising he was now a wanted man because of his actions, he joined the Nusra Front. He said the group seemed to represent his conservative religious views and that he became aware of its true nature and violent militancy only later.</p>
<p>“We didn’t know then that the Nusra Front was affiliated to al Qaeda. We had a religious upbringing, and they lured us in with their religious beliefs,” said Abu al-Baraa.</p>
<p>The Nusra Front’s brutal methods were soon evident to Abu al-Baraa, as was the split between jihadist and nationalist groups that has plagued the uprising.</p>
<p>“They established security apparatuses and prisons just like the (Assad government) regime, where they tortured people,” Abu al-Baraa said. “I know of at least one man who died under torture and was later shown to be innocent.”</p>
<p>After only a few months fighting with the group, he was stripped of his gun and mobile phone for opposing its actions and he started volunteering at a medical center.</p>
<p>His disillusionment with the Nusra Front and other rebels grew and he publicly argued with the group’s local commander, who threw him into prison.</p>
<p>He was held in a dark underground cell infested with rats and was tortured, he said.</p> Slideshow (20 Images)
<p>“They faked 15 accusations against me, including theft and spying for the regime. After 12 days of living hell, I collapsed and confessed to the fake accusations,” he said.</p>
<p>While he wasted in prison the rebellion, undermined by internal wrangling and facing a government strengthened by the arrival of Russian warplanes, was losing ground.</p>
<p>When its enclave in the city of Aleppo fell to Assad in late 2016, it led to a series of surrenders of other small opposition pockets around Syria. Waer was one of them.</p>
<p>Abu al-Baraa was stuck in prison, but he still had friends in the Nusra Front who managed to smuggle him out. He was able to board one of a number of green buses sent by the government to evacuate the rebels, and made it to Idlib.</p>
<p>For Abu al-Baraa, worried he was in danger from the Nusra Front and now using false documents, the misery and poverty of Idlib offered no haven.</p>
<p>“Two or three families shared one small apartment, taking turns to sleep,” he said.</p>
<p>Six weeks after arriving there, he made the dangerous border crossing into Turkey with the help of the same people who had rescued him from prison. It was his seventh attempt.</p>
<p>Mow living in Istanbul with his mother and younger brother, Abu al-Baraa says the trauma of that time, when the sound of jets meant an attack could be imminent, still affects them.</p>
<p>“We live near the airport. Whenever a plane takes off or lands, my brother runs crying to his mother,” he said.</p>
<p>Their father did not make it out of Syria. He died of a stroke in Waer in 2014. Abu al-Baraa still fears his former rebel allies enough to be identified only by his nom de guerre.</p> Related Coverage
<a href="/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-explainer/explainer-foreign-powers-obstruct-more-assad-gains-in-syria-idUSKCN1GR1RR" type="external">Explainer: Foreign powers obstruct more Assad gains in Syria</a> REBEL COMMANDER
<p>When anti-government protests began in the city of Idlib in 2011, Fouad al-Ghraibi quickly joined them.</p>
<p>There was never any question where his allegiances lay. Thirteen of his uncles and cousins, all from the family’s home village of Kafr Oueid in Idlib province, were killed or jailed when government forces crushed a years-long revolt by the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist organization, in 1982.</p>
<p>Ghraibi was shot in the hand and abdomen when Assad cracked down on the protesters and was taken to Turkey for treatment.</p>
<p>Returning to Idlib months later, he gathered friends to join the Free Syrian Army (FSA), an alliance of rebel groups backed by Western and Arab countries.</p>
<p>Disappointed by divisions in the FSA, he later joined Jaish al-Islam, a better organized Islamist coalition backed by Saudi Arabia where he was put in charge of 150 fighters.</p>
<p>Three of his brothers, Mokhlis, Khaled and Mustafa, were killed in combat in the northwest, scene of some of the fiercest fighting of the war. An air strike on his village in June 2015 killed 33 civilians, including his niece.</p>
<p>When an alliance of jihadist groups led by the Nusra Front, which changed its name in 2016, took over much of Idlib last year, Ghraibi returned home to Kafr Oueid.</p>
<p>Once there, he set up a group of 45 local fighters which he hopes will defend the village from both Assad and the Islamist factions, and return the revolution to the ideals he believes it originally espoused.</p>
<p>All it has done so far is contribute yet another small armed faction to a civil war that shows no sign of ending.</p>
<p>Editing by Angus McDowall and Timothy Heritage</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a> | 3,332 |
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<p>What happened to Aileen Smith as she drove through New Mexico on one of the happiest journeys in a woman’s life is a mind-numbing tragedy.</p>
<p>But adding to the state’s DWI laws in the name of getting tough on repeat offenders won’t prevent the same tragedy from happening to someone else — unless and until New Mexico enforces laws already on its books.</p>
<p>Smith was seven months pregnant on that day in June, and driving from her home in Colorado Springs with her husband, Zach Smith, to a baby shower in San Diego. She and her unborn son, Dimitri, were injured in a crash caused by a suspected drunken driver.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Dimitri’s injuries were fatal. He was delivered by emergency Caesarean section and lived about a minute.</p>
<p>Repeat DWI offender Ramon Hernandez, 43, of Santa Fe is accused of causing the crash. He now denies driving the vehicle that smashed in the Smiths’ SUV. His charges include felony fourth-offense DWI and vehicular homicide.</p>
<p>And his legal road to the Smiths’ nightmare has been a long one, in which justice has repeatedly hit a roadblock. His first DWI charge was in May 2000; he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to fines and DWI school, which court records say he did not complete. His second DWI charge came in May 2003; MVD says he was again convicted. DWI arrest No. 3 came less than a year later, on New Year’s Day 2004, yet he was charged with second-offense DWI, convicted and sentenced to 364 days in jail. All but four days of that sentence were suspended, and he received three years of unsupervised probation and was ordered to perform 48 hours of community service, attend alcohol screening, have an ignition interlock installed in his vehicle and pay a $500 fine and $215 in court costs.</p>
<p>Surprise, surprise, he didn’t. Hernandez case No. 3 was resolved when he got credit for $453 in unpaid fines after serving 11 days in jail. So DWI No. 3 got him less than two weeks behind bars.</p>
<p>The Smiths and Gov. Susana Martinez want to toughen up the state’s DWI laws in the wake of the tragic loss of Dimitri. That’s fine.</p>
<p>But what if the state’s current lawfully mandated punishments had actually been enforced before that day in June? If on DWI No. 1 Hernandez had been forced to serve up to 90 days in jail, lost his driver’s license for six to 12 months, had to get an ignition interlock for a year, attend DWI school, undergo alcohol evaluation and perform community service?</p>
<p>What if DWIs No. 2 and 3 were recorded and punished as such, with increased jail time and fines? If all DWIs were tracked for future prosecutions, if DWI was a no-plea-deal offense, if probation and parole were enforced with alcohol monitoring and further violations meant jail?</p>
<p>Between DWI No. 3 and alleged DWI No. 4 Hernandez had his license suspended for an open container violation. He was ordered to pay a $75 fine. He didn’t. And if in fact he was driving the vehicle that hit the Smiths, it was on a revoked and suspended license.</p>
<p>It shows amazing strength of character that the Smiths want to partner with the state in which they lost their son to toughen DWI laws and ensure another family doesn’t suffer their heart-wrenching loss.</p>
<p>But everyone involved should ask what would have happened if the state enforced the laws it already has.</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: Getting Tough on DWI Means Enforcement | false | https://abqjournal.com/126751/getting-tough-on-dwi-means-enforcement.html | 2012-08-28 | 2least
| Editorial: Getting Tough on DWI Means Enforcement
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<p />
<p>What happened to Aileen Smith as she drove through New Mexico on one of the happiest journeys in a woman’s life is a mind-numbing tragedy.</p>
<p>But adding to the state’s DWI laws in the name of getting tough on repeat offenders won’t prevent the same tragedy from happening to someone else — unless and until New Mexico enforces laws already on its books.</p>
<p>Smith was seven months pregnant on that day in June, and driving from her home in Colorado Springs with her husband, Zach Smith, to a baby shower in San Diego. She and her unborn son, Dimitri, were injured in a crash caused by a suspected drunken driver.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Dimitri’s injuries were fatal. He was delivered by emergency Caesarean section and lived about a minute.</p>
<p>Repeat DWI offender Ramon Hernandez, 43, of Santa Fe is accused of causing the crash. He now denies driving the vehicle that smashed in the Smiths’ SUV. His charges include felony fourth-offense DWI and vehicular homicide.</p>
<p>And his legal road to the Smiths’ nightmare has been a long one, in which justice has repeatedly hit a roadblock. His first DWI charge was in May 2000; he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to fines and DWI school, which court records say he did not complete. His second DWI charge came in May 2003; MVD says he was again convicted. DWI arrest No. 3 came less than a year later, on New Year’s Day 2004, yet he was charged with second-offense DWI, convicted and sentenced to 364 days in jail. All but four days of that sentence were suspended, and he received three years of unsupervised probation and was ordered to perform 48 hours of community service, attend alcohol screening, have an ignition interlock installed in his vehicle and pay a $500 fine and $215 in court costs.</p>
<p>Surprise, surprise, he didn’t. Hernandez case No. 3 was resolved when he got credit for $453 in unpaid fines after serving 11 days in jail. So DWI No. 3 got him less than two weeks behind bars.</p>
<p>The Smiths and Gov. Susana Martinez want to toughen up the state’s DWI laws in the wake of the tragic loss of Dimitri. That’s fine.</p>
<p>But what if the state’s current lawfully mandated punishments had actually been enforced before that day in June? If on DWI No. 1 Hernandez had been forced to serve up to 90 days in jail, lost his driver’s license for six to 12 months, had to get an ignition interlock for a year, attend DWI school, undergo alcohol evaluation and perform community service?</p>
<p>What if DWIs No. 2 and 3 were recorded and punished as such, with increased jail time and fines? If all DWIs were tracked for future prosecutions, if DWI was a no-plea-deal offense, if probation and parole were enforced with alcohol monitoring and further violations meant jail?</p>
<p>Between DWI No. 3 and alleged DWI No. 4 Hernandez had his license suspended for an open container violation. He was ordered to pay a $75 fine. He didn’t. And if in fact he was driving the vehicle that hit the Smiths, it was on a revoked and suspended license.</p>
<p>It shows amazing strength of character that the Smiths want to partner with the state in which they lost their son to toughen DWI laws and ensure another family doesn’t suffer their heart-wrenching loss.</p>
<p>But everyone involved should ask what would have happened if the state enforced the laws it already has.</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> | 3,333 |
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.disneyblast.com/" type="external">Disney’s Daily Blast</a> Slinking around <a href="http://www.disney.com/" type="external">Walt’s online kingdom</a> is the Daily Blast, Disney’s attempt to sell ESPN sports scores and Winnie the Pooh dolls to youngsters at bargain basement prices. The Daily Blast isn’t very exciting, unless kiddies are into “D-mail” nowadays, but this site shows Netizens how <a href="http://www.disneyblast.com/preview/Subscribe/msn.html" type="external">Disney pals around with Microsoft</a>: The Daily Blast is a paid-subscription site, unless the visitor has a Microsoft Network account.</p>
<p /> | Disney’s Daily Blast | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/1998/02/disneys-daily-blast/ | 1998-02-03 | 4left
| Disney’s Daily Blast
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.disneyblast.com/" type="external">Disney’s Daily Blast</a> Slinking around <a href="http://www.disney.com/" type="external">Walt’s online kingdom</a> is the Daily Blast, Disney’s attempt to sell ESPN sports scores and Winnie the Pooh dolls to youngsters at bargain basement prices. The Daily Blast isn’t very exciting, unless kiddies are into “D-mail” nowadays, but this site shows Netizens how <a href="http://www.disneyblast.com/preview/Subscribe/msn.html" type="external">Disney pals around with Microsoft</a>: The Daily Blast is a paid-subscription site, unless the visitor has a Microsoft Network account.</p>
<p /> | 3,334 |
<p>Pat Buchanan is, among other things, an MSNBC contributor with a new book out, Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Survive to 2025? As his “ <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/hannity/index.html#/v/1223435743001/suicide-of-a-superpower/?playlist_id=86924" type="external">last political will and testament</a>,” the book’s thesis is centered on “cultural collapse” of the nation and “the slow death of the people who created and ruled the nation” — namely, <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/hannity/blog/2011/10/17/pat-buchanans-explosive-new-book" type="external">white people</a>. In an op-ed for CNS News yesterday, Buchanan outlines the <a href="http://www.cnsnews.com/blog/patrick-j-buchanan/ad-2041-end-white-america" type="external">three major consequences</a> America will face without enough white people to save it.</p>
<p>First, the Republican party, which “routinely gets 90 percent of its presidential votes from white America,” will come to an end, especially since crucial GOP states like Texas are “hispanicizing.” Second, the “millions of immigrants, legal and illegal” who “do not bring the academic or professional skills of European-Americans” will replace actual “taxpayers” and suck the government dry. Finally, test-scores will nose-dive because “more and more children taking those tests will be African-American and Hispanic”:</p>
<p>Third, the decline in academic test scores here at home and in international competition is likely to continue, as more and more of the children taking those tests will be African-American and Hispanic. […] Can the test-score gap be closed? With the Hispanic illegitimacy rate at 51 percent and the black rate having risen to 71 percent, how can their children conceivably arrive at school ready to compete?</p>
<p>Given that minorities are bad at school, Buchanan goes on to warn that the “burden” of academic excellence thus “falls almost entirely on white males.” This is, of course, just the latest attempt of the MSNBC contributor to pass off derogatory, bigoted, and ignorant racialism as analysis. Some low-lights from Buchanan’s long and distinguished history in bigotry:</p>
<p>-Christian Terrorist Was ‘Right’: Buchanan wrote that while the right-wing Norwegian terrorist Anders Behring Breivik was a “calculating killer,” he “ <a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/201107290005" type="external">may be right</a>” about “a climactic conflict between a once-Christian West and an Islamic world that is growing in numbers and advancing inexorably into Europe for the third time in 14 centuries.”</p>
<p>-No Help For White Males: In August, Buchanan complained that President Obama hadn’t hired enough white males to the civil service, saying there is “affirmative action for women, for Hispanics, and for blacks, but <a href="" type="internal">none for white males</a>.”</p>
<p>-Too Many Jews: Last year, Buchanan argued that now-Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan’s nomination meant there would be <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/201005140037" type="external">too many Jews on the High Court bench</a>. “Jews, who represent less than 2 percent of the U.S. population, will have 33 percent of the Supreme Court seats. Is this the Democrats’ idea of diversity?”</p>
<p>-Legal Immigration Is An Invasion: The Virginia Tech shooting in 2007 spurred Buchanan to declare that the shooter, Korean student Cho Seung-Hui, got into the country because legal immigration is “ <a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/200705010008" type="external">the greatest invasion in history</a>.” We shouldn’t be surprised that “some are going berserk here,” he said.</p>
<p>-Slave Descendants Should Be Grateful: In 2008, asserting that “no people anywhere has done more to lift up blacks than white Americans,” Buchanan says because it was here that 600,000 slaves eventually learned of “Christian salvation” and got “affirmative action,” black people should stop complaining. “We hear the grievances. <a href="http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&amp;pageId=59534" type="external">Where is the gratitude?</a>”</p>
<p>-Hitler Was Courageous: In 1977, Buchanan wrote that while Hitler was “indeed a racist and anti-Semitic to the core,” Americans overlooked the fact that he “was also <a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/201107290005" type="external">an individual of great courage</a>, a soldier’s soldier in the Great War, a leader steeped in the history of Europe.”</p>
<p>-MLK Was A Fraud: In 1969, while Buchanan was working as President Richard Nixon’s speechwriter, he urged Nixon not to visit King’s widow on the first anniversary of his assassination. The visit “would outrage many, many people who believe Dr. King was a fraud and a demagogue, and perhaps worse,” Buchanan wrote, before proceeding to call King “ <a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/201107290005" type="external">one of the most divisive men</a> in contemporary history.”</p>
<p>-KKK Has Winning Issues: In 1989, Buchanan urged conservatives to examine Duke, a former Grand Wizard in the Ku Klux Klan, and his “ <a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/201107290005" type="external">portfolio of winning issues</a>.” Dismissing Duke’s history as insignificant, Buchanan praised Duke for taking on affirmative action in “hiring, scholarships, and promotions” and for denouncing “social engineers.” Buchanan said the GOP was “throwing away a winning hand” by embracing Jesse Jackson after the 1988 election, and Duke was “the first fellow to pick up the discards.”</p>
<p>-Gays Are Satanists: In 1990, Buchanan said the AIDS epidemic proved “our promiscuous homosexuals appear literally <a href="http://www.salon.com/1999/09/04/pat/" type="external">hell-bent on Satanism and suicide</a>.” He still views homosexuality as “unnatural and immoral” and marriage equality as “ <a href="http://equalitymatters.org/blog/201107010016" type="external">an Orwellian absurdity</a>.”</p>
<p>-The Dishwasher Liberated Women: In another book, he wrote “the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_positions_of_Pat_Buchanan" type="external">real liberators</a> of American women were not the feminist noise-makers; they were the automobile, the supermarket, the shopping center, the dishwasher, the washer-dryer, the freezer,” which all freed up “Mom” to spend more time reading.</p>
<p>And yet, Pat Buchanan is still a contributor for MSNBC — the same network that <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/58098.html" type="external">suspended</a> another contributor for calling the president a “dick.” It begs the question, just what exactly does Buchanan have to say to make him too toxic for TV?</p> | In New Book Decrying ‘Slow Death’ Of White America, Pat Buchanan Warns That Minorities Lower Test Scores | true | http://thinkprogress.org/media/2011/10/19/346485/in-new-book-decrying-slow-death-of-white-america-pat-buchanan-warns-that-minorities-lower-test-scores/ | 2011-10-19 | 4left
| In New Book Decrying ‘Slow Death’ Of White America, Pat Buchanan Warns That Minorities Lower Test Scores
<p>Pat Buchanan is, among other things, an MSNBC contributor with a new book out, Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Survive to 2025? As his “ <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/hannity/index.html#/v/1223435743001/suicide-of-a-superpower/?playlist_id=86924" type="external">last political will and testament</a>,” the book’s thesis is centered on “cultural collapse” of the nation and “the slow death of the people who created and ruled the nation” — namely, <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/hannity/blog/2011/10/17/pat-buchanans-explosive-new-book" type="external">white people</a>. In an op-ed for CNS News yesterday, Buchanan outlines the <a href="http://www.cnsnews.com/blog/patrick-j-buchanan/ad-2041-end-white-america" type="external">three major consequences</a> America will face without enough white people to save it.</p>
<p>First, the Republican party, which “routinely gets 90 percent of its presidential votes from white America,” will come to an end, especially since crucial GOP states like Texas are “hispanicizing.” Second, the “millions of immigrants, legal and illegal” who “do not bring the academic or professional skills of European-Americans” will replace actual “taxpayers” and suck the government dry. Finally, test-scores will nose-dive because “more and more children taking those tests will be African-American and Hispanic”:</p>
<p>Third, the decline in academic test scores here at home and in international competition is likely to continue, as more and more of the children taking those tests will be African-American and Hispanic. […] Can the test-score gap be closed? With the Hispanic illegitimacy rate at 51 percent and the black rate having risen to 71 percent, how can their children conceivably arrive at school ready to compete?</p>
<p>Given that minorities are bad at school, Buchanan goes on to warn that the “burden” of academic excellence thus “falls almost entirely on white males.” This is, of course, just the latest attempt of the MSNBC contributor to pass off derogatory, bigoted, and ignorant racialism as analysis. Some low-lights from Buchanan’s long and distinguished history in bigotry:</p>
<p>-Christian Terrorist Was ‘Right’: Buchanan wrote that while the right-wing Norwegian terrorist Anders Behring Breivik was a “calculating killer,” he “ <a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/201107290005" type="external">may be right</a>” about “a climactic conflict between a once-Christian West and an Islamic world that is growing in numbers and advancing inexorably into Europe for the third time in 14 centuries.”</p>
<p>-No Help For White Males: In August, Buchanan complained that President Obama hadn’t hired enough white males to the civil service, saying there is “affirmative action for women, for Hispanics, and for blacks, but <a href="" type="internal">none for white males</a>.”</p>
<p>-Too Many Jews: Last year, Buchanan argued that now-Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan’s nomination meant there would be <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/201005140037" type="external">too many Jews on the High Court bench</a>. “Jews, who represent less than 2 percent of the U.S. population, will have 33 percent of the Supreme Court seats. Is this the Democrats’ idea of diversity?”</p>
<p>-Legal Immigration Is An Invasion: The Virginia Tech shooting in 2007 spurred Buchanan to declare that the shooter, Korean student Cho Seung-Hui, got into the country because legal immigration is “ <a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/200705010008" type="external">the greatest invasion in history</a>.” We shouldn’t be surprised that “some are going berserk here,” he said.</p>
<p>-Slave Descendants Should Be Grateful: In 2008, asserting that “no people anywhere has done more to lift up blacks than white Americans,” Buchanan says because it was here that 600,000 slaves eventually learned of “Christian salvation” and got “affirmative action,” black people should stop complaining. “We hear the grievances. <a href="http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&amp;pageId=59534" type="external">Where is the gratitude?</a>”</p>
<p>-Hitler Was Courageous: In 1977, Buchanan wrote that while Hitler was “indeed a racist and anti-Semitic to the core,” Americans overlooked the fact that he “was also <a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/201107290005" type="external">an individual of great courage</a>, a soldier’s soldier in the Great War, a leader steeped in the history of Europe.”</p>
<p>-MLK Was A Fraud: In 1969, while Buchanan was working as President Richard Nixon’s speechwriter, he urged Nixon not to visit King’s widow on the first anniversary of his assassination. The visit “would outrage many, many people who believe Dr. King was a fraud and a demagogue, and perhaps worse,” Buchanan wrote, before proceeding to call King “ <a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/201107290005" type="external">one of the most divisive men</a> in contemporary history.”</p>
<p>-KKK Has Winning Issues: In 1989, Buchanan urged conservatives to examine Duke, a former Grand Wizard in the Ku Klux Klan, and his “ <a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/201107290005" type="external">portfolio of winning issues</a>.” Dismissing Duke’s history as insignificant, Buchanan praised Duke for taking on affirmative action in “hiring, scholarships, and promotions” and for denouncing “social engineers.” Buchanan said the GOP was “throwing away a winning hand” by embracing Jesse Jackson after the 1988 election, and Duke was “the first fellow to pick up the discards.”</p>
<p>-Gays Are Satanists: In 1990, Buchanan said the AIDS epidemic proved “our promiscuous homosexuals appear literally <a href="http://www.salon.com/1999/09/04/pat/" type="external">hell-bent on Satanism and suicide</a>.” He still views homosexuality as “unnatural and immoral” and marriage equality as “ <a href="http://equalitymatters.org/blog/201107010016" type="external">an Orwellian absurdity</a>.”</p>
<p>-The Dishwasher Liberated Women: In another book, he wrote “the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_positions_of_Pat_Buchanan" type="external">real liberators</a> of American women were not the feminist noise-makers; they were the automobile, the supermarket, the shopping center, the dishwasher, the washer-dryer, the freezer,” which all freed up “Mom” to spend more time reading.</p>
<p>And yet, Pat Buchanan is still a contributor for MSNBC — the same network that <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/58098.html" type="external">suspended</a> another contributor for calling the president a “dick.” It begs the question, just what exactly does Buchanan have to say to make him too toxic for TV?</p> | 3,335 |
<p />
<p>&#160;</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /> <a href="" type="internal">Purchase</a> poster of 10 Ways…. JUST $3 (+ shipping)</p>
<p>All you have to do is stop eating beef. Worldwide, beef production contributes more to climate change than the ­entire transportation sector. The carbon footprint of the average meat eater is about 1.5 tons of CO2 larger than that of a vegetarian. Cutting beef out of <a href="" type="internal">your diet</a> will reduce your CO2 emissions by 2,400 pounds annually.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>You can save money and your environment by giving up bottled water.&#160;The production of plastic water bottles together with the privatization of our drinking water is an <a href="" type="internal">environmental and social catastrophe</a>. <a href="" type="internal">Bottled water costs more per gallon</a> than gasoline. The average American consumes 30 gallons of bottled water annually. Giving up one bottle of imported water means using up one less liter of fossil fuel and emitting 1.2 pounds less of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>For one day or afternoon or even one hour a week, don’t buy anything, don’t use any machines, <a href="" type="internal">don’t switch on anything electric</a>, don’t cook, don’t answer your phone, and, in general, don’t use any resources. In other words, for this regular period, give yourself and the planet a break. Every hour per week that you live no impact cuts your carbon emissions by 0.6 percent annually. Commit to four hours per week, that’s 2.4 percent; do it for a whole day each week to cut your impact by 14.4 percent a year.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Tithe a fixed percentage of your income to non-profits of your choice. If an average U.S. family contributes 1 percent ($502.33) of its annual income ($50,233) to an environmental non-profit, they could offset 40.7 tons of carbon dioxide per year. Many of our public health and welfare services are tied to consumer spending which, in turn, depends upon planetary resources. If you want to help, don’t go shopping. Just help.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Have dinners with friends</a>. Play charades. Sing together. Enjoying each other costs the planet much less than enjoying its resources.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Get around by bike</a> or <a href="" type="internal">by foot</a> a certain number of days a month. Not only does this mean using less fossil fuel and creating less greenhouse gases, it means you’ll get exercise and we’ll all breathe fewer fumes. If you can stay off the road just two days a week, you’ll reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 1,590 pounds per year.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Wasting resources costs the planet and your wallet. Let your clothes hang-dry instead of using the dryer. Take half the trips but stay twice as long. Repair instead of rebuy. <a href="" type="internal">The list goes on</a>. In the summer, for every degree above 72°F you set your thermostat, you save 120 pounds of CO2 emissions per year, and if you wash your clothes with cold water you can cut your laundry energy use by up to 90 percent.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>We must act as though we care about the world at work as much as we do at home. Company CEOs or product designers have the power to make a gigantic difference through their business, and so do the rest of us.&#160;In commercial buildings, lighting accounts for more than 40 percent of electrical energy use, a huge cause of greenhouse gas production. Using motion and occupancy sensors can cut this use by 10 percent.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Take one day off from TV—the average American watches four and a half hours of TV a day—and try voluntary eco-service instead.&#160;Those four and a half hours a day watching TV add up to 825 pounds of carbon dioxide each year.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>We are all interconnected. Every step toward living a conscious life provides support to everyone else who is trying to do the same thing—whether you’re aware of it or not. We are the masters of our destinies.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Interested?</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | 10 Ways to Change Your Life | true | http://yesmagazine.org/issues/climate-action/10-ways-to-change-your-life | 4left
| 10 Ways to Change Your Life
<p />
<p>&#160;</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /> <a href="" type="internal">Purchase</a> poster of 10 Ways…. JUST $3 (+ shipping)</p>
<p>All you have to do is stop eating beef. Worldwide, beef production contributes more to climate change than the ­entire transportation sector. The carbon footprint of the average meat eater is about 1.5 tons of CO2 larger than that of a vegetarian. Cutting beef out of <a href="" type="internal">your diet</a> will reduce your CO2 emissions by 2,400 pounds annually.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>You can save money and your environment by giving up bottled water.&#160;The production of plastic water bottles together with the privatization of our drinking water is an <a href="" type="internal">environmental and social catastrophe</a>. <a href="" type="internal">Bottled water costs more per gallon</a> than gasoline. The average American consumes 30 gallons of bottled water annually. Giving up one bottle of imported water means using up one less liter of fossil fuel and emitting 1.2 pounds less of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>For one day or afternoon or even one hour a week, don’t buy anything, don’t use any machines, <a href="" type="internal">don’t switch on anything electric</a>, don’t cook, don’t answer your phone, and, in general, don’t use any resources. In other words, for this regular period, give yourself and the planet a break. Every hour per week that you live no impact cuts your carbon emissions by 0.6 percent annually. Commit to four hours per week, that’s 2.4 percent; do it for a whole day each week to cut your impact by 14.4 percent a year.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Tithe a fixed percentage of your income to non-profits of your choice. If an average U.S. family contributes 1 percent ($502.33) of its annual income ($50,233) to an environmental non-profit, they could offset 40.7 tons of carbon dioxide per year. Many of our public health and welfare services are tied to consumer spending which, in turn, depends upon planetary resources. If you want to help, don’t go shopping. Just help.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Have dinners with friends</a>. Play charades. Sing together. Enjoying each other costs the planet much less than enjoying its resources.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Get around by bike</a> or <a href="" type="internal">by foot</a> a certain number of days a month. Not only does this mean using less fossil fuel and creating less greenhouse gases, it means you’ll get exercise and we’ll all breathe fewer fumes. If you can stay off the road just two days a week, you’ll reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 1,590 pounds per year.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Wasting resources costs the planet and your wallet. Let your clothes hang-dry instead of using the dryer. Take half the trips but stay twice as long. Repair instead of rebuy. <a href="" type="internal">The list goes on</a>. In the summer, for every degree above 72°F you set your thermostat, you save 120 pounds of CO2 emissions per year, and if you wash your clothes with cold water you can cut your laundry energy use by up to 90 percent.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>We must act as though we care about the world at work as much as we do at home. Company CEOs or product designers have the power to make a gigantic difference through their business, and so do the rest of us.&#160;In commercial buildings, lighting accounts for more than 40 percent of electrical energy use, a huge cause of greenhouse gas production. Using motion and occupancy sensors can cut this use by 10 percent.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Take one day off from TV—the average American watches four and a half hours of TV a day—and try voluntary eco-service instead.&#160;Those four and a half hours a day watching TV add up to 825 pounds of carbon dioxide each year.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>We are all interconnected. Every step toward living a conscious life provides support to everyone else who is trying to do the same thing—whether you’re aware of it or not. We are the masters of our destinies.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Interested?</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | 3,336 |
|
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>The defense has insisted Cosby had an oral promise from the district attorney at the time that he wouldn’t be prosecuted over a 2005 sexual encounter with Andrea Constand, a former Temple University basketball manager.</p>
<p>The judge previously refused to dismiss the charges on those grounds, but is now being asked to disallow the deposition when the case goes to trial in June.</p>
<p>A new district attorney had Cosby arrested last year, after the deposition was unsealed and dozens of new accusers came forward.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Cosby, now 79 and blind, has said his encounter with Constand was consensual. He could get 10 years in prison if convicted. He is free on $1 million bail.</p>
<p>The “Cosby Show” star once known as America’s Dad smiled as he arrived at the suburban Philadelphia courthouse with his entourage.</p>
<p>Judge Steven O’Neill, who is hearing pretrial arguments, said that Cosby’s decision to testify could have been strategic. He found no evidence that Cosby’s lawyers tried to get the promise in writing before letting him give four days of testimony.</p>
<p>They might have thought it was better for him to testify than plead the Fifth Amendment and have a civil jury think he had something to hide, the judge suggested.</p>
<p>Defense attorney Brian McMonagle said the judge would set a bad precedent if he let the testimony in.</p>
<p>“I don’t want DAs making promises that they don’t later keep,” McMonagle said. “That strikes at the heart of fundamental unfairness.”</p>
<p>Cosby was questioned a decade ago as part of a lawsuit brought against him by Constand. The long-married comedian testified about a series of affairs with young women and said he sometimes gave them pills or alcohol before sex. Constand eventually settled in 2006 for an undisclosed sum.</p>
<p>The pretrial hearing resumes Wednesday, with another hearing on the evidence set for December. O’Neill must also decide if 13 other accusers can testify against Cosby at the trial to show they were drugged and molested in similar fashion.</p>
<p>Cosby’s lawyers want the judge to bar such testimony about “prior bad acts,” saying prosecutors are reaching back to the “casting couch” era to round up accusers and build a “stale” case. The defense contends the women’s memories have been compromised by time, age and widespread news coverage of the case.</p>
<p>“The fact that even the most fervently held memories can actually be tainted — or altogether false — is supported by a vast existing and growing body of science,” McMonagle wrote.</p> | Cosby lawyers press judge to exclude deposition from trial | false | https://abqjournal.com/879590/cosby-lawyers-say-prosecutors-using-casting-couch-cliche.html | 2016-11-01 | 2least
| Cosby lawyers press judge to exclude deposition from trial
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>The defense has insisted Cosby had an oral promise from the district attorney at the time that he wouldn’t be prosecuted over a 2005 sexual encounter with Andrea Constand, a former Temple University basketball manager.</p>
<p>The judge previously refused to dismiss the charges on those grounds, but is now being asked to disallow the deposition when the case goes to trial in June.</p>
<p>A new district attorney had Cosby arrested last year, after the deposition was unsealed and dozens of new accusers came forward.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Cosby, now 79 and blind, has said his encounter with Constand was consensual. He could get 10 years in prison if convicted. He is free on $1 million bail.</p>
<p>The “Cosby Show” star once known as America’s Dad smiled as he arrived at the suburban Philadelphia courthouse with his entourage.</p>
<p>Judge Steven O’Neill, who is hearing pretrial arguments, said that Cosby’s decision to testify could have been strategic. He found no evidence that Cosby’s lawyers tried to get the promise in writing before letting him give four days of testimony.</p>
<p>They might have thought it was better for him to testify than plead the Fifth Amendment and have a civil jury think he had something to hide, the judge suggested.</p>
<p>Defense attorney Brian McMonagle said the judge would set a bad precedent if he let the testimony in.</p>
<p>“I don’t want DAs making promises that they don’t later keep,” McMonagle said. “That strikes at the heart of fundamental unfairness.”</p>
<p>Cosby was questioned a decade ago as part of a lawsuit brought against him by Constand. The long-married comedian testified about a series of affairs with young women and said he sometimes gave them pills or alcohol before sex. Constand eventually settled in 2006 for an undisclosed sum.</p>
<p>The pretrial hearing resumes Wednesday, with another hearing on the evidence set for December. O’Neill must also decide if 13 other accusers can testify against Cosby at the trial to show they were drugged and molested in similar fashion.</p>
<p>Cosby’s lawyers want the judge to bar such testimony about “prior bad acts,” saying prosecutors are reaching back to the “casting couch” era to round up accusers and build a “stale” case. The defense contends the women’s memories have been compromised by time, age and widespread news coverage of the case.</p>
<p>“The fact that even the most fervently held memories can actually be tainted — or altogether false — is supported by a vast existing and growing body of science,” McMonagle wrote.</p> | 3,337 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>The suit demands transparency from the state as it makes critical decisions that impact not only water users in New Mexico, but also those whose livelihoods and quality of life depend on water flowing in our rivers and streams.</p>
<p>This culture of secrecy that plagues the Gila River Project permeates the culture of water management across New Mexico.</p>
<p>Historically, we know that decisions made behind closed doors perpetuate underlying inequities in our culture whether by disenfranchising women and minorities or harming the environment.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Archaic laws that govern how we allocate water between users and across political boundaries for extraction and use remain at the heart of such inequity. We bestow water “rights” upon farmers and cities and industry, with no counterpart for cottonwoods and frogs and fish.</p>
<p>A century of unbalanced management – compounded by our warming planet – has shifted the burden of scarcity entirely onto the shoulders of the river.</p>
<p>This problem intensifies in basins like the Rio Grande where over-allocation abounds. State and federal water managers struggle to provide any accountability when the scope of the existing water uses is unknown. Further, while the flexibility of a less rigid structure can provide opportunity, it also opens the door for abuse.</p>
<p>I spent the past several weeks trying to determine the status and fate of a significant amount of water being stored in upstream reservoirs on the Rio Chama. While it became clear that a deal is in the works for retaining some or all of that water to reallocate in the spring, secrecy surrounds how that water will be divided between competing demands.</p>
<p>Based on the historical power imbalance between the river and water users and the lack of transparency surrounding the decision, I maintain little faith that water managers will make a choice that benefits the river.</p>
<p>The lack of transparency around such decisions is especially problematic when it means that those actually advocating on behalf of the river are excluded from the very conversations that determine its fate.</p>
<p>In order to expose these problems and work toward lasting solutions, WildEarth Guardians filed suit this summer to ensure that injustices of the past will be reformed so that we can have a living river in the future.</p>
<p>A solution will entail:</p>
<p>Our collective heritage is tied to the river.</p>
<p>If we want to keep the Gila River wild and the Rio Grande a dynamic source of wonder, a new river management paradigm is essential.</p>
<p /> | Transparency a must in managing our rivers | false | https://abqjournal.com/499543/transparency-a-must-in-managing-our-rivers.html | 2least
| Transparency a must in managing our rivers
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>The suit demands transparency from the state as it makes critical decisions that impact not only water users in New Mexico, but also those whose livelihoods and quality of life depend on water flowing in our rivers and streams.</p>
<p>This culture of secrecy that plagues the Gila River Project permeates the culture of water management across New Mexico.</p>
<p>Historically, we know that decisions made behind closed doors perpetuate underlying inequities in our culture whether by disenfranchising women and minorities or harming the environment.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Archaic laws that govern how we allocate water between users and across political boundaries for extraction and use remain at the heart of such inequity. We bestow water “rights” upon farmers and cities and industry, with no counterpart for cottonwoods and frogs and fish.</p>
<p>A century of unbalanced management – compounded by our warming planet – has shifted the burden of scarcity entirely onto the shoulders of the river.</p>
<p>This problem intensifies in basins like the Rio Grande where over-allocation abounds. State and federal water managers struggle to provide any accountability when the scope of the existing water uses is unknown. Further, while the flexibility of a less rigid structure can provide opportunity, it also opens the door for abuse.</p>
<p>I spent the past several weeks trying to determine the status and fate of a significant amount of water being stored in upstream reservoirs on the Rio Chama. While it became clear that a deal is in the works for retaining some or all of that water to reallocate in the spring, secrecy surrounds how that water will be divided between competing demands.</p>
<p>Based on the historical power imbalance between the river and water users and the lack of transparency surrounding the decision, I maintain little faith that water managers will make a choice that benefits the river.</p>
<p>The lack of transparency around such decisions is especially problematic when it means that those actually advocating on behalf of the river are excluded from the very conversations that determine its fate.</p>
<p>In order to expose these problems and work toward lasting solutions, WildEarth Guardians filed suit this summer to ensure that injustices of the past will be reformed so that we can have a living river in the future.</p>
<p>A solution will entail:</p>
<p>Our collective heritage is tied to the river.</p>
<p>If we want to keep the Gila River wild and the Rio Grande a dynamic source of wonder, a new river management paradigm is essential.</p>
<p /> | 3,338 |
|
<p>FORT MCMURRAY, Alberta, Canada — Violet Clarke’s home sits virtually in the center of the vast Athabasca tar sands, a colossal deposit of extremely heavy crude oil in the western Canadian province of Alberta.</p>
<p>She vaguely recalls seeing the gooey black stuff, which seeped naturally from the banks of the Athabasca River, during her childhood. Her father, a Cree Indian, slathered handfuls of the foul-smelling heavy oil, known as bitumen, over his birch canoe to seal it. He hunted bear, moose and elk, butchered them and smoked their flesh. In the summer Clarke picked and dried berries.</p>
<p>“We lived clean, healthy lives,” says Clarke, 86, sitting by a window in her battered mobile home. But over the past four decades, bitumen and the economy it has birthed have dramatically changed her life. A snarling complex of mines, pipelines, waste ponds and processing plants now lives atop the tar sands, one of the largest concentrated industrial activities on earth. Giant earth movers claw into black seams of the bitumen around the clock. Forests of factory stacks reach to the sky, lighting the land with smoky flares at night.</p>
<p>Alberta contains about 170 billion barrels of reasonably accessible oil, the world’s third-largest supply after those of Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. The sea of crude sits underneath an Iowa-sized territory of rolling hills and valleys of peat bogs and forests of fir, polar and aspen. A valuation of more than a trillion of dollars has caused a stampede of investment from the big oil companies, including Shell, ExxonMobil, Sinopec, Chevron and ConocoPhillips. All of Canada’s top oil producers, while not large on the world stage, are also feasting on Alberta’s lucrative oil bounty.&#160;</p>
<p>Large transport truck moving petroleum-coke, a byproduct of upgrading tar sands oil. (Alex MacLean/GlobalPost)</p>
<p>The TransCanada Corporation is building a network of more than 3,000 miles of pipelines to give Alberta’s tar sands oil greater access to refineries in the US. The final phase of the pipeline project, Keystone XL, would run more than 1,000 miles, with capacity to ship nearly a million barrels of oil a day from Alberta into America. If built, the XL pipeline would approximately double the amount of oil from Alberta that could flow into the US.</p>
<p>Some of the most powerful environmental groups in the US and Canada, such as Greenpeace, the Sierra Club and the Audubon Society oppose Keystone XL. These groups call tar sands production an unfolding environmental catastrophe that is polluting land and water; disrupting wildlife on a massive scale; and harming the climate by abetting use of fossil fuels.</p>
<p>It’s “the most controversial and highest profile environmental issue in the country, says Keith Stewart, the leader of Greenpeace Canada’s anti-tar-sands campaign. Last fall police in Vancouver arrested Stewart after he chained himself to the gate of the Kinder Morgan oil terminal. Kinder Morgan has proposed to expand a pipeline between Alberta and Vancouver, shipping oil from Vancouver through biologically sensitive waters by tanker.&#160;</p>
<p>Until the 1970s, the oil in Alberta remained mostly untapped. Supplies elsewhere dwindled, mining and processing techniques advanced and an industry refining crude oil from bitumen took hold. It expanded quickly. Production has about doubled every decade since. Industry experts expect it will <a href="" type="external">double again by 2022</a>. That won’t happen unless the industry surmounts a stubborn obstacle: how it can ship more of its purified bitumen (a thinned product suitable for transport) to distant domestic and international markets.&#160;</p>
<p>Seismic exploration through the boreal forest, Firebag Oilsands Project, Suncor. (Alex MacLean/GlobalPost)</p>
<p>Alberta’s producers hope that the proposed <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keystone_Pipeline" type="external">Keystone XL pipeline</a> will handle a big share of the increased production. But first, a political tangle of regulatory and legislative players, <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/obamas-last-shot-20140423" type="external">ultimately including President Obama</a>, must approve the project. Climate change activists adamantly oppose it. They say an administration decision to prevent the pipeline would slow growth of tar sands production and, thus, would cut fossil fuel use, an imperative climate scientists say must come soon to avert catastrophic changes in the climate. The activists point out that it takes much more energy to produce a gallon of fuel from tar sands than from conventional crude deposits, making Alberta’s bitumen especially damaging.&#160;</p>
<p>Americans have mostly debated the global impacts of the tar sands; but Canadian opponents also worry about the vast damage to people and to Alberta’s environment. The “terrestrial impact is huge,” says David Schindler, about the vast mining complex, and the air and water pollution it has caused. Schindler, a fresh water biologist and emeritus professor at the University of Alberta, has studied the effects of tar sands activities for decades.&#160;</p>
<p>“By tainting local land, water and wildlife, mining has robbed indigenous [First Nations] people of their subsistence livelihood,” he says.&#160;</p>
<p>“They were guaranteed that [the land] ] would support them forever more,” says Schindler. “It doesn’t take much brain power to see that there’s no subsistence to be made from that mined area.”&#160;</p>
<p>He adds that even far from actual mining sites, contamination makes a traditional subsistence lifestyle iffy.&#160;</p>
<p>“Even if [wild animals] aren’t too polluted to eat, no white merchant could sell them in a supermarket. Why should people eat them with lesions and tumors?”</p>
<p>Edmonton, Canada: A booming industrial sector for supporting tar sands exploration and mining equipment. (Alex MacLean/GlobalPost)</p>
<p><a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/oil-sands-pollutants-affect-first-nations-diets-according-to-study/article19484551/" type="external">A study released Monday</a> by the University of Manitoba found “wild-caught foods in northern Alberta have higher-than-normal levels of pollutants the study associates with oil sands production, but First Nations are already shifting away from their traditional diets out of fears over contamination.”</p>
<p>And Canadian government research published earlier this year has confirmed that toxic chemicals from tar sands production are seeping into the Athabasca River.</p>
<p>Violet Clarke says the industry has destroyed even the possibility of their traditional lifestyle. She says that forest clearing and the roar of processing plants has scared away moose. Willow Lake’s pike and walleye have absorbed high levels of mercury into their flesh. She’s heard stories of deformed fish. “Now we just have to go to the store and buy our meat,” she says. “We are seeing the end of our livelihood.”</p>
<p>Some locals refer to Fort McMurray, the de facto capital of the tar sands, as Fort McMordor — the mines and factories nearby bring to their minds gloomy, fire scarred scenes from Peter Jackson’s film rendition of "The Lord of The Rings." Some locals joke that it is Fort McMoney, bringing riches in, though not necessarily to them. Visitors not there on official business that takes them inside company gates will find it difficult to discern the scale and scope of the industry; though everyone knows it’s huge.&#160;</p>
<p>This is where Caterpillar, the world’s leading manufacturer of heavy construction and mining equipment, has sold half of its ultra class dump trucks — each big enough to hold a suburban starter-home in the bucket. In foul lagoons throughout the development sit about 190 billion gallons of fetid water tainted by tar sands.&#160;</p>
<p>The mines and processing facilities hide deep within company property, accessible only on company roads, blocked by company fences.&#160;Publicists at Calgary-based Suncor boast that the company has completed the first successful cleanup of a waste pond, with what is actually a two-foot layer of topsoil planted with trees and shrubs, covering a mountain of dry toxic tailings.</p>
<p>Piles of uncovered petrolum coke, a byproduct of upgrading tar sands oil to synthetic crude. "Petcoke" is between 30-80% more carbon intense than coal per unit of weight. Suncor Oil Sands Project. (Alex MacLean/GlobalPost)</p>
<p>Energy companies and supportive government agencies don’t exert only physical control over the exploitation of Alberta. They also influence what it’s called. A few years ago deposits of bitumen&#160; were called tar sands in scientific articles, government documents, news stories and industry publications alike.</p>
<p>Today uttering “tar sands” around Fort McMurray,&#160;rather than the sanitized “oil sands,” seems to identify a speaker as suspiciously sympathetic to Greenpeace, or worse. Canada’s national government has <a href="http://business.financialpost.com/2013/10/11/federal-government-prepares-24-million-oil-sands-advertising-blitz/?__lsa=a241-ac7e" type="external">allocated more than $20 million on an advertising blitz</a> promoting Canadian oil and gas in the US, Europe and Asia.</p>
<p>In this atmosphere, gaining a candid, non-corporate view of the vastness of the dirt that the mining companies have moved literally required going over the heads of guards and cautious “media relations” officials who protect these sites from non-corporate outsiders.&#160;</p>
<p>It took a flight in a private plane. Earlier this year, aerial photographer Alex MacLean invited me to survey the tar sands from the air with him. He’d reserved a plane, complete with pilot, at Fort McMurray’s diminutive airport. Before long, we were in the air with a panoramic view of one of the world’s most lucrative, and most environmentally devastating, mining operations.</p>
<p>This story was made possible in part by a travel grant from the <a href="http://pulitzercenter.org/" type="external">Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting</a>. You can support Dan and Alex's next reporting project on the tar sands <a href="https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/tar-sands-truth" type="external">here at Indiegogo</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/groundtruth/environmental-impact-alberta-tar-sands-horrible-expert-says" type="external">Read Part Two here. &#160;</a></p> | Flying over Alberta's tar sands, evidence of wealth and destruction (PHOTOS) | false | https://pri.org/stories/2014-07-10/flying-over-albertas-tar-sands-evidence-wealth-and-destruction-photos | 2014-07-10 | 3left-center
| Flying over Alberta's tar sands, evidence of wealth and destruction (PHOTOS)
<p>FORT MCMURRAY, Alberta, Canada — Violet Clarke’s home sits virtually in the center of the vast Athabasca tar sands, a colossal deposit of extremely heavy crude oil in the western Canadian province of Alberta.</p>
<p>She vaguely recalls seeing the gooey black stuff, which seeped naturally from the banks of the Athabasca River, during her childhood. Her father, a Cree Indian, slathered handfuls of the foul-smelling heavy oil, known as bitumen, over his birch canoe to seal it. He hunted bear, moose and elk, butchered them and smoked their flesh. In the summer Clarke picked and dried berries.</p>
<p>“We lived clean, healthy lives,” says Clarke, 86, sitting by a window in her battered mobile home. But over the past four decades, bitumen and the economy it has birthed have dramatically changed her life. A snarling complex of mines, pipelines, waste ponds and processing plants now lives atop the tar sands, one of the largest concentrated industrial activities on earth. Giant earth movers claw into black seams of the bitumen around the clock. Forests of factory stacks reach to the sky, lighting the land with smoky flares at night.</p>
<p>Alberta contains about 170 billion barrels of reasonably accessible oil, the world’s third-largest supply after those of Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. The sea of crude sits underneath an Iowa-sized territory of rolling hills and valleys of peat bogs and forests of fir, polar and aspen. A valuation of more than a trillion of dollars has caused a stampede of investment from the big oil companies, including Shell, ExxonMobil, Sinopec, Chevron and ConocoPhillips. All of Canada’s top oil producers, while not large on the world stage, are also feasting on Alberta’s lucrative oil bounty.&#160;</p>
<p>Large transport truck moving petroleum-coke, a byproduct of upgrading tar sands oil. (Alex MacLean/GlobalPost)</p>
<p>The TransCanada Corporation is building a network of more than 3,000 miles of pipelines to give Alberta’s tar sands oil greater access to refineries in the US. The final phase of the pipeline project, Keystone XL, would run more than 1,000 miles, with capacity to ship nearly a million barrels of oil a day from Alberta into America. If built, the XL pipeline would approximately double the amount of oil from Alberta that could flow into the US.</p>
<p>Some of the most powerful environmental groups in the US and Canada, such as Greenpeace, the Sierra Club and the Audubon Society oppose Keystone XL. These groups call tar sands production an unfolding environmental catastrophe that is polluting land and water; disrupting wildlife on a massive scale; and harming the climate by abetting use of fossil fuels.</p>
<p>It’s “the most controversial and highest profile environmental issue in the country, says Keith Stewart, the leader of Greenpeace Canada’s anti-tar-sands campaign. Last fall police in Vancouver arrested Stewart after he chained himself to the gate of the Kinder Morgan oil terminal. Kinder Morgan has proposed to expand a pipeline between Alberta and Vancouver, shipping oil from Vancouver through biologically sensitive waters by tanker.&#160;</p>
<p>Until the 1970s, the oil in Alberta remained mostly untapped. Supplies elsewhere dwindled, mining and processing techniques advanced and an industry refining crude oil from bitumen took hold. It expanded quickly. Production has about doubled every decade since. Industry experts expect it will <a href="" type="external">double again by 2022</a>. That won’t happen unless the industry surmounts a stubborn obstacle: how it can ship more of its purified bitumen (a thinned product suitable for transport) to distant domestic and international markets.&#160;</p>
<p>Seismic exploration through the boreal forest, Firebag Oilsands Project, Suncor. (Alex MacLean/GlobalPost)</p>
<p>Alberta’s producers hope that the proposed <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keystone_Pipeline" type="external">Keystone XL pipeline</a> will handle a big share of the increased production. But first, a political tangle of regulatory and legislative players, <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/obamas-last-shot-20140423" type="external">ultimately including President Obama</a>, must approve the project. Climate change activists adamantly oppose it. They say an administration decision to prevent the pipeline would slow growth of tar sands production and, thus, would cut fossil fuel use, an imperative climate scientists say must come soon to avert catastrophic changes in the climate. The activists point out that it takes much more energy to produce a gallon of fuel from tar sands than from conventional crude deposits, making Alberta’s bitumen especially damaging.&#160;</p>
<p>Americans have mostly debated the global impacts of the tar sands; but Canadian opponents also worry about the vast damage to people and to Alberta’s environment. The “terrestrial impact is huge,” says David Schindler, about the vast mining complex, and the air and water pollution it has caused. Schindler, a fresh water biologist and emeritus professor at the University of Alberta, has studied the effects of tar sands activities for decades.&#160;</p>
<p>“By tainting local land, water and wildlife, mining has robbed indigenous [First Nations] people of their subsistence livelihood,” he says.&#160;</p>
<p>“They were guaranteed that [the land] ] would support them forever more,” says Schindler. “It doesn’t take much brain power to see that there’s no subsistence to be made from that mined area.”&#160;</p>
<p>He adds that even far from actual mining sites, contamination makes a traditional subsistence lifestyle iffy.&#160;</p>
<p>“Even if [wild animals] aren’t too polluted to eat, no white merchant could sell them in a supermarket. Why should people eat them with lesions and tumors?”</p>
<p>Edmonton, Canada: A booming industrial sector for supporting tar sands exploration and mining equipment. (Alex MacLean/GlobalPost)</p>
<p><a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/oil-sands-pollutants-affect-first-nations-diets-according-to-study/article19484551/" type="external">A study released Monday</a> by the University of Manitoba found “wild-caught foods in northern Alberta have higher-than-normal levels of pollutants the study associates with oil sands production, but First Nations are already shifting away from their traditional diets out of fears over contamination.”</p>
<p>And Canadian government research published earlier this year has confirmed that toxic chemicals from tar sands production are seeping into the Athabasca River.</p>
<p>Violet Clarke says the industry has destroyed even the possibility of their traditional lifestyle. She says that forest clearing and the roar of processing plants has scared away moose. Willow Lake’s pike and walleye have absorbed high levels of mercury into their flesh. She’s heard stories of deformed fish. “Now we just have to go to the store and buy our meat,” she says. “We are seeing the end of our livelihood.”</p>
<p>Some locals refer to Fort McMurray, the de facto capital of the tar sands, as Fort McMordor — the mines and factories nearby bring to their minds gloomy, fire scarred scenes from Peter Jackson’s film rendition of "The Lord of The Rings." Some locals joke that it is Fort McMoney, bringing riches in, though not necessarily to them. Visitors not there on official business that takes them inside company gates will find it difficult to discern the scale and scope of the industry; though everyone knows it’s huge.&#160;</p>
<p>This is where Caterpillar, the world’s leading manufacturer of heavy construction and mining equipment, has sold half of its ultra class dump trucks — each big enough to hold a suburban starter-home in the bucket. In foul lagoons throughout the development sit about 190 billion gallons of fetid water tainted by tar sands.&#160;</p>
<p>The mines and processing facilities hide deep within company property, accessible only on company roads, blocked by company fences.&#160;Publicists at Calgary-based Suncor boast that the company has completed the first successful cleanup of a waste pond, with what is actually a two-foot layer of topsoil planted with trees and shrubs, covering a mountain of dry toxic tailings.</p>
<p>Piles of uncovered petrolum coke, a byproduct of upgrading tar sands oil to synthetic crude. "Petcoke" is between 30-80% more carbon intense than coal per unit of weight. Suncor Oil Sands Project. (Alex MacLean/GlobalPost)</p>
<p>Energy companies and supportive government agencies don’t exert only physical control over the exploitation of Alberta. They also influence what it’s called. A few years ago deposits of bitumen&#160; were called tar sands in scientific articles, government documents, news stories and industry publications alike.</p>
<p>Today uttering “tar sands” around Fort McMurray,&#160;rather than the sanitized “oil sands,” seems to identify a speaker as suspiciously sympathetic to Greenpeace, or worse. Canada’s national government has <a href="http://business.financialpost.com/2013/10/11/federal-government-prepares-24-million-oil-sands-advertising-blitz/?__lsa=a241-ac7e" type="external">allocated more than $20 million on an advertising blitz</a> promoting Canadian oil and gas in the US, Europe and Asia.</p>
<p>In this atmosphere, gaining a candid, non-corporate view of the vastness of the dirt that the mining companies have moved literally required going over the heads of guards and cautious “media relations” officials who protect these sites from non-corporate outsiders.&#160;</p>
<p>It took a flight in a private plane. Earlier this year, aerial photographer Alex MacLean invited me to survey the tar sands from the air with him. He’d reserved a plane, complete with pilot, at Fort McMurray’s diminutive airport. Before long, we were in the air with a panoramic view of one of the world’s most lucrative, and most environmentally devastating, mining operations.</p>
<p>This story was made possible in part by a travel grant from the <a href="http://pulitzercenter.org/" type="external">Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting</a>. You can support Dan and Alex's next reporting project on the tar sands <a href="https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/tar-sands-truth" type="external">here at Indiegogo</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/groundtruth/environmental-impact-alberta-tar-sands-horrible-expert-says" type="external">Read Part Two here. &#160;</a></p> | 3,339 |
<p>At the end of President Obama’s first term, exactly one name was at the top of many court-watchers lists of sitting federal judges that a Democratic president might place on the Supreme Court someday —  <a href="" type="internal">Ninth Circuit Judge Paul Watford</a>. That’s not because Judge Watford is a uniquely talented judge — although he is a <a href="" type="internal">highly regarded attorney and a former Supreme Court clerk</a> — but rather because he is probably the only judge confirmed to a federal appeals court in President Obama’s first term that fits the typical model of a Democratic Supreme Court nominee. He was young. His clerkship tags him as brilliant. And there was, at least, no reason to doubt he would vote in line with other left-of-center judges.</p>
<p>After Obama’s second term, however, the picture could look quite different.</p>
<p>First there was Judge Sri Srinivasan, the brilliant Supreme Court advocate recently confirmed to the DC Circuit. Like Watford, Srinivasan’s views are largely unknown, so both men will need to spend more time revealing themselves as judges before a president should feel entirely confident placing them on the nation’s highest Court. But Srinivasan is only in his mid-40s so he has plenty of years of eligibility left for a Supreme Court nomination.</p>
<p>Not long after Srinivasan joined the bench, the President announced three more nominees — Patricia Millett, Nina Pillard and Robert Wilkins — to the same court. Millett’s record of advocacy on behalf of big business is unlikely to bring joy into the hearts of Obama’s progressive base, but she is <a href="" type="internal">among the leading Supreme Court advocates in the country</a> and she too is young enough to have plenty of time to prove herself on a lower court. Her fellow nominee Nina Pillard needs no seasoning to prove herself. She’s a leading feminist scholar who <a href="" type="internal">litigated and won a pair of important women’s rights victories in the Supreme Court</a>.</p>
<p>And then, just yesterday, President Obama named two more young former Supreme Court clerks —  <a href="http://www.mto.com/lawyers/attorneys/Michelle-T-Friedland" type="external">Michelle Friedland</a> and <a href="http://www.mto.com/lawyers/John-Owens" type="external">John Owens</a> — to seats on the Ninth Circuit.</p>
<p>In other words, it’s clear that Obama has figured out that he needs to leave his successor with some options should a vacancy open up on the nation’s highest court. Now the task falls to Senate Democrats to ensure these nominees are not filibustered to oblivion — a goal they can achieve at any time by <a href="" type="internal">invoking the so-called nuclear option</a>.</p> | Obama Finally Getting Serious About Naming Judges That Could Be On The Supreme Court Someday | true | http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/08/02/2407521/obama-finally-getting-serious-about-naming-judges-that-could-be-on-the-supreme-court-someday/ | 2013-08-02 | 4left
| Obama Finally Getting Serious About Naming Judges That Could Be On The Supreme Court Someday
<p>At the end of President Obama’s first term, exactly one name was at the top of many court-watchers lists of sitting federal judges that a Democratic president might place on the Supreme Court someday —  <a href="" type="internal">Ninth Circuit Judge Paul Watford</a>. That’s not because Judge Watford is a uniquely talented judge — although he is a <a href="" type="internal">highly regarded attorney and a former Supreme Court clerk</a> — but rather because he is probably the only judge confirmed to a federal appeals court in President Obama’s first term that fits the typical model of a Democratic Supreme Court nominee. He was young. His clerkship tags him as brilliant. And there was, at least, no reason to doubt he would vote in line with other left-of-center judges.</p>
<p>After Obama’s second term, however, the picture could look quite different.</p>
<p>First there was Judge Sri Srinivasan, the brilliant Supreme Court advocate recently confirmed to the DC Circuit. Like Watford, Srinivasan’s views are largely unknown, so both men will need to spend more time revealing themselves as judges before a president should feel entirely confident placing them on the nation’s highest Court. But Srinivasan is only in his mid-40s so he has plenty of years of eligibility left for a Supreme Court nomination.</p>
<p>Not long after Srinivasan joined the bench, the President announced three more nominees — Patricia Millett, Nina Pillard and Robert Wilkins — to the same court. Millett’s record of advocacy on behalf of big business is unlikely to bring joy into the hearts of Obama’s progressive base, but she is <a href="" type="internal">among the leading Supreme Court advocates in the country</a> and she too is young enough to have plenty of time to prove herself on a lower court. Her fellow nominee Nina Pillard needs no seasoning to prove herself. She’s a leading feminist scholar who <a href="" type="internal">litigated and won a pair of important women’s rights victories in the Supreme Court</a>.</p>
<p>And then, just yesterday, President Obama named two more young former Supreme Court clerks —  <a href="http://www.mto.com/lawyers/attorneys/Michelle-T-Friedland" type="external">Michelle Friedland</a> and <a href="http://www.mto.com/lawyers/John-Owens" type="external">John Owens</a> — to seats on the Ninth Circuit.</p>
<p>In other words, it’s clear that Obama has figured out that he needs to leave his successor with some options should a vacancy open up on the nation’s highest court. Now the task falls to Senate Democrats to ensure these nominees are not filibustered to oblivion — a goal they can achieve at any time by <a href="" type="internal">invoking the so-called nuclear option</a>.</p> | 3,340 |
<p>Photoillustration by Matt Connolly</p>
<p />
<p>You can blame a lot on man-made climate change. Worsened violence in <a href="" type="internal">Syria</a>. Bigger <a href="" type="internal">wildfires</a>. Bad <a href="" type="internal">health</a>. The totalitarian hell and political repression in <a href="" type="internal">The Hunger Games</a> franchise.</p>
<p>This weekend, <a href="http://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-hunger-games-catching-fire" type="external">The Hunger Games: Catching Fire</a> (the sequel to the popular <a href="" type="internal">2012 installment</a>) arrives in theaters to <a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_hunger_games_catching_fire/" type="external">critical acclaim</a> and a practically guaranteed place in <a href="http://www.thewrap.com/hunger-games-catching-fire-box-office-jennifer-lawrence" type="external">box-office history</a>. This film is more thrilling, more emotionally intense, and much, much better than its predecessor. The new additions to the cast—particularly <a href="https://twitter.com/MaloneJena" type="external">Jena Malone</a> as the ax-swinging Johanna Mason—are solid.</p>
<p>The characters are older, but the basics are the same: The movie follows <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/03/todays-high-tech-archery-isnt-much-like-the-hunger-games-version/255041/" type="external">archery-proficient</a> heroine and <a href="http://io9.com/why-the-hunger-games-mockingjay-is-a-better-book-than-1466924025" type="external">future</a> revolutionary Katniss Everdeen (the&#160; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K5ipo2Os6U" type="external">Oscar</a>-winning and <a href="http://jezebel.com/your-bff-jennifer-lawrence-stops-everything-to-console-1462965027" type="external">irrepressibly</a> <a href="http://gawker.com/your-best-friend-jennifer-lawrence-shat-her-pants-a-tho-1468956168" type="external">likeable</a> actress <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE_X2pDRXyY" type="external">Jennifer Lawrence</a>), a citizen of District 12 of Panem, the dystopian realm comprising a flourishing Capitol and an archipelago of oppressed and starving provinces. President Coriolanus Snow ( <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/nov/19/donald-sutherland-hunger-games-catching-fire" type="external">Donald Sutherland</a>) commands an army of “peacekeepers” who regularly flog and gun down dissidents. And, as punishment for a past uprising, the Capitol annually seizes children from the districts and forces them to compete in a nationally televised death sport known as the Hunger Games—which is essentially a cross between Survivor and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Mexico_State_Penitentiary_riot#Violence_ensues" type="external">New Mexico State Penitentiary riot</a>.</p>
<p>Panem is <a href="" type="internal">North</a> <a href="" type="internal">Korea</a>, but with white people, better reality TV, and Jennifer Lawrence.</p>
<p>Catching Fire pushes the franchise closer to the eagerly anticipated <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2012/03/hunger_games_trilogy_how_will_they_make_a_movie_out_of_mockingjay_.html" type="external">all-out rebellion</a> that’s detailed in Suzanne Collins’ <a href="http://mediaroom.scholastic.com/node/270" type="external">book series on which this saga is based</a>. But as the film series <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunger_Games_%28film_series%29#Upcoming_films" type="external">progresses</a>, it’s a good time to revisit exactly why things are so horrific in the Hunger Games universe. The explanation for this is <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/04/01/455593/hunger-game-fans-care-climate-change-the-movie/" type="external">glossed over</a> in the films, but the first book offers some clarification in the early pages. The novel <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=hlb_sM1AN0gC&amp;pg=PA18&amp;lpg=PA18&amp;dq=%22He+lists+the+disasters,+the+droughts,+the+storms,+the+fires,+the+encroaching+seas+that+swallowed+up+so+much+of+the+land,+the+brutal+war+for+what+little+sustenance+remained.%22&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=WAblueC0KJ&amp;sig=_YW5oSSJOpHG-pgjjiW9c0LzH-Y&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=1nKOUpbFH6eL2AXmu4GoDQ&amp;ved=0CEcQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&amp;q=%22He%20lists%20the%20disasters%2C%20the%20droughts%2C%20the%20storms%2C%20the%20fires%2C%20the%20encroaching%20seas%20that%20swallowed%20up%20so%20much%20of%20the%20land%2C%20the%20brutal%20war%20for%20what%20little%20sustenance%20remained.%22&amp;f=false" type="external">reads</a>:</p>
<p>It’s the same story every year. [The mayor] tells of the history of Panem, the country that rose up out of the ashes of a place that was once called North America. He lists the disasters, the droughts, the storms, the fires, the encroaching seas that swallowed up so much of the land, the brutal war for what little sustenance remained. The result was Panem…</p>
<p>So there you go: The democratic societies of the United States, Mexico, and Canada were destroyed by climate disasters caused by global warming, and this led to mass bloodshed over scarce resources. That’s why everyone in Panem—except for the Capitol’s affluent—is starving, poor, and subjugated. That’s why the residents of District 12 are forced to slave away in <a href="http://thehungergames.wikia.com/wiki/Coal_miner" type="external">dangerous coal mines</a> to power the shimmering Capitol. And that’s why peasant kids have to butcher each other in the wilderness to entertain a decadent and desensitized <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/03/the-hunger-games-crosses-child-warfare-with-class-warfare/254834/" type="external">one percent</a>.</p>
<p>Go ahead and blame the Hunger Games on climate change and pollution. You can already blame it for <a href="" type="internal">Kaiju</a>, <a href="" type="internal">sharknados</a>, and insignificant but terrifying <a href="" type="internal">global bacon shortages</a>.</p>
<p>Here’s a trailer for Catching Fire:</p>
<p />
<p />
<p><a href="" type="internal">Click here</a> for more film and TV coverage from Mother Jones.</p>
<p>For more reviews, <a href="http://pinterest.com/motherjonesmag/swin-s-movie-tv-reviews/" type="external">click here</a>.</p>
<p /> | Life Sucks in “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” Because of Climate Change | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2013/11/hunger-games-catching-fire-climate-change-jennifer-lawrence/ | 2013-11-22 | 4left
| Life Sucks in “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” Because of Climate Change
<p>Photoillustration by Matt Connolly</p>
<p />
<p>You can blame a lot on man-made climate change. Worsened violence in <a href="" type="internal">Syria</a>. Bigger <a href="" type="internal">wildfires</a>. Bad <a href="" type="internal">health</a>. The totalitarian hell and political repression in <a href="" type="internal">The Hunger Games</a> franchise.</p>
<p>This weekend, <a href="http://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-hunger-games-catching-fire" type="external">The Hunger Games: Catching Fire</a> (the sequel to the popular <a href="" type="internal">2012 installment</a>) arrives in theaters to <a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_hunger_games_catching_fire/" type="external">critical acclaim</a> and a practically guaranteed place in <a href="http://www.thewrap.com/hunger-games-catching-fire-box-office-jennifer-lawrence" type="external">box-office history</a>. This film is more thrilling, more emotionally intense, and much, much better than its predecessor. The new additions to the cast—particularly <a href="https://twitter.com/MaloneJena" type="external">Jena Malone</a> as the ax-swinging Johanna Mason—are solid.</p>
<p>The characters are older, but the basics are the same: The movie follows <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/03/todays-high-tech-archery-isnt-much-like-the-hunger-games-version/255041/" type="external">archery-proficient</a> heroine and <a href="http://io9.com/why-the-hunger-games-mockingjay-is-a-better-book-than-1466924025" type="external">future</a> revolutionary Katniss Everdeen (the&#160; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K5ipo2Os6U" type="external">Oscar</a>-winning and <a href="http://jezebel.com/your-bff-jennifer-lawrence-stops-everything-to-console-1462965027" type="external">irrepressibly</a> <a href="http://gawker.com/your-best-friend-jennifer-lawrence-shat-her-pants-a-tho-1468956168" type="external">likeable</a> actress <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE_X2pDRXyY" type="external">Jennifer Lawrence</a>), a citizen of District 12 of Panem, the dystopian realm comprising a flourishing Capitol and an archipelago of oppressed and starving provinces. President Coriolanus Snow ( <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/nov/19/donald-sutherland-hunger-games-catching-fire" type="external">Donald Sutherland</a>) commands an army of “peacekeepers” who regularly flog and gun down dissidents. And, as punishment for a past uprising, the Capitol annually seizes children from the districts and forces them to compete in a nationally televised death sport known as the Hunger Games—which is essentially a cross between Survivor and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Mexico_State_Penitentiary_riot#Violence_ensues" type="external">New Mexico State Penitentiary riot</a>.</p>
<p>Panem is <a href="" type="internal">North</a> <a href="" type="internal">Korea</a>, but with white people, better reality TV, and Jennifer Lawrence.</p>
<p>Catching Fire pushes the franchise closer to the eagerly anticipated <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2012/03/hunger_games_trilogy_how_will_they_make_a_movie_out_of_mockingjay_.html" type="external">all-out rebellion</a> that’s detailed in Suzanne Collins’ <a href="http://mediaroom.scholastic.com/node/270" type="external">book series on which this saga is based</a>. But as the film series <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunger_Games_%28film_series%29#Upcoming_films" type="external">progresses</a>, it’s a good time to revisit exactly why things are so horrific in the Hunger Games universe. The explanation for this is <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/04/01/455593/hunger-game-fans-care-climate-change-the-movie/" type="external">glossed over</a> in the films, but the first book offers some clarification in the early pages. The novel <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=hlb_sM1AN0gC&amp;pg=PA18&amp;lpg=PA18&amp;dq=%22He+lists+the+disasters,+the+droughts,+the+storms,+the+fires,+the+encroaching+seas+that+swallowed+up+so+much+of+the+land,+the+brutal+war+for+what+little+sustenance+remained.%22&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=WAblueC0KJ&amp;sig=_YW5oSSJOpHG-pgjjiW9c0LzH-Y&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=1nKOUpbFH6eL2AXmu4GoDQ&amp;ved=0CEcQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&amp;q=%22He%20lists%20the%20disasters%2C%20the%20droughts%2C%20the%20storms%2C%20the%20fires%2C%20the%20encroaching%20seas%20that%20swallowed%20up%20so%20much%20of%20the%20land%2C%20the%20brutal%20war%20for%20what%20little%20sustenance%20remained.%22&amp;f=false" type="external">reads</a>:</p>
<p>It’s the same story every year. [The mayor] tells of the history of Panem, the country that rose up out of the ashes of a place that was once called North America. He lists the disasters, the droughts, the storms, the fires, the encroaching seas that swallowed up so much of the land, the brutal war for what little sustenance remained. The result was Panem…</p>
<p>So there you go: The democratic societies of the United States, Mexico, and Canada were destroyed by climate disasters caused by global warming, and this led to mass bloodshed over scarce resources. That’s why everyone in Panem—except for the Capitol’s affluent—is starving, poor, and subjugated. That’s why the residents of District 12 are forced to slave away in <a href="http://thehungergames.wikia.com/wiki/Coal_miner" type="external">dangerous coal mines</a> to power the shimmering Capitol. And that’s why peasant kids have to butcher each other in the wilderness to entertain a decadent and desensitized <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/03/the-hunger-games-crosses-child-warfare-with-class-warfare/254834/" type="external">one percent</a>.</p>
<p>Go ahead and blame the Hunger Games on climate change and pollution. You can already blame it for <a href="" type="internal">Kaiju</a>, <a href="" type="internal">sharknados</a>, and insignificant but terrifying <a href="" type="internal">global bacon shortages</a>.</p>
<p>Here’s a trailer for Catching Fire:</p>
<p />
<p />
<p><a href="" type="internal">Click here</a> for more film and TV coverage from Mother Jones.</p>
<p>For more reviews, <a href="http://pinterest.com/motherjonesmag/swin-s-movie-tv-reviews/" type="external">click here</a>.</p>
<p /> | 3,341 |
<p>SPICER, Minn. (AP) - Crews are busy making thousands of big ice blocks at a lake in central Minnesota that will be used to build the ice palace at a winter carnival later this month.</p>
<p>Workers need about 3,700 blocks to build the 70-foot-tall palace for the St. Paul Winter Carnival, which begins Jan. 25, <a href="https://www.mprnews.org/story/2018/01/04/cold-weather-good-news-for-ice-cutters-harvesting-for-st-paul-winter-carnival" type="external">Minnesota Public Radio reported</a> . Each block weighs nearly 600 pounds.</p>
<p>Green Lake, located near Spicer, is known for creating thick, clear ice, said Mike Gutknecht of Park Construction of Minneapolis, which is the general contractor for the project.</p>
<p>"When we go back to St. Paul and shine the lights through it, you can get all the visual effects," Gutknecht said. "You'll get milky ice and that type of ice, but out here it is crystal clear and it's got a blue tinge to it. It's really beautiful."</p>
<p>To create the ice blocks, workers dust off ice on the lake with a sweeping machine, use a specialized saw to score the ice, cut three sides of the ice away and then use a chisel tool to free the blocks. The blocks are then pushed through a channel and lifted onto land by a conveyor belt.</p>
<p>It will take five to seven days to transport all of the blocks to St. Paul, Gutknecht said.</p>
<p>Ice from Green Lake was last used for the St. Paul palace in 1992.</p>
<p>"We make good ice. That's why St. Paul wanted it," said Denny Baker, Spicer's mayor.</p>
<p>This year's ice palace will likely draw extra attention since Minneapolis is hosting the Super Bowl in February, Baker said.</p>
<p>"Most people you know have never seen a block of ice," Baker said. "And then to see what you can build with it and how you can build a structure - that will be amazing. It will be fun for them."</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: Minnesota Public Radio News, <a href="http://www.mprnews.org" type="external">http://www.mprnews.org</a></p>
<p>SPICER, Minn. (AP) - Crews are busy making thousands of big ice blocks at a lake in central Minnesota that will be used to build the ice palace at a winter carnival later this month.</p>
<p>Workers need about 3,700 blocks to build the 70-foot-tall palace for the St. Paul Winter Carnival, which begins Jan. 25, <a href="https://www.mprnews.org/story/2018/01/04/cold-weather-good-news-for-ice-cutters-harvesting-for-st-paul-winter-carnival" type="external">Minnesota Public Radio reported</a> . Each block weighs nearly 600 pounds.</p>
<p>Green Lake, located near Spicer, is known for creating thick, clear ice, said Mike Gutknecht of Park Construction of Minneapolis, which is the general contractor for the project.</p>
<p>"When we go back to St. Paul and shine the lights through it, you can get all the visual effects," Gutknecht said. "You'll get milky ice and that type of ice, but out here it is crystal clear and it's got a blue tinge to it. It's really beautiful."</p>
<p>To create the ice blocks, workers dust off ice on the lake with a sweeping machine, use a specialized saw to score the ice, cut three sides of the ice away and then use a chisel tool to free the blocks. The blocks are then pushed through a channel and lifted onto land by a conveyor belt.</p>
<p>It will take five to seven days to transport all of the blocks to St. Paul, Gutknecht said.</p>
<p>Ice from Green Lake was last used for the St. Paul palace in 1992.</p>
<p>"We make good ice. That's why St. Paul wanted it," said Denny Baker, Spicer's mayor.</p>
<p>This year's ice palace will likely draw extra attention since Minneapolis is hosting the Super Bowl in February, Baker said.</p>
<p>"Most people you know have never seen a block of ice," Baker said. "And then to see what you can build with it and how you can build a structure - that will be amazing. It will be fun for them."</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: Minnesota Public Radio News, <a href="http://www.mprnews.org" type="external">http://www.mprnews.org</a></p> | Minnesota crews harvest ice for winter carnival ice palace | false | https://apnews.com/amp/7c157257c9bb49eea94079e26f929986 | 2018-01-04 | 2least
| Minnesota crews harvest ice for winter carnival ice palace
<p>SPICER, Minn. (AP) - Crews are busy making thousands of big ice blocks at a lake in central Minnesota that will be used to build the ice palace at a winter carnival later this month.</p>
<p>Workers need about 3,700 blocks to build the 70-foot-tall palace for the St. Paul Winter Carnival, which begins Jan. 25, <a href="https://www.mprnews.org/story/2018/01/04/cold-weather-good-news-for-ice-cutters-harvesting-for-st-paul-winter-carnival" type="external">Minnesota Public Radio reported</a> . Each block weighs nearly 600 pounds.</p>
<p>Green Lake, located near Spicer, is known for creating thick, clear ice, said Mike Gutknecht of Park Construction of Minneapolis, which is the general contractor for the project.</p>
<p>"When we go back to St. Paul and shine the lights through it, you can get all the visual effects," Gutknecht said. "You'll get milky ice and that type of ice, but out here it is crystal clear and it's got a blue tinge to it. It's really beautiful."</p>
<p>To create the ice blocks, workers dust off ice on the lake with a sweeping machine, use a specialized saw to score the ice, cut three sides of the ice away and then use a chisel tool to free the blocks. The blocks are then pushed through a channel and lifted onto land by a conveyor belt.</p>
<p>It will take five to seven days to transport all of the blocks to St. Paul, Gutknecht said.</p>
<p>Ice from Green Lake was last used for the St. Paul palace in 1992.</p>
<p>"We make good ice. That's why St. Paul wanted it," said Denny Baker, Spicer's mayor.</p>
<p>This year's ice palace will likely draw extra attention since Minneapolis is hosting the Super Bowl in February, Baker said.</p>
<p>"Most people you know have never seen a block of ice," Baker said. "And then to see what you can build with it and how you can build a structure - that will be amazing. It will be fun for them."</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: Minnesota Public Radio News, <a href="http://www.mprnews.org" type="external">http://www.mprnews.org</a></p>
<p>SPICER, Minn. (AP) - Crews are busy making thousands of big ice blocks at a lake in central Minnesota that will be used to build the ice palace at a winter carnival later this month.</p>
<p>Workers need about 3,700 blocks to build the 70-foot-tall palace for the St. Paul Winter Carnival, which begins Jan. 25, <a href="https://www.mprnews.org/story/2018/01/04/cold-weather-good-news-for-ice-cutters-harvesting-for-st-paul-winter-carnival" type="external">Minnesota Public Radio reported</a> . Each block weighs nearly 600 pounds.</p>
<p>Green Lake, located near Spicer, is known for creating thick, clear ice, said Mike Gutknecht of Park Construction of Minneapolis, which is the general contractor for the project.</p>
<p>"When we go back to St. Paul and shine the lights through it, you can get all the visual effects," Gutknecht said. "You'll get milky ice and that type of ice, but out here it is crystal clear and it's got a blue tinge to it. It's really beautiful."</p>
<p>To create the ice blocks, workers dust off ice on the lake with a sweeping machine, use a specialized saw to score the ice, cut three sides of the ice away and then use a chisel tool to free the blocks. The blocks are then pushed through a channel and lifted onto land by a conveyor belt.</p>
<p>It will take five to seven days to transport all of the blocks to St. Paul, Gutknecht said.</p>
<p>Ice from Green Lake was last used for the St. Paul palace in 1992.</p>
<p>"We make good ice. That's why St. Paul wanted it," said Denny Baker, Spicer's mayor.</p>
<p>This year's ice palace will likely draw extra attention since Minneapolis is hosting the Super Bowl in February, Baker said.</p>
<p>"Most people you know have never seen a block of ice," Baker said. "And then to see what you can build with it and how you can build a structure - that will be amazing. It will be fun for them."</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: Minnesota Public Radio News, <a href="http://www.mprnews.org" type="external">http://www.mprnews.org</a></p> | 3,342 |
<p>During the go-go days of the Federal Reserve's various versions of quantitative easing, a slew of high-yield sector and asset classes became investor favorites. That includes multi-asset exchange-traded funds, such as the First Trust Multi-Asset Diversified Income Index Fund (First Trust Exchange Traded Fd VI (NASDAQ:MDIV)).</p>
<p>ETFs like MDIV may swing back into focus as government bond yields remain low, keeping investors on the hunt for alternative yields sources. Beyond common stocks, multi-asset ETFs can hold assets ranging from junk bonds to REITs to MLPs to preferred stocks. A lineup featuring assets like that not only helps investors generate income, but also reduces exposure to the intense correlations seen throughout equity markets.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Related Link: <a href="http://www.benzinga.com/analyst-ratings/analyst-color/16/03/6758675/dial-up-this-telecom-etf" type="external">Dial Up This Telecom ETF Opens a New Window.</a></p>
<p>In addition, non-investment grade bonds are viewed as less sensitive to interest rate increases, and dividends on preferred stocks are almost a sure bet, because a company that does not pay a previously agreed to dividend on a preferred issue risks harm to its credit rating. Investors enjoy the high yields and the close to guaranteed income offered by preferreds. However, preferred issues are vulnerable in a rising interest rate environment, and the reality is U.S. interest rates only have one way to go and it is not lower.</p>
<p>MDIV's lineup shows the fund lives up to its multi-asset billing. The $735.4 million ETF, which turns four later this year, devotes over 21 percent of its weight to junk bonds via the actively managed First Trust Tactical High Yield ETF (First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund IV (NASDAQ:HYLS)).</p>
<p>MDIV's underlying index is comprised of securities classified as equities (20 percent), real estate investment trusts (REITs) (20 percent), preferred securities (20 percent), master limited partnerships (MLPs) (20 percent) and a high yield corporate debt ETF (20 percent), according to <a href="http://www.ftportfolios.com/Retail/Etf/EtfSummary.aspx?Ticker=MDIV" type="external">First Trust Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Some of the individual securities that are among the top holdings in the portfolio are as follows: CYS Investments Inc. (1.81 percent), Chimera Investment Corporation (1.50 percent), MFA Financial Inc. (1.36 percent), Two Harbors Investment Corp. (1.35 percent), and Golar LNG Partners LP (1.34 percent). Currently we see a 30-Day SEC Yield of 7.17 percent in MDIV, which likely explains at least a portion of its popularity as the largest fund in this 'Multi-Asset' space. Daily trading volume in the product is not huge, at about 192,000 shares, but this seems normal considering the likely 'buy-and-hold' investors that the product probably attracts, said <a href="http://streetonefinancial.com/" type="external">Street One Financial Opens a New Window.</a> Vice President Paul Weisbruch in a note out Tuesday.</p>
<p>Image Credit: <a href="https://pixabay.com/en/business-working-laptop-macbook-925900/" type="external">Public Domain Opens a New Window.</a></p>
<p>2016 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p> | Revisiting A Popular Multi-Asset ETF | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/03/02/revisiting-popular-multi-asset-etf.html | 2016-03-02 | 0right
| Revisiting A Popular Multi-Asset ETF
<p>During the go-go days of the Federal Reserve's various versions of quantitative easing, a slew of high-yield sector and asset classes became investor favorites. That includes multi-asset exchange-traded funds, such as the First Trust Multi-Asset Diversified Income Index Fund (First Trust Exchange Traded Fd VI (NASDAQ:MDIV)).</p>
<p>ETFs like MDIV may swing back into focus as government bond yields remain low, keeping investors on the hunt for alternative yields sources. Beyond common stocks, multi-asset ETFs can hold assets ranging from junk bonds to REITs to MLPs to preferred stocks. A lineup featuring assets like that not only helps investors generate income, but also reduces exposure to the intense correlations seen throughout equity markets.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Related Link: <a href="http://www.benzinga.com/analyst-ratings/analyst-color/16/03/6758675/dial-up-this-telecom-etf" type="external">Dial Up This Telecom ETF Opens a New Window.</a></p>
<p>In addition, non-investment grade bonds are viewed as less sensitive to interest rate increases, and dividends on preferred stocks are almost a sure bet, because a company that does not pay a previously agreed to dividend on a preferred issue risks harm to its credit rating. Investors enjoy the high yields and the close to guaranteed income offered by preferreds. However, preferred issues are vulnerable in a rising interest rate environment, and the reality is U.S. interest rates only have one way to go and it is not lower.</p>
<p>MDIV's lineup shows the fund lives up to its multi-asset billing. The $735.4 million ETF, which turns four later this year, devotes over 21 percent of its weight to junk bonds via the actively managed First Trust Tactical High Yield ETF (First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund IV (NASDAQ:HYLS)).</p>
<p>MDIV's underlying index is comprised of securities classified as equities (20 percent), real estate investment trusts (REITs) (20 percent), preferred securities (20 percent), master limited partnerships (MLPs) (20 percent) and a high yield corporate debt ETF (20 percent), according to <a href="http://www.ftportfolios.com/Retail/Etf/EtfSummary.aspx?Ticker=MDIV" type="external">First Trust Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Some of the individual securities that are among the top holdings in the portfolio are as follows: CYS Investments Inc. (1.81 percent), Chimera Investment Corporation (1.50 percent), MFA Financial Inc. (1.36 percent), Two Harbors Investment Corp. (1.35 percent), and Golar LNG Partners LP (1.34 percent). Currently we see a 30-Day SEC Yield of 7.17 percent in MDIV, which likely explains at least a portion of its popularity as the largest fund in this 'Multi-Asset' space. Daily trading volume in the product is not huge, at about 192,000 shares, but this seems normal considering the likely 'buy-and-hold' investors that the product probably attracts, said <a href="http://streetonefinancial.com/" type="external">Street One Financial Opens a New Window.</a> Vice President Paul Weisbruch in a note out Tuesday.</p>
<p>Image Credit: <a href="https://pixabay.com/en/business-working-laptop-macbook-925900/" type="external">Public Domain Opens a New Window.</a></p>
<p>2016 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p> | 3,343 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>WASHINGTON — Where immigrants are concerned, James Wright is OK with people who are here legally, as well as illegally — if they haven’t committed crimes. But turn the talk specifically to the risks and benefits of admitting refugees to the U.S., and the New Jersey resident gives a fraught sigh.</p>
<p>“It’s hard not to be conflicted,” said Wright, 26, an independent who supports President Donald Trump’s proposed travel ban on certain foreigners. “By no means do I want to be cruel and keep people out who need a safe place. But we have to have a better system of thoroughly finding out who they are.”</p>
<p>Wright is part of a group of Americans a new survey suggests are making distinctions between legal immigrants who choose to be here and refugees — who are legal immigrants, too — fleeing persecution in their home countries. A new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research reflects that divide, with two-thirds of the respondents saying the benefits of legal immigration generally outweigh the risks. But just over half — 52 percent — say refugees pose a great enough risk to further limit their entry into the United States.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Interviews with some of the poll’s participants suggest the distinction may be one of perception in an age of religious and politically inspired violence and 4.8 million refugees fleeing war-scarred Syria.</p>
<p>“Sometimes the vetting might not be quality,” said Randall Bagwell, 33, a Republican from of San Antonio, Texas, the state second to California in settling refugees between Oct. 1 and Jan. 31, according to the State Department. “Nobody can do quality control when they’re just reacting immediately.”</p>
<p>President Donald Trump has long linked tougher immigration limits to a safer country, and on Monday signed a new travel ban that, in part, will suspend refugee travel to the U.S. for four months except for those already on their way to the United States. The new order, which takes effect on March 16, will impose a 90-day ban on entry to the United States for people from Sudan, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia and Yemen — all Muslim-majority nations — who are seeking new visas. It was Trump’s second effort at a travel ban. The first was blocked by the courts.</p>
<p>Also reflecting his hard line, Trump last week announced to Congress a new office to aid Americans and their families who are victims of immigrant violence. That’s despite years of studies that have shown that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than U.S.-born people.</p>
<p>Much of Trump’s candidacy and young presidency has been powered by the idea that he will protect Americans from “bad dudes” who want to come here, issuing a mix of tough, if vague, policy — from “extreme vetting” to the travel ban, a border wall with Mexico and more.</p>
<p>Americans report conflicting feelings about immigrants just over six weeks into his presidency, the poll suggests. On the one hand, Americans see refugees as a risk apart from other legal immigrants, with a third of Democrats, and 8 in 10 Republicans, say the risks are great enough to place more limits on refugees admitted to the U.S. Despite those fears, Americans still see legal immigration generally as a boon, the poll shows. More than 6 in 10 say a major benefit of legal immigration is that it enhances the reputation of the United States as a land of opportunity.</p>
<p>The good and bad of immigration has long been a painful and intensifying national debate. Trump has shown some flexibility — or inconsistency, depending on one’s viewpoint — on his approach. For example, Iraq is no longer on the list of countries whose people are banned. Officials from the Pentagon and State Department had urged the White House to reconsider given Iraq’s key role in fighting the Islamic State group. Also, the new order does not subject Syrians to an indefinite travel ban, as did the original.</p>
<p>Trump also has minimized talk of deporting all of the estimated 11 million people in the U.S. illegally and suggested that he could be open to comprehensive immigration reform. That sparked both interest and skepticism on Capitol Hill, where a solution has stymied Congress for years.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>But Trump’s warnings about refugees in particular apparently have stuck in the American consciousness, according to the poll.</p>
<p>Refugees entering the U.S. undergo rigorous background checks, including a search of government databases that list people suspected of having ties to terrorist groups. Processing of refugees can take up to two years — and usually longer for those coming from Syria. After a year in the U.S., refugees are required to check in and obtain green cards. But U.S. officials have acknowledged that information on people coming from Syria, in particular, may be limited.</p>
<p>Mandy Gibson, 37, sees the benefits of admitting legal immigrants — but isn’t so sure about refugees.</p>
<p>“Maybe it’s the media. They are making refugees sound like they aren’t legal immigrants and I don’t necessarily understand, but they are different to me,” said Gibson, who works in a Greensboro, North Carolina, grocery store. Either way, she said, “anybody who is coming from countries that have ISIS really should have a very thorough background check.”</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>The AP-NORC poll of 1,004 adults was conducted Feb. 16-20, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Online:</p>
<p>AP-NORC: <a href="http://www.apnorc.org/" type="external">http://www.apnorc.org/</a></p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Kellman and Swanson at <a href="http://www.twitter.com/APLaurieKellman" type="external">http://www.twitter.com/APLaurieKellman</a> and <a href="http://www.twitter.com/El_Swan" type="external">http://www.twitter.com/El_Swan</a></p> | Poll: Americans divided on admitting refugees | false | https://abqjournal.com/962961/poll-small-majority-in-us-see-risk-in-admitting-refugees.html | 2017-03-06 | 2least
| Poll: Americans divided on admitting refugees
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>WASHINGTON — Where immigrants are concerned, James Wright is OK with people who are here legally, as well as illegally — if they haven’t committed crimes. But turn the talk specifically to the risks and benefits of admitting refugees to the U.S., and the New Jersey resident gives a fraught sigh.</p>
<p>“It’s hard not to be conflicted,” said Wright, 26, an independent who supports President Donald Trump’s proposed travel ban on certain foreigners. “By no means do I want to be cruel and keep people out who need a safe place. But we have to have a better system of thoroughly finding out who they are.”</p>
<p>Wright is part of a group of Americans a new survey suggests are making distinctions between legal immigrants who choose to be here and refugees — who are legal immigrants, too — fleeing persecution in their home countries. A new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research reflects that divide, with two-thirds of the respondents saying the benefits of legal immigration generally outweigh the risks. But just over half — 52 percent — say refugees pose a great enough risk to further limit their entry into the United States.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Interviews with some of the poll’s participants suggest the distinction may be one of perception in an age of religious and politically inspired violence and 4.8 million refugees fleeing war-scarred Syria.</p>
<p>“Sometimes the vetting might not be quality,” said Randall Bagwell, 33, a Republican from of San Antonio, Texas, the state second to California in settling refugees between Oct. 1 and Jan. 31, according to the State Department. “Nobody can do quality control when they’re just reacting immediately.”</p>
<p>President Donald Trump has long linked tougher immigration limits to a safer country, and on Monday signed a new travel ban that, in part, will suspend refugee travel to the U.S. for four months except for those already on their way to the United States. The new order, which takes effect on March 16, will impose a 90-day ban on entry to the United States for people from Sudan, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia and Yemen — all Muslim-majority nations — who are seeking new visas. It was Trump’s second effort at a travel ban. The first was blocked by the courts.</p>
<p>Also reflecting his hard line, Trump last week announced to Congress a new office to aid Americans and their families who are victims of immigrant violence. That’s despite years of studies that have shown that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than U.S.-born people.</p>
<p>Much of Trump’s candidacy and young presidency has been powered by the idea that he will protect Americans from “bad dudes” who want to come here, issuing a mix of tough, if vague, policy — from “extreme vetting” to the travel ban, a border wall with Mexico and more.</p>
<p>Americans report conflicting feelings about immigrants just over six weeks into his presidency, the poll suggests. On the one hand, Americans see refugees as a risk apart from other legal immigrants, with a third of Democrats, and 8 in 10 Republicans, say the risks are great enough to place more limits on refugees admitted to the U.S. Despite those fears, Americans still see legal immigration generally as a boon, the poll shows. More than 6 in 10 say a major benefit of legal immigration is that it enhances the reputation of the United States as a land of opportunity.</p>
<p>The good and bad of immigration has long been a painful and intensifying national debate. Trump has shown some flexibility — or inconsistency, depending on one’s viewpoint — on his approach. For example, Iraq is no longer on the list of countries whose people are banned. Officials from the Pentagon and State Department had urged the White House to reconsider given Iraq’s key role in fighting the Islamic State group. Also, the new order does not subject Syrians to an indefinite travel ban, as did the original.</p>
<p>Trump also has minimized talk of deporting all of the estimated 11 million people in the U.S. illegally and suggested that he could be open to comprehensive immigration reform. That sparked both interest and skepticism on Capitol Hill, where a solution has stymied Congress for years.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>But Trump’s warnings about refugees in particular apparently have stuck in the American consciousness, according to the poll.</p>
<p>Refugees entering the U.S. undergo rigorous background checks, including a search of government databases that list people suspected of having ties to terrorist groups. Processing of refugees can take up to two years — and usually longer for those coming from Syria. After a year in the U.S., refugees are required to check in and obtain green cards. But U.S. officials have acknowledged that information on people coming from Syria, in particular, may be limited.</p>
<p>Mandy Gibson, 37, sees the benefits of admitting legal immigrants — but isn’t so sure about refugees.</p>
<p>“Maybe it’s the media. They are making refugees sound like they aren’t legal immigrants and I don’t necessarily understand, but they are different to me,” said Gibson, who works in a Greensboro, North Carolina, grocery store. Either way, she said, “anybody who is coming from countries that have ISIS really should have a very thorough background check.”</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>The AP-NORC poll of 1,004 adults was conducted Feb. 16-20, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Online:</p>
<p>AP-NORC: <a href="http://www.apnorc.org/" type="external">http://www.apnorc.org/</a></p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Kellman and Swanson at <a href="http://www.twitter.com/APLaurieKellman" type="external">http://www.twitter.com/APLaurieKellman</a> and <a href="http://www.twitter.com/El_Swan" type="external">http://www.twitter.com/El_Swan</a></p> | 3,344 |
<p>In my opinion, the equity market is now at risk for a correction and I am scanning stocks and ETFs for buying opportunities. The media is focused on the Federal Reserve actions and the actions of the government as it may sway the markets one way or the other.</p>
<p>The markets have risen significantly since 2009 and we have had and now have some very choppy action in the averages as well as in individual stocks. A deep correction would help us to identify new leaders more easily and help cleanse the market of second rate stocks.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>I am looking for stocks to breakout from bases and am building a list of stocks that are currently consolidating and in bases. I am also waiting for entry buy points on stocks that are extended or in current uptrends beyond where we feel comfortable buying them.</p>
<p>Here is a small snapshot of some of the stocks I am considering buying for the <a href="http://covestor.com/jesse-barkasy/trend-following" type="external">Covestor Trend Following portfolio Opens a New Window.</a>: Air Lease ( <a href="" type="internal">AL</a>), &#160;Air Castle ( <a href="" type="internal">AYR</a>), Celldex ( <a href="" type="internal">CLDX</a>), &#160;Delta Airlines ( <a href="" type="internal">DAL</a>), DuPont ( <a href="" type="internal">DD</a>), 3D Systems ( <a href="" type="internal">DDD</a>), General Motors ( <a href="" type="internal">GM</a>), Global Payments ( <a href="" type="internal">GPN</a>), Green Plains Renewable Energy ( <a href="" type="internal">GPRE</a>), HCA Holdings ( <a href="" type="internal">HCA</a>), SouFun Holdings ( <a href="" type="internal">SFUN</a>).</p>
<p>The investments discussed are held in client accounts as of September 30, 2013. These investments may or may not be currently held in client accounts. The reader should not assume that any investments identified were or will be profitable or that any investment recommendations or investment decisions we make in the future will be profitable. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.</p>
<p>The post <a href="http://investing.covestor.com/2013/10/buying-list-trends-following-portfolio" type="external">My buying list for the Trend Following portfolio Opens a New Window.</a> appeared first on <a href="http://investing.covestor.com" type="external">Smarter Investing Opens a New Window.</a>Covestor Ltd. is a registered investment advisor. Covestor licenses investment strategies from its Model Managers to establish investment models. The commentary here is provided as general and impersonal information and should not be construed as recommendations or advice. Information from Model Managers and third-party sources deemed to be reliable but not guaranteed. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Transaction histories for Covestor models available upon request. Additional important disclosures available at http://site.covestor.com/help/disclosures.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p> | My buying list for the Trend Following portfolio | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2013/10/25/my-buying-list-for-trend-following-portfolio.html | 2016-03-02 | 0right
| My buying list for the Trend Following portfolio
<p>In my opinion, the equity market is now at risk for a correction and I am scanning stocks and ETFs for buying opportunities. The media is focused on the Federal Reserve actions and the actions of the government as it may sway the markets one way or the other.</p>
<p>The markets have risen significantly since 2009 and we have had and now have some very choppy action in the averages as well as in individual stocks. A deep correction would help us to identify new leaders more easily and help cleanse the market of second rate stocks.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>I am looking for stocks to breakout from bases and am building a list of stocks that are currently consolidating and in bases. I am also waiting for entry buy points on stocks that are extended or in current uptrends beyond where we feel comfortable buying them.</p>
<p>Here is a small snapshot of some of the stocks I am considering buying for the <a href="http://covestor.com/jesse-barkasy/trend-following" type="external">Covestor Trend Following portfolio Opens a New Window.</a>: Air Lease ( <a href="" type="internal">AL</a>), &#160;Air Castle ( <a href="" type="internal">AYR</a>), Celldex ( <a href="" type="internal">CLDX</a>), &#160;Delta Airlines ( <a href="" type="internal">DAL</a>), DuPont ( <a href="" type="internal">DD</a>), 3D Systems ( <a href="" type="internal">DDD</a>), General Motors ( <a href="" type="internal">GM</a>), Global Payments ( <a href="" type="internal">GPN</a>), Green Plains Renewable Energy ( <a href="" type="internal">GPRE</a>), HCA Holdings ( <a href="" type="internal">HCA</a>), SouFun Holdings ( <a href="" type="internal">SFUN</a>).</p>
<p>The investments discussed are held in client accounts as of September 30, 2013. These investments may or may not be currently held in client accounts. The reader should not assume that any investments identified were or will be profitable or that any investment recommendations or investment decisions we make in the future will be profitable. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.</p>
<p>The post <a href="http://investing.covestor.com/2013/10/buying-list-trends-following-portfolio" type="external">My buying list for the Trend Following portfolio Opens a New Window.</a> appeared first on <a href="http://investing.covestor.com" type="external">Smarter Investing Opens a New Window.</a>Covestor Ltd. is a registered investment advisor. Covestor licenses investment strategies from its Model Managers to establish investment models. The commentary here is provided as general and impersonal information and should not be construed as recommendations or advice. Information from Model Managers and third-party sources deemed to be reliable but not guaranteed. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Transaction histories for Covestor models available upon request. Additional important disclosures available at http://site.covestor.com/help/disclosures.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p> | 3,345 |
<p>BALTIMORE (AP) - The Orioles have reacquired infielder-outfielder Steve Pearce from Tampa Bay, sending the Rays minor league catcher Jonah Heim.</p>
<p>The 33-year-old Peace played for the Orioles from 2012-15 and hit .258 with 43 homers and 116 RBIs. He signed with Tampa Bay last winter and is batting .309 this season with 10 homers and 50 RBIs.</p>
<p>"It's going to make the transition a lot easier, so I couldn't be happier where I'm going," Pearce said at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. "It went all the way down to the very end. I was hoping to stay, but the move is made."</p>
<p>Heim, 21, was a fourth-round draft pick in 2013 and hit .216 with seven homers and 30 RBIs for Class A Frederick this season.</p>
<p>The trade was announced Monday.</p>
<p>BALTIMORE (AP) - The Orioles have reacquired infielder-outfielder Steve Pearce from Tampa Bay, sending the Rays minor league catcher Jonah Heim.</p>
<p>The 33-year-old Peace played for the Orioles from 2012-15 and hit .258 with 43 homers and 116 RBIs. He signed with Tampa Bay last winter and is batting .309 this season with 10 homers and 50 RBIs.</p>
<p>"It's going to make the transition a lot easier, so I couldn't be happier where I'm going," Pearce said at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. "It went all the way down to the very end. I was hoping to stay, but the move is made."</p>
<p>Heim, 21, was a fourth-round draft pick in 2013 and hit .216 with seven homers and 30 RBIs for Class A Frederick this season.</p>
<p>The trade was announced Monday.</p> | Orioles reacquire Pearce, sending minor leaguer to Rays | false | https://apnews.com/8891428065d046ce986d938b7b557424 | 2016-08-01 | 2least
| Orioles reacquire Pearce, sending minor leaguer to Rays
<p>BALTIMORE (AP) - The Orioles have reacquired infielder-outfielder Steve Pearce from Tampa Bay, sending the Rays minor league catcher Jonah Heim.</p>
<p>The 33-year-old Peace played for the Orioles from 2012-15 and hit .258 with 43 homers and 116 RBIs. He signed with Tampa Bay last winter and is batting .309 this season with 10 homers and 50 RBIs.</p>
<p>"It's going to make the transition a lot easier, so I couldn't be happier where I'm going," Pearce said at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. "It went all the way down to the very end. I was hoping to stay, but the move is made."</p>
<p>Heim, 21, was a fourth-round draft pick in 2013 and hit .216 with seven homers and 30 RBIs for Class A Frederick this season.</p>
<p>The trade was announced Monday.</p>
<p>BALTIMORE (AP) - The Orioles have reacquired infielder-outfielder Steve Pearce from Tampa Bay, sending the Rays minor league catcher Jonah Heim.</p>
<p>The 33-year-old Peace played for the Orioles from 2012-15 and hit .258 with 43 homers and 116 RBIs. He signed with Tampa Bay last winter and is batting .309 this season with 10 homers and 50 RBIs.</p>
<p>"It's going to make the transition a lot easier, so I couldn't be happier where I'm going," Pearce said at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. "It went all the way down to the very end. I was hoping to stay, but the move is made."</p>
<p>Heim, 21, was a fourth-round draft pick in 2013 and hit .216 with seven homers and 30 RBIs for Class A Frederick this season.</p>
<p>The trade was announced Monday.</p> | 3,346 |
<p>HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Saturday afternoon's drawing of the Pennsylvania Lottery's "Pick 5 Day" game were:</p>
<p>5-0-7-2-2, Wild: 9</p>
<p>(five, zero, seven, two, two; Wild: nine)</p>
<p>HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Saturday afternoon's drawing of the Pennsylvania Lottery's "Pick 5 Day" game were:</p>
<p>5-0-7-2-2, Wild: 9</p>
<p>(five, zero, seven, two, two; Wild: nine)</p> | Winning numbers drawn in 'Pick 5 Day' game | false | https://apnews.com/amp/cf51b8d2467a410b98c003a9161ed7ac | 2018-01-06 | 2least
| Winning numbers drawn in 'Pick 5 Day' game
<p>HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Saturday afternoon's drawing of the Pennsylvania Lottery's "Pick 5 Day" game were:</p>
<p>5-0-7-2-2, Wild: 9</p>
<p>(five, zero, seven, two, two; Wild: nine)</p>
<p>HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Saturday afternoon's drawing of the Pennsylvania Lottery's "Pick 5 Day" game were:</p>
<p>5-0-7-2-2, Wild: 9</p>
<p>(five, zero, seven, two, two; Wild: nine)</p> | 3,347 |
<p>Colorado Parks and Wildlife is proposing a study whereby they will kill mountain lion (cougars) and bears in the northwest&#160;portion&#160;of the state to see if it can help boost mule deer populations. It&#160;must be&#160;noted that mule deer have been on the decline around the West for decades, and no one has really been able to pin point the reasons. Colorado’s highest population estimate occurred in 1983, when deer numbers reached an estimated 625,000 and today the population is under 400,000.</p>
<p>In the case of northwest Colorado, some suggest that on-going oil and gas development could be the cause in the recent deer decline.&#160; In 1989, there were 5,000 oil and gas wells in the state, and by 2014, the number had risen to 32,000.</p>
<p>Each of those wells requires a pad, and access roads, plus power lines, pipelines and other industrial support. All of this fragmenting mule deer habitat, blocking migration corridors, as well as creating human activity in what were formerly remote lands.</p>
<p>Research in other states like Wyoming have <a href="http://wyomingpublicmedia.org/post/addressing-decline-mule-deer" type="external">concluded</a> that energy development does indeed harm mule deer.</p>
<p>Add in livestock grazing on public lands—especially in drought years when cattle and sheep can graze all&#160;forbs, grasses, and many shrubs to the ground– and you have an&#160;additional&#160;stress on mule deer.</p>
<p>Other factors affecting the sagebrush sea where mule deer&#160;reside&#160;such as the record droughts which can&#160;reduce&#160;the nutritional quality of forage as well as the spread of&#160;cheatgrass&#160;facilitated both by livestock grazing and on-going energy development.&#160;Cheatgrass&#160;can increase the fire frequency in sage brush areas leading to excessive losses of sagebrush, an important winter food for deer.</p>
<p>Past high mule deer numbers, encouraged by state wildlife agencies, may also be a&#160;factor&#160;in today’s decline. The&#160;heyday&#160;for mule deer meant some important forage species were heavily grazed/browsed to the point where the habitat’s ability to support mule deer has declined. In some cases, it has not recovered, especially when drought conditions&#160;preclude&#160;good vegetation growth.</p>
<p>Finally, to add insult to injury, in some parts of Colorado, rural housing tracts are gobbling up winter range and increasing human activity in critical mule deer habitat.</p>
<p>All of these combined means you have a perfect storm for mule deer decline.</p>
<p>Indeed, one would have to wonder mule deer haven’t declined given these factors.</p>
<p>Yet predators&#160;are being targeted&#160;as the culprit. This scapegoating of predators has gone on for more than a hundred years, and what study after study has already&#160;previously&#160;concluded is that predators are seldom the&#160;ultimate&#160;factor&#160;in ungulate declines.</p>
<p>For instance, if habitat quality declines say from drought, then mule deer fawn&#160;may be&#160;born under-weight or have less security or simply&#160;are displaced&#160;from traditional winter range and&#160;therefore&#160;more vulnerable to predators. But ultimately it is drought,&#160;cheatgrass, cows, or energy development which are the&#160;ultimate&#160;factor&#160;that creates predator vulnerability.</p>
<p>Predators&#160;may be&#160;the proximate cause of ungulate decline in some places for a short time, but keep in mind that predators are ultimately determined by the availability of prey. If mule deer decline, and there are few alternatives, predator numbers will fall in line with their food resources.</p>
<p>Some may wonder why a state wildlife agency like the Colorado Parks and Wildlife is targeting predators when all these other factors&#160;are involved. The obvious answer is that they are afraid to attack the energy, livestock and housing industries, and their political supporters like rural county commissioners.</p>
<p>But why is a decline in mule deer even an issue? Mule deer in Colorado are by no means endangered. There are hundreds of thousands of them. The issue is that the numbers have fallen below “objectives’. “Objectives“ is a code word for desired production. The Colorado Parks and Wildlife has set a target for mule deer it believes&#160;can be&#160;sustained, and still hunted. If the population falls too low, the Department will have no choice but to cut hunting seasons or make other adjustments that will be unpopular with hunters.</p>
<p>The problem is that all state wildlife agencies depend on the sale of hunting tags and licenses to fund their bureaucracies. Thus, these agencies are not going to “bite the hand that feeds them.” &#160;Even if&#160;there is&#160;the perception that predators are responsible for mule deer declines, the Colorado Parks and Wildlife will develop its management strategy in part based upon these perceptions.</p>
<p>If Colorado Parks and Wildlife sincerely cared about the future of mule deer, not just the future of its bureaucracy, it would be far more aggressive in going after the factors that are causing the long-term decline in mule deer habitat quality. Those factors are energy development, livestock grazing, and rural housing sprawl</p>
<p>As a state agency fearful of attacking and antagonizing any major industries, the Colorado Parks and&#160;Wildflie&#160;picks on the one thing that does not have a major lobby and political influence—predators. Sadly, this is the same situation throughout the country.</p>
<p>In the end, this strategy is going to lead to the demise of the state wildlife agencies themselves because even if you remove predators temporarily from the picture, the habitat qualify is continuing to decline and so will deer numbers.</p>
<p>If these agencies&#160;were interested&#160;in preserving mule deer, much less even their weak-kneed bureaucracies, they would be outspoken in their condemnation of the industries that are the&#160;real&#160;reasons for mule deer declines everywhere.</p> | The Plight of the Mule Deer: Blaming Predators Instead of the Real Culprits | true | https://counterpunch.org/2016/08/17/the-plight-of-the-mule-deer-blaming-predators-instead-of-the-real-culprits/ | 2016-08-17 | 4left
| The Plight of the Mule Deer: Blaming Predators Instead of the Real Culprits
<p>Colorado Parks and Wildlife is proposing a study whereby they will kill mountain lion (cougars) and bears in the northwest&#160;portion&#160;of the state to see if it can help boost mule deer populations. It&#160;must be&#160;noted that mule deer have been on the decline around the West for decades, and no one has really been able to pin point the reasons. Colorado’s highest population estimate occurred in 1983, when deer numbers reached an estimated 625,000 and today the population is under 400,000.</p>
<p>In the case of northwest Colorado, some suggest that on-going oil and gas development could be the cause in the recent deer decline.&#160; In 1989, there were 5,000 oil and gas wells in the state, and by 2014, the number had risen to 32,000.</p>
<p>Each of those wells requires a pad, and access roads, plus power lines, pipelines and other industrial support. All of this fragmenting mule deer habitat, blocking migration corridors, as well as creating human activity in what were formerly remote lands.</p>
<p>Research in other states like Wyoming have <a href="http://wyomingpublicmedia.org/post/addressing-decline-mule-deer" type="external">concluded</a> that energy development does indeed harm mule deer.</p>
<p>Add in livestock grazing on public lands—especially in drought years when cattle and sheep can graze all&#160;forbs, grasses, and many shrubs to the ground– and you have an&#160;additional&#160;stress on mule deer.</p>
<p>Other factors affecting the sagebrush sea where mule deer&#160;reside&#160;such as the record droughts which can&#160;reduce&#160;the nutritional quality of forage as well as the spread of&#160;cheatgrass&#160;facilitated both by livestock grazing and on-going energy development.&#160;Cheatgrass&#160;can increase the fire frequency in sage brush areas leading to excessive losses of sagebrush, an important winter food for deer.</p>
<p>Past high mule deer numbers, encouraged by state wildlife agencies, may also be a&#160;factor&#160;in today’s decline. The&#160;heyday&#160;for mule deer meant some important forage species were heavily grazed/browsed to the point where the habitat’s ability to support mule deer has declined. In some cases, it has not recovered, especially when drought conditions&#160;preclude&#160;good vegetation growth.</p>
<p>Finally, to add insult to injury, in some parts of Colorado, rural housing tracts are gobbling up winter range and increasing human activity in critical mule deer habitat.</p>
<p>All of these combined means you have a perfect storm for mule deer decline.</p>
<p>Indeed, one would have to wonder mule deer haven’t declined given these factors.</p>
<p>Yet predators&#160;are being targeted&#160;as the culprit. This scapegoating of predators has gone on for more than a hundred years, and what study after study has already&#160;previously&#160;concluded is that predators are seldom the&#160;ultimate&#160;factor&#160;in ungulate declines.</p>
<p>For instance, if habitat quality declines say from drought, then mule deer fawn&#160;may be&#160;born under-weight or have less security or simply&#160;are displaced&#160;from traditional winter range and&#160;therefore&#160;more vulnerable to predators. But ultimately it is drought,&#160;cheatgrass, cows, or energy development which are the&#160;ultimate&#160;factor&#160;that creates predator vulnerability.</p>
<p>Predators&#160;may be&#160;the proximate cause of ungulate decline in some places for a short time, but keep in mind that predators are ultimately determined by the availability of prey. If mule deer decline, and there are few alternatives, predator numbers will fall in line with their food resources.</p>
<p>Some may wonder why a state wildlife agency like the Colorado Parks and Wildlife is targeting predators when all these other factors&#160;are involved. The obvious answer is that they are afraid to attack the energy, livestock and housing industries, and their political supporters like rural county commissioners.</p>
<p>But why is a decline in mule deer even an issue? Mule deer in Colorado are by no means endangered. There are hundreds of thousands of them. The issue is that the numbers have fallen below “objectives’. “Objectives“ is a code word for desired production. The Colorado Parks and Wildlife has set a target for mule deer it believes&#160;can be&#160;sustained, and still hunted. If the population falls too low, the Department will have no choice but to cut hunting seasons or make other adjustments that will be unpopular with hunters.</p>
<p>The problem is that all state wildlife agencies depend on the sale of hunting tags and licenses to fund their bureaucracies. Thus, these agencies are not going to “bite the hand that feeds them.” &#160;Even if&#160;there is&#160;the perception that predators are responsible for mule deer declines, the Colorado Parks and Wildlife will develop its management strategy in part based upon these perceptions.</p>
<p>If Colorado Parks and Wildlife sincerely cared about the future of mule deer, not just the future of its bureaucracy, it would be far more aggressive in going after the factors that are causing the long-term decline in mule deer habitat quality. Those factors are energy development, livestock grazing, and rural housing sprawl</p>
<p>As a state agency fearful of attacking and antagonizing any major industries, the Colorado Parks and&#160;Wildflie&#160;picks on the one thing that does not have a major lobby and political influence—predators. Sadly, this is the same situation throughout the country.</p>
<p>In the end, this strategy is going to lead to the demise of the state wildlife agencies themselves because even if you remove predators temporarily from the picture, the habitat qualify is continuing to decline and so will deer numbers.</p>
<p>If these agencies&#160;were interested&#160;in preserving mule deer, much less even their weak-kneed bureaucracies, they would be outspoken in their condemnation of the industries that are the&#160;real&#160;reasons for mule deer declines everywhere.</p> | 3,348 |
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<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Mexican-American singer, songwriter and Grammy nominee Perla Batalla will perform at 7:30 p.m. May 5 at the Lensic Performing Arts Center, 211 W. San Francisco St., Santa Fe.</p>
<p>Batalla, a performer the Los Angeles Times called "a Chicana Joni Mitchell" and "a gutsier Joan Baez," is known for her rich, soulful voice and her deep repertoire, which includes traditional Mexican folk melodies, powerful ballads, and pulsing blues rhythms.</p>
<p>Tickets are $15-$35 with discounts for Lensic members. They are available at <a href="http://ticketssantafe.org" type="external">ticketssantafe.org</a> or by calling 505-988-1234.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Perla Batalla to perform at Lensic | false | https://abqjournal.com/386624/perla-batalla-to-perform-at-lensic.html | 2least
| Perla Batalla to perform at Lensic
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<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Mexican-American singer, songwriter and Grammy nominee Perla Batalla will perform at 7:30 p.m. May 5 at the Lensic Performing Arts Center, 211 W. San Francisco St., Santa Fe.</p>
<p>Batalla, a performer the Los Angeles Times called "a Chicana Joni Mitchell" and "a gutsier Joan Baez," is known for her rich, soulful voice and her deep repertoire, which includes traditional Mexican folk melodies, powerful ballads, and pulsing blues rhythms.</p>
<p>Tickets are $15-$35 with discounts for Lensic members. They are available at <a href="http://ticketssantafe.org" type="external">ticketssantafe.org</a> or by calling 505-988-1234.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | 3,349 |
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<p />
<p>WASHINGTON – In this election, we’re not having an argument that pits capitalism against socialism. We are trying to decide what kind of capitalism we want. It is a debate as American as Alexander Hamilton, Andrew Jackson and Henry Clay – which is to say that we have always done this. In light of the rise of inequality and the financial mess we just went through, it’s a discussion we very much need to have now.</p>
<p>The back-and-forth about Bain Capital, Mitt Romney’s old company, is part of something larger. So is the inquest into the implications of multibillion-dollar trading losses at JPMorgan Chase. Capitalism can produce wonders. It is also capable of self-destruction, and it can leave a lot of wounded people behind. The trick is to get the most out of what capitalism does well, while containing or preventing the problems it can cause.</p>
<p>To describe this grand debate is not to deny that President Obama’s campaign has some, shall we say, narrower motives in going after Bain. Obama’s lieutenants need to undermine Romney’s claim that his experience in the private equity business makes him just the guy to get our economy back on track.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The Bain conversation has already been instructive. Romney’s friends no less than his foes have had to face the fact that Bain’s purpose was never about job creation. Its goal was to generate large returns to Bain’s partners and investors. It did that, which is why Romney is rich.</p>
<p>Romney wants to focus on the positive side of his business dealings that did create jobs. He wants to brag about the companies Bain helped bring to life, among them Staples, Sports Authority and Domino’s.</p>
<p>That’s fair enough. But having made an issue of Bain on the plus side, he also has to answer for the pain and suffering – or, as defenders of capitalism like to call it, the “creative destruction” – that some of Bain’s deals left in their wake.</p>
<p>This leads naturally to the question of how creative the destruction wrought by our current brand of capitalism actually is. Since the dawn of the leveraged buyout era three decades ago, many friends of capitalism have questioned whether loading companies with debt as part of these deals is good for companies and for the economy as a whole.</p>
<p>Does this approach cause unnecessary suffering among the employees of the companies in question and the communities that often lose plants and jobs as a result? Sucking pension and health funds dry to aggrandize investors seems less like a creative act than a betrayal of workers who made bargains with their employers in good faith.</p>
<p>More generally, while some of the innovations in the financial sphere have been beneficial to growth, it’s far from clear that this is true of all or even most of them. Some of them helped cause the downturn we are still trying to escape and created incentives for the dangerous risk-taking that led to JPMorgan’s troubles. And there’s little doubt that our new financial system has transferred wealth from other sectors of the economy to the people at the top of the financial business.</p>
<p>Vice President Joe Biden’s speech last week in Youngstown, Ohio, drew wide attention for its criticism of Romney as someone who just doesn’t “get it.” But when Biden moved beyond Romney, he offered an energetic broadside against the new world of finance, and he picked the right venue to make his case: a noble blue-collar town that has been battered by the winds of globalization and economic change.</p>
<p>“You know the difference between having an economy that makes things that the rest of the world wants, and having an economy that is based on financialization of every product,” Biden told his listeners. “You know the difference between an economy … that’s built on making things rather than on collateralized debt, creative credit-default swaps, financial instruments like subprime mortgages. That’s not how you build an economy.”</p>
<p>Romney, by contrast, is wary of dismantling any of these nifty new Wall Street inventions, one reason why he wants to repeal the Dodd-Frank financial reforms.</p>
<p>We need to have this great national argument. To borrow a term pioneered by Germany’s Christian Democrats, we can try to build a social market. Or we can have an anti-social market. An election is the right venue for deciding which it will be.</p>
<p>Dionne’s columns, including those not published in the Journal, can be read at ABQjournal.com/opinion – look for the syndicated columnist link. Copyright, Washington Post Writers Group; email: <a href="" type="external">[email protected]. &gt;</a></p> | Which Capitalism Do We Want? | false | https://abqjournal.com/108275/which-capitalism-do-we-want.html | 2012-05-23 | 2least
| Which Capitalism Do We Want?
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<p />
<p>WASHINGTON – In this election, we’re not having an argument that pits capitalism against socialism. We are trying to decide what kind of capitalism we want. It is a debate as American as Alexander Hamilton, Andrew Jackson and Henry Clay – which is to say that we have always done this. In light of the rise of inequality and the financial mess we just went through, it’s a discussion we very much need to have now.</p>
<p>The back-and-forth about Bain Capital, Mitt Romney’s old company, is part of something larger. So is the inquest into the implications of multibillion-dollar trading losses at JPMorgan Chase. Capitalism can produce wonders. It is also capable of self-destruction, and it can leave a lot of wounded people behind. The trick is to get the most out of what capitalism does well, while containing or preventing the problems it can cause.</p>
<p>To describe this grand debate is not to deny that President Obama’s campaign has some, shall we say, narrower motives in going after Bain. Obama’s lieutenants need to undermine Romney’s claim that his experience in the private equity business makes him just the guy to get our economy back on track.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The Bain conversation has already been instructive. Romney’s friends no less than his foes have had to face the fact that Bain’s purpose was never about job creation. Its goal was to generate large returns to Bain’s partners and investors. It did that, which is why Romney is rich.</p>
<p>Romney wants to focus on the positive side of his business dealings that did create jobs. He wants to brag about the companies Bain helped bring to life, among them Staples, Sports Authority and Domino’s.</p>
<p>That’s fair enough. But having made an issue of Bain on the plus side, he also has to answer for the pain and suffering – or, as defenders of capitalism like to call it, the “creative destruction” – that some of Bain’s deals left in their wake.</p>
<p>This leads naturally to the question of how creative the destruction wrought by our current brand of capitalism actually is. Since the dawn of the leveraged buyout era three decades ago, many friends of capitalism have questioned whether loading companies with debt as part of these deals is good for companies and for the economy as a whole.</p>
<p>Does this approach cause unnecessary suffering among the employees of the companies in question and the communities that often lose plants and jobs as a result? Sucking pension and health funds dry to aggrandize investors seems less like a creative act than a betrayal of workers who made bargains with their employers in good faith.</p>
<p>More generally, while some of the innovations in the financial sphere have been beneficial to growth, it’s far from clear that this is true of all or even most of them. Some of them helped cause the downturn we are still trying to escape and created incentives for the dangerous risk-taking that led to JPMorgan’s troubles. And there’s little doubt that our new financial system has transferred wealth from other sectors of the economy to the people at the top of the financial business.</p>
<p>Vice President Joe Biden’s speech last week in Youngstown, Ohio, drew wide attention for its criticism of Romney as someone who just doesn’t “get it.” But when Biden moved beyond Romney, he offered an energetic broadside against the new world of finance, and he picked the right venue to make his case: a noble blue-collar town that has been battered by the winds of globalization and economic change.</p>
<p>“You know the difference between having an economy that makes things that the rest of the world wants, and having an economy that is based on financialization of every product,” Biden told his listeners. “You know the difference between an economy … that’s built on making things rather than on collateralized debt, creative credit-default swaps, financial instruments like subprime mortgages. That’s not how you build an economy.”</p>
<p>Romney, by contrast, is wary of dismantling any of these nifty new Wall Street inventions, one reason why he wants to repeal the Dodd-Frank financial reforms.</p>
<p>We need to have this great national argument. To borrow a term pioneered by Germany’s Christian Democrats, we can try to build a social market. Or we can have an anti-social market. An election is the right venue for deciding which it will be.</p>
<p>Dionne’s columns, including those not published in the Journal, can be read at ABQjournal.com/opinion – look for the syndicated columnist link. Copyright, Washington Post Writers Group; email: <a href="" type="external">[email protected]. &gt;</a></p> | 3,350 |
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<p />
<p>Greenberg recently guided a tour of Keshet Center for the Arts, a 30,000-square-foot building, just east of Interstate 25 and north of Interstate 40, at 4121 Cutler NE, that formerly housed Duke City Studios and Soundstage 41.</p>
<p>The soundstage, a cavernous 8,100-square-foot theater with flats resembling the Old West and a green screen for filming, is quiet for now, but soon will be filled with the music of performing artists, perhaps by spring, Greenberg says.</p>
<p>“It’s a flexible space that we can actively use for so many things,” she says. “I can imagine one weekend we have a modern theater production, the next week a ballet and in between, we’re filming a commercial in here.”</p>
<p>The Keshet Center for the Arts, coming perhaps as early as spring, is a long-held dream for Keshet Dance Company artistic director Shira Greenberg.</p>
<p>The project is being funded in part by a federal grant.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>As she enthusiastically describes the yet-to-come foldaway seating that will hold 400 people and a sprung wooden floor for dancers, it’s easy to imagine Keshet’s signature “Nutcracker on the Rocks” performing in the space.</p>
<p>The center also will feature a business incubator for the arts, both nonprofit and for-profit ventures. It also will house a costume shop, a box office and arts education space.</p>
<p>“It’s my dream and my business plan,” Greenberg explains. “My 17-year goal has been to have Keshet Center for the Arts. I’m a super stubborn person. Ask my husband. I am always focused on the goal and on the big picture.”</p>
<p>“Although my background is dance, along the way I have had to learn a great many things. I’ve learned about fundraising and the business side of the arts. I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. I love spreadsheets, who knew? I love grant writing. Of course, I love choreography and teaching.”</p>
<p>Even before she started her studio, Greenberg took advantage of all the arts business development courses she could find in her home state of Minnesota.</p>
<p>Then she started small, very small, in a strip of connected warehouses Downtown. She lived in the back with the studio space in front. She recalls her shower was behind her refrigerator and couldn’t be used when a class was in session.</p>
<p>“I made my mom call me, just so I could practice saying, ‘Keshet Dance Company,'” she says.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Four years later, the company moved to its current space on Coal SW. She focused on her dream of a performing arts center all the while continuing her mission of “inspiring passion and open unlimited possibilities through the experience of dance.” To bring that to the community, Greenberg and her team of professional dancers and teachers have brought workshops, classes and performances to youth shelters, detention centers, schools and community centers throughout New Mexico. Along the way, Greenberg and Keshet have garnered all kinds of awards, including a trip to the White House and an award from First Lady Michelle Obama in 2009 for work with incarcerated youth.</p>
<p>Longtime supporter and artist Randy Cooper, a metal mesh sculptor who was helping bring order to the space recently with about 40 other volunteers, remembers meeting Greenberg before she opened the first studio.</p>
<p>“She told me she had a dream of starting a dance company for underprivileged kids,” he says. “I told my wife how neat that would be if it happened. How wonderful to have that dream.”</p>
<p>Along the way, he served on the board: “She has a steel-like commitment. She has a devotion to bring beauty and joy to people who wouldn’t have it otherwise. She’s stayed faithful to that dream and surrounded herself with people who share it.”</p>
<p>Keshet board president Emily Thaler, an interior designer at Dekker/Perich/Sabatini, explains it this way: “Shira is contagious. Her passion and dedication are rivaled by none.”</p>
<p>The abilities of Keshet to expand in the center are “exponential,” she says, estimating that the center will generate 100 jobs, more than $27 million in sales and $22 million in taxable spending. While Keshet serves about 8,500 community members a year through its programs and performances, after the center is functional, it will serve 100,000 people.</p>
<p>To reach those goals means more fundraising and recruiting more volunteers, she says. “We are about 50 percent of our fundraising goal. We have the bones behind us, the structure in hand, but we have a little ways to go.”</p>
<p>She says along with money donations, the center can use furniture, building materials and physical labor to complete the renovation project.</p>
<p>To buy the center, Keshet received a $1 million federal investment from the Department of Commerce, $250,000 from an anonymous donor and other private donations as well as funding from the McCune Charitable Foundation, PNM Resources Foundation, Dekker/Perich/Sabatini, Jaynes Corporation, DKD Electric and Don Chalmers Ford.</p>
<p>The federal investment grant supports the business incubator program, the Keshet Ideas and Innovation Center. The New Mexico Ballet Company and Mother Road Theatre Company have agreed to be part of that program and share space with Keshet.</p>
<p>David Dabney, board president of Mother Road, says he and the company are excited to move to the new space: “It’s synergy. When everything comes together like this, it’s a powerful thing. There can be cross-pollination of audiences and program development.”</p>
<p>Emily Fine, executive director of the New Mexico Ballet Company, sees the move as an opportunity to grow her 40-year-old company: “Our growth has been restricted by space. (We’re) honored to be part of a center that is not only great for artists and patrons, but for the economic development of Albuquerque.”</p>
<p>The idea is to share resources of all kinds, Greenberg says. The program also could serve related businesses like health and wellness. The nearest similar arts business incubator is in Denver, she says.</p>
<p>“The arts are a revenue industry in New Mexico,” she says. “We can all be successful; we don’t have to be starving artists. You can get ‘siloed’ in the arts and it doesn’t benefit anyone. This kind of collaboration is exciting. It benefits the artists, their companies and the audience.”</p> | Dream comes true | false | https://abqjournal.com/169678/dream-comes-true.html | 2013-02-17 | 2least
| Dream comes true
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<p />
<p>Greenberg recently guided a tour of Keshet Center for the Arts, a 30,000-square-foot building, just east of Interstate 25 and north of Interstate 40, at 4121 Cutler NE, that formerly housed Duke City Studios and Soundstage 41.</p>
<p>The soundstage, a cavernous 8,100-square-foot theater with flats resembling the Old West and a green screen for filming, is quiet for now, but soon will be filled with the music of performing artists, perhaps by spring, Greenberg says.</p>
<p>“It’s a flexible space that we can actively use for so many things,” she says. “I can imagine one weekend we have a modern theater production, the next week a ballet and in between, we’re filming a commercial in here.”</p>
<p>The Keshet Center for the Arts, coming perhaps as early as spring, is a long-held dream for Keshet Dance Company artistic director Shira Greenberg.</p>
<p>The project is being funded in part by a federal grant.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>As she enthusiastically describes the yet-to-come foldaway seating that will hold 400 people and a sprung wooden floor for dancers, it’s easy to imagine Keshet’s signature “Nutcracker on the Rocks” performing in the space.</p>
<p>The center also will feature a business incubator for the arts, both nonprofit and for-profit ventures. It also will house a costume shop, a box office and arts education space.</p>
<p>“It’s my dream and my business plan,” Greenberg explains. “My 17-year goal has been to have Keshet Center for the Arts. I’m a super stubborn person. Ask my husband. I am always focused on the goal and on the big picture.”</p>
<p>“Although my background is dance, along the way I have had to learn a great many things. I’ve learned about fundraising and the business side of the arts. I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. I love spreadsheets, who knew? I love grant writing. Of course, I love choreography and teaching.”</p>
<p>Even before she started her studio, Greenberg took advantage of all the arts business development courses she could find in her home state of Minnesota.</p>
<p>Then she started small, very small, in a strip of connected warehouses Downtown. She lived in the back with the studio space in front. She recalls her shower was behind her refrigerator and couldn’t be used when a class was in session.</p>
<p>“I made my mom call me, just so I could practice saying, ‘Keshet Dance Company,'” she says.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Four years later, the company moved to its current space on Coal SW. She focused on her dream of a performing arts center all the while continuing her mission of “inspiring passion and open unlimited possibilities through the experience of dance.” To bring that to the community, Greenberg and her team of professional dancers and teachers have brought workshops, classes and performances to youth shelters, detention centers, schools and community centers throughout New Mexico. Along the way, Greenberg and Keshet have garnered all kinds of awards, including a trip to the White House and an award from First Lady Michelle Obama in 2009 for work with incarcerated youth.</p>
<p>Longtime supporter and artist Randy Cooper, a metal mesh sculptor who was helping bring order to the space recently with about 40 other volunteers, remembers meeting Greenberg before she opened the first studio.</p>
<p>“She told me she had a dream of starting a dance company for underprivileged kids,” he says. “I told my wife how neat that would be if it happened. How wonderful to have that dream.”</p>
<p>Along the way, he served on the board: “She has a steel-like commitment. She has a devotion to bring beauty and joy to people who wouldn’t have it otherwise. She’s stayed faithful to that dream and surrounded herself with people who share it.”</p>
<p>Keshet board president Emily Thaler, an interior designer at Dekker/Perich/Sabatini, explains it this way: “Shira is contagious. Her passion and dedication are rivaled by none.”</p>
<p>The abilities of Keshet to expand in the center are “exponential,” she says, estimating that the center will generate 100 jobs, more than $27 million in sales and $22 million in taxable spending. While Keshet serves about 8,500 community members a year through its programs and performances, after the center is functional, it will serve 100,000 people.</p>
<p>To reach those goals means more fundraising and recruiting more volunteers, she says. “We are about 50 percent of our fundraising goal. We have the bones behind us, the structure in hand, but we have a little ways to go.”</p>
<p>She says along with money donations, the center can use furniture, building materials and physical labor to complete the renovation project.</p>
<p>To buy the center, Keshet received a $1 million federal investment from the Department of Commerce, $250,000 from an anonymous donor and other private donations as well as funding from the McCune Charitable Foundation, PNM Resources Foundation, Dekker/Perich/Sabatini, Jaynes Corporation, DKD Electric and Don Chalmers Ford.</p>
<p>The federal investment grant supports the business incubator program, the Keshet Ideas and Innovation Center. The New Mexico Ballet Company and Mother Road Theatre Company have agreed to be part of that program and share space with Keshet.</p>
<p>David Dabney, board president of Mother Road, says he and the company are excited to move to the new space: “It’s synergy. When everything comes together like this, it’s a powerful thing. There can be cross-pollination of audiences and program development.”</p>
<p>Emily Fine, executive director of the New Mexico Ballet Company, sees the move as an opportunity to grow her 40-year-old company: “Our growth has been restricted by space. (We’re) honored to be part of a center that is not only great for artists and patrons, but for the economic development of Albuquerque.”</p>
<p>The idea is to share resources of all kinds, Greenberg says. The program also could serve related businesses like health and wellness. The nearest similar arts business incubator is in Denver, she says.</p>
<p>“The arts are a revenue industry in New Mexico,” she says. “We can all be successful; we don’t have to be starving artists. You can get ‘siloed’ in the arts and it doesn’t benefit anyone. This kind of collaboration is exciting. It benefits the artists, their companies and the audience.”</p> | 3,351 |
<p>The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits last week rebounded from a near 44-year low, but continued to point to a tightening labor market.</p>
<p>Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 20,000 to a seasonally adjusted 243,000 for the week ended March 4, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Claims for the prior week were unrevised at 223,000, the lowest level since March 1973.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>It was the 105th straight week that claims remained below 300,000, a threshold associated with a healthy labor market.</p>
<p>That is the longest stretch since 1970, when the labor market was much smaller.</p>
<p>The labor market is at or close to full employment, with employers increasingly reporting difficulties finding qualified workers for open job positions. Labor market tightness together with firming inflation could allow the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates as early as next week.</p>
<p>Economists polled by Reuters had forecast new claims for unemployment benefits rising to 235,000 in the latest week.</p>
<p>A Labor Department analyst said there were no special factors influencing last week's claims data. The four-week moving average of claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, rose 2,250 to 236,500 last week.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>The claims report has no bearing on February's employment report, which is scheduled for release on Friday, as it falls outside the survey period. First-time applications for jobless benefits declined in February, suggesting another month of strong employment growth.</p>
<p>According to a Reuters survey of economists, nonfarm payrolls probably increased by 190,000 jobs last month after surging 227,000 in January. The unemployment rate is forecast falling one-tenth of a percentage point to 4.7 percent.</p>
<p>But payrolls could surprise on the upside after a report on Wednesday showed private sector employers hired 298,000 workers in February, the largest amount in a year.</p>
<p>Thursday's claims report also showed the number of people still receiving benefits after an initial week of aid fell 6,000 to 2.06 million in the week ended Feb. 25. The four-week average of the so-called continuing claims decreased 5,250 to 2.07 million.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci)</p> | Weekly Jobless Claims Rebound from 44-Year Low | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/03/09/weekly-jobless-claims-rebound-from-44-year-low.html | 2017-03-09 | 0right
| Weekly Jobless Claims Rebound from 44-Year Low
<p>The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits last week rebounded from a near 44-year low, but continued to point to a tightening labor market.</p>
<p>Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 20,000 to a seasonally adjusted 243,000 for the week ended March 4, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Claims for the prior week were unrevised at 223,000, the lowest level since March 1973.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>It was the 105th straight week that claims remained below 300,000, a threshold associated with a healthy labor market.</p>
<p>That is the longest stretch since 1970, when the labor market was much smaller.</p>
<p>The labor market is at or close to full employment, with employers increasingly reporting difficulties finding qualified workers for open job positions. Labor market tightness together with firming inflation could allow the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates as early as next week.</p>
<p>Economists polled by Reuters had forecast new claims for unemployment benefits rising to 235,000 in the latest week.</p>
<p>A Labor Department analyst said there were no special factors influencing last week's claims data. The four-week moving average of claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, rose 2,250 to 236,500 last week.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>The claims report has no bearing on February's employment report, which is scheduled for release on Friday, as it falls outside the survey period. First-time applications for jobless benefits declined in February, suggesting another month of strong employment growth.</p>
<p>According to a Reuters survey of economists, nonfarm payrolls probably increased by 190,000 jobs last month after surging 227,000 in January. The unemployment rate is forecast falling one-tenth of a percentage point to 4.7 percent.</p>
<p>But payrolls could surprise on the upside after a report on Wednesday showed private sector employers hired 298,000 workers in February, the largest amount in a year.</p>
<p>Thursday's claims report also showed the number of people still receiving benefits after an initial week of aid fell 6,000 to 2.06 million in the week ended Feb. 25. The four-week average of the so-called continuing claims decreased 5,250 to 2.07 million.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci)</p> | 3,352 |
<p>It sounds obvious, but we can't say it enough: The Conservatives shouldn't take advice about their choice of leaders and policies from the Media Party.</p>
<p />
<p>For example, the media's narrative is that Stephen Harper's position on <a href="" type="internal">the niqab controversy</a>cost the Conservatives the election.</p>
<p>But that doesn't make sense, <a href="" type="internal">because polls show</a> <a href="" type="internal">most Canadians agreed with him</a>.</p>
<p>So what really happened?</p>
<p>I explain...</p>
<p>(PS: You can <a href="" type="internal">WATCH the rest of my show</a> when you become a Premium Member of TheRebel.media. It's fast and easy to join -- just <a href="" type="internal">CLICK HERE</a> and get exclusive access to news, analysis and interviews the mainstream media won't show you!</p> | Did the niqab issue cost the Conservatives the election? Here’s what REALLY happened | true | http://therebel.media/niqab_issue_cost_the_conservatives_the_election | 2016-04-07 | 0right
| Did the niqab issue cost the Conservatives the election? Here’s what REALLY happened
<p>It sounds obvious, but we can't say it enough: The Conservatives shouldn't take advice about their choice of leaders and policies from the Media Party.</p>
<p />
<p>For example, the media's narrative is that Stephen Harper's position on <a href="" type="internal">the niqab controversy</a>cost the Conservatives the election.</p>
<p>But that doesn't make sense, <a href="" type="internal">because polls show</a> <a href="" type="internal">most Canadians agreed with him</a>.</p>
<p>So what really happened?</p>
<p>I explain...</p>
<p>(PS: You can <a href="" type="internal">WATCH the rest of my show</a> when you become a Premium Member of TheRebel.media. It's fast and easy to join -- just <a href="" type="internal">CLICK HERE</a> and get exclusive access to news, analysis and interviews the mainstream media won't show you!</p> | 3,353 |
<p>ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — An Ethiopian court on Friday sentenced co-pilot Hailemedhin Abera to 19 years in prison for hijacking a plane bound for Rome and taking it to Geneva.</p>
<p>The court said Monday it had issued a public notice for the 31-year-old to appear in court but he failed to show up. Hailemedhin is in Switzerland, his brother Endalamaw Abera said.</p>
<p>At the time of the hijacking, Hailemedhin’s uncle Alemu Asmamaw told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that the pilot was in emotional distress following the sudden death of another uncle.</p>
<p>On Feb 14 last year Hailemedhin, who had worked for Ethiopian Airlines for five years, locked the pilot of a Rome-bound flight out of the cockpit and then as co-pilot diverted the plane to Geneva, where he used a rope to lower himself out of a window and then asked for political asylum.</p>
<p>The jetliner carrying 200 passengers and crew took off from the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.</p>
<p>ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — An Ethiopian court on Friday sentenced co-pilot Hailemedhin Abera to 19 years in prison for hijacking a plane bound for Rome and taking it to Geneva.</p>
<p>The court said Monday it had issued a public notice for the 31-year-old to appear in court but he failed to show up. Hailemedhin is in Switzerland, his brother Endalamaw Abera said.</p>
<p>At the time of the hijacking, Hailemedhin’s uncle Alemu Asmamaw told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that the pilot was in emotional distress following the sudden death of another uncle.</p>
<p>On Feb 14 last year Hailemedhin, who had worked for Ethiopian Airlines for five years, locked the pilot of a Rome-bound flight out of the cockpit and then as co-pilot diverted the plane to Geneva, where he used a rope to lower himself out of a window and then asked for political asylum.</p>
<p>The jetliner carrying 200 passengers and crew took off from the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.</p> | Ethiopian court jails pilot for 19 years for hijacking plane | false | https://apnews.com/41d76e73d0554fb5a1f1d4e6f023dc71 | 2015-03-20 | 2least
| Ethiopian court jails pilot for 19 years for hijacking plane
<p>ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — An Ethiopian court on Friday sentenced co-pilot Hailemedhin Abera to 19 years in prison for hijacking a plane bound for Rome and taking it to Geneva.</p>
<p>The court said Monday it had issued a public notice for the 31-year-old to appear in court but he failed to show up. Hailemedhin is in Switzerland, his brother Endalamaw Abera said.</p>
<p>At the time of the hijacking, Hailemedhin’s uncle Alemu Asmamaw told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that the pilot was in emotional distress following the sudden death of another uncle.</p>
<p>On Feb 14 last year Hailemedhin, who had worked for Ethiopian Airlines for five years, locked the pilot of a Rome-bound flight out of the cockpit and then as co-pilot diverted the plane to Geneva, where he used a rope to lower himself out of a window and then asked for political asylum.</p>
<p>The jetliner carrying 200 passengers and crew took off from the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.</p>
<p>ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — An Ethiopian court on Friday sentenced co-pilot Hailemedhin Abera to 19 years in prison for hijacking a plane bound for Rome and taking it to Geneva.</p>
<p>The court said Monday it had issued a public notice for the 31-year-old to appear in court but he failed to show up. Hailemedhin is in Switzerland, his brother Endalamaw Abera said.</p>
<p>At the time of the hijacking, Hailemedhin’s uncle Alemu Asmamaw told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that the pilot was in emotional distress following the sudden death of another uncle.</p>
<p>On Feb 14 last year Hailemedhin, who had worked for Ethiopian Airlines for five years, locked the pilot of a Rome-bound flight out of the cockpit and then as co-pilot diverted the plane to Geneva, where he used a rope to lower himself out of a window and then asked for political asylum.</p>
<p>The jetliner carrying 200 passengers and crew took off from the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.</p> | 3,354 |
<p>According to Democratic Party leaders, the new Iraq funding bill, which is concession-as-usual to the worst president in the history of our country, is a “temporary setback.” Ninety U.S. troops have died in the last 25 days. Almost 1,500 Iraqi civilians have been killed in May.</p>
<p>“We regret to inform you that your child, your soldier child, has been killed because of a temporary setback.”</p>
<p>The worst president in the history of this democracy had vowed to veto legislation with restrictions on troop deployments, but he didn’t have to. Because most of the people we’ve elected to represent us simply aren’t. And those who aren’t are covered with the blood of our military dead and wounded as well as the blood of so many Iraqis.</p>
<p>The worst president in the history of this land of opportunity continues to talk “sacrifice” and, after having his way with Congress, made this statement: “We’re going to expect heavy fighting.” In other words, the death count will climb higher and higher and more of our young men and women will be blown to bits thousands of miles from home in a country whose people are also being blown to bits. Iraqis who have not yet been blown to bits perceive us as occupiers and believe that it is okay to blow our troops to bits.</p>
<p>So, the worst president in the history of this former land of opportunity, a man who should be impeached for crimes against humanity, was able, again, to manipulate the worst Congress in the history of our country. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi just said that Bush’s Iraq plan is unraveling but Congress has proved that it, too, is in tatters. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell pontificated that Bush will show the way. Tragically, the president’s way is a path into the shadow of death.</p>
<p>The worst president in our history is a demonic war president. The worst Congress in our history is a war Congress.</p>
<p>After the deadline-free bill was passed, Russ Feingold said: “We are moving backwards.” He is wrong. We are wildly falling into an abyss of destruction because we have an egomaniacal head of state who is the worst president, a fascist who has betrayed all but his corporate cronies, and who is supported by the worst Congress.</p>
<p>The United States of America has a life threatening illness. Removing the worst president in the history of what has become George’s personal kingdom, along with Vice Cheney, and every Congressman and woman who value oil and the profits of war over human life, must be the demand of each citizen. This is the requirement for redemption, if it’s not too late. Because with each temporary setback, we have more numerous, permanent, fall-to-the-floor agony via the ringing of the doorbell by military messengers whose words change lives forever. And we incur the world’s wrath for our imperialism, disregard for life, and hypocrisy.</p>
<p>The worst president delivers another parcel of catastrophic policy, declarations, and religious dogma while he bubble wraps himself in denial. By declaring that history will judge him, Bush remains unaccountable and shows no responsibility to the voters who graded him a failure last November. But, then, the people don’t matter anymore. George fires his rifle into the air and Congress plays dead.</p>
<p>Missy Beattie lives in New York City. She’s written for National Public Radio and Nashville Life Magazine. An outspoken critic of the Bush Administration and the war in Iraq, she’s a member of Gold Star Families for Peace. She completed a novel last year, but since the death of her nephew, Marine Lance Cpl. Chase J. Comley, in Iraq on August 6,’05, she has been writing political articles. She can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | The Worst in History | true | https://counterpunch.org/2007/05/26/the-worst-in-history/ | 2007-05-26 | 4left
| The Worst in History
<p>According to Democratic Party leaders, the new Iraq funding bill, which is concession-as-usual to the worst president in the history of our country, is a “temporary setback.” Ninety U.S. troops have died in the last 25 days. Almost 1,500 Iraqi civilians have been killed in May.</p>
<p>“We regret to inform you that your child, your soldier child, has been killed because of a temporary setback.”</p>
<p>The worst president in the history of this democracy had vowed to veto legislation with restrictions on troop deployments, but he didn’t have to. Because most of the people we’ve elected to represent us simply aren’t. And those who aren’t are covered with the blood of our military dead and wounded as well as the blood of so many Iraqis.</p>
<p>The worst president in the history of this land of opportunity continues to talk “sacrifice” and, after having his way with Congress, made this statement: “We’re going to expect heavy fighting.” In other words, the death count will climb higher and higher and more of our young men and women will be blown to bits thousands of miles from home in a country whose people are also being blown to bits. Iraqis who have not yet been blown to bits perceive us as occupiers and believe that it is okay to blow our troops to bits.</p>
<p>So, the worst president in the history of this former land of opportunity, a man who should be impeached for crimes against humanity, was able, again, to manipulate the worst Congress in the history of our country. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi just said that Bush’s Iraq plan is unraveling but Congress has proved that it, too, is in tatters. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell pontificated that Bush will show the way. Tragically, the president’s way is a path into the shadow of death.</p>
<p>The worst president in our history is a demonic war president. The worst Congress in our history is a war Congress.</p>
<p>After the deadline-free bill was passed, Russ Feingold said: “We are moving backwards.” He is wrong. We are wildly falling into an abyss of destruction because we have an egomaniacal head of state who is the worst president, a fascist who has betrayed all but his corporate cronies, and who is supported by the worst Congress.</p>
<p>The United States of America has a life threatening illness. Removing the worst president in the history of what has become George’s personal kingdom, along with Vice Cheney, and every Congressman and woman who value oil and the profits of war over human life, must be the demand of each citizen. This is the requirement for redemption, if it’s not too late. Because with each temporary setback, we have more numerous, permanent, fall-to-the-floor agony via the ringing of the doorbell by military messengers whose words change lives forever. And we incur the world’s wrath for our imperialism, disregard for life, and hypocrisy.</p>
<p>The worst president delivers another parcel of catastrophic policy, declarations, and religious dogma while he bubble wraps himself in denial. By declaring that history will judge him, Bush remains unaccountable and shows no responsibility to the voters who graded him a failure last November. But, then, the people don’t matter anymore. George fires his rifle into the air and Congress plays dead.</p>
<p>Missy Beattie lives in New York City. She’s written for National Public Radio and Nashville Life Magazine. An outspoken critic of the Bush Administration and the war in Iraq, she’s a member of Gold Star Families for Peace. She completed a novel last year, but since the death of her nephew, Marine Lance Cpl. Chase J. Comley, in Iraq on August 6,’05, she has been writing political articles. She can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | 3,355 |
<p />
<p>On Sept. 19, eight days after the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, Senator Frank Murkowski took to the Senate floor to deny reports that he was trying to affix an amendment containing one of his pet proposals to a fast-moving defense bill. Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, said he resented any suggestion that he was exploiting a national military emergency to slip through a measure that would open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to energy exploration and development. “That is certainly not the case,” a plainly agitated Murkowski told his colleagues. “It would be inappropriate and in poor taste.”</p>
<p>Just hours later, however, one of Murkowski’s key allies in the Senate did exactly what Murkowski said he would not do. Republican James Inhofe of Oklahoma introduced an amendment-drawn verbatim from an energy bill that Murkowski had written six months earlier-to permit drilling for oil and natural gas in ANWR’s environmentally sensitive coastal plain. And two days later, Murkowski’s reticence to link ANWR to the events of Sept. 11 had apparently evaporated. “I think we’ve got an issue here whose time has come,” he told reporters. Soon he was couching his pronouncements in the twin themes of antiterrorism and national security. “Mideast oil funds terrorism,” he declared. “If there was a terrorist attack on our oil supply, such as an attack on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, there would be a significant blow to our national security.” The ANWR amendment was ultimately removed from the defense appropriations bill, but Murkowski vowed to attach what he now called the “Homeland Energy Security Act” to other legislation.</p>
<p>Murkowski was not the only elected official trying to slip industry-backed items into unrelated emergency measures. In the wake of Sept. 11, scores of Capitol Hill lawmakers, Washington lobbyists, trade associations, and interest groups rushed to repackage their old proposals in national security wrapping. Bald opportunism and the political exploitation of tragedy is nothing new in the nation’s capital, but what’s happened in the months since the terrorist attacks may well show Washington at its worst. “I think that this was more shameless than anything else I’ve ever seen in Washington,” says Ronald Utt, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington think tank.</p>
<p>Television producer Bill Moyers, in a speech to a group of environmental funders, put a more venal cast on the latest lobbying tactics. “It didn’t take long for the wartime opportunists-the mercenaries of Washington, the lobbyists, lawyers, and political fundraisers-to crawl out of their offices on K Street to grab what they can for their clients,” he said. “In the wake of this awful tragedy wrought by terrorism, they are cashing in.”</p>
<p>Consider, for example, the lobbying strategy of the nation’s beleaguered steel industry. The smoke had not yet cleared from the wreckage of the World Trade Center when the nation’s big steelmakers and their allies in Washington began invoking the terrorist attacks to bolster their arguments for direct subsidies, as well as further restrictions on imports of less-costly foreign steel. “Without steel, we cannot guarantee our national security,” said Senator Jay Rockefeller, a Democrat from West Virginia. “Without steel, we cannot build from our tragedy.” (Without steel, Rockefeller might have added, the two political parties and their congressional candidates would have been about $2.7 million poorer in the 2000 elections.)</p>
<p>“Absolute baloney,” Robert Crandall, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, says of the argument that propping up the domestic steel industry is vital to the national security. One or two steel mills, he maintains, could produce all the steel plate needed for shipbuilding and other critical defense industries.</p>
<p>National security arguments were even used to advance a farm-subsidy bill worth $167 billion. Before Sept. 11, the bill was titled the Agriculture Act of 2001. After the terrorist attacks, it was renamed the Farm Security Act of 2001. On Sept. 24, the growers of more than 20 federally subsidized agriculture commodities sent a letter to Capitol Hill lawmakers in which they said that the attacks had “bolstered the argument that food production is vital to the national interest.” No doubt their message got through: The producers of these and other commodities had poured more than $58 million into the 2000 elections. On October 5, the measure passed the House by a vote of 291 to 120.</p>
<p>Similar arguments were advanced by the manufacturers of traffic signs, barricades, and other equipment, who gamely recast their perennial plea for more federal highway-safety spending in a national security framework. A spokesman for the 1,800-member American Traffic Safety Services Association said that increased federal spending on highway signs and other traffic-routing devices would help motorists flee cities faster and more safely during a terrorist attack. Rob Dingess, the association’s director of government relations, pointed out that the evacuation of many federal facilities following the attack on the Pentagon left the nation’s capital in gridlock. “If a second plane had come into that city,” Dingess said, “you would almost have had to helicopter people to fight fire or evacuate people.”</p>
<p>Then there was the American Bus Association, which represents nearly a thousand private companies that provide intercity bus and motorcoach service. The trade group has been lobbying for legislation that would provide $400 million “to improve bus security and safety.” The legislation is important, the association insists, because it would help bus companies retain drivers who, in the wake of Sept. 11, have come to fear potential terrorist attacks.</p>
<p>But the most labored stretch may have come from the National Taxpayers Union, a conservative advocacy group that touted a cut in capital-gains taxes as a national security initiative. Eric Schlecht, the organization’s director of congressional relations, maintains that lowering taxes for the rich would flood the coffers of the irs with more money. “By reducing the rate at which capital gains are taxed,” he says, “President Bush and Congress could help revitalize the sagging economy and bring new revenues to Washington-decidedly aiding our war against terrorism.”</p>
<p>Washington has always been a city of wretched excesses, but never have so many lobbyists for so many different special interests so blatantly wrapped their requests for subsidies, tax breaks, and other forms of federal largesse in patriotic packaging. “No self-respecting lobbyist in Washington has resisted the temptation to reframe the exact arguments they were making before Septem- ber 11 into a post-Sept. 11 response to terror,” observes Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.). “There is no issue-none-where they aren’t doing it.”</p>
<p>The feeding frenzy was kicked off by the airline industry’s drive for a fast-track bailout in the days immediately after the terrorist attacks. By Sept. 22, the airlines had sealed an especially sweet deal: $5 billion in cash, plus another $10 billion in loan guarantees based on their pre-Sept. 11 market share rather than their post-Sept. 11 losses. The airlines also won protection from any lawsuits arising from the attacks, a provision of the bailout that may ultimately cost taxpayers many additional billions.</p>
<p>The success of the airlines inspired the insurance industry to follow suit. On Sept. 21, during a private meeting at the White House arranged by the American Insurance Association, 16 insurance executives informed President George Bush and Commerce Secretary Donald Evans that the industry would be able to pay all the claims-estimated at $40 billion to $75 billion-arising from what’s expected to be the costliest disaster in the nation’s history. During a brief “photo op,” the executives assured Bush that the insurance industry, with its $3 trillion in assets in the United States alone, wouldn’t need federal help.</p>
<p>When the cameras were gone, however, the executives-led by CEOs Maurice Greenberg of American International Group and Robert O’Connell of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance-got down to the real business at hand. They bluntly pressed Bush and Evans for legislation that would shift the lion’s share of liability for future terrorist attacks to the federal government. Furthermore, Greenberg reportedly asked the White House for its help in keeping claim disputes related to the World Trade Center disaster confined to a federal court in Manhattan-and thereby out of state courts, where insurers could potentially be liable for additional millions, if not billions, in punitive damages. If the White House failed to act, the insurers warned, the industry would refuse to cover damage from future terrorist attacks, potentially triggering a full-scale financial crisis.</p>
<p>The executives in the industry’s delegation were anything but strangers to their White House hosts. In particular, Greenberg and O’Connell had been among the elite group of fundraisers known as “Pioneers” who raised at least $100,000 for Bush’s presidential campaign under the direction of his finance chairman, Donald Evans. In all, the insurance industry had invested nearly $1.6 million to elect Bush, and Greenberg’s company and two industry trade associations had chipped in $100,000 apiece to underwrite his inaugural celebration. The industry had also pumped more than $20 million into Republican and Democratic soft-money accounts since 1999- corporate checks bearing such names as Chubb, CNA, Hartford, Kemper, Travelers, and Zurich, all of whom had representatives at the White House meeting.</p>
<p>The White House was quick to respond to the industry’s request. On October 15, it unveiled a plan to cap the industry’s liability in 2002 by agreeing to use public funds to pay all but $12 billion of the first $100 billion in future terrorism-related claims. The plan would also limit the industry’s liability to $23 billion in 2003 and $35 billion in 2004.</p>
<p>In November, the House voted along party lines to approve the plan, which had been introduced as the “Terrorism Risk Protection Act” by Rep. Michael Oxley, a Republican from Ohio. Oxley was clearly the right lawmaker for the job: Even with Election Day more than a year away, he’d already collected more than $34,000 in contributions from insurance-industry interests.</p>
<p>The plan to shift the cost of any future terrorist attacks to taxpayers later stalled in the Senate, but the early successes of the airline and insurance industries emboldened other businesses to think big. “If you start saying, ÔWell, the airlines have been hurt because nobody wants to fly on airplanes any longer,’ there are literally hundreds of industries that could make that exact same claim,” says Stephen Moore, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, a free-market-oriented think tank. “It starts with the airlines, and then it’s insurance businesses, and then it’s the entertainment industry, and tourism, and then, of course, the Las Vegas casinos. It just becomes a parade of special-interest groups down Pennsylvania Avenue that have their hands out. This is the quintessence of corporate welfare.”</p>
<p>Indeed, the list of post-Sept. 11 petitioners-all asking for a handout, a bailout, or something in between-seems downright endless. Flight schools, operators of skydiving companies, manufacturers of small aircraft, and owners of small airports were among the first in line. They’ve been seeking a $7.5 billion package of grants and loan guarantees called the General Aviation Reparations Act to compensate them for business lost since the attacks. “Congress acted swiftly to provide the major airlines with needed relief to keep that industry going,” explained Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), who introduced the measure. “Now it should do the same for general aviation.”</p>
<p>Similarly, the National Limousine Association tried to arrange an exemption from the gas-guzzler tax for fleets operated by its members. Early on, some of its members persuaded Rep. Robert Andrews (D-N.J.) to introduce legislation that would have provided financial assistance to “chauffeured ground-transportation companies that incurred losses as a result of the terrorist attacks.” The measure, which was supposed to be tacked onto the airline bailout, didn’t make it to the floor. “Oh boy, that one never got off the ground,” concedes Bruce Cottew, the association’s executive director. More recently, the association’s biggest member, Carey International, retained the heavyweight Washington lobbying firm of Arent, Fox, Kintner, Plotkin &amp; Kahn to seek federal loan guarantees on its behalf.</p>
<p>The nation’s farmers, evidently not content with the goodies in the Farm Security Act, also rushed to get in on the giveaways. In the Senate Finance Committee’s summary of its proposed economic-stimulus package, a fine-print footnote proposed $220 million in price subsidies for a list of 34 agricultural commodities arranged alphabetically from “apples” to “watermelons.” In between “bell peppers” and “black beans” was federal support for “bison meat.” A subsidy of $10 million, it turned out, was being proposed by Democrat Kent Conrad of North Dakota, the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, whose state is home to the North America Bison Cooperative. Officials of the cooperative, whose 350 members (including billionaire Ted Turner) produce about half of the world’s bison steaks, burgers, and roasts, maintain that the fear of additional terrorist attacks has driven patrons out of the high-priced restaurants that serve their products, plunging the industry into an economic tailspin.</p>
<p>Other industries also saw their opening. Ethanol producers, already heavily subsidized by the federal government, argued that requiring ethanol to be blended in gasoline would make the United States less reliant on oil from the Middle East. And the American Society of Travel Agents sought $4 billion in grants and no-interest loans. “Without travel agencies,” the society warned, “the nation’s travel industry cannot function.”</p>
<p>Indeed, as both the Senate and House crafted huge economic-stimulus bills in November, lobbyists from nearly every industry scurried to get a piece of the action. “As soon as there was an announcement of an aid package, people started coming out of the woodwork,” acknowledged James Albertine, president of the American League of Lobbyists. “There are a lot of industries that will be looking at the pot of gold. The federal government is spending more and, obviously, there will be some winners. There’s lots of opportunities and it cuts across all industries. It’s pretty much open season.”</p>
<p>Barely a month after the terrorist attacks, Rep. Jim Moran, a Democrat whose Virginia congressional district includes Reagan National Airport, bluntly summed up the attitude of both lawmakers and lobbyists. “It’s an open grab bag,” he said, “so let’s grab.”</p>
<p>In a few cases, the lobbying free-for-all proved too brazen even by Washington standards. In November, lobbyist Howard Marlowe scored a modest but impressive victory for the nation’s seaside resorts, persuading Congress that it was vital for national security to spend a record $135 million to shore up public beaches with sand-nearly $50 million more for beach “nourishment” than the Bush administration had requested. Emboldened by their success, Marlowe’s clients immediately made a pitch for additional subsidies. “America needs to make a major commitment to its energy and water infrastructure, both for security and economic reasons,” the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association urged lawmakers. “Protecting the nation’s coastline is also vitally important to ensure the recovery of the American economy.”</p>
<p>This time around, though, the appeal went nowhere. “We haven’t gotten anything yet, and I don’t think we will,” says Marlowe, who concedes that the lobbying frenzy has gotten out of hand. “It gets to the point where you don’t want to be associated with it,” he says. “So many people saw opportunity in the wake of tragedy that it’s definitely gotten unseemly.”</p>
<p>Perhaps the most unseemly proposal of all was the juicy platter of corporate tax breaks that formed the centerpiece of the economic-stimulus plan put forward by House Republicans. The GOP plan called for almost doubling the amount that companies can write off for capital expenses they haven’t yet incurred, allowing corporations that rely on loopholes to pay no taxes at all, and providing immediate rebates for any alternative-minimum taxes they have paid since 1986. The congressional Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that the bill would trigger nearly $13 billion in rebates, with nearly a third going to just 16 Fortune 500 firms. The legislation also proposed making permanent a provision that allows multinational corporations to shelter their U.S. profits from taxation by shifting them, on paper, to offshore tax havens. The provision was included even after an administration official conceded that the measure-which would cost taxpayers $21 billion over 10 years-would have “zero stimulative effect.”</p>
<p>Much of the lobbying for the tax breaks was orchestrated by Kenneth Kies, a partner at the accounting and lobbying firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers who previously worked on Capitol Hill as staff director of the Joint Committee on Taxation. Like other lobbyists, Kies suggested to reporters that he was only trying to do his patriotic duty by bolstering the bottom lines of some of the nation’s wealthiest corporations. “I wouldn’t be doing the job-not necessarily for my clients-but for my country,” he told the New York Times, “if I wasn’t being helpful in terms of offering ideas that can be helpful in stimulating the economy.”</p>
<p>But many didn’t find the ideas very helpful-especially when Republicans balked at extending direct assistance to workers struggling to pay for health insurance. “The House bill was a public-relations disaster, because it really read like it was written by K Street corporate lobbyists,” says Stephen Moore of the Cato Institute, the free-market think tank. “And unfortunately, the truth is that it was largely written by K Street corporate lobbyists.” With Senate Democrats refusing to sign on to the tax breaks, the stimulus package failed to win approval before Congress adjourned at the end of the year.</p>
<p>But despite the political setback, many seasoned observers say the lobbying landscape in Washington has shifted dramatically since Sept. 11. The corporate tax breaks are back on the table, they say, as industry lobbyists intent on raiding the federal treasury continue to sell their proposals by waving the flag or stirring public fears of future attacks. “Lobbyists are in the business of asking for things,” says the Heritage Foundation’s Ronald Utt. “And they adjust their message to whatever they think will sell. Right now that’s national security, economic stimulus, and disaster relief, and so they link what they want to one of those-better yet, to all three.”</p>
<p>Even the Bush administration is now playing the name game: Early this year White House spokesmen started referring to the president’s economic-stimulus package as an “economic security” plan.</p>
<p>“You know, this stuff never goes away,” says Robert McIntyre, director of Citizens for Tax Justice, a Washington-based watchdog organization. “They never close down K Street.”</p>
<p /> | Star-Spangled Lobbyists | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2002/03/star-spangled-lobbyists/ | 2018-03-01 | 4left
| Star-Spangled Lobbyists
<p />
<p>On Sept. 19, eight days after the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, Senator Frank Murkowski took to the Senate floor to deny reports that he was trying to affix an amendment containing one of his pet proposals to a fast-moving defense bill. Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, said he resented any suggestion that he was exploiting a national military emergency to slip through a measure that would open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to energy exploration and development. “That is certainly not the case,” a plainly agitated Murkowski told his colleagues. “It would be inappropriate and in poor taste.”</p>
<p>Just hours later, however, one of Murkowski’s key allies in the Senate did exactly what Murkowski said he would not do. Republican James Inhofe of Oklahoma introduced an amendment-drawn verbatim from an energy bill that Murkowski had written six months earlier-to permit drilling for oil and natural gas in ANWR’s environmentally sensitive coastal plain. And two days later, Murkowski’s reticence to link ANWR to the events of Sept. 11 had apparently evaporated. “I think we’ve got an issue here whose time has come,” he told reporters. Soon he was couching his pronouncements in the twin themes of antiterrorism and national security. “Mideast oil funds terrorism,” he declared. “If there was a terrorist attack on our oil supply, such as an attack on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, there would be a significant blow to our national security.” The ANWR amendment was ultimately removed from the defense appropriations bill, but Murkowski vowed to attach what he now called the “Homeland Energy Security Act” to other legislation.</p>
<p>Murkowski was not the only elected official trying to slip industry-backed items into unrelated emergency measures. In the wake of Sept. 11, scores of Capitol Hill lawmakers, Washington lobbyists, trade associations, and interest groups rushed to repackage their old proposals in national security wrapping. Bald opportunism and the political exploitation of tragedy is nothing new in the nation’s capital, but what’s happened in the months since the terrorist attacks may well show Washington at its worst. “I think that this was more shameless than anything else I’ve ever seen in Washington,” says Ronald Utt, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington think tank.</p>
<p>Television producer Bill Moyers, in a speech to a group of environmental funders, put a more venal cast on the latest lobbying tactics. “It didn’t take long for the wartime opportunists-the mercenaries of Washington, the lobbyists, lawyers, and political fundraisers-to crawl out of their offices on K Street to grab what they can for their clients,” he said. “In the wake of this awful tragedy wrought by terrorism, they are cashing in.”</p>
<p>Consider, for example, the lobbying strategy of the nation’s beleaguered steel industry. The smoke had not yet cleared from the wreckage of the World Trade Center when the nation’s big steelmakers and their allies in Washington began invoking the terrorist attacks to bolster their arguments for direct subsidies, as well as further restrictions on imports of less-costly foreign steel. “Without steel, we cannot guarantee our national security,” said Senator Jay Rockefeller, a Democrat from West Virginia. “Without steel, we cannot build from our tragedy.” (Without steel, Rockefeller might have added, the two political parties and their congressional candidates would have been about $2.7 million poorer in the 2000 elections.)</p>
<p>“Absolute baloney,” Robert Crandall, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, says of the argument that propping up the domestic steel industry is vital to the national security. One or two steel mills, he maintains, could produce all the steel plate needed for shipbuilding and other critical defense industries.</p>
<p>National security arguments were even used to advance a farm-subsidy bill worth $167 billion. Before Sept. 11, the bill was titled the Agriculture Act of 2001. After the terrorist attacks, it was renamed the Farm Security Act of 2001. On Sept. 24, the growers of more than 20 federally subsidized agriculture commodities sent a letter to Capitol Hill lawmakers in which they said that the attacks had “bolstered the argument that food production is vital to the national interest.” No doubt their message got through: The producers of these and other commodities had poured more than $58 million into the 2000 elections. On October 5, the measure passed the House by a vote of 291 to 120.</p>
<p>Similar arguments were advanced by the manufacturers of traffic signs, barricades, and other equipment, who gamely recast their perennial plea for more federal highway-safety spending in a national security framework. A spokesman for the 1,800-member American Traffic Safety Services Association said that increased federal spending on highway signs and other traffic-routing devices would help motorists flee cities faster and more safely during a terrorist attack. Rob Dingess, the association’s director of government relations, pointed out that the evacuation of many federal facilities following the attack on the Pentagon left the nation’s capital in gridlock. “If a second plane had come into that city,” Dingess said, “you would almost have had to helicopter people to fight fire or evacuate people.”</p>
<p>Then there was the American Bus Association, which represents nearly a thousand private companies that provide intercity bus and motorcoach service. The trade group has been lobbying for legislation that would provide $400 million “to improve bus security and safety.” The legislation is important, the association insists, because it would help bus companies retain drivers who, in the wake of Sept. 11, have come to fear potential terrorist attacks.</p>
<p>But the most labored stretch may have come from the National Taxpayers Union, a conservative advocacy group that touted a cut in capital-gains taxes as a national security initiative. Eric Schlecht, the organization’s director of congressional relations, maintains that lowering taxes for the rich would flood the coffers of the irs with more money. “By reducing the rate at which capital gains are taxed,” he says, “President Bush and Congress could help revitalize the sagging economy and bring new revenues to Washington-decidedly aiding our war against terrorism.”</p>
<p>Washington has always been a city of wretched excesses, but never have so many lobbyists for so many different special interests so blatantly wrapped their requests for subsidies, tax breaks, and other forms of federal largesse in patriotic packaging. “No self-respecting lobbyist in Washington has resisted the temptation to reframe the exact arguments they were making before Septem- ber 11 into a post-Sept. 11 response to terror,” observes Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.). “There is no issue-none-where they aren’t doing it.”</p>
<p>The feeding frenzy was kicked off by the airline industry’s drive for a fast-track bailout in the days immediately after the terrorist attacks. By Sept. 22, the airlines had sealed an especially sweet deal: $5 billion in cash, plus another $10 billion in loan guarantees based on their pre-Sept. 11 market share rather than their post-Sept. 11 losses. The airlines also won protection from any lawsuits arising from the attacks, a provision of the bailout that may ultimately cost taxpayers many additional billions.</p>
<p>The success of the airlines inspired the insurance industry to follow suit. On Sept. 21, during a private meeting at the White House arranged by the American Insurance Association, 16 insurance executives informed President George Bush and Commerce Secretary Donald Evans that the industry would be able to pay all the claims-estimated at $40 billion to $75 billion-arising from what’s expected to be the costliest disaster in the nation’s history. During a brief “photo op,” the executives assured Bush that the insurance industry, with its $3 trillion in assets in the United States alone, wouldn’t need federal help.</p>
<p>When the cameras were gone, however, the executives-led by CEOs Maurice Greenberg of American International Group and Robert O’Connell of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance-got down to the real business at hand. They bluntly pressed Bush and Evans for legislation that would shift the lion’s share of liability for future terrorist attacks to the federal government. Furthermore, Greenberg reportedly asked the White House for its help in keeping claim disputes related to the World Trade Center disaster confined to a federal court in Manhattan-and thereby out of state courts, where insurers could potentially be liable for additional millions, if not billions, in punitive damages. If the White House failed to act, the insurers warned, the industry would refuse to cover damage from future terrorist attacks, potentially triggering a full-scale financial crisis.</p>
<p>The executives in the industry’s delegation were anything but strangers to their White House hosts. In particular, Greenberg and O’Connell had been among the elite group of fundraisers known as “Pioneers” who raised at least $100,000 for Bush’s presidential campaign under the direction of his finance chairman, Donald Evans. In all, the insurance industry had invested nearly $1.6 million to elect Bush, and Greenberg’s company and two industry trade associations had chipped in $100,000 apiece to underwrite his inaugural celebration. The industry had also pumped more than $20 million into Republican and Democratic soft-money accounts since 1999- corporate checks bearing such names as Chubb, CNA, Hartford, Kemper, Travelers, and Zurich, all of whom had representatives at the White House meeting.</p>
<p>The White House was quick to respond to the industry’s request. On October 15, it unveiled a plan to cap the industry’s liability in 2002 by agreeing to use public funds to pay all but $12 billion of the first $100 billion in future terrorism-related claims. The plan would also limit the industry’s liability to $23 billion in 2003 and $35 billion in 2004.</p>
<p>In November, the House voted along party lines to approve the plan, which had been introduced as the “Terrorism Risk Protection Act” by Rep. Michael Oxley, a Republican from Ohio. Oxley was clearly the right lawmaker for the job: Even with Election Day more than a year away, he’d already collected more than $34,000 in contributions from insurance-industry interests.</p>
<p>The plan to shift the cost of any future terrorist attacks to taxpayers later stalled in the Senate, but the early successes of the airline and insurance industries emboldened other businesses to think big. “If you start saying, ÔWell, the airlines have been hurt because nobody wants to fly on airplanes any longer,’ there are literally hundreds of industries that could make that exact same claim,” says Stephen Moore, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, a free-market-oriented think tank. “It starts with the airlines, and then it’s insurance businesses, and then it’s the entertainment industry, and tourism, and then, of course, the Las Vegas casinos. It just becomes a parade of special-interest groups down Pennsylvania Avenue that have their hands out. This is the quintessence of corporate welfare.”</p>
<p>Indeed, the list of post-Sept. 11 petitioners-all asking for a handout, a bailout, or something in between-seems downright endless. Flight schools, operators of skydiving companies, manufacturers of small aircraft, and owners of small airports were among the first in line. They’ve been seeking a $7.5 billion package of grants and loan guarantees called the General Aviation Reparations Act to compensate them for business lost since the attacks. “Congress acted swiftly to provide the major airlines with needed relief to keep that industry going,” explained Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), who introduced the measure. “Now it should do the same for general aviation.”</p>
<p>Similarly, the National Limousine Association tried to arrange an exemption from the gas-guzzler tax for fleets operated by its members. Early on, some of its members persuaded Rep. Robert Andrews (D-N.J.) to introduce legislation that would have provided financial assistance to “chauffeured ground-transportation companies that incurred losses as a result of the terrorist attacks.” The measure, which was supposed to be tacked onto the airline bailout, didn’t make it to the floor. “Oh boy, that one never got off the ground,” concedes Bruce Cottew, the association’s executive director. More recently, the association’s biggest member, Carey International, retained the heavyweight Washington lobbying firm of Arent, Fox, Kintner, Plotkin &amp; Kahn to seek federal loan guarantees on its behalf.</p>
<p>The nation’s farmers, evidently not content with the goodies in the Farm Security Act, also rushed to get in on the giveaways. In the Senate Finance Committee’s summary of its proposed economic-stimulus package, a fine-print footnote proposed $220 million in price subsidies for a list of 34 agricultural commodities arranged alphabetically from “apples” to “watermelons.” In between “bell peppers” and “black beans” was federal support for “bison meat.” A subsidy of $10 million, it turned out, was being proposed by Democrat Kent Conrad of North Dakota, the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, whose state is home to the North America Bison Cooperative. Officials of the cooperative, whose 350 members (including billionaire Ted Turner) produce about half of the world’s bison steaks, burgers, and roasts, maintain that the fear of additional terrorist attacks has driven patrons out of the high-priced restaurants that serve their products, plunging the industry into an economic tailspin.</p>
<p>Other industries also saw their opening. Ethanol producers, already heavily subsidized by the federal government, argued that requiring ethanol to be blended in gasoline would make the United States less reliant on oil from the Middle East. And the American Society of Travel Agents sought $4 billion in grants and no-interest loans. “Without travel agencies,” the society warned, “the nation’s travel industry cannot function.”</p>
<p>Indeed, as both the Senate and House crafted huge economic-stimulus bills in November, lobbyists from nearly every industry scurried to get a piece of the action. “As soon as there was an announcement of an aid package, people started coming out of the woodwork,” acknowledged James Albertine, president of the American League of Lobbyists. “There are a lot of industries that will be looking at the pot of gold. The federal government is spending more and, obviously, there will be some winners. There’s lots of opportunities and it cuts across all industries. It’s pretty much open season.”</p>
<p>Barely a month after the terrorist attacks, Rep. Jim Moran, a Democrat whose Virginia congressional district includes Reagan National Airport, bluntly summed up the attitude of both lawmakers and lobbyists. “It’s an open grab bag,” he said, “so let’s grab.”</p>
<p>In a few cases, the lobbying free-for-all proved too brazen even by Washington standards. In November, lobbyist Howard Marlowe scored a modest but impressive victory for the nation’s seaside resorts, persuading Congress that it was vital for national security to spend a record $135 million to shore up public beaches with sand-nearly $50 million more for beach “nourishment” than the Bush administration had requested. Emboldened by their success, Marlowe’s clients immediately made a pitch for additional subsidies. “America needs to make a major commitment to its energy and water infrastructure, both for security and economic reasons,” the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association urged lawmakers. “Protecting the nation’s coastline is also vitally important to ensure the recovery of the American economy.”</p>
<p>This time around, though, the appeal went nowhere. “We haven’t gotten anything yet, and I don’t think we will,” says Marlowe, who concedes that the lobbying frenzy has gotten out of hand. “It gets to the point where you don’t want to be associated with it,” he says. “So many people saw opportunity in the wake of tragedy that it’s definitely gotten unseemly.”</p>
<p>Perhaps the most unseemly proposal of all was the juicy platter of corporate tax breaks that formed the centerpiece of the economic-stimulus plan put forward by House Republicans. The GOP plan called for almost doubling the amount that companies can write off for capital expenses they haven’t yet incurred, allowing corporations that rely on loopholes to pay no taxes at all, and providing immediate rebates for any alternative-minimum taxes they have paid since 1986. The congressional Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that the bill would trigger nearly $13 billion in rebates, with nearly a third going to just 16 Fortune 500 firms. The legislation also proposed making permanent a provision that allows multinational corporations to shelter their U.S. profits from taxation by shifting them, on paper, to offshore tax havens. The provision was included even after an administration official conceded that the measure-which would cost taxpayers $21 billion over 10 years-would have “zero stimulative effect.”</p>
<p>Much of the lobbying for the tax breaks was orchestrated by Kenneth Kies, a partner at the accounting and lobbying firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers who previously worked on Capitol Hill as staff director of the Joint Committee on Taxation. Like other lobbyists, Kies suggested to reporters that he was only trying to do his patriotic duty by bolstering the bottom lines of some of the nation’s wealthiest corporations. “I wouldn’t be doing the job-not necessarily for my clients-but for my country,” he told the New York Times, “if I wasn’t being helpful in terms of offering ideas that can be helpful in stimulating the economy.”</p>
<p>But many didn’t find the ideas very helpful-especially when Republicans balked at extending direct assistance to workers struggling to pay for health insurance. “The House bill was a public-relations disaster, because it really read like it was written by K Street corporate lobbyists,” says Stephen Moore of the Cato Institute, the free-market think tank. “And unfortunately, the truth is that it was largely written by K Street corporate lobbyists.” With Senate Democrats refusing to sign on to the tax breaks, the stimulus package failed to win approval before Congress adjourned at the end of the year.</p>
<p>But despite the political setback, many seasoned observers say the lobbying landscape in Washington has shifted dramatically since Sept. 11. The corporate tax breaks are back on the table, they say, as industry lobbyists intent on raiding the federal treasury continue to sell their proposals by waving the flag or stirring public fears of future attacks. “Lobbyists are in the business of asking for things,” says the Heritage Foundation’s Ronald Utt. “And they adjust their message to whatever they think will sell. Right now that’s national security, economic stimulus, and disaster relief, and so they link what they want to one of those-better yet, to all three.”</p>
<p>Even the Bush administration is now playing the name game: Early this year White House spokesmen started referring to the president’s economic-stimulus package as an “economic security” plan.</p>
<p>“You know, this stuff never goes away,” says Robert McIntyre, director of Citizens for Tax Justice, a Washington-based watchdog organization. “They never close down K Street.”</p>
<p /> | 3,356 |
<p>JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Authorities say one person has died after a fire in a Jefferson City home and another is hospitalized.</p>
<p>The Jefferson City Fire Department said in a news release that the fire started early Wednesday and cause heavy fire damage to the home. The release described the injuries of the person who was rescued as significant.</p>
<p>No other details were immediately released, including the cause of the fire or the name of the victim. The release says an investigation is ongoing.</p>
<p>JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Authorities say one person has died after a fire in a Jefferson City home and another is hospitalized.</p>
<p>The Jefferson City Fire Department said in a news release that the fire started early Wednesday and cause heavy fire damage to the home. The release described the injuries of the person who was rescued as significant.</p>
<p>No other details were immediately released, including the cause of the fire or the name of the victim. The release says an investigation is ongoing.</p> | 1 dies, another injured in Jefferson City house fire | false | https://apnews.com/amp/ade2844e07984022b100b239482e42c0 | 2018-01-03 | 2least
| 1 dies, another injured in Jefferson City house fire
<p>JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Authorities say one person has died after a fire in a Jefferson City home and another is hospitalized.</p>
<p>The Jefferson City Fire Department said in a news release that the fire started early Wednesday and cause heavy fire damage to the home. The release described the injuries of the person who was rescued as significant.</p>
<p>No other details were immediately released, including the cause of the fire or the name of the victim. The release says an investigation is ongoing.</p>
<p>JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Authorities say one person has died after a fire in a Jefferson City home and another is hospitalized.</p>
<p>The Jefferson City Fire Department said in a news release that the fire started early Wednesday and cause heavy fire damage to the home. The release described the injuries of the person who was rescued as significant.</p>
<p>No other details were immediately released, including the cause of the fire or the name of the victim. The release says an investigation is ongoing.</p> | 3,357 |
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<p>Cobb County Police Detective Phil Stoddard testified at a hearing that evidence showed Justin Ross Harris was practically leading a double life and should not be granted bond. Stoddard described the evidence he said suggests Harris, who is charged with murder, killed his 22-month-old son Cooper intentionally.</p>
<p>Harris and his wife had two life insurance policies for the toddler, one for $2,000 and one for $25,000. Furthermore, Harris’ wife had become unhappy with her husband’s spending habits, Stoddard said.</p>
<p>At that same hearing, a judge refused to grant bond for Harris, meaning he will remain in jail.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Harris, 33, has told police he was supposed to drive his son to day care the morning of June 18 but drove to work without realizing that the child was strapped into a car seat in the back.</p>
<p>Harris was exchanging nude photos with several women, including at least one teenager, even on the day his son died when he was at work, Stoddard said.</p>
<p>However, defense attorney Maddox Kilgore said that evidence had no bearing on Harris’ intent.</p>
<p>“I think the real purpose of all that is to publicly shame him,” Kilgore said.</p>
<p>Kilgore also said Harris and his family will have to deal with what he called a catastrophic accident for the rest of their lives. Harris, who was stoic through most of the hearing, began crying at that point.</p>
<p>Leanna Harris, wife of Justin Ross Harris, the father of a toddler who died after police say he was left in a hot car for about seven hours, looks on during her husband’s bond hearing Thursday. (Kelly J. Huff/The Associated Press)</p>
<p>In the weeks before the boy’s death, Harris also had looked at a website that advocated against having children and had done an Internet search for “how to survive in prison,” the detective said.</p>
<p>“I think the evidence now is showing intent,” Stoddard said. He said Harris should remain in jail because he is a flight risk: There is evidence he was leading a double life, he has family in Alabama, and the former 911 dispatcher has law enforcement experience.</p>
<p>“An accident doesn’t become a crime because the results were catastrophic,” Kilgore said, arguing there wasn’t sufficient evidence to deny his client bond.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Harris is a native of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and moved to Georgia in 2012 to work for Home Depot.</p>
<p>The detective said after the boy died, Harris showed no emotion while being interviewed by investigators. At one point after Harris pulled over with the dead child in a strip mall parking lot, an officer told Harris to get off his cellphone, Stoddard said. Harris twice refused, using profanity, and was then arrested.</p>
<p>Scores of reporters and some curious members of the public were at the hearing just outside Atlanta, where police and prosecutors laid out the most detailed account yet of their case against Harris. Some of Harris’ supporters also were in the courtroom, as was his wife.</p>
<p>Stoddard also described Harris’ account of what happened that morning. Harris portrayed himself to investigators as a doting father who always kissed his son when he strapped him into the car seat because “he wanted Cooper to know his daddy loves him,” the detective said.</p>
<p>Harris told police he had watched cartoons in bed with the boy, then had breakfast with him at a Chick-fil-A restaurant. Harris said he forgot to drop the boy off at day care, instead driving straight to work.</p>
<p>Harris has said he did not realize the boy was still in the car until he left work. A defense witness testified that Harris appeared to be extremely upset after pulling into the parking lot, trying to do CPR on his son.</p>
<p>“He was saying, ‘Oh my God, oh my God, my son is dead, oh my God,'” witness Leonard Madden said.</p>
<p>Alex Hall, a friend of Harris since their sophomore year of college and a co-worker at Home Depot, said Harris talked about how much he loved his son all the time. He said he, another co-worker and college friend, Winston Milling, and Harris had gone to lunch the day the boy died and had planned to go to the movies after work that day.</p>
<p>“Nothing stuck out,” Hall said. “Nothing was weird.”</p>
<p>The two men later dropped Harris off at his car so he could put a couple of light bulbs he had purchased inside.</p>
<p>Kilgore, the defense attorney, said that showed Harris did not mean to leave the boy there.</p>
<p>“If that were the case, why in the world would he bring his colleagues right up to the car?” he asked.</p>
<p>Kilgore also said Harris had sent his wife a text that afternoon asking, “When are you going to get my buddy?”</p> | Police: Dad sent nude photos while boy was dying in hot car | false | https://abqjournal.com/424774/police-dad-sent-nude-photos-while-boy-was-dying-in-hot-car.html | 2least
| Police: Dad sent nude photos while boy was dying in hot car
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<p />
<p>Cobb County Police Detective Phil Stoddard testified at a hearing that evidence showed Justin Ross Harris was practically leading a double life and should not be granted bond. Stoddard described the evidence he said suggests Harris, who is charged with murder, killed his 22-month-old son Cooper intentionally.</p>
<p>Harris and his wife had two life insurance policies for the toddler, one for $2,000 and one for $25,000. Furthermore, Harris’ wife had become unhappy with her husband’s spending habits, Stoddard said.</p>
<p>At that same hearing, a judge refused to grant bond for Harris, meaning he will remain in jail.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Harris, 33, has told police he was supposed to drive his son to day care the morning of June 18 but drove to work without realizing that the child was strapped into a car seat in the back.</p>
<p>Harris was exchanging nude photos with several women, including at least one teenager, even on the day his son died when he was at work, Stoddard said.</p>
<p>However, defense attorney Maddox Kilgore said that evidence had no bearing on Harris’ intent.</p>
<p>“I think the real purpose of all that is to publicly shame him,” Kilgore said.</p>
<p>Kilgore also said Harris and his family will have to deal with what he called a catastrophic accident for the rest of their lives. Harris, who was stoic through most of the hearing, began crying at that point.</p>
<p>Leanna Harris, wife of Justin Ross Harris, the father of a toddler who died after police say he was left in a hot car for about seven hours, looks on during her husband’s bond hearing Thursday. (Kelly J. Huff/The Associated Press)</p>
<p>In the weeks before the boy’s death, Harris also had looked at a website that advocated against having children and had done an Internet search for “how to survive in prison,” the detective said.</p>
<p>“I think the evidence now is showing intent,” Stoddard said. He said Harris should remain in jail because he is a flight risk: There is evidence he was leading a double life, he has family in Alabama, and the former 911 dispatcher has law enforcement experience.</p>
<p>“An accident doesn’t become a crime because the results were catastrophic,” Kilgore said, arguing there wasn’t sufficient evidence to deny his client bond.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Harris is a native of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and moved to Georgia in 2012 to work for Home Depot.</p>
<p>The detective said after the boy died, Harris showed no emotion while being interviewed by investigators. At one point after Harris pulled over with the dead child in a strip mall parking lot, an officer told Harris to get off his cellphone, Stoddard said. Harris twice refused, using profanity, and was then arrested.</p>
<p>Scores of reporters and some curious members of the public were at the hearing just outside Atlanta, where police and prosecutors laid out the most detailed account yet of their case against Harris. Some of Harris’ supporters also were in the courtroom, as was his wife.</p>
<p>Stoddard also described Harris’ account of what happened that morning. Harris portrayed himself to investigators as a doting father who always kissed his son when he strapped him into the car seat because “he wanted Cooper to know his daddy loves him,” the detective said.</p>
<p>Harris told police he had watched cartoons in bed with the boy, then had breakfast with him at a Chick-fil-A restaurant. Harris said he forgot to drop the boy off at day care, instead driving straight to work.</p>
<p>Harris has said he did not realize the boy was still in the car until he left work. A defense witness testified that Harris appeared to be extremely upset after pulling into the parking lot, trying to do CPR on his son.</p>
<p>“He was saying, ‘Oh my God, oh my God, my son is dead, oh my God,'” witness Leonard Madden said.</p>
<p>Alex Hall, a friend of Harris since their sophomore year of college and a co-worker at Home Depot, said Harris talked about how much he loved his son all the time. He said he, another co-worker and college friend, Winston Milling, and Harris had gone to lunch the day the boy died and had planned to go to the movies after work that day.</p>
<p>“Nothing stuck out,” Hall said. “Nothing was weird.”</p>
<p>The two men later dropped Harris off at his car so he could put a couple of light bulbs he had purchased inside.</p>
<p>Kilgore, the defense attorney, said that showed Harris did not mean to leave the boy there.</p>
<p>“If that were the case, why in the world would he bring his colleagues right up to the car?” he asked.</p>
<p>Kilgore also said Harris had sent his wife a text that afternoon asking, “When are you going to get my buddy?”</p> | 3,358 |
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<p>Gaza has the look of a Third World country, with pockets of wealth surrounded by hideous poverty. It is not, however, undeveloped. Rather it is "de-developed," and very systematically so, to borrow the term from Sara Roy, the leading academic specialist on Gaza.</p>
<p>Even a single night in jail is enough to give a taste of what it means to be under the total control of some external force.</p>
<p>And it hardly takes more than a day in Gaza to appreciate what it must be like to try to survive in the world's largest open-air prison, where some 1.5 million people on a roughly 140-square-mile strip of land are subject to random terror and arbitrary punishment, with no purpose other than to humiliate and degrade.</p>
<p>Such cruelty is to ensure that Palestinian hopes for a decent future will be crushed, and that the overwhelming global support for a diplomatic settlement granting basic human rights will be nullified. The Israeli political leadership has dramatically illustrated this commitment in the past few days, warning that they will “go crazy” if Palestinian rights are given even limited recognition by the U.N.</p>
<p>This threat to “go crazy” (“nishtagea”)–that is, launch a tough response–is deeply rooted, stretching back to the Labor governments of the 1950s, along with the related “Samson Complex”: If crossed, we will bring down the Temple walls around us.</p>
<p>Thirty years ago, Israeli political leaders, including some noted hawks, submitted to Prime Minister Menachem Begin a shocking report on how settlers on the West Bank regularly committed “terrorist acts” against Arabs there, with total impunity.</p>
<p>Disgusted, the prominent military-political analyst Yoram Peri wrote that the Israeli army's task, it seemed, was not to defend the state, but “to demolish the rights of innocent people just because they are Araboushim (a harsh racial epithet) living in territories that God promised to us.”</p>
<p>Gazans have been singled out for particularly cruel punishment. Thirty years ago, in his memoir “The Third Way,” Raja Shehadeh, a lawyer, described the hopeless task of trying to protect fundamental human rights within a legal system designed to ensure failure, and his personal experience as a Samid, “a steadfast one,” who watched his home turned into a prison by brutal occupiers and could do nothing but somehow “endure.”</p>
<p>Since then, the situation has become much worse. The Oslo Accords, celebrated with much pomp in 1993, determined that Gaza and the West Bank are a single territorial entity. By that time, the U.S. and Israel had already initiated their program to separate Gaza and the West Bank, so as to block a diplomatic settlement and punish the Araboushim in both territories.</p>
<p>Punishment of Gazans became still more severe in January 2006, when they committed a major crime: They voted the “wrong way” in the first free election in the Arab world, electing Hamas.</p>
<p>Displaying their “yearning for democracy,” the U.S. and Israel, backed by the timid European Union, immediately imposed a brutal siege, along with military attacks. The U.S. turned at once to its standard operating procedure when a disobedient population elects the wrong government: Prepare a military coup to restore order.</p>
<p>Gazans committed a still greater crime a year later by blocking the coup attempt, leading to a sharp escalation of the siege and attacks. These culminated in winter 2008-09, with Operation Cast Lead, one of the most cowardly and vicious exercises of military force in recent memory: A defenseless civilian population, trapped, was subjected to relentless attack by one of the world's most advanced military systems, reliant on U.S. arms and protected by U.S. diplomacy.</p>
<p>Of course, there were pretexts–there always are. The usual one, trotted out when needed, is “security”: in this case, against homemade rockets from Gaza.</p>
<p>In 2008, a truce was established between Israel and Hamas. Not a single Hamas rocket was fired until Israel broke the truce under cover of the U.S. election on Nov. 4, invading Gaza for no good reason and killing half a dozen Hamas members.</p>
<p>The Israeli government was advised by its highest intelligence officials that the truce could be renewed by easing the criminal blockade and ending military attacks. But the government of Ehud Olmert–himself reputedly a dove–rejected these options, resorting to its huge advantage in violence: Operation Cast Lead.</p>
<p>The internationally respected Gazan human-rights advocate Raji Sourani analyzed the pattern of attack under Cast Lead. The bombing was concentrated in the north, targeting defenseless civilians in the most densely populated areas, with no possible military basis. The goal, Sourani suggests, may have been to drive the intimidated population to the south, near the Egyptian border. But the Samidin stayed put.</p>
<p>A further goal might have been to drive them beyond the border. From the earliest days of the Zionist colonization it was argued that Arabs have no real reason to be in Palestine: They can be just as happy somewhere else, and should leave–politely “transferred,” the doves suggested.</p>
<p>This is surely no small concern in Egypt, and perhaps a reason why Egypt doesn't open the border freely to civilians or even to desperately needed supplies.</p>
<p>Sourani and other knowledgeable sources have observed that the discipline of the Samidin conceals a powder keg that might explode at any time, unexpectedly, like the first Intifada in Gaza in 1987, after years of repression.</p>
<p>A necessarily superficial impression after spending several days in Gaza is amazement, not only at Gazans' ability to go on with life but also at the vibrancy and vitality among young people, particularly at the university, where I attended an international conference.</p>
<p>But one can detect signs that the pressure may become too hard to bear. Reports indicate that there is simmering frustration among young people–a recognition that under the U.S.-Israeli occupation the future holds nothing for them.</p>
<p>Gaza has the look of a Third World country, with pockets of wealth surrounded by hideous poverty. It is not, however, undeveloped. Rather it is “de-developed,” and very systematically so, to borrow the term from Sara Roy, the leading academic specialist on Gaza.</p>
<p>The Gaza Strip could have become a prosperous Mediterranean region, with rich agriculture and a flourishing fishing industry, marvelous beaches and, as discovered a decade ago, good prospects for extensive natural gas supplies within its territorial waters. By coincidence or not, that's when Israel intensified its naval blockade. The favorable prospects were aborted in 1948, when the Strip had to absorb a flood of Palestinian refugees who fled in terror or were forcefully expelled from what became Israel – in some cases months after the formal cease-fire. Israel's 1967 conquests and their aftermath administered further blows, with terrible crimes continuing to the present day.</p>
<p>The signs are easy to see, even on a brief visit. Sitting in a hotel near the shore, one can hear the machine-gun fire of Israeli gunboats driving fishermen out of Gaza's territorial waters and toward land, forcing them to fish in waters that are heavily polluted because of U.S.-Israeli refusal to allow reconstruction of the sewage and power systems they destroyed.</p>
<p>The Oslo Accords laid plans for two desalination plants, a necessity in this arid region. One, an advanced facility, was built: in Israel. The second one is in Khan Yunis, in the south of Gaza. The engineer in charge at Khan Yunis explained that this plant was designed so that it can't use seawater, but must rely on underground water, a cheaper process that further degrades the meager aquifer, guaranteeing severe problems in the future.</p>
<p>The water supply is still severely limited. The U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which cares for refugees but not other Gazans, recently released a report warning that damage to the aquifer may soon become “irreversible,” and that without quick remedial action, Gaza may cease to be a “livable place” by 2020.</p>
<p>Israel permits concrete to enter for UNRWA projects, but not for Gazans engaged in the huge reconstruction efforts. The limited heavy equipment mostly lies idle, since Israel does not permit materials for repair.</p>
<p>All this is part of the general program that Dov Weisglass, an adviser to Prime Minister Olmert, described after Palestinians failed to follow orders in the 2006 elections: “The idea,” he said, “is to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger.”</p>
<p>Recently, after several years of effort, the Israeli human rights organization Gisha succeeded in obtaining a court order for the government to release its records detailing plans for the “diet.” Jonathan Cook, a journalist based in Israel, summarizes them: “Health officials provided calculations of the minimum number of calories needed by Gaza's 1.5 million inhabitants to avoid malnutrition. Those figures were then translated into truckloads of food Israel was supposed to allow in each day … an average of only 67 trucks–much less than half of the minimum requirement–entered Gaza daily. This compared to more than 400 trucks before the blockade began.”</p>
<p>The result of imposing the diet, Middle East scholar Juan Cole observes, is that “about 10 percent of Palestinian children in Gaza under age 5 have had their growth stunted by malnutrition. … In addition, anemia is widespread, affecting over two-thirds of infants, 58.6 percent of schoolchildren, and over a third of pregnant mothers.”</p>
<p>Sourani, the human-rights advocate, observes that “what has to be kept in mind is that the occupation and the absolute closure is an ongoing attack on the human dignity of the people in Gaza in particular and all Palestinians generally. It is systematic degradation, humiliation, isolation and fragmentation of the Palestinian people.”</p>
<p>This conclusion has been confirmed by many other sources. In The Lancet, a leading medical journal, Rajaie Batniji, a visiting Stanford physician, describes Gaza as “something of a laboratory for observing an absence of dignity,” a condition that has “devastating” effects on physical, mental and social well-being.</p>
<p>“The constant surveillance from the sky, collective punishment through blockade and isolation, the intrusion into homes and communications, and restrictions on those trying to travel, or marry, or work make it difficult to live a dignified life in Gaza,” Batniji writes. The Araboushim must be taught not to raise their heads.</p>
<p>There were hopes that Mohammed Morsi's new government in Egypt, which is less in thrall to Israel than the western-backed Hosni Mubarak dictatorship was, might open the Rafah Crossing, Gaza's sole access to the outside that is not subject to direct Israeli control. There has been a slight opening, but not much.</p>
<p>The journalist Laila el-Haddad writes that the reopening under Morsi “is simply a return to status quo of years past: Only Palestinians carrying an Israeli-approved Gaza ID card can use Rafah Crossing.” This excludes a great many Palestinians, including el-Haddad's own family, where only one spouse has a card.</p>
<p>Furthermore, she continues, “the crossing does not lead to the West Bank, nor does it allow for the passage of goods, which are restricted to the Israeli-controlled crossings and subject to prohibitions on construction materials and export.”</p>
<p>The restricted Rafah Crossing doesn't change the fact that “Gaza remains under tight maritime and aerial siege, and continues to be closed off to the Palestinians' cultural, economic and academic capitals in the rest of the (Israeli-occupied territories), in violation of U.S.-Israeli obligations under the Oslo Accords.”</p>
<p>The effects are painfully evident. The director of the Khan Yunis hospital, who is also chief of surgery, describes with anger and passion how even medicines are lacking, which leaves doctors helpless and patients in agony.</p>
<p>One young woman reports on her late father's illness. Though he would have been proud that she was the first woman in the refugee camp to gain an advanced degree, she says, he “passed away after six months of fighting cancer, aged 60 years.</p>
<p>“Israeli occupation denied him a permit to go to Israeli hospitals for treatment. I had to suspend my study, work and life and go to sit next to his bed. We all sat, including my brother the physician and my sister the pharmacist, all powerless and hopeless, watching his suffering. He died during the inhumane blockade of Gaza in summer 2006 with very little access to health service.</p>
<p>“I think feeling powerless and hopeless is the most killing feeling that a human can ever have. It kills the spirit and breaks the heart. You can fight occupation but you cannot fight your feeling of being powerless. You can't even ever dissolve that feeling.”</p>
<p>A visitor to Gaza can't help feeling disgust at the obscenity of the occupation, compounded with guilt, because it is within our power to bring the suffering to an end and allow the Samidin to enjoy the lives of peace and dignity that they deserve.</p>
<p>Like what you’ve read? <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/itt-subscription-offer?refcode=WS_ITT_Article_Footer&amp;noskip=true" type="external">Subscribe to In These Times magazine</a>, or <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/support-in-these-times?refcode=WS_ITT_Article_Footer&amp;noskip=true" type="external">make a tax-deductible donation to fund this reporting</a>.</p>
<p>Noam Chomsky is Institute Professor and Professor of Linguistics (Emeritus) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the author of dozens of books on U.S. foreign policy. His most recent book is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/162779381X/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20" type="external">Who Rules the World?</a> from Metropolitan Books.</p> | Gaza, The World’s Largest Open-Air Prison | true | http://inthesetimes.com/article/14148/gaza_the_worlds_largest_open_air_prison | 2012-11-07 | 4left
| Gaza, The World’s Largest Open-Air Prison
<p>Gaza has the look of a Third World country, with pockets of wealth surrounded by hideous poverty. It is not, however, undeveloped. Rather it is "de-developed," and very systematically so, to borrow the term from Sara Roy, the leading academic specialist on Gaza.</p>
<p>Even a single night in jail is enough to give a taste of what it means to be under the total control of some external force.</p>
<p>And it hardly takes more than a day in Gaza to appreciate what it must be like to try to survive in the world's largest open-air prison, where some 1.5 million people on a roughly 140-square-mile strip of land are subject to random terror and arbitrary punishment, with no purpose other than to humiliate and degrade.</p>
<p>Such cruelty is to ensure that Palestinian hopes for a decent future will be crushed, and that the overwhelming global support for a diplomatic settlement granting basic human rights will be nullified. The Israeli political leadership has dramatically illustrated this commitment in the past few days, warning that they will “go crazy” if Palestinian rights are given even limited recognition by the U.N.</p>
<p>This threat to “go crazy” (“nishtagea”)–that is, launch a tough response–is deeply rooted, stretching back to the Labor governments of the 1950s, along with the related “Samson Complex”: If crossed, we will bring down the Temple walls around us.</p>
<p>Thirty years ago, Israeli political leaders, including some noted hawks, submitted to Prime Minister Menachem Begin a shocking report on how settlers on the West Bank regularly committed “terrorist acts” against Arabs there, with total impunity.</p>
<p>Disgusted, the prominent military-political analyst Yoram Peri wrote that the Israeli army's task, it seemed, was not to defend the state, but “to demolish the rights of innocent people just because they are Araboushim (a harsh racial epithet) living in territories that God promised to us.”</p>
<p>Gazans have been singled out for particularly cruel punishment. Thirty years ago, in his memoir “The Third Way,” Raja Shehadeh, a lawyer, described the hopeless task of trying to protect fundamental human rights within a legal system designed to ensure failure, and his personal experience as a Samid, “a steadfast one,” who watched his home turned into a prison by brutal occupiers and could do nothing but somehow “endure.”</p>
<p>Since then, the situation has become much worse. The Oslo Accords, celebrated with much pomp in 1993, determined that Gaza and the West Bank are a single territorial entity. By that time, the U.S. and Israel had already initiated their program to separate Gaza and the West Bank, so as to block a diplomatic settlement and punish the Araboushim in both territories.</p>
<p>Punishment of Gazans became still more severe in January 2006, when they committed a major crime: They voted the “wrong way” in the first free election in the Arab world, electing Hamas.</p>
<p>Displaying their “yearning for democracy,” the U.S. and Israel, backed by the timid European Union, immediately imposed a brutal siege, along with military attacks. The U.S. turned at once to its standard operating procedure when a disobedient population elects the wrong government: Prepare a military coup to restore order.</p>
<p>Gazans committed a still greater crime a year later by blocking the coup attempt, leading to a sharp escalation of the siege and attacks. These culminated in winter 2008-09, with Operation Cast Lead, one of the most cowardly and vicious exercises of military force in recent memory: A defenseless civilian population, trapped, was subjected to relentless attack by one of the world's most advanced military systems, reliant on U.S. arms and protected by U.S. diplomacy.</p>
<p>Of course, there were pretexts–there always are. The usual one, trotted out when needed, is “security”: in this case, against homemade rockets from Gaza.</p>
<p>In 2008, a truce was established between Israel and Hamas. Not a single Hamas rocket was fired until Israel broke the truce under cover of the U.S. election on Nov. 4, invading Gaza for no good reason and killing half a dozen Hamas members.</p>
<p>The Israeli government was advised by its highest intelligence officials that the truce could be renewed by easing the criminal blockade and ending military attacks. But the government of Ehud Olmert–himself reputedly a dove–rejected these options, resorting to its huge advantage in violence: Operation Cast Lead.</p>
<p>The internationally respected Gazan human-rights advocate Raji Sourani analyzed the pattern of attack under Cast Lead. The bombing was concentrated in the north, targeting defenseless civilians in the most densely populated areas, with no possible military basis. The goal, Sourani suggests, may have been to drive the intimidated population to the south, near the Egyptian border. But the Samidin stayed put.</p>
<p>A further goal might have been to drive them beyond the border. From the earliest days of the Zionist colonization it was argued that Arabs have no real reason to be in Palestine: They can be just as happy somewhere else, and should leave–politely “transferred,” the doves suggested.</p>
<p>This is surely no small concern in Egypt, and perhaps a reason why Egypt doesn't open the border freely to civilians or even to desperately needed supplies.</p>
<p>Sourani and other knowledgeable sources have observed that the discipline of the Samidin conceals a powder keg that might explode at any time, unexpectedly, like the first Intifada in Gaza in 1987, after years of repression.</p>
<p>A necessarily superficial impression after spending several days in Gaza is amazement, not only at Gazans' ability to go on with life but also at the vibrancy and vitality among young people, particularly at the university, where I attended an international conference.</p>
<p>But one can detect signs that the pressure may become too hard to bear. Reports indicate that there is simmering frustration among young people–a recognition that under the U.S.-Israeli occupation the future holds nothing for them.</p>
<p>Gaza has the look of a Third World country, with pockets of wealth surrounded by hideous poverty. It is not, however, undeveloped. Rather it is “de-developed,” and very systematically so, to borrow the term from Sara Roy, the leading academic specialist on Gaza.</p>
<p>The Gaza Strip could have become a prosperous Mediterranean region, with rich agriculture and a flourishing fishing industry, marvelous beaches and, as discovered a decade ago, good prospects for extensive natural gas supplies within its territorial waters. By coincidence or not, that's when Israel intensified its naval blockade. The favorable prospects were aborted in 1948, when the Strip had to absorb a flood of Palestinian refugees who fled in terror or were forcefully expelled from what became Israel – in some cases months after the formal cease-fire. Israel's 1967 conquests and their aftermath administered further blows, with terrible crimes continuing to the present day.</p>
<p>The signs are easy to see, even on a brief visit. Sitting in a hotel near the shore, one can hear the machine-gun fire of Israeli gunboats driving fishermen out of Gaza's territorial waters and toward land, forcing them to fish in waters that are heavily polluted because of U.S.-Israeli refusal to allow reconstruction of the sewage and power systems they destroyed.</p>
<p>The Oslo Accords laid plans for two desalination plants, a necessity in this arid region. One, an advanced facility, was built: in Israel. The second one is in Khan Yunis, in the south of Gaza. The engineer in charge at Khan Yunis explained that this plant was designed so that it can't use seawater, but must rely on underground water, a cheaper process that further degrades the meager aquifer, guaranteeing severe problems in the future.</p>
<p>The water supply is still severely limited. The U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which cares for refugees but not other Gazans, recently released a report warning that damage to the aquifer may soon become “irreversible,” and that without quick remedial action, Gaza may cease to be a “livable place” by 2020.</p>
<p>Israel permits concrete to enter for UNRWA projects, but not for Gazans engaged in the huge reconstruction efforts. The limited heavy equipment mostly lies idle, since Israel does not permit materials for repair.</p>
<p>All this is part of the general program that Dov Weisglass, an adviser to Prime Minister Olmert, described after Palestinians failed to follow orders in the 2006 elections: “The idea,” he said, “is to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger.”</p>
<p>Recently, after several years of effort, the Israeli human rights organization Gisha succeeded in obtaining a court order for the government to release its records detailing plans for the “diet.” Jonathan Cook, a journalist based in Israel, summarizes them: “Health officials provided calculations of the minimum number of calories needed by Gaza's 1.5 million inhabitants to avoid malnutrition. Those figures were then translated into truckloads of food Israel was supposed to allow in each day … an average of only 67 trucks–much less than half of the minimum requirement–entered Gaza daily. This compared to more than 400 trucks before the blockade began.”</p>
<p>The result of imposing the diet, Middle East scholar Juan Cole observes, is that “about 10 percent of Palestinian children in Gaza under age 5 have had their growth stunted by malnutrition. … In addition, anemia is widespread, affecting over two-thirds of infants, 58.6 percent of schoolchildren, and over a third of pregnant mothers.”</p>
<p>Sourani, the human-rights advocate, observes that “what has to be kept in mind is that the occupation and the absolute closure is an ongoing attack on the human dignity of the people in Gaza in particular and all Palestinians generally. It is systematic degradation, humiliation, isolation and fragmentation of the Palestinian people.”</p>
<p>This conclusion has been confirmed by many other sources. In The Lancet, a leading medical journal, Rajaie Batniji, a visiting Stanford physician, describes Gaza as “something of a laboratory for observing an absence of dignity,” a condition that has “devastating” effects on physical, mental and social well-being.</p>
<p>“The constant surveillance from the sky, collective punishment through blockade and isolation, the intrusion into homes and communications, and restrictions on those trying to travel, or marry, or work make it difficult to live a dignified life in Gaza,” Batniji writes. The Araboushim must be taught not to raise their heads.</p>
<p>There were hopes that Mohammed Morsi's new government in Egypt, which is less in thrall to Israel than the western-backed Hosni Mubarak dictatorship was, might open the Rafah Crossing, Gaza's sole access to the outside that is not subject to direct Israeli control. There has been a slight opening, but not much.</p>
<p>The journalist Laila el-Haddad writes that the reopening under Morsi “is simply a return to status quo of years past: Only Palestinians carrying an Israeli-approved Gaza ID card can use Rafah Crossing.” This excludes a great many Palestinians, including el-Haddad's own family, where only one spouse has a card.</p>
<p>Furthermore, she continues, “the crossing does not lead to the West Bank, nor does it allow for the passage of goods, which are restricted to the Israeli-controlled crossings and subject to prohibitions on construction materials and export.”</p>
<p>The restricted Rafah Crossing doesn't change the fact that “Gaza remains under tight maritime and aerial siege, and continues to be closed off to the Palestinians' cultural, economic and academic capitals in the rest of the (Israeli-occupied territories), in violation of U.S.-Israeli obligations under the Oslo Accords.”</p>
<p>The effects are painfully evident. The director of the Khan Yunis hospital, who is also chief of surgery, describes with anger and passion how even medicines are lacking, which leaves doctors helpless and patients in agony.</p>
<p>One young woman reports on her late father's illness. Though he would have been proud that she was the first woman in the refugee camp to gain an advanced degree, she says, he “passed away after six months of fighting cancer, aged 60 years.</p>
<p>“Israeli occupation denied him a permit to go to Israeli hospitals for treatment. I had to suspend my study, work and life and go to sit next to his bed. We all sat, including my brother the physician and my sister the pharmacist, all powerless and hopeless, watching his suffering. He died during the inhumane blockade of Gaza in summer 2006 with very little access to health service.</p>
<p>“I think feeling powerless and hopeless is the most killing feeling that a human can ever have. It kills the spirit and breaks the heart. You can fight occupation but you cannot fight your feeling of being powerless. You can't even ever dissolve that feeling.”</p>
<p>A visitor to Gaza can't help feeling disgust at the obscenity of the occupation, compounded with guilt, because it is within our power to bring the suffering to an end and allow the Samidin to enjoy the lives of peace and dignity that they deserve.</p>
<p>Like what you’ve read? <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/itt-subscription-offer?refcode=WS_ITT_Article_Footer&amp;noskip=true" type="external">Subscribe to In These Times magazine</a>, or <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/support-in-these-times?refcode=WS_ITT_Article_Footer&amp;noskip=true" type="external">make a tax-deductible donation to fund this reporting</a>.</p>
<p>Noam Chomsky is Institute Professor and Professor of Linguistics (Emeritus) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the author of dozens of books on U.S. foreign policy. His most recent book is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/162779381X/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20" type="external">Who Rules the World?</a> from Metropolitan Books.</p> | 3,359 |
<p>By Aditi Shah</p>
<p>NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s aggressive push to electrify all new vehicles by 2030 is compelling auto part manufacturers and carmakers to draw up early plans for electrification, company executives said.</p>
<p>A new auto policy is in the works and will include a roadmap for electric vehicles, a government official said, adding that this is likely to be made public before year-end.</p>
<p>Engine-maker Cummins (NYSE:) India is investing in research on electric mobility solutions for India, while Hyundai Motor Co has begun talks with some of its suppliers for components for electric cars, company executives said.</p>
<p>Ashok Leyland, which launched an electric bus last year, has partnered with Indian start-up SUN Mobility to develop battery-swapping technology for cars, buses and trucks.</p>
<p>“This is going to be a major challenge but it is one we have to embrace and not duck,” Anant Talaulicar, managing director, Cummins India said.</p>
<p>He said commercial vehicle makers in India have asked Cummins to look into electric mobility solutions and only once they make a proposal will the company commit to capital investments.</p>
<p>“It will not happen so soon. First we need to demonstrate the technology,” he said, adding that the company is open to acquisitions and partnerships as it would help get access to the technology faster.</p>
<p>Electric vehicles are expensive due to the high cost of batteries which are still not manufactured in India, and carmakers say a lack of charging stations could make the whole proposition unviable.</p>
<p>But the government is determined to push ahead.</p>
<p>In a stern warning to the auto industry, India’s road transport minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday asked companies to start building electric and alternative fuel vehicles or risk being overtaken by policy changes.</p>
<p>“Don’t get confused about policy and rules, foray into electric bikes, buses and cars. I won’t seek your suggestions over this. You have to diversify,” Gadkari said.</p>
<p>In May India’s leading think-tank laid out a 15-year roadmap for electrifying all new vehicles in the country by limiting registration of petrol and diesel cars while giving incentives and subsidies on sales of electric cars.</p>
<p>Electric car sales in India, one of the world’s fastest-growing car markets, are negligible compared with annual sales of over 3 million petrol and diesel cars last fiscal year, according to industry data.</p>
<p>Mahindra &amp; Mahindra is the only electric car maker in India but in a few years it may be joined by Tata Motors which has explored the possibility of building electric cars on its existing platform, managing director Guenter Butschek said.</p>
<p>Hyundai, which shelved plans to launch hybrid cars in India after the government’s electric push, said it will need to customize its existing electric cars for the Indian market.</p>
<p>If it is unable to adapt existing products, it will look at developing new electric cars for India, said Rakesh Srivastava, director, sales and marketing.</p>
<p>The Korean carmaker has begun talks with its existing suppliers but is also open to forming new partnerships to source components for electric cars.</p>
<p>“We would like to take a fresh look because we will need volumes,” Srivastava said.</p> | India's auto industry gears up for government's electric vehicles push | false | https://newsline.com/india039s-auto-industry-gears-up-for-government039s-electric-vehicles-push/ | 2017-09-10 | 1right-center
| India's auto industry gears up for government's electric vehicles push
<p>By Aditi Shah</p>
<p>NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s aggressive push to electrify all new vehicles by 2030 is compelling auto part manufacturers and carmakers to draw up early plans for electrification, company executives said.</p>
<p>A new auto policy is in the works and will include a roadmap for electric vehicles, a government official said, adding that this is likely to be made public before year-end.</p>
<p>Engine-maker Cummins (NYSE:) India is investing in research on electric mobility solutions for India, while Hyundai Motor Co has begun talks with some of its suppliers for components for electric cars, company executives said.</p>
<p>Ashok Leyland, which launched an electric bus last year, has partnered with Indian start-up SUN Mobility to develop battery-swapping technology for cars, buses and trucks.</p>
<p>“This is going to be a major challenge but it is one we have to embrace and not duck,” Anant Talaulicar, managing director, Cummins India said.</p>
<p>He said commercial vehicle makers in India have asked Cummins to look into electric mobility solutions and only once they make a proposal will the company commit to capital investments.</p>
<p>“It will not happen so soon. First we need to demonstrate the technology,” he said, adding that the company is open to acquisitions and partnerships as it would help get access to the technology faster.</p>
<p>Electric vehicles are expensive due to the high cost of batteries which are still not manufactured in India, and carmakers say a lack of charging stations could make the whole proposition unviable.</p>
<p>But the government is determined to push ahead.</p>
<p>In a stern warning to the auto industry, India’s road transport minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday asked companies to start building electric and alternative fuel vehicles or risk being overtaken by policy changes.</p>
<p>“Don’t get confused about policy and rules, foray into electric bikes, buses and cars. I won’t seek your suggestions over this. You have to diversify,” Gadkari said.</p>
<p>In May India’s leading think-tank laid out a 15-year roadmap for electrifying all new vehicles in the country by limiting registration of petrol and diesel cars while giving incentives and subsidies on sales of electric cars.</p>
<p>Electric car sales in India, one of the world’s fastest-growing car markets, are negligible compared with annual sales of over 3 million petrol and diesel cars last fiscal year, according to industry data.</p>
<p>Mahindra &amp; Mahindra is the only electric car maker in India but in a few years it may be joined by Tata Motors which has explored the possibility of building electric cars on its existing platform, managing director Guenter Butschek said.</p>
<p>Hyundai, which shelved plans to launch hybrid cars in India after the government’s electric push, said it will need to customize its existing electric cars for the Indian market.</p>
<p>If it is unable to adapt existing products, it will look at developing new electric cars for India, said Rakesh Srivastava, director, sales and marketing.</p>
<p>The Korean carmaker has begun talks with its existing suppliers but is also open to forming new partnerships to source components for electric cars.</p>
<p>“We would like to take a fresh look because we will need volumes,” Srivastava said.</p> | 3,360 |
<p>Joke:</p>
<p>Q: What’s the hardest part of being a child molester?</p>
<p>A: Getting the blood out of your clown suit.</p>
<p>Mr. St. Clair of this paper recently supplied me with <a href="" type="internal">a list of sex crimes</a> committed by prominent conservative Republicans. The list originated on Wikipedia, and he found it here, probably while surfing the Internet for Lolita pictures.</p>
<p>It is replete with cross-references and is genuine. Mr. St. Clair, being high on dope, thought I would find the list interesting. He probably did not think I would read the entire thing aloud to my co-workers at the Philistine Worker’s Daily, to heartbreaking cries of horror and implorations that I stop before their minds were so tainted they were rendered unfit for wedlock. I now bring you a mere sample of the list of crimes, all of them heinous, so that you might begin to see a pattern among them. I know I did. (A similar and more comprehensive list, including crimes can be found at the <a href="http://www.dkosopedia.com/wiki/Examples_of_Republican_hypocrisy_on_moral_values" type="external">web address</a> It will make your hair curl, uncurl, crawl under the sofa, and die.) You can’t make this shit up.</p>
<p>My subject is the so-called conservative male, by which I mean the social conservative, not the fiscal conservative; fiscal conservatives are mean-spirited sons of bitches, but are not necessarily psychotic. Both groups should stop breathing, but while one of them would be performing a courtesy in so doing, the other would be securing the future of the species. The depravity of the conservative male is in exact counter-proportion to the degree of righteousness towards which that conservative pretends. Or to put it another way, show me a pillar and I will show you a pervert. These are not healthy people. They repress the thoughts and feelings that the rest of us let drift unheeded into the ether, raising little more reaction from the well mind than ‘where the hell did that come from?’ I spent years driving my kid to school on a route (the shortest route, you swine) that took us past a Catholic high school. Every morning, swarms of teen girls in plaid kilties, knee socks, and white oxford shirts –a costume second only to the French Maid in terms of prurient association– could be seen on the school lawn, methodically rolling up the waistbands of their skirts to reveal as much thigh as possible before Morning Mass.</p>
<p>Did I harbor unclean thoughts as I drove past? Hell yes. Did I suppress these thoughts, ashamed lest God or offspring should glimpse them like a subscription-only cable channel through the slightly protuberant windows of my eyes? No, I did not. Why? Because they were just thoughts. I knew I would never dally with these young plaid-girt she-scholars, having no real desire to do so, nor access to a supply of GHB. The same cannot be said for conservative males. They are ravening sex fiends on a hair-trigger, doomed to act out their polluted fantasies because thought and deed are the same to them. (There’s something else wrong with conservative females, a subject I will not treat here. Mainly because they don’t seem to get caught as often as the males. I deal in facts, not speculation.)</p>
<p>Crushing to extinction our inner reptile response to stimuli of any kind, whether it is fear, hunger, or erotic desire (I can’t actually think of any other stimuli), is impossible. We are nothing more than ambulatory sacks of glandular secretion. Nature has decreed that life must replicate itself; it has no other innate purpose. One of the strategies for self-replication involves a thing we scientists like to call ‘urges’. That’s when a male gets a boner, for example. Organisms that attempt to suppress these urges quickly go mad and behave like Auntie Mildred’s Pomeranian, humping the vicar’s shoe until beaten senseless with a rolled newspaper. In contrast to this aberrant-suppressive approach to urges, the ‘normal’ response (that is, the response that is most efficient and least interruptive to an organism’s survival-oriented behaviors, such as holding down a day job or eating termites) is to allow such urges to pass. They are, after all, just urges. They do not exist.</p>
<p>I often have an urge to blacken my face with burnt cork and sing Mammy at the intersection of Wilmington and El Segundo in Compton, just to see what will happen. But I do not act on the urge. I allow the urge to come and go, just as I allow the palm trees to sway, the infinity pool to sparkle, and the polo ground to exhale dewy mist in the morning when I step out onto the balcony of the chateau. Things go on within us and without us, unbidden and unremarked-upon. To imagine one can control either one is madness. Could I cut the trees down, to make them still? Drain the pool? Pave the lawns? Yes, I could, overlooking certain zoning restrictions. But why would I? Somewhere there will be a swaying palm tree. It is inevitable that a person seeking such absolute control over the involuntary universe, whether it is inside his head or outside his French doors, will go insane. An urge is just like the swaying of a tree. It is only what it is, and harmless. An urge that is acted upon is no longer an urge. It is an action. Not harmless.</p>
<p>The real trouble comes when a human attempts to utterly quash a pervasive urge, such as the urge to mate, past the built-in tolerances of the organism to deny such behaviors. Your basic conservative male (Ann Coulter, for example) is a boiling cesspool of repressed urges. They see liberal types and imagine we are all fucking and sucking in some vast, sweaty daisy chain, just around the corner so they can’t see it happening. They think we’re all smoking pot and jamming cocaine-floured dildos up each other’s asses and listening to Negro Music. The conservative imagines all this, and immediately has to stuff these imaginings down in a dark inner place, because even imagining them is verboten. They are repressed, they are half-insane with paranoid delusions about what normal, open-minded people are getting up to-and most of all, they’re jealous as hell they weren’t invited to participate, if only so they could self-righteously say ‘no’. Liberals, meanwhile, are not necessarily getting laid any more than conservatives (probably we are, though), but we experience without judgment the passing fancies that occur to us, rather than dwelling upon them, half-nauseated, half-aroused, until they become detailed fantasy scenarios that beg to be put into action, presumably on someone too young to be familiar with the concept of sexual predators.</p>
<p>I have often posited in the past that most serious conservative males are latent homosexuals. They are tormented, according to this thesis, by knob-gobbling hobgoblins that were awakened during some fetishistic hazing ceremony back at the fraternity and have since been locked up in an inner love dungeon where they metamorphosed into demons of dingle-dandling depravity that would make even the most debased patrons of such establishments as The Manhole and the White Swallow (tragically defunct gay bars in Chicago) blench with horror. But this theory does a disservice to homosexuals. I reject the premise. Conservative males are not latent homosexuals, they are common perverts. It’s the tendency towards penny loafers and Georgian Revival that got me confused.</p>
<p>Homosexuality is, contrary to right-wing hate-think, not particularly unusual or unnatural in the natural world. Many species, particularly when there is some kind of population pressure (overgrazing, for example, or living in a Hassidic neighborhood) exhibit a rise in homosexual behavior that remains consistent in individuals throughout their lives. There is a famous example involving herds of bison, the details of which I have forgotten but I think there was a whole band of young bulls that ended up making their own slipcovers. Homosexuals that are open about their sexual identity are healthy and normal. They’re just healthy and normal in a revolting way if you’re not homosexual. The same thing could be said about corporate lawyers or the Swiss. Homosexuals that cannot accept what they are, do generally become right-wing cranks, and sometimes get caught testing the waters in the ole swimming hole, as it were. It can be said that all latent homosexuals are conservative, but all conservatives are not latent homosexuals. The ones in the latter category are dangerous freaks.</p>
<p>See, a conservative is somebody threatened by the quality of being different. As in: different race, gender, income bracket, ethnicity, religion, nationality, sexual inclination, language, philosophy, educational background, lifestyle, wardrobe, age group, taste in music, drugs, or literature, different ideas, spending patterns, abilities, politics, friends, entertainments, and hairstyle. Threatened by all of those things, usually. Conservatives are xenophobic to a degree that normal people cannot imagine. To be homosexual is to be not just different, but way different; this is intolerable, and leads many otherwise useful human beings into conservativism, hence the latency. But the latter category of conservative, the sexual deviant (it seems to me based upon my extremely well-reasoned examination of the above list), is the one that causes all the trouble, and should not be conflated with the homosexual. Queers (males, anyway) are born that way, like southpaws and redheads. On the other hand, sexual deviancy (as psychologists never tire of reminding us) is not inherited, but learned.</p>
<p>It’s always someone older. An adult gets at a child, teaches him or her the Way of the Willy, and slinks off into the night. Or the child is told again and again by an authoritarian parent full of bile and Bible that sex is dirty, that Jesus died a virgin, that sexual thoughts or feelings are the Devil turning the crank on your personal erector set. If Uncle Gerald made you play hide-the-salami every night for ten years, or if you feel erotic urges of any kind, you are not, these tragic youngsters learn, like normal people. You are –wait for it– different. Not only different, but exposed to ridicule, calumny, obloquy, and probably (assuming these conservatives actually believe the Biblical vitriol they’re forever spewing, which I am inclined to doubt) eligible for the Eternal Burning Torments Of Hell. Voila! A conservative perv is born: one that will eventually succumb to nasty deviant behaviors, unable to keep the lid on those early traumatic experiences, like Laocoön wrestling with his snakes and little boys.</p>
<p>If God is watching, why do these crackpots keep on buggering youngsters cross-eyed? Surely their bitter old God frowns on that as much as homosexuality, if not more so, and in many New England states it’s also illegal. If God can tell they’re thinking something off-color while driving past the Catholic school (the one that was on the shortest route to my kid’s school, for example), surely He can tell they’re plundering some press-ganged juvenile bottom in the cloakroom of the local ministry? I cannot say what logic supports this behavior. It is hypocrisy of the basest kind, certainly. It may be that the alpha-conservatives convince themselves it’s the children’s fault, for dressing up in those sexy terrycloth pyjamas with feet. Or maybe they are so drunk with power they imagine what they do isn’t wrong, channeling God’s authority first-hand, teaching the little naughties a valuable lesson.</p>
<p>But I think it comes down to conflating urges and actions, in the end (or ‘actions in the end’, if you prefer). These conservatives have spent their lives denying themselves and others various things: they deny themselves the mustachioed sailor of their dreams, and they deny black people basic civil rights. They deny themselves a furtive glance at an early-period Britney Spears video, and they deny women the right to reproductive freedom. The conservative doesn’t understand that an urge is only an urge, nothing more, and doesn’t understand that people who are different are not a threat to them personally, nor to their house-of-cards moral apparatus. They live in terror of being perceived to be different, of succumbing to their urges, and that terror, amalgamated with those simmering, repressed urges, manifests itself at last in vile, deviant behavior that strikes out at the world, wounding its most defenseless citizens and creating in the process a new generation of secret guilt and shame and fear of being different. I guess. Who knows. Maybe conservatives are just born fucked up in the head.</p>
<p>But a list like the one excerpted above is certainly thought-provoking. It reveals in miniature a pattern of behavior that can be found in people of all stripes and inclinations. There are plenty of liberal sex criminals, too, and deviants in every walk of life. The thing that is so repulsive about social conservatives (other than everything) is that they make it the central point of their lives to decry this stuff, calling down blood and thunder against such abomination, and then they do it. They abhor abortion because it is murder, and then they kill abortion providers on their doorsteps. They rant and rave about the dangers of gay marriage, and then they get caught gnawing on some 9th-grader’s weenie. The conservative male is a creature that wants to destroy everything that is different, everything that threatens to tickle an urge into a full-blown offense. He wants to create a world where there is no temptation, no opportunity that could incite his inner monster to erupt and embarrass him at some schoolgirl’s expense. It is of course insanity. I would almost pity the conservative male, except he’s destroying mankind and the world –the real world– in order to keep his imaginary world in order. He wants nothing more than absolute oppression of us sinners, libertines, and free thinkers, imagining in his feverish, gristly mind that if he oppresses us, he can somehow repress himself.</p>
<p>BEN TRIPP, author of <a href="http://books.lulu.com/content/86922" type="external">Square in the Nuts</a>, is a hack in many mediums. He may be reached at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | The Socially Conservative Male | true | https://counterpunch.org/2006/10/01/the-socially-conservative-male/ | 2006-10-01 | 4left
| The Socially Conservative Male
<p>Joke:</p>
<p>Q: What’s the hardest part of being a child molester?</p>
<p>A: Getting the blood out of your clown suit.</p>
<p>Mr. St. Clair of this paper recently supplied me with <a href="" type="internal">a list of sex crimes</a> committed by prominent conservative Republicans. The list originated on Wikipedia, and he found it here, probably while surfing the Internet for Lolita pictures.</p>
<p>It is replete with cross-references and is genuine. Mr. St. Clair, being high on dope, thought I would find the list interesting. He probably did not think I would read the entire thing aloud to my co-workers at the Philistine Worker’s Daily, to heartbreaking cries of horror and implorations that I stop before their minds were so tainted they were rendered unfit for wedlock. I now bring you a mere sample of the list of crimes, all of them heinous, so that you might begin to see a pattern among them. I know I did. (A similar and more comprehensive list, including crimes can be found at the <a href="http://www.dkosopedia.com/wiki/Examples_of_Republican_hypocrisy_on_moral_values" type="external">web address</a> It will make your hair curl, uncurl, crawl under the sofa, and die.) You can’t make this shit up.</p>
<p>My subject is the so-called conservative male, by which I mean the social conservative, not the fiscal conservative; fiscal conservatives are mean-spirited sons of bitches, but are not necessarily psychotic. Both groups should stop breathing, but while one of them would be performing a courtesy in so doing, the other would be securing the future of the species. The depravity of the conservative male is in exact counter-proportion to the degree of righteousness towards which that conservative pretends. Or to put it another way, show me a pillar and I will show you a pervert. These are not healthy people. They repress the thoughts and feelings that the rest of us let drift unheeded into the ether, raising little more reaction from the well mind than ‘where the hell did that come from?’ I spent years driving my kid to school on a route (the shortest route, you swine) that took us past a Catholic high school. Every morning, swarms of teen girls in plaid kilties, knee socks, and white oxford shirts –a costume second only to the French Maid in terms of prurient association– could be seen on the school lawn, methodically rolling up the waistbands of their skirts to reveal as much thigh as possible before Morning Mass.</p>
<p>Did I harbor unclean thoughts as I drove past? Hell yes. Did I suppress these thoughts, ashamed lest God or offspring should glimpse them like a subscription-only cable channel through the slightly protuberant windows of my eyes? No, I did not. Why? Because they were just thoughts. I knew I would never dally with these young plaid-girt she-scholars, having no real desire to do so, nor access to a supply of GHB. The same cannot be said for conservative males. They are ravening sex fiends on a hair-trigger, doomed to act out their polluted fantasies because thought and deed are the same to them. (There’s something else wrong with conservative females, a subject I will not treat here. Mainly because they don’t seem to get caught as often as the males. I deal in facts, not speculation.)</p>
<p>Crushing to extinction our inner reptile response to stimuli of any kind, whether it is fear, hunger, or erotic desire (I can’t actually think of any other stimuli), is impossible. We are nothing more than ambulatory sacks of glandular secretion. Nature has decreed that life must replicate itself; it has no other innate purpose. One of the strategies for self-replication involves a thing we scientists like to call ‘urges’. That’s when a male gets a boner, for example. Organisms that attempt to suppress these urges quickly go mad and behave like Auntie Mildred’s Pomeranian, humping the vicar’s shoe until beaten senseless with a rolled newspaper. In contrast to this aberrant-suppressive approach to urges, the ‘normal’ response (that is, the response that is most efficient and least interruptive to an organism’s survival-oriented behaviors, such as holding down a day job or eating termites) is to allow such urges to pass. They are, after all, just urges. They do not exist.</p>
<p>I often have an urge to blacken my face with burnt cork and sing Mammy at the intersection of Wilmington and El Segundo in Compton, just to see what will happen. But I do not act on the urge. I allow the urge to come and go, just as I allow the palm trees to sway, the infinity pool to sparkle, and the polo ground to exhale dewy mist in the morning when I step out onto the balcony of the chateau. Things go on within us and without us, unbidden and unremarked-upon. To imagine one can control either one is madness. Could I cut the trees down, to make them still? Drain the pool? Pave the lawns? Yes, I could, overlooking certain zoning restrictions. But why would I? Somewhere there will be a swaying palm tree. It is inevitable that a person seeking such absolute control over the involuntary universe, whether it is inside his head or outside his French doors, will go insane. An urge is just like the swaying of a tree. It is only what it is, and harmless. An urge that is acted upon is no longer an urge. It is an action. Not harmless.</p>
<p>The real trouble comes when a human attempts to utterly quash a pervasive urge, such as the urge to mate, past the built-in tolerances of the organism to deny such behaviors. Your basic conservative male (Ann Coulter, for example) is a boiling cesspool of repressed urges. They see liberal types and imagine we are all fucking and sucking in some vast, sweaty daisy chain, just around the corner so they can’t see it happening. They think we’re all smoking pot and jamming cocaine-floured dildos up each other’s asses and listening to Negro Music. The conservative imagines all this, and immediately has to stuff these imaginings down in a dark inner place, because even imagining them is verboten. They are repressed, they are half-insane with paranoid delusions about what normal, open-minded people are getting up to-and most of all, they’re jealous as hell they weren’t invited to participate, if only so they could self-righteously say ‘no’. Liberals, meanwhile, are not necessarily getting laid any more than conservatives (probably we are, though), but we experience without judgment the passing fancies that occur to us, rather than dwelling upon them, half-nauseated, half-aroused, until they become detailed fantasy scenarios that beg to be put into action, presumably on someone too young to be familiar with the concept of sexual predators.</p>
<p>I have often posited in the past that most serious conservative males are latent homosexuals. They are tormented, according to this thesis, by knob-gobbling hobgoblins that were awakened during some fetishistic hazing ceremony back at the fraternity and have since been locked up in an inner love dungeon where they metamorphosed into demons of dingle-dandling depravity that would make even the most debased patrons of such establishments as The Manhole and the White Swallow (tragically defunct gay bars in Chicago) blench with horror. But this theory does a disservice to homosexuals. I reject the premise. Conservative males are not latent homosexuals, they are common perverts. It’s the tendency towards penny loafers and Georgian Revival that got me confused.</p>
<p>Homosexuality is, contrary to right-wing hate-think, not particularly unusual or unnatural in the natural world. Many species, particularly when there is some kind of population pressure (overgrazing, for example, or living in a Hassidic neighborhood) exhibit a rise in homosexual behavior that remains consistent in individuals throughout their lives. There is a famous example involving herds of bison, the details of which I have forgotten but I think there was a whole band of young bulls that ended up making their own slipcovers. Homosexuals that are open about their sexual identity are healthy and normal. They’re just healthy and normal in a revolting way if you’re not homosexual. The same thing could be said about corporate lawyers or the Swiss. Homosexuals that cannot accept what they are, do generally become right-wing cranks, and sometimes get caught testing the waters in the ole swimming hole, as it were. It can be said that all latent homosexuals are conservative, but all conservatives are not latent homosexuals. The ones in the latter category are dangerous freaks.</p>
<p>See, a conservative is somebody threatened by the quality of being different. As in: different race, gender, income bracket, ethnicity, religion, nationality, sexual inclination, language, philosophy, educational background, lifestyle, wardrobe, age group, taste in music, drugs, or literature, different ideas, spending patterns, abilities, politics, friends, entertainments, and hairstyle. Threatened by all of those things, usually. Conservatives are xenophobic to a degree that normal people cannot imagine. To be homosexual is to be not just different, but way different; this is intolerable, and leads many otherwise useful human beings into conservativism, hence the latency. But the latter category of conservative, the sexual deviant (it seems to me based upon my extremely well-reasoned examination of the above list), is the one that causes all the trouble, and should not be conflated with the homosexual. Queers (males, anyway) are born that way, like southpaws and redheads. On the other hand, sexual deviancy (as psychologists never tire of reminding us) is not inherited, but learned.</p>
<p>It’s always someone older. An adult gets at a child, teaches him or her the Way of the Willy, and slinks off into the night. Or the child is told again and again by an authoritarian parent full of bile and Bible that sex is dirty, that Jesus died a virgin, that sexual thoughts or feelings are the Devil turning the crank on your personal erector set. If Uncle Gerald made you play hide-the-salami every night for ten years, or if you feel erotic urges of any kind, you are not, these tragic youngsters learn, like normal people. You are –wait for it– different. Not only different, but exposed to ridicule, calumny, obloquy, and probably (assuming these conservatives actually believe the Biblical vitriol they’re forever spewing, which I am inclined to doubt) eligible for the Eternal Burning Torments Of Hell. Voila! A conservative perv is born: one that will eventually succumb to nasty deviant behaviors, unable to keep the lid on those early traumatic experiences, like Laocoön wrestling with his snakes and little boys.</p>
<p>If God is watching, why do these crackpots keep on buggering youngsters cross-eyed? Surely their bitter old God frowns on that as much as homosexuality, if not more so, and in many New England states it’s also illegal. If God can tell they’re thinking something off-color while driving past the Catholic school (the one that was on the shortest route to my kid’s school, for example), surely He can tell they’re plundering some press-ganged juvenile bottom in the cloakroom of the local ministry? I cannot say what logic supports this behavior. It is hypocrisy of the basest kind, certainly. It may be that the alpha-conservatives convince themselves it’s the children’s fault, for dressing up in those sexy terrycloth pyjamas with feet. Or maybe they are so drunk with power they imagine what they do isn’t wrong, channeling God’s authority first-hand, teaching the little naughties a valuable lesson.</p>
<p>But I think it comes down to conflating urges and actions, in the end (or ‘actions in the end’, if you prefer). These conservatives have spent their lives denying themselves and others various things: they deny themselves the mustachioed sailor of their dreams, and they deny black people basic civil rights. They deny themselves a furtive glance at an early-period Britney Spears video, and they deny women the right to reproductive freedom. The conservative doesn’t understand that an urge is only an urge, nothing more, and doesn’t understand that people who are different are not a threat to them personally, nor to their house-of-cards moral apparatus. They live in terror of being perceived to be different, of succumbing to their urges, and that terror, amalgamated with those simmering, repressed urges, manifests itself at last in vile, deviant behavior that strikes out at the world, wounding its most defenseless citizens and creating in the process a new generation of secret guilt and shame and fear of being different. I guess. Who knows. Maybe conservatives are just born fucked up in the head.</p>
<p>But a list like the one excerpted above is certainly thought-provoking. It reveals in miniature a pattern of behavior that can be found in people of all stripes and inclinations. There are plenty of liberal sex criminals, too, and deviants in every walk of life. The thing that is so repulsive about social conservatives (other than everything) is that they make it the central point of their lives to decry this stuff, calling down blood and thunder against such abomination, and then they do it. They abhor abortion because it is murder, and then they kill abortion providers on their doorsteps. They rant and rave about the dangers of gay marriage, and then they get caught gnawing on some 9th-grader’s weenie. The conservative male is a creature that wants to destroy everything that is different, everything that threatens to tickle an urge into a full-blown offense. He wants to create a world where there is no temptation, no opportunity that could incite his inner monster to erupt and embarrass him at some schoolgirl’s expense. It is of course insanity. I would almost pity the conservative male, except he’s destroying mankind and the world –the real world– in order to keep his imaginary world in order. He wants nothing more than absolute oppression of us sinners, libertines, and free thinkers, imagining in his feverish, gristly mind that if he oppresses us, he can somehow repress himself.</p>
<p>BEN TRIPP, author of <a href="http://books.lulu.com/content/86922" type="external">Square in the Nuts</a>, is a hack in many mediums. He may be reached at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | 3,361 |
<p>BYRON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — A crash in western Michigan involving two tractor-trailers has damaged and closed a highway overpass.</p>
<p>Michigan State Police say the semi-trucks were carrying an oversized shipping container Friday night when they struck the 100th Street overpass on U.S. 131 in Byron Township, south of Grand Rapids. Nobody was hurt.</p>
<p>The highway was shut down for about an hour but the overpass remains closed as inspections continue.</p>
<p>BYRON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — A crash in western Michigan involving two tractor-trailers has damaged and closed a highway overpass.</p>
<p>Michigan State Police say the semi-trucks were carrying an oversized shipping container Friday night when they struck the 100th Street overpass on U.S. 131 in Byron Township, south of Grand Rapids. Nobody was hurt.</p>
<p>The highway was shut down for about an hour but the overpass remains closed as inspections continue.</p> | Michigan crash involving semi-trucks damage, close overpass | false | https://apnews.com/amp/ea4739eccd85448fb83f06838bdbbb8a | 2018-01-13 | 2least
| Michigan crash involving semi-trucks damage, close overpass
<p>BYRON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — A crash in western Michigan involving two tractor-trailers has damaged and closed a highway overpass.</p>
<p>Michigan State Police say the semi-trucks were carrying an oversized shipping container Friday night when they struck the 100th Street overpass on U.S. 131 in Byron Township, south of Grand Rapids. Nobody was hurt.</p>
<p>The highway was shut down for about an hour but the overpass remains closed as inspections continue.</p>
<p>BYRON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — A crash in western Michigan involving two tractor-trailers has damaged and closed a highway overpass.</p>
<p>Michigan State Police say the semi-trucks were carrying an oversized shipping container Friday night when they struck the 100th Street overpass on U.S. 131 in Byron Township, south of Grand Rapids. Nobody was hurt.</p>
<p>The highway was shut down for about an hour but the overpass remains closed as inspections continue.</p> | 3,362 |
<p>By William D. Hartung / <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/176298/" type="external">TomDispatch</a></p>
<p>President Trump and first lady Melania Trump are welcomed by King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in May. ( <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Donald_and_Melania_Trump_are_welcomed_by_King_Salman_bin_Abdulaziz_Al_Saud,_May_2017.jpg" type="external">Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead</a>)</p>
<p>At this point, it’s no great surprise when Donald Trump walks away from past statements in service to some impulse of the moment. Nowhere, however, has such a shift been more extreme or its potential consequences more dangerous than in his sudden love affair with the Saudi royal family. It could in the end destabilize the Middle East in ways not seen in our lifetimes (which, given the growing chaos in the region, is no small thing to say).</p>
<p />
<p>Trump’s newfound ardor for the Saudi regime is a far cry from his past positions, including his campaign season <a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/05/18/donald-trump-said-saudi-arabia-was-behind-911-now-hes-going-there-on-his-first-foreign-trip/" type="external">assertion</a> that the Saudis were behind the 9/11 attacks and <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2017-04-27/exclusive-trump-complains-saudis-not-paying-fair-share-for-us-defense" type="external">complaints</a>, as recently as this April, that the United States was losing a “tremendous amount of money” defending the kingdom.&#160; That was yet another example of the sort of bad deal that President Trump was going to set right as part of his “America First” foreign policy.</p>
<p>Given this background, it came as a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/global-opinions/wp/2017/05/21/trumps-bizarre-and-un-american-visit-to-saudi-arabia/" type="external">surprise</a> to pundits, politicians, and foreign policy experts alike when the president chose Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, as the very first stop on his very first overseas trip. This was clearly meant to underscore the importance his administration was suddenly placing on the need to bolster the long-standing U.S.-Saudi alliance.</p>
<p>Mindful of Trump’s vanity, the Saudi government rolled out <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/20/world/middleeast/saudi-arabia-king-salman-donald-trump-visit.html?_r=0" type="external">the red carpet</a> for our narcissist-in-chief, lining the streets for miles with alternating U.S. and Saudi flags, huge images of which were projected onto the Ritz Carlton hotel where Trump was staying. (Before his arrival, in a sign of the psychological astuteness of his Saudi hosts, the hotel <a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/ritz-carlton-in-riyadh-projects-five-story-portrait-of-trump-on-side-of-hotel/article/2623669" type="external">projected</a> a five-story-high image of Trump himself onto its façade, pairing it with a similarly huge and flattering photo of the country’s ruler, King Salman.)&#160; His hosts also put up billboards with pictures of Trump and Salman over the slogan “together we prevail.”&#160; What exactly the two countries were to prevail against was left open to interpretation.&#160; It is, however, unlikely that the Saudis were thinking about Trump’s much-denounced enemy, ISIS — given that Saudi planes, deep into a war in neighboring Yemen, <a href="https://airwars.org/data/" type="external">have rarely joined</a> Washington’s air war against that outfit.&#160; More likely, what they had in mind was their country’s bitter regional rival Iran.</p>
<p>The agenda planned for Trump’s stay <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/us-and-gulf-nations-agree-to-crack-down-on-terror-financing/2017/05/21/e1222b34-3dfd-11e7-9e48-c4f199710b69_story.html?utm_term=.9f0f9f63ea03" type="external">included</a> an anti-terrorism summit attended by 50 leaders from Arab and Muslim nations, a concert by country singer Toby Keith, and an exhibition game by the Harlem Globetrotters. Then there were the strange touches like President Trump, King Salman, and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/22/world/middleeast/trump-glowing-orb-saudi.html" type="external">laying hands</a> on a futuristically glowing orb — images of which then circled the planet — in a ceremony inaugurating a new <a href="http://etidal.org/" type="external">Global Center for Combatting Extremist Ideology</a>, and Trump’s <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/20/politics/trump-saudi-arabia-dance/index.html" type="external">awkward participation</a> in an all-male sword dance.</p>
<p>Unsurprisingly enough, the president was pleased with the spectacle staged in his honor, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/09/world/middleeast/rex-tillerson-calls-for-calm-in-middle-east-standoff-with-qatar.html?hp&amp;action=click&amp;pgtype=Homepage&amp;clickSource=story-heading&amp;module=first-column-region&amp;region=top-news&amp;WT.nav=top-news&amp;_r=0" type="external">saying</a> of the anti-terrorism summit in one of his many signature flights of hyperbole, “There has never been anything like it before, and perhaps there never will be again.”</p>
<p>Here, however, is a statement that shouldn’t qualify as hyperbole: never have such preparations for a presidential visit paid such quick dividends.&#160; On arriving home, Trump jumped at the chance to embrace a fierce Saudi attempt to blockade and isolate its tiny neighbor Qatar, the policies of whose emir have <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/13/world/middleeast/how-the-saudi-qatar-rivalry-now-combusting-reshaped-the-middle-east.html" type="external">long irritated</a> them.&#160; The Saudis claimed to be focused on that country’s alleged role in financing terrorist groups in the region (a category they themselves fit into <a href="http://www.salon.com/2016/01/06/saudi_arabia_funds_and_exports_islamic_extremism_the_truth_behind_the_toxic_u_s_relationship_with_the_theocratic_nation/" type="external">remarkably well</a>).&#160; More likely, however, the royal family wanted to bring Qatar to heel after it failed to jump enthusiastically onto the Saudi-led anti-Iranian bandwagon.</p>
<p>Trump, who clearly knew nothing about the subject, accepted the Saudi move with alacrity and at face value. In his normal fashion, he even tried to take credit for it, <a href="http://thehill.com/policy/defense/336557-foreign-relations-chairman-stunned-silenced-by-trumps-qatar-tweets" type="external">tweeting</a>, “During my recent trip to the Middle East I stated that there can no longer be funding of Radical Ideology.&#160; Leaders pointed to Qatar — look!”&#160; And according to Trump, the historic impact of his travels hardly stopped there.&#160; As he also <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/News/world/middle-east/trump-qatar-saudi-arabia-end-of-terrorism-tweet-latest-us-president-a7775661.html" type="external">tweeted</a>: “So good to see Saudi Arabia visit with the King and 50 countries paying off… Perhaps it will be the beginning of the end of the horror of terrorism.”&#160;</p>
<p>Bruce Riedel of the Brookings Institution hit the nail on the head when he <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/06/world/middleeast/trump-qatar-saudi-arabia.html" type="external">commented</a> that “the Saudis played Donald Trump like a fiddle.&#160; He unwittingly encouraged their worst instincts toward their neighbors.” The New York Times captured one likely impact of the Saudi move against Qatar when it <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/07/world/middleeast/trump-qatar-saudi-arabia-middle-east.html" type="external">reported</a>, “Analysts said Mr. Trump’s public support for Saudi Arabia… sent a chill through other Gulf States, including Oman and Kuwait, for fear that any country that defies the Saudis or the United Arab Emirates could face ostracism as Qatar has.”</p>
<p>And Then Came Trump…</p>
<p>And what precisely are the Saudis’ instincts toward their neighbors?&#160; The leaders in Riyadh, led by King Salman’s 31-year-old son, Saudi Defense Minister and deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, are <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/donald-trump-saudi-arabia-visit-means-war-with-iran-a7732861.html" type="external">taking the gloves off</a> in an increasingly aggressive bid for regional dominance aimed at isolating Iran. &#160;The defense minister and potential <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/16/world/rise-of-saudi-prince-shatters-decades-of-royal-tradition.html?_r=0" type="external">future leader</a> of the kingdom, whose policies have been <a href="http://www.mintpressnews.com/prince-mohammed-bin-salman-naive-arrogant-saudi-prince-is-playing-with-fire/212660/" type="external">described</a> as reckless and impulsive, <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/donald-trump-saudi-arabia-visit-means-war-with-iran-a7732861.html" type="external">underscored</a> the new, harsher line on Iran in an interview with Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV in which he said, “We will not wait until the battle is in Saudi Arabia, but we will work so the battle is there in Iran.”</p>
<p>The opening salvo in Saudi Arabia’s anti-Iran campaign came in March 2015, when a Saudi-led coalition, including smaller Gulf petro-states (Qatar among them) and Egypt, <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-32061632" type="external">intervened</a> militarily in a chaotic situation in Yemen in an effort to reinstall Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi as the president of that country.&#160; They clearly expected a quick victory over their ill-armed enemies and yet, more than two years later, in a war that has grown ever harsher, they have in fact achieved little.&#160; Hadi, a pro-Saudi leader, had served as that country’s interim president under an agreement that, in the wake of the Arab Spring in 2012, <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29319423" type="external">ousted</a> longstanding Yemeni autocrat Ali Abdullah Saleh.&#160; In January 2015, Hadi himself was <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29319423" type="external">deposed</a> by an alliance of Houthi rebels and remnants of forces loyal to former president Saleh.</p>
<p>The Saudis — now joined by Trump and his foreign policy team — have characterized the conflict as a war to blunt Iranian influence and the Houthi rebels have been cast as the vassals of Tehran.&#160; In reality, they have longstanding political and economic grievances that predate the current conflict and they would undoubtedly be fighting at this moment with or without support from Iran.&#160; As Middle Eastern expert Thomas Juneau recently <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/05/16/contrary-to-popular-belief-houthis-arent-iranian-proxies/?utm_term=.bc6c9dc161d7" type="external">noted</a> in the Washington Post, “Tehran’s support for the Houthis is limited, and its influence in Yemen is marginal. It is simply inaccurate to claim that the Houthis are Iranian proxies.”</p>
<p>The Saudi-Emirati intervention in Yemen has had disastrous results.&#160; Thousands of civilians have been <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/05/20/trump-reward-saudi-war-crimes-weapons" type="external">killed</a> in an indiscriminate bombing campaign that has targeted hospitals, marketplaces, civilian neighborhoods, and even a funeral, in actions that Congressman Ted Lieu (D-CA) has <a href="https://theintercept.com/2016/08/22/a-congressman-campaigns-to-stop-the-madness-of-u-s-support-for-saudi-bombing-in-yemen/" type="external">said</a> “look like war crimes.”&#160; The Saudi bombing campaign has, in addition, been <a href="https://www.ciponline.org/research/entry/u.s.-arms-transfers-to-saudi-arabia-and-the-war-in-yemen" type="external">enabled</a> by Washington, which has supplied the kingdom with bombs, including <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/20/opinion/obama-saudi-arabia-trade-cluster-bombs.html" type="external">cluster munitions</a>, and aircraft, while providing aerial refueling services to Saudi planes to ensure longer missions and the ability to hit more targets.&#160; It has also shared intelligence on targeting in Yemen.</p>
<p>The destruction of that country’s port facilities and the <a href="http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=21496&amp;LangID=E" type="external">imposition</a> of a naval blockade have had an even more devastating effect, radically reducing the ability of aid groups to get food, medicine, and other essential supplies into a country now suffering from a <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/13/health/yemen-cholera-outbreak/index.html" type="external">major outbreak</a> of cholera and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/mar/16/yemen-conflict-7-million-close-to-famine" type="external">on the brink</a> of a massive famine. This situation will only be made worse if the coalition tries to <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2017-04-05/un-urges-yemen-parties-to-keep-hodeidah-port-safe" type="external">retake</a> the port of Hodeidah, the entry point for most of the humanitarian aid still getting into Yemen. Not only has the U.S.-backed Saudi war sparked a humanitarian crisis, but it has inadvertently <a href="http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/yemen-aqap/" type="external">strengthened</a> al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which has increased its influence in Yemen while the Saudi- and Houthi-led coalitions are busy fighting each other.</p>
<p>Trump’s all-in support for the Saudis in its war doesn’t, in fact, come out of the blue. Despite some internal divisions over the wisdom of doing so, the Obama administration also supported the Saudi war effort in a major way. This was part of an attempt to <a href="https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/us-should-stop-supporting-war-yemen" type="external">reassure</a> the royals that the United States was still on their side and would not tilt towards Iran in the wake of an agreement to cap and reverse that country’s nuclear program.</p>
<p>It was only after concerted <a href="https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2017-06/news-briefs/fight-brewing-saudi-arms-sales" type="external">pressure</a> from Congress and a coalition of peace, human rights, and humanitarian aid groups that the Obama administration finally took a concrete, if limited, step to express opposition to the Saudi targeting of civilians in Yemen.&#160; In a December 2016 <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-saudiarabia-yemen-exclusive-idUSKBN1421UK" type="external">decision</a>, it suspended a sale of laser-guided bombs and other precision-guided munitions to their military.&#160; The move outraged the Saudis, but proved at best a halfway measure as the refueling of Saudi aircraft continued, and none of rest of the record <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-saudi-security-idUSKCN11D2JQ" type="external">$115 billion</a> in U.S. weaponry offered to that country during the Obama years was affected.</p>
<p>And then came Trump.&#160; His administration has doubled down on the Saudi war in Yemen by lifting the suspension of the bomb deal, despite the <a href="https://www.murphy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/murphy-paul-franken-demand-senate-vote-on-proposed-weapons-sale-to-saudi-arabia" type="external">objections</a> of a Senate coalition led by Chris Murphy (D-CT), Rand Paul (R-KY), and Al Franken (D-MN) that recently <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/senate-approves-first-portion-of-trumps-saudi-weapons-deal_us_59395477e4b0061054802abb" type="external">mustered</a> an unprecedented 47 votes against Trump’s offer of precision-guided bombs to Riyadh.&#160; Defense Secretary James Mattis has <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-administration-weighs-deeper-involvement-in-yemen-war/2017/03/26/b81eecd8-0e49-11e7-9d5a-a83e627dc120_story.html?utm_term=.9ade0e868213" type="external">advocated</a> yet more vigorous support for the Saudi-led intervention, including additional planning assistance and yet more intelligence sharing — but not, for the moment, the introduction of U.S. troops.&#160; Although the Trump foreign policy team has refused to endorse a proposal by the United Arab Emirates, one of the Saudi coalition members, to attack the port at Hodeidah, it’s not clear if that will hold.</p>
<p>A Parade for an American President?</p>
<p>In addition to Trump’s kind words on Twitter, the clearest sign of his administration’s uncritical support for the Saudi regime has been the <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/20/us-saudi-arabia-seal-weapons-deal-worth-nearly-110-billion-as-trump-begins-visit.html" type="external">offer</a> of an astounding $110 billion worth of arms to the kingdom, a sum almost equal to the <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-saudi-security-idUSKCN11D2JQ" type="external">record levels</a> reached during all eight years of the Obama administration. (This may, of course, have been part of the point, showing that President Trump could make a bigger, better deal than that slacker Obama, while supporting what he <a href="http://miami.cbslocal.com/2017/05/20/trump-saudi-arabia-deal-jobs-jobs-jobs/" type="external">described</a> as “jobs, jobs, jobs” in the United States.)</p>
<p>Like all things Trumpian, however, that $110 billion figure proved to be an <a href="http://cdn.defenseone.com/a/defenseone/interstitial.html?v=7.6.1&amp;rf=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.defenseone.com%2Fideas%2F2017%2F05%2Ftheres-less-meets-eye-trumps-saudi-arms-deal%2F138055%2F" type="external">exaggeration</a>.&#160; Tens of billions of dollars’ worth of arms included in the package had already been promised under Obama, and tens of billions more represent promises that, experts suspect, are unlikely to be kept.&#160; But that still leaves a huge package, one that, according to the Pentagon, will <a href="http://www.defensenews.com/articles/revealed-trumps-110-billion-weapons-list-for-the-saudis" type="external">include</a> more than 100,000 bombs of the sort that can be used in the Yemen war, should the Saudis choose to do so.&#160; All that being said, the most important aspect of the deal may be political — Trump’s way of telling “ <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/09/world/middleeast/rex-tillerson-calls-for-calm-in-middle-east-standoff-with-qatar.html?_r=0" type="external">my friend King Salman</a>,” as he now calls him, that the United States is firmly in his camp.&#160; And this is, in fact, the most troubling development of all.</p>
<p>It’s bad enough that the Obama administration allowed itself to be dragged into an ill-conceived, counterproductive, and regionally destabilizing war in Yemen. Trump’s uncritical support of Saudi foreign policy could have even more dangerous consequences. The Saudis are more intent than Trump’s own advisers (distinctly a crew of <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/176289/" type="external">Iranophobes</a>) on ratcheting up tensions with Iran.&#160; It’s no small thing, for instance, that Secretary of Defense James Mattis, who has <a href="http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/2016/04/22/mattis-csis-speech-iran/83397134/" type="external">asserted</a> that Iran is “the single most enduring threat to stability and peace in the Middle East,” and who <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/as-a-general-mattis-urged-action-against-iran-as-a-defense-secretary-he-may-be-a-voice-of-caution/2017/01/08/5a196ade-d391-11e6-a783-cd3fa950f2fd_story.html?utm_term=.a32e58da0cfc" type="external">advocated U.S. military attacks</a> on that country during his tenure as head of the U.S. Central Command, looks sober-minded compared to the Saudi royals.</p>
<p>If there is even a glimmer of hope in the situation, it might lie in the efforts of both Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to walk back the president’s full-throated support for a Saudi confrontation with Qatar. Tillerson, for instance, has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/09/world/middleeast/rex-tillerson-calls-for-calm-in-middle-east-standoff-with-qatar.html" type="external">attempted</a> to pursue an effort to mediate the Saudi-Qatari dispute and has called for a “calm and thoughtful dialogue.” Similarly, on the same day as Trump tweeted in support of the Saudis, the Pentagon issued a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-gulf-qatar-usa-pentagon-idUSKBN18X2G2" type="external">statement</a> praising Qatar’s “enduring commitment to regional security.”&#160; This is hardly surprising given the roughly 10,000 troops the U.S. has at al-Udeid air base in Doha, its capital, and the key role that base plays in Washington’s war on terror in the region.&#160; It is the <a href="http://thehill.com/policy/defense/336339-mattis-tillerson-rift-between-qatar-other-arab-countries-wont-affect-isis" type="external">largest American base</a> in the Middle East and the forward headquarters of U.S. Central Command, as well as a primary staging area for the U.S. war on ISIS. The administration’s confusion regarding how to deal with Qatar was further underscored when Mattis and Qatari Defense Minister Khalid Al-Attiyah <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-06-14/qatar-said-to-sign-deal-for-u-s-f-15s-as-gulf-crisis-continues" type="external">signed</a> a $12 billion deal for up to 36 Boeing F-15 combat aircraft, barely a week after President Trump had implied that Qatar was the world capital of terrorist financing.</p>
<p>In a further possible counter to Trump’s aggressive stance, Secretary of Defense Mattis has suggested that perhaps it’s time to pursue a diplomatic settlement of the war in Yemen.&#160; In April, he <a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript-View/Article/1154616/media-availability-with-secretary-mattis-en-route-to-the-kingdom-of-saudi-arabia/" type="external">told reporters</a> that, “in regards to the Saudi and Emirati campaign in Yemen, our goal, ladies and gentleman, is for that crisis down there, that ongoing fight, [to] be put in front of a U.N.-brokered negotiating team and try to resolve this politically as soon as possible.” Mattis went on to decry the number of civilians being killed, stating that the war there “has simply got to be brought to an end.”</p>
<p>It remains to be seen whether Tillerson’s and Mattis’s conciliatory words are hints of a possible foot on the brake in the Trump administration when it comes to building momentum for what could, in the end, be a U.S. military strike against Iran, egged on by Donald Trump’s good friends in Saudi Arabia. &#160;As Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/01/iran-trump-michael-flynn-on-notice" type="external">noted</a>, if the U.S. ends up going to war against Iran, it would “make the Afghan and Iraqi conflicts look like a walk in the park.”</p>
<p>In fact, in a period when the turmoil has only risen in much of the rest of the Greater Middle East, the Saudi Arabian peninsula remained relatively stable, at least until the Saudi-led coalition drastically escalated the civil war in Yemen.&#160; The new, more aggressive course being pursued against the royal family in Qatar and in relation to Iran could, however, make matters much worse, and fast.&#160; Given the situation in the region today, including the spread of terror movements and failing states, the thought that Saudi Arabia itself might be destabilized (and Iran with it) should be daunting indeed, though not perhaps for Donald Trump.</p>
<p>So far, through a combination of <a href="https://www.amnestyusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/saudisecurity.pdf" type="external">internal repression</a> and <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnmauldin/2016/02/24/3-reasons-saudi-arabia-is-so-desperate-for-cash/#23c0b66565da" type="external">generous social benefits</a> to its citizens — a form of political bribery designed to buy loyalty — the Saudi royal family has managed to avoid the fate of other regional autocrats driven from power.&#160; But with low oil prices and a costly war in Yemen, the regime is being forced to <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2016/01/13/could-saudi-arabias-austerity-spark-social-turmoil.html" type="external">reduce</a> the social spending that has helped cement its hold on power. It’s possible that further military adventures, coupled with a backlash against its repressive policies, could break what analysts Sarah Chayes and Alex de Waal have <a href="http://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2016/02/de-waal-and-chayes-saudi-arabia/125953/" type="external">described</a> as the current regime’s “brittle hold on power.” In other words, what a time for the Trump administration to offer its all-in support for the plans of an aggressive yet fragile regime whose reckless policies could even spark a regional war.</p>
<p>Maybe it’s time for opponents of a stepped-up U.S. military role in the Middle East to throw Donald Trump a big, glitzy parade aimed at boosting his ego and dampening his enthusiasm for the Saudi royal family.&#160; It might not change his policies, but at least it would get his attention.</p>
<p>William D. Hartung, a <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/176278/tomgram%3A_william_hartung%2C_ignoring_the_costs_of_war" type="external">TomDispatch regular</a>, is the director of the Arms and Security Project at the Center for International Policy and the author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0047T86BA/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&amp;btkr=1" type="external">Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex</a>.</p>
<p>Follow TomDispatch on <a href="https://twitter.com/TomDispatch" type="external">Twitter</a> and join us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/tomdispatch" type="external">Facebook</a>. Check out the newest Dispatch Book, John Dower’s <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1608467236/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20" type="external">The Violent American Century: War and Terror Since World War II</a>, as well as John Feffer’s dystopian novel <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1608467244/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20" type="external">Splinterlands</a>, Nick Turse’s&#160; <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1608466485/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20" type="external">Next Time They’ll Come to Count the Dead</a>, and Tom Engelhardt’s <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1608463656/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20" type="external">Shadow Government: Surveillance, Secret Wars, and a Global Security State in a Single-Superpower World</a>.</p>
<p>Copyright 2017 William D. Hartung</p> | Saudi Arabia Is 'Playing' Donald Trump With Potentially Disastrous Consequences | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/saudi-arabia-is-playing-donald-trump-with-potentially-disastrous-consequences/ | 2017-06-23 | 4left
| Saudi Arabia Is 'Playing' Donald Trump With Potentially Disastrous Consequences
<p>By William D. Hartung / <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/176298/" type="external">TomDispatch</a></p>
<p>President Trump and first lady Melania Trump are welcomed by King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in May. ( <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Donald_and_Melania_Trump_are_welcomed_by_King_Salman_bin_Abdulaziz_Al_Saud,_May_2017.jpg" type="external">Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead</a>)</p>
<p>At this point, it’s no great surprise when Donald Trump walks away from past statements in service to some impulse of the moment. Nowhere, however, has such a shift been more extreme or its potential consequences more dangerous than in his sudden love affair with the Saudi royal family. It could in the end destabilize the Middle East in ways not seen in our lifetimes (which, given the growing chaos in the region, is no small thing to say).</p>
<p />
<p>Trump’s newfound ardor for the Saudi regime is a far cry from his past positions, including his campaign season <a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/05/18/donald-trump-said-saudi-arabia-was-behind-911-now-hes-going-there-on-his-first-foreign-trip/" type="external">assertion</a> that the Saudis were behind the 9/11 attacks and <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2017-04-27/exclusive-trump-complains-saudis-not-paying-fair-share-for-us-defense" type="external">complaints</a>, as recently as this April, that the United States was losing a “tremendous amount of money” defending the kingdom.&#160; That was yet another example of the sort of bad deal that President Trump was going to set right as part of his “America First” foreign policy.</p>
<p>Given this background, it came as a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/global-opinions/wp/2017/05/21/trumps-bizarre-and-un-american-visit-to-saudi-arabia/" type="external">surprise</a> to pundits, politicians, and foreign policy experts alike when the president chose Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, as the very first stop on his very first overseas trip. This was clearly meant to underscore the importance his administration was suddenly placing on the need to bolster the long-standing U.S.-Saudi alliance.</p>
<p>Mindful of Trump’s vanity, the Saudi government rolled out <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/20/world/middleeast/saudi-arabia-king-salman-donald-trump-visit.html?_r=0" type="external">the red carpet</a> for our narcissist-in-chief, lining the streets for miles with alternating U.S. and Saudi flags, huge images of which were projected onto the Ritz Carlton hotel where Trump was staying. (Before his arrival, in a sign of the psychological astuteness of his Saudi hosts, the hotel <a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/ritz-carlton-in-riyadh-projects-five-story-portrait-of-trump-on-side-of-hotel/article/2623669" type="external">projected</a> a five-story-high image of Trump himself onto its façade, pairing it with a similarly huge and flattering photo of the country’s ruler, King Salman.)&#160; His hosts also put up billboards with pictures of Trump and Salman over the slogan “together we prevail.”&#160; What exactly the two countries were to prevail against was left open to interpretation.&#160; It is, however, unlikely that the Saudis were thinking about Trump’s much-denounced enemy, ISIS — given that Saudi planes, deep into a war in neighboring Yemen, <a href="https://airwars.org/data/" type="external">have rarely joined</a> Washington’s air war against that outfit.&#160; More likely, what they had in mind was their country’s bitter regional rival Iran.</p>
<p>The agenda planned for Trump’s stay <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/us-and-gulf-nations-agree-to-crack-down-on-terror-financing/2017/05/21/e1222b34-3dfd-11e7-9e48-c4f199710b69_story.html?utm_term=.9f0f9f63ea03" type="external">included</a> an anti-terrorism summit attended by 50 leaders from Arab and Muslim nations, a concert by country singer Toby Keith, and an exhibition game by the Harlem Globetrotters. Then there were the strange touches like President Trump, King Salman, and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/22/world/middleeast/trump-glowing-orb-saudi.html" type="external">laying hands</a> on a futuristically glowing orb — images of which then circled the planet — in a ceremony inaugurating a new <a href="http://etidal.org/" type="external">Global Center for Combatting Extremist Ideology</a>, and Trump’s <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/20/politics/trump-saudi-arabia-dance/index.html" type="external">awkward participation</a> in an all-male sword dance.</p>
<p>Unsurprisingly enough, the president was pleased with the spectacle staged in his honor, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/09/world/middleeast/rex-tillerson-calls-for-calm-in-middle-east-standoff-with-qatar.html?hp&amp;action=click&amp;pgtype=Homepage&amp;clickSource=story-heading&amp;module=first-column-region&amp;region=top-news&amp;WT.nav=top-news&amp;_r=0" type="external">saying</a> of the anti-terrorism summit in one of his many signature flights of hyperbole, “There has never been anything like it before, and perhaps there never will be again.”</p>
<p>Here, however, is a statement that shouldn’t qualify as hyperbole: never have such preparations for a presidential visit paid such quick dividends.&#160; On arriving home, Trump jumped at the chance to embrace a fierce Saudi attempt to blockade and isolate its tiny neighbor Qatar, the policies of whose emir have <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/13/world/middleeast/how-the-saudi-qatar-rivalry-now-combusting-reshaped-the-middle-east.html" type="external">long irritated</a> them.&#160; The Saudis claimed to be focused on that country’s alleged role in financing terrorist groups in the region (a category they themselves fit into <a href="http://www.salon.com/2016/01/06/saudi_arabia_funds_and_exports_islamic_extremism_the_truth_behind_the_toxic_u_s_relationship_with_the_theocratic_nation/" type="external">remarkably well</a>).&#160; More likely, however, the royal family wanted to bring Qatar to heel after it failed to jump enthusiastically onto the Saudi-led anti-Iranian bandwagon.</p>
<p>Trump, who clearly knew nothing about the subject, accepted the Saudi move with alacrity and at face value. In his normal fashion, he even tried to take credit for it, <a href="http://thehill.com/policy/defense/336557-foreign-relations-chairman-stunned-silenced-by-trumps-qatar-tweets" type="external">tweeting</a>, “During my recent trip to the Middle East I stated that there can no longer be funding of Radical Ideology.&#160; Leaders pointed to Qatar — look!”&#160; And according to Trump, the historic impact of his travels hardly stopped there.&#160; As he also <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/News/world/middle-east/trump-qatar-saudi-arabia-end-of-terrorism-tweet-latest-us-president-a7775661.html" type="external">tweeted</a>: “So good to see Saudi Arabia visit with the King and 50 countries paying off… Perhaps it will be the beginning of the end of the horror of terrorism.”&#160;</p>
<p>Bruce Riedel of the Brookings Institution hit the nail on the head when he <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/06/world/middleeast/trump-qatar-saudi-arabia.html" type="external">commented</a> that “the Saudis played Donald Trump like a fiddle.&#160; He unwittingly encouraged their worst instincts toward their neighbors.” The New York Times captured one likely impact of the Saudi move against Qatar when it <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/07/world/middleeast/trump-qatar-saudi-arabia-middle-east.html" type="external">reported</a>, “Analysts said Mr. Trump’s public support for Saudi Arabia… sent a chill through other Gulf States, including Oman and Kuwait, for fear that any country that defies the Saudis or the United Arab Emirates could face ostracism as Qatar has.”</p>
<p>And Then Came Trump…</p>
<p>And what precisely are the Saudis’ instincts toward their neighbors?&#160; The leaders in Riyadh, led by King Salman’s 31-year-old son, Saudi Defense Minister and deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, are <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/donald-trump-saudi-arabia-visit-means-war-with-iran-a7732861.html" type="external">taking the gloves off</a> in an increasingly aggressive bid for regional dominance aimed at isolating Iran. &#160;The defense minister and potential <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/16/world/rise-of-saudi-prince-shatters-decades-of-royal-tradition.html?_r=0" type="external">future leader</a> of the kingdom, whose policies have been <a href="http://www.mintpressnews.com/prince-mohammed-bin-salman-naive-arrogant-saudi-prince-is-playing-with-fire/212660/" type="external">described</a> as reckless and impulsive, <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/donald-trump-saudi-arabia-visit-means-war-with-iran-a7732861.html" type="external">underscored</a> the new, harsher line on Iran in an interview with Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV in which he said, “We will not wait until the battle is in Saudi Arabia, but we will work so the battle is there in Iran.”</p>
<p>The opening salvo in Saudi Arabia’s anti-Iran campaign came in March 2015, when a Saudi-led coalition, including smaller Gulf petro-states (Qatar among them) and Egypt, <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-32061632" type="external">intervened</a> militarily in a chaotic situation in Yemen in an effort to reinstall Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi as the president of that country.&#160; They clearly expected a quick victory over their ill-armed enemies and yet, more than two years later, in a war that has grown ever harsher, they have in fact achieved little.&#160; Hadi, a pro-Saudi leader, had served as that country’s interim president under an agreement that, in the wake of the Arab Spring in 2012, <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29319423" type="external">ousted</a> longstanding Yemeni autocrat Ali Abdullah Saleh.&#160; In January 2015, Hadi himself was <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29319423" type="external">deposed</a> by an alliance of Houthi rebels and remnants of forces loyal to former president Saleh.</p>
<p>The Saudis — now joined by Trump and his foreign policy team — have characterized the conflict as a war to blunt Iranian influence and the Houthi rebels have been cast as the vassals of Tehran.&#160; In reality, they have longstanding political and economic grievances that predate the current conflict and they would undoubtedly be fighting at this moment with or without support from Iran.&#160; As Middle Eastern expert Thomas Juneau recently <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/05/16/contrary-to-popular-belief-houthis-arent-iranian-proxies/?utm_term=.bc6c9dc161d7" type="external">noted</a> in the Washington Post, “Tehran’s support for the Houthis is limited, and its influence in Yemen is marginal. It is simply inaccurate to claim that the Houthis are Iranian proxies.”</p>
<p>The Saudi-Emirati intervention in Yemen has had disastrous results.&#160; Thousands of civilians have been <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/05/20/trump-reward-saudi-war-crimes-weapons" type="external">killed</a> in an indiscriminate bombing campaign that has targeted hospitals, marketplaces, civilian neighborhoods, and even a funeral, in actions that Congressman Ted Lieu (D-CA) has <a href="https://theintercept.com/2016/08/22/a-congressman-campaigns-to-stop-the-madness-of-u-s-support-for-saudi-bombing-in-yemen/" type="external">said</a> “look like war crimes.”&#160; The Saudi bombing campaign has, in addition, been <a href="https://www.ciponline.org/research/entry/u.s.-arms-transfers-to-saudi-arabia-and-the-war-in-yemen" type="external">enabled</a> by Washington, which has supplied the kingdom with bombs, including <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/20/opinion/obama-saudi-arabia-trade-cluster-bombs.html" type="external">cluster munitions</a>, and aircraft, while providing aerial refueling services to Saudi planes to ensure longer missions and the ability to hit more targets.&#160; It has also shared intelligence on targeting in Yemen.</p>
<p>The destruction of that country’s port facilities and the <a href="http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=21496&amp;LangID=E" type="external">imposition</a> of a naval blockade have had an even more devastating effect, radically reducing the ability of aid groups to get food, medicine, and other essential supplies into a country now suffering from a <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/13/health/yemen-cholera-outbreak/index.html" type="external">major outbreak</a> of cholera and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/mar/16/yemen-conflict-7-million-close-to-famine" type="external">on the brink</a> of a massive famine. This situation will only be made worse if the coalition tries to <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2017-04-05/un-urges-yemen-parties-to-keep-hodeidah-port-safe" type="external">retake</a> the port of Hodeidah, the entry point for most of the humanitarian aid still getting into Yemen. Not only has the U.S.-backed Saudi war sparked a humanitarian crisis, but it has inadvertently <a href="http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/yemen-aqap/" type="external">strengthened</a> al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which has increased its influence in Yemen while the Saudi- and Houthi-led coalitions are busy fighting each other.</p>
<p>Trump’s all-in support for the Saudis in its war doesn’t, in fact, come out of the blue. Despite some internal divisions over the wisdom of doing so, the Obama administration also supported the Saudi war effort in a major way. This was part of an attempt to <a href="https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/us-should-stop-supporting-war-yemen" type="external">reassure</a> the royals that the United States was still on their side and would not tilt towards Iran in the wake of an agreement to cap and reverse that country’s nuclear program.</p>
<p>It was only after concerted <a href="https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2017-06/news-briefs/fight-brewing-saudi-arms-sales" type="external">pressure</a> from Congress and a coalition of peace, human rights, and humanitarian aid groups that the Obama administration finally took a concrete, if limited, step to express opposition to the Saudi targeting of civilians in Yemen.&#160; In a December 2016 <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-saudiarabia-yemen-exclusive-idUSKBN1421UK" type="external">decision</a>, it suspended a sale of laser-guided bombs and other precision-guided munitions to their military.&#160; The move outraged the Saudis, but proved at best a halfway measure as the refueling of Saudi aircraft continued, and none of rest of the record <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-saudi-security-idUSKCN11D2JQ" type="external">$115 billion</a> in U.S. weaponry offered to that country during the Obama years was affected.</p>
<p>And then came Trump.&#160; His administration has doubled down on the Saudi war in Yemen by lifting the suspension of the bomb deal, despite the <a href="https://www.murphy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/murphy-paul-franken-demand-senate-vote-on-proposed-weapons-sale-to-saudi-arabia" type="external">objections</a> of a Senate coalition led by Chris Murphy (D-CT), Rand Paul (R-KY), and Al Franken (D-MN) that recently <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/senate-approves-first-portion-of-trumps-saudi-weapons-deal_us_59395477e4b0061054802abb" type="external">mustered</a> an unprecedented 47 votes against Trump’s offer of precision-guided bombs to Riyadh.&#160; Defense Secretary James Mattis has <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-administration-weighs-deeper-involvement-in-yemen-war/2017/03/26/b81eecd8-0e49-11e7-9d5a-a83e627dc120_story.html?utm_term=.9ade0e868213" type="external">advocated</a> yet more vigorous support for the Saudi-led intervention, including additional planning assistance and yet more intelligence sharing — but not, for the moment, the introduction of U.S. troops.&#160; Although the Trump foreign policy team has refused to endorse a proposal by the United Arab Emirates, one of the Saudi coalition members, to attack the port at Hodeidah, it’s not clear if that will hold.</p>
<p>A Parade for an American President?</p>
<p>In addition to Trump’s kind words on Twitter, the clearest sign of his administration’s uncritical support for the Saudi regime has been the <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/20/us-saudi-arabia-seal-weapons-deal-worth-nearly-110-billion-as-trump-begins-visit.html" type="external">offer</a> of an astounding $110 billion worth of arms to the kingdom, a sum almost equal to the <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-saudi-security-idUSKCN11D2JQ" type="external">record levels</a> reached during all eight years of the Obama administration. (This may, of course, have been part of the point, showing that President Trump could make a bigger, better deal than that slacker Obama, while supporting what he <a href="http://miami.cbslocal.com/2017/05/20/trump-saudi-arabia-deal-jobs-jobs-jobs/" type="external">described</a> as “jobs, jobs, jobs” in the United States.)</p>
<p>Like all things Trumpian, however, that $110 billion figure proved to be an <a href="http://cdn.defenseone.com/a/defenseone/interstitial.html?v=7.6.1&amp;rf=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.defenseone.com%2Fideas%2F2017%2F05%2Ftheres-less-meets-eye-trumps-saudi-arms-deal%2F138055%2F" type="external">exaggeration</a>.&#160; Tens of billions of dollars’ worth of arms included in the package had already been promised under Obama, and tens of billions more represent promises that, experts suspect, are unlikely to be kept.&#160; But that still leaves a huge package, one that, according to the Pentagon, will <a href="http://www.defensenews.com/articles/revealed-trumps-110-billion-weapons-list-for-the-saudis" type="external">include</a> more than 100,000 bombs of the sort that can be used in the Yemen war, should the Saudis choose to do so.&#160; All that being said, the most important aspect of the deal may be political — Trump’s way of telling “ <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/09/world/middleeast/rex-tillerson-calls-for-calm-in-middle-east-standoff-with-qatar.html?_r=0" type="external">my friend King Salman</a>,” as he now calls him, that the United States is firmly in his camp.&#160; And this is, in fact, the most troubling development of all.</p>
<p>It’s bad enough that the Obama administration allowed itself to be dragged into an ill-conceived, counterproductive, and regionally destabilizing war in Yemen. Trump’s uncritical support of Saudi foreign policy could have even more dangerous consequences. The Saudis are more intent than Trump’s own advisers (distinctly a crew of <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/176289/" type="external">Iranophobes</a>) on ratcheting up tensions with Iran.&#160; It’s no small thing, for instance, that Secretary of Defense James Mattis, who has <a href="http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/2016/04/22/mattis-csis-speech-iran/83397134/" type="external">asserted</a> that Iran is “the single most enduring threat to stability and peace in the Middle East,” and who <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/as-a-general-mattis-urged-action-against-iran-as-a-defense-secretary-he-may-be-a-voice-of-caution/2017/01/08/5a196ade-d391-11e6-a783-cd3fa950f2fd_story.html?utm_term=.a32e58da0cfc" type="external">advocated U.S. military attacks</a> on that country during his tenure as head of the U.S. Central Command, looks sober-minded compared to the Saudi royals.</p>
<p>If there is even a glimmer of hope in the situation, it might lie in the efforts of both Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to walk back the president’s full-throated support for a Saudi confrontation with Qatar. Tillerson, for instance, has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/09/world/middleeast/rex-tillerson-calls-for-calm-in-middle-east-standoff-with-qatar.html" type="external">attempted</a> to pursue an effort to mediate the Saudi-Qatari dispute and has called for a “calm and thoughtful dialogue.” Similarly, on the same day as Trump tweeted in support of the Saudis, the Pentagon issued a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-gulf-qatar-usa-pentagon-idUSKBN18X2G2" type="external">statement</a> praising Qatar’s “enduring commitment to regional security.”&#160; This is hardly surprising given the roughly 10,000 troops the U.S. has at al-Udeid air base in Doha, its capital, and the key role that base plays in Washington’s war on terror in the region.&#160; It is the <a href="http://thehill.com/policy/defense/336339-mattis-tillerson-rift-between-qatar-other-arab-countries-wont-affect-isis" type="external">largest American base</a> in the Middle East and the forward headquarters of U.S. Central Command, as well as a primary staging area for the U.S. war on ISIS. The administration’s confusion regarding how to deal with Qatar was further underscored when Mattis and Qatari Defense Minister Khalid Al-Attiyah <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-06-14/qatar-said-to-sign-deal-for-u-s-f-15s-as-gulf-crisis-continues" type="external">signed</a> a $12 billion deal for up to 36 Boeing F-15 combat aircraft, barely a week after President Trump had implied that Qatar was the world capital of terrorist financing.</p>
<p>In a further possible counter to Trump’s aggressive stance, Secretary of Defense Mattis has suggested that perhaps it’s time to pursue a diplomatic settlement of the war in Yemen.&#160; In April, he <a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript-View/Article/1154616/media-availability-with-secretary-mattis-en-route-to-the-kingdom-of-saudi-arabia/" type="external">told reporters</a> that, “in regards to the Saudi and Emirati campaign in Yemen, our goal, ladies and gentleman, is for that crisis down there, that ongoing fight, [to] be put in front of a U.N.-brokered negotiating team and try to resolve this politically as soon as possible.” Mattis went on to decry the number of civilians being killed, stating that the war there “has simply got to be brought to an end.”</p>
<p>It remains to be seen whether Tillerson’s and Mattis’s conciliatory words are hints of a possible foot on the brake in the Trump administration when it comes to building momentum for what could, in the end, be a U.S. military strike against Iran, egged on by Donald Trump’s good friends in Saudi Arabia. &#160;As Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/01/iran-trump-michael-flynn-on-notice" type="external">noted</a>, if the U.S. ends up going to war against Iran, it would “make the Afghan and Iraqi conflicts look like a walk in the park.”</p>
<p>In fact, in a period when the turmoil has only risen in much of the rest of the Greater Middle East, the Saudi Arabian peninsula remained relatively stable, at least until the Saudi-led coalition drastically escalated the civil war in Yemen.&#160; The new, more aggressive course being pursued against the royal family in Qatar and in relation to Iran could, however, make matters much worse, and fast.&#160; Given the situation in the region today, including the spread of terror movements and failing states, the thought that Saudi Arabia itself might be destabilized (and Iran with it) should be daunting indeed, though not perhaps for Donald Trump.</p>
<p>So far, through a combination of <a href="https://www.amnestyusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/saudisecurity.pdf" type="external">internal repression</a> and <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnmauldin/2016/02/24/3-reasons-saudi-arabia-is-so-desperate-for-cash/#23c0b66565da" type="external">generous social benefits</a> to its citizens — a form of political bribery designed to buy loyalty — the Saudi royal family has managed to avoid the fate of other regional autocrats driven from power.&#160; But with low oil prices and a costly war in Yemen, the regime is being forced to <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2016/01/13/could-saudi-arabias-austerity-spark-social-turmoil.html" type="external">reduce</a> the social spending that has helped cement its hold on power. It’s possible that further military adventures, coupled with a backlash against its repressive policies, could break what analysts Sarah Chayes and Alex de Waal have <a href="http://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2016/02/de-waal-and-chayes-saudi-arabia/125953/" type="external">described</a> as the current regime’s “brittle hold on power.” In other words, what a time for the Trump administration to offer its all-in support for the plans of an aggressive yet fragile regime whose reckless policies could even spark a regional war.</p>
<p>Maybe it’s time for opponents of a stepped-up U.S. military role in the Middle East to throw Donald Trump a big, glitzy parade aimed at boosting his ego and dampening his enthusiasm for the Saudi royal family.&#160; It might not change his policies, but at least it would get his attention.</p>
<p>William D. Hartung, a <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/176278/tomgram%3A_william_hartung%2C_ignoring_the_costs_of_war" type="external">TomDispatch regular</a>, is the director of the Arms and Security Project at the Center for International Policy and the author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0047T86BA/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&amp;btkr=1" type="external">Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex</a>.</p>
<p>Follow TomDispatch on <a href="https://twitter.com/TomDispatch" type="external">Twitter</a> and join us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/tomdispatch" type="external">Facebook</a>. Check out the newest Dispatch Book, John Dower’s <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1608467236/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20" type="external">The Violent American Century: War and Terror Since World War II</a>, as well as John Feffer’s dystopian novel <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1608467244/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20" type="external">Splinterlands</a>, Nick Turse’s&#160; <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1608466485/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20" type="external">Next Time They’ll Come to Count the Dead</a>, and Tom Engelhardt’s <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1608463656/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20" type="external">Shadow Government: Surveillance, Secret Wars, and a Global Security State in a Single-Superpower World</a>.</p>
<p>Copyright 2017 William D. Hartung</p> | 3,363 |
<p />
<p>Image source: Juno Therapeutics.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>What: After updating investors on the clinical trial progress for its cancer immunotherapy, shares in Juno Therapeutics rallied 10.5% today.</p>
<p>So what:Yesterday, Juno Therapeutics reported additional clinical trial data for its chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy JCAR014 at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual conference.</p>
<p>Specifically, the company reports that 100% of patients with relapsing or refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) participating in a phase 1/2 study of JCAR014 saw a complete remission. Using flow cytometry, 94% of the 34 participants saw complete remission. Also, the company noted that median disease-free survival and overall survival had not been reached in the 18-month study period.</p>
<p>Juno Therapeutics also reported that 16 of 20 non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients responded to JCAR014, and that half had a complete response to the therapy.</p>
<p>Data was also released for a phase 1 study of Juno Therapeutics JCAR017 showing that 93% of pediatric and young adult patients with relapsing or refractory ALL witnessed a complete remission.</p>
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<p>Now what:The trial data adds conviction to the thinking that CAR-T therapy could revolutionize patient treatment in B-cell cancers. Previously, Juno Therapeutics <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/05/10/8-figures-that-sum-up-juno-therapeutics-first-quar.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">has said it plans Opens a New Window.</a> to file for accelerated approval of another CAR-T, JCAR015, for use inB-cell cancers if mid-stage study data is positive.</p>
<p>These results add support to the thinking that those plans remain on track because JCAR014 and JCAR015 both work similarly and target the same CD19 protein expressed on B-cell cancer cells.</p>
<p>While these results help demonstrate the efficacy of CAR-T in this patient population, investors should know that Juno Therapeutics isn't a risk-less investment. Many patients who have taken the company's CAR-T therapies have suffered from cytokine release syndrome, a potentially life-threatening immune response. This syndrome can be controlled, but it's not clear how the FDA will view these serious adverse events.</p>
<p>Given these study results and the fact that Juno Therapeutics has plenty of cash on hand ($1.13 billion exiting March) and a deep-pocketed <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/07/04/a-1-billion-bet-on-cancer-cures.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">collaborator Opens a New Window.</a> in Celgene Corp, this company remains one of the most intriguing clinical-stage companies in cancer treatment right now.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/06/06/why-juno-therapeutics-soared-105-today.aspx" type="external">Why Juno Therapeutics Soared 10.5% Today Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/EBCapitalMarkets/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Todd Campbell Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Celgene.Todd owns E.B. Capital Markets, LLC. E.B. Capital's clients may have positions in the companies mentioned. Like this article? Follow him onTwitter where he goes by the handle <a href="https://twitter.com/ebcapital" type="external">@ebcapital Opens a New Window.</a> to see more articles like this.The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Celgene. The Motley Fool recommends Juno Therapeutics. 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> | Why Juno Therapeutics Soared 10.5% Today | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/06/06/why-juno-therapeutics-soared-105-today.html | 2016-06-06 | 0right
| Why Juno Therapeutics Soared 10.5% Today
<p />
<p>Image source: Juno Therapeutics.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>What: After updating investors on the clinical trial progress for its cancer immunotherapy, shares in Juno Therapeutics rallied 10.5% today.</p>
<p>So what:Yesterday, Juno Therapeutics reported additional clinical trial data for its chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy JCAR014 at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual conference.</p>
<p>Specifically, the company reports that 100% of patients with relapsing or refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) participating in a phase 1/2 study of JCAR014 saw a complete remission. Using flow cytometry, 94% of the 34 participants saw complete remission. Also, the company noted that median disease-free survival and overall survival had not been reached in the 18-month study period.</p>
<p>Juno Therapeutics also reported that 16 of 20 non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients responded to JCAR014, and that half had a complete response to the therapy.</p>
<p>Data was also released for a phase 1 study of Juno Therapeutics JCAR017 showing that 93% of pediatric and young adult patients with relapsing or refractory ALL witnessed a complete remission.</p>
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<p>Now what:The trial data adds conviction to the thinking that CAR-T therapy could revolutionize patient treatment in B-cell cancers. Previously, Juno Therapeutics <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/05/10/8-figures-that-sum-up-juno-therapeutics-first-quar.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">has said it plans Opens a New Window.</a> to file for accelerated approval of another CAR-T, JCAR015, for use inB-cell cancers if mid-stage study data is positive.</p>
<p>These results add support to the thinking that those plans remain on track because JCAR014 and JCAR015 both work similarly and target the same CD19 protein expressed on B-cell cancer cells.</p>
<p>While these results help demonstrate the efficacy of CAR-T in this patient population, investors should know that Juno Therapeutics isn't a risk-less investment. Many patients who have taken the company's CAR-T therapies have suffered from cytokine release syndrome, a potentially life-threatening immune response. This syndrome can be controlled, but it's not clear how the FDA will view these serious adverse events.</p>
<p>Given these study results and the fact that Juno Therapeutics has plenty of cash on hand ($1.13 billion exiting March) and a deep-pocketed <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/07/04/a-1-billion-bet-on-cancer-cures.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">collaborator Opens a New Window.</a> in Celgene Corp, this company remains one of the most intriguing clinical-stage companies in cancer treatment right now.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/06/06/why-juno-therapeutics-soared-105-today.aspx" type="external">Why Juno Therapeutics Soared 10.5% Today Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/EBCapitalMarkets/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Todd Campbell Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Celgene.Todd owns E.B. Capital Markets, LLC. E.B. Capital's clients may have positions in the companies mentioned. Like this article? Follow him onTwitter where he goes by the handle <a href="https://twitter.com/ebcapital" type="external">@ebcapital Opens a New Window.</a> to see more articles like this.The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Celgene. The Motley Fool recommends Juno Therapeutics. 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> | 3,364 |
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<p />
<p>12 p.m.</p>
<p>Conservative groups in Georgia say Gov. Nathan Deal's veto of a "religious freedom" bill shows he has turned his back on people of faith.</p>
<p>Representatives for the Georgia Baptist Mission Board, the Faith and Freedom Coalition and others said Tuesday they won't give up on passing legislation in future years.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>A portion of the bill vetoed Monday lets people claiming their religious freedoms have been burdened by state or local laws force governments to prove there's a "compelling" state interest overriding their beliefs. Supporters say more than 30 states have similar laws.</p>
<p>Republican state Sen. Marty Harbin of Tyrone also called on House and Senate leadership to demand a special session in response to Deal's veto, joining two other senators.</p>
<p>Legislative leaders have given no sign they will try.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>4 a.m.</p>
<p>Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal's plan to veto a "religious freedom" bill has supporters vowing that the issue isn't going away.</p>
<p>Some of the top groups supporting the measure are set to discuss their next steps Tuesday morning.</p>
<p>Lawmakers adjourned Thursday for the year. They need three-fifths of each chamber to request a special session to respond to Deal's veto.</p>
<p>If they can't meet that high bar, backers of the bill say they'll be back with a new proposal during the next legislative session.</p>
<p>Gay-rights advocates, though, say Georgia lawmakers should focus on creating protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents. State law doesn't offer that now for employment, housing or other services.</p>
<p>Deal, a Republican, said Monday that Georgia shouldn't permit discrimination to protect people of faith.</p> | The Latest: Conservative groups say governor turned his back | false | https://abqjournal.com/748011/the-latest-conservative-groups-say-governor-turned-his-back.html | 2least
| The Latest: Conservative groups say governor turned his back
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<p />
<p>12 p.m.</p>
<p>Conservative groups in Georgia say Gov. Nathan Deal's veto of a "religious freedom" bill shows he has turned his back on people of faith.</p>
<p>Representatives for the Georgia Baptist Mission Board, the Faith and Freedom Coalition and others said Tuesday they won't give up on passing legislation in future years.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>A portion of the bill vetoed Monday lets people claiming their religious freedoms have been burdened by state or local laws force governments to prove there's a "compelling" state interest overriding their beliefs. Supporters say more than 30 states have similar laws.</p>
<p>Republican state Sen. Marty Harbin of Tyrone also called on House and Senate leadership to demand a special session in response to Deal's veto, joining two other senators.</p>
<p>Legislative leaders have given no sign they will try.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>4 a.m.</p>
<p>Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal's plan to veto a "religious freedom" bill has supporters vowing that the issue isn't going away.</p>
<p>Some of the top groups supporting the measure are set to discuss their next steps Tuesday morning.</p>
<p>Lawmakers adjourned Thursday for the year. They need three-fifths of each chamber to request a special session to respond to Deal's veto.</p>
<p>If they can't meet that high bar, backers of the bill say they'll be back with a new proposal during the next legislative session.</p>
<p>Gay-rights advocates, though, say Georgia lawmakers should focus on creating protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents. State law doesn't offer that now for employment, housing or other services.</p>
<p>Deal, a Republican, said Monday that Georgia shouldn't permit discrimination to protect people of faith.</p> | 3,365 |
|
<p>Angie's List Inc. shares soared 10.5% in premarket trade, after the company said it has hired financial advisers to review its strategic options as it continues to work on a turnaround and seeks new opportunities. The online marketplace for home-improvement and other services made the announcement as it reported third-quarter earnings, showing a jump in new memberships but a wider-than-expected loss. The company said it had a net loss of $16.8 million, or 28 cents a share, in the quarter, after net income of $100,000, or breakeven, in the year-earlier period. Revenue fell to $79.7 million from $86.9 million. The FactSet consensus was for a loss of 12 cents a share and revenue of $82.2 million. Chief Executive Scott Durchslag said the company attracted 1.6 million new members since it removed its reviews paywall, and added 1,367 service providers. "That said, our revenue and adjusted EBITDA are down year over year so our financial results are lagging the leading indicators in our operating metrics, as often happens when changing business models," he said in a statement. The company has hired Allen &amp; Co. LLC and BofA Merrill Lynch to help it explore its options. Shares are down about 18% in the year to date, while the S&amp;P 500 has gained 4%.</p>
<p>Copyright © 2016 MarketWatch, Inc.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p> | Angie's List Shares Soar 10.5% Premarket After Company Hires Advisers To Explore Options | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/11/01/angie-list-shares-soar-105-premarket-after-company-hires-advisers-to-explore.html | 2016-11-01 | 0right
| Angie's List Shares Soar 10.5% Premarket After Company Hires Advisers To Explore Options
<p>Angie's List Inc. shares soared 10.5% in premarket trade, after the company said it has hired financial advisers to review its strategic options as it continues to work on a turnaround and seeks new opportunities. The online marketplace for home-improvement and other services made the announcement as it reported third-quarter earnings, showing a jump in new memberships but a wider-than-expected loss. The company said it had a net loss of $16.8 million, or 28 cents a share, in the quarter, after net income of $100,000, or breakeven, in the year-earlier period. Revenue fell to $79.7 million from $86.9 million. The FactSet consensus was for a loss of 12 cents a share and revenue of $82.2 million. Chief Executive Scott Durchslag said the company attracted 1.6 million new members since it removed its reviews paywall, and added 1,367 service providers. "That said, our revenue and adjusted EBITDA are down year over year so our financial results are lagging the leading indicators in our operating metrics, as often happens when changing business models," he said in a statement. The company has hired Allen &amp; Co. LLC and BofA Merrill Lynch to help it explore its options. Shares are down about 18% in the year to date, while the S&amp;P 500 has gained 4%.</p>
<p>Copyright © 2016 MarketWatch, Inc.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p> | 3,366 |
<p />
<p>Walgreen’s (NYSE: WAG) announced plans on Wednesday to move its workers to a private health insurance exchange, adding to the trend of corporations offering cash to workers to purchase their own plans on exchanges.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The notice comes less than two weeks ahead the Affordable Care Act’s exchange open enrollment start on Oct.1, and follows similar moves from Sears-Holding (NASDAQ: SHLD) and Darden Restaurants Inc. (NYSE:DRI).</p>
<p>The move to a private health insurance exchange from coverage provided directly from a company is significant, with a reported 160,000 workers who will be eligible for coverage.</p>
<p>While private health-exchanges are entirely separate from the ACA’s exchanges, Walgreen’s spokesman Michael Polzin says the drugstore chain decided to offer this coverage to 160,000 workers in order to keep them off government exchanges and provide them with broader coverage options.</p>
<p>Polzin says while 160,000 of its 240,000 employees across the country will be eligible for coverage, with dependents of workers’ families on the exchange, a total of 180,000 are expected to enroll.</p>
<p>“We are currently only offering employees two high-deductible plans, and this was an opportunity for us to broaden the options for coverage,” he says. “Our exchange is a completely separate thing from the state-run exchanges for individuals. This is a corporate private exchange.”</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Sears and Darden Restaurants plan to run their own private exchanges for employees ahead of Obamacare, and&#160; media giant Time Warner (NYSE:TWX) and IBM (NYSE:IBM) also recently announced plans to move retirees onto such benefit exchanges, and may move full-time workers to these plans in the future.</p>
<p>Private exchanges are still a minority in the marketplace. <a href="" type="internal">But new research shows</a> that by 2017, private exchange participation will approach public exchange enrollment levels.&#160;Global management consulting firm&#160; <a href="http://www.accenture.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/PDF/Accenture-Are-You-Ready-Private-Health-Insurance-Exchanges-Are-Looming.pdf" type="external">Accenture predicts</a>&#160;projects nearly 18% of the American public will purchase insurance through these employer and insurance-run marketplaces now, and that one in four employers are expressing interest in these exchanges.</p>
<p>Walgreen’s private exchange will be run by Aon Hewitt, and will include offerings from major insurance companies including United HealthCare (NYSE:UNH), Kaiser and Anthem. Walgreen’s declined to comment on how much cash it would be giving to employees to shop in its exchange.</p>
<p>“We don’t want to send our employees to the state or government exchanges—we want to continue providing health-care benefits to our employees, and this was a way to continue doing that,” Polzin says. “We can provide them options, and continue providing wellness programs like we do today, such as getting paid for healthy behaviors, and having 100% of preventive health-care services covered.”</p> | Walgreens to Move 160K Workers to Private Health-Care Exchange | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2013/09/18/walgreens-to-move-160k-workers-to-private-health-care-exchange.html | 2017-02-08 | 0right
| Walgreens to Move 160K Workers to Private Health-Care Exchange
<p />
<p>Walgreen’s (NYSE: WAG) announced plans on Wednesday to move its workers to a private health insurance exchange, adding to the trend of corporations offering cash to workers to purchase their own plans on exchanges.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The notice comes less than two weeks ahead the Affordable Care Act’s exchange open enrollment start on Oct.1, and follows similar moves from Sears-Holding (NASDAQ: SHLD) and Darden Restaurants Inc. (NYSE:DRI).</p>
<p>The move to a private health insurance exchange from coverage provided directly from a company is significant, with a reported 160,000 workers who will be eligible for coverage.</p>
<p>While private health-exchanges are entirely separate from the ACA’s exchanges, Walgreen’s spokesman Michael Polzin says the drugstore chain decided to offer this coverage to 160,000 workers in order to keep them off government exchanges and provide them with broader coverage options.</p>
<p>Polzin says while 160,000 of its 240,000 employees across the country will be eligible for coverage, with dependents of workers’ families on the exchange, a total of 180,000 are expected to enroll.</p>
<p>“We are currently only offering employees two high-deductible plans, and this was an opportunity for us to broaden the options for coverage,” he says. “Our exchange is a completely separate thing from the state-run exchanges for individuals. This is a corporate private exchange.”</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Sears and Darden Restaurants plan to run their own private exchanges for employees ahead of Obamacare, and&#160; media giant Time Warner (NYSE:TWX) and IBM (NYSE:IBM) also recently announced plans to move retirees onto such benefit exchanges, and may move full-time workers to these plans in the future.</p>
<p>Private exchanges are still a minority in the marketplace. <a href="" type="internal">But new research shows</a> that by 2017, private exchange participation will approach public exchange enrollment levels.&#160;Global management consulting firm&#160; <a href="http://www.accenture.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/PDF/Accenture-Are-You-Ready-Private-Health-Insurance-Exchanges-Are-Looming.pdf" type="external">Accenture predicts</a>&#160;projects nearly 18% of the American public will purchase insurance through these employer and insurance-run marketplaces now, and that one in four employers are expressing interest in these exchanges.</p>
<p>Walgreen’s private exchange will be run by Aon Hewitt, and will include offerings from major insurance companies including United HealthCare (NYSE:UNH), Kaiser and Anthem. Walgreen’s declined to comment on how much cash it would be giving to employees to shop in its exchange.</p>
<p>“We don’t want to send our employees to the state or government exchanges—we want to continue providing health-care benefits to our employees, and this was a way to continue doing that,” Polzin says. “We can provide them options, and continue providing wellness programs like we do today, such as getting paid for healthy behaviors, and having 100% of preventive health-care services covered.”</p> | 3,367 |
<p>Last December, Chicago Public Schools began an inventory and audit of spending on professional development similar to Boston’s. The work is about half done—central office spending has been analyzed, but spending at a sample of 25 schools is still being reviewed.</p>
<p>Citing audit findings, Al Bertani, chief CPS professional development officer, reports that this year, central office is spending $123 million on professional development, or 3.4 percent of its $3.6 billion budget. This percentage is considered typical.</p>
<p>Chicago’s expenses fall into three broad categories:</p>
<p>$56 million for eight teacher professional development days, as required by the board’s contract with the Chicago Teachers Union.</p>
<p>$38 million for subject-specific training delivered in schools, such as the Chicago Reading Initiative reading specialists.</p>
<p>$29 million to underwrite individual teacher training, such as courses at the board’s Teachers Academy for Professional Development and teacher recertification courses.</p>
<p>If Chicago follows Boston’s lead, professional development days and teacher training courses are likely to change. Steps are already being taken to focus the latter on district priorities. Starting next year, courses offered by the Teachers Academy for Professional Development will be narrowed to three topics: reading, math and instructional technology.</p>
<p>Although a final audit report is not due until later this summer, the administration already has begun to shift spending. For one, Bertani found that the work of one of his own units overlapped the work of a unit in the Office of Accountability. He closed his unit and is using the money to open a unit to build teacher leadership, led by Norma Rodriguez.</p>
<p>Secondly, the committee overseeing the audit has drafted principles of professional development to guide how district training is conducted. Three new training institutes, developed in line with those principles, will take place this summer.</p>
<p>Summer school reading institute</p>
<p>About 1,000 elementary teachers working in summer school will receive coaching on reading strategies from a cadre of 45 reading specialists and nationally certified teachers. The institute will train both the teachers and the coaching cadre, which will develop a curriculum and materials to be used across the system in the fall. “These activities are really the seeding of teacher leadership,” says Bertani. “Enhancing the capacity of the reading specialists is a key way to move the instructional capacity at the school level.”</p>
<p>Instructional leadership training</p>
<p>Aimed at low-scoring schools with reading specialists, this institute will bring principals and assistant principals together for four days to study instructional leadership and plan ways to work more closely with their reading specialists. “Our design last year didn’t do enough of a job supporting principals in those schools,” Bertani acknowledges.</p>
<p>Summer teacher leadership academies</p>
<p>Elementary schools with higher levels of reading achievement have been invited to send teams of three to five staff, including the principal, to work on building professional community, improving instruction and managing change. Chicago Teachers Union representatives and principals helped design the training. In addition to the weeklong summer session, teams will receive follow-up training during the school year.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, reconfigured regional offices will get instructional support staff this summer. Their first assignment will be to plan how the offices will work with their schools.</p> | Chicago audit triggers change | false | http://chicagoreporter.com/chicago-audit-triggers-change/ | 2005-07-28 | 3left-center
| Chicago audit triggers change
<p>Last December, Chicago Public Schools began an inventory and audit of spending on professional development similar to Boston’s. The work is about half done—central office spending has been analyzed, but spending at a sample of 25 schools is still being reviewed.</p>
<p>Citing audit findings, Al Bertani, chief CPS professional development officer, reports that this year, central office is spending $123 million on professional development, or 3.4 percent of its $3.6 billion budget. This percentage is considered typical.</p>
<p>Chicago’s expenses fall into three broad categories:</p>
<p>$56 million for eight teacher professional development days, as required by the board’s contract with the Chicago Teachers Union.</p>
<p>$38 million for subject-specific training delivered in schools, such as the Chicago Reading Initiative reading specialists.</p>
<p>$29 million to underwrite individual teacher training, such as courses at the board’s Teachers Academy for Professional Development and teacher recertification courses.</p>
<p>If Chicago follows Boston’s lead, professional development days and teacher training courses are likely to change. Steps are already being taken to focus the latter on district priorities. Starting next year, courses offered by the Teachers Academy for Professional Development will be narrowed to three topics: reading, math and instructional technology.</p>
<p>Although a final audit report is not due until later this summer, the administration already has begun to shift spending. For one, Bertani found that the work of one of his own units overlapped the work of a unit in the Office of Accountability. He closed his unit and is using the money to open a unit to build teacher leadership, led by Norma Rodriguez.</p>
<p>Secondly, the committee overseeing the audit has drafted principles of professional development to guide how district training is conducted. Three new training institutes, developed in line with those principles, will take place this summer.</p>
<p>Summer school reading institute</p>
<p>About 1,000 elementary teachers working in summer school will receive coaching on reading strategies from a cadre of 45 reading specialists and nationally certified teachers. The institute will train both the teachers and the coaching cadre, which will develop a curriculum and materials to be used across the system in the fall. “These activities are really the seeding of teacher leadership,” says Bertani. “Enhancing the capacity of the reading specialists is a key way to move the instructional capacity at the school level.”</p>
<p>Instructional leadership training</p>
<p>Aimed at low-scoring schools with reading specialists, this institute will bring principals and assistant principals together for four days to study instructional leadership and plan ways to work more closely with their reading specialists. “Our design last year didn’t do enough of a job supporting principals in those schools,” Bertani acknowledges.</p>
<p>Summer teacher leadership academies</p>
<p>Elementary schools with higher levels of reading achievement have been invited to send teams of three to five staff, including the principal, to work on building professional community, improving instruction and managing change. Chicago Teachers Union representatives and principals helped design the training. In addition to the weeklong summer session, teams will receive follow-up training during the school year.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, reconfigured regional offices will get instructional support staff this summer. Their first assignment will be to plan how the offices will work with their schools.</p> | 3,368 |
<p>I like Jill Stein, the doctor and&#160;repeat Green Party nominee for the presidency. She seems like a rad lady. But I was disappointed by her tweet yesterday about Hillary Clinton and motherhood:</p>
<p>I agree w/ Hillary, it’s time to elect a woman for President. But I want that President to reflect the values of being a mother. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MothersDay?src=hash" type="external">#MothersDay</a></p>
<p>— Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) <a href="https://twitter.com/DrJillStein/status/729351428720988161" type="external">May 8, 2016</a></p>
<p>Dr. Stein went on, in a string of further tweets, to call “real” mothers <a href="https://twitter.com/DrJillStein/status/729362786187350017" type="external">healers</a>&#160;and <a href="https://twitter.com/DrJillStein/status/729366537153486848" type="external">negotiators</a>.</p>
<p>Whether you’re #WithHer or Feeling the Bern,&#160;we should have no patience for this kind of essentialism. Mothers aren’t magical fairy goddesses who embody eternal feminine “values” of goodness and love and truth and breaking up the banks or whatever. They’re people, billions of them, who care and fail to care for others in many different ways, not identical props for a morality play.</p>
<p>Monolithic visions of maternity — who can be a good mother, and how they should do so — have served for a long time to restrict the personal and professional lives of women. Surely Dr. Stein know&#160;how much of the country still believes that&#160;the “maternal value” of selflessness&#160;is&#160;incompatible with work, or how public assistance is often predicated on a vision of the “maternal value” of sexual purity.</p>
<p>And guess what: there are plenty of awesome woman who aren’t mothers. That doesn’t make them&#160;less than, as people or as leaders.</p>
<p>Plus, at least one mother is, in fact,&#160;Hillary Clinton. Critiquing a woman politician for being insufficiently maternal is a classic move from the sexist playbook of politics. When was the last time you heard anyone wonder if a male politician is a good enough dad?</p>
<p>Want to talk about whether Clinton’s policies meet your feminist politics? Great. But don’t reduce the&#160;diversity of mothers to a flat, frankly sexist vision of mothers.&#160;You can do better, Dr. Stein.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p /> | Jill Stein, leave essentialist ideas of motherhood out of the election | true | http://feministing.com/2016/05/09/jill-stein-leave-essentialist-ideas-of-motherhood-out-the-election/ | 4left
| Jill Stein, leave essentialist ideas of motherhood out of the election
<p>I like Jill Stein, the doctor and&#160;repeat Green Party nominee for the presidency. She seems like a rad lady. But I was disappointed by her tweet yesterday about Hillary Clinton and motherhood:</p>
<p>I agree w/ Hillary, it’s time to elect a woman for President. But I want that President to reflect the values of being a mother. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MothersDay?src=hash" type="external">#MothersDay</a></p>
<p>— Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) <a href="https://twitter.com/DrJillStein/status/729351428720988161" type="external">May 8, 2016</a></p>
<p>Dr. Stein went on, in a string of further tweets, to call “real” mothers <a href="https://twitter.com/DrJillStein/status/729362786187350017" type="external">healers</a>&#160;and <a href="https://twitter.com/DrJillStein/status/729366537153486848" type="external">negotiators</a>.</p>
<p>Whether you’re #WithHer or Feeling the Bern,&#160;we should have no patience for this kind of essentialism. Mothers aren’t magical fairy goddesses who embody eternal feminine “values” of goodness and love and truth and breaking up the banks or whatever. They’re people, billions of them, who care and fail to care for others in many different ways, not identical props for a morality play.</p>
<p>Monolithic visions of maternity — who can be a good mother, and how they should do so — have served for a long time to restrict the personal and professional lives of women. Surely Dr. Stein know&#160;how much of the country still believes that&#160;the “maternal value” of selflessness&#160;is&#160;incompatible with work, or how public assistance is often predicated on a vision of the “maternal value” of sexual purity.</p>
<p>And guess what: there are plenty of awesome woman who aren’t mothers. That doesn’t make them&#160;less than, as people or as leaders.</p>
<p>Plus, at least one mother is, in fact,&#160;Hillary Clinton. Critiquing a woman politician for being insufficiently maternal is a classic move from the sexist playbook of politics. When was the last time you heard anyone wonder if a male politician is a good enough dad?</p>
<p>Want to talk about whether Clinton’s policies meet your feminist politics? Great. But don’t reduce the&#160;diversity of mothers to a flat, frankly sexist vision of mothers.&#160;You can do better, Dr. Stein.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p /> | 3,369 |
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<p>In this undated photo supplied by Valeo, a person activates a self-parking vehicle via a smartphone application. Technology being honed by the French auto parts maker uses a dozen ultrasonic sound-wave sensors, 360-degree cameras and a laser scanner to allow a vehicle to safely park within a few centimeters of other vehicles. (AP Photo/Valeo)</p>
<p>DETROIT — With a thumb swipe on a smartphone, your car one day will be able to drive into a parking deck, find an open spot and back into a space — all by itself.</p>
<p>Technology being honed by French auto parts maker Valeo uses a dozen ultrasonic sound-wave sensors, 360-degree cameras and a laser scanner to safely park within a few centimeters of other vehicles. Then, when you’re done with dinner or a business meeting, the car will return to you after another swipe of the thumb.</p>
<p>The potential benefits are plenty. More orderly parking means less congestion. Drivers are spared the time and frustration of the hunt for a spot. Parking lots can squeeze more vehicles into limited space.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The fully-automated system called “Connected Automated Valet Parking” is still about a decade away, however. More states must permit driverless cars and regulations have to be crafted. Equipment needs to be rolled out.</p>
<p>Still, Valeo executives see it as a big step toward the day in the distant future when cars actually drive themselves with no one behind the wheel.</p>
<p>Other companies have already demonstrated self-parking systems, but in most cases the driver has to find the spot and activate the system to make it work. The Valeo system, demonstrated Monday at an intelligent vehicle conference in Detroit using a Land Rover SUV, allows cars today to do tasks currently performed by human valets.</p>
<p>“The car is able to do a much better parking maneuver than we as humans,” said Amine Taleb, Valeo’s project manager for advanced driver assistance systems.</p>
<p>Here’s how it works: Drivers approach their destination and the system finds a deck with an open space. The driver goes to the deck and activates the system. The deck then tells the car where the open space is. The sensors, cameras and laser activate, letting the car drive itself about 3 miles per hour, winding its way to the space and backing in. The system can even find a space on its own without a signal from a deck.</p>
<p>The system won’t let the car hit anything, Taleb says. And it can brake and even take action on its own to evade a hazard such as another moving car. A driver can even watch the car park through the cameras and software that simulates an aerial view.</p>
<p>Although the technology is already available, there are hurdles. Only nine states allow driverless cars on public roads, and then only for testing purposes, said Scott Belcher, CEO of the Intelligent Transportation Society of America, the group holding the conference.</p>
<p>Also, parking decks will have to be equipped with systems to communicate with cars. Radio frequencies haven’t been allocated yet by the federal government. The auto industry is vying with the cellphone industry for the bandwidth, for vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication, Belcher said.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Cyber security guidelines and government regulations have to be put in place. And legal liability has to be sorted out if the car somehow gets into a wreck.</p>
<p>What’s likely within five years is an interim step: The driver finds the space and the car then parks itself. Taleb wouldn’t say if an auto company is interested in buying the self-parking system.</p>
<p>The traffic benefits alone are tremendous. Omno Zoeter, a senior research scientist at Xerox, says some studies show as many as 30 percent of urban drivers are looking for parking at any given time.</p>
<p>Eugene Tsyrklevich, the CEO of Parkopedia, an app that monitors more than 30 million parking spaces in 45 countries to help drivers park, predicts a decade of transition as cars and then parking garages adopt technology.</p>
<p>“Driving around looking for a space is not dead yet,” said Tsyrklevich. “But it will be.”</p>
<p>——</p>
<p>Auto Writer Dee-Ann Durbin contributed to this report.</p> | Letting your car find a spot and park itself | false | https://abqjournal.com/459231/letting-your-car-find-a-spot-and-park-itself.html | 2least
| Letting your car find a spot and park itself
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>In this undated photo supplied by Valeo, a person activates a self-parking vehicle via a smartphone application. Technology being honed by the French auto parts maker uses a dozen ultrasonic sound-wave sensors, 360-degree cameras and a laser scanner to allow a vehicle to safely park within a few centimeters of other vehicles. (AP Photo/Valeo)</p>
<p>DETROIT — With a thumb swipe on a smartphone, your car one day will be able to drive into a parking deck, find an open spot and back into a space — all by itself.</p>
<p>Technology being honed by French auto parts maker Valeo uses a dozen ultrasonic sound-wave sensors, 360-degree cameras and a laser scanner to safely park within a few centimeters of other vehicles. Then, when you’re done with dinner or a business meeting, the car will return to you after another swipe of the thumb.</p>
<p>The potential benefits are plenty. More orderly parking means less congestion. Drivers are spared the time and frustration of the hunt for a spot. Parking lots can squeeze more vehicles into limited space.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The fully-automated system called “Connected Automated Valet Parking” is still about a decade away, however. More states must permit driverless cars and regulations have to be crafted. Equipment needs to be rolled out.</p>
<p>Still, Valeo executives see it as a big step toward the day in the distant future when cars actually drive themselves with no one behind the wheel.</p>
<p>Other companies have already demonstrated self-parking systems, but in most cases the driver has to find the spot and activate the system to make it work. The Valeo system, demonstrated Monday at an intelligent vehicle conference in Detroit using a Land Rover SUV, allows cars today to do tasks currently performed by human valets.</p>
<p>“The car is able to do a much better parking maneuver than we as humans,” said Amine Taleb, Valeo’s project manager for advanced driver assistance systems.</p>
<p>Here’s how it works: Drivers approach their destination and the system finds a deck with an open space. The driver goes to the deck and activates the system. The deck then tells the car where the open space is. The sensors, cameras and laser activate, letting the car drive itself about 3 miles per hour, winding its way to the space and backing in. The system can even find a space on its own without a signal from a deck.</p>
<p>The system won’t let the car hit anything, Taleb says. And it can brake and even take action on its own to evade a hazard such as another moving car. A driver can even watch the car park through the cameras and software that simulates an aerial view.</p>
<p>Although the technology is already available, there are hurdles. Only nine states allow driverless cars on public roads, and then only for testing purposes, said Scott Belcher, CEO of the Intelligent Transportation Society of America, the group holding the conference.</p>
<p>Also, parking decks will have to be equipped with systems to communicate with cars. Radio frequencies haven’t been allocated yet by the federal government. The auto industry is vying with the cellphone industry for the bandwidth, for vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication, Belcher said.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Cyber security guidelines and government regulations have to be put in place. And legal liability has to be sorted out if the car somehow gets into a wreck.</p>
<p>What’s likely within five years is an interim step: The driver finds the space and the car then parks itself. Taleb wouldn’t say if an auto company is interested in buying the self-parking system.</p>
<p>The traffic benefits alone are tremendous. Omno Zoeter, a senior research scientist at Xerox, says some studies show as many as 30 percent of urban drivers are looking for parking at any given time.</p>
<p>Eugene Tsyrklevich, the CEO of Parkopedia, an app that monitors more than 30 million parking spaces in 45 countries to help drivers park, predicts a decade of transition as cars and then parking garages adopt technology.</p>
<p>“Driving around looking for a space is not dead yet,” said Tsyrklevich. “But it will be.”</p>
<p>——</p>
<p>Auto Writer Dee-Ann Durbin contributed to this report.</p> | 3,370 |
|
<p>During the hot-headed days following the shooting of young black man Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, by a white police officer named Darren Wilson, a story emerged from the Left: Brown had surrendered to Wilson, held his hands up, and said “don’t shoot” – and Wilson then gunned down Brown. This story took hold on the Left, setting the media ablaze, and leading to mainstream figures holding up their hands in the famed “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” pose.</p>
<p>Congresspeople did it:</p>
<p />
<p>Congressional staffers did it:</p>
<p />
<p>Members of the media did it:</p>
<p />
<p>Professional athletes did it:</p>
<p />
<p>There was just one problem: it never happened. Witness testimony debunked it. Forensic evidence debunked it. It simply didn’t occur.</p>
<p>So the Left fell back on a tried and true strategy: they claimed that while the facts weren’t true, the narrative was. It was more important for Americans to think that cops went around shooting surrendering black folks than that they be told the truth about Brown and Wilson. Instead of supporting their broader contention with actual facts – which they couldn't do anyway – they kept pushing a known falsehood.</p>
<p>The Right protested. People like me said often and loudly that if a narrative couldn’t be bolstered by facts, perhaps the narrative was just wrong. Furthermore, if we couldn’t have an argument based on the same set of facts, there was no argument to be had: we can’t just stand around all day shouting slogans at one another without providing underlying facts to buttress those slogans.</p>
<p>We know the Left does this routinely: they lie about facts in order to bolster narratives they couldn’t otherwise defend.</p>
<p>Yet now, the Right seems to be falling prey to the same phenomenon.</p>
<p>Trump says factually untrue things. A lot. And then the Right defends him for saying factually untrue things because we like the narrative we wish he were promulgating, instead of defending true narratives on factual grounds.</p>
<p>Sure, we hear, President Trump doesn’t have the facts to back the fact that Obama purposefully surveilled him and his team. But the narrative – that he was victimized by the Obama apparatus through leaks – is true! Well yes, it is true that Obama intelligence staffers must have leaked information illegally to the press – but that’s a narrative backed by facts, and also a separate narrative than the one Trump pushed with his evidence-free wiretapping allegations. The narrative that Obama had his intelligence community monitor Trump team communications specifically, has no evidence to support it. Therefore, we must assume it’s not true until such time as evidence is revealed to prove it true.</p>
<p>But the opposite seems to be taking place. Every time Trump promulgates an evidence-free narrative, Trump and his most ardent fans on the Right say, “Well, the narrative is true – and eventually the facts will be too! And if they aren't, so what? At least what he's saying is generally true!”</p>
<p>This is dishonest. It’s not just dishonest, it’s anti-conservative.</p>
<p>It’s anti-conservative because in a battle between facts and narrative, facts must win. Otherwise, we’re just in a fight between unsupportable narratives – and in that fight, the only thing that matters is power. If you have power, you can successfully push an unsupportable narrative. You can push a big lie. If you don’t, you can’t. So if you want your fact-free narrative to succeed and survive, you must maintain power.</p>
<p>Might makes right.</p>
<p>This is the opposite of conservative philosophy, which holds that might not only doesn’t make right, might must be checked and balanced to prevent it from squashing right under its heavy heel. We must all call for narratives to be backed by facts, particularly when the person pushing the narrative has power. We must have higher standards for truth when the person occupying the Oval Office has none. That’s why the Founders thought that small government was the only solution to the tendency of politicians to lie, cheat, and steal: might could not be allowed, lest it murder right.</p>
<p>We’re complicit in a might-makes-right universe when we intentionally obfuscate truth in pursuit of defending a narrative. Trump is not right when he says untrue things. He is wrong. And his narrative, if it is right, cannot be supported by reference to the untrue things he says. If you have facts to back a true narrative, bring those facts – but don’t twist the non-facts he pushes in order to defend his narrative, or a narrative you wish he were promoting. Otherwise you’re merely complicit in kowtowing to power because you think power can help you push your agenda – and that calls for more centralization of power in the hands of the guy you think is on your side, not less power generally handed over to a centralized source.</p> | It Is Immoral To Defend Lies Because You Like The Narrative. This Means You, Conservatives. Especially You. | true | https://dailywire.com/news/14729/it-immoral-defend-lies-because-you-narrative-means-ben-shapiro | 2017-03-23 | 0right
| It Is Immoral To Defend Lies Because You Like The Narrative. This Means You, Conservatives. Especially You.
<p>During the hot-headed days following the shooting of young black man Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, by a white police officer named Darren Wilson, a story emerged from the Left: Brown had surrendered to Wilson, held his hands up, and said “don’t shoot” – and Wilson then gunned down Brown. This story took hold on the Left, setting the media ablaze, and leading to mainstream figures holding up their hands in the famed “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” pose.</p>
<p>Congresspeople did it:</p>
<p />
<p>Congressional staffers did it:</p>
<p />
<p>Members of the media did it:</p>
<p />
<p>Professional athletes did it:</p>
<p />
<p>There was just one problem: it never happened. Witness testimony debunked it. Forensic evidence debunked it. It simply didn’t occur.</p>
<p>So the Left fell back on a tried and true strategy: they claimed that while the facts weren’t true, the narrative was. It was more important for Americans to think that cops went around shooting surrendering black folks than that they be told the truth about Brown and Wilson. Instead of supporting their broader contention with actual facts – which they couldn't do anyway – they kept pushing a known falsehood.</p>
<p>The Right protested. People like me said often and loudly that if a narrative couldn’t be bolstered by facts, perhaps the narrative was just wrong. Furthermore, if we couldn’t have an argument based on the same set of facts, there was no argument to be had: we can’t just stand around all day shouting slogans at one another without providing underlying facts to buttress those slogans.</p>
<p>We know the Left does this routinely: they lie about facts in order to bolster narratives they couldn’t otherwise defend.</p>
<p>Yet now, the Right seems to be falling prey to the same phenomenon.</p>
<p>Trump says factually untrue things. A lot. And then the Right defends him for saying factually untrue things because we like the narrative we wish he were promulgating, instead of defending true narratives on factual grounds.</p>
<p>Sure, we hear, President Trump doesn’t have the facts to back the fact that Obama purposefully surveilled him and his team. But the narrative – that he was victimized by the Obama apparatus through leaks – is true! Well yes, it is true that Obama intelligence staffers must have leaked information illegally to the press – but that’s a narrative backed by facts, and also a separate narrative than the one Trump pushed with his evidence-free wiretapping allegations. The narrative that Obama had his intelligence community monitor Trump team communications specifically, has no evidence to support it. Therefore, we must assume it’s not true until such time as evidence is revealed to prove it true.</p>
<p>But the opposite seems to be taking place. Every time Trump promulgates an evidence-free narrative, Trump and his most ardent fans on the Right say, “Well, the narrative is true – and eventually the facts will be too! And if they aren't, so what? At least what he's saying is generally true!”</p>
<p>This is dishonest. It’s not just dishonest, it’s anti-conservative.</p>
<p>It’s anti-conservative because in a battle between facts and narrative, facts must win. Otherwise, we’re just in a fight between unsupportable narratives – and in that fight, the only thing that matters is power. If you have power, you can successfully push an unsupportable narrative. You can push a big lie. If you don’t, you can’t. So if you want your fact-free narrative to succeed and survive, you must maintain power.</p>
<p>Might makes right.</p>
<p>This is the opposite of conservative philosophy, which holds that might not only doesn’t make right, might must be checked and balanced to prevent it from squashing right under its heavy heel. We must all call for narratives to be backed by facts, particularly when the person pushing the narrative has power. We must have higher standards for truth when the person occupying the Oval Office has none. That’s why the Founders thought that small government was the only solution to the tendency of politicians to lie, cheat, and steal: might could not be allowed, lest it murder right.</p>
<p>We’re complicit in a might-makes-right universe when we intentionally obfuscate truth in pursuit of defending a narrative. Trump is not right when he says untrue things. He is wrong. And his narrative, if it is right, cannot be supported by reference to the untrue things he says. If you have facts to back a true narrative, bring those facts – but don’t twist the non-facts he pushes in order to defend his narrative, or a narrative you wish he were promoting. Otherwise you’re merely complicit in kowtowing to power because you think power can help you push your agenda – and that calls for more centralization of power in the hands of the guy you think is on your side, not less power generally handed over to a centralized source.</p> | 3,371 |
<p>The speech Eugene V. Debs <a href="https://www.marxists.org/archive/debs/works/1918/canton.htm" type="external">delivered</a> on June 16, 1918 in Canton, Ohio was, for him, fairly unremarkable.</p>
<p>Speaking from a gazebo in a city park, the Socialist Party leader denounced the “Junkers of Wall Street” for&#160;enslaving workers in industrial despotism; confidently heralded the coming of the cooperative commonwealth (“it is as vain to resist it as it would be to arrest the sunrise on the morrow”);&#160;and exhorted listeners to join the Socialist Party, “the builders of the beautiful world that is to be.”</p>
<p>As one historian <a href="http://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/89qkp3dk9780252074523.html" type="external">notes</a>, Debs “said nothing he had not said many times before and had referred to the war but once.”</p>
<p>But federal authorities, gripped&#160;by World War I hysteria,&#160;had heard enough. They <a href="" type="internal">arrested him</a> for intending to “cause and incite insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny and refusal of duty in the military,” as well as for trying “to obstruct the recruiting and enlistment service of the United States.” Debs was stripped of his citizenship and incarcerated until December 1921, when&#160;he&#160;received a presidential commutation.</p>
<p>However pedestrian for Debs, the offending&#160;speech is&#160;a study in socialist oration, with memorable lines like “The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.” In honor of its&#160;ninety-ninth anniversary, we reprint it&#160;here&#160;in full.</p> | The Canton Speech | true | https://jacobinmag.com/2017/06/eugene-debs-world-war-i-jail-canton | 2018-10-02 | 4left
| The Canton Speech
<p>The speech Eugene V. Debs <a href="https://www.marxists.org/archive/debs/works/1918/canton.htm" type="external">delivered</a> on June 16, 1918 in Canton, Ohio was, for him, fairly unremarkable.</p>
<p>Speaking from a gazebo in a city park, the Socialist Party leader denounced the “Junkers of Wall Street” for&#160;enslaving workers in industrial despotism; confidently heralded the coming of the cooperative commonwealth (“it is as vain to resist it as it would be to arrest the sunrise on the morrow”);&#160;and exhorted listeners to join the Socialist Party, “the builders of the beautiful world that is to be.”</p>
<p>As one historian <a href="http://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/89qkp3dk9780252074523.html" type="external">notes</a>, Debs “said nothing he had not said many times before and had referred to the war but once.”</p>
<p>But federal authorities, gripped&#160;by World War I hysteria,&#160;had heard enough. They <a href="" type="internal">arrested him</a> for intending to “cause and incite insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny and refusal of duty in the military,” as well as for trying “to obstruct the recruiting and enlistment service of the United States.” Debs was stripped of his citizenship and incarcerated until December 1921, when&#160;he&#160;received a presidential commutation.</p>
<p>However pedestrian for Debs, the offending&#160;speech is&#160;a study in socialist oration, with memorable lines like “The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.” In honor of its&#160;ninety-ninth anniversary, we reprint it&#160;here&#160;in full.</p> | 3,372 |
<p>Paradise Ridge Winery co-owner shares update on devastation caused by fires.</p>
<p>The wildfires burning through Northern California are sending visitors packing, threatening the $2 billion-plus spent annually by tourists on wine tours, fine food, limousine rides and much more, business leaders said.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>At the Inn on First bed and breakfast in the famous wine town of Napa, co-owner Jamie Cherry was encouraging callers to postpone rather than cancel visits, as wildfires burned largely unchecked across the region.</p>
<p>"People are cancelling as far as November already," Cherry said. "It's going to be devastating in terms of financial loss for everybody."</p>
<p>The fast-moving fires have killed at least 26 people and left hundreds missing in an area less than an hour's drive from San Francisco.</p>
<p>With hundreds of wineries, expensive restaurants and bucolic rolling scenery, the wine country of Sonoma and Napa counties is a major draw for visitors. Limousines and buses clog parking lots at weekends as visitors sip Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignons in towns known for their mix of rural and cosmopolitan vibes.</p>
<p>Now, with at least 13 burned wineries, shuttered tasting rooms and thick smoke in the air from nearly two dozen fires that have charred more than 190,000 acres across the state, it is unclear how quickly the region can lure back tourists.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>"WE'D GO BACK"</p>
<p>Napa Valley welcomed 3.5 million visitors last year, with overnight guests spending on average $402 per day, according to Visit Napa Valley, the region's tourism marketing group.</p>
<p>"There is a good amount of infrastructure that has burned down, homes have burned down, wineries have burned. There are restaurants that are not going to open quickly," said Clay Gregory of Visit Napa Valley.</p>
<p>On Thursday, tasting rooms remained closed and the famous Napa Valley Wine Train, which ferries tourists through the vineyards, said it planned to reopen on Sunday.</p>
<p>Dozens of limousines and tour buses, their polish dulled by a film of ash, sat in a parking lot and warehouse on the outskirts of Napa. The company's owner, Michael Graham, said the business had just hit peak demand of 100 reservations a day, but since the fires that had slumped to two.</p>
<p>Graham remains hopeful, however, citing tourism's quick recovery after the 6.0 earthquake that hit Napa in 2014: "People were out wine-tasting the same day."</p>
<p>Graham said the region was still largely intact, with vast swathes of countryside untouched by fire.</p>
<p>"It's just smoky. As soon as they get this contained it will be back to business as usual," he said.</p>
<p>Others agreed the effect of the fires on tourism would be short-lived.</p>
<p>Roseanne Rosen has fond memories of the trip with her husband to wine country that she just finished ahead of the fires. The couple from Kansas City has been coming for the last decade and has no plans to abandon that tradition.</p>
<p>"It's one of our favorite destinations and I don't see that changing," Rosen said by telephone. "Once people are open and ready for business, we'd go back in an instant." (Writing by Alexandria Sage, Editing by Ben Klayman and Andrew Hay)</p> | California wildfires threaten wine country tourism lifeblood | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/10/12/california-wildfires-threaten-wine-country-tourism-lifeblood.html | 2017-10-12 | 0right
| California wildfires threaten wine country tourism lifeblood
<p>Paradise Ridge Winery co-owner shares update on devastation caused by fires.</p>
<p>The wildfires burning through Northern California are sending visitors packing, threatening the $2 billion-plus spent annually by tourists on wine tours, fine food, limousine rides and much more, business leaders said.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>At the Inn on First bed and breakfast in the famous wine town of Napa, co-owner Jamie Cherry was encouraging callers to postpone rather than cancel visits, as wildfires burned largely unchecked across the region.</p>
<p>"People are cancelling as far as November already," Cherry said. "It's going to be devastating in terms of financial loss for everybody."</p>
<p>The fast-moving fires have killed at least 26 people and left hundreds missing in an area less than an hour's drive from San Francisco.</p>
<p>With hundreds of wineries, expensive restaurants and bucolic rolling scenery, the wine country of Sonoma and Napa counties is a major draw for visitors. Limousines and buses clog parking lots at weekends as visitors sip Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignons in towns known for their mix of rural and cosmopolitan vibes.</p>
<p>Now, with at least 13 burned wineries, shuttered tasting rooms and thick smoke in the air from nearly two dozen fires that have charred more than 190,000 acres across the state, it is unclear how quickly the region can lure back tourists.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>"WE'D GO BACK"</p>
<p>Napa Valley welcomed 3.5 million visitors last year, with overnight guests spending on average $402 per day, according to Visit Napa Valley, the region's tourism marketing group.</p>
<p>"There is a good amount of infrastructure that has burned down, homes have burned down, wineries have burned. There are restaurants that are not going to open quickly," said Clay Gregory of Visit Napa Valley.</p>
<p>On Thursday, tasting rooms remained closed and the famous Napa Valley Wine Train, which ferries tourists through the vineyards, said it planned to reopen on Sunday.</p>
<p>Dozens of limousines and tour buses, their polish dulled by a film of ash, sat in a parking lot and warehouse on the outskirts of Napa. The company's owner, Michael Graham, said the business had just hit peak demand of 100 reservations a day, but since the fires that had slumped to two.</p>
<p>Graham remains hopeful, however, citing tourism's quick recovery after the 6.0 earthquake that hit Napa in 2014: "People were out wine-tasting the same day."</p>
<p>Graham said the region was still largely intact, with vast swathes of countryside untouched by fire.</p>
<p>"It's just smoky. As soon as they get this contained it will be back to business as usual," he said.</p>
<p>Others agreed the effect of the fires on tourism would be short-lived.</p>
<p>Roseanne Rosen has fond memories of the trip with her husband to wine country that she just finished ahead of the fires. The couple from Kansas City has been coming for the last decade and has no plans to abandon that tradition.</p>
<p>"It's one of our favorite destinations and I don't see that changing," Rosen said by telephone. "Once people are open and ready for business, we'd go back in an instant." (Writing by Alexandria Sage, Editing by Ben Klayman and Andrew Hay)</p> | 3,373 |
<p>"Star Wars" fans may have crashed Fandango's website, but they also set a record for the online movie ticket seller. The first day of presales for "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," which arrives in theaters Dec. 18, was by far the biggest ever for Fandango. It generated eight times the volume that the previous record holder,…</p> | 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Destroys Fandango First-day Sales Record | true | http://crooksandliars.com/2015/10/star-wars-force-awakens-destroys-fandango | 2015-10-21 | 4left
| 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Destroys Fandango First-day Sales Record
<p>"Star Wars" fans may have crashed Fandango's website, but they also set a record for the online movie ticket seller. The first day of presales for "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," which arrives in theaters Dec. 18, was by far the biggest ever for Fandango. It generated eight times the volume that the previous record holder,…</p> | 3,374 |
<p>The consolidation of power through brute force represents a serious step backward for the region. How is it possible that a coup d’etat could take place and survive in the 21st century? This is the question that the international community faces after the coup d’etat that Honduras suffered on June 28. On that day, the Honduran Armed Forces kidnapped the democratically elected president, Manuel Zelaya, and forced him onto a flight bound for Costa Rica. The Organization of American States (OAS), the UN General Assembly, the U.S. government, and every Latin American nation have denounced the coup and demanded the immediate reinstatement of President Zelaya. The international diplomatic response was strong and swift, leaving the de facto regime in Honduras isolated. Many believed that this response would be sufficient to force Roberto Micheletti, the “president” imposed by the architects of the coup, to renounce his claim to rule by force.</p>
<p>It has been several decades since Central America emerged from a tragic and bloody era of military dictatorships, in several cases supported by the U.S. government. Times have changed. President Obama united with the global call to restore democracy in the impoverished Central American nation of Honduras. The country has been hit with economic sanctions through the temporary closing of borders with neighboring Central American countries, the freezing of loans from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, the suspension of oil imports from Petrocaribe, and the suspension of USD $16.5 million in U.S. aid, among other sanctions.</p>
<p>However, the coup leaders are stubbornly holding on to power. They did not allow the plane carrying President Zelaya and the president of the UN General Assembly, Miguel D’Escoto, to land in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa on July 7. Micheletti has stated that he will remain in power until elections slated for November, and will never permit Zelaya to return as president. There is currently a curfew in place across the country, military roadblocks in various regions, and arrest warrants filed against leaders of unions and campesino, indigenous, and human rights movements. Security forces have killed at least three people. Social movements continue to rally in the streets and their numbers and degree of organization have increased daily as they fight for the return of President Zelaya and his right to consult the public on a constitutional assembly. It was this issue that sparked the coup, implemented by the armed forces, and conservative politicians and businessmen.</p>
<p>In an attempt to diffuse the situation, President Oscar Arias of Costa Rica began mediating talks between the two sides. It soon became clear that the mediation effort offered little hope of success, since Micheletti refused any possibility of allowing President Zelaya’s return—an obligatory condition for Zelaya, the international community, and the citizens’ movements of Honduras. Micheletti returned to Honduras after just one day of negotiations, refusing to meet with Zelaya and leaving behind a delegation that, because of the intransigence of the coup leaders, does not have the power to advance the talks. The second round of talks the weekend of July 18 produced the same result. Given that the regime is isolated, sanctioned, and being confronted by its own people, how is it possible that the coup is now entering its fourth week, tenaciously maintaining a control that has been widely declared illegitimate?</p>
<p>It is time to recognize that diplomatic pressure alone has not worked. The U.S. government, along with other countries, needs to move past talk and start implementing concrete actions. Although it has applied limited economic sanctions, much more needs to be done based on an official declaration from the State Department that a coup has taken place in Honduras. Commercial measures under CAFTA must also be applied. This implies an incredibly high price, not only for the de facto regime, but also for the Honduran people. The people have made it clear that these measures are necessary and have demanded that the U.S. government and others apply these sanctions. The coup leaders and the international far-right that support them are aware that Honduras is a test case for the Obama administration and the world. If the coup leaders succeed in consolidating power based on military force it will represent a serious step backward for the rule of law in the region.</p>
<p>The Honduran people have shown their willingness to take the personal risks of demonstrating in the streets against the coup and enduring the consequences of more sanctions. The rest of the world should follow their example in the fight for democracy and demand that their governments implement stronger measures to restore Honduras’ constitutional order. Only then will it be possible to send a message once and for all that military coups are unacceptable in the 21st century.</p>
<p>Translated for the Americas Program by Monica Wooters.</p>
<p>LAURA CARLSEN is director of the Americas Policy Program in Mexico City. She can be reached at: (lcarlsen(a)ciponline.org).</p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | 21st Century Coups d’Etat | true | https://counterpunch.org/2009/07/23/21st-century-coups-d-etat/ | 2009-07-23 | 4left
| 21st Century Coups d’Etat
<p>The consolidation of power through brute force represents a serious step backward for the region. How is it possible that a coup d’etat could take place and survive in the 21st century? This is the question that the international community faces after the coup d’etat that Honduras suffered on June 28. On that day, the Honduran Armed Forces kidnapped the democratically elected president, Manuel Zelaya, and forced him onto a flight bound for Costa Rica. The Organization of American States (OAS), the UN General Assembly, the U.S. government, and every Latin American nation have denounced the coup and demanded the immediate reinstatement of President Zelaya. The international diplomatic response was strong and swift, leaving the de facto regime in Honduras isolated. Many believed that this response would be sufficient to force Roberto Micheletti, the “president” imposed by the architects of the coup, to renounce his claim to rule by force.</p>
<p>It has been several decades since Central America emerged from a tragic and bloody era of military dictatorships, in several cases supported by the U.S. government. Times have changed. President Obama united with the global call to restore democracy in the impoverished Central American nation of Honduras. The country has been hit with economic sanctions through the temporary closing of borders with neighboring Central American countries, the freezing of loans from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, the suspension of oil imports from Petrocaribe, and the suspension of USD $16.5 million in U.S. aid, among other sanctions.</p>
<p>However, the coup leaders are stubbornly holding on to power. They did not allow the plane carrying President Zelaya and the president of the UN General Assembly, Miguel D’Escoto, to land in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa on July 7. Micheletti has stated that he will remain in power until elections slated for November, and will never permit Zelaya to return as president. There is currently a curfew in place across the country, military roadblocks in various regions, and arrest warrants filed against leaders of unions and campesino, indigenous, and human rights movements. Security forces have killed at least three people. Social movements continue to rally in the streets and their numbers and degree of organization have increased daily as they fight for the return of President Zelaya and his right to consult the public on a constitutional assembly. It was this issue that sparked the coup, implemented by the armed forces, and conservative politicians and businessmen.</p>
<p>In an attempt to diffuse the situation, President Oscar Arias of Costa Rica began mediating talks between the two sides. It soon became clear that the mediation effort offered little hope of success, since Micheletti refused any possibility of allowing President Zelaya’s return—an obligatory condition for Zelaya, the international community, and the citizens’ movements of Honduras. Micheletti returned to Honduras after just one day of negotiations, refusing to meet with Zelaya and leaving behind a delegation that, because of the intransigence of the coup leaders, does not have the power to advance the talks. The second round of talks the weekend of July 18 produced the same result. Given that the regime is isolated, sanctioned, and being confronted by its own people, how is it possible that the coup is now entering its fourth week, tenaciously maintaining a control that has been widely declared illegitimate?</p>
<p>It is time to recognize that diplomatic pressure alone has not worked. The U.S. government, along with other countries, needs to move past talk and start implementing concrete actions. Although it has applied limited economic sanctions, much more needs to be done based on an official declaration from the State Department that a coup has taken place in Honduras. Commercial measures under CAFTA must also be applied. This implies an incredibly high price, not only for the de facto regime, but also for the Honduran people. The people have made it clear that these measures are necessary and have demanded that the U.S. government and others apply these sanctions. The coup leaders and the international far-right that support them are aware that Honduras is a test case for the Obama administration and the world. If the coup leaders succeed in consolidating power based on military force it will represent a serious step backward for the rule of law in the region.</p>
<p>The Honduran people have shown their willingness to take the personal risks of demonstrating in the streets against the coup and enduring the consequences of more sanctions. The rest of the world should follow their example in the fight for democracy and demand that their governments implement stronger measures to restore Honduras’ constitutional order. Only then will it be possible to send a message once and for all that military coups are unacceptable in the 21st century.</p>
<p>Translated for the Americas Program by Monica Wooters.</p>
<p>LAURA CARLSEN is director of the Americas Policy Program in Mexico City. She can be reached at: (lcarlsen(a)ciponline.org).</p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | 3,375 |
<p>(Image courtesy Houston Unites)</p>
<p>One day before Houston voters head to the polls to vote on an LGBT-inclusive comprehensive non-discrimination ordinance, both sides are ramping up their game ahead of what’s now expected to be a close vote.</p>
<p>The Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO), which will go&#160;before voters on Tuesday as Proposition 1, would prohibit anti-LGBT discrimination — as well as bias against other groups of people — in the nation’s fourth largest city. The covered areas would be employment, services, contracting practices, housing and public accommodations.</p>
<p>Sean Theriault, who’s gay and a political scientist at University of Texas, Austin, said the landscape in Houston has changed rapidly in the aftermath of TV advertisements <a href="" type="internal">stoking fears</a> about the measure allowing transgender people to use the bathroom consistent with their gender identity.</p>
<p>“Two weeks ago, I thought it was in the bag for our side,” Theriault said. “But, I must confess I’m a bit more nervous today. Turnout appears to be up in some conservative areas and the evil forces appear to be all over the media.”</p>
<p>Theriault’s assessment is consistent with the views of other political observers in Texas who say the race is tightening despite polls earlier this month showing a substantial lead in support for HERO.</p>
<p>On Saturday, the Human Rights Campaign announced in a blog post the organization has sent more than 30 staffers to Houston. The organization says the effort is now the largest mobilization of staff for a campaign in the LGBT group’s history.</p>
<p>Trevor Chandler, HRC’s associate regional field director, said in the blog post staffers are going door-to-door and making phone calls in a final wave of get-out-the-vote efforts.</p>
<p>“With only a few days to go this fight is going to go down to the wire,” Chandler said. “HRC staff are activating our members and recruiting volunteers to make that happen.”</p>
<p>In <a href="http://www.freedomforallamericans.org/ffaahouston/" type="external">a Sunday blog post</a>, the LGBT group Freedom of All Americans said it has sent nearly its entire staff to Houston this week to work on the get-out-the-vote efforts.</p>
<p>Following a wave of anti-trans TV ads, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott encouraged Houston residents on his personal Twitter account to reject HERO based on discredited assertions the measure would allow unlawful conduct in public restrooms.</p>
<p />
<p>Supporters of HERO say misconduct in restrooms would still be punishable under the law in the event the ordinance is approved.</p>
<p>On other side, President Obama and Vice President Joseph Biden have expressed support for HERO through the White House. Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Bernard Sanders and Martin O’Malley have also expressed support for the measure. Secretary of Housing &amp; Urban Development Julian Castro also supports HERO.</p>
<p>The Faith Family Freedom Fund, a super fund affiliated with the anti-LGBT Family Research Council, issued an email blast drawing attention to Clinton’s endorsement of HERO and seeking to raise funds for the opposite purpose.</p>
<p>“Hillary’s public support tells us that she recognizes the national significance a win or loss on this vote would have,” it&#160;says. “The Faith Family Freedom Fund is doubling-down on our efforts to make sure Houston voters are given all the facts as they vote on this and we’re asking for your support.”</p>
<p>By way of fundraising emails from HRC, celebrities who’ve expressed support for HERO include&#160;the first openly gay NFL draft pick Michael Sam, actress Sally Field, gay actor Matt Bomer and gay actor Jim Parsons of “The Big Bang Theory.”</p>
<p>Theriault cautioned, however, that celebrity endorsements may not have a positive impact on HERO.</p>
<p>“Frankly, I’m not sure how helpful it is to have all the L.A. celebrities come to town,” Theriault said. “Probably good for fundraising, but not necessarily good for appealing to the undecided voter.”</p>
<p>Other endorsements HRC has touted include local faith leaders who spoke Monday at Houston’s Grace Lutheran Church as well as leaders from the local chapter of the NAACP.</p>
<p>Polls are open in Houston on Tuesday between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Central Time.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Houston</a> <a href="" type="internal">Houston Equal Rights Ordinance</a> <a href="" type="internal">Sean Theriault</a> <a href="" type="internal">University of Texas</a></p> | Ahead of Houston vote, both sides ramping up efforts | false | http://washingtonblade.com/2015/11/02/ahead-of-houston-vote-both-sides-ramping-up-efforts/ | 3left-center
| Ahead of Houston vote, both sides ramping up efforts
<p>(Image courtesy Houston Unites)</p>
<p>One day before Houston voters head to the polls to vote on an LGBT-inclusive comprehensive non-discrimination ordinance, both sides are ramping up their game ahead of what’s now expected to be a close vote.</p>
<p>The Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO), which will go&#160;before voters on Tuesday as Proposition 1, would prohibit anti-LGBT discrimination — as well as bias against other groups of people — in the nation’s fourth largest city. The covered areas would be employment, services, contracting practices, housing and public accommodations.</p>
<p>Sean Theriault, who’s gay and a political scientist at University of Texas, Austin, said the landscape in Houston has changed rapidly in the aftermath of TV advertisements <a href="" type="internal">stoking fears</a> about the measure allowing transgender people to use the bathroom consistent with their gender identity.</p>
<p>“Two weeks ago, I thought it was in the bag for our side,” Theriault said. “But, I must confess I’m a bit more nervous today. Turnout appears to be up in some conservative areas and the evil forces appear to be all over the media.”</p>
<p>Theriault’s assessment is consistent with the views of other political observers in Texas who say the race is tightening despite polls earlier this month showing a substantial lead in support for HERO.</p>
<p>On Saturday, the Human Rights Campaign announced in a blog post the organization has sent more than 30 staffers to Houston. The organization says the effort is now the largest mobilization of staff for a campaign in the LGBT group’s history.</p>
<p>Trevor Chandler, HRC’s associate regional field director, said in the blog post staffers are going door-to-door and making phone calls in a final wave of get-out-the-vote efforts.</p>
<p>“With only a few days to go this fight is going to go down to the wire,” Chandler said. “HRC staff are activating our members and recruiting volunteers to make that happen.”</p>
<p>In <a href="http://www.freedomforallamericans.org/ffaahouston/" type="external">a Sunday blog post</a>, the LGBT group Freedom of All Americans said it has sent nearly its entire staff to Houston this week to work on the get-out-the-vote efforts.</p>
<p>Following a wave of anti-trans TV ads, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott encouraged Houston residents on his personal Twitter account to reject HERO based on discredited assertions the measure would allow unlawful conduct in public restrooms.</p>
<p />
<p>Supporters of HERO say misconduct in restrooms would still be punishable under the law in the event the ordinance is approved.</p>
<p>On other side, President Obama and Vice President Joseph Biden have expressed support for HERO through the White House. Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Bernard Sanders and Martin O’Malley have also expressed support for the measure. Secretary of Housing &amp; Urban Development Julian Castro also supports HERO.</p>
<p>The Faith Family Freedom Fund, a super fund affiliated with the anti-LGBT Family Research Council, issued an email blast drawing attention to Clinton’s endorsement of HERO and seeking to raise funds for the opposite purpose.</p>
<p>“Hillary’s public support tells us that she recognizes the national significance a win or loss on this vote would have,” it&#160;says. “The Faith Family Freedom Fund is doubling-down on our efforts to make sure Houston voters are given all the facts as they vote on this and we’re asking for your support.”</p>
<p>By way of fundraising emails from HRC, celebrities who’ve expressed support for HERO include&#160;the first openly gay NFL draft pick Michael Sam, actress Sally Field, gay actor Matt Bomer and gay actor Jim Parsons of “The Big Bang Theory.”</p>
<p>Theriault cautioned, however, that celebrity endorsements may not have a positive impact on HERO.</p>
<p>“Frankly, I’m not sure how helpful it is to have all the L.A. celebrities come to town,” Theriault said. “Probably good for fundraising, but not necessarily good for appealing to the undecided voter.”</p>
<p>Other endorsements HRC has touted include local faith leaders who spoke Monday at Houston’s Grace Lutheran Church as well as leaders from the local chapter of the NAACP.</p>
<p>Polls are open in Houston on Tuesday between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Central Time.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Houston</a> <a href="" type="internal">Houston Equal Rights Ordinance</a> <a href="" type="internal">Sean Theriault</a> <a href="" type="internal">University of Texas</a></p> | 3,376 |
|
<p>Dec. 5 (UPI) — By cutting the break-even cost by more than half, Norwegian major Statoil said it’s decided on a development plan for the mega Johan Castberg oil field.</p>
<p>Johan Castberg is located in the Norwegian waters of the Barents Sea and holds at least 450 million barrels of oil equivalent. Statoil said Tuesday it submitted a plan for development and operation to the Norwegian government that outlines an annual cost of operation of $138 million.</p>
<p>Margareth Øvrum, Statoil’s executive vice president for drilling, said that with capital costs of more than $12 billion and a break-even price of more than $80 per barrel, developing Johan Castberg wasn’t viable until now.</p>
<p>“We have been working hard together with our suppliers and partners, changing the concept and finding new solutions in order to realize the development,” she said in <a href="https://www.statoil.com/en/news/05dec2017-johan-castberg.html" type="external">a statement</a>. “Today we are delivering a solid plan for development and operation for a field with halved capital expenditures and which will be profitable at oil prices of less than $35 per barrel.”</p>
<p>The price for Brent crude oil, the global benchmark, was around $62 per barrel early Tuesday.</p>
<p>Statoil was already moving forward with operational plans before submitting its program to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate. The company <a href="https://www.upi.com/Statoil-makes-headway-with-Barents-Sea-field-development/3461510313977/" type="external">in November</a> signed a letter of intent with Sembcorp Marine Rigs &amp; Floaters in Singapore for contracts related to the construction of the hull and living quarters for the floating production, storage and offloading vessel that will be deployed at Johan Castberg.</p>
<p>On Tuesday, the company said Johan Castberg with be “a backbone” for further industry development in northern Norway. Apart from the program plan, the company signed a $483 million contract with Aker Solutions to develop the subsea components for the field.</p>
<p>The northern port city of Hammerfest, located in Finnmark county, will also serve as supply and helicopter base for the development of the field.</p>
<p>Norway is one of the larger regional oil and gas producers and designates nearly all of its offshore production for European exports. Preliminary data <a href="https://www.upi.com/Maintenance-period-drags-Norwegian-oil-production-lower/1741508404004/" type="external">for September</a>, the last full month for which Norway’s government has data, show oil production was 1.44 million barrels of oil per day, lower than expected because of field maintenance.</p>
<p>First oil from Johan Castberg is expected by 2022 and Statoil said the field will be in production for more than 30 years.</p> | Statoil submits formal plans for mega Barents Sea oil field | false | https://newsline.com/statoil-submits-formal-plans-for-mega-barents-sea-oil-field/ | 2017-12-05 | 1right-center
| Statoil submits formal plans for mega Barents Sea oil field
<p>Dec. 5 (UPI) — By cutting the break-even cost by more than half, Norwegian major Statoil said it’s decided on a development plan for the mega Johan Castberg oil field.</p>
<p>Johan Castberg is located in the Norwegian waters of the Barents Sea and holds at least 450 million barrels of oil equivalent. Statoil said Tuesday it submitted a plan for development and operation to the Norwegian government that outlines an annual cost of operation of $138 million.</p>
<p>Margareth Øvrum, Statoil’s executive vice president for drilling, said that with capital costs of more than $12 billion and a break-even price of more than $80 per barrel, developing Johan Castberg wasn’t viable until now.</p>
<p>“We have been working hard together with our suppliers and partners, changing the concept and finding new solutions in order to realize the development,” she said in <a href="https://www.statoil.com/en/news/05dec2017-johan-castberg.html" type="external">a statement</a>. “Today we are delivering a solid plan for development and operation for a field with halved capital expenditures and which will be profitable at oil prices of less than $35 per barrel.”</p>
<p>The price for Brent crude oil, the global benchmark, was around $62 per barrel early Tuesday.</p>
<p>Statoil was already moving forward with operational plans before submitting its program to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate. The company <a href="https://www.upi.com/Statoil-makes-headway-with-Barents-Sea-field-development/3461510313977/" type="external">in November</a> signed a letter of intent with Sembcorp Marine Rigs &amp; Floaters in Singapore for contracts related to the construction of the hull and living quarters for the floating production, storage and offloading vessel that will be deployed at Johan Castberg.</p>
<p>On Tuesday, the company said Johan Castberg with be “a backbone” for further industry development in northern Norway. Apart from the program plan, the company signed a $483 million contract with Aker Solutions to develop the subsea components for the field.</p>
<p>The northern port city of Hammerfest, located in Finnmark county, will also serve as supply and helicopter base for the development of the field.</p>
<p>Norway is one of the larger regional oil and gas producers and designates nearly all of its offshore production for European exports. Preliminary data <a href="https://www.upi.com/Maintenance-period-drags-Norwegian-oil-production-lower/1741508404004/" type="external">for September</a>, the last full month for which Norway’s government has data, show oil production was 1.44 million barrels of oil per day, lower than expected because of field maintenance.</p>
<p>First oil from Johan Castberg is expected by 2022 and Statoil said the field will be in production for more than 30 years.</p> | 3,377 |
<p>Yesterday, Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham pled guilty to federal charges of bribery and tax evasion. What follows is an excerpt from the first chapter of JEFFREY ST. CLAIR’s new book <a href="" type="internal">Grand Theft Pentagon</a>, available soon from Common Courage Press.</p>
<p>On the morning of July 1, 2005, FBI agents raided the palatial southern California home of the ultra-hawkish congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham. With search warrants in hand, the feds rummaged through Cunningham’s $2.55 million mansion in the exclusive conclave of Rancho Santa Fe, outside San Diego, looking for evidence linking the 8-term Republican to Mitchell Wade, the founder and CEO of MZM, Incorporated, one of the Pentagon’s top 100 contractors.</p>
<p>At the same time the FBI was searching through Cunningham’s desk drawers, vaults and computers in California, other agents were executing a raid on the DC offices of MZM. Later that afternoon, FBI agents also rifled through a 42-foot yacht named the “Duke-Stir,” docked on the Potomac River, where Cunningham resides, rent free, when he is in Washington.</p>
<p>The investigators were hunting for evidence that Cunningham, a former fighter pilot in Vietnam who claims to have been the inspiration for the Tom Cruise role in the movie “Top Gun,” may have accepted bribes from Wade in exchange for helping MZM land a bevy of defense and intelligence contracts from the federal government.</p>
<p>The corruption probe was prompted by the disclosure that in 2003 Wade had purchased the congressman’s old four-bedroom house in San Diego for princely sum of $1.7 million. Wade soon put his new house on the red hot San Diego real estate market, where it sat unsold for almost a year. He finally unloaded it for $950,000.</p>
<p>During that same period of time, the average prices of houses sold in San Diego County climbed by more than 25 percent and rarely stayed on the market for more than a few weeks. Yet, Wade took a $750,000 bath on the Cunningham deal. The federal agents wanted to know why.</p>
<p>The Duke denied any wrongdoing and could offer no explanation for the mysterious and sudden nosedive in the value of his old house. “My whole life I’ve lived above board,” Cunningham pleaded. “I’ve never even smoked a marijuana cigarette.”</p>
<p>The Duke may not have treated his lungs with ganja, but he did attend one of the most infamous orgies in Pentagon history, the 1991 Tailhook Symposium in Las Vegas, the annual gathering of Navy flyers, Pentagon bigwigs, congressional kingpins and defense contractors. Over the course of that September weekend at the Vegas Hilton, at least 83 women were stripped, forced to run a gauntlet of drunken, groping pilots, and sexually molested, with some being forced to “ride the butt rodeo”, a Tailhook euphemism for having a pilot bite your buttocks until you can shake yourself free. One investigator blamed the Tailhook scandal on the “Top Gun mentality” of the pilots and their superiors. Bring back some memories, Duke?</p>
<p>One female Navy commander later speculated that part of the vicious of the 1991 Tailhook orgy stemmed from the increasing hostility of the military and its backers to the increasing presence of women in positions which had traditionally been the exclusive domain of men. “This was the woman that was making you, you know, change your ways,” she said. “This was the woman that was threatening your livelihood. This was the woman that wanted to take your spot in that combat aircraft.”</p>
<p>For years after the event, Cunningham, though, referred to the “alleged misconduct” at Tailhook, claiming that the Navy flyboys were just engaging in a little benign steam-venting. He has also tried to block efforts by Congress to curb sexual harrassment in the military, rousing himself into passionate denunciations of such measures as “stinking of political correctness”.</p>
<p>Cunningham claims that he had been trying to sell his San Diego house for some time. He said he told several people that his house was on the market and one day out of the blue he got a call from Wade, who, Cunningham claims, said, “Hey, I’ll buy it!” The Duke said that the price of the house was established by a local real estate agency.</p>
<p>The problem is that the records don’t exactly back up Cunningham’s miraculous tale of his sudden enrichment. The congressman’s house was sold without the aid of a realtor and it was never put on the Multiple Listings Service database of homes for sale. Moreover, Cunningham did not record his munificent windfall on his financial disclosure form, which every member of congress must file each year.</p>
<p>Duke Cunningham prefers to sleep not in the toney community of Potomac, Maryland, but on the Potomac River itself in a yacht. Perhaps Cunningham’s preference for the fetid swamps and mosquito-clotted banks of the Potomac stems from his nostalgia for Nixon and the president’s nightly sojourns from Great Falls to the Tidal Basin aboard the USS Sequoia.</p>
<p>In 1997, Cunningham purchased the 65-foot riverboat named the Kelly C from his pal Sonny Callahan, the former Republican congressman from Alabama, for $200,000. The flat-bottomed yacht, which is not deemed sea-worthy enough to venture out into the Chesapeake never mind the Atlantic, only occasionally puttered up and down the river where observers on the Georgetown tow-path could observe the former Navy aviator at the helm, dressed up, according to one longtime resident of M Street, like Admiral Halsey. Dockworkers at the Glen Cove Marina derided the Kelly C as merely a “big party barge.”</p>
<p>In 2002, the Duke sold the Kelly C to a Long Island tycoon named Ted Kontogiannis for $600,000, snagging a cool $400,000 profit, even though the condition of the yacht had deteriorated to the point where the congressman himself had to pilot the boat to the shipyards of Consolidated Yachts to undergo a lengthy list of repairs. When the Duke dropped off the boat, he handed the owner of the shipyards an autographed glossy photo of himself adorned in his flight jacket.</p>
<p>For his part, Kontogiannis says the acquisition of the Kelly C was “a steal”, although he has never taken the boat out of its slip and, in fact, never registered the sale of the boat with the Coast Guard, whose registry of ships still records the yacht as being owned by the congressman.</p>
<p>At the time, Kontogiannis bought the Kelly C, he was experience, what he calls, “a little problem.” In fact, Kontogiannis had just been convicted on kickback and bribery charges involving his role in a bid-rigging scheme over contracts with the New York public school system and he was looking for a pardon from the Bush administration. Kontogiannis admits that he asked Duke Cunningham for help in finding a way to persuade Bush to expunge his conviction. According to Kontogiannis, the Duke put the convict into contact with a DC law firm and recommended the names of a couple of lawyers to press his case. Eventually, Kontogiannis said he declined to pursue the pardon because it involved “too much aggravation.”</p>
<p>But the tycoon’s favors for the Duke didn’t end with the purchase of the congressman’s party barge. Kontogiannis’s daughter and nephew, who own a New York mortgage company, floated the congressman two loans totaling $1.1 million for the purchase of his Rancho Santa Fe mansion. Cunningham paid off one of the loans with the bloated proceeds from the sale of the Kelly C.</p>
<p>In the wake of the disposition of his riverboat, the Duke was not forced to seek cover in the Mitch Snyder Memorial Homeless Shelter. Instead, he made a pinpoint landing onto the deck of yet another yacht, named coincidentally or not, the Duke-Stir, and owned by his old pal, Mitchell Wade, CEO of MZN, Inc. Wade invited the congressman to live rent-free on the Duke-Stir. Since it’s a crime for members of congress to live rent free on someone else’s property, Cunningham has evaded this troublesome legality by paying $13,000 a year in dock fees, far below the going rent in the more habitable quadrants of the Washington metro area.</p>
<p>Wade and his company also helped to finance Cunningham’s political campaigns. According to records from the Center for Responsive Politics, MZM’s political action committee donated $17,000 to Cunningham’s coffers from 2000 through 2004. Wade personally twisted the arms of his employees to extract donations for Cunningham. “By the spring of ’02, Mitch was twisting employees’ arms to donate to his MZM PAC,” one former MZM employee told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “We were called in and told basically either donate to the MZM PAC or we would be fired.”</p>
<p>But what did Wade and his firm get in return for the largesse they’ve shown the Duke? MZM is one of those obscure enterprises started up by former Pentagon staffers and military officers to feed off the defense budget. Along with Wade, a former Pentagon staffer, all of the other corporate officers at MZM joined the company after successful careers in the military. MZM vice-president Joseph Romano was the former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency’s technological assessment group. Another MZM vice president, James C. King, is a former Lt. General from the Army, who once headed the National Imagery and Mapping Agency. Yet another vice president, Wayne Hall, is a retired Army general who commanded a military intelligence unit during the 1991 Gulf War. The lone exception is Sue Hogan, MZM’s vice president for governmental relations. In her former life, she served as a top staffer on the Senate Appropriation’s Committee’s subcommittee on defense spending.</p>
<p>Unlike many such revolving door operations, MZM struggled in its formative years, rarely pulling in more than $20 million in revenues in a single year. Then came 9/11, Bush’s wars, and the fruitful relationship with the Duke. In 2002, thanks to a flood of Pentagon and CIA contracts, MZM’s fortunes took a sudden turn for the better. By 2004, the small firm was hauling in more than $166 million in defense contracts a year.</p>
<p>What kind of contracts did the Duke help MZM obtain? The congressman took refuge behind a veil of secrecy. “They are very, very classified,” Cunningham said.</p>
<p>The details of the MZM contracts remain obscure, but a review of the firm’s annual report shows that the work ranges from digital mapping, private intelligence operatives and interpreters to the production of psy-ops materials and “collections of foreign language vocal signals.”</p>
<p>Cunningham discounts the allegation that he was doing any special favors for Wade or MZM. “The way it works here is: I support a lot of credible defense programs for the Air Force, Navy, ship building, ship repair or intelligence,” Cunningham explained. ” And they say, you know, ‘Duke, these are good programs. This is what I want you to do.'”</p>
<p>Wade had a somewhat more succinct and instructive view of the impact of his political dispensations . According to a former MZM employee, Wade explained that he focused his lobbying efforts on a handful of influential members of congress that he had bankrolled such as Cunningham: “The only people I want to work with are people I give checks to. I own them.”</p>
<p>The remarkable aspect of the Cunningham affair is its essential banality. The casual dispensation of political graft is the rule in Washington and has been since the days of the robberbarons. This is especially true when it comes to politicians, such as Cunningham, who are in a position to protect and advance the interests of the Pentagon’s beefy portfolio of weapons contractors.</p>
<p>Cunningham was never considered a particularly adept politician. He was not a gifted orator like Robert Byrd. Not a slick operator like Trent Lott or Christopher Dodd. Not a master of the legislative parlor tricks in the mode of Pete Dominici or Ted Stevens. Indeed, Cunningham is a clumsy speaker burdened with a boorish personality. The Duke got by on implacable loyalty to his party and, more decisively, on blind obedience to his political patrons.</p>
<p>What political power he enjoyed came courtesy of the economic geography of his southern California district, which harbors a thicket of defense industry giants, from TRW and SAIC to Northrop Grumman and Titan, and military bases. Cunningham was a company man and DC is a new kind of company town. His guardianship of those weapons firms secured Cunningham a seat on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, one of the most powerful enclaves on the Hill. With that seat, Cunningham became a mini-potentate in Congress and dozens of defense contractors made the annual Haj to his office to lay riches at his feet and requests on his desk.</p>
<p>As such, the Duke’s travails serve as an edifying symbol for how completely Congress has been captured, from top to bottom and left to right, by the coterie munitions makers and weapons merchants that underwrite and direct the American political system. Some veterans of the Hill simply refer to incessant feeding of the Pentagon beast as “the Enterprise”, the axiomatic function of their existence in Washington.</p>
<p>The Enterprise pivots on the annual disbursement of the $500 billion defense budget. In an era of shriveling federal spending on domestic social programs, the defense budget remains the most reliable pork barrel in town. Even the thawing of the Cold War and the death of the Soviet Union did little to inhibit the pace of Pentagon spending.</p>
<p>Indeed in July 2000, Admiral Jay Johnson pronounced, as he stepped down from his post as the Navy’s top officer, that national security requires a defense expenditure of 4 percent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product. It became known as the 4 Per Cent Solution. A couple of weeks later, General James Jones, Commandant of the Marine Corps, told Defense Daily to call for a “gradual ramp up” in defense spending “to about 4 to 4.5 percent of the US gross domestic product.” Two days after Jones’s comments, Gen. Gordon Sullivan, formerly Army Chief of Staff and now president of the 100,000-strong Association of the US Army, confirmed the Pentagon’s floor demand: “We must prepare for the future of the security of our nation. We should set the marker at 4 percent.”</p>
<p>But what does 4 percent actually means in dollar terms? In 2002, the Office of Management and Budget projected GDP at $10.9 trillion rising to $13.9 trillion in 2007. Thus a military budget set at 4 percent of GDP in 2002 would amount to $438 billion, and in 2007 $558 billion. The combined spending of all putative foes of the United States-Russia, China and our old friends the rogue states, including Iran, Syria, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Serbia, Cuba and Sudan-amounts to a little over $100 billion.</p>
<p>It is not well understood that though the number of ships, planes and troops available to guard the nation has declined sharply, the actual flow of dollars into the pockets of the Praetorians and their commercial partners has remained at cold war levels. It is true that in the immediate aftermath of the cold war, US military spending under George Bush I diminished slightly. Clinton reversed this trend with enough brio to allow Al Gore, speaking to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in the 1996 campaign, to declare that the Democratic bid to the Praetorians that year was far superior to that of the Republicans.</p>
<p>The spending spree hasn’t abated since. But all that money did nothing to prevent the attacks of 9/11, in part because the prime arteries of that federal largesse where still pumping billions into the big ticket items of the Cold War arsenal such as Star Wars, Stealth bombers and fighters and Navy battle groups. After 9/11, these perverse spending habits simply got worse. All the old projects, designed to fight an enemy that no longer existed and useless against those who nearly destroyed the Pentagon itself, got funded almost without a question being asked.</p>
<p>During the peak of the Cold War and the Reagan arms build up, the annual Pentagon budget topped out at $453 billion (in 2004 dollars). In 2004, the Defense budget soared to over $500 billion–$47 billion more than the hey day of the Reagnites.</p>
<p>The peculiar consequence of the budgetary and appropriations process meant that there was not a dime to spare from the annual budget to fund the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. Those invasions, which may end up costing more than $850 billion, had to be financed off the books, through special appropriations, with little public debate and a wink-and-a-nod from the leadership of both parties. There is a calculated opacity to the war and defense appropriations process that is designed to frustrate outsiders.</p>
<p>That’s because much of the real defense spending on the Hill happens after hours and is planted in the bewildering copse of congressional earmarks, obscure line items conference committee ad-ons and last minute riders that most members of congress don’t even know how to interpret. And these covert addons have spiked since 9/11, rising from $4 billion a year in 2001 to $12 billion a year in 2005.</p>
<p>Unlike most agencies, the Pentagon is not bound by its budget. The more it spends, the more it gets. For example, the Pentagon told congress that the Iraq war would cost about $1.5 billion a month. It ended up costing between $5 and $8 billion a month, with no end in sight. The Pentagon has an apt catch-phrase for this bloody flood of spending. It’s accountants call it the “burn rate.”</p>
<p>The members of the Senate and House Armed Services and Defense Appropriations committees act as a kind of elite Praetorian Guard overseeing the interests of the Pentagon and his cadre of contractors. The prime prerequiste for induction into this legislative tribunal is a finely-tuned solicitousness to the desires of the weapons industry. And the faithful are richly recompensed for their labors.</p>
<p>Let’s begin with Cunningham’s political haul. The eight-term congressman has faced negligible opposition in a district that has been delicately gerrymandered to ensure the continuity of Republican stewardship. Even so, each year Cunningham amassed a staggering tranche of campaign slush without hardly breaking a sweat and the overwhelming amount of that loot originates with weapons and aerospace companies.</p>
<p>In the 2004 congressional election, Cunningham’s opponent raised less than $100.000. By contrast, Cunningham heaped up $771,822 and had another $200,000 in reverse that had gone unspent from his previous campaign. His top PAC contributors were all Pentagon contractors, lead by Lockheed and Titan who chipped in $15,000 each, MZM with $12,000, General Dynamics contributed $11,000, while General Atomics, Northrop-Grumman and SAIC each pitched in $10,000.</p>
<p>Those corporate contributions are the financial unguents that lubricate the political machinery of the Hill. Between 1997 and 2004, the twenty largest Pentagon contractors lavished Washington’s political elites with $33.6 million in campaign contributions. But this is just the icing on a very rich cake. Over the same period, those same companies invested $390 million in lobbying congress. The investment paid off handsomely, yielding those very weapons companies $558.8 billion in federal contracts.</p>
<p>It’s fine to live on the dole of a defense company; just don’t press the point by reposing for free on their yacht. That’s the kind of exposure that might spoil the game for everyone. The profligacy of an individual member of congress must not be permitted to interfere with the grander profligacy of the munitions makers. In the end, the Duke was told that he should fall on his sword, like a true Praetorian, to protect the business of the Empire. In mid-July the congressman suddenly announced his retirement, saying he had decided to “conclude the public chapter of my life” and not seek re-election to a ninth term.</p>
<p>What Cunningham in his obduracy never realized was that he was just an interchangeable part, a legislative errand boy, fetching home pails of contracts every fall when the appropriations bills come due. No special talent required. Almost anyone could do it. In the end, the congressman was expendable, so that the Enterprise might endure forever. The Pentagon and its contractors and numberless parasites have many available to shoulder the Duke’s duties.</p>
<p>JEFFREY ST. CLAIR is the author of <a href="" type="internal">Grand Theft Pentagon: Tales of Corruption and Profiteering in the War on Terror</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | The Duke and the Enterprise | true | https://counterpunch.org/2005/11/29/the-duke-and-the-enterprise/ | 2005-11-29 | 4left
| The Duke and the Enterprise
<p>Yesterday, Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham pled guilty to federal charges of bribery and tax evasion. What follows is an excerpt from the first chapter of JEFFREY ST. CLAIR’s new book <a href="" type="internal">Grand Theft Pentagon</a>, available soon from Common Courage Press.</p>
<p>On the morning of July 1, 2005, FBI agents raided the palatial southern California home of the ultra-hawkish congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham. With search warrants in hand, the feds rummaged through Cunningham’s $2.55 million mansion in the exclusive conclave of Rancho Santa Fe, outside San Diego, looking for evidence linking the 8-term Republican to Mitchell Wade, the founder and CEO of MZM, Incorporated, one of the Pentagon’s top 100 contractors.</p>
<p>At the same time the FBI was searching through Cunningham’s desk drawers, vaults and computers in California, other agents were executing a raid on the DC offices of MZM. Later that afternoon, FBI agents also rifled through a 42-foot yacht named the “Duke-Stir,” docked on the Potomac River, where Cunningham resides, rent free, when he is in Washington.</p>
<p>The investigators were hunting for evidence that Cunningham, a former fighter pilot in Vietnam who claims to have been the inspiration for the Tom Cruise role in the movie “Top Gun,” may have accepted bribes from Wade in exchange for helping MZM land a bevy of defense and intelligence contracts from the federal government.</p>
<p>The corruption probe was prompted by the disclosure that in 2003 Wade had purchased the congressman’s old four-bedroom house in San Diego for princely sum of $1.7 million. Wade soon put his new house on the red hot San Diego real estate market, where it sat unsold for almost a year. He finally unloaded it for $950,000.</p>
<p>During that same period of time, the average prices of houses sold in San Diego County climbed by more than 25 percent and rarely stayed on the market for more than a few weeks. Yet, Wade took a $750,000 bath on the Cunningham deal. The federal agents wanted to know why.</p>
<p>The Duke denied any wrongdoing and could offer no explanation for the mysterious and sudden nosedive in the value of his old house. “My whole life I’ve lived above board,” Cunningham pleaded. “I’ve never even smoked a marijuana cigarette.”</p>
<p>The Duke may not have treated his lungs with ganja, but he did attend one of the most infamous orgies in Pentagon history, the 1991 Tailhook Symposium in Las Vegas, the annual gathering of Navy flyers, Pentagon bigwigs, congressional kingpins and defense contractors. Over the course of that September weekend at the Vegas Hilton, at least 83 women were stripped, forced to run a gauntlet of drunken, groping pilots, and sexually molested, with some being forced to “ride the butt rodeo”, a Tailhook euphemism for having a pilot bite your buttocks until you can shake yourself free. One investigator blamed the Tailhook scandal on the “Top Gun mentality” of the pilots and their superiors. Bring back some memories, Duke?</p>
<p>One female Navy commander later speculated that part of the vicious of the 1991 Tailhook orgy stemmed from the increasing hostility of the military and its backers to the increasing presence of women in positions which had traditionally been the exclusive domain of men. “This was the woman that was making you, you know, change your ways,” she said. “This was the woman that was threatening your livelihood. This was the woman that wanted to take your spot in that combat aircraft.”</p>
<p>For years after the event, Cunningham, though, referred to the “alleged misconduct” at Tailhook, claiming that the Navy flyboys were just engaging in a little benign steam-venting. He has also tried to block efforts by Congress to curb sexual harrassment in the military, rousing himself into passionate denunciations of such measures as “stinking of political correctness”.</p>
<p>Cunningham claims that he had been trying to sell his San Diego house for some time. He said he told several people that his house was on the market and one day out of the blue he got a call from Wade, who, Cunningham claims, said, “Hey, I’ll buy it!” The Duke said that the price of the house was established by a local real estate agency.</p>
<p>The problem is that the records don’t exactly back up Cunningham’s miraculous tale of his sudden enrichment. The congressman’s house was sold without the aid of a realtor and it was never put on the Multiple Listings Service database of homes for sale. Moreover, Cunningham did not record his munificent windfall on his financial disclosure form, which every member of congress must file each year.</p>
<p>Duke Cunningham prefers to sleep not in the toney community of Potomac, Maryland, but on the Potomac River itself in a yacht. Perhaps Cunningham’s preference for the fetid swamps and mosquito-clotted banks of the Potomac stems from his nostalgia for Nixon and the president’s nightly sojourns from Great Falls to the Tidal Basin aboard the USS Sequoia.</p>
<p>In 1997, Cunningham purchased the 65-foot riverboat named the Kelly C from his pal Sonny Callahan, the former Republican congressman from Alabama, for $200,000. The flat-bottomed yacht, which is not deemed sea-worthy enough to venture out into the Chesapeake never mind the Atlantic, only occasionally puttered up and down the river where observers on the Georgetown tow-path could observe the former Navy aviator at the helm, dressed up, according to one longtime resident of M Street, like Admiral Halsey. Dockworkers at the Glen Cove Marina derided the Kelly C as merely a “big party barge.”</p>
<p>In 2002, the Duke sold the Kelly C to a Long Island tycoon named Ted Kontogiannis for $600,000, snagging a cool $400,000 profit, even though the condition of the yacht had deteriorated to the point where the congressman himself had to pilot the boat to the shipyards of Consolidated Yachts to undergo a lengthy list of repairs. When the Duke dropped off the boat, he handed the owner of the shipyards an autographed glossy photo of himself adorned in his flight jacket.</p>
<p>For his part, Kontogiannis says the acquisition of the Kelly C was “a steal”, although he has never taken the boat out of its slip and, in fact, never registered the sale of the boat with the Coast Guard, whose registry of ships still records the yacht as being owned by the congressman.</p>
<p>At the time, Kontogiannis bought the Kelly C, he was experience, what he calls, “a little problem.” In fact, Kontogiannis had just been convicted on kickback and bribery charges involving his role in a bid-rigging scheme over contracts with the New York public school system and he was looking for a pardon from the Bush administration. Kontogiannis admits that he asked Duke Cunningham for help in finding a way to persuade Bush to expunge his conviction. According to Kontogiannis, the Duke put the convict into contact with a DC law firm and recommended the names of a couple of lawyers to press his case. Eventually, Kontogiannis said he declined to pursue the pardon because it involved “too much aggravation.”</p>
<p>But the tycoon’s favors for the Duke didn’t end with the purchase of the congressman’s party barge. Kontogiannis’s daughter and nephew, who own a New York mortgage company, floated the congressman two loans totaling $1.1 million for the purchase of his Rancho Santa Fe mansion. Cunningham paid off one of the loans with the bloated proceeds from the sale of the Kelly C.</p>
<p>In the wake of the disposition of his riverboat, the Duke was not forced to seek cover in the Mitch Snyder Memorial Homeless Shelter. Instead, he made a pinpoint landing onto the deck of yet another yacht, named coincidentally or not, the Duke-Stir, and owned by his old pal, Mitchell Wade, CEO of MZN, Inc. Wade invited the congressman to live rent-free on the Duke-Stir. Since it’s a crime for members of congress to live rent free on someone else’s property, Cunningham has evaded this troublesome legality by paying $13,000 a year in dock fees, far below the going rent in the more habitable quadrants of the Washington metro area.</p>
<p>Wade and his company also helped to finance Cunningham’s political campaigns. According to records from the Center for Responsive Politics, MZM’s political action committee donated $17,000 to Cunningham’s coffers from 2000 through 2004. Wade personally twisted the arms of his employees to extract donations for Cunningham. “By the spring of ’02, Mitch was twisting employees’ arms to donate to his MZM PAC,” one former MZM employee told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “We were called in and told basically either donate to the MZM PAC or we would be fired.”</p>
<p>But what did Wade and his firm get in return for the largesse they’ve shown the Duke? MZM is one of those obscure enterprises started up by former Pentagon staffers and military officers to feed off the defense budget. Along with Wade, a former Pentagon staffer, all of the other corporate officers at MZM joined the company after successful careers in the military. MZM vice-president Joseph Romano was the former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency’s technological assessment group. Another MZM vice president, James C. King, is a former Lt. General from the Army, who once headed the National Imagery and Mapping Agency. Yet another vice president, Wayne Hall, is a retired Army general who commanded a military intelligence unit during the 1991 Gulf War. The lone exception is Sue Hogan, MZM’s vice president for governmental relations. In her former life, she served as a top staffer on the Senate Appropriation’s Committee’s subcommittee on defense spending.</p>
<p>Unlike many such revolving door operations, MZM struggled in its formative years, rarely pulling in more than $20 million in revenues in a single year. Then came 9/11, Bush’s wars, and the fruitful relationship with the Duke. In 2002, thanks to a flood of Pentagon and CIA contracts, MZM’s fortunes took a sudden turn for the better. By 2004, the small firm was hauling in more than $166 million in defense contracts a year.</p>
<p>What kind of contracts did the Duke help MZM obtain? The congressman took refuge behind a veil of secrecy. “They are very, very classified,” Cunningham said.</p>
<p>The details of the MZM contracts remain obscure, but a review of the firm’s annual report shows that the work ranges from digital mapping, private intelligence operatives and interpreters to the production of psy-ops materials and “collections of foreign language vocal signals.”</p>
<p>Cunningham discounts the allegation that he was doing any special favors for Wade or MZM. “The way it works here is: I support a lot of credible defense programs for the Air Force, Navy, ship building, ship repair or intelligence,” Cunningham explained. ” And they say, you know, ‘Duke, these are good programs. This is what I want you to do.'”</p>
<p>Wade had a somewhat more succinct and instructive view of the impact of his political dispensations . According to a former MZM employee, Wade explained that he focused his lobbying efforts on a handful of influential members of congress that he had bankrolled such as Cunningham: “The only people I want to work with are people I give checks to. I own them.”</p>
<p>The remarkable aspect of the Cunningham affair is its essential banality. The casual dispensation of political graft is the rule in Washington and has been since the days of the robberbarons. This is especially true when it comes to politicians, such as Cunningham, who are in a position to protect and advance the interests of the Pentagon’s beefy portfolio of weapons contractors.</p>
<p>Cunningham was never considered a particularly adept politician. He was not a gifted orator like Robert Byrd. Not a slick operator like Trent Lott or Christopher Dodd. Not a master of the legislative parlor tricks in the mode of Pete Dominici or Ted Stevens. Indeed, Cunningham is a clumsy speaker burdened with a boorish personality. The Duke got by on implacable loyalty to his party and, more decisively, on blind obedience to his political patrons.</p>
<p>What political power he enjoyed came courtesy of the economic geography of his southern California district, which harbors a thicket of defense industry giants, from TRW and SAIC to Northrop Grumman and Titan, and military bases. Cunningham was a company man and DC is a new kind of company town. His guardianship of those weapons firms secured Cunningham a seat on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, one of the most powerful enclaves on the Hill. With that seat, Cunningham became a mini-potentate in Congress and dozens of defense contractors made the annual Haj to his office to lay riches at his feet and requests on his desk.</p>
<p>As such, the Duke’s travails serve as an edifying symbol for how completely Congress has been captured, from top to bottom and left to right, by the coterie munitions makers and weapons merchants that underwrite and direct the American political system. Some veterans of the Hill simply refer to incessant feeding of the Pentagon beast as “the Enterprise”, the axiomatic function of their existence in Washington.</p>
<p>The Enterprise pivots on the annual disbursement of the $500 billion defense budget. In an era of shriveling federal spending on domestic social programs, the defense budget remains the most reliable pork barrel in town. Even the thawing of the Cold War and the death of the Soviet Union did little to inhibit the pace of Pentagon spending.</p>
<p>Indeed in July 2000, Admiral Jay Johnson pronounced, as he stepped down from his post as the Navy’s top officer, that national security requires a defense expenditure of 4 percent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product. It became known as the 4 Per Cent Solution. A couple of weeks later, General James Jones, Commandant of the Marine Corps, told Defense Daily to call for a “gradual ramp up” in defense spending “to about 4 to 4.5 percent of the US gross domestic product.” Two days after Jones’s comments, Gen. Gordon Sullivan, formerly Army Chief of Staff and now president of the 100,000-strong Association of the US Army, confirmed the Pentagon’s floor demand: “We must prepare for the future of the security of our nation. We should set the marker at 4 percent.”</p>
<p>But what does 4 percent actually means in dollar terms? In 2002, the Office of Management and Budget projected GDP at $10.9 trillion rising to $13.9 trillion in 2007. Thus a military budget set at 4 percent of GDP in 2002 would amount to $438 billion, and in 2007 $558 billion. The combined spending of all putative foes of the United States-Russia, China and our old friends the rogue states, including Iran, Syria, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Serbia, Cuba and Sudan-amounts to a little over $100 billion.</p>
<p>It is not well understood that though the number of ships, planes and troops available to guard the nation has declined sharply, the actual flow of dollars into the pockets of the Praetorians and their commercial partners has remained at cold war levels. It is true that in the immediate aftermath of the cold war, US military spending under George Bush I diminished slightly. Clinton reversed this trend with enough brio to allow Al Gore, speaking to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in the 1996 campaign, to declare that the Democratic bid to the Praetorians that year was far superior to that of the Republicans.</p>
<p>The spending spree hasn’t abated since. But all that money did nothing to prevent the attacks of 9/11, in part because the prime arteries of that federal largesse where still pumping billions into the big ticket items of the Cold War arsenal such as Star Wars, Stealth bombers and fighters and Navy battle groups. After 9/11, these perverse spending habits simply got worse. All the old projects, designed to fight an enemy that no longer existed and useless against those who nearly destroyed the Pentagon itself, got funded almost without a question being asked.</p>
<p>During the peak of the Cold War and the Reagan arms build up, the annual Pentagon budget topped out at $453 billion (in 2004 dollars). In 2004, the Defense budget soared to over $500 billion–$47 billion more than the hey day of the Reagnites.</p>
<p>The peculiar consequence of the budgetary and appropriations process meant that there was not a dime to spare from the annual budget to fund the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. Those invasions, which may end up costing more than $850 billion, had to be financed off the books, through special appropriations, with little public debate and a wink-and-a-nod from the leadership of both parties. There is a calculated opacity to the war and defense appropriations process that is designed to frustrate outsiders.</p>
<p>That’s because much of the real defense spending on the Hill happens after hours and is planted in the bewildering copse of congressional earmarks, obscure line items conference committee ad-ons and last minute riders that most members of congress don’t even know how to interpret. And these covert addons have spiked since 9/11, rising from $4 billion a year in 2001 to $12 billion a year in 2005.</p>
<p>Unlike most agencies, the Pentagon is not bound by its budget. The more it spends, the more it gets. For example, the Pentagon told congress that the Iraq war would cost about $1.5 billion a month. It ended up costing between $5 and $8 billion a month, with no end in sight. The Pentagon has an apt catch-phrase for this bloody flood of spending. It’s accountants call it the “burn rate.”</p>
<p>The members of the Senate and House Armed Services and Defense Appropriations committees act as a kind of elite Praetorian Guard overseeing the interests of the Pentagon and his cadre of contractors. The prime prerequiste for induction into this legislative tribunal is a finely-tuned solicitousness to the desires of the weapons industry. And the faithful are richly recompensed for their labors.</p>
<p>Let’s begin with Cunningham’s political haul. The eight-term congressman has faced negligible opposition in a district that has been delicately gerrymandered to ensure the continuity of Republican stewardship. Even so, each year Cunningham amassed a staggering tranche of campaign slush without hardly breaking a sweat and the overwhelming amount of that loot originates with weapons and aerospace companies.</p>
<p>In the 2004 congressional election, Cunningham’s opponent raised less than $100.000. By contrast, Cunningham heaped up $771,822 and had another $200,000 in reverse that had gone unspent from his previous campaign. His top PAC contributors were all Pentagon contractors, lead by Lockheed and Titan who chipped in $15,000 each, MZM with $12,000, General Dynamics contributed $11,000, while General Atomics, Northrop-Grumman and SAIC each pitched in $10,000.</p>
<p>Those corporate contributions are the financial unguents that lubricate the political machinery of the Hill. Between 1997 and 2004, the twenty largest Pentagon contractors lavished Washington’s political elites with $33.6 million in campaign contributions. But this is just the icing on a very rich cake. Over the same period, those same companies invested $390 million in lobbying congress. The investment paid off handsomely, yielding those very weapons companies $558.8 billion in federal contracts.</p>
<p>It’s fine to live on the dole of a defense company; just don’t press the point by reposing for free on their yacht. That’s the kind of exposure that might spoil the game for everyone. The profligacy of an individual member of congress must not be permitted to interfere with the grander profligacy of the munitions makers. In the end, the Duke was told that he should fall on his sword, like a true Praetorian, to protect the business of the Empire. In mid-July the congressman suddenly announced his retirement, saying he had decided to “conclude the public chapter of my life” and not seek re-election to a ninth term.</p>
<p>What Cunningham in his obduracy never realized was that he was just an interchangeable part, a legislative errand boy, fetching home pails of contracts every fall when the appropriations bills come due. No special talent required. Almost anyone could do it. In the end, the congressman was expendable, so that the Enterprise might endure forever. The Pentagon and its contractors and numberless parasites have many available to shoulder the Duke’s duties.</p>
<p>JEFFREY ST. CLAIR is the author of <a href="" type="internal">Grand Theft Pentagon: Tales of Corruption and Profiteering in the War on Terror</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | 3,378 |
<p>Back in September of 2007, I <a href="http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/09/24/mackinac/print.html" type="external">spent</a> a couple days at a Republican retreat in an oversized Victorian dollhouse called the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Michigan. Most of the Republican candidates came there to speak to state party activists, serving up stump pomp while waiters in white-tie tuxedos served drunk diners with pecan-coated ice cream balls. The whole contrived scene made me crazed, until I wandered into town one night, into a watering hole where a local lady was grousing about all the Republicans and tourists who come to the island every year to hang out at that hotel. "There is a whole other side to this island from the lilac fudge and the horses," she said.</p>
<p>I have remembered that quote ever since, because it captured perfectly what I loved about the campaign, our democracy, and my job. There is a whole other side, away from the attack ads and sound bites, away from the obvious falsehoods and rhetorical emptiness. There is a place in our system where regular people gather to tell candidates how they feel, to test the mettle of those who want to oversee the western world. There is a moment when each candidate has to stand in a room, with strangers whose only real power is their citizenship, and make the sale. And the people do decide. It often happens long before Election Day, in states like Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. I was lucky enough to watch it happen this time, and I came away totally convinced in the goodness of my country.</p> | The Boys on the Bus | true | https://thedailybeast.com/the-boys-on-the-bus-5 | 2018-10-06 | 4left
| The Boys on the Bus
<p>Back in September of 2007, I <a href="http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/09/24/mackinac/print.html" type="external">spent</a> a couple days at a Republican retreat in an oversized Victorian dollhouse called the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Michigan. Most of the Republican candidates came there to speak to state party activists, serving up stump pomp while waiters in white-tie tuxedos served drunk diners with pecan-coated ice cream balls. The whole contrived scene made me crazed, until I wandered into town one night, into a watering hole where a local lady was grousing about all the Republicans and tourists who come to the island every year to hang out at that hotel. "There is a whole other side to this island from the lilac fudge and the horses," she said.</p>
<p>I have remembered that quote ever since, because it captured perfectly what I loved about the campaign, our democracy, and my job. There is a whole other side, away from the attack ads and sound bites, away from the obvious falsehoods and rhetorical emptiness. There is a place in our system where regular people gather to tell candidates how they feel, to test the mettle of those who want to oversee the western world. There is a moment when each candidate has to stand in a room, with strangers whose only real power is their citizenship, and make the sale. And the people do decide. It often happens long before Election Day, in states like Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. I was lucky enough to watch it happen this time, and I came away totally convinced in the goodness of my country.</p> | 3,379 |
<p>ThinkProgress</p>
<p>:</p>
<p>Donald Rumsfeld, as Secretary of Defense, is a member of Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States. As such, he was one of the people who, according to the Treasury Department, unanimously approved the sale on February 13. How could do that when he didn’t even find out about the sale until last weekend?</p>
<p><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/2006/02/21/rumsfeld-not-consulted/" type="external">Full story</a></p>
<p />
<p>BBC: US President George W Bush says he will veto any law blocking a deal giving an Arab company control of six US ports.</p>
<p>The threat came as Bill Frist, leader of the Republican Party in the Senate, said he would move a blocking law if the government did not delay the deal.</p>
<p>The issue has developed into a very serious political standoff between Mr Bush and senior Republicans, the BBC’s Justin Webb reports.</p>
<p><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4737940.stm" type="external">Full story</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.themoderatevoice.com/posts/1140536451.shtml" type="external">Primer from The Moderate Voice</a></p>
<p /> | Rumsfeld's 'Golly Gee' Stance on Port Sale Draws Skepticism | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/rumsfelds-golly-gee-stance-on-port-sale-draws-skepticism/ | 2006-02-22 | 4left
| Rumsfeld's 'Golly Gee' Stance on Port Sale Draws Skepticism
<p>ThinkProgress</p>
<p>:</p>
<p>Donald Rumsfeld, as Secretary of Defense, is a member of Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States. As such, he was one of the people who, according to the Treasury Department, unanimously approved the sale on February 13. How could do that when he didn’t even find out about the sale until last weekend?</p>
<p><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/2006/02/21/rumsfeld-not-consulted/" type="external">Full story</a></p>
<p />
<p>BBC: US President George W Bush says he will veto any law blocking a deal giving an Arab company control of six US ports.</p>
<p>The threat came as Bill Frist, leader of the Republican Party in the Senate, said he would move a blocking law if the government did not delay the deal.</p>
<p>The issue has developed into a very serious political standoff between Mr Bush and senior Republicans, the BBC’s Justin Webb reports.</p>
<p><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4737940.stm" type="external">Full story</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.themoderatevoice.com/posts/1140536451.shtml" type="external">Primer from The Moderate Voice</a></p>
<p /> | 3,380 |
<p>Highlights of this day in history: Soviet Union invades Afghanistan; Charles Darwin sets out on round-the-world voyage; Radio City Music Hall opens in New York; James Barrie's play "Peter Pan: The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up" opens in London. (Dec. 27)</p>
<p>Highlights of this day in history: Soviet Union invades Afghanistan; Charles Darwin sets out on round-the-world voyage; Radio City Music Hall opens in New York; James Barrie's play "Peter Pan: The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up" opens in London. (Dec. 27)</p> | Today in History for December 27 | false | https://apnews.com/amp/a74e730f22494a5d82406508d89280e8 | 2017-12-27 | 2least
| Today in History for December 27
<p>Highlights of this day in history: Soviet Union invades Afghanistan; Charles Darwin sets out on round-the-world voyage; Radio City Music Hall opens in New York; James Barrie's play "Peter Pan: The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up" opens in London. (Dec. 27)</p>
<p>Highlights of this day in history: Soviet Union invades Afghanistan; Charles Darwin sets out on round-the-world voyage; Radio City Music Hall opens in New York; James Barrie's play "Peter Pan: The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up" opens in London. (Dec. 27)</p> | 3,381 |
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<p />
<p>We only have one month to learn about the issues and to acquaint ourselves with the people who are running for office. The ballot is long and includes candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, state and county officials, judicial retention, amendments to the state constitution, and bond questions. There is a lot to learn before we cast our ballot.</p>
<p>For the final month of the election, we are going to be flooded with television ads, phone calls, mailers and any other form of advertising the candidates can come up with. These should be your guide to what questions you need answered. Remember, all the advertisements are trying to convince you to vote for whomever is paying for them. They do not necessarily tell the whole story. It’s your responsibility find that out.</p>
<p>So, after thinking about what you want to know and reading the ads to come up with more questions, it’s time to do your research. Read the articles in the newspapers. Find out about past events by looking up information on the Internet. Check out past voting records. Those are often more credible than campaign promises. Go to candidate forums and ask questions of the candidate directly. If you get phone calls that are from a live person (which doesn’t happen very often), ask questions of them. Talk to friends and neighbors who might know more than you. Or, just call the candidate. Who knows, you might just get to talk to them.</p>
<p>And, while you’re at it, investigate the amendments to the constitution and the bond questions that are on the ballot. Those issues are a little more black-and-white and easier to study than individual candidates.</p>
<p>We only have a month to decide how to vote. Use that time to gather information, to study the issues and the people, and to determine what is important to you. New Mexico deserves an educated electorate that will make educated decisions about who will represent us and what we want for New Mexico’s future.</p>
<p>No matter what side of the great partisan divide people are on, it’s hard to imagine anyone who isn’t concerned or frustrated or appalled at some of the things occurring in our country and in our world. It’s easy to feel like there isn’t anything we can do to change things, especially living in the middle of “flyover country.” But we can vote, and we can vote wisely. We can use our intelligence, our wisdom and our common sense to make sure our vote goes to the person who will represent us honestly and with integrity.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Carl Sandburg said, “A politician should have three hats. One for throwing into the ring, one for talking through, and one for pulling rabbits out of if elected.” Let’s cast educated votes, so we will be served by people who are honest and hardworking, not looking for the proverbial rabbits.</p>
<p>Contact the Ryans at <a href="" type="internal">[email protected]</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p />
<p /> | Study the candidates and issues, then vote | false | https://abqjournal.com/473983/study-the-candidates-and-issues-then-vote.html | 2least
| Study the candidates and issues, then vote
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>We only have one month to learn about the issues and to acquaint ourselves with the people who are running for office. The ballot is long and includes candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, state and county officials, judicial retention, amendments to the state constitution, and bond questions. There is a lot to learn before we cast our ballot.</p>
<p>For the final month of the election, we are going to be flooded with television ads, phone calls, mailers and any other form of advertising the candidates can come up with. These should be your guide to what questions you need answered. Remember, all the advertisements are trying to convince you to vote for whomever is paying for them. They do not necessarily tell the whole story. It’s your responsibility find that out.</p>
<p>So, after thinking about what you want to know and reading the ads to come up with more questions, it’s time to do your research. Read the articles in the newspapers. Find out about past events by looking up information on the Internet. Check out past voting records. Those are often more credible than campaign promises. Go to candidate forums and ask questions of the candidate directly. If you get phone calls that are from a live person (which doesn’t happen very often), ask questions of them. Talk to friends and neighbors who might know more than you. Or, just call the candidate. Who knows, you might just get to talk to them.</p>
<p>And, while you’re at it, investigate the amendments to the constitution and the bond questions that are on the ballot. Those issues are a little more black-and-white and easier to study than individual candidates.</p>
<p>We only have a month to decide how to vote. Use that time to gather information, to study the issues and the people, and to determine what is important to you. New Mexico deserves an educated electorate that will make educated decisions about who will represent us and what we want for New Mexico’s future.</p>
<p>No matter what side of the great partisan divide people are on, it’s hard to imagine anyone who isn’t concerned or frustrated or appalled at some of the things occurring in our country and in our world. It’s easy to feel like there isn’t anything we can do to change things, especially living in the middle of “flyover country.” But we can vote, and we can vote wisely. We can use our intelligence, our wisdom and our common sense to make sure our vote goes to the person who will represent us honestly and with integrity.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Carl Sandburg said, “A politician should have three hats. One for throwing into the ring, one for talking through, and one for pulling rabbits out of if elected.” Let’s cast educated votes, so we will be served by people who are honest and hardworking, not looking for the proverbial rabbits.</p>
<p>Contact the Ryans at <a href="" type="internal">[email protected]</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p />
<p /> | 3,382 |
|
<p><a href="//videos/37/66758" type="external" /></p>
<p>RUSH: Donald Trump continues to dominate the news and the news cycle. He is not backing down. Yesterday we got the news. You know, it’s amazing to witness cowardice. It’s all over the place. Emmitt Smith was a judge in one of Trump’s beauty pageants. I guess it was Miss USA. Emmitt pulled out. Says he doesn’t want to be associated with any of this stuff. Trump said, “Who needs Emmitt Smith? Judges are easy. I’ll go get another.” (laughing) You just got to love this. (imitating Trump) “Who needs Emmitt Smith? He’s a loser anyway. He isn’t a big name. I don’t know how he became a judge in the first place. I’m going to fire the person who hired him. It’s easy to get a replacement judge.”</p>
<p>He’s talking to Don Lemon on CNN. Don “Black Hole” Lemon. And Lemon (imitating Lemon), “Donald, why do you have to say — my God, Donald, why did you have to accuse the Mexicans of rape?” So Trump cites the statistics of women being raped, and Lemon said, “Yeah, but why did you have to –” and Trump said, “Well, Don, who is doing the raping? I mean, someone is doing the raping, Don. Did you ever think about that? You can’t have all these reported rapes without a bunch of rapists. Who are they, Don?” Blah, blah, blah.</p>
<p>“I just don’t think we need to go there.”</p>
<p>“That’s right, Don. But I’m going there because somebody needs to go there. Who are the rapists, Don?”</p>
<p>BREAK TRANSCRIPT</p>
<p>RUSH: Let’s get to the latest Trump sounds bites. Last night on CNN Tonight Don Lemon was interviewing Trump, and during a discussion about NBC dropping Trump and Macy’s dropping Trump… By the way, Serta mattresses is the latest. You know, Trump has a mattress line, and Serta makes it and sells it. They have announced that at the end of their deal with Trump at the end of this year, they are getting rid of Trump.</p>
<p>Every one of these outfits — NBC corporate, Macy’s, Serta — have all said (every one of them has said), “We are inclusive and we believe in diversity and we do not see immigrants from Mexico in that way at all! That’s just not how we see them, and we cannot abide these comments by Mr. Trump. So we are distancing ourselves from Mr. Trump.” They all say it. The fact that the immigrants are here illegally, that doesn’t seem to bother them. The fact that…</p>
<p>You know, the government will not tell us. There are no full-fledged — and you can’t find them if you go looking for them — statistics on the crime rates of illegal immigrants. But it’s pretty huge. I mean, there’s a story a week of some atrocity committed by some illegal immigrant. The fact that it’s happening is undeniable. There just isn’t any official news on it because the Regime doesn’t want there to be. So Don Lemon announces all of that, and he says to Trump.</p>
<p>“Macy’s cut ties with you today. They took the stuff off your shelves. They say, ‘Macy’s is a company that stands for diversity and inclusion. We have no tolerance to discrimination in any form. In the statements made by Donald which are inconsistent with Macy’s values. We’ve decided discontinue our business relationship with Mr. Trump.’ How do you respond to that?”</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" />DONALD: Terry Lundgren folded under pressure. He called me. He said, “Gee whiz!” You know, he’s under a lot of pressure. And, you know, I guess… Who knows? I mean, they fold under pressure. That’s the problem with our country. Everybody folds under pressure. And that’s what they did. They did a total fold. And that’s okay with me. It’s okay with me. It’s a very small business. Let them do what they want to do. I’ve had this all my life. You have to ride it through. Macy’s was unable to handle pressure. They folded like dogs.</p>
<p>RUSH: (laughing) That’s not the politically correct response. You know it as well as I do, that’s not what you’re supposed to say. Terry Lundgren, that’s the Macy’s guy. I told you yesterday I was playing golf here, Trump International, and I was one group behind Trump. And there was a crowd of backlog on a par three. Trump and I, his group and my group ended up on parallel fairways. One of our group had hit their ball into Trump’s fairway, so went over there looking for it.</p>
<p>I ran into Trump. He said, “Hey, I want to introduce you to Macy’s CEO.” He was playing golf with the Macy’s CEO. He said, “Terry Lundgren, he’s the greatest guy! If you ever need help from Macy’s, he’s the guy. He’s a quick infusion. Go to him. He’s just the greatest guy. He’s the greatest guy in the world. The guy was playing with the richest guy in Italy. He has a Ferrari parked right outside the club. I’ll show you when we leave.”</p>
<p>I just smiled; I shook hands with the Macy’s CEO. The politically correct thing to do was, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend Macy’s. It’s a great corporate partner.” But, no! (summarized) “They folded like a cheap suit. They folded like dogs. It’s not a big business. I don’t care. That’s the problem with America. Everybody is folding.” By the way, I profoundly agree with that. Everybody does fold. So here’s Don Lemon. He said, “Well, why did you have to say…? Donald, why did you have to say Mexicans are rapists?”</p>
<p>DONALD: I didn’t say it about Mexicans. I said the illegal immigrants. You look at the statistics on rape, on crime, on everything coming in illegally into this country; they’re mind-boggling. If you go to Fusion, you’ll see a story about 80% of the women coming in. I mean, you have to take a look at these stories. And you know who owns Fusion? Univision!</p>
<p>LEMON: I read the Washington Post. I read the Fusion. I read the Huffington Post. And that’s about women being raped. It’s not about criminals coming across the border or entering the country.</p>
<p>DONALD: Well, somebody’s doing the raping, Don. You know, I mean, somebody is doing it. You saying it’s women being raped. Well, who is doing the raping? Who’s doing the raping?</p>
<p>RUSH: You should have seen Lemon’s face. I saw the sound bite. Lemon is just deer-in-the-headlight eyes. He knew in the middle of the question he had stepped it. “Yeah, Donald, look, I read Fusion. You don’t got nothing on me. I read Fusion. I read the Washington Post! I read everything, and I’ve read about all the women getting raped. (pause) No! Ooooh, no.” Well, naturally what follows: “Who is raping them, Don?” In the Drive-By Media world, women getting raped is a singular thing.</p>
<p>It’s just a stat to show how women are being mistreated. It’s a stat to show how women are second class citizens. It’s a stat to show how women are not respected. The only place liberals think rape takes place is on college campus. That’s the only place they think rapes are taking place. That’s the one place they’re not happening! But what is it, Rolling Stone, fake story? So liberals believe all this cockamamie crap. They believe all these rapes are taking place. But you’re not supposed to talk about who is doing the raping.</p>
<p>“Who is doing the raping, Don?”</p>
<p>He’s talking about women immigrants coming to the country being raped. That’s very, very politically incorrect. Now, here’s Greta van Susteren last night on the Fox News Channel. She said, “I’m reading every day… I wake up. Whether it’s on Twitter or the news, something going on with Donald Trump. Another person saying, no, they’re canceling you. Now, the latest, you’re going to lose a judge from the beauty contest. Emmitt Smith, a former NFL player, now because of what you said, he’s out of the pageant business with you.</p>
<p>DONALD: Who cares? I don’t care if he’s in the pageant business. I mean, what difference does it make?</p>
<p>GRETA: But, I mean, he was a judge of yours! But he was a judge!</p>
<p>DONALD: Who cares? So what? We’ll get other judges. Judges are very easy to get. You know, it’s very interesting. NBC left. And Univision, which I’m suing for $500 million. They left 51 wonderful young women sitting stranded in Louisiana, in Baton Rouge, and I said, “You know what? I’m putting the show on.” So I’m putting the show on. I’m going to go to the show. But they left these wonderful 51 people stranded. They could have waited a week, and they could have had the show. But NBC chickened out because they’re weak, and that’s the problem with our country.</p>
<p>RUSH: (impression) “Who needs Emmitt Smith? Judges, they’re dime a dozen! I don’t need Emmitt Smith! He choked! NBC chickened out because they’re weak! I’m standing by the women — who, by the way, will not be raped during my show.”</p>
<p>BREAK TRANSCRIPT</p>
<p>RUSH: One more sound bite before we get to the phones. This is George Pataki. Has Pataki announced he is running? I think he has. Yeah. That’s right. He announced an exploratory committee. George Pataki. He was on the Fox Business Network yesterday afternoon with Trish Regan. The name of the show Intelligence Report with Trish Regan. They’re talking about the Republican primary and she said: “A Fox News poll shows a battle ahead of you. Donald Trump coming in second of this poll. What is your reaction of what Donald Trump said about the Mexicans?”</p>
<p>PATAKI: Reprehensible comment. You know, my four grandparents were immigrants. My father couldn’t speak English when he went off to the first grade. “Some, I assume are good people –” that is just ridiculous. The vast majority of Mexican Americans here in the United States came here to build a better life, to make some money, to try to participate in the American dream, to help their families. That type of comment is just beyond the pale, and I reject it. I’m calling on every other Republican candidate to stand up and say that what Donald Trump said is wrong, and they should repudiate it just the way I am now.</p>
<p>RUSH: Have any other Republican candidates stood up to repudiate Trump the way Pataki just did? Well, now, Rick Perry was on Fox News Special Report with Bret Baier last night. And Nina Easton, Fortune magazine said, “What are your views of Donald Trump’s description of Mexican immigrants?”</p>
<p>PERRY: I wouldn’t have said that, obviously. Mexico is our number one trading partner in the state of Texas. It’s very important to this country.</p>
<p>RUSH: So that’s not exactly a denunciation, like Pataki. But it still was, “I wouldn’t say it and I don’t agree with it.” But it was not a denunciation of Trump. Just one more. Anderson Cooper, 77, last night speaking with Boston Globe political reporter James Pindell. You ever heard of James Pindell? I haven’t either. I have no idea why we’re using a sound bite from the guy other than he was on CNN. We have to get liberal sound bites from somewhere, and I’ve banned them from every else. CNN is not far, by the way, either. Why prop that bunch up?</p>
<p>Anyway, Anderson Cooper said, “The poll numbers that Trump is getting, drawing crowds in New Hampshire, spent time talking to the people going to his rallies. Do they genuinely like the substance of what Trump is saying?” Here’s CNN’s Anderson Cooper asking a Boston Globe reporter who wouldn’t know what people who support Trump think if he went and talked to them about it because of his bias and prejudice. Here’s this guy being asked to tell everybody whether Trump’s supporters genuinely like the substance of what he’s saying.</p>
<p>PINDELL: I was in a New Hampshire house party for Trump last night. And look, people are saying heÂ’s the anti-politician. HeÂ’s the truth-teller. Those are the phrases that kept coming again and again. He has the largest campaign staff on the Republican side. HeÂ’s been here several times. He has a bunch of volunteers. This is what makes Trump so dangerous. He could be the Uber of politics, right? He does not play by the rules at all. And yet, itÂ’s going to be so fascinating to watch how these candidates who do play by the rules, are going to try to get around Trump, or do they ignore him, do they take him head on? But he is going to be a major factor in this race right now.</p>
<p>RUSH: I’ll tell you one thing, if any other Republican candidate had said what Trump had said, he would be out of the race by now. Everybody agree with that? Because he would have folded. The pressure would have forced him to apologize, done something. But would be finished. So this guy has a point in that regard, calling him the Uber of politics.</p> | Trump Stands Up to Cowardice | true | http://rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2015/07/02/trump_stands_up_to_cowardice | 2015-07-02 | 0right
| Trump Stands Up to Cowardice
<p><a href="//videos/37/66758" type="external" /></p>
<p>RUSH: Donald Trump continues to dominate the news and the news cycle. He is not backing down. Yesterday we got the news. You know, it’s amazing to witness cowardice. It’s all over the place. Emmitt Smith was a judge in one of Trump’s beauty pageants. I guess it was Miss USA. Emmitt pulled out. Says he doesn’t want to be associated with any of this stuff. Trump said, “Who needs Emmitt Smith? Judges are easy. I’ll go get another.” (laughing) You just got to love this. (imitating Trump) “Who needs Emmitt Smith? He’s a loser anyway. He isn’t a big name. I don’t know how he became a judge in the first place. I’m going to fire the person who hired him. It’s easy to get a replacement judge.”</p>
<p>He’s talking to Don Lemon on CNN. Don “Black Hole” Lemon. And Lemon (imitating Lemon), “Donald, why do you have to say — my God, Donald, why did you have to accuse the Mexicans of rape?” So Trump cites the statistics of women being raped, and Lemon said, “Yeah, but why did you have to –” and Trump said, “Well, Don, who is doing the raping? I mean, someone is doing the raping, Don. Did you ever think about that? You can’t have all these reported rapes without a bunch of rapists. Who are they, Don?” Blah, blah, blah.</p>
<p>“I just don’t think we need to go there.”</p>
<p>“That’s right, Don. But I’m going there because somebody needs to go there. Who are the rapists, Don?”</p>
<p>BREAK TRANSCRIPT</p>
<p>RUSH: Let’s get to the latest Trump sounds bites. Last night on CNN Tonight Don Lemon was interviewing Trump, and during a discussion about NBC dropping Trump and Macy’s dropping Trump… By the way, Serta mattresses is the latest. You know, Trump has a mattress line, and Serta makes it and sells it. They have announced that at the end of their deal with Trump at the end of this year, they are getting rid of Trump.</p>
<p>Every one of these outfits — NBC corporate, Macy’s, Serta — have all said (every one of them has said), “We are inclusive and we believe in diversity and we do not see immigrants from Mexico in that way at all! That’s just not how we see them, and we cannot abide these comments by Mr. Trump. So we are distancing ourselves from Mr. Trump.” They all say it. The fact that the immigrants are here illegally, that doesn’t seem to bother them. The fact that…</p>
<p>You know, the government will not tell us. There are no full-fledged — and you can’t find them if you go looking for them — statistics on the crime rates of illegal immigrants. But it’s pretty huge. I mean, there’s a story a week of some atrocity committed by some illegal immigrant. The fact that it’s happening is undeniable. There just isn’t any official news on it because the Regime doesn’t want there to be. So Don Lemon announces all of that, and he says to Trump.</p>
<p>“Macy’s cut ties with you today. They took the stuff off your shelves. They say, ‘Macy’s is a company that stands for diversity and inclusion. We have no tolerance to discrimination in any form. In the statements made by Donald which are inconsistent with Macy’s values. We’ve decided discontinue our business relationship with Mr. Trump.’ How do you respond to that?”</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" />DONALD: Terry Lundgren folded under pressure. He called me. He said, “Gee whiz!” You know, he’s under a lot of pressure. And, you know, I guess… Who knows? I mean, they fold under pressure. That’s the problem with our country. Everybody folds under pressure. And that’s what they did. They did a total fold. And that’s okay with me. It’s okay with me. It’s a very small business. Let them do what they want to do. I’ve had this all my life. You have to ride it through. Macy’s was unable to handle pressure. They folded like dogs.</p>
<p>RUSH: (laughing) That’s not the politically correct response. You know it as well as I do, that’s not what you’re supposed to say. Terry Lundgren, that’s the Macy’s guy. I told you yesterday I was playing golf here, Trump International, and I was one group behind Trump. And there was a crowd of backlog on a par three. Trump and I, his group and my group ended up on parallel fairways. One of our group had hit their ball into Trump’s fairway, so went over there looking for it.</p>
<p>I ran into Trump. He said, “Hey, I want to introduce you to Macy’s CEO.” He was playing golf with the Macy’s CEO. He said, “Terry Lundgren, he’s the greatest guy! If you ever need help from Macy’s, he’s the guy. He’s a quick infusion. Go to him. He’s just the greatest guy. He’s the greatest guy in the world. The guy was playing with the richest guy in Italy. He has a Ferrari parked right outside the club. I’ll show you when we leave.”</p>
<p>I just smiled; I shook hands with the Macy’s CEO. The politically correct thing to do was, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend Macy’s. It’s a great corporate partner.” But, no! (summarized) “They folded like a cheap suit. They folded like dogs. It’s not a big business. I don’t care. That’s the problem with America. Everybody is folding.” By the way, I profoundly agree with that. Everybody does fold. So here’s Don Lemon. He said, “Well, why did you have to say…? Donald, why did you have to say Mexicans are rapists?”</p>
<p>DONALD: I didn’t say it about Mexicans. I said the illegal immigrants. You look at the statistics on rape, on crime, on everything coming in illegally into this country; they’re mind-boggling. If you go to Fusion, you’ll see a story about 80% of the women coming in. I mean, you have to take a look at these stories. And you know who owns Fusion? Univision!</p>
<p>LEMON: I read the Washington Post. I read the Fusion. I read the Huffington Post. And that’s about women being raped. It’s not about criminals coming across the border or entering the country.</p>
<p>DONALD: Well, somebody’s doing the raping, Don. You know, I mean, somebody is doing it. You saying it’s women being raped. Well, who is doing the raping? Who’s doing the raping?</p>
<p>RUSH: You should have seen Lemon’s face. I saw the sound bite. Lemon is just deer-in-the-headlight eyes. He knew in the middle of the question he had stepped it. “Yeah, Donald, look, I read Fusion. You don’t got nothing on me. I read Fusion. I read the Washington Post! I read everything, and I’ve read about all the women getting raped. (pause) No! Ooooh, no.” Well, naturally what follows: “Who is raping them, Don?” In the Drive-By Media world, women getting raped is a singular thing.</p>
<p>It’s just a stat to show how women are being mistreated. It’s a stat to show how women are second class citizens. It’s a stat to show how women are not respected. The only place liberals think rape takes place is on college campus. That’s the only place they think rapes are taking place. That’s the one place they’re not happening! But what is it, Rolling Stone, fake story? So liberals believe all this cockamamie crap. They believe all these rapes are taking place. But you’re not supposed to talk about who is doing the raping.</p>
<p>“Who is doing the raping, Don?”</p>
<p>He’s talking about women immigrants coming to the country being raped. That’s very, very politically incorrect. Now, here’s Greta van Susteren last night on the Fox News Channel. She said, “I’m reading every day… I wake up. Whether it’s on Twitter or the news, something going on with Donald Trump. Another person saying, no, they’re canceling you. Now, the latest, you’re going to lose a judge from the beauty contest. Emmitt Smith, a former NFL player, now because of what you said, he’s out of the pageant business with you.</p>
<p>DONALD: Who cares? I don’t care if he’s in the pageant business. I mean, what difference does it make?</p>
<p>GRETA: But, I mean, he was a judge of yours! But he was a judge!</p>
<p>DONALD: Who cares? So what? We’ll get other judges. Judges are very easy to get. You know, it’s very interesting. NBC left. And Univision, which I’m suing for $500 million. They left 51 wonderful young women sitting stranded in Louisiana, in Baton Rouge, and I said, “You know what? I’m putting the show on.” So I’m putting the show on. I’m going to go to the show. But they left these wonderful 51 people stranded. They could have waited a week, and they could have had the show. But NBC chickened out because they’re weak, and that’s the problem with our country.</p>
<p>RUSH: (impression) “Who needs Emmitt Smith? Judges, they’re dime a dozen! I don’t need Emmitt Smith! He choked! NBC chickened out because they’re weak! I’m standing by the women — who, by the way, will not be raped during my show.”</p>
<p>BREAK TRANSCRIPT</p>
<p>RUSH: One more sound bite before we get to the phones. This is George Pataki. Has Pataki announced he is running? I think he has. Yeah. That’s right. He announced an exploratory committee. George Pataki. He was on the Fox Business Network yesterday afternoon with Trish Regan. The name of the show Intelligence Report with Trish Regan. They’re talking about the Republican primary and she said: “A Fox News poll shows a battle ahead of you. Donald Trump coming in second of this poll. What is your reaction of what Donald Trump said about the Mexicans?”</p>
<p>PATAKI: Reprehensible comment. You know, my four grandparents were immigrants. My father couldn’t speak English when he went off to the first grade. “Some, I assume are good people –” that is just ridiculous. The vast majority of Mexican Americans here in the United States came here to build a better life, to make some money, to try to participate in the American dream, to help their families. That type of comment is just beyond the pale, and I reject it. I’m calling on every other Republican candidate to stand up and say that what Donald Trump said is wrong, and they should repudiate it just the way I am now.</p>
<p>RUSH: Have any other Republican candidates stood up to repudiate Trump the way Pataki just did? Well, now, Rick Perry was on Fox News Special Report with Bret Baier last night. And Nina Easton, Fortune magazine said, “What are your views of Donald Trump’s description of Mexican immigrants?”</p>
<p>PERRY: I wouldn’t have said that, obviously. Mexico is our number one trading partner in the state of Texas. It’s very important to this country.</p>
<p>RUSH: So that’s not exactly a denunciation, like Pataki. But it still was, “I wouldn’t say it and I don’t agree with it.” But it was not a denunciation of Trump. Just one more. Anderson Cooper, 77, last night speaking with Boston Globe political reporter James Pindell. You ever heard of James Pindell? I haven’t either. I have no idea why we’re using a sound bite from the guy other than he was on CNN. We have to get liberal sound bites from somewhere, and I’ve banned them from every else. CNN is not far, by the way, either. Why prop that bunch up?</p>
<p>Anyway, Anderson Cooper said, “The poll numbers that Trump is getting, drawing crowds in New Hampshire, spent time talking to the people going to his rallies. Do they genuinely like the substance of what Trump is saying?” Here’s CNN’s Anderson Cooper asking a Boston Globe reporter who wouldn’t know what people who support Trump think if he went and talked to them about it because of his bias and prejudice. Here’s this guy being asked to tell everybody whether Trump’s supporters genuinely like the substance of what he’s saying.</p>
<p>PINDELL: I was in a New Hampshire house party for Trump last night. And look, people are saying heÂ’s the anti-politician. HeÂ’s the truth-teller. Those are the phrases that kept coming again and again. He has the largest campaign staff on the Republican side. HeÂ’s been here several times. He has a bunch of volunteers. This is what makes Trump so dangerous. He could be the Uber of politics, right? He does not play by the rules at all. And yet, itÂ’s going to be so fascinating to watch how these candidates who do play by the rules, are going to try to get around Trump, or do they ignore him, do they take him head on? But he is going to be a major factor in this race right now.</p>
<p>RUSH: I’ll tell you one thing, if any other Republican candidate had said what Trump had said, he would be out of the race by now. Everybody agree with that? Because he would have folded. The pressure would have forced him to apologize, done something. But would be finished. So this guy has a point in that regard, calling him the Uber of politics.</p> | 3,383 |
<p>CVS Health beat second-quarter expectations and narrowed its 2017 forecast despite a continued sales slump from established drugstores that it is working to fix.</p>
<p>The nation's second-largest drugstore chain said Tuesday that sales from stores open at least a year slid nearly 3 percent, a rise in generic drug prescriptions hurt the top line of its pharmacies and it had fewer customer visits.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Revenue from stores open at least a year is considered a key indicator of a drugstore chain's financial health because it eliminates the impact of stores that have recently opened or closed. CVS Health and its competitors have been struggling to draw customers into their stores for a few quarters now, as they compete for attention with many other retail options, including a burgeoning online market.</p>
<p>The company has started expanding healthy food options and beauty products in its stores and cutting back on promotions that bring in business but can hurt profitability.</p>
<p>GlobalData Retail analyst Hakon Helgesen called the store makeovers "long overdue" and said the push has to be expansive to improve the company's retail performance.</p>
<p>"The blunt truth is that, outside of health care needs, many consumers see CVS as a place to buy essentials when nowhere else is convenient," Helgesen said in a note reviewing the second quarter.</p>
<p>Company leaders are calling 2017 a rebuilding year.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>"While we're pleased to report results within our expectations, we won't be satisfied until the total enterprise returns to healthy levels of earnings growth," CEO Larry Merlo said during a conference call with analysts to discuss results.</p>
<p>CVS Health runs 9,700 retail locations, counting the pharmacy and clinic businesses of retail giant Target Corp. That total is second only to Walgreens. CVS Health also processes more than a billion prescriptions annually as a pharmacy benefits manager, or PBM.</p>
<p>PBMs run prescription drug plans for employers, insurers and other customers. They process mail-order prescriptions and handle bills for prescriptions filled at retail pharmacies.</p>
<p>Revenue from the company's PBM side jumped nearly 10 percent to $32.3 billion in the quarter that ended June 30, helped by new business.</p>
<p>Overall, CVS Health's second-quarter earnings of $1.1 billion rose 19 percent compared to last year's quarter, when the company booked a $542 million loss on the early retirement of some debt.</p>
<p>Adjusted results came in at $1.33 per share, with revenue climbing 4 percent to $45.68 billion.</p>
<p>Analysts forecast earnings of $1.31 per share on $45.35 billion in revenue, according to FactSet.</p>
<p>The company also said Tuesday it now expects adjusted earnings of $5.83 to $5.93 per share in 2017, as it raised the lower end of its previous forecast from $5.77 per share.</p>
<p>Analysts expect, on average, earnings of $5.87 per share in 2017.</p>
<p>Shares of Woonsocket, Rhode Island-based CVS Health Corp. fell more than 2 percent, or $1.88, to $77.24 Tuesday morning, while broader trading indexes rose slightly. The stock had inched up less than 1 percent so far this year, while the Standard &amp; Poor's 500 index has climbed 11 percent.</p> | CVS tops 2Q forecasts, but established store sales slip | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/08/08/cvs-health-tops-2q-forecasts-narrows-2017-guidance.html | 2017-08-08 | 0right
| CVS tops 2Q forecasts, but established store sales slip
<p>CVS Health beat second-quarter expectations and narrowed its 2017 forecast despite a continued sales slump from established drugstores that it is working to fix.</p>
<p>The nation's second-largest drugstore chain said Tuesday that sales from stores open at least a year slid nearly 3 percent, a rise in generic drug prescriptions hurt the top line of its pharmacies and it had fewer customer visits.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Revenue from stores open at least a year is considered a key indicator of a drugstore chain's financial health because it eliminates the impact of stores that have recently opened or closed. CVS Health and its competitors have been struggling to draw customers into their stores for a few quarters now, as they compete for attention with many other retail options, including a burgeoning online market.</p>
<p>The company has started expanding healthy food options and beauty products in its stores and cutting back on promotions that bring in business but can hurt profitability.</p>
<p>GlobalData Retail analyst Hakon Helgesen called the store makeovers "long overdue" and said the push has to be expansive to improve the company's retail performance.</p>
<p>"The blunt truth is that, outside of health care needs, many consumers see CVS as a place to buy essentials when nowhere else is convenient," Helgesen said in a note reviewing the second quarter.</p>
<p>Company leaders are calling 2017 a rebuilding year.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>"While we're pleased to report results within our expectations, we won't be satisfied until the total enterprise returns to healthy levels of earnings growth," CEO Larry Merlo said during a conference call with analysts to discuss results.</p>
<p>CVS Health runs 9,700 retail locations, counting the pharmacy and clinic businesses of retail giant Target Corp. That total is second only to Walgreens. CVS Health also processes more than a billion prescriptions annually as a pharmacy benefits manager, or PBM.</p>
<p>PBMs run prescription drug plans for employers, insurers and other customers. They process mail-order prescriptions and handle bills for prescriptions filled at retail pharmacies.</p>
<p>Revenue from the company's PBM side jumped nearly 10 percent to $32.3 billion in the quarter that ended June 30, helped by new business.</p>
<p>Overall, CVS Health's second-quarter earnings of $1.1 billion rose 19 percent compared to last year's quarter, when the company booked a $542 million loss on the early retirement of some debt.</p>
<p>Adjusted results came in at $1.33 per share, with revenue climbing 4 percent to $45.68 billion.</p>
<p>Analysts forecast earnings of $1.31 per share on $45.35 billion in revenue, according to FactSet.</p>
<p>The company also said Tuesday it now expects adjusted earnings of $5.83 to $5.93 per share in 2017, as it raised the lower end of its previous forecast from $5.77 per share.</p>
<p>Analysts expect, on average, earnings of $5.87 per share in 2017.</p>
<p>Shares of Woonsocket, Rhode Island-based CVS Health Corp. fell more than 2 percent, or $1.88, to $77.24 Tuesday morning, while broader trading indexes rose slightly. The stock had inched up less than 1 percent so far this year, while the Standard &amp; Poor's 500 index has climbed 11 percent.</p> | 3,384 |
<p>The Dutch medialandscape is up for some big changes, now that media entreneur John de Mol has gotten hold of the TV rights of the Dutch soccer competition. De Mol sold his TV company Endemol (Big Brother, Fear Factor) for some&#160;5 billion USD a few years ago, and has the deep pockets it takes to launch new TV channels. What are soccer rights worth on different platforms? The Dutch football competition yesterday sold the media rights for over 94 million USD per season for the next three seasons. Through his company Talpa John de Mol pays&#160;47 million USD per season for the rights to soccer clips on the open net (free TV), telecom company <a href="http://www.versatel.nl" type="external">Versatel</a>, partly owned by Talpa, pays another 40 million USD to broadcast games life on a subscription basis. Versatel has a 'triple play' strategy, and wants to offer internet, telephony and television over its IP network. Public broadcaster NOS pays 1.2 million USD for the right to cover the games live on radio, TV channel RTL pays 4.7 million USD to broadcast one full game on Friday evening. The right to stream games to mobile phones had already been sold to <a href="http://www.infostradasports.com" type="external">Infostrada</a>, for 2.4 million USD. The clubs themselves are still keeping some of the internet and archived rights: this means that after every weekend, the clubs can put their games online, sell DVDs, or make other deals around their brand. Looking at the sums paid for the soccer rights, it is clear that TV over IP as well as mobile services are now serious platforms for content owners.</p> | What is content worth on different platforms? Soccer in the Netherlands | false | https://poynter.org/news/what-content-worth-different-platforms-soccer-netherlands | 2004-12-23 | 2least
| What is content worth on different platforms? Soccer in the Netherlands
<p>The Dutch medialandscape is up for some big changes, now that media entreneur John de Mol has gotten hold of the TV rights of the Dutch soccer competition. De Mol sold his TV company Endemol (Big Brother, Fear Factor) for some&#160;5 billion USD a few years ago, and has the deep pockets it takes to launch new TV channels. What are soccer rights worth on different platforms? The Dutch football competition yesterday sold the media rights for over 94 million USD per season for the next three seasons. Through his company Talpa John de Mol pays&#160;47 million USD per season for the rights to soccer clips on the open net (free TV), telecom company <a href="http://www.versatel.nl" type="external">Versatel</a>, partly owned by Talpa, pays another 40 million USD to broadcast games life on a subscription basis. Versatel has a 'triple play' strategy, and wants to offer internet, telephony and television over its IP network. Public broadcaster NOS pays 1.2 million USD for the right to cover the games live on radio, TV channel RTL pays 4.7 million USD to broadcast one full game on Friday evening. The right to stream games to mobile phones had already been sold to <a href="http://www.infostradasports.com" type="external">Infostrada</a>, for 2.4 million USD. The clubs themselves are still keeping some of the internet and archived rights: this means that after every weekend, the clubs can put their games online, sell DVDs, or make other deals around their brand. Looking at the sums paid for the soccer rights, it is clear that TV over IP as well as mobile services are now serious platforms for content owners.</p> | 3,385 |
<p />
<p>He is <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060714/pl_nm/nato_commander_dc_3" type="external">Gen. Bantz Craddock</a>. If that name sounds a wee bit familiar, it should. Craddock is the chief of U.S. Southern Command and the person who oversees the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay. Craddock will replace Gen. James Jones.</p>
<p>In March of 2005, Craddock, testifying before the House Armed Services Committee, stated:</p>
<p>This command has continued to support the War on Terrorism through detainee operations at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, where approximately 550 enemy combatants in the Global War on Terrorism are in custody. A significant number of these enemy combatants are highly trained, dangerous members of al-Qaida, its related terrorist networks, and the former Taliban regime.</p>
<p>We now know, of course, that the “significant” number of al Qaida fighters is somewhere around 8%, 16% fought for the Taliban, and the vast majority of the prisoners at Guantanamo have not been accused of committing any hostile acts toward the U.S. or its allies.</p>
<p>Craddock also told the committee:</p>
<p>In performing our intelligence mission, we continue to emphasize the U.S. government’s commitment to treating detainees humanely, and to the extent appropriate and consistent with military necessity, in a manner consistent with the principles of Geneva.</p>
<p>Among the many questionable–and outright inhumane–practices approved by Craddock at Guantanamo was the force-feeding of prisoners who were on a hunger strike. Craddock said the result of force-feeding was that refusing food “wasn’t convenient.” According to <a href="http://libertystreetusa.blogspot.com/2006/02/guantanamos-commanding-officer-gen.html" type="external">reports</a>, however, detainees vomited, bled and–in at least one case–one was thrown to the floor.</p>
<p /> | NATO to get a new commander–guess who? | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2006/07/nato-get-new-commander-guess-who/ | 2006-07-14 | 4left
| NATO to get a new commander–guess who?
<p />
<p>He is <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060714/pl_nm/nato_commander_dc_3" type="external">Gen. Bantz Craddock</a>. If that name sounds a wee bit familiar, it should. Craddock is the chief of U.S. Southern Command and the person who oversees the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay. Craddock will replace Gen. James Jones.</p>
<p>In March of 2005, Craddock, testifying before the House Armed Services Committee, stated:</p>
<p>This command has continued to support the War on Terrorism through detainee operations at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, where approximately 550 enemy combatants in the Global War on Terrorism are in custody. A significant number of these enemy combatants are highly trained, dangerous members of al-Qaida, its related terrorist networks, and the former Taliban regime.</p>
<p>We now know, of course, that the “significant” number of al Qaida fighters is somewhere around 8%, 16% fought for the Taliban, and the vast majority of the prisoners at Guantanamo have not been accused of committing any hostile acts toward the U.S. or its allies.</p>
<p>Craddock also told the committee:</p>
<p>In performing our intelligence mission, we continue to emphasize the U.S. government’s commitment to treating detainees humanely, and to the extent appropriate and consistent with military necessity, in a manner consistent with the principles of Geneva.</p>
<p>Among the many questionable–and outright inhumane–practices approved by Craddock at Guantanamo was the force-feeding of prisoners who were on a hunger strike. Craddock said the result of force-feeding was that refusing food “wasn’t convenient.” According to <a href="http://libertystreetusa.blogspot.com/2006/02/guantanamos-commanding-officer-gen.html" type="external">reports</a>, however, detainees vomited, bled and–in at least one case–one was thrown to the floor.</p>
<p /> | 3,386 |
<p>By Anthony Boadle</p>
<p>BRASILIA (Reuters) – The centrist Brazilian Social Democracy Party, or PSDB, elected four-time Sao Paulo Governor Geraldo Alckmin as its leader on Saturday, making him its most likely presidential nominee in next year’s elections.</p>
<p>Alckmin threw the party’s weight behind a social security overhaul that is currently before Congress and would cut generous pensions for public-sector employees.</p>
<p>“Pension reform is necessary so that we do not have two classes of Brazilian citizens,” he told the convention, which elected him by a 470-3 vote.</p>
<p>Alckmin said former leftist president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a likely rival in the 2018 race, had led Brazil into its worst recession and biggest corruption scandal.</p>
<p>“Lula wants to return to the scene of the crime,” he told cheering supporters. “Be sure, we will defeat him at the polls.”</p>
<p>Alckmin was picked to unite a divided party, with both supporters and opponents of Brazil’s unpopular President Michel Temer. He plans to complete the PSDB’s withdrawal from the governing coalition.</p>
<p>But Alckmin made it clear the PSDB would back Temer’s pension proposal, which investors consider crucial for closing a huge budget deficit that cost Latin America’s largest economy its investment-grade credit rating.</p>
<p>With elections less than a year away, PSDB lawmakers want to distance themselves from Temer. Half of its 46 congressmen did not back him when the lower house voted in August to block corruption charges against him.</p>
<p>Alckmin must overcome the party’s own brush with Brazil’s ongoing political corruption scandal. He succeeds Senator Aecio Neves, the party’s defeated 2014 presidential candidate who is under investigation for allegedly asking jailed Joesley Batista, owner of meatpacker JBS SA for 2 million reais ($607,500) in illegal funding. Neves was booed and quickly left the convention after casting his vote.</p>
<p>The PSDB’s disengagement from the Temer administration was almost completed on Friday with the resignation of Antonio Imbassahy, the president’s minister of political affairs.</p>
<p>Alckmin, 65, was governor of Brazil’s richest and most populous state from 2001-2006 and again from 2011 to now. He ran for president in 2006 but lost to Lula, who is still Brazil’s most popular politician despite a corruption conviction that could bar him from running or even land him in prison.</p>
<p>Former Brazilian President and PSDB founder Fernando Henrique Cardoso, who won two elections against Lula, said it was better to defeat him at the polls than to put him in jail.</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> | Brazil's PSDB picks Sao Paulo Gov. Alckmin to lead it into 2018 race | false | https://newsline.com/brazil039s-psdb-picks-sao-paulo-gov-alckmin-to-lead-it-into-2018-race/ | 2017-12-09 | 1right-center
| Brazil's PSDB picks Sao Paulo Gov. Alckmin to lead it into 2018 race
<p>By Anthony Boadle</p>
<p>BRASILIA (Reuters) – The centrist Brazilian Social Democracy Party, or PSDB, elected four-time Sao Paulo Governor Geraldo Alckmin as its leader on Saturday, making him its most likely presidential nominee in next year’s elections.</p>
<p>Alckmin threw the party’s weight behind a social security overhaul that is currently before Congress and would cut generous pensions for public-sector employees.</p>
<p>“Pension reform is necessary so that we do not have two classes of Brazilian citizens,” he told the convention, which elected him by a 470-3 vote.</p>
<p>Alckmin said former leftist president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a likely rival in the 2018 race, had led Brazil into its worst recession and biggest corruption scandal.</p>
<p>“Lula wants to return to the scene of the crime,” he told cheering supporters. “Be sure, we will defeat him at the polls.”</p>
<p>Alckmin was picked to unite a divided party, with both supporters and opponents of Brazil’s unpopular President Michel Temer. He plans to complete the PSDB’s withdrawal from the governing coalition.</p>
<p>But Alckmin made it clear the PSDB would back Temer’s pension proposal, which investors consider crucial for closing a huge budget deficit that cost Latin America’s largest economy its investment-grade credit rating.</p>
<p>With elections less than a year away, PSDB lawmakers want to distance themselves from Temer. Half of its 46 congressmen did not back him when the lower house voted in August to block corruption charges against him.</p>
<p>Alckmin must overcome the party’s own brush with Brazil’s ongoing political corruption scandal. He succeeds Senator Aecio Neves, the party’s defeated 2014 presidential candidate who is under investigation for allegedly asking jailed Joesley Batista, owner of meatpacker JBS SA for 2 million reais ($607,500) in illegal funding. Neves was booed and quickly left the convention after casting his vote.</p>
<p>The PSDB’s disengagement from the Temer administration was almost completed on Friday with the resignation of Antonio Imbassahy, the president’s minister of political affairs.</p>
<p>Alckmin, 65, was governor of Brazil’s richest and most populous state from 2001-2006 and again from 2011 to now. He ran for president in 2006 but lost to Lula, who is still Brazil’s most popular politician despite a corruption conviction that could bar him from running or even land him in prison.</p>
<p>Former Brazilian President and PSDB founder Fernando Henrique Cardoso, who won two elections against Lula, said it was better to defeat him at the polls than to put him in jail.</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> | 3,387 |
<p>Guidewire Software Inc. shares jumped in the extended session Tuesday after the insurance-industry software provider topped Wall Street estimates for the quarter. Guidewire shares rose 8% to $54.55 after hours. The company reported adjusted fiscal second-quarter earnings of 24 cents a share on revenue of $102.1 million. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast earnings of 15 cents a share on revenue of $96.7 million. For the fiscal third quarter, Guidewire expects adjusted earnings of 4 cents to 8 cents a share on revenue of $90.3 million to $94.3 million. Analysts estimate 6 cents a share on revenue of $91.2 million.</p>
<p>Copyright © 2016 MarketWatch, Inc.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p> | Guidewire Software Shares Jump After Earnings Beat | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/03/01/guidewire-software-shares-jump-after-earnings-beat.html | 2016-03-01 | 0right
| Guidewire Software Shares Jump After Earnings Beat
<p>Guidewire Software Inc. shares jumped in the extended session Tuesday after the insurance-industry software provider topped Wall Street estimates for the quarter. Guidewire shares rose 8% to $54.55 after hours. The company reported adjusted fiscal second-quarter earnings of 24 cents a share on revenue of $102.1 million. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast earnings of 15 cents a share on revenue of $96.7 million. For the fiscal third quarter, Guidewire expects adjusted earnings of 4 cents to 8 cents a share on revenue of $90.3 million to $94.3 million. Analysts estimate 6 cents a share on revenue of $91.2 million.</p>
<p>Copyright © 2016 MarketWatch, Inc.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p> | 3,388 |
<p>MINERAL, Va. — When the youthful archers at <a href="http://www.mineralbaptistchurch.org/" type="external">Mineral Baptist Church</a> line up and take aim, the real target is more than the bull’s-eye in their sights. According to Jeremy Debaets, director of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/MineralBaptistCentershot" type="external">Mineral Baptist Church Archery</a>, the ministry’s aim is to introduce families to archery and the outdoors while developing friendships that will advance God’s kingdom — one arrow at a time.</p>
<p />
<p>With the guidance of trained archery instructors, children — some as young as 6 —and their parents learn the basics of shooting bow and arrow, from determining their dominant eye to loading a bow, to removing the arrow from the target. Training is provided by <a href="http://centershotministries.org/" type="external">Centershot Ministries</a>, an interdenominational outreach ministry based in Minneapolis. With the slogan, “Making Christ the Target of Our Lives,” the Centershot program is an eight-week course that combines faith and archery for all ages.</p>
<p>&#160;“There are many sports activities for children, but most are for specific ages,” said Debaets. “Mineral Baptist Church wanted to provide a ministry where fathers and sons or mom, dad and the kids can all be on the line learning the fundamentals of archery.” He explains that this is easily accomplished as the program utilizes the same equipment for all ages.</p>
<p>Debaets admits that the church didn’t realize how large the interest in archery was in the community until in its first year when there was an unexpected turnout of 54 participants. Beginning the program with that many involved was a challenge, he said.</p>
<p>After MBCA was launched, several leaders indicated that they would like to be able to shoot, so a 3D archery range was set up. A 3D range is an outdoor course in a hunting atmosphere with life-size animal targets. “After we started our 3D shoots, we were amazed at how many moms and dads participated with their children in this activity,” Debaets said. It currently sponsors 3D outdoor shoots year-round.</p>
<p>MBCA offers its archery ministry during the summer. Two independent sessions will be offered this year. Each session includes training and a devotional that ties the skills learned to making Christ the target in life.</p>
<p />
<p>“The great thing about archery is that you’re competing against yourself,” said Debaets. “It doesn’t matter what the next person is shooting because you are competing against your own score.”</p>
<p>This may interest kids who do not want to participate in team sports but might be drawn to individual sports. And archery is a repetitive sport, he adds. “Shooting trains muscles in repetitive form and the more you shoot the better you become.”</p>
<p>While he admits that it is a great outreach to children, he also says archery provides an opportunity for men to be involved in a sport that they are comfortable and confident in. “We have leaders in the community that are not members of Mineral Baptist that help us teach students,” he said. “Most of them hunt or participate in outdoor sports and it allows them to realize that participating in a church sport can be fun.”</p>
<p>Several local hunting clubs participate in the outdoor 3D shoots and other groups like the Virginia 4H are looking into the possibility of taking part, said Debaets. While no devotionals are offered at these shoots, the interaction opens the door for witness. “We rely on leaders from the church to build friendships with those involved and to allow Christ to work through those relationships,” he said.</p>
<p>Coaching archery differs from some other sports, said Debaets, as instruction is one-on-one and coaches are able to form relationships as they mentor students. “Archery is about form,” he said and coaching is very different from standing on the sidelines shouting instructions to 10-12 players. Training is similar to that used in the <a href="http://www.nasparchery.com/activea.asp" type="external">National Archery in Schools Program</a> and is initially provided by a certified Centershot instructor trainer. Before each new session those who have received instruction provide training for new coaches.</p>
<p>“We wanted to provide a ministry to the community without being a financial burden to the church,” said Debaets. To do this MBCA utilizes sponsorships from local businesses to pro shops and sporting goods stores to other companies offering products for outdoor sports and archery. This has allowed MBCA to provide this ministry at no cost to the congregation.”</p>
<p>“It’s amazing to see all ages throughout the church be supportive of MBCA and what it’s doing to reach people,” Debaets said. He admits initially there were concerns about safety and children shooting a bow on a live range. “But once they realized the safety built into the Centershot program and the instruction process involved, the congregation was enthusiastic,” he said.</p>
<p>Barbara Francis ( <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a>) is on the staff of the Religious Herald.</p> | Mineral Baptist Church connects with community — and offers a witness — through archery | false | https://baptistnews.com/article/mineralbaptistchurchconnectswithcommunityaeandoffersawitnessaethrougharchery/ | 3left-center
| Mineral Baptist Church connects with community — and offers a witness — through archery
<p>MINERAL, Va. — When the youthful archers at <a href="http://www.mineralbaptistchurch.org/" type="external">Mineral Baptist Church</a> line up and take aim, the real target is more than the bull’s-eye in their sights. According to Jeremy Debaets, director of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/MineralBaptistCentershot" type="external">Mineral Baptist Church Archery</a>, the ministry’s aim is to introduce families to archery and the outdoors while developing friendships that will advance God’s kingdom — one arrow at a time.</p>
<p />
<p>With the guidance of trained archery instructors, children — some as young as 6 —and their parents learn the basics of shooting bow and arrow, from determining their dominant eye to loading a bow, to removing the arrow from the target. Training is provided by <a href="http://centershotministries.org/" type="external">Centershot Ministries</a>, an interdenominational outreach ministry based in Minneapolis. With the slogan, “Making Christ the Target of Our Lives,” the Centershot program is an eight-week course that combines faith and archery for all ages.</p>
<p>&#160;“There are many sports activities for children, but most are for specific ages,” said Debaets. “Mineral Baptist Church wanted to provide a ministry where fathers and sons or mom, dad and the kids can all be on the line learning the fundamentals of archery.” He explains that this is easily accomplished as the program utilizes the same equipment for all ages.</p>
<p>Debaets admits that the church didn’t realize how large the interest in archery was in the community until in its first year when there was an unexpected turnout of 54 participants. Beginning the program with that many involved was a challenge, he said.</p>
<p>After MBCA was launched, several leaders indicated that they would like to be able to shoot, so a 3D archery range was set up. A 3D range is an outdoor course in a hunting atmosphere with life-size animal targets. “After we started our 3D shoots, we were amazed at how many moms and dads participated with their children in this activity,” Debaets said. It currently sponsors 3D outdoor shoots year-round.</p>
<p>MBCA offers its archery ministry during the summer. Two independent sessions will be offered this year. Each session includes training and a devotional that ties the skills learned to making Christ the target in life.</p>
<p />
<p>“The great thing about archery is that you’re competing against yourself,” said Debaets. “It doesn’t matter what the next person is shooting because you are competing against your own score.”</p>
<p>This may interest kids who do not want to participate in team sports but might be drawn to individual sports. And archery is a repetitive sport, he adds. “Shooting trains muscles in repetitive form and the more you shoot the better you become.”</p>
<p>While he admits that it is a great outreach to children, he also says archery provides an opportunity for men to be involved in a sport that they are comfortable and confident in. “We have leaders in the community that are not members of Mineral Baptist that help us teach students,” he said. “Most of them hunt or participate in outdoor sports and it allows them to realize that participating in a church sport can be fun.”</p>
<p>Several local hunting clubs participate in the outdoor 3D shoots and other groups like the Virginia 4H are looking into the possibility of taking part, said Debaets. While no devotionals are offered at these shoots, the interaction opens the door for witness. “We rely on leaders from the church to build friendships with those involved and to allow Christ to work through those relationships,” he said.</p>
<p>Coaching archery differs from some other sports, said Debaets, as instruction is one-on-one and coaches are able to form relationships as they mentor students. “Archery is about form,” he said and coaching is very different from standing on the sidelines shouting instructions to 10-12 players. Training is similar to that used in the <a href="http://www.nasparchery.com/activea.asp" type="external">National Archery in Schools Program</a> and is initially provided by a certified Centershot instructor trainer. Before each new session those who have received instruction provide training for new coaches.</p>
<p>“We wanted to provide a ministry to the community without being a financial burden to the church,” said Debaets. To do this MBCA utilizes sponsorships from local businesses to pro shops and sporting goods stores to other companies offering products for outdoor sports and archery. This has allowed MBCA to provide this ministry at no cost to the congregation.”</p>
<p>“It’s amazing to see all ages throughout the church be supportive of MBCA and what it’s doing to reach people,” Debaets said. He admits initially there were concerns about safety and children shooting a bow on a live range. “But once they realized the safety built into the Centershot program and the instruction process involved, the congregation was enthusiastic,” he said.</p>
<p>Barbara Francis ( <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a>) is on the staff of the Religious Herald.</p> | 3,389 |
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<p />
<p>New Mexico State University Interim President Manuel Pacheco praised Huerta’s eight-year tenure as a time of “great growth” during which the community college “established itself as a critically important force for the economic well-being of our region.”</p>
<p>Huerta, who receives an annual salary of $173,485, became a lightning rod for criticism after the nursing program lost its accreditation from the National League for Nursing Accreditation Commission on July 20, and students were notified weeks later, shortly before the semester began.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The accreditation loss threatened job prospects for 109 community college nursing students, since most hospitals require nurses to graduate from an accredited program. Eventually, about three-fourths of the students transferred into NMSU’s nursing program after much public outcry over the situation.</p>
<p>Since then, NMSU President Barbara Couture submitted her resignation on Oct. 1 and executive vice president and provost Wendy Wilkins resigned Nov. 6.</p>
<p>Pacheco, who accepted Huerta’s letter of retirement Thursday, said he had received comments calling for her to be fired but, he added, “I’ve received an equal number of commendations and positive comments about her.”</p>
<p>With more than 13 months left until her retirement, Pacheco said Huerta planned to oversee the community college’s efforts to regain the nursing program’s accreditation. Two DACC faculty with ties to the nursing program objected to that plan.</p>
<p>“Based on past history, I don’t think she’d be the appropriate person because of how she handled it the last time,” said Earl Nissen, an adjunct professor who teaches a pre-nursing course.</p>
<p>Asked if the nursing program’s troubles reflected poorly on Huerta’s leadership, Pacheco said: “The best way to answer a question like that is whoever the president is has ultimate responsibility for everything that happens in the institution, but there’s no one person who has total and exclusive responsibility for that. … Nobody knowingly or on purpose doesn’t meet the criteria that are needed (for accreditation).”</p>
<p>At the NMSU Board of Regents meeting Friday, Brittany Barham, one of the DACC transfers to the university nursing program, criticized Huerta’s delayed retirement, saying she and other students were “all plagued by the lack of accountability in our eyes.”</p>
<p>Barham said that none of the former DACC nursing students had been interviewed about the accreditation loss by a university committee investigating the matter.</p>
<p>At the same meeting, seven current or former DACC faculty members praised Huerta’s leadership and support for staff. Huerta presided over the construction of satellite campuses in Gadsden, Chaparral, Hatch and on the east side of Las Cruces. — This article appeared on page C2 of the Albuquerque Journal</p> | Doña Ana College President To Retire | false | https://abqjournal.com/153445/dontildea-ana-college-president-to-retire.html | 2012-12-15 | 2least
| Doña Ana College President To Retire
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<p />
<p>New Mexico State University Interim President Manuel Pacheco praised Huerta’s eight-year tenure as a time of “great growth” during which the community college “established itself as a critically important force for the economic well-being of our region.”</p>
<p>Huerta, who receives an annual salary of $173,485, became a lightning rod for criticism after the nursing program lost its accreditation from the National League for Nursing Accreditation Commission on July 20, and students were notified weeks later, shortly before the semester began.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The accreditation loss threatened job prospects for 109 community college nursing students, since most hospitals require nurses to graduate from an accredited program. Eventually, about three-fourths of the students transferred into NMSU’s nursing program after much public outcry over the situation.</p>
<p>Since then, NMSU President Barbara Couture submitted her resignation on Oct. 1 and executive vice president and provost Wendy Wilkins resigned Nov. 6.</p>
<p>Pacheco, who accepted Huerta’s letter of retirement Thursday, said he had received comments calling for her to be fired but, he added, “I’ve received an equal number of commendations and positive comments about her.”</p>
<p>With more than 13 months left until her retirement, Pacheco said Huerta planned to oversee the community college’s efforts to regain the nursing program’s accreditation. Two DACC faculty with ties to the nursing program objected to that plan.</p>
<p>“Based on past history, I don’t think she’d be the appropriate person because of how she handled it the last time,” said Earl Nissen, an adjunct professor who teaches a pre-nursing course.</p>
<p>Asked if the nursing program’s troubles reflected poorly on Huerta’s leadership, Pacheco said: “The best way to answer a question like that is whoever the president is has ultimate responsibility for everything that happens in the institution, but there’s no one person who has total and exclusive responsibility for that. … Nobody knowingly or on purpose doesn’t meet the criteria that are needed (for accreditation).”</p>
<p>At the NMSU Board of Regents meeting Friday, Brittany Barham, one of the DACC transfers to the university nursing program, criticized Huerta’s delayed retirement, saying she and other students were “all plagued by the lack of accountability in our eyes.”</p>
<p>Barham said that none of the former DACC nursing students had been interviewed about the accreditation loss by a university committee investigating the matter.</p>
<p>At the same meeting, seven current or former DACC faculty members praised Huerta’s leadership and support for staff. Huerta presided over the construction of satellite campuses in Gadsden, Chaparral, Hatch and on the east side of Las Cruces. — This article appeared on page C2 of the Albuquerque Journal</p> | 3,390 |
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<p>LUCCA, Italy — Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven industrialized nations met Monday to try to forge a common response to the deadly chemical attack in Syria, with new sanctions against Russian backers of President Bashar Assad one of the options on the table.</p>
<p>G-7 diplomats sitting down for talks in the centuries-old Ducal Palace in Lucca, Italy, hope to use outrage over the attack and wide international support for the United States’ retaliatory missile strikes to push Russia to abandon Assad and join a new peace effort for Syria.</p>
<p>Members of the group also hope to gain a sense from U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson of President Donald Trump’s next steps and foreign-policy goals.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Speaking after meeting with Tillerson, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said ministers “will be discussing the possibility of further sanctions, certainly, on some of the Syrian military figures and indeed on some of the Russian military figures.”</p>
<p>He said Russia had a choice: to continue backing the “toxic” Assad regime, “or to work with the rest of the world to find a solution for Syria, a political solution.”</p>
<p>Last week’s nerve gas attack in the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun, which killed more than 80 people, stirred Trump — who was previously cool to the idea of U.S. intervention — to strike for the first time at Assad’s forces. U.S. warships fired 59 cruise missiles at the Syrian air base from which the U.S. believes the attack was launched.</p>
<p>The U.S. strikes drew support from other Western leaders who have been uncertain what to make of Trump’s foreign policy. Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano said Sunday that Europe’s broad support for the U.S. military strikes had contributed to a “renewed harmony” between the United States and its partners.</p>
<p>In a gesture weighted with symbolism, Tillerson visited the site of a World War II-era Nazi massacre in central Italy on Monday. He said the United States was rededicating itself to hold to account “any and all” who commit crimes against innocent people.</p>
<p>Tillerson accompanied Alfano to Santa’Anna di Stazzema, where 560 civilians, including some 130 children, were killed in 1944.</p>
<p>The two-day G-7 meeting in the Tuscan walled city of Lucca is bringing together the foreign ministers of France, Germany, Britain, Japan and Canada, the U.S. and current G-7 president Italy, as well as European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini.</p>
<p>Ahead of the full meeting, Tillerson held bilateral talks with G-7 counterparts including Britain’s Johnson, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Kishida said that “Japan supports the U.S. commitment in trying to take responsibility to prevent spread and use of chemical weapons and we confirmed Japan and the U.S. will continue to work together (in that effort).”</p>
<p>Tillerson also spoke by phone with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, whose government insists Assad should play no role in Syria’s future.</p>
<p>The G-7 meeting comes as the United States is sending a Navy carrier strike group toward the Korean Peninsula in a show of strength following North Korea’s persistent ballistic missile tests.</p>
<p>It is also taking place amid an ongoing terror threat that was underscored by the Palm Sunday bombing of Coptic churches in Egypt claimed by the Islamic State group, and another truck attack on European soil, this time in Stockholm, on Friday.</p>
<p>Syria, though, topped the agenda.</p>
<p>The chemical attack has sent a new chill through relations between the West and Moscow, which backs Assad diplomatically and militarily and denies Syrian forces used chemical weapons.</p>
<p>Russia planned to put forward a proposal on Monday for an independent and impartial investigation of the attack, a spokesman for German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said, calling it “a good and important sign.”</p>
<p>Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, whose government is another backer of Assad’s, also called for an independent inquiry under U.N. auspices when he spoke Monday to Alfano, Italy’s foreign ministry said in a statement.</p>
<p>The United States is fighting Islamic State group militants in Syria, but had previously avoided striking government forces, largely out of concern about being pulled into a military conflict with Russia, whose relations with the West have been on a downward spiral for several years.</p>
<p>Russia was kicked out of the club of industrialized nations, formerly the G-8, after its 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region and assistance for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.</p>
<p>The flipside of the talk about sanctions from Johnson and other diplomats is an implicit promise that Moscow could be allowed to rejoin the G-8, if it drops its support for Assad.</p>
<p>“I think the Russians need a way out and a way forward,” Johnson said.</p>
<p>The British foreign secretary had been due to visit Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Moscow before the G-7 meeting. Johnson canceled the trip at the last minute, saying the chemical attack had “changed the situation fundamentally.”</p>
<p>His decision drew taunts from opponents that Johnson was a “poodle” of the Americans who had been told to stay home so he would not upstage Tillerson.</p>
<p>But Johnson said Monday that “it is the Americans who have changed the game by using those cruise missiles,” and it was right for the rest of the G-7 unite behind Tillerson.</p>
<p>Washington has sent mixed signals about whether it shares the determination of allies such as Britain that Assad must be removed from power.</p>
<p>After the April 4 chemical attack, Trump said his attitude toward Assad “has changed very much” and Tillerson said “steps are underway” to organize a coalition to remove him from power.</p>
<p>However, Tillerson said in television interviews that aired Sunday that the top U.S. priority in the region remains the defeat of Islamic State militants.</p>
<p>Among European nations, there are also differences. While Britain stressed pressure on Russia and removing Assad, Germany’s Gabriel emphasized that Russia and Iran must be part of the peace process for Syria.</p>
<p>“Now is the right moment to talk about how we can push for a peace process in Syria within the international community — with Russia, with Iran, with Saudi Arabia, with Europe, with the United States,” he said as he arrived. “To prevent military violence to escalate on and on, it’s all about this.”</p>
<p>_____</p>
<p>Colleen Barry in Milan and Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this report.</p> | G-7 ministers seek unity in bid to press Russia over Assad | false | https://abqjournal.com/985387/g-7-ministers-aim-to-press-russia-to-stop-backing-assad.html | 2017-04-10 | 2least
| G-7 ministers seek unity in bid to press Russia over Assad
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<p>LUCCA, Italy — Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven industrialized nations met Monday to try to forge a common response to the deadly chemical attack in Syria, with new sanctions against Russian backers of President Bashar Assad one of the options on the table.</p>
<p>G-7 diplomats sitting down for talks in the centuries-old Ducal Palace in Lucca, Italy, hope to use outrage over the attack and wide international support for the United States’ retaliatory missile strikes to push Russia to abandon Assad and join a new peace effort for Syria.</p>
<p>Members of the group also hope to gain a sense from U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson of President Donald Trump’s next steps and foreign-policy goals.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Speaking after meeting with Tillerson, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said ministers “will be discussing the possibility of further sanctions, certainly, on some of the Syrian military figures and indeed on some of the Russian military figures.”</p>
<p>He said Russia had a choice: to continue backing the “toxic” Assad regime, “or to work with the rest of the world to find a solution for Syria, a political solution.”</p>
<p>Last week’s nerve gas attack in the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun, which killed more than 80 people, stirred Trump — who was previously cool to the idea of U.S. intervention — to strike for the first time at Assad’s forces. U.S. warships fired 59 cruise missiles at the Syrian air base from which the U.S. believes the attack was launched.</p>
<p>The U.S. strikes drew support from other Western leaders who have been uncertain what to make of Trump’s foreign policy. Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano said Sunday that Europe’s broad support for the U.S. military strikes had contributed to a “renewed harmony” between the United States and its partners.</p>
<p>In a gesture weighted with symbolism, Tillerson visited the site of a World War II-era Nazi massacre in central Italy on Monday. He said the United States was rededicating itself to hold to account “any and all” who commit crimes against innocent people.</p>
<p>Tillerson accompanied Alfano to Santa’Anna di Stazzema, where 560 civilians, including some 130 children, were killed in 1944.</p>
<p>The two-day G-7 meeting in the Tuscan walled city of Lucca is bringing together the foreign ministers of France, Germany, Britain, Japan and Canada, the U.S. and current G-7 president Italy, as well as European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini.</p>
<p>Ahead of the full meeting, Tillerson held bilateral talks with G-7 counterparts including Britain’s Johnson, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Kishida said that “Japan supports the U.S. commitment in trying to take responsibility to prevent spread and use of chemical weapons and we confirmed Japan and the U.S. will continue to work together (in that effort).”</p>
<p>Tillerson also spoke by phone with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, whose government insists Assad should play no role in Syria’s future.</p>
<p>The G-7 meeting comes as the United States is sending a Navy carrier strike group toward the Korean Peninsula in a show of strength following North Korea’s persistent ballistic missile tests.</p>
<p>It is also taking place amid an ongoing terror threat that was underscored by the Palm Sunday bombing of Coptic churches in Egypt claimed by the Islamic State group, and another truck attack on European soil, this time in Stockholm, on Friday.</p>
<p>Syria, though, topped the agenda.</p>
<p>The chemical attack has sent a new chill through relations between the West and Moscow, which backs Assad diplomatically and militarily and denies Syrian forces used chemical weapons.</p>
<p>Russia planned to put forward a proposal on Monday for an independent and impartial investigation of the attack, a spokesman for German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said, calling it “a good and important sign.”</p>
<p>Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, whose government is another backer of Assad’s, also called for an independent inquiry under U.N. auspices when he spoke Monday to Alfano, Italy’s foreign ministry said in a statement.</p>
<p>The United States is fighting Islamic State group militants in Syria, but had previously avoided striking government forces, largely out of concern about being pulled into a military conflict with Russia, whose relations with the West have been on a downward spiral for several years.</p>
<p>Russia was kicked out of the club of industrialized nations, formerly the G-8, after its 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region and assistance for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.</p>
<p>The flipside of the talk about sanctions from Johnson and other diplomats is an implicit promise that Moscow could be allowed to rejoin the G-8, if it drops its support for Assad.</p>
<p>“I think the Russians need a way out and a way forward,” Johnson said.</p>
<p>The British foreign secretary had been due to visit Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Moscow before the G-7 meeting. Johnson canceled the trip at the last minute, saying the chemical attack had “changed the situation fundamentally.”</p>
<p>His decision drew taunts from opponents that Johnson was a “poodle” of the Americans who had been told to stay home so he would not upstage Tillerson.</p>
<p>But Johnson said Monday that “it is the Americans who have changed the game by using those cruise missiles,” and it was right for the rest of the G-7 unite behind Tillerson.</p>
<p>Washington has sent mixed signals about whether it shares the determination of allies such as Britain that Assad must be removed from power.</p>
<p>After the April 4 chemical attack, Trump said his attitude toward Assad “has changed very much” and Tillerson said “steps are underway” to organize a coalition to remove him from power.</p>
<p>However, Tillerson said in television interviews that aired Sunday that the top U.S. priority in the region remains the defeat of Islamic State militants.</p>
<p>Among European nations, there are also differences. While Britain stressed pressure on Russia and removing Assad, Germany’s Gabriel emphasized that Russia and Iran must be part of the peace process for Syria.</p>
<p>“Now is the right moment to talk about how we can push for a peace process in Syria within the international community — with Russia, with Iran, with Saudi Arabia, with Europe, with the United States,” he said as he arrived. “To prevent military violence to escalate on and on, it’s all about this.”</p>
<p>_____</p>
<p>Colleen Barry in Milan and Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this report.</p> | 3,391 |
<p>The Full Employment for Filmmaker Michael Moore Act is coming soon to a theater near you.</p>
<p>Well, not exactly.</p>
<p>But by exquisite coincidence, Michael Moore was in Washington this week promoting his latest comedic exposé of greed, corporate malfeasance and our government’s complicity in the unbridled assault on working America that led us into the Great Recession. “Capitalism: A Love Story” fortuitously previewed to select audiences just as the Senate Finance Committee was amending the proposed “America’s Healthy Future Act of 2009.” The panel obligingly provided hours of potential footage for Moore’s next cinematic assault on the system.</p>
<p>The denouement was the panel’s votes to kill proposals to create a government-sponsored insurance plan for those lacking coverage. With a public option established by the federal government, the uninsured could purchase policies that would not suddenly disappear when they got sick and that would be available in states where the insurance market is controlled by one or two big private companies. Consumers would know that profits weren’t driving the denial of care.</p>
<p />
<p>The arguments against allowing the equivalent of Medicare to exist alongside the private insurance system were unashamedly impenetrable. So please, follow closely.</p>
<p>When Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York asked Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa if he supported Medicare — the exceedingly popular government insurance for the elderly — Grassley responded: “I think Medicare is part of the social fabric of America … just like Social Security is.” When Schumer pointed out that a public option would work the same way, Grassley persisted: Medicare, he repeated, is woven into “the social fabric.” But a similar plan available to those under age 65 would supposedly be disastrous. “The government is not a fair competitor,” Grassley said. “It’s a predator.”</p>
<p>Republican Sen. John Ensign of Nevada, whose support of the National Rifle Association has earned him a lifetime “A” rating from the gun lobby, argued that the adverse health effects of gun violence and auto accidents shouldn’t be considered when comparing Americans’ generally poorer health outcomes to those achieved under government-supported health systems in Europe. Overall, he says, we’re doing pretty well “if you take out auto accidents — because we drive our cars a lot more, they do public transportation.” Moreover, Ensign argued, if a government option is provided, people might like it. “When we see the effects and people like government programs,” he said, “they make them want to … survive that much more.”</p>
<p>The private insurance industry, it was argued, can best contain costs through competition. There is no evidence for this. Premiums for family coverage in employer-based plans have soared 131 percent over the past decade, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Just in the last year, family coverage premiums have climbed 5 percent, while prices for other goods have been mostly flat.</p>
<p>Some senators cited the Medicare Advantage program, in which private health maintenance organizations compete with traditional Medicare, as a model of efficient competition. This also was unexplained. The industry-run plans have consistently been found to cost taxpayers more per beneficiary than the government program — about 14 percent more per patient in 2009, according to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, an independent congressional panel. Every health overhaul plan now under consideration would cut the overpayments.</p>
<p>Undeterred, the Finance Committee slogged inexorably toward its intended result: to channel half a trillion dollars of taxpayer money into the private insurance industry. “They’re getting away with banditry,” complained Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the West Virginia Democrat who promoted one of the public option amendments.</p>
<p>Initial estimates of the finance panel’s handiwork show that about 25 million people would purchase insurance through the new “exchanges” set up in the health care reform plan. In short, the insurance industry gets 25 million new customers, many of them receiving taxpayer subsidies so they can afford the coverage. The Congressional Budget Office, in assessing an early version of the legislation, estimated that the average subsidy per enrollee would be $5,000 and the cost to taxpayers would approach $500 billion over a decade. Since then, the panel has made the subsidies more generous.</p>
<p>Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, the committee chairman, protested that “It’s not a subsidy to the industry. It’s dollars to people.” The people would then buy insurance from an industry whose failure to hold the line on costs has made coverage unaffordable in the first place.</p>
<p>I’m counting on Moore to find some humor in all of this. Otherwise what we have here is a tragedy that’s worth a good cry.</p>
<p>Marie Cocco’s e-mail address is mariecocco(at)washpost.com.</p>
<p>© 2009, Washington Post Writers Group</p> | Making Tragedy Out of Farce | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/making-tragedy-out-of-farce/ | 2009-10-01 | 4left
| Making Tragedy Out of Farce
<p>The Full Employment for Filmmaker Michael Moore Act is coming soon to a theater near you.</p>
<p>Well, not exactly.</p>
<p>But by exquisite coincidence, Michael Moore was in Washington this week promoting his latest comedic exposé of greed, corporate malfeasance and our government’s complicity in the unbridled assault on working America that led us into the Great Recession. “Capitalism: A Love Story” fortuitously previewed to select audiences just as the Senate Finance Committee was amending the proposed “America’s Healthy Future Act of 2009.” The panel obligingly provided hours of potential footage for Moore’s next cinematic assault on the system.</p>
<p>The denouement was the panel’s votes to kill proposals to create a government-sponsored insurance plan for those lacking coverage. With a public option established by the federal government, the uninsured could purchase policies that would not suddenly disappear when they got sick and that would be available in states where the insurance market is controlled by one or two big private companies. Consumers would know that profits weren’t driving the denial of care.</p>
<p />
<p>The arguments against allowing the equivalent of Medicare to exist alongside the private insurance system were unashamedly impenetrable. So please, follow closely.</p>
<p>When Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York asked Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa if he supported Medicare — the exceedingly popular government insurance for the elderly — Grassley responded: “I think Medicare is part of the social fabric of America … just like Social Security is.” When Schumer pointed out that a public option would work the same way, Grassley persisted: Medicare, he repeated, is woven into “the social fabric.” But a similar plan available to those under age 65 would supposedly be disastrous. “The government is not a fair competitor,” Grassley said. “It’s a predator.”</p>
<p>Republican Sen. John Ensign of Nevada, whose support of the National Rifle Association has earned him a lifetime “A” rating from the gun lobby, argued that the adverse health effects of gun violence and auto accidents shouldn’t be considered when comparing Americans’ generally poorer health outcomes to those achieved under government-supported health systems in Europe. Overall, he says, we’re doing pretty well “if you take out auto accidents — because we drive our cars a lot more, they do public transportation.” Moreover, Ensign argued, if a government option is provided, people might like it. “When we see the effects and people like government programs,” he said, “they make them want to … survive that much more.”</p>
<p>The private insurance industry, it was argued, can best contain costs through competition. There is no evidence for this. Premiums for family coverage in employer-based plans have soared 131 percent over the past decade, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Just in the last year, family coverage premiums have climbed 5 percent, while prices for other goods have been mostly flat.</p>
<p>Some senators cited the Medicare Advantage program, in which private health maintenance organizations compete with traditional Medicare, as a model of efficient competition. This also was unexplained. The industry-run plans have consistently been found to cost taxpayers more per beneficiary than the government program — about 14 percent more per patient in 2009, according to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, an independent congressional panel. Every health overhaul plan now under consideration would cut the overpayments.</p>
<p>Undeterred, the Finance Committee slogged inexorably toward its intended result: to channel half a trillion dollars of taxpayer money into the private insurance industry. “They’re getting away with banditry,” complained Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the West Virginia Democrat who promoted one of the public option amendments.</p>
<p>Initial estimates of the finance panel’s handiwork show that about 25 million people would purchase insurance through the new “exchanges” set up in the health care reform plan. In short, the insurance industry gets 25 million new customers, many of them receiving taxpayer subsidies so they can afford the coverage. The Congressional Budget Office, in assessing an early version of the legislation, estimated that the average subsidy per enrollee would be $5,000 and the cost to taxpayers would approach $500 billion over a decade. Since then, the panel has made the subsidies more generous.</p>
<p>Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, the committee chairman, protested that “It’s not a subsidy to the industry. It’s dollars to people.” The people would then buy insurance from an industry whose failure to hold the line on costs has made coverage unaffordable in the first place.</p>
<p>I’m counting on Moore to find some humor in all of this. Otherwise what we have here is a tragedy that’s worth a good cry.</p>
<p>Marie Cocco’s e-mail address is mariecocco(at)washpost.com.</p>
<p>© 2009, Washington Post Writers Group</p> | 3,392 |
<p>On Tuesday, socialist Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders <a href="" type="internal">schlonged</a> former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton in the New Hampshire primary by 22 percentage points, yet Mrs. Clinton <a href="" type="internal">walked away with more delegates</a> because, as usual, the game is rigged for the Clintons.</p>
<p>America’s favorite permed politician, Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, tried to explain to CNN’s Jake Tapper on Thursday that the game isn’t rig at all! The Democrats are just pushing "inclusiveness and diversity," claimed Wasserman Schultz, not silencing the voters' will...</p>
<p>"Hillary Clinton lost to Bernie Sanders in New Hampshire by 22 percentage points, the biggest victory in a contested Democratic primary there since John F. Kennedy. But it looks as though Clinton and Sanders are leaving the Granite State with the same number of delegates in their pockets because Clinton has the support of New Hampshire’s superdelegates, these party insiders," stated Tapper, pointing out the obvious injustice to the Democratic voters whose votes were essentially rendered meaningless via superdelegates stacked for Clinton.</p>
<p>"What do you tell voters who are new to the process, who says this makes them feel like it’s all rigged?" asked Tapper.</p>
<p>"Well, let me just make sure that I can clarify exactly what was available during the primaries in Iowa and in New Hampshire," started Wasserman Schultz. "The unpledged delegates are a separate category."</p>
<p>Wasserman Schultz is correct in a sense that the "unpledged delegates" are in fact a "separate category." Of course, by "unpledged delegates" she means corrupt superdelegates, and by "separate category" she means a "category" reserved for Mrs. Clinton no matter how the vote goes.</p>
<p>"The only thing available on the ballot in a primary and a caucus is the pledged delegates. Those that are tied to the candidates that they are pledged to support and they receive a proportional number of delegates going into, going into our convention," she continued.</p>
<p>Incredibly, the DNC chair explained that the superdelegates only exist so party leaders and elected officials aren’t "running against grassroots activists." And wouldn’t you know it, superdelegates—which were largely aligned with the woman who lost the popular vote—"emphasize inclusiveness and diversity."</p>
<p>"Unpledged delegates exist really to make sure that party leaders and elected officials don’t have to be in a position where they are running against grassroots activists. We are as a Democratic Party really highlight and emphasize inclusiveness and diversity at our convention and so we want to give every opportunity to grass roots activists and diverse, committed Democrats to be able to participate, attend, and be a delegate at the convention. And so we separate out those, those unpledged delegates to make sure that there isn’t competition between them," concluded Wasserman Schultz.</p>
<p>Tapper didn’t follow up, of course, but he did show a hint of rational thought by responding, "I'm not sure that, that answer would satisfy an anxious young voter but let’s move on."</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Damn, it must feel good to be a Clinton…</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.aim.org/don-irvine-blog/dnc-chair-debbie-wasserman-schultz-struggles-to-explain-why-nominating-process-isnt-rigged-against-sanders-video/?utm_content=buffer3e55e&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter.com&amp;utm_campaign=buffer" type="external">H/T</a> Accuracy in Media</p> | WATCH: DNC Chairwoman Tries, Fails To Explain How Election Isn't Rigged For Hillary | true | https://dailywire.com/news/3378/watch-dnc-chairwoman-tries-fails-explain-how-amanda-prestigiacomo | 2016-02-15 | 0right
| WATCH: DNC Chairwoman Tries, Fails To Explain How Election Isn't Rigged For Hillary
<p>On Tuesday, socialist Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders <a href="" type="internal">schlonged</a> former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton in the New Hampshire primary by 22 percentage points, yet Mrs. Clinton <a href="" type="internal">walked away with more delegates</a> because, as usual, the game is rigged for the Clintons.</p>
<p>America’s favorite permed politician, Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, tried to explain to CNN’s Jake Tapper on Thursday that the game isn’t rig at all! The Democrats are just pushing "inclusiveness and diversity," claimed Wasserman Schultz, not silencing the voters' will...</p>
<p>"Hillary Clinton lost to Bernie Sanders in New Hampshire by 22 percentage points, the biggest victory in a contested Democratic primary there since John F. Kennedy. But it looks as though Clinton and Sanders are leaving the Granite State with the same number of delegates in their pockets because Clinton has the support of New Hampshire’s superdelegates, these party insiders," stated Tapper, pointing out the obvious injustice to the Democratic voters whose votes were essentially rendered meaningless via superdelegates stacked for Clinton.</p>
<p>"What do you tell voters who are new to the process, who says this makes them feel like it’s all rigged?" asked Tapper.</p>
<p>"Well, let me just make sure that I can clarify exactly what was available during the primaries in Iowa and in New Hampshire," started Wasserman Schultz. "The unpledged delegates are a separate category."</p>
<p>Wasserman Schultz is correct in a sense that the "unpledged delegates" are in fact a "separate category." Of course, by "unpledged delegates" she means corrupt superdelegates, and by "separate category" she means a "category" reserved for Mrs. Clinton no matter how the vote goes.</p>
<p>"The only thing available on the ballot in a primary and a caucus is the pledged delegates. Those that are tied to the candidates that they are pledged to support and they receive a proportional number of delegates going into, going into our convention," she continued.</p>
<p>Incredibly, the DNC chair explained that the superdelegates only exist so party leaders and elected officials aren’t "running against grassroots activists." And wouldn’t you know it, superdelegates—which were largely aligned with the woman who lost the popular vote—"emphasize inclusiveness and diversity."</p>
<p>"Unpledged delegates exist really to make sure that party leaders and elected officials don’t have to be in a position where they are running against grassroots activists. We are as a Democratic Party really highlight and emphasize inclusiveness and diversity at our convention and so we want to give every opportunity to grass roots activists and diverse, committed Democrats to be able to participate, attend, and be a delegate at the convention. And so we separate out those, those unpledged delegates to make sure that there isn’t competition between them," concluded Wasserman Schultz.</p>
<p>Tapper didn’t follow up, of course, but he did show a hint of rational thought by responding, "I'm not sure that, that answer would satisfy an anxious young voter but let’s move on."</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Damn, it must feel good to be a Clinton…</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.aim.org/don-irvine-blog/dnc-chair-debbie-wasserman-schultz-struggles-to-explain-why-nominating-process-isnt-rigged-against-sanders-video/?utm_content=buffer3e55e&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter.com&amp;utm_campaign=buffer" type="external">H/T</a> Accuracy in Media</p> | 3,393 |
<p>Just what every birthday girl wants to hear: SURPRISE! You get to spend time with Michelle Obama!</p>
<p>The First Lady decided to surprise the Queen of England for her birthday by tagging along with President Obama later this week when he takes a visit across the pond for business and pleasure. <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/18/michelle-obama-gives-queen-birthday-surprise-as-she-decides-to-a/" type="external">According</a> to The Telegraph, Mrs. Obama will be accompanying her husband and the Queen for a birthday lunch on Friday when the Queen turns 90. The lunch is set to be held at Windsor Castle.</p>
<p>Reportedly, the lunch was initially scheduled for Mr. Obama and the Queen only, but since Mrs. Obama decided to crash the lunch, the twosome has been rescheduled as a foursome: the Duke of Edinburgh will be attending the lunch, too.</p>
<p>As you may recall, the First Lady and the Queen have a bit of history. In 2009, Mrs. Obama famously put her arm around the shoulder of Her Majesty, breaking royal protocol, notes The Telegraph. The two also linked up once more in 2011.</p>
<p />
<p>The Obama’s will arrive on Friday, the day of the Queen’s birthday, and before departing on Sunday, the sitting president will hold a “town hall meeting” in central London. This is reportedly expected tobe the last visit to the UK from President Obama while in office.</p>
<p>It is still unclear if Mrs. Obama will <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1yAOK0nSb0" type="external">rap</a> a "Happy Birthday" song for the Queen. Now that would be a surprise.</p> | Michelle Obama Gives Queen of England The Worst Birthday Surprise Ever | true | https://dailywire.com/news/5124/michelle-obama-gives-queen-england-worst-birthday-amanda-prestigiacomo | 2016-04-20 | 0right
| Michelle Obama Gives Queen of England The Worst Birthday Surprise Ever
<p>Just what every birthday girl wants to hear: SURPRISE! You get to spend time with Michelle Obama!</p>
<p>The First Lady decided to surprise the Queen of England for her birthday by tagging along with President Obama later this week when he takes a visit across the pond for business and pleasure. <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/18/michelle-obama-gives-queen-birthday-surprise-as-she-decides-to-a/" type="external">According</a> to The Telegraph, Mrs. Obama will be accompanying her husband and the Queen for a birthday lunch on Friday when the Queen turns 90. The lunch is set to be held at Windsor Castle.</p>
<p>Reportedly, the lunch was initially scheduled for Mr. Obama and the Queen only, but since Mrs. Obama decided to crash the lunch, the twosome has been rescheduled as a foursome: the Duke of Edinburgh will be attending the lunch, too.</p>
<p>As you may recall, the First Lady and the Queen have a bit of history. In 2009, Mrs. Obama famously put her arm around the shoulder of Her Majesty, breaking royal protocol, notes The Telegraph. The two also linked up once more in 2011.</p>
<p />
<p>The Obama’s will arrive on Friday, the day of the Queen’s birthday, and before departing on Sunday, the sitting president will hold a “town hall meeting” in central London. This is reportedly expected tobe the last visit to the UK from President Obama while in office.</p>
<p>It is still unclear if Mrs. Obama will <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1yAOK0nSb0" type="external">rap</a> a "Happy Birthday" song for the Queen. Now that would be a surprise.</p> | 3,394 |
<p />
<p>What:Shares ofThe Andersons, Inc. were flying higher Wednesday after it rejected an unsolicited takeover bid. As of 2:30 p.m. EST, the stock was up 28.8%.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>So what:The agricultural company responded to disclosure from HC2, the bidding company led by Phil Falcone, on Tuesday that it had offered to buy out The Andersons, and the target promptly dismissed the offer.</p>
<p>HC2 had offered $35/share for The Andersons on Jan. 29, and then upped its bid to $37 on March 22, or a 43% premium above Tuesday's closing price. Shares of The Andersons reached as high as $35.30 before pulling back as the Anderson's press release said its board unanimously decided that HC2's bid undervalues its company and are not in the best interest of it or its shareholders. "We believe HC2's proposals ignore our value and prospects as a stand-alone entity and represent an opportunistic attempt to acquire the Company at a low point in the industry cycle," Chairman Mike Anderson said.</p>
<p>Now what:Investors are hoping HC2 will make a higher offer, prompting the stock pop Wednesday. Considering the buyer already raised its price once, it's certainly possible that we could see it happen again. Anderson's shares had been down 40% over the past year, explaining why management sees the buyout offer as opportunistic. Since The Andersons seem to dislike HC2's claim that it had not issued an adequate response, the company could seek an alternate suitor, or management could just be being sincere that its disinterested in a sale, meaning Wednesday's stock pop could quickly fade until the company's earnings bounce back.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/05/18/why-the-andersons-inc-shares-spiked-today.aspx" type="external">Why The Andersons, Inc. Shares Spiked Today Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFHobo/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Jeremy Bowman Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. 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=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>Advertisement</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> | Why The Andersons, Inc. Shares Spiked Today | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/05/18/why-andersons-inc-shares-spiked-today.html | 2016-05-18 | 0right
| Why The Andersons, Inc. Shares Spiked Today
<p />
<p>What:Shares ofThe Andersons, Inc. were flying higher Wednesday after it rejected an unsolicited takeover bid. As of 2:30 p.m. EST, the stock was up 28.8%.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>So what:The agricultural company responded to disclosure from HC2, the bidding company led by Phil Falcone, on Tuesday that it had offered to buy out The Andersons, and the target promptly dismissed the offer.</p>
<p>HC2 had offered $35/share for The Andersons on Jan. 29, and then upped its bid to $37 on March 22, or a 43% premium above Tuesday's closing price. Shares of The Andersons reached as high as $35.30 before pulling back as the Anderson's press release said its board unanimously decided that HC2's bid undervalues its company and are not in the best interest of it or its shareholders. "We believe HC2's proposals ignore our value and prospects as a stand-alone entity and represent an opportunistic attempt to acquire the Company at a low point in the industry cycle," Chairman Mike Anderson said.</p>
<p>Now what:Investors are hoping HC2 will make a higher offer, prompting the stock pop Wednesday. Considering the buyer already raised its price once, it's certainly possible that we could see it happen again. Anderson's shares had been down 40% over the past year, explaining why management sees the buyout offer as opportunistic. Since The Andersons seem to dislike HC2's claim that it had not issued an adequate response, the company could seek an alternate suitor, or management could just be being sincere that its disinterested in a sale, meaning Wednesday's stock pop could quickly fade until the company's earnings bounce back.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/05/18/why-the-andersons-inc-shares-spiked-today.aspx" type="external">Why The Andersons, Inc. Shares Spiked Today Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFHobo/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Jeremy Bowman Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. 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=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>
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<p>Photo Credit: Jim Barber / Shutterstock</p>
<p>The following is an excerpt from the new book&#160; <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Chains-History-Radical-Stealth/dp/1101980966/?tag=alternorg08-20" type="external">Democracy In Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America</a>&#160;by Nancy MacLean (Viking, 2017), available for purchase from <a href="//www.amazon.com/Democracy-Chains-History-Radical-Stealth/dp/1101980966/?tag=alternorg08-20" type="external">Amazon</a>,&#160; <a href="//www.indiebound.org/book/9781101980965" type="external">IndieBound</a>, and <a href="//www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/533763/democracy-in-chains-by-nancy-maclean/" type="external">Penguin</a>:</p>
<p>Never a backslapper, James Buchanan had sought to tamp down the euphoria that swept the Mont Pelerin Society after the elections of Ronald Reagan, and Margaret Thatcher in the United Kingdom. In his address at the Viña del Mar meeting in November 1981, Buchanan warned his comrades, “We should not be lulled to sleep by temporary electoral victories of politicians and parties that share our ideological commitments.” Success at the polls, while heartening, must not “distract attention away from the more fundamental issue of imposing new rules for limiting government.” Much as he admired Reagan—and he did, greatly—Buchanan understood that even such an ideologically driven president could succumb to the pressures of modern majoritarian democracy. That proved a prophetic reading.</p>
<p>Still, most on the right believed that Ronald Reagan would deliver on his word to make tax and spending cuts large enough to undo the mode of government the Mont Pelerin Society had condemned since its founding in 1947. Reagan certainly wanted to, having told the American people in his inaugural address that “in this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” But the actual work of coming up with a proposal for which programs to cut and which tax cuts to authorize fell to the revolution’s field general, budget director David A. Stockman.</p>
<p>Stockman had come to his work in the White House as an avid libertarian. Like Buchanan, he believed that “the politicians were wrecking American capitalism. They were turning democratic government into a lavish giveaway auction” and “saddling” those who created wealth with “punitive taxation and demoralizing and wasteful regulation.” But something went terribly awry in the heady rush of the first year. The budget director, it turned out, had failed to make clear to the president and his political advisers—much less to the American people—that the colossal Kemp-Roth tax cut, as it came to be known, would necessitate tearing up the social contract on a scale never attempted in a democracy. To this day, it is unclear how such a consequential misunderstanding occurred. Was it that the electoral wing of the Republican right had for so long racially coded “special interests” and “government spending” that they genuinely failed to realize that slashing on this scale would hurt not only poor blacks but also the vast majority of white voters, among them many millions of Republican voters? However it happened, it spelled the end of the libertarian dream of lasting change under Reagan.</p>
<p>“A true economic policy revolution” of the size Reagan and the right had requested, David Stockman explained in the wake of its rout, “meant risky and mortal political combat with all the mass constituencies” who looked to Washington for help. They would have to fight “Social Security recipients, veterans, farmers, educators, state and local officials, [and] the housing industry,” with its mass market of middle-class buyers who relied on their mortgage tax deductions. The president could rail all he wanted about “welfare queens” and government “waste,” but Social Security, veterans’ benefits, and Medicare “accounted for over half the domestic budget”—and were dear to his followers. “Minimalist government” would “dislocate and traumatize” not a minority but the vast majority of Americans, in a “ruthless”—indeed, “bone-jarring”—way before delivering any of its promised benefits. And that was the summary not of a critic but of the policy’s primary salesman.</p>
<p>“By 1982,” Stockman reported, “I knew the Reagan Revolution was impossible.” It simply could not happen in “the world of democratic fact.” Indeed, once the public became aware of just how drastic a plan the president’s economic team intended—including immediate changes to Social Security (as Stockman put it, “a frontal assault on the very inner fortress of the American welfare state,” a program “on which one-seventh of the nation’s populace depended for its well-being”)—the jig was up. Even a South Carolina House Republican squawked, furious that his phones were “ringing off the hook” with calls from constituents “who think it’s the end of the world.”</p>
<p>As powerful groups rallied to protect the popular program, the mobilization to “Save Our Security” worked. A Washington Post headline read, “Senate Unanimously Rebuffs President on Social Security.” From then on, it was over, said Stockman. “The democracy had defeated the doctrine.”</p>
<p>What was not evident then but is now is that this moment became a turning point in the Republican Party, the prod for a historic, albeit unnoticed, three-way split. Stockman represented one wing, a lonely one. He learned from this experience that the libertarian dream had been a dangerous illusion. Sure, “special interest groups do wield great power, but their influence is deeply rooted in local popular support.” Stockman concluded that trying to impose an ideologically driven “exacting blueprint” on the people of “a capitalist democracy” was a mistake of the highest order. As important was what he said next. “It shouldn’t have been tried.” The correct inference from the episode, Stockman concluded, was that voters must be told the truth. To have all the things they wanted, from clean air and water to retirement security (to say nothing of military power), Americans needed “a moderate social democracy,” and to get this, they needed to pay higher taxes. It was that simple: higher taxes could solve the problem, without permanent deficits or economic disaster.&#160;</p>
<p>The Republican right’s political leadership, however, looked on Stockman as a turncoat. Its members followed the president and his advisers on a second path, one that forsook the fact-based universe. Abandoning any attempt to cut core entitlements significantly, but unwilling to give up on their promised huge tax cuts or on their desire for massive military spending, they went ahead with both, even though, as Stockman pointed out repeatedly, the outcome would be a fiscal train wreck. He was shocked: not one member of the president’s political team had studied the budget or had the slightest idea how it worked. When presented with dire news that confounded their hopes, they simply refused to believe the bothersome information. The result? By the time President Reagan left office, the deficit was three times larger than the one he inherited from Jimmy Carter. At $2.7 trillion, it was the worst in U.S. history: the national debt by 1989 accounted for 53 percent of gross domestic product. The path from refusal to face the outcome of their policy to denial of the human role in climate change would be a short one.</p>
<p>The libertarian milieu influenced by Virginia school thinking went a third way. In their view, Reagan hadn’t “failed,” in Buchanan’s summary conclusion; he had “forfeited” his chance “to change the structure of politics.” True, the economist said approvingly, Reagan had fed “widespread public skepticism about government’s capacities” and about “the purity of the motives of political agents,” a crucial contribution to the cause. But the president had proved to be too much of a pragmatist, too deferential to public opinion and those concerned about the health of his party, and so he allowed “the rent-seekers” to continue to practice “exploitation through the political process.”</p>
<p>These libertarians seemed to have determined that what was needed to achieve their ends was to stop being honest with the public. Instead of advocating for them frontally, they needed to engage in a kind of crab walk, even if it required advancing misleading claims in order to take terrain bit by bit, in a manner that cumulatively, yet quietly, could begin to radically alter the power relations of American society. The program on which they tested this new strategy was Social Security.</p>
<p>Social Security, as both Buchanan and Stockman had observed, was the linchpin of the American welfare state. The most popular New Deal reform, its very success had made it a far-right target ever since its creation, in 1935. Indeed, one of the radical right’s indictments of Dwight Eisenhower and moderate Republicans after him was that they had accepted the legitimacy of Social Security. They did so, quite simply, not only because the overwhelming majority of American voters liked the system and were terrified of facing old age without it, but also because they, too, recognized it as a good program that worked.</p>
<p>Now, no doubt inspired by Chile’s conversion to private pensions, Charles Koch’s Cato Institute turned to Buchanan to teach its staff how to crab walk. Having relocated from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., in late 1981 to achieve greater influence, Cato made the privatization of Social Security its top priority. Buchanan labeled the existing system a “Ponzi scheme,” a framing that, as one critic pointed out, implied that the program was “fundamentally fraudulent”—indeed, “totally and fundamentally wrong.”</p>
<p>It was fundamentally wrong in the view of libertarians, but with Buchanan’s tutelage, the cause learned that opposing it candidly meant “political suicide,” because the majority of voters wanted the system to continue as it was. “There is no widespread support for basic structural reform, among any membership group” in the American polity, the professor warned, the italics his own—“among the old or the young, the black, the brown, or the white, the female or the male, the rich or the poor, the Frost Belt or the Sunbelt.” The near-universal popularity of Social Security meant that any attempt to fight it on philosophical grounds was doomed.</p>
<p>Buchanan therefore devised and taught a more circuitous and sequential—indeed, devious and deceptive—approach, but one that served the new crab-walking cause well.</p>
<p>From&#160; <a href="//www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/533763/democracy-in-chains-by-nancy-maclean/" type="external">DEMOCRACY IN CHAINS: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America</a>&#160;by Nancy MacLean, published on June 13, 2017, by Viking, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC. Copyright © 2017 by Nancy MacLean.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Chains-History-Radical-Stealth/dp/1101980966/?tag=alternorg08-20" type="external" /></p>
<p />
<p>Nancy MacLean is&#160;William H. Chafe Professor of History and Public Policy at Duke University. An award-winning scholar of&#160;the twentieth-century U.S., she is the author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Chains-History-Radical-Stealth/dp/1101980966/?tag=alternorg08-20" type="external">Democracy in Chains:&#160;</a> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Chains-History-Radical-Stealth/dp/1101980966/?tag=alternorg08-20" type="external">The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America</a> (2017),&#160;Freedom is Not Enough: The Opening of the American Workplace&#160;(2006) , and Behind the Mask of Chivalry: The Making of the Second Ku Klux Klan (1994).&#160;</p> | The Libertarians Have Been Laser Focused on Destroying Our Social Security System for Almost 40 Years | true | http://alternet.org/books/libertarian-agenda-end-social-security | 2017-07-12 | 4left
| The Libertarians Have Been Laser Focused on Destroying Our Social Security System for Almost 40 Years
<p>Photo Credit: Jim Barber / Shutterstock</p>
<p>The following is an excerpt from the new book&#160; <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Chains-History-Radical-Stealth/dp/1101980966/?tag=alternorg08-20" type="external">Democracy In Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America</a>&#160;by Nancy MacLean (Viking, 2017), available for purchase from <a href="//www.amazon.com/Democracy-Chains-History-Radical-Stealth/dp/1101980966/?tag=alternorg08-20" type="external">Amazon</a>,&#160; <a href="//www.indiebound.org/book/9781101980965" type="external">IndieBound</a>, and <a href="//www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/533763/democracy-in-chains-by-nancy-maclean/" type="external">Penguin</a>:</p>
<p>Never a backslapper, James Buchanan had sought to tamp down the euphoria that swept the Mont Pelerin Society after the elections of Ronald Reagan, and Margaret Thatcher in the United Kingdom. In his address at the Viña del Mar meeting in November 1981, Buchanan warned his comrades, “We should not be lulled to sleep by temporary electoral victories of politicians and parties that share our ideological commitments.” Success at the polls, while heartening, must not “distract attention away from the more fundamental issue of imposing new rules for limiting government.” Much as he admired Reagan—and he did, greatly—Buchanan understood that even such an ideologically driven president could succumb to the pressures of modern majoritarian democracy. That proved a prophetic reading.</p>
<p>Still, most on the right believed that Ronald Reagan would deliver on his word to make tax and spending cuts large enough to undo the mode of government the Mont Pelerin Society had condemned since its founding in 1947. Reagan certainly wanted to, having told the American people in his inaugural address that “in this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” But the actual work of coming up with a proposal for which programs to cut and which tax cuts to authorize fell to the revolution’s field general, budget director David A. Stockman.</p>
<p>Stockman had come to his work in the White House as an avid libertarian. Like Buchanan, he believed that “the politicians were wrecking American capitalism. They were turning democratic government into a lavish giveaway auction” and “saddling” those who created wealth with “punitive taxation and demoralizing and wasteful regulation.” But something went terribly awry in the heady rush of the first year. The budget director, it turned out, had failed to make clear to the president and his political advisers—much less to the American people—that the colossal Kemp-Roth tax cut, as it came to be known, would necessitate tearing up the social contract on a scale never attempted in a democracy. To this day, it is unclear how such a consequential misunderstanding occurred. Was it that the electoral wing of the Republican right had for so long racially coded “special interests” and “government spending” that they genuinely failed to realize that slashing on this scale would hurt not only poor blacks but also the vast majority of white voters, among them many millions of Republican voters? However it happened, it spelled the end of the libertarian dream of lasting change under Reagan.</p>
<p>“A true economic policy revolution” of the size Reagan and the right had requested, David Stockman explained in the wake of its rout, “meant risky and mortal political combat with all the mass constituencies” who looked to Washington for help. They would have to fight “Social Security recipients, veterans, farmers, educators, state and local officials, [and] the housing industry,” with its mass market of middle-class buyers who relied on their mortgage tax deductions. The president could rail all he wanted about “welfare queens” and government “waste,” but Social Security, veterans’ benefits, and Medicare “accounted for over half the domestic budget”—and were dear to his followers. “Minimalist government” would “dislocate and traumatize” not a minority but the vast majority of Americans, in a “ruthless”—indeed, “bone-jarring”—way before delivering any of its promised benefits. And that was the summary not of a critic but of the policy’s primary salesman.</p>
<p>“By 1982,” Stockman reported, “I knew the Reagan Revolution was impossible.” It simply could not happen in “the world of democratic fact.” Indeed, once the public became aware of just how drastic a plan the president’s economic team intended—including immediate changes to Social Security (as Stockman put it, “a frontal assault on the very inner fortress of the American welfare state,” a program “on which one-seventh of the nation’s populace depended for its well-being”)—the jig was up. Even a South Carolina House Republican squawked, furious that his phones were “ringing off the hook” with calls from constituents “who think it’s the end of the world.”</p>
<p>As powerful groups rallied to protect the popular program, the mobilization to “Save Our Security” worked. A Washington Post headline read, “Senate Unanimously Rebuffs President on Social Security.” From then on, it was over, said Stockman. “The democracy had defeated the doctrine.”</p>
<p>What was not evident then but is now is that this moment became a turning point in the Republican Party, the prod for a historic, albeit unnoticed, three-way split. Stockman represented one wing, a lonely one. He learned from this experience that the libertarian dream had been a dangerous illusion. Sure, “special interest groups do wield great power, but their influence is deeply rooted in local popular support.” Stockman concluded that trying to impose an ideologically driven “exacting blueprint” on the people of “a capitalist democracy” was a mistake of the highest order. As important was what he said next. “It shouldn’t have been tried.” The correct inference from the episode, Stockman concluded, was that voters must be told the truth. To have all the things they wanted, from clean air and water to retirement security (to say nothing of military power), Americans needed “a moderate social democracy,” and to get this, they needed to pay higher taxes. It was that simple: higher taxes could solve the problem, without permanent deficits or economic disaster.&#160;</p>
<p>The Republican right’s political leadership, however, looked on Stockman as a turncoat. Its members followed the president and his advisers on a second path, one that forsook the fact-based universe. Abandoning any attempt to cut core entitlements significantly, but unwilling to give up on their promised huge tax cuts or on their desire for massive military spending, they went ahead with both, even though, as Stockman pointed out repeatedly, the outcome would be a fiscal train wreck. He was shocked: not one member of the president’s political team had studied the budget or had the slightest idea how it worked. When presented with dire news that confounded their hopes, they simply refused to believe the bothersome information. The result? By the time President Reagan left office, the deficit was three times larger than the one he inherited from Jimmy Carter. At $2.7 trillion, it was the worst in U.S. history: the national debt by 1989 accounted for 53 percent of gross domestic product. The path from refusal to face the outcome of their policy to denial of the human role in climate change would be a short one.</p>
<p>The libertarian milieu influenced by Virginia school thinking went a third way. In their view, Reagan hadn’t “failed,” in Buchanan’s summary conclusion; he had “forfeited” his chance “to change the structure of politics.” True, the economist said approvingly, Reagan had fed “widespread public skepticism about government’s capacities” and about “the purity of the motives of political agents,” a crucial contribution to the cause. But the president had proved to be too much of a pragmatist, too deferential to public opinion and those concerned about the health of his party, and so he allowed “the rent-seekers” to continue to practice “exploitation through the political process.”</p>
<p>These libertarians seemed to have determined that what was needed to achieve their ends was to stop being honest with the public. Instead of advocating for them frontally, they needed to engage in a kind of crab walk, even if it required advancing misleading claims in order to take terrain bit by bit, in a manner that cumulatively, yet quietly, could begin to radically alter the power relations of American society. The program on which they tested this new strategy was Social Security.</p>
<p>Social Security, as both Buchanan and Stockman had observed, was the linchpin of the American welfare state. The most popular New Deal reform, its very success had made it a far-right target ever since its creation, in 1935. Indeed, one of the radical right’s indictments of Dwight Eisenhower and moderate Republicans after him was that they had accepted the legitimacy of Social Security. They did so, quite simply, not only because the overwhelming majority of American voters liked the system and were terrified of facing old age without it, but also because they, too, recognized it as a good program that worked.</p>
<p>Now, no doubt inspired by Chile’s conversion to private pensions, Charles Koch’s Cato Institute turned to Buchanan to teach its staff how to crab walk. Having relocated from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., in late 1981 to achieve greater influence, Cato made the privatization of Social Security its top priority. Buchanan labeled the existing system a “Ponzi scheme,” a framing that, as one critic pointed out, implied that the program was “fundamentally fraudulent”—indeed, “totally and fundamentally wrong.”</p>
<p>It was fundamentally wrong in the view of libertarians, but with Buchanan’s tutelage, the cause learned that opposing it candidly meant “political suicide,” because the majority of voters wanted the system to continue as it was. “There is no widespread support for basic structural reform, among any membership group” in the American polity, the professor warned, the italics his own—“among the old or the young, the black, the brown, or the white, the female or the male, the rich or the poor, the Frost Belt or the Sunbelt.” The near-universal popularity of Social Security meant that any attempt to fight it on philosophical grounds was doomed.</p>
<p>Buchanan therefore devised and taught a more circuitous and sequential—indeed, devious and deceptive—approach, but one that served the new crab-walking cause well.</p>
<p>From&#160; <a href="//www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/533763/democracy-in-chains-by-nancy-maclean/" type="external">DEMOCRACY IN CHAINS: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America</a>&#160;by Nancy MacLean, published on June 13, 2017, by Viking, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC. Copyright © 2017 by Nancy MacLean.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Chains-History-Radical-Stealth/dp/1101980966/?tag=alternorg08-20" type="external" /></p>
<p />
<p>Nancy MacLean is&#160;William H. Chafe Professor of History and Public Policy at Duke University. An award-winning scholar of&#160;the twentieth-century U.S., she is the author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Chains-History-Radical-Stealth/dp/1101980966/?tag=alternorg08-20" type="external">Democracy in Chains:&#160;</a> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Chains-History-Radical-Stealth/dp/1101980966/?tag=alternorg08-20" type="external">The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America</a> (2017),&#160;Freedom is Not Enough: The Opening of the American Workplace&#160;(2006) , and Behind the Mask of Chivalry: The Making of the Second Ku Klux Klan (1994).&#160;</p> | 3,396 |
<p>One of the latest in the long series of unpublicized Israeli attacks on civilians took place on August 25 in the West Bank village of Bil’in, a longstanding bastion of nonviolent Palestinian resistance. It occurred during the weekly protest against the Israeli de-facto-boundary wall being constructed in their midst. About 100 protestors — Palestinian, Israeli and international activists — were walking to the site of the wall when, without provocation, soldiers in riot gear waded in and began clubbing demonstrators and firing rubber bullets at close range.</p>
<p>An Italian, an Israeli and two Palestinian activists were beaten so badly they had to be taken to hospital. One American suffered a concussion and another sustained hand injuries, in addition to taking a rubber bullet in her back and another one in her hip. Besides being clubbed, a Palestinian coordinator was shot with three rubber bullets in the back and one in the leg.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, but unsurprisingly, this mayhem remains an unknown reality for mainstream-media consumers in North America. Despite the long-running nature of such activity and the graphic brutality of Israel’s response, coverage of these actions in Canadian and U.S. media is scant to non-existent. And, of course, the public invisibility of such activity abroad contributes to making it such a tough sell on the ground. The media blackout was dissected by Patrick O’Connor in October 2005, his report pointing out that the New York Times had published only three feature reports on Palestinian nonviolent resistance in the previous three years — “this despite the fact that Palestinians have conducted hundreds of nonviolent protests over the last three years throughout the West Bank against Israel’s construction of the Wall on Palestinian land, and despite the fact that the Israeli army killed nine Palestinian protesters, wounded several thousand protesters, harassed and collectively punished villages that protested, and arrested hundreds of protesters, including nonviolent protest leaders.”</p>
<p>Palestinians have grown used to a prevalent refrain in expressions of support received from international well-wishers: If only you guys acted like Martin Luther King or Mahatma Gandhi, the whole world would jump on your bandwagon. That message, of course, is superfluous–indeed, counter-factual. Organized non-violent Palestinian resistance has been going on for decades and continues to be actively exercised in the struggle against the occupation and the separation wall. Israeli products and services have been boycotted; military orders have been refused; confiscated properties have not been vacated. “Newsworthy” incidents gain sporadic attention, as when Israel was obliged to bring in the bailiffs in 1989 to deal with Palestinians’ refusal to pay taxes in the town of Beit Sahour. Higher profile was Israel’s 2003 siege of the Church of Nativity to crack down on Palestinian priests who were protecting fellow Palestinians.</p>
<p>Yet the exhortations continue. In fact, Palestinians have gotten the Go-Gandhi message from only two generations away from the horse’s mouth. It was delivered in 2004 by Arun Gandhi, 70-year-old grandson of the Mahatma, a naturalized American citizen who directs the Institute for Non-violence in Tennessee. While standing next to Israel’s separation wall in Abu Dis, Gandhi framed the non-violent option in terms of necessity: “I don’t think Palestine has the economic and military capacity to confront a huge state like Israel, which has not only a powerful military arsenal but powerful friends.”</p>
<p>Back in North America, socio-ecumenical rabbi Michael Lerner is explicit about the homegrown icon of nonviolence. “Imagine,” he told Al-Jazeera, “a parallel with Martin Luther King Jr: if blacks had been adopting violent methods at the same time as he was giving speeches in Washington, could he have achieved what he did? Peaceful protest is the only way the Palestinians can ever win.” And Lerner sets the bar high: “It will have to be an all or nothing. It cannot be that some sections of the community resist non-violently while others do not.”</p>
<p>A parallel between Palestinians and African Americans seems to have occurred to at least one American president. In Perceptions of Palestine, Kathleen Christison reports that Jimmy Carter made the explicit comparison in arguing against the view that the Israel-Palestine situation was hopeless. (She offers a contrapuntal reality-check by pointing out that Carter didn’t actually meet a real live Palestinian till a few years after leaving office.)</p>
<p>Among African Americans, since the days when Dr. King took pains to position himself as supportive of Israel, a perceived parallel between their human rights struggles and those of Palestinians has been more widespread at the grass-roots than at the elite level, with certain notable exceptions. Of course, all such perceptions are filtered through the convoluted multi-level interface that exists between African Americans and Jewish Americans. But, in a nutshell, Israel has turned out to be a bridge-burner. Jews were highly active in the early civil rights movement, but many of them felt rudely shaken when Martin was eclipsed by Malcolm. Things have never been the same. Any rekindling of Black-Jewish solidarity will probably take place outside established channels and, psychologically, will entail cornerstone realignment towards Israel on the part of North American Jews. Potential role models are the courageous Israeli Jews who have joined with Palestinians in direct action campaigns for decades–not to mention “righteous gentiles” from abroad like Rachel Corrie, the young activist from Olympia, Washington who was bulldozed to death while trying to prevent a home demolition.</p>
<p>The raw material for a North American shock of recognition exists. If the Bil’in confrontation were played out on TV screens in the United States and Canada, memories of historic King-related TV newscasts would undoubtedly be evoked. These would certainly include unforgettable images from spring 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama, when a “Bull” named Connor turned police dogs, fire hoses, stun guns and tear gas on civil rights protestors. Advocates for Israel would respond by brandishing a handful of quotes where MLK praises Israel for its democracy and supports its right to protect itself. But those guarded remarks would likely be overshadowed by the visual flashback, supplemented perhaps by a rereading of King’s celebrated “Letter from a Birmingham jail.” That missive lays out the operational dynamic of passive resistance (“nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue”) and confronts the law-and-order crowd (“everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was ‘legal’ and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was ‘illegal'”).</p>
<p>The King legacy is certainly a homegrown influence on the many brave Americans and Canadians who have asserted their own spiritual “birthright” by going to Palestine and joining in nonviolent direct action against the Israeli occupation. Rachel Corrie’s unacknowledged but ongoing presence hovers over the U.S. State Department, which is doing its best to discourage Americans from joining such actions. According to a recent advisory: “Those taking part in demonstrations, nonviolent resistance, and ‘direct action’ are advised to cease such activity for their own safety.”</p>
<p>While Bil’in has become emblematic of non-violent resistance, it is far from alone, as pointed out by Mohammed Khatib, secretary of the Bil’in village council and resistance committee member. During an interview in France last fall, he mentioned Budrus as another “notable” example of resistance, attributing Bil’in’s visibility to operational originality and media coverage. Khatib sees the presence of supporters from abroad as natural and inherent in the situation: “It is the international community which created the state of Israel, and, through its tribunals, has also condemned the construction of the wall, settlement activity and the Occupation. Together we must make Israel comply with international law.”</p>
<p>A mighty thread connects Birmingham with Bil’in. The organic outrage which was channeled into, and given form by, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, is the same passion that sustains the International Solidarity Movement, Ta’ayush, Gush Shalom, Palestinian Centre for Rapprochement, Holy Land Trust, and others. It animates a trans-national community of purpose for which, as is the case with Zionism, overall outlook is more important than organizational structure. However unlike Zionism, it bears the mark of a defining restraint and self-discipline that gives it unique built-in credibility.</p>
<p>DAVE HIMMELSTEIN is a writer and editor in Montreal. Reachable at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p> | From Bil’in to Birmingham | true | https://counterpunch.org/2006/09/09/from-bil-in-to-birmingham/ | 2006-09-09 | 4left
| From Bil’in to Birmingham
<p>One of the latest in the long series of unpublicized Israeli attacks on civilians took place on August 25 in the West Bank village of Bil’in, a longstanding bastion of nonviolent Palestinian resistance. It occurred during the weekly protest against the Israeli de-facto-boundary wall being constructed in their midst. About 100 protestors — Palestinian, Israeli and international activists — were walking to the site of the wall when, without provocation, soldiers in riot gear waded in and began clubbing demonstrators and firing rubber bullets at close range.</p>
<p>An Italian, an Israeli and two Palestinian activists were beaten so badly they had to be taken to hospital. One American suffered a concussion and another sustained hand injuries, in addition to taking a rubber bullet in her back and another one in her hip. Besides being clubbed, a Palestinian coordinator was shot with three rubber bullets in the back and one in the leg.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, but unsurprisingly, this mayhem remains an unknown reality for mainstream-media consumers in North America. Despite the long-running nature of such activity and the graphic brutality of Israel’s response, coverage of these actions in Canadian and U.S. media is scant to non-existent. And, of course, the public invisibility of such activity abroad contributes to making it such a tough sell on the ground. The media blackout was dissected by Patrick O’Connor in October 2005, his report pointing out that the New York Times had published only three feature reports on Palestinian nonviolent resistance in the previous three years — “this despite the fact that Palestinians have conducted hundreds of nonviolent protests over the last three years throughout the West Bank against Israel’s construction of the Wall on Palestinian land, and despite the fact that the Israeli army killed nine Palestinian protesters, wounded several thousand protesters, harassed and collectively punished villages that protested, and arrested hundreds of protesters, including nonviolent protest leaders.”</p>
<p>Palestinians have grown used to a prevalent refrain in expressions of support received from international well-wishers: If only you guys acted like Martin Luther King or Mahatma Gandhi, the whole world would jump on your bandwagon. That message, of course, is superfluous–indeed, counter-factual. Organized non-violent Palestinian resistance has been going on for decades and continues to be actively exercised in the struggle against the occupation and the separation wall. Israeli products and services have been boycotted; military orders have been refused; confiscated properties have not been vacated. “Newsworthy” incidents gain sporadic attention, as when Israel was obliged to bring in the bailiffs in 1989 to deal with Palestinians’ refusal to pay taxes in the town of Beit Sahour. Higher profile was Israel’s 2003 siege of the Church of Nativity to crack down on Palestinian priests who were protecting fellow Palestinians.</p>
<p>Yet the exhortations continue. In fact, Palestinians have gotten the Go-Gandhi message from only two generations away from the horse’s mouth. It was delivered in 2004 by Arun Gandhi, 70-year-old grandson of the Mahatma, a naturalized American citizen who directs the Institute for Non-violence in Tennessee. While standing next to Israel’s separation wall in Abu Dis, Gandhi framed the non-violent option in terms of necessity: “I don’t think Palestine has the economic and military capacity to confront a huge state like Israel, which has not only a powerful military arsenal but powerful friends.”</p>
<p>Back in North America, socio-ecumenical rabbi Michael Lerner is explicit about the homegrown icon of nonviolence. “Imagine,” he told Al-Jazeera, “a parallel with Martin Luther King Jr: if blacks had been adopting violent methods at the same time as he was giving speeches in Washington, could he have achieved what he did? Peaceful protest is the only way the Palestinians can ever win.” And Lerner sets the bar high: “It will have to be an all or nothing. It cannot be that some sections of the community resist non-violently while others do not.”</p>
<p>A parallel between Palestinians and African Americans seems to have occurred to at least one American president. In Perceptions of Palestine, Kathleen Christison reports that Jimmy Carter made the explicit comparison in arguing against the view that the Israel-Palestine situation was hopeless. (She offers a contrapuntal reality-check by pointing out that Carter didn’t actually meet a real live Palestinian till a few years after leaving office.)</p>
<p>Among African Americans, since the days when Dr. King took pains to position himself as supportive of Israel, a perceived parallel between their human rights struggles and those of Palestinians has been more widespread at the grass-roots than at the elite level, with certain notable exceptions. Of course, all such perceptions are filtered through the convoluted multi-level interface that exists between African Americans and Jewish Americans. But, in a nutshell, Israel has turned out to be a bridge-burner. Jews were highly active in the early civil rights movement, but many of them felt rudely shaken when Martin was eclipsed by Malcolm. Things have never been the same. Any rekindling of Black-Jewish solidarity will probably take place outside established channels and, psychologically, will entail cornerstone realignment towards Israel on the part of North American Jews. Potential role models are the courageous Israeli Jews who have joined with Palestinians in direct action campaigns for decades–not to mention “righteous gentiles” from abroad like Rachel Corrie, the young activist from Olympia, Washington who was bulldozed to death while trying to prevent a home demolition.</p>
<p>The raw material for a North American shock of recognition exists. If the Bil’in confrontation were played out on TV screens in the United States and Canada, memories of historic King-related TV newscasts would undoubtedly be evoked. These would certainly include unforgettable images from spring 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama, when a “Bull” named Connor turned police dogs, fire hoses, stun guns and tear gas on civil rights protestors. Advocates for Israel would respond by brandishing a handful of quotes where MLK praises Israel for its democracy and supports its right to protect itself. But those guarded remarks would likely be overshadowed by the visual flashback, supplemented perhaps by a rereading of King’s celebrated “Letter from a Birmingham jail.” That missive lays out the operational dynamic of passive resistance (“nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue”) and confronts the law-and-order crowd (“everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was ‘legal’ and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was ‘illegal'”).</p>
<p>The King legacy is certainly a homegrown influence on the many brave Americans and Canadians who have asserted their own spiritual “birthright” by going to Palestine and joining in nonviolent direct action against the Israeli occupation. Rachel Corrie’s unacknowledged but ongoing presence hovers over the U.S. State Department, which is doing its best to discourage Americans from joining such actions. According to a recent advisory: “Those taking part in demonstrations, nonviolent resistance, and ‘direct action’ are advised to cease such activity for their own safety.”</p>
<p>While Bil’in has become emblematic of non-violent resistance, it is far from alone, as pointed out by Mohammed Khatib, secretary of the Bil’in village council and resistance committee member. During an interview in France last fall, he mentioned Budrus as another “notable” example of resistance, attributing Bil’in’s visibility to operational originality and media coverage. Khatib sees the presence of supporters from abroad as natural and inherent in the situation: “It is the international community which created the state of Israel, and, through its tribunals, has also condemned the construction of the wall, settlement activity and the Occupation. Together we must make Israel comply with international law.”</p>
<p>A mighty thread connects Birmingham with Bil’in. The organic outrage which was channeled into, and given form by, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, is the same passion that sustains the International Solidarity Movement, Ta’ayush, Gush Shalom, Palestinian Centre for Rapprochement, Holy Land Trust, and others. It animates a trans-national community of purpose for which, as is the case with Zionism, overall outlook is more important than organizational structure. However unlike Zionism, it bears the mark of a defining restraint and self-discipline that gives it unique built-in credibility.</p>
<p>DAVE HIMMELSTEIN is a writer and editor in Montreal. Reachable at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p> | 3,397 |
<p>DALLAS (AP) - The Dallas Mavericks were left shaking their heads at Stephen Curry's shot-making ability - and how they let him get one last great look at the basket.</p>
<p>Curry's long 3-pointer with three seconds to play allowed the Golden State Warriors to escape with a 125-122 win over the Mavericks on Wednesday night after blowing a double-digit lead in the final four minutes.</p>
<p>On their final possession, the Warriors gave Curry the inbounds pass. A crossover dribble and a screen from Draymond Green were all he needed to get a clean look from 28 feet, which hit nothing but net. Dallas, with a foul to give, didn't take it.</p>
<p>"Too open of a look for a game-winner for the greatest shooter in the game," longtime Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki said.</p>
<p>Curry finished with 32 points and has 70 in two games since returning from an ankle injury. Golden State's "Big Four" combined for 100 points, and the Warriors needed every one of them against a Mavericks team that had won four straight.</p>
<p>"Draymond set a great screen," Curry said. "I caught Yogi (Ferrell) by surprise and was able to get to my spot and knock it down. I have confidence to take the shot and make it and finish the game."</p>
<p>Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson had 25 points each, and Green added 18 to go with 10 rebounds.</p>
<p>Wesley Matthews led the Mavericks with 22 points, including seven 3-pointers, and Dwight Powell tied his career high with 21.</p>
<p>Dallas, playing from behind most of the game, wouldn't go away despite trailing 114-102 with 4:32 left. Three turnovers by the Warriors and some cold shooting, combined with a sudden hot streak by the Mavs, enabled Dallas to tie the score at 120 on Harrison Barnes' jumper with 39.9 seconds to play.</p>
<p>"I was smiling at the idea that we could be completely brain dead out there," Golden State coach Steve Kerr said. "All I could do was laugh. It was like grade-school stuff the last few minutes."</p>
<p>Thompson and Barnes traded inside baskets before Curry's big shot in the final seconds.</p>
<p>A long heave by Dennis Smith Jr. at the buzzer was way off.</p>
<p>Golden State extended its road winning streak to eight games. The Warriors haven't lost away from Oracle Arena since before Thanksgiving.</p>
<p>FOUR FOR THE MONEY</p>
<p>Not only did the Golden State quartet produce 100 points, but one of the four was always there to step up. Curry scored 20 and Durant 16 in the first half, Green had 15 in the second half, and Thompson had 14 in the fourth quarter.</p>
<p>FINALLY A CLOSE ONE</p>
<p>Despite their 13-26 record, Dallas has won or played close against most of the NBA's best teams. The one exception had been Golden State, which has won nine in a row and 16 of 17 against the Mavs and had dominated the two previous meetings this season by a combined 45 points.</p>
<p>This time, Dallas fought back from deficits of 12 in the first half and nine in the third quarter, taking a lead at 84-83 on Devin Harris' 3-pointer with 3:40 to play in the period.</p>
<p>"This is who we were supposed to be all along," Matthews said. "We don't have a moral victory that we took the champs to a one-possession game. We really felt in our hearts we were supposed to win that one."</p>
<p>TIP-INS</p>
<p>Warriors: Played without Andre Iguodala (back and hip strain) and Omri Casspi (back strain). Casspi's injury occurred during the morning shootaround. Kerr said Iguodala would likely play Thursday at Houston. ... Thompson's second-quarter 3 marked the 92nd straight game in which he's made at least one, the third-longest streak in NBA history.</p>
<p>Mavericks: Reserve center Nerlens Noel had his cast removed Tuesday following left thumb surgery on Dec. 8. Noel hasn't played since Nov. 22 and has scored just 72 points in 18 games for the team.</p>
<p>UP NEXT</p>
<p>Warriors: At Houston on Thursday in a matchup between the West's top teams. The Rockets beat the Warriors 122-121 on opening night in Oakland.</p>
<p>Mavericks: Host Chicago on Friday. The Mavericks have won four straight against the Bulls.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>More NBA basketball: <a href="" type="internal">https://apnews.com/tag/NBAbasketball</a></p>
<p>DALLAS (AP) - The Dallas Mavericks were left shaking their heads at Stephen Curry's shot-making ability - and how they let him get one last great look at the basket.</p>
<p>Curry's long 3-pointer with three seconds to play allowed the Golden State Warriors to escape with a 125-122 win over the Mavericks on Wednesday night after blowing a double-digit lead in the final four minutes.</p>
<p>On their final possession, the Warriors gave Curry the inbounds pass. A crossover dribble and a screen from Draymond Green were all he needed to get a clean look from 28 feet, which hit nothing but net. Dallas, with a foul to give, didn't take it.</p>
<p>"Too open of a look for a game-winner for the greatest shooter in the game," longtime Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki said.</p>
<p>Curry finished with 32 points and has 70 in two games since returning from an ankle injury. Golden State's "Big Four" combined for 100 points, and the Warriors needed every one of them against a Mavericks team that had won four straight.</p>
<p>"Draymond set a great screen," Curry said. "I caught Yogi (Ferrell) by surprise and was able to get to my spot and knock it down. I have confidence to take the shot and make it and finish the game."</p>
<p>Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson had 25 points each, and Green added 18 to go with 10 rebounds.</p>
<p>Wesley Matthews led the Mavericks with 22 points, including seven 3-pointers, and Dwight Powell tied his career high with 21.</p>
<p>Dallas, playing from behind most of the game, wouldn't go away despite trailing 114-102 with 4:32 left. Three turnovers by the Warriors and some cold shooting, combined with a sudden hot streak by the Mavs, enabled Dallas to tie the score at 120 on Harrison Barnes' jumper with 39.9 seconds to play.</p>
<p>"I was smiling at the idea that we could be completely brain dead out there," Golden State coach Steve Kerr said. "All I could do was laugh. It was like grade-school stuff the last few minutes."</p>
<p>Thompson and Barnes traded inside baskets before Curry's big shot in the final seconds.</p>
<p>A long heave by Dennis Smith Jr. at the buzzer was way off.</p>
<p>Golden State extended its road winning streak to eight games. The Warriors haven't lost away from Oracle Arena since before Thanksgiving.</p>
<p>FOUR FOR THE MONEY</p>
<p>Not only did the Golden State quartet produce 100 points, but one of the four was always there to step up. Curry scored 20 and Durant 16 in the first half, Green had 15 in the second half, and Thompson had 14 in the fourth quarter.</p>
<p>FINALLY A CLOSE ONE</p>
<p>Despite their 13-26 record, Dallas has won or played close against most of the NBA's best teams. The one exception had been Golden State, which has won nine in a row and 16 of 17 against the Mavs and had dominated the two previous meetings this season by a combined 45 points.</p>
<p>This time, Dallas fought back from deficits of 12 in the first half and nine in the third quarter, taking a lead at 84-83 on Devin Harris' 3-pointer with 3:40 to play in the period.</p>
<p>"This is who we were supposed to be all along," Matthews said. "We don't have a moral victory that we took the champs to a one-possession game. We really felt in our hearts we were supposed to win that one."</p>
<p>TIP-INS</p>
<p>Warriors: Played without Andre Iguodala (back and hip strain) and Omri Casspi (back strain). Casspi's injury occurred during the morning shootaround. Kerr said Iguodala would likely play Thursday at Houston. ... Thompson's second-quarter 3 marked the 92nd straight game in which he's made at least one, the third-longest streak in NBA history.</p>
<p>Mavericks: Reserve center Nerlens Noel had his cast removed Tuesday following left thumb surgery on Dec. 8. Noel hasn't played since Nov. 22 and has scored just 72 points in 18 games for the team.</p>
<p>UP NEXT</p>
<p>Warriors: At Houston on Thursday in a matchup between the West's top teams. The Rockets beat the Warriors 122-121 on opening night in Oakland.</p>
<p>Mavericks: Host Chicago on Friday. The Mavericks have won four straight against the Bulls.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>More NBA basketball: <a href="" type="internal">https://apnews.com/tag/NBAbasketball</a></p> | Curry's 3 lifts Warriors over Mavericks 125-122 | false | https://apnews.com/amp/22f195f5316543789e4ce7c36d4db339 | 2018-01-04 | 2least
| Curry's 3 lifts Warriors over Mavericks 125-122
<p>DALLAS (AP) - The Dallas Mavericks were left shaking their heads at Stephen Curry's shot-making ability - and how they let him get one last great look at the basket.</p>
<p>Curry's long 3-pointer with three seconds to play allowed the Golden State Warriors to escape with a 125-122 win over the Mavericks on Wednesday night after blowing a double-digit lead in the final four minutes.</p>
<p>On their final possession, the Warriors gave Curry the inbounds pass. A crossover dribble and a screen from Draymond Green were all he needed to get a clean look from 28 feet, which hit nothing but net. Dallas, with a foul to give, didn't take it.</p>
<p>"Too open of a look for a game-winner for the greatest shooter in the game," longtime Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki said.</p>
<p>Curry finished with 32 points and has 70 in two games since returning from an ankle injury. Golden State's "Big Four" combined for 100 points, and the Warriors needed every one of them against a Mavericks team that had won four straight.</p>
<p>"Draymond set a great screen," Curry said. "I caught Yogi (Ferrell) by surprise and was able to get to my spot and knock it down. I have confidence to take the shot and make it and finish the game."</p>
<p>Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson had 25 points each, and Green added 18 to go with 10 rebounds.</p>
<p>Wesley Matthews led the Mavericks with 22 points, including seven 3-pointers, and Dwight Powell tied his career high with 21.</p>
<p>Dallas, playing from behind most of the game, wouldn't go away despite trailing 114-102 with 4:32 left. Three turnovers by the Warriors and some cold shooting, combined with a sudden hot streak by the Mavs, enabled Dallas to tie the score at 120 on Harrison Barnes' jumper with 39.9 seconds to play.</p>
<p>"I was smiling at the idea that we could be completely brain dead out there," Golden State coach Steve Kerr said. "All I could do was laugh. It was like grade-school stuff the last few minutes."</p>
<p>Thompson and Barnes traded inside baskets before Curry's big shot in the final seconds.</p>
<p>A long heave by Dennis Smith Jr. at the buzzer was way off.</p>
<p>Golden State extended its road winning streak to eight games. The Warriors haven't lost away from Oracle Arena since before Thanksgiving.</p>
<p>FOUR FOR THE MONEY</p>
<p>Not only did the Golden State quartet produce 100 points, but one of the four was always there to step up. Curry scored 20 and Durant 16 in the first half, Green had 15 in the second half, and Thompson had 14 in the fourth quarter.</p>
<p>FINALLY A CLOSE ONE</p>
<p>Despite their 13-26 record, Dallas has won or played close against most of the NBA's best teams. The one exception had been Golden State, which has won nine in a row and 16 of 17 against the Mavs and had dominated the two previous meetings this season by a combined 45 points.</p>
<p>This time, Dallas fought back from deficits of 12 in the first half and nine in the third quarter, taking a lead at 84-83 on Devin Harris' 3-pointer with 3:40 to play in the period.</p>
<p>"This is who we were supposed to be all along," Matthews said. "We don't have a moral victory that we took the champs to a one-possession game. We really felt in our hearts we were supposed to win that one."</p>
<p>TIP-INS</p>
<p>Warriors: Played without Andre Iguodala (back and hip strain) and Omri Casspi (back strain). Casspi's injury occurred during the morning shootaround. Kerr said Iguodala would likely play Thursday at Houston. ... Thompson's second-quarter 3 marked the 92nd straight game in which he's made at least one, the third-longest streak in NBA history.</p>
<p>Mavericks: Reserve center Nerlens Noel had his cast removed Tuesday following left thumb surgery on Dec. 8. Noel hasn't played since Nov. 22 and has scored just 72 points in 18 games for the team.</p>
<p>UP NEXT</p>
<p>Warriors: At Houston on Thursday in a matchup between the West's top teams. The Rockets beat the Warriors 122-121 on opening night in Oakland.</p>
<p>Mavericks: Host Chicago on Friday. The Mavericks have won four straight against the Bulls.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>More NBA basketball: <a href="" type="internal">https://apnews.com/tag/NBAbasketball</a></p>
<p>DALLAS (AP) - The Dallas Mavericks were left shaking their heads at Stephen Curry's shot-making ability - and how they let him get one last great look at the basket.</p>
<p>Curry's long 3-pointer with three seconds to play allowed the Golden State Warriors to escape with a 125-122 win over the Mavericks on Wednesday night after blowing a double-digit lead in the final four minutes.</p>
<p>On their final possession, the Warriors gave Curry the inbounds pass. A crossover dribble and a screen from Draymond Green were all he needed to get a clean look from 28 feet, which hit nothing but net. Dallas, with a foul to give, didn't take it.</p>
<p>"Too open of a look for a game-winner for the greatest shooter in the game," longtime Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki said.</p>
<p>Curry finished with 32 points and has 70 in two games since returning from an ankle injury. Golden State's "Big Four" combined for 100 points, and the Warriors needed every one of them against a Mavericks team that had won four straight.</p>
<p>"Draymond set a great screen," Curry said. "I caught Yogi (Ferrell) by surprise and was able to get to my spot and knock it down. I have confidence to take the shot and make it and finish the game."</p>
<p>Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson had 25 points each, and Green added 18 to go with 10 rebounds.</p>
<p>Wesley Matthews led the Mavericks with 22 points, including seven 3-pointers, and Dwight Powell tied his career high with 21.</p>
<p>Dallas, playing from behind most of the game, wouldn't go away despite trailing 114-102 with 4:32 left. Three turnovers by the Warriors and some cold shooting, combined with a sudden hot streak by the Mavs, enabled Dallas to tie the score at 120 on Harrison Barnes' jumper with 39.9 seconds to play.</p>
<p>"I was smiling at the idea that we could be completely brain dead out there," Golden State coach Steve Kerr said. "All I could do was laugh. It was like grade-school stuff the last few minutes."</p>
<p>Thompson and Barnes traded inside baskets before Curry's big shot in the final seconds.</p>
<p>A long heave by Dennis Smith Jr. at the buzzer was way off.</p>
<p>Golden State extended its road winning streak to eight games. The Warriors haven't lost away from Oracle Arena since before Thanksgiving.</p>
<p>FOUR FOR THE MONEY</p>
<p>Not only did the Golden State quartet produce 100 points, but one of the four was always there to step up. Curry scored 20 and Durant 16 in the first half, Green had 15 in the second half, and Thompson had 14 in the fourth quarter.</p>
<p>FINALLY A CLOSE ONE</p>
<p>Despite their 13-26 record, Dallas has won or played close against most of the NBA's best teams. The one exception had been Golden State, which has won nine in a row and 16 of 17 against the Mavs and had dominated the two previous meetings this season by a combined 45 points.</p>
<p>This time, Dallas fought back from deficits of 12 in the first half and nine in the third quarter, taking a lead at 84-83 on Devin Harris' 3-pointer with 3:40 to play in the period.</p>
<p>"This is who we were supposed to be all along," Matthews said. "We don't have a moral victory that we took the champs to a one-possession game. We really felt in our hearts we were supposed to win that one."</p>
<p>TIP-INS</p>
<p>Warriors: Played without Andre Iguodala (back and hip strain) and Omri Casspi (back strain). Casspi's injury occurred during the morning shootaround. Kerr said Iguodala would likely play Thursday at Houston. ... Thompson's second-quarter 3 marked the 92nd straight game in which he's made at least one, the third-longest streak in NBA history.</p>
<p>Mavericks: Reserve center Nerlens Noel had his cast removed Tuesday following left thumb surgery on Dec. 8. Noel hasn't played since Nov. 22 and has scored just 72 points in 18 games for the team.</p>
<p>UP NEXT</p>
<p>Warriors: At Houston on Thursday in a matchup between the West's top teams. The Rockets beat the Warriors 122-121 on opening night in Oakland.</p>
<p>Mavericks: Host Chicago on Friday. The Mavericks have won four straight against the Bulls.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>More NBA basketball: <a href="" type="internal">https://apnews.com/tag/NBAbasketball</a></p> | 3,398 |
<p>A few days before the Arizona law SB1070 goes into effect, the law that allows the cops to interrogate any person whose immigration status is suspicious, civilian anti-immigrant patrols and racist groups have become bolder. The White House is responding to Governor Jan Brewer's law and to the intensification of activity by racist and xenophobic groups with ... an unenthusiastic lawsuit. This is how Obama plans to confront a law that social, political and human rights organizations are already condemning as the institutionalization of racism! At the same time, the Democratic administration is sending 1,200 new National Guard soldiers to the border, more than 500 to Arizona, the current center of discussion about immigration reform.</p>
<p>Amid the polarized debate about immigration and in the shadow of the border security policy of the Obama administration (which keeps on arresting and deporting immigrants and has now arrested and deported more immigrants than the Bush administration), anti-immigrant groups are proliferating. Armed groups identified with the Nazis and white supremacists, groups that carry swastikas and symbols of the KKK, are patrolling the border between the United States and Mexico. Recently, the activities of the so-called National Socialist Movement, a neo-Nazi group that organizes anti-immigrant patrols on the California border, have spread. Led by an ex-Marine, this group is one of the most aberrant expressions of the growing threat that is hanging over the Latino community, especially over immigrants.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, these racists are no exception nor a bolt from the blue. During 2009, while Obama was asking for patience from the Latino community, that was waiting for the promised immigration reform, more than 350 laws against immigrants were approved in several states, so-called "hate crimes" (with racist, xenophobic and religious motives) increased by 40%, and there are now more than 1,200 racist groups.</p>
<p>Groups like the Minutemen or the American Border Patrol maintain, without euphemisms, that the US should get rid of 11 million undocumented immigrants. Among the tactics these groups are publicly promoting are organizing physical attacks at the entrances of factories where immigrants (many of them undocumented) work, and harassment campaigns in the Latino community's neighborhoods and schools. This is in addition to official harassment and persecution, by cops and officials like Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who became famous for his "concentration camp" for "undocumented" prisoners in Maricopa County, Arizona, in tents, under sub-human conditions.</p>
<p>When the economic crisis and unemployment, at around 10%, are striking at millions of workers and poor people in the US, racial tensions and the divisions instigated by the establishment and its political parties multiply. With a view to the November elections, a number of politicians, whether inside the Republican Party or outside, in the conservative Tea Party movement, are even flirting with harsh measures like the Arizona law.</p>
<p>Reactionary groups, whose extreme exponents we now see on the border, are hoisting the banner of the cultural battle for US values. An example of their conservative initiatives is the recent vote in a Chicago suburb, where, for the first time, English was designated as the official language, or restricting access to health care and public education for foreigners, because it is considered a waste of the "taxes that US citizens pay."</p>
<p>Contrary to the expectations of millions of African-Americans, Latinos, women, and young people, the Obama administration has not represented an advance in the rights of these groups, which have historically suffered discrimination, in spite of the enormous symbolic significance of the arrival of the first African-American at the White House. On the contrary, delaying immigration reform adds to the dissatisfaction from the effects of the crisis and the costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.</p>
<p>This new law, which will take effect on July 29, aims at undocumented workers of big chains like Wal-Mart, in food plants, or agricultural labor. Protests are being prepared for next week against this law and against the criminalization of immigration. The struggle against racism and xenophobia strengthens the struggle of working men and women in the United States; a victory for all immigrants, male and female, is a victory for the working class and the people on both sides of the border.</p> | Soldiers and racists are patrolling the border | true | https://leftvoice.org/Soldiers-and-racists-are-patrolling-the-border | 2010-07-27 | 4left
| Soldiers and racists are patrolling the border
<p>A few days before the Arizona law SB1070 goes into effect, the law that allows the cops to interrogate any person whose immigration status is suspicious, civilian anti-immigrant patrols and racist groups have become bolder. The White House is responding to Governor Jan Brewer's law and to the intensification of activity by racist and xenophobic groups with ... an unenthusiastic lawsuit. This is how Obama plans to confront a law that social, political and human rights organizations are already condemning as the institutionalization of racism! At the same time, the Democratic administration is sending 1,200 new National Guard soldiers to the border, more than 500 to Arizona, the current center of discussion about immigration reform.</p>
<p>Amid the polarized debate about immigration and in the shadow of the border security policy of the Obama administration (which keeps on arresting and deporting immigrants and has now arrested and deported more immigrants than the Bush administration), anti-immigrant groups are proliferating. Armed groups identified with the Nazis and white supremacists, groups that carry swastikas and symbols of the KKK, are patrolling the border between the United States and Mexico. Recently, the activities of the so-called National Socialist Movement, a neo-Nazi group that organizes anti-immigrant patrols on the California border, have spread. Led by an ex-Marine, this group is one of the most aberrant expressions of the growing threat that is hanging over the Latino community, especially over immigrants.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, these racists are no exception nor a bolt from the blue. During 2009, while Obama was asking for patience from the Latino community, that was waiting for the promised immigration reform, more than 350 laws against immigrants were approved in several states, so-called "hate crimes" (with racist, xenophobic and religious motives) increased by 40%, and there are now more than 1,200 racist groups.</p>
<p>Groups like the Minutemen or the American Border Patrol maintain, without euphemisms, that the US should get rid of 11 million undocumented immigrants. Among the tactics these groups are publicly promoting are organizing physical attacks at the entrances of factories where immigrants (many of them undocumented) work, and harassment campaigns in the Latino community's neighborhoods and schools. This is in addition to official harassment and persecution, by cops and officials like Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who became famous for his "concentration camp" for "undocumented" prisoners in Maricopa County, Arizona, in tents, under sub-human conditions.</p>
<p>When the economic crisis and unemployment, at around 10%, are striking at millions of workers and poor people in the US, racial tensions and the divisions instigated by the establishment and its political parties multiply. With a view to the November elections, a number of politicians, whether inside the Republican Party or outside, in the conservative Tea Party movement, are even flirting with harsh measures like the Arizona law.</p>
<p>Reactionary groups, whose extreme exponents we now see on the border, are hoisting the banner of the cultural battle for US values. An example of their conservative initiatives is the recent vote in a Chicago suburb, where, for the first time, English was designated as the official language, or restricting access to health care and public education for foreigners, because it is considered a waste of the "taxes that US citizens pay."</p>
<p>Contrary to the expectations of millions of African-Americans, Latinos, women, and young people, the Obama administration has not represented an advance in the rights of these groups, which have historically suffered discrimination, in spite of the enormous symbolic significance of the arrival of the first African-American at the White House. On the contrary, delaying immigration reform adds to the dissatisfaction from the effects of the crisis and the costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.</p>
<p>This new law, which will take effect on July 29, aims at undocumented workers of big chains like Wal-Mart, in food plants, or agricultural labor. Protests are being prepared for next week against this law and against the criminalization of immigration. The struggle against racism and xenophobia strengthens the struggle of working men and women in the United States; a victory for all immigrants, male and female, is a victory for the working class and the people on both sides of the border.</p> | 3,399 |
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