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<p />
<p>Image source: The Motley Fool.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Shares oflululemon athletica (NASDAQ: LULU)are stretching like some of the athletic apparel retailer's high-end yoga clothes. Lululemon stock soared 25.3% last week, moving higher after the company posted blowout quarterly results. Several analysts upgraded the stock following the well-received report.</p>
<p>Revenue climbed 13% to $544.4 million, fueled by expansion, a boost in online sales, and positive comps. Comps rose 7%, but like many retailers that bake faster-growing consumer-direct sales into their comps, the actual store-level performance rose by a more modest 4%.</p>
<p>Margins improved across the board, and by the time we work our way to the end of the income statement we see adjusted earnings clocking in at $0.47 a share. That was well ahead of both the $0.35 it posted a year earlier and the $0.43 analysts were targeting. Lululemon used to routinely blast through Wall Street pro forecasts, but this is the first time since last year's holiday quarter that its profit topped expectations.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Several analysts checked in with upbeat notes following the encouraging report. Bank of America/Merrill Lynch analystRafe Jadrosich upgraded the stock to "neutral," fortified by the favorable comps momentum and expanding gross margin. He's boosting his price target from $50 to $70, though that's nearly where the stock closed out the week.</p>
<p>Evercore ISI analyst Omar Saad also replaced his earlier price target of $50, but he's going all the way to $80. Saad is replacing his "sell" rating with a "buy," a rare double-notch upgrade. With Lululemon flexing its pricing power, he feels the smart play is now to be long the stock.</p>
<p>Other Wall Street pros who reiterated their ratings still jacked up their price targets.Oppenheimer analyst Anna Andreeva raised her target from $70 to $75. Wedbush's Morry Brown went from $70 to $81.Even the still-bearish Camilo Lyon atCanaccord upped his price goal from $44 to $47.</p>
<p>Lululemon was trading slightly higher in 2016 before last week's surge, and now the stock is up 32% year to date. The stock took a hit three months earlier, when its guidance failed failed to impress following its fiscal second-quarter report, but that's not the case this time around.</p>
<p>The premium yoga-apparel specialist now sees revenue of $2.32 billion to $2.34 billion for all of fiscal 2016, with comps rising in the mid-single digits. Its guidance calls for normalized earnings between $2.11 and $2.16 a share.</p>
<p>The stock isn't cheap. It trades at 32 times the midpoint of its new earnings range. That's steep, but Lululemon shares have always fetched a premium to the market -- even when the retailer isn't at the top of its game. It's showing the early signs of a turnaround, and if it can keep that up through the telltale holiday quarter, it wouldn't be a surprise to see the stock and the valuation multiples head higher in the coming months.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Lululemon Athletica When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=1e3b13f2-fcac-4010-b4c3-c30ffad701c4&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Lululemon Athletica wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
<p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=1e3b13f2-fcac-4010-b4c3-c30ffad701c4&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p>
<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of Nov. 7, 2016</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFBreakerRick/info.aspx" type="external">Rick Munarriz Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Lululemon Athletica. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=isiedilnk018048&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/motley.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
|
Can Lululemon Stock Keep Going After Last Week's 25% Pop?
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/12/12/can-lululemon-stock-keep-going-after-last-week-25-pop.html
|
2016-12-12
| 0right
|
Can Lululemon Stock Keep Going After Last Week's 25% Pop?
<p />
<p>Image source: The Motley Fool.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Shares oflululemon athletica (NASDAQ: LULU)are stretching like some of the athletic apparel retailer's high-end yoga clothes. Lululemon stock soared 25.3% last week, moving higher after the company posted blowout quarterly results. Several analysts upgraded the stock following the well-received report.</p>
<p>Revenue climbed 13% to $544.4 million, fueled by expansion, a boost in online sales, and positive comps. Comps rose 7%, but like many retailers that bake faster-growing consumer-direct sales into their comps, the actual store-level performance rose by a more modest 4%.</p>
<p>Margins improved across the board, and by the time we work our way to the end of the income statement we see adjusted earnings clocking in at $0.47 a share. That was well ahead of both the $0.35 it posted a year earlier and the $0.43 analysts were targeting. Lululemon used to routinely blast through Wall Street pro forecasts, but this is the first time since last year's holiday quarter that its profit topped expectations.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Several analysts checked in with upbeat notes following the encouraging report. Bank of America/Merrill Lynch analystRafe Jadrosich upgraded the stock to "neutral," fortified by the favorable comps momentum and expanding gross margin. He's boosting his price target from $50 to $70, though that's nearly where the stock closed out the week.</p>
<p>Evercore ISI analyst Omar Saad also replaced his earlier price target of $50, but he's going all the way to $80. Saad is replacing his "sell" rating with a "buy," a rare double-notch upgrade. With Lululemon flexing its pricing power, he feels the smart play is now to be long the stock.</p>
<p>Other Wall Street pros who reiterated their ratings still jacked up their price targets.Oppenheimer analyst Anna Andreeva raised her target from $70 to $75. Wedbush's Morry Brown went from $70 to $81.Even the still-bearish Camilo Lyon atCanaccord upped his price goal from $44 to $47.</p>
<p>Lululemon was trading slightly higher in 2016 before last week's surge, and now the stock is up 32% year to date. The stock took a hit three months earlier, when its guidance failed failed to impress following its fiscal second-quarter report, but that's not the case this time around.</p>
<p>The premium yoga-apparel specialist now sees revenue of $2.32 billion to $2.34 billion for all of fiscal 2016, with comps rising in the mid-single digits. Its guidance calls for normalized earnings between $2.11 and $2.16 a share.</p>
<p>The stock isn't cheap. It trades at 32 times the midpoint of its new earnings range. That's steep, but Lululemon shares have always fetched a premium to the market -- even when the retailer isn't at the top of its game. It's showing the early signs of a turnaround, and if it can keep that up through the telltale holiday quarter, it wouldn't be a surprise to see the stock and the valuation multiples head higher in the coming months.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Lululemon Athletica When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=1e3b13f2-fcac-4010-b4c3-c30ffad701c4&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Lululemon Athletica wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
<p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=1e3b13f2-fcac-4010-b4c3-c30ffad701c4&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p>
<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of Nov. 7, 2016</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFBreakerRick/info.aspx" type="external">Rick Munarriz Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Lululemon Athletica. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=isiedilnk018048&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/motley.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
| 5,100 |
<p>The recent report from the Consortium on Chicago School Research about the aspiration-attainment gap in the Chicago Public Schools highlights many important issues that deserve careful consideration. Unfortunately, the mainstream media’s reporting did not fully reflect the positive developments that have emerged in recent years that are worth noting.</p>
<p>Overall, the report keeps the focus where it should be, on providing students with the academic preparation they need to succeed in college and to be full participants in today’s knowledge society.</p>
<p>The report’s finding that only a third of CPS graduates who enroll in four year colleges complete a degree within six years is indeed sobering, particularly in the context of enduring concerns about the distribution of educational opportunity by class and race in the United States.</p>
<p>While some questions have been raised about this finding, the report’s emphasis on the importance of quality coursework makes a great deal of sense. Unfortunately, some of the more promising program investments were implemented too recently to have shown up in the recent analysis.</p>
<p>At DePaul, we have started to track the progress and performance of students emerging from two of these programs, CPS College Bridge and the International Baccalaureate (IB). While it is too soon to have data on graduation rates, our experience confirms the report’s stated faith in the importance of quality coursework. It also provides a small corrective to those who might see the report as simply another damning assessment of public school failure.</p>
<p>The College Bridge program allows CPS students to take advanced courses at local universities, while the prestigious International Baccalaureate has been established in more than a dozen neighborhood high schools. In their own ways, both programs deliver high-quality coursework to students who might otherwise not have access to it. They form part of a wider quality initiative that also includes an expansion of Advanced Placement (AP) offerings and the implementation of the national AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) program, which takes average students and places them in higher level courses.</p>
<p>The report recognizes such initiatives, particularly AP and IB, and argues that these are indeed the sorts of steps CPS should be taking to enhance both college access and success. We would certainly echo that recommendation.</p>
<p>The International Baccalaureate program offers a comprehensive curriculum that challenges students in a variety of subject areas, requires them to write a great deal, engages them in community service and stimulates international awareness. It’s a very traditional curriculum in many ways, and yet what could be more relevant today?</p>
<p>Certainly, the performance of the IB students from CPS at DePaul has been very impressive. Their retention through to the third year of undergraduate study is about 90 percent, and hardly any appear to be experiencing academic difficulty. And this is despite the fact that their ACT scores are consistently below those of the average incoming freshman at DePaul. Clearly, standardized test scores remain very imperfect predictors of college success, especially for low-income students and those whose first language is not English.</p>
<p>This raises important questions about the measurements that are used both to demonstrate progress in the public schools and to identify students who are likely to succeed at the college level.</p>
<p>As the report makes clear, coursework and grades are better predictors of college attainment than standardized test scores. Still this has yet to be fully reflected in the overriding direction of national or local school reform, or in the admission policies and practices at many universities.</p>
<p>Indeed, one of the major issues concerning educational opportunity today has to do with the way in which standardized test scores limit the ability to resolve the tension felt by so many universities between student access on the one hand and widely accepted measures of academic quality on the other. In the CPS context, programs such as IB, AP, College Bridge and AVID stand at the very intersection of access and quality and to that extent offer the best hope we have to narrow the gap between student aspiration and attainment.</p>
<p>Let us hope that the Consortium’s report will further encourage innovative curriculum at the high school level and more open-minded approaches to admissions at the college level. Such concrete steps will surely help us make significant progress in helping more disadvantaged students achieve significant progress in attaining college educations.</p>
<p>Brian Spittle is assistant vice president of enrollment management for DePaul University.</p>
|
Students doing better than report suggests
| false |
http://chicagoreporter.com/students-doing-better-report-suggests/
|
2006-05-12
| 3left-center
|
Students doing better than report suggests
<p>The recent report from the Consortium on Chicago School Research about the aspiration-attainment gap in the Chicago Public Schools highlights many important issues that deserve careful consideration. Unfortunately, the mainstream media’s reporting did not fully reflect the positive developments that have emerged in recent years that are worth noting.</p>
<p>Overall, the report keeps the focus where it should be, on providing students with the academic preparation they need to succeed in college and to be full participants in today’s knowledge society.</p>
<p>The report’s finding that only a third of CPS graduates who enroll in four year colleges complete a degree within six years is indeed sobering, particularly in the context of enduring concerns about the distribution of educational opportunity by class and race in the United States.</p>
<p>While some questions have been raised about this finding, the report’s emphasis on the importance of quality coursework makes a great deal of sense. Unfortunately, some of the more promising program investments were implemented too recently to have shown up in the recent analysis.</p>
<p>At DePaul, we have started to track the progress and performance of students emerging from two of these programs, CPS College Bridge and the International Baccalaureate (IB). While it is too soon to have data on graduation rates, our experience confirms the report’s stated faith in the importance of quality coursework. It also provides a small corrective to those who might see the report as simply another damning assessment of public school failure.</p>
<p>The College Bridge program allows CPS students to take advanced courses at local universities, while the prestigious International Baccalaureate has been established in more than a dozen neighborhood high schools. In their own ways, both programs deliver high-quality coursework to students who might otherwise not have access to it. They form part of a wider quality initiative that also includes an expansion of Advanced Placement (AP) offerings and the implementation of the national AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) program, which takes average students and places them in higher level courses.</p>
<p>The report recognizes such initiatives, particularly AP and IB, and argues that these are indeed the sorts of steps CPS should be taking to enhance both college access and success. We would certainly echo that recommendation.</p>
<p>The International Baccalaureate program offers a comprehensive curriculum that challenges students in a variety of subject areas, requires them to write a great deal, engages them in community service and stimulates international awareness. It’s a very traditional curriculum in many ways, and yet what could be more relevant today?</p>
<p>Certainly, the performance of the IB students from CPS at DePaul has been very impressive. Their retention through to the third year of undergraduate study is about 90 percent, and hardly any appear to be experiencing academic difficulty. And this is despite the fact that their ACT scores are consistently below those of the average incoming freshman at DePaul. Clearly, standardized test scores remain very imperfect predictors of college success, especially for low-income students and those whose first language is not English.</p>
<p>This raises important questions about the measurements that are used both to demonstrate progress in the public schools and to identify students who are likely to succeed at the college level.</p>
<p>As the report makes clear, coursework and grades are better predictors of college attainment than standardized test scores. Still this has yet to be fully reflected in the overriding direction of national or local school reform, or in the admission policies and practices at many universities.</p>
<p>Indeed, one of the major issues concerning educational opportunity today has to do with the way in which standardized test scores limit the ability to resolve the tension felt by so many universities between student access on the one hand and widely accepted measures of academic quality on the other. In the CPS context, programs such as IB, AP, College Bridge and AVID stand at the very intersection of access and quality and to that extent offer the best hope we have to narrow the gap between student aspiration and attainment.</p>
<p>Let us hope that the Consortium’s report will further encourage innovative curriculum at the high school level and more open-minded approaches to admissions at the college level. Such concrete steps will surely help us make significant progress in helping more disadvantaged students achieve significant progress in attaining college educations.</p>
<p>Brian Spittle is assistant vice president of enrollment management for DePaul University.</p>
| 5,101 |
<p />
<p>When Sens. John Kerry, Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman release their climate bill on Monday, they expect to have the backing of three of the five major oil companies, Mother Jones has learned. In a conference call with a coalition of progressive business leaders on Thursday evening, Kerry said he believes those companies will “actively participate in supporting this bill.” He hopes the other big oil companies will at least hold their fire on the bill, and added that he believes the American Petroleum Institute (API), the oil industry’s major trade group, will call off its <a href="" type="internal">ad campaign</a> attacking the legislation.</p>
<p>Kerry also said that the Edison Electric Institute—the main trade group representing utilities—will support their measure. “We are bringing to the table a significant group of players who were never there for the Waxman-Markey bill,” Kerry said. (Whilie Edison supported Waxman-Markey, it was opposed by several big oil companies and API).</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Read the rest of this post on Blue Marble.</a></p>
<p />
|
Kerry: Industry to Back Climate Bill
| true |
https://motherjones.com/politics/2010/04/kerry-industry-back-climate-bill-0/
|
2010-04-23
| 4left
|
Kerry: Industry to Back Climate Bill
<p />
<p>When Sens. John Kerry, Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman release their climate bill on Monday, they expect to have the backing of three of the five major oil companies, Mother Jones has learned. In a conference call with a coalition of progressive business leaders on Thursday evening, Kerry said he believes those companies will “actively participate in supporting this bill.” He hopes the other big oil companies will at least hold their fire on the bill, and added that he believes the American Petroleum Institute (API), the oil industry’s major trade group, will call off its <a href="" type="internal">ad campaign</a> attacking the legislation.</p>
<p>Kerry also said that the Edison Electric Institute—the main trade group representing utilities—will support their measure. “We are bringing to the table a significant group of players who were never there for the Waxman-Markey bill,” Kerry said. (Whilie Edison supported Waxman-Markey, it was opposed by several big oil companies and API).</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Read the rest of this post on Blue Marble.</a></p>
<p />
| 5,102 |
<p />
<p>Sniffing out sleazy deals in Congress still means plowing through the dusty bureaus and overstuffed file cabinets of our nation’s capital, but in recent years the Web has brought some powerful resources right into your living room. Here’s a primer for muckraking on Capitol Hill while kicking back in your bathrobe and bunny slippers:</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>We wish we’d done it first: <a href="http://www.tray.com/fecinfo/" type="external">FECInfo</a> is the best single site on the Web for investigating members of Congress. Every dollar of their campaign cash appears in the Federal Election Commission data on this citizen’s site — searchable by <a href="http://www.tray.com/fecinfo/states.htm" type="external">candidate</a>, <a href="http://www.tray.com/fecinfo/indiv.htm" type="external">contributor</a>, contributor’s <a href="http://www.tray.com/fecinfo/employ.htm" type="external">employer</a>, and <a href="http://www.tray.com/fecinfo/pac.htm" type="external">PAC or party committee</a>. FECInfo also tells you who’s got the most <a href="http://www.tray.com/fecinfo/endcash.htm" type="external">cash on hand</a>, plus copious information on campaign finance disclosure laws, downloadable soft money databases, and more. Site creator <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">Tony Raymond</a>, a former FEC employee, also takes a few deserved <a href="http://www.tray.com/fecinfo/ef.htm" type="external">pot-shots</a> at his ex-employer.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, at the <a href="http://www.fec.gov/" type="external">FEC</a>‘s own site, the same data is embarrassingly non-searchable — as if they don’t want you to see where the money comes from. This site is useful for brushing up on election laws or downloading raw data, but otherwise it’s hard to imagine why you’d go here rather than to Raymond’s FECInfo — and the FEC seems to acknowledge this with a <a href="http://www.fec.gov/" type="external">touchy disclaimer</a> at the bottom of their homepage.</p>
<p>The watchdog group <a href="http://www.crp.org/" type="external">Center for Responsive Politics</a> recently cut a deal to merge most of FECInfo into their site, making CRP a good place to start your snooping. Their “ <a href="http://www.crp.org/net/frsecret.html" type="external">Open Secrets</a>” report is a classic analysis of campaign cash in the ’93-’94 cycle, while the searchable “ <a href="http://www.crp.org/cashin/contents.html" type="external">Cashing In</a>” shows how members’ votes in the 104th Congress miraculously match the interests of their funders. Also, CRP’s “ <a href="http://www.crp.org/politician.htm" type="external">politician profiles</a>” break down each pol’s leading PAC donors, sorted by issue.</p>
<p>To meet the millionaires who pull your legislator’s puppet strings, see the <a href="/" type="external">MoJo Wire</a>‘s own <a href="/news/special_reports/coinop_congress/97mojo_400/mojo_400.html" type="external">MoJo 400</a>, our probe of the 400 fattest cats in campaign funding, and the politicians they buy — fully searchable, of course. Our 1995 “ <a href="/news/special_reports/coinop_congress/stock_congress/stock_congress.html" type="external">Taking Stock in Congress</a>” lets you search shady stock deals by lawmakers — watch for updates soon. “ <a href="/news/special_reports/coinop_congress/data_viewer/data_viewer.html" type="external">The Best Congress Money Can Buy</a>” shows you how much PAC money each candidate took from ’91 to ’94, and from what industries.</p>
<p>If you can pay the fees, <a href="http://www.lexis-nexis.com/" type="external">LEXIS-NEXIS</a> offers Congressional financial disclosure forms online. These public filings tell you what stocks, real estate, and other assets your member owns, what their liabilities and mortgages are worth, and what positions they hold in companies or organizations. LEXIS is still accessed with a clunky telnet setup, but will soon be browsable on the Web.</p>
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<p />
<p />
<p><a type="external" href="">Named for that swinger Jefferson,</a> <a href="http://thomas.loc.gov/" type="external">THOMAS</a>, a Library of Congress site, does for legislation what FECInfo does for campaign cash. Find out who pimped for the bad bills — and who killed the good ones. Dig the <a href="http://thomas.loc.gov/home/c105query.html" type="external">full-text searchable bills</a>, with their complete legislative history, sponsors and co-sponsors, committee and floor actions, all cross-referenced to the complete <a href="http://thomas.loc.gov/home/r105query.html" type="external">Congressional Record</a>, also full-text searchable. Sometimes you’ll even catch your member <a href="/commentary/columns/1997/03/devos_tribute.html" type="external">shamelessly plugging</a> their <a href="/coinop_congress/96mojo_400/show_contrib.pl?donor=De%20vos&amp;show=donor&amp;employ=&amp;show=employ&amp;recip=Abraham&amp;show=recip&amp;state_zip=&amp;st%20art%20_date=&amp;end_date=&amp;amt=&amp;show=amt&amp;sort=employ" type="external">corporate donors</a>. Plus <a href="http://thomas.loc.gov/cp105/cp105query.html" type="external">committee reports</a>, the <a href="http://thomas.loc.gov/home/lawsmade.toc.html" type="external">legislative process</a>, and more.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.house.gov/" type="external">House</a> and <a href="http://www.senate.gov/" type="external">Senate</a> have their own sites where members post their own — often <a href="http://www.house.gov/burton/poem.htm" type="external">silly</a> — pages. The sites also offer current <a href="http://www.house.gov/CommitteeWWW.html" type="external">committee rosters</a>, which give a glimpse about why those fat cats are wooing Senator Dim-Bulb: His committee has jurisdiction over their industry’s trade regulations, environmental requirements, tax deductions, etc.</p>
<p>PoliticsNow has gone offline, but the National Journal’s <a href="http://politicsusa.com/PoliticsUSA/resources/almanac/" type="external">Almanac of American Politics ’96</a> is still accessible online, a trusty compendium of information on Congress members, from mailing addresses to interest-group voting ratings.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.pathfinder.com/CQ/" type="external">Congressional Quarterly’s VoteWatch</a> is a searchable database of your representatives and all their votes in the last 18 months: Yea, Nay, or Gone Golfing. CQ’s <a href="http://voter96.cqalert.com/cq_job.htm" type="external">On The Job</a> offers detailed personal and political profiles of each member, with their recent floor speeches, committee roll call votes, and bills introduced in this session.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.vis.org/Html/index1.htm" type="external">Voter Information Services</a> compiles dozens of interest-group ratings showing how your member voted on legislation supported by groups ranging from the ACLU to the NRA, from the Christian Coalition to the National Abortion Rights Action League.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://majoritywhip.house.gov/current/now.htm" type="external">House Majority Whip</a>‘s page provides a running digest of today’s action on the House floor, with a C-SPAN video frame grab every 20 seconds so you can see who’s spouting off, and bills hyperlinked to the THOMAS database so you can see exactly what they’re spouting about.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.fednet.net/fednet.htm" type="external">FedNet</a> offers detailed schedules of upcoming House and Senate activity, with archived RealAudio recordings of debates, committee hearings and more.</p>
<p>For more resources on Congress, the best meta-page we’ve found is the <a href="http://lcweb.loc.gov/global/legislative/congress.html" type="external">U.S. Legislative Branch</a> page at the Library of Congress.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>When you’ve blundered onto unsavory dealings that really chap your hide, you can flame your <a href="http://www.senate.gov/senator/membmail.html" type="external">Senator</a> or <a href="gopher://gopher.house.gov:70/0F-1%3A207%3AHouse%20Email%20Addresses" type="external">Representative</a> — but remember, about half of them still don’t have e-mail.</p>
<p>To reach these fogies you’ll need the primeval telephone call and snail mail. Speak your piece with these two toll-free numbers to the Capitol switchboard, paid for by the Christian Coalition:</p>
<p />
<p>Or <a href="http://www.capweb.net/senate.html" type="external">write a letter</a> and encourage friends to do the same. Sad but true: One sheet of bleached tree pulp impresses these 20th-century hacks more than any newfangled Internet gizmo. For maximum effect, try a quill pen and parchment!</p>
<p>And as always, you can <a href="" type="internal">tip off</a> the MoJo Wire to any shenanigans, or muckraking spots on the Web, that you discover.</p>
<p />
|
How to Muckrake in Cyberspace Part II: Congress
| true |
https://motherjones.com/politics/1997/03/how-muckrake-cyberspace-part-ii-congress/
|
1997-03-24
| 4left
|
How to Muckrake in Cyberspace Part II: Congress
<p />
<p>Sniffing out sleazy deals in Congress still means plowing through the dusty bureaus and overstuffed file cabinets of our nation’s capital, but in recent years the Web has brought some powerful resources right into your living room. Here’s a primer for muckraking on Capitol Hill while kicking back in your bathrobe and bunny slippers:</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>We wish we’d done it first: <a href="http://www.tray.com/fecinfo/" type="external">FECInfo</a> is the best single site on the Web for investigating members of Congress. Every dollar of their campaign cash appears in the Federal Election Commission data on this citizen’s site — searchable by <a href="http://www.tray.com/fecinfo/states.htm" type="external">candidate</a>, <a href="http://www.tray.com/fecinfo/indiv.htm" type="external">contributor</a>, contributor’s <a href="http://www.tray.com/fecinfo/employ.htm" type="external">employer</a>, and <a href="http://www.tray.com/fecinfo/pac.htm" type="external">PAC or party committee</a>. FECInfo also tells you who’s got the most <a href="http://www.tray.com/fecinfo/endcash.htm" type="external">cash on hand</a>, plus copious information on campaign finance disclosure laws, downloadable soft money databases, and more. Site creator <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">Tony Raymond</a>, a former FEC employee, also takes a few deserved <a href="http://www.tray.com/fecinfo/ef.htm" type="external">pot-shots</a> at his ex-employer.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, at the <a href="http://www.fec.gov/" type="external">FEC</a>‘s own site, the same data is embarrassingly non-searchable — as if they don’t want you to see where the money comes from. This site is useful for brushing up on election laws or downloading raw data, but otherwise it’s hard to imagine why you’d go here rather than to Raymond’s FECInfo — and the FEC seems to acknowledge this with a <a href="http://www.fec.gov/" type="external">touchy disclaimer</a> at the bottom of their homepage.</p>
<p>The watchdog group <a href="http://www.crp.org/" type="external">Center for Responsive Politics</a> recently cut a deal to merge most of FECInfo into their site, making CRP a good place to start your snooping. Their “ <a href="http://www.crp.org/net/frsecret.html" type="external">Open Secrets</a>” report is a classic analysis of campaign cash in the ’93-’94 cycle, while the searchable “ <a href="http://www.crp.org/cashin/contents.html" type="external">Cashing In</a>” shows how members’ votes in the 104th Congress miraculously match the interests of their funders. Also, CRP’s “ <a href="http://www.crp.org/politician.htm" type="external">politician profiles</a>” break down each pol’s leading PAC donors, sorted by issue.</p>
<p>To meet the millionaires who pull your legislator’s puppet strings, see the <a href="/" type="external">MoJo Wire</a>‘s own <a href="/news/special_reports/coinop_congress/97mojo_400/mojo_400.html" type="external">MoJo 400</a>, our probe of the 400 fattest cats in campaign funding, and the politicians they buy — fully searchable, of course. Our 1995 “ <a href="/news/special_reports/coinop_congress/stock_congress/stock_congress.html" type="external">Taking Stock in Congress</a>” lets you search shady stock deals by lawmakers — watch for updates soon. “ <a href="/news/special_reports/coinop_congress/data_viewer/data_viewer.html" type="external">The Best Congress Money Can Buy</a>” shows you how much PAC money each candidate took from ’91 to ’94, and from what industries.</p>
<p>If you can pay the fees, <a href="http://www.lexis-nexis.com/" type="external">LEXIS-NEXIS</a> offers Congressional financial disclosure forms online. These public filings tell you what stocks, real estate, and other assets your member owns, what their liabilities and mortgages are worth, and what positions they hold in companies or organizations. LEXIS is still accessed with a clunky telnet setup, but will soon be browsable on the Web.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p><a type="external" href="">Named for that swinger Jefferson,</a> <a href="http://thomas.loc.gov/" type="external">THOMAS</a>, a Library of Congress site, does for legislation what FECInfo does for campaign cash. Find out who pimped for the bad bills — and who killed the good ones. Dig the <a href="http://thomas.loc.gov/home/c105query.html" type="external">full-text searchable bills</a>, with their complete legislative history, sponsors and co-sponsors, committee and floor actions, all cross-referenced to the complete <a href="http://thomas.loc.gov/home/r105query.html" type="external">Congressional Record</a>, also full-text searchable. Sometimes you’ll even catch your member <a href="/commentary/columns/1997/03/devos_tribute.html" type="external">shamelessly plugging</a> their <a href="/coinop_congress/96mojo_400/show_contrib.pl?donor=De%20vos&amp;show=donor&amp;employ=&amp;show=employ&amp;recip=Abraham&amp;show=recip&amp;state_zip=&amp;st%20art%20_date=&amp;end_date=&amp;amt=&amp;show=amt&amp;sort=employ" type="external">corporate donors</a>. Plus <a href="http://thomas.loc.gov/cp105/cp105query.html" type="external">committee reports</a>, the <a href="http://thomas.loc.gov/home/lawsmade.toc.html" type="external">legislative process</a>, and more.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.house.gov/" type="external">House</a> and <a href="http://www.senate.gov/" type="external">Senate</a> have their own sites where members post their own — often <a href="http://www.house.gov/burton/poem.htm" type="external">silly</a> — pages. The sites also offer current <a href="http://www.house.gov/CommitteeWWW.html" type="external">committee rosters</a>, which give a glimpse about why those fat cats are wooing Senator Dim-Bulb: His committee has jurisdiction over their industry’s trade regulations, environmental requirements, tax deductions, etc.</p>
<p>PoliticsNow has gone offline, but the National Journal’s <a href="http://politicsusa.com/PoliticsUSA/resources/almanac/" type="external">Almanac of American Politics ’96</a> is still accessible online, a trusty compendium of information on Congress members, from mailing addresses to interest-group voting ratings.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.pathfinder.com/CQ/" type="external">Congressional Quarterly’s VoteWatch</a> is a searchable database of your representatives and all their votes in the last 18 months: Yea, Nay, or Gone Golfing. CQ’s <a href="http://voter96.cqalert.com/cq_job.htm" type="external">On The Job</a> offers detailed personal and political profiles of each member, with their recent floor speeches, committee roll call votes, and bills introduced in this session.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.vis.org/Html/index1.htm" type="external">Voter Information Services</a> compiles dozens of interest-group ratings showing how your member voted on legislation supported by groups ranging from the ACLU to the NRA, from the Christian Coalition to the National Abortion Rights Action League.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://majoritywhip.house.gov/current/now.htm" type="external">House Majority Whip</a>‘s page provides a running digest of today’s action on the House floor, with a C-SPAN video frame grab every 20 seconds so you can see who’s spouting off, and bills hyperlinked to the THOMAS database so you can see exactly what they’re spouting about.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.fednet.net/fednet.htm" type="external">FedNet</a> offers detailed schedules of upcoming House and Senate activity, with archived RealAudio recordings of debates, committee hearings and more.</p>
<p>For more resources on Congress, the best meta-page we’ve found is the <a href="http://lcweb.loc.gov/global/legislative/congress.html" type="external">U.S. Legislative Branch</a> page at the Library of Congress.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>When you’ve blundered onto unsavory dealings that really chap your hide, you can flame your <a href="http://www.senate.gov/senator/membmail.html" type="external">Senator</a> or <a href="gopher://gopher.house.gov:70/0F-1%3A207%3AHouse%20Email%20Addresses" type="external">Representative</a> — but remember, about half of them still don’t have e-mail.</p>
<p>To reach these fogies you’ll need the primeval telephone call and snail mail. Speak your piece with these two toll-free numbers to the Capitol switchboard, paid for by the Christian Coalition:</p>
<p />
<p>Or <a href="http://www.capweb.net/senate.html" type="external">write a letter</a> and encourage friends to do the same. Sad but true: One sheet of bleached tree pulp impresses these 20th-century hacks more than any newfangled Internet gizmo. For maximum effect, try a quill pen and parchment!</p>
<p>And as always, you can <a href="" type="internal">tip off</a> the MoJo Wire to any shenanigans, or muckraking spots on the Web, that you discover.</p>
<p />
| 5,103 |
<p>Photo courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</p>
<p />
<p>Amid an unsettling report today of <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gGobdkbvCsouW8Z6YYCbpBIjbbTQD994HT3O0" type="external">Tamiflu resistance in a Danish A(H1N1) patient</a>, comes a study in <a href="http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/NEJMra0904322" type="external">The New England Journal of Medicine</a> tracing the <a href="" type="internal">swine flu</a>‘s 90-year evolution.</p>
<p>The <a href="" type="internal">current flu strain</a> has genetic roots in an illness that sickened pigs at a swine show in 1918 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. A near-century of development since then may include this flu’s accidental resurrection from an <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/29/magazine/29flu.html?_r=2&amp;pagewanted=1&amp;8hpib" type="external">extinct strain</a>.</p>
<p>Here’s what likely went down. At the same time the <a href="http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/107" type="external">1918 flu pandemic</a> was spreading among humans, <a href="" type="internal">pigs were hit</a> with a similar respiratory illness. Early experiments confirmed the <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/98/5/2115.full" type="external">1918 swine virus</a> and a human strain emerged about the same time.</p>
<p>According to the authors of the new paper, there was a temporary “extinction” of this strain of virus from humans in 1957. But then it reemerged 20 years later in a small <a href="http://www.iom.edu/CMS/AboutIOM/4081/65926.aspx" type="external">230-person outbreak in</a> 1976 among soldiers in Fort Dix, New Jersey. That outbreak did not extend beyond the military base.</p>
<p>However the next year H1N1 reemerged in people in the Soviet Union, Hong Kong, and northeastern China. The genetic origin of that 1977 strain turns out not to be the 1976 Fort Dix strain. Instead, it was closely related to a 1950 human strain.</p>
<p>Which means that given the genetic similarity of the two strains, reemergence was likely due to an accidental release during laboratory studies of the 1950 strain that had been preserved as a “freezer” virus.</p>
<p>Ouch. Hate it when that happens.</p>
<p>The authors hypothesize that concerns about the Fort Dix outbreak stimulated a flurry of research on H1N1 viruses in 1976, which led to an accidental release and reemergence of the previously extinct virus a year later. The reemerged 1977 H1N1 strain has been circulating in various seasonal influenzas ever since— <a href="http://www.pandemik.info/" type="external">including today</a>‘s.</p>
<p>Or maybe it wasn’t such an accidental a release? Conspiracists, restart your engines. &#160;</p>
<p />
|
Swine Flu Accidentally Resurrected From the Dead?
| true |
https://motherjones.com/politics/2009/06/swine-flu-accidentally-resurrected-dead/
|
2009-06-29
| 4left
|
Swine Flu Accidentally Resurrected From the Dead?
<p>Photo courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</p>
<p />
<p>Amid an unsettling report today of <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gGobdkbvCsouW8Z6YYCbpBIjbbTQD994HT3O0" type="external">Tamiflu resistance in a Danish A(H1N1) patient</a>, comes a study in <a href="http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/NEJMra0904322" type="external">The New England Journal of Medicine</a> tracing the <a href="" type="internal">swine flu</a>‘s 90-year evolution.</p>
<p>The <a href="" type="internal">current flu strain</a> has genetic roots in an illness that sickened pigs at a swine show in 1918 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. A near-century of development since then may include this flu’s accidental resurrection from an <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/29/magazine/29flu.html?_r=2&amp;pagewanted=1&amp;8hpib" type="external">extinct strain</a>.</p>
<p>Here’s what likely went down. At the same time the <a href="http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/107" type="external">1918 flu pandemic</a> was spreading among humans, <a href="" type="internal">pigs were hit</a> with a similar respiratory illness. Early experiments confirmed the <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/98/5/2115.full" type="external">1918 swine virus</a> and a human strain emerged about the same time.</p>
<p>According to the authors of the new paper, there was a temporary “extinction” of this strain of virus from humans in 1957. But then it reemerged 20 years later in a small <a href="http://www.iom.edu/CMS/AboutIOM/4081/65926.aspx" type="external">230-person outbreak in</a> 1976 among soldiers in Fort Dix, New Jersey. That outbreak did not extend beyond the military base.</p>
<p>However the next year H1N1 reemerged in people in the Soviet Union, Hong Kong, and northeastern China. The genetic origin of that 1977 strain turns out not to be the 1976 Fort Dix strain. Instead, it was closely related to a 1950 human strain.</p>
<p>Which means that given the genetic similarity of the two strains, reemergence was likely due to an accidental release during laboratory studies of the 1950 strain that had been preserved as a “freezer” virus.</p>
<p>Ouch. Hate it when that happens.</p>
<p>The authors hypothesize that concerns about the Fort Dix outbreak stimulated a flurry of research on H1N1 viruses in 1976, which led to an accidental release and reemergence of the previously extinct virus a year later. The reemerged 1977 H1N1 strain has been circulating in various seasonal influenzas ever since— <a href="http://www.pandemik.info/" type="external">including today</a>‘s.</p>
<p>Or maybe it wasn’t such an accidental a release? Conspiracists, restart your engines. &#160;</p>
<p />
| 5,104 |
<p />
<p>Boeing (NYSE:BA) completed a 787 test flight Friday afternoon, and if all went as planned, the company could soon receive regulatory approval for its redesigned battery system.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The flight, which lasted nearly two hours with Federal Aviation Administration officials on board, was the final certification test for the Dreamliner’s lithium-ion battery. Data from the flight will be submitted to the FAA.</p>
<p>Shares of Boeing jumped on the news, closing at $86.17 to end the day up 1.4%.</p>
<p>Boeing is also reportedly packaging battery-repair kits for its grounded jet, even though the plane maker is still waiting for final approval from the FAA.</p>
<p>The Wall Street Journal, citing sources familiar with the details, said Boeing would send the kits to airlines once the FAA approves of the fix.</p>
<p>Boeing spokesman Marc Birtel said the company has not shipped any battery kits to customers.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>The report noted Boeing’s optimism the FAA will give final approvals within a few weeks. Once it gets final approval, Boeing can begin installation of the redesigned systems.</p>
<p>Boeing is also said to be readying a test flight, supervised by the FAA, for Friday. Limited passenger flights on 787 jets could resume by the end of this month if the certification test flight goes as planned.</p>
<p>Battery repairs would be done by airlines, but Boeing plans to send nine groups of its airplane-on-the-ground mechanics to assist airlines with the four or five-day installation process for each jet, the Journal said.</p>
<p>Packaging the repair kits now would allow Boeing to begin the installation process quickly, the report noted, although any last-minute design adjustments by the FAA could derail those efforts.</p>
<p>Birtel said “details about the AOG teams are considered proprietary,” although he confirmed the formation of a series of AOG teams to help Boeing customers “implement the improvements once certified.”</p>
<p>One of the teams has already deployed, but no work is currently being done on the battery systems, he said.</p>
|
Boeing Completes Final Test Flight for 787 Battery
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/features/2013/04/05/report-boeing-packaging-kits-for-battery-repairs.html
|
2016-01-25
| 0right
|
Boeing Completes Final Test Flight for 787 Battery
<p />
<p>Boeing (NYSE:BA) completed a 787 test flight Friday afternoon, and if all went as planned, the company could soon receive regulatory approval for its redesigned battery system.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The flight, which lasted nearly two hours with Federal Aviation Administration officials on board, was the final certification test for the Dreamliner’s lithium-ion battery. Data from the flight will be submitted to the FAA.</p>
<p>Shares of Boeing jumped on the news, closing at $86.17 to end the day up 1.4%.</p>
<p>Boeing is also reportedly packaging battery-repair kits for its grounded jet, even though the plane maker is still waiting for final approval from the FAA.</p>
<p>The Wall Street Journal, citing sources familiar with the details, said Boeing would send the kits to airlines once the FAA approves of the fix.</p>
<p>Boeing spokesman Marc Birtel said the company has not shipped any battery kits to customers.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>The report noted Boeing’s optimism the FAA will give final approvals within a few weeks. Once it gets final approval, Boeing can begin installation of the redesigned systems.</p>
<p>Boeing is also said to be readying a test flight, supervised by the FAA, for Friday. Limited passenger flights on 787 jets could resume by the end of this month if the certification test flight goes as planned.</p>
<p>Battery repairs would be done by airlines, but Boeing plans to send nine groups of its airplane-on-the-ground mechanics to assist airlines with the four or five-day installation process for each jet, the Journal said.</p>
<p>Packaging the repair kits now would allow Boeing to begin the installation process quickly, the report noted, although any last-minute design adjustments by the FAA could derail those efforts.</p>
<p>Birtel said “details about the AOG teams are considered proprietary,” although he confirmed the formation of a series of AOG teams to help Boeing customers “implement the improvements once certified.”</p>
<p>One of the teams has already deployed, but no work is currently being done on the battery systems, he said.</p>
| 5,105 |
<p>July 31 (UPI) — <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Blake_Lively/" type="external">Blake Lively</a> says she and husband <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Ryan_Reynolds/" type="external">Ryan Reynolds</a> are actually “very shy” people.</p>
<p>The 29-year-old actress said in <a href="https://www.glamour.com/story/blake-lively-september-2017-cover-interview" type="external">the September issue</a> of Glamour that she and Reynolds aren’t as open and outgoing as the Deadpool star may lead people to think.</p>
<p>“My husband and I are really shy people who express ourselves best when we’re acting, when we’re hiding as someone else,” she said while discussing her family. “So the fact that very shy people have to share that shy person with the world — and are sometimes hurt by it — it’s very weird emotionally.”</p>
<p>Reynolds has outwardly embraced the outrageous side of Deadpool since being cast as the title character in the 2016 movie. Lively said she loves the actor’s funny tweets about their family, but confessed they’re “completely made-up.”</p>
<p>“When he says ‘my daughter,’ he’s never, ever talking about her. Everything is a completely made-up scenario,” the actress said. “He’ll run them by me sometimes just to make me laugh. But oh, I’m so in love with him when he writes that stuff. I mean, I’m in love with him most of the time, but especially with that.”</p>
<p>“I said, ‘Most of the time,’ because if I say, ‘I’m so in love with him all the time,’ then you get that eye-rolling, ‘Oh, her life is so great, she’s so perfect.’ So it’s, like, my defense mechanism,” she added.</p>
<p>My daughter gets so pumped watching Disney films. She loves that they all have singing, dancing and a part when the parents die.</p>
<p>— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) <a href="https://twitter.com/VancityReynolds/status/871507402750779392" type="external">June 4, 2017</a></p>
<p>Lively married Reynolds in 2012, and shares two daughters, 2-year-old James and 10-month-old Ines, with the actor. She previously <a href="https://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/2017/04/11/Blake-Lively-Ryan-Reynolds-played-Lets-Get-it-On-while-I-was-in-labor/4461491920063/" type="external">told Glamour</a> that Reynolds played a <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Marvin_Gaye/" type="external">Marvin Gaye</a> song as she gave birth to one of their daughters.</p>
<p>“My husband played ‘Let’s Get It On’ while I was in labor,” the star said in a Glamour Games interview in June. “My doctor was laughing so hard that I thought she was going to drop our baby.”</p>
|
Blake Lively: Ryan Reynolds and I are 'really shy people'
| false |
https://newsline.com/blake-lively-ryan-reynolds-and-i-are-really-shy-people/
|
2017-07-31
| 1right-center
|
Blake Lively: Ryan Reynolds and I are 'really shy people'
<p>July 31 (UPI) — <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Blake_Lively/" type="external">Blake Lively</a> says she and husband <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Ryan_Reynolds/" type="external">Ryan Reynolds</a> are actually “very shy” people.</p>
<p>The 29-year-old actress said in <a href="https://www.glamour.com/story/blake-lively-september-2017-cover-interview" type="external">the September issue</a> of Glamour that she and Reynolds aren’t as open and outgoing as the Deadpool star may lead people to think.</p>
<p>“My husband and I are really shy people who express ourselves best when we’re acting, when we’re hiding as someone else,” she said while discussing her family. “So the fact that very shy people have to share that shy person with the world — and are sometimes hurt by it — it’s very weird emotionally.”</p>
<p>Reynolds has outwardly embraced the outrageous side of Deadpool since being cast as the title character in the 2016 movie. Lively said she loves the actor’s funny tweets about their family, but confessed they’re “completely made-up.”</p>
<p>“When he says ‘my daughter,’ he’s never, ever talking about her. Everything is a completely made-up scenario,” the actress said. “He’ll run them by me sometimes just to make me laugh. But oh, I’m so in love with him when he writes that stuff. I mean, I’m in love with him most of the time, but especially with that.”</p>
<p>“I said, ‘Most of the time,’ because if I say, ‘I’m so in love with him all the time,’ then you get that eye-rolling, ‘Oh, her life is so great, she’s so perfect.’ So it’s, like, my defense mechanism,” she added.</p>
<p>My daughter gets so pumped watching Disney films. She loves that they all have singing, dancing and a part when the parents die.</p>
<p>— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) <a href="https://twitter.com/VancityReynolds/status/871507402750779392" type="external">June 4, 2017</a></p>
<p>Lively married Reynolds in 2012, and shares two daughters, 2-year-old James and 10-month-old Ines, with the actor. She previously <a href="https://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/2017/04/11/Blake-Lively-Ryan-Reynolds-played-Lets-Get-it-On-while-I-was-in-labor/4461491920063/" type="external">told Glamour</a> that Reynolds played a <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Marvin_Gaye/" type="external">Marvin Gaye</a> song as she gave birth to one of their daughters.</p>
<p>“My husband played ‘Let’s Get It On’ while I was in labor,” the star said in a Glamour Games interview in June. “My doctor was laughing so hard that I thought she was going to drop our baby.”</p>
| 5,106 |
<p>After a video showing a University of California police officer ticketing an unlicensed street vendor and then taking the money went viral this weekend, the resulting backlash has led to a GoFundMe campaign in support the street vendor being set up by the man who took the video.</p>
<p>As of this Tuesday morning, the <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/officialjustice4juanstreetvendors" type="external">GoFundMe campaign</a> has reached almost $60,000. Additionally, a <a href="http://www.thepetitionsite.com/992/821/972/remove-s.-aranas-76-from-university-of-california-police-department/?taf_id=42211857&amp;cid=fb_na#bbfb=716735099" type="external">petition</a> calling for the officer to be fired has amassed over 30,000 signatures.</p>
<p>The street vendor, who only wants to be identified as “Beto” was selling hot dogs near Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, California, when UC police officer Sean Aranas wrote him a citation for selling food without a permit. The video then shows Aranas going into Beto’s wallet and extracting money.</p>
<p>According to the GoFundMe bio, the funds raised “will be utilized to cover legal and personal loses. In addition, funds in excess are to cover other vendors who have been robbed of their hard earned living through citations and removal of their carts.”</p>
<p>https://twitter.com/Moreno/status/906764058375766016</p>
<p>The video which was posted to Facebook and then later to Twitter, has been liked and retweeted well over 200,000 times.</p>
<p>“You’re going to take his money? That’s not right,” the man who filmed the video, Martin Flores, can be heard saying.</p>
<p>“We’re going to take it to the judge, and the judge can decide if it’s right,” Aranas replied. “This is law and order in action.”</p>
<p>Speaking to Telemundo, Beta said that people could see he wasn’t doing anything wrong.&#160;“I wasn’t stealing or drinking,” he said. “I was just working to sustain my family.”</p>
<p>Featured image via screen grab/ <a href="http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/national-international/Money-Raised-Vendor-After-Police-Seize-His-Wallet-443818753.html" type="external">NBC Bay Area</a></p>
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GoFundMe raises over $50,000 for vendor who had his money confiscated by cop
| true |
http://deadstate.org/gofundme-raises-over-50000-for-vendor-who-had-his-money-confiscated-by-cop/
|
2017-09-12
| 4left
|
GoFundMe raises over $50,000 for vendor who had his money confiscated by cop
<p>After a video showing a University of California police officer ticketing an unlicensed street vendor and then taking the money went viral this weekend, the resulting backlash has led to a GoFundMe campaign in support the street vendor being set up by the man who took the video.</p>
<p>As of this Tuesday morning, the <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/officialjustice4juanstreetvendors" type="external">GoFundMe campaign</a> has reached almost $60,000. Additionally, a <a href="http://www.thepetitionsite.com/992/821/972/remove-s.-aranas-76-from-university-of-california-police-department/?taf_id=42211857&amp;cid=fb_na#bbfb=716735099" type="external">petition</a> calling for the officer to be fired has amassed over 30,000 signatures.</p>
<p>The street vendor, who only wants to be identified as “Beto” was selling hot dogs near Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, California, when UC police officer Sean Aranas wrote him a citation for selling food without a permit. The video then shows Aranas going into Beto’s wallet and extracting money.</p>
<p>According to the GoFundMe bio, the funds raised “will be utilized to cover legal and personal loses. In addition, funds in excess are to cover other vendors who have been robbed of their hard earned living through citations and removal of their carts.”</p>
<p>https://twitter.com/Moreno/status/906764058375766016</p>
<p>The video which was posted to Facebook and then later to Twitter, has been liked and retweeted well over 200,000 times.</p>
<p>“You’re going to take his money? That’s not right,” the man who filmed the video, Martin Flores, can be heard saying.</p>
<p>“We’re going to take it to the judge, and the judge can decide if it’s right,” Aranas replied. “This is law and order in action.”</p>
<p>Speaking to Telemundo, Beta said that people could see he wasn’t doing anything wrong.&#160;“I wasn’t stealing or drinking,” he said. “I was just working to sustain my family.”</p>
<p>Featured image via screen grab/ <a href="http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/national-international/Money-Raised-Vendor-After-Police-Seize-His-Wallet-443818753.html" type="external">NBC Bay Area</a></p>
| 5,107 |
<p />
<p>Jenny McCarthy, host of Dirty, Sexy, Funny with Jenny McCarthy on SiriusXM. IMAGE SOURCE: SiriusXM.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>As a subscription-model business with most of its big capital expenditures in the rearview mirror, Sirius XM Holdings is a business that can generate a lot of cash and do so reliably.</p>
<p>Over the past three years, it's been using that cash to buy up its own shares. But that may be about to change, and the alternative may be a dividend.</p>
<p>Sirius CFO David Frear touched briefly on the topic earlier in June, when he spoke with analysts at the Bank of America-Merrill Lynch Global Telecom Conference.</p>
<p>Frear told analysts that the "company's economics set up well as a dividend story," and he hinted that the time to consider making that move is drawing nearer.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>"It didn't make a whole lot of sense to start capital returns with dividends when we were talking about it back in 2012," Frear said.</p>
<p>The company issued a $0.05 special dividend that year -- ahead of an anticipated tax increase -- saying that the payout "reflects the board's desire to return value to stockholders and its confidence in the long-term growth prospects of our business."</p>
<p>It's been the only dividend paid to date.</p>
<p>Although the company was generating $709 million in free cash by that year, it was limited in how it could use that cash by the covenants of its debt agreements. It also had some 6.8 billion diluted shares in circulation.</p>
<p>So while Sirius saw itself as an eventual dividend story then, it made little sense to try to tell that story to analysts and investors knowing that the dividend was probably still several years away, Frear said.</p>
<p>"It's just a tough story to tell," he said in June.</p>
<p>Instead, it put its money to use in a few important ways: buying back shares, entering the connected-vehicle services market, and investing in its programming.</p>
<p>Sirius XM committed to a $2 billion share-buyback plan that year, and it upped that amount each year after. By 2015, the plan had grown to $8 billion.</p>
<p>Today's outstanding share count is around 5 billion.</p>
<p>With subscription revenue continuing to grow at a healthy pace of around 8% annually, the company generated $1.3 billion in free cash flow last year -- double what it did in 2012.</p>
<p>As a result, we can see how cash flow per share has climbed over the past five years:</p>
<p><a href="http://ycharts.com/companies/SIRI/free_cash_flow_yield" type="external">SIRI Free Cash Flow Yield (TTM)</a> data by <a href="http://ycharts.com" type="external">YCharts Opens a New Window.</a></p>
<p>In returning cash to investors through only buybacks, Frear acknowledges that Sirius now finds itself in an unusual situation. He said he expects discussions with the board of directors regarding "the role of buybacks and dividends," and he noted that the ultimate decision will be up to the board, not management.</p>
<p>"And we will see where that story takes us," Frear concluded.</p>
<p>If Sirius was reluctant to tell its own story as a potential dividend payer, it's at least less so now. Consider Frear's comments a teaser.</p>
<p>Determining how much Sirius could return to investors as a dividend will depend on how much free cash the company wants to continue allocating toward buybacks and other investments.</p>
<p>But as we can see from the free cash flow yield numbers in the preceding chart, it would be possible for the company to issue a sizable distribution upwards of 5%.</p>
<p>Measuring by net income, as some investors prefer, a 100% payout would yield 3% at June 29 share prices.</p>
<p>While it's unlikely that Sirius would declare an opening dividend at 100% of either net income of free cash flow -- or probably anywhere close the company's economics do, indeed, support an attractive yield at today's prices</p>
<p>How soon that dividend will arrive is still anyone's guess. But now that a top executive has broached the topic, we can expect it to come up again, and probably soon. Investors will want to stay tuned to that discussion. A dividend would begin a new story for the satellite-radio company -- and one that should be enticing to investors.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/07/07/is-it-time-for-sirius-xm-to-start-issuing-a-divide.aspx" type="external">Is It Time for Sirius XM to Start Issuing a Dividend? Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/jekoslosky/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">John-Erik Koslosky Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Bank of America. 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>
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Is It Time for Sirius XM to Start Issuing a Dividend?
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/07/07/is-it-time-for-sirius-xm-to-start-issuing-dividend.html
|
2016-07-07
| 0right
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Is It Time for Sirius XM to Start Issuing a Dividend?
<p />
<p>Jenny McCarthy, host of Dirty, Sexy, Funny with Jenny McCarthy on SiriusXM. IMAGE SOURCE: SiriusXM.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>As a subscription-model business with most of its big capital expenditures in the rearview mirror, Sirius XM Holdings is a business that can generate a lot of cash and do so reliably.</p>
<p>Over the past three years, it's been using that cash to buy up its own shares. But that may be about to change, and the alternative may be a dividend.</p>
<p>Sirius CFO David Frear touched briefly on the topic earlier in June, when he spoke with analysts at the Bank of America-Merrill Lynch Global Telecom Conference.</p>
<p>Frear told analysts that the "company's economics set up well as a dividend story," and he hinted that the time to consider making that move is drawing nearer.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>"It didn't make a whole lot of sense to start capital returns with dividends when we were talking about it back in 2012," Frear said.</p>
<p>The company issued a $0.05 special dividend that year -- ahead of an anticipated tax increase -- saying that the payout "reflects the board's desire to return value to stockholders and its confidence in the long-term growth prospects of our business."</p>
<p>It's been the only dividend paid to date.</p>
<p>Although the company was generating $709 million in free cash by that year, it was limited in how it could use that cash by the covenants of its debt agreements. It also had some 6.8 billion diluted shares in circulation.</p>
<p>So while Sirius saw itself as an eventual dividend story then, it made little sense to try to tell that story to analysts and investors knowing that the dividend was probably still several years away, Frear said.</p>
<p>"It's just a tough story to tell," he said in June.</p>
<p>Instead, it put its money to use in a few important ways: buying back shares, entering the connected-vehicle services market, and investing in its programming.</p>
<p>Sirius XM committed to a $2 billion share-buyback plan that year, and it upped that amount each year after. By 2015, the plan had grown to $8 billion.</p>
<p>Today's outstanding share count is around 5 billion.</p>
<p>With subscription revenue continuing to grow at a healthy pace of around 8% annually, the company generated $1.3 billion in free cash flow last year -- double what it did in 2012.</p>
<p>As a result, we can see how cash flow per share has climbed over the past five years:</p>
<p><a href="http://ycharts.com/companies/SIRI/free_cash_flow_yield" type="external">SIRI Free Cash Flow Yield (TTM)</a> data by <a href="http://ycharts.com" type="external">YCharts Opens a New Window.</a></p>
<p>In returning cash to investors through only buybacks, Frear acknowledges that Sirius now finds itself in an unusual situation. He said he expects discussions with the board of directors regarding "the role of buybacks and dividends," and he noted that the ultimate decision will be up to the board, not management.</p>
<p>"And we will see where that story takes us," Frear concluded.</p>
<p>If Sirius was reluctant to tell its own story as a potential dividend payer, it's at least less so now. Consider Frear's comments a teaser.</p>
<p>Determining how much Sirius could return to investors as a dividend will depend on how much free cash the company wants to continue allocating toward buybacks and other investments.</p>
<p>But as we can see from the free cash flow yield numbers in the preceding chart, it would be possible for the company to issue a sizable distribution upwards of 5%.</p>
<p>Measuring by net income, as some investors prefer, a 100% payout would yield 3% at June 29 share prices.</p>
<p>While it's unlikely that Sirius would declare an opening dividend at 100% of either net income of free cash flow -- or probably anywhere close the company's economics do, indeed, support an attractive yield at today's prices</p>
<p>How soon that dividend will arrive is still anyone's guess. But now that a top executive has broached the topic, we can expect it to come up again, and probably soon. Investors will want to stay tuned to that discussion. A dividend would begin a new story for the satellite-radio company -- and one that should be enticing to investors.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/07/07/is-it-time-for-sirius-xm-to-start-issuing-a-divide.aspx" type="external">Is It Time for Sirius XM to Start Issuing a Dividend? Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/jekoslosky/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">John-Erik Koslosky Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Bank of America. 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>
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<p>Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald speaks at a news conference at the Veterans Affairs Department in Washington, Monday, Sept. 8, 2014. McDonald discussed his visits with VA facilities across the country and outline his priorities. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)</p>
<p>WASHINGTON — The Veterans Affairs Department with its 14 different password-protected websites is too complicated for most veterans to navigate, new Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald said Monday as he promised to make it easier for veterans to get disability benefits, health care, job training and other services.</p>
<p>The VA must “put veterans at the center of everything we do,” he said.</p>
<p>McDonald took over the agency in late July after former VA Secretary Eric Shinseki resigned amid a political furor over veterans in need of medical care having to wait months for appointments at VA hospital and clinics. Investigators said efforts to cover up or hide the delays were systemic throughout the agency’s network of nearly 1,000 hospitals and clinics.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>At a news conference at VA headquarters, McDonald unveiled what he called a three-point plan to rebuild trust among veterans, improve service delivery and set a course for the agency’s long-term future. The plan should be implemented by Veterans Day, Nov. 11, he said.</p>
<p>The former Procter &amp; Gamble CEO also said he wants to make the VA less formal, starting with his own title. “Call me Bob,” not Mr. Secretary, he said.</p>
<p>He gave his cellphone number to a roomful of reporters as a sign of his intent to open up what he called the VA’s closed culture, which he said has made it difficult to root out problems at the agency’s far-flung local and regional offices.</p>
<p>McDonald is scheduled to testify Tuesday before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee about a report by the department’s inspector general on delays in patient care at the VA’s Phoenix medical center, where a whistleblower first exposed long delays in patient care.</p>
<p>The report said workers falsified waitlists while their supervisors looked the other way or even directed it, resulting in chronic delays for veterans seeking care. The inspector general’s office identified 40 patients who died while awaiting appointments in Phoenix, but the report said officials could not “conclusively assert that the absence of timely quality care caused the deaths of these veterans.”</p>
<p>Three high-ranking officials at the Phoenix facility have been placed on leave while they appeal a department decision to fire them.</p>
<p>McDonald called the report troubling and said VA officials “feel terrible” about the problems the report revealed.</p>
<p>“We have worked on remedies for everything that they pointed out,” he said, noting that three of 25 recommendations by the inspector general have already been implemented.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“We are very sorry for what happened in Phoenix and we are working very hard to learn from it and pass those learnings around the entire system so that this does not happen again,” he said.</p>
<p>Paul Rieckhoff, founder and CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said he was impressed by McDonald’s commitment to veterans.</p>
<p>“In his first few weeks, Secretary McDonald has continued to show veterans he has our back,” Rieckhoff said, noting that McDonald has repeatedly called for changes in how the VA operates at visits to VA hospitals and appearances before veterans service organizations.</p>
<p>“This hands-on leadership and strategic plan is exactly what the VA needs after a summer of scandal and broken trust,” Rieckhoff said. “But there is still a very, very long road ahead before IAVA members see a real turnaround on the ground in their hometowns. The VA’s trust has been badly broken.”</p>
<p>McDonald himself acknowledged the difficulty of his task as he discussed efforts to recruit “tens of thousands” of doctors, nurses and other health care professionals to help alleviate a patient backlog at VA hospitals and clinics across the country.</p>
<p>McDonald called the VA a “great place to work” with “the best patients in the world” and significant resources to treat patients and conduct cutting-edge research.</p>
<p>Still he acknowledged that pay for VA health professionals lags behind the private sector, and said a three-year salary freeze has hurt recruitment and retention of doctors and nurses. The VA is evaluating whether to raise salaries and by how much, but no decisions have been made, McDonald said.</p>
<p>“It does us no good to recruit people if we can’t retain them, and certainly compensation is a part of that, he said.</p>
<p>—-</p>
<p>Follow Matthew Daly on Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/MatthewDalyWDC" type="external">http://twitter.com/MatthewDalyWDC</a></p>
|
New VA chief: Veterans agency too complicated
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/458904/new-va-chief-veterans-agency-too-complicated.html
| 2least
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New VA chief: Veterans agency too complicated
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald speaks at a news conference at the Veterans Affairs Department in Washington, Monday, Sept. 8, 2014. McDonald discussed his visits with VA facilities across the country and outline his priorities. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)</p>
<p>WASHINGTON — The Veterans Affairs Department with its 14 different password-protected websites is too complicated for most veterans to navigate, new Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald said Monday as he promised to make it easier for veterans to get disability benefits, health care, job training and other services.</p>
<p>The VA must “put veterans at the center of everything we do,” he said.</p>
<p>McDonald took over the agency in late July after former VA Secretary Eric Shinseki resigned amid a political furor over veterans in need of medical care having to wait months for appointments at VA hospital and clinics. Investigators said efforts to cover up or hide the delays were systemic throughout the agency’s network of nearly 1,000 hospitals and clinics.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>At a news conference at VA headquarters, McDonald unveiled what he called a three-point plan to rebuild trust among veterans, improve service delivery and set a course for the agency’s long-term future. The plan should be implemented by Veterans Day, Nov. 11, he said.</p>
<p>The former Procter &amp; Gamble CEO also said he wants to make the VA less formal, starting with his own title. “Call me Bob,” not Mr. Secretary, he said.</p>
<p>He gave his cellphone number to a roomful of reporters as a sign of his intent to open up what he called the VA’s closed culture, which he said has made it difficult to root out problems at the agency’s far-flung local and regional offices.</p>
<p>McDonald is scheduled to testify Tuesday before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee about a report by the department’s inspector general on delays in patient care at the VA’s Phoenix medical center, where a whistleblower first exposed long delays in patient care.</p>
<p>The report said workers falsified waitlists while their supervisors looked the other way or even directed it, resulting in chronic delays for veterans seeking care. The inspector general’s office identified 40 patients who died while awaiting appointments in Phoenix, but the report said officials could not “conclusively assert that the absence of timely quality care caused the deaths of these veterans.”</p>
<p>Three high-ranking officials at the Phoenix facility have been placed on leave while they appeal a department decision to fire them.</p>
<p>McDonald called the report troubling and said VA officials “feel terrible” about the problems the report revealed.</p>
<p>“We have worked on remedies for everything that they pointed out,” he said, noting that three of 25 recommendations by the inspector general have already been implemented.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“We are very sorry for what happened in Phoenix and we are working very hard to learn from it and pass those learnings around the entire system so that this does not happen again,” he said.</p>
<p>Paul Rieckhoff, founder and CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said he was impressed by McDonald’s commitment to veterans.</p>
<p>“In his first few weeks, Secretary McDonald has continued to show veterans he has our back,” Rieckhoff said, noting that McDonald has repeatedly called for changes in how the VA operates at visits to VA hospitals and appearances before veterans service organizations.</p>
<p>“This hands-on leadership and strategic plan is exactly what the VA needs after a summer of scandal and broken trust,” Rieckhoff said. “But there is still a very, very long road ahead before IAVA members see a real turnaround on the ground in their hometowns. The VA’s trust has been badly broken.”</p>
<p>McDonald himself acknowledged the difficulty of his task as he discussed efforts to recruit “tens of thousands” of doctors, nurses and other health care professionals to help alleviate a patient backlog at VA hospitals and clinics across the country.</p>
<p>McDonald called the VA a “great place to work” with “the best patients in the world” and significant resources to treat patients and conduct cutting-edge research.</p>
<p>Still he acknowledged that pay for VA health professionals lags behind the private sector, and said a three-year salary freeze has hurt recruitment and retention of doctors and nurses. The VA is evaluating whether to raise salaries and by how much, but no decisions have been made, McDonald said.</p>
<p>“It does us no good to recruit people if we can’t retain them, and certainly compensation is a part of that, he said.</p>
<p>—-</p>
<p>Follow Matthew Daly on Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/MatthewDalyWDC" type="external">http://twitter.com/MatthewDalyWDC</a></p>
| 5,109 |
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<p />
<p>TR. Happy to have him back for his useful POV on “waterboarding,” which, in his day, was called Chinese Water Torture among other things. During our cruel invasion of the Philippines, torture was too much for him. A general was using this simulated drowning business and TR first ordered a full briefing then a court martial. When the court martial ended in an acquittal Roosevelt just fired him. To quote one of my students at SVA, “I can almost remember what a president used to be like.” Go to <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1007/6647.html" type="external">politico.com</a> for the very interesting piece by Daniel Rezneck.</p>
<p />
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Brodner’s Person of the Day: Teddy Roosevelt
| true |
https://motherjones.com/politics/2007/11/brodners-person-day-teddy-roosevelt/
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2007-11-05
| 4left
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Brodner’s Person of the Day: Teddy Roosevelt
<p />
<p>TR. Happy to have him back for his useful POV on “waterboarding,” which, in his day, was called Chinese Water Torture among other things. During our cruel invasion of the Philippines, torture was too much for him. A general was using this simulated drowning business and TR first ordered a full briefing then a court martial. When the court martial ended in an acquittal Roosevelt just fired him. To quote one of my students at SVA, “I can almost remember what a president used to be like.” Go to <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1007/6647.html" type="external">politico.com</a> for the very interesting piece by Daniel Rezneck.</p>
<p />
| 5,110 |
<p>A long-running rebound in the housing market is boosting both the businesses of&#160;Sherwin-Williams&#160;(NYSE: SHW) and Home Depot&#160;(NYSE: HD)&#160;right now. Judging by their stock valuations, though, investors appear to be more optimistic that the paint specialist's Valspar acquisition will power impressive growth ahead. By comparison, Wall Street seems less impressed with Home Depot's recent record results.</p>
<p>Below, we'll stack these two high-performing businesses against each other to see which might make the better buy today.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Here are a few key statistics to get us started:</p>
<p>Both businesses are enjoying strong growth momentum this year. Sherwin-Williams in July announced a 16% revenue spike for its fiscal second quarter. The paint giant's earnings are up 10% over the first half of 2017, too. Home Depot, meanwhile, saw comparable-store sales gains speed up during the key spring shopping season as its <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/08/15/customer-traffic-gains-power-a-14-spike-in-home-de.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=90970394-8671-11e7-ab1a-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">profit jumped 14% Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Looking behind those headline results reveals more robust operating trends at Home Depot, though. Its revenue spike was powered by a healthy uptick in customer traffic, after all. Profitability continues to improve, and the retailer's average spending is rising thanks to deeper penetration into the professional side of the business.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Sherwin-Williams' big gains were, on the other hand, mostly powered by its acquisition of the Valspar business. The expansion pace in its core U.S. segment slowed last quarter as overall gross profit dipped to 46.5% of sales from 50.8% a year ago. That decline helped close the profitability gap between the companies. Net income margin was 9.2% over the past six months for Sherwin-Williams, compared to 9% for Home Depot.</p>
<p>Home Depot edges Sherwin-Williams in the category of direct cash returns. The most recent dividend raise was a whopping 29% as the retailer <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/02/27/home-depot-incs-new-dividend-what-investors-need-t.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=90970394-8671-11e7-ab1a-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">increased its target payout ratio Opens a New Window.</a> to 55% of earnings from 50%. Executives also hiked their projection on stock repurchase spending to $7 billion from the prior $5 billion goal. These moves highlight the benefit to investors of owning a highly profitable business that generates far more cash than it requires for future growth.</p>
<p>Sherwin-Williams&#160;doesn't have anything approaching that financial flexibility today as it works to digest its $11 billion Valspar purchase. In fact, its latest 1% dividend increase was far below the 20% gains that income investors enjoyed in each of the prior two fiscal years. On the plus side, Sherwin-Williams boasts an unbroken 39-year streak of annual dividend raises that management will be keen to extend. However, the rate of its payout raises might be limited until the Valspar business is fully integrated.</p>
<p>Sherwin-Williams has a good chance at achieving faster sales and profit gains once it begins taking advantage of the global leadership position in paints and coatings that the Valspar acquisition promises. That prospect should appeal to investors willing to take on a bit more risk for a shot at significant stock price growth.</p>
<p>If you prefer a steadier business outlook and less volatile earnings, however, consider a Home Depot purchase. The retailer already enjoys a dominant market position that's allowing it to reward investors through dividends and stock buybacks. Its impressive customer traffic trends, meanwhile, point to more market share gains even as the home-improvement industry continues to expand.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Home DepotWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=711850bc-d7d1-4a80-9d8b-a6e0863c48c0&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=90970394-8671-11e7-ab1a-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Home Depot wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
<p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=711850bc-d7d1-4a80-9d8b-a6e0863c48c0&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=90970394-8671-11e7-ab1a-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p>
<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of August 1, 2017</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFSigma/info.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=90970394-8671-11e7-ab1a-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Demitrios Kalogeropoulos Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Home Depot and Sherwin-Williams. The Motley Fool recommends Home Depot and Sherwin-Williams. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=90970394-8671-11e7-ab1a-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
|
Better Buy: Home Depot vs. Sherwin-Williams
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/09/22/better-buy-home-depot-vs-sherwin-williams.html
|
2017-08-22
| 0right
|
Better Buy: Home Depot vs. Sherwin-Williams
<p>A long-running rebound in the housing market is boosting both the businesses of&#160;Sherwin-Williams&#160;(NYSE: SHW) and Home Depot&#160;(NYSE: HD)&#160;right now. Judging by their stock valuations, though, investors appear to be more optimistic that the paint specialist's Valspar acquisition will power impressive growth ahead. By comparison, Wall Street seems less impressed with Home Depot's recent record results.</p>
<p>Below, we'll stack these two high-performing businesses against each other to see which might make the better buy today.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Here are a few key statistics to get us started:</p>
<p>Both businesses are enjoying strong growth momentum this year. Sherwin-Williams in July announced a 16% revenue spike for its fiscal second quarter. The paint giant's earnings are up 10% over the first half of 2017, too. Home Depot, meanwhile, saw comparable-store sales gains speed up during the key spring shopping season as its <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/08/15/customer-traffic-gains-power-a-14-spike-in-home-de.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=90970394-8671-11e7-ab1a-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">profit jumped 14% Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Looking behind those headline results reveals more robust operating trends at Home Depot, though. Its revenue spike was powered by a healthy uptick in customer traffic, after all. Profitability continues to improve, and the retailer's average spending is rising thanks to deeper penetration into the professional side of the business.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Sherwin-Williams' big gains were, on the other hand, mostly powered by its acquisition of the Valspar business. The expansion pace in its core U.S. segment slowed last quarter as overall gross profit dipped to 46.5% of sales from 50.8% a year ago. That decline helped close the profitability gap between the companies. Net income margin was 9.2% over the past six months for Sherwin-Williams, compared to 9% for Home Depot.</p>
<p>Home Depot edges Sherwin-Williams in the category of direct cash returns. The most recent dividend raise was a whopping 29% as the retailer <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/02/27/home-depot-incs-new-dividend-what-investors-need-t.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=90970394-8671-11e7-ab1a-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">increased its target payout ratio Opens a New Window.</a> to 55% of earnings from 50%. Executives also hiked their projection on stock repurchase spending to $7 billion from the prior $5 billion goal. These moves highlight the benefit to investors of owning a highly profitable business that generates far more cash than it requires for future growth.</p>
<p>Sherwin-Williams&#160;doesn't have anything approaching that financial flexibility today as it works to digest its $11 billion Valspar purchase. In fact, its latest 1% dividend increase was far below the 20% gains that income investors enjoyed in each of the prior two fiscal years. On the plus side, Sherwin-Williams boasts an unbroken 39-year streak of annual dividend raises that management will be keen to extend. However, the rate of its payout raises might be limited until the Valspar business is fully integrated.</p>
<p>Sherwin-Williams has a good chance at achieving faster sales and profit gains once it begins taking advantage of the global leadership position in paints and coatings that the Valspar acquisition promises. That prospect should appeal to investors willing to take on a bit more risk for a shot at significant stock price growth.</p>
<p>If you prefer a steadier business outlook and less volatile earnings, however, consider a Home Depot purchase. The retailer already enjoys a dominant market position that's allowing it to reward investors through dividends and stock buybacks. Its impressive customer traffic trends, meanwhile, point to more market share gains even as the home-improvement industry continues to expand.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Home DepotWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=711850bc-d7d1-4a80-9d8b-a6e0863c48c0&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=90970394-8671-11e7-ab1a-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Home Depot wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
<p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=711850bc-d7d1-4a80-9d8b-a6e0863c48c0&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=90970394-8671-11e7-ab1a-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p>
<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of August 1, 2017</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFSigma/info.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=90970394-8671-11e7-ab1a-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Demitrios Kalogeropoulos Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Home Depot and Sherwin-Williams. The Motley Fool recommends Home Depot and Sherwin-Williams. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=90970394-8671-11e7-ab1a-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
| 5,111 |
<p />
<p>Five former Treasury Secretaries, from Democratic and Republican administrations alike, <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/35516716" type="external">voiced their support</a> for the <a href="" type="internal">“Volcker Rule”</a>&#160;on Sunday in a joint letter to the Wall Street Journal. The secretaries—Michael Blumenthal, Paul O’Neill, George Shultz, Nicholas Brady, and John Snow—said the rule, which would separate banks’ riskier trading operations like hedge funds from their more staid commercial banking duties—wrote that “Banks benefiting from public support by means of access to the Federal Reserve and FDIC insurance should not engage in essentially speculative activity unrelated to essential bank services.”</p>
<p>The former secretaries’ support adds momentum behind the proposed regulation, offered by former Federal Reserve chairman and Obama ally Paul Volcker, going into a week when the Senate, led by banking committee chair Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), plans to unveil its version of comprehensive financial reform. (The House’s version of financial reform, passed in December, gives the Treasury and the president the power to divest assets from banks if necessary.) Broadly speaking, the Volcker Rule is supported by Congressional Democrats involved in financial reform as well as many finance experts. Despite the massive amounts of speculation that fueled the economic meltdown, large financial institutions generally say they’re more than capable of policing their own risky trading operations, and don’t see the need to split those hedge funds and private equity funds from their rest of their company. We’ll see sometime this week whether Dodd and Sen. Bob&#160;Corker (R-TN), Dodd’s latest partner in financial-reform talks, decide to include the Volcker Rule in their plans.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p />
|
Treasury Secretaries Back Volcker Rule
| true |
https://motherjones.com/politics/2010/02/treasury-secretaries-back-volcker-rule/
|
2010-02-22
| 4left
|
Treasury Secretaries Back Volcker Rule
<p />
<p>Five former Treasury Secretaries, from Democratic and Republican administrations alike, <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/35516716" type="external">voiced their support</a> for the <a href="" type="internal">“Volcker Rule”</a>&#160;on Sunday in a joint letter to the Wall Street Journal. The secretaries—Michael Blumenthal, Paul O’Neill, George Shultz, Nicholas Brady, and John Snow—said the rule, which would separate banks’ riskier trading operations like hedge funds from their more staid commercial banking duties—wrote that “Banks benefiting from public support by means of access to the Federal Reserve and FDIC insurance should not engage in essentially speculative activity unrelated to essential bank services.”</p>
<p>The former secretaries’ support adds momentum behind the proposed regulation, offered by former Federal Reserve chairman and Obama ally Paul Volcker, going into a week when the Senate, led by banking committee chair Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), plans to unveil its version of comprehensive financial reform. (The House’s version of financial reform, passed in December, gives the Treasury and the president the power to divest assets from banks if necessary.) Broadly speaking, the Volcker Rule is supported by Congressional Democrats involved in financial reform as well as many finance experts. Despite the massive amounts of speculation that fueled the economic meltdown, large financial institutions generally say they’re more than capable of policing their own risky trading operations, and don’t see the need to split those hedge funds and private equity funds from their rest of their company. We’ll see sometime this week whether Dodd and Sen. Bob&#160;Corker (R-TN), Dodd’s latest partner in financial-reform talks, decide to include the Volcker Rule in their plans.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p />
| 5,112 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — We’re looking at an above-normal high near 61 today in the <a href="http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?map.x=151&amp;map.y=119&amp;site=abq&amp;zmx=1&amp;zmy=1" type="external">Albuquerque metro area</a> and highs near 56 on Thursday, near 63 on Friday, 57 on Saturday, but the National Weather Service is forecasting a sharp cooldown to highs near 45 on Sunday and 44 on Monday, with a slight chance of snow showers Saturday night and again on Monday and Tuesday.</p>
<p>It’s all part of a return of wintry weather to New Mexico, with two storm systems expected to impact the northern and central parts of the state on Saturday through early next week, according to the weather service’s <a href="http://forecast.weather.gov/showsigwx.php?warnzone=NMZ519&amp;warncounty=NMC001&amp;firewxzone=NMZ106&amp;local_place1=&amp;product1=Hazardous+Weather+Outlook" type="external">hazardous weather outlook</a>.</p>
<p>The first system could bring accumulating snows across the northern and western mountains and moderate to strong and gusty winds south of Interstate 40 and east of Interstate 25 on Friday, Saturday and early Sunday.</p>
<p>Colder air will hit the state with Sunday’s highs ranging from five to 15 degrees below the average for mid-February.</p>
<p>The second storm system will arrive on Tuesday with another possibility of accumulating snows and rain across western, central and northern New Mexico, according to the weather service.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
|
Winter Making Comeback This Weekend
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/166467/winter-making-comeback-this-weekend.html
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2013-02-06
| 2least
|
Winter Making Comeback This Weekend
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — We’re looking at an above-normal high near 61 today in the <a href="http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?map.x=151&amp;map.y=119&amp;site=abq&amp;zmx=1&amp;zmy=1" type="external">Albuquerque metro area</a> and highs near 56 on Thursday, near 63 on Friday, 57 on Saturday, but the National Weather Service is forecasting a sharp cooldown to highs near 45 on Sunday and 44 on Monday, with a slight chance of snow showers Saturday night and again on Monday and Tuesday.</p>
<p>It’s all part of a return of wintry weather to New Mexico, with two storm systems expected to impact the northern and central parts of the state on Saturday through early next week, according to the weather service’s <a href="http://forecast.weather.gov/showsigwx.php?warnzone=NMZ519&amp;warncounty=NMC001&amp;firewxzone=NMZ106&amp;local_place1=&amp;product1=Hazardous+Weather+Outlook" type="external">hazardous weather outlook</a>.</p>
<p>The first system could bring accumulating snows across the northern and western mountains and moderate to strong and gusty winds south of Interstate 40 and east of Interstate 25 on Friday, Saturday and early Sunday.</p>
<p>Colder air will hit the state with Sunday’s highs ranging from five to 15 degrees below the average for mid-February.</p>
<p>The second storm system will arrive on Tuesday with another possibility of accumulating snows and rain across western, central and northern New Mexico, according to the weather service.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
| 5,113 |
<p>Laurent Renault/&lt;a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&amp;search_source=search_form&amp;version=llv1&amp;anyorall=all&amp;safesearch=1&amp;searchterm=euro&amp;search_group=&amp;orient=&amp;search_cat=&amp;searchtermx=&amp;photographer_name=&amp;people_gender=&amp;people_age=&amp;people_ethnicity=&amp;people_number=&amp;commercial_ok=&amp;color=&amp;show_color_wheel=1#id=54566473&amp;src=ec929d893be92ad5f6adc8ed3814c9e7-1-17"&gt;Shutterstock&lt;/a&gt;</p>
<p />
<p>It’s not particularly shocking that many Germans are worried about inflation. Hyperinflation is often blamed for the fall of the Weimar Republic—the sclerotic democracy that ruled the country between the two world wars—and the rise of Hitler. “You’d get your money in the morning, and if you didn’t spend it by the evening, it’d be worth half,” one German journalist (who was not alive at the time) informed me this week. The country went through another round of very high inflation during and immediately after World War II, and since then German governments, the German Central Bank, and its successor, the Frankfurt-based European Central Bank, have been renowned for their inflation hawkishness. Now, with the euro itself in danger, many American and British commentators are calling for the ECB to loosen its fiscal &#160;monetary <a href="#correction" type="external">*</a> reins. But without German support, that won’t happen—and German support does not seem to be coming.&#160;</p>
<p>I’m in Berlin for most of early December on a program for young American journalists. The agenda wasn’t designed to focus on the euro crisis, but naturally it was on the top of everyone’s mind—and I made sure, as we traveled around the city this week, to try to get German journalists’ read on the situation.</p>
<p>For the journalists I spoke to—from outlets across the political spectrum—inflation hawkishness and hostility to eurobonds (centrally issued debt that Europe as a whole, including Germany and France, would have to pay back) were as accepted as, say, kissing babies is in American politics. These feelings went far beyond the left-right divide—people who were otherwise progressive seemed totally opposed to the idea that German taxpayers might have to pay to cover Spanish or Italian or Portuguese deficits.</p>
<p>Perhaps this isn’t surprising. But what was shocking to me was the total absence of any recognition that there might be an alternate view. When I mentioned the idea that the euro’s problems might not be entirely due to government irresponsibility on the periphery, but rather a balance-of-payments issue (see <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2011/12/10/current_account_deficits_and_fiscal_policy.html" type="external">Matt Yglesias</a> or our own <a href="" type="internal">Kevin Drum</a> for more on that idea), people looked at me like I was from space. The fact that German and French banks are holding the bag for Spain and Italy’s debt never came up, and no one seemed to have any doubts that the European Stability Mechanism, the fund the eurozone countries are setting up for emergencies, would be sufficiently large to deal with the situation. (Reuters’ Felix Salmon is one of many outside commentators who <a href="http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2011/12/09/europes-disastrous-summit/" type="external">find that hard to believe</a>.)</p>
<p>One journalist for a top newspaper accepted that Greece may exit the euro, but she said that even if that happened, it wouldn’t be a big deal for the markets or the rest of the eurozone countries. She argued that European governments have spent so much time convincing markets that Greece is a unique case that a Greek exit would be seen as an anomaly, not a sign of things to come.&#160;</p>
<p>To get a good sense of how different the German landscape is from the debate here, take a look at John Cassidy’s New Yorker <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/johncassidy/2011/12/euro-zone-slow-flawed-and-dysfunctionalbut-not-finished.html" type="external">blog post</a> from Friday, in which he claims that “practically everybody”—”newspaper columnists, financial bloggers, Wall Street analysts, [and] hedge-fund managers”—agrees&#160;“the euro is destined to collapse, and with it the great post-war vision of European integration.” Cassidy frames his piece—which suggests that the Eurozone may survive without major chaos—as a counterintuitive, against-the-grain argument. But in Germany, Cassidy’s seems to be the majority view.</p>
<p>It’s possible, of course, that my sample of journalists was oddly skewed and that German media are talking about this sort of stuff. But if Germans really are taking the “worry” side of the story seriously, it’s a fringe thing. I spoke to reporters or editors from most of the country’s largest papers and broadcasters, and they all seemed unconcerned. What’s hard to convey remotely is the general mood: a kind of serenity, an almost utter confidence that everything will turn out fine. I hope they’re right. But I’m not so sure.</p>
<p>Correction: I said fiscal when I meant monetary. Sorry.&#160;</p>
<p />
|
Euromess: The View From Germany
| true |
https://motherjones.com/politics/2011/12/euromess-view-germany/
|
2011-12-12
| 4left
|
Euromess: The View From Germany
<p>Laurent Renault/&lt;a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&amp;search_source=search_form&amp;version=llv1&amp;anyorall=all&amp;safesearch=1&amp;searchterm=euro&amp;search_group=&amp;orient=&amp;search_cat=&amp;searchtermx=&amp;photographer_name=&amp;people_gender=&amp;people_age=&amp;people_ethnicity=&amp;people_number=&amp;commercial_ok=&amp;color=&amp;show_color_wheel=1#id=54566473&amp;src=ec929d893be92ad5f6adc8ed3814c9e7-1-17"&gt;Shutterstock&lt;/a&gt;</p>
<p />
<p>It’s not particularly shocking that many Germans are worried about inflation. Hyperinflation is often blamed for the fall of the Weimar Republic—the sclerotic democracy that ruled the country between the two world wars—and the rise of Hitler. “You’d get your money in the morning, and if you didn’t spend it by the evening, it’d be worth half,” one German journalist (who was not alive at the time) informed me this week. The country went through another round of very high inflation during and immediately after World War II, and since then German governments, the German Central Bank, and its successor, the Frankfurt-based European Central Bank, have been renowned for their inflation hawkishness. Now, with the euro itself in danger, many American and British commentators are calling for the ECB to loosen its fiscal &#160;monetary <a href="#correction" type="external">*</a> reins. But without German support, that won’t happen—and German support does not seem to be coming.&#160;</p>
<p>I’m in Berlin for most of early December on a program for young American journalists. The agenda wasn’t designed to focus on the euro crisis, but naturally it was on the top of everyone’s mind—and I made sure, as we traveled around the city this week, to try to get German journalists’ read on the situation.</p>
<p>For the journalists I spoke to—from outlets across the political spectrum—inflation hawkishness and hostility to eurobonds (centrally issued debt that Europe as a whole, including Germany and France, would have to pay back) were as accepted as, say, kissing babies is in American politics. These feelings went far beyond the left-right divide—people who were otherwise progressive seemed totally opposed to the idea that German taxpayers might have to pay to cover Spanish or Italian or Portuguese deficits.</p>
<p>Perhaps this isn’t surprising. But what was shocking to me was the total absence of any recognition that there might be an alternate view. When I mentioned the idea that the euro’s problems might not be entirely due to government irresponsibility on the periphery, but rather a balance-of-payments issue (see <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2011/12/10/current_account_deficits_and_fiscal_policy.html" type="external">Matt Yglesias</a> or our own <a href="" type="internal">Kevin Drum</a> for more on that idea), people looked at me like I was from space. The fact that German and French banks are holding the bag for Spain and Italy’s debt never came up, and no one seemed to have any doubts that the European Stability Mechanism, the fund the eurozone countries are setting up for emergencies, would be sufficiently large to deal with the situation. (Reuters’ Felix Salmon is one of many outside commentators who <a href="http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2011/12/09/europes-disastrous-summit/" type="external">find that hard to believe</a>.)</p>
<p>One journalist for a top newspaper accepted that Greece may exit the euro, but she said that even if that happened, it wouldn’t be a big deal for the markets or the rest of the eurozone countries. She argued that European governments have spent so much time convincing markets that Greece is a unique case that a Greek exit would be seen as an anomaly, not a sign of things to come.&#160;</p>
<p>To get a good sense of how different the German landscape is from the debate here, take a look at John Cassidy’s New Yorker <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/johncassidy/2011/12/euro-zone-slow-flawed-and-dysfunctionalbut-not-finished.html" type="external">blog post</a> from Friday, in which he claims that “practically everybody”—”newspaper columnists, financial bloggers, Wall Street analysts, [and] hedge-fund managers”—agrees&#160;“the euro is destined to collapse, and with it the great post-war vision of European integration.” Cassidy frames his piece—which suggests that the Eurozone may survive without major chaos—as a counterintuitive, against-the-grain argument. But in Germany, Cassidy’s seems to be the majority view.</p>
<p>It’s possible, of course, that my sample of journalists was oddly skewed and that German media are talking about this sort of stuff. But if Germans really are taking the “worry” side of the story seriously, it’s a fringe thing. I spoke to reporters or editors from most of the country’s largest papers and broadcasters, and they all seemed unconcerned. What’s hard to convey remotely is the general mood: a kind of serenity, an almost utter confidence that everything will turn out fine. I hope they’re right. But I’m not so sure.</p>
<p>Correction: I said fiscal when I meant monetary. Sorry.&#160;</p>
<p />
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<p>A century after city planner Daniel Burnham cautioned against making little plans—”they have no magic to stir men’s blood”—a team of technocrats from City Hall has drafted the transformation of the Chicago Public Schools.</p>
<p>New schools. New teaching. New tests. New ways of doing even routine things. And the plans certainly have stirred the blood of those concerned about the city’s schools, in some cases to the boiling point.</p>
<p>In the following interview, edited for space, CEO Paul Vallas first outlines a new student achievement plan, which was to have been unveiled Jan. 24, and then discusses his first six months in office. Asked about investing in local school councils as well as teachers and principals, he says, “Shall we expend our resources developing councils that may change every two years? Or should we invest in . . . teachers that may spend 5, 10, 15, 20 years with us?” He adds, however, that central office should help provide ongoing training. The interview was conducted on two days in early and mid-January.</p>
<p>Q Now you’re dealing with some of the lowest- performing schools, but do you get to the point where you nudge everybody up, as in, for example, Dallas or Kentucky?</p>
<p>Vallas: If you shift resources into the six or seven elements that seem to exist in all good schools, all should show improvement. If you let people know that academic achievement is the No. 1 priority. But clearly there has to be a concentration of effort in those schools that are facing the most serious problems.</p>
<p>What we’re going to do with problem schools is contract out with a number of universities and outside groups to set up school improvement teams. But we’re also going to set up a master principal, master teacher program, so some of our more gifted principals will also lead school improvement teams that will go in and work in other schools. They would receive a stipend, and some of their gifted teachers would receive stipends. They would work with the school beginning in the summer, helping it amend its school improvement plan, develop a curriculum plan, develop a teacher training plan. It’s a way of rewarding your top performing principals, giving them a new challenge and, at the same time, not pulling quality people from performing schools.</p>
<p>The third thing is, we have [former] principals in the central office who were outstanding. Lula Ford, Blondean Davis, Carlos Azcoitia, Jackie Simmons. Just all the way down the list. They will also take a school. The only one who we won’t give a school to is Pat Harvey. We’re also bringing in some of the principals who have left, some of the top retired principals.</p>
<p>We’re about to launch a major student achievement initiative. First of all we are looking at expanding state pre-kindergarten. Our goal is to add an additional 300 preschool classrooms for 3- and 4-year-olds. Two classes a day, 20 kids a class, 12,000 kids. We will trim the existing pre-K bureaucracy and eliminate a number of non-essential, non-teaching, non-assistant teacher preschool positions to provide some of the funding.</p>
<p>Q What do you do in overcrowded schools?</p>
<p>We’ll build the classrooms.</p>
<p>Next, Lynn St. James is developing a Direct Instruction model for kindergarten through 3rd or 4th grade that we want to adopt systemwide.</p>
<p>Q Would this be for phonics only, or beyond that?</p>
<p>It’ll be similar to the Houston model, so it goes beyond simple phonics. Schools that are not performing would have to adopt the model, and schools that are performing could waiver out of the model.</p>
<p>Q What are the criteria for getting a waiver? There may be a school that has lousy scores, but is using an alternative method.</p>
<p>I’m not sure yet. Also, we plan to have a new system of standards that are consistent with state standards and that are simple and understandable, not only by faculties, but also by parents. Our game plan is to have the proposed standards by June and then to work on them and educate people through the summer and have them up and running by September. So when you become a teacher in the Chicago Public Schools, you get your standards manual.</p>
<p>Accompanying the standards will be the new assessment system, to replace the Iowa Tests. We’re looking at an internal testing system that can be computerized so you can get instant results.</p>
<p>We’re throwing out the old school improvement plans and replacing them with a very simple, businesslike, very focused academic achievement plan.</p>
<p>We’re going to concentrate on breaking up the high schools by class. We’re going to allow elementary schools that have demonstrated achievement to set up their own 9th grade and then, in some rare occasions, maybe even a 10th grade. We are also looking at setting up a freshman feeder school, so you transition into high school.</p>
<p>Also within every high school that’s not a magnet, we are going to set up a freshman academy—longer school day, longer school year, different faculty, segregated from the mainstream high school population, focused on a core curriculum of language arts, math, science, reading. We’re going to set aside money to allow this to happen, close to $100,000 per high school. First, you will be tested in 8th grade, and you will not get your diploma if you have not reached a certain level of academic achievement. If you’re not at that level, you will go through a summer school program.</p>
<p>Q Does anybody get to opt out of this?</p>
<p>No. No, other than perhaps the magnet schools or schools that are really performing well.</p>
<p>Q What about the kids in 7th and 8th grade?</p>
<p>Middle schools. We’re going to allow the community to decide, because in some cases instead of building a new elementary school, you may want to build a middle school.</p>
<p>Moving on, we are going to revitalize vocational education. Charles Vietzen is in the process of inventorying all the voc-ed classes to determine what they need. We want to bring all the trades into the schools. We’re not going to wait to have these elaborate apprenticeship programs. We want to teach our kids the trades, period.</p>
<p>I know from first-hand experience how successful you can be by learning a basic trade. My brother went to the Washburne Trade School, and now he’s a very successful automotive technician for Amoco Oil. He’s just moved through the ranks. My father-in-law is a successful builder. He started out as a bricklayer. His two sons started out as bricklayers; they now are successful contractors. And no college education. They have a skill, they work hard, they have intelligence, they have drive, ambition. So I know.</p>
<p>Q Do you have enough faculty to do this?</p>
<p>We have a shortage of voc-ed instructors. We’re going to go out, and we’re going to find them. We will bring in retired tradesmen, tradesmen who want to teach part time, whatever.</p>
<p>Q These are not necessarily certified teachers then?</p>
<p>They will not be certified teachers in all cases. In some cases we may work out an arrangement where we can have a contractor come in. We’ll pay the contractor, and then he will have one of his people teach a trade in the school. As you know, we have a major school-to-work initiative where we’re pushing corporations to give our kids job training and part-time jobs.</p>
<p>Q What kind of response do you have there? Has anybody signed up?</p>
<p>There’s about 22 corporations that have responded. We’ve been talking to Jewel, Shell, UPS. We want to get our kids into jobs. We want to begin hiring our kids to do a lot of the odd jobs around school, like mowing lawns and shoveling snow. Now, someone wrote me a letter saying, you’re teaching kids to be custodians. No, we’re telling kids that, rather then hang out on the street corner, there might be an odd job you can perform to make a few bucks around the school and, at the same time, contribute to the school.</p>
<p>These are odd jobs designed to help develop a work ethic. My first job was in a florist shop. My second job was washing dishes and busing tables in my father’s restaurant. It helped me develop a work ethic. It also taught me that I’d better get a college education if I didn’t want to do it forever.</p>
<p>Then there will be a major truancy initiative. We won’t be hiring truancy officers back. We will be training and paying parents a stipend to serve as attendance officers, to go beyond trying to track down a kid who doesn’t show up at school. How about a kid who shows up at school who’s been abused, or is undernourished? We feel that there should be an adult in the school that you can go to talk to if there’s a problem or a concern.</p>
<p>A core curriculum. We want to be very specific on the amount of time that should be spent on language arts, math, science. What is done with the rest of the time is up to schools.</p>
<p>Q Are you under the impression that there’s a lot of time devoted to other things?</p>
<p>In some schools there is. There’s still going to be a lot of local flexibility on these things, but what we’re trying to do is we’re just trying to get everybody to focus.</p>
<p>Q Are you putting these out to hold hearings, or are you putting out tablets written in stone?</p>
<p>There will be working groups, but we will lay out a draft and then solicit input. We’ll modify, and hopefully by June, we’ll be ready to roll.</p>
<p>Q Probably the most controversial thing you’ve talked about is moving to a system of direct instruction.</p>
<p>Probably. But Lynn wants it. She’s very impressed with the model. People will be able to waiver out of the model. So she’ll be the one who will recommend to me the criteria.</p>
<p>Q Something very similar to this was tried in the mid ’80’s, with Ruth Love.</p>
<p>Really? I never studied Ruth Love.</p>
<p>Q A lot of schools will be doing this. You need to provide training. It seems like there are land mines all over the place, and this could blow up on you.</p>
<p>All I know is, at a lot of local schools things have already blown up because you’ve got children not being able to read and they’re in 3rd grade. Sometimes you have to clear the field before you can start planting again. Direct instruction has worked, miraculously in some cases, wherever it’s been done. It’s a way of allowing a lot of these kids to catch up. So it might be a model that would be best used in some of your more challenged environments.</p>
<p>So with the preschool and direct instruction at the early school level, I think you can get these kids out of the education gate with a full head of steam. We can’t wait another generation. A small, vocal group of people thinks that the only way to improve school performance is to let all the schools do whatever the hell they want to do and just concentrate all your efforts on training and remediating local school councils.</p>
<p>Q Is this, then, a calculated risk?</p>
<p>I think the big risk you take is not taking any action at all.</p>
<p>Q Do you ever fear that you have too many things going to handle?</p>
<p>No. I think we have just the right amount.</p>
<p>Q I’ve read your comments about local school councils that you’ve made at a number of venues. My impression is that if local school councils do a good job, that’s great; if they do a lousy job, you’ll step in. But I don’t hear you talk about investing and developing local school councils the way I hear you talk about investing and developing principals and teachers.</p>
<p>Well, there’s 557 local school councils. Shall we expend our resources developing local school councils that may change every two years? Or should we invest our resources in developing teachers that may spend 5, 10, 15, 20 years with us? It is not our responsibility to spend a lot of time and resources trying to bring local school councils up to speed. If you run for local school council, you have a responsibility to come in with the idea that you want to do the job, and the job is improving education and education performance.</p>
<p>I think the board does have a role in providing for local school council training, and I don’t think it should be a three-day affair, like the Legislature mandated. I think there should be year-round training in a variety of areas. Carlos Azcoitia, who has taken over School and Community Relations, will have that responsibility. I also think the board has a role to play in mediating conflicts between local school councils and principals.</p>
<p>The Legislature mandated that we set up this local school advisory council, and we’re in the process of finalizing that. Once that council is set up, they’re going to work with School and Community Relations to come up with a continuous training program and a remediation and intervention program to help deal with dysfunctional local school councils, and to help mediate conflicts.</p>
<p>But my point is, there’s only going to be so much we can do. We have a system without a lot of resources. I meet with some of these so-called systemwide representatives, and all they talk to me about is process. The discussion is never about academic performance, safety in schools, student achievement.</p>
<p>Q Do you think they don’t care about that?</p>
<p>I’m not suggesting that they don’t care about it, but I spend a lot of time talking about process and nothing else.</p>
<p>Q To be fair, these groups were out fighting to improve the school system way before even City Hall got interested. It’s not as though they have come out of the woodwork right now.</p>
<p>Well, you must distinguish between the reform groups and the cottage industry groups. The reform groups and the special interest groups.</p>
<p>Q Can you give an example of each?</p>
<p>No, because I have to deal with them all. They know who they are. But you have groups that justify the grants that they get by institutionalizing a process or their role. That’s all they’re interested with. For example, the obsession, the total obsession with Prosser High School. We have a crisis in individual schools, and all they want to talk about is Prosser and education crisis.</p>
<p>Reform was enacted in 1987, it’s now 1996, 45 of the state’s 50 poorest performing high schools are Chicago public high schools. At the elementary school level, the results have been mixed at best.</p>
<p>I am inundated with complaints about local school councils from parents, teachers and principals—and other local school council members. Investigate this, investigate that. Patronage, nepotism, people declaring custody over kids so that they can remain on local school councils. People intimidating parents. It’s a continual onslaught. [Columnist] Ray Coffey is getting half the stuff now. They’ve grown frustrated with us, and they all write to Ray. Because they figure, well, he’s the voice now. So now I have to contend with that. I believe they are, to quote Shakespeare, much ado about nothing.</p>
<p>Q Would it be better if the school system didn’t have local school councils?</p>
<p>No, no, it would not. I accept it as the price you pay for local control. The price that you pay for local control are the Slim Colemans and the Carlos Malaves. Is it a price worth paying? Yeah, it probably is because we live in a participatory democracy, meaning he who participates gets to benefit from the democracy. I think local school councils contribute to reform. But don’t complain when I hold you accountable.</p>
<p>I think there’s a good balance between the responsibilities of the local school council and the responsibilities of the central office. What was missing from the School Reform Act of 1987 was accountability. What the second reform act has brought is the power to hold people accountable. Everyone has to be accountable to the primary mission. The primary mission is delivering on the education product and ensuring that the laws and the school code are properly followed and enforced.</p>
<p>Q I’d like to make another statement for you to react to. My view of the Prosser situation is that both sides screwed up. The law provided for setting guidelines and then acting on them, and that wasn’t what happened. There was an announcement to act first, before the guidelines. And the reform groups didn’t talk about Prosser; all they talked about was process.</p>
<p>Well great, great. Everybody wanted to debate guidelines for the next 90 days or 120 days; meanwhile some terrible wrongdoings are going on. So Rome burns, but we basically debate the process in which we are to put out the fire. We needed to act decisively, but what do we do? We gave the guidelines a sunset and we did not declare another school in education crisis until the guidelines were amended. So I think we acted very, very responsibly.</p>
<p>I am not against local control. My reputation and Gery Chico’s reputation at City Hall was always inclusive, not exclusive. Always. We built our reputations on that.</p>
<p>Now there’s been schools where the community is demanding that I remove the local school council. The Hale School for example. There you have a local school council that is dominated by a single family. You have a firefighter who runs the local school council, and six of his relatives—either firefighters or paramedics—they dominate the local school council. The community wants them out. They scream, shout: get rid of them.</p>
<p>First of all, the school is a good performing school. Number two, there’s no incident of wrongdoing or corruption. Hey, we’ve had incompetent legislative bodies; there’s no law against that. So my point is I won’t intervene in that school, even though the whole community wants me to intervene in that school. So give us more credit for acting with restraint than for acting aggressively.</p>
<p>Q This suggests you must have a good speech for the upcoming local school council elections. Can’t you use your bully pulpit here?</p>
<p>We’re already beginning to give that speech. I went out to the Hale community and I said, I got the perfect solution for you—because I think 85 people elected that local school council. I said, Vote them out, get organized.</p>
<p>Q You’ve got remediation; you’ve got probation; you’ve got crisis. In some instances there’s overlap. It’s very confusing.</p>
<p>I don’t think there’s any confusion at all. You have schools on the state’s academic watch list. When those schools have continued to decline, when there doesn’t appear to be a game plan to improve performance, that’s when we put schools on remediation. And that allows us to take action that sometimes may not have to be approved by the local school council, and to remove a principal if we have to. But we envision remediation more as a notice that this school is not performing satisfactorily. Any additional authority that we exercise will really depend on the individual case.</p>
<p>If the records can’t be audited, then schools should be put on financial probation. That means you send in an auditor and the expenditures have to be approved by that auditor.</p>
<p>Education crisis is when something is going on that threatens the whole educational process in the school. There you take radical action. So where remediation is more of a long-term process, education crisis is more of a quick process.</p>
<p>Q And generally what is the trip point that puts a school into crisis?</p>
<p>It can be an emergency. Well let’s take for example Austin. Austin was never put on crisis, although we took the type of action that you might take in a crisis, in part because Austin was already under remediation. But the first week of school: No class schedule. No books. You know what I mean? You’ve got a crisis here.</p>
<p>Q I’m told that on a television program you said that you would like to have a say in the selection of principals. Is that true?</p>
<p>I don’t know if I said that or Gery Chico said that. I think you need to have some standards in the selection of principals that go beyond just a Type 75 Certificate.</p>
<p>Q They might include what?</p>
<p>I’m not sure. We’re in the process of putting together a Principals Academy. The academy would be run by a council of veteran principals, both retired and existing. I would envision that the academy and these veteran principals would make recommendations regarding additional criteria that we might want to consider in the selection of principals. Let’s face it, the principal is the single most critical figure in the schools. So it’s critical that the principals we select are just of the top quality, both as educators and managers.</p>
<p>Q This becomes a difficult political situation as well, if this is construed as placing limits on whom local school councils can select. Do you have to go change the law to get this done?</p>
<p>I’m not so sure that we would need to do that, and we would not impose criteria without consultation. We’re not talking about taking away the authority of local school councils to select principals. We’re not talking about doing something that would affect existing principals.</p>
<p>Q The Chicago Teachers Union contract with the board calls a peer review system to be set up. Is that going to happen?</p>
<p>We’ve got a committee working on that. In fact, there’s a number of things that the contract calls for. It also calls for expenditure reductions in health care. We’re supposed to reach an agreement, I think, by March or April on cost cuts in health care.</p>
<p>Q Does that mean benefit cuts?</p>
<p>It’ll mean what is negotiated. We’re looking for a reduction in cost to the tune of about 20 million dollars. It may mean generic drugs. It could mean a repackaging of certain benefits. Year two, three and four of the contract is contingent on the money being there.</p>
<p>Q Back again to peer review. How close to an agreement are you on that one?</p>
<p>Let’s just say that we will have a peer review system by next year. We’re not so close that I’ve gotten actively involved in it. It’s not at the stage where I’m beginning to see proposals that have gone through a couple drafts. I think it’s going to be a real positive thing.</p>
<p>Q The guidelines on state Chapter 1—what prompted you to change you mind about allowing schools to spend money on retreats?</p>
<p>Public input. The same thing on education crisis guidelines. A lot of the recommendations that emanated from Designs for Change and PURE specifically, we adopted. So we listen and we respond.</p>
<p>Q And you believe that retreats can be a part of school improvement?</p>
<p>Yeah, but once again, when people are deciding to spend public funds, they have an obligation to spend that money in the most cost-effective way possible.</p>
<p>Q How much of the game plan did you have with you when you arrived from City Hall, and how much have you made up as you’ve gone along?</p>
<p>Much of the financial plan was predetermined. We did know about a month before we went in that we were going in, and we spent about five or six weeks sitting down with people who were familiar with board programs and policies and finances. Obviously the most immediate problem that the board was facing was no collective bargaining agreements, a $150 to $200 million-dollar budget hole and [whether] schools would open on time.</p>
<p>We wanted to stabilize the system financially; we wanted to structure a four-year plan, so that there could be a capital component, so that we could go in and do building facility repairs. We wanted to negotiate a long-term [teachers’] contract. In other words, we wanted to buy the system some stability for a number of years, so that we could turn our attention to education policy.</p>
<p>Q You thought this out even before the legislation, because the legislation enabled you to do an awful lot of this, and that was passed in May.</p>
<p>Gery Chico and I were not involved in the formulation of the legislation. I didn’t find out until late May that I was going to be going over as school chief.</p>
<p>Q Then started a crash course in education, right?</p>
<p>Well, no, not really because my first job in government in 1979 was staffing the Elementary and Secondary Education Committee and the Appropriations Committee for Sen. Art Berman. My first government project was working on the Chicago School Financial Crisis Report of 1979.</p>
<p>Q But that was mainly finance. What about teaching and learning and curriculum?</p>
<p>It was finance, but it looked at a number of issues. The staff person for Elementary and Secondary Education would staff both the substantive side and the appropriation side.</p>
<p>Q What’s the mayor’s role now? You, how often do you report to him?</p>
<p>I brief him once a month with Gery Chico and Lynn St. James on school issues, the capital program, education programs, things like that. There’s a formal briefing about once a month, but I’m sure Gery talks to him weekly.</p>
<p>Q Do you need his okay for anything?</p>
<p>No, no. He in no way micromanages. He likes to think that he puts competent people in charge, and he basically lets them run the show. He really has insulated us from politics. I’ve never gotten a direct, personal call from the mayor on behalf of any individual or contract. Nor in my conversations with them.</p>
<p>Q And no one from his staff?</p>
<p>No, no one from his staff. That’s not to say that someone doesn’t call to inquire about something. But it’s almost like whoever you talk to, even when people call to inquire about something, they’re always extra careful to say, Now we don’t want you to do this.</p>
<p>Q Since you’ve had this job, what’s one of the biggest things you’ve learned? What’s been a surprise? What hadn’t you expected?</p>
<p>I hate to say that there are no surprises. I don’t think I’ve been shocked at anything. You heard the stories about the system for all these years and having been involved in education in Springfield, I can’t really say that anything has really surprised me. I think the job is as big as I had anticipated.</p>
<p>Q But in terms of trying to change schools, which are complex political and social organizations. Trying to figure out what levers to push to get teaching and learning to change. Surely, you didn’t know that coming in.</p>
<p>No, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to quickly identify what some of the basic problems are. If there was something that perhaps was somewhat surprising, it was the degree of diversity of approaches at the local school levels. No standardized textbooks; schools using multiple approaches and, in some cases, individual schools themselves using multiple approaches to curriculum and instruction.</p>
<p>Q Is that good or bad?</p>
<p>If it works, it’s good; if it doesn’t work, it’s bad. I’m not suggesting that you need to standardize everything. Clearly you have a responsibility to ensure that there’s a core curriculum and that there’s a focus and that kids are learning the key educational things that they need to learn—reading, math, science, the language arts. But diversity is good too. You can have a core curriculum and still have an Afrocentric curriculum or a performing arts curriculum or be a dual-language school.</p>
<p>I’d like to see schools with more focused education plans. I’d like to see schools that have teachers that have bought into that plan and are trained to teach to that plan. Maybe if we begin to provide more focus at the central office, it’ll have a domino effect within the system.</p>
<p>Q Is there anything you’ve done so far that you would have done differently?</p>
<p>I probably would have gone slower on federal Title I. [Ten weeks into the school year, the administration abandoned its plans to phase in a massive shift in Title I schools; as a result, some schools had to cut hundreds of thousands of dollars in programs that were underway.] Even we didn’t realize the full impact of the reallocation. So I’m not in any way saying that we were comfortable with what happened.</p>
<p>From a personnel standpoint, I would have put Carlos Azcoitia immediately in School and Community Relations and Maribeth Vander Weele in investigations. Because Maribeth is like the Avenging Angel; she cannot be compromised. She’s absolutely relentless, driving everybody crazy. We rehired Joyce Price, who was fired by the previous board. She had a reputation for being a bloodhound for weeding out wrongdoing, which was probably one of the reasons that she was cut.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t have done anything different on Prosser. I might have attempted to get the guidelines out a day or two earlier.</p>
<p>Q One last question now. Have you emptied all the warehouses full of extra stuff?</p>
<p>I don’t know.</p>
<p>Q This sounds like a “did not confirm or deny.”</p>
<p>Pershing Road is pretty big, it’s 2 million square feet.</p>
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The new Pershing Road makes no little plans
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http://chicagoreporter.com/new-pershing-road-makes-no-little-plans/
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2005-07-22
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The new Pershing Road makes no little plans
<p>A century after city planner Daniel Burnham cautioned against making little plans—”they have no magic to stir men’s blood”—a team of technocrats from City Hall has drafted the transformation of the Chicago Public Schools.</p>
<p>New schools. New teaching. New tests. New ways of doing even routine things. And the plans certainly have stirred the blood of those concerned about the city’s schools, in some cases to the boiling point.</p>
<p>In the following interview, edited for space, CEO Paul Vallas first outlines a new student achievement plan, which was to have been unveiled Jan. 24, and then discusses his first six months in office. Asked about investing in local school councils as well as teachers and principals, he says, “Shall we expend our resources developing councils that may change every two years? Or should we invest in . . . teachers that may spend 5, 10, 15, 20 years with us?” He adds, however, that central office should help provide ongoing training. The interview was conducted on two days in early and mid-January.</p>
<p>Q Now you’re dealing with some of the lowest- performing schools, but do you get to the point where you nudge everybody up, as in, for example, Dallas or Kentucky?</p>
<p>Vallas: If you shift resources into the six or seven elements that seem to exist in all good schools, all should show improvement. If you let people know that academic achievement is the No. 1 priority. But clearly there has to be a concentration of effort in those schools that are facing the most serious problems.</p>
<p>What we’re going to do with problem schools is contract out with a number of universities and outside groups to set up school improvement teams. But we’re also going to set up a master principal, master teacher program, so some of our more gifted principals will also lead school improvement teams that will go in and work in other schools. They would receive a stipend, and some of their gifted teachers would receive stipends. They would work with the school beginning in the summer, helping it amend its school improvement plan, develop a curriculum plan, develop a teacher training plan. It’s a way of rewarding your top performing principals, giving them a new challenge and, at the same time, not pulling quality people from performing schools.</p>
<p>The third thing is, we have [former] principals in the central office who were outstanding. Lula Ford, Blondean Davis, Carlos Azcoitia, Jackie Simmons. Just all the way down the list. They will also take a school. The only one who we won’t give a school to is Pat Harvey. We’re also bringing in some of the principals who have left, some of the top retired principals.</p>
<p>We’re about to launch a major student achievement initiative. First of all we are looking at expanding state pre-kindergarten. Our goal is to add an additional 300 preschool classrooms for 3- and 4-year-olds. Two classes a day, 20 kids a class, 12,000 kids. We will trim the existing pre-K bureaucracy and eliminate a number of non-essential, non-teaching, non-assistant teacher preschool positions to provide some of the funding.</p>
<p>Q What do you do in overcrowded schools?</p>
<p>We’ll build the classrooms.</p>
<p>Next, Lynn St. James is developing a Direct Instruction model for kindergarten through 3rd or 4th grade that we want to adopt systemwide.</p>
<p>Q Would this be for phonics only, or beyond that?</p>
<p>It’ll be similar to the Houston model, so it goes beyond simple phonics. Schools that are not performing would have to adopt the model, and schools that are performing could waiver out of the model.</p>
<p>Q What are the criteria for getting a waiver? There may be a school that has lousy scores, but is using an alternative method.</p>
<p>I’m not sure yet. Also, we plan to have a new system of standards that are consistent with state standards and that are simple and understandable, not only by faculties, but also by parents. Our game plan is to have the proposed standards by June and then to work on them and educate people through the summer and have them up and running by September. So when you become a teacher in the Chicago Public Schools, you get your standards manual.</p>
<p>Accompanying the standards will be the new assessment system, to replace the Iowa Tests. We’re looking at an internal testing system that can be computerized so you can get instant results.</p>
<p>We’re throwing out the old school improvement plans and replacing them with a very simple, businesslike, very focused academic achievement plan.</p>
<p>We’re going to concentrate on breaking up the high schools by class. We’re going to allow elementary schools that have demonstrated achievement to set up their own 9th grade and then, in some rare occasions, maybe even a 10th grade. We are also looking at setting up a freshman feeder school, so you transition into high school.</p>
<p>Also within every high school that’s not a magnet, we are going to set up a freshman academy—longer school day, longer school year, different faculty, segregated from the mainstream high school population, focused on a core curriculum of language arts, math, science, reading. We’re going to set aside money to allow this to happen, close to $100,000 per high school. First, you will be tested in 8th grade, and you will not get your diploma if you have not reached a certain level of academic achievement. If you’re not at that level, you will go through a summer school program.</p>
<p>Q Does anybody get to opt out of this?</p>
<p>No. No, other than perhaps the magnet schools or schools that are really performing well.</p>
<p>Q What about the kids in 7th and 8th grade?</p>
<p>Middle schools. We’re going to allow the community to decide, because in some cases instead of building a new elementary school, you may want to build a middle school.</p>
<p>Moving on, we are going to revitalize vocational education. Charles Vietzen is in the process of inventorying all the voc-ed classes to determine what they need. We want to bring all the trades into the schools. We’re not going to wait to have these elaborate apprenticeship programs. We want to teach our kids the trades, period.</p>
<p>I know from first-hand experience how successful you can be by learning a basic trade. My brother went to the Washburne Trade School, and now he’s a very successful automotive technician for Amoco Oil. He’s just moved through the ranks. My father-in-law is a successful builder. He started out as a bricklayer. His two sons started out as bricklayers; they now are successful contractors. And no college education. They have a skill, they work hard, they have intelligence, they have drive, ambition. So I know.</p>
<p>Q Do you have enough faculty to do this?</p>
<p>We have a shortage of voc-ed instructors. We’re going to go out, and we’re going to find them. We will bring in retired tradesmen, tradesmen who want to teach part time, whatever.</p>
<p>Q These are not necessarily certified teachers then?</p>
<p>They will not be certified teachers in all cases. In some cases we may work out an arrangement where we can have a contractor come in. We’ll pay the contractor, and then he will have one of his people teach a trade in the school. As you know, we have a major school-to-work initiative where we’re pushing corporations to give our kids job training and part-time jobs.</p>
<p>Q What kind of response do you have there? Has anybody signed up?</p>
<p>There’s about 22 corporations that have responded. We’ve been talking to Jewel, Shell, UPS. We want to get our kids into jobs. We want to begin hiring our kids to do a lot of the odd jobs around school, like mowing lawns and shoveling snow. Now, someone wrote me a letter saying, you’re teaching kids to be custodians. No, we’re telling kids that, rather then hang out on the street corner, there might be an odd job you can perform to make a few bucks around the school and, at the same time, contribute to the school.</p>
<p>These are odd jobs designed to help develop a work ethic. My first job was in a florist shop. My second job was washing dishes and busing tables in my father’s restaurant. It helped me develop a work ethic. It also taught me that I’d better get a college education if I didn’t want to do it forever.</p>
<p>Then there will be a major truancy initiative. We won’t be hiring truancy officers back. We will be training and paying parents a stipend to serve as attendance officers, to go beyond trying to track down a kid who doesn’t show up at school. How about a kid who shows up at school who’s been abused, or is undernourished? We feel that there should be an adult in the school that you can go to talk to if there’s a problem or a concern.</p>
<p>A core curriculum. We want to be very specific on the amount of time that should be spent on language arts, math, science. What is done with the rest of the time is up to schools.</p>
<p>Q Are you under the impression that there’s a lot of time devoted to other things?</p>
<p>In some schools there is. There’s still going to be a lot of local flexibility on these things, but what we’re trying to do is we’re just trying to get everybody to focus.</p>
<p>Q Are you putting these out to hold hearings, or are you putting out tablets written in stone?</p>
<p>There will be working groups, but we will lay out a draft and then solicit input. We’ll modify, and hopefully by June, we’ll be ready to roll.</p>
<p>Q Probably the most controversial thing you’ve talked about is moving to a system of direct instruction.</p>
<p>Probably. But Lynn wants it. She’s very impressed with the model. People will be able to waiver out of the model. So she’ll be the one who will recommend to me the criteria.</p>
<p>Q Something very similar to this was tried in the mid ’80’s, with Ruth Love.</p>
<p>Really? I never studied Ruth Love.</p>
<p>Q A lot of schools will be doing this. You need to provide training. It seems like there are land mines all over the place, and this could blow up on you.</p>
<p>All I know is, at a lot of local schools things have already blown up because you’ve got children not being able to read and they’re in 3rd grade. Sometimes you have to clear the field before you can start planting again. Direct instruction has worked, miraculously in some cases, wherever it’s been done. It’s a way of allowing a lot of these kids to catch up. So it might be a model that would be best used in some of your more challenged environments.</p>
<p>So with the preschool and direct instruction at the early school level, I think you can get these kids out of the education gate with a full head of steam. We can’t wait another generation. A small, vocal group of people thinks that the only way to improve school performance is to let all the schools do whatever the hell they want to do and just concentrate all your efforts on training and remediating local school councils.</p>
<p>Q Is this, then, a calculated risk?</p>
<p>I think the big risk you take is not taking any action at all.</p>
<p>Q Do you ever fear that you have too many things going to handle?</p>
<p>No. I think we have just the right amount.</p>
<p>Q I’ve read your comments about local school councils that you’ve made at a number of venues. My impression is that if local school councils do a good job, that’s great; if they do a lousy job, you’ll step in. But I don’t hear you talk about investing and developing local school councils the way I hear you talk about investing and developing principals and teachers.</p>
<p>Well, there’s 557 local school councils. Shall we expend our resources developing local school councils that may change every two years? Or should we invest our resources in developing teachers that may spend 5, 10, 15, 20 years with us? It is not our responsibility to spend a lot of time and resources trying to bring local school councils up to speed. If you run for local school council, you have a responsibility to come in with the idea that you want to do the job, and the job is improving education and education performance.</p>
<p>I think the board does have a role in providing for local school council training, and I don’t think it should be a three-day affair, like the Legislature mandated. I think there should be year-round training in a variety of areas. Carlos Azcoitia, who has taken over School and Community Relations, will have that responsibility. I also think the board has a role to play in mediating conflicts between local school councils and principals.</p>
<p>The Legislature mandated that we set up this local school advisory council, and we’re in the process of finalizing that. Once that council is set up, they’re going to work with School and Community Relations to come up with a continuous training program and a remediation and intervention program to help deal with dysfunctional local school councils, and to help mediate conflicts.</p>
<p>But my point is, there’s only going to be so much we can do. We have a system without a lot of resources. I meet with some of these so-called systemwide representatives, and all they talk to me about is process. The discussion is never about academic performance, safety in schools, student achievement.</p>
<p>Q Do you think they don’t care about that?</p>
<p>I’m not suggesting that they don’t care about it, but I spend a lot of time talking about process and nothing else.</p>
<p>Q To be fair, these groups were out fighting to improve the school system way before even City Hall got interested. It’s not as though they have come out of the woodwork right now.</p>
<p>Well, you must distinguish between the reform groups and the cottage industry groups. The reform groups and the special interest groups.</p>
<p>Q Can you give an example of each?</p>
<p>No, because I have to deal with them all. They know who they are. But you have groups that justify the grants that they get by institutionalizing a process or their role. That’s all they’re interested with. For example, the obsession, the total obsession with Prosser High School. We have a crisis in individual schools, and all they want to talk about is Prosser and education crisis.</p>
<p>Reform was enacted in 1987, it’s now 1996, 45 of the state’s 50 poorest performing high schools are Chicago public high schools. At the elementary school level, the results have been mixed at best.</p>
<p>I am inundated with complaints about local school councils from parents, teachers and principals—and other local school council members. Investigate this, investigate that. Patronage, nepotism, people declaring custody over kids so that they can remain on local school councils. People intimidating parents. It’s a continual onslaught. [Columnist] Ray Coffey is getting half the stuff now. They’ve grown frustrated with us, and they all write to Ray. Because they figure, well, he’s the voice now. So now I have to contend with that. I believe they are, to quote Shakespeare, much ado about nothing.</p>
<p>Q Would it be better if the school system didn’t have local school councils?</p>
<p>No, no, it would not. I accept it as the price you pay for local control. The price that you pay for local control are the Slim Colemans and the Carlos Malaves. Is it a price worth paying? Yeah, it probably is because we live in a participatory democracy, meaning he who participates gets to benefit from the democracy. I think local school councils contribute to reform. But don’t complain when I hold you accountable.</p>
<p>I think there’s a good balance between the responsibilities of the local school council and the responsibilities of the central office. What was missing from the School Reform Act of 1987 was accountability. What the second reform act has brought is the power to hold people accountable. Everyone has to be accountable to the primary mission. The primary mission is delivering on the education product and ensuring that the laws and the school code are properly followed and enforced.</p>
<p>Q I’d like to make another statement for you to react to. My view of the Prosser situation is that both sides screwed up. The law provided for setting guidelines and then acting on them, and that wasn’t what happened. There was an announcement to act first, before the guidelines. And the reform groups didn’t talk about Prosser; all they talked about was process.</p>
<p>Well great, great. Everybody wanted to debate guidelines for the next 90 days or 120 days; meanwhile some terrible wrongdoings are going on. So Rome burns, but we basically debate the process in which we are to put out the fire. We needed to act decisively, but what do we do? We gave the guidelines a sunset and we did not declare another school in education crisis until the guidelines were amended. So I think we acted very, very responsibly.</p>
<p>I am not against local control. My reputation and Gery Chico’s reputation at City Hall was always inclusive, not exclusive. Always. We built our reputations on that.</p>
<p>Now there’s been schools where the community is demanding that I remove the local school council. The Hale School for example. There you have a local school council that is dominated by a single family. You have a firefighter who runs the local school council, and six of his relatives—either firefighters or paramedics—they dominate the local school council. The community wants them out. They scream, shout: get rid of them.</p>
<p>First of all, the school is a good performing school. Number two, there’s no incident of wrongdoing or corruption. Hey, we’ve had incompetent legislative bodies; there’s no law against that. So my point is I won’t intervene in that school, even though the whole community wants me to intervene in that school. So give us more credit for acting with restraint than for acting aggressively.</p>
<p>Q This suggests you must have a good speech for the upcoming local school council elections. Can’t you use your bully pulpit here?</p>
<p>We’re already beginning to give that speech. I went out to the Hale community and I said, I got the perfect solution for you—because I think 85 people elected that local school council. I said, Vote them out, get organized.</p>
<p>Q You’ve got remediation; you’ve got probation; you’ve got crisis. In some instances there’s overlap. It’s very confusing.</p>
<p>I don’t think there’s any confusion at all. You have schools on the state’s academic watch list. When those schools have continued to decline, when there doesn’t appear to be a game plan to improve performance, that’s when we put schools on remediation. And that allows us to take action that sometimes may not have to be approved by the local school council, and to remove a principal if we have to. But we envision remediation more as a notice that this school is not performing satisfactorily. Any additional authority that we exercise will really depend on the individual case.</p>
<p>If the records can’t be audited, then schools should be put on financial probation. That means you send in an auditor and the expenditures have to be approved by that auditor.</p>
<p>Education crisis is when something is going on that threatens the whole educational process in the school. There you take radical action. So where remediation is more of a long-term process, education crisis is more of a quick process.</p>
<p>Q And generally what is the trip point that puts a school into crisis?</p>
<p>It can be an emergency. Well let’s take for example Austin. Austin was never put on crisis, although we took the type of action that you might take in a crisis, in part because Austin was already under remediation. But the first week of school: No class schedule. No books. You know what I mean? You’ve got a crisis here.</p>
<p>Q I’m told that on a television program you said that you would like to have a say in the selection of principals. Is that true?</p>
<p>I don’t know if I said that or Gery Chico said that. I think you need to have some standards in the selection of principals that go beyond just a Type 75 Certificate.</p>
<p>Q They might include what?</p>
<p>I’m not sure. We’re in the process of putting together a Principals Academy. The academy would be run by a council of veteran principals, both retired and existing. I would envision that the academy and these veteran principals would make recommendations regarding additional criteria that we might want to consider in the selection of principals. Let’s face it, the principal is the single most critical figure in the schools. So it’s critical that the principals we select are just of the top quality, both as educators and managers.</p>
<p>Q This becomes a difficult political situation as well, if this is construed as placing limits on whom local school councils can select. Do you have to go change the law to get this done?</p>
<p>I’m not so sure that we would need to do that, and we would not impose criteria without consultation. We’re not talking about taking away the authority of local school councils to select principals. We’re not talking about doing something that would affect existing principals.</p>
<p>Q The Chicago Teachers Union contract with the board calls a peer review system to be set up. Is that going to happen?</p>
<p>We’ve got a committee working on that. In fact, there’s a number of things that the contract calls for. It also calls for expenditure reductions in health care. We’re supposed to reach an agreement, I think, by March or April on cost cuts in health care.</p>
<p>Q Does that mean benefit cuts?</p>
<p>It’ll mean what is negotiated. We’re looking for a reduction in cost to the tune of about 20 million dollars. It may mean generic drugs. It could mean a repackaging of certain benefits. Year two, three and four of the contract is contingent on the money being there.</p>
<p>Q Back again to peer review. How close to an agreement are you on that one?</p>
<p>Let’s just say that we will have a peer review system by next year. We’re not so close that I’ve gotten actively involved in it. It’s not at the stage where I’m beginning to see proposals that have gone through a couple drafts. I think it’s going to be a real positive thing.</p>
<p>Q The guidelines on state Chapter 1—what prompted you to change you mind about allowing schools to spend money on retreats?</p>
<p>Public input. The same thing on education crisis guidelines. A lot of the recommendations that emanated from Designs for Change and PURE specifically, we adopted. So we listen and we respond.</p>
<p>Q And you believe that retreats can be a part of school improvement?</p>
<p>Yeah, but once again, when people are deciding to spend public funds, they have an obligation to spend that money in the most cost-effective way possible.</p>
<p>Q How much of the game plan did you have with you when you arrived from City Hall, and how much have you made up as you’ve gone along?</p>
<p>Much of the financial plan was predetermined. We did know about a month before we went in that we were going in, and we spent about five or six weeks sitting down with people who were familiar with board programs and policies and finances. Obviously the most immediate problem that the board was facing was no collective bargaining agreements, a $150 to $200 million-dollar budget hole and [whether] schools would open on time.</p>
<p>We wanted to stabilize the system financially; we wanted to structure a four-year plan, so that there could be a capital component, so that we could go in and do building facility repairs. We wanted to negotiate a long-term [teachers’] contract. In other words, we wanted to buy the system some stability for a number of years, so that we could turn our attention to education policy.</p>
<p>Q You thought this out even before the legislation, because the legislation enabled you to do an awful lot of this, and that was passed in May.</p>
<p>Gery Chico and I were not involved in the formulation of the legislation. I didn’t find out until late May that I was going to be going over as school chief.</p>
<p>Q Then started a crash course in education, right?</p>
<p>Well, no, not really because my first job in government in 1979 was staffing the Elementary and Secondary Education Committee and the Appropriations Committee for Sen. Art Berman. My first government project was working on the Chicago School Financial Crisis Report of 1979.</p>
<p>Q But that was mainly finance. What about teaching and learning and curriculum?</p>
<p>It was finance, but it looked at a number of issues. The staff person for Elementary and Secondary Education would staff both the substantive side and the appropriation side.</p>
<p>Q What’s the mayor’s role now? You, how often do you report to him?</p>
<p>I brief him once a month with Gery Chico and Lynn St. James on school issues, the capital program, education programs, things like that. There’s a formal briefing about once a month, but I’m sure Gery talks to him weekly.</p>
<p>Q Do you need his okay for anything?</p>
<p>No, no. He in no way micromanages. He likes to think that he puts competent people in charge, and he basically lets them run the show. He really has insulated us from politics. I’ve never gotten a direct, personal call from the mayor on behalf of any individual or contract. Nor in my conversations with them.</p>
<p>Q And no one from his staff?</p>
<p>No, no one from his staff. That’s not to say that someone doesn’t call to inquire about something. But it’s almost like whoever you talk to, even when people call to inquire about something, they’re always extra careful to say, Now we don’t want you to do this.</p>
<p>Q Since you’ve had this job, what’s one of the biggest things you’ve learned? What’s been a surprise? What hadn’t you expected?</p>
<p>I hate to say that there are no surprises. I don’t think I’ve been shocked at anything. You heard the stories about the system for all these years and having been involved in education in Springfield, I can’t really say that anything has really surprised me. I think the job is as big as I had anticipated.</p>
<p>Q But in terms of trying to change schools, which are complex political and social organizations. Trying to figure out what levers to push to get teaching and learning to change. Surely, you didn’t know that coming in.</p>
<p>No, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to quickly identify what some of the basic problems are. If there was something that perhaps was somewhat surprising, it was the degree of diversity of approaches at the local school levels. No standardized textbooks; schools using multiple approaches and, in some cases, individual schools themselves using multiple approaches to curriculum and instruction.</p>
<p>Q Is that good or bad?</p>
<p>If it works, it’s good; if it doesn’t work, it’s bad. I’m not suggesting that you need to standardize everything. Clearly you have a responsibility to ensure that there’s a core curriculum and that there’s a focus and that kids are learning the key educational things that they need to learn—reading, math, science, the language arts. But diversity is good too. You can have a core curriculum and still have an Afrocentric curriculum or a performing arts curriculum or be a dual-language school.</p>
<p>I’d like to see schools with more focused education plans. I’d like to see schools that have teachers that have bought into that plan and are trained to teach to that plan. Maybe if we begin to provide more focus at the central office, it’ll have a domino effect within the system.</p>
<p>Q Is there anything you’ve done so far that you would have done differently?</p>
<p>I probably would have gone slower on federal Title I. [Ten weeks into the school year, the administration abandoned its plans to phase in a massive shift in Title I schools; as a result, some schools had to cut hundreds of thousands of dollars in programs that were underway.] Even we didn’t realize the full impact of the reallocation. So I’m not in any way saying that we were comfortable with what happened.</p>
<p>From a personnel standpoint, I would have put Carlos Azcoitia immediately in School and Community Relations and Maribeth Vander Weele in investigations. Because Maribeth is like the Avenging Angel; she cannot be compromised. She’s absolutely relentless, driving everybody crazy. We rehired Joyce Price, who was fired by the previous board. She had a reputation for being a bloodhound for weeding out wrongdoing, which was probably one of the reasons that she was cut.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t have done anything different on Prosser. I might have attempted to get the guidelines out a day or two earlier.</p>
<p>Q One last question now. Have you emptied all the warehouses full of extra stuff?</p>
<p>I don’t know.</p>
<p>Q This sounds like a “did not confirm or deny.”</p>
<p>Pershing Road is pretty big, it’s 2 million square feet.</p>
| 5,115 |
<p>After nearly a month without any mail, soldiers at Combat Outpost Baylough finally got a small reprieve, which swooped in hanging from the underside of a huge Chinook helicopter on July 26.</p>
<p>Along with needed repair parts, combat equipment and dozens of new mattresses, a crate of letters and care packages arrived as well. Despite receiving some very fancy, very classified, and very expensive equipment that will help them fight the Taliban, the mail was the most visibly appreciated.</p>
<p>Baylough is in mountainous Zabul Province. Because the Taliban can mine the roads unobserved, the base is accessible only by air, though helicopters are few and far between.</p>
<p>When soldiers ask me how long I am staying at Baylough, it is impossible to give a specific answer, since that all depends on the helicopters. It's not inconceivable to wait two weeks for a flight out.</p>
<p />
<p>After putting their new equipment away, soldiers dispersed to open their care packages.</p>
<p />
<p>After nearly a month without receiving any mail, soldiers at Baylough finally got a delivery - probably a smal fraction of the mail that is waiting for them.</p>
<p />
<p>Soldiers got many new toys to play with, including a Puma surveillance drone.</p>
<p />
<p>The Chinook pilots had to make several landing attempts because of the blinding dust clouds kicked up by their rotors. Chinooks are nicknamed "Big Windy" by infantrymen who must endure the cargo helicopter's gale-force winds.</p>
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Photos: The mail, a morale booster, finally arrives at remote Afghanistan outpost
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https://pri.org/stories/2011-07-28/photos-mail-morale-booster-finally-arrives-remote-afghanistan-outpost
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2011-07-28
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Photos: The mail, a morale booster, finally arrives at remote Afghanistan outpost
<p>After nearly a month without any mail, soldiers at Combat Outpost Baylough finally got a small reprieve, which swooped in hanging from the underside of a huge Chinook helicopter on July 26.</p>
<p>Along with needed repair parts, combat equipment and dozens of new mattresses, a crate of letters and care packages arrived as well. Despite receiving some very fancy, very classified, and very expensive equipment that will help them fight the Taliban, the mail was the most visibly appreciated.</p>
<p>Baylough is in mountainous Zabul Province. Because the Taliban can mine the roads unobserved, the base is accessible only by air, though helicopters are few and far between.</p>
<p>When soldiers ask me how long I am staying at Baylough, it is impossible to give a specific answer, since that all depends on the helicopters. It's not inconceivable to wait two weeks for a flight out.</p>
<p />
<p>After putting their new equipment away, soldiers dispersed to open their care packages.</p>
<p />
<p>After nearly a month without receiving any mail, soldiers at Baylough finally got a delivery - probably a smal fraction of the mail that is waiting for them.</p>
<p />
<p>Soldiers got many new toys to play with, including a Puma surveillance drone.</p>
<p />
<p>The Chinook pilots had to make several landing attempts because of the blinding dust clouds kicked up by their rotors. Chinooks are nicknamed "Big Windy" by infantrymen who must endure the cargo helicopter's gale-force winds.</p>
| 5,116 |
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<p>Police say 11 items stolen from Diva Diamonds &amp; Jewels on the Santa Fe Plaza last week were valued at more than $1 million. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>SANTA FE - The Santa Fe Police Department is looking for three thieves said to have stolen more than $1 million worth of merchandise from a Plaza jewelry store during a popular holiday celebration.</p>
<p>An estimated $1 million in jewelry was reported stolen from Diva Diamonds &amp; Jewels on the Santa Fe Plaza last Friday night. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>According to Lt. Michele Williams, three suspects - two men and a woman - went into Diva Diamonds &amp; Jewels on the Plaza between 5:15 and 5:30 p.m. on Friday, during the city's crowded annual Plaza holiday lighting event, and took 11 valuable items while employees were busy with customers.</p>
<p>All the stolen jewelry was in the same general area of the store, Williams said, and the owner - Ala Shawabkeh, otherwise known as Mark Shaw - said he didn't notice the items were gone until later.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Investigators believe the heist may have been planned for about two weeks, because the suspects have been seen in the business before.</p>
<p>"They had been in the store on a prior date and were asking questions about the jewelry in the store," Williams said. "That's why they feel they were scoping it out."</p>
<p>The Santa Fe Police Department released this surveillance camera image of one of three people who are said to have stolen more more than $1 million worth of jewelry from a Santa Fe Plaza store last Friday. (Courtesy of the Santa Fe Police)</p>
<p>Shaw also owns Gold House Fine Jewelry on Old Santa Fe Trail, which was raided by U.S. Fish and Wildlife in late October for selling counterfeit Native American jewelry that was actually made in the Philippines.</p>
<p>Federal authorities arrested three people for violating the Indian Arts and Crafts Act after raids on jewelry stores in Albuquerque and Gallup as well as Santa Fe, but Shaw was not charged. Shaw also owns Wild Horse LLC on Old Santa Fe Trail and Virginia Trading Post and Fly Eagle on East San Francisco Street.</p>
<p>These are two of the people caught on a surveillance camera taking jewelry from a Santa Fe Plaza store last week. (Courtesy of Santa Fe Police)</p>
<p>At Diva Diamonds on Tuesday afternoon, employees declined to comment, saying police advised them not to talk to anyone about the investigation.</p>
<p>There is a high density of jewelry stores in downtown Santa Fe, especially along East San Francisco Street on the Plaza. Williams said that burglaries in the area are common, but that thefts of this magnitude are not.</p>
<p>"We've certainly had theft down there, but the anomaly is the dollar amount," she said. "We hadn't had anything that high in a while."</p>
<p>Williams said police have a few leads on the thieves, but they still need the public's help identifying them. Images of the culprits are available on the Santa Fe Police public information officer Facebook page.</p>
<p>Anyone with information is urged to call detective Abe Maes at 505-231-6497 or detective Matthew Champlin at 505-469-5707.</p>
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3 sought in $1 million theft of jewelry at Santa Fe store
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3 sought in $1 million theft of jewelry at Santa Fe store
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<p>Police say 11 items stolen from Diva Diamonds &amp; Jewels on the Santa Fe Plaza last week were valued at more than $1 million. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>SANTA FE - The Santa Fe Police Department is looking for three thieves said to have stolen more than $1 million worth of merchandise from a Plaza jewelry store during a popular holiday celebration.</p>
<p>An estimated $1 million in jewelry was reported stolen from Diva Diamonds &amp; Jewels on the Santa Fe Plaza last Friday night. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>According to Lt. Michele Williams, three suspects - two men and a woman - went into Diva Diamonds &amp; Jewels on the Plaza between 5:15 and 5:30 p.m. on Friday, during the city's crowded annual Plaza holiday lighting event, and took 11 valuable items while employees were busy with customers.</p>
<p>All the stolen jewelry was in the same general area of the store, Williams said, and the owner - Ala Shawabkeh, otherwise known as Mark Shaw - said he didn't notice the items were gone until later.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Investigators believe the heist may have been planned for about two weeks, because the suspects have been seen in the business before.</p>
<p>"They had been in the store on a prior date and were asking questions about the jewelry in the store," Williams said. "That's why they feel they were scoping it out."</p>
<p>The Santa Fe Police Department released this surveillance camera image of one of three people who are said to have stolen more more than $1 million worth of jewelry from a Santa Fe Plaza store last Friday. (Courtesy of the Santa Fe Police)</p>
<p>Shaw also owns Gold House Fine Jewelry on Old Santa Fe Trail, which was raided by U.S. Fish and Wildlife in late October for selling counterfeit Native American jewelry that was actually made in the Philippines.</p>
<p>Federal authorities arrested three people for violating the Indian Arts and Crafts Act after raids on jewelry stores in Albuquerque and Gallup as well as Santa Fe, but Shaw was not charged. Shaw also owns Wild Horse LLC on Old Santa Fe Trail and Virginia Trading Post and Fly Eagle on East San Francisco Street.</p>
<p>These are two of the people caught on a surveillance camera taking jewelry from a Santa Fe Plaza store last week. (Courtesy of Santa Fe Police)</p>
<p>At Diva Diamonds on Tuesday afternoon, employees declined to comment, saying police advised them not to talk to anyone about the investigation.</p>
<p>There is a high density of jewelry stores in downtown Santa Fe, especially along East San Francisco Street on the Plaza. Williams said that burglaries in the area are common, but that thefts of this magnitude are not.</p>
<p>"We've certainly had theft down there, but the anomaly is the dollar amount," she said. "We hadn't had anything that high in a while."</p>
<p>Williams said police have a few leads on the thieves, but they still need the public's help identifying them. Images of the culprits are available on the Santa Fe Police public information officer Facebook page.</p>
<p>Anyone with information is urged to call detective Abe Maes at 505-231-6497 or detective Matthew Champlin at 505-469-5707.</p>
<p />
<p />
| 5,117 |
<p>U.S. worker productivity picked up in the second quarter but has remained worryingly sluggish throughout the current economic expansion.</p>
<p>Nonfarm business-sector productivity, measured as the goods and services produced per hour worked, increased at a 0.9% seasonally adjusted annual rate in the second quarter, up from a 0.1% growth rate for the first three months of 2017, the Labor Department said Wednesday. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected a 0.6% growth rate for the latest quarter.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Output rose at a 3.4% rate from the first quarter, while hours worked were up at a 2.5% pace.</p>
<p>Compared with a year earlier, productivity was up 1.2% in the second quarter as output rose faster than hours worked.</p>
<p>Productivity data tend to be volatile from quarter to quarter, and Wednesday's report included revisions going back several years. The productivity trend was slightly stronger than earlier estimated in 2014 and 2015, and slightly weaker than initially thought in 2016. Productivity fell 0.1% last year, the first calendar-year decline since 1982.</p>
<p>Annual growth averaged 1.2% from 2007 to 2016, well below the long-term average of 2.1%.</p>
<p>Unit labor costs at nonfarm businesses rose at a 0.6% rate in the second quarter; economists had expected a 1.0% growth pace. From a year earlier, unit labor costs fell 0.2%.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>In theory, higher labor costs can be passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices, though wage growth and consumer-price inflation have both been sluggish in recent years.</p>
<p>Productivity is a critical factor for determining the future trajectory of wages, prices and overall economic output. Rapid productivity gains, as seen during the information technology-fueled boom of the late 1990s and early 2000s, can boost household incomes and economic growth.</p>
<p>Sluggish productivity growth, on the other hand, can cause slower economic growth and prevent wages from rising much without generating uncomfortably high inflation.</p>
<p>"If labor productivity grows an average of 2% per year, average living standards for our children's generation will be twice what we experienced," Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer said in a July speech. "If labor productivity grows an average of 1% per year, the difference is dramatic: Living standards will take two generations to double."</p>
<p>In the U.S., productivity growth was slowing before the recession began in December 2007 and has been historically weak throughout the recovery that began in mid-2009. That may have restrained wage growth and overall growth in economic activity in recent years.</p>
<p>Looking forward, some forecasters think continued sluggish productivity gains will help keep overall economic growth from exceeding its modest recent pace of roughly 2% a year. President Donald Trump has said he wants to boost U.S. economic growth above 3% a year, which likely would require a significant pickup in productivity growth.</p>
<p>Government policies could help promote stronger productivity growth, Mr. Fischer said, mentioning the potential for investment in basic research, early childhood education programs, infrastructure and other priorities.</p>
<p>"Reasonable people can disagree about the right way forward, but if we as a society are to succeed, we need to follow policies that will support and advance productivity growth," Mr. Fischer said. "That is easier said than done. But it can be done."</p>
<p>The Labor Department's report on labor productivity and costs can be accessed at: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/prod2.nr0.htm</p>
<p>Write to Ben Leubsdorf at [email protected] and Sarah Chaney at [email protected]</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>August 09, 2017 08:45 ET (12:45 GMT)</p>
|
U.S. Productivity Rose at 0.9% Rate in Second Quarter
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/08/09/u-s-productivity-rose-at-0-9-rate-in-second-quarter.html
|
2017-08-09
| 0right
|
U.S. Productivity Rose at 0.9% Rate in Second Quarter
<p>U.S. worker productivity picked up in the second quarter but has remained worryingly sluggish throughout the current economic expansion.</p>
<p>Nonfarm business-sector productivity, measured as the goods and services produced per hour worked, increased at a 0.9% seasonally adjusted annual rate in the second quarter, up from a 0.1% growth rate for the first three months of 2017, the Labor Department said Wednesday. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected a 0.6% growth rate for the latest quarter.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Output rose at a 3.4% rate from the first quarter, while hours worked were up at a 2.5% pace.</p>
<p>Compared with a year earlier, productivity was up 1.2% in the second quarter as output rose faster than hours worked.</p>
<p>Productivity data tend to be volatile from quarter to quarter, and Wednesday's report included revisions going back several years. The productivity trend was slightly stronger than earlier estimated in 2014 and 2015, and slightly weaker than initially thought in 2016. Productivity fell 0.1% last year, the first calendar-year decline since 1982.</p>
<p>Annual growth averaged 1.2% from 2007 to 2016, well below the long-term average of 2.1%.</p>
<p>Unit labor costs at nonfarm businesses rose at a 0.6% rate in the second quarter; economists had expected a 1.0% growth pace. From a year earlier, unit labor costs fell 0.2%.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>In theory, higher labor costs can be passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices, though wage growth and consumer-price inflation have both been sluggish in recent years.</p>
<p>Productivity is a critical factor for determining the future trajectory of wages, prices and overall economic output. Rapid productivity gains, as seen during the information technology-fueled boom of the late 1990s and early 2000s, can boost household incomes and economic growth.</p>
<p>Sluggish productivity growth, on the other hand, can cause slower economic growth and prevent wages from rising much without generating uncomfortably high inflation.</p>
<p>"If labor productivity grows an average of 2% per year, average living standards for our children's generation will be twice what we experienced," Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer said in a July speech. "If labor productivity grows an average of 1% per year, the difference is dramatic: Living standards will take two generations to double."</p>
<p>In the U.S., productivity growth was slowing before the recession began in December 2007 and has been historically weak throughout the recovery that began in mid-2009. That may have restrained wage growth and overall growth in economic activity in recent years.</p>
<p>Looking forward, some forecasters think continued sluggish productivity gains will help keep overall economic growth from exceeding its modest recent pace of roughly 2% a year. President Donald Trump has said he wants to boost U.S. economic growth above 3% a year, which likely would require a significant pickup in productivity growth.</p>
<p>Government policies could help promote stronger productivity growth, Mr. Fischer said, mentioning the potential for investment in basic research, early childhood education programs, infrastructure and other priorities.</p>
<p>"Reasonable people can disagree about the right way forward, but if we as a society are to succeed, we need to follow policies that will support and advance productivity growth," Mr. Fischer said. "That is easier said than done. But it can be done."</p>
<p>The Labor Department's report on labor productivity and costs can be accessed at: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/prod2.nr0.htm</p>
<p>Write to Ben Leubsdorf at [email protected] and Sarah Chaney at [email protected]</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>August 09, 2017 08:45 ET (12:45 GMT)</p>
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<p />
<p>The purchase gives the nation’s No. 2 cellphone carrier a leg-up in serving customers who prefer not to have lengthy contracts.</p>
<p>Leap’s Cricket service has 5 million subscribers, which includes New Mexico customers in Albuquerque, Las Cruces, Los Lunas, Santa Fe and other locations.</p>
<p>The deal also gives AT&amp;T the right to use Leap’s unused airwaves — also known as spectrum — to expand its network.</p>
<p>As part of its deal, AT&amp;T plans to keep the Cricket brand name, but provide Cricket customers with a broader range of devices and give them access to AT&amp;T’s “4G LTE” high-speed wireless network. AT&amp;T says it plans to expand Cricket’s presence in the U.S.</p>
<p>As of March, AT&amp;T had 7.1 million pre-paid customers through its GoPhone and Aio brands. AT&amp;T has 107 million wireless customers in total.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>AT&amp;T will buy all of Leap’s stock and wireless properties, including licenses, network and retail stores. Leap’s unused spectrum covers portions of the country that include 41 million people.</p>
<p>Cricket is considered a regional carrier. Its network covers regions of the country housing 96 million people in 35 states. It also provides national coverage through a roaming agreement with Sprint, which won’t be needed if its tie-up with AT&amp;T gains regulatory approval.</p>
<p>Cricket phones are also sold outside its own coverage area in the U.S. through Radio Shack and Walmart stores.</p>
<p>AT&amp;T said it expects the deal will close in six to nine months, although it requires approval from the Federal Communications Commission and Department of Justice.</p>
|
AT&T to buy Leap Wireless, Cricket for $1.2 billion
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/220619/att-to-buy-leap-wireless-cricket-for-1-2-billion.html
| 2least
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AT&T to buy Leap Wireless, Cricket for $1.2 billion
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>The purchase gives the nation’s No. 2 cellphone carrier a leg-up in serving customers who prefer not to have lengthy contracts.</p>
<p>Leap’s Cricket service has 5 million subscribers, which includes New Mexico customers in Albuquerque, Las Cruces, Los Lunas, Santa Fe and other locations.</p>
<p>The deal also gives AT&amp;T the right to use Leap’s unused airwaves — also known as spectrum — to expand its network.</p>
<p>As part of its deal, AT&amp;T plans to keep the Cricket brand name, but provide Cricket customers with a broader range of devices and give them access to AT&amp;T’s “4G LTE” high-speed wireless network. AT&amp;T says it plans to expand Cricket’s presence in the U.S.</p>
<p>As of March, AT&amp;T had 7.1 million pre-paid customers through its GoPhone and Aio brands. AT&amp;T has 107 million wireless customers in total.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>AT&amp;T will buy all of Leap’s stock and wireless properties, including licenses, network and retail stores. Leap’s unused spectrum covers portions of the country that include 41 million people.</p>
<p>Cricket is considered a regional carrier. Its network covers regions of the country housing 96 million people in 35 states. It also provides national coverage through a roaming agreement with Sprint, which won’t be needed if its tie-up with AT&amp;T gains regulatory approval.</p>
<p>Cricket phones are also sold outside its own coverage area in the U.S. through Radio Shack and Walmart stores.</p>
<p>AT&amp;T said it expects the deal will close in six to nine months, although it requires approval from the Federal Communications Commission and Department of Justice.</p>
| 5,119 |
|
<p>Alabama Power Co. said Friday it will reduce or end coal use at three generating plants because of federal environmental rules as it spends $1 billion to meet new air emission rules.</p>
<p>The utility said it will close two coal-fired generating units at Plant Gorgas in Walker County northwest of Birmingham. It also will eliminate coal as a fuel and switch to natural gas for fuel at three Plant Barry units near Mobile.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>At the Greene County plant west of Tuscaloosa, Alabama Power said it would reduce the workforce by about half as the switch is made from coal to gas.</p>
<p>About 60 jobs will reportedly be affected in Greene County, but the utility said cuts will come from transfers and attrition, not layoffs.</p>
<p>The changes are supposed to be finished by 2016.</p>
<p>In a statement, Alabama Power vice president Matt Bowden said federal rules were forcing the utility to change the way it generate electricity.</p>
<p>"They are putting new restrictions on our ability to provide our customers with the energy they need in a cost-effective manner," he said in a statement.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>The announcement came just days after hearings on the Obama administration's plan to reduce carbon emissions as part of its effort to curb global warming, and Republican utility regulators who support the coal industry criticized federal officials for forcing change.</p>
<p>"It's a sad day when Barack Obama and the federal government get to tell the people of Alabama how to handle our own energy production," said Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh, president of the Alabama Public Service Commission.</p>
<p>On the Democratic side, House Minority Leader Craig Ford said he commended the company "for protecting thousands of jobs and looking out for their employees and their families."</p>
<p>Alabama Power said it spent about $3 billion to meet federal environmental rules over the last decade, and it is spending another $1 billion to meet new air emission standards.</p>
<p>Nationwide, the administration plan would force a 30 percent cut in carbon dioxide emissions from power plants by 2030 from 2005 levels.</p>
<p>In Alabama, the government says power plants produced 1,444 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt hour in 2012. The government wants to reduce that amount by about 27 percent by 2030.</p>
<p>Federal officials have not previously attempt to restrict carbon dioxide emissions from existing plants.</p>
|
Alabama Power cites federal regulations for coal reductions at 3 plants
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2014/08/01/alabama-power-cites-federal-regulations-for-coal-reductions-at-3-plants.html
|
2016-03-09
| 0right
|
Alabama Power cites federal regulations for coal reductions at 3 plants
<p>Alabama Power Co. said Friday it will reduce or end coal use at three generating plants because of federal environmental rules as it spends $1 billion to meet new air emission rules.</p>
<p>The utility said it will close two coal-fired generating units at Plant Gorgas in Walker County northwest of Birmingham. It also will eliminate coal as a fuel and switch to natural gas for fuel at three Plant Barry units near Mobile.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>At the Greene County plant west of Tuscaloosa, Alabama Power said it would reduce the workforce by about half as the switch is made from coal to gas.</p>
<p>About 60 jobs will reportedly be affected in Greene County, but the utility said cuts will come from transfers and attrition, not layoffs.</p>
<p>The changes are supposed to be finished by 2016.</p>
<p>In a statement, Alabama Power vice president Matt Bowden said federal rules were forcing the utility to change the way it generate electricity.</p>
<p>"They are putting new restrictions on our ability to provide our customers with the energy they need in a cost-effective manner," he said in a statement.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>The announcement came just days after hearings on the Obama administration's plan to reduce carbon emissions as part of its effort to curb global warming, and Republican utility regulators who support the coal industry criticized federal officials for forcing change.</p>
<p>"It's a sad day when Barack Obama and the federal government get to tell the people of Alabama how to handle our own energy production," said Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh, president of the Alabama Public Service Commission.</p>
<p>On the Democratic side, House Minority Leader Craig Ford said he commended the company "for protecting thousands of jobs and looking out for their employees and their families."</p>
<p>Alabama Power said it spent about $3 billion to meet federal environmental rules over the last decade, and it is spending another $1 billion to meet new air emission standards.</p>
<p>Nationwide, the administration plan would force a 30 percent cut in carbon dioxide emissions from power plants by 2030 from 2005 levels.</p>
<p>In Alabama, the government says power plants produced 1,444 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt hour in 2012. The government wants to reduce that amount by about 27 percent by 2030.</p>
<p>Federal officials have not previously attempt to restrict carbon dioxide emissions from existing plants.</p>
| 5,120 |
<p>The “ <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/29/europe/french-mayors-refuse-lift-burkini-ban/" type="external">Burkini ban</a>” pursued in Cannes and about thirty other towns might have just been overturned in the French courts, but it was only the latest and most absurd Islamophobic assault endured by Muslims in the country.</p>
<p>The French state has excluded and exploited Muslims for decades. The intensity of this assault varies, but the <a href="" type="internal">jihadist attacks</a> in Paris in January and November of last year, and in Nice and Rouen in 2016, have sent it to fever pitch.</p>
<p>Of the 3,500 raids conducted since the start of that period, only six have led to investigations. In December, authorities in Eure et Loire <a href="http://www.lechorepublicain.fr/eure-et-loir/actualite/pays/pays-drouais/2015/12/10/avec-l-etat-d-urgence-les-perquisitions-en-eure-et-loir-se-font-dans-une-optique-preventive_11700447.html" type="external">admitted</a> that they were targeting Muslims on a purely “preventive” basis, without any specific evidence against them.</p>
<p>Children have watched as their parents are handcuffed or dragged from their beds by heavily armed police. In the first three months of the state of emergency enacted after last year’s Bataclan attack, 274 people were placed under house arrest, the vast majority of them Muslims. Racial profiling is rampant.</p>
<p>Mosques have been violently ransacked by the police. Worshippers are humiliated and degraded, including through the use of police dogs. Around twenty mosques have simply been closed, and more will soon be shuttered.</p>
<p>Political organizations with Muslim links have also been threatened with closure; <a href="" type="internal">demonstrations</a>, including pro-Palestinian ones, have been banned; the <a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2015/12/frances-problem-with-bds.html" type="external">BDS movement</a> has been outlawed.</p>
<p>Muslims appealing for asylum find themselves even more vulnerable than residents. The government delivers anti-Islamic broadsides while destroying refugee camps in Calais and elsewhere.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the French have blessed the European Union’s deal with Turkey on refugees, under which Syrian refugees arriving by boat on Greek islands are deported to Turkey.</p>
<p>In pursuing these policies, French politicians have knowingly ignored the fact that long-standing and state-sponsored Islamophobia, combined with military activity in Muslim countries, has only encouraged extremism. The political classes have refused to recognize how their economic and social policies fuel the alienation that drives people to join groups like ISIS.</p>
<p>A ferocious escalation of Islamophobic propaganda from all quarters of French culture and politics accompanies these measures. According to <a href="https://lectures.revues.org/12827" type="external">Abdellali Hajjat and Marwan Mohammed</a>, “the construction of the ‘Muslim problem’ over recent years constitutes one of the main vectors for French and even European elites’ unification” across the political spectrum.</p>
<p>Islamophobia has become, they say “the very ground on which the organizational and ideological future of the French right is most directly played out.”</p>
<p>But when it comes to defending the rights of France’s Muslim population, the Left, including much of the radical left, has been missing in action. Reluctance to defend religious freedom seriously undermines the Left’s solidarity with Muslim refugees.</p>
<p>As a result, Islamophobia strikes at the heart of one of the most urgent political projects for European radicals.</p>
|
The Roots of Islamophobia in France
| true |
https://jacobinmag.com/2016/08/burkini-ban-islamophobia-valls-france-secularism-islam/
|
2018-10-04
| 4left
|
The Roots of Islamophobia in France
<p>The “ <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/29/europe/french-mayors-refuse-lift-burkini-ban/" type="external">Burkini ban</a>” pursued in Cannes and about thirty other towns might have just been overturned in the French courts, but it was only the latest and most absurd Islamophobic assault endured by Muslims in the country.</p>
<p>The French state has excluded and exploited Muslims for decades. The intensity of this assault varies, but the <a href="" type="internal">jihadist attacks</a> in Paris in January and November of last year, and in Nice and Rouen in 2016, have sent it to fever pitch.</p>
<p>Of the 3,500 raids conducted since the start of that period, only six have led to investigations. In December, authorities in Eure et Loire <a href="http://www.lechorepublicain.fr/eure-et-loir/actualite/pays/pays-drouais/2015/12/10/avec-l-etat-d-urgence-les-perquisitions-en-eure-et-loir-se-font-dans-une-optique-preventive_11700447.html" type="external">admitted</a> that they were targeting Muslims on a purely “preventive” basis, without any specific evidence against them.</p>
<p>Children have watched as their parents are handcuffed or dragged from their beds by heavily armed police. In the first three months of the state of emergency enacted after last year’s Bataclan attack, 274 people were placed under house arrest, the vast majority of them Muslims. Racial profiling is rampant.</p>
<p>Mosques have been violently ransacked by the police. Worshippers are humiliated and degraded, including through the use of police dogs. Around twenty mosques have simply been closed, and more will soon be shuttered.</p>
<p>Political organizations with Muslim links have also been threatened with closure; <a href="" type="internal">demonstrations</a>, including pro-Palestinian ones, have been banned; the <a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2015/12/frances-problem-with-bds.html" type="external">BDS movement</a> has been outlawed.</p>
<p>Muslims appealing for asylum find themselves even more vulnerable than residents. The government delivers anti-Islamic broadsides while destroying refugee camps in Calais and elsewhere.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the French have blessed the European Union’s deal with Turkey on refugees, under which Syrian refugees arriving by boat on Greek islands are deported to Turkey.</p>
<p>In pursuing these policies, French politicians have knowingly ignored the fact that long-standing and state-sponsored Islamophobia, combined with military activity in Muslim countries, has only encouraged extremism. The political classes have refused to recognize how their economic and social policies fuel the alienation that drives people to join groups like ISIS.</p>
<p>A ferocious escalation of Islamophobic propaganda from all quarters of French culture and politics accompanies these measures. According to <a href="https://lectures.revues.org/12827" type="external">Abdellali Hajjat and Marwan Mohammed</a>, “the construction of the ‘Muslim problem’ over recent years constitutes one of the main vectors for French and even European elites’ unification” across the political spectrum.</p>
<p>Islamophobia has become, they say “the very ground on which the organizational and ideological future of the French right is most directly played out.”</p>
<p>But when it comes to defending the rights of France’s Muslim population, the Left, including much of the radical left, has been missing in action. Reluctance to defend religious freedom seriously undermines the Left’s solidarity with Muslim refugees.</p>
<p>As a result, Islamophobia strikes at the heart of one of the most urgent political projects for European radicals.</p>
| 5,121 |
<p>GLSEN Baltimore’s 2015 LGBTQ Youth Summit will be held&#160;at Towson University. (Photo by Adam Jackson; courtesy Wikimedia Commons)</p>
<p>The 2015 LGBTQ Youth Summit, sponsored by GLSEN Baltimore, will take place on Sept. 19 at the Student Union Building at Towson University. The day-long event for LGBTQ high school students ages 13-19 and allies throughout Maryland and the surrounding areas will feature numerous activities, educational workshops, an opportunity to meet and network with peers and community resources, free dinner and a dance to end the night.</p>
<p>Workshops include: Bisexuality, Coming Out, Racism in the LGBTQ Community, Gender Theory, Trans* Perspectives, Starting and Maintaining a GSA, Know your Legal Rights, Voguing, Yoga in Your Toolbox and Craft Making, among others.</p>
<p>“Our annual youth summit is easily our most anticipated and well-attended event of the year,” said Jabari Lyles, co-chair and education manager of GLSEN Baltimore. “Since we are simply more connected with more schools statewide, we expect one of the largest turnouts ever for this year’s summit.”</p>
<p>This year GLSEN added a special workshop track for teachers, according to Lyles, which includes helpful, reflective conversation about being a supportive educator and features a mini-safe space training.</p>
<p>There is no charge for the event but reservations need to be made at <a href="http://www.eventbrite.com/e/we-are-flawless-glsen-baltimore-youth-summit-2015-registration-18301570490" type="external">http://www.eventbrite.com/e/we-are-flawless-glsen-baltimore-youth-summit-2015-registration-18301570490</a>.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">2015 LGBTQ Youth Summit</a> <a href="" type="internal">Baltimore</a> <a href="" type="internal">bisexuality</a> <a href="" type="internal">coming out</a> <a href="" type="internal">GLSEN</a> <a href="" type="internal">GLSEN Baltimore</a> <a href="" type="internal">GSA</a> <a href="" type="internal">Jabari Lyles</a> <a href="" type="internal">lgbt youth</a> <a href="" type="internal">LGBTQ youth</a> <a href="" type="internal">Maryland</a> <a href="" type="internal">Towson University</a> <a href="" type="internal">trans</a> <a href="" type="internal">transgender</a></p>
|
GLSEN 2015 Youth Summit on tap
| false |
http://washingtonblade.com/2015/09/09/glsen-2015-youth-summit-on-tap/
| 3left-center
|
GLSEN 2015 Youth Summit on tap
<p>GLSEN Baltimore’s 2015 LGBTQ Youth Summit will be held&#160;at Towson University. (Photo by Adam Jackson; courtesy Wikimedia Commons)</p>
<p>The 2015 LGBTQ Youth Summit, sponsored by GLSEN Baltimore, will take place on Sept. 19 at the Student Union Building at Towson University. The day-long event for LGBTQ high school students ages 13-19 and allies throughout Maryland and the surrounding areas will feature numerous activities, educational workshops, an opportunity to meet and network with peers and community resources, free dinner and a dance to end the night.</p>
<p>Workshops include: Bisexuality, Coming Out, Racism in the LGBTQ Community, Gender Theory, Trans* Perspectives, Starting and Maintaining a GSA, Know your Legal Rights, Voguing, Yoga in Your Toolbox and Craft Making, among others.</p>
<p>“Our annual youth summit is easily our most anticipated and well-attended event of the year,” said Jabari Lyles, co-chair and education manager of GLSEN Baltimore. “Since we are simply more connected with more schools statewide, we expect one of the largest turnouts ever for this year’s summit.”</p>
<p>This year GLSEN added a special workshop track for teachers, according to Lyles, which includes helpful, reflective conversation about being a supportive educator and features a mini-safe space training.</p>
<p>There is no charge for the event but reservations need to be made at <a href="http://www.eventbrite.com/e/we-are-flawless-glsen-baltimore-youth-summit-2015-registration-18301570490" type="external">http://www.eventbrite.com/e/we-are-flawless-glsen-baltimore-youth-summit-2015-registration-18301570490</a>.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">2015 LGBTQ Youth Summit</a> <a href="" type="internal">Baltimore</a> <a href="" type="internal">bisexuality</a> <a href="" type="internal">coming out</a> <a href="" type="internal">GLSEN</a> <a href="" type="internal">GLSEN Baltimore</a> <a href="" type="internal">GSA</a> <a href="" type="internal">Jabari Lyles</a> <a href="" type="internal">lgbt youth</a> <a href="" type="internal">LGBTQ youth</a> <a href="" type="internal">Maryland</a> <a href="" type="internal">Towson University</a> <a href="" type="internal">trans</a> <a href="" type="internal">transgender</a></p>
| 5,122 |
|
<p>Coffee prices rose Wednesday, helped by a weak dollar as the Fed concludes it's two-day policy meeting.</p>
<p>Arabica coffee for December delivery was up 1.4% at $1.3720 a pound on the ICE Futures U.S. exchange, on track to break a two-day losing streak.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Investors are focused on any changes to the Fed's projections for future rate increases, and have been preparing for months for an announcement that it will begin unwinding from its $4.2 billion bond portfolio.</p>
<p>The WSJ Dollar Index, which measures the U.S. currency against 16 others, was down 0.3% recently to 85.06. The dollar weakened against many emerging-market currencies, a boost to commodities sold in these countries as a weak dollar helps stoke demand for dollar-denominated goods.</p>
<p>Arabica coffee prices were helped lower this week by favorable rains in Brazil, the world's largest growing region. But Rodrigo Costa, director of trading at Comexim USA, said in a note to clients that the dollar's "shy recovery," along with late rains, could point to higher prices.</p>
<p>"Farmers in general are consensually saying, especially those that see their trees suffering, that a normalization of rains will not give back the vigor of the trees that could have been noticed before," he said.</p>
<p>At the same time, coffee stocks in the United States have stopped rising, Mr. Costa noted. According to the Green Coffee Association there was a drop of 147,285 bags in August, with the inventory totaling 7,266,027 bags. The inventories are unlikely to stay down for long, however, as arabica coffee harvests are just over a month away in some major producing regions.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>In other markets, raw sugar for March was up 1.6% at 14.60 cents a pound, cocoa for December was up 1.4% at $1,993 a ton, frozen concentrated orange juice for November rose 1.3% at $1.541 a pound and December cotton lost 0.2% to 69.14 cents a pound.</p>
<p>Write to Julie Wernau at [email protected]</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>September 20, 2017 11:26 ET (15:26 GMT)</p>
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Coffee Prices Rise As Dollar Weakens
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/09/20/coffee-prices-rise-as-dollar-weakens.html
|
2017-09-20
| 0right
|
Coffee Prices Rise As Dollar Weakens
<p>Coffee prices rose Wednesday, helped by a weak dollar as the Fed concludes it's two-day policy meeting.</p>
<p>Arabica coffee for December delivery was up 1.4% at $1.3720 a pound on the ICE Futures U.S. exchange, on track to break a two-day losing streak.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Investors are focused on any changes to the Fed's projections for future rate increases, and have been preparing for months for an announcement that it will begin unwinding from its $4.2 billion bond portfolio.</p>
<p>The WSJ Dollar Index, which measures the U.S. currency against 16 others, was down 0.3% recently to 85.06. The dollar weakened against many emerging-market currencies, a boost to commodities sold in these countries as a weak dollar helps stoke demand for dollar-denominated goods.</p>
<p>Arabica coffee prices were helped lower this week by favorable rains in Brazil, the world's largest growing region. But Rodrigo Costa, director of trading at Comexim USA, said in a note to clients that the dollar's "shy recovery," along with late rains, could point to higher prices.</p>
<p>"Farmers in general are consensually saying, especially those that see their trees suffering, that a normalization of rains will not give back the vigor of the trees that could have been noticed before," he said.</p>
<p>At the same time, coffee stocks in the United States have stopped rising, Mr. Costa noted. According to the Green Coffee Association there was a drop of 147,285 bags in August, with the inventory totaling 7,266,027 bags. The inventories are unlikely to stay down for long, however, as arabica coffee harvests are just over a month away in some major producing regions.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>In other markets, raw sugar for March was up 1.6% at 14.60 cents a pound, cocoa for December was up 1.4% at $1,993 a ton, frozen concentrated orange juice for November rose 1.3% at $1.541 a pound and December cotton lost 0.2% to 69.14 cents a pound.</p>
<p>Write to Julie Wernau at [email protected]</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>September 20, 2017 11:26 ET (15:26 GMT)</p>
| 5,123 |
<p />
<p>For years, Samsung (NASDAQOTH: SSNLF) was the sole manufacturer of Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) A-series applications processors. However, beginning with the A8 system-on-a-chip, Samsung lost that business to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (NYSE: TSM).</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Samsung would win back a portion of the follow-on A9 orders (Samsung and TSMC split those orders, and it is believed that Samsung received a majority allocation), but TSMC won the entirety of the A10 orders.</p>
<p>Image source: Apple.</p>
<p>It is generally believed that TSMC has also won the entirety of the follow-on A11 processor orders. Those chips are expected to be manufactured in TSMC's new 10-nanometer manufacturing technology.</p>
<p>However, a new report from Korean publication ETNews claims that Samsung is "expecting that it can recover Apple's foundry supplies that were taken by Taiwan's TSMC by operating 7-nano production lines."</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Samsung's apparent hunger to win back business from TSMC is a clear risk to the latter.</p>
<p>Samsung went into mass production on its 10-nanometer LPE in the fourth quarter of 2016 and has publicly said that it expects to begin volume production of the follow-on to this technology, known as 10-nanometer LPP, in the fourth quarter of 2017.</p>
<p>Samsung has said that it aims to begin mass production of its 7-nanometer technology in 2018, and given the schedules around 10-nanometer LPE/LPP, I'd guess that Samsung is aiming for late 2018 production start for its 7-nanometer technology.</p>
<p>What this suggests is this: TSMC is unlikely to be at risk of losing A12 business to Samsung as the latter's 7-nanometer technology will be too late to market to support the A12, while TSMC has indicated that it plans to begin mass production on its 7-nanometer technology in the first half of 2018.</p>
<p>It's the potential A13 business that could be at risk from an aggressive push from Samsung.</p>
<p>Samsung seems to be planning some aggressive technical moves with its 7-nanometer technology -- it's <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/03/14/samsung-might-deal-crushing-blow-to-intel-corporat.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">reportedly planning Opens a New Window.</a> to move to a new transistor structure called a Gate-All-Around (GAA) transistor that promises to allow chipmakers to continue to make transistors smaller.</p>
<p>However, TSMC has indicated that in 2019 it intends to roll out a performance-enhanced variant of its 7-nanometer technology.</p>
<p>There are a lot of factors that will drive Apple's decisions of where it plans to manufacture its next-generation A-series processors -- both business and technical -- so trying to guess where Apple will build its next-generation processors is difficult.</p>
<p>It's worth noting, though, that TSMC co-CEO Mark Liu said on the company's Q3 2016 earnings call that he expects TSMC's market share during the 7-nanometer technology generation will be "higher than 10-nanometer" and that TSMC's aim is for each new manufacturing technology to enjoy higher market share than the prior-generation technology.</p>
<p>It'd be hard for TSMC to achieve higher market share in the 7-nanometer generation relative to the 10-nanometer generation if it ends up losing a significant portion of Apple's business to Samsung. This leads me to believe that TSMC is confident that it can maintain its sole-source position at Apple, but only time will tell if that confidence is deserved.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Taiwan Semiconductor ManufacturingWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=7c52c93f-e20e-4003-ad04-6805bdb9045a&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
<p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=7c52c93f-e20e-4003-ad04-6805bdb9045a&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p>
<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of February 6, 2017</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/aeassa/info.aspx" type="external">Ashraf Eassa Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Apple. The Motley Fool has the following options: long January 2018 $90 calls on Apple and short January 2018 $95 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
|
A Risk for This Apple Inc. Supplier Emerges
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/03/16/risk-for-this-apple-inc-supplier-emerges.html
|
2017-03-17
| 0right
|
A Risk for This Apple Inc. Supplier Emerges
<p />
<p>For years, Samsung (NASDAQOTH: SSNLF) was the sole manufacturer of Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) A-series applications processors. However, beginning with the A8 system-on-a-chip, Samsung lost that business to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (NYSE: TSM).</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Samsung would win back a portion of the follow-on A9 orders (Samsung and TSMC split those orders, and it is believed that Samsung received a majority allocation), but TSMC won the entirety of the A10 orders.</p>
<p>Image source: Apple.</p>
<p>It is generally believed that TSMC has also won the entirety of the follow-on A11 processor orders. Those chips are expected to be manufactured in TSMC's new 10-nanometer manufacturing technology.</p>
<p>However, a new report from Korean publication ETNews claims that Samsung is "expecting that it can recover Apple's foundry supplies that were taken by Taiwan's TSMC by operating 7-nano production lines."</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Samsung's apparent hunger to win back business from TSMC is a clear risk to the latter.</p>
<p>Samsung went into mass production on its 10-nanometer LPE in the fourth quarter of 2016 and has publicly said that it expects to begin volume production of the follow-on to this technology, known as 10-nanometer LPP, in the fourth quarter of 2017.</p>
<p>Samsung has said that it aims to begin mass production of its 7-nanometer technology in 2018, and given the schedules around 10-nanometer LPE/LPP, I'd guess that Samsung is aiming for late 2018 production start for its 7-nanometer technology.</p>
<p>What this suggests is this: TSMC is unlikely to be at risk of losing A12 business to Samsung as the latter's 7-nanometer technology will be too late to market to support the A12, while TSMC has indicated that it plans to begin mass production on its 7-nanometer technology in the first half of 2018.</p>
<p>It's the potential A13 business that could be at risk from an aggressive push from Samsung.</p>
<p>Samsung seems to be planning some aggressive technical moves with its 7-nanometer technology -- it's <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/03/14/samsung-might-deal-crushing-blow-to-intel-corporat.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">reportedly planning Opens a New Window.</a> to move to a new transistor structure called a Gate-All-Around (GAA) transistor that promises to allow chipmakers to continue to make transistors smaller.</p>
<p>However, TSMC has indicated that in 2019 it intends to roll out a performance-enhanced variant of its 7-nanometer technology.</p>
<p>There are a lot of factors that will drive Apple's decisions of where it plans to manufacture its next-generation A-series processors -- both business and technical -- so trying to guess where Apple will build its next-generation processors is difficult.</p>
<p>It's worth noting, though, that TSMC co-CEO Mark Liu said on the company's Q3 2016 earnings call that he expects TSMC's market share during the 7-nanometer technology generation will be "higher than 10-nanometer" and that TSMC's aim is for each new manufacturing technology to enjoy higher market share than the prior-generation technology.</p>
<p>It'd be hard for TSMC to achieve higher market share in the 7-nanometer generation relative to the 10-nanometer generation if it ends up losing a significant portion of Apple's business to Samsung. This leads me to believe that TSMC is confident that it can maintain its sole-source position at Apple, but only time will tell if that confidence is deserved.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Taiwan Semiconductor ManufacturingWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=7c52c93f-e20e-4003-ad04-6805bdb9045a&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
<p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=7c52c93f-e20e-4003-ad04-6805bdb9045a&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p>
<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of February 6, 2017</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/aeassa/info.aspx" type="external">Ashraf Eassa Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Apple. The Motley Fool has the following options: long January 2018 $90 calls on Apple and short January 2018 $95 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
| 5,124 |
<p>The Sydney Morning Herald <a href="http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/current-affairs/gay-marriage-life-lessons-from-the-land-of-the-long-white-cloud/news-story/e29da1ee6a08f5dcb58bcc29a5ce485f?from=htc_rss" type="external">reports</a>:</p>
<p>Finding the same-sex marriage debate heavy going? Well, it may surprise you to find out New Zealand’s been through all this already.</p>
<p>Which is why, on the eve of the November 7 postal survey vote deadline, our friends over the “ditch” have decided to give us some sage advice. This tongue-in-cheek “Open Letter to Australia” from New Zealand’s The Project presenter Jesse Mulligan pulls no punches.</p>
<p>“Hi Australia, this is New Zealand. It’s come to our attention that you’re deciding whether or not to legalise gay marriage right now. And as your friend, we’d like to take a moment not to make the same mistake we did,” he says with a twinkle in his eye. “Please, please vote ‘No’ to same-sex marriage.”</p>
<p>Watch the clip for all the zingers.</p>
<p>As the deadline for sending off their “yes” or “no” votes nears closer, Jesse has a quick message for our Aussie neighbours! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TheProjectNZ?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">#TheProjectNZ</a> <a href="https://t.co/ttqwsWQLtQ" type="external">pic.twitter.com/ttqwsWQLtQ</a></p>
<p>— The Project NZ (@TheProject_NZ) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheProject_NZ/status/918375180375695360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">October 12, 2017</a></p>
<p />
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New Zealand TV Host Mocks Australia’s Haters With “Warning” On How Gay Marriage Wrecked His Country
| true |
http://joemygod.com/2017/10/13/new-zealand-tv-host-mock-australias-haters-warning-gay-marriage-wrecked-country/
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2017-10-13
| 4left
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New Zealand TV Host Mocks Australia’s Haters With “Warning” On How Gay Marriage Wrecked His Country
<p>The Sydney Morning Herald <a href="http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/current-affairs/gay-marriage-life-lessons-from-the-land-of-the-long-white-cloud/news-story/e29da1ee6a08f5dcb58bcc29a5ce485f?from=htc_rss" type="external">reports</a>:</p>
<p>Finding the same-sex marriage debate heavy going? Well, it may surprise you to find out New Zealand’s been through all this already.</p>
<p>Which is why, on the eve of the November 7 postal survey vote deadline, our friends over the “ditch” have decided to give us some sage advice. This tongue-in-cheek “Open Letter to Australia” from New Zealand’s The Project presenter Jesse Mulligan pulls no punches.</p>
<p>“Hi Australia, this is New Zealand. It’s come to our attention that you’re deciding whether or not to legalise gay marriage right now. And as your friend, we’d like to take a moment not to make the same mistake we did,” he says with a twinkle in his eye. “Please, please vote ‘No’ to same-sex marriage.”</p>
<p>Watch the clip for all the zingers.</p>
<p>As the deadline for sending off their “yes” or “no” votes nears closer, Jesse has a quick message for our Aussie neighbours! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TheProjectNZ?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">#TheProjectNZ</a> <a href="https://t.co/ttqwsWQLtQ" type="external">pic.twitter.com/ttqwsWQLtQ</a></p>
<p>— The Project NZ (@TheProject_NZ) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheProject_NZ/status/918375180375695360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">October 12, 2017</a></p>
<p />
| 5,125 |
<p>Fox News anchor, Megyn Kelly, alleges in her new memoir that President-elect Donald Trump tried to bribe her and other journalists with gifts.</p>
<p>In her book, titled "Settle for More," Kelly writes that Trump's favor-currying "is actually one of the untold stories of the 2016 campaign...I was not the only journalist to whom Trump offered gifts clearly meant to shape coverage...Trump tried to work the refs, and some of the refs responded."</p>
<p><a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/aa3a7d00e81f4bbca90842f485c81e2e/megyn-kelly-trump-tried-influence-coverage-gi" type="external">The Associated Press</a> notes: "When it became obvious that some reporters were 'in the tank' for Trump, she alleges in one chapter, 'certain TV hosts' would work with the candidate in advance on occasional Trump criticism so they would appear unbiased. She didn't identify them by name or media outlet."</p>
<p>This news might come as a shock to those who have been in a coma for the last 15 months, but for everyone else, this should be about as revelatory as Clay Aiken coming out of the closet.</p>
<p>Throughout the campaign, many believed that certain media outlets (one in particular) were either coordinating with Donald Trump, or simply unwilling to print or say anything negative about him. These allegations haven't been substantiated with hard evidence, but sometimes, such proof is unnecessary.</p>
<p>Some media personalities have been startlingly upfront about their coordination with the president-elect. For example, Fox News' Sean Hannity gave Donald Trump hours upon hours of free advertising, hosting multiple "town hall" interviews with the GOP candidate. He even appeared in a Trump campaign video <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/296939-hannitys-appearance-in-trump-campaign-video-wasnt-cleared" type="external">without telling the network</a>.</p>
<p>After The New York Times reported that Hannity was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/22/business/media/sean-hannity-turns-adviser-in-the-service-of-donald-trump.html?_r=0" type="external">informally advising</a> Trump during the campaign, the Fox News host seemingly confirmed as much, saying:</p>
<p>"Do I talk to my friend who I’ve known for years and speak my mind? I can’t not speak my mind...I don’t say anything privately that I don’t say publicly."</p>
<p>Kelly, for her part, says she declined all of Trump's gifts, such as his alleged offer to "comp her 'girls weekend' stay at his downtown New York City hotel, or fly her and her husband to visit his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida."</p>
|
Megyn Kelly Reveals Trump Tried to Curry Her Favor with Gifts
| true |
https://dailywire.com/news/10792/megyn-kelly-reveals-trump-tried-curry-her-favor-frank-camp
|
2016-11-15
| 0right
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Megyn Kelly Reveals Trump Tried to Curry Her Favor with Gifts
<p>Fox News anchor, Megyn Kelly, alleges in her new memoir that President-elect Donald Trump tried to bribe her and other journalists with gifts.</p>
<p>In her book, titled "Settle for More," Kelly writes that Trump's favor-currying "is actually one of the untold stories of the 2016 campaign...I was not the only journalist to whom Trump offered gifts clearly meant to shape coverage...Trump tried to work the refs, and some of the refs responded."</p>
<p><a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/aa3a7d00e81f4bbca90842f485c81e2e/megyn-kelly-trump-tried-influence-coverage-gi" type="external">The Associated Press</a> notes: "When it became obvious that some reporters were 'in the tank' for Trump, she alleges in one chapter, 'certain TV hosts' would work with the candidate in advance on occasional Trump criticism so they would appear unbiased. She didn't identify them by name or media outlet."</p>
<p>This news might come as a shock to those who have been in a coma for the last 15 months, but for everyone else, this should be about as revelatory as Clay Aiken coming out of the closet.</p>
<p>Throughout the campaign, many believed that certain media outlets (one in particular) were either coordinating with Donald Trump, or simply unwilling to print or say anything negative about him. These allegations haven't been substantiated with hard evidence, but sometimes, such proof is unnecessary.</p>
<p>Some media personalities have been startlingly upfront about their coordination with the president-elect. For example, Fox News' Sean Hannity gave Donald Trump hours upon hours of free advertising, hosting multiple "town hall" interviews with the GOP candidate. He even appeared in a Trump campaign video <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/296939-hannitys-appearance-in-trump-campaign-video-wasnt-cleared" type="external">without telling the network</a>.</p>
<p>After The New York Times reported that Hannity was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/22/business/media/sean-hannity-turns-adviser-in-the-service-of-donald-trump.html?_r=0" type="external">informally advising</a> Trump during the campaign, the Fox News host seemingly confirmed as much, saying:</p>
<p>"Do I talk to my friend who I’ve known for years and speak my mind? I can’t not speak my mind...I don’t say anything privately that I don’t say publicly."</p>
<p>Kelly, for her part, says she declined all of Trump's gifts, such as his alleged offer to "comp her 'girls weekend' stay at his downtown New York City hotel, or fly her and her husband to visit his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida."</p>
| 5,126 |
<p>Published time: 10 Oct, 2017 15:13</p>
<p>President Trump has laid down the gauntlet to his secretary of state, challenging Rex Tillerson to compare IQ tests with him if, in fact, the rumors the latter previously referred to the commander-in-chief as a “moron,” are true.</p>
<p>“I think it’s fake news. But if he did [say] that, I guess we’ll have to compare IQ tests. And I can tell you who is going to win,” Trump told <a href="https://www.forbes.com/donald-trump/exclusive-interview/#788ae30fbdec" type="external">Forbes</a> in an interview published Tuesday.</p>
<p>Tillerson allegedly called Trump a “moron,” after a July 20 meeting at the Pentagon with members of Trump’s national security team and Cabinet officials, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/tillerson-s-fury-trump-required-intervention-pence-n806451" type="external">NBC</a> reported previously, citing three unnamed officials familiar with the incident. The report also claimed that Vice President Mike Pence had to convince Tillerson to stay.</p>
<p>Both Pence and Tillerson have rejected the allegations.</p>
<p>“I have never considered leaving this post,” Tillerson said October 4, dismissing the reports as “erroneous” and “petty nonsense.”</p>
<p>Speculation continues that Trump’s White House cabinet is fractured and relations fraught, especially given the president’s offhand and extremely public way of dealing with his subordinates.</p>
<p>“I’m not undermining,” Trump told Forbes. “I think I’m actually strengthening authority.”</p>
<p />
<p>I asked <a href="https://twitter.com/VP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">@VP</a> Pence to leave stadium if any players kneeled, disrespecting our country. I am proud of him and <a href="https://twitter.com/SecondLady?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">@SecondLady</a> Karen.</p>
<p>— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/917091286607433728?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">October 8, 2017</a></p>
<p />
<p>Tillerson and Defense Secretary James ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis are scheduled to have lunch with the president on Tuesday.</p>
|
‘Have to compare IQ tests’: Trump ups ante in Tillerson ‘moron’ row
| false |
https://newsline.com/have-to-compare-iq-tests-trump-ups-ante-in-tillerson-moron-row/
|
2017-10-10
| 1right-center
|
‘Have to compare IQ tests’: Trump ups ante in Tillerson ‘moron’ row
<p>Published time: 10 Oct, 2017 15:13</p>
<p>President Trump has laid down the gauntlet to his secretary of state, challenging Rex Tillerson to compare IQ tests with him if, in fact, the rumors the latter previously referred to the commander-in-chief as a “moron,” are true.</p>
<p>“I think it’s fake news. But if he did [say] that, I guess we’ll have to compare IQ tests. And I can tell you who is going to win,” Trump told <a href="https://www.forbes.com/donald-trump/exclusive-interview/#788ae30fbdec" type="external">Forbes</a> in an interview published Tuesday.</p>
<p>Tillerson allegedly called Trump a “moron,” after a July 20 meeting at the Pentagon with members of Trump’s national security team and Cabinet officials, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/tillerson-s-fury-trump-required-intervention-pence-n806451" type="external">NBC</a> reported previously, citing three unnamed officials familiar with the incident. The report also claimed that Vice President Mike Pence had to convince Tillerson to stay.</p>
<p>Both Pence and Tillerson have rejected the allegations.</p>
<p>“I have never considered leaving this post,” Tillerson said October 4, dismissing the reports as “erroneous” and “petty nonsense.”</p>
<p>Speculation continues that Trump’s White House cabinet is fractured and relations fraught, especially given the president’s offhand and extremely public way of dealing with his subordinates.</p>
<p>“I’m not undermining,” Trump told Forbes. “I think I’m actually strengthening authority.”</p>
<p />
<p>I asked <a href="https://twitter.com/VP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">@VP</a> Pence to leave stadium if any players kneeled, disrespecting our country. I am proud of him and <a href="https://twitter.com/SecondLady?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">@SecondLady</a> Karen.</p>
<p>— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/917091286607433728?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">October 8, 2017</a></p>
<p />
<p>Tillerson and Defense Secretary James ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis are scheduled to have lunch with the president on Tuesday.</p>
| 5,127 |
<p>In a significant victory for religious liberty, the Flathead National Forest <a href="http://a123.g.akamai.net/7/123/11558/abc123/forestservic.download.akamai.com/11558/www/nepa/83203_FSPLT2_104005.pdf" type="external">announced</a> today that it would in fact renew the Knights of Columbus special use permit for the display of a statue of Jesus Christ. The statue, which was placed there as a World War II memorial by returning veterans, is located on a 25 foot by 25 foot parcel of land near the top of Chair Two at Whitefish Mountain Resort. The National Forest Service received more than 95,000 comments on the matter; 70,000 of those comments came from ACLJ members.</p>
<p>After being in place for nearly 60 years and becoming a local historic landmark, the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) – an atheist group that is attempting to strip all mentions of faith from public discourse – protested the display of the statue. The group called the Montana memorial " <a href="" type="internal">a ruse and a sham</a>" and demanded the National Forest Service end a long-standing permit- a move that would force the display to be removed. The government initially agreed with FFRF and denied renewal of the special use permit, but agreed to review that decision after public outcry and the ACLJ’s involvement.</p>
<p>In a letter sent to the federal government, representing more than 70,000 concerned individuals, the ACLJ urged the Forest Service to renew the special use permit saying the display is an important historical memorial. As our letter pointed out, the statue does not violate the Establishment Clause. The statue’s history and purpose, its longevity, and its setting all support the conclusion that no reasonable observer could think that renewing the Knights of Columbus’ special use permit would be an unconstitutional endorsement of religion. Further, the letter pointed out that until this year, the statue had gone unchallenged since its establishment in 1953, almost sixty years ago. We are very happy that the Flathead National Forest agreed with our position and elected to once again renew the permit</p>
|
Victory: Jesus Statue Remains Because ACLJ Members Spoke Out
| true |
http://aclj.org/free-speech-2/victory-jesus-statue-remains-because-aclj-members-spoke-out
|
2012-01-31
| 0right
|
Victory: Jesus Statue Remains Because ACLJ Members Spoke Out
<p>In a significant victory for religious liberty, the Flathead National Forest <a href="http://a123.g.akamai.net/7/123/11558/abc123/forestservic.download.akamai.com/11558/www/nepa/83203_FSPLT2_104005.pdf" type="external">announced</a> today that it would in fact renew the Knights of Columbus special use permit for the display of a statue of Jesus Christ. The statue, which was placed there as a World War II memorial by returning veterans, is located on a 25 foot by 25 foot parcel of land near the top of Chair Two at Whitefish Mountain Resort. The National Forest Service received more than 95,000 comments on the matter; 70,000 of those comments came from ACLJ members.</p>
<p>After being in place for nearly 60 years and becoming a local historic landmark, the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) – an atheist group that is attempting to strip all mentions of faith from public discourse – protested the display of the statue. The group called the Montana memorial " <a href="" type="internal">a ruse and a sham</a>" and demanded the National Forest Service end a long-standing permit- a move that would force the display to be removed. The government initially agreed with FFRF and denied renewal of the special use permit, but agreed to review that decision after public outcry and the ACLJ’s involvement.</p>
<p>In a letter sent to the federal government, representing more than 70,000 concerned individuals, the ACLJ urged the Forest Service to renew the special use permit saying the display is an important historical memorial. As our letter pointed out, the statue does not violate the Establishment Clause. The statue’s history and purpose, its longevity, and its setting all support the conclusion that no reasonable observer could think that renewing the Knights of Columbus’ special use permit would be an unconstitutional endorsement of religion. Further, the letter pointed out that until this year, the statue had gone unchallenged since its establishment in 1953, almost sixty years ago. We are very happy that the Flathead National Forest agreed with our position and elected to once again renew the permit</p>
| 5,128 |
<p>Published time: 6 Jan, 2018 16:48</p>
<p>Lawmakers from Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) and sister party, the CSU, are seeking to adopt measures to deport migrants who express anti-Semitic views in Germany, according to local media.</p>
<p>Those rejecting Jewish life in Germany or questioning Israel’s right to exist “cannot have a place in our country,” a draft of the document, <a href="https://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article172205448/Antisemitismus-Union-im-Bundestag-will-Judenhasser-ausweisen.html" type="external">seen</a>&#160;by Die Welt, says. A “complete acceptance of the Jewish life” is a “criterion for successful integration,” it reportedly reads.</p>
<p>Read more</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/news/414923-germany-refugees-crime-increase/" type="external" /></p>
<p>According to the draft, anti-Semitism received a&#160;“new facet”&#160;following the reception of hundreds of thousands of migrants from the Middle East.&#160;“This phenomenon and anti-Semitism among Muslims living in Germany must be given special attention.”</p>
<p>Stephan Harbarth, the deputy chairman of the CDU / CSU parliamentary group, told the newspaper ahead of the Holocaust Memorial Day on 27 January:&#160;“We must also resolutely oppose the anti-Semitism of migrants of Arab descent and those from African countries.”</p>
<p>It should be crystal clear for each and every migrant, according to the politician, that “Whoever <a href="https://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article172205448/Antisemitismus-Union-im-Bundestag-will-Judenhasser-ausweisen.html" type="external">spurs</a> anti-Semitic hatred and rejects Jewish life in Germany, can have no place in our country.”&#160;</p>
<p>A wave of anti-Israel protests swept Berlin last month in response to Donald Trump’s controversial move to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Several flags were burned in an anti-Israel rally in front of the American Embassy on Pariser Platz, which drew around 1,500 people. The enraged crowd <a href="https://www.rt.com/news/412674-germany-antisemitism-protests-berlin/" type="external">chanted</a> “Death to the Jews!” and “Allahu Akbar” (Allah is great).&#160;</p>
<p>In the wake of the protests, the German authorities said that arriving refugees and migrants must be reminded of the country’s responsibility to the Jewish state accrued during the Nazi Holocaust.</p>
<p>Read more</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/news/413751-book-keeper-auschwitz-appeal-sentence/" type="external" /></p>
<p>Speaking at an event marking the 70th anniversary of the establishment of Israel, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said that all people who live in Germany must understand the country’s historical responsibility to Israel.</p>
<p>“This responsibility does not end for the people who were born [after the Holocaust] and has no exceptions for the immigrants,” he said, adding that it is “not a subject for discussion for anyone living in Germany or wanting to live there.”</p>
<p>Justice Minister Heiko Maas said the issue of the Holocaust should be a central part of German integration courses for refugees and migrants.</p>
<p>“I believe it is absolutely necessary to make the Holocaust and its significance for our society a central topic in our integration courses,” the minister <a href="http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/heiko-maas-will-holocaust-in-integrationskursen-abfragen-lassen-a-1183363.html" type="external">said</a> in a piece written for Der Spiegel weekly.&#160;</p>
<p>The German authorities will not tolerate any form of anti-Semitism, including that brought to Germany by refugees, he added. Stating that anti-Semitism and xenophobia are “two sides of the same coin,” he cautioned that any immigrant should be aware that Berlin fights “neo-Nazis’ anti-Semitism, and we will not tolerate any imported anti-Semitism from migrants either.”</p>
|
Migrants expressing anti-Semitism in Germany could face deportation – reports
| false |
https://newsline.com/migrants-expressing-anti-semitism-in-germany-could-face-deportation-reports/
|
2018-01-06
| 1right-center
|
Migrants expressing anti-Semitism in Germany could face deportation – reports
<p>Published time: 6 Jan, 2018 16:48</p>
<p>Lawmakers from Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) and sister party, the CSU, are seeking to adopt measures to deport migrants who express anti-Semitic views in Germany, according to local media.</p>
<p>Those rejecting Jewish life in Germany or questioning Israel’s right to exist “cannot have a place in our country,” a draft of the document, <a href="https://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article172205448/Antisemitismus-Union-im-Bundestag-will-Judenhasser-ausweisen.html" type="external">seen</a>&#160;by Die Welt, says. A “complete acceptance of the Jewish life” is a “criterion for successful integration,” it reportedly reads.</p>
<p>Read more</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/news/414923-germany-refugees-crime-increase/" type="external" /></p>
<p>According to the draft, anti-Semitism received a&#160;“new facet”&#160;following the reception of hundreds of thousands of migrants from the Middle East.&#160;“This phenomenon and anti-Semitism among Muslims living in Germany must be given special attention.”</p>
<p>Stephan Harbarth, the deputy chairman of the CDU / CSU parliamentary group, told the newspaper ahead of the Holocaust Memorial Day on 27 January:&#160;“We must also resolutely oppose the anti-Semitism of migrants of Arab descent and those from African countries.”</p>
<p>It should be crystal clear for each and every migrant, according to the politician, that “Whoever <a href="https://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article172205448/Antisemitismus-Union-im-Bundestag-will-Judenhasser-ausweisen.html" type="external">spurs</a> anti-Semitic hatred and rejects Jewish life in Germany, can have no place in our country.”&#160;</p>
<p>A wave of anti-Israel protests swept Berlin last month in response to Donald Trump’s controversial move to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Several flags were burned in an anti-Israel rally in front of the American Embassy on Pariser Platz, which drew around 1,500 people. The enraged crowd <a href="https://www.rt.com/news/412674-germany-antisemitism-protests-berlin/" type="external">chanted</a> “Death to the Jews!” and “Allahu Akbar” (Allah is great).&#160;</p>
<p>In the wake of the protests, the German authorities said that arriving refugees and migrants must be reminded of the country’s responsibility to the Jewish state accrued during the Nazi Holocaust.</p>
<p>Read more</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/news/413751-book-keeper-auschwitz-appeal-sentence/" type="external" /></p>
<p>Speaking at an event marking the 70th anniversary of the establishment of Israel, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said that all people who live in Germany must understand the country’s historical responsibility to Israel.</p>
<p>“This responsibility does not end for the people who were born [after the Holocaust] and has no exceptions for the immigrants,” he said, adding that it is “not a subject for discussion for anyone living in Germany or wanting to live there.”</p>
<p>Justice Minister Heiko Maas said the issue of the Holocaust should be a central part of German integration courses for refugees and migrants.</p>
<p>“I believe it is absolutely necessary to make the Holocaust and its significance for our society a central topic in our integration courses,” the minister <a href="http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/heiko-maas-will-holocaust-in-integrationskursen-abfragen-lassen-a-1183363.html" type="external">said</a> in a piece written for Der Spiegel weekly.&#160;</p>
<p>The German authorities will not tolerate any form of anti-Semitism, including that brought to Germany by refugees, he added. Stating that anti-Semitism and xenophobia are “two sides of the same coin,” he cautioned that any immigrant should be aware that Berlin fights “neo-Nazis’ anti-Semitism, and we will not tolerate any imported anti-Semitism from migrants either.”</p>
| 5,129 |
<p>Getty Images</p>
<p>BY: <a href="" type="internal">Andrew Kugle</a> June 12, 2017 1:00 pm</p>
<p>Rep.&#160;Brad Sherman (D., Calif.) proposed an article of impeachment on Monday.</p>
<p>Sherman <a href="https://twitter.com/sahilkapur/status/874298266271219712" type="external">introduced</a>the article because he believed President Donald Trump committed obstruction of justice. After Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, the New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/16/us/politics/james-comey-trump-flynn-russia-investigation.html" type="external">reported</a>&#160;about Comey's memo&#160;detailing conversations he had with Trump. The memo claimed&#160;that&#160;Trump asked Comey to pledge loyalty and&#160;said&#160;he hoped Comey could "let go" of the investigation into Trump's former national security adviser, Michael Flynn.</p>
<p>Comey <a href="" type="internal">testified</a>before the Senate Intelligence Committee last week to confirm the details of the New York Times report.&#160;Comey <a href="" type="internal">refused</a>to comment on whether Trump committed obstruction of justice, and Trump <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/09/trump-james-comey-hearing-reaction-239361" type="external">denied</a>&#160;Comey's version of events and accused the former FBI director of lying.</p>
<p>Sherman's resolution is asserting&#160;that Trump interfered&#160;with the investigation into Flynn and sought to hinder the FBI's investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election. Sherman outlined the pattern of behavior he believed would prove that&#160;Trump is guilty of obstruction of justice.</p>
<p>(1) 1) Requesting that the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation curtail the investigation of the activities of General Michael Flynn under circumstances wherein it appeared that the Director Comey might be terminated if he failed to adhere to such request.</p>
<p>(2) Making a determination to terminate the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and only thereafter requesting that the Deputy Attorney General provide him with a memorandum detailing inadequacies in the Director's performance of his duties.</p>
<p>(3) Despite offering differing rationales for the termination of the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, admitted subsequently that the main reason for the termination was that the Director would not close or alter the investigation of matters related to the involvement of Russia in the 2016 campaign for President of the United States.</p>
|
Dem Congressman Proposes Article of Impeachment for Trump
| true |
http://freebeacon.com/politics/dem-congressman-proposes-article-impeachment/
|
2017-06-12
| 0right
|
Dem Congressman Proposes Article of Impeachment for Trump
<p>Getty Images</p>
<p>BY: <a href="" type="internal">Andrew Kugle</a> June 12, 2017 1:00 pm</p>
<p>Rep.&#160;Brad Sherman (D., Calif.) proposed an article of impeachment on Monday.</p>
<p>Sherman <a href="https://twitter.com/sahilkapur/status/874298266271219712" type="external">introduced</a>the article because he believed President Donald Trump committed obstruction of justice. After Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, the New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/16/us/politics/james-comey-trump-flynn-russia-investigation.html" type="external">reported</a>&#160;about Comey's memo&#160;detailing conversations he had with Trump. The memo claimed&#160;that&#160;Trump asked Comey to pledge loyalty and&#160;said&#160;he hoped Comey could "let go" of the investigation into Trump's former national security adviser, Michael Flynn.</p>
<p>Comey <a href="" type="internal">testified</a>before the Senate Intelligence Committee last week to confirm the details of the New York Times report.&#160;Comey <a href="" type="internal">refused</a>to comment on whether Trump committed obstruction of justice, and Trump <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/09/trump-james-comey-hearing-reaction-239361" type="external">denied</a>&#160;Comey's version of events and accused the former FBI director of lying.</p>
<p>Sherman's resolution is asserting&#160;that Trump interfered&#160;with the investigation into Flynn and sought to hinder the FBI's investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election. Sherman outlined the pattern of behavior he believed would prove that&#160;Trump is guilty of obstruction of justice.</p>
<p>(1) 1) Requesting that the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation curtail the investigation of the activities of General Michael Flynn under circumstances wherein it appeared that the Director Comey might be terminated if he failed to adhere to such request.</p>
<p>(2) Making a determination to terminate the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and only thereafter requesting that the Deputy Attorney General provide him with a memorandum detailing inadequacies in the Director's performance of his duties.</p>
<p>(3) Despite offering differing rationales for the termination of the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, admitted subsequently that the main reason for the termination was that the Director would not close or alter the investigation of matters related to the involvement of Russia in the 2016 campaign for President of the United States.</p>
| 5,130 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>ISTANBUL — A Turkish pop singer and 28 other people, mostly journalists, went on trial Monday on terrorism charges for alleged links to a failed coup attempt, highlighting the gulf between Turkey’s assertions that such prosecutions are needed to restore stability and international concerns that Turkish democracy is in peril.</p>
<p>Singer Atilla Tas and the other suspects in Turkey face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of membership in “an armed terrorist organization” in a massive government crackdown that has included closing more than 100 media outlets and the arrests of reporters and editors suspected of ties to the July 15 insurrection.</p>
<p>Human rights groups say Turkey has jailed about 150 journalists, many of whom were arrested before the botched insurrection, for alleged ties to Kurdish rebels who are fighting the Turkish state. The Reporters Without Borders group ranked Turkey at 151st out of 180 countries on its press freedom index last year.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>While critics say the detentions show Turkey is becoming more authoritarian, Turkish officials say the bulk of the journalists were jailed for illegal activities on behalf of enemies of a government facing numerous security challenges in the past year, including the Kurdish insurgency, attacks blamed on the Islamic State group and the attempted coup blamed on Fethullah Gulen, a U.S.-based Muslim cleric.</p>
<p>Gulen has denied any knowledge of the coup attempt.</p>
<p>Some journalists detained under a state of emergency imposed after the coup attempt work for the secular-minded newspaper Cumhuriyet, which is not associated with Gulen. The arrests of top executives and editors at Cumhuriyet have prompted accusations the Turkish government is trying to muzzle dissent of any kind.</p>
<p>Turkey has arrested 41,000 people in the crackdown in what it says is an effort to dismantle a parallel state loyal to Gulen.</p>
<p>Political polarization in Turkey is also high ahead of an April 16 referendum on whether to expand the powers of the presidency.</p>
<p>The group whose trial started in Istanbul face allegations that they operated as the media arm for Gulen, who lives in Pennsylvania. Many worked for media outlets associated with Gulen that have been shut or taken over, including the Zaman newspaper, which once had one of the highest circulations in Turkey.</p>
<p>“We don’t accept anything we’re being told,” defendant Muhterem Tanik, who is not in detention and denies the charges, said at the Istanbul courthouse. Her husband, Unal Tanik, is also a defendant and has been in prison for two months.</p>
<p>Tas, a Turkish celebrity and social media phenomenon, wrote a newspaper column and posted satirical observations on Twitter about President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>It’s a crime in Turkey to insult the Turkish president and nation, and many people have been prosecuted for doing so. Such laws, which existed long before Erdogan came to power as prime minister in 2003, have come under scrutiny in the last decade as Turkey campaigned for membership in the European Union and was urged to widen its freedom of speech rules. But the EU bid has been adrift for years.</p>
<p>Turkey bans access to some internet sites deemed to be subversive. In the past, it has temporarily blocked access to YouTube and Twitter.</p>
<p>Also on trial in Istanbul, but in absentia, is Said Sefa, whom prosecutors say used the pseudonym Fuat Avni on Twitter to post taunting anti-Erdogan tweets and provide alleged insider information on the government. Prosecutors are seeking a sentence of life imprisonment for Sefa, whose whereabouts are not known.</p>
<p>In a separate case, Turkey last month arrested the correspondent for Germany’s Die Welt newspaper on suspicion of spying for Germany and other crimes. Germany rejects the allegations against Deniz Yucel, who has German and Turkish citizenship. He was detained after his reports about a hacker attack on the email account of the country’s energy minister, who is Erdogan’s son-in-law.</p>
<p>Last week, Erdogan said most people on a list of 149 jailed journalists were guilty of crimes such as smuggling bomb parts into Turkey from northern Iraq or attacking a police vehicle and election offices. Four were jailed for petty crimes, he said.</p>
<p>“I say, ‘Give me the list of journalists in prison,'” Erdogan said. “I take a look: They are all thieves, child abusers, terrorists.”</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey.</p>
|
Turkish pop star, journalists on trial over failed coup
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/976698/turkish-pop-star-journalists-on-trial-over-failed-coup.html
|
2017-03-27
| 2least
|
Turkish pop star, journalists on trial over failed coup
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>ISTANBUL — A Turkish pop singer and 28 other people, mostly journalists, went on trial Monday on terrorism charges for alleged links to a failed coup attempt, highlighting the gulf between Turkey’s assertions that such prosecutions are needed to restore stability and international concerns that Turkish democracy is in peril.</p>
<p>Singer Atilla Tas and the other suspects in Turkey face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of membership in “an armed terrorist organization” in a massive government crackdown that has included closing more than 100 media outlets and the arrests of reporters and editors suspected of ties to the July 15 insurrection.</p>
<p>Human rights groups say Turkey has jailed about 150 journalists, many of whom were arrested before the botched insurrection, for alleged ties to Kurdish rebels who are fighting the Turkish state. The Reporters Without Borders group ranked Turkey at 151st out of 180 countries on its press freedom index last year.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>While critics say the detentions show Turkey is becoming more authoritarian, Turkish officials say the bulk of the journalists were jailed for illegal activities on behalf of enemies of a government facing numerous security challenges in the past year, including the Kurdish insurgency, attacks blamed on the Islamic State group and the attempted coup blamed on Fethullah Gulen, a U.S.-based Muslim cleric.</p>
<p>Gulen has denied any knowledge of the coup attempt.</p>
<p>Some journalists detained under a state of emergency imposed after the coup attempt work for the secular-minded newspaper Cumhuriyet, which is not associated with Gulen. The arrests of top executives and editors at Cumhuriyet have prompted accusations the Turkish government is trying to muzzle dissent of any kind.</p>
<p>Turkey has arrested 41,000 people in the crackdown in what it says is an effort to dismantle a parallel state loyal to Gulen.</p>
<p>Political polarization in Turkey is also high ahead of an April 16 referendum on whether to expand the powers of the presidency.</p>
<p>The group whose trial started in Istanbul face allegations that they operated as the media arm for Gulen, who lives in Pennsylvania. Many worked for media outlets associated with Gulen that have been shut or taken over, including the Zaman newspaper, which once had one of the highest circulations in Turkey.</p>
<p>“We don’t accept anything we’re being told,” defendant Muhterem Tanik, who is not in detention and denies the charges, said at the Istanbul courthouse. Her husband, Unal Tanik, is also a defendant and has been in prison for two months.</p>
<p>Tas, a Turkish celebrity and social media phenomenon, wrote a newspaper column and posted satirical observations on Twitter about President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>It’s a crime in Turkey to insult the Turkish president and nation, and many people have been prosecuted for doing so. Such laws, which existed long before Erdogan came to power as prime minister in 2003, have come under scrutiny in the last decade as Turkey campaigned for membership in the European Union and was urged to widen its freedom of speech rules. But the EU bid has been adrift for years.</p>
<p>Turkey bans access to some internet sites deemed to be subversive. In the past, it has temporarily blocked access to YouTube and Twitter.</p>
<p>Also on trial in Istanbul, but in absentia, is Said Sefa, whom prosecutors say used the pseudonym Fuat Avni on Twitter to post taunting anti-Erdogan tweets and provide alleged insider information on the government. Prosecutors are seeking a sentence of life imprisonment for Sefa, whose whereabouts are not known.</p>
<p>In a separate case, Turkey last month arrested the correspondent for Germany’s Die Welt newspaper on suspicion of spying for Germany and other crimes. Germany rejects the allegations against Deniz Yucel, who has German and Turkish citizenship. He was detained after his reports about a hacker attack on the email account of the country’s energy minister, who is Erdogan’s son-in-law.</p>
<p>Last week, Erdogan said most people on a list of 149 jailed journalists were guilty of crimes such as smuggling bomb parts into Turkey from northern Iraq or attacking a police vehicle and election offices. Four were jailed for petty crimes, he said.</p>
<p>“I say, ‘Give me the list of journalists in prison,'” Erdogan said. “I take a look: They are all thieves, child abusers, terrorists.”</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey.</p>
| 5,131 |
<p><a href="" type="internal" />Despite what many right-wing “Christians” might have you believe, there are millions of Christians who refer to themselves as liberals, progressives, Democrats or any number of things besides “conservative Republican.”</p>
<p>Anyone who follows my writing knows that I’ve written quite a few articles expressing my opinion on what I believe is the fallacy of the “right-wing conservative Christian movement.”</p>
<p>If you haven’t had a chance to read them, here they are:</p>
<p>To summarize my opinion on the issue, I don’t believe most Republicans are Christians.&#160; In fact, I don’t believe most of them follow Christianity.&#160; Instead, I believe they follow some hybrid perversion of faith and politics that I call “Republicanity.”</p>
<p>But that’s not what this piece is about.&#160; This is about the importance of “liberal” Christians.&#160; Now I put the word liberal in quotation marks because I don’t mean some new form of Christianity that’s liberally based.&#160; I mean liberal as in Democrats, progressives or liberals who are Christians.</p>
<p>Now I understand many liberals aren’t religious — in fact, many are atheists — but they should support liberal Christians too.&#160; Not because I believe they should convert—everyone should believe whatever the heck they want, it’s their business. &#160;Rather, it’s because even if you don’t believe in God, Jesus or follow any kind of faith whatsoever, what “liberal Christians” believe Jesus stood for transcends anyone’s religious ideology to the basics of how we should act as people.</p>
<p>As humans, we shouldn’t have to believe in Jesus Christ to feel that it’s important that we:</p>
<p>I don’t believe these are traits of Christians, these should be traits of humans—period.</p>
<p>And these are traits that we, as “liberal Christians,” fight for everyday.</p>
<p>I battle, almost daily, to take my faith back from those who’ve co-opted it so they can manipulate millions to vote against their own interests by using a handful of quotes about homosexuality to conjure up some fear that somehow God cares more about same-sex marriage than someone starving and sick on the streets.&#160; By the way, homosexuality is a subject Jesus Christ spoke about exactly zero times.</p>
<p>A group that I’m sure many reading this will have heard of (if you haven’t, you should check them out immediately) which fights this battle every single day is <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheChristianLeft" type="external">The Christian Left</a>.&#160; They, like me and millions of others, are sick and tired of people saying they worship a man who stood for love, hope and acceptance—with hate, fear and judgement.</p>
<p>This is why I think the “liberal Christian” is vital for this country.&#160; Not because I believe that with faith we’re more important than anyone else, but because millions of people do consider themselves Christians and millions of those people represent the belief that Jesus Christ epitomized the goodness inside people that we should all exemplify.</p>
<p>And even if you don’t believe in any kind of God, the symbol of what Jesus Christ represents, according to the “liberal Christian,” &#160;is something we should all be able to come together and agree upon.</p>
<p>Because being a good person isn’t tied to a faith, any kind of religious book, a denomination or singular person—it’s something we should all strive to be no matter what we believe.&#160; And that’s something “liberal Christians” represent.&#160; If true Christians would take back their faith from these fear mongering radicals on the right, the animosity between people of faith and no faith wouldn’t probably even exist.</p>
<p>Imagine how much more we could accomplish as a society if millions weren’t manipulating a faith to promote hateful, and ignorant, political ideologies?</p>
<p>That’s why I believe the “liberal Christian” is vital for the liberal/progressive/Democratic movement.&#160; Again, not because they’re more important than anyone else, but because they can truly represent a faith that can bring people together—instead of tearing them apart, as Republicans have done with their perversion of Christianity.</p>
<p>Because it’s true, Christianity has been taken over by the ignorant evangelical right-wing “Christians” who have discovered that it’s easier to manipulate millions with fear than build them up with hope.&#160; That anger makes for a better tool of control than love.&#160; That it’s easier to divide because of our differences than unite in spite of them.</p>
<p>However, I’m determined to put an end to that.&#160; Because I believe it’s time real Christians take back their faith from those who don’t even know the meaning of the word “Christian” and damn sure don’t follow Christianity.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Calling Out "Christian" Conservative Hypocrisy: The Best of 2013</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">My Story as a Liberal Christian Dealing With the Intolerance of Liberals Who Attack My Faith</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">It's Time We Put an End to the Republican Lie About Their "Christian Values"</a></p>
<p>0 Facebook comments</p>
|
A Look at the Importance of the “Liberal Christian”
| true |
http://forwardprogressives.com/a-look-at-the-importance-of-the-liberal-christian/
|
2013-06-16
| 4left
|
A Look at the Importance of the “Liberal Christian”
<p><a href="" type="internal" />Despite what many right-wing “Christians” might have you believe, there are millions of Christians who refer to themselves as liberals, progressives, Democrats or any number of things besides “conservative Republican.”</p>
<p>Anyone who follows my writing knows that I’ve written quite a few articles expressing my opinion on what I believe is the fallacy of the “right-wing conservative Christian movement.”</p>
<p>If you haven’t had a chance to read them, here they are:</p>
<p>To summarize my opinion on the issue, I don’t believe most Republicans are Christians.&#160; In fact, I don’t believe most of them follow Christianity.&#160; Instead, I believe they follow some hybrid perversion of faith and politics that I call “Republicanity.”</p>
<p>But that’s not what this piece is about.&#160; This is about the importance of “liberal” Christians.&#160; Now I put the word liberal in quotation marks because I don’t mean some new form of Christianity that’s liberally based.&#160; I mean liberal as in Democrats, progressives or liberals who are Christians.</p>
<p>Now I understand many liberals aren’t religious — in fact, many are atheists — but they should support liberal Christians too.&#160; Not because I believe they should convert—everyone should believe whatever the heck they want, it’s their business. &#160;Rather, it’s because even if you don’t believe in God, Jesus or follow any kind of faith whatsoever, what “liberal Christians” believe Jesus stood for transcends anyone’s religious ideology to the basics of how we should act as people.</p>
<p>As humans, we shouldn’t have to believe in Jesus Christ to feel that it’s important that we:</p>
<p>I don’t believe these are traits of Christians, these should be traits of humans—period.</p>
<p>And these are traits that we, as “liberal Christians,” fight for everyday.</p>
<p>I battle, almost daily, to take my faith back from those who’ve co-opted it so they can manipulate millions to vote against their own interests by using a handful of quotes about homosexuality to conjure up some fear that somehow God cares more about same-sex marriage than someone starving and sick on the streets.&#160; By the way, homosexuality is a subject Jesus Christ spoke about exactly zero times.</p>
<p>A group that I’m sure many reading this will have heard of (if you haven’t, you should check them out immediately) which fights this battle every single day is <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheChristianLeft" type="external">The Christian Left</a>.&#160; They, like me and millions of others, are sick and tired of people saying they worship a man who stood for love, hope and acceptance—with hate, fear and judgement.</p>
<p>This is why I think the “liberal Christian” is vital for this country.&#160; Not because I believe that with faith we’re more important than anyone else, but because millions of people do consider themselves Christians and millions of those people represent the belief that Jesus Christ epitomized the goodness inside people that we should all exemplify.</p>
<p>And even if you don’t believe in any kind of God, the symbol of what Jesus Christ represents, according to the “liberal Christian,” &#160;is something we should all be able to come together and agree upon.</p>
<p>Because being a good person isn’t tied to a faith, any kind of religious book, a denomination or singular person—it’s something we should all strive to be no matter what we believe.&#160; And that’s something “liberal Christians” represent.&#160; If true Christians would take back their faith from these fear mongering radicals on the right, the animosity between people of faith and no faith wouldn’t probably even exist.</p>
<p>Imagine how much more we could accomplish as a society if millions weren’t manipulating a faith to promote hateful, and ignorant, political ideologies?</p>
<p>That’s why I believe the “liberal Christian” is vital for the liberal/progressive/Democratic movement.&#160; Again, not because they’re more important than anyone else, but because they can truly represent a faith that can bring people together—instead of tearing them apart, as Republicans have done with their perversion of Christianity.</p>
<p>Because it’s true, Christianity has been taken over by the ignorant evangelical right-wing “Christians” who have discovered that it’s easier to manipulate millions with fear than build them up with hope.&#160; That anger makes for a better tool of control than love.&#160; That it’s easier to divide because of our differences than unite in spite of them.</p>
<p>However, I’m determined to put an end to that.&#160; Because I believe it’s time real Christians take back their faith from those who don’t even know the meaning of the word “Christian” and damn sure don’t follow Christianity.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Calling Out "Christian" Conservative Hypocrisy: The Best of 2013</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">My Story as a Liberal Christian Dealing With the Intolerance of Liberals Who Attack My Faith</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">It's Time We Put an End to the Republican Lie About Their "Christian Values"</a></p>
<p>0 Facebook comments</p>
| 5,132 |
<p>It was some 110 years ago that the Boer War commenced, a nasty conflict with a miscellany of atrocities befitting a classic colonial engagement.&#160; It was waged in the true imperialist mould, revealing an unvarnished desire on the part of an insatiable Britain to acquire gold mining interests in the Boer domains within Transvaal and the Orange Free State.</p>
<p>It also pitted strange pairings against each other: the Australian Bushmen, to take one example, against the formidable Boers; warriors of rural background fighting each other.&#160; 16,000 Australians saw service along with 6,500 New Zealanders – remarkable numbers given the lack of conscription or a draft in both countries.&#160; 606 and 158 respectively perished in the conflict.&#160; Curiously, Australia, obsessed with the legend of the rugged soldier perishing in distant, often ‘oriental’ lands, has little time to memorialise this conflict.&#160; Some insist that it was in the bloodied fields of South Africa where ‘the legend of the Aussie digger began’ (ABC News, Oct 10, 2009).&#160; That said, commemorating a dirty colonial invasion for resources proves a problematic ‘fit’ in the context of enlightenment and justice.</p>
<p>The messy conflict provided grist to the mill of anti-war opponents, just as it excited pro-war enthusiasts.&#160; It gave Arthur Conan Doyle a chance to defend the conflict in The Great Boer War (1901) and a young Winston Churchill a forum for belligerent expression.&#160; Such exploits did not fool the likes of critics such as the pioneering newspaper man, W. T. Stead, who, despite admiring the novelist’s talents, reviewed Conan Doyle’s work coolly.&#160; ‘Readable’ as it was, the account had come from a man who had been ‘swept off his feet by the wave of military enthusiasm which passed … the… country’ in 1899 and 1900.</p>
<p>Stead’s rejoinder came in Methods of Barbarism (1901), an account accusing the British army of rapaciousness and destructiveness in the field.&#160; An indignant Conan Doyle would in turn dismiss such allegations as mere tissues of lies, writing a polemical retort, The War in South Africa: Its Cause and Conflict.&#160; The work received the avid support from the establishment – the Foreign Office, the War Office, King Edward VII (in the form of £500 to defray publication costs), and the Colonial Secretary, Joseph Chamberlain.&#160; He was duly rewarded for his efforts with a knighthood in June 1902, an event Stead scrupulously avoided covering.</p>
<p>By 1902, the conflict was getting less support in parts of Britain and other parts of the Empire.&#160; Atrocity stories on non-combatants were reaching the presses of the colonies, and those of Europe.&#160; The execution of New South Wales drover Harry ‘Breaker’ Morant and Peter Handcock that year contributed no small part to the anti-war case in Australia. They had been convicted of slaughtering twelve Boer prisoners and a German missionary, an incident that was not without precedent in that guerrilla campaign.&#160; The Bushvelt Carbineers claimed they had been issued the orders.&#160; The paper trail to such orders, on the other hand, proved thin.&#160; The execution has seen much ink expended, with historians such as Bill Woolmore citing their solitary confinement for months, denial of due process and heavy handed dispatching as a case of brutal injustice.&#160; Even director Bruce Beresford had a hand in mythologising Morant and Handcock in his 1980 cinematic interpretation.</p>
<p>The British and colonial forces were rudely surprised by their Boer enemies.&#160; The German Mauser rifles, equipped with smokeless cartridges, proved lethal.&#160; The ambush became a frequent occurrence.&#160; Sabotage proved regular and effective.</p>
<p>The bruised and surprised British eventually gained the upper hand, adopting a scorched earth policy, destroying food lines and supplies and establishing various blockhouses to encircle the Boers.&#160; The concentration camp, brainchild of Lord Kitchener, made its&#160; appearance for the first time under that name, with women and children interned within enclosures.&#160; Neglect proved the ultimate killer – 25,000 Boer civilians, along with 14,000 natives perished.</p>
<p>The signing of the Treaty of Vereeniging in May 1902 added Boer territory to yet another domain of pink on the British imperial map.&#160; But it left a few nasty realities: that depredations against civilians in a guerrilla war had come to stay, symbolised by the interning qualities of the concentration camp, and the realities of an ever more lethal array of technologies.&#160; It is those factors that deserve commemoration more than anything else.</p>
<p>BINOY KAMPMARK was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge.&#160; He lectures at RMIT University, Melbourne.&#160; Email: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
|
That Dirty Colonial War
| true |
https://counterpunch.org/2009/10/13/that-dirty-colonial-war/
|
2009-10-13
| 4left
|
That Dirty Colonial War
<p>It was some 110 years ago that the Boer War commenced, a nasty conflict with a miscellany of atrocities befitting a classic colonial engagement.&#160; It was waged in the true imperialist mould, revealing an unvarnished desire on the part of an insatiable Britain to acquire gold mining interests in the Boer domains within Transvaal and the Orange Free State.</p>
<p>It also pitted strange pairings against each other: the Australian Bushmen, to take one example, against the formidable Boers; warriors of rural background fighting each other.&#160; 16,000 Australians saw service along with 6,500 New Zealanders – remarkable numbers given the lack of conscription or a draft in both countries.&#160; 606 and 158 respectively perished in the conflict.&#160; Curiously, Australia, obsessed with the legend of the rugged soldier perishing in distant, often ‘oriental’ lands, has little time to memorialise this conflict.&#160; Some insist that it was in the bloodied fields of South Africa where ‘the legend of the Aussie digger began’ (ABC News, Oct 10, 2009).&#160; That said, commemorating a dirty colonial invasion for resources proves a problematic ‘fit’ in the context of enlightenment and justice.</p>
<p>The messy conflict provided grist to the mill of anti-war opponents, just as it excited pro-war enthusiasts.&#160; It gave Arthur Conan Doyle a chance to defend the conflict in The Great Boer War (1901) and a young Winston Churchill a forum for belligerent expression.&#160; Such exploits did not fool the likes of critics such as the pioneering newspaper man, W. T. Stead, who, despite admiring the novelist’s talents, reviewed Conan Doyle’s work coolly.&#160; ‘Readable’ as it was, the account had come from a man who had been ‘swept off his feet by the wave of military enthusiasm which passed … the… country’ in 1899 and 1900.</p>
<p>Stead’s rejoinder came in Methods of Barbarism (1901), an account accusing the British army of rapaciousness and destructiveness in the field.&#160; An indignant Conan Doyle would in turn dismiss such allegations as mere tissues of lies, writing a polemical retort, The War in South Africa: Its Cause and Conflict.&#160; The work received the avid support from the establishment – the Foreign Office, the War Office, King Edward VII (in the form of £500 to defray publication costs), and the Colonial Secretary, Joseph Chamberlain.&#160; He was duly rewarded for his efforts with a knighthood in June 1902, an event Stead scrupulously avoided covering.</p>
<p>By 1902, the conflict was getting less support in parts of Britain and other parts of the Empire.&#160; Atrocity stories on non-combatants were reaching the presses of the colonies, and those of Europe.&#160; The execution of New South Wales drover Harry ‘Breaker’ Morant and Peter Handcock that year contributed no small part to the anti-war case in Australia. They had been convicted of slaughtering twelve Boer prisoners and a German missionary, an incident that was not without precedent in that guerrilla campaign.&#160; The Bushvelt Carbineers claimed they had been issued the orders.&#160; The paper trail to such orders, on the other hand, proved thin.&#160; The execution has seen much ink expended, with historians such as Bill Woolmore citing their solitary confinement for months, denial of due process and heavy handed dispatching as a case of brutal injustice.&#160; Even director Bruce Beresford had a hand in mythologising Morant and Handcock in his 1980 cinematic interpretation.</p>
<p>The British and colonial forces were rudely surprised by their Boer enemies.&#160; The German Mauser rifles, equipped with smokeless cartridges, proved lethal.&#160; The ambush became a frequent occurrence.&#160; Sabotage proved regular and effective.</p>
<p>The bruised and surprised British eventually gained the upper hand, adopting a scorched earth policy, destroying food lines and supplies and establishing various blockhouses to encircle the Boers.&#160; The concentration camp, brainchild of Lord Kitchener, made its&#160; appearance for the first time under that name, with women and children interned within enclosures.&#160; Neglect proved the ultimate killer – 25,000 Boer civilians, along with 14,000 natives perished.</p>
<p>The signing of the Treaty of Vereeniging in May 1902 added Boer territory to yet another domain of pink on the British imperial map.&#160; But it left a few nasty realities: that depredations against civilians in a guerrilla war had come to stay, symbolised by the interning qualities of the concentration camp, and the realities of an ever more lethal array of technologies.&#160; It is those factors that deserve commemoration more than anything else.</p>
<p>BINOY KAMPMARK was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge.&#160; He lectures at RMIT University, Melbourne.&#160; Email: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
| 5,133 |
<p>For most of 2016, we were preparing ourselves for the announcement of the launch of Trump TV after November 8, but while we were right that a presidential candidate would soon be hosting his own show, we got the wrong candidate and the wrong party altogether. Introducing "The Bernie Sanders Show, " the self-styled "democratic socialist" septuagenarian's new Facebook Live talk show that one of his producers says is tapping into the senator's "viral gold."</p>
<p>When the Vermont senator first launched his presidential campaign, most political analysts took it about as seriously as they did Donald Trump's, assuming Sanders would only serve to highlight Hillary Clinton's "inevitability," a useful foil to make her looked like she had really earned the nomination, rather than having already been crowned by the Democratic National Committee before the first primary vote was cast (which <a href="https://nypost.com/2016/07/22/leaked-emails-show-how-democrats-screwed-sanders/" type="external">leaked emails</a> revealed to be the case).</p>
<p>Unfortunately for Clinton and the DNC, Sanders proved surprisingly popular, evidence of the growing, unapologetic socialist sentiment in the Democratic base. Sanders has now amassed <a href="https://twitter.com/SenSanders" type="external">over 4.7 million</a> followers on Twitter and over 7 million fans on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/berniesanders/" type="external">Facebook</a>, which, <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/democrats-vs-trump/sanders-show-welcome-bernie-tv-n741571" type="external">NBC News</a> points out, is "more than double that of his closest competition in Congress, including national stars like Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker." Since the start of last year, his Facebook page has garnered a stunning 164 million video views.</p>
<p />
<p>Now, from among ficus plants and prop books in a studio provided by the Senate Democratic Media Center, Sanders hopes to keep the unexpected success of his ultimately thwarted campaign moving forward — and to continue to promote his socialist agenda. By the fourth episode of the "Sanders Show," he has already invited on guests to hammer fracking, promote socialized medicine, and criticize Trump's conservative appointments. Sanders has even landed an interview with Bill Nye "The Science Guy" to promote climate change alarmism, every socialist's favorite topic.</p>
<p>"It gives me an opportunity to speak directly to many millions of people about the work that we're doing about the issues that we consider to be important," Sanders told NBC News, who spoke with the senator and a few other folks involved in the program.</p>
<p>The show spends no money on advertising, a decision aligning with Sanders' vilification of big business and the "corporate media." Instead, the "viral" nature of Sanders' online presence fuels the shows ratings. And so far it appears to be working as planned.</p>
<p>NBC underscores that Sanders hosting his own show is actually less out of left field than it might seem:</p>
<p>Before he entered politics, he made film strips about historical figures like Eugene Debbs, the socialist presidential candidate.</p>
<p>As mayor of Burlington in the 1980s, he hosted his own cable access show called "Bernie Speaks," in which he interviewed residents, touted his accomplishments, read poetry, and even recorded a folk performance of "We Shall Overcome."</p>
<p>And in the 2000s, as a member of Congress, Sanders hosted a radio show on WDEV.</p>
<p>Next up: " <a href="" type="internal">Hillary TV</a>"...? Let's hope so.</p>
|
You'll Never Believe Which Politician Has A Talk Show Now
| true |
https://dailywire.com/news/15019/youll-never-believe-which-politician-has-talk-show-james-barrett
|
2017-04-03
| 0right
|
You'll Never Believe Which Politician Has A Talk Show Now
<p>For most of 2016, we were preparing ourselves for the announcement of the launch of Trump TV after November 8, but while we were right that a presidential candidate would soon be hosting his own show, we got the wrong candidate and the wrong party altogether. Introducing "The Bernie Sanders Show, " the self-styled "democratic socialist" septuagenarian's new Facebook Live talk show that one of his producers says is tapping into the senator's "viral gold."</p>
<p>When the Vermont senator first launched his presidential campaign, most political analysts took it about as seriously as they did Donald Trump's, assuming Sanders would only serve to highlight Hillary Clinton's "inevitability," a useful foil to make her looked like she had really earned the nomination, rather than having already been crowned by the Democratic National Committee before the first primary vote was cast (which <a href="https://nypost.com/2016/07/22/leaked-emails-show-how-democrats-screwed-sanders/" type="external">leaked emails</a> revealed to be the case).</p>
<p>Unfortunately for Clinton and the DNC, Sanders proved surprisingly popular, evidence of the growing, unapologetic socialist sentiment in the Democratic base. Sanders has now amassed <a href="https://twitter.com/SenSanders" type="external">over 4.7 million</a> followers on Twitter and over 7 million fans on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/berniesanders/" type="external">Facebook</a>, which, <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/democrats-vs-trump/sanders-show-welcome-bernie-tv-n741571" type="external">NBC News</a> points out, is "more than double that of his closest competition in Congress, including national stars like Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker." Since the start of last year, his Facebook page has garnered a stunning 164 million video views.</p>
<p />
<p>Now, from among ficus plants and prop books in a studio provided by the Senate Democratic Media Center, Sanders hopes to keep the unexpected success of his ultimately thwarted campaign moving forward — and to continue to promote his socialist agenda. By the fourth episode of the "Sanders Show," he has already invited on guests to hammer fracking, promote socialized medicine, and criticize Trump's conservative appointments. Sanders has even landed an interview with Bill Nye "The Science Guy" to promote climate change alarmism, every socialist's favorite topic.</p>
<p>"It gives me an opportunity to speak directly to many millions of people about the work that we're doing about the issues that we consider to be important," Sanders told NBC News, who spoke with the senator and a few other folks involved in the program.</p>
<p>The show spends no money on advertising, a decision aligning with Sanders' vilification of big business and the "corporate media." Instead, the "viral" nature of Sanders' online presence fuels the shows ratings. And so far it appears to be working as planned.</p>
<p>NBC underscores that Sanders hosting his own show is actually less out of left field than it might seem:</p>
<p>Before he entered politics, he made film strips about historical figures like Eugene Debbs, the socialist presidential candidate.</p>
<p>As mayor of Burlington in the 1980s, he hosted his own cable access show called "Bernie Speaks," in which he interviewed residents, touted his accomplishments, read poetry, and even recorded a folk performance of "We Shall Overcome."</p>
<p>And in the 2000s, as a member of Congress, Sanders hosted a radio show on WDEV.</p>
<p>Next up: " <a href="" type="internal">Hillary TV</a>"...? Let's hope so.</p>
| 5,134 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Until Spotted Wolf, 39 and a self-proclaimed “Boomer Sooner” fan, got married and had a daughter, his whole life revolved around football.</p>
<p>That gridiron career began when he started playing in the Young America Football league when he was in fourth grade.</p>
<p>“There were no high school affiliations back then,” he recalled. “We were the Sundevils.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>He played varsity football at La Cueva, with two seasons on the Bears’ varsity (1990-91); “As a senior, I started,” he said, recalling back-to-back seasons as district championships for the Bears, coached by Ron Warren. The Bears got as far as the semifinals in 1990, where they were eliminated by Clovis; Eldorado knocked them out of the playoffs in the quarterfinals in 1991.</p>
<p>As the Bears’ center, Spotted Wolf — No. 58 on your program — was an All-Metro selection and a first-team All-District 3AAAA selection. No one on the LCHS roster weighed more than the 220 lbs. he was at on a roster from back in the day.</p>
<p>Recruited by Adams State in Alamosa, Colo., Spotted Wolf immediately fell in love with the campus and the thought of playing for the Grizzlies, even though he remembers the temperature that day pegged at minus-13 degrees.</p>
<p>Still smallish for an offensive lineman, Spotted Wolf was a three-year starter, happy to be in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. “I loved it,” he says now.</p>
<p>He was named the Grizzlies’ Most Valuable Team Player after his senior season.</p>
<p>The coaching jobs began almost immediately, with Spotted Wolf serving as a graduate assistant for the 1996 ASC team. He graduated in the spring of 1997.</p>
<p>He spent the 1997 football season doing his student teaching at Del Norte (Colo.) High School, coaching (what else?) the offensive line and the defensive line.</p>
<p>Although he enjoyed teaching English — he teaches freshman English at RRHS — football was his first love. “I was sending out resumes to every D1 school in the country,” he said.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Former Lobo quarterback and later UNM head coach Rocky Long offered him a position as a grad assistant at the University of New Mexico, thanks to a recommendation from his LCHS head coach, Warren, now an administrator with Albuquerque Public Schools.</p>
<p>Long, Spotted Wolf said, “liked my energy and enthusiasm.”</p>
<p>Rocky Long is long gone, but not Spotted Wolf’s energy and enthusiasm, as his OL players and fellow coaches will tell you.</p>
<p>He spent three seasons (1998-2000) at UNM, working with the OL as well as overseeing the players’ grades, making sure they remained eligible.</p>
<p>When Lobos assistant Bob Bostad left UNM for a position at Wisconsin, he recommended Spotted Wolf for a position at nearby Wisconsin-Eau Claire in 2001.</p>
<p>“I was the special teams coordinator and OL coach; we won the WIAC championship,” Spotted Wolf said.</p>
<p>He was back in New Mexico in 2002, serving as special teams coordinator and OL coach at Zuni High School, where he worked under former Menaul School coach Gus Brock. (Brock’s son Eric is a Rams assistant this season.)</p>
<p>He headed east for a job at La Cueva, working for head coach Fred Romero, working with the OLs on the freshman, JV and varsity teams. La Cueva won back-to-back Class 5A championships both years (2003-04), and the Bears won 26 games in a row.</p>
<p>But, says Spotted Wolf, “I still had interest in the college game.”</p>
<p>In 2005, he was at Panhandle State in Oklahoma, coaching the OL, after a friend in the coaching ranks asked him to help out.</p>
<p>In 2006, former Belen High standout, and later a Lobos punter and head coach at Manzano, Mike Nesbitt, asked Spotted Wolf to join the staff at Blinn Junior College in Texas. Brad Franchione was the head coach; Spotted Wolf was the OL coach and spent time on the recruiting trail. Three Blinn players from that ’06 squad, which won a national championship, wound up in the NFL, including Carolina Panthers QB Cam Newton, whom Spotted Wolf worked with in the weight room.</p>
<p>“Cam’s a freak, a physical freak,” Spotted Wolf said. “He’s gigantic, fast and strong; he’s faster than the receivers, stronger than the offensive linemen.”</p>
<p>While at Blinn, he said, “I met the love of my life.” Strangely, because he was on the recruiting trail, he initially asked Ashley Klausmeyer, a financial advisor at Blinn, out on a date via MySpace.com.</p>
<p>That was in the spring of 2008; the two were wed in June 2009.</p>
<p>Soon, Spotted Wolf became a head coach at Bacone College (“Jim Thorpe, All-American” was filmed on the campus, he noted) in Muskogee, Okla.</p>
<p>Let’s say it wasn’t a marriage that was meant to be: Spotted Wolf led Bacone teams to records of 1-8 in ’09 and 3-8 in ’10.</p>
<p>“I was disillusioned with the institution and my baby (Elizabeth, aka “Biffy”) was coming,” he said. “We came home.”</p>
<p>This time, home was back in New Mexico, and Spotted Wolf had been looking for a job — “I was beating the bushes” — and among the head coaches in the discussions was RRHS coach David Howes.</p>
<p>Howes liked his experience and added him to his staff as the OL coach.</p>
<p>“He has a great resume as a high school coach, he’s got a great resume as college football coach,” Howes said. “That whole varsity staff really does a great job and I’m so blessed to have great coaches around me.”</p>
<p>Howes said he’s known Spotted Wolf since he was an assistant at La Cueva.</p>
<p>The high school game and its players have changed since Spotted Wolf was on the Bears’ OL 20-plus years ago.</p>
<p>“It requires a lot more teaching and reps than it used to,” he said. “My theory is coaching is teaching. I don’t want to coach plays, coach schemes — I go out to coach people.”</p>
<p>Spotted Wolf can be seen during practice as a taskmaster of sorts, quick to make his OL hopefuls drop and do push-ups when one of them messes up a drill. As practice winds down, he tends to be more positive in his approach.</p>
<p>“(If) they trust in you, you can get that kid to run through a wall for you,” he explained. During the games, he stays on the sidelines “in case there’s any surprises (from the opponent’s defense).”</p>
<p>His high school coach isn’t surprised with his success.</p>
<p>“His biggest asset then, as any of his bosses today would say, was his knowledge of the game,” says Warren.</p>
<p>“He’s a quality teacher and a quality person. He has a national JuCo ring to show for his success at Blinn Junior College,” Warren said. “He continues to reinforce it goes beyond the learning of the game, it’s the ability to teach it and impact it on game day.</p>
<p>“He’s a leader — without a doubt.”</p>
|
Rams’ Spotted Wolf lives, loves game of football
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/251240/rams39-spotted-wolf-lives-loves-game-of-football.html
|
2013-08-21
| 2least
|
Rams’ Spotted Wolf lives, loves game of football
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<p />
<p>Until Spotted Wolf, 39 and a self-proclaimed “Boomer Sooner” fan, got married and had a daughter, his whole life revolved around football.</p>
<p>That gridiron career began when he started playing in the Young America Football league when he was in fourth grade.</p>
<p>“There were no high school affiliations back then,” he recalled. “We were the Sundevils.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>He played varsity football at La Cueva, with two seasons on the Bears’ varsity (1990-91); “As a senior, I started,” he said, recalling back-to-back seasons as district championships for the Bears, coached by Ron Warren. The Bears got as far as the semifinals in 1990, where they were eliminated by Clovis; Eldorado knocked them out of the playoffs in the quarterfinals in 1991.</p>
<p>As the Bears’ center, Spotted Wolf — No. 58 on your program — was an All-Metro selection and a first-team All-District 3AAAA selection. No one on the LCHS roster weighed more than the 220 lbs. he was at on a roster from back in the day.</p>
<p>Recruited by Adams State in Alamosa, Colo., Spotted Wolf immediately fell in love with the campus and the thought of playing for the Grizzlies, even though he remembers the temperature that day pegged at minus-13 degrees.</p>
<p>Still smallish for an offensive lineman, Spotted Wolf was a three-year starter, happy to be in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. “I loved it,” he says now.</p>
<p>He was named the Grizzlies’ Most Valuable Team Player after his senior season.</p>
<p>The coaching jobs began almost immediately, with Spotted Wolf serving as a graduate assistant for the 1996 ASC team. He graduated in the spring of 1997.</p>
<p>He spent the 1997 football season doing his student teaching at Del Norte (Colo.) High School, coaching (what else?) the offensive line and the defensive line.</p>
<p>Although he enjoyed teaching English — he teaches freshman English at RRHS — football was his first love. “I was sending out resumes to every D1 school in the country,” he said.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Former Lobo quarterback and later UNM head coach Rocky Long offered him a position as a grad assistant at the University of New Mexico, thanks to a recommendation from his LCHS head coach, Warren, now an administrator with Albuquerque Public Schools.</p>
<p>Long, Spotted Wolf said, “liked my energy and enthusiasm.”</p>
<p>Rocky Long is long gone, but not Spotted Wolf’s energy and enthusiasm, as his OL players and fellow coaches will tell you.</p>
<p>He spent three seasons (1998-2000) at UNM, working with the OL as well as overseeing the players’ grades, making sure they remained eligible.</p>
<p>When Lobos assistant Bob Bostad left UNM for a position at Wisconsin, he recommended Spotted Wolf for a position at nearby Wisconsin-Eau Claire in 2001.</p>
<p>“I was the special teams coordinator and OL coach; we won the WIAC championship,” Spotted Wolf said.</p>
<p>He was back in New Mexico in 2002, serving as special teams coordinator and OL coach at Zuni High School, where he worked under former Menaul School coach Gus Brock. (Brock’s son Eric is a Rams assistant this season.)</p>
<p>He headed east for a job at La Cueva, working for head coach Fred Romero, working with the OLs on the freshman, JV and varsity teams. La Cueva won back-to-back Class 5A championships both years (2003-04), and the Bears won 26 games in a row.</p>
<p>But, says Spotted Wolf, “I still had interest in the college game.”</p>
<p>In 2005, he was at Panhandle State in Oklahoma, coaching the OL, after a friend in the coaching ranks asked him to help out.</p>
<p>In 2006, former Belen High standout, and later a Lobos punter and head coach at Manzano, Mike Nesbitt, asked Spotted Wolf to join the staff at Blinn Junior College in Texas. Brad Franchione was the head coach; Spotted Wolf was the OL coach and spent time on the recruiting trail. Three Blinn players from that ’06 squad, which won a national championship, wound up in the NFL, including Carolina Panthers QB Cam Newton, whom Spotted Wolf worked with in the weight room.</p>
<p>“Cam’s a freak, a physical freak,” Spotted Wolf said. “He’s gigantic, fast and strong; he’s faster than the receivers, stronger than the offensive linemen.”</p>
<p>While at Blinn, he said, “I met the love of my life.” Strangely, because he was on the recruiting trail, he initially asked Ashley Klausmeyer, a financial advisor at Blinn, out on a date via MySpace.com.</p>
<p>That was in the spring of 2008; the two were wed in June 2009.</p>
<p>Soon, Spotted Wolf became a head coach at Bacone College (“Jim Thorpe, All-American” was filmed on the campus, he noted) in Muskogee, Okla.</p>
<p>Let’s say it wasn’t a marriage that was meant to be: Spotted Wolf led Bacone teams to records of 1-8 in ’09 and 3-8 in ’10.</p>
<p>“I was disillusioned with the institution and my baby (Elizabeth, aka “Biffy”) was coming,” he said. “We came home.”</p>
<p>This time, home was back in New Mexico, and Spotted Wolf had been looking for a job — “I was beating the bushes” — and among the head coaches in the discussions was RRHS coach David Howes.</p>
<p>Howes liked his experience and added him to his staff as the OL coach.</p>
<p>“He has a great resume as a high school coach, he’s got a great resume as college football coach,” Howes said. “That whole varsity staff really does a great job and I’m so blessed to have great coaches around me.”</p>
<p>Howes said he’s known Spotted Wolf since he was an assistant at La Cueva.</p>
<p>The high school game and its players have changed since Spotted Wolf was on the Bears’ OL 20-plus years ago.</p>
<p>“It requires a lot more teaching and reps than it used to,” he said. “My theory is coaching is teaching. I don’t want to coach plays, coach schemes — I go out to coach people.”</p>
<p>Spotted Wolf can be seen during practice as a taskmaster of sorts, quick to make his OL hopefuls drop and do push-ups when one of them messes up a drill. As practice winds down, he tends to be more positive in his approach.</p>
<p>“(If) they trust in you, you can get that kid to run through a wall for you,” he explained. During the games, he stays on the sidelines “in case there’s any surprises (from the opponent’s defense).”</p>
<p>His high school coach isn’t surprised with his success.</p>
<p>“His biggest asset then, as any of his bosses today would say, was his knowledge of the game,” says Warren.</p>
<p>“He’s a quality teacher and a quality person. He has a national JuCo ring to show for his success at Blinn Junior College,” Warren said. “He continues to reinforce it goes beyond the learning of the game, it’s the ability to teach it and impact it on game day.</p>
<p>“He’s a leader — without a doubt.”</p>
| 5,135 |
<p>Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) cut several dozen jobs from its U.S. operations on Thursday, aiming to cut costs amid a slowdown in capital markets activity, three people familiar with the matter said.</p>
<p>The job cuts took place at its headquarters in Lower Manhattan, as well as offices in New Jersey and Salt Lake City, said the people, who spoke under the condition of anonymity.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Goldman declined to comment on the matter.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
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Report: Dozens of Goldman Workers Laid Off Thursday
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/features/2012/06/28/report-goldman-lays-off-workers-across-us-offices.html
|
2016-01-26
| 0right
|
Report: Dozens of Goldman Workers Laid Off Thursday
<p>Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) cut several dozen jobs from its U.S. operations on Thursday, aiming to cut costs amid a slowdown in capital markets activity, three people familiar with the matter said.</p>
<p>The job cuts took place at its headquarters in Lower Manhattan, as well as offices in New Jersey and Salt Lake City, said the people, who spoke under the condition of anonymity.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Goldman declined to comment on the matter.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
| 5,136 |
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<p />
<p>In 1988, Congress expanded what had previously been a weeklong celebration of Hispanic culture to a full month from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15. It was meant to be a time to reflect on everything that Hispanics have contributed to this country. Instead, corporations, universities, and political parties have used this opportunity to schmooze the nation’s 52 million Hispanics.</p>
<p>They say love blooms in the spring. But when it comes to courting Hispanics, a lot of folks show their love in the fall.</p>
<p>This week, PBS is airing a documentary called “Latino Americans” which it is billing as the Latino chapter of the American Dream. In it, you’ll find the obligatory references to United Farm Workers Union President Cesar Chavez, the usual on-ramp to the Latino experience for Eastern liberal media.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Take it from someone who grew up an hour away from the UFW hub of Delano, Calif., that road is a dead-end. Chavez was a man of the fields; today, most Latinos live in the cities. And guess what? Latinos were busy working hard to achieve the American Dream long before public television discovered them.</p>
<p>My concern is that too many Hispanics may be buying into the hype. Like anyone else, they want to matter, to be relevant, to be a player in the American story. So it’s easy for them to mistake population figures for power, influence and respect.</p>
<p>Latinos have the first; they are among the fastest-growing segments in our society, clocking in at 16 percent of the U.S. population now and projected to make up as much as 29 percent by 2050. By comparison, the African-American population is 13 percent and, in 2050, it is expected to still be 13 percent.</p>
<p>And yet, the rest of the items on the Latino wish list have proved harder to come by. Numbers alone do not buy you power, influence and respect. Those things have to be earned and seized. You would be amazed at how skilled some in big media, big politics and big business have become at ignoring the elephant in the room.</p>
<p>For instance, just because televisions are no longer black-and-white doesn’t mean that much of what you see on television isn’t still black and white.</p>
<p>What about the color green? This year, Hispanics will spend an estimated $1.3 trillion on goods and services. That figure has been increasing by about $100 million per year. So by 2020, it’ll be $2 trillion.</p>
<p>But there is another side to the coin. Corporations may spend an increasing amount of time and money trying to sell things to Hispanics, but they need to spend more time communicating with them. Like most Hispanics, I spend my paychecks with a variety of companies every month. But I can’t think of a single one that I feel warm and fuzzy about because I think they care about me and my family. So I’m not brand loyal.</p>
<p>Politically, Hispanic voters have a big footprint in at least three crucial battleground states: Nevada, Colorado and Florida. Every month, about 50,000 Hispanics turn voting age. They helped decide the 2012 election, even before the returns came in from states such as Ohio, which we were told would be key to determining the winner. This trend will likely continue in 2016 and beyond.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>There is another side to that coin, too. Hispanics don’t have nearly as much political power as they think, especially in Washington. That’s because the nation’s capital runs on cash, and Hispanics don’t often contribute to political campaigns or run the nonprofit organizations that dole out the street money that buys loyalty in Washington.</p>
<p>On immigration, which neither Democrats nor Republicans want to take on – and both parties were eager to put it on the back burner, using the Syria crisis as an excuse, Hispanic voters are alienated by Republicans and insulted by Democrats. They’re fooled, lied to and manipulated – including by groups that pretend to speak for them, often headed up by non-Latinos.</p>
<p>Yet, every year at this time, Hispanics strut around as if they’ve accomplished great things and are destined to accomplish greater things down the road.</p>
<p>Say, maybe we should change the date of this celebration – to April 1.</p>
<p>E-mail: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a>. Copyright, The Washington Post Writers Group.</p>
<p />
<p />
|
Washington still sees world in black & white
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/265487/washington-still-sees-world-in-black-amp-white.html
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Washington still sees world in black & white
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<p />
<p>In 1988, Congress expanded what had previously been a weeklong celebration of Hispanic culture to a full month from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15. It was meant to be a time to reflect on everything that Hispanics have contributed to this country. Instead, corporations, universities, and political parties have used this opportunity to schmooze the nation’s 52 million Hispanics.</p>
<p>They say love blooms in the spring. But when it comes to courting Hispanics, a lot of folks show their love in the fall.</p>
<p>This week, PBS is airing a documentary called “Latino Americans” which it is billing as the Latino chapter of the American Dream. In it, you’ll find the obligatory references to United Farm Workers Union President Cesar Chavez, the usual on-ramp to the Latino experience for Eastern liberal media.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Take it from someone who grew up an hour away from the UFW hub of Delano, Calif., that road is a dead-end. Chavez was a man of the fields; today, most Latinos live in the cities. And guess what? Latinos were busy working hard to achieve the American Dream long before public television discovered them.</p>
<p>My concern is that too many Hispanics may be buying into the hype. Like anyone else, they want to matter, to be relevant, to be a player in the American story. So it’s easy for them to mistake population figures for power, influence and respect.</p>
<p>Latinos have the first; they are among the fastest-growing segments in our society, clocking in at 16 percent of the U.S. population now and projected to make up as much as 29 percent by 2050. By comparison, the African-American population is 13 percent and, in 2050, it is expected to still be 13 percent.</p>
<p>And yet, the rest of the items on the Latino wish list have proved harder to come by. Numbers alone do not buy you power, influence and respect. Those things have to be earned and seized. You would be amazed at how skilled some in big media, big politics and big business have become at ignoring the elephant in the room.</p>
<p>For instance, just because televisions are no longer black-and-white doesn’t mean that much of what you see on television isn’t still black and white.</p>
<p>What about the color green? This year, Hispanics will spend an estimated $1.3 trillion on goods and services. That figure has been increasing by about $100 million per year. So by 2020, it’ll be $2 trillion.</p>
<p>But there is another side to the coin. Corporations may spend an increasing amount of time and money trying to sell things to Hispanics, but they need to spend more time communicating with them. Like most Hispanics, I spend my paychecks with a variety of companies every month. But I can’t think of a single one that I feel warm and fuzzy about because I think they care about me and my family. So I’m not brand loyal.</p>
<p>Politically, Hispanic voters have a big footprint in at least three crucial battleground states: Nevada, Colorado and Florida. Every month, about 50,000 Hispanics turn voting age. They helped decide the 2012 election, even before the returns came in from states such as Ohio, which we were told would be key to determining the winner. This trend will likely continue in 2016 and beyond.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>There is another side to that coin, too. Hispanics don’t have nearly as much political power as they think, especially in Washington. That’s because the nation’s capital runs on cash, and Hispanics don’t often contribute to political campaigns or run the nonprofit organizations that dole out the street money that buys loyalty in Washington.</p>
<p>On immigration, which neither Democrats nor Republicans want to take on – and both parties were eager to put it on the back burner, using the Syria crisis as an excuse, Hispanic voters are alienated by Republicans and insulted by Democrats. They’re fooled, lied to and manipulated – including by groups that pretend to speak for them, often headed up by non-Latinos.</p>
<p>Yet, every year at this time, Hispanics strut around as if they’ve accomplished great things and are destined to accomplish greater things down the road.</p>
<p>Say, maybe we should change the date of this celebration – to April 1.</p>
<p>E-mail: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a>. Copyright, The Washington Post Writers Group.</p>
<p />
<p />
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<p />
<p>The New Mexico State Parks Division released its incident report of the drowning death of 29-year-old Eric Thomas on Friday.</p>
<p>The report says Thomas began to struggle in the water after trying to swim after a float tube that had drifted away.</p>
<p>The incident happened July 31 while he and his wife were fishing.</p>
<p>Authorities say his wife swam out to him but was unable to help him keep his head above water.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>She screamed for help, and several boaters arrived and pulled Thomas from the water.</p>
<p>Efforts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful.</p>
<p>Authorities say the couple had been married about two weeks.</p>
|
Newlywed drowns in lake
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/443224/newlywed-drowns-in-lake.html
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Newlywed drowns in lake
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<p />
<p>The New Mexico State Parks Division released its incident report of the drowning death of 29-year-old Eric Thomas on Friday.</p>
<p>The report says Thomas began to struggle in the water after trying to swim after a float tube that had drifted away.</p>
<p>The incident happened July 31 while he and his wife were fishing.</p>
<p>Authorities say his wife swam out to him but was unable to help him keep his head above water.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>She screamed for help, and several boaters arrived and pulled Thomas from the water.</p>
<p>Efforts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful.</p>
<p>Authorities say the couple had been married about two weeks.</p>
| 5,138 |
|
<p>Turkey <a href="http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/world/turkey-bans-the-hookah-in-public-areas/story-e6frfkui-1226563319834#ixzz2JGuHhXgF" type="external">goes too far</a> with this "public health" thing:</p>
<p>AFTER banning smoking in public places, the Turkish government has gone one step further by clamping down on an ancient tradition -- the hookah, or water pipe. As of Sunday it is no longer permitted to smoke the "hubbly-bubbly" in cafes, bars or restaurants as the conservative Islamic government cracks down on use of tobacco.</p>
<p>In 2009 the government made it illegal to smoke in public places, but only barred use of the hookah by minors, and cafes continued to offer fruity tobacco mixes in water pipes, drawing the wrath of health authorities.</p>
|
Turkey Bans Public Hookah Use
| true |
https://thedailybeast.com/turkey-bans-public-hookah-use
|
2018-10-03
| 4left
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Turkey Bans Public Hookah Use
<p>Turkey <a href="http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/world/turkey-bans-the-hookah-in-public-areas/story-e6frfkui-1226563319834#ixzz2JGuHhXgF" type="external">goes too far</a> with this "public health" thing:</p>
<p>AFTER banning smoking in public places, the Turkish government has gone one step further by clamping down on an ancient tradition -- the hookah, or water pipe. As of Sunday it is no longer permitted to smoke the "hubbly-bubbly" in cafes, bars or restaurants as the conservative Islamic government cracks down on use of tobacco.</p>
<p>In 2009 the government made it illegal to smoke in public places, but only barred use of the hookah by minors, and cafes continued to offer fruity tobacco mixes in water pipes, drawing the wrath of health authorities.</p>
| 5,139 |
<p>(Screenshot via YouTube)</p>
<p>Transgender comedian Julia Scotti impressed the judges for a second time on “America’s Got Talent,” advancing into the live shows.</p>
<p>Scotti appeared on Wednesday’s episode of “America’s Got Talent” where she joked about her family’s burial plans for her and her desire to lose weight. The comedian sent the judges and the arena into hysterics yet again.</p>
<p>“Look at that,” Howie Mandel told Scotti as he gestured to the cheering crowd.</p>
<p>Before her transition, Scotti performed stand-up comedy for ten years as “Rick.” Now at 63-years-old, Scotti is trying to make her dreams come true for a second time. Scotti will compete in the live shows later this summer.</p>
<p />
<p><a href="" type="internal">America's Got Talent</a> <a href="" type="internal">Howie Mandel</a> <a href="" type="internal">Julia Scotti</a></p>
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Transgender comedian advances on ‘America’s Got Talent’
| false |
http://washingtonblade.com/2016/07/15/transgender-comedian-advances-americas-got-talent/
| 3left-center
|
Transgender comedian advances on ‘America’s Got Talent’
<p>(Screenshot via YouTube)</p>
<p>Transgender comedian Julia Scotti impressed the judges for a second time on “America’s Got Talent,” advancing into the live shows.</p>
<p>Scotti appeared on Wednesday’s episode of “America’s Got Talent” where she joked about her family’s burial plans for her and her desire to lose weight. The comedian sent the judges and the arena into hysterics yet again.</p>
<p>“Look at that,” Howie Mandel told Scotti as he gestured to the cheering crowd.</p>
<p>Before her transition, Scotti performed stand-up comedy for ten years as “Rick.” Now at 63-years-old, Scotti is trying to make her dreams come true for a second time. Scotti will compete in the live shows later this summer.</p>
<p />
<p><a href="" type="internal">America's Got Talent</a> <a href="" type="internal">Howie Mandel</a> <a href="" type="internal">Julia Scotti</a></p>
| 5,140 |
|
<p />
<p>TRACK 1</p>
<p>“At Night in Dreams”</p>
<p>From White Denim’s Corsicana Lemonade</p>
<p>DOWNTOWN</p>
<p>Liner notes: Indie-rock fizz meets blues-rock swagger on the trio’s fifth studio outing, an exhilarating wave of noise evoking T. Rex’s glam epics.</p>
<p>Behind the music: Singer James Petralli is the son of former pro baseball player Geno Petralli. Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy mixed the entire album and produced two tracks.</p>
<p>Check it out if you like: Spirited eclectics like the White Stripes, Foxygen, and Kurt Vile.</p>
<p />
<p>This review originally appeared in our <a href="" type="internal">November/December 2013 issue</a> of Mother Jones.</p>
<p />
|
Music Review: “At Night in Dreams” by White Denim
| true |
https://motherjones.com/politics/2013/11/white-denim-night-dreams-review/
|
2013-11-11
| 4left
|
Music Review: “At Night in Dreams” by White Denim
<p />
<p>TRACK 1</p>
<p>“At Night in Dreams”</p>
<p>From White Denim’s Corsicana Lemonade</p>
<p>DOWNTOWN</p>
<p>Liner notes: Indie-rock fizz meets blues-rock swagger on the trio’s fifth studio outing, an exhilarating wave of noise evoking T. Rex’s glam epics.</p>
<p>Behind the music: Singer James Petralli is the son of former pro baseball player Geno Petralli. Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy mixed the entire album and produced two tracks.</p>
<p>Check it out if you like: Spirited eclectics like the White Stripes, Foxygen, and Kurt Vile.</p>
<p />
<p>This review originally appeared in our <a href="" type="internal">November/December 2013 issue</a> of Mother Jones.</p>
<p />
| 5,141 |
<p>Police in Athens broke up a Greeks-only food handout by far-right party Golden Dawn on Thursday, carrying out Athens mayor&#160;Giorgos Kaminis's vow to prevent "thuggery" in his city.&#160;</p>
<p>Riot police met Golden Dawn supporters at Athens' central Syntagma Square as they arrived with trucks full of food, using tear gas to stop them from unloading, and scattering the members, <a href="http://www.enetenglish.gr/?i=news.en.politics&amp;id=814" type="external">reports Greek news website Enet.&#160;</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/01/golden-dawn-food-rally-athens" type="external">According to the Guardian,</a>&#160;Golden Dawn's members –&#160;who are stridently opposed to immigration –&#160;had planned to hand out Easter treats to Greek families who couldn't afford to celebrate the Orthodox holiday due to austerity measures, calling it "food that is aimed for the thousands of Greek families blighted by the genocidal policies of the memorandum" (referring to Greece's international loan agreement).&#160;</p>
<p>Read more from GlobalPost:&#160; <a href="https://www.google.com.kh/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=1&amp;ved=0CCsQFjAA&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.globalpost.com%2Fdispatch%2Fnews%2Fregions%2Feurope%2F121003%2Fgreece-migrants-golden-dawn-euro-crisis&amp;ei=rC-CUamrPKK3iQeHrICgDg&amp;usg=AFQjCNEOsWz8tXfdGHX_rV22etr82jVXjA&amp;bvm=bv.45921128,d.aGc" type="external">Greece's other crisis</a></p>
<p>The situation was normalized around 8:00 AM, <a href="http://greece.greekreporter.com/2013/05/02/tear-gas-stops-golden-dawn-food-handout/" type="external">reports Greek Reporter,</a> and around 40 Golden Dawn supporters were dispersed after attempting to push away the police forces — though the&#160; <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22379744" type="external">BBC notes</a> that the distribution appears to have continued in other parts of the city later that day.</p>
<p>In the wake of the harsh austerity measures in Greece, the formerly fringe Golden Dawn is now the fifth largest party in the nation.&#160;The party holds 18 seats in <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-02/greek-police-scuffle-with-golden-dawn-members-over-food-handout.html" type="external">Greece's 300-seat parliament.&#160;</a></p>
<p>Mayor Kamini hailed the successful police action as a victory, reiterating his stance against violent political methods.</p>
<p>"Of course there are problems in the city because of the economic crisis," <a href="http://www.enetenglish.gr/?i=news.en.politics&amp;id=814" type="external">he said to Enet. "</a>[But] the idea of thuggery will not pass. There is a coordinated state and municipal authorities. As long as I’m mayor, this will not pass."</p>
<p>"Solidarity is one thing, theatrical philanthropy is another."</p>
|
Police break up Golden Dawn food handout in Athens
| false |
https://pri.org/stories/2013-05-02/police-break-golden-dawn-food-handout-athens
|
2013-05-02
| 3left-center
|
Police break up Golden Dawn food handout in Athens
<p>Police in Athens broke up a Greeks-only food handout by far-right party Golden Dawn on Thursday, carrying out Athens mayor&#160;Giorgos Kaminis's vow to prevent "thuggery" in his city.&#160;</p>
<p>Riot police met Golden Dawn supporters at Athens' central Syntagma Square as they arrived with trucks full of food, using tear gas to stop them from unloading, and scattering the members, <a href="http://www.enetenglish.gr/?i=news.en.politics&amp;id=814" type="external">reports Greek news website Enet.&#160;</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/01/golden-dawn-food-rally-athens" type="external">According to the Guardian,</a>&#160;Golden Dawn's members –&#160;who are stridently opposed to immigration –&#160;had planned to hand out Easter treats to Greek families who couldn't afford to celebrate the Orthodox holiday due to austerity measures, calling it "food that is aimed for the thousands of Greek families blighted by the genocidal policies of the memorandum" (referring to Greece's international loan agreement).&#160;</p>
<p>Read more from GlobalPost:&#160; <a href="https://www.google.com.kh/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=1&amp;ved=0CCsQFjAA&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.globalpost.com%2Fdispatch%2Fnews%2Fregions%2Feurope%2F121003%2Fgreece-migrants-golden-dawn-euro-crisis&amp;ei=rC-CUamrPKK3iQeHrICgDg&amp;usg=AFQjCNEOsWz8tXfdGHX_rV22etr82jVXjA&amp;bvm=bv.45921128,d.aGc" type="external">Greece's other crisis</a></p>
<p>The situation was normalized around 8:00 AM, <a href="http://greece.greekreporter.com/2013/05/02/tear-gas-stops-golden-dawn-food-handout/" type="external">reports Greek Reporter,</a> and around 40 Golden Dawn supporters were dispersed after attempting to push away the police forces — though the&#160; <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22379744" type="external">BBC notes</a> that the distribution appears to have continued in other parts of the city later that day.</p>
<p>In the wake of the harsh austerity measures in Greece, the formerly fringe Golden Dawn is now the fifth largest party in the nation.&#160;The party holds 18 seats in <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-02/greek-police-scuffle-with-golden-dawn-members-over-food-handout.html" type="external">Greece's 300-seat parliament.&#160;</a></p>
<p>Mayor Kamini hailed the successful police action as a victory, reiterating his stance against violent political methods.</p>
<p>"Of course there are problems in the city because of the economic crisis," <a href="http://www.enetenglish.gr/?i=news.en.politics&amp;id=814" type="external">he said to Enet. "</a>[But] the idea of thuggery will not pass. There is a coordinated state and municipal authorities. As long as I’m mayor, this will not pass."</p>
<p>"Solidarity is one thing, theatrical philanthropy is another."</p>
| 5,142 |
<p><a href="" type="internal" />May 11, 2012</p>
<p>By Joseph Perkins</p>
<p>A pair of Northern California lawmakers unveiled a proposal this week to avert the scheduled July 1 closure of 70 state’s 278 parks, casualties of last year’s budget-cutting by the Legislature.</p>
<p>“The notion of closing 70 parks is ill-conceived,” said state Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto. “The state has never closed a state park, not even during the Great Depression,” said state Sen. Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa.</p>
<p>The lawmakers say their so-called <a href="http://www.senatorsimitian.com/pdfs/Sustainable%20Parks%20Proposal.pdf" type="external">“Sustainable Parks Proposal”</a> would keep the gates open at up to 50 of the parks this year — those that have not already been spared by takeover by the U.S. Forest Service, transfer to a non-profit organization or funding by a wealthy donor.</p>
<p>To pay for their proposal, which was heard Wednesday by a Senate budget subcommittee, Simitian and Evans propose to tap the state’s Clean Water Revolving Loan Fund, Motor Vehicle Account and Local&#160;Assistance Fund, none of which are supposed to be used for parks.</p>
<p>But there’s a better way for lawmakers to save the parks without robbing Peter to pay Paul: Privatize them.</p>
<p>Just last month, the state Legislative Analyst’s Office issued a <a href="http://www.lao.ca.gov/analysis/2012/resources/state-parks-030212.pdf" type="external">report</a> in which it recommended that private for-profit companies be allowed to operate at least some state parks.</p>
<p>The LAO estimated that privatization would yield the state government annual savings in the low tens of millions of dollars. Another dividend, the report noted, is that private companies would procure new equipment and implement new projects more quickly than the state.</p>
<p>That matters not to Sens. Simitian and Evans. They continue to press ahead with their “Sustainable Parks” plan, which would have the budget-constrained state government continue to spend money it doesn’t have to maintain operations at all 278 state parks.</p>
<p>“Once you privatize a park,” said Evans, in remarks published in the Huffington Post, “you change the essential mission of the park. It becomes about making a profit.”</p>
<p>But the state Department of Parks and Recreation, itself, sees things differently.</p>
<p>“There are private companies in the Parks and Rec business that do it well,” DPR Deputy Director Roy Stearns told the Post. “People shouldn’t see private enterprise as a dirty word.”</p>
<p>In fact, DPR currently has about 200 concession contracts with private corporations, partnerships, associations and individuals that generate $12.5 million a year in state revenue.</p>
<p>The contractors provide a range of park amenities, including food service, recreational gear rentals, retail shopping, golf courses, marinas and lodging.</p>
<p>The state park system’s 70 million annual visitors are quite pleased with the quality and price of services and amenities provided by private concessionaires. There’s little reason to think they would be any less pleased if they visited state parks fully operated by private sector.</p>
|
How to save state parks from closure
| false |
https://calwatchdog.com/2012/05/11/how-to-save-state-parks-from-closure/
|
2018-05-20
| 3left-center
|
How to save state parks from closure
<p><a href="" type="internal" />May 11, 2012</p>
<p>By Joseph Perkins</p>
<p>A pair of Northern California lawmakers unveiled a proposal this week to avert the scheduled July 1 closure of 70 state’s 278 parks, casualties of last year’s budget-cutting by the Legislature.</p>
<p>“The notion of closing 70 parks is ill-conceived,” said state Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto. “The state has never closed a state park, not even during the Great Depression,” said state Sen. Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa.</p>
<p>The lawmakers say their so-called <a href="http://www.senatorsimitian.com/pdfs/Sustainable%20Parks%20Proposal.pdf" type="external">“Sustainable Parks Proposal”</a> would keep the gates open at up to 50 of the parks this year — those that have not already been spared by takeover by the U.S. Forest Service, transfer to a non-profit organization or funding by a wealthy donor.</p>
<p>To pay for their proposal, which was heard Wednesday by a Senate budget subcommittee, Simitian and Evans propose to tap the state’s Clean Water Revolving Loan Fund, Motor Vehicle Account and Local&#160;Assistance Fund, none of which are supposed to be used for parks.</p>
<p>But there’s a better way for lawmakers to save the parks without robbing Peter to pay Paul: Privatize them.</p>
<p>Just last month, the state Legislative Analyst’s Office issued a <a href="http://www.lao.ca.gov/analysis/2012/resources/state-parks-030212.pdf" type="external">report</a> in which it recommended that private for-profit companies be allowed to operate at least some state parks.</p>
<p>The LAO estimated that privatization would yield the state government annual savings in the low tens of millions of dollars. Another dividend, the report noted, is that private companies would procure new equipment and implement new projects more quickly than the state.</p>
<p>That matters not to Sens. Simitian and Evans. They continue to press ahead with their “Sustainable Parks” plan, which would have the budget-constrained state government continue to spend money it doesn’t have to maintain operations at all 278 state parks.</p>
<p>“Once you privatize a park,” said Evans, in remarks published in the Huffington Post, “you change the essential mission of the park. It becomes about making a profit.”</p>
<p>But the state Department of Parks and Recreation, itself, sees things differently.</p>
<p>“There are private companies in the Parks and Rec business that do it well,” DPR Deputy Director Roy Stearns told the Post. “People shouldn’t see private enterprise as a dirty word.”</p>
<p>In fact, DPR currently has about 200 concession contracts with private corporations, partnerships, associations and individuals that generate $12.5 million a year in state revenue.</p>
<p>The contractors provide a range of park amenities, including food service, recreational gear rentals, retail shopping, golf courses, marinas and lodging.</p>
<p>The state park system’s 70 million annual visitors are quite pleased with the quality and price of services and amenities provided by private concessionaires. There’s little reason to think they would be any less pleased if they visited state parks fully operated by private sector.</p>
| 5,143 |
<p>PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Authorities say two men were shot and wounded when gunfire erupted on a Philadelphia street.</p>
<p>But it's not yet known what sparked the shooting, which occurred shortly after 1 a.m. Monday on Bainbridge Street.</p>
<p>Authorities say the two victims — ages 28 and 53 — were each shot in the leg. Both men were hospitalized in stable condition, but their names and further details on their injuries were not disclosed.</p>
<p>Further details on the shooting were not released. Authorities say no arrests have been made.</p>
<p>PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Authorities say two men were shot and wounded when gunfire erupted on a Philadelphia street.</p>
<p>But it's not yet known what sparked the shooting, which occurred shortly after 1 a.m. Monday on Bainbridge Street.</p>
<p>Authorities say the two victims — ages 28 and 53 — were each shot in the leg. Both men were hospitalized in stable condition, but their names and further details on their injuries were not disclosed.</p>
<p>Further details on the shooting were not released. Authorities say no arrests have been made.</p>
|
Philadelphia street shooting leaves 2 men hospitalized
| false |
https://apnews.com/amp/c743d6a1ff0148bda2ca6280b3fe0c92
|
2018-01-22
| 2least
|
Philadelphia street shooting leaves 2 men hospitalized
<p>PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Authorities say two men were shot and wounded when gunfire erupted on a Philadelphia street.</p>
<p>But it's not yet known what sparked the shooting, which occurred shortly after 1 a.m. Monday on Bainbridge Street.</p>
<p>Authorities say the two victims — ages 28 and 53 — were each shot in the leg. Both men were hospitalized in stable condition, but their names and further details on their injuries were not disclosed.</p>
<p>Further details on the shooting were not released. Authorities say no arrests have been made.</p>
<p>PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Authorities say two men were shot and wounded when gunfire erupted on a Philadelphia street.</p>
<p>But it's not yet known what sparked the shooting, which occurred shortly after 1 a.m. Monday on Bainbridge Street.</p>
<p>Authorities say the two victims — ages 28 and 53 — were each shot in the leg. Both men were hospitalized in stable condition, but their names and further details on their injuries were not disclosed.</p>
<p>Further details on the shooting were not released. Authorities say no arrests have been made.</p>
| 5,144 |
<p>If a law “requires you to be the agent of injustice to another,” he wrote, “break the law. Let your life be a counter friction to stop the machine.”</p>
<p>“Henry Thoreau,” wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson, “is like the wood god who solicits the wandering poet. … Very seductive are the first steps from the town to the woods, but the End is want &amp; madness.”</p>
<p>He meant this as a knock—Thoreau’s friend and mentor was also a critic. But 200 years after Thoreau’s birth on July 12, 1817, the wood god of Walden Pond continues to seduce wandering poets, philosophers and revolutionaries the world over. His sylvan siren song has beguiled some of history’s most influential rebels, from Mahatma Gandhi to Martin Luther King Jr., Emma Goldman to Edward Abbey. Their transformative legacies suggest the “want &amp; madness” found by Emerson weren’t the end, but a beginning.</p>
<p>Notre Dame professor Laura Dassow Walls explores this enduring appeal in the new biography&#160; <a href="http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/H/bo23013074.html" type="external">Henry David Thoreau: A Life</a>. Thoreau lived through years of tumult: The early gasps of industrialization transformed the land, slave owners expanded their power through the Mexican-American War and the Fugitive Slave Act, and a commercializing economy reshaped the way people lived and interacted. Thoreau met all three developments with uncompromising opposition. With a resolute individualism and devotion to the public good, he committed to a life of dissent, prodding and badgering his neighbors into consciousness.&#160;</p>
<p>One imagines how this behavior could be annoying, and he was sometimes crusty (“as for taking T.’s arm,” wrote Emerson, “I should as soon take the arm of an elm tree”), but on the whole he was popular with his neighbors—especially children and other wild creatures, the latter of whom were said to come at his call. Concord residents repeatedly elected him to coordinate the local lyceum, a speaker series on the issues of the day. He used the pulpit both to workshop his own material and, over the protests of conservative townsfolk, to showcase the North’s most ardent abolitionists.</p>
<p>Walls writes that, for Thoreau, “slavery was … one symptom of a larger sickness preying on a universe of beings, not all of them human.” In his notebooks, support for abolitionists like Frederick Douglass sits alongside support for the fish displaced by a local dam (“armed only with innocence— and a just cause”). The dam and the slave patrol both served to constrain those who should be free to live on their own terms.</p>
<p>Thoreau blames “institutions,” especially the state, for using otherwise well-meaning people as jailers, soldiers and other instruments of oppression. But the bulk of his frustration was directed toward cowardly, unprincipled individuals who let themselves be used—or stood by in silence. In his “ <a href="http://thoreau.eserver.org/plea.html" type="external">Plea for Captain John Brown</a>,” Thoreau excoriates those who would condemn Brown for his violence against slave owners while remaining silent on the violence of slavery itself—let alone the violence of the army, or those who “hunt Indians.”&#160;</p>
<p>This critique fits with Thoreau’s radical approach to complicity. He quit his first job as a schoolteacher, despite badly needing the money, when the headmaster demanded that he strike his pupils. Later, Thoreau spent a night in jail for refusing to pay his poll tax in protest of slavery and the Mexican-American War. If a law “requires you to be the agent of injustice to another,” he&#160; <a href="http://thoreau.eserver.org/civil.html" type="external">wrote</a>, “break the law. Let your life be a counter friction to stop the machine.”</p>
<p>This was too much for Emerson, who saw it as an impossible standard of purity. And it’s true that the standard Thoreau set was impossible—he was often vexed by his own failure to meet it. “I cannot fish without falling a little in self-respect,” wrote the sporadic vegetarian.</p>
<p>Today’s progressive may be inclined to dismiss Thoreau’s obsession with purity—an ethical lifestyle being impossible under capitalism—and while this attitude isn’t wrong, it does miss something crucial.</p>
<p>While Thoreau’s refusal to pay the poll tax didn’t slow the operation of the state, it was brilliant propaganda. He forced his peers to examine a machine they might have preferred to ignore, and showed his neighbors—and, later, his readers—that it was possible to say no, even for a day. His attempts at purity expand the imagination, showing us things need not be as they are. His forays into the wild form the other side of this story, offering a glimpse into the lives we could be living. Ultimately, both his guilt over complicity and his sense of connection to the outdoors seem to come from the same radical empathy for all other beings.&#160;</p>
<p>Following the trial and re-enslavement of Anthony Burns, a fugitive slave arrested in Boston in 1854, Thoreau&#160; <a href="http://thoreau.eserver.org/slavery.html" type="external">wrote</a>, “We are wholly within hell. … My thoughts are murder to the State, and involuntarily go plotting against her.”</p>
<p>But Thoreau wasn’t done: “It chanced the other day that I scented a white water-lily,” he went on. The flower’s pleasant smell “show[s] us what purity and sweetness reside in, and can be extracted from, the slime and muck of earth.”</p>
<p>It’s a simple metaphor, but one that gets at why Thoreau still resonates. Unlike those gurus and saints who float above the mortal plane—and though at times he aspired to be like them—the spiritual fulfillment Thoreau sought was in the physical: the forest, the swamp, the fragrant white water-lily. He shocks us by how much of-the-world he is, jolting us into more direct experience, embedded and embodied in a living planet.&#160;</p>
<p>Dayton Martindale is an assistant editor at In These Times, and a founding member of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Symbiosis.Revolution/" type="external">Symbiosis</a>. His writing has appeared in In These Times, Earth Island Journal and <a href="https://thenextsystem.org/community-democracy-mutual-aid/" type="external">The Next System Project</a>. He tweets at <a href="https://twitter.com/DaytonRMartind" type="external">@DaytonRMartind</a>.</p>
|
The Abolitionist of Walden Pond
| true |
http://inthesetimes.com/article/20322/the-abolitionist-of-walden-pond
|
2017-07-12
| 4left
|
The Abolitionist of Walden Pond
<p>If a law “requires you to be the agent of injustice to another,” he wrote, “break the law. Let your life be a counter friction to stop the machine.”</p>
<p>“Henry Thoreau,” wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson, “is like the wood god who solicits the wandering poet. … Very seductive are the first steps from the town to the woods, but the End is want &amp; madness.”</p>
<p>He meant this as a knock—Thoreau’s friend and mentor was also a critic. But 200 years after Thoreau’s birth on July 12, 1817, the wood god of Walden Pond continues to seduce wandering poets, philosophers and revolutionaries the world over. His sylvan siren song has beguiled some of history’s most influential rebels, from Mahatma Gandhi to Martin Luther King Jr., Emma Goldman to Edward Abbey. Their transformative legacies suggest the “want &amp; madness” found by Emerson weren’t the end, but a beginning.</p>
<p>Notre Dame professor Laura Dassow Walls explores this enduring appeal in the new biography&#160; <a href="http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/H/bo23013074.html" type="external">Henry David Thoreau: A Life</a>. Thoreau lived through years of tumult: The early gasps of industrialization transformed the land, slave owners expanded their power through the Mexican-American War and the Fugitive Slave Act, and a commercializing economy reshaped the way people lived and interacted. Thoreau met all three developments with uncompromising opposition. With a resolute individualism and devotion to the public good, he committed to a life of dissent, prodding and badgering his neighbors into consciousness.&#160;</p>
<p>One imagines how this behavior could be annoying, and he was sometimes crusty (“as for taking T.’s arm,” wrote Emerson, “I should as soon take the arm of an elm tree”), but on the whole he was popular with his neighbors—especially children and other wild creatures, the latter of whom were said to come at his call. Concord residents repeatedly elected him to coordinate the local lyceum, a speaker series on the issues of the day. He used the pulpit both to workshop his own material and, over the protests of conservative townsfolk, to showcase the North’s most ardent abolitionists.</p>
<p>Walls writes that, for Thoreau, “slavery was … one symptom of a larger sickness preying on a universe of beings, not all of them human.” In his notebooks, support for abolitionists like Frederick Douglass sits alongside support for the fish displaced by a local dam (“armed only with innocence— and a just cause”). The dam and the slave patrol both served to constrain those who should be free to live on their own terms.</p>
<p>Thoreau blames “institutions,” especially the state, for using otherwise well-meaning people as jailers, soldiers and other instruments of oppression. But the bulk of his frustration was directed toward cowardly, unprincipled individuals who let themselves be used—or stood by in silence. In his “ <a href="http://thoreau.eserver.org/plea.html" type="external">Plea for Captain John Brown</a>,” Thoreau excoriates those who would condemn Brown for his violence against slave owners while remaining silent on the violence of slavery itself—let alone the violence of the army, or those who “hunt Indians.”&#160;</p>
<p>This critique fits with Thoreau’s radical approach to complicity. He quit his first job as a schoolteacher, despite badly needing the money, when the headmaster demanded that he strike his pupils. Later, Thoreau spent a night in jail for refusing to pay his poll tax in protest of slavery and the Mexican-American War. If a law “requires you to be the agent of injustice to another,” he&#160; <a href="http://thoreau.eserver.org/civil.html" type="external">wrote</a>, “break the law. Let your life be a counter friction to stop the machine.”</p>
<p>This was too much for Emerson, who saw it as an impossible standard of purity. And it’s true that the standard Thoreau set was impossible—he was often vexed by his own failure to meet it. “I cannot fish without falling a little in self-respect,” wrote the sporadic vegetarian.</p>
<p>Today’s progressive may be inclined to dismiss Thoreau’s obsession with purity—an ethical lifestyle being impossible under capitalism—and while this attitude isn’t wrong, it does miss something crucial.</p>
<p>While Thoreau’s refusal to pay the poll tax didn’t slow the operation of the state, it was brilliant propaganda. He forced his peers to examine a machine they might have preferred to ignore, and showed his neighbors—and, later, his readers—that it was possible to say no, even for a day. His attempts at purity expand the imagination, showing us things need not be as they are. His forays into the wild form the other side of this story, offering a glimpse into the lives we could be living. Ultimately, both his guilt over complicity and his sense of connection to the outdoors seem to come from the same radical empathy for all other beings.&#160;</p>
<p>Following the trial and re-enslavement of Anthony Burns, a fugitive slave arrested in Boston in 1854, Thoreau&#160; <a href="http://thoreau.eserver.org/slavery.html" type="external">wrote</a>, “We are wholly within hell. … My thoughts are murder to the State, and involuntarily go plotting against her.”</p>
<p>But Thoreau wasn’t done: “It chanced the other day that I scented a white water-lily,” he went on. The flower’s pleasant smell “show[s] us what purity and sweetness reside in, and can be extracted from, the slime and muck of earth.”</p>
<p>It’s a simple metaphor, but one that gets at why Thoreau still resonates. Unlike those gurus and saints who float above the mortal plane—and though at times he aspired to be like them—the spiritual fulfillment Thoreau sought was in the physical: the forest, the swamp, the fragrant white water-lily. He shocks us by how much of-the-world he is, jolting us into more direct experience, embedded and embodied in a living planet.&#160;</p>
<p>Dayton Martindale is an assistant editor at In These Times, and a founding member of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Symbiosis.Revolution/" type="external">Symbiosis</a>. His writing has appeared in In These Times, Earth Island Journal and <a href="https://thenextsystem.org/community-democracy-mutual-aid/" type="external">The Next System Project</a>. He tweets at <a href="https://twitter.com/DaytonRMartind" type="external">@DaytonRMartind</a>.</p>
| 5,145 |
<p>Truthdig columnist Chris Hedges stopped by “Democracy Now!” to talk about the Chicago public school teachers’ strike, “arguably one of the most important labor actions in probably decades,” which “illustrates the bankruptcy of both traditional labor and the Democratic Party.”</p>
<p>“If it does not prevail,” Hedges said, “you can be certain that the template for the attack on the union will be carried out across the country against other teachers’ unions and against the last redoubt of union activity, which is in the public sector, of course — firemen and police.”</p>
<p>The columnist also spoke about the book he co-authored with journalist and cartoonist Joe Sacco, “Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt.”</p>
<p>— Posted by <a href="" type="internal">Alexander Reed Kelly</a>.</p>
<p />
<p>“Democracy Now!”:</p>
|
Union Showdown in Chicago
| true |
https://truthdig.com/articles/union-showdown-in-chicago/
|
2012-09-11
| 4left
|
Union Showdown in Chicago
<p>Truthdig columnist Chris Hedges stopped by “Democracy Now!” to talk about the Chicago public school teachers’ strike, “arguably one of the most important labor actions in probably decades,” which “illustrates the bankruptcy of both traditional labor and the Democratic Party.”</p>
<p>“If it does not prevail,” Hedges said, “you can be certain that the template for the attack on the union will be carried out across the country against other teachers’ unions and against the last redoubt of union activity, which is in the public sector, of course — firemen and police.”</p>
<p>The columnist also spoke about the book he co-authored with journalist and cartoonist Joe Sacco, “Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt.”</p>
<p>— Posted by <a href="" type="internal">Alexander Reed Kelly</a>.</p>
<p />
<p>“Democracy Now!”:</p>
| 5,146 |
<p />
<p>And if your boss is smiling when things are going wrong, it might not be such a good sign. Here are the latest LOL-inducing, insightful and character-limited words of wisdom that helped me run my business this week.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Gene Marks owns the <a href="http://www.marksgroup.net/" type="external">Marks Group PC Opens a New Window.</a>, a ten person sales and marketing technology consulting firm outside of Philadelphia that serves more than 600 small and medium companies around the country.</p>
|
Did the Shutdown Disrupt Your Fantasy League?
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/features/2013/10/18/did-shutdown-disrupt-your-fantasy-league.html
|
2016-03-23
| 0right
|
Did the Shutdown Disrupt Your Fantasy League?
<p />
<p>And if your boss is smiling when things are going wrong, it might not be such a good sign. Here are the latest LOL-inducing, insightful and character-limited words of wisdom that helped me run my business this week.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Gene Marks owns the <a href="http://www.marksgroup.net/" type="external">Marks Group PC Opens a New Window.</a>, a ten person sales and marketing technology consulting firm outside of Philadelphia that serves more than 600 small and medium companies around the country.</p>
| 5,147 |
<p>You have to know government has <a href="" type="internal">grown too big</a> when kids can’t even set up a lemonade stand without applying for a permit and making a contractual agreement to sign away part of their profits.</p>
<p />
<p>Last summer, the <a href="" type="internal">Andrews sisters aged five and seven</a>, saw an opportunity to make some money for summer camp by setting up a lemonade stand along a busy cycling roadway closed to motor vehicles one day a week for cyclists in what’s called Sunday Bikedays.</p>
<p>This event is under the discretion of the National Capital Commission, a crown corporation that oversees federal lands and buildings in Ottawa and Gatineau. According to accounts, a citizen first lodged a complaint about the young ladies, but the official complaint came from the organizer of the weekly Bikeday event.</p>
<p>In a <a href="" type="internal">decision that stunned the nation</a>, officials shut the girls down because they didn’t have a permit.</p>
<p>The NCC’s response to public backlash was to set up a website encouraging kids to attend a “free” workshop – with “free” meaning taxpayer funded of course.</p>
<p>In the end, the NCC did waive the permit fees, but leave it to the government to make official rules for five year olds who want to set up a lemonade stand on a hot, sunny day.</p>
<p>A three page contract on the site shows that not only are kids required to have a permit, but they must also sign off on eight general conditions including one to have signs in both English and <a href="" type="internal">French</a>.&#160;Additional stipulations require they report their income to the NCC and that 7% of their earnings be given to a charity.</p>
<p>Don’t make the mistake of thinking the solution is for kids to simply move their lemonade stands off federal lands and set up on their own private property. City bylaws also require a permit whether on private or public lands with costs that can range up to almost $800 for a yearly permit.</p>
<p>When it comes to government <a href="" type="internal">overreach</a>, nobody escapes the nanny state - <a href="" type="internal">not even your kids</a>.</p>
|
Nanny state puts the squeeze on kids’ lemonade stand profits
| true |
https://therebel.media/nanny_state_puts_the_squeeze_on_kids_lemonade_stand_profits
|
2017-06-10
| 0right
|
Nanny state puts the squeeze on kids’ lemonade stand profits
<p>You have to know government has <a href="" type="internal">grown too big</a> when kids can’t even set up a lemonade stand without applying for a permit and making a contractual agreement to sign away part of their profits.</p>
<p />
<p>Last summer, the <a href="" type="internal">Andrews sisters aged five and seven</a>, saw an opportunity to make some money for summer camp by setting up a lemonade stand along a busy cycling roadway closed to motor vehicles one day a week for cyclists in what’s called Sunday Bikedays.</p>
<p>This event is under the discretion of the National Capital Commission, a crown corporation that oversees federal lands and buildings in Ottawa and Gatineau. According to accounts, a citizen first lodged a complaint about the young ladies, but the official complaint came from the organizer of the weekly Bikeday event.</p>
<p>In a <a href="" type="internal">decision that stunned the nation</a>, officials shut the girls down because they didn’t have a permit.</p>
<p>The NCC’s response to public backlash was to set up a website encouraging kids to attend a “free” workshop – with “free” meaning taxpayer funded of course.</p>
<p>In the end, the NCC did waive the permit fees, but leave it to the government to make official rules for five year olds who want to set up a lemonade stand on a hot, sunny day.</p>
<p>A three page contract on the site shows that not only are kids required to have a permit, but they must also sign off on eight general conditions including one to have signs in both English and <a href="" type="internal">French</a>.&#160;Additional stipulations require they report their income to the NCC and that 7% of their earnings be given to a charity.</p>
<p>Don’t make the mistake of thinking the solution is for kids to simply move their lemonade stands off federal lands and set up on their own private property. City bylaws also require a permit whether on private or public lands with costs that can range up to almost $800 for a yearly permit.</p>
<p>When it comes to government <a href="" type="internal">overreach</a>, nobody escapes the nanny state - <a href="" type="internal">not even your kids</a>.</p>
| 5,148 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake holds a news conference on Wednesday, May 6, 2015 in Baltimore. The mayor called on U.S. government investigators to look into whether this city's beleaguered police department uses a pattern of excessive force or discriminatory policing. Rawlings-Blake's request came a day after new Attorney General Loretta Lynch visited the city and pledged to improve the police department. (Kim Hairston/The Baltimore Sun via AP) WASHINGTON EXAMINER OUT</p>
<p>BALTIMORE - The mayor called on federal investigators Wednesday to look into whether this city's beleaguered police department uses a pattern of excessive force or discriminatory policing.</p>
<p>Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said even though complaints of excessive force and lawsuits alleging misconduct are down over the last few years, "we all know that Baltimore continues to have a fractured relationship between the police and the community."</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Baltimore saw days of unrest after Freddie Gray, a black man, was taken into custody and suffered critical injuries. He died a week later. Protesters threw bottles and bricks at police during a riot on April 27, injuring nearly 100 officers. More than 200 people were arrested, and about 170 cars and 250 businesses were burned.</p>
<p>Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency and called in 3,000 National Guardsmen and 1,000 officers from around the state and country. Hogan rescinded the state of emergency Wednesday and said all of the troops and state police had been pulled out. He said $20 million from state's Rainy Day Fund will help pay for last week's response.</p>
<p>He said the federal investigation was "probably a step in the right direction."</p>
<p>The mayor's request came a day after new Attorney General Loretta Lynch visited the city and pledged to improve the police department, telling faith and community leaders "we're here to hold your hands and provide support."</p>
<p>Justice Department spokeswoman Dena Iverson said in a statement that Lynch had received the mayor's request and "is actively considering that option in light of what she heard from law enforcement, city officials, and community, faith and youth leaders."</p>
<p>A Baltimore Police Department spokesman had no immediate response. An email and text message was not immediately returned.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>At her news conference, the mayor also said officers would have body cameras by the end of the year.</p>
<p>The Justice Department is already investigating whether Gray's civil rights were violated, and six officers face charges in the arrest and death, ranging from assault to second-degree murder.</p>
<p>The new investigation the mayor called for is similar to one was done in Ferguson, Missouri, following the shooting of an unarmed, black 18-year-old man by a white police officer.</p>
<p>Such wide-ranging investigations look for patterns of discrimination within a police department. They can examine how officers use force and search and arrest suspects.</p>
<p>Baltimore City Council President Jack Young has been calling for such an investigation since October, his spokesman Lester Davis said.</p>
<p>"The only way we're going to get the kind of lasting and meaningful reforms that are going to produce results is through a full-scale civil-rights investigation," Davis said.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>At the time the Ferguson inquiry was announced in September, it was described as part of a broader Justice Department effort to investigate troubled police departments and, when pervasive problems are found, direct changes to be made. The department said then it has investigated 20 police departments for a variety of systemic misconduct in the past five years, more than twice the number of cases opened in the previous five years.</p>
<p>The investigations can sometimes result in a settlement known as a consent decree, in which the department agrees to make specific changes, and an outside monitor is appointed to make sure the police force complies with the agreement.</p>
<p>The Justice Department reached a court-supervised agreement in 2012 with the New Orleans Police Department that required the agency to overhaul its policies and procedures for use of force, training, interrogations, searches and arrests, recruitment and supervision. In April, it issued a harshly critical report of the police department in Albuquerque, New Mexico, that faulted the agency for a pattern of excessive force and called for an overhaul of its internal affairs unit.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Associated Press writers Brian Witte and Juliet Linderman in Baltimore, and Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.</p>
|
Governor lifts state of emergency for Baltimore
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/580347/governor-lifts-state-of-emergency-for-baltimore.html
| 2least
|
Governor lifts state of emergency for Baltimore
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake holds a news conference on Wednesday, May 6, 2015 in Baltimore. The mayor called on U.S. government investigators to look into whether this city's beleaguered police department uses a pattern of excessive force or discriminatory policing. Rawlings-Blake's request came a day after new Attorney General Loretta Lynch visited the city and pledged to improve the police department. (Kim Hairston/The Baltimore Sun via AP) WASHINGTON EXAMINER OUT</p>
<p>BALTIMORE - The mayor called on federal investigators Wednesday to look into whether this city's beleaguered police department uses a pattern of excessive force or discriminatory policing.</p>
<p>Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said even though complaints of excessive force and lawsuits alleging misconduct are down over the last few years, "we all know that Baltimore continues to have a fractured relationship between the police and the community."</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Baltimore saw days of unrest after Freddie Gray, a black man, was taken into custody and suffered critical injuries. He died a week later. Protesters threw bottles and bricks at police during a riot on April 27, injuring nearly 100 officers. More than 200 people were arrested, and about 170 cars and 250 businesses were burned.</p>
<p>Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency and called in 3,000 National Guardsmen and 1,000 officers from around the state and country. Hogan rescinded the state of emergency Wednesday and said all of the troops and state police had been pulled out. He said $20 million from state's Rainy Day Fund will help pay for last week's response.</p>
<p>He said the federal investigation was "probably a step in the right direction."</p>
<p>The mayor's request came a day after new Attorney General Loretta Lynch visited the city and pledged to improve the police department, telling faith and community leaders "we're here to hold your hands and provide support."</p>
<p>Justice Department spokeswoman Dena Iverson said in a statement that Lynch had received the mayor's request and "is actively considering that option in light of what she heard from law enforcement, city officials, and community, faith and youth leaders."</p>
<p>A Baltimore Police Department spokesman had no immediate response. An email and text message was not immediately returned.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>At her news conference, the mayor also said officers would have body cameras by the end of the year.</p>
<p>The Justice Department is already investigating whether Gray's civil rights were violated, and six officers face charges in the arrest and death, ranging from assault to second-degree murder.</p>
<p>The new investigation the mayor called for is similar to one was done in Ferguson, Missouri, following the shooting of an unarmed, black 18-year-old man by a white police officer.</p>
<p>Such wide-ranging investigations look for patterns of discrimination within a police department. They can examine how officers use force and search and arrest suspects.</p>
<p>Baltimore City Council President Jack Young has been calling for such an investigation since October, his spokesman Lester Davis said.</p>
<p>"The only way we're going to get the kind of lasting and meaningful reforms that are going to produce results is through a full-scale civil-rights investigation," Davis said.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>At the time the Ferguson inquiry was announced in September, it was described as part of a broader Justice Department effort to investigate troubled police departments and, when pervasive problems are found, direct changes to be made. The department said then it has investigated 20 police departments for a variety of systemic misconduct in the past five years, more than twice the number of cases opened in the previous five years.</p>
<p>The investigations can sometimes result in a settlement known as a consent decree, in which the department agrees to make specific changes, and an outside monitor is appointed to make sure the police force complies with the agreement.</p>
<p>The Justice Department reached a court-supervised agreement in 2012 with the New Orleans Police Department that required the agency to overhaul its policies and procedures for use of force, training, interrogations, searches and arrests, recruitment and supervision. In April, it issued a harshly critical report of the police department in Albuquerque, New Mexico, that faulted the agency for a pattern of excessive force and called for an overhaul of its internal affairs unit.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Associated Press writers Brian Witte and Juliet Linderman in Baltimore, and Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.</p>
| 5,149 |
|
<p>Much of the world is worried about the impending war with Iraq, and rightly so. But this may just the beginning of a new age of disarmament wars.</p>
<p>From the homeland of Armageddon this week came worrying signs that we should begin worrying about the even longer and harder wars to follow. John Bolton, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Disarmament Affairs and International Security, was in Israel this week, for meetings about “preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction.”</p>
<p>It seems appropriate for the U.S. and Israel to meet about disarmament issues. After all, Israel is universally acknowledged by everyone–excepting the U.S. government–as a considerable nuclear power, and much of the world regards its prime minister as a profound threat to international security. However, we can be sure that neither item was on Bolton’s agenda.</p>
<p>Bolton-Sharon Style Disarmament</p>
<p>While in Israel, Bolton met Sharon and Netanyahu. He promised that after the U.S. has sorted Iraq “it will be necessary to deal with threats from Syria, Iran, and North Korea afterwards.” For Bolton and Sharon, disarmament is what you do to other people, no more and no less.</p>
<p>Unlike most of his colleagues in Washington, Bolton seems to have kept his counsel on France and Germany–at least this time. But that should not be taken as any sign of disagreement with Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld’s spat with “Old Europe.” Previously, Bolton had sounded the alert, warning that “the Europeans can be sure that America’s days as a well-bred doormat for EU political and military protection are coming to an end.”</p>
<p>The venue for Bolton’s disarmament talks is significant. Although Israel is agnostic on Kim Jong Il, there is no doubt that the rest of Bolton’s dominoes fall exactly in line with the eschatological plans of the Likudnik fundamentalists. When they met, Sharon told him that Israel was “concerned about the security threat posed by Iran” and that it was important to deal with it even while American attention is turned toward Iraq. Since it was the Israelis and the Reagan administration that had conspired to provide weaponry for Iran in the 1980s, we know how strongly and consistently they feel about this.</p>
<p>Indeed, Bolton and Sharon have been as one for some time. Soon after George W. Bush’s discovery of the “Axis of Evil,” Bolton promptly fingered Cuba and Libya as a sort of mini-Axis and as potential possessors of missiles and weapons of mass destruction. Although Sharon was agnostic this time on Cuba, he happily endorsed adding Libya to the hit list along with Iran and Syria.</p>
<p>John Bolton is one of the major reasons why few other countries trust the motives, or indeed the rationality of the U.S. administration (the list of other reasons keeps growing, but the ravings of Wolfowitz, Perle, Cheney, and Rumsfeld spring immediately to an apprehensive observer’s mind).</p>
<p>These are the people whose statements scare off the diplomatic ducks that Colin Powell so assiduously tries to line up. In addition, the continual gaffes of hawks like Bolton make the U.S. position seem even more hypocritical in the global arena. For example, the ostensible excuse for attacking Iraq is its defiance of UN resolutions. However, Bolton has defied the UN’s very existence for most of his political career. He has made it plain that the U.S. government should not abide by any UN decisions that may prove inconvenient to the U.S. pursuit of its national interests.</p>
<p>Washington’s UN Double-Speak</p>
<p>Last year as the rest of the world was deciding that Hans Blix, the head of UNMOVIC, was a trustworthy arbiter, Bolton had the CIA vet him because he suspected him to be unreliable. One feels sure that he still does, even though the CIA gave the good Doctor Blix a clean bill of health.</p>
<p>However, Bolton is at least consistent. His political career began in UN-bashing. In 1994 he asserted that “there is no such thing as the United Nations” or that “if the UN Secretariat building in New York lost 10 stories, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference.” Nonetheless, his firm principles can be malleable when hit by self interest. Taking ten floors off the 38 of the UN HQ would have left the 27th floor. That’s where the UN finance department issued his pay check when he became James Baker’s assistant in the UN mission to abrogate Security Council resolutions against the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara.</p>
<p>It is difficult to square his bashing of the UN with the Bush administration’s blandishing the Security Council members to “save” the organization, to preserve its credibility and relevance–by doing exactly what it is told. Perhaps because Bolton was absent from Washington, in Israel this week, the administration has reluctantly accepted the desirability for a second UN resolution to authorize war. Certainly, this is not due to any abstract attachment to principles. Rather, Tony Blair persuaded Bush that the few allies the U.S. has need such a resolution to quell their restive electorates.</p>
<p>Of course electorates do not always figure well with the White House. Bolton was foisted on a reluctant Powell by other hardliners in the administration, not least for his role in chad-counting in Florida before the Supreme Court appointed Bush.</p>
<p>But then he has not always been so keen on the judicial approach. For the past two years, his single-handed campaign to destroy the effectiveness of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has done much to cement European and third world resentment of U.S. “diplomacy” and unity in advance of the Iraq issue.</p>
<p>Indeed, his campaign get bilateral treaties exempting American citizens from the ICC’s jurisdiction precipitated the fissure lines we now see emerging in the global community. His few successes include the East Europeans, desperate to get into NATO, as well as the tiny island states, which are, well, just desperate. Even the role of one less tiny island state–Britain–foreshadows the role it has played over Iraq. After all, it was Tony Blair who effectively split united EU resistance to the American campaign.</p>
<p>The Bolton campaign’s major diplomatic “success,” however, was that his undiplomatic pressure provoked a record number of countries into signing and ratifying the Rome Treaty quickly so that the ICC was actually established several years before its sponsors anticipated. Bolton is to diplomacy what Jack the Ripper was to surgery.</p>
<p>Bearing in mind the Middle East venue for the current combat, Senator Jesse Helms had endorsed Bolton’s appointment with what one hopes was unconscious irony “John Bolton is the kind of man with whom I would want to stand at Armageddon, if it should be my lot to be on hand for what is forecast to be the final battle between good and evil in this world.”</p>
<p>Media Silence</p>
<p>Almost as amazing as Bolton’s statements is the relative silence of the U.S. media about him and other administration hawks. Shouldn’t the American public know that senior administration officials are promising that after a war with Iraq, there will be one with Iran, and then one with Syria, with Libya, with North Korea, and with Cuba? Each of these is a scenario that could frighten the American public. Taken together, George W. Bush is threatening to make the Prussian kings look like Pacifists. Do those Reservists in the Gulf know how long they will be away, making the world fertile for terrorism?</p>
<p>Some argued that you can ignore the likes of Bolton because they are just token eccentrics–there to appease the right wing of the Republican Party. Such complacency is ill-grounded. The first two years of Bush foreign policy–with the promulgation of the Axis of Evil, the campaign against the ICC, the abrogation of Kyoto, the unlimited support for Ariel Sharon’s behavior, and the gratuitous attacks on long-standing allies who have the temerity to disagree over Iraq–should warn us to take heed.</p>
<p>We do not have to agree with those Bible Study classes in the White House on prophetic power to prophesy that it would be very dangerous to ignore Bolton’s statements. These are harbingers of endless wars. It’s a long, long way to Teheran, but these hawks are putting their heart into going there. Or rather, as most of them did in Vietnam, sending others.</p>
<p>IAN WILLIAMS is a contributor to <a href="http://www.fpif.org/" type="external">Foreign Policy In Focus</a> on UN and international affairs.) He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
|
Bombing to Disarm
| true |
https://counterpunch.org/2003/02/22/bombing-to-disarm/
|
2003-02-22
| 4left
|
Bombing to Disarm
<p>Much of the world is worried about the impending war with Iraq, and rightly so. But this may just the beginning of a new age of disarmament wars.</p>
<p>From the homeland of Armageddon this week came worrying signs that we should begin worrying about the even longer and harder wars to follow. John Bolton, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Disarmament Affairs and International Security, was in Israel this week, for meetings about “preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction.”</p>
<p>It seems appropriate for the U.S. and Israel to meet about disarmament issues. After all, Israel is universally acknowledged by everyone–excepting the U.S. government–as a considerable nuclear power, and much of the world regards its prime minister as a profound threat to international security. However, we can be sure that neither item was on Bolton’s agenda.</p>
<p>Bolton-Sharon Style Disarmament</p>
<p>While in Israel, Bolton met Sharon and Netanyahu. He promised that after the U.S. has sorted Iraq “it will be necessary to deal with threats from Syria, Iran, and North Korea afterwards.” For Bolton and Sharon, disarmament is what you do to other people, no more and no less.</p>
<p>Unlike most of his colleagues in Washington, Bolton seems to have kept his counsel on France and Germany–at least this time. But that should not be taken as any sign of disagreement with Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld’s spat with “Old Europe.” Previously, Bolton had sounded the alert, warning that “the Europeans can be sure that America’s days as a well-bred doormat for EU political and military protection are coming to an end.”</p>
<p>The venue for Bolton’s disarmament talks is significant. Although Israel is agnostic on Kim Jong Il, there is no doubt that the rest of Bolton’s dominoes fall exactly in line with the eschatological plans of the Likudnik fundamentalists. When they met, Sharon told him that Israel was “concerned about the security threat posed by Iran” and that it was important to deal with it even while American attention is turned toward Iraq. Since it was the Israelis and the Reagan administration that had conspired to provide weaponry for Iran in the 1980s, we know how strongly and consistently they feel about this.</p>
<p>Indeed, Bolton and Sharon have been as one for some time. Soon after George W. Bush’s discovery of the “Axis of Evil,” Bolton promptly fingered Cuba and Libya as a sort of mini-Axis and as potential possessors of missiles and weapons of mass destruction. Although Sharon was agnostic this time on Cuba, he happily endorsed adding Libya to the hit list along with Iran and Syria.</p>
<p>John Bolton is one of the major reasons why few other countries trust the motives, or indeed the rationality of the U.S. administration (the list of other reasons keeps growing, but the ravings of Wolfowitz, Perle, Cheney, and Rumsfeld spring immediately to an apprehensive observer’s mind).</p>
<p>These are the people whose statements scare off the diplomatic ducks that Colin Powell so assiduously tries to line up. In addition, the continual gaffes of hawks like Bolton make the U.S. position seem even more hypocritical in the global arena. For example, the ostensible excuse for attacking Iraq is its defiance of UN resolutions. However, Bolton has defied the UN’s very existence for most of his political career. He has made it plain that the U.S. government should not abide by any UN decisions that may prove inconvenient to the U.S. pursuit of its national interests.</p>
<p>Washington’s UN Double-Speak</p>
<p>Last year as the rest of the world was deciding that Hans Blix, the head of UNMOVIC, was a trustworthy arbiter, Bolton had the CIA vet him because he suspected him to be unreliable. One feels sure that he still does, even though the CIA gave the good Doctor Blix a clean bill of health.</p>
<p>However, Bolton is at least consistent. His political career began in UN-bashing. In 1994 he asserted that “there is no such thing as the United Nations” or that “if the UN Secretariat building in New York lost 10 stories, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference.” Nonetheless, his firm principles can be malleable when hit by self interest. Taking ten floors off the 38 of the UN HQ would have left the 27th floor. That’s where the UN finance department issued his pay check when he became James Baker’s assistant in the UN mission to abrogate Security Council resolutions against the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara.</p>
<p>It is difficult to square his bashing of the UN with the Bush administration’s blandishing the Security Council members to “save” the organization, to preserve its credibility and relevance–by doing exactly what it is told. Perhaps because Bolton was absent from Washington, in Israel this week, the administration has reluctantly accepted the desirability for a second UN resolution to authorize war. Certainly, this is not due to any abstract attachment to principles. Rather, Tony Blair persuaded Bush that the few allies the U.S. has need such a resolution to quell their restive electorates.</p>
<p>Of course electorates do not always figure well with the White House. Bolton was foisted on a reluctant Powell by other hardliners in the administration, not least for his role in chad-counting in Florida before the Supreme Court appointed Bush.</p>
<p>But then he has not always been so keen on the judicial approach. For the past two years, his single-handed campaign to destroy the effectiveness of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has done much to cement European and third world resentment of U.S. “diplomacy” and unity in advance of the Iraq issue.</p>
<p>Indeed, his campaign get bilateral treaties exempting American citizens from the ICC’s jurisdiction precipitated the fissure lines we now see emerging in the global community. His few successes include the East Europeans, desperate to get into NATO, as well as the tiny island states, which are, well, just desperate. Even the role of one less tiny island state–Britain–foreshadows the role it has played over Iraq. After all, it was Tony Blair who effectively split united EU resistance to the American campaign.</p>
<p>The Bolton campaign’s major diplomatic “success,” however, was that his undiplomatic pressure provoked a record number of countries into signing and ratifying the Rome Treaty quickly so that the ICC was actually established several years before its sponsors anticipated. Bolton is to diplomacy what Jack the Ripper was to surgery.</p>
<p>Bearing in mind the Middle East venue for the current combat, Senator Jesse Helms had endorsed Bolton’s appointment with what one hopes was unconscious irony “John Bolton is the kind of man with whom I would want to stand at Armageddon, if it should be my lot to be on hand for what is forecast to be the final battle between good and evil in this world.”</p>
<p>Media Silence</p>
<p>Almost as amazing as Bolton’s statements is the relative silence of the U.S. media about him and other administration hawks. Shouldn’t the American public know that senior administration officials are promising that after a war with Iraq, there will be one with Iran, and then one with Syria, with Libya, with North Korea, and with Cuba? Each of these is a scenario that could frighten the American public. Taken together, George W. Bush is threatening to make the Prussian kings look like Pacifists. Do those Reservists in the Gulf know how long they will be away, making the world fertile for terrorism?</p>
<p>Some argued that you can ignore the likes of Bolton because they are just token eccentrics–there to appease the right wing of the Republican Party. Such complacency is ill-grounded. The first two years of Bush foreign policy–with the promulgation of the Axis of Evil, the campaign against the ICC, the abrogation of Kyoto, the unlimited support for Ariel Sharon’s behavior, and the gratuitous attacks on long-standing allies who have the temerity to disagree over Iraq–should warn us to take heed.</p>
<p>We do not have to agree with those Bible Study classes in the White House on prophetic power to prophesy that it would be very dangerous to ignore Bolton’s statements. These are harbingers of endless wars. It’s a long, long way to Teheran, but these hawks are putting their heart into going there. Or rather, as most of them did in Vietnam, sending others.</p>
<p>IAN WILLIAMS is a contributor to <a href="http://www.fpif.org/" type="external">Foreign Policy In Focus</a> on UN and international affairs.) He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
| 5,150 |
<p>After the death of Alton Sterling — and Philando Castile, Jamar Clark, Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, Freddie Gray, Trayvon Martin&#160;and all the other people of color recently killed by&#160;police&#160;— many questions will likely go unanswered.</p>
<p>We won’t know the exact motivations of Blaine Salamoni and Howie Lake, the police officers who killed Sterling. We won’t know what was going on in Sterling’s mind during his last moments. We won’t know the precise sequence of events as they unfolded before another African American man — one among <a href="http://mappingpoliceviolence.org/" type="external">187 in this year alone, according to Mapping Police Violence</a> — died while interacting with police.</p>
<p>Why does this keep happening?</p>
<p />
<p>This is a map by the data research and advocacy group <a href="http://mappingpoliceviolence.org/" type="external">Mapping Police Violence</a>. The organization says 187 black people have been killed by police so far this year, as of July 12, 2016. In 2015, 346 black people were killed.</p>
<p>In the recent past, we know that the Baton Rouge Police Department has a documented history of brutality against African Americans. Nola.com deputy opinions editor Jarvis DeBerry noted in <a href="http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2016/07/baton_rouge_police_brutality.html" type="external">a July 6, 2016 column</a> that a state trooper from Michigan who was temporarily stationed in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina submitted an official report saying that Baton Rouge police officers offered to let him beat an incarcerated person to thank him for his work.</p>
<p>A state trooper from New Mexico, meanwhile, claimed that Baton Rouge officers “were engaging in racially motivated enforcement.” In 2014, a Baton Rouge officer resigned over a department controversy about racist text messages, and earlier this year one of the city’s officers was caught on video repeatedly punching a teenager in the head as other officers held him down.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the two officers involved in Sterling’s death, Blane Salamoni and Howie Lake, have each been <a href="http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/07/baton_rouge_shooting_officers.html#incart_river_home" type="external">investigated several times</a> by the Baton Rouge Police Department for their use of force while on duty. And in addition to Sterling, at least 10&#160;other people have been injured or killed during interactions with police in Baton Rouge <a href="http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2016/07/baton_rouge_police_shootings.html" type="external">since 2013</a>. The officers were cleared of wrongdoing after internal investigations in all the incidents.</p>
<p>In the case of Alton Sterling and police violence in Baton Rouge, though, recent violence in Louisiana is tangled up with the state’s roots in slavery.</p>
<p>About 80 miles southeast from the place where Sterling drew his last breaths, the city of New Orleans was once home to the largest slave market in North America. Historian Walter Johnson&#160; <a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674005396" type="external">wrote about the horrors of that market</a>&#160;where many thousands of enslaved peoples of African descent were bought and sold, and then transported to plantations across the southern United States.</p>
<p />
<p>A group of black convict laborers pick cotton at Angola in 1900.</p>
<p><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Picking_cotton,_Angola_State_Farm_(circa_1900).jpg" type="external">Andrew David Lytle</a></p>
<p>Many of those slaves wound up on the cotton plantations in and around Baton Rouge. One of those plantations was named Angola, after the African country where thousands of people were taken and turned into slaves. In 1880, a former officer in the Confederate Army during the Civil War named Samuel James purchased the plantation. The James family was at that time in charge of Louisiana’s correctional system. In 1869 they signed a lease to manage Louisiana’s first state penitentiary in Baton Rouge. Shortly after purchasing Angola, James began housing inmates at the former slave plantation.</p>
<p>That plantation became the Louisiana State Penitentiary, the largest maximum security prison in the United States today.</p>
<p>The everyday brutality that defined slavery at plantations like Angola did not end when the so-called “peculiar institution” was abolished after the Civil War.</p>
<p>As historian Michelle Alexander observes in <a href="http://thenewpress.com/books/new-jim-crow" type="external">“The New Jim Crow,”</a> slavery was one form of racialized social control that spawned several others, including Jim Crow segregation, mass incarceration, excessive use of force by police and other law enforcement strategies that disproportionately target African Americans and other people of color. In keeping with this pattern, slavery’s legacy of brutality manifested in Angola as it gained a reputation as one of of the bloodiest prisons in the country.</p>
<p>The 13th Amendment ended slavery in 1865, but it also created&#160;a loophole that legalized slavery if it was <a href="http://https//www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&amp;doc=40&amp;page=transcript" type="external">“punishment for crime.”</a> In her 1998 essay, “From the Prison of Slavery to the Slavery of Prison,” scholar and activist Angela Davis explained that the southern states hastily passed laws called “Black Codes” that “criminalized such behavior as vagrancy, breach of job contracts, absence from work, the possession of firearms&#160;and insulting gestures or acts” — making it all too easy for African Americans to find themselves once more in bondage.</p>
<p />
<p>Prisoners at Angola process lumber at a dock on the Mississippi River, sometime between 1900 and 1910.</p>
<p>Library of Congress,&#160;LC-D4-34337</p>
<p>Enforcement of the Black Codes dovetailed with convict leasing, a dual system of labor and incarceration that allowed private business and planters to “lease” prisoners from states like Louisiana and subject them to hard labor. In Louisiana, individuals who found themselves jailed at Baton Rouge or Angola were&#160; <a href="http://www.knowla.org/entry/767/" type="external">likely to end up working for private corporations</a>&#160;repairing levees, building railroads or picking cotton.</p>
<p>By the 1890s, <a href="http://www.angolamuseum.org/history/history/" type="external">newspaper reports</a>&#160;of&#160;the violence inmates faced at work and behind the prison walls at Angola created enough public outcry that in 1901 state officials ended the privatized correctional system that had been in place for decades. But state oversight didn’t end the violence that was routinely dealt against Angola’s disproportionately high population of African American prisoners.</p>
<p>In the 1940s, a former inmate published a series of articles for New Orleans newspaper The Item called <a href="http://www.angolamuseum.org/history/archived-articles/hell-on-angola-the-wooden-ear-series/" type="external">“Hell on Angola.”</a> In the series’ <a href="http://www.angolamuseum.org/history/archived-articles/hell-on-angola-the-wooden-ear-series/ex-inmate-tells-of-brutalities/" type="external">first installment</a>, he wrote that the story of Angola was one of “Murder, mayhem, and savagery. Brutality, filth, and starvation. Legal ‘killings’ and criminal negligence.” Prisoners faced so much violence at Angola that in the 1950s over two dozen people incarcerated there slashed their Achilles tendons to protest their treatment by prison guards.</p>
<p>Warden Burl Cain, who resigned in 2016 after over two decades at the helm of Angola, is often credited with stemming violence there. But the penitentiary continues to come under fire as the embodiment of <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/09/prison-labor-in-america/406177/" type="external">“American slavery, reinvented,”</a> as a headline in The Atlantic proclaims, where prisoners work for wages as low as two cents per hour and can face punishments as severe as solitary confinement if they refuse to work.</p>
<p>This system was part and parcel of a system of extralegal violence in Lousiana. Before&#160;Angola filled its beds,&#160;the Ku Klux Klan — who fancied themselves as vigilantes seeking to restore the status quo of white supremacy in the emancipated south when they first organized in 1866 — ushered in a <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/grant-kkk/" type="external">“reign of terror”</a> that resulted in the deaths of thousands of African Americans before the federal government began to suppress the infamous white supremacist group’s activities in the early 1870s. This wave of violence foreshadowed lynch mobs —&#160;who claimed they were taking the&#160;law into their own hands —&#160;and the nearly 5,000 lynchings in the US from 1882 to 1968. The vast majority of the victims in these lynchings were black men and women, according to the <a href="http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2&amp;psid=3178" type="external">Census Bureau</a>. While the annual number of lynchings started to decline in the early 20th century, the number of court-ordered executions began to rise at a staggeringly disproportionate rate for people of color. In a 2015 report called <a href="http://www.eji.org/files/EJI%2520Lynching%2520in%2520America%2520SUMMARY.pdf" type="external">“Lynching in America: Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror,”</a> the Equal Justice Initiative noted that African Americans were only 22 percent of the population in the US south from 1910 to 1950, but accounted for 75 percent of executions.</p>
<p>That 20th century disparity in execution rates is mirrored by contemporary rates of incarceration, which have exploded since the "War on Drugs"&#160;began in the 1970s. Today, nearly 2.3 million people are locked up in the US. <a href="http://www.naacp.org/pages/criminal-justice-fact-sheet" type="external">About 1 million</a> are African American. Kelly Lytle Hernández, a historian at the University of California, Los Angeles, says that like slavery and Jim Crow, mass incarceration at Angola and other prisons throughout the US is a “killing machine. It has locked black families and communities in cycles of disease, stress, violence, disenfranchisement, poverty, execution, and stolen kin; all of which lead to premature death.”</p>
<p>Whether facing death on the streets, as Anton Sterling did,&#160;or behind prison walls at Angola, the brutality that defines policing is not without precedent.&#160;The numbers suggest Sterling also won’t be the last Louisianian to bear the burden of the state's policing history. Louisiana has one of the highest rates of incarceration <a href="http://statesofincarceration.org/states/louisiana-windows-angola-prison" type="external">in the world</a>. And according to the American Civil Liberties Union, black Louisianans represent almost <a href="https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/assets/141027_iachr_racial_disparities_aclu_submission_0.pdf" type="external">92 percent</a> of individuals who are serving life-without-parole sentences in the state’s prisons.</p>
<p>“As we think about these police killings,” says University of New Orleans historian Benjamin D. Weber, “we need to try and remember how each element of what happened is in part overdetermined by this country’s unique genealogy of racial violence against people of color.”</p>
|
Slavery’s long shadow looms over the deaths of victims of police violence
| false |
https://pri.org/stories/2016-07-13/slavery-s-long-shadow-looms-over-deaths-victims-police-violence
|
2016-07-13
| 3left-center
|
Slavery’s long shadow looms over the deaths of victims of police violence
<p>After the death of Alton Sterling — and Philando Castile, Jamar Clark, Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, Freddie Gray, Trayvon Martin&#160;and all the other people of color recently killed by&#160;police&#160;— many questions will likely go unanswered.</p>
<p>We won’t know the exact motivations of Blaine Salamoni and Howie Lake, the police officers who killed Sterling. We won’t know what was going on in Sterling’s mind during his last moments. We won’t know the precise sequence of events as they unfolded before another African American man — one among <a href="http://mappingpoliceviolence.org/" type="external">187 in this year alone, according to Mapping Police Violence</a> — died while interacting with police.</p>
<p>Why does this keep happening?</p>
<p />
<p>This is a map by the data research and advocacy group <a href="http://mappingpoliceviolence.org/" type="external">Mapping Police Violence</a>. The organization says 187 black people have been killed by police so far this year, as of July 12, 2016. In 2015, 346 black people were killed.</p>
<p>In the recent past, we know that the Baton Rouge Police Department has a documented history of brutality against African Americans. Nola.com deputy opinions editor Jarvis DeBerry noted in <a href="http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2016/07/baton_rouge_police_brutality.html" type="external">a July 6, 2016 column</a> that a state trooper from Michigan who was temporarily stationed in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina submitted an official report saying that Baton Rouge police officers offered to let him beat an incarcerated person to thank him for his work.</p>
<p>A state trooper from New Mexico, meanwhile, claimed that Baton Rouge officers “were engaging in racially motivated enforcement.” In 2014, a Baton Rouge officer resigned over a department controversy about racist text messages, and earlier this year one of the city’s officers was caught on video repeatedly punching a teenager in the head as other officers held him down.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the two officers involved in Sterling’s death, Blane Salamoni and Howie Lake, have each been <a href="http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/07/baton_rouge_shooting_officers.html#incart_river_home" type="external">investigated several times</a> by the Baton Rouge Police Department for their use of force while on duty. And in addition to Sterling, at least 10&#160;other people have been injured or killed during interactions with police in Baton Rouge <a href="http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2016/07/baton_rouge_police_shootings.html" type="external">since 2013</a>. The officers were cleared of wrongdoing after internal investigations in all the incidents.</p>
<p>In the case of Alton Sterling and police violence in Baton Rouge, though, recent violence in Louisiana is tangled up with the state’s roots in slavery.</p>
<p>About 80 miles southeast from the place where Sterling drew his last breaths, the city of New Orleans was once home to the largest slave market in North America. Historian Walter Johnson&#160; <a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674005396" type="external">wrote about the horrors of that market</a>&#160;where many thousands of enslaved peoples of African descent were bought and sold, and then transported to plantations across the southern United States.</p>
<p />
<p>A group of black convict laborers pick cotton at Angola in 1900.</p>
<p><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Picking_cotton,_Angola_State_Farm_(circa_1900).jpg" type="external">Andrew David Lytle</a></p>
<p>Many of those slaves wound up on the cotton plantations in and around Baton Rouge. One of those plantations was named Angola, after the African country where thousands of people were taken and turned into slaves. In 1880, a former officer in the Confederate Army during the Civil War named Samuel James purchased the plantation. The James family was at that time in charge of Louisiana’s correctional system. In 1869 they signed a lease to manage Louisiana’s first state penitentiary in Baton Rouge. Shortly after purchasing Angola, James began housing inmates at the former slave plantation.</p>
<p>That plantation became the Louisiana State Penitentiary, the largest maximum security prison in the United States today.</p>
<p>The everyday brutality that defined slavery at plantations like Angola did not end when the so-called “peculiar institution” was abolished after the Civil War.</p>
<p>As historian Michelle Alexander observes in <a href="http://thenewpress.com/books/new-jim-crow" type="external">“The New Jim Crow,”</a> slavery was one form of racialized social control that spawned several others, including Jim Crow segregation, mass incarceration, excessive use of force by police and other law enforcement strategies that disproportionately target African Americans and other people of color. In keeping with this pattern, slavery’s legacy of brutality manifested in Angola as it gained a reputation as one of of the bloodiest prisons in the country.</p>
<p>The 13th Amendment ended slavery in 1865, but it also created&#160;a loophole that legalized slavery if it was <a href="http://https//www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&amp;doc=40&amp;page=transcript" type="external">“punishment for crime.”</a> In her 1998 essay, “From the Prison of Slavery to the Slavery of Prison,” scholar and activist Angela Davis explained that the southern states hastily passed laws called “Black Codes” that “criminalized such behavior as vagrancy, breach of job contracts, absence from work, the possession of firearms&#160;and insulting gestures or acts” — making it all too easy for African Americans to find themselves once more in bondage.</p>
<p />
<p>Prisoners at Angola process lumber at a dock on the Mississippi River, sometime between 1900 and 1910.</p>
<p>Library of Congress,&#160;LC-D4-34337</p>
<p>Enforcement of the Black Codes dovetailed with convict leasing, a dual system of labor and incarceration that allowed private business and planters to “lease” prisoners from states like Louisiana and subject them to hard labor. In Louisiana, individuals who found themselves jailed at Baton Rouge or Angola were&#160; <a href="http://www.knowla.org/entry/767/" type="external">likely to end up working for private corporations</a>&#160;repairing levees, building railroads or picking cotton.</p>
<p>By the 1890s, <a href="http://www.angolamuseum.org/history/history/" type="external">newspaper reports</a>&#160;of&#160;the violence inmates faced at work and behind the prison walls at Angola created enough public outcry that in 1901 state officials ended the privatized correctional system that had been in place for decades. But state oversight didn’t end the violence that was routinely dealt against Angola’s disproportionately high population of African American prisoners.</p>
<p>In the 1940s, a former inmate published a series of articles for New Orleans newspaper The Item called <a href="http://www.angolamuseum.org/history/archived-articles/hell-on-angola-the-wooden-ear-series/" type="external">“Hell on Angola.”</a> In the series’ <a href="http://www.angolamuseum.org/history/archived-articles/hell-on-angola-the-wooden-ear-series/ex-inmate-tells-of-brutalities/" type="external">first installment</a>, he wrote that the story of Angola was one of “Murder, mayhem, and savagery. Brutality, filth, and starvation. Legal ‘killings’ and criminal negligence.” Prisoners faced so much violence at Angola that in the 1950s over two dozen people incarcerated there slashed their Achilles tendons to protest their treatment by prison guards.</p>
<p>Warden Burl Cain, who resigned in 2016 after over two decades at the helm of Angola, is often credited with stemming violence there. But the penitentiary continues to come under fire as the embodiment of <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/09/prison-labor-in-america/406177/" type="external">“American slavery, reinvented,”</a> as a headline in The Atlantic proclaims, where prisoners work for wages as low as two cents per hour and can face punishments as severe as solitary confinement if they refuse to work.</p>
<p>This system was part and parcel of a system of extralegal violence in Lousiana. Before&#160;Angola filled its beds,&#160;the Ku Klux Klan — who fancied themselves as vigilantes seeking to restore the status quo of white supremacy in the emancipated south when they first organized in 1866 — ushered in a <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/grant-kkk/" type="external">“reign of terror”</a> that resulted in the deaths of thousands of African Americans before the federal government began to suppress the infamous white supremacist group’s activities in the early 1870s. This wave of violence foreshadowed lynch mobs —&#160;who claimed they were taking the&#160;law into their own hands —&#160;and the nearly 5,000 lynchings in the US from 1882 to 1968. The vast majority of the victims in these lynchings were black men and women, according to the <a href="http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2&amp;psid=3178" type="external">Census Bureau</a>. While the annual number of lynchings started to decline in the early 20th century, the number of court-ordered executions began to rise at a staggeringly disproportionate rate for people of color. In a 2015 report called <a href="http://www.eji.org/files/EJI%2520Lynching%2520in%2520America%2520SUMMARY.pdf" type="external">“Lynching in America: Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror,”</a> the Equal Justice Initiative noted that African Americans were only 22 percent of the population in the US south from 1910 to 1950, but accounted for 75 percent of executions.</p>
<p>That 20th century disparity in execution rates is mirrored by contemporary rates of incarceration, which have exploded since the "War on Drugs"&#160;began in the 1970s. Today, nearly 2.3 million people are locked up in the US. <a href="http://www.naacp.org/pages/criminal-justice-fact-sheet" type="external">About 1 million</a> are African American. Kelly Lytle Hernández, a historian at the University of California, Los Angeles, says that like slavery and Jim Crow, mass incarceration at Angola and other prisons throughout the US is a “killing machine. It has locked black families and communities in cycles of disease, stress, violence, disenfranchisement, poverty, execution, and stolen kin; all of which lead to premature death.”</p>
<p>Whether facing death on the streets, as Anton Sterling did,&#160;or behind prison walls at Angola, the brutality that defines policing is not without precedent.&#160;The numbers suggest Sterling also won’t be the last Louisianian to bear the burden of the state's policing history. Louisiana has one of the highest rates of incarceration <a href="http://statesofincarceration.org/states/louisiana-windows-angola-prison" type="external">in the world</a>. And according to the American Civil Liberties Union, black Louisianans represent almost <a href="https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/assets/141027_iachr_racial_disparities_aclu_submission_0.pdf" type="external">92 percent</a> of individuals who are serving life-without-parole sentences in the state’s prisons.</p>
<p>“As we think about these police killings,” says University of New Orleans historian Benjamin D. Weber, “we need to try and remember how each element of what happened is in part overdetermined by this country’s unique genealogy of racial violence against people of color.”</p>
| 5,151 |
<p>After a jarring return to work and some prodding from our <a href="http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/03/26/sleep-training-at-8-weeks-do-you-have-the-guts/" type="external">famously eager pediatrician</a>, my husband and I have started “cry-it-out” with our 4-month-old son—a brutal, if necessary, method where <a href="/content/witw/articles/2013/08/15/america-s-postpartum-practices.html" type="external">exhausted parents</a> train their babies to sleep by ignoring their cries. Last night, after our baby cried, then quieted himself several times during a 10-hour stretch, I went to fetch him for a morning feed and felt my throat fall into my stomach.</p>
<p>My baby had wiggled during the night and the fancy swaddle I used to wrap his arms tightly at 7 p.m. was now resting around his neck. My mind flashed with the threat I know loose bedding to be: suffocation, strangulation, death. His eyes peeked out at me through his nearly covered face.</p>
<p>Five years ago, in the middle of another sleepless stretch with my first son, my parenting fail was by choice. I looked at my 2-month-old baby, strong enough to bust himself loose out of my swaddles yet still unable to control the tremors in his hands or the reflex that made him feel like he was falling all the time. And so, I decided to join the number of parents who hide <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/18/health/a-quiet-revolt-against-the-rules-on-sids.html" type="external">a dark secret</a>: I turned my baby on his belly and let him sleep, which he did, for hours longer than he ever had before.</p>
<p>I revisited these and dozens of other errors I’ve made as a parent this morning—because around the same time I was imagining what might have happened had I not picked up my new baby when I did, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/parents-of-two-babies-charged-with-killing-their-children-by-neglect/2015/12/28/92cf09d6-ad92-11e5-b820-eea4d64be2a1_story.html" type="external">The Washington Post</a> reported another mother in Virginia had been charged with murder and child neglect for a mistake that led to the death of her son, Jahari.</p>
<p>Candice Semidey, 25-years-old at the time, was a new mother to a 4-month-old. She fed him, swaddled him, then lay him belly-down on a makeshift bed she fashioned out of a chair cushion and a blanket, according to the Prince William County Police public information officer, Sergeant Jonathan Perok. Semidey went to sleep, but when she woke up, her baby was dead. And according to the Prince William County prosecutor, placing Jahari on his stomach to sleep this way was so negligent it was murder.</p>
<p>Jahari’s death was unintentional, Perok told The Daily Beast. His mother wasn’t under the influence of any drugs or alcohol. Nothing else about her home concerned police or made them think the baby had otherwise been neglected, Perok said.</p>
<p>“These actions, however unintentional, were still deemed neglectful in accordance with the code section for felony murder which states, ‘The killing of one accidentally, contrary to the intention of the parties, while in the prosecution of some felonious act,’” Perok wrote in an email. “The underlying felonious act in this case was the felony child neglect.”</p>
<p>In the criminal complaint, the lead detective wrote that Semidey had acted in a manner “that was so gross, wanton, and culpable” that it showed “a reckless disregard for human life.” The charging documents noted that she had received proper guidance on how to put her son to sleep after his birth.</p>
<p>Semidey pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and child neglect in July of 2015, and was given a suspended sentence of five years. She’ll stay out of prison if she completes a three-year supervised probation.</p>
<p>Most parents used to put their babies to sleep on their tummies until the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) began telling them to put their infants to sleep on their backs. In 1994, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development began the “Back to Sleep” campaign, a federally funded push to stem fatalities from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). As a result, <a href="https://www.nichd.nih.gov/sts/about/SIDS/Pages/progress.aspx" type="external">unexplained sleep deaths</a> in the U.S. have fallen drastically—by more than 50 percent. Still, around 3,500 infants die unexpectedly while sleeping, from <a href="/content/dailybeast/articles/2015/08/01/doctors-are-failing-new-moms.html" type="external">SIDS</a> or accidental suffocation.</p>
<p>But lots of parents still eschew doctors’ advice in exchange for a good night’s sleep. In 1992, about 70 percent of babies slept on their stomachs, according to <a href="http://slone-web2.bu.edu/ChimeNisp/NISP_Data.asp" type="external">the National Infant Sleep Position Study</a>. In 2010, that number fell to 13.5 percent. For <a href="" type="internal">African-American mothers</a> like Semidey, the rate of stomach sleeping rises to 27.6 percent.</p>
<p>Is this a crime? Clearly it is in Prince William County.</p>
<p>Start and finish your day with the top stories from The Daily Beast.</p>
<p>A speedy, smart summary of all the news you need to know (and nothing you don't).</p>
<p>But to charge a grieving mother for murder, for making a mistake that millions of other mothers make every night, seems like a terrifying overreach. And Sergeant Perok told me the charge against Semidey wasn’t exceptional. “We in Prince William County don’t charge it often, but it’s not unusual,” he said.</p>
<p>The most recent example I could find of a similar charge was in 2010, when a woman was charged with child neglect over the drowning death of her 9-month-old daughter. <a href="http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Mother-Charged-in-Babys-Drowning-Death-63943682.html" type="external">Julia Sumo</a> had left her daughter in the tub to investigate a burning smell coming from the kitchen. When she returned, her daughter was dead. Sumo was “beside herself with grief” over her “grave mistake,” according to her husband, but the judge said “some recognition has to be given to the fact that a life was lost,” and imposed 60 days of jail time.</p>
<p>Mothers are expected to be hyper-vigilant at all times, and for good reason: Tiny, vulnerable people depend on us. But every single one of us, even the best mother, has her stories. Every mother has felt the lump in her chest that comes with seeing her baby caught in blankets or finding a toddler who slipped away during the one moment she took her eye away in the supermarket. Every mother has had a moment when she realizes how close she has come to tragedy and feels relief that, this time, her baby is safe.</p>
<p>Candice Semidey’s baby is gone. It’s a tragedy, not a crime.</p>
|
Can Putting Your Baby to Bed Be a Crime?
| true |
https://thedailybeast.com/can-putting-your-baby-to-bed-be-a-crime
|
2018-10-06
| 4left
|
Can Putting Your Baby to Bed Be a Crime?
<p>After a jarring return to work and some prodding from our <a href="http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/03/26/sleep-training-at-8-weeks-do-you-have-the-guts/" type="external">famously eager pediatrician</a>, my husband and I have started “cry-it-out” with our 4-month-old son—a brutal, if necessary, method where <a href="/content/witw/articles/2013/08/15/america-s-postpartum-practices.html" type="external">exhausted parents</a> train their babies to sleep by ignoring their cries. Last night, after our baby cried, then quieted himself several times during a 10-hour stretch, I went to fetch him for a morning feed and felt my throat fall into my stomach.</p>
<p>My baby had wiggled during the night and the fancy swaddle I used to wrap his arms tightly at 7 p.m. was now resting around his neck. My mind flashed with the threat I know loose bedding to be: suffocation, strangulation, death. His eyes peeked out at me through his nearly covered face.</p>
<p>Five years ago, in the middle of another sleepless stretch with my first son, my parenting fail was by choice. I looked at my 2-month-old baby, strong enough to bust himself loose out of my swaddles yet still unable to control the tremors in his hands or the reflex that made him feel like he was falling all the time. And so, I decided to join the number of parents who hide <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/18/health/a-quiet-revolt-against-the-rules-on-sids.html" type="external">a dark secret</a>: I turned my baby on his belly and let him sleep, which he did, for hours longer than he ever had before.</p>
<p>I revisited these and dozens of other errors I’ve made as a parent this morning—because around the same time I was imagining what might have happened had I not picked up my new baby when I did, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/parents-of-two-babies-charged-with-killing-their-children-by-neglect/2015/12/28/92cf09d6-ad92-11e5-b820-eea4d64be2a1_story.html" type="external">The Washington Post</a> reported another mother in Virginia had been charged with murder and child neglect for a mistake that led to the death of her son, Jahari.</p>
<p>Candice Semidey, 25-years-old at the time, was a new mother to a 4-month-old. She fed him, swaddled him, then lay him belly-down on a makeshift bed she fashioned out of a chair cushion and a blanket, according to the Prince William County Police public information officer, Sergeant Jonathan Perok. Semidey went to sleep, but when she woke up, her baby was dead. And according to the Prince William County prosecutor, placing Jahari on his stomach to sleep this way was so negligent it was murder.</p>
<p>Jahari’s death was unintentional, Perok told The Daily Beast. His mother wasn’t under the influence of any drugs or alcohol. Nothing else about her home concerned police or made them think the baby had otherwise been neglected, Perok said.</p>
<p>“These actions, however unintentional, were still deemed neglectful in accordance with the code section for felony murder which states, ‘The killing of one accidentally, contrary to the intention of the parties, while in the prosecution of some felonious act,’” Perok wrote in an email. “The underlying felonious act in this case was the felony child neglect.”</p>
<p>In the criminal complaint, the lead detective wrote that Semidey had acted in a manner “that was so gross, wanton, and culpable” that it showed “a reckless disregard for human life.” The charging documents noted that she had received proper guidance on how to put her son to sleep after his birth.</p>
<p>Semidey pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and child neglect in July of 2015, and was given a suspended sentence of five years. She’ll stay out of prison if she completes a three-year supervised probation.</p>
<p>Most parents used to put their babies to sleep on their tummies until the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) began telling them to put their infants to sleep on their backs. In 1994, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development began the “Back to Sleep” campaign, a federally funded push to stem fatalities from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). As a result, <a href="https://www.nichd.nih.gov/sts/about/SIDS/Pages/progress.aspx" type="external">unexplained sleep deaths</a> in the U.S. have fallen drastically—by more than 50 percent. Still, around 3,500 infants die unexpectedly while sleeping, from <a href="/content/dailybeast/articles/2015/08/01/doctors-are-failing-new-moms.html" type="external">SIDS</a> or accidental suffocation.</p>
<p>But lots of parents still eschew doctors’ advice in exchange for a good night’s sleep. In 1992, about 70 percent of babies slept on their stomachs, according to <a href="http://slone-web2.bu.edu/ChimeNisp/NISP_Data.asp" type="external">the National Infant Sleep Position Study</a>. In 2010, that number fell to 13.5 percent. For <a href="" type="internal">African-American mothers</a> like Semidey, the rate of stomach sleeping rises to 27.6 percent.</p>
<p>Is this a crime? Clearly it is in Prince William County.</p>
<p>Start and finish your day with the top stories from The Daily Beast.</p>
<p>A speedy, smart summary of all the news you need to know (and nothing you don't).</p>
<p>But to charge a grieving mother for murder, for making a mistake that millions of other mothers make every night, seems like a terrifying overreach. And Sergeant Perok told me the charge against Semidey wasn’t exceptional. “We in Prince William County don’t charge it often, but it’s not unusual,” he said.</p>
<p>The most recent example I could find of a similar charge was in 2010, when a woman was charged with child neglect over the drowning death of her 9-month-old daughter. <a href="http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Mother-Charged-in-Babys-Drowning-Death-63943682.html" type="external">Julia Sumo</a> had left her daughter in the tub to investigate a burning smell coming from the kitchen. When she returned, her daughter was dead. Sumo was “beside herself with grief” over her “grave mistake,” according to her husband, but the judge said “some recognition has to be given to the fact that a life was lost,” and imposed 60 days of jail time.</p>
<p>Mothers are expected to be hyper-vigilant at all times, and for good reason: Tiny, vulnerable people depend on us. But every single one of us, even the best mother, has her stories. Every mother has felt the lump in her chest that comes with seeing her baby caught in blankets or finding a toddler who slipped away during the one moment she took her eye away in the supermarket. Every mother has had a moment when she realizes how close she has come to tragedy and feels relief that, this time, her baby is safe.</p>
<p>Candice Semidey’s baby is gone. It’s a tragedy, not a crime.</p>
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<p>Volkswagen AG's return to European debt markets has been met with a warm reception from investors, who're rushing to participate in Thursday's expected 7.5 billion euro ($8.1 billion) bond offering, according to a report from <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/f10e0bd8-7660-3ad3-b494-6be1218d0f18" type="external">the Financial Times. Opens a New Window.</a>The bond had attracted 22 billion euros ($23.8 billion) in bids by mid-morning, London Time, the FT reported, with debt being sold in four tranches with maturities from two to 10 years. The German automaker was once one of the largest bond issuers in Europe, but it hasn't sold a benchmark bond denominated in a G-10 currency since August 2015. In January, the company agreed to pay $4.3 billion in criminal and civil fines and pleaded guilty to three criminal felony counts. These fines brought the automakers' total scandal-related costs in the U.S. to $20 billion. The company's U.S.-traded shares were off 1.3% at $29.92 in Thursday trade.</p>
<p>Copyright © 2017 MarketWatch, Inc.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
|
Volkswagen's Return To European Debt Markets Met With Warm Reception
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/03/23/volkswagen-return-to-european-debt-markets-met-with-warm-reception.html
|
2017-03-23
| 0right
|
Volkswagen's Return To European Debt Markets Met With Warm Reception
<p>Volkswagen AG's return to European debt markets has been met with a warm reception from investors, who're rushing to participate in Thursday's expected 7.5 billion euro ($8.1 billion) bond offering, according to a report from <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/f10e0bd8-7660-3ad3-b494-6be1218d0f18" type="external">the Financial Times. Opens a New Window.</a>The bond had attracted 22 billion euros ($23.8 billion) in bids by mid-morning, London Time, the FT reported, with debt being sold in four tranches with maturities from two to 10 years. The German automaker was once one of the largest bond issuers in Europe, but it hasn't sold a benchmark bond denominated in a G-10 currency since August 2015. In January, the company agreed to pay $4.3 billion in criminal and civil fines and pleaded guilty to three criminal felony counts. These fines brought the automakers' total scandal-related costs in the U.S. to $20 billion. The company's U.S.-traded shares were off 1.3% at $29.92 in Thursday trade.</p>
<p>Copyright © 2017 MarketWatch, Inc.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
| 5,153 |
<p>Disaster teams searched the Yangtze River on Saturday for dozens of bodies of the Eastern Star's missing passengers and crew, as the death toll in the cruiser's capsizing rose to nearly 400, making it China's deadliest boat disaster in nearly seven decades.</p>
<p>Authorities have attributed the overturning of the ship late Monday to sudden, severe winds, but also have placed the captain and his first engineer under police custody.</p>
<p>Passengers' relatives have raised questions about whether the ship should have continued its cruise after the storm started in a section of Hubei province and despite a weather warning earlier in the evening.</p>
<p>Gallery: <a href="" type="internal">Crews Search Capsized Ship</a></p>
<p>Heavy rains in the Yangtze area over four days beginning Monday have killed 15 people and left eight others missing, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said.</p>
<p>Hundreds more bodies from the Eastern Star were found overnight and Saturday, bringing the death toll to 396, Hu Kaihong, the vice director-general of the press bureau of the State Council Information Office, told a news conference. A total of 46 people were still missing, and authorities had requested that river traffic and others along the river alert them if they noticed any floating bodies.</p>
<p>Hu said that they were increasing their efforts to search for the missing and had expanded the target area from the middle reaches of the Yangtze more than 600 miles downstream to Shanghai.</p>
<p>The boat had more than 450 people aboard, many of them elderly tourists, for a cruise from Nanjing to the southwestern city of Chongqing.</p>
<p>Fourteen people survived, including three pulled out by divers from air pockets in the overturned hull on Tuesday.</p>
<p>RELATED: <a href="" type="internal">China Ship Disaster: Is 'Outstanding' Captain Culpable?</a></p>
<p>Disaster teams put chains around the hull and used cranes to roll the banged-up, white and blue boat upright and then gradually lift it out of the gray currents of the Yangtze on Friday.</p>
<p>The Eastern Star disaster became the country's worst since the sinking of the SS Kiangya off Shanghai in 1948, which is believed to have killed anywhere from 2,750 to nearly 4,000 people.</p>
|
China River Cruise Ship Capsize: Death Toll Jumps to 400
| false |
http://nbcnews.com/news/world/china-river-cruise-ship-capsize-death-toll-jumps-400-n370916
|
2015-06-06
| 3left-center
|
China River Cruise Ship Capsize: Death Toll Jumps to 400
<p>Disaster teams searched the Yangtze River on Saturday for dozens of bodies of the Eastern Star's missing passengers and crew, as the death toll in the cruiser's capsizing rose to nearly 400, making it China's deadliest boat disaster in nearly seven decades.</p>
<p>Authorities have attributed the overturning of the ship late Monday to sudden, severe winds, but also have placed the captain and his first engineer under police custody.</p>
<p>Passengers' relatives have raised questions about whether the ship should have continued its cruise after the storm started in a section of Hubei province and despite a weather warning earlier in the evening.</p>
<p>Gallery: <a href="" type="internal">Crews Search Capsized Ship</a></p>
<p>Heavy rains in the Yangtze area over four days beginning Monday have killed 15 people and left eight others missing, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said.</p>
<p>Hundreds more bodies from the Eastern Star were found overnight and Saturday, bringing the death toll to 396, Hu Kaihong, the vice director-general of the press bureau of the State Council Information Office, told a news conference. A total of 46 people were still missing, and authorities had requested that river traffic and others along the river alert them if they noticed any floating bodies.</p>
<p>Hu said that they were increasing their efforts to search for the missing and had expanded the target area from the middle reaches of the Yangtze more than 600 miles downstream to Shanghai.</p>
<p>The boat had more than 450 people aboard, many of them elderly tourists, for a cruise from Nanjing to the southwestern city of Chongqing.</p>
<p>Fourteen people survived, including three pulled out by divers from air pockets in the overturned hull on Tuesday.</p>
<p>RELATED: <a href="" type="internal">China Ship Disaster: Is 'Outstanding' Captain Culpable?</a></p>
<p>Disaster teams put chains around the hull and used cranes to roll the banged-up, white and blue boat upright and then gradually lift it out of the gray currents of the Yangtze on Friday.</p>
<p>The Eastern Star disaster became the country's worst since the sinking of the SS Kiangya off Shanghai in 1948, which is believed to have killed anywhere from 2,750 to nearly 4,000 people.</p>
| 5,154 |
<p>Or so <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-oe-schwarzenegger-gop-needs-to-be-more-inclusiv-20120506,0,178448.story" type="external">recommends</a> former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger:</p>
<p>An inclusive party would welcome the party's most conservative activists right alongside its most liberal activists. There is room for those whose views, I think, make them sound like cavemen. And there is also room for us in the center, with views the traditionalists probably think make us sound like progressive softies. What's important is our shared belief in the broad Republican principles of free enterprise and small government. If we continue to fight one another without being willing to compromise, we will keep losing to big-government advocates. ...</p>
<p>As governor, [Ronald]Reagan was never afraid to buck his party. He raised taxes when he saw no other way to get California out of the red, and he created the California Environmental Protection Agency because, as strongly as he believed in eliminating unnecessary government regulation, he also saw wisdom in protecting our natural resources.</p>
<p>As president, Reagan worked very well with Democrats to do big things. It is true that he worked to reduce the size of government and cut federal taxes and he eliminated many regulations, but he also raised taxes when necessary. In 1983, he doubled the gas tax to pay for highway infrastructure improvements.</p>
<p>Today, that would be enough for some of the ideological enforcers to start looking for a "real" conservative to challenge him in a primary.</p>
<p>Some Republicans today aren't even willing to have conversations about protecting the environment, investing in the infrastructure America needs or improving healthcare. By holding their fingers in their ears when those topics arise, these Republicans aren't just denying themselves a seat at the table; in a state such as California, they also deny a seat to every other Republican.</p>
|
Terminate GOP Extremism
| true |
https://thedailybeast.com/terminate-gop-extremism
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2018-10-06
| 4left
|
Terminate GOP Extremism
<p>Or so <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-oe-schwarzenegger-gop-needs-to-be-more-inclusiv-20120506,0,178448.story" type="external">recommends</a> former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger:</p>
<p>An inclusive party would welcome the party's most conservative activists right alongside its most liberal activists. There is room for those whose views, I think, make them sound like cavemen. And there is also room for us in the center, with views the traditionalists probably think make us sound like progressive softies. What's important is our shared belief in the broad Republican principles of free enterprise and small government. If we continue to fight one another without being willing to compromise, we will keep losing to big-government advocates. ...</p>
<p>As governor, [Ronald]Reagan was never afraid to buck his party. He raised taxes when he saw no other way to get California out of the red, and he created the California Environmental Protection Agency because, as strongly as he believed in eliminating unnecessary government regulation, he also saw wisdom in protecting our natural resources.</p>
<p>As president, Reagan worked very well with Democrats to do big things. It is true that he worked to reduce the size of government and cut federal taxes and he eliminated many regulations, but he also raised taxes when necessary. In 1983, he doubled the gas tax to pay for highway infrastructure improvements.</p>
<p>Today, that would be enough for some of the ideological enforcers to start looking for a "real" conservative to challenge him in a primary.</p>
<p>Some Republicans today aren't even willing to have conversations about protecting the environment, investing in the infrastructure America needs or improving healthcare. By holding their fingers in their ears when those topics arise, these Republicans aren't just denying themselves a seat at the table; in a state such as California, they also deny a seat to every other Republican.</p>
| 5,155 |
<p />
<p>Source: Universal Orlando.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>It didn't take long for the <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/04/27/comcast-is-trying-to-be-disney-again.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">buyout chatter Opens a New Window.</a> to morph into reality.Comcast is buying DreamWorks Animation SKG in a $3.8 billion deal.</p>
<p>We know what the market thinks of the deal. Comcast opened lower on the news, but eventually turned slightly higher. It's basically a non-event as far as the market is concerned.</p>
<p>It is an event. The all-cash deal takes out DreamWorks Animation SKG at a price level that it hasn't seen in six years; but that's not the point. DreamWorks Animation SKG will be better off in Comcast's grubby paws than on its own.</p>
<p>Let's go over a couple of the ways that it can be a game changer for Comcast.</p>
<p>1. Theme parks just got a liftComcast is a distant second to Disney in the realm of theme parks, but Universal Studios has been closing the gap in recent years. Comcast's NBCUniversal has been adding attractions at an impressive clip, but it often has to license character franchises to lean on established third-party properties.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Disney rarely has to go that route, and big-ticket purchases of Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm make its deal for Avatarlikely the last that it will sign to take a non-owned franchise into its theme parks for a long time.</p>
<p>Universal Studios already has a Shrek-themed 3D attraction in four of its parks, and its park in Singapore also hasMadagascar attractions. It's easy to see NBCUniversal building on that, especially now that it will own the properties outright.</p>
<p>It's easy to see a family friendly Kung Fu Panda dark ride, especially when Universal Studios Beijing opens in three years. If Disney's Avatar-themed flying banshee attraction is a hit at Disney World's Animal Kingdom next year, you can bet that Comcast will find a way to transform How to Train Your Dragon into a thrill-ride experience.</p>
<p>With a theme-park operator now owning DreamWorks Animation, don't be surprised if new releases revolve around themes that can be fleshed out into bar-raising rides and attractions.</p>
<p>2. Disrupting the disruptor in videoOne of the big early content deals that Netflix struck early in its push for original content was with DreamWorks Animation. The computer-animation studios would provide more than 300 hours of content for a dozen original shows between 2013 and 2018. The deal with Comcast isn't going to change that, and it's certainly interesting to see Netflix cutting checks to Comcast -- the company it has often taken to task for throttling its broadband customers.</p>
<p>However, in the bigger scheme of things, Comcast now has a direct source for kid-friendly content. It has plenty of partnerships in place with existing providers of family entertainment, but now it can build up its own vault of proprietary content. Whether Comcast uses it to fortify the appeal of Comcast's cable services, or for the rollout of its own streaming television platform, content is king.</p>
<p>3. Cash in on the next hit movieIt's been a few years since DreamWorks Animation has pushed out a blockbuster theatrical release that wasn't a sequel. The last time an original franchise broke $500 million in global ticket sales was 2013's The Croods. DreamWorks Animation is in a lull, and between shelving projects including B.O.O., and emphasizing sequels, it's easy to see why investors weren't getting excited.</p>
<p>That should change. Trolls hits theaters later this year, opening up plenty of consumer-product opportunities if it's a hit. It's harder to get a feel for subsequent slated originals, including Boss Bay and Larrikins, but it can only help that Comcast will have its theme parks, NBC, and other platforms to promote fresh properties. It can then cash in on these releases months after they hit theaters by playing them up through Comcast's flagship cable service, or any Netflix-challenging platform that it will lean on in the future.</p>
<p>DreamWorks Animation SKG looks good on Comcast's arms -- in so many different ways.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/04/28/3-reasons-why-comcast-buying-dreamworks-animation.aspx" type="external">3 Reasons Why Comcast Buying DreamWorks Animation Makes Sense Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFBreakerRick/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Rick Munarriz Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Netflix and Walt Disney. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Netflix and Walt Disney. The Motley Fool recommends DreamWorks Animation. 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 Reasons Why Comcast Buying DreamWorks Animation Makes Sense
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/04/28/3-reasons-why-comcast-buying-dreamworks-animation-makes-sense.html
|
2016-04-28
| 0right
|
3 Reasons Why Comcast Buying DreamWorks Animation Makes Sense
<p />
<p>Source: Universal Orlando.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>It didn't take long for the <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/04/27/comcast-is-trying-to-be-disney-again.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">buyout chatter Opens a New Window.</a> to morph into reality.Comcast is buying DreamWorks Animation SKG in a $3.8 billion deal.</p>
<p>We know what the market thinks of the deal. Comcast opened lower on the news, but eventually turned slightly higher. It's basically a non-event as far as the market is concerned.</p>
<p>It is an event. The all-cash deal takes out DreamWorks Animation SKG at a price level that it hasn't seen in six years; but that's not the point. DreamWorks Animation SKG will be better off in Comcast's grubby paws than on its own.</p>
<p>Let's go over a couple of the ways that it can be a game changer for Comcast.</p>
<p>1. Theme parks just got a liftComcast is a distant second to Disney in the realm of theme parks, but Universal Studios has been closing the gap in recent years. Comcast's NBCUniversal has been adding attractions at an impressive clip, but it often has to license character franchises to lean on established third-party properties.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Disney rarely has to go that route, and big-ticket purchases of Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm make its deal for Avatarlikely the last that it will sign to take a non-owned franchise into its theme parks for a long time.</p>
<p>Universal Studios already has a Shrek-themed 3D attraction in four of its parks, and its park in Singapore also hasMadagascar attractions. It's easy to see NBCUniversal building on that, especially now that it will own the properties outright.</p>
<p>It's easy to see a family friendly Kung Fu Panda dark ride, especially when Universal Studios Beijing opens in three years. If Disney's Avatar-themed flying banshee attraction is a hit at Disney World's Animal Kingdom next year, you can bet that Comcast will find a way to transform How to Train Your Dragon into a thrill-ride experience.</p>
<p>With a theme-park operator now owning DreamWorks Animation, don't be surprised if new releases revolve around themes that can be fleshed out into bar-raising rides and attractions.</p>
<p>2. Disrupting the disruptor in videoOne of the big early content deals that Netflix struck early in its push for original content was with DreamWorks Animation. The computer-animation studios would provide more than 300 hours of content for a dozen original shows between 2013 and 2018. The deal with Comcast isn't going to change that, and it's certainly interesting to see Netflix cutting checks to Comcast -- the company it has often taken to task for throttling its broadband customers.</p>
<p>However, in the bigger scheme of things, Comcast now has a direct source for kid-friendly content. It has plenty of partnerships in place with existing providers of family entertainment, but now it can build up its own vault of proprietary content. Whether Comcast uses it to fortify the appeal of Comcast's cable services, or for the rollout of its own streaming television platform, content is king.</p>
<p>3. Cash in on the next hit movieIt's been a few years since DreamWorks Animation has pushed out a blockbuster theatrical release that wasn't a sequel. The last time an original franchise broke $500 million in global ticket sales was 2013's The Croods. DreamWorks Animation is in a lull, and between shelving projects including B.O.O., and emphasizing sequels, it's easy to see why investors weren't getting excited.</p>
<p>That should change. Trolls hits theaters later this year, opening up plenty of consumer-product opportunities if it's a hit. It's harder to get a feel for subsequent slated originals, including Boss Bay and Larrikins, but it can only help that Comcast will have its theme parks, NBC, and other platforms to promote fresh properties. It can then cash in on these releases months after they hit theaters by playing them up through Comcast's flagship cable service, or any Netflix-challenging platform that it will lean on in the future.</p>
<p>DreamWorks Animation SKG looks good on Comcast's arms -- in so many different ways.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/04/28/3-reasons-why-comcast-buying-dreamworks-animation.aspx" type="external">3 Reasons Why Comcast Buying DreamWorks Animation Makes Sense Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFBreakerRick/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Rick Munarriz Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Netflix and Walt Disney. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Netflix and Walt Disney. The Motley Fool recommends DreamWorks Animation. 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>
| 5,156 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Rio Rancho city councilors have narrowly voted to deny wireless phone service provider AT&amp;T’s bid to erect a cell tower at Sabana Grande Park.</p>
<p>Councilors were considering an appeal of a June 25 Planning and Zoning decision to deny AT&amp;T a telecommunications permit to put the tower in the small park located in the Corrales Heights neighborhood.</p>
<p>They listened for more than two hours as AT&amp;T representatives made their case and about two dozen city residents spoke out – often heatedly – against the tower.</p>
<p>This image shows what a proposed cell tower in the Corrales Heights area would look like.</p>
<p>Residents claimed the 65-foot-tall wireless facility, which would be disguised as a clock tower, would destroy their scenic views, negatively impact home values, be a graffiti magnet and mostly benefit residents of Corrales.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Several residents of the area acknowledged they experienced dropped cellphone calls in their neighborhood but the perceived intrusiveness of the proposed tower trumped the inconvenience.</p>
<p>“Short-term gains don’t outweigh the long-term detriment of this project,” said Leslie Wegrzynek.</p>
<p>AT&amp;T representative Elizabeth Walker said the tower was needed to fill gaps in coverage. She said technical requirements mean towers must be within a specific geographic area. She said the company had looked at several alternative locations suggested by local residents but they were either too close to an existing AT&amp;T facility or not available for leasing.</p>
<p>In June, the Planning and Zoning Commission approved permits for AT&amp;T cell towers at Sugar Park and Rio Vista Park, but denied a permit for the Sabana Grande Park tower, city records show.</p>
<p>Recognizing concerns expressed at the Planning and Zoning meeting, Walker said, AT&amp;T reduced the proposed tower height from 70 feet to 65 feet and the width dimensions by 10 percent.</p>
<p>In the end, Councilors Chuck Wilkins, Mark Scott and Patty Thomas voted yes to uphold AT&amp;T’s appeal. Councilors Tim Crum, Tamara Gutierrez and Lonnie Clayton voted no. Mayor Tom Swisstack broke the tie, voting no.</p>
<p>“This was one of the more difficult decisions I’ve made on the council,” Crum said on Thursday. “I found it difficult to think that there wasn’t another suitable location.” Crum has represented the Corrales Heights neighborhood since 2010.</p>
<p>Wilkins said he understands residents’ concerns but believes AT&amp;T followed the city ordinance, which requires telecommunications companies to try to locate in industrial or commercially zoned areas or city property.</p>
<p>“By law, if we turn this down we’re going to see a lawsuit and we’re going to lose and maybe pay damages,” Wilkins said.</p>
<p>Scott was also concerned about a lawsuit that could end up burdening taxpayers.</p>
|
Rio Rancho denies new cell tower
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/259879/rio-rancho-denies-new-cell-tower.html
|
2013-09-08
| 2least
|
Rio Rancho denies new cell tower
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Rio Rancho city councilors have narrowly voted to deny wireless phone service provider AT&amp;T’s bid to erect a cell tower at Sabana Grande Park.</p>
<p>Councilors were considering an appeal of a June 25 Planning and Zoning decision to deny AT&amp;T a telecommunications permit to put the tower in the small park located in the Corrales Heights neighborhood.</p>
<p>They listened for more than two hours as AT&amp;T representatives made their case and about two dozen city residents spoke out – often heatedly – against the tower.</p>
<p>This image shows what a proposed cell tower in the Corrales Heights area would look like.</p>
<p>Residents claimed the 65-foot-tall wireless facility, which would be disguised as a clock tower, would destroy their scenic views, negatively impact home values, be a graffiti magnet and mostly benefit residents of Corrales.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Several residents of the area acknowledged they experienced dropped cellphone calls in their neighborhood but the perceived intrusiveness of the proposed tower trumped the inconvenience.</p>
<p>“Short-term gains don’t outweigh the long-term detriment of this project,” said Leslie Wegrzynek.</p>
<p>AT&amp;T representative Elizabeth Walker said the tower was needed to fill gaps in coverage. She said technical requirements mean towers must be within a specific geographic area. She said the company had looked at several alternative locations suggested by local residents but they were either too close to an existing AT&amp;T facility or not available for leasing.</p>
<p>In June, the Planning and Zoning Commission approved permits for AT&amp;T cell towers at Sugar Park and Rio Vista Park, but denied a permit for the Sabana Grande Park tower, city records show.</p>
<p>Recognizing concerns expressed at the Planning and Zoning meeting, Walker said, AT&amp;T reduced the proposed tower height from 70 feet to 65 feet and the width dimensions by 10 percent.</p>
<p>In the end, Councilors Chuck Wilkins, Mark Scott and Patty Thomas voted yes to uphold AT&amp;T’s appeal. Councilors Tim Crum, Tamara Gutierrez and Lonnie Clayton voted no. Mayor Tom Swisstack broke the tie, voting no.</p>
<p>“This was one of the more difficult decisions I’ve made on the council,” Crum said on Thursday. “I found it difficult to think that there wasn’t another suitable location.” Crum has represented the Corrales Heights neighborhood since 2010.</p>
<p>Wilkins said he understands residents’ concerns but believes AT&amp;T followed the city ordinance, which requires telecommunications companies to try to locate in industrial or commercially zoned areas or city property.</p>
<p>“By law, if we turn this down we’re going to see a lawsuit and we’re going to lose and maybe pay damages,” Wilkins said.</p>
<p>Scott was also concerned about a lawsuit that could end up burdening taxpayers.</p>
| 5,157 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>Workers take phone calls for Vermont's health-care exchange in Burlington last October. As the Affordable Care Act ramps up, scores of jobs will be created in many areas including nurse practitioners, physician assistants, human-resources staffers and IT professionals. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot)</p>
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - One thing's for sure when it comes to the impact of the Affordable Care Act: Health care and related industries are going to be on a hiring spree in the years to come to meet the demands of the law.</p>
<p>While critics say the law will cause companies to cut jobs or work hours so they will not be penalized for not offering health-care coverage - actions that are already under way, according to anecdotal reports - other observers say the law will create scores of jobs.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Health-care providers will need more nurse practitioners and physician assistants, and companies that are required to offer insurance to employees will need more human-resources staffers to keep track of their compliance. Experts also expect more jobs for computer programmers and other information technology professionals, customer-service representatives, insurance agents, and wellness and fitness coaches.</p>
<p>This shows a page from the <a href="http://HealthCare.gov" type="external">HealthCare.gov</a> website, used to sign up for ACA insurance. (The Associated Press)</p>
<p>Susan Mesa, president of the job-placement service <a href="http://AdvancedPractice.com" type="external">AdvancedPractice.com</a>, said the Affordable Care Act will only increase demand for nurse practitioners and physician assistants, who are already in demand because of a physician shortage and the growth of accountable care organizations, which are networks of doctors and hospitals that share responsibility for patient care to keep costs down.</p>
<p>"Nurse practitioners and physician assistants are attractive options because they can do 75 to 85 percent of the work a physician does at 55 to 65 percent of the cost," Mesa told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "Research has also shown that use of advanced practice practitioners can improve patient satisfaction and health-care delivery efficiency."</p>
<p>According to the Obama administration, about 3 million people have enrolled in private health-insurance plans by signing up on new state and federal websites since they were launched in October. The federal site, <a href="http://HealthCare.gov" type="external">HealthCare.gov</a>, handles sign-ups for 36 states. The remaining 14 states and the District of Columbia have their own sites.</p>
<p>"More insured people means an increase in the need for different types of health services, ranging from direct care to research and maintenance of medical records," Tony Lee, publisher of <a href="http://CareerCast.com" type="external">CareerCast.com</a>, said in releasing a recent study on the need for more health care workers.</p>
<p>Last fall the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies projected the health-care industry overall could add a total of 4.6 million jobs in the next decade, a 31 percent increase from the current level. The group estimated a third of overall hiring could be the result of changes due to health-care reform.</p>
<p>CareerCast says the health-care professions most in demand this year will be dental hygienists, occupational therapists, optometrists, physical therapists, chiropractors, speech pathologists, pharmacists, podiatrists, respiratory therapists and physician assistants.</p>
<p />
|
Igniting a hiring spree
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/346403/igniting-a-hiring-spree.html
| 2least
|
Igniting a hiring spree
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>Workers take phone calls for Vermont's health-care exchange in Burlington last October. As the Affordable Care Act ramps up, scores of jobs will be created in many areas including nurse practitioners, physician assistants, human-resources staffers and IT professionals. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot)</p>
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - One thing's for sure when it comes to the impact of the Affordable Care Act: Health care and related industries are going to be on a hiring spree in the years to come to meet the demands of the law.</p>
<p>While critics say the law will cause companies to cut jobs or work hours so they will not be penalized for not offering health-care coverage - actions that are already under way, according to anecdotal reports - other observers say the law will create scores of jobs.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Health-care providers will need more nurse practitioners and physician assistants, and companies that are required to offer insurance to employees will need more human-resources staffers to keep track of their compliance. Experts also expect more jobs for computer programmers and other information technology professionals, customer-service representatives, insurance agents, and wellness and fitness coaches.</p>
<p>This shows a page from the <a href="http://HealthCare.gov" type="external">HealthCare.gov</a> website, used to sign up for ACA insurance. (The Associated Press)</p>
<p>Susan Mesa, president of the job-placement service <a href="http://AdvancedPractice.com" type="external">AdvancedPractice.com</a>, said the Affordable Care Act will only increase demand for nurse practitioners and physician assistants, who are already in demand because of a physician shortage and the growth of accountable care organizations, which are networks of doctors and hospitals that share responsibility for patient care to keep costs down.</p>
<p>"Nurse practitioners and physician assistants are attractive options because they can do 75 to 85 percent of the work a physician does at 55 to 65 percent of the cost," Mesa told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "Research has also shown that use of advanced practice practitioners can improve patient satisfaction and health-care delivery efficiency."</p>
<p>According to the Obama administration, about 3 million people have enrolled in private health-insurance plans by signing up on new state and federal websites since they were launched in October. The federal site, <a href="http://HealthCare.gov" type="external">HealthCare.gov</a>, handles sign-ups for 36 states. The remaining 14 states and the District of Columbia have their own sites.</p>
<p>"More insured people means an increase in the need for different types of health services, ranging from direct care to research and maintenance of medical records," Tony Lee, publisher of <a href="http://CareerCast.com" type="external">CareerCast.com</a>, said in releasing a recent study on the need for more health care workers.</p>
<p>Last fall the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies projected the health-care industry overall could add a total of 4.6 million jobs in the next decade, a 31 percent increase from the current level. The group estimated a third of overall hiring could be the result of changes due to health-care reform.</p>
<p>CareerCast says the health-care professions most in demand this year will be dental hygienists, occupational therapists, optometrists, physical therapists, chiropractors, speech pathologists, pharmacists, podiatrists, respiratory therapists and physician assistants.</p>
<p />
| 5,158 |
|
<p />
<p>In January China launched a missile that destroyed a target satellite. This is really bad because they can now do that a lot (even to U.S. communications systems). They have also now created about 1600 pieces of dangerous flying space garbage.</p>
<p>It turns out we knew about this in advance and said nothing, did nothing, needing to give ourselves future cover for a mythological Star Wars system. Said Joseph Cirincione of the Center for American Progress, “This was absolutely preventable. The Chinese have been proposing a treaty to ban weapons in space for years. We have refused in order to pursue this fantasy of space-based anti-missile weapons.”</p>
<p>Weak in the head = weak on defense. Free slogan.</p>
<p />
|
Person of the Day: China Missile
| true |
https://motherjones.com/politics/2007/04/person-day-china-missile/
|
2007-04-24
| 4left
|
Person of the Day: China Missile
<p />
<p>In January China launched a missile that destroyed a target satellite. This is really bad because they can now do that a lot (even to U.S. communications systems). They have also now created about 1600 pieces of dangerous flying space garbage.</p>
<p>It turns out we knew about this in advance and said nothing, did nothing, needing to give ourselves future cover for a mythological Star Wars system. Said Joseph Cirincione of the Center for American Progress, “This was absolutely preventable. The Chinese have been proposing a treaty to ban weapons in space for years. We have refused in order to pursue this fantasy of space-based anti-missile weapons.”</p>
<p>Weak in the head = weak on defense. Free slogan.</p>
<p />
| 5,159 |
<p>Taxpayers’ bailout money for AIG bonuses has rightfully provoked a massive backlash against AIG, Wall Street, President Barack Obama and his economic advisers, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Larry Summers. The U.S. public now owns 80 percent of AIG. The outrage is bipartisan: Iowa Republican Sen. Charles Grassley even suggested that AIG executives “resign or go commit suicide.” New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo just released details on the bonuses, exposing AIG’s ridiculous claim that they are “retention bonuses” aimed at keeping key employees, since 11 of those who received bonuses of $1 million or more are no longer employed by AIG.</p>
<p>These AIG millionaires may need to return their unearned millions (Congress may pass a tax law aimed just at them, taxing their bonuses at 100 percent). But will the outrage help those who have been hardest hit by the economic meltdown? Will the hundreds of millions of dollars in various stimulus packages and bailouts find its way to regular people who are trying to get by, or will it go only to corporations deemed “too big to fail,” leaving behind millions of people who are, apparently, small enough to fail?</p>
<p>The Center for Social Inclusion has just issued a report on the economic meltdown and how best to solve the problem. It links race to the lack of opportunity and to the prevalence of the notorious subprime mortgages that triggered the economic crisis.</p>
<p>CSI Executive Director Maya Wiley told me, “We have to stimulate equality in order to stimulate the economy.” Access to education, transportation, housing and a clean environment give people a firm footing to respond to crisis and to succeed. Noting that “shovel-ready” stimulus jobs in construction will disproportionately favor those who are already in that industry, predominantly white males, Wiley is pushing for “community benefits agreements for construction jobs [that] ensure when the government has construction contracts, low-income people, people of color, women, are going to have their fair share of those jobs.” Since people of color are more likely to live far from available jobs and are less likely to have cars, Wiley says, “we must ensure that the way transportation dollars get spent go to transit … to connect people who need jobs to the places where there are jobs.”</p>
<p />
<p>The group United for a Fair Economy also highlights the racial wealth divide, noting that “24 percent of blacks and 21 percent of Latinos are in poverty, versus 8 percent of whites. In the corporate world, we are seeing the highest executive pay and the biggest bailouts in history. CEO pay is 344 times that of the average worker.”</p>
<p>Prevailing wisdom posits that freeing up credit will save the economy, thus these huge banks need hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer bailouts. But the crisis was initially caused by defaults on subprime mortgages. One option at the outset would have been to support the distressed homeowners, helping them avoid foreclosure. Wiley points out that “35 percent of subprime mortgage holders were actually eligible for prime-rate loans. … Most of those were people of color … communities of color did not have fair access to credit.”</p>
<p>The banks and the mortgage lenders pushed bad loans on poor and minority borrowers. The NAACP has just filed lawsuits against Wells Fargo and HSBC, alleging “systematic, institutionalized racism in subprime home mortgage lending.”</p>
<p>The banks bundled the bad loans into securities and sold them, then created derivatives based on these securities that are impossible to understand, let alone value. AIG insured the investment banks against potential losses from these complex derivatives. The U.S. Treasury bailed out the banks along with AIG. AIG then paid out tens of billions of its bailout money to the very large banks that already received billions in bailout funds: Bank of America and Goldman Sachs. Yet, despite the hundreds of billions being siphoned off by these megabanks, we are told that the credit market is still frozen. Many European banks also received funds this way, including Swiss bank UBS, which offers secret bank accounts that allow the richest Americans to avoid taxes. In effect, beleaguered U.S. taxpayers are bailing out wealthy U.S. tax dodgers.</p>
<p>Obama has surrounded himself with financial advisers who are too cozy with Wall Street, like Summers and Geithner. It’s time to direct the stimulus to the people who need it, to those whose tax dollars are funding it.</p>
<p>Denis Moynihan contributed research to this column.</p>
<p>Amy Goodman is the host of “Democracy Now!,” a daily international TV/radio news hour airing on more than 700 stations in North America. She was awarded the 2008 Right Livelihood Award, dubbed the “Alternative Nobel” prize, and received the award in the Swedish Parliament in December.</p>
<p>© 2009 Amy Goodman</p>
<p>Distributed by King Features Syndicate</p>
|
Those Hit Hardest Get No Bailout
| true |
https://truthdig.com/articles/those-hit-hardest-get-no-bailout/
|
2009-03-18
| 4left
|
Those Hit Hardest Get No Bailout
<p>Taxpayers’ bailout money for AIG bonuses has rightfully provoked a massive backlash against AIG, Wall Street, President Barack Obama and his economic advisers, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Larry Summers. The U.S. public now owns 80 percent of AIG. The outrage is bipartisan: Iowa Republican Sen. Charles Grassley even suggested that AIG executives “resign or go commit suicide.” New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo just released details on the bonuses, exposing AIG’s ridiculous claim that they are “retention bonuses” aimed at keeping key employees, since 11 of those who received bonuses of $1 million or more are no longer employed by AIG.</p>
<p>These AIG millionaires may need to return their unearned millions (Congress may pass a tax law aimed just at them, taxing their bonuses at 100 percent). But will the outrage help those who have been hardest hit by the economic meltdown? Will the hundreds of millions of dollars in various stimulus packages and bailouts find its way to regular people who are trying to get by, or will it go only to corporations deemed “too big to fail,” leaving behind millions of people who are, apparently, small enough to fail?</p>
<p>The Center for Social Inclusion has just issued a report on the economic meltdown and how best to solve the problem. It links race to the lack of opportunity and to the prevalence of the notorious subprime mortgages that triggered the economic crisis.</p>
<p>CSI Executive Director Maya Wiley told me, “We have to stimulate equality in order to stimulate the economy.” Access to education, transportation, housing and a clean environment give people a firm footing to respond to crisis and to succeed. Noting that “shovel-ready” stimulus jobs in construction will disproportionately favor those who are already in that industry, predominantly white males, Wiley is pushing for “community benefits agreements for construction jobs [that] ensure when the government has construction contracts, low-income people, people of color, women, are going to have their fair share of those jobs.” Since people of color are more likely to live far from available jobs and are less likely to have cars, Wiley says, “we must ensure that the way transportation dollars get spent go to transit … to connect people who need jobs to the places where there are jobs.”</p>
<p />
<p>The group United for a Fair Economy also highlights the racial wealth divide, noting that “24 percent of blacks and 21 percent of Latinos are in poverty, versus 8 percent of whites. In the corporate world, we are seeing the highest executive pay and the biggest bailouts in history. CEO pay is 344 times that of the average worker.”</p>
<p>Prevailing wisdom posits that freeing up credit will save the economy, thus these huge banks need hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer bailouts. But the crisis was initially caused by defaults on subprime mortgages. One option at the outset would have been to support the distressed homeowners, helping them avoid foreclosure. Wiley points out that “35 percent of subprime mortgage holders were actually eligible for prime-rate loans. … Most of those were people of color … communities of color did not have fair access to credit.”</p>
<p>The banks and the mortgage lenders pushed bad loans on poor and minority borrowers. The NAACP has just filed lawsuits against Wells Fargo and HSBC, alleging “systematic, institutionalized racism in subprime home mortgage lending.”</p>
<p>The banks bundled the bad loans into securities and sold them, then created derivatives based on these securities that are impossible to understand, let alone value. AIG insured the investment banks against potential losses from these complex derivatives. The U.S. Treasury bailed out the banks along with AIG. AIG then paid out tens of billions of its bailout money to the very large banks that already received billions in bailout funds: Bank of America and Goldman Sachs. Yet, despite the hundreds of billions being siphoned off by these megabanks, we are told that the credit market is still frozen. Many European banks also received funds this way, including Swiss bank UBS, which offers secret bank accounts that allow the richest Americans to avoid taxes. In effect, beleaguered U.S. taxpayers are bailing out wealthy U.S. tax dodgers.</p>
<p>Obama has surrounded himself with financial advisers who are too cozy with Wall Street, like Summers and Geithner. It’s time to direct the stimulus to the people who need it, to those whose tax dollars are funding it.</p>
<p>Denis Moynihan contributed research to this column.</p>
<p>Amy Goodman is the host of “Democracy Now!,” a daily international TV/radio news hour airing on more than 700 stations in North America. She was awarded the 2008 Right Livelihood Award, dubbed the “Alternative Nobel” prize, and received the award in the Swedish Parliament in December.</p>
<p>© 2009 Amy Goodman</p>
<p>Distributed by King Features Syndicate</p>
| 5,160 |
<p />
<p>Investors have poured money into yieldcos over the past several years to get their hands on an income stream generated by renewable power. However, doing so has been a losing proposition, as leading yieldcos8point3 Energy Partners (NASDAQ: CAFD), TerraForm Power (NASDAQ: TERP), NRG Energy Partners (NYSE: NYLD), and NextEra Energy Partners (NYSE: NEP) are down sharply over the past few years.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>However, one renewable income generator that hasn't lost investors a boatload of money is Brookfield Renewable Partners (NYSE: BEP), which has delivered an 8% annualized total return over the past five years. Meanwhile, with rock-solid financials and a clearly visible growth profile, Brookfield Renewable expects to generate total returns in the 12% to 15% range over the long term. These factors are just some of the reasons that, in my opinion, it's a better investment option than a yieldco.</p>
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Brookfield Renewable Partners is one of the largest independent renewable-power generators in the world. It controls 260 facilities in North America, South America, and Europe. However, what sets it apart from most yieldcos is that 88% of the electricity it generates comes from hydroelectric assets. But it also has a growing wind business. Further, it's in the process of acquiring a solar-power platform after agreeing to invest $500 million in a transaction along with parent company Brookfield Asset Management (NYSE: BAM) to buy TerraForm Global (NASDAQ: GLBL) and a 51% controlling stake in TerraForm Power.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>That pending deal aside, Brookfield Renewable's bread-and-butter business is hydropower. That's by design, because it loves hydropower's distinguishing characteristics. For example, these assets generate a high cash margin of around 60% to 70%, are carbon-free with storage capabilities, are low-cost and don't rely on government subsidies, and are truly renewable because they have a perpetual life while wind and solar assets typically last around 25 years. As a result, 98% of the cash flow generated by hydro is a return on capital as opposed to a returnofcapital. In the case of wind and solar, the split is 65%/35%.</p>
<p>The focus on hydropower isn't the only thing that sets Brookfield Renewable Partners apart from yieldcos. There are several other differentiating factors:</p>
<p>Image source: Brookfield Renewable Partners investor presentation.</p>
<p>One of the most important differences is that the company uses less leverage than the average yieldco, so it has a solid investment-grade credit rating of BBB, which gives it open access to the capital markets to finance acquisitions. Meanwhile, too much leverage has gotten yieldcos into trouble in recent years. TerraForm Power, for example, has junk-rated credit, which limited its access to the capital markets. That's one reason it has decided to link up with Brookfield, which agreed to provide it with $500 million in acquisition capital. Meanwhile, NRG Yield also has junk-rated credit, while both NextEra Energy Partners and 8point3 Energy Partners <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/03/08/is-8point3-energy-partners-a-house-of-cards-like-s.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">have high leverage ratios Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Another significant difference between Brookfield Renewable and its peers is that the company retains about 30% of its cash flow, which it reinvests into growth projects. Currently, the company has several wind and hydro projects in its pipeline that should steadily grow cash flow over the next few years as they enter service. Contrast this with most yieldcos, which pay out 80% to 90% of their cash flow and therefore must rely on outside capital to finance drop-down acquisitions from their parent company. If that moneysource dries up, which was the case for TerraForm Power, it becomes impossible to grow.</p>
<p>Further, drop-down transactions often cost more than internally developed projects because the buyer pays a multiple of the cash flow generated by the asset as opposed to the actual construction costs. For example, NRG Yield's parent bought 1,500 MW of solar and wind projects from TerraForm Power's bankrupt parent late last year for $183 million. It then flipped 265 MW of those assets plus a 16% stake in an $800 million solar plant to NRG Yield for $594 million. Contrast this approach with Brookfield Renewable, which grows by developing proprietary projects and targeting distressed companies such as TerraForm. That focus on value-driven growth is the reason the company believes it can deliver double-digit total returns for investors over the long term. Yieldcos, on the other hand, offer high current yields that have questionable long-term stability because of their weaker financials.</p>
<p>Yieldcos promise investors a growing cash flow stream generated by renewable power. However, they haven't yet lived up to that hype, in part because of their more aggressive financing approach and focus on acquisitions to drive growth. Brookfield Renewable Partners, on the other hand, has generated not only consistently growing income but also higher total returns, all with less risk. That's why, in my opinion, investors should forget about investing in a yieldco and buy Brookfield Renewable instead.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Brookfield Renewable Energy PartnersWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=fc752b63-0568-4664-b17b-5b11e4ecd7bb&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
<p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=fc752b63-0568-4664-b17b-5b11e4ecd7bb&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p>
<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of April 3, 2017</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFmd19/info.aspx" type="external">Matt DiLallo Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Brookfield Asset Management and Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
|
Forget Solar Yieldcos: This Is a Better Way to Generate a Renewable Income Stream
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/04/17/forget-solar-yieldcos-this-is-better-way-to-generate-renewable-income-stream.html
|
2017-04-17
| 0right
|
Forget Solar Yieldcos: This Is a Better Way to Generate a Renewable Income Stream
<p />
<p>Investors have poured money into yieldcos over the past several years to get their hands on an income stream generated by renewable power. However, doing so has been a losing proposition, as leading yieldcos8point3 Energy Partners (NASDAQ: CAFD), TerraForm Power (NASDAQ: TERP), NRG Energy Partners (NYSE: NYLD), and NextEra Energy Partners (NYSE: NEP) are down sharply over the past few years.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>However, one renewable income generator that hasn't lost investors a boatload of money is Brookfield Renewable Partners (NYSE: BEP), which has delivered an 8% annualized total return over the past five years. Meanwhile, with rock-solid financials and a clearly visible growth profile, Brookfield Renewable expects to generate total returns in the 12% to 15% range over the long term. These factors are just some of the reasons that, in my opinion, it's a better investment option than a yieldco.</p>
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Brookfield Renewable Partners is one of the largest independent renewable-power generators in the world. It controls 260 facilities in North America, South America, and Europe. However, what sets it apart from most yieldcos is that 88% of the electricity it generates comes from hydroelectric assets. But it also has a growing wind business. Further, it's in the process of acquiring a solar-power platform after agreeing to invest $500 million in a transaction along with parent company Brookfield Asset Management (NYSE: BAM) to buy TerraForm Global (NASDAQ: GLBL) and a 51% controlling stake in TerraForm Power.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>That pending deal aside, Brookfield Renewable's bread-and-butter business is hydropower. That's by design, because it loves hydropower's distinguishing characteristics. For example, these assets generate a high cash margin of around 60% to 70%, are carbon-free with storage capabilities, are low-cost and don't rely on government subsidies, and are truly renewable because they have a perpetual life while wind and solar assets typically last around 25 years. As a result, 98% of the cash flow generated by hydro is a return on capital as opposed to a returnofcapital. In the case of wind and solar, the split is 65%/35%.</p>
<p>The focus on hydropower isn't the only thing that sets Brookfield Renewable Partners apart from yieldcos. There are several other differentiating factors:</p>
<p>Image source: Brookfield Renewable Partners investor presentation.</p>
<p>One of the most important differences is that the company uses less leverage than the average yieldco, so it has a solid investment-grade credit rating of BBB, which gives it open access to the capital markets to finance acquisitions. Meanwhile, too much leverage has gotten yieldcos into trouble in recent years. TerraForm Power, for example, has junk-rated credit, which limited its access to the capital markets. That's one reason it has decided to link up with Brookfield, which agreed to provide it with $500 million in acquisition capital. Meanwhile, NRG Yield also has junk-rated credit, while both NextEra Energy Partners and 8point3 Energy Partners <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/03/08/is-8point3-energy-partners-a-house-of-cards-like-s.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">have high leverage ratios Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Another significant difference between Brookfield Renewable and its peers is that the company retains about 30% of its cash flow, which it reinvests into growth projects. Currently, the company has several wind and hydro projects in its pipeline that should steadily grow cash flow over the next few years as they enter service. Contrast this with most yieldcos, which pay out 80% to 90% of their cash flow and therefore must rely on outside capital to finance drop-down acquisitions from their parent company. If that moneysource dries up, which was the case for TerraForm Power, it becomes impossible to grow.</p>
<p>Further, drop-down transactions often cost more than internally developed projects because the buyer pays a multiple of the cash flow generated by the asset as opposed to the actual construction costs. For example, NRG Yield's parent bought 1,500 MW of solar and wind projects from TerraForm Power's bankrupt parent late last year for $183 million. It then flipped 265 MW of those assets plus a 16% stake in an $800 million solar plant to NRG Yield for $594 million. Contrast this approach with Brookfield Renewable, which grows by developing proprietary projects and targeting distressed companies such as TerraForm. That focus on value-driven growth is the reason the company believes it can deliver double-digit total returns for investors over the long term. Yieldcos, on the other hand, offer high current yields that have questionable long-term stability because of their weaker financials.</p>
<p>Yieldcos promise investors a growing cash flow stream generated by renewable power. However, they haven't yet lived up to that hype, in part because of their more aggressive financing approach and focus on acquisitions to drive growth. Brookfield Renewable Partners, on the other hand, has generated not only consistently growing income but also higher total returns, all with less risk. That's why, in my opinion, investors should forget about investing in a yieldco and buy Brookfield Renewable instead.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Brookfield Renewable Energy PartnersWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=fc752b63-0568-4664-b17b-5b11e4ecd7bb&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
<p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=fc752b63-0568-4664-b17b-5b11e4ecd7bb&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p>
<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of April 3, 2017</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFmd19/info.aspx" type="external">Matt DiLallo Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Brookfield Asset Management and Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
| 5,161 |
<p />
<p>PHILIPPINESABS-CBNBy CHER JIMENEZTODAY Reporter</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>The speculations started on Monday, when two competing television stations both carried brief items in their expanded reportage on Novaliches Bishop Teodoro Bacani Jr., saying he could be a victim of a power play inside the Catholic Church.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>Bacani, so the reports go, is -- or was -- a frontrunner in the search for the successor of Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin when he retires in August. The theory was that Bacani was the victim of intrigue.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>Since then, the speculation has not died down, fueled even by a texting campaign started Wednesday afternoon “endorsing” Msgr. Socrates Villegas, the youngest supposed candidate on the shortlist, and known to be the closest to Sin.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>The message goes: “Bishop Soc Villegas is the bishop who is not involved in any scandal. He is the most qualified to be the next archbishop of manila. please pass.”</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>The texting was apparently either done by genuine Villegas supporters or, on the contrary, parties who may have wanted to make it appear Villegas was behind any “intrigue” against Bacani.</p>
|
Race for Sin successor is on
| false |
https://poynter.org/news/race-sin-successor
|
2003-06-11
| 2least
|
Race for Sin successor is on
<p />
<p>PHILIPPINESABS-CBNBy CHER JIMENEZTODAY Reporter</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>The speculations started on Monday, when two competing television stations both carried brief items in their expanded reportage on Novaliches Bishop Teodoro Bacani Jr., saying he could be a victim of a power play inside the Catholic Church.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>Bacani, so the reports go, is -- or was -- a frontrunner in the search for the successor of Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin when he retires in August. The theory was that Bacani was the victim of intrigue.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>Since then, the speculation has not died down, fueled even by a texting campaign started Wednesday afternoon “endorsing” Msgr. Socrates Villegas, the youngest supposed candidate on the shortlist, and known to be the closest to Sin.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>The message goes: “Bishop Soc Villegas is the bishop who is not involved in any scandal. He is the most qualified to be the next archbishop of manila. please pass.”</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>The texting was apparently either done by genuine Villegas supporters or, on the contrary, parties who may have wanted to make it appear Villegas was behind any “intrigue” against Bacani.</p>
| 5,162 |
<p>Is there any study - not sponsored by the industry - that claims fracking is safe? This is a crucial question in Britain, where fossil fuel companies are lobbying forcefully to introduce unconventional gas production in the country.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Occupy.com reported</a>&#160;last year that the fracking industry is behind the U.K. government's supposedly scientific case to move ahead with hydraulic fracturing.</p>
<p>A new report, " <a href="http://www.talkfracking.org/frackademics/frackademics-report/" type="external">Frackademics</a>," asserts in even more certain terms how the British government's rationale to frack Britain has been based on arguments that in no way deserve to be called science. Written by Paul Mobbs, the report published last week by Talk Fracking was launched alongside a number of actions at universities coinciding with&#160; <a href="https://twitter.com/RealMediaGB" type="external">Real Media</a>&#160;campaign's week of action against billionaire control of news and information.</p>
<p>Mobbs himself was purposefully arrested trying to climb into Downing Street to arrest the cabinet - a strategy by which he ensured his evidence could be presented in a court of law.</p>
<p>Frackademics</p>
<p>Talk Fracking's report categorically explains how academic independence has been lost to corporate capture. It starts by detailing the way government reforms to education have enabled corporate interests to determine the direction of what universities research - since academic institutions are increasingly reliant on funding from Big Oil and other corporations.</p>
<p>Big Oil funding means universities are pumping time and resources into new means to find fossil fuels, something Mobbs suggests is ludicrous since we must leave most of the known resources in the ground to prevent catastrophic climate change.</p>
<p>In a series of case studies, the report reveals the way the fracking industry has funded all four studies that make up the British government's case to frack. Mobbs also invalidates the Mackey-Stone report, which suggested that fracking has a lower carbon footprint than other fossil fuels.</p>
<p>He notes how this piece of pro-fracking propaganda was used as a deflection from the science, just at a time when the U.K. anti-fracking movement was starting to build through the initial phases of protests at Balcombe, in southern England.</p>
<p>The report moves on to look at the Science Media Centre, whose purpose is to ghost write scientific information which many journalists use in their articles, taken as if it's scientific fact. Mobbs details how, in reality, the scientists quoted are in the pay of industry.</p>
<p>The report moves on to a Guardian letter, signed by 50 scientists, which calls on the government to get on with fracking. The "academics" are linked to the fracking industry in a flow diagram - showing us the direct pay each receives from the industry, and how the funding flows come from each fracking company via research councils before reaching the academics.</p>
<p>"The Centre is a scientific fraud. In reality, what this letter represents is not a reasoned statement from fifty academics - it is a public relations smokescreen," Mobbs writes.</p>
<p>The Real Media Anti-Daily Mail Week</p>
<p>Another side to the fracking industry's PR campaign is the monopoly that billionaires have over Britain's media. Currently, five billionaires own an estimated 70% to 80% of all U.K. media. The direct influence of this can be seen in the tabloid newspaper The Sun, which&#160; <a href="http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/politics/5306261/fracking-save-lives-tackle-global-warming.html" type="external">ran a petition entitled</a>, "Get fracking to save lives and tackle global warming." Rupert Murdoch, the owner of the paper, has&#160; <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/09/06/312039/rupert-murdoch-and-dick-cheney-back-an-oil-shale-company-with-faulty-wells-were-shocked/" type="external">investments in the fracking industry</a>.</p>
<p>The lead slogan of Real Media's&#160; <a href="https://dailywailonline.com/" type="external">"Anti-Daily Mail week" campaign</a>&#160;asserts that "billionaires control our democracy," attacking the tabloid paper owned by another billionaire, Lord Rothermere.</p>
<p>Each day of Anti-Daily Mail week focuses on a different theme. After starting with media billionaires, the campaign moves on to climate denial, austerity, privatization and the war machine, looking at ways all are promoted or ignored in the corporate owned press. A central message is that the billionaire media tycoons have gotten to where they are by living off the system of injustice they have perpetuated - using ownership of the media to control what news is reported, what is distorted and what goes untold so as to ensure that no critical voices threaten the economic and political status quo.</p>
<p>The Real Media campaign printed thousands of fake Daily Mails, which were given out for free. It created a WailOnline with positive stories of hope rather than fear. It also connected with Debt Resistance UK, which held a&#160; <a href="http://www.redpepper.org.uk/reporting-violence-at-protests-hides-everyday-violence-by-austerity/" type="external">protest against austerity outside Goldman Sachs</a>.</p>
<p>This coincided with budget day and last week's Blockupy protests against the European Central Bank. Looking forward, British media campaigns will continue next week with Occupy Rupert Murdoch - a week of action to be held at the media mogul's London Headquarters, which starts with&#160; <a href="http://www.redpepper.org.uk/reporting-violence-at-protests-hides-everyday-violence-by-austerity/" type="external">issuing a warrant for Murdoch's arrest</a>.</p>
<p>In early April, the Real Media campaign will launch an aggregating website to provide a space for people to access more critical independent journalism. Imagine: a world where the 1% doesn't have a monopoly over science and news, but where we can instead think for ourselves.</p>
<p />
|
Industry-Paid "Science" Exposed In New U.K. Fracking Report
| true |
http://occupy.com/article/industry-paid-science-exposed-new-uk-fracking-report
| 4left
|
Industry-Paid "Science" Exposed In New U.K. Fracking Report
<p>Is there any study - not sponsored by the industry - that claims fracking is safe? This is a crucial question in Britain, where fossil fuel companies are lobbying forcefully to introduce unconventional gas production in the country.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Occupy.com reported</a>&#160;last year that the fracking industry is behind the U.K. government's supposedly scientific case to move ahead with hydraulic fracturing.</p>
<p>A new report, " <a href="http://www.talkfracking.org/frackademics/frackademics-report/" type="external">Frackademics</a>," asserts in even more certain terms how the British government's rationale to frack Britain has been based on arguments that in no way deserve to be called science. Written by Paul Mobbs, the report published last week by Talk Fracking was launched alongside a number of actions at universities coinciding with&#160; <a href="https://twitter.com/RealMediaGB" type="external">Real Media</a>&#160;campaign's week of action against billionaire control of news and information.</p>
<p>Mobbs himself was purposefully arrested trying to climb into Downing Street to arrest the cabinet - a strategy by which he ensured his evidence could be presented in a court of law.</p>
<p>Frackademics</p>
<p>Talk Fracking's report categorically explains how academic independence has been lost to corporate capture. It starts by detailing the way government reforms to education have enabled corporate interests to determine the direction of what universities research - since academic institutions are increasingly reliant on funding from Big Oil and other corporations.</p>
<p>Big Oil funding means universities are pumping time and resources into new means to find fossil fuels, something Mobbs suggests is ludicrous since we must leave most of the known resources in the ground to prevent catastrophic climate change.</p>
<p>In a series of case studies, the report reveals the way the fracking industry has funded all four studies that make up the British government's case to frack. Mobbs also invalidates the Mackey-Stone report, which suggested that fracking has a lower carbon footprint than other fossil fuels.</p>
<p>He notes how this piece of pro-fracking propaganda was used as a deflection from the science, just at a time when the U.K. anti-fracking movement was starting to build through the initial phases of protests at Balcombe, in southern England.</p>
<p>The report moves on to look at the Science Media Centre, whose purpose is to ghost write scientific information which many journalists use in their articles, taken as if it's scientific fact. Mobbs details how, in reality, the scientists quoted are in the pay of industry.</p>
<p>The report moves on to a Guardian letter, signed by 50 scientists, which calls on the government to get on with fracking. The "academics" are linked to the fracking industry in a flow diagram - showing us the direct pay each receives from the industry, and how the funding flows come from each fracking company via research councils before reaching the academics.</p>
<p>"The Centre is a scientific fraud. In reality, what this letter represents is not a reasoned statement from fifty academics - it is a public relations smokescreen," Mobbs writes.</p>
<p>The Real Media Anti-Daily Mail Week</p>
<p>Another side to the fracking industry's PR campaign is the monopoly that billionaires have over Britain's media. Currently, five billionaires own an estimated 70% to 80% of all U.K. media. The direct influence of this can be seen in the tabloid newspaper The Sun, which&#160; <a href="http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/politics/5306261/fracking-save-lives-tackle-global-warming.html" type="external">ran a petition entitled</a>, "Get fracking to save lives and tackle global warming." Rupert Murdoch, the owner of the paper, has&#160; <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/09/06/312039/rupert-murdoch-and-dick-cheney-back-an-oil-shale-company-with-faulty-wells-were-shocked/" type="external">investments in the fracking industry</a>.</p>
<p>The lead slogan of Real Media's&#160; <a href="https://dailywailonline.com/" type="external">"Anti-Daily Mail week" campaign</a>&#160;asserts that "billionaires control our democracy," attacking the tabloid paper owned by another billionaire, Lord Rothermere.</p>
<p>Each day of Anti-Daily Mail week focuses on a different theme. After starting with media billionaires, the campaign moves on to climate denial, austerity, privatization and the war machine, looking at ways all are promoted or ignored in the corporate owned press. A central message is that the billionaire media tycoons have gotten to where they are by living off the system of injustice they have perpetuated - using ownership of the media to control what news is reported, what is distorted and what goes untold so as to ensure that no critical voices threaten the economic and political status quo.</p>
<p>The Real Media campaign printed thousands of fake Daily Mails, which were given out for free. It created a WailOnline with positive stories of hope rather than fear. It also connected with Debt Resistance UK, which held a&#160; <a href="http://www.redpepper.org.uk/reporting-violence-at-protests-hides-everyday-violence-by-austerity/" type="external">protest against austerity outside Goldman Sachs</a>.</p>
<p>This coincided with budget day and last week's Blockupy protests against the European Central Bank. Looking forward, British media campaigns will continue next week with Occupy Rupert Murdoch - a week of action to be held at the media mogul's London Headquarters, which starts with&#160; <a href="http://www.redpepper.org.uk/reporting-violence-at-protests-hides-everyday-violence-by-austerity/" type="external">issuing a warrant for Murdoch's arrest</a>.</p>
<p>In early April, the Real Media campaign will launch an aggregating website to provide a space for people to access more critical independent journalism. Imagine: a world where the 1% doesn't have a monopoly over science and news, but where we can instead think for ourselves.</p>
<p />
| 5,163 |
|
<p />
<p>WASHINGTON D.C. — <a href="http://openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=3670" type="external">These are completely unreliable, but fun to look at</a>.</p>
<p>They show a huge night for Obama in the making. But again, I caution, they are completely unreliable. The only thing we do know right now is that Georgia, the first state to report, <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23006750/" type="external">has been called for Obama</a>.</p>
<p>Black voters were 52 percent of voters in Georgia; they voted 86 percent for Obama. Among white voters, Obama took 43 percent, much much much better than the white vote he recieved in South Carolina and Florida.</p>
<p>Josh Harkinson, <a href="/mojoblog/archives/2008/02/7113_live_blog_from.html" type="external">sitting in Obama’s Norcal HQ</a>, writes to add:</p>
<p>News just hit Obama HQ in San Jose, where I’m live blogging. “Take that enthusiasm and have it in California!” someone yells. Not exactly Obama-esque speechifying, but for this crowd, it will do.</p>
<p>Oh, and PS — Exit polls show the economy as the most important issue for the plurality of voters.</p>
<p />
|
Early Exit Polling Now Available; Georgia for Obama
| true |
https://motherjones.com/politics/2008/02/early-exit-polling-now-available-georgia-obama/
|
2008-02-05
| 4left
|
Early Exit Polling Now Available; Georgia for Obama
<p />
<p>WASHINGTON D.C. — <a href="http://openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=3670" type="external">These are completely unreliable, but fun to look at</a>.</p>
<p>They show a huge night for Obama in the making. But again, I caution, they are completely unreliable. The only thing we do know right now is that Georgia, the first state to report, <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23006750/" type="external">has been called for Obama</a>.</p>
<p>Black voters were 52 percent of voters in Georgia; they voted 86 percent for Obama. Among white voters, Obama took 43 percent, much much much better than the white vote he recieved in South Carolina and Florida.</p>
<p>Josh Harkinson, <a href="/mojoblog/archives/2008/02/7113_live_blog_from.html" type="external">sitting in Obama’s Norcal HQ</a>, writes to add:</p>
<p>News just hit Obama HQ in San Jose, where I’m live blogging. “Take that enthusiasm and have it in California!” someone yells. Not exactly Obama-esque speechifying, but for this crowd, it will do.</p>
<p>Oh, and PS — Exit polls show the economy as the most important issue for the plurality of voters.</p>
<p />
| 5,164 |
<p>By Sarah Burris / AlterNetThis piece first appeared at <a href="http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/whats-your-threat-score" type="external">AlterNet</a>.</p>
<p>Police have found a new way to legally incorporate&#160;surveillance and profiling into everyday life. Just when you thought we were making progress raising awareness surrounding police brutality, we have something new to contend with. The Police Threat Score isn’t calculated by a racist police officer or&#160;a barrel-rolling cop who thinks he’s on a TV drama; it’s a computer algorithm that steals your data and calculates your likelihood of risk and threat for the fuzz.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.intrado.com/beware" type="external">Beware</a>&#160;is the new stats-bank that helps officers analyze “billions of data points, including arrest reports, property records, commercial databases, deep Web searches and…social-media postings” to ultimately come up with a score that indicates a person’s potential for violence, according to a Washington Post&#160; <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/the-new-way-police-are-surveilling-you-calculating-your-threat-score/2016/01/10/e42bccac-8e15-11e5-baf4-bdf37355da0c_story.html" type="external">story</a>.&#160;No word yet on whether this meta data includes photos and facial recognition software. For example would an ordinary person, yet to commit a crime, be flagged when seen wearing a hoodie in a gated Florida community?</p>
<p>The company tries to paint itself as a savior to first responders, claiming they want to help them “understand the nature of the environment they may encounter during the window of a 911 event.” Think of it like someone pulling your credit score when you apply for a job. Except, in this instance you never applied for the job and they’re pulling your credit score anyway because they knew you might apply. It’s that level of creepiness.</p>
<p />
<p>Remember the 2002 Tom Cruise movie&#160;Minority Report? It’s set in 2054, a futuristic world where the “pre-crime” unit arrests people based on a group of psychics who can see crimes before they happen. Only, it’s 2016 and we’re not using psychics, we’re using computers that mine data. According to the Post piece, law enforcement in Oregon are under federal investigation for using&#160;software to monitor Black Lives Matter hashtags after uprisings in Baltimore and Ferguson. How is this new software any different? In fact, this is the same kind of technology the NSA has been using since 9/11 to monitor online activities of suspected terrorists—they’re just bringing it down to the local level.</p>
<p>According to FatalEncounters.org, a site that tracks deaths by cop, there were only 14 days in 2015 in which a law enforcement officer did not kill someone. So, leaving&#160;judgment&#160;up to the individual hasn’t been all that effective in policing. But is letting a machine do it any better? Using these factors to calculate a color-coded threat level doesn’t seem entirely&#160;practical. Suppose a person doesn’t use social media or own a house but was once arrested when he was 17 for possession of marijuana. The absence of data might lend itself to a high threat level. The same can be said for online meta data that might filter in extracurricular interests. Could a person who is interested in kinky activity in the bedroom be tagged as having a tendency toward violence?</p>
<p>The Fresno, Calif. police department is taking on the daunting task of being the first to test the software in the field. Understandably, the city council and citizens voiced their skepticism at a meeting. “One council member referred to a local media report saying that a woman’s threat level was elevated because she was tweeting about a card game titled ‘Rage,’ which could be a keyword in Beware’s assessment of social media,” the Post reported.</p>
<p>While you might now be rethinking playing that Mafia game on Facebook, it isn’t just your personal name that can raise a flag. Fresno&#160;Councilman Clinton Olivier, a libertarian-leaning Republican, asked for his name to be run through the system. He came up as a “green” which indicates he’s safe. When they ran his address, however, it popped up as “yellow” meaning the officer should beware and be prepared for a potentially dangerous situation. How could this be? Well, the councilman didn’t always live in this house; someone else lived there before him and that person was likely responsible for raising the threat score.</p>
<p>Think what a disastrous situation that could be. A mother of a toddler could move into a new home with her family, not knowing that the house was once the location of an abusive patriarch. The&#160;American Medical Association has calculated that as many as 1 in 3 women will be impacted by domestic violence in their lifetimes, so it isn’t an unreasonable hypothetical. One day the child eats one of those detergent pods and suddenly the toddler isn’t breathing. Hysterial, the mother calls 911, screaming. She can’t articulate what has happened, only that her baby is hurt. Dispatch sends an ambulance, but the address is flagged as “red” for its prior decade of domestic violence calls. First responders don’t know someone new has moved in. The woman is giving CPR while her husband waits at the door for the ambulance. What happens when the police arrive?</p>
<p>It’s a scenario that can be applied to just about any family and any situation. Moving into an apartment that previously was a marijuana grow-house; buying a house that once belonged to a woman who shot her husband when she found him with his mistress in the pool. Domestic violence calls are among the most dangerous for police officers. Giving police additional suspicion that may not be entirely accurate probably won’t reduce the incidents of of accidental shootings or police brutality.</p>
<p>The worst part, however, is that none of these questions and concerns can be answered, because Intrado, the company that makes Beware, doesn’t reveal how its algorithm works. Chances are slim that they ever will, since it would also be revealed to its competitors. There’s no way of knowing the accuracy level of the data set given in the search. Police are given red, yellow or green to help them make a life-changing or life-ending decision. It seems a little primitive, not to mention intrusive.</p>
<p>“It is deeply disturbing that local law enforcement agencies are unleashing the sophisticated tools of a surveillance state on the public with little, if any, oversight or accountability,” Ryan Kiesel of the Oklahoma ACLU told me. “We are in the middle of a consequential moment in which the government is unilaterally changing the power dynamic between themselves and the people they serve. If we are going to preserve the fundamental right of privacy, it is imperative that we demand these decisions are made as the result of a transparent and informed public debate.”</p>
<p>While mass shootings are on the rise,&#160;violent crime and homicides&#160;have fallen to historic&#160; <a href="http://www.ifyouonlynews.com/politics/8-things-americans-would-know-if-the-media-was-as-liberal-as-fox-news-says/" type="external">lows</a>. You wouldn’t know that watching the evening news, however. Is now really the time to increase the chances of violent actions at the hands of the police, all while intruding on our civil liberties under the guise of safety?&#160;</p>
|
What's Your Threat Score?
| true |
https://truthdig.com/articles/whats-your-threat-score/
|
2016-01-16
| 4left
|
What's Your Threat Score?
<p>By Sarah Burris / AlterNetThis piece first appeared at <a href="http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/whats-your-threat-score" type="external">AlterNet</a>.</p>
<p>Police have found a new way to legally incorporate&#160;surveillance and profiling into everyday life. Just when you thought we were making progress raising awareness surrounding police brutality, we have something new to contend with. The Police Threat Score isn’t calculated by a racist police officer or&#160;a barrel-rolling cop who thinks he’s on a TV drama; it’s a computer algorithm that steals your data and calculates your likelihood of risk and threat for the fuzz.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.intrado.com/beware" type="external">Beware</a>&#160;is the new stats-bank that helps officers analyze “billions of data points, including arrest reports, property records, commercial databases, deep Web searches and…social-media postings” to ultimately come up with a score that indicates a person’s potential for violence, according to a Washington Post&#160; <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/the-new-way-police-are-surveilling-you-calculating-your-threat-score/2016/01/10/e42bccac-8e15-11e5-baf4-bdf37355da0c_story.html" type="external">story</a>.&#160;No word yet on whether this meta data includes photos and facial recognition software. For example would an ordinary person, yet to commit a crime, be flagged when seen wearing a hoodie in a gated Florida community?</p>
<p>The company tries to paint itself as a savior to first responders, claiming they want to help them “understand the nature of the environment they may encounter during the window of a 911 event.” Think of it like someone pulling your credit score when you apply for a job. Except, in this instance you never applied for the job and they’re pulling your credit score anyway because they knew you might apply. It’s that level of creepiness.</p>
<p />
<p>Remember the 2002 Tom Cruise movie&#160;Minority Report? It’s set in 2054, a futuristic world where the “pre-crime” unit arrests people based on a group of psychics who can see crimes before they happen. Only, it’s 2016 and we’re not using psychics, we’re using computers that mine data. According to the Post piece, law enforcement in Oregon are under federal investigation for using&#160;software to monitor Black Lives Matter hashtags after uprisings in Baltimore and Ferguson. How is this new software any different? In fact, this is the same kind of technology the NSA has been using since 9/11 to monitor online activities of suspected terrorists—they’re just bringing it down to the local level.</p>
<p>According to FatalEncounters.org, a site that tracks deaths by cop, there were only 14 days in 2015 in which a law enforcement officer did not kill someone. So, leaving&#160;judgment&#160;up to the individual hasn’t been all that effective in policing. But is letting a machine do it any better? Using these factors to calculate a color-coded threat level doesn’t seem entirely&#160;practical. Suppose a person doesn’t use social media or own a house but was once arrested when he was 17 for possession of marijuana. The absence of data might lend itself to a high threat level. The same can be said for online meta data that might filter in extracurricular interests. Could a person who is interested in kinky activity in the bedroom be tagged as having a tendency toward violence?</p>
<p>The Fresno, Calif. police department is taking on the daunting task of being the first to test the software in the field. Understandably, the city council and citizens voiced their skepticism at a meeting. “One council member referred to a local media report saying that a woman’s threat level was elevated because she was tweeting about a card game titled ‘Rage,’ which could be a keyword in Beware’s assessment of social media,” the Post reported.</p>
<p>While you might now be rethinking playing that Mafia game on Facebook, it isn’t just your personal name that can raise a flag. Fresno&#160;Councilman Clinton Olivier, a libertarian-leaning Republican, asked for his name to be run through the system. He came up as a “green” which indicates he’s safe. When they ran his address, however, it popped up as “yellow” meaning the officer should beware and be prepared for a potentially dangerous situation. How could this be? Well, the councilman didn’t always live in this house; someone else lived there before him and that person was likely responsible for raising the threat score.</p>
<p>Think what a disastrous situation that could be. A mother of a toddler could move into a new home with her family, not knowing that the house was once the location of an abusive patriarch. The&#160;American Medical Association has calculated that as many as 1 in 3 women will be impacted by domestic violence in their lifetimes, so it isn’t an unreasonable hypothetical. One day the child eats one of those detergent pods and suddenly the toddler isn’t breathing. Hysterial, the mother calls 911, screaming. She can’t articulate what has happened, only that her baby is hurt. Dispatch sends an ambulance, but the address is flagged as “red” for its prior decade of domestic violence calls. First responders don’t know someone new has moved in. The woman is giving CPR while her husband waits at the door for the ambulance. What happens when the police arrive?</p>
<p>It’s a scenario that can be applied to just about any family and any situation. Moving into an apartment that previously was a marijuana grow-house; buying a house that once belonged to a woman who shot her husband when she found him with his mistress in the pool. Domestic violence calls are among the most dangerous for police officers. Giving police additional suspicion that may not be entirely accurate probably won’t reduce the incidents of of accidental shootings or police brutality.</p>
<p>The worst part, however, is that none of these questions and concerns can be answered, because Intrado, the company that makes Beware, doesn’t reveal how its algorithm works. Chances are slim that they ever will, since it would also be revealed to its competitors. There’s no way of knowing the accuracy level of the data set given in the search. Police are given red, yellow or green to help them make a life-changing or life-ending decision. It seems a little primitive, not to mention intrusive.</p>
<p>“It is deeply disturbing that local law enforcement agencies are unleashing the sophisticated tools of a surveillance state on the public with little, if any, oversight or accountability,” Ryan Kiesel of the Oklahoma ACLU told me. “We are in the middle of a consequential moment in which the government is unilaterally changing the power dynamic between themselves and the people they serve. If we are going to preserve the fundamental right of privacy, it is imperative that we demand these decisions are made as the result of a transparent and informed public debate.”</p>
<p>While mass shootings are on the rise,&#160;violent crime and homicides&#160;have fallen to historic&#160; <a href="http://www.ifyouonlynews.com/politics/8-things-americans-would-know-if-the-media-was-as-liberal-as-fox-news-says/" type="external">lows</a>. You wouldn’t know that watching the evening news, however. Is now really the time to increase the chances of violent actions at the hands of the police, all while intruding on our civil liberties under the guise of safety?&#160;</p>
| 5,165 |
<p>A Sept. 4 Human Events/Gravis poll of more than 1,000 Republican primary voters in his congressional district, Ohio-8, shows 50 percent of them would welcome a primary challenge to <a href="http://www.speaker.gov/" type="external">Speaker John A. Boehner (R.-Ohio)</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://goo.gl/gLmb8A" type="external">The poll</a>, which dealt with issues facing Capitol Hill as the calendar collapses on unfinished business and new urgencies, was conducted by Human Events with <a href="http://gravismarketing.com/" type="external">Gravis</a>, a Florida-based pollster, which has a margin of error of 2 percent. The poll had a sample population more than twice the size of a typical poll in a single congressional district, said Doug Kaplan, the founding owner of Gravis.</p>
<p>The poll also showed:</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/about/letter-from-the-president" type="external">Matthew B. "Matt" Kibbe</a>, the president and CEO of <a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/" type="external">FreedomWorks</a>, the Washington-based training, logistics and policy support organization for Tea Party groups, said the poll reflects Boehner's disconnect with conservative voters.</p>
<p>"Conservative activists in Speaker Boehner's district have been disappointed time and time again on his failure to hold the line on fiscally conservative policy," Kibbe said.</p>
<p>"He failed to stand up to Democrats on numerous debt ceiling fights, defunding ObamaCare, putting restrictions on the NSA's data collection on American citizens, and failing to allow an open and transparent appropriations process," he said.</p>
<p>"Most recently, the Speaker failed to host any town halls to address his constituents' concerns face to face. It's hard to lead effectively, when you are effectively invisible," he said. Freedom Works ran a summer campaign helping local activists demand their members of Congress hold town hall meetings.</p>
<p>J. D. Winteregg, co-founder of the Ohio Accountability Project, said the poll reflects the mood of the people he talks in the district.</p>
<p>Winteregg said he has heard from conservatives contacting the project and from elsewhere in the district that Boehner is disconnected from the local mood.</p>
<p>It would not surprise him if there were a primary challenge to the speaker, he said.</p>
<p>The schoolteacher said he, along with local Tea Party activists, held an Aug. 27 "Defund Obamacare" rally in front of the speaker's Troy office with a few hundred people showing up. "As far as I know, no one from Boehner's office came out to talk to us."</p>
<p>The Troy, Ohio resident said he was surprised to see support for military action in support of the Syrian rebels at 20 percent. "It seems a little high to me."</p>
<p>There is little appetite in the district for the president's plan to get involved in Syria, he said. "I have not met one person who is in favor of it, I have a buddy, who was thinking about it, but now he is against it."</p>
<p>Winteregg said Boehner's quick and full support for the president's plans in Syria is no longer a surprise. "It's just another Obama bailout."</p>
<p>A Capitol Hill staffer said the polls numbers do not look good for the speaker.</p>
<p>The staffer said there are rumors in Washington that Boehner may retire at the end of this congressional session.</p>
<p>"Boehner's days on Capitol Hill are numbered," the staffer said. "It's either his choice or the voters. Regardless, conservatives can no longer be ignored."</p>
<p>Professor <a href="http://youtu.be/VNuKHLCXtR4" type="external">Daniel R. Birdsong</a>, who teaches political science at <a href="http://www.udayton.edu/" type="external">The&#160;University&#160;of Dayton</a>, said GOP voters might welcome a primary challenge to Boehner, not because they want him out of office, but maybe to send him a message.</p>
<p>Birdsong said as the Speaker of the House, Boehner is pulled towards national issues and a more national perspective. "They may think he is preoccupied with other things, so this would be a way to pull him back into the district."</p>
<p />
|
Poll: Half of GOP voters in Boehner's district welcome primary challenge to speaker
| true |
http://humanevents.com/2013/09/05/poll-half-of-gop-voters-in-boehners-district-welcome-primary-challenge-to-speaker/
|
2013-09-05
| 0right
|
Poll: Half of GOP voters in Boehner's district welcome primary challenge to speaker
<p>A Sept. 4 Human Events/Gravis poll of more than 1,000 Republican primary voters in his congressional district, Ohio-8, shows 50 percent of them would welcome a primary challenge to <a href="http://www.speaker.gov/" type="external">Speaker John A. Boehner (R.-Ohio)</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://goo.gl/gLmb8A" type="external">The poll</a>, which dealt with issues facing Capitol Hill as the calendar collapses on unfinished business and new urgencies, was conducted by Human Events with <a href="http://gravismarketing.com/" type="external">Gravis</a>, a Florida-based pollster, which has a margin of error of 2 percent. The poll had a sample population more than twice the size of a typical poll in a single congressional district, said Doug Kaplan, the founding owner of Gravis.</p>
<p>The poll also showed:</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/about/letter-from-the-president" type="external">Matthew B. "Matt" Kibbe</a>, the president and CEO of <a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/" type="external">FreedomWorks</a>, the Washington-based training, logistics and policy support organization for Tea Party groups, said the poll reflects Boehner's disconnect with conservative voters.</p>
<p>"Conservative activists in Speaker Boehner's district have been disappointed time and time again on his failure to hold the line on fiscally conservative policy," Kibbe said.</p>
<p>"He failed to stand up to Democrats on numerous debt ceiling fights, defunding ObamaCare, putting restrictions on the NSA's data collection on American citizens, and failing to allow an open and transparent appropriations process," he said.</p>
<p>"Most recently, the Speaker failed to host any town halls to address his constituents' concerns face to face. It's hard to lead effectively, when you are effectively invisible," he said. Freedom Works ran a summer campaign helping local activists demand their members of Congress hold town hall meetings.</p>
<p>J. D. Winteregg, co-founder of the Ohio Accountability Project, said the poll reflects the mood of the people he talks in the district.</p>
<p>Winteregg said he has heard from conservatives contacting the project and from elsewhere in the district that Boehner is disconnected from the local mood.</p>
<p>It would not surprise him if there were a primary challenge to the speaker, he said.</p>
<p>The schoolteacher said he, along with local Tea Party activists, held an Aug. 27 "Defund Obamacare" rally in front of the speaker's Troy office with a few hundred people showing up. "As far as I know, no one from Boehner's office came out to talk to us."</p>
<p>The Troy, Ohio resident said he was surprised to see support for military action in support of the Syrian rebels at 20 percent. "It seems a little high to me."</p>
<p>There is little appetite in the district for the president's plan to get involved in Syria, he said. "I have not met one person who is in favor of it, I have a buddy, who was thinking about it, but now he is against it."</p>
<p>Winteregg said Boehner's quick and full support for the president's plans in Syria is no longer a surprise. "It's just another Obama bailout."</p>
<p>A Capitol Hill staffer said the polls numbers do not look good for the speaker.</p>
<p>The staffer said there are rumors in Washington that Boehner may retire at the end of this congressional session.</p>
<p>"Boehner's days on Capitol Hill are numbered," the staffer said. "It's either his choice or the voters. Regardless, conservatives can no longer be ignored."</p>
<p>Professor <a href="http://youtu.be/VNuKHLCXtR4" type="external">Daniel R. Birdsong</a>, who teaches political science at <a href="http://www.udayton.edu/" type="external">The&#160;University&#160;of Dayton</a>, said GOP voters might welcome a primary challenge to Boehner, not because they want him out of office, but maybe to send him a message.</p>
<p>Birdsong said as the Speaker of the House, Boehner is pulled towards national issues and a more national perspective. "They may think he is preoccupied with other things, so this would be a way to pull him back into the district."</p>
<p />
| 5,166 |
<p>ATLANTA (AP) _ These Georgia lotteries were drawn Wednesday:</p>
<p>5 Card Cash</p>
<p>KC-JD-5C-4S-7S</p>
<p>(KC, JD, 5C, 4S, 7S)</p>
<p>All or Nothing Day</p>
<p>02-06-08-11-15-16-17-19-20-22-23-24</p>
<p>(two, six, eight, eleven, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four)</p>
<p>All or Nothing Evening</p>
<p>02-03-04-05-07-08-10-12-13-14-15-24</p>
<p>(two, three, four, five, seven, eight, ten, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, twenty-four)</p>
<p>All or Nothing Morning</p>
<p>02-03-04-05-08-13-15-17-18-19-20-22</p>
<p>(two, three, four, five, eight, thirteen, fifteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-two)</p>
<p>All or Nothing Night</p>
<p>01-03-07-11-12-13-15-18-19-21-22-24</p>
<p>(one, three, seven, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fifteen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-four)</p>
<p>Cash 3 Evening</p>
<p>2-8-3</p>
<p>(two, eight, three)</p>
<p>Cash 3 Midday</p>
<p>0-7-2</p>
<p>(zero, seven, two)</p>
<p>Cash 3 Night</p>
<p>8-4-8</p>
<p>(eight, four, eight)</p>
<p>Cash 4 Evening</p>
<p>5-7-5-7</p>
<p>(five, seven, five, seven)</p>
<p>Cash 4 Midday</p>
<p>3-3-3-7</p>
<p>(three, three, three, seven)</p>
<p>Cash 4 Night</p>
<p>8-1-8-9</p>
<p>(eight, one, eight, nine)</p>
<p>Fantasy 5</p>
<p>03-04-12-18-24</p>
<p>(three, four, twelve, eighteen, twenty-four)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $651,000</p>
<p>Georgia FIVE Evening</p>
<p>8-2-9-5-8</p>
<p>(eight, two, nine, five, eight)</p>
<p>Georgia FIVE Midday</p>
<p>6-9-7-1-9</p>
<p>(six, nine, seven, one, nine)</p>
<p>Mega Millions</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $55 million</p>
<p>Powerball</p>
<p>03-33-37-51-57, Powerball: 21, Power Play: 2</p>
<p>(three, thirty-three, thirty-seven, fifty-one, fifty-seven; Powerball: twenty-one; Power Play: two)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $62 million</p>
<p>ATLANTA (AP) _ These Georgia lotteries were drawn Wednesday:</p>
<p>5 Card Cash</p>
<p>KC-JD-5C-4S-7S</p>
<p>(KC, JD, 5C, 4S, 7S)</p>
<p>All or Nothing Day</p>
<p>02-06-08-11-15-16-17-19-20-22-23-24</p>
<p>(two, six, eight, eleven, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four)</p>
<p>All or Nothing Evening</p>
<p>02-03-04-05-07-08-10-12-13-14-15-24</p>
<p>(two, three, four, five, seven, eight, ten, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, twenty-four)</p>
<p>All or Nothing Morning</p>
<p>02-03-04-05-08-13-15-17-18-19-20-22</p>
<p>(two, three, four, five, eight, thirteen, fifteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-two)</p>
<p>All or Nothing Night</p>
<p>01-03-07-11-12-13-15-18-19-21-22-24</p>
<p>(one, three, seven, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fifteen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-four)</p>
<p>Cash 3 Evening</p>
<p>2-8-3</p>
<p>(two, eight, three)</p>
<p>Cash 3 Midday</p>
<p>0-7-2</p>
<p>(zero, seven, two)</p>
<p>Cash 3 Night</p>
<p>8-4-8</p>
<p>(eight, four, eight)</p>
<p>Cash 4 Evening</p>
<p>5-7-5-7</p>
<p>(five, seven, five, seven)</p>
<p>Cash 4 Midday</p>
<p>3-3-3-7</p>
<p>(three, three, three, seven)</p>
<p>Cash 4 Night</p>
<p>8-1-8-9</p>
<p>(eight, one, eight, nine)</p>
<p>Fantasy 5</p>
<p>03-04-12-18-24</p>
<p>(three, four, twelve, eighteen, twenty-four)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $651,000</p>
<p>Georgia FIVE Evening</p>
<p>8-2-9-5-8</p>
<p>(eight, two, nine, five, eight)</p>
<p>Georgia FIVE Midday</p>
<p>6-9-7-1-9</p>
<p>(six, nine, seven, one, nine)</p>
<p>Mega Millions</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $55 million</p>
<p>Powerball</p>
<p>03-33-37-51-57, Powerball: 21, Power Play: 2</p>
<p>(three, thirty-three, thirty-seven, fifty-one, fifty-seven; Powerball: twenty-one; Power Play: two)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $62 million</p>
|
GA Lottery
| false |
https://apnews.com/amp/3651668b272c4e099585802471a57897
|
2018-01-18
| 2least
|
GA Lottery
<p>ATLANTA (AP) _ These Georgia lotteries were drawn Wednesday:</p>
<p>5 Card Cash</p>
<p>KC-JD-5C-4S-7S</p>
<p>(KC, JD, 5C, 4S, 7S)</p>
<p>All or Nothing Day</p>
<p>02-06-08-11-15-16-17-19-20-22-23-24</p>
<p>(two, six, eight, eleven, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four)</p>
<p>All or Nothing Evening</p>
<p>02-03-04-05-07-08-10-12-13-14-15-24</p>
<p>(two, three, four, five, seven, eight, ten, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, twenty-four)</p>
<p>All or Nothing Morning</p>
<p>02-03-04-05-08-13-15-17-18-19-20-22</p>
<p>(two, three, four, five, eight, thirteen, fifteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-two)</p>
<p>All or Nothing Night</p>
<p>01-03-07-11-12-13-15-18-19-21-22-24</p>
<p>(one, three, seven, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fifteen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-four)</p>
<p>Cash 3 Evening</p>
<p>2-8-3</p>
<p>(two, eight, three)</p>
<p>Cash 3 Midday</p>
<p>0-7-2</p>
<p>(zero, seven, two)</p>
<p>Cash 3 Night</p>
<p>8-4-8</p>
<p>(eight, four, eight)</p>
<p>Cash 4 Evening</p>
<p>5-7-5-7</p>
<p>(five, seven, five, seven)</p>
<p>Cash 4 Midday</p>
<p>3-3-3-7</p>
<p>(three, three, three, seven)</p>
<p>Cash 4 Night</p>
<p>8-1-8-9</p>
<p>(eight, one, eight, nine)</p>
<p>Fantasy 5</p>
<p>03-04-12-18-24</p>
<p>(three, four, twelve, eighteen, twenty-four)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $651,000</p>
<p>Georgia FIVE Evening</p>
<p>8-2-9-5-8</p>
<p>(eight, two, nine, five, eight)</p>
<p>Georgia FIVE Midday</p>
<p>6-9-7-1-9</p>
<p>(six, nine, seven, one, nine)</p>
<p>Mega Millions</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $55 million</p>
<p>Powerball</p>
<p>03-33-37-51-57, Powerball: 21, Power Play: 2</p>
<p>(three, thirty-three, thirty-seven, fifty-one, fifty-seven; Powerball: twenty-one; Power Play: two)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $62 million</p>
<p>ATLANTA (AP) _ These Georgia lotteries were drawn Wednesday:</p>
<p>5 Card Cash</p>
<p>KC-JD-5C-4S-7S</p>
<p>(KC, JD, 5C, 4S, 7S)</p>
<p>All or Nothing Day</p>
<p>02-06-08-11-15-16-17-19-20-22-23-24</p>
<p>(two, six, eight, eleven, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four)</p>
<p>All or Nothing Evening</p>
<p>02-03-04-05-07-08-10-12-13-14-15-24</p>
<p>(two, three, four, five, seven, eight, ten, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, twenty-four)</p>
<p>All or Nothing Morning</p>
<p>02-03-04-05-08-13-15-17-18-19-20-22</p>
<p>(two, three, four, five, eight, thirteen, fifteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-two)</p>
<p>All or Nothing Night</p>
<p>01-03-07-11-12-13-15-18-19-21-22-24</p>
<p>(one, three, seven, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fifteen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-four)</p>
<p>Cash 3 Evening</p>
<p>2-8-3</p>
<p>(two, eight, three)</p>
<p>Cash 3 Midday</p>
<p>0-7-2</p>
<p>(zero, seven, two)</p>
<p>Cash 3 Night</p>
<p>8-4-8</p>
<p>(eight, four, eight)</p>
<p>Cash 4 Evening</p>
<p>5-7-5-7</p>
<p>(five, seven, five, seven)</p>
<p>Cash 4 Midday</p>
<p>3-3-3-7</p>
<p>(three, three, three, seven)</p>
<p>Cash 4 Night</p>
<p>8-1-8-9</p>
<p>(eight, one, eight, nine)</p>
<p>Fantasy 5</p>
<p>03-04-12-18-24</p>
<p>(three, four, twelve, eighteen, twenty-four)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $651,000</p>
<p>Georgia FIVE Evening</p>
<p>8-2-9-5-8</p>
<p>(eight, two, nine, five, eight)</p>
<p>Georgia FIVE Midday</p>
<p>6-9-7-1-9</p>
<p>(six, nine, seven, one, nine)</p>
<p>Mega Millions</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $55 million</p>
<p>Powerball</p>
<p>03-33-37-51-57, Powerball: 21, Power Play: 2</p>
<p>(three, thirty-three, thirty-seven, fifty-one, fifty-seven; Powerball: twenty-one; Power Play: two)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $62 million</p>
| 5,167 |
<p>Q: Did Obama grant federal workers a pay raise for next year when Social Security recipients are getting no increase?</p>
<p>A: The president acted to hold down the federal pay raise to 2 percent next year.</p>
<p>FULL ANSWER</p>
<p>We’ve had any number of queries recently about whether President Obama is granting federal workers a pay increase in January. Some wonder whether an injustice is being committed given that there will be no annual cost-of-living increase for Social Security recipients.</p>
<p>We’ll leave it to our readers to judge whether an injustice is afoot. Here are the facts:</p>
<p>Under normal circumstances federal workers could have expected a 2.4 percent annual pay increase in January. Federal law pegs pay to the Employment Cost Index, which measures wages and salaries of private industry workers. However, Obama has been pushing since February to hold down that increase to 2 percent.</p>
<p>Update, Dec. 10: <a href="http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=44218&amp;dcn=todaysnews" type="external">Obama succeeded.</a> House and Senate appropriators agreed Dec. 9 to hold the average federal pay increase to 2.0 percent. The House approved the increase Dec. 10 as part of a massive appropriations bill, and the Senate was set to consider the measure the following weekend.</p>
<p>He first <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/26/AR2009022601716.html" type="external">called for reducing the pay increase</a> in the budget he submitted to Congress in February. At the time, he noted that he had ordered a freeze of White House senior staff pay and added: "In this budget, federal employees also will be asked to do their part." The House later approved the 2 percent increase, but the <a href="http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0709/070909l1.htm" type="external">Senate Appropriations Committee endorsed a raise of 2.9 percent</a> in July. Then, on Aug. 31, Obama <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Letter-from-the-President-to-the-Speaker-of-the-House-8/31/09" type="external">used his executive authority to impose a 2 percent increase</a> starting in January. Congress could still override that order, but the <a href="http://www.opm.gov/oca/09tables/2010PayRaiseUpdate.pdf" type="external">Office of Personnel Management says it will use the 2 percent figure</a> to calculate pay rates for federal workers. This increase will also apply to Supreme Court justices, federal judges and Vice President Joe Biden.</p>
<p>For the record, Obama himself will get no increase. His pay is set at $400,000 a year, the rate set by law and unchanged since 2001. Members of <a href="" type="internal">Congress will get no increase next year either</a>, despite some widely circulated claims to the contrary, which we debunked back in September.</p>
<p>Also worth noting is that <a href="http://www.myfederalretirement.com/public/376.cfm" type="external">federal retirees are getting no cost-of-living adjustment</a> (COLA) in their pensions. Their COLA is governed by the same formula that produced a zero increase for Social Security recipients, which <a href="" type="internal">we went over in detail</a> on Sept. 23. Both payments are pegged to the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), which rose sharply in 2008 but has actually declined this year, mainly because of wild fluctuations in the price of oil.</p>
<p>Because their pay is pegged to civilian wages and salaries rather than prices, <a href="http://www.myfederalretirement.com/public/194.cfm" type="external">federal employees got a 3.9 percent pay raise in 2009</a> when <a href="http://www.ssa.gov/pressoffice/pr/2009cola-pr.htm" type="external">Social Security recipients got a much larger increase — 5.8 percent</a>. In 2010 the situation will be reversed.</p>
<p>-Brooks Jackson</p>
<p>Sources</p>
<p>Vogel, Steve. " <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/26/AR2009022601716.html" type="external">Obama Budget Would Limit Pay Raises for Civilian Workers, Military</a>." Washington .26 Feb 2009.</p>
<p>Long, Emily. " <a href="http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0709/070909l1.htm" type="external">Senate committee endorses 2.9 percent federal pay raise</a>." GoverenmentExecutive.com. 9 Jul 2009.</p>
<p>" <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Letter-from-the-President-to-the-Speaker-of-the-House-8/31/09" type="external">Text of a letter from the president to the speaker of the House of Representatives and the president of the Senate</a>." The White House Office of the Press Secretary. 31 Aug 2009.</p>
<p>" <a href="http://www.myfederalretirement.com/public/376.cfm" type="external">2010 COLA for Federal Retirees : CSRS / FERS</a>." My Federal Retirement Web site. 16 Oct 2009.</p>
<p>" <a href="http://www.ssa.gov/cola/automatic-cola.htm" type="external">The History of COLA</a>." U.S. Social Security Administration. undated Web page. Accessed 11 Sep 2009.</p>
<p>" <a href="http://www.ssa.gov/pressoffice/pr/2009cola-pr.htm" type="external">Social Security Announces 5.8 Percent Benefit Increase for 2009</a>," press release. U.S. Social Security Administration. 16 Oct 2008.</p>
<p>" <a href="http://www.socialsecurity.gov/OACT/COLA/positivecola.html" type="external">Cost-of-Living Adjustment Must Be Greater Than Zero</a>." U.S. Social Security Administration. Web page accessed 11 Sep 2009.</p>
|
Federal Pay Raise
| false |
https://factcheck.org/2009/11/federal-pay-raise/
|
2009-11-30
| 2least
|
Federal Pay Raise
<p>Q: Did Obama grant federal workers a pay raise for next year when Social Security recipients are getting no increase?</p>
<p>A: The president acted to hold down the federal pay raise to 2 percent next year.</p>
<p>FULL ANSWER</p>
<p>We’ve had any number of queries recently about whether President Obama is granting federal workers a pay increase in January. Some wonder whether an injustice is being committed given that there will be no annual cost-of-living increase for Social Security recipients.</p>
<p>We’ll leave it to our readers to judge whether an injustice is afoot. Here are the facts:</p>
<p>Under normal circumstances federal workers could have expected a 2.4 percent annual pay increase in January. Federal law pegs pay to the Employment Cost Index, which measures wages and salaries of private industry workers. However, Obama has been pushing since February to hold down that increase to 2 percent.</p>
<p>Update, Dec. 10: <a href="http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=44218&amp;dcn=todaysnews" type="external">Obama succeeded.</a> House and Senate appropriators agreed Dec. 9 to hold the average federal pay increase to 2.0 percent. The House approved the increase Dec. 10 as part of a massive appropriations bill, and the Senate was set to consider the measure the following weekend.</p>
<p>He first <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/26/AR2009022601716.html" type="external">called for reducing the pay increase</a> in the budget he submitted to Congress in February. At the time, he noted that he had ordered a freeze of White House senior staff pay and added: "In this budget, federal employees also will be asked to do their part." The House later approved the 2 percent increase, but the <a href="http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0709/070909l1.htm" type="external">Senate Appropriations Committee endorsed a raise of 2.9 percent</a> in July. Then, on Aug. 31, Obama <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Letter-from-the-President-to-the-Speaker-of-the-House-8/31/09" type="external">used his executive authority to impose a 2 percent increase</a> starting in January. Congress could still override that order, but the <a href="http://www.opm.gov/oca/09tables/2010PayRaiseUpdate.pdf" type="external">Office of Personnel Management says it will use the 2 percent figure</a> to calculate pay rates for federal workers. This increase will also apply to Supreme Court justices, federal judges and Vice President Joe Biden.</p>
<p>For the record, Obama himself will get no increase. His pay is set at $400,000 a year, the rate set by law and unchanged since 2001. Members of <a href="" type="internal">Congress will get no increase next year either</a>, despite some widely circulated claims to the contrary, which we debunked back in September.</p>
<p>Also worth noting is that <a href="http://www.myfederalretirement.com/public/376.cfm" type="external">federal retirees are getting no cost-of-living adjustment</a> (COLA) in their pensions. Their COLA is governed by the same formula that produced a zero increase for Social Security recipients, which <a href="" type="internal">we went over in detail</a> on Sept. 23. Both payments are pegged to the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), which rose sharply in 2008 but has actually declined this year, mainly because of wild fluctuations in the price of oil.</p>
<p>Because their pay is pegged to civilian wages and salaries rather than prices, <a href="http://www.myfederalretirement.com/public/194.cfm" type="external">federal employees got a 3.9 percent pay raise in 2009</a> when <a href="http://www.ssa.gov/pressoffice/pr/2009cola-pr.htm" type="external">Social Security recipients got a much larger increase — 5.8 percent</a>. In 2010 the situation will be reversed.</p>
<p>-Brooks Jackson</p>
<p>Sources</p>
<p>Vogel, Steve. " <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/26/AR2009022601716.html" type="external">Obama Budget Would Limit Pay Raises for Civilian Workers, Military</a>." Washington .26 Feb 2009.</p>
<p>Long, Emily. " <a href="http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0709/070909l1.htm" type="external">Senate committee endorses 2.9 percent federal pay raise</a>." GoverenmentExecutive.com. 9 Jul 2009.</p>
<p>" <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Letter-from-the-President-to-the-Speaker-of-the-House-8/31/09" type="external">Text of a letter from the president to the speaker of the House of Representatives and the president of the Senate</a>." The White House Office of the Press Secretary. 31 Aug 2009.</p>
<p>" <a href="http://www.myfederalretirement.com/public/376.cfm" type="external">2010 COLA for Federal Retirees : CSRS / FERS</a>." My Federal Retirement Web site. 16 Oct 2009.</p>
<p>" <a href="http://www.ssa.gov/cola/automatic-cola.htm" type="external">The History of COLA</a>." U.S. Social Security Administration. undated Web page. Accessed 11 Sep 2009.</p>
<p>" <a href="http://www.ssa.gov/pressoffice/pr/2009cola-pr.htm" type="external">Social Security Announces 5.8 Percent Benefit Increase for 2009</a>," press release. U.S. Social Security Administration. 16 Oct 2008.</p>
<p>" <a href="http://www.socialsecurity.gov/OACT/COLA/positivecola.html" type="external">Cost-of-Living Adjustment Must Be Greater Than Zero</a>." U.S. Social Security Administration. Web page accessed 11 Sep 2009.</p>
| 5,168 |
<p />
<p />
<p>Desaparecidos, the <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/music/blogs/rsfans/conor-obersts-desparecidos-reunite-in-omaha-20120424" type="external">recently reunited,</a> politically minded rock-and roll-outfit led by Bright Eyes frontman Conor Oberst, is gearing up for its first New York-area shows in more than a decade—this coming Tuesday and Wednesday at NYC’s <a href="http://www.websterhall.com/" type="external">Webster Hall</a>. For the occasion, the band is offering MoJo readers an exclusive free download of its new single “Anonymous,”&#160;a rambunctious ode to the <a href="" type="internal">shadowy</a> <a href="" type="internal">hacktivist</a> group (which we’ve written about on <a href="" type="internal">several</a> <a href="" type="internal">recent</a> <a href="" type="internal">occasions</a>). Unlike so many contemporary protest songs that reek of moralistic windbaggery, “Anonymous,” actually rocks pretty hard as Oberst bellows:&#160;</p>
<p>“Slay Goliath! Slay Goliath!” The flashmob all held up their phones But you cannot predict when the students riot And a big machine always moves slow So throw your little stone</p>
<p>You can’t stop us We are Anonymous You can’t stop us We are Anonymous Expect us We know what all of us know</p>
<p>Give it a listen and judge for yourself. You can click at right for your free download:</p>
<p />
<p />
|
Exclusive: Free Download of “Anonymous,” the New Single by Conor Oberst’s Desaparecidos
| true |
https://motherjones.com/politics/2013/02/free-mp3-download-desaparecidos-anonymous-conor-oberst-bright-eyes/
|
2013-02-22
| 4left
|
Exclusive: Free Download of “Anonymous,” the New Single by Conor Oberst’s Desaparecidos
<p />
<p />
<p>Desaparecidos, the <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/music/blogs/rsfans/conor-obersts-desparecidos-reunite-in-omaha-20120424" type="external">recently reunited,</a> politically minded rock-and roll-outfit led by Bright Eyes frontman Conor Oberst, is gearing up for its first New York-area shows in more than a decade—this coming Tuesday and Wednesday at NYC’s <a href="http://www.websterhall.com/" type="external">Webster Hall</a>. For the occasion, the band is offering MoJo readers an exclusive free download of its new single “Anonymous,”&#160;a rambunctious ode to the <a href="" type="internal">shadowy</a> <a href="" type="internal">hacktivist</a> group (which we’ve written about on <a href="" type="internal">several</a> <a href="" type="internal">recent</a> <a href="" type="internal">occasions</a>). Unlike so many contemporary protest songs that reek of moralistic windbaggery, “Anonymous,” actually rocks pretty hard as Oberst bellows:&#160;</p>
<p>“Slay Goliath! Slay Goliath!” The flashmob all held up their phones But you cannot predict when the students riot And a big machine always moves slow So throw your little stone</p>
<p>You can’t stop us We are Anonymous You can’t stop us We are Anonymous Expect us We know what all of us know</p>
<p>Give it a listen and judge for yourself. You can click at right for your free download:</p>
<p />
<p />
| 5,169 |
<p>On November 10, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear whether or not prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba may challenge the legality of their detentions as enemy combatants in U.S. courts. The Supreme Court has limited the appeal to that very specific and narrow issue. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia both summarily dismissed the petitions for writ of habeas corpus filed in behalf of 12 Kuwaitis, 2 Brits, and 2 Australians, 16 of the 650-plus prisoners captured in Pakistan and Afghanistan and interned in Cuba for going on two years.</p>
<p>The government’s position is disingenuous, that the prisoners are not on sovereign U.S. territory, therefore the federal courts are closed to them. But the lease between the Cuban and U.S. governments specifically holds otherwise. In effect since the end of the Spanish-American war in 1903, the pertinent provision for the lease of the 45 square mile area that makes up the U.S. Naval Base says that “the United States shall exercise complete jurisdiction and control over and within said areas with the right to acquire . . . for the public purposes of the United States any land or other property therein by purchase or by exercise of eminent domain.” The lease gives the U.S. civil and criminal jurisdiction over all persons located therein. On its official web site, the U.S. Navy describes Guantanamo as “a Naval reservation, which, for all practical purposes, is American territory. Under the [lease] agreements, the United States has for approximately [one hundred] years exercised the essential elements of sovereignty over this territory, without actually owning it.”</p>
<p>While it should be noted that earlier legal precedent ruled that a base in Bermuda was not “sovereign” U.S. territory, that case did not deal with a prison camp presided over by military guards. To suggest that the U.S. can create a law-free zone where it may imprison whomever it wants whenever it wants for as long as it wants–and never charge or try them–is an astoundingly absurd proposition from any government, let alone one that purports to live by the rule of law.</p>
<p>The prisoners’ petitions for writs of habeas corpus asked for modest relief-that they have the opportunity to challenge the basis for their detention as enemy combatants. On November 13, 2001, the President issued a Military Order entitled “Detention, Treatment, and Trial of Certain Non-Citizens in The War Against Terrorism” (the “Military Order”). 66 Fed. Reg. 57, 833-36. (Nov. 16, 2001). Section 1(e) of the Military Order states that, “[t]o protect the United States and its citizens, and for the effective conduct of military operations and prevention of terrorist attacks, it is necessary for individuals subject to this order pursuant to section 2 hereof to be detained. . . . ” Section 2 provides that any non-citizen of the United States may be detained if the President determines “in writing” that “there is reason to believe” he or she “is or was a member of the organization known as al Qaida” or has engaged in or supported terrorism or other acts aimed at injuring the United States.</p>
<p>The prisoners’ attorneys insist that they have the right, under international law, to see the evidence against them, and to have the rights guaranteed prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions. These include the right to be charged with crimes or released and, if charged, to have legal counsel and fair tribunals. Intelligence experts have conceded that no more than a handful of the men could have any real intelligence value or could have been involved with al Qaeda. Most are likely there because others turned them in order to get huge money bounties. The U.S. was handing out fistfuls of dollars to people in the street who would name names, promising “snitches” enough money to take care of their families for a lifetime.</p>
<p>The lower federal courts also went far afield from their stated case precedent, Johnson v. Eisentrager, a 1950 Supreme Court case that arose out of World War II. There, Germans who had been tried and convicted by military tribunals wanted to challenge their convictions in federal court. The Supreme Court ruled that they could not. But these men had at least the semblance of due process-they were charged, given attorneys, and tried. For the District of Columbia trial and appellate court to jump from those facts to foreclose the Guantanamo prisoners from judicial review was a huge leap unsupported by the facts or the law.</p>
<p>The Bush Administration pleaded with the Supreme Court not to grant the appeal. It warned the court that waging war was the President’s business, not the Court’s. This was also an argument so absurd and frightening that alarms ought to be clanging in the hearts and minds of every American. Since when does the President tell the Supreme Court what cases to take? Since when is the Supreme Court not the supreme law of the law-the last word in all things legal and judicial? Before he was President, Bush thought the Court could anoint him President. The Court agreed. Now, he thinks that same Court cannot consider, merely consider (the Court may well agree with the lower courts, but I doubt it) whether courts might have jurisdiction over prisoners in Guantanamo so that his detention orders might be subject to some modicum of judicial oversight. That arrogance alone-even if the policy at issue were not so terrifying-justifies taking down this Administration a peg or two.</p>
<p>I would bet that the Supreme Court will decide that Guantanamo is enough of a U.S. territory that the prisoners detained there are allowed to have access to the courts. In a year from now, if the case finds its way back to the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia, we will see plenty of stonewalling by the administration, much like it has done in the Moussaoui case. You don’t think they are going to play by the book, do you? Of course, the “book” is a lot better for them in D.C. then in front of Judge Brinkema in Virginia. The D.C. trial and appellate courts are highly conservative and beholden to the Bush administration. And if Bush gets his way, the mad woman Janice Brown, the judicial nominee who does not even know the meaning of the term “supremacy clause” (she stumbled badly with Sen. Arlen Specter asked her about it in the Senate judiciary committee hearing that just recommended her for a full vote) and who thinks the 14th Amendment has nothing to do with the states, will be sitting on the D.C. appeals court.</p>
<p>It is too early to get excited and think that justice will be done for the prisoners in the black hole of Guantanamo. But it is some consolation that the Supreme Court, for once, has said no to Bush, no to Rumsfeld, and no to Solicitor General Theodore Olson. “We will have a look at this case, ” they said. For now, we have this small gesture, the tiny glimmer of hope, for which to be grateful.</p>
<p>ELAINE CASSEL practices law in Virginia and the District of Columbia, teachers law and psychology, and follows the Bush regime’s dismantling of the Constitution at <a href="" type="internal">Civil Liberties Watch</a>. She can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
|
The Supremes and Guantanamo
| true |
https://counterpunch.org/2003/11/11/the-supremes-and-guantanamo/
|
2003-11-11
| 4left
|
The Supremes and Guantanamo
<p>On November 10, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear whether or not prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba may challenge the legality of their detentions as enemy combatants in U.S. courts. The Supreme Court has limited the appeal to that very specific and narrow issue. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia both summarily dismissed the petitions for writ of habeas corpus filed in behalf of 12 Kuwaitis, 2 Brits, and 2 Australians, 16 of the 650-plus prisoners captured in Pakistan and Afghanistan and interned in Cuba for going on two years.</p>
<p>The government’s position is disingenuous, that the prisoners are not on sovereign U.S. territory, therefore the federal courts are closed to them. But the lease between the Cuban and U.S. governments specifically holds otherwise. In effect since the end of the Spanish-American war in 1903, the pertinent provision for the lease of the 45 square mile area that makes up the U.S. Naval Base says that “the United States shall exercise complete jurisdiction and control over and within said areas with the right to acquire . . . for the public purposes of the United States any land or other property therein by purchase or by exercise of eminent domain.” The lease gives the U.S. civil and criminal jurisdiction over all persons located therein. On its official web site, the U.S. Navy describes Guantanamo as “a Naval reservation, which, for all practical purposes, is American territory. Under the [lease] agreements, the United States has for approximately [one hundred] years exercised the essential elements of sovereignty over this territory, without actually owning it.”</p>
<p>While it should be noted that earlier legal precedent ruled that a base in Bermuda was not “sovereign” U.S. territory, that case did not deal with a prison camp presided over by military guards. To suggest that the U.S. can create a law-free zone where it may imprison whomever it wants whenever it wants for as long as it wants–and never charge or try them–is an astoundingly absurd proposition from any government, let alone one that purports to live by the rule of law.</p>
<p>The prisoners’ petitions for writs of habeas corpus asked for modest relief-that they have the opportunity to challenge the basis for their detention as enemy combatants. On November 13, 2001, the President issued a Military Order entitled “Detention, Treatment, and Trial of Certain Non-Citizens in The War Against Terrorism” (the “Military Order”). 66 Fed. Reg. 57, 833-36. (Nov. 16, 2001). Section 1(e) of the Military Order states that, “[t]o protect the United States and its citizens, and for the effective conduct of military operations and prevention of terrorist attacks, it is necessary for individuals subject to this order pursuant to section 2 hereof to be detained. . . . ” Section 2 provides that any non-citizen of the United States may be detained if the President determines “in writing” that “there is reason to believe” he or she “is or was a member of the organization known as al Qaida” or has engaged in or supported terrorism or other acts aimed at injuring the United States.</p>
<p>The prisoners’ attorneys insist that they have the right, under international law, to see the evidence against them, and to have the rights guaranteed prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions. These include the right to be charged with crimes or released and, if charged, to have legal counsel and fair tribunals. Intelligence experts have conceded that no more than a handful of the men could have any real intelligence value or could have been involved with al Qaeda. Most are likely there because others turned them in order to get huge money bounties. The U.S. was handing out fistfuls of dollars to people in the street who would name names, promising “snitches” enough money to take care of their families for a lifetime.</p>
<p>The lower federal courts also went far afield from their stated case precedent, Johnson v. Eisentrager, a 1950 Supreme Court case that arose out of World War II. There, Germans who had been tried and convicted by military tribunals wanted to challenge their convictions in federal court. The Supreme Court ruled that they could not. But these men had at least the semblance of due process-they were charged, given attorneys, and tried. For the District of Columbia trial and appellate court to jump from those facts to foreclose the Guantanamo prisoners from judicial review was a huge leap unsupported by the facts or the law.</p>
<p>The Bush Administration pleaded with the Supreme Court not to grant the appeal. It warned the court that waging war was the President’s business, not the Court’s. This was also an argument so absurd and frightening that alarms ought to be clanging in the hearts and minds of every American. Since when does the President tell the Supreme Court what cases to take? Since when is the Supreme Court not the supreme law of the law-the last word in all things legal and judicial? Before he was President, Bush thought the Court could anoint him President. The Court agreed. Now, he thinks that same Court cannot consider, merely consider (the Court may well agree with the lower courts, but I doubt it) whether courts might have jurisdiction over prisoners in Guantanamo so that his detention orders might be subject to some modicum of judicial oversight. That arrogance alone-even if the policy at issue were not so terrifying-justifies taking down this Administration a peg or two.</p>
<p>I would bet that the Supreme Court will decide that Guantanamo is enough of a U.S. territory that the prisoners detained there are allowed to have access to the courts. In a year from now, if the case finds its way back to the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia, we will see plenty of stonewalling by the administration, much like it has done in the Moussaoui case. You don’t think they are going to play by the book, do you? Of course, the “book” is a lot better for them in D.C. then in front of Judge Brinkema in Virginia. The D.C. trial and appellate courts are highly conservative and beholden to the Bush administration. And if Bush gets his way, the mad woman Janice Brown, the judicial nominee who does not even know the meaning of the term “supremacy clause” (she stumbled badly with Sen. Arlen Specter asked her about it in the Senate judiciary committee hearing that just recommended her for a full vote) and who thinks the 14th Amendment has nothing to do with the states, will be sitting on the D.C. appeals court.</p>
<p>It is too early to get excited and think that justice will be done for the prisoners in the black hole of Guantanamo. But it is some consolation that the Supreme Court, for once, has said no to Bush, no to Rumsfeld, and no to Solicitor General Theodore Olson. “We will have a look at this case, ” they said. For now, we have this small gesture, the tiny glimmer of hope, for which to be grateful.</p>
<p>ELAINE CASSEL practices law in Virginia and the District of Columbia, teachers law and psychology, and follows the Bush regime’s dismantling of the Constitution at <a href="" type="internal">Civil Liberties Watch</a>. She can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
| 5,170 |
<p>Jan 22 (Reuters) - Singapore Telecommunications Ltd :</p>
<p>* ‍ANNOUNCES SALE OF SHARES IN CS LOXINFO PUBLIC COMPANY LIMITED​</p>
<p>* SOLD 84.1 MILLION SHARES IN CS LOXINFO TO ADVANCED WIRELESS NETWORK FOR 654 MILLION BAHT</p>
<p>* TRANSACTION NOT EXPECTED TO HAVE MATERIAL IMPACT ON EARNINGS PER SHARE OF CO FOR FY ENDING 31 MARCH 2018​ Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage: ([email protected])</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - About 200 people demonstrated in Sacramento on Saturday to protest the fatal police shooting of Stephon Clark, in the latest of nearly two weeks of mostly peaceful rallies since the unarmed black man was gunned down in his grandmother’s yard.</p>
<p>The death of the 22-year-old father of two was the latest in a string of killings of black men by police that have triggered street protests and fueled a renewed national debate about bias in the U.S. criminal justice system.</p>
<p>Saturday’s demonstration brought together a multi-racial crowd, many holding signs such as “Stop Police Rage” and “Power to the People.” It was led by retired National Basketball Association player Matt Barnes, who grew up in the area and had two stints with the Sacramento Kings franchise.</p>
<p>“We’re here today to raise awareness, to come together peacefully and to have some accountability for the officers, not only in Sacramento but across the country, who have been doing this,” Barnes told the Sacramento Bee newspaper.</p>
<p>Some of Clark’s relatives attended the gathering in a city plaza. It followed a more heated protest overnight, during which demonstrators yelled expletives at police clad in riot gear.</p>
<p>Clark was shot on the night of March 18 by police responding to a report that someone was breaking windows. Police said the officers feared he had a gun, but that he was later found to have been holding a cellphone.</p>
<p>Police have said he was moving towards officers in a menacing way. The shooting was captured on a body cam video released by police.</p> Salena Manni (L), fiancee of Stephon Clark, holds their son Cairo and an unidentified man holds son Aiden (2nd R) while Basim Elkarra speaks and Rev Shane Harris listens at a rally in Sacramento, California, U.S., March 31, 2018. REUTERS/Bob Strong NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES
<p>On Friday, an attorney for Clark’s family released a private autopsy showing most of the eight bullets that hit Clark struck him in the back, contradicting the police version of events.</p>
<p>Clark was shot six times in the back, once in the side and once in the leg, said the attorney, Benjamin Crump.</p>
<p>“This independent autopsy affirms that Stephon was not a threat to police and was slain in another senseless police killing under increasingly questionable circumstances,” Crump said.</p> Slideshow (14 Images)
<p>The Sacramento Police Department said it would have no further comment until after the release of the findings of an official autopsy by the county coroner, and a review by state and local prosecutors.</p>
<p>In several days of sporadic protests, protesters have blocked traffic and twice delayed fans from reaching games played by the Kings at the Golden 1 Center.</p>
<p>Additional reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles, Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee, Rich McKay in Atlanta and Jonathan Allen in New York; Editing Chizu Nomiyama and Sandra Maler</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela arrested five state police officials for their alleged role in a riot and fire that killed 68 people in an overcrowded police station cell, the country’s public prosecutor said on Saturday.</p> Relatives of Javier Rivas, one of the inmates who died during a riot and fire in the cells of the General Command of the Carabobo Police, react in front of his coffin during his funeral in Valencia, Venezuela March 29, 2018. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins
<p>“The prosecutor’s office has issued arrest warrants for five officials of PoliCarabobo who have been signaled as responsible for the tragic incident that led to the death of 68 citizens in the cells of the headquarters of said regional police: THEY HAVE BEEN DETAINED #Justice,” tweeted prosecutor Tarek Saab. Saab, a former Socialist Party governor close to leftist President Nicolas Maduro, did not provide any further details on the cause of the disaster, the worst to affect Venezuela’s notoriously violent jails in over two decades.</p> Mourners grieve over the coffin of Abraham Duran, one of the inmates who died during a riot and a fire in the cells of the General Command of the Carabobo Police, during his funeral at the cemetery in Valencia, Venezuela March 30, 2018. REUTERS/Adriana Loureiro
<p>Relatives of dead inmates and one surviving prisoner told Reuters there was a shoot-out with police on Wednesday morning in the jail in Carabobo state capital Valencia.</p>
<p>One inmate’s widow said officials had doused the area with gasoline, which fueled a fire through the small cells strung with hammocks and divided with sheets. There was no immediate comment from Carabobo state police.</p>
<p>Venezuela’s opposition blames the tragedy on Maduro’s inability to reform Venezuela’s lawless jails, where inmates strut around with weapons and orchestrate crimes from cells.</p>
<p>“The situation in detention centers and police jail cells in Venezuela is unacceptable!” said opposition lawmaker Miguel Pizarro.</p> Slideshow (3 Images)
<p>Opposition politicians have also criticized the government for its long silence about the incident. Maduro’s administration only issued a statement late on Friday night expressing its condolences to relatives and the president has yet to publicly speak about the deaths.</p>
<p>A former bus driver and union leader who has grown widely unpopular, Maduro is running for re-election in a May election largely boycotted by the opposition.</p>
<p>With heavy use of state resources and a compliant electoral council, he is expected to win a six-year term despite salary-destroying hyperinflation, a fifth straight year of recession, and rampant crime.</p>
<p>State television focused on showing images of Venezuelans on the beach during the Easter holiday, while Maduro’s ministers also largely remained mum on the Valencia disaster.</p>
<p>But Delcy Rodriguez, the president of the pro-government legislative super body known as the constituent assembly, struck back at criticism of the government’s handling of the jail fire.</p>
<p>“We repudiate the use of Venezuelans’ pain as a political tool,” tweeted Rodriguez.</p>
<p>Reporting by Alexandra Ulmer; Editing by Sandra Maler</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>ATLANTA (Reuters) - Atlanta’s top officials holed up in their offices on Saturday as they worked to restore critical systems knocked out by a nine-day-old cyber attack that plunged the Southeastern U.S. metropolis into technological chaos and forced some city workers to revert to paper.</p> Silhouettes of laptop users are seen next to a screen projection of binary code are seen in this picture illustration taken March 28, 2018. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration -
<p>On an Easter and Passover holiday weekend, city officials labored in preparation for the workweek to come.</p>
<p>Police and other public servants have spent the past week trying to piece together their digital work lives, recreating audit spreadsheets and conducting business on mobile phones in response to one of the most devastating “ransomware” virus attacks to hit an American city.</p>
<p>Three city council staffers have been sharing a single clunky personal laptop brought in after cyber extortionists attacked Atlanta’s computer network with a virus that scrambled data and still prevents access to critical systems.</p>
<p>“It’s extraordinarily frustrating,” said Councilman Howard Shook, whose office lost 16 years of digital records.</p>
<p>One compromised city computer seen by Reuters showed multiple corrupted documents with “weapologize” and “imsorry” added to file names.</p>
<p>Ransomware attacks have surged in recent years as cyber extortionists moved from attacking individual computers to large organizations, including businesses, healthcare organizations and government agencies. Previous high-profile attacks have shut down factories, prompted hospitals to turn away patients and forced local emergency dispatch systems to move to manual operations.</p>
<p>Ransomware typically corrupts data and does not steal it. The city of Atlanta has said it does not believe private residents’ information is in the hands of hackers, but they do not know for sure.</p>
<p>City officials have declined to discuss the extent of damage beyond disclosed outages that have shut down some services at municipal offices, including courts and the water department.</p>
<p>Nearly 6 million people live in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Georgia city itself is home to more than 450,000 people, according to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau.</p>
<p>City officials told Reuters that police files and financial documents were rendered inaccessible by unknown hackers who demanded $51,000 worth of bitcoin to provide digital keys to unlock scrambled files.</p>
<p>“Everything on my hard drive is gone,” City Auditor Amanda Noble said in her office housed in Atlanta City Hall’s ornate tower.</p>
<p>City officials have not disclosed the extent to which servers for backing up information on PCs were corrupted or what kind of information they think is unrecoverable without paying the ransom.</p>
<p>Noble discovered the disarray on March 22 when she turned on her computer to discover that files could not be opened after being encrypted by a powerful computer virus known as SamSam that renamed them with gibberish.</p>
<p>“I said, ‘This is wrong,’” she recalled.</p>
<p>City officials then quickly entered her office and told her to shut down the computer before warning the rest of the building.</p>
<p>Noble is working on a personal laptop and using her smartphone to search for details of current projects mentioned in emails stored on that device.</p>
<p>Not all computers were compromised. Ten of 18 machines in the auditing office were not affected, Noble said.</p>
<p>OLD-SCHOOL ANALOG</p>
<p>Atlanta police returned to taking written case notes and have lost access to some investigative databases, department spokesman Carlos Campos told Reuters. He declined to discuss the contents of the affected files.</p>
<p>“Our data management teams are working diligently to restore normal operations and functionalities to these systems and hope to be back online in the very near future,” he said. By the weekend, he added, officers were returning to digital police reports.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, some city employees complained they have been left in the dark, unsure when it is safe to turn on their computers.</p>
<p>“We don’t know anything,” said one frustrated employee as she left for a lunch break on Friday.</p> FEEBLE
<p>Like City Hall, whose 1930 neo-Gothic structure is attached to a massive modern wing, the city’s computer system is a combination of old and new.&#160;</p>
<p>“One of the reasons why municipalities are vulnerable is we just have so many different systems,” Noble said.&#160;</p>
<p>The city published results from a recent cyber-security audit in January, and had started implementing its recommendations before the ransomware virus hit. The audit called for better record-keeping and hiring more technology workers.</p>
<p>Councilman Shook said he is worried about how much the recovery will cost the city, but that he supports funding a cyber-security overhaul to counter future attacks.</p>
<p>For now his staff are temporarily sharing one aging laptop.</p>
<p>“Things are very slow,” he said. “It was a very surreal experience to be shut down like that.”</p>
<p>Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who took office in January, has declined to say if the city paid the ransom ahead of a March 28 deadline mentioned in an extortion note whose image was released by a local television station.</p>
<p>Shook, who chairs the city council’s finance subcommittee, said he did not know whether the city is negotiating with the hackers, but that it appears no ransom has been paid to date.</p>
<p>The Federal Bureau of Investigation, which is helping Atlanta respond, typically discourages ransomware victims from paying up.</p>
<p>FBI officials could not immediately be reached for comment. A Department of Homeland Security spokesman confirmed the agency is helping Atlanta respond to the attack, but declined to comment further.</p>
<p>Hackers typically walk away when ransoms are not paid, said Mark Weatherford, a former senior DHS cyber official.</p>
<p>Weatherford, who previously served as California’s chief information security officer, said the situation might have been resolved with little pain if the city had quickly made that payment.</p>
<p>“The longer it goes, the worse it gets,” he said. “This could turn out to be really bad if they never get their data back.”</p>
<p>Reporting by Laila Kearney; additional reporting by Jim Finkle; editing by Daniel Bases and Jonathan Oatis</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>MINGORA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai visited her birthplace in Pakistan’s Swat Valley on Saturday, bursting into tears as she entered her childhood home for the first time since a Taliban gunman shot her in 2012.</p> Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai (R-front) sits with her family and Pakistan Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb (L-back) while visiting her hometown Mingora in Swat Valley, Pakistan March 31, 2018. REUTERS/Stringer
<p>The 20-year-old told a family friend she planned to return home after completing her education at Oxford, where she is reading for a degree in politics, philosophy and economics.</p>
<p>Roads were blocked off in the town of Mingora as Yousafzai, known universally by her first name, flew in by military helicopter with her parents and brother.</p>
<p>Security was tight around her former home, now rented by a family friend, Farid-ul-Haq Haqqani, who has kept the young woman’s room intact with her books, school trophies and luggage.</p>
<p>“They were weeping. They were kneeling on the ground. They were touching the mud with their eyes,” Haqqani said of Malala and her family. He agreed to be interviewed inside the family home and pointed out a shelf in her room with books including Shakespeare’s “Comedy of Errors” and “Romeo and Juliet” as well as a copy of the television series “Ugly Betty”.</p>
<p>“I asked her when are you permanently coming back and she said ‘God willing, when my education is completed, I will God willing come back to Pakistan.’”</p>
<p>He added that Malala chatted in her room with four friends from her school days in Swat, while her parents greeted neighbors who dropped by - since the security detail would not allow her to go to other houses or even up on the roof of her home.</p>
<p>Malala has been visiting Pakistan since Thursday, her first trip home since she was shot and airlifted abroad for treatment. The government and military have been providing security.</p> Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai (C) stands with her father and a friend of him while visiting her hometown Mingora in Swat Valley, Pakistan March 31, 2018. REUTERS/Stringer
<p>It had been uncertain whether she would be able to visit Swat, a scenic mountain region parts of which spent nearly two years under the control of Pakistani Taliban militants and their harsh interpretation of Islamic law, due to continued concerns for her safety.</p>
<p>“I miss everything about Pakistan ... from the rivers, the mountains, to even the dirty streets and the garbage around our house, and my friends and how we used to have gossip ...to how we used to fight with our neighbors,” Malala told Reuters in an interview on Friday.</p>
<p>“I had never been so excited for anything. I’ve never been so happy before,” she said of returning to Pakistan.</p> “WEAPON OF EDUCATION”
<p>Two security officials told Reuters the trip to Swat would likely be just for one day.</p>
<p>Another family friend, Jawad Iqbal Yousafzai, who is from the same Pashtun clan as Malala, said the family also visited a local army cadet college.</p>
<p>The Pakistani army wrested control of Swat back from the Taliban in 2009 and the area remains mostly peaceful, but the militants still occasionally launch attacks, including one on the military a few weeks ago.</p>
<p>The Taliban claimed responsibility in 2012 for the attack on Yousafzai for her outspoken advocacy for girls’ education, which was forbidden under the militants’ rule over Swat.</p>
<p>She wrote an anonymous blog for the BBC Urdu service as a schoolgirl during the Taliban rule and later became outspoken in advocating more educational opportunities for girls.</p>
<p>In 2014, Malala became the youngest Nobel laureate, honored for her work with the Malala Foundation, a charity she set up to support education advocacy groups with a focus on Pakistan, Nigeria, Jordan, Syria and Kenya.</p> Slideshow (5 Images)
<p>This month, a new girls’ school built with her Nobel prize money opened in the village of Shangla in Swat Valley.</p>
<p>“The people of Swat and the whole of Pakistan are with Malala,” Jawad Iqbal Yousafzai said.</p>
<p>“God willing, we will counter the terrorism and extremism in our region with the weapon of education, with the weapon of a pen, with the weapons of teachers and with the weapons of books.”</p>
<p>Haqqani said Malala and her brother requested to be sent dried plums from a tree in the garden once they were harvested.</p>
<p>The family visit lasted about 90 minutes, he said.</p>
<p>“They were leaving the house slowly. They were dragging their feet. They were coming back inside again and again,” he said.</p>
<p>Writing by Kay Johnson; Editing by Kim Coghill</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
|
BRIEF-Singapore Telecommunications Announces Sale Of Shares In Cs Loxinfo Public Co Ltd Autopsy prompts more protests over killing of black man in California Venezuela arrests five police officials over deadly jail disaster With paper and phones, Atlanta struggles to recover from cyber attack Nobel winner Malala visits hometown in Pakistan for first time since shooting
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https://reuters.com/article/brief-singapore-telecommunications-annou/brief-singapore-telecommunications-announces-sale-of-shares-in-cs-loxinfo-public-co-ltd-idUSFWN1PH0F7
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2018-01-22
| 2least
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BRIEF-Singapore Telecommunications Announces Sale Of Shares In Cs Loxinfo Public Co Ltd Autopsy prompts more protests over killing of black man in California Venezuela arrests five police officials over deadly jail disaster With paper and phones, Atlanta struggles to recover from cyber attack Nobel winner Malala visits hometown in Pakistan for first time since shooting
<p>Jan 22 (Reuters) - Singapore Telecommunications Ltd :</p>
<p>* ‍ANNOUNCES SALE OF SHARES IN CS LOXINFO PUBLIC COMPANY LIMITED​</p>
<p>* SOLD 84.1 MILLION SHARES IN CS LOXINFO TO ADVANCED WIRELESS NETWORK FOR 654 MILLION BAHT</p>
<p>* TRANSACTION NOT EXPECTED TO HAVE MATERIAL IMPACT ON EARNINGS PER SHARE OF CO FOR FY ENDING 31 MARCH 2018​ Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage: ([email protected])</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - About 200 people demonstrated in Sacramento on Saturday to protest the fatal police shooting of Stephon Clark, in the latest of nearly two weeks of mostly peaceful rallies since the unarmed black man was gunned down in his grandmother’s yard.</p>
<p>The death of the 22-year-old father of two was the latest in a string of killings of black men by police that have triggered street protests and fueled a renewed national debate about bias in the U.S. criminal justice system.</p>
<p>Saturday’s demonstration brought together a multi-racial crowd, many holding signs such as “Stop Police Rage” and “Power to the People.” It was led by retired National Basketball Association player Matt Barnes, who grew up in the area and had two stints with the Sacramento Kings franchise.</p>
<p>“We’re here today to raise awareness, to come together peacefully and to have some accountability for the officers, not only in Sacramento but across the country, who have been doing this,” Barnes told the Sacramento Bee newspaper.</p>
<p>Some of Clark’s relatives attended the gathering in a city plaza. It followed a more heated protest overnight, during which demonstrators yelled expletives at police clad in riot gear.</p>
<p>Clark was shot on the night of March 18 by police responding to a report that someone was breaking windows. Police said the officers feared he had a gun, but that he was later found to have been holding a cellphone.</p>
<p>Police have said he was moving towards officers in a menacing way. The shooting was captured on a body cam video released by police.</p> Salena Manni (L), fiancee of Stephon Clark, holds their son Cairo and an unidentified man holds son Aiden (2nd R) while Basim Elkarra speaks and Rev Shane Harris listens at a rally in Sacramento, California, U.S., March 31, 2018. REUTERS/Bob Strong NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES
<p>On Friday, an attorney for Clark’s family released a private autopsy showing most of the eight bullets that hit Clark struck him in the back, contradicting the police version of events.</p>
<p>Clark was shot six times in the back, once in the side and once in the leg, said the attorney, Benjamin Crump.</p>
<p>“This independent autopsy affirms that Stephon was not a threat to police and was slain in another senseless police killing under increasingly questionable circumstances,” Crump said.</p> Slideshow (14 Images)
<p>The Sacramento Police Department said it would have no further comment until after the release of the findings of an official autopsy by the county coroner, and a review by state and local prosecutors.</p>
<p>In several days of sporadic protests, protesters have blocked traffic and twice delayed fans from reaching games played by the Kings at the Golden 1 Center.</p>
<p>Additional reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles, Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee, Rich McKay in Atlanta and Jonathan Allen in New York; Editing Chizu Nomiyama and Sandra Maler</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela arrested five state police officials for their alleged role in a riot and fire that killed 68 people in an overcrowded police station cell, the country’s public prosecutor said on Saturday.</p> Relatives of Javier Rivas, one of the inmates who died during a riot and fire in the cells of the General Command of the Carabobo Police, react in front of his coffin during his funeral in Valencia, Venezuela March 29, 2018. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins
<p>“The prosecutor’s office has issued arrest warrants for five officials of PoliCarabobo who have been signaled as responsible for the tragic incident that led to the death of 68 citizens in the cells of the headquarters of said regional police: THEY HAVE BEEN DETAINED #Justice,” tweeted prosecutor Tarek Saab. Saab, a former Socialist Party governor close to leftist President Nicolas Maduro, did not provide any further details on the cause of the disaster, the worst to affect Venezuela’s notoriously violent jails in over two decades.</p> Mourners grieve over the coffin of Abraham Duran, one of the inmates who died during a riot and a fire in the cells of the General Command of the Carabobo Police, during his funeral at the cemetery in Valencia, Venezuela March 30, 2018. REUTERS/Adriana Loureiro
<p>Relatives of dead inmates and one surviving prisoner told Reuters there was a shoot-out with police on Wednesday morning in the jail in Carabobo state capital Valencia.</p>
<p>One inmate’s widow said officials had doused the area with gasoline, which fueled a fire through the small cells strung with hammocks and divided with sheets. There was no immediate comment from Carabobo state police.</p>
<p>Venezuela’s opposition blames the tragedy on Maduro’s inability to reform Venezuela’s lawless jails, where inmates strut around with weapons and orchestrate crimes from cells.</p>
<p>“The situation in detention centers and police jail cells in Venezuela is unacceptable!” said opposition lawmaker Miguel Pizarro.</p> Slideshow (3 Images)
<p>Opposition politicians have also criticized the government for its long silence about the incident. Maduro’s administration only issued a statement late on Friday night expressing its condolences to relatives and the president has yet to publicly speak about the deaths.</p>
<p>A former bus driver and union leader who has grown widely unpopular, Maduro is running for re-election in a May election largely boycotted by the opposition.</p>
<p>With heavy use of state resources and a compliant electoral council, he is expected to win a six-year term despite salary-destroying hyperinflation, a fifth straight year of recession, and rampant crime.</p>
<p>State television focused on showing images of Venezuelans on the beach during the Easter holiday, while Maduro’s ministers also largely remained mum on the Valencia disaster.</p>
<p>But Delcy Rodriguez, the president of the pro-government legislative super body known as the constituent assembly, struck back at criticism of the government’s handling of the jail fire.</p>
<p>“We repudiate the use of Venezuelans’ pain as a political tool,” tweeted Rodriguez.</p>
<p>Reporting by Alexandra Ulmer; Editing by Sandra Maler</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>ATLANTA (Reuters) - Atlanta’s top officials holed up in their offices on Saturday as they worked to restore critical systems knocked out by a nine-day-old cyber attack that plunged the Southeastern U.S. metropolis into technological chaos and forced some city workers to revert to paper.</p> Silhouettes of laptop users are seen next to a screen projection of binary code are seen in this picture illustration taken March 28, 2018. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration -
<p>On an Easter and Passover holiday weekend, city officials labored in preparation for the workweek to come.</p>
<p>Police and other public servants have spent the past week trying to piece together their digital work lives, recreating audit spreadsheets and conducting business on mobile phones in response to one of the most devastating “ransomware” virus attacks to hit an American city.</p>
<p>Three city council staffers have been sharing a single clunky personal laptop brought in after cyber extortionists attacked Atlanta’s computer network with a virus that scrambled data and still prevents access to critical systems.</p>
<p>“It’s extraordinarily frustrating,” said Councilman Howard Shook, whose office lost 16 years of digital records.</p>
<p>One compromised city computer seen by Reuters showed multiple corrupted documents with “weapologize” and “imsorry” added to file names.</p>
<p>Ransomware attacks have surged in recent years as cyber extortionists moved from attacking individual computers to large organizations, including businesses, healthcare organizations and government agencies. Previous high-profile attacks have shut down factories, prompted hospitals to turn away patients and forced local emergency dispatch systems to move to manual operations.</p>
<p>Ransomware typically corrupts data and does not steal it. The city of Atlanta has said it does not believe private residents’ information is in the hands of hackers, but they do not know for sure.</p>
<p>City officials have declined to discuss the extent of damage beyond disclosed outages that have shut down some services at municipal offices, including courts and the water department.</p>
<p>Nearly 6 million people live in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Georgia city itself is home to more than 450,000 people, according to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau.</p>
<p>City officials told Reuters that police files and financial documents were rendered inaccessible by unknown hackers who demanded $51,000 worth of bitcoin to provide digital keys to unlock scrambled files.</p>
<p>“Everything on my hard drive is gone,” City Auditor Amanda Noble said in her office housed in Atlanta City Hall’s ornate tower.</p>
<p>City officials have not disclosed the extent to which servers for backing up information on PCs were corrupted or what kind of information they think is unrecoverable without paying the ransom.</p>
<p>Noble discovered the disarray on March 22 when she turned on her computer to discover that files could not be opened after being encrypted by a powerful computer virus known as SamSam that renamed them with gibberish.</p>
<p>“I said, ‘This is wrong,’” she recalled.</p>
<p>City officials then quickly entered her office and told her to shut down the computer before warning the rest of the building.</p>
<p>Noble is working on a personal laptop and using her smartphone to search for details of current projects mentioned in emails stored on that device.</p>
<p>Not all computers were compromised. Ten of 18 machines in the auditing office were not affected, Noble said.</p>
<p>OLD-SCHOOL ANALOG</p>
<p>Atlanta police returned to taking written case notes and have lost access to some investigative databases, department spokesman Carlos Campos told Reuters. He declined to discuss the contents of the affected files.</p>
<p>“Our data management teams are working diligently to restore normal operations and functionalities to these systems and hope to be back online in the very near future,” he said. By the weekend, he added, officers were returning to digital police reports.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, some city employees complained they have been left in the dark, unsure when it is safe to turn on their computers.</p>
<p>“We don’t know anything,” said one frustrated employee as she left for a lunch break on Friday.</p> FEEBLE
<p>Like City Hall, whose 1930 neo-Gothic structure is attached to a massive modern wing, the city’s computer system is a combination of old and new.&#160;</p>
<p>“One of the reasons why municipalities are vulnerable is we just have so many different systems,” Noble said.&#160;</p>
<p>The city published results from a recent cyber-security audit in January, and had started implementing its recommendations before the ransomware virus hit. The audit called for better record-keeping and hiring more technology workers.</p>
<p>Councilman Shook said he is worried about how much the recovery will cost the city, but that he supports funding a cyber-security overhaul to counter future attacks.</p>
<p>For now his staff are temporarily sharing one aging laptop.</p>
<p>“Things are very slow,” he said. “It was a very surreal experience to be shut down like that.”</p>
<p>Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who took office in January, has declined to say if the city paid the ransom ahead of a March 28 deadline mentioned in an extortion note whose image was released by a local television station.</p>
<p>Shook, who chairs the city council’s finance subcommittee, said he did not know whether the city is negotiating with the hackers, but that it appears no ransom has been paid to date.</p>
<p>The Federal Bureau of Investigation, which is helping Atlanta respond, typically discourages ransomware victims from paying up.</p>
<p>FBI officials could not immediately be reached for comment. A Department of Homeland Security spokesman confirmed the agency is helping Atlanta respond to the attack, but declined to comment further.</p>
<p>Hackers typically walk away when ransoms are not paid, said Mark Weatherford, a former senior DHS cyber official.</p>
<p>Weatherford, who previously served as California’s chief information security officer, said the situation might have been resolved with little pain if the city had quickly made that payment.</p>
<p>“The longer it goes, the worse it gets,” he said. “This could turn out to be really bad if they never get their data back.”</p>
<p>Reporting by Laila Kearney; additional reporting by Jim Finkle; editing by Daniel Bases and Jonathan Oatis</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>MINGORA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai visited her birthplace in Pakistan’s Swat Valley on Saturday, bursting into tears as she entered her childhood home for the first time since a Taliban gunman shot her in 2012.</p> Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai (R-front) sits with her family and Pakistan Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb (L-back) while visiting her hometown Mingora in Swat Valley, Pakistan March 31, 2018. REUTERS/Stringer
<p>The 20-year-old told a family friend she planned to return home after completing her education at Oxford, where she is reading for a degree in politics, philosophy and economics.</p>
<p>Roads were blocked off in the town of Mingora as Yousafzai, known universally by her first name, flew in by military helicopter with her parents and brother.</p>
<p>Security was tight around her former home, now rented by a family friend, Farid-ul-Haq Haqqani, who has kept the young woman’s room intact with her books, school trophies and luggage.</p>
<p>“They were weeping. They were kneeling on the ground. They were touching the mud with their eyes,” Haqqani said of Malala and her family. He agreed to be interviewed inside the family home and pointed out a shelf in her room with books including Shakespeare’s “Comedy of Errors” and “Romeo and Juliet” as well as a copy of the television series “Ugly Betty”.</p>
<p>“I asked her when are you permanently coming back and she said ‘God willing, when my education is completed, I will God willing come back to Pakistan.’”</p>
<p>He added that Malala chatted in her room with four friends from her school days in Swat, while her parents greeted neighbors who dropped by - since the security detail would not allow her to go to other houses or even up on the roof of her home.</p>
<p>Malala has been visiting Pakistan since Thursday, her first trip home since she was shot and airlifted abroad for treatment. The government and military have been providing security.</p> Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai (C) stands with her father and a friend of him while visiting her hometown Mingora in Swat Valley, Pakistan March 31, 2018. REUTERS/Stringer
<p>It had been uncertain whether she would be able to visit Swat, a scenic mountain region parts of which spent nearly two years under the control of Pakistani Taliban militants and their harsh interpretation of Islamic law, due to continued concerns for her safety.</p>
<p>“I miss everything about Pakistan ... from the rivers, the mountains, to even the dirty streets and the garbage around our house, and my friends and how we used to have gossip ...to how we used to fight with our neighbors,” Malala told Reuters in an interview on Friday.</p>
<p>“I had never been so excited for anything. I’ve never been so happy before,” she said of returning to Pakistan.</p> “WEAPON OF EDUCATION”
<p>Two security officials told Reuters the trip to Swat would likely be just for one day.</p>
<p>Another family friend, Jawad Iqbal Yousafzai, who is from the same Pashtun clan as Malala, said the family also visited a local army cadet college.</p>
<p>The Pakistani army wrested control of Swat back from the Taliban in 2009 and the area remains mostly peaceful, but the militants still occasionally launch attacks, including one on the military a few weeks ago.</p>
<p>The Taliban claimed responsibility in 2012 for the attack on Yousafzai for her outspoken advocacy for girls’ education, which was forbidden under the militants’ rule over Swat.</p>
<p>She wrote an anonymous blog for the BBC Urdu service as a schoolgirl during the Taliban rule and later became outspoken in advocating more educational opportunities for girls.</p>
<p>In 2014, Malala became the youngest Nobel laureate, honored for her work with the Malala Foundation, a charity she set up to support education advocacy groups with a focus on Pakistan, Nigeria, Jordan, Syria and Kenya.</p> Slideshow (5 Images)
<p>This month, a new girls’ school built with her Nobel prize money opened in the village of Shangla in Swat Valley.</p>
<p>“The people of Swat and the whole of Pakistan are with Malala,” Jawad Iqbal Yousafzai said.</p>
<p>“God willing, we will counter the terrorism and extremism in our region with the weapon of education, with the weapon of a pen, with the weapons of teachers and with the weapons of books.”</p>
<p>Haqqani said Malala and her brother requested to be sent dried plums from a tree in the garden once they were harvested.</p>
<p>The family visit lasted about 90 minutes, he said.</p>
<p>“They were leaving the house slowly. They were dragging their feet. They were coming back inside again and again,” he said.</p>
<p>Writing by Kay Johnson; Editing by Kim Coghill</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
| 5,171 |
<p />
<p>Nestle snatched Pfizer’s (NYSE:PFE) infant nutrition business on Monday for nearly $12 billion, making the Swiss food group the largest player in the key Asia-Pacific market.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The $11.85 billion sticker price trumped reports in the press from last week that indicated a $10 billion buyout of the business unit, which generates 85% of its sales from emerging markets.</p>
<p>By agreeing to the all-cash deal, Nestle has got its hands on a division that will complement its infant nutrition business and that is expected to post 2012 sales of $2.4 billion. Sales jumped 15% in 2011 to $2.1 billion.</p>
<p>“This acquisition underlines our commitment to be the world’s leading nutrition, health and wellness company,” Nestle CEO Paul Bulcke said in a statement. “The combined entities will enable us to deepen our engagement with consumers, offering them a wider choice of nutritious food to ensure their children make a healthy start to a healthy life.”</p>
<p>Nestle, which is already the world’s largest food company, said it expects the acquisition to add to its bottom line in its first full year. It will also make it the largest player in the Asia-Pacific region and send it soaring to third from ninth in the fast-growing Chinese market.</p>
<p>In addition to everyday infant formula, the baby food business sells specialty infant and toddler formulas, follow-on formulas and maternal and adult nutrition products.</p>
<p>Nestle beat out rivals Danone and Mead Johnson (NYSE:MJN) for the business.</p>
<p>Pfizer put its baby food business up for sale last July when it also sought a buyer for its animal health division. The drug giant expects the Nestle deal to close by the first half of 2013.</p>
<p>“The sale of the Nutrition business to Nestlé is consistent with Pfizer’s intention to generate the greatest value for shareholders by maximizing the value-creation potential of our businesses and prudently managing our capital allocation,” Pfizer CEO Ian Read said in a separate statement.</p>
<p>Pfizer said it plans to update its 2012 financial guidance to reflect the sale when it reports first-quarter results on May 1.</p>
<p>Shares of the New York-based pharmaceutical company retreated 1.02% to $22.33 Monday morning, compared with a 1.18% decline on the S&amp;P 500.</p>
<p>Pfizer said it was advised on the transaction by Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) and Centerview Advisors.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
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Nestle to Buy Pfizer's Infant Nutrition Unit for $11.9B
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2016-01-26
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Nestle to Buy Pfizer's Infant Nutrition Unit for $11.9B
<p />
<p>Nestle snatched Pfizer’s (NYSE:PFE) infant nutrition business on Monday for nearly $12 billion, making the Swiss food group the largest player in the key Asia-Pacific market.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The $11.85 billion sticker price trumped reports in the press from last week that indicated a $10 billion buyout of the business unit, which generates 85% of its sales from emerging markets.</p>
<p>By agreeing to the all-cash deal, Nestle has got its hands on a division that will complement its infant nutrition business and that is expected to post 2012 sales of $2.4 billion. Sales jumped 15% in 2011 to $2.1 billion.</p>
<p>“This acquisition underlines our commitment to be the world’s leading nutrition, health and wellness company,” Nestle CEO Paul Bulcke said in a statement. “The combined entities will enable us to deepen our engagement with consumers, offering them a wider choice of nutritious food to ensure their children make a healthy start to a healthy life.”</p>
<p>Nestle, which is already the world’s largest food company, said it expects the acquisition to add to its bottom line in its first full year. It will also make it the largest player in the Asia-Pacific region and send it soaring to third from ninth in the fast-growing Chinese market.</p>
<p>In addition to everyday infant formula, the baby food business sells specialty infant and toddler formulas, follow-on formulas and maternal and adult nutrition products.</p>
<p>Nestle beat out rivals Danone and Mead Johnson (NYSE:MJN) for the business.</p>
<p>Pfizer put its baby food business up for sale last July when it also sought a buyer for its animal health division. The drug giant expects the Nestle deal to close by the first half of 2013.</p>
<p>“The sale of the Nutrition business to Nestlé is consistent with Pfizer’s intention to generate the greatest value for shareholders by maximizing the value-creation potential of our businesses and prudently managing our capital allocation,” Pfizer CEO Ian Read said in a separate statement.</p>
<p>Pfizer said it plans to update its 2012 financial guidance to reflect the sale when it reports first-quarter results on May 1.</p>
<p>Shares of the New York-based pharmaceutical company retreated 1.02% to $22.33 Monday morning, compared with a 1.18% decline on the S&amp;P 500.</p>
<p>Pfizer said it was advised on the transaction by Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) and Centerview Advisors.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
| 5,172 |
<p>U.S. stocks opened lower on Tuesday, pressured after President-elect Donald Trump told The Wall Street Journal that the dollar was "too strong," raising new questions about the types of economic policies he might pursue when he takes office later this week. Investors also digested comments from British Prime Minister Theresa May, who spoke about the country's upcoming exit from the European Union. On the upside, both Morgan Stanley and UnitedHealth Group reported strong quarterly results. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 48 points, or 0.2%, to 19,836. The S&amp;P 500 lost 7 points, or 0.3%, to 2,268. The Nasdaq Composite Index slid 19 points to 5,555, a loss of 0.3%.</p>
<p>Copyright © 2017 MarketWatch, Inc.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
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Stocks Open Lower Amid Trump, Brexit Uncertainty
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2017-01-17
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Stocks Open Lower Amid Trump, Brexit Uncertainty
<p>U.S. stocks opened lower on Tuesday, pressured after President-elect Donald Trump told The Wall Street Journal that the dollar was "too strong," raising new questions about the types of economic policies he might pursue when he takes office later this week. Investors also digested comments from British Prime Minister Theresa May, who spoke about the country's upcoming exit from the European Union. On the upside, both Morgan Stanley and UnitedHealth Group reported strong quarterly results. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 48 points, or 0.2%, to 19,836. The S&amp;P 500 lost 7 points, or 0.3%, to 2,268. The Nasdaq Composite Index slid 19 points to 5,555, a loss of 0.3%.</p>
<p>Copyright © 2017 MarketWatch, Inc.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
| 5,173 |
<p />
<p>Will you be better or worse off if&#160;Republicans pass their version of health care reform? That’s the burning question for most Americans as they watch the arm wrestling going on in Washington, D.C. As with the health care debate itself, there are no easy answers.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The bill being debated right now, the American Health Care Act working its way through the House of Representatives, offers strong hints about what health insurance will look like when designed by Republicans. In general, young, successful, healthy people will pay less, but many other groups will pay more — or not have health insurance at all.</p>
<p>The Congressional Budget Office chimed in on Monday with <a href="https://www.cbo.gov/publication/52486" type="external">a much-anticipated report Opens a New Window.</a> saying the Republican plan would lead to 14 million fewer Americans having insurance than&#160;under Obamacare in&#160;2018. Other estimates have pegged the number at 10 million (S&amp;P Global Ratings) to 15 million (Brookings). The CBO also noted&#160;premiums may be 10% lower by 2026 than under Obamacare.</p>
<p>Obamacare 101</p>
<p>Before we get into the details, some&#160;perspective is necessary. While Obamacare did have provisions that dealt with the overall health insurance market, it was mainly aimed at the uninsured, and most of its provisions dealt with the mechanisms needed to get those Americans coverage. Much of the Republican plan deals with changing that market.</p>
<p>In total, about 22 million consumers are insured by what most folks call Obamacare – some 8 million via state exchanges, and another 14 million through expansion of traditional Medicaid, according to The Heritage Foundation. Nearly all of them enjoy some kind of government subsidy.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>The Obamacare exchanges, which tend to dominate headlines, are in reality a small portion of the health care insurance market. Many&#160;Americans get insurance through their employers. There are another 10 million or so who directly buy their own insurance in the private market, outside the Obamacare exchanges. And 15 million get coverage through small-employer plans, according to Heritage.</p>
<p>Because the health insurance market has these very distinct elements, discussion about health care coverage can be confusing. Take the individual mandate and its associated tax penalty for those who don’t get insurance, which is incredibly unpopular with conservatives. It obviously doesn’t directly impact those who already get insurance at work. Also, the large premium increases that Obamacare exchange consumers experienced last year, which were indeed painful, only directly impacted the consumers getting Obamacare subsidies.</p>
<p>On the other hand, anything that happens to one end of the health insurance market is bound to have impacts on the rest of the market. Those who purchased individual plans directly — not on the exchanges — saw increases that were in line with Obamacare increases, leading to a lot of sticker shock.</p>
<p>Other popular Obamacare provisions, like a list of minimum coverage requirements or the elimination of pre-existing condition rejections, naturally led to increased health insurance premiums for all. Bottomline: Even if you aren’t using Obamacare exchange insurance, any changes to health care coverage will impact you. (If you’re <a href="http://blog.credit.com/2013/11/essential-tips-for-navigating-obamacare/#utm_source=Fox&amp;utm_campaign=GOP_healthcare&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;utm_content=IB_2" type="external">looking for an Obamacare refresher, we’ve got one here Opens a New Window.</a>.)</p>
<p>What’s in the Current Republican Health Care Plan?</p>
<p>Here are some&#160;elements that might directly affect your wallet.</p>
<p>1. Mandates Gone, But Not Really</p>
<p>Mandates, which conservatives impulsively dislike, are gone. Individuals will not face a tax penalty if they fail to get insurance, as they do under Obamacare. The House GOP plan does have a similar provision, however. Consumers who let their insurance lapse but then decide to get it later will pay a 30% surcharge. So while Americans are free to forgo&#160;insurance, that becomes a lifetime commitment — at least in order to avoid something that’s an awful lot like the old Obamacare penalty.</p>
<p>Employer mandates are gone, too. Under Obamacare, firms with more than 50 full-time employees must&#160;offer insurance. That requirement would be removed by the Republican plan. Depending on your perspective, that will either lower costs for business owners or hurt small business workers who might lose coverage they receive&#160;at work.</p>
<p>2. Subsidies Gone, But Not Really</p>
<p>Some say Obamacare helped middle-class and poor insurance shoppers afford high premiums with monthly subsidies. The subsidies, which could cover most of the monthly payment, were determined by a complex calculation involving income and regional costs. (Health care is more expensive in states&#160;like Alaska.)</p>
<p>The income cap for getting aid is about $48,000. With the Republican plan, subsidies are being “replaced” by tax credits and would be far more widely available. Families with incomes up to $150,000 would be eligible for as much as $4,000 toward health care costs. The tax credit amount, which will not be adjusted for geography, will likely be less than the Obamacare subsidy in most cases. The new tax credit would be $1,700 less on average than under Obamacare, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.</p>
<p>A word about the Republican tax credit. It will be “advanceable,” meaning consumers can use the money as they pay their premiums, rather than wait until the end of the year when the money might be returned as a tax refund. If that sounds a lot like the way Obamacare’s subsidies work, that’s because they are essentially the same thing.</p>
<p>Health Savings Accounts</p>
<p>Republicans have long liked the idea of Health Savings Accounts, so the GOP proposals dramatically increases their limits. Consumers with high-deductible plans can twin these with health savings accounts, which are a little bit like <a href="https://www.credit.com/personal-finance/how-to-make-a-401k-withdrawal/#utm_source=Fox&amp;utm_campaign=GOP_healthcare&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;utm_content=IB_3" type="external">401(k) plans Opens a New Window.</a>. HSAs let consumers put aside their own pre-tax income, invest it and use it for any health care cost. Supporters think HSAs support consumer choice; opponents are worried about health care funds being placed at risk in the stock market.</p>
<p>Right now, HSAs are capped at around $3,400 for individuals. The GOP plan would increase&#160;that limit. It would also lower penalties for the health care equivalent of early withdrawal – spending the money on non-health care costs. HSAs act a bit like a second <a href="https://www.credit.com/personal-finance/what-is-an-ira/#utm_source=Fox&amp;utm_campaign=GOP_healthcare&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;utm_content=IB_4" type="external">IRA Opens a New Window.</a>, because the money can ultimately be used for retirement, so this is a very good thing for workers who already max out other retirement plan options. It doesn’t help other groups who aren’t that lucky, however.</p>
<p>We <a href="http://blog.credit.com/2016/12/the-future-of-u-s-health-care-account-based-health-plans-163671/#utm_source=Fox&amp;utm_campaign=GOP_healthcare&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;utm_content=IB_5" type="external">explained how HSAs work Opens a New Window.</a>&#160;earlier this year.</p>
<p>How Older Americans Lose</p>
<p>Older Obamacare consumers will almost certainly see their premiums rise under&#160;the GOP plan. Obamacare allows insurers to charge older consumers up to three times more than younger consumers. With the GOP health care bill, that jumps to a factor of five. This would likely lower costs for young buyers and raise it for older buyers.</p>
<p>Taxes May&#160;Be Lower, But Who Will Pay?&#160;</p>
<p>The other politically attractive element of Obamacare is that it allows Republicans to say they’ve repealed most of the new <a href="https://www.credit.com/taxes/#utm_source=Fox&amp;utm_campaign=GOP_healthcare&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;utm_content=IB_6" type="external">taxes Opens a New Window.</a> associated with it, not just the individual mandate penalty but other taxes that are unpopular with businesses, like a medical device tax. The tanning salon tax would disappear, too.</p>
<p>That raises an obvious question, however: Who pays? Either a whole bunch of people have to lose coverage, or money to pay for it has to be found somewhere. There simply is no way to repeal taxes but keep giving consumers coverage without exploding the deficit.</p>
<p>The Big Picture</p>
<p>It’s important to note that, Paul Ryan’s protestations aside, the American Health Care Act really is just a first offer in a negotiation that is sure to take many twists and turns. That means none of the specifics in this story are carved in stone. Still, when Republicans in the Senate have their say, you can expect these same concepts to come up over and over again — mandate elimination, tax credits, swelling the ranks of the uninsured.</p>
<p>Will your wallet win or lose when the final version is signed?&#160;Time will tell.</p>
<p>This article originally appeared on <a href="http://blog.credit.com/2017/03/how-gop-health-care-reform-could-affect-your-wallet-167666/" type="external">Credit.com Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p />
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What GOP Health Care Means for Your Wallet
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2017-03-14
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What GOP Health Care Means for Your Wallet
<p />
<p>Will you be better or worse off if&#160;Republicans pass their version of health care reform? That’s the burning question for most Americans as they watch the arm wrestling going on in Washington, D.C. As with the health care debate itself, there are no easy answers.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The bill being debated right now, the American Health Care Act working its way through the House of Representatives, offers strong hints about what health insurance will look like when designed by Republicans. In general, young, successful, healthy people will pay less, but many other groups will pay more — or not have health insurance at all.</p>
<p>The Congressional Budget Office chimed in on Monday with <a href="https://www.cbo.gov/publication/52486" type="external">a much-anticipated report Opens a New Window.</a> saying the Republican plan would lead to 14 million fewer Americans having insurance than&#160;under Obamacare in&#160;2018. Other estimates have pegged the number at 10 million (S&amp;P Global Ratings) to 15 million (Brookings). The CBO also noted&#160;premiums may be 10% lower by 2026 than under Obamacare.</p>
<p>Obamacare 101</p>
<p>Before we get into the details, some&#160;perspective is necessary. While Obamacare did have provisions that dealt with the overall health insurance market, it was mainly aimed at the uninsured, and most of its provisions dealt with the mechanisms needed to get those Americans coverage. Much of the Republican plan deals with changing that market.</p>
<p>In total, about 22 million consumers are insured by what most folks call Obamacare – some 8 million via state exchanges, and another 14 million through expansion of traditional Medicaid, according to The Heritage Foundation. Nearly all of them enjoy some kind of government subsidy.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>The Obamacare exchanges, which tend to dominate headlines, are in reality a small portion of the health care insurance market. Many&#160;Americans get insurance through their employers. There are another 10 million or so who directly buy their own insurance in the private market, outside the Obamacare exchanges. And 15 million get coverage through small-employer plans, according to Heritage.</p>
<p>Because the health insurance market has these very distinct elements, discussion about health care coverage can be confusing. Take the individual mandate and its associated tax penalty for those who don’t get insurance, which is incredibly unpopular with conservatives. It obviously doesn’t directly impact those who already get insurance at work. Also, the large premium increases that Obamacare exchange consumers experienced last year, which were indeed painful, only directly impacted the consumers getting Obamacare subsidies.</p>
<p>On the other hand, anything that happens to one end of the health insurance market is bound to have impacts on the rest of the market. Those who purchased individual plans directly — not on the exchanges — saw increases that were in line with Obamacare increases, leading to a lot of sticker shock.</p>
<p>Other popular Obamacare provisions, like a list of minimum coverage requirements or the elimination of pre-existing condition rejections, naturally led to increased health insurance premiums for all. Bottomline: Even if you aren’t using Obamacare exchange insurance, any changes to health care coverage will impact you. (If you’re <a href="http://blog.credit.com/2013/11/essential-tips-for-navigating-obamacare/#utm_source=Fox&amp;utm_campaign=GOP_healthcare&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;utm_content=IB_2" type="external">looking for an Obamacare refresher, we’ve got one here Opens a New Window.</a>.)</p>
<p>What’s in the Current Republican Health Care Plan?</p>
<p>Here are some&#160;elements that might directly affect your wallet.</p>
<p>1. Mandates Gone, But Not Really</p>
<p>Mandates, which conservatives impulsively dislike, are gone. Individuals will not face a tax penalty if they fail to get insurance, as they do under Obamacare. The House GOP plan does have a similar provision, however. Consumers who let their insurance lapse but then decide to get it later will pay a 30% surcharge. So while Americans are free to forgo&#160;insurance, that becomes a lifetime commitment — at least in order to avoid something that’s an awful lot like the old Obamacare penalty.</p>
<p>Employer mandates are gone, too. Under Obamacare, firms with more than 50 full-time employees must&#160;offer insurance. That requirement would be removed by the Republican plan. Depending on your perspective, that will either lower costs for business owners or hurt small business workers who might lose coverage they receive&#160;at work.</p>
<p>2. Subsidies Gone, But Not Really</p>
<p>Some say Obamacare helped middle-class and poor insurance shoppers afford high premiums with monthly subsidies. The subsidies, which could cover most of the monthly payment, were determined by a complex calculation involving income and regional costs. (Health care is more expensive in states&#160;like Alaska.)</p>
<p>The income cap for getting aid is about $48,000. With the Republican plan, subsidies are being “replaced” by tax credits and would be far more widely available. Families with incomes up to $150,000 would be eligible for as much as $4,000 toward health care costs. The tax credit amount, which will not be adjusted for geography, will likely be less than the Obamacare subsidy in most cases. The new tax credit would be $1,700 less on average than under Obamacare, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.</p>
<p>A word about the Republican tax credit. It will be “advanceable,” meaning consumers can use the money as they pay their premiums, rather than wait until the end of the year when the money might be returned as a tax refund. If that sounds a lot like the way Obamacare’s subsidies work, that’s because they are essentially the same thing.</p>
<p>Health Savings Accounts</p>
<p>Republicans have long liked the idea of Health Savings Accounts, so the GOP proposals dramatically increases their limits. Consumers with high-deductible plans can twin these with health savings accounts, which are a little bit like <a href="https://www.credit.com/personal-finance/how-to-make-a-401k-withdrawal/#utm_source=Fox&amp;utm_campaign=GOP_healthcare&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;utm_content=IB_3" type="external">401(k) plans Opens a New Window.</a>. HSAs let consumers put aside their own pre-tax income, invest it and use it for any health care cost. Supporters think HSAs support consumer choice; opponents are worried about health care funds being placed at risk in the stock market.</p>
<p>Right now, HSAs are capped at around $3,400 for individuals. The GOP plan would increase&#160;that limit. It would also lower penalties for the health care equivalent of early withdrawal – spending the money on non-health care costs. HSAs act a bit like a second <a href="https://www.credit.com/personal-finance/what-is-an-ira/#utm_source=Fox&amp;utm_campaign=GOP_healthcare&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;utm_content=IB_4" type="external">IRA Opens a New Window.</a>, because the money can ultimately be used for retirement, so this is a very good thing for workers who already max out other retirement plan options. It doesn’t help other groups who aren’t that lucky, however.</p>
<p>We <a href="http://blog.credit.com/2016/12/the-future-of-u-s-health-care-account-based-health-plans-163671/#utm_source=Fox&amp;utm_campaign=GOP_healthcare&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;utm_content=IB_5" type="external">explained how HSAs work Opens a New Window.</a>&#160;earlier this year.</p>
<p>How Older Americans Lose</p>
<p>Older Obamacare consumers will almost certainly see their premiums rise under&#160;the GOP plan. Obamacare allows insurers to charge older consumers up to three times more than younger consumers. With the GOP health care bill, that jumps to a factor of five. This would likely lower costs for young buyers and raise it for older buyers.</p>
<p>Taxes May&#160;Be Lower, But Who Will Pay?&#160;</p>
<p>The other politically attractive element of Obamacare is that it allows Republicans to say they’ve repealed most of the new <a href="https://www.credit.com/taxes/#utm_source=Fox&amp;utm_campaign=GOP_healthcare&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;utm_content=IB_6" type="external">taxes Opens a New Window.</a> associated with it, not just the individual mandate penalty but other taxes that are unpopular with businesses, like a medical device tax. The tanning salon tax would disappear, too.</p>
<p>That raises an obvious question, however: Who pays? Either a whole bunch of people have to lose coverage, or money to pay for it has to be found somewhere. There simply is no way to repeal taxes but keep giving consumers coverage without exploding the deficit.</p>
<p>The Big Picture</p>
<p>It’s important to note that, Paul Ryan’s protestations aside, the American Health Care Act really is just a first offer in a negotiation that is sure to take many twists and turns. That means none of the specifics in this story are carved in stone. Still, when Republicans in the Senate have their say, you can expect these same concepts to come up over and over again — mandate elimination, tax credits, swelling the ranks of the uninsured.</p>
<p>Will your wallet win or lose when the final version is signed?&#160;Time will tell.</p>
<p>This article originally appeared on <a href="http://blog.credit.com/2017/03/how-gop-health-care-reform-could-affect-your-wallet-167666/" type="external">Credit.com Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p />
| 5,174 |
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — One of the coldest places on Earth is so hot it's melting.</p>
<p>Glaciers, sea ice and a massive ice sheet in the Arctic are thawing from toasty air above and warm water below. The northern polar region is <a href="http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/Report-Card" type="external">heating</a> up twice as fast as the rest of the planet and that's setting off alarm bells.</p>
<p>"The melting of the Arctic will come to haunt us all," said German climate scientist Stefan Rahmstorf.</p>
<p>While global leaders set a goal of preventing 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) of man-made <a href="http://dels.nas.edu/resources/static-assets/exec-office-other/climate-change-full.pdf" type="external">warming</a> since pre-industrial times, the Arctic has already hit that dangerous mark. Last year, the Arctic Circle was about 3.6 degrees (6.5 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than normal.</p>
<p />
<p>CAUSES OF WARMING</p>
<p>Earth is getting hotter because of the buildup of heat-trapping gases spewed into the air by the burning of coal, oil and natural gas, according to decades of peer-reviewed research. Scientists have long predicted the Arctic would warm first and faster than the rest of the globe. Real-time measurements are proving them right.</p>
<p>The Arctic is mostly ocean covered with a layer of ice; changes from ice to water often kick in a cycle that contributes to global warming.</p>
<p>Sea ice is white and it <a href="https://nsidc.org/cryosphere/seaice/processes/albedo.html" type="external">reflects</a> the sun's heat back into space. But when it melts, it's replaced with dark ocean that strongly absorbs it, said former NASA chief scientist Waleed Abdalati, who heads the environmental research program at the University of Colorado.</p>
<p>That heat gets transferred back up to the atmosphere in the fall and winter. As that happens, water vapor — a greenhouse gas — hangs around, trapping more heat. More clouds form around that time, also acting as a blanket, said Mark Serreze, director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado.</p>
<p />
<p>ROLE OF WINTER</p>
<p>Winter is crucial. Three times in the past two cold seasons, air temperatures near the North Pole were near or even a shade above freezing. That's about 50 degrees warmer than it should be. From last November through February, Barrow, Alaska — the northernmost U.S. city — was 7 degrees Celsius (13 degrees Fahrenheit) <a href="https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/time-series/us/50/USW00027502/tavg/4/2/1895-2017?base_prd=true&amp;firstbaseyear=1901&amp;lastbaseyear=2000&amp;trend=true&amp;trend_base=10&amp;firsttrendyear=1987&amp;lasttrendyear=2017" type="external">warmer</a> than the 20th century average, and much of the Atlantic Arctic off Norway and Greenland was as hot.</p>
<p>Warm winters weaken sea ice, which floats on the ocean surface. It's supposed to recover, spread more across the Arctic and get thicker in the winter so it can withstand the warmth of the summer. But a warmer winter means less protection when the heat hits.</p>
<p>In September 2016, the time of year the spread of ice across the Arctic is at its lowest, Arctic sea ice was the <a href="http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/2016/09/2016-ties-with-2007-for-second-lowest-arctic-sea-ice-minimum/" type="external">second</a> lowest day on record, about 40 percent below the lowest day measured in 1979 when satellite records started. Between those two days 37 years apart, the Arctic lost enough sea ice to cover Alaska, Texas and California combined.</p>
<p>Then it didn't grow back that much this winter, setting record low amounts from November through March, when sea ice reaches its peak spread.</p>
<p>BEYOND THE ARCTIC</p>
<p>Of all the global warming warning signs in the Arctic, "it is the sea ice that is screaming the loudest," Serreze said.</p>
<p>That's a problem because a growing body of <a href="" type="internal">studies</a> connects dwindling sea ice to wild weather. The reduced winter sea ice interacts with warmer oceans to change conditions in the air that then triggers a potent noticeable shift in the jet stream, the giant atmospheric river that controls much of our weather, said Rutgers University climate scientist Jennifer Francis. This theory is still debated by scientists, but increasingly more researchers are agreeing with Francis.</p>
<p>It's not just sea ice on the decline. Glaciers in the Arctic are shrinking. And the massive Greenland ice sheet is slowly but steadily <a href="" type="internal">melting</a> and that can add a big dose to sea level rise. Since 2002, it has lost 4,400 billion tons (4,000 billion metric tons) of ice.</p>
<p>Then there's the Arctic carbon bomb. Carbon dioxide and methane — which traps even more heat — are stuck in the permafrost in places like Alaska and Siberia.</p>
<p>"Roast the Arctic and you create a mess everywhere on Earth," said Princeton University climate scientist Michael Oppenheimer.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/borenbears" type="external">@borenbears.</a> His work can be found <a href="" type="internal">here</a> .</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>This Associated Press <a href="" type="internal">series</a> was produced in <a href="https://www.ap.org/press-releases/2017/ap-and-howard-hughes-medical-institute-collaborate-to-enhance-science-journalism" type="external">partnership</a> with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.</p>
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — One of the coldest places on Earth is so hot it's melting.</p>
<p>Glaciers, sea ice and a massive ice sheet in the Arctic are thawing from toasty air above and warm water below. The northern polar region is <a href="http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/Report-Card" type="external">heating</a> up twice as fast as the rest of the planet and that's setting off alarm bells.</p>
<p>"The melting of the Arctic will come to haunt us all," said German climate scientist Stefan Rahmstorf.</p>
<p>While global leaders set a goal of preventing 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) of man-made <a href="http://dels.nas.edu/resources/static-assets/exec-office-other/climate-change-full.pdf" type="external">warming</a> since pre-industrial times, the Arctic has already hit that dangerous mark. Last year, the Arctic Circle was about 3.6 degrees (6.5 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than normal.</p>
<p />
<p>CAUSES OF WARMING</p>
<p>Earth is getting hotter because of the buildup of heat-trapping gases spewed into the air by the burning of coal, oil and natural gas, according to decades of peer-reviewed research. Scientists have long predicted the Arctic would warm first and faster than the rest of the globe. Real-time measurements are proving them right.</p>
<p>The Arctic is mostly ocean covered with a layer of ice; changes from ice to water often kick in a cycle that contributes to global warming.</p>
<p>Sea ice is white and it <a href="https://nsidc.org/cryosphere/seaice/processes/albedo.html" type="external">reflects</a> the sun's heat back into space. But when it melts, it's replaced with dark ocean that strongly absorbs it, said former NASA chief scientist Waleed Abdalati, who heads the environmental research program at the University of Colorado.</p>
<p>That heat gets transferred back up to the atmosphere in the fall and winter. As that happens, water vapor — a greenhouse gas — hangs around, trapping more heat. More clouds form around that time, also acting as a blanket, said Mark Serreze, director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado.</p>
<p />
<p>ROLE OF WINTER</p>
<p>Winter is crucial. Three times in the past two cold seasons, air temperatures near the North Pole were near or even a shade above freezing. That's about 50 degrees warmer than it should be. From last November through February, Barrow, Alaska — the northernmost U.S. city — was 7 degrees Celsius (13 degrees Fahrenheit) <a href="https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/time-series/us/50/USW00027502/tavg/4/2/1895-2017?base_prd=true&amp;firstbaseyear=1901&amp;lastbaseyear=2000&amp;trend=true&amp;trend_base=10&amp;firsttrendyear=1987&amp;lasttrendyear=2017" type="external">warmer</a> than the 20th century average, and much of the Atlantic Arctic off Norway and Greenland was as hot.</p>
<p>Warm winters weaken sea ice, which floats on the ocean surface. It's supposed to recover, spread more across the Arctic and get thicker in the winter so it can withstand the warmth of the summer. But a warmer winter means less protection when the heat hits.</p>
<p>In September 2016, the time of year the spread of ice across the Arctic is at its lowest, Arctic sea ice was the <a href="http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/2016/09/2016-ties-with-2007-for-second-lowest-arctic-sea-ice-minimum/" type="external">second</a> lowest day on record, about 40 percent below the lowest day measured in 1979 when satellite records started. Between those two days 37 years apart, the Arctic lost enough sea ice to cover Alaska, Texas and California combined.</p>
<p>Then it didn't grow back that much this winter, setting record low amounts from November through March, when sea ice reaches its peak spread.</p>
<p>BEYOND THE ARCTIC</p>
<p>Of all the global warming warning signs in the Arctic, "it is the sea ice that is screaming the loudest," Serreze said.</p>
<p>That's a problem because a growing body of <a href="" type="internal">studies</a> connects dwindling sea ice to wild weather. The reduced winter sea ice interacts with warmer oceans to change conditions in the air that then triggers a potent noticeable shift in the jet stream, the giant atmospheric river that controls much of our weather, said Rutgers University climate scientist Jennifer Francis. This theory is still debated by scientists, but increasingly more researchers are agreeing with Francis.</p>
<p>It's not just sea ice on the decline. Glaciers in the Arctic are shrinking. And the massive Greenland ice sheet is slowly but steadily <a href="" type="internal">melting</a> and that can add a big dose to sea level rise. Since 2002, it has lost 4,400 billion tons (4,000 billion metric tons) of ice.</p>
<p>Then there's the Arctic carbon bomb. Carbon dioxide and methane — which traps even more heat — are stuck in the permafrost in places like Alaska and Siberia.</p>
<p>"Roast the Arctic and you create a mess everywhere on Earth," said Princeton University climate scientist Michael Oppenheimer.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/borenbears" type="external">@borenbears.</a> His work can be found <a href="" type="internal">here</a> .</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>This Associated Press <a href="" type="internal">series</a> was produced in <a href="https://www.ap.org/press-releases/2017/ap-and-howard-hughes-medical-institute-collaborate-to-enhance-science-journalism" type="external">partnership</a> with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.</p>
|
Science Says: Fast-melting Arctic sign of bad global warming
| false |
https://apnews.com/amp/91faf9c826d24a45a41e06ba3ab3c336
|
2017-08-14
| 2least
|
Science Says: Fast-melting Arctic sign of bad global warming
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — One of the coldest places on Earth is so hot it's melting.</p>
<p>Glaciers, sea ice and a massive ice sheet in the Arctic are thawing from toasty air above and warm water below. The northern polar region is <a href="http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/Report-Card" type="external">heating</a> up twice as fast as the rest of the planet and that's setting off alarm bells.</p>
<p>"The melting of the Arctic will come to haunt us all," said German climate scientist Stefan Rahmstorf.</p>
<p>While global leaders set a goal of preventing 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) of man-made <a href="http://dels.nas.edu/resources/static-assets/exec-office-other/climate-change-full.pdf" type="external">warming</a> since pre-industrial times, the Arctic has already hit that dangerous mark. Last year, the Arctic Circle was about 3.6 degrees (6.5 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than normal.</p>
<p />
<p>CAUSES OF WARMING</p>
<p>Earth is getting hotter because of the buildup of heat-trapping gases spewed into the air by the burning of coal, oil and natural gas, according to decades of peer-reviewed research. Scientists have long predicted the Arctic would warm first and faster than the rest of the globe. Real-time measurements are proving them right.</p>
<p>The Arctic is mostly ocean covered with a layer of ice; changes from ice to water often kick in a cycle that contributes to global warming.</p>
<p>Sea ice is white and it <a href="https://nsidc.org/cryosphere/seaice/processes/albedo.html" type="external">reflects</a> the sun's heat back into space. But when it melts, it's replaced with dark ocean that strongly absorbs it, said former NASA chief scientist Waleed Abdalati, who heads the environmental research program at the University of Colorado.</p>
<p>That heat gets transferred back up to the atmosphere in the fall and winter. As that happens, water vapor — a greenhouse gas — hangs around, trapping more heat. More clouds form around that time, also acting as a blanket, said Mark Serreze, director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado.</p>
<p />
<p>ROLE OF WINTER</p>
<p>Winter is crucial. Three times in the past two cold seasons, air temperatures near the North Pole were near or even a shade above freezing. That's about 50 degrees warmer than it should be. From last November through February, Barrow, Alaska — the northernmost U.S. city — was 7 degrees Celsius (13 degrees Fahrenheit) <a href="https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/time-series/us/50/USW00027502/tavg/4/2/1895-2017?base_prd=true&amp;firstbaseyear=1901&amp;lastbaseyear=2000&amp;trend=true&amp;trend_base=10&amp;firsttrendyear=1987&amp;lasttrendyear=2017" type="external">warmer</a> than the 20th century average, and much of the Atlantic Arctic off Norway and Greenland was as hot.</p>
<p>Warm winters weaken sea ice, which floats on the ocean surface. It's supposed to recover, spread more across the Arctic and get thicker in the winter so it can withstand the warmth of the summer. But a warmer winter means less protection when the heat hits.</p>
<p>In September 2016, the time of year the spread of ice across the Arctic is at its lowest, Arctic sea ice was the <a href="http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/2016/09/2016-ties-with-2007-for-second-lowest-arctic-sea-ice-minimum/" type="external">second</a> lowest day on record, about 40 percent below the lowest day measured in 1979 when satellite records started. Between those two days 37 years apart, the Arctic lost enough sea ice to cover Alaska, Texas and California combined.</p>
<p>Then it didn't grow back that much this winter, setting record low amounts from November through March, when sea ice reaches its peak spread.</p>
<p>BEYOND THE ARCTIC</p>
<p>Of all the global warming warning signs in the Arctic, "it is the sea ice that is screaming the loudest," Serreze said.</p>
<p>That's a problem because a growing body of <a href="" type="internal">studies</a> connects dwindling sea ice to wild weather. The reduced winter sea ice interacts with warmer oceans to change conditions in the air that then triggers a potent noticeable shift in the jet stream, the giant atmospheric river that controls much of our weather, said Rutgers University climate scientist Jennifer Francis. This theory is still debated by scientists, but increasingly more researchers are agreeing with Francis.</p>
<p>It's not just sea ice on the decline. Glaciers in the Arctic are shrinking. And the massive Greenland ice sheet is slowly but steadily <a href="" type="internal">melting</a> and that can add a big dose to sea level rise. Since 2002, it has lost 4,400 billion tons (4,000 billion metric tons) of ice.</p>
<p>Then there's the Arctic carbon bomb. Carbon dioxide and methane — which traps even more heat — are stuck in the permafrost in places like Alaska and Siberia.</p>
<p>"Roast the Arctic and you create a mess everywhere on Earth," said Princeton University climate scientist Michael Oppenheimer.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/borenbears" type="external">@borenbears.</a> His work can be found <a href="" type="internal">here</a> .</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>This Associated Press <a href="" type="internal">series</a> was produced in <a href="https://www.ap.org/press-releases/2017/ap-and-howard-hughes-medical-institute-collaborate-to-enhance-science-journalism" type="external">partnership</a> with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.</p>
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — One of the coldest places on Earth is so hot it's melting.</p>
<p>Glaciers, sea ice and a massive ice sheet in the Arctic are thawing from toasty air above and warm water below. The northern polar region is <a href="http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/Report-Card" type="external">heating</a> up twice as fast as the rest of the planet and that's setting off alarm bells.</p>
<p>"The melting of the Arctic will come to haunt us all," said German climate scientist Stefan Rahmstorf.</p>
<p>While global leaders set a goal of preventing 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) of man-made <a href="http://dels.nas.edu/resources/static-assets/exec-office-other/climate-change-full.pdf" type="external">warming</a> since pre-industrial times, the Arctic has already hit that dangerous mark. Last year, the Arctic Circle was about 3.6 degrees (6.5 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than normal.</p>
<p />
<p>CAUSES OF WARMING</p>
<p>Earth is getting hotter because of the buildup of heat-trapping gases spewed into the air by the burning of coal, oil and natural gas, according to decades of peer-reviewed research. Scientists have long predicted the Arctic would warm first and faster than the rest of the globe. Real-time measurements are proving them right.</p>
<p>The Arctic is mostly ocean covered with a layer of ice; changes from ice to water often kick in a cycle that contributes to global warming.</p>
<p>Sea ice is white and it <a href="https://nsidc.org/cryosphere/seaice/processes/albedo.html" type="external">reflects</a> the sun's heat back into space. But when it melts, it's replaced with dark ocean that strongly absorbs it, said former NASA chief scientist Waleed Abdalati, who heads the environmental research program at the University of Colorado.</p>
<p>That heat gets transferred back up to the atmosphere in the fall and winter. As that happens, water vapor — a greenhouse gas — hangs around, trapping more heat. More clouds form around that time, also acting as a blanket, said Mark Serreze, director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado.</p>
<p />
<p>ROLE OF WINTER</p>
<p>Winter is crucial. Three times in the past two cold seasons, air temperatures near the North Pole were near or even a shade above freezing. That's about 50 degrees warmer than it should be. From last November through February, Barrow, Alaska — the northernmost U.S. city — was 7 degrees Celsius (13 degrees Fahrenheit) <a href="https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/time-series/us/50/USW00027502/tavg/4/2/1895-2017?base_prd=true&amp;firstbaseyear=1901&amp;lastbaseyear=2000&amp;trend=true&amp;trend_base=10&amp;firsttrendyear=1987&amp;lasttrendyear=2017" type="external">warmer</a> than the 20th century average, and much of the Atlantic Arctic off Norway and Greenland was as hot.</p>
<p>Warm winters weaken sea ice, which floats on the ocean surface. It's supposed to recover, spread more across the Arctic and get thicker in the winter so it can withstand the warmth of the summer. But a warmer winter means less protection when the heat hits.</p>
<p>In September 2016, the time of year the spread of ice across the Arctic is at its lowest, Arctic sea ice was the <a href="http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/2016/09/2016-ties-with-2007-for-second-lowest-arctic-sea-ice-minimum/" type="external">second</a> lowest day on record, about 40 percent below the lowest day measured in 1979 when satellite records started. Between those two days 37 years apart, the Arctic lost enough sea ice to cover Alaska, Texas and California combined.</p>
<p>Then it didn't grow back that much this winter, setting record low amounts from November through March, when sea ice reaches its peak spread.</p>
<p>BEYOND THE ARCTIC</p>
<p>Of all the global warming warning signs in the Arctic, "it is the sea ice that is screaming the loudest," Serreze said.</p>
<p>That's a problem because a growing body of <a href="" type="internal">studies</a> connects dwindling sea ice to wild weather. The reduced winter sea ice interacts with warmer oceans to change conditions in the air that then triggers a potent noticeable shift in the jet stream, the giant atmospheric river that controls much of our weather, said Rutgers University climate scientist Jennifer Francis. This theory is still debated by scientists, but increasingly more researchers are agreeing with Francis.</p>
<p>It's not just sea ice on the decline. Glaciers in the Arctic are shrinking. And the massive Greenland ice sheet is slowly but steadily <a href="" type="internal">melting</a> and that can add a big dose to sea level rise. Since 2002, it has lost 4,400 billion tons (4,000 billion metric tons) of ice.</p>
<p>Then there's the Arctic carbon bomb. Carbon dioxide and methane — which traps even more heat — are stuck in the permafrost in places like Alaska and Siberia.</p>
<p>"Roast the Arctic and you create a mess everywhere on Earth," said Princeton University climate scientist Michael Oppenheimer.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/borenbears" type="external">@borenbears.</a> His work can be found <a href="" type="internal">here</a> .</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>This Associated Press <a href="" type="internal">series</a> was produced in <a href="https://www.ap.org/press-releases/2017/ap-and-howard-hughes-medical-institute-collaborate-to-enhance-science-journalism" type="external">partnership</a> with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.</p>
| 5,175 |
<p>Hall of Fame vice chairman <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Joe_Morgan/" type="external">Joe Morgan</a> emailed every eligible voter from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America on Tuesday, writing that “steroid users don’t belong” in Cooperstown, N.Y.</p>
<p>Morgan’s email, which he said he wrote on behalf of “many of the Hall of Famers,” comes one day after the 2018 ballot was released.</p>
<p>“We hope the day never comes when known steroid users are voted into the Hall of Fame. They cheated. Steroid users don’t belong here,” wrote Morgan, a two-time National League Most Valuable Player who was voted into the Hall of Fame in 1990.</p>
<p>“Players who failed drug tests, admitted using steroids, or were identified as users in Major League Baseball’s investigation into steroid abuse, known as the Mitchell Report, should not get in. Those are the three criteria that many of the players and I think are right.”</p>
<p>Former stars <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Roger_Clemens/" type="external">Roger Clemens</a> (54.1 percent) and <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Barry_Bonds/" type="external">Barry Bonds</a> (53.8 percent) received their highest vote totals last year, moving closer to the 75 percent required for enshrinement.</p>
<p>“It’s gotten to the point where Hall of Famers are saying that if steroid users get in, they’ll no longer come to Cooperstown for Induction Ceremonies or other events,” the 74-year-old Morgan wrote. “Some feel they can’t share a stage with players who did steroids. The cheating that tainted an era now risks tainting the Hall of Fame too. The Hall of Fame means too much to us to ever see that happen. If steroid users get in, it will divide and diminish the Hall, something we couldn’t bear.”</p>
<p>The ballot is being mailed this week to more than 425 voting members of the BBWAA. Voters have until Dec. 31 to file their paper ballots, with the results to be announced on Jan. 24.</p>
|
Baseball Hall of Fame: Joe Morgan asks voters to block PED users
| false |
https://newsline.com/baseball-hall-of-fame-joe-morgan-asks-voters-to-block-ped-users/
|
2017-11-21
| 1right-center
|
Baseball Hall of Fame: Joe Morgan asks voters to block PED users
<p>Hall of Fame vice chairman <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Joe_Morgan/" type="external">Joe Morgan</a> emailed every eligible voter from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America on Tuesday, writing that “steroid users don’t belong” in Cooperstown, N.Y.</p>
<p>Morgan’s email, which he said he wrote on behalf of “many of the Hall of Famers,” comes one day after the 2018 ballot was released.</p>
<p>“We hope the day never comes when known steroid users are voted into the Hall of Fame. They cheated. Steroid users don’t belong here,” wrote Morgan, a two-time National League Most Valuable Player who was voted into the Hall of Fame in 1990.</p>
<p>“Players who failed drug tests, admitted using steroids, or were identified as users in Major League Baseball’s investigation into steroid abuse, known as the Mitchell Report, should not get in. Those are the three criteria that many of the players and I think are right.”</p>
<p>Former stars <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Roger_Clemens/" type="external">Roger Clemens</a> (54.1 percent) and <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Barry_Bonds/" type="external">Barry Bonds</a> (53.8 percent) received their highest vote totals last year, moving closer to the 75 percent required for enshrinement.</p>
<p>“It’s gotten to the point where Hall of Famers are saying that if steroid users get in, they’ll no longer come to Cooperstown for Induction Ceremonies or other events,” the 74-year-old Morgan wrote. “Some feel they can’t share a stage with players who did steroids. The cheating that tainted an era now risks tainting the Hall of Fame too. The Hall of Fame means too much to us to ever see that happen. If steroid users get in, it will divide and diminish the Hall, something we couldn’t bear.”</p>
<p>The ballot is being mailed this week to more than 425 voting members of the BBWAA. Voters have until Dec. 31 to file their paper ballots, with the results to be announced on Jan. 24.</p>
| 5,176 |
<p>By Alex Kirby, Climate News NetworkThis piece first appeared at <a href="http://www.climatenewsnetwork.net/2014/02/theres-no-warming-standstill-says-wmo/" type="external">Climate News Network</a>.</p>
<p>LONDON — The planet is continuing to warm, with implications for generations ahead, and temperatures are set to rise far into the future, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reports.</p>
<p>It says 2013 was among the ten warmest years since modern records began in 1850, equalling 2007 as the sixth warmest year, with a global land and ocean surface temperature 0.50°C above the 1961–1990 average and 0.03°C higher than the most recent 2001–2010 average.</p>
<p>Thirteen of the 14 warmest years on record have all occurred in this century. The warmest years on record are 2010 and 2005, with global temperatures about 0.55 °C above the long-term average, followed by 1998, which also had an exceptionally strong El Niño event.</p>
<p />
<p>El Niño events (which intensify warming) and cooling La Niñas are major drivers of natural climate variability. Neither occurred during 2013, which was warmer than 2011 or 2012, when La Niña exerted its cooling influence. 2013 was among the four warmest neutral years recorded, when neither El Niño nor La Niña affected temperatures.</p>
<p>“The global temperature for the year 2013 is consistent with the long-term warming trend”, said WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud. “The rate of warming is not uniform but the underlying trend is undeniable. Given the record amounts of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere, global temperatures will continue to rise for generations to come.</p>
<p>“Our action – or inaction – to curb emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases will shape the state of our planet for our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren”, Mr Jarraud said.</p>
<p>Asked by Climate News Network how WMO regarded claims by some critics that there has been a “global warming standstill since 1997?, Mr Jarraud said: “Which standstill? The coldest year since 2001 is warmer than any year before 1998.</p>
<p>“Each decade is warmer than the previous one. There is global variability from year to year. You have to look at the longer period. If you do that, then the message is beyond any doubt…Despite the fact that there was no El Niño in 2013, it was still the sixth warmest year. This is significant.”</p>
<p>The WMO says surface temperature is just part of a much wider picture of climate change. “More than 90% of the excess heat being caused by human activities is being absorbed by the ocean“, it says.</p>
<p>It has released the temperature data in advance of its full Statement on the Status of the Climate in 2013, to be published in March. This will give more details of regional temperatures and other indicators.</p>
<p>Consistent findings</p>
<p>In contrast with 2012, when the US in particular experienced record high annual temperatures, the warmth in 2013 was most extreme in Australia, which had its hottest year on record.</p>
<p>WMO’s global temperature analysis is based mainly on three independent and complementary datasets. One is maintained by two UK centres, the Met Office Hadley Centre and the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia. The other two are based in the US: NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center, and the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), operated by NASA.</p>
<p>Each dataset uses slightly different methods of calculation and so each gave 2013 a different temperature ranking, but they were consistent on the year-by-year changes and the longer warming trends globally.</p>
<p>WMO also uses reanalysis-based data from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), which showed annual global land and ocean temperature to be the fourth highest on record.</p>
<p />
|
There’s No Warming Standstill, World Meteorological Organization Says
| true |
https://truthdig.com/articles/theres-no-warming-standstill-world-meteorological-organization-says/
|
2014-02-06
| 4left
|
There’s No Warming Standstill, World Meteorological Organization Says
<p>By Alex Kirby, Climate News NetworkThis piece first appeared at <a href="http://www.climatenewsnetwork.net/2014/02/theres-no-warming-standstill-says-wmo/" type="external">Climate News Network</a>.</p>
<p>LONDON — The planet is continuing to warm, with implications for generations ahead, and temperatures are set to rise far into the future, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reports.</p>
<p>It says 2013 was among the ten warmest years since modern records began in 1850, equalling 2007 as the sixth warmest year, with a global land and ocean surface temperature 0.50°C above the 1961–1990 average and 0.03°C higher than the most recent 2001–2010 average.</p>
<p>Thirteen of the 14 warmest years on record have all occurred in this century. The warmest years on record are 2010 and 2005, with global temperatures about 0.55 °C above the long-term average, followed by 1998, which also had an exceptionally strong El Niño event.</p>
<p />
<p>El Niño events (which intensify warming) and cooling La Niñas are major drivers of natural climate variability. Neither occurred during 2013, which was warmer than 2011 or 2012, when La Niña exerted its cooling influence. 2013 was among the four warmest neutral years recorded, when neither El Niño nor La Niña affected temperatures.</p>
<p>“The global temperature for the year 2013 is consistent with the long-term warming trend”, said WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud. “The rate of warming is not uniform but the underlying trend is undeniable. Given the record amounts of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere, global temperatures will continue to rise for generations to come.</p>
<p>“Our action – or inaction – to curb emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases will shape the state of our planet for our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren”, Mr Jarraud said.</p>
<p>Asked by Climate News Network how WMO regarded claims by some critics that there has been a “global warming standstill since 1997?, Mr Jarraud said: “Which standstill? The coldest year since 2001 is warmer than any year before 1998.</p>
<p>“Each decade is warmer than the previous one. There is global variability from year to year. You have to look at the longer period. If you do that, then the message is beyond any doubt…Despite the fact that there was no El Niño in 2013, it was still the sixth warmest year. This is significant.”</p>
<p>The WMO says surface temperature is just part of a much wider picture of climate change. “More than 90% of the excess heat being caused by human activities is being absorbed by the ocean“, it says.</p>
<p>It has released the temperature data in advance of its full Statement on the Status of the Climate in 2013, to be published in March. This will give more details of regional temperatures and other indicators.</p>
<p>Consistent findings</p>
<p>In contrast with 2012, when the US in particular experienced record high annual temperatures, the warmth in 2013 was most extreme in Australia, which had its hottest year on record.</p>
<p>WMO’s global temperature analysis is based mainly on three independent and complementary datasets. One is maintained by two UK centres, the Met Office Hadley Centre and the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia. The other two are based in the US: NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center, and the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), operated by NASA.</p>
<p>Each dataset uses slightly different methods of calculation and so each gave 2013 a different temperature ranking, but they were consistent on the year-by-year changes and the longer warming trends globally.</p>
<p>WMO also uses reanalysis-based data from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), which showed annual global land and ocean temperature to be the fourth highest on record.</p>
<p />
| 5,177 |
<p><a href="http://pienews.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/JEW.jpg" type="external" />Tweet Jerusalem and Diaspora Affairs Minister Naftali Bennett and IJC President Vladimir Sloutsker. Jerusalem and Diaspora Affairs Minister Naftali Bennett and IJC President Vladimir Sloutsker. Photo: YOEL BALINKO / ISRAELI-JEWISH CONGRESS The situation facing European Jewry is "simply intolerable, unacceptable and inexcusable," Israeli Jewish Congress president Vladimir Sloutsker told [?]</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-News/We-are-looking-at-the-beginnings-of-a-Holocaust-369165" type="external">Click here to view original web page at www.jpost.com</a></p>
<p />
|
?We are looking at the beginnings of a Holocaust?
| true |
http://politicalillusionsexposed.com/we-are-looking-at-the-beginnings-of-a-holocaust/
| 0right
|
?We are looking at the beginnings of a Holocaust?
<p><a href="http://pienews.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/JEW.jpg" type="external" />Tweet Jerusalem and Diaspora Affairs Minister Naftali Bennett and IJC President Vladimir Sloutsker. Jerusalem and Diaspora Affairs Minister Naftali Bennett and IJC President Vladimir Sloutsker. Photo: YOEL BALINKO / ISRAELI-JEWISH CONGRESS The situation facing European Jewry is "simply intolerable, unacceptable and inexcusable," Israeli Jewish Congress president Vladimir Sloutsker told [?]</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-News/We-are-looking-at-the-beginnings-of-a-Holocaust-369165" type="external">Click here to view original web page at www.jpost.com</a></p>
<p />
| 5,178 |
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<p><a href="" type="external" /> A real American hero!</p>
<p />
<p>And he's not the only one. #MicBrights <a href="https://www.facebook.com/330201017032791/posts/1288311357888414" type="external">Source</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">American lawmakers have introduced a so-called Stop Arming Terrorists Act that a...</a>December 9, 2016In "Conservative Blogs"</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Trump's Syria Strike Was Constitutional</a>April 14, 2017In "News"</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">The BREXIT vote was the first obvious counter move against George Soros and his ...</a>December 6, 2016In "Conservative Blogs"</p>
|
A real American hero!This brave American just died fighting ISIS in Syria, but h?
| true |
http://libertyfederation.org/a-real-american-herothis-brave-american-just-died-fighting-isis-in-syria-but-h/
|
2016-10-27
| 0right
|
A real American hero!This brave American just died fighting ISIS in Syria, but h?
<p><a href="" type="external" /> A real American hero!</p>
<p />
<p>And he's not the only one. #MicBrights <a href="https://www.facebook.com/330201017032791/posts/1288311357888414" type="external">Source</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">American lawmakers have introduced a so-called Stop Arming Terrorists Act that a...</a>December 9, 2016In "Conservative Blogs"</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Trump's Syria Strike Was Constitutional</a>April 14, 2017In "News"</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">The BREXIT vote was the first obvious counter move against George Soros and his ...</a>December 6, 2016In "Conservative Blogs"</p>
| 5,179 |
<p>Bill Gates speaks at a UN conference on polio eradication.John Minchillo/AP</p>
<p />
<p>One year after <a href="" type="internal">Mother Jones reported</a> on multi-million-dollar investments made on behalf of the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation that appeared to contradict the foundation’s mission, the philanthropy’s trust will not say if one of its most controversial holdings is still on its books.</p>
<p>In its 2012 tax filing, the Gates Foundation Trust, which manages the foundation’s endowment, reported a $2.2 million investment in the GEO Group, a Florida-based prison company. In its <a href="" type="internal">most recent tax forms</a>, the Gates Foundation Trust listed an investment in the GEO Group worth more than $2 million.</p>
<p>In recent years, the GEO Group has faced <a href="" type="internal">accusations</a> of detainee abuse and substandard care in multiple states. In 2012, Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Office of Detention Oversight <a href="http://www.ice.gov/doclib/foia/odo-compliance-inspections/adelantoCorrectionalFac_Adelanto-CA-Sept_18-20-2012.pdf" type="external">reported</a> that GEO Group’s Adelanto facility near Los Angeles had committed “several egregious errors” in administering medical care to detainees. (GEO Group has repeatedly <a href="http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/dogged-by-complaints-prison-operator-geo-group-kee/nRHZ8/" type="external">dismissed</a> allegations of mistreatment.) More recently, a group of former immigrant detainees in Colorado <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/31/geo-group-lawsuit_n_6083958.html" type="external">sued</a> the company for making them work around the prison for minimal pay, sometimes under the threat of solitary confinement. (The GEO Group said detainees were working under a “volunteer work program” and that its $1-per-day wages met federal standards.) The Gates Foundation Trust did not respond to requests for comment directed through a foundation spokesperson.</p>
<p>According to the <a href="http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Who-We-Are/General-Information/Financials/Investment-Policy" type="external">Gates Foundation</a>, Bill and Melinda Gates—the only members of the trust’s board—have defined areas that the trust will not invest in, “such as companies whose profit model is centrally tied to corporate activity that [Bill and Melinda Gates] find egregious.” Tobacco companies fall into that category.</p>
<p>The trust’s last reported investment in the GEO Group took the form of a $2,148,790 bank loan. (The Gates Foundation Trust did not issue the loan itself. The term “ <a href="http://www.nasdaq.com/investing/glossary/l/leveraged-loan" type="external">bank loan</a>” refers to a type of corporate debt that companies with low credit ratings occasionally sell through a conventional bank to get extra cash.) The asset was reported in a tax form filed with the Internal Revenue Service this October, but is accurate only through October 2013.</p>
<p>Bank loans can yield higher returns for investors than stocks or bonds, but their ownership is harder to trace independently.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>In April, after <a href="http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2023350265_gatesinvestmentxml.html" type="external">demanding</a> Gates divest from the GEO Group, supporters of a coalition of immigrant, Native American, and Latino rights groups rallied outside the foundation’s Seattle headquarters. The foundation eventually accepted more than 10,000 petitions from the activists and promised to submit their grievances to the trust.</p>
<p>“Bill Gates needs to be transparent about whether they’re still investing in GEO Group,” says Mariana Ruiz Firmat, managing director for Presente, which organized that protest. “It’s really problematic for the foundation, which claims to invest in communities of color. By investing in GEO Group now or in the past, that goes against communities of color.”</p>
<p>Christopher Petrella, a doctoral student at the University of California, Berkeley, who <a href="" type="internal">published</a> a study this year demonstrating that private prisons are disproportionately filled with people of color, sees a similar contradiction between the trust’s investment in GEO Group and its <a href="http://www.gatesfoundation.org/who-we-are" type="external">declared mission</a> of “improving the quality of life for individuals around the world.”</p>
<p>“In my estimation, such a contradiction is difficult to justify,” he said in an email.</p>
<p>In an <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2014/04/10/the-gates-foundation-tries-to-defend-its-investment-in-private-prisons" type="external">interview</a> with the Seattle Stranger at the time of the April protest, foundation spokesman Jonah Goldman said the staff were sympathetic to the outcry since “everybody at the foundation is deeply committed to social justice and human rights.” Yet, in an instance of what reporter Ansel Herz called “philanthro-splaining,” Goldman rationalized the foundation’s private-prison investments. “The foundation invests in life-saving technologies, in US schools, in making sure people living with AIDS in Africa are less likely to die,” Goldman said. “The trust invests in a lot of things to make sure we have the most money we can have to do that job.”</p>
<p>Last June, after our story ran, the trust pulled its investments in G4S, a United Kingdom-based private security group which operates a number of youth detention centers in the United States, and which had come under fire for <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/04/g4s-complicity-israel-abuse-child-prisoners" type="external">maintaining</a> Israeli detention facilities. At the time, a spokesman for the Gates family gave a <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-06-06/gates-foundation-sells-stake-in-u-k-security-company-g4s.html" type="external">vague explanation</a> for why the trust had ended its investment: “Like other large foundations, the foundation trust evaluates its holdings regularly, both for performance and fit. As a result of this, the foundation trust no longer holds an investment in G4S.”</p>
<p>The foundation’s investments in the prison industry have been waning. In 2003, three years after the Gates Foundation was formed, tax returns show its trust held more than $23 million in bonds from Corrections Corporation of America and a $7 million bond from Wackenhut Corrections Corporation, GEO’s predecessor. By 2012, the trust had reduced its investment in the GEO Group by 70 percent and no longer retained any investments in CCA.</p>
<p>According to its tax forms, the Gates Foundation’s total assets were worth more than $40 billion in 2013, up from $36 billion at the beginning of the fiscal year. Most of this increase came from investment income.</p>
<p>The Gates Foundation first caught flack over its financial holdings in 2007, when the Los Angeles Times published a <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/la-na-gatesx07jan07-story.html#page=1" type="external">major investigation</a> showing that the trust’s investments were actually undermining public health gains it was promoting. A Nigerian boy featured in the story had received Gates-funded polio and measles vaccinations yet suffered from a cough made worse by pollution from an oil refinery owned by the Italian company Eni. The Gates Foundation was one of the company’s investors.</p>
<p />
|
Is the Gates Foundation Still Investing in Private Prisons?
| true |
https://motherjones.com/politics/2014/12/gates-foundation-still-investing-private-prisons/
|
2014-12-08
| 4left
|
Is the Gates Foundation Still Investing in Private Prisons?
<p>Bill Gates speaks at a UN conference on polio eradication.John Minchillo/AP</p>
<p />
<p>One year after <a href="" type="internal">Mother Jones reported</a> on multi-million-dollar investments made on behalf of the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation that appeared to contradict the foundation’s mission, the philanthropy’s trust will not say if one of its most controversial holdings is still on its books.</p>
<p>In its 2012 tax filing, the Gates Foundation Trust, which manages the foundation’s endowment, reported a $2.2 million investment in the GEO Group, a Florida-based prison company. In its <a href="" type="internal">most recent tax forms</a>, the Gates Foundation Trust listed an investment in the GEO Group worth more than $2 million.</p>
<p>In recent years, the GEO Group has faced <a href="" type="internal">accusations</a> of detainee abuse and substandard care in multiple states. In 2012, Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Office of Detention Oversight <a href="http://www.ice.gov/doclib/foia/odo-compliance-inspections/adelantoCorrectionalFac_Adelanto-CA-Sept_18-20-2012.pdf" type="external">reported</a> that GEO Group’s Adelanto facility near Los Angeles had committed “several egregious errors” in administering medical care to detainees. (GEO Group has repeatedly <a href="http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/dogged-by-complaints-prison-operator-geo-group-kee/nRHZ8/" type="external">dismissed</a> allegations of mistreatment.) More recently, a group of former immigrant detainees in Colorado <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/31/geo-group-lawsuit_n_6083958.html" type="external">sued</a> the company for making them work around the prison for minimal pay, sometimes under the threat of solitary confinement. (The GEO Group said detainees were working under a “volunteer work program” and that its $1-per-day wages met federal standards.) The Gates Foundation Trust did not respond to requests for comment directed through a foundation spokesperson.</p>
<p>According to the <a href="http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Who-We-Are/General-Information/Financials/Investment-Policy" type="external">Gates Foundation</a>, Bill and Melinda Gates—the only members of the trust’s board—have defined areas that the trust will not invest in, “such as companies whose profit model is centrally tied to corporate activity that [Bill and Melinda Gates] find egregious.” Tobacco companies fall into that category.</p>
<p>The trust’s last reported investment in the GEO Group took the form of a $2,148,790 bank loan. (The Gates Foundation Trust did not issue the loan itself. The term “ <a href="http://www.nasdaq.com/investing/glossary/l/leveraged-loan" type="external">bank loan</a>” refers to a type of corporate debt that companies with low credit ratings occasionally sell through a conventional bank to get extra cash.) The asset was reported in a tax form filed with the Internal Revenue Service this October, but is accurate only through October 2013.</p>
<p>Bank loans can yield higher returns for investors than stocks or bonds, but their ownership is harder to trace independently.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>In April, after <a href="http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2023350265_gatesinvestmentxml.html" type="external">demanding</a> Gates divest from the GEO Group, supporters of a coalition of immigrant, Native American, and Latino rights groups rallied outside the foundation’s Seattle headquarters. The foundation eventually accepted more than 10,000 petitions from the activists and promised to submit their grievances to the trust.</p>
<p>“Bill Gates needs to be transparent about whether they’re still investing in GEO Group,” says Mariana Ruiz Firmat, managing director for Presente, which organized that protest. “It’s really problematic for the foundation, which claims to invest in communities of color. By investing in GEO Group now or in the past, that goes against communities of color.”</p>
<p>Christopher Petrella, a doctoral student at the University of California, Berkeley, who <a href="" type="internal">published</a> a study this year demonstrating that private prisons are disproportionately filled with people of color, sees a similar contradiction between the trust’s investment in GEO Group and its <a href="http://www.gatesfoundation.org/who-we-are" type="external">declared mission</a> of “improving the quality of life for individuals around the world.”</p>
<p>“In my estimation, such a contradiction is difficult to justify,” he said in an email.</p>
<p>In an <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2014/04/10/the-gates-foundation-tries-to-defend-its-investment-in-private-prisons" type="external">interview</a> with the Seattle Stranger at the time of the April protest, foundation spokesman Jonah Goldman said the staff were sympathetic to the outcry since “everybody at the foundation is deeply committed to social justice and human rights.” Yet, in an instance of what reporter Ansel Herz called “philanthro-splaining,” Goldman rationalized the foundation’s private-prison investments. “The foundation invests in life-saving technologies, in US schools, in making sure people living with AIDS in Africa are less likely to die,” Goldman said. “The trust invests in a lot of things to make sure we have the most money we can have to do that job.”</p>
<p>Last June, after our story ran, the trust pulled its investments in G4S, a United Kingdom-based private security group which operates a number of youth detention centers in the United States, and which had come under fire for <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/04/g4s-complicity-israel-abuse-child-prisoners" type="external">maintaining</a> Israeli detention facilities. At the time, a spokesman for the Gates family gave a <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-06-06/gates-foundation-sells-stake-in-u-k-security-company-g4s.html" type="external">vague explanation</a> for why the trust had ended its investment: “Like other large foundations, the foundation trust evaluates its holdings regularly, both for performance and fit. As a result of this, the foundation trust no longer holds an investment in G4S.”</p>
<p>The foundation’s investments in the prison industry have been waning. In 2003, three years after the Gates Foundation was formed, tax returns show its trust held more than $23 million in bonds from Corrections Corporation of America and a $7 million bond from Wackenhut Corrections Corporation, GEO’s predecessor. By 2012, the trust had reduced its investment in the GEO Group by 70 percent and no longer retained any investments in CCA.</p>
<p>According to its tax forms, the Gates Foundation’s total assets were worth more than $40 billion in 2013, up from $36 billion at the beginning of the fiscal year. Most of this increase came from investment income.</p>
<p>The Gates Foundation first caught flack over its financial holdings in 2007, when the Los Angeles Times published a <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/la-na-gatesx07jan07-story.html#page=1" type="external">major investigation</a> showing that the trust’s investments were actually undermining public health gains it was promoting. A Nigerian boy featured in the story had received Gates-funded polio and measles vaccinations yet suffered from a cough made worse by pollution from an oil refinery owned by the Italian company Eni. The Gates Foundation was one of the company’s investors.</p>
<p />
| 5,180 |
<p>MINERAL, Va.—Elk Creek Baptist Church in Mineral, Va., is like hundreds of rural churches scattered along the turn of the road in the Mid-Atlantic. Nestled in a wooded area near the waters of Lake Anna, this small congregation saw a need and responded, uniting its community into a network of support for a family facing a long road to recovery.</p>
<p>A holiday trip to Williamsburg, Va., changed the lives of Steve Comer, his wife Christina and children, Michelle and Christopher. Steve is music director at <a href="http://www.elkcreekchurch.net/" type="external">Elk Creek Baptist Church</a> and plays the piano, organ and keyboard. On the first evening of a Memorial Day weekend trip in their recreational vehicle, Christina prepared dinner on the propane stove. Hours later, not realizing there was a leak in the fuel system, she returned to make popcorn. After striking the match the RV burst into flames.</p>
<p />
<p>Christina’s burns were the most severe as she took the brunt of the blast in her arms and face. Steve and the children were trapped in the rear of the vehicle. Several people pulled all four to safety before emergency personnel rushed them to the Medical College of Virginia’s Evans-Hayes Burn Center in Richmond.</p>
<p>The Comers faced weeks in the hospital for treatment of second and third degree burns that required surgeries, skin-grafting, daily wound care and pain management.</p>
<p>“Our church isn’t as large as some of our sister churches, but Elk Creek has a wonderful family with some of the biggest hearts I’ve ever seen,” says Woody Jenkins, pastor. Their first response when learning of the accident was a call for prayer. Their second was a call to action.</p>
<p>Jenkins explains that the Lake Anna area attracts vacationers and retired people who have summer homes there. Elk Creek holds services at the church October to April, but during the summer offers a casual worship service at the lake, attracting people who are members of other churches back home.</p>
<p>“We’ve got folks who tell us that they’re Presbyterian or Methodist in the winter, but from May through September, they’re Elk Creek Baptists,” he admits.</p>
<p>When the appeal for prayer and assistance for the Comers was made, church membership made no difference. “We had all of the churches in Goshen Baptist Association praying,” Jenkins reports. Members and organizations throughout the community pitched in. Many devoted hours to making modifications at the Comer home in preparation for their transition from the hospital. Temporary homes were found for pets and animals. Lawn care was provided.</p>
<p>Hospital visits were made each day to encourage and uplift Steve, Christina, Michelle and Christopher as they endured painful procedures and began to make their first steps to recovery. A fund was set up to help with medical expenses not covered by insurance. On June 4 Elk Creek’s annual Summer Kick-off Cookout and Gospel Music Fest held at the lake became a fundraising event for the family.</p>
<p>Since returning home the family has been the recipient of countless meals and transportation to MCV for follow-up appointments and ongoing physical and occupational therapy.</p>
<p>The Comers said they don’t know how they would have made it through the difficult and painful process without the support of their church. It could take up to five years before the family can enjoy outdoor activities such as working in the garden or on their small farm, or going camping again.</p>
<p>Steve is looking forward to returning to Elk Creek Baptist Church on Sunday, Sept. 2, as the choir comes back from its summer hiatus. He has been practicing on his keyboard at home and anticipates playing for the congregation that walked beside his family during difficult days.</p>
<p>Barbara Francis ( <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a>) is on the staff of the Religious Herald.</p>
|
Burn victims find support in church, community
| false |
https://baptistnews.com/article/burnvictimsfindsupportinchurchcommunity/
| 3left-center
|
Burn victims find support in church, community
<p>MINERAL, Va.—Elk Creek Baptist Church in Mineral, Va., is like hundreds of rural churches scattered along the turn of the road in the Mid-Atlantic. Nestled in a wooded area near the waters of Lake Anna, this small congregation saw a need and responded, uniting its community into a network of support for a family facing a long road to recovery.</p>
<p>A holiday trip to Williamsburg, Va., changed the lives of Steve Comer, his wife Christina and children, Michelle and Christopher. Steve is music director at <a href="http://www.elkcreekchurch.net/" type="external">Elk Creek Baptist Church</a> and plays the piano, organ and keyboard. On the first evening of a Memorial Day weekend trip in their recreational vehicle, Christina prepared dinner on the propane stove. Hours later, not realizing there was a leak in the fuel system, she returned to make popcorn. After striking the match the RV burst into flames.</p>
<p />
<p>Christina’s burns were the most severe as she took the brunt of the blast in her arms and face. Steve and the children were trapped in the rear of the vehicle. Several people pulled all four to safety before emergency personnel rushed them to the Medical College of Virginia’s Evans-Hayes Burn Center in Richmond.</p>
<p>The Comers faced weeks in the hospital for treatment of second and third degree burns that required surgeries, skin-grafting, daily wound care and pain management.</p>
<p>“Our church isn’t as large as some of our sister churches, but Elk Creek has a wonderful family with some of the biggest hearts I’ve ever seen,” says Woody Jenkins, pastor. Their first response when learning of the accident was a call for prayer. Their second was a call to action.</p>
<p>Jenkins explains that the Lake Anna area attracts vacationers and retired people who have summer homes there. Elk Creek holds services at the church October to April, but during the summer offers a casual worship service at the lake, attracting people who are members of other churches back home.</p>
<p>“We’ve got folks who tell us that they’re Presbyterian or Methodist in the winter, but from May through September, they’re Elk Creek Baptists,” he admits.</p>
<p>When the appeal for prayer and assistance for the Comers was made, church membership made no difference. “We had all of the churches in Goshen Baptist Association praying,” Jenkins reports. Members and organizations throughout the community pitched in. Many devoted hours to making modifications at the Comer home in preparation for their transition from the hospital. Temporary homes were found for pets and animals. Lawn care was provided.</p>
<p>Hospital visits were made each day to encourage and uplift Steve, Christina, Michelle and Christopher as they endured painful procedures and began to make their first steps to recovery. A fund was set up to help with medical expenses not covered by insurance. On June 4 Elk Creek’s annual Summer Kick-off Cookout and Gospel Music Fest held at the lake became a fundraising event for the family.</p>
<p>Since returning home the family has been the recipient of countless meals and transportation to MCV for follow-up appointments and ongoing physical and occupational therapy.</p>
<p>The Comers said they don’t know how they would have made it through the difficult and painful process without the support of their church. It could take up to five years before the family can enjoy outdoor activities such as working in the garden or on their small farm, or going camping again.</p>
<p>Steve is looking forward to returning to Elk Creek Baptist Church on Sunday, Sept. 2, as the choir comes back from its summer hiatus. He has been practicing on his keyboard at home and anticipates playing for the congregation that walked beside his family during difficult days.</p>
<p>Barbara Francis ( <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a>) is on the staff of the Religious Herald.</p>
| 5,181 |
|
<p>Rolling Stone magazine and its reporter Sabrina Rubin Erdely are facing a great deal of skepticism about a <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/a-rape-on-campus-20141119" type="external">story</a> called “A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA.” The article tells the story of “Jackie,” a University of Virginia student who says she was gang raped at a fraternity party early in her freshman year.</p>
<p>There are solid journalistic reasons to question Erdely’s reporting. She failed, as&#160;Slate and others have <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2014/12/sabrina_rubin_erdely_uva_why_didn_t_a_rolling_stone_writer_talk_to_the_alleged.html" type="external">objected</a>, to get any statements from the accused, while offering feeble and conflicting accounts about why, first saying that the young men were hard to find, and then explaining that the victim was uncomfortable about having them contacted.</p>
<p>Richard Bradley, a former editor of George magazine who’s seen hoaxes, <a href="http://www.richardbradley.net/shotsinthedark/2014/11/24/is-the-rolling-stone-story-true/" type="external">urges skepticism</a> about this story because it fits a little too neatly into a preferred leftist narrative — southern college, white fraternity boys, and the campus rape culture. Fair enough. Others recall the panting eagerness of the press (and members of the faculty at Duke) to believe the worst about that school’s lacrosse players back in 2006.</p>
<p>As someone who believes that campus rape is a genuine problem, I found some aspects of the Rolling Stone tale not credible. The young woman claims, for example, that she was pushed into a glass table that smashed beneath her and then gang raped by seven students on cut glass. She says she then stumbled from the frat house bleeding and disheveled, yet her friends discouraged her from going to the hospital because it might quash their plans to rush at fraternities.</p>
<p>Without knowing more, it’s impossible to say what the truth is about this woman’s experience — though I imagine that something traumatic happened to her. But if, for whatever reason, we learn that all or part of her story isn’t true, it should not be seen as some grand refutation of the problem of rape. “If false, Rolling Stone story could set rape victims back decades” <a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/if-false-rolling-stone-story-could-set-rape-victims-back-decades/article/2556895" type="external">headlined</a> the Washington Examiner. Why?</p>
<p>Tawana Brawley was found to be lying, but her dishonesty didn’t invalidate every rape claim in America. The Left likes to put people in categories: women good; men bad. Black inner-city residents good; white police bad. Environmentalists honest; businessmen liars. And on it goes. For a time, when the nation was gripped by an epidemic of child-abuse hysteria, we were told that “children never lie” about these things, even as coached tots were telling tales of being sexually abused in spaceships with samurai swords. The Left will have its fables, whatever the strain on logic and common sense.</p>
<p>We don’t need “Jackie” to be honest to know that campus rape is real. We have reports throughout the nation, lawsuits, complaints, and word of mouth. One study put the number of sexual assaults at 100,000 a year, which may be high, but good data are elusive for crimes that nearly always entail he said/she said and are accompanied by shame.</p>
<p>Certainly the activists’ demand that campuses handle these cases without traditional protections for the accused — such as the right to confront witnesses or be represented by counsel — represents a gross retreat from constitutional principles, and it’s a separate scandal that many colleges are doing just that. But neither should we dismiss these reports as simply the result of “post-sex regrets” by young women.</p>
<p>For centuries, western civilization recognized that women were vulnerable to sexual violence and abuse. Painstakingly, we erected a complex architecture of mores and laws to protect women from the worst kinds of men. Some of those protections now seem ridiculous — such as the notion that a lady would never permit herself to be alone with a strange man, not even in an elevator. But no one should be surprised that when the guardrails of sexual behavior were swept away in the flood of the sexual revolution, predatory men were handed a golden opportunity. A 2002 study by David Lisak of the University of Massachusetts and Paul Miller of the Brown School of Medicine found that 90 percent of rapes on college campuses are committed by serial offenders. A small percentage of men is committing most of the crimes.</p>
<p>There is a rape culture — it’s the hook-up culture that the Left invented and celebrated as liberation. Until it’s reversed, the rapes will continue.</p>
<p>— Mona Charen is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. ©&#160;2014 Creators Syndicate, Inc.</p>
|
Campus Rape Is Real
| false |
https://eppc.org/publications/campus-rape-is-real/
| 1right-center
|
Campus Rape Is Real
<p>Rolling Stone magazine and its reporter Sabrina Rubin Erdely are facing a great deal of skepticism about a <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/a-rape-on-campus-20141119" type="external">story</a> called “A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA.” The article tells the story of “Jackie,” a University of Virginia student who says she was gang raped at a fraternity party early in her freshman year.</p>
<p>There are solid journalistic reasons to question Erdely’s reporting. She failed, as&#160;Slate and others have <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2014/12/sabrina_rubin_erdely_uva_why_didn_t_a_rolling_stone_writer_talk_to_the_alleged.html" type="external">objected</a>, to get any statements from the accused, while offering feeble and conflicting accounts about why, first saying that the young men were hard to find, and then explaining that the victim was uncomfortable about having them contacted.</p>
<p>Richard Bradley, a former editor of George magazine who’s seen hoaxes, <a href="http://www.richardbradley.net/shotsinthedark/2014/11/24/is-the-rolling-stone-story-true/" type="external">urges skepticism</a> about this story because it fits a little too neatly into a preferred leftist narrative — southern college, white fraternity boys, and the campus rape culture. Fair enough. Others recall the panting eagerness of the press (and members of the faculty at Duke) to believe the worst about that school’s lacrosse players back in 2006.</p>
<p>As someone who believes that campus rape is a genuine problem, I found some aspects of the Rolling Stone tale not credible. The young woman claims, for example, that she was pushed into a glass table that smashed beneath her and then gang raped by seven students on cut glass. She says she then stumbled from the frat house bleeding and disheveled, yet her friends discouraged her from going to the hospital because it might quash their plans to rush at fraternities.</p>
<p>Without knowing more, it’s impossible to say what the truth is about this woman’s experience — though I imagine that something traumatic happened to her. But if, for whatever reason, we learn that all or part of her story isn’t true, it should not be seen as some grand refutation of the problem of rape. “If false, Rolling Stone story could set rape victims back decades” <a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/if-false-rolling-stone-story-could-set-rape-victims-back-decades/article/2556895" type="external">headlined</a> the Washington Examiner. Why?</p>
<p>Tawana Brawley was found to be lying, but her dishonesty didn’t invalidate every rape claim in America. The Left likes to put people in categories: women good; men bad. Black inner-city residents good; white police bad. Environmentalists honest; businessmen liars. And on it goes. For a time, when the nation was gripped by an epidemic of child-abuse hysteria, we were told that “children never lie” about these things, even as coached tots were telling tales of being sexually abused in spaceships with samurai swords. The Left will have its fables, whatever the strain on logic and common sense.</p>
<p>We don’t need “Jackie” to be honest to know that campus rape is real. We have reports throughout the nation, lawsuits, complaints, and word of mouth. One study put the number of sexual assaults at 100,000 a year, which may be high, but good data are elusive for crimes that nearly always entail he said/she said and are accompanied by shame.</p>
<p>Certainly the activists’ demand that campuses handle these cases without traditional protections for the accused — such as the right to confront witnesses or be represented by counsel — represents a gross retreat from constitutional principles, and it’s a separate scandal that many colleges are doing just that. But neither should we dismiss these reports as simply the result of “post-sex regrets” by young women.</p>
<p>For centuries, western civilization recognized that women were vulnerable to sexual violence and abuse. Painstakingly, we erected a complex architecture of mores and laws to protect women from the worst kinds of men. Some of those protections now seem ridiculous — such as the notion that a lady would never permit herself to be alone with a strange man, not even in an elevator. But no one should be surprised that when the guardrails of sexual behavior were swept away in the flood of the sexual revolution, predatory men were handed a golden opportunity. A 2002 study by David Lisak of the University of Massachusetts and Paul Miller of the Brown School of Medicine found that 90 percent of rapes on college campuses are committed by serial offenders. A small percentage of men is committing most of the crimes.</p>
<p>There is a rape culture — it’s the hook-up culture that the Left invented and celebrated as liberation. Until it’s reversed, the rapes will continue.</p>
<p>— Mona Charen is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. ©&#160;2014 Creators Syndicate, Inc.</p>
| 5,182 |
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<p />
<p>The responsible, good-hearted Paige strikes a stark counterpoint to Elizabeth and Philip, her mom and dad, who, behind their masquerade as modern circa-1980s Americans, are Soviet-born KGB officers doing their undercover best to help bring down the U.S.</p>
<p>This powerful series, which airs Tuesday at 10 p.m. Eastern, has no shortage of action, intrigue and wig disguises as the cloak-and-dagger couple (Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys) carry out their subterfuge right under the nose of FBI counterintelligence agent Stan Beeman (Noah Emmerich), who, as luck would have it, lives across the street in their Washington suburb.</p>
<p>But it’s Paige who has emerged as the show’s pivotal figure. Propelled by Holly Taylor’s winsome portrayal, she has blossomed as the series’ moral center. And she represents the series’ biggest question mark as “The Americans” races toward its sixth and final season next year: What path will this all-American girl choose as, more and more, she becomes implicated in her parents’ mission to make Russia great again? (This week’s episode offers a new clue.)</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Now 16, Paige was first seen on the premiere of “The Americans” typing a theme for class on a topic that made her mother seethe: How the Russians cheat on arms control.</p>
<p>“In season one, I was just kind of sitting there,” says Taylor, a fresh-faced young woman with sparkling eyes who, at 19, scarcely looks older than the character she plays. “It was good the part wasn’t really big in the beginning. As they amped it up, that gave me the chance to learn.”</p>
<p>Then, two seasons ago, an increasingly suspicious Paige forced the issue.</p>
<p>“I’m not stupid,” she said as she confronted her parents in a memorable scene. “I know there’s something going on.”</p>
<p>“We serve our country,” her mother said. And that didn’t mean the USA.</p>
<p>At her insistence, Paige increasingly has been taken into her parents’ confidence. At the same time, she clashes with them — in particular, over her choice of boyfriends. A puppy-love romance has sparked between Paige and the anyone-but-him boy across the street: the son of FBI agent Beeman.</p>
<p>The relationship between Paige and Matthew Beeman (played by Danny Flaherty) is sweetly innocent thus far. But it could always go further. “Some of the things, I had a stand-in for,” Taylor volunteers, with no details. “I have to do the kiss itself because you see my face. But anything that goes past the kiss is not me. I’m not comfortable doing that, for now, and the producers respect my boundaries.”</p>
<p>Growing up in New Jersey, Taylor started dance lessons when she was 3, and at age 11 began a two-year stint dancing in the kid-centric Broadway musical “Billy Elliot.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>After that, she decided to try performing for the camera.</p>
<p>“That seemed like a logical next step,” she says. “But I was so shy. So I took a few acting classes and began to have more fun with it. I thought, ‘I can actually do this.'”</p>
<p>After a round of auditions, she landed the part of Paige.</p>
<p>“I’m so proud to play her,” Taylor says. “Usually the teenage girl on a TV show just butts into everything and gets everyone annoyed. But I think Paige is complex, and her story line makes sense.”</p>
<p>As everybody knows, it’s the teen who typically rebels on TV. But in this case it’s Paige who tries to follow the rules while her parents, in their own highly regimented way, run wild.</p>
<p>This sets off highly charged moments between Taylor and her co-stars Russell and Rhys.</p>
<p>“After the scene where they told Paige they were spies, all three of us sat at the table and couldn’t even talk, we were just so exhausted from bringing out those emotions.</p>
<p>“But I never feel uncomfortable or nervous doing a really emotional scene in front of them,” she says. “When you have to break down and cry, they’re there to help you. They’re so open and generous and welcoming. I’m really lucky to have that.”</p>
<p>This season “The Americans” has gained an unsought burst of relevance as America suffers a relapse into Cold War-style heebie-jeebies.</p>
<p>Even so, Taylor’s show remains laser-focused on the long-ago ’80s. And despite her not having been born until 1997, so is she.</p>
<p>“All the writers are so talented, just reading the script I feel like I’m THERE,” she says. “And once I get into wardrobe and get on set, I’m in the character who lives at that time.”</p>
<p>“Still, as a viewer, you relate ‘The Americans’ to yourself and what you see going on around you,” she allows. “That’s what people are finding out about our show now. And that’s cool.”</p>
<p>_____</p>
<p>EDITOR’S NOTE — Frazier Moore is a national television columnist for The Associated Press. He can be reached at fmoore//bigstory.ap.org/content/frazier-moore</p>
<p>_____</p>
<p>Online:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.fxnetworks.com" type="external">http://www.fxnetworks.com</a></p>
|
Holly Taylor shines as Russian spies’ all-American daughter
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/976644/holly-taylor-shines-as-russian-spies-all-american-daughter.html
|
2017-03-27
| 2least
|
Holly Taylor shines as Russian spies’ all-American daughter
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>The responsible, good-hearted Paige strikes a stark counterpoint to Elizabeth and Philip, her mom and dad, who, behind their masquerade as modern circa-1980s Americans, are Soviet-born KGB officers doing their undercover best to help bring down the U.S.</p>
<p>This powerful series, which airs Tuesday at 10 p.m. Eastern, has no shortage of action, intrigue and wig disguises as the cloak-and-dagger couple (Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys) carry out their subterfuge right under the nose of FBI counterintelligence agent Stan Beeman (Noah Emmerich), who, as luck would have it, lives across the street in their Washington suburb.</p>
<p>But it’s Paige who has emerged as the show’s pivotal figure. Propelled by Holly Taylor’s winsome portrayal, she has blossomed as the series’ moral center. And she represents the series’ biggest question mark as “The Americans” races toward its sixth and final season next year: What path will this all-American girl choose as, more and more, she becomes implicated in her parents’ mission to make Russia great again? (This week’s episode offers a new clue.)</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Now 16, Paige was first seen on the premiere of “The Americans” typing a theme for class on a topic that made her mother seethe: How the Russians cheat on arms control.</p>
<p>“In season one, I was just kind of sitting there,” says Taylor, a fresh-faced young woman with sparkling eyes who, at 19, scarcely looks older than the character she plays. “It was good the part wasn’t really big in the beginning. As they amped it up, that gave me the chance to learn.”</p>
<p>Then, two seasons ago, an increasingly suspicious Paige forced the issue.</p>
<p>“I’m not stupid,” she said as she confronted her parents in a memorable scene. “I know there’s something going on.”</p>
<p>“We serve our country,” her mother said. And that didn’t mean the USA.</p>
<p>At her insistence, Paige increasingly has been taken into her parents’ confidence. At the same time, she clashes with them — in particular, over her choice of boyfriends. A puppy-love romance has sparked between Paige and the anyone-but-him boy across the street: the son of FBI agent Beeman.</p>
<p>The relationship between Paige and Matthew Beeman (played by Danny Flaherty) is sweetly innocent thus far. But it could always go further. “Some of the things, I had a stand-in for,” Taylor volunteers, with no details. “I have to do the kiss itself because you see my face. But anything that goes past the kiss is not me. I’m not comfortable doing that, for now, and the producers respect my boundaries.”</p>
<p>Growing up in New Jersey, Taylor started dance lessons when she was 3, and at age 11 began a two-year stint dancing in the kid-centric Broadway musical “Billy Elliot.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>After that, she decided to try performing for the camera.</p>
<p>“That seemed like a logical next step,” she says. “But I was so shy. So I took a few acting classes and began to have more fun with it. I thought, ‘I can actually do this.'”</p>
<p>After a round of auditions, she landed the part of Paige.</p>
<p>“I’m so proud to play her,” Taylor says. “Usually the teenage girl on a TV show just butts into everything and gets everyone annoyed. But I think Paige is complex, and her story line makes sense.”</p>
<p>As everybody knows, it’s the teen who typically rebels on TV. But in this case it’s Paige who tries to follow the rules while her parents, in their own highly regimented way, run wild.</p>
<p>This sets off highly charged moments between Taylor and her co-stars Russell and Rhys.</p>
<p>“After the scene where they told Paige they were spies, all three of us sat at the table and couldn’t even talk, we were just so exhausted from bringing out those emotions.</p>
<p>“But I never feel uncomfortable or nervous doing a really emotional scene in front of them,” she says. “When you have to break down and cry, they’re there to help you. They’re so open and generous and welcoming. I’m really lucky to have that.”</p>
<p>This season “The Americans” has gained an unsought burst of relevance as America suffers a relapse into Cold War-style heebie-jeebies.</p>
<p>Even so, Taylor’s show remains laser-focused on the long-ago ’80s. And despite her not having been born until 1997, so is she.</p>
<p>“All the writers are so talented, just reading the script I feel like I’m THERE,” she says. “And once I get into wardrobe and get on set, I’m in the character who lives at that time.”</p>
<p>“Still, as a viewer, you relate ‘The Americans’ to yourself and what you see going on around you,” she allows. “That’s what people are finding out about our show now. And that’s cool.”</p>
<p>_____</p>
<p>EDITOR’S NOTE — Frazier Moore is a national television columnist for The Associated Press. He can be reached at fmoore//bigstory.ap.org/content/frazier-moore</p>
<p>_____</p>
<p>Online:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.fxnetworks.com" type="external">http://www.fxnetworks.com</a></p>
| 5,183 |
<p>The latest victim of the war on terror: <a href="http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/08/authorities_war.html" type="external">bust boosters.</a></p>
<p>Brian Ross:</p>
<p>U.S. authorities are advising women not to wear gel bras on airplanes as information developed in the foiled London plot points to an expanding role for women in smuggling explosives on to an aircraft.</p>
<p>Authorities at Scotland Yard are questioning a husband and wife, suspects in the London terror plot, about allegations that they were planning to use their baby’s bottle to hide a liquid bomb.</p>
<p />
<p>Police in the U.K. have recovered baby bottles containing peroxide, including some with false bottoms, from a recycling center close to the homes of some of the arrested suspects.</p>
<p><a href="http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/08/authorities_war.html" type="external">Link</a></p>
|
Women Warned Against Gel Bras on Flights
| true |
https://truthdig.com/articles/women-warned-against-gel-bras-on-flights/
|
2006-08-18
| 4left
|
Women Warned Against Gel Bras on Flights
<p>The latest victim of the war on terror: <a href="http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/08/authorities_war.html" type="external">bust boosters.</a></p>
<p>Brian Ross:</p>
<p>U.S. authorities are advising women not to wear gel bras on airplanes as information developed in the foiled London plot points to an expanding role for women in smuggling explosives on to an aircraft.</p>
<p>Authorities at Scotland Yard are questioning a husband and wife, suspects in the London terror plot, about allegations that they were planning to use their baby’s bottle to hide a liquid bomb.</p>
<p />
<p>Police in the U.K. have recovered baby bottles containing peroxide, including some with false bottoms, from a recycling center close to the homes of some of the arrested suspects.</p>
<p><a href="http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/08/authorities_war.html" type="external">Link</a></p>
| 5,184 |
<p>Matti Friedman in the Times of Israel <a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/a-different-history-of-displacement-and-loss/" type="external">tells the story</a> of a neglected "Nakba" - and suggests that displaced Arab guilt may motivate much of the Middle East's anti-Israel rejectionism:</p>
<p>On November 30, 1947, a day after the United Nations voted to partition Palestine into two states, one for Arabs and one for Jews, Aleppo [Syria] erupted. Mobs stalked Jewish neighborhoods, looting houses and burning synagogues; one man I interviewed remembered fleeing his home, a barefoot nine-year-old, moments before it was set on fire. Abetted by the government, the rioters burned 50 Jewish shops, five schools, 18 synagogues and an unknown number of homes. The next day the Jewish community's wealthiest families fled, and in the following months the rest began sneaking out in small groups, most of them headed to the new state of Israel. They forfeited their property, and faced imprisonment or torture if they were caught. Some disappeared en route. But the risk seemed worthwhile: in Damascus, the capital, rioters killed 13 Jews, including eight children, in August 1948, and there were similar events in other Arab cities.</p>
<p>At the time of the UN vote, there were about 10,000 Jews in Aleppo. By the mid-1950s there were 2,000, living in fear of the security forces and the mob. By the early 1990s no more than a handful remained, and today there are none. Similar scripts played out across the Islamic world. Some 850,000 Jews were forced from their homes. ...</p>
<p>In many Arab towns and cities there is an area where Jews used to live. In some cities, like Cairo, this area is still called harat al-yahud, the Jewish Quarter. Reporting there several years ago I found people who could show me the location of a certain abandoned synagogue, which they knew by name. A man who once showed me around Fez, Morocco, knew exactly where the old Jewish neighborhood, the mellah, had been, though there was not a single Jew there and had not been for many years. There are remnants like this in Aleppo, Tripoli, Baghdad and elsewhere. The people who live in or around the Jews' old homes still know who used to own them and how they left; this extinct Jewish world might have been forgotten elsewhere, but millions in the Arab world see evidence of it every day.</p>
<p>As I have reported this nearly invisible story, it has occured to me that we often hate most the things or people that remind us of something we dislike about ourselves, and that here lies one of the hidden dynamics of the Israel-Arab conflict. It is one papered over by the simple narrative of Nakba Day, which posits that a foreign implant displaced a native community in 1948 and that the Palestinian Arabs are paying the price for the European Holocaust. This narrative, chiefly designed to appeal to Western guilt, also conveniently erases the uncomfortable truth that half of Israel's Jews are there not because of the Nazis but because of the Arabs themselves.</p>
<p>Israel is not as foreign to the Middle East as many of its neighbors like to pretend, and more than one native community was displaced in 1948. If many in the Arab world insist, as they do each Nakba Day, that Israel is a Western invader that must be repelled, it is a claim that belongs to the realm not only of politics but of psychology - one that helps repress their own knowledge that the country they try to portray as alien is also the vengeful ghost of the neighbors they wronged.</p>
<p>h/t <a href="http://tomgrossmedia.com/" type="external">Tom Gross</a></p>
|
The Jewish Nakba
| true |
https://thedailybeast.com/the-jewish-nakba
|
2018-10-02
| 4left
|
The Jewish Nakba
<p>Matti Friedman in the Times of Israel <a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/a-different-history-of-displacement-and-loss/" type="external">tells the story</a> of a neglected "Nakba" - and suggests that displaced Arab guilt may motivate much of the Middle East's anti-Israel rejectionism:</p>
<p>On November 30, 1947, a day after the United Nations voted to partition Palestine into two states, one for Arabs and one for Jews, Aleppo [Syria] erupted. Mobs stalked Jewish neighborhoods, looting houses and burning synagogues; one man I interviewed remembered fleeing his home, a barefoot nine-year-old, moments before it was set on fire. Abetted by the government, the rioters burned 50 Jewish shops, five schools, 18 synagogues and an unknown number of homes. The next day the Jewish community's wealthiest families fled, and in the following months the rest began sneaking out in small groups, most of them headed to the new state of Israel. They forfeited their property, and faced imprisonment or torture if they were caught. Some disappeared en route. But the risk seemed worthwhile: in Damascus, the capital, rioters killed 13 Jews, including eight children, in August 1948, and there were similar events in other Arab cities.</p>
<p>At the time of the UN vote, there were about 10,000 Jews in Aleppo. By the mid-1950s there were 2,000, living in fear of the security forces and the mob. By the early 1990s no more than a handful remained, and today there are none. Similar scripts played out across the Islamic world. Some 850,000 Jews were forced from their homes. ...</p>
<p>In many Arab towns and cities there is an area where Jews used to live. In some cities, like Cairo, this area is still called harat al-yahud, the Jewish Quarter. Reporting there several years ago I found people who could show me the location of a certain abandoned synagogue, which they knew by name. A man who once showed me around Fez, Morocco, knew exactly where the old Jewish neighborhood, the mellah, had been, though there was not a single Jew there and had not been for many years. There are remnants like this in Aleppo, Tripoli, Baghdad and elsewhere. The people who live in or around the Jews' old homes still know who used to own them and how they left; this extinct Jewish world might have been forgotten elsewhere, but millions in the Arab world see evidence of it every day.</p>
<p>As I have reported this nearly invisible story, it has occured to me that we often hate most the things or people that remind us of something we dislike about ourselves, and that here lies one of the hidden dynamics of the Israel-Arab conflict. It is one papered over by the simple narrative of Nakba Day, which posits that a foreign implant displaced a native community in 1948 and that the Palestinian Arabs are paying the price for the European Holocaust. This narrative, chiefly designed to appeal to Western guilt, also conveniently erases the uncomfortable truth that half of Israel's Jews are there not because of the Nazis but because of the Arabs themselves.</p>
<p>Israel is not as foreign to the Middle East as many of its neighbors like to pretend, and more than one native community was displaced in 1948. If many in the Arab world insist, as they do each Nakba Day, that Israel is a Western invader that must be repelled, it is a claim that belongs to the realm not only of politics but of psychology - one that helps repress their own knowledge that the country they try to portray as alien is also the vengeful ghost of the neighbors they wronged.</p>
<p>h/t <a href="http://tomgrossmedia.com/" type="external">Tom Gross</a></p>
| 5,185 |
<p>One thing is clear about the Bush administration’s current rush to war: It has nothing to do with protecting U.S. security.</p>
<p>There is no evidence nor reason to believe that Iraq possesses nuclear weapons. The Iraqi military is among the weakest in the Middle East. And the CIA says that Iraq does not pose a terrorist threat to the United States — although it might, the CIA warns, if the United States launches an attack.</p>
<p>What is much less clear is the actual reason for war, especially because it poses real risks to U.S. corporate and geopolitical interests.</p>
<p>There are material interests served by war and the run-up to war, of course.</p>
<p>Big Oil: It should go without saying that the Bush administration, like administrations before it, obsesses about the Persian Gulf because it sits atop the world’s largest oil reserves. The Washington, Sustainable Energy and Economy Network’s Steve Kretzmann argues that central to the U.S. industry interest in Iraq is its potential role as a counterbalance to Saudi Arabia, which possesses the world’s largest oil reserves by far.</p>
<p>The Military-Industrial Think Tank Complex I: A network of defense industry-backed think tanks have been instrumental in cooking up the rationale for invasion of Iraq, developing concepts such as “preemptive war.” Many of the staff at these think tanks are now part of the Bush administration. Former defense company executives and consultants are also extremely well represented in the administration, and wield enormous influence. For the industry, war and hyped threats to national security mean greater expenditures on their weaponry. The Defense budget is set to hit $380 billion this year, rising over the next five years to a approach a staggering $500 billion.</p>
<p>The Ideology of Empire: The ideology and geopolitical strategy of the war-mongering extremist networks is, in a word, empire. They hope to demonstrate how awesome and dominant is U.S. military force, and that the United States is willing to use it routinely on whatever pretext it chooses. Their intended message: Cross the empire at your peril.</p>
<p>But more is going on here than just a corporate agenda.</p>
<p>There is no escaping the pathetic fact that a major impulse for war is the desire of President Bush and many of the key actors who served in his father’s administration to “redeem” the failure of the first Bush regime to depose Saddam Hussein.</p>
<p>And there is the narrow political calculus that must have been undertaken prior to the 2002 election by Karl Rove and other White House strategists. They realized that the post September-11 boost for the president was rapidly fading and that the administration was losing control of the national agenda as the Enron, WorldCom and other financial scandals dominated the headlines. They ran the election on the war and, with the Democrats offering no coherent opposition, this proved a successful strategy.</p>
<p>Still, while these propulsions to war can be identified, there are substantial countervailing factors at play. A war brings with it enormous uncertainty. While few doubt that the United States will prevail quickly on the battlefield, there is the potential of U.S. soldiers suffering non-negligible casualties if there ends up being house-to-house fighting in Baghdad. There is the real risk of spurring new terrorist acts, either in the United States or against U.S. citizens abroad, whether these acts come from Iraq, al-Qaeda or others. (And if Saddam Hussein is as evil as President Bush suggests, and if his regime is collapsing, isn’t it likely that he will lash out at the United States through any means possible?) There is the possibility that the U.S. invasion will generate political instability in other countries. There is the enormous uncertainty about how Iraq will be governed after Saddam is deposed.</p>
<p>These are not just concerns for common sense-minded citizens. They involve the uncertainties that intensely disturb corporations, which is presumably the reason the Dow falls as the drums of war beat louder. They even pose potential risks to the oil companies. (They may also pose risks to George Bush’s re-election, which is why the last, best hope of averting war perhaps is that the White House political strategists pull the country back from the brink.)</p>
<p>But the administration appears to have shunted aside these countervailing concerns. The momentum for war — fueled by a combination of corporate interest, ideology, personal pique and political expedience — combined with the arrogance of power of the most hawkish wing of the administration, appear to have steamrolled saner voices urging caution.</p>
<p>President Bush is on the verge of launching a war that will kill untold thousands of Iraqis, and turn an already tempestuous world into a much more dangerous place. Every person in the United States should do everything and anything they can to stop this lunacy.</p>
<p>Here are four things to do for those in the United States:</p>
<p>1. Attend the massive demonstration against war in New York City on February 15, or in San Francisco on February 16. For more information, see: <a href="http:/www.unitedforpeace.org" type="external">http:www.unitedforpeace.org</a>.</p>
<p>2. Call your senators (1-800-839-5276 or 202-224-3121), and urge them to support Senate Resolution 32, which calls for another Congressional vote before the United States commences a war. (To see the text of the resolution, go to <a href="http://thomas.loc.gov/" type="external">http://thomas.loc.gov</a> and type in “SRes 32” (no quotes) in the box for the bill number.)</p>
<p>3. Make sure your city council has passed a resolution supporting peace. 67 cities, including Chicago, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Detroit and Washington, D.C., already have. Check out <a href="http://www.citiesforpeace.org/" type="external">http://www.citiesforpeace.org</a>.</p>
<p>4. Give a day’s worth of time to stop the war. If you’re not sure what to do, sign up with Moveon.org (go to: <a href="http://moveon.org/giveaday" type="external">http://moveon.org/giveaday</a>) and they will supply you with plenty of ideas.</p>
<p>Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime Reporter. Robert Weissman is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based <a href="http://www.multinationalmonitor.org/" type="external">Multinational Monito</a>r, and co-director of Essential Action. They are co-authors of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1567511589/counterpunchmaga" type="external">Corporate Predators: The Hunt for MegaProfits and the Attack on Democracy</a> (Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 1999.)</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
|
Corporations, War and You
| true |
https://counterpunch.org/2003/02/07/corporations-war-and-you/
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2003-02-07
| 4left
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Corporations, War and You
<p>One thing is clear about the Bush administration’s current rush to war: It has nothing to do with protecting U.S. security.</p>
<p>There is no evidence nor reason to believe that Iraq possesses nuclear weapons. The Iraqi military is among the weakest in the Middle East. And the CIA says that Iraq does not pose a terrorist threat to the United States — although it might, the CIA warns, if the United States launches an attack.</p>
<p>What is much less clear is the actual reason for war, especially because it poses real risks to U.S. corporate and geopolitical interests.</p>
<p>There are material interests served by war and the run-up to war, of course.</p>
<p>Big Oil: It should go without saying that the Bush administration, like administrations before it, obsesses about the Persian Gulf because it sits atop the world’s largest oil reserves. The Washington, Sustainable Energy and Economy Network’s Steve Kretzmann argues that central to the U.S. industry interest in Iraq is its potential role as a counterbalance to Saudi Arabia, which possesses the world’s largest oil reserves by far.</p>
<p>The Military-Industrial Think Tank Complex I: A network of defense industry-backed think tanks have been instrumental in cooking up the rationale for invasion of Iraq, developing concepts such as “preemptive war.” Many of the staff at these think tanks are now part of the Bush administration. Former defense company executives and consultants are also extremely well represented in the administration, and wield enormous influence. For the industry, war and hyped threats to national security mean greater expenditures on their weaponry. The Defense budget is set to hit $380 billion this year, rising over the next five years to a approach a staggering $500 billion.</p>
<p>The Ideology of Empire: The ideology and geopolitical strategy of the war-mongering extremist networks is, in a word, empire. They hope to demonstrate how awesome and dominant is U.S. military force, and that the United States is willing to use it routinely on whatever pretext it chooses. Their intended message: Cross the empire at your peril.</p>
<p>But more is going on here than just a corporate agenda.</p>
<p>There is no escaping the pathetic fact that a major impulse for war is the desire of President Bush and many of the key actors who served in his father’s administration to “redeem” the failure of the first Bush regime to depose Saddam Hussein.</p>
<p>And there is the narrow political calculus that must have been undertaken prior to the 2002 election by Karl Rove and other White House strategists. They realized that the post September-11 boost for the president was rapidly fading and that the administration was losing control of the national agenda as the Enron, WorldCom and other financial scandals dominated the headlines. They ran the election on the war and, with the Democrats offering no coherent opposition, this proved a successful strategy.</p>
<p>Still, while these propulsions to war can be identified, there are substantial countervailing factors at play. A war brings with it enormous uncertainty. While few doubt that the United States will prevail quickly on the battlefield, there is the potential of U.S. soldiers suffering non-negligible casualties if there ends up being house-to-house fighting in Baghdad. There is the real risk of spurring new terrorist acts, either in the United States or against U.S. citizens abroad, whether these acts come from Iraq, al-Qaeda or others. (And if Saddam Hussein is as evil as President Bush suggests, and if his regime is collapsing, isn’t it likely that he will lash out at the United States through any means possible?) There is the possibility that the U.S. invasion will generate political instability in other countries. There is the enormous uncertainty about how Iraq will be governed after Saddam is deposed.</p>
<p>These are not just concerns for common sense-minded citizens. They involve the uncertainties that intensely disturb corporations, which is presumably the reason the Dow falls as the drums of war beat louder. They even pose potential risks to the oil companies. (They may also pose risks to George Bush’s re-election, which is why the last, best hope of averting war perhaps is that the White House political strategists pull the country back from the brink.)</p>
<p>But the administration appears to have shunted aside these countervailing concerns. The momentum for war — fueled by a combination of corporate interest, ideology, personal pique and political expedience — combined with the arrogance of power of the most hawkish wing of the administration, appear to have steamrolled saner voices urging caution.</p>
<p>President Bush is on the verge of launching a war that will kill untold thousands of Iraqis, and turn an already tempestuous world into a much more dangerous place. Every person in the United States should do everything and anything they can to stop this lunacy.</p>
<p>Here are four things to do for those in the United States:</p>
<p>1. Attend the massive demonstration against war in New York City on February 15, or in San Francisco on February 16. For more information, see: <a href="http:/www.unitedforpeace.org" type="external">http:www.unitedforpeace.org</a>.</p>
<p>2. Call your senators (1-800-839-5276 or 202-224-3121), and urge them to support Senate Resolution 32, which calls for another Congressional vote before the United States commences a war. (To see the text of the resolution, go to <a href="http://thomas.loc.gov/" type="external">http://thomas.loc.gov</a> and type in “SRes 32” (no quotes) in the box for the bill number.)</p>
<p>3. Make sure your city council has passed a resolution supporting peace. 67 cities, including Chicago, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Detroit and Washington, D.C., already have. Check out <a href="http://www.citiesforpeace.org/" type="external">http://www.citiesforpeace.org</a>.</p>
<p>4. Give a day’s worth of time to stop the war. If you’re not sure what to do, sign up with Moveon.org (go to: <a href="http://moveon.org/giveaday" type="external">http://moveon.org/giveaday</a>) and they will supply you with plenty of ideas.</p>
<p>Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime Reporter. Robert Weissman is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based <a href="http://www.multinationalmonitor.org/" type="external">Multinational Monito</a>r, and co-director of Essential Action. They are co-authors of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1567511589/counterpunchmaga" type="external">Corporate Predators: The Hunt for MegaProfits and the Attack on Democracy</a> (Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 1999.)</p>
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<p>KEWA PUEBLO – Decades ago, families here would walk a couple of miles to their trading post to stock up on supplies from coffee to bullets.</p>
<p>But it closed in 1987, and the historic building, brand new in the 1920s, was left with only its walls standing after a devastating fire in 2001. Then, in a burst of hope last fall, the structure with a faded sign inviting tourists to “trade where real Indians trade” was rebuilt and restored and finished by April.</p>
<p>Almost.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>It still has no opening date.</p>
<p>Around 2,500 square feet of the historic trading post, which first opened during the 1920s, has been restored after being gutted by fire in 2001. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>A portion of the trading post is unfinished, and the rebuilt portion needs display cases, a food counter, tables and chairs and other fixtures, but no money is left.</p>
<p>Perhaps more daunting, the tribe faces the ticklish question of how it will be decided which artists will be able to sell what items – something that needs to be settled before the interior can be equipped with display cases and the building finally opened.</p>
<p>“We’ve been wrestling with those kinds of issues for the last two-and-a-half years,” said Kenny Pin, planning director for the pueblo.</p>
<p>In a community where many people survive on income from their art, the answers are critical: Who decides what items – and whose items – will be sold there? Will they be $5 items or $500 items? Will the shop buy the inventory or sell on consignment? How long will an item be displayed before it is returned, unsold, to the maker? Can items include store-bought materials, or must the dyes, clay, fibers or paints be developed from scratch?</p>
<p>And should it carry items only made by Kewa (formerly Santo Domingo) Pueblo members, or should it carry items from members of other tribes? According to old photos, the trading post had Navajo rugs hanging from the banisters, Pin said.</p>
<p>One solution might be to bring in an outside marketing expert who can handle at least some of those issues without raising complaints about favoring – or not favoring – family members and friends, he said.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Meanwhile, fundraising ideas are being considered to try to come up with the money needed to furnish the facility, which is located across the street from the Rail Runner train station.</p>
<p>Kenny Pin, planning director for Kewa Pueblo, poses inside the rebuilt portion of the old trading post. Money is needed for some completion work and the furnishings for the shop, which will sell items made by pueblo artists. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>No more money</p>
<p>The trading post restoration started with a $1 million economic development grant from the federal government. Not only would tribal members get jobs in construction during the work, but then artists could sell items they make in the completed shop. Four to six people might work in the opened trading post, Pin estimated, while locally produced food might also be sold.</p>
<p>After planning and design, the construction budget, he said, was $830,000.</p>
<p>Bids came in at $1.2 million.</p>
<p>As a result, cost-saving was initiated, with plexiglass substituted for glass, for example, and one restroom completed instead of two. Volunteers, both locally and from visiting groups, made adobe bricks. The construction turned into Phase 1 of a multi-phase project, with about 2,500 square feet finished, leaving the back 700 square feet of the building with a roof and supporting beams, and not much else.</p>
<p>With tough budget times and sequestration, federal money has pretty much dried up, Pin said of his efforts to seek additional grants. About $538,000 is needed to complete construction, he said. During the design phase, workers consulted historic photos to try to recreate the old building as much as possible. The problem, Pin said, is that not many photos existed of the interior.</p>
<p>One source consulted was the movie “Flap,” which was filmed partially at the old trading post, “with Anthony Quinn playing a Native American,” Pin said.</p>
<p>Scott Davis, general manager, and other workers with Avanyu LLC begin restoration work at the Santo Domingo Trading Post a year ago. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>According to the Internet Movie Database, Quinn’s character was “Flapping Eagle” and his horse was “H-Bomb” in the comedy, released in 1970.</p>
<p>The problem with examining indoor stills from the movie is that it wasn’t clear what reflected the actual trading post and what was a movie set, Pin said. “We’d show them to people around here, and they’d say, ‘That’s not quite what it looked like,’ ” he said.</p>
<p>As it is, the building was completed with a second story balcony (railings are still needed) around the interior, which boasts a wooden floor, vaulted ceiling and old exposed adobe bricks in the walls. Despite indications that the old business used only natural light, Pin said, lighting was added to supplement the generous windows and a ceiling fan circulates the air.</p>
<p>Preserving stories</p>
<p>Community feedback was frequent throughout the work, he said. “Inevitably, they’d start a sentence with ‘I remember’ or ‘When I was young,’ ” Pin said of residents older than 40. “Then, they would tell a trading post story.”</p>
<p>The 2001 fire left only the walls intact at the old Santo Domingo (now Kewa) Trading Post. Restoration work is almost complete, but about 700 square feet remains to be done. (Dean Hanson/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>A National Endowment for the Arts grant will be used to help preserve some of those stories. That will be part of an event planned for Aug. 23-24 to help “bridge” the village to the trading post, which used to be an Anglo enclave, with little interaction between the two other than the buying expeditions, he said.</p>
<p>The first trading post was built in 1881 at a stop of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. Pueblo members would trade their arts and crafts and crops for supplies, and the trading post would sell the Indian-made wares to tourists. It was rebuilt in 1922, the decade when travelers started coming down the famous Route 66.</p>
<p>This month’s event will recreate the walk people used to make from their homes to the trading post and invite the older generations to share their stories. “Part of it will be to let them see the space. The building is coming back to life, but it’s been shuttered for a long time,” Pin said.</p>
<p>And, well, maybe they’ll invite some other arts groups to take a look and maybe get inspired to help out with donations “so we can get the building up and running,” he added. Furnishing Phase 1 would cost roughly $75,000 to $100,000, he estimated.</p>
<p>As for that “real Indians” mural on the wall that fronted the warehouse adjoining the trading post – it will probably be changed to something more “politically correct,” Pin said.</p>
<p>“People here make fun of that, too.”</p>
<p>The roof has been added along with supporting beams, but the floor remains dirt within the back 700 square feet of the old trading post at Kewa Pueblo. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p />
<p />
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Trading troubles
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https://abqjournal.com/249332/funds-needed-to-complete-restoration-of-trading-post.html
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2013-08-18
| 2least
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Trading troubles
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<p />
<p>KEWA PUEBLO – Decades ago, families here would walk a couple of miles to their trading post to stock up on supplies from coffee to bullets.</p>
<p>But it closed in 1987, and the historic building, brand new in the 1920s, was left with only its walls standing after a devastating fire in 2001. Then, in a burst of hope last fall, the structure with a faded sign inviting tourists to “trade where real Indians trade” was rebuilt and restored and finished by April.</p>
<p>Almost.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>It still has no opening date.</p>
<p>Around 2,500 square feet of the historic trading post, which first opened during the 1920s, has been restored after being gutted by fire in 2001. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>A portion of the trading post is unfinished, and the rebuilt portion needs display cases, a food counter, tables and chairs and other fixtures, but no money is left.</p>
<p>Perhaps more daunting, the tribe faces the ticklish question of how it will be decided which artists will be able to sell what items – something that needs to be settled before the interior can be equipped with display cases and the building finally opened.</p>
<p>“We’ve been wrestling with those kinds of issues for the last two-and-a-half years,” said Kenny Pin, planning director for the pueblo.</p>
<p>In a community where many people survive on income from their art, the answers are critical: Who decides what items – and whose items – will be sold there? Will they be $5 items or $500 items? Will the shop buy the inventory or sell on consignment? How long will an item be displayed before it is returned, unsold, to the maker? Can items include store-bought materials, or must the dyes, clay, fibers or paints be developed from scratch?</p>
<p>And should it carry items only made by Kewa (formerly Santo Domingo) Pueblo members, or should it carry items from members of other tribes? According to old photos, the trading post had Navajo rugs hanging from the banisters, Pin said.</p>
<p>One solution might be to bring in an outside marketing expert who can handle at least some of those issues without raising complaints about favoring – or not favoring – family members and friends, he said.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Meanwhile, fundraising ideas are being considered to try to come up with the money needed to furnish the facility, which is located across the street from the Rail Runner train station.</p>
<p>Kenny Pin, planning director for Kewa Pueblo, poses inside the rebuilt portion of the old trading post. Money is needed for some completion work and the furnishings for the shop, which will sell items made by pueblo artists. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>No more money</p>
<p>The trading post restoration started with a $1 million economic development grant from the federal government. Not only would tribal members get jobs in construction during the work, but then artists could sell items they make in the completed shop. Four to six people might work in the opened trading post, Pin estimated, while locally produced food might also be sold.</p>
<p>After planning and design, the construction budget, he said, was $830,000.</p>
<p>Bids came in at $1.2 million.</p>
<p>As a result, cost-saving was initiated, with plexiglass substituted for glass, for example, and one restroom completed instead of two. Volunteers, both locally and from visiting groups, made adobe bricks. The construction turned into Phase 1 of a multi-phase project, with about 2,500 square feet finished, leaving the back 700 square feet of the building with a roof and supporting beams, and not much else.</p>
<p>With tough budget times and sequestration, federal money has pretty much dried up, Pin said of his efforts to seek additional grants. About $538,000 is needed to complete construction, he said. During the design phase, workers consulted historic photos to try to recreate the old building as much as possible. The problem, Pin said, is that not many photos existed of the interior.</p>
<p>One source consulted was the movie “Flap,” which was filmed partially at the old trading post, “with Anthony Quinn playing a Native American,” Pin said.</p>
<p>Scott Davis, general manager, and other workers with Avanyu LLC begin restoration work at the Santo Domingo Trading Post a year ago. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>According to the Internet Movie Database, Quinn’s character was “Flapping Eagle” and his horse was “H-Bomb” in the comedy, released in 1970.</p>
<p>The problem with examining indoor stills from the movie is that it wasn’t clear what reflected the actual trading post and what was a movie set, Pin said. “We’d show them to people around here, and they’d say, ‘That’s not quite what it looked like,’ ” he said.</p>
<p>As it is, the building was completed with a second story balcony (railings are still needed) around the interior, which boasts a wooden floor, vaulted ceiling and old exposed adobe bricks in the walls. Despite indications that the old business used only natural light, Pin said, lighting was added to supplement the generous windows and a ceiling fan circulates the air.</p>
<p>Preserving stories</p>
<p>Community feedback was frequent throughout the work, he said. “Inevitably, they’d start a sentence with ‘I remember’ or ‘When I was young,’ ” Pin said of residents older than 40. “Then, they would tell a trading post story.”</p>
<p>The 2001 fire left only the walls intact at the old Santo Domingo (now Kewa) Trading Post. Restoration work is almost complete, but about 700 square feet remains to be done. (Dean Hanson/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>A National Endowment for the Arts grant will be used to help preserve some of those stories. That will be part of an event planned for Aug. 23-24 to help “bridge” the village to the trading post, which used to be an Anglo enclave, with little interaction between the two other than the buying expeditions, he said.</p>
<p>The first trading post was built in 1881 at a stop of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. Pueblo members would trade their arts and crafts and crops for supplies, and the trading post would sell the Indian-made wares to tourists. It was rebuilt in 1922, the decade when travelers started coming down the famous Route 66.</p>
<p>This month’s event will recreate the walk people used to make from their homes to the trading post and invite the older generations to share their stories. “Part of it will be to let them see the space. The building is coming back to life, but it’s been shuttered for a long time,” Pin said.</p>
<p>And, well, maybe they’ll invite some other arts groups to take a look and maybe get inspired to help out with donations “so we can get the building up and running,” he added. Furnishing Phase 1 would cost roughly $75,000 to $100,000, he estimated.</p>
<p>As for that “real Indians” mural on the wall that fronted the warehouse adjoining the trading post – it will probably be changed to something more “politically correct,” Pin said.</p>
<p>“People here make fun of that, too.”</p>
<p>The roof has been added along with supporting beams, but the floor remains dirt within the back 700 square feet of the old trading post at Kewa Pueblo. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p />
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<p>A strong majority of poll responders believe benefits should be curtailed if a worker is injured while under the influence. This file photo shows heavy construction work in 2009 in Rio Rancho. (Albuquerque Journal File)</p>
<p>SANTA FE – Roughly two-thirds of likely New Mexico voters support enacting legislation that would deny or significantly curtail workers’ compensation payments in cases where alcohol or drug use led to an employee’s injuries or death, a Journal Poll found.</p>
<p>Sixty-seven percent of those surveyed in the Sept. 9-11 poll said they would back such a law, while 25 percent said they would oppose it. The remaining respondents either said they were undecided or had mixed feelings.</p>
<p>The concept received broad-based support across age groups and education levels and among members of both major political parties, though registered Republicans were more likely than Democrats to voice support.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Recent attempts to enact such a law in New Mexico have stalled in the state Legislature, with opponents raising concerns about the fairness of penalizing surviving spouses and children for the actions of a family breadwinner.</p>
<p>In addition, several state agencies have raised legal issues ranging from how to legally define drug intoxication to how to handle workers’ usage of prescribed medications – including medical marijuana.</p>
<p>‘A gut reaction’</p>
<p>However, Brian Sanderoff, the president of Research &amp; Polling Inc., which conducted the poll, said the survey results indicate most voters have a positive gut reaction to the idea of restricting workers’ compensation</p>
<p>Some state legislatures have already acted to limit workers’ compensation if the party injured was impaired. This file photo shows welding customer products at a Gallup company. (The Associated Press)</p>
<p>benefits for drunken or drugged employees.</p>
<p>“I think many New Mexico voters have a sense of personal responsibility,” Sanderoff said. “The thinking seems to be, ‘If you contributed to your own demise, maybe your boss shouldn’t have to foot the bill.'”</p>
<p>Workers’ compensation benefits are paid out when an employee is hurt on the job. Under current state law, such benefits can be reduced by a 10 percent amount in cases in which alcohol or drugs are found to be a contributing factor in the incident causing the injuries.</p>
<p>A bill sponsored this year by Rep. Dennis Roch, R-Logan, would have done away with any benefits in cases where a worker’s intoxication was found to be a “contributing cause, to any degree” of injuries or death.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>That bill died in its the House Labor and Human Resources Committee, the same panel that killed previous legislation on the subject in 2011 and 2013. Similar bills have also stalled in the Senate during the last two years.</p>
<p>Business groups have backed the legislation, arguing that impaired workers endanger themselves and others and cause the cost of business insurance premiums to increase.</p>
<p>Other states’ rules</p>
<p>A number of other states have laws that restrict or deny workers’ compensation benefits in cases where employee alcohol or drug use led to injuries, according to a 2009 survey by the U.S. Department of Labor.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" />Colorado, for instance, allows benefits to be reduced by 50 percent in such situations, while Florida and Texas are among the states in which benefits can be denied if an employee is found to have been intoxicated on the job at the time of injury, according to the survey.</p>
<p>The recent Journal Poll found 63 percent of Democratic voters interviewed supported enactment of a stricter workers’ compensation law, compared to 27 percent who said they were opposed. Among Republican voters, 72 percent were in favor and 22 percent were in opposition.</p>
<p>In addition, voters in all five regions of the state were more likely to support than oppose the concept.</p>
<p>The poll asked: “New Mexico’s workers’ compensation program pays workers who are injured on the job. Would you support or oppose a law that denies or significantly limits payments to employees whose alcohol or drug use contributed to their injury or death?”</p>
<p>The Journal Poll was based on a scientific, statewide sample of 500 voters who cast ballots in the 2010 and 2012 elections and said they were likely to vote again this year.</p>
<p>The margin of error for the sample is plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.</p>
<p>All interviews were conducted live by professional interviewers, with multiple callbacks to households that did not initially answer the phone. Both landlines (73 percent) and cellphone numbers (27 percent) of proven general election voters were used.</p>
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Journal Poll: A question of compensation
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https://abqjournal.com/466179/a-question-of-compensation.html
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Journal Poll: A question of compensation
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<p />
<p>A strong majority of poll responders believe benefits should be curtailed if a worker is injured while under the influence. This file photo shows heavy construction work in 2009 in Rio Rancho. (Albuquerque Journal File)</p>
<p>SANTA FE – Roughly two-thirds of likely New Mexico voters support enacting legislation that would deny or significantly curtail workers’ compensation payments in cases where alcohol or drug use led to an employee’s injuries or death, a Journal Poll found.</p>
<p>Sixty-seven percent of those surveyed in the Sept. 9-11 poll said they would back such a law, while 25 percent said they would oppose it. The remaining respondents either said they were undecided or had mixed feelings.</p>
<p>The concept received broad-based support across age groups and education levels and among members of both major political parties, though registered Republicans were more likely than Democrats to voice support.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Recent attempts to enact such a law in New Mexico have stalled in the state Legislature, with opponents raising concerns about the fairness of penalizing surviving spouses and children for the actions of a family breadwinner.</p>
<p>In addition, several state agencies have raised legal issues ranging from how to legally define drug intoxication to how to handle workers’ usage of prescribed medications – including medical marijuana.</p>
<p>‘A gut reaction’</p>
<p>However, Brian Sanderoff, the president of Research &amp; Polling Inc., which conducted the poll, said the survey results indicate most voters have a positive gut reaction to the idea of restricting workers’ compensation</p>
<p>Some state legislatures have already acted to limit workers’ compensation if the party injured was impaired. This file photo shows welding customer products at a Gallup company. (The Associated Press)</p>
<p>benefits for drunken or drugged employees.</p>
<p>“I think many New Mexico voters have a sense of personal responsibility,” Sanderoff said. “The thinking seems to be, ‘If you contributed to your own demise, maybe your boss shouldn’t have to foot the bill.'”</p>
<p>Workers’ compensation benefits are paid out when an employee is hurt on the job. Under current state law, such benefits can be reduced by a 10 percent amount in cases in which alcohol or drugs are found to be a contributing factor in the incident causing the injuries.</p>
<p>A bill sponsored this year by Rep. Dennis Roch, R-Logan, would have done away with any benefits in cases where a worker’s intoxication was found to be a “contributing cause, to any degree” of injuries or death.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>That bill died in its the House Labor and Human Resources Committee, the same panel that killed previous legislation on the subject in 2011 and 2013. Similar bills have also stalled in the Senate during the last two years.</p>
<p>Business groups have backed the legislation, arguing that impaired workers endanger themselves and others and cause the cost of business insurance premiums to increase.</p>
<p>Other states’ rules</p>
<p>A number of other states have laws that restrict or deny workers’ compensation benefits in cases where employee alcohol or drug use led to injuries, according to a 2009 survey by the U.S. Department of Labor.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" />Colorado, for instance, allows benefits to be reduced by 50 percent in such situations, while Florida and Texas are among the states in which benefits can be denied if an employee is found to have been intoxicated on the job at the time of injury, according to the survey.</p>
<p>The recent Journal Poll found 63 percent of Democratic voters interviewed supported enactment of a stricter workers’ compensation law, compared to 27 percent who said they were opposed. Among Republican voters, 72 percent were in favor and 22 percent were in opposition.</p>
<p>In addition, voters in all five regions of the state were more likely to support than oppose the concept.</p>
<p>The poll asked: “New Mexico’s workers’ compensation program pays workers who are injured on the job. Would you support or oppose a law that denies or significantly limits payments to employees whose alcohol or drug use contributed to their injury or death?”</p>
<p>The Journal Poll was based on a scientific, statewide sample of 500 voters who cast ballots in the 2010 and 2012 elections and said they were likely to vote again this year.</p>
<p>The margin of error for the sample is plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.</p>
<p>All interviews were conducted live by professional interviewers, with multiple callbacks to households that did not initially answer the phone. Both landlines (73 percent) and cellphone numbers (27 percent) of proven general election voters were used.</p>
<p />
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<p>Watch Samantha Bee take on&#160;obstructionist&#160;Senate Republicans in the latest episode of Full Frontal with Samantha Bee.</p>
<p>We’ve talked a lot about GOP&#160;obstructionism of&#160;President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee&#160;Merrick Garland. And we’ve highlighted polls that show&#160;American voters <a href="" type="internal">clearly want&#160;their senators</a>&#160;to do their Constitutional duty&#160;or risk losing their jobs in the fall.</p>
<p>Samantha Bee dedicated a portion of her show Monday evening to Republican&#160;antics:</p>
<p />
<p>Support for a hearing has remained consistently strong: a&#160;CNN poll&#160; <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/25/politics/merrick-garland-supreme-court-nominee/http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/25/politics/merrick-garland-supreme-court-nominee/" type="external">found</a>&#160;that two thirds of respondents want the Senate to hold a hearing on Garland. And several vulnerable Senate Republicans, including&#160;Sen. Kelly <a href="" type="internal">Ayotte</a> (R-NH), Sen. Rob <a href="" type="internal">Portman</a> (R-OH), Sen. Pat <a href="" type="internal">Toomey</a>(R-PA), Sen. Ron&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Johnson</a> (R-WI), Sen. Richard <a href="" type="internal">Burr</a> (R-NC), and even Sen. John <a href="" type="internal">McCain</a>(R-AZ), are facing pressure&#160;from voters who are less likely to vote for them if they fail to hold hearings.</p>
<p>Republicans have a big problem on their hands.</p>
|
WATCH: Samantha Bee Skewers GOP Supreme Court Obstructionism
| true |
http://bluenationreview.com/samantha-bee-skewers-gop-obstructionism-on-scotus/
|
2016-03-29
| 4left
|
WATCH: Samantha Bee Skewers GOP Supreme Court Obstructionism
<p>Watch Samantha Bee take on&#160;obstructionist&#160;Senate Republicans in the latest episode of Full Frontal with Samantha Bee.</p>
<p>We’ve talked a lot about GOP&#160;obstructionism of&#160;President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee&#160;Merrick Garland. And we’ve highlighted polls that show&#160;American voters <a href="" type="internal">clearly want&#160;their senators</a>&#160;to do their Constitutional duty&#160;or risk losing their jobs in the fall.</p>
<p>Samantha Bee dedicated a portion of her show Monday evening to Republican&#160;antics:</p>
<p />
<p>Support for a hearing has remained consistently strong: a&#160;CNN poll&#160; <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/25/politics/merrick-garland-supreme-court-nominee/http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/25/politics/merrick-garland-supreme-court-nominee/" type="external">found</a>&#160;that two thirds of respondents want the Senate to hold a hearing on Garland. And several vulnerable Senate Republicans, including&#160;Sen. Kelly <a href="" type="internal">Ayotte</a> (R-NH), Sen. Rob <a href="" type="internal">Portman</a> (R-OH), Sen. Pat <a href="" type="internal">Toomey</a>(R-PA), Sen. Ron&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Johnson</a> (R-WI), Sen. Richard <a href="" type="internal">Burr</a> (R-NC), and even Sen. John <a href="" type="internal">McCain</a>(R-AZ), are facing pressure&#160;from voters who are less likely to vote for them if they fail to hold hearings.</p>
<p>Republicans have a big problem on their hands.</p>
| 5,189 |
<p>In late 2016, the Obama administration began a propaganda campaign with its news media allies pushing a "collusion" narrative linking the incoming Trump administration and the Russian state, according to analysis from <a href="https://www.hudson.org/experts/1035-michael-doran" type="external">Michael Doran</a>.</p>
<p>Doran made his remarks during a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6d82gqNL1Q" type="external">Thursday discussion panel</a> in Washington, D.C., hosted by The Hudson Institute.</p>
<p>Doran described the aforementioned narrative as a propaganda campaign pushed by the Obama administration, its subsequent executive branch holdovers, and their news allies:</p>
<p>What we have is a coordinated attack between elements in the press, elements in the bureaucracy, and [Obama era officials and loyalists] weaving this vast Trump-Putin-Russia conspiracy theory, which doesn’t hold up under scrutiny.</p>
<p>Barack Obama sought to "tarnish" his successor's presidency, said Doran, framing the incoming Trump administration as co-conspirators in a political subversion operation against America's presidential election; Obama's posture as hawkish toward Russia was done toward this end:</p>
<p>When did [Barack Obama] institute those sanctions [on Russia]? The last weeks of December, exactly when the White House started a propaganda campaign to depict Trump as Putin’s puppet. That is what it was part of. … Remember the Vermont dam that the Russian supposedly hacked into? That was a result of that very speedily put together Homeland Security report on Russian hacking, which was a joke.</p>
<p>There was a huge effort by the Obama administration in the last weeks to raise this issue of Russian hacking when they did nothing for eight years before.</p>
<p>Let’s not forget Hillary Clinton’s [Russian] reset. Let’s not forget President Obama turning to Medvedev and saying that after the election he was gonna be much more flexible. Let’s not forget all of the intel that showed that the Russians were about to make a big muscle move in Syria, and we did nothing. ...</p>
<p>We did nothing until December 29, just before the Trump inauguration.</p>
<p>Democrats are suddenly masquerading as hawkish toward Russia despite their years-long appeasement of Russian President Vladimir Putin's projection of state power in the international arena, said Doran:</p>
<p>One of the psychological benefits to the Democrats of this Russian collusion nonsense is that it had completely whitewashed the appeasement of the Russians by Obama. We’ve just forgotten all that.</p>
<p>The Department of Justice's appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel to pursue an open-ended and nebulous investigation was without merit, said Doran, noting non-existent evidence to suggest any collusion between the Donald Trump's transition-team-turned-administration and the Russian state:</p>
<p>It’s a principle of law that you can’t have an investigation of somebody without probable cause [of the commission of crime]. There’s no probable cause for collusion between the Trump administration and Vladimir Putin. …</p>
<p>You can’t have a special investigator going around and rooting through all of the lives of people unless there’s probable cause. …</p>
<p>Mueller has no right to be rooting through the files of every Trump official hoping to find some kind of connection to the Russians. There’s no evidence.</p>
<p>Casting Attorney General Jeff Sessions as a "puppet" of Vladimir Putin — a narrative pushed by Democrats and their news media allies — amounted to an "absurd Hollywood comedy," said Doran:</p>
<p>The moment this became the most absurd Hollywood comedy is when Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III — Senator from Alabama — was put in the frame of being a puppet of Vladimir Putin. That’s the moment when we all should’ve said, "What is wrong with this picture? This is ridiculous."</p>
<p>Doran commented on the fraudulent "dossier" hyped by left-wing and Democrat-aligned news media outlets such as CNN and BuzzFeed:</p>
<p>That was oppo research produced first by Trump's Republican opponents, then paid for by Hillary Clinton, and then three weeks before the election, the FBI may have paid money for it and was putting people on their payroll [to investigate it].</p>
<p>Robert Mueller's conduct as special counsel was also suspicious, said Doran:</p>
<p>Now we have Robert Mueller hiring the people who obviously have vendettas [against Trump]. Mueller has a relationship with Comey, a friendship with Comey. He's hiring people who have strong Democratic ties and reasons to be opposed to Donald Trump. How much can those of us who don't agree with this to begin with trust the results of [Mueller's investigation] when he sends those signals. ... The results of that report are going to be tainted before they ever come out.</p>
<p>Doran predicted that Democrats and their news media allies will attempt to preserve the aforementioned narrative until at least 2018.</p>
<p>None of the panelists commented on ongoing collusion between left-wing news media outlets and the Democrat Party to subvert American politics.</p>
<p>Follow Robert Kraychik on <a href="https://twitter.com/kr3ch3k" type="external">Twitter</a>.</p>
|
Doran: Russia Collusion Story Is Obama's 'Propaganda Campaign'
| true |
https://dailywire.com/news/18398/doran-russia-collusion-story-obamas-propaganda-robert-kraychik
|
2017-07-09
| 0right
|
Doran: Russia Collusion Story Is Obama's 'Propaganda Campaign'
<p>In late 2016, the Obama administration began a propaganda campaign with its news media allies pushing a "collusion" narrative linking the incoming Trump administration and the Russian state, according to analysis from <a href="https://www.hudson.org/experts/1035-michael-doran" type="external">Michael Doran</a>.</p>
<p>Doran made his remarks during a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6d82gqNL1Q" type="external">Thursday discussion panel</a> in Washington, D.C., hosted by The Hudson Institute.</p>
<p>Doran described the aforementioned narrative as a propaganda campaign pushed by the Obama administration, its subsequent executive branch holdovers, and their news allies:</p>
<p>What we have is a coordinated attack between elements in the press, elements in the bureaucracy, and [Obama era officials and loyalists] weaving this vast Trump-Putin-Russia conspiracy theory, which doesn’t hold up under scrutiny.</p>
<p>Barack Obama sought to "tarnish" his successor's presidency, said Doran, framing the incoming Trump administration as co-conspirators in a political subversion operation against America's presidential election; Obama's posture as hawkish toward Russia was done toward this end:</p>
<p>When did [Barack Obama] institute those sanctions [on Russia]? The last weeks of December, exactly when the White House started a propaganda campaign to depict Trump as Putin’s puppet. That is what it was part of. … Remember the Vermont dam that the Russian supposedly hacked into? That was a result of that very speedily put together Homeland Security report on Russian hacking, which was a joke.</p>
<p>There was a huge effort by the Obama administration in the last weeks to raise this issue of Russian hacking when they did nothing for eight years before.</p>
<p>Let’s not forget Hillary Clinton’s [Russian] reset. Let’s not forget President Obama turning to Medvedev and saying that after the election he was gonna be much more flexible. Let’s not forget all of the intel that showed that the Russians were about to make a big muscle move in Syria, and we did nothing. ...</p>
<p>We did nothing until December 29, just before the Trump inauguration.</p>
<p>Democrats are suddenly masquerading as hawkish toward Russia despite their years-long appeasement of Russian President Vladimir Putin's projection of state power in the international arena, said Doran:</p>
<p>One of the psychological benefits to the Democrats of this Russian collusion nonsense is that it had completely whitewashed the appeasement of the Russians by Obama. We’ve just forgotten all that.</p>
<p>The Department of Justice's appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel to pursue an open-ended and nebulous investigation was without merit, said Doran, noting non-existent evidence to suggest any collusion between the Donald Trump's transition-team-turned-administration and the Russian state:</p>
<p>It’s a principle of law that you can’t have an investigation of somebody without probable cause [of the commission of crime]. There’s no probable cause for collusion between the Trump administration and Vladimir Putin. …</p>
<p>You can’t have a special investigator going around and rooting through all of the lives of people unless there’s probable cause. …</p>
<p>Mueller has no right to be rooting through the files of every Trump official hoping to find some kind of connection to the Russians. There’s no evidence.</p>
<p>Casting Attorney General Jeff Sessions as a "puppet" of Vladimir Putin — a narrative pushed by Democrats and their news media allies — amounted to an "absurd Hollywood comedy," said Doran:</p>
<p>The moment this became the most absurd Hollywood comedy is when Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III — Senator from Alabama — was put in the frame of being a puppet of Vladimir Putin. That’s the moment when we all should’ve said, "What is wrong with this picture? This is ridiculous."</p>
<p>Doran commented on the fraudulent "dossier" hyped by left-wing and Democrat-aligned news media outlets such as CNN and BuzzFeed:</p>
<p>That was oppo research produced first by Trump's Republican opponents, then paid for by Hillary Clinton, and then three weeks before the election, the FBI may have paid money for it and was putting people on their payroll [to investigate it].</p>
<p>Robert Mueller's conduct as special counsel was also suspicious, said Doran:</p>
<p>Now we have Robert Mueller hiring the people who obviously have vendettas [against Trump]. Mueller has a relationship with Comey, a friendship with Comey. He's hiring people who have strong Democratic ties and reasons to be opposed to Donald Trump. How much can those of us who don't agree with this to begin with trust the results of [Mueller's investigation] when he sends those signals. ... The results of that report are going to be tainted before they ever come out.</p>
<p>Doran predicted that Democrats and their news media allies will attempt to preserve the aforementioned narrative until at least 2018.</p>
<p>None of the panelists commented on ongoing collusion between left-wing news media outlets and the Democrat Party to subvert American politics.</p>
<p>Follow Robert Kraychik on <a href="https://twitter.com/kr3ch3k" type="external">Twitter</a>.</p>
| 5,190 |
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<p />
<p>Nordstrom</p>
<p>“My daughter Ivanka has been treated so unfairly by @Nordstrom. She is a great person — always pushing me to do the right thing! Terrible!” Trump tweeted on Feb. 8, 2017</p>
<p>Amazon</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“If @amazon ever had to pay fair taxes, its stock would crash and it would crumble like a paper bag. The @washingtonpost scam is saving it!” Trump tweeted on Dec. 7, 2015.</p>
<p>Carrier</p>
<p>“Big day on Thursday for Indiana and the great workers of that wonderful state. We will keep our companies and jobs in the U.S. Thanks Carrier.” Trump tweeted on Nov. 29, 2016.</p>
<p>Ford Motor Co.</p>
<p>“Just got a call from my friend Bill Ford, Chairman of Ford, who advised me that he will be keeping the Lincoln plant in Kentucky – no Mexico. I worked hard with Bill Ford to keep the Lincoln plant in Kentucky. I owed it to the great State of Kentucky for their confidence in me!” Trump said in a series of tweets on Nov. 17, 2016</p>
<p>Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co.</p>
<p>“Based on the tremendous cost and cost overruns of the Lockheed Martin F-35, I have asked Boeing to price-out a comparable F-18 Super Hornet!” Trump tweeted on Dec. 22, 2016.</p>
<p>“Boeing is building a brand new 747 Air Force One for future presidents, but costs are out of control, more than $4 billion. Cancel order!” Trump tweeted on Dec. 6, 2016.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>General Motors Co.</p>
<p>“General Motors is sending Mexican made model of Chevy Cruze to U.S. car dealers-tax free across border. Make in U.S.A. or pay big border tax!” Trump tweeted on Jan. 3, 2017.</p>
<p>Macy’s Inc.</p>
<p>“Good news, disloyal @Macys stock is in a total free fall. Don’t shop there for Christmas!” Trump tweeted on Dec. 4, 2015.</p>
<p>T-Mobile US</p>
<p>.@JohnLegere @TMobile John, focus on running your company, I think the service is terrible! Try hiring some good managers. Trump tweeted on Nov. 15, 2015</p>
<p>Rexnord</p>
<p>“Rexnord of Indiana is moving to Mexico and rather viciously firing all of its 300 workers. This is happening all over our country. No more!” Trump tweeted on Dec. 2, 2016.</p>
|
Trump Twitter focus: The companies singled out
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/945261/trump-twitter-focus-the-companies-singled-out.html
| 2least
|
Trump Twitter focus: The companies singled out
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Nordstrom</p>
<p>“My daughter Ivanka has been treated so unfairly by @Nordstrom. She is a great person — always pushing me to do the right thing! Terrible!” Trump tweeted on Feb. 8, 2017</p>
<p>Amazon</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“If @amazon ever had to pay fair taxes, its stock would crash and it would crumble like a paper bag. The @washingtonpost scam is saving it!” Trump tweeted on Dec. 7, 2015.</p>
<p>Carrier</p>
<p>“Big day on Thursday for Indiana and the great workers of that wonderful state. We will keep our companies and jobs in the U.S. Thanks Carrier.” Trump tweeted on Nov. 29, 2016.</p>
<p>Ford Motor Co.</p>
<p>“Just got a call from my friend Bill Ford, Chairman of Ford, who advised me that he will be keeping the Lincoln plant in Kentucky – no Mexico. I worked hard with Bill Ford to keep the Lincoln plant in Kentucky. I owed it to the great State of Kentucky for their confidence in me!” Trump said in a series of tweets on Nov. 17, 2016</p>
<p>Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co.</p>
<p>“Based on the tremendous cost and cost overruns of the Lockheed Martin F-35, I have asked Boeing to price-out a comparable F-18 Super Hornet!” Trump tweeted on Dec. 22, 2016.</p>
<p>“Boeing is building a brand new 747 Air Force One for future presidents, but costs are out of control, more than $4 billion. Cancel order!” Trump tweeted on Dec. 6, 2016.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>General Motors Co.</p>
<p>“General Motors is sending Mexican made model of Chevy Cruze to U.S. car dealers-tax free across border. Make in U.S.A. or pay big border tax!” Trump tweeted on Jan. 3, 2017.</p>
<p>Macy’s Inc.</p>
<p>“Good news, disloyal @Macys stock is in a total free fall. Don’t shop there for Christmas!” Trump tweeted on Dec. 4, 2015.</p>
<p>T-Mobile US</p>
<p>.@JohnLegere @TMobile John, focus on running your company, I think the service is terrible! Try hiring some good managers. Trump tweeted on Nov. 15, 2015</p>
<p>Rexnord</p>
<p>“Rexnord of Indiana is moving to Mexico and rather viciously firing all of its 300 workers. This is happening all over our country. No more!” Trump tweeted on Dec. 2, 2016.</p>
| 5,191 |
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<p>More people have voted early in Rio Rancho’s Higher Education Facilities Gross Receipts Tax special election than in the past two special elections.</p>
<p>Voters are being asked if they want to decrease the sales tax that supports construction of buildings and infrastructure for four-year universities in the city from a quarter-percent to one-eighth of a percent. Several city councilors have said if the measure passes, they’ll vote to institute a one-eighth percent sales tax earmarked for police, fire and emergency medical services.</p>
<p>City spokesman Peter Wells said in an email that as of 5 p.m. Wednesday, 1, 047 people had cast absentee or early ballots in the election scheduled for Aug. 20. That means about 1.8 percent of the 56,859 registered voters in Rio Rancho had voted by Wednesday, with early and absentee voting lasting until Aug. 16.</p>
<p>According to Wells, 591 people, or almost 1.2 percent of Rio Rancho voters, cast early or absentee ballots in the 2009 city special election for road bonds, and 904, or 1.8 percent, voted early in the 2011 road bond special election.</p>
<p>More than 2 percent of 51,724 voters cast ballots early in the 2012 municipal regular election, according to numbers on the city website.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
|
Special election showing strong early voting
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/245663/special-election-showing-strong-early-voting.html
|
2013-08-11
| 2least
|
Special election showing strong early voting
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>More people have voted early in Rio Rancho’s Higher Education Facilities Gross Receipts Tax special election than in the past two special elections.</p>
<p>Voters are being asked if they want to decrease the sales tax that supports construction of buildings and infrastructure for four-year universities in the city from a quarter-percent to one-eighth of a percent. Several city councilors have said if the measure passes, they’ll vote to institute a one-eighth percent sales tax earmarked for police, fire and emergency medical services.</p>
<p>City spokesman Peter Wells said in an email that as of 5 p.m. Wednesday, 1, 047 people had cast absentee or early ballots in the election scheduled for Aug. 20. That means about 1.8 percent of the 56,859 registered voters in Rio Rancho had voted by Wednesday, with early and absentee voting lasting until Aug. 16.</p>
<p>According to Wells, 591 people, or almost 1.2 percent of Rio Rancho voters, cast early or absentee ballots in the 2009 city special election for road bonds, and 904, or 1.8 percent, voted early in the 2011 road bond special election.</p>
<p>More than 2 percent of 51,724 voters cast ballots early in the 2012 municipal regular election, according to numbers on the city website.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
| 5,192 |
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<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish is investigating an assault on a man by a bear last Friday.</p>
<p>On Friday morning, a bear bit the hand of a man residing in the first block of Rock Ridge in Sandia Heights.</p>
<p>Rather than reporting the attack to the Department of Game and Fish, the man visited his doctor, who treated the victim. The doctor reported the attack.</p>
<p>Over the weekend, the department set a trap for the bear, but they suspect it was tampered with.</p>
<p>The trap has an open door for a bear to enter, but it was found closed. “We don’t think it was the wind that caused it to close,” said Rachel Shockley, a spokeswoman for the department, who said that a video shot at the site of the trap also shows that someone sprayed something at the opening of the trap.</p>
<p>The man who was bitten was a resident of Oklahoma. He has since left the state and returned home, according to a Game and Fish spokesman.</p>
<p>Check back on ABQJOURNAL.com for more details.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
|
Officials suspect bear trap was sabotaged
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/246175/man-bit-by-bear-in-sandia-park.html
|
2013-08-12
| 2least
|
Officials suspect bear trap was sabotaged
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish is investigating an assault on a man by a bear last Friday.</p>
<p>On Friday morning, a bear bit the hand of a man residing in the first block of Rock Ridge in Sandia Heights.</p>
<p>Rather than reporting the attack to the Department of Game and Fish, the man visited his doctor, who treated the victim. The doctor reported the attack.</p>
<p>Over the weekend, the department set a trap for the bear, but they suspect it was tampered with.</p>
<p>The trap has an open door for a bear to enter, but it was found closed. “We don’t think it was the wind that caused it to close,” said Rachel Shockley, a spokeswoman for the department, who said that a video shot at the site of the trap also shows that someone sprayed something at the opening of the trap.</p>
<p>The man who was bitten was a resident of Oklahoma. He has since left the state and returned home, according to a Game and Fish spokesman.</p>
<p>Check back on ABQJOURNAL.com for more details.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
| 5,193 |
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<p />
<p>The Martinez family bumped up its turkey feast so much that it warranted a different description entirely.</p>
<p>“It was like breakfast,” said Bianca Martinez, who came to Albuquerque from Farmington on Thursday, not just to celebrate the holiday with her family, but also to shop.</p>
<p>Martinez and her sister Mayra Martinez ate early, then joined a few hundred other people lined up outside Toys R Us on Thursday afternoon.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The sisters planned to buy some “Despicable Me” action figures as soon as the toy store opened at 5 p.m., then make subsequent Thanksgiving night trips to Kohl’s, Target and Wal-Mart.</p>
<p>Welcome to the “Black Friday creep” trend.</p>
<p>Black Friday shopping used to commence in the predawn hours of, yes, Friday, but gradually shifted to a middle-of-the-night phenomenon. This year, however, many major retailers dispensed with the Friday start altogether, opening between 5 and 8 p.m. Thursday.</p>
<p>The shift “has its ups and downs,” Mayra Martinez said, as she and her sister clutched their caramel frappuccinos and waited for the toy store to unlock its doors. “It’s great because it’s a little easier, but it’s less time to spend with family.”</p>
<p>A National Retail Federation survey found that as many as 140 million people planned to shop this weekend (Thursday-Sunday). Of those, 33 million, or 23.5 percent, had plans to shop on Thanksgiving Day.</p>
<p>Pearl Archibeque of Albuquerque didn’t have any reservations about hitting the stores on Thanksgiving. She has family members who work in retail, so they already keep strange holiday hours, and she’s something of a Black Friday diehard.</p>
<p>Shoppers line up outside as they wait for Winrock’s Toys R Us store to open on Thursday. (Adolphe Pierre-Louis/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>Archibeque’s family ate “dinner” at 11:30 a.m. Thursday. By mid-afternoon, she was at Toys R Us, part of the throng ready to pounce on the store’s best deals at the first possible opportunity.</p>
<p>With eight grandkids to buy for, Archibeque said the sales are worth some of her holiday time.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“I have to have those nice door-buster specials in order to be able to get them all a couple of things,” she said.</p>
<p>Not everyone is thrilled to see Thanksgiving turn into Thanks-gifting.</p>
<p>Robert Hesselgren of Los Lunas said he’s troubled by the trend.</p>
<p>“It’s like the founding fathers used to say: They made today a day for thanksgiving and prayer,” the Los Lunas man said Thursday. “That’s what it’s supposed to be, but not anymore.”</p>
<p>And yet even Hesselgren turned almost straight from the stuffing to the stores. He and brother Wes Hesselgren arrived at Best Buy in Albuquerque’s Northeast Heights at 4 p.m. Thursday – two hours before the store opened – so they could buy a 39-inch TV priced at $169.</p>
<p>The Hesselgrens, both in their 50s, said they tried Black Friday shopping only once before but they didn’t get far because the scene was too overwhelming.</p>
<p>“A rat race,” Robert recalled.</p>
<p>Once inside Best Buy, the brothers found themselves among a throng of voracious shoppers manhandling unwieldy big-screen TVs and piling DVDs and video games into their baskets.</p>
<p>But this time, they were relatively unfazed.</p>
<p>“It wasn’t that bad,” Wes said after locating the TV and doing some additional browsing.</p>
<p>Jesus Gallardo agreed. Just 17, Gallardo is already a Black Friday veteran. He arrived at Best Buy at 2 p.m. but was done shopping within 10 minutes of the store’s opening, having quickly found and purchased the XBox 360 bundle he was seeking.</p>
<p>“Me and my family usually do this every year. This time, it didn’t seem so crazy,” he said.</p>
<p>Coronado Center had many retailers open at 8 p.m. Thursday, but customers were allowed inside the mall more than an hour in advance. They quickly formed lines outside individual stores, and many congregated in the area around Kohl’s and Victoria’s Secret.</p>
<p>Valerie Harrison was waiting for Kohl’s to open so she could buy a discounted comforter she’s been pining for since last Christmas. She remembers its being on sale for Black Friday 2012 but said it was sold out by the time she arrived at the store last year.</p>
<p>She and her shopping party – six people in total – made Kohl’s their first stop this year, though they also had plans to wander the mall afterward in search of other deals.</p>
<p>Coronado is open until 10 p.m. tonight, a 26-hour run for some stores.</p>
<p>Harrison said her crew would shop “until we drop or until the sun comes up.”</p>
<p>“There’s always 24-hour access to coffee,” she said, “so we’ll be OK.”</p>
<p />
<p />
|
What’s the deal? More stores choosing to open on Thanksgiving
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/310927/welcome-to-black-friday-creep-on-thanksgiving-day.html
| 2least
|
What’s the deal? More stores choosing to open on Thanksgiving
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<p />
<p>The Martinez family bumped up its turkey feast so much that it warranted a different description entirely.</p>
<p>“It was like breakfast,” said Bianca Martinez, who came to Albuquerque from Farmington on Thursday, not just to celebrate the holiday with her family, but also to shop.</p>
<p>Martinez and her sister Mayra Martinez ate early, then joined a few hundred other people lined up outside Toys R Us on Thursday afternoon.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The sisters planned to buy some “Despicable Me” action figures as soon as the toy store opened at 5 p.m., then make subsequent Thanksgiving night trips to Kohl’s, Target and Wal-Mart.</p>
<p>Welcome to the “Black Friday creep” trend.</p>
<p>Black Friday shopping used to commence in the predawn hours of, yes, Friday, but gradually shifted to a middle-of-the-night phenomenon. This year, however, many major retailers dispensed with the Friday start altogether, opening between 5 and 8 p.m. Thursday.</p>
<p>The shift “has its ups and downs,” Mayra Martinez said, as she and her sister clutched their caramel frappuccinos and waited for the toy store to unlock its doors. “It’s great because it’s a little easier, but it’s less time to spend with family.”</p>
<p>A National Retail Federation survey found that as many as 140 million people planned to shop this weekend (Thursday-Sunday). Of those, 33 million, or 23.5 percent, had plans to shop on Thanksgiving Day.</p>
<p>Pearl Archibeque of Albuquerque didn’t have any reservations about hitting the stores on Thanksgiving. She has family members who work in retail, so they already keep strange holiday hours, and she’s something of a Black Friday diehard.</p>
<p>Shoppers line up outside as they wait for Winrock’s Toys R Us store to open on Thursday. (Adolphe Pierre-Louis/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>Archibeque’s family ate “dinner” at 11:30 a.m. Thursday. By mid-afternoon, she was at Toys R Us, part of the throng ready to pounce on the store’s best deals at the first possible opportunity.</p>
<p>With eight grandkids to buy for, Archibeque said the sales are worth some of her holiday time.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“I have to have those nice door-buster specials in order to be able to get them all a couple of things,” she said.</p>
<p>Not everyone is thrilled to see Thanksgiving turn into Thanks-gifting.</p>
<p>Robert Hesselgren of Los Lunas said he’s troubled by the trend.</p>
<p>“It’s like the founding fathers used to say: They made today a day for thanksgiving and prayer,” the Los Lunas man said Thursday. “That’s what it’s supposed to be, but not anymore.”</p>
<p>And yet even Hesselgren turned almost straight from the stuffing to the stores. He and brother Wes Hesselgren arrived at Best Buy in Albuquerque’s Northeast Heights at 4 p.m. Thursday – two hours before the store opened – so they could buy a 39-inch TV priced at $169.</p>
<p>The Hesselgrens, both in their 50s, said they tried Black Friday shopping only once before but they didn’t get far because the scene was too overwhelming.</p>
<p>“A rat race,” Robert recalled.</p>
<p>Once inside Best Buy, the brothers found themselves among a throng of voracious shoppers manhandling unwieldy big-screen TVs and piling DVDs and video games into their baskets.</p>
<p>But this time, they were relatively unfazed.</p>
<p>“It wasn’t that bad,” Wes said after locating the TV and doing some additional browsing.</p>
<p>Jesus Gallardo agreed. Just 17, Gallardo is already a Black Friday veteran. He arrived at Best Buy at 2 p.m. but was done shopping within 10 minutes of the store’s opening, having quickly found and purchased the XBox 360 bundle he was seeking.</p>
<p>“Me and my family usually do this every year. This time, it didn’t seem so crazy,” he said.</p>
<p>Coronado Center had many retailers open at 8 p.m. Thursday, but customers were allowed inside the mall more than an hour in advance. They quickly formed lines outside individual stores, and many congregated in the area around Kohl’s and Victoria’s Secret.</p>
<p>Valerie Harrison was waiting for Kohl’s to open so she could buy a discounted comforter she’s been pining for since last Christmas. She remembers its being on sale for Black Friday 2012 but said it was sold out by the time she arrived at the store last year.</p>
<p>She and her shopping party – six people in total – made Kohl’s their first stop this year, though they also had plans to wander the mall afterward in search of other deals.</p>
<p>Coronado is open until 10 p.m. tonight, a 26-hour run for some stores.</p>
<p>Harrison said her crew would shop “until we drop or until the sun comes up.”</p>
<p>“There’s always 24-hour access to coffee,” she said, “so we’ll be OK.”</p>
<p />
<p />
| 5,194 |
|
<p>John Seiler:</p>
<p>The poaching of good California jobs and businesses has just begun. The new crop of GOP governors just elected across the fruited plain is looking to grab what they can from the anti-business Pyrite State. Jim Christie of&#160; <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6AT3NK20101130?pageNumber=2" type="external">Reuters reports</a>:</p>
<p>“It’s a testament to California’s voters that they had the foresight to beat back the tidal wave of corporate-controlled candidates that swept much of the rest of the country,” said California Labor Federation head Art Pulaski.</p>
<p>But according to Somer Hollingsworth of the Nevada Development Authority, that makes California “even more fair game.”</p>
<p>Texas in particular has been busy scouring California for companies tired of high taxes and unpredictable regulations, and analysts see the Lone Star State as a lodestar for new GOP-led states eager to spur business.</p>
<p>“You can’t argue with success,” said Jonathan Williams of the American Legislative Exchange Council, noting Texas has weathered the recession far better than California, in part because of its aggressive business recruiting. Texas’ October jobless rate was 8.1 percent. California’s was 12.4 percent.</p>
<p>Texas has set its sights on companies in the Golden State because “California is a target-rich environment,” said Ray Sullivan, Republican Governor Rick Perry’s chief of staff.</p>
<p>BAD REPUTATION</p>
<p>California’s “green” technology enthusiasts, including many in Silicon Valley, say the state’s future is in that sector, which Governor-elect Brown has said he will champion.</p>
<p>At the same time Brown has not been deaf to concerns about the state’s business climate and has proposed a “strike team” to attract and retain jobs with incentives and other state programs. He has also proposed cutting “onerous” regulations and has not ruled out tax breaks for manufacturers.</p>
<p>Irvine, California consultant Joseph Vranich, who advises companies on relocation and other matters, said the state urgently needs to reverse its reputation. He noted Chief Executive magazine ranks the state as the worst for business.</p>
<p>California also failed to place in the top 25 metro areas in this year’s Milken Institute Best-Performing Cities Index. Eleven of its top 25 areas were in Texas.</p>
<p>“The presumption in Texas is if a business wants to create jobs, it’s good. That presumption doesn’t exist in California, it seems to me, to the extent it did 20 to 30 years ago,” said Milken economist Ross DeVol.</p>
<p>Comerica Bank economist Dana Johnson said California’s business climate has had a real cost: the state’s per capita income rank averaged tenth among states over the past 20 years, down from fourth in the prior 60 years.</p>
<p>“My sense is its rank will continue to slide unless the state creates a more welcoming business environment,” he said.</p>
<p>The “green” jobs are phony, of course, as we have detailed here many times on CalWatchDog.com. And who knows what Jerry Brown will do? How can anyone deal with a $25 billion budget deficit? He also strongly backs AB 32, the anti-jobs bill the state’s genius voters just endorsed by rejecting Prop. 23.</p>
<p>And note, especially, that California’s per-capita income is falling — fast.</p>
<p>On the positive side, Gov. Schwarzenjobskiller soon will be gone.</p>
<p>Nov. 30, 2010</p>
|
New GOP Govs. Eye Cal Biz
| false |
https://calwatchdog.com/2010/11/30/new-gop-govs-eye-cal-biz/
|
2018-11-20
| 3left-center
|
New GOP Govs. Eye Cal Biz
<p>John Seiler:</p>
<p>The poaching of good California jobs and businesses has just begun. The new crop of GOP governors just elected across the fruited plain is looking to grab what they can from the anti-business Pyrite State. Jim Christie of&#160; <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6AT3NK20101130?pageNumber=2" type="external">Reuters reports</a>:</p>
<p>“It’s a testament to California’s voters that they had the foresight to beat back the tidal wave of corporate-controlled candidates that swept much of the rest of the country,” said California Labor Federation head Art Pulaski.</p>
<p>But according to Somer Hollingsworth of the Nevada Development Authority, that makes California “even more fair game.”</p>
<p>Texas in particular has been busy scouring California for companies tired of high taxes and unpredictable regulations, and analysts see the Lone Star State as a lodestar for new GOP-led states eager to spur business.</p>
<p>“You can’t argue with success,” said Jonathan Williams of the American Legislative Exchange Council, noting Texas has weathered the recession far better than California, in part because of its aggressive business recruiting. Texas’ October jobless rate was 8.1 percent. California’s was 12.4 percent.</p>
<p>Texas has set its sights on companies in the Golden State because “California is a target-rich environment,” said Ray Sullivan, Republican Governor Rick Perry’s chief of staff.</p>
<p>BAD REPUTATION</p>
<p>California’s “green” technology enthusiasts, including many in Silicon Valley, say the state’s future is in that sector, which Governor-elect Brown has said he will champion.</p>
<p>At the same time Brown has not been deaf to concerns about the state’s business climate and has proposed a “strike team” to attract and retain jobs with incentives and other state programs. He has also proposed cutting “onerous” regulations and has not ruled out tax breaks for manufacturers.</p>
<p>Irvine, California consultant Joseph Vranich, who advises companies on relocation and other matters, said the state urgently needs to reverse its reputation. He noted Chief Executive magazine ranks the state as the worst for business.</p>
<p>California also failed to place in the top 25 metro areas in this year’s Milken Institute Best-Performing Cities Index. Eleven of its top 25 areas were in Texas.</p>
<p>“The presumption in Texas is if a business wants to create jobs, it’s good. That presumption doesn’t exist in California, it seems to me, to the extent it did 20 to 30 years ago,” said Milken economist Ross DeVol.</p>
<p>Comerica Bank economist Dana Johnson said California’s business climate has had a real cost: the state’s per capita income rank averaged tenth among states over the past 20 years, down from fourth in the prior 60 years.</p>
<p>“My sense is its rank will continue to slide unless the state creates a more welcoming business environment,” he said.</p>
<p>The “green” jobs are phony, of course, as we have detailed here many times on CalWatchDog.com. And who knows what Jerry Brown will do? How can anyone deal with a $25 billion budget deficit? He also strongly backs AB 32, the anti-jobs bill the state’s genius voters just endorsed by rejecting Prop. 23.</p>
<p>And note, especially, that California’s per-capita income is falling — fast.</p>
<p>On the positive side, Gov. Schwarzenjobskiller soon will be gone.</p>
<p>Nov. 30, 2010</p>
| 5,195 |
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<p />
<p>Marie "Sisi" Miranda, who retired from the Albuquerque Police Department in 2008, will lead the review and make recommendations in three or four months. She used to work in the city's Crimes Against Children Unit and as deputy secretary of the state Department Public Safety.</p>
<p>Protecting "the most vulnerable victims - women and children - has always been a passion of mine," Miranda said Friday in an interview.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>A focus of the investigation will be determining how to improve the sharing of information among police officers, the state's child-protection workers, prosecutors and others, said Rob Perry, Albuquerque's chief administrative officer.</p>
<p>Sharing information, he said, is complicated by state and federal restrictions aimed at protecting the privacy of children.</p>
<p>"There may be some impediments and barriers that are preventing that (sharing) from happening," Perry said. But "we live in this world of (smart-phone) apps now. I don't know why we wouldn't try to use that information to get the best results for this vulnerable population."</p>
<p>Perry said he's interested in the possibility of a database that police officers could use to find information compiled by the state Children, Youth and Families Department. Officers responding to calls might be more skeptical of a family's assurance that everything is all right, for example, if they knew that CYFD has also handled allegations of abuse, Perry said.</p>
<p>Miranda's review comes as APD and other agencies face scrutiny over whether the death of a 9-year-old boy could have been prevented. Police found Omaree Varela cold and unresponsive in late December, and the child's mother was later charged in his death.</p>
<p>Police officers had at least two encounters with Omaree's family in the year or so before his death.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Miranda's review will involve holding community meetings and working with a panel of experts, including a medical doctor, Renee Ornelas, who specializes in child-abuse pediatrics.</p>
<p>Miranda will look at the training of officers, in addition to comparing APD policies to what happens in other jurisdictions.</p>
<p>She has a $15,000 city contract.</p>
<p />
<p />
|
Former cop to look at improving child abuse work
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/361209/former-cop-to-look-at-improving-child-abuse-work.html
| 2least
|
Former cop to look at improving child abuse work
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Marie "Sisi" Miranda, who retired from the Albuquerque Police Department in 2008, will lead the review and make recommendations in three or four months. She used to work in the city's Crimes Against Children Unit and as deputy secretary of the state Department Public Safety.</p>
<p>Protecting "the most vulnerable victims - women and children - has always been a passion of mine," Miranda said Friday in an interview.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>A focus of the investigation will be determining how to improve the sharing of information among police officers, the state's child-protection workers, prosecutors and others, said Rob Perry, Albuquerque's chief administrative officer.</p>
<p>Sharing information, he said, is complicated by state and federal restrictions aimed at protecting the privacy of children.</p>
<p>"There may be some impediments and barriers that are preventing that (sharing) from happening," Perry said. But "we live in this world of (smart-phone) apps now. I don't know why we wouldn't try to use that information to get the best results for this vulnerable population."</p>
<p>Perry said he's interested in the possibility of a database that police officers could use to find information compiled by the state Children, Youth and Families Department. Officers responding to calls might be more skeptical of a family's assurance that everything is all right, for example, if they knew that CYFD has also handled allegations of abuse, Perry said.</p>
<p>Miranda's review comes as APD and other agencies face scrutiny over whether the death of a 9-year-old boy could have been prevented. Police found Omaree Varela cold and unresponsive in late December, and the child's mother was later charged in his death.</p>
<p>Police officers had at least two encounters with Omaree's family in the year or so before his death.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Miranda's review will involve holding community meetings and working with a panel of experts, including a medical doctor, Renee Ornelas, who specializes in child-abuse pediatrics.</p>
<p>Miranda will look at the training of officers, in addition to comparing APD policies to what happens in other jurisdictions.</p>
<p>She has a $15,000 city contract.</p>
<p />
<p />
| 5,196 |
|
<p>California - is Trump Country?</p>
<p>There were more people turned away from Donald Trump's event in Redding, California, on Friday than turned out to see Bill Clinton in the same city.</p>
<p>On succeeding days, the crowd sizes were dramatically different for the presidential hopeful and the former president.</p>
<p>Even 99 degree temperatures on an airport tarmac weren't enough to keep thousands of people from Donald Trump's rally.</p>
<p>https://twitter.com/SoCal4Trump/status/738824217508990976</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>KRC TV <a href="http://www.krcrtv.com/news/local/live-coverage-of-donald-trump-rally-in-redding/39887116" type="external">reported</a> 3,000 people were let in, while 500 waited outside the gates and another 200 were "turned away."</p>
<p>Meanwhile, a more intimate crowd turned out to hear Bill Clinton at Shasta College on Thursday.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>ABC 7 <a href="http://www.krcrtv.com/news/local/former-president-bill-clinton-in-redding-campaigning-for-wife/39878444" type="external">reported</a> "about 400 people" turned out to see Clinton in an air-conditioned cafeteria.</p>
<p>All told, Trump's crowd was over 9 times bigger than Clinton's in the very same town.</p>
|
SIZE MATTERS: Trump crowd 9X bigger than Bill Clinton's - in same CA town
| true |
http://theamericanmirror.com/size-matters-trump-bill-clinton-crowds-redding-ca/
|
2016-06-04
| 0right
|
SIZE MATTERS: Trump crowd 9X bigger than Bill Clinton's - in same CA town
<p>California - is Trump Country?</p>
<p>There were more people turned away from Donald Trump's event in Redding, California, on Friday than turned out to see Bill Clinton in the same city.</p>
<p>On succeeding days, the crowd sizes were dramatically different for the presidential hopeful and the former president.</p>
<p>Even 99 degree temperatures on an airport tarmac weren't enough to keep thousands of people from Donald Trump's rally.</p>
<p>https://twitter.com/SoCal4Trump/status/738824217508990976</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>KRC TV <a href="http://www.krcrtv.com/news/local/live-coverage-of-donald-trump-rally-in-redding/39887116" type="external">reported</a> 3,000 people were let in, while 500 waited outside the gates and another 200 were "turned away."</p>
<p>Meanwhile, a more intimate crowd turned out to hear Bill Clinton at Shasta College on Thursday.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>ABC 7 <a href="http://www.krcrtv.com/news/local/former-president-bill-clinton-in-redding-campaigning-for-wife/39878444" type="external">reported</a> "about 400 people" turned out to see Clinton in an air-conditioned cafeteria.</p>
<p>All told, Trump's crowd was over 9 times bigger than Clinton's in the very same town.</p>
| 5,197 |
<p>The Hawaii National Guard's top commander said Friday he told Gov. David Ige that a missile alert was a false alarm two minutes after it went out statewide. But the governor didn't tell the public until 15 minutes later.</p>
<p>Maj. Gen. Arthur "Joe" Logan told state lawmakers at a hearing that he called the governor at 8:09 a.m. Saturday after speaking to a supervisor at the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, whose employee accidentally sent the alert.</p>
<p>Ige spokeswoman Cindy McMillan said the governor had to track her down to prepare a message for the public. She said the governor's communications team handles his social media.</p>
<p>Ige's office relayed an emergency management agency tweet about the false alarm at 8:24 a.m.</p>
<p>Six minutes later, a notice went up on his Facebook page.</p>
<p>Rep. Kaniela Ing, who questioned Logan about the alert mishap, said he wanted to ask the governor himself about the events. But Ige had left the hearing by the time it was Ing's turn to ask questions.</p>
<p>McMillan said Ige departed the hearing early because he had "various things to do." In response to criticism from Ing and other lawmakers that Ige left prematurely, McMillan said: "He is the governor. He has other duties to attend to today."</p>
<p>McMillan would not say what other obligations the governor had.</p>
<p>Lawmakers held their hearing nearly a week after a state employee caused widespread panic and confusion by mistakenly sending an emergency alert to mobile devices and TV and radio stations warning of an incoming missile strike.</p>
<p>A corrected alert was not sent to mobile devices for nearly 40 minutes because state workers had no prepared message for a false alarm.</p>
<p>Hawaii emergency workers immediately started calling city and county officials to tell them there was no threat. They posted social media messages about 13 minutes after the erroneous warning.</p>
<p>Brig. Gen. Kenneth Hara, Logan's deputy, told lawmakers the state is exploring changing the emergency management agency's computer software so workers won't have to select alerts from a drop-down menu. Last weekend's mistake occurred when the employee selected an actual missile alert from the drop-down menu instead of a missile alert drill message. One possibility would be to use icons with color codes for the different alert options, Hara said.</p>
<p>A Federal Communications Commission official told the hearing not all cellphones in Hawaii received the alert in part because cellphone carriers may choose not to participate in the nation's Wireless Emergency Alert system.</p>
<p>FCC attorney and adviser James Wiley said some carriers may also offer the service only to some geographic areas and only to some mobile devices. Individuals may also opt out of receiving alerts.</p>
<p>Wiley was visiting Hawaii to investigate why the mistaken alert was sent.</p>
<p>On Thursday, the Hawaii state Department of Defense said it took about 10 minutes for an employee to think of sending a new alert canceling the alert.</p>
<p>Lt. Col. Charles Anthony said that amid the chaos, a telecommunications staffer presented his idea to create a new alert on the same platform that sent out the mistake. The agency checked with federal officials, composed and uploaded the alert to their online system and eventually issued the retraction.</p>
<p>The initial warning was sent at 8:07 a.m. and the correction reached cellphones at 8:45.</p>
<p>It is estimated that a missile would take about 20 minutes to reach Hawaii from North Korea. Officials say it would take about five minutes for the military to analyze the launch trajectory and notify the state, leaving only 12 to 15 minutes of warning time before impact.</p>
|
Hawaii's Governor Ige took 15 minutes to announce missile alert was false
| false |
https://circa.com/story/2018/01/19/nation/hawaiis-governor-ige-took-15-minutes-to-announce-missile-alert-was-false
|
2018-01-20
| 1right-center
|
Hawaii's Governor Ige took 15 minutes to announce missile alert was false
<p>The Hawaii National Guard's top commander said Friday he told Gov. David Ige that a missile alert was a false alarm two minutes after it went out statewide. But the governor didn't tell the public until 15 minutes later.</p>
<p>Maj. Gen. Arthur "Joe" Logan told state lawmakers at a hearing that he called the governor at 8:09 a.m. Saturday after speaking to a supervisor at the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, whose employee accidentally sent the alert.</p>
<p>Ige spokeswoman Cindy McMillan said the governor had to track her down to prepare a message for the public. She said the governor's communications team handles his social media.</p>
<p>Ige's office relayed an emergency management agency tweet about the false alarm at 8:24 a.m.</p>
<p>Six minutes later, a notice went up on his Facebook page.</p>
<p>Rep. Kaniela Ing, who questioned Logan about the alert mishap, said he wanted to ask the governor himself about the events. But Ige had left the hearing by the time it was Ing's turn to ask questions.</p>
<p>McMillan said Ige departed the hearing early because he had "various things to do." In response to criticism from Ing and other lawmakers that Ige left prematurely, McMillan said: "He is the governor. He has other duties to attend to today."</p>
<p>McMillan would not say what other obligations the governor had.</p>
<p>Lawmakers held their hearing nearly a week after a state employee caused widespread panic and confusion by mistakenly sending an emergency alert to mobile devices and TV and radio stations warning of an incoming missile strike.</p>
<p>A corrected alert was not sent to mobile devices for nearly 40 minutes because state workers had no prepared message for a false alarm.</p>
<p>Hawaii emergency workers immediately started calling city and county officials to tell them there was no threat. They posted social media messages about 13 minutes after the erroneous warning.</p>
<p>Brig. Gen. Kenneth Hara, Logan's deputy, told lawmakers the state is exploring changing the emergency management agency's computer software so workers won't have to select alerts from a drop-down menu. Last weekend's mistake occurred when the employee selected an actual missile alert from the drop-down menu instead of a missile alert drill message. One possibility would be to use icons with color codes for the different alert options, Hara said.</p>
<p>A Federal Communications Commission official told the hearing not all cellphones in Hawaii received the alert in part because cellphone carriers may choose not to participate in the nation's Wireless Emergency Alert system.</p>
<p>FCC attorney and adviser James Wiley said some carriers may also offer the service only to some geographic areas and only to some mobile devices. Individuals may also opt out of receiving alerts.</p>
<p>Wiley was visiting Hawaii to investigate why the mistaken alert was sent.</p>
<p>On Thursday, the Hawaii state Department of Defense said it took about 10 minutes for an employee to think of sending a new alert canceling the alert.</p>
<p>Lt. Col. Charles Anthony said that amid the chaos, a telecommunications staffer presented his idea to create a new alert on the same platform that sent out the mistake. The agency checked with federal officials, composed and uploaded the alert to their online system and eventually issued the retraction.</p>
<p>The initial warning was sent at 8:07 a.m. and the correction reached cellphones at 8:45.</p>
<p>It is estimated that a missile would take about 20 minutes to reach Hawaii from North Korea. Officials say it would take about five minutes for the military to analyze the launch trajectory and notify the state, leaving only 12 to 15 minutes of warning time before impact.</p>
| 5,198 |
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<p>Terry Tempest Williams</p>
<p>SANTA FE, N.M. — Sometimes we think of Santa Fe as being a laid-back place, where people wander in late to shows and take their time in deciding what they’re going to do when.</p>
<p>That flies out the window, though, when a cultural hero is coming to town. And that might be how author Terry Tempest Williams is viewed in the City Different for her thoughts on the importance of the environment and social justice — not to mention her memoir “Refuge” that gives a family perspective to the down-winders from the above-ground nuclear tests that spread fallout through parts of the West.</p>
<p>Tempest Williams is slated to come to the Lensic for a Lannan Foundation talk on March 8. Tickets went on sale Saturday, Feb. 4. I wandered by the theater today, Monday, Feb. 6, thinking that was plenty of time to nab a ticket.</p>
<p>Nope. Sold out. And that’s a theater with more than 800 seats.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
|
Santa Feans must love author Terry Tempest Williams
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/943788/santa-feans-must-love-author-terry-tempest-williams.html
| 2least
|
Santa Feans must love author Terry Tempest Williams
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>Terry Tempest Williams</p>
<p>SANTA FE, N.M. — Sometimes we think of Santa Fe as being a laid-back place, where people wander in late to shows and take their time in deciding what they’re going to do when.</p>
<p>That flies out the window, though, when a cultural hero is coming to town. And that might be how author Terry Tempest Williams is viewed in the City Different for her thoughts on the importance of the environment and social justice — not to mention her memoir “Refuge” that gives a family perspective to the down-winders from the above-ground nuclear tests that spread fallout through parts of the West.</p>
<p>Tempest Williams is slated to come to the Lensic for a Lannan Foundation talk on March 8. Tickets went on sale Saturday, Feb. 4. I wandered by the theater today, Monday, Feb. 6, thinking that was plenty of time to nab a ticket.</p>
<p>Nope. Sold out. And that’s a theater with more than 800 seats.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
| 5,199 |
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